"Tell me, Elf lady, what the hell are these many of you all doing on Earth?"
In that moment, everything seemed to go blank; the air suddenly felt too thick to breathe, each inhale shallow and panicked as if the very oxygen was betraying her.
Every creak of the floor, every distant murmur, sent her heart into a violent staccato, hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird.
Her hands, crossed upon each other right below her abdomen, trembled. She pressed them together, trying to steady herself, trying to convince her body to be still.
As she heard those words, in that moment, there was nothing but fear—raw, suffocating fear.
Everything she had been working so hard for, they had been working so hard for... was going to come crashing down because of some strange, ominous young child.
No!
She was not going to have it.
Slap!
