“...What do you mean, no?” The mysterious girl said in a frosty tone.

  Although her posture didn’t change, the menace in her piercing blue eyes and her snarling expression instantly made her more threatening. The girl was diminutive in height, but managed to tower over Daniel, who was currently on the floor.

  “I, uh... don’t really know what’s going on.” He lied. “Like I said before, I just heard crashing in the forest, so I-”

  An ice spear buried itself in the dirt between his legs.

  “Liar.” The girl hissed.

  “He’s not lying.” Petra proclaimed, freeing her arm from within the confines of Michael’s pocket. “See? Check the ring!”

  Daniel knew that the contestant rings were meant to glow in the presence of other rings. The ring on the tiny fairy’s ring finger glowed softly, but not as much as her closeness with Daniel’s current position would imply, if he had a ring in his possession. It was most likely reacting with the girl’s own. The girl looked down at her ring, worn on the thumb on her right hand, the arm which had the white cord wrapped around it. It glowed at the same intensity as Petra’s, indicating they were only sensing each other. She looked back to Daniel with glowering anger on her face, and her cord slowly formed another ice spear.

  “You’ll get disqualified!” Petra repeated. “You don’t want to get kicked out when we’ve barely even started, do you!?”

  The girl remained on the spot, the ice spear still slowly taking shape, but her expression was conflicted. Daniel adjusted his collar nervously. She very clearly wanted to impale him but was being held back by the regulations of the competition. Still, he needed a decisive blow to secure his own safety. Unfortunately, force was off the table, and he had never been much of a talker.

  Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice cried out.

  “Don’t be fooled my precious Ana, they’re clearly lying!”

  They all turned to face the newcomer, who made for quite a sight. A worn leather jacket hung on a thin, almost skeletal frame. His thin build made it difficult for his tall height to be imposing, instead making him look more like a scarecrow. To make up for that, he bore a striking series of tattoos on his skin and had piercings all over his ears and lips. He held himself with a theatrical air as he continued to speak.

  “I saw it with my own two eyes, those two little rats calling someone on their phone.” He said, leering at Michael as he made his way over to the white-haired girl.

  His lanky frame and strange way of moving did make him a little unsettling, though that effect was lost somewhat when he stopped behind the white-haired girl, as if using her as a shield.

  “And who else would show up except him? He must be in cahoots with them. An ally. He is no innocent in this war!” He cried as he pointed at Daniel on the floor.

  While the evidence was flimsy, the girl didn’t seem like she needed much of an excuse. Daniel thought quickly. He needed to maintain the idea that he wasn’t involved. As he stared at the menacing pair, he had a sudden epiphany. A master stroke that could very well be the ticket out of this situation.

  “Hey... is that your kid?” He asked suddenly.

  Everyone froze at the unexpected question.

  “You didn’t, like, kidnap a child and gaslight her into doing all this, did you?” Daniel said suspiciously. “This is way too weird to be real.”

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “What? No, no, no!” The man said, stomping his feet in frustration. “This is a holy war! Look at this alien technology! Look at the wonders wrought by her hands! The evidence is right before your eyes!”

  “I don’t know if it’s alien technology,” Daniel said, cutting him off. “I’m sure there’s some rational explanation behind it. But when you’ve got a kid here, and you’re after some other kids, it’s just a little...”

  “That’s not a child behind you, that’s a teenager!”

  “That’s what they all say.”

  The aggressive man clutched his head in annoyance.

  “ARGH! Endless Noise!” He yelled out. “My dear Ana, festoon this poor fool who dares claim-”

  His order was cut short by a choked scream as he suddenly fell on his side, legs twitching. Behind him, the creature emerged from invisibility. The girl whirled around as she heard the yell, coming face to face with the alien insect. While it was no longer transparent, its green and brown coat hid it well in the shadows cast from the trees above. The only things she could properly see were its long proboscis and shining black eyes.

  The girl took an instinctive step back. Behind her, Daniel got up with a relieved sigh. He took a moment to dust his clothes off before speaking.

  “Don’t make a move, or we’ll kill your partner.” He declared solemnly.

  Jumping backwards by several steps, the girl retreated to the side, keeping both him and her fallen partner within her line of sight. Her eyes darted back and forth between Daniel and the creature, her mind reeling in confusion.

  “We have you surrounded.” Daniel said, adjusting his tie. “Don’t do anything funny. His life is in our hands.”

  Michael quietly emerged from behind him, and Petra added to Daniel’s threat by aiming her wrist at the fallen man. The strange man was desperately reaching out towards the girl, as much as his slowly locking limbs allowed.

  “Help me, Ana...” He cried out piteously.

  The creature analyzed the fallen man with curious interest. The girl entirely ignored their statements, and the cord around her arm pulsed with life. The temperature dropped in the air around her as she glared at Daniel with cold fury in her eyes.

  “You... are a liar. You lied to me.” She hissed through clenched teeth.

  Cold sweat trickled down his spine as Daniel gulped. It looked as if she was angling to try and take everyone down with her if necessary.

  “I’m sorry.” He said quietly. “But I don’t want to get hit by your ice. And you don’t want to lose. We can all agree on that, can’t we?”

  The girl didn’t move, and didn’t stop her device, but the anger in her eyes faded into a more calculating light. Daniel took this as a good sign and called out to the creature.

  “Tabitha, come here.”

  The creature, inspecting the fallen man’s leather jacket, looked up at his call, but didn’t do anything afterwards. Daniel sighed in frustration and made a beckoning gesture. It seemed to get the idea, and jumped from the man’s back, fluttering its wings for a moment to extend its jump. It soundlessly landed by his side and began cleaning itself. Daniel could only shake his head as he looked down at it. He had not trained the creature to respond to the name he had given it, nor had he used it much with the creature.

  The girl watched the entire exchange silently, never letting her guard down. Daniel gestured at the fallen man.

  “Go ahead, pick him up.”

  The white cord around her arm powered down slowly, and she approached the strange man cautiously, eyes set squarely on Daniel’s group. She gingerly wrapped the man’s torso with her cord, managing to easily lift his body, which must’ve been at least 3 times her size. Then, she began retreating into the forest, being careful to never show her back to the group. The last they saw of her was her piercing blue eyes, glaring fiercely at Daniel, before she turned around and dashed away.

  As soon as she disappeared, Michael sagged down to his knees on the forest floor.

  “God, that was close.” The boy sighed.

  “You said it.” Petra said, slumping in exhaustion in the teenager’s pocket.

  “Hey, how’d you guys even get wrapped up with someone like that?” Daniel said, turning to the fallen duo. “You should’ve been keeping your head down, after...”

  “She’s the one that picked a fight.” Petra huffed. “I have no idea how she found us.”

  “Well alright, I guess... But what now?”

  “I’m not sure. My phone is broken...” Michael said, holding up the shattered device.

  There was a large and conspicuous hole in the top half of the phone, and the fragmented surface was slightly wet. A clear indicator that one of the little girl’s icy spears had done the deed.

  Daniel’s phone remained unbroken. But who should he call? Well, he only really had one choice, he just had to be prepared first. The young man took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly, before taking his phone and dialing the number.

  “Hey Sammy, I have a bit of situation here...”