How do you know I'm new here?" Alex asked, even though he knew the answer to the question.
"Firstly, you have that frantic look in your eyes, like you're confused and slightly scared but trying to keep calm and composed," she replied.
"Secondly, you're asking all the questions, and for some reason, you think you're supposed to be human, not an elf.
"And thirdly, your eyes—no elf has eyes this color. It's so different, and it even makes me wanna…" She stopped abruptly, as if she had just caught herself almost divulging a secret.
"I see," Alex replied.
He reasoned that perhaps the girl had good intentions toward him. But still, he was suspicious.
After all, it would be an effective kidnapping strategy to use a beautiful girl to lure an unsuspecting boy into a trap.
At the same time, it wasn't like he had anywhere to stay for the night or any food.
"Okay, I'll come with you," he said.
"Good," the girl replied and beamed. "My name is Sylra, by the way."
"Alex," Alex replied.
Sylra frowned. "What does that mean?"
"Alex?" Alex replied, confused.
"Yes, what language is that?" she asked.
"Uhm, I guess English," he replied.
She gave him a weird look but said nothing in response. She dipped her hands into her pocket and brought out a small-sized crystal.
It glittered in the fading sun as she held it up.
"Okay, time to go," she said and held it in front of her.
Alex watched, not understanding what was happening.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" she asked.
"What?" he asked, confused.
"Come here and wrap your hands around me!" she snapped.
Alex's mouth dropped open. "What?!"
"Don't you want to go see my dad?"
"Well, I do, but how does that relate to me hugging you?" Alex asked.
"How else would we travel?" Sylra asked in an exasperated tone.
"We'd travel by hugging?" Alex asked incredulously.
"Have you lost your memory or something?" she asked.
Alex thought about it. He knew nothing about elves, their culture, or their way of life. He couldn't even point to his house or his parents. It would be better for him to claim memory loss.
"Yes, I have," he replied. "The last thing I remember is waking up here."
Sylra's face morphed into a sad countenance. "Oh, you poor thing."
"I'm not a poor thing," Alex replied, annoyed.
The sympathetic look on Sylra's face disappeared and was replaced by a scowl. "Just come here," she said in an exasperated tone.
Alex scoffed and went towards her.
"Now go to my back and wrap your hands around me, and no funny business," she said.
"Oh, please, like I was going to anyway," Alex replied. But he knew he was lying—he wasn't excited about the prospect of hugging her from behind.
As he hugged her from the back and felt his groin connect with her backside, he grinned in a reversed manner.
It took all his self-control not to get hard then and there.
Sylra held a purple crystal up and angled it to the sun.
"What is that?" Alex asked her.
"It's a leaping crystal," she replied. "It's how we would teleport to my house."
"Teleport," Alex said. "So it's like magic?"
"There's no such thing as magic," Sylra replied, a slight tone of anger in her voice. "Humans love to categorize anything they don't understand as magic when, in reality, it's just science."
"I see," Alex replied. "So we're teleporting by science," he said.
"Yes, it's all physics. Our body breaks down into atoms. These are contained alongside light particles into the crystal, which transports them along a channel and reassembles them there."
"Wait, we're going to break down our body?" Alex exclaimed in surprise and tried to move back.
"Hold me if you want to live!" Sylra yelled as the crystal started to glow.
Alex quickly tightened his grip on her. A few moments later, the glow enveloped them, and he felt a warm, giddy feeling as his body broke down and reassembled in Havington, Sylra's house.
It all happened very quickly, almost at the speed of sound. One moment, he was disintegrating; the next moment, he was reassembled.
"Wow," he breathed.
"You can let go of me now," Sylra said.
"Right," Alex muttered, embarrassed, and quickly let go of her.
"Real brave of you," she teased with a glint in her eye.
"Just shut up," Alex retorted.
Then he turned his attention to the building in front of him.
It was a large mansion that looked like it could house half an entire village. And it was painted in vibrant colors. Alex wondered how these elves managed to live with such bright colors every day. He already felt sick looking at it.
There was a huge signboard that read: Havington.
"This is your house?" he asked Sylra.
"Yeah," she replied with a shrug.
"Wow, you must be really rich," he said.
"Well, not really," Sylra replied. "We elves love huge buildings. Almost every house is like this."
"I see," Alex muttered.
They rang the bell.
"Why didn't we just teleport in?" Alex asked her.
"Security," Sylra replied. "It's impossible to teleport in due to the force field surrounding the house."
"This would prevent break-ins," Alex said with a nod.
"Exactly," Sylra replied.
The gate soon slid open, and they entered.
"There are cameras around, so they have seen us, and since we're welcome guests, they let us in," Sylra explained as they entered.
Alex couldn't srop himself from staring as they entered the builing. It was completely mind blowin and the architecture was so different from anything he had ever seen.
"You can pick up your jaw from the floor". Sylra taunted.
Alex looked at her to say something in reply but his eys caught her boobs instead. They were huge and bouncy, he strongly fought the urge to lick his lip.
Sytra followed his gaze and saw he was checking her out, her face immediately became red and Alex smirked.
Luckily the moment was diffused as a tall man entered the living room. One didn't have to look twce to see her was syra's father.