Wood Sprites

Louise was filled with sudden certainty that Jillian would try to come looking for her and get caught. “And don’t let her come looking for me! Sit on her.”

* * *

The house was huge and dark and quiet. She used her stage manager flashlight to pick her way through the seemingly endless halls, trying to quietly find the kitchen. Downstairs, every room she peered into could swallow her parents’ entire home. They were vast Cinderella palace rooms with marble and crystal that echoed the slightest sounds.

The kitchen was tucked in the corner, behind a great dining room with a table that could sit dozens of people. There were two massive gas ranges, a granite countertop island nearly fifteen feet long, and an entire wall of cabinets.

The far door led to a service entrance facing the massive detached garage. Since no one seemed awake in the house and she would be able to see a car drive up, the kitchen seemed safe to ransack at will.

Louise opened a door to what she thought might be the pantry and discovered an entire room of dried beans, sacks of flour, sugar, and cartons of salt. A locked door in the back of the pantry suggested a way down to a wine cellar. Bins along bottom shelves held three types of potatoes and four types of onions. The elves apparently were preparing for nuclear winter. Despite the abundance, there was little she could carry back to the room and feed Joy. She loaded one of each potato into the pillowcase just in case she found nothing else. Did these people not have anything that could be eaten instantly?

She moved through the kitchen, opening and closing doors as quietly as she could. Finally she discovered a cabinet full of sardines, smoked oysters, herrings, mackerels, kippers, cod liver, and something called tonno all in flat little cans. Luckily the hockey puck cans featured pull-tab lids. It meant that she wouldn’t have to take a can opener, but Joy would be able to open the cans and gorge. They would also have to figure out a way to dispose of the smelly cans afterwards.

How were they going to keep Joy hidden and fed?

There was a huge freezer and a big walk-in refrigerator. The latter was a jackpot of fresh fruit, from oranges to pineapples. Louise took one of each. One shelf held wheels of cheeses. She found a knife and cut thin slices from every single block. When she was done, she washed the knife and returned it to its drawer. Another shelf had jars of opened jellies of types she’d never heard of before. Lingonberry. Black Currant. Cloudberry. Wild Chokecherry. Confit of Violet Petals. Rose hip Jam. Lilikoi Jelly. She eyed them with intense curiosity, but they were small single jars and would probably be missed. There were also several jars of more mundane strawberry and grape. She took a large jar of Smucker’s strawberry jam plus the thing of honey and tracked down a stack of fresh baked breads on the counter and stole a loaf. Her pillowcase was now bulging with food, but how long would it last?

Somewhere in the house, she heard a door close. Someone was awake and moving around, and she was suddenly sure they were coming to the kitchen. Louise scanned the room for a hiding place. It was all cabinets and stainless steel appliances; a gleaming trap. She hurried back to the dining room and pulled out one of the center chairs. As she hoped, the table was wide enough that underneath there was a tunnel of space down the middle.

She ducked under the table and turned off her flashlight. She was just pulling the chair back into place behind her when she heard the voices and footsteps of people coming down the hall.

The lights went on in the room.

“I brought an orchid for my mother. I wanted to give it to her on Mother’s Day, but he had me searching for crows.”

“Sire is not happy that you only located Shoji.” Celine went into the kitchen, the door swinging back and forth behind her.

“They’re very clever birds.” Tristan raised his voice so that Celine could continue hearing him in the kitchen. There was a thump on the table as he apparently put the flowerpot down. “No one else was able to find him. Did Yves manage to capture Shoji after I found him?”

“You don’t need to know that,” Celine called.

Apparently Tristan was used to this type of answer. He only huffed and pulled out a chair. He sat down, swinging his legs as his feet didn’t touch the floor. “I’m really not good with plants. It nearly died once.” And then in a quiet voice, he asked, “Do you think she’ll like it?”

“It’s pitiful.” Celine set a dish on the table with the clink of china and silverware. By the smell, she’d made him toast.

“Can I have something else?” he asked.

“What is wrong with this?” Celine asked.

“I’m sick of toast and cereal for breakfast. I’ve tried to make kippers and eggs like Nattie makes it, but I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong.”

“I am not a cook,” Celine stated flatly. “You will have to wait until Nattie rises.”

“She won’t show me how to cook them.” Tristan kicked the leg of the table.