Linda, The Fifth Legend (NaNoWriMo 2014) (Completed)

XVII: Wendy

"We've got to hurry up!" Nora snaps. "Time works differently here."

"Oh really?" I ask. "How so?"

Leon takes this as an opportunity to butt in. "Well we don't exactly know why, but Earth time and Fairy Tale time don't match up. You could spend seven days here and in Earth it'll only have been 5 hours. Luckily, we have Percival on our team, who can sometimes will the time to wait for us so when we get back, we won't have been gone for months or years."

"Well if Percival can do that, can't he make time stop or something?"

Percival shakes his head. "No, I can only reason with the time for a little bit, and it usually ends up draining a lot of my power, so I'm not really of much help magically around here."

Ryner sighs, lowering the binoculars from his face and balancing them in his hand. "Are we going to do this or not? We didn't come here to chill. We came to find Jack. Now the story said he would be here on this day so we should be looking around so we don't miss him. I've got eyes up here. Now I need someone to go down there into the pub so they can see if maybe he's inside and managed to slip under our noses."

The guild looks back and forth at each other. None of them seem willing to do it.

"If I go down there, everyone will be running for their lives in seconds," Percival says with gritted teeth, as if he's a little mad about the fact that people fear him so much.

Nora nods her head. "Yeah if I go their, they'll spot me right away. They're already familiar with all of us. Leon too."

That leaves only me. They all seem to realize this at the same moment I do. They quickly snap their necks over in my direction. For a moment, they just stare at me, knowing fully well that I know what they want me to do, but since I won't respond, hoping they might change their minds, Ryner decides to finally make it official.

"Well I guess you're the only one who will be able to do it then Linda," he says with a big grin. "I've got my hands full and everyone else is too well known around here. It's your time to shine babe."

I grimace and punch him in the arm. He winces and bites his lip, trying to hold back a whimper. "Just for that, I think I might not go."

"You've got no choice in the matter," Percival says suddenly. "The guild is counting on you to retrieve Jack at all costs."

I think about my options as if I had any. I guess I've got to go then. As much as I don't want to admit it to myself too, I'm probably the best one for this job anyways, considering I know firsthand what Fairy Tale human behavior is like anyway. It really isn't that different from Earth humans, but if you look at the too little, or if you look at them too often, they'll be offended. Percival would have avoided eye contact, Ryner would have made too much eye contact. Leon probably would have been able to pull it off just barely and Nora was way too young to be seen in a pub anyway. With a deep, mock sorrowful sigh, I slip off of the roof and jump down onto the round, landing softly on my feet. It took years of practice to finally master jumping off of a roof without hurting myself, but it was definitely worth it. I've used it to escape bad situations many times.

Once I'm on the floor, I realize the clothes I'm wearing make me look like a complete outsider. This is why I don't wear the same clothes everywhere, goodness. Fairy Tale people don't even know what Adidas is, and they definitely don't see women prancing around in pants. I hide in the corner, waiting for someone to pass by. Then my eye catches a girl and her friend heading towards the pub. With a quick dash, I grab them, smuggle their screams, and bring them back to my little corner.

"Okay ladies," I say, my hands still on their mouths. I've backed them into a wall so they can't run. Their eyes show that I've stricken fear into their hearts. "I need to get into that pub and I'm going to need some of your clothes to do it."