Excerpt: However

(from chapter 2) (Neelie is the main character, a girl; Summer is a foster child they've just taken in. The first speaker is Neelie's father.)

"Neelie, why don't you take Summer to her room and help her settle in?" I knew it wasn't really a suggestion.

I took a quick breath. "Yeah. Summer, um, let's go do that."

Smooth. Articulate. My teachers would be so proud.

Her focus skidded around the kitchen for another uncomfortable few seconds, and then she finally looked at me. With absolutely the blankest eyes. Sparky had more expression. Weird.

I grabbed her suitcase and yanked it into the hall, hoping she'd come with me. She did. "Our rooms are upstairs. Oh, and I'm Neelie." Figuring I'd been frowning the whole time, I pasted on a semi-believable smile.

And Summer grinned back. Right at that instant her face turned almost human. Well, I didn't know how else to think of it. There became a person behind her face, when she smiled. Something lit up inside. Whatever.

It was a pixie sort of smile, though, different somehow. I didn’t want to stare any more than I already had, so I headed upstairs with her suitcase, peeking back over my shoulder to make sure she followed. And wondering why she never spoke. Maybe she couldn't. Maybe she wouldn't.

But I could, and did. "Well, here's your room. Um, there's your bed, and the dresser's all yours, and there are hangers in the closet if you want to use them. And the bathroom's at the end of the hall. See, here's your towels, on your bed, but you can hang them in the bathroom." Geez, shut up, Neelie.

I still didn't know how she felt, but I was sure getting antsy, because now Summer was the one who wouldn't stop staring. At me. Well, maybe she'd never met a babbling fourteen-year-old before. But I kind of doubted that.

She dropped her backpack on the floor and plopped down on the end of the bed, still watching me. Probably wondering if I was dangerous. Or disturbed. "You know elves, I think," she said in a soft, little-girl sort of voice.

What the…? Elves?

I snapped my sagging mouth shut, and opened it again to say, "Now, what? Elves? Um…"

Summer perched there with a cat-that-ate-the-canary expression, eyes squeezed half shut and a close-mouthed grin. I thought any second she would lick the back of her hand and use it to wash her face. "Elves."

I gave a fakey little laugh. "Um, well… like in stories? Or movies? Sure, did you see—"

"No. For real. Elves."

I could banter with the best of them, but this Summer girl threw me all off balance. I dropped onto the chair by her bed without answering.

She stared harder at me, if that was possible, and it made me wish I could shrink. "I need for you to help me. I know you can do it. Please. I know you have seen where the elves hide."

I shifted in the chair. What is she playing? "Okay, um, and why… and what do you need help with, exactly? 'Cause your social worker—"

"No!" Summer glared around the room, like the woman might be lurking behind the dresser or something. "She can't know. You must promise me."

"Can't know what?" Now that she'd stopped staring at me, this was getting entertaining.

She leaned forward and her voice dropped to a whisper. "She mustn't know I am an elf." She tucked part of her long, black, stick-straight hair behind her ears. Behind her pointy ears.

Oh my god, her ears. They came to little points, at the tops. Both of them. Points.

For real.