Free Now You See It... by Vivian Vande Velde Page A

give away my hiding spot.
    Don't look this way,
I mentally begged the elves. If they took Julian away, I could head back the way I'd come, find that gateway back into my own world....
    I ignored the little voice that reminded me I hadn't gone that far beyond the arch before glancing back. Sure, I'd zigged, I'd even zagged, but I still should have been able to see the arch.
    What if it was a one-way passage? What if I couldn't get back home, but was stuck here where the natives were less than cordial and I'd let the only person I knew get taken away by thugs intent on putting him through the elven equivalent of a food processor?
    I am not a very nice person to be worried only about my own skin,
the voice of my conscience chimed in.
    Hey, it's
my
skin,
I reminded my conscience,
and it's the only skin I've got.
    Besides, what could I do?
    Besides, I had no idea what was going on in this
world, who these guys were, or what their grievance was with Julian and his father.
    Besides, hadn't I already decided that Julian and Tiffanie were the bad guys?
    But I knew I was weaseling: I was too afraid to get involved. I stayed under cover of the fallen tree and the wildflowers, and tried not think about how the leaves and grass were making my skin itch, tried not to breathe, tried not to sweat. My cover, such as it was, was skimpy. Julian had seen me right away, I was sure of it. The only reason these guys hadn't was that they hadn't known about me to begin with. Trying to bolt or sneak away would only attract their attention. I just had to remain motionless and wait them out.
    Finally, with Julian bound and helpless, his captors put away their swords.
    But when the leader slammed his blade into its sheath, the buckle on his sword belt slipped open, and sword, sheath, and belt ended up around the guy's feet.
    Someone started laughing.
    I knew right away it wasn't the other elves; they just didn't look like the kind to find the humor in a situation like that. I figured it wasn't Julian because he'd pretty much had the breath kicked out of him.
    Besides, the laughter was coming from near me.
    Good grief, it wasn't me, was it, getting hysterical or going crazy or something? I didn't think so because the laughter was very high-pitched, more so even than a child's, like a tape on fast-forward, or like someone who'd been inhaling helium.
    I tipped my head, slowly so as not to rustle the leaves, and spotted a chipmunk-sized little blue guy on a branch one tree over from me. He was doubled over, holding his stomach, and wheezing from laughing so hard.
    "Look at you!" he taunted, his words coming out between the peals of laughter. "Lucky for you I loosened your weapons belt and not the belt to your pants."
    The elf took a step toward the little blue guy. But he'd lost track of why he was so angry, and the fallen belt tripped him so that he went sprawling.
    The blue guy found this hilarious. He laughed until he sounded about to throw up from laughing so hard. He couldn't get out any more than "You ... you ... you..." He fell to his knees on the branch, then flopped over onto his back, clutching his stomach and rolling, while the elf tried to kick himself free of the belt around his ankles.
    But one of the other elves moved in. He came so
close to where I was lying on my stomach that he stepped on the little finger of my right hand.
    Don't scream, don't scream, do NOT scream,
I ordered myself, and thought I'd burst from the effort of not even drawing my hand back. Who'd have guessed a skinny elf could weigh so much?
    The elf didn't notice what he'd stepped on; he was all focused on the blue guy who was ridiculing his leader. He caught the blue guy up in his hand, evidently taking the blue guy totally by surprise. Evaporated his laughter, that was for sure. "Want me to pop its little head off?" the elf asked, his thumb at the ready under the blue guy's chin, as though he was talking about a dandelion.
    The leader motioned for him to come closer.
    I