Chapter 1: Swallowed Whole

For once Delilah Carne woke up optimistic. Today was her day. Her day an average Monday to anyone else as the start to her week, an average and unassuming one in the third quarter of October, just a week away from Halloween. To anyone else this week would be another in the 52 that dragged on every year for eternity and back but to the students of Bellswan High school it was science week which ended on Friday with the yearly science fair, and for Delilah it was her one moment in the sun. Delilah was short, fat, and dreadfully plain. She didn’t even possess the curves that would normally come with weight gain and was often confused for a boy at first sight. She’d grown her hair out to fight this but the curly afro that it created often only added to the misconception and for the first week of high school too many students “accidentally” called her Daryll instead. Her short stature and average looks meant that of course she wasn’t popular. She didn’t receive attention from boys and often faded into the background. That would all change this week.

Delilah never considered herself very smart, but she often happened to be at the head of the class. Her only gift in life was that she paid attention and worked hard. Other people were just lazy, coasting by on their looks or charm. She didn’t have those qualities, she wasn’t hot or funny or even very clever, but she worked her ass off in school and the fruit of her effort were finally blooming. She’d completed her invention. After continuous work since her freshman year and many scraped prototypes she had completed it. A grand invention that would change the world forever, or so she believed. Afterall it wasn’t everyday someone discovered a gateway to another world.

Delilah sat eagerly at the front of her class as her ageing professor rambled on about theoretical physics. It was review mostly but she was studious enough to at least compare his lecture to her own meticulous notes. She occasionally copied down his different scratches on the whiteboard as he mapped out the geometry of a wormhole. It was just busy work until the start of her moment would come. Soon the class would have to present their projects. It was free form, most students would opt to right a paper elaborating on different study topics or perhaps start one of the rudimentary experiments outlined in the textbook, but for her it would be a proof of concept. The benefit of waiting for three years to show her work. She would present her theory, people might laugh, even think she was crazy, but the kernel of interest would be planted. By the time Friday came the school would be abuzz with rumors and even if they were negative people would show up if only to laugh at her failure, but it wouldn’t be a failure, not this time.

“Okay class.” The professor rasped with a wheezy cough. Delilah had seen the greying man smoking between classes and she often wondered if the cigarettes had taken their toll. “It’s time…” he continued.

Delilah caught her breath in anticipation. She was weighing the options of waving her hand and volunteering to present first versus saving the best for last.

“For a special announcement.” he spoke.

She would wait till the end. Keep the memory fresh in her classmates heads to gossip about the crazy girl in the hallway. She’d get mocked of course but she was used to it.

“We have a new student joining us today.” The professor finished before nearly keeling over in a coughing fit. “Excuse me.” he stated. “We have a new student joining us today!” He repeated with more enthusiasm. “Her name is Elixsana Mara Evercrest and if you haven’t seen the news last night then this might come as a surprise.”

Delilah wondered what kind of name Elixsana was when the door opened. In walked two uniformed police officers. The first one came in and gave the room a once over before the other walked in carrying some sort of elaborate device that looked like a grand palanquin but it was the size of a toaster. A small shadow could be seen fidgeting from behind the pink satin drapes of the tiny furniture. Both officers stepped in line on either side of the front desk before placing the palanquin down. A few seconds passed as the class watched with trepid curiosity. Then she stepped out. A girl, except she was the size of a doll.

“Elixsana here is a princess.” The professor finally continued. “A princess from another world.”

“Please just call me Elis.” The princess bowed to the class. With Delilah’s poor vision it was hard to make out Elixsana’s features from her distance on the desk but her voice was surprisingly clear in a mysterious phenomenon that defied logic. Delilah couldn’t believe it, such a tiny person couldn’t exist in real life but there she was as clear as day. “I look forward to getting to know you all and meeting someone special.”

The class was dumbfounded as nearly a minute of silence passed.

“How is this possible?” Delilah asked to herself. Was she really from another world? The same world that-” She was losing focus. She couldn’t be distracted by this new development when her moment was fast at hand. The “princess” was just a momentary speed bump, this was still her moment.

“Now class if you could open up your ears for a few moments? Officer Hendrickson would like to go over some protocol for how we are to treat our new guest.”

“Ummm, Mr. Kindred?” Delilah summoned the courage to sheepishly raise her hand before the officer could start talking.

“Yes, Ms. Carne?”

“What about our project?”

Some of the class groaned at this and one of them even sneezed in a manner that suspiciously sounded like the word “nerd”.

“Umm, yes. I’m sure the officer will be brief. We will address that next.”

The officer was not brief. By the time he had reached the near end of meticulously explaining all the different scenarios and protocols for how to treat the tiny transfer student the end bell for class had rung and the projects were postponed until the next day. Hearing the bell was enough to spur a flood of students to leave. Her moment had been put on hold. Delilah grabbed her bag and shuffled out the class passing a small group of the more curious students who were busy questioning the tiny. Delilah gave her a passing glance and princess Elixsana waved at her with a pleasant smile. Delilah had to wonder if such a small being was really worth all the fuss.

Delilah moped outside her locker. She had an upper locker and she was just short enough that opening it was a hassle. She wanted to put her notebook and textbook away and get ready for her next class but the mixture of frustration and depression had zapped her energy.

“Can you move, please!” She heard in an irritable tone. It was her locker mate Lupa a statuesque latina that was assigned the locker below hers. The irony of their locker assignment was not lost on either of them. She huffed and tapped her foot impatiently as Delilah fumbled with her lock. “Hurry up!” She barked. This only made things worse. Delilah wasn’t great in stressful situations and it didn’t help that Lupa was a bit of a thug.  She had blue dyed hair in a half cut, tattoos, a leather jacket, and basically everything else that told people she wasn’t to be messed with.

“Sorry!” Delilah croaked as she continued to fiddle with her lock. The three digit code to her lock might as well have been a rubix cube with the amount of progress she was making in that moment.”

“Move!” Lupa said shoving Delilah aside. “I don’t have time for this!” Delilah fell flat on her back and Lupa gave her a slight look that almost registered as remorse before swearing in frustration and opening her locker. When she was done. She slammed her locker closed and just shook her head at Delilah who still laid prone and scared. “Be faster next time!” she sneered before storming off.

Delilah was nearly on the brink of tears. It was a brief and ultimately harmless interaction. She was physically fine and felt a little silly for being so emotionally fragile but things had already went so poorly today that it was becoming a little too much to bare. She just wanted to head home and start over tomorrow.

The next day Delilah had decided to curtail her expectations a bit. Upon returning home she had learned on a lengthy new broadcast that princess Elixsana wasn’t human, which seemed obvious based on her size, but what was mildly shocking was that she was not the only one. She was a princess after all which implied there was a kingdom. A kingdom of what the media had coined as elves. While the new report did take measures to clarify that wasn’t how the species designated themselves humans alway clung to what was familiar to them, and so it was on Tuesday morning Delilah found herself sitting next to a genuine elf princess in her theoretical physics class.

The princess had fair skin almost as white as a pearl, a stark contrast to Delilah’s own blotchy off brown. She had beautiful silken hair the color of honey, and bright almost crystalline blue eyes that even Delilah could discern from behind her thick rimmed spectacles. In every way this princess was the exact opposite of her from her pearly white teeth to her pointed ears. The term elf did indeed seem fitting for her kind as she resembled the mythical fae creatures almost to the exact detail.

Princess Elixsana smiled at her. “Good morning!”

Delilah turned her head. Had she been staring? She couldn’t afford to get distracted She had a moment to create. Elixsana had already stolen the attention yesterday, but now was her chance. She would finally reveal her discovery, her invention, her portal to-

A chime rang through the school signaling an announcement. The melodic voice of the schools principal said. “I apologize for interrupting your classes but we have an important and exciting announcement to make. The annual school science fair has been cancelled.” A few whispers could be heard and more than few cheers as well. Delilah’s blood ran cold. “In light of our new students and the exciting times we live in the PTA with my full support has decided to forgo our science fair for what we are calling species interaction week. I’m sure our wonderful students will be eager to use this opportunity to learn and forge lasting bonds with our newfound brethren. More details will be announced in a mandatory assembly after lunch. While the rest of the class felt relieved Delilah was having trouble feeling anything. This couldn’t be happening!

“Mr. Kindred! What about my project!?”

“I suppose it will have to wait until next year.” he mused.

But there was no “next year” for her. She was a senior. She would graduate this year. No science fair this year meant...no moment for her.

Delilah did not go to school on Wednesday. Instead she opted to seclude herself in her garage. Her family didn’t care. She was the middle child of three children a brother being both her senior and junior. Her older brother was twenty-five, had three children with different women, and was an unemployed deadbeat. Her older brother was only ten, but he was a nightmare getting in trouble often at school for anything from pranks and bad grades to outright fist fights including punching a teacher. Compared to them she was an angel and her mom and dad didn’t even question when she said she didn’t feel like going to school that day. So she chose to work on her invention, the gateway to another world.

Truthfully she didn’t know if it was actually a portal to another world. Her device was an elaborate metal contraption that generated electricity and spun it so fast that the feedback loop actually created polarized exotic matter capable of maintaining a hole in space. She didn’t create a wormhole as much as the key to open it. She’d only tried it once, the whole was the size of a penny, and it had taken so much energy she had accidentally knocked out the electricity in the entire neighborhood. If she was being honest she wasn’t sure she hadn’t hallucinated the whole ordeal, but her math checked out. She’d posted her findings online and some academics had even validated her equations were correct...in theory. Until now that was all the idea of wormholes was, a hypothetical theory that could be proven with numbers but didn’t exist in real life. Well until Monday elves didn’t exist either. Today she would try again and this time she would film it.

Filming something was obviously not as good as a live demonstration. She had plans on posting it to Youtube but there was a hint of doubt in the back of her mind. If she could even film this event, if she could actually get it to work again, would anyone even believe her. For now Delilah pushed that thought out of her mind. Fortune favored the bold! She knew she wasn’t bold but she could pretend just for the chance of reclaiming her precious moment of glory. She set up her tiny digital camera on a tripod in the corner of her garage. She flipped the switch on her machine and….nothing happened. This was not unexpected. She’d flipped this machine on more than a hundred times since the first incident with the same effect. She had yet to discover the conditions that created the first portal which only added to her doubts, but she KNEW she had done it. She refused to believe she was so depressed it had manifested itself in crazy delusions. She worked for this. The machine started to hum.

Currents of electricity bounced between metallic spiral coils that crudely mounted the outer ring of the apparatus. It began to spin counterclockwise as a smaller ring spun opposite to that. A crackling sound spit the air and she could feel the hair on the back of her neck start to rise. At least it turned on.

The waiting was the hardest part. Another reason she had chosen to be truant from school. Generating enough energy was a hard enough feat in and of itself let alone shattering the laws of physics. After more than three hours Delilah felt a yawn escape her lips. Another hour and her eyelids had gotten heavy. Fifteen minutes after that and she was micro sleeping her body jerking to alertness as the machine continued to hum and spin. Another two minutes and she was asleep.

When Delilah’s eyes opened she knew she was dreaming. She’d fallen asleep in her garage and had instead woken up in a field of flowers. The plants were odd in color and hue indistinguishable between purple and pink. The stems glowed green and blue and as the wind blew scattered bright glowing pollen through the air. She rose and took in her surroundings, she didn’t know this place. It was foreign to a degree beyond recognition, like every aspect of this world operated on a different set of fundamental rules. The sky was dark blue and speckled with red light. Stars maybe? Three orbs hung in the celestial framework. One large and white with a large scorched scar down it’s middle that made it look like an egg cracked in half and two smaller ones of green and yellow that circled it. Moons maybe? At least that’s what she thought they were, but one could never apply logic to dreaming. Chances are she wouldn’t even remember any of this. Then she felt something.

It started as a brief dizziness, a faint lightness in her head. Then it advanced to a buzzing in her ears. Soon it was a full on headache and she felt like she would pass out. She fell onto her back and rolled onto her side scattering the glowing pollen about. She was covered in it. Her world went black.

“YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE!” She heard in a voice so loud it caused her to vomit. She lurched onto her back and spasmed wildly before finally passing out completely.

She’d fallen asleep, not only that but while sleeping she had apparently rolled off the garage couch and ended up face first on the cold concrete floor and to add insult to injury her machine had turned off! A failure in the most purest definition of the word. She gave herself a once over completely fine from tip to toe. No vomit, no residual pain in her head. She wondered why she’d had such a strange and traumatic dream, but she had more pressing concerns. Her machine had turned off. At least this time the house still had power but unfortunately while she was napping the coils that conducted the electricity had fried to a blackened crisp. She gingerly touched one only to witness it crumble into metallic dust. Those were made of silver! She didn’t have enough money to replace those! Not on such short notice! It had taken a year of allowance and an embarrassing side job to pay for one.

“Fuck!” She cursed and slammed her hands into the machine kicking up a cloud of metallic dust. Her nose twitched. She felt the sensation of a sneeze building as the fumes burned her nostrils.

“Ah-ah-....” She held her nose to stop the sneeze. The sensation subsided. “AH-CHOO!” she sneezed violently expelling a gust of air from her lungs and through her nose and mouth. Of of it emerged not a plume of possibly toxic metal dust but a thin cloud of luminescent pollen.

Thursday morning and Delilah was checking her newly founded Youtube page as she walked into school. The species interaction initiative was in full swing as crowds of students were sectioned in a designated mingling area to safely chat and get to know their new elfen friends. Delilah paid no mind as it was entirely voluntary only incentivized by extra credit she didn’t need. Besides she couldn’t find it in herself to actually want to interact with this new species. Not when their mere existence had made life so much more difficult for her. For instance now on the apex of her finest hour, thanks to an insane stroke of luck that must have used up her entire life’s supply, she had succeeded! She’d created the portal once more and not only that but she had caught it on tape. After sifting through hours of footage spurred on by the discovery of the pollen which she of course collected and sealed in a sterilized jar she come upon the video evidence. A portal of swirling electrical energy had opened in her garage and sucked her into another world! That strange field of flowers was another world! She posted an edited version of the footage creating a Youtube account in the process. She’d stayed up late just to do it and was eager to see how many millions of views she would have the next morning. Only there weren’t millions, or thousand, or even a hundred, not even a dozen. In the eight or so hours past her midnight posting she’d received nine. Nine views and two comments. The top of which said “FAKE” in all capital letters and the bottom which said “Nice CG”. No one believed her. No one even saw it. She didn’t actually expect to become internet famous overnight but nine views was absolutely pathetic much like the rest of her life. And now her machine was broken and she couldn’t afford to repair it. She couldn’t imagine things getting much worse.

“Hey.” She heard in a male voice that knocked her out of her depressed stupor. She wasn’t paying attention where she was walking and had bumped into someone. Someone she knew. “Delilah?” The boy said. He was tanned with crew cut hair and a jaw that was starting to square into that of a man. It was Rocko Whitney Martinello. A childhood...acquaintance. Delilah didn’t have friends, not in high school. It was more like she had people who remembered her when she was a foot shorter and a hundred pounds lighter.

“Sorry, Rocky.” She said using his middle school nickname, from back in a time when they used to play Yugioh together in the library. That was more than a foot ago for him as he was far taller now and almost handsome. Too good looking to give her the time of day. He’d gotten height and muscle in high school like most boys did and apparently it was enough to become a second string running back on the school football team. Not a star player but enough to have his share of admirers. Admirers who criticized him for even talking to her which is probably why they didn’t hangout anymore.

“I’m sorry to.” He replied.

“For what?”

“They cancelled the science fair. I know that’s like your thing right? You must be bummed.”

Delilah was surprised he’d even know that. Why was he even talking to her? He rarely spared more than a passing “hello” or “good morning” most days even if that did qualify him as one of the few people that regularly even acknowledged her.

“Don’t start feeling bad for me.” Delilah huffed. “I don’t need your pity. It’s not your fault a bunch of little pests suddenly appeared and the world decided to just bend over for them.”

“You don’t really mean that.” Rocko said. “The elves are cool. You’re just pissed right?”

“And how would you know?!” Delilah snapped. “This is the longest conversation we’ve had in weeks!” Delilah went to move past him when she felt her arm was caught.

“Look I know we haven’t talked in awhile.” Rocky blushed as he let go of her arm. He looked away and rubbed the back of his neck. “I haven’t been a good friend, but we are still friends...at least I think so. If you’re having problems you can talk to me about it.”

“Just leave me alone, Rocky.” Delilah sighed. “It’s what you’re good at.” Delilah walked off and this time Rocko didn’t stop her.

Delilah was irritated, at her unprovable triumph, at her conversation with Rocky, and most of all at her new deskmate the elven princess Elixsana. They were sharing desks as class attendance was full today bolstered by the new elven guests. The princess smiled and waved with the casual regality of a practiced monarch. She was so graceful she could make taking a shit seem sophisticated and Delilah was almost suffocated by her proximity. It disgusted her. How could she be intimidated by someone so tiny, especially with the hate brewing in her heart. Part of her knew it was displaced, it wasn’t technically Elixsana’s fault the school decided to cancel the fair, but that didn’t change how she felt. She felt the urge to just crush the pointy eared pest like a bug under her heavy science textbook but that urge was immediately quelled with but a glance and a sideways smirk. The princess regarded her like she could read her thoughts or sense her brief killing intent.

“No wonder they didn’t like you.” She said with a grin.

“What?” Delilah whispered, but the princess didn’t respond.

The class went on like always with the professor lecturing a significantly lighter lesson plan what with most scholastic responsibilities being put on hold for the oh so wonderful elven invaders. Delilah had yet to see what the hype was about. Did they crap gold or something. The princess was pretty to look at but she could easily see this tiny thing better off as a pet than some holier than thou mystical creature. What exactly could they do? The princess herself stood no more than four inches tall. That had to be a hindrance in a human sized world. She was no more than a disabled.

To Delilah’s absolute chagrin she was forced to share her notes with the princess. She didn’t know why, it’s not like anyone was expected to do homework this week. Still she had to oblige if only as to prevent herself from causing a scene in class and being ostracized even more.

“These notes are quite impressive.” the princess commented.

Delilah only grunted in response.

Eventually she was called up to the front of the class to explain an equation that had to do with Einstein's theory of relativity. His work was actually the foundation for her discovery. Proposing that the universe and the space within it was malleable and relative to time itself. She solved the equation as best she could only once getting corrected by the professor not on her answer but on her rational of it. When she turned to her desk she saw something that made her blood boil. That little princess casually perusing through her notes. Not her class notes but her notes on the portal.

“No!” Delilah shrieked as she scrambled to her desk and snatched the notebook away also lifting the princess in the process. The tiny elf shrieked causing Delilah to freeze mid action and watch as the panicked royal dangled by the loops of her notebook. Delilah was locked on her miniscule figure so frail and at her mercy. Her thin twig like legs dangling so rapidly that they blew up the hem of her dress and revealed her lace panties underneath. She was more pathetic than even Delilah herself. How could such a small thing so easily ruin her-

“Ms, Carne!” Professor Kinded shouted.

Delilah snapped back to reality.To her great dismay all eyes were on her with shocked or infuriated expressions.

“Put her down now or your just asking for suspension!” The professor warned.

“But she-!”

“Now!” he bellowed.

Delilah slowly and deliberately placed her notebook and the princess down on her desk and took her seat.

“I apologize, Ms. Evercrest.” the professor said. “If you would allow I can have you relocated away from Ms.-”

“That won’t be necessary.” the princess cut off. “I was the one being rude and snooping through her things. Just because I’m a princess doesn’t mean I have the right to invade others privacy.”

“That is remarkably understanding of you your highness.”

“Your highness?” Delilah scoffed internally. Since when had that happened. Last she checked the lived in a free country.

“The title is not needed.” Princess Elixsana insisted. “Just call me Elis. And I beg all of you do not blame dear Delilah for my personal blunder. For it is through forgiveness and understanding that I hope our two races can learn to love each other and coexist.”

The room actually applauded.

When class ended Delilah was about to skulk her way out of class as quietly as she could when to her surprise the princess requested her to wait.

“What?” Delilah whispered.

“You are very close.” the princess smiled. “Your portal I mean. I didn’t know humans had advanced that far.”

Delilah narrowed her eyes at the sprite. She’d read that far that quickly.

“You’ve seen the other side right?” Elixsana asked. “Did you like the flowers?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Delilah lied.

“Hm. Of course not.” The princess smiled. “I would like to see it.”

“Why should I let you-!” Delilah caught her voice before she snapped at the princess that had earned so much of her ire.

“No!” Delilah hissed.

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t like you!”

“Why not?”

“Because-!” Delilah stopped herself. She couldn’t explain. She was ashamed of how she felt and too proud to admit it.

“Is that all?” Elixsana said. “I can have that arranged easily?”

Delilah was unsure what the elf meant.

“The science fair. It’s back on...and don’t worry about the silver coils either. Just bring the device. Tomorrow.”

‘I….what?” Delilah muttered.

“I’m counting on you Delilah Carne.” The princess said before having herself carried out by a young woman that must have been a friend. That’s when Delilah had noticed a small entourage of students waiting for her, most from that first group of chatters. “I’m very much looking forward to what you can show me!”

6:00 am Friday morning, Delilah found herself hauling the parts of her machine toward the school auditorium where the interspecies interaction event was being prepared. She couldn’t fit all of the parts on the morning bus and her parents weren’t going to drive her so she had to use her youngest brother’s old Tonka tough wagon to drag the equipment the mile and a half to school. She wasn’t in the best of shape either so that alone took nearly an hour of walking which left her tired and sweaty even in the chilled 56 degree autumn air. Holding on to just a fraction of hope that this wasn’t some sort of ruse. A practical joke by the princess at her expense.

She was surprised to find the school open so early. It wasn’t uncommon for students to be loitering around before school started and even faculty in the building but the place was already alight with activity. More students than should ever be there this early and teachers, and parents, and what seemed like even just common passerby,all busy setting up something far grander is scope than what the science fair would’ve been. Delilah had been to despondent and bitter to even bother caring about this interspecies thing all week but she was starting to feel like she was missing out. This seemed more akin to a festival than a simple school held event. The science fair maybe got a hundred people in attendance besides students who were required to attend at least for a little while, this interspecies thing seemed to have attracted nearly the entire town.

“Delilah Carne!” She heard in that willowy, serene voice that defied all logic. Both quiet yet fully discernable despite its owners minor scale. “Delilah! Over here!”

Delilah wasn’t sure where the princess was calling her from. Her poor vision meant she couldn’t see the pixie unless she was standing in front of her.

“The stage, Delilah dear! The stage!”

Delilah looked toward the large stage in the center of the room. The school’s auditorium had a unique set up where the stage actually rose from a compartment in the center of the room with moveable bleachers that were often placed around it for assemblies. That seemed impossible though. The stage was at the center of the room and she had only just made it through the front door. How could such a tiny voice project so far?

“We’ve cleared a spot for you, Delilah!”

Delilah discarded her disbelief at the situation and dragged her equipment toward the stage. When she got there the princess greeted her from the palm of another of her growing band of admirers.

“Do you need some assistance setting things up?” She asked.

“I doubt you would understand or even be capable of helping me-”

The princess snapped her fingers and her entourage went to work moving her equipment.

“Lupa, be a peach and help Delilah in anyway possible.”

Lupa! That’s when Delilah noticed the girl holding the princess was indeed Lupa. She didn’t recognize her because her hair wasn’t dyed anymore. Only a small streak of blue from it’s altered color remained. It was tied up in a bun and she was wearing a buttoned up shirt and skirt instead of her typical leathers. She still maintained some rebellion in the form of ripped leggings and black combat boots. How had such a transformation occurred in only a day?

“Shoulder please, Lupa dear.”

Lupa obeyed and stepped toward Delilah to place the princess on her.

“What?!, No! I don’t want you.”

“But how am I supposed to see your work?” Elixsana smiled like that was just an acceptable reason.

“Sorry.” Lupa said.

“It’s the princesses fault not-”

“Not for that.” Lupa clarified. “The other day I was rude to you….sorry. I was in a rush. It’s no excuse though.”

“Oh thats…..”

“Apology accepted!” The princess chimed in. “And now we’re all friends! Isn’t that great. Now let’s get to work!”

“I still need-”

“Oh! That’s right! The silver.” The princess snapped her fingers again and some students produced a clear plastic container. Delilah could see its contents without them even having to open it.

“I had it imported from my homeland.” the princess said. “I think you’ll be surprised by its effectiveness.”

“You actually got them?”

“Did you think I was lying, dear?” Elixsana asked coyly.

“I-I….I think I should get to work.” Delilah said with the slightest of smiles. Her moment, it was still within her reach.

It was the moment of truth. Her moment. The festival was winding down and a festival it was with games and prizes, food and entertainment both educational and for fun. It was a mixing of culture as the princess described. A way for humans to understand how elves or as she called her race “The esshanti” lived. The whole thing felt like a medieval fair to her. School for the day was apparently cancelled as students and town folk revelled together with the elves. Two out ot three people were either holding an elf or carrying one on their shoulder much like her and the princess, or gathering around a group of elves eating and singing if you could believe. All according to the princess’ design as she revealed she was the one who’d pitched the idea for a festival. All the while her machine was running in the background slowly building the power it needed to open a portal. As the sun waned in the sky close to setting a sizeable crowd gathered around the stage much larger than anything that would attend the science fair.

“Thank you all for gathering hear today!” The princess announced without the use of a microphone. Of course somehow the massive crowd could still hear her. Delilah wasn’t even surprised by that at this point. Perhaps it was some innate talent that the elves had? There was still so much she didn’t understand about them.

“I am proud to say one of your own has made a great discovery I would like to show you! A bridge between our two civilizations far greater than even the bonds forged today in festivities. For even as strong as the ties of friendship may be our two worlds thrive on the practical applications of ingenuity. With today’s discovering our horizons open to the possibilities of trade, commerce, cohabitation, and so much more. Now without further ado I would like to present Bellswan high’s own Delilah Carne! The genius inventor who single handedly discovered a portal between our two worlds!”

The crown applauded as Delilah came onto the stage with her machine whirling and humming behind her, crackles of electricity bouncing between the pristine silver coils as it spun faster than it ever had before.

“Ummm, hello everyone.” Delilah spoke quietly into a handheld microphone that she did need.

“Please speak up, dear!” Elixsana encouraged. “This is your moment!”  

“Yes!” Delilah beamed with an astonishing amount of newfound confidence. Time to seize it. “Over the last three years I used the knowledge and concepts taught to me to create this device in my garage. I would like to thank Mr. Kindred as well as the academics in the New United International Science forums for their critique and feedback. I would also like to thank the princess for giving me this opportunity to showcase my discovery!”

Over the next several minutes while the machine reached its apex of power Delilah went through a step by step explanation of how she created the device in excruciating detail. It was obvious most of her concepts and vocabulary flew right over the audiences head but the princess at least seemed to understand as well as some of the teachers.

“Thus creating a dimensional cross section for the exotic matter to form!” Delilah finished. With her last words the machine let out a loud whistling sound. The circles rotated even faster. Delilah’s eyes opened wide as she approached the device. This was it, just like what she’d seen in her video. The portal would open.

“Ladies and gentlemen and elves alike! I present to you! A portal to a new world!”

The machine whined and and sparks flew. The metal rings spun faster than Delilah even thought possible, she felt the hair rise on the back of her neck. Then she felt something smack her forehead. It fell into her hand. A loose bolt. Something was wrong. The machine rattled and shook under the strain of the rings rotations. It was generating too much power! How!? The only variable that had changed were the silver coils the princess had provided, but they were supposed to work better right? They were! They were working too well, conducting more electricity more efficiently than her makeshift machine could handle.

“No! This is wrong!” Delilah cried. She rushed toward her machine and pulled the plug to switch it off but it was still going! She reached for the coils but the heat from the electricity was too dangerous. She couldn’t touch it. The machine rumbled and swayed like it was about to capsize. Delilah took the risk and grabbed a coil shocking herself and searing her hands in the process. She had to try and stop the reaction before something terrible happened, and something terrible did happen. The machine exploded right in her face sending metal shrapnel flying in all directions and blowing metallic smoke in her face. The crowd backed away in fear at the small explosion. It wasn’t enough to be a true danger to anyone but her. Delilah cried as she wiped the black ash of her face. It stung with the specks of microscopic metal shards that had pierced her skin. She turned to the crowd to see a sea of eyes on her. Shocked expressions contorted in awe and fear and even a few laughs. Those laughs soon grew as the most uncaring of the student body took satisfaction in her humiliation.

“No, no, no!” she sobbed into her fingers that her moment had just slipped through.

“Enough!” The princess screamed her voice echoing against the walls of the auditorium. “Shame at all of you! How dare you ridicule one of your own for taking a risk! This demonstration is not over! While Delilah may have failed today her concept is still valid. All of you bare witness.”

The elf princess took center stage and spread her palms out wide to either side of her. “When the strings of two worlds align only I can open the door!” She spoke softly. Her eyes glowed and her palms sparked with electricity. “I am the key to the door of possibility and I demand it opens!” The electricity spun in the air much like that of her machine rotating faster and faster. The circle of energy widened in diameter revealing a window to another world. Behind it was a sea of flowers, glowing luminescent dust, a cracked moon. The place in her dream.

The princess opened her eyes and the portal closed, vanishing into thin air. She looked visibly tired from the ordeal. “As you can see the concept is indeed applicable in your reality, we only need to refine the design and-”

The crowd roared with applause and approval at the princesses accomplishment. “Princess! Princess!” They cheered.

Delilah nearly crumbled. “You….you could open one the whole time!” She’d worked the last three years just to open a portal the size of a coin and here this tiny creature had done a more impressive feat in an almost trivial fashion. She’d instantly gained the approval Delilah had spent her life searching for! Why had she even bothered working so hard! Being ignored, ostracized, isolated for just the chance at one brief moment of acceptance, of credit, of glory. It hadn’t just slipped through her fingers. Her moment had been stolen!

“Delilah, dear. Listen we just need to-”

“Stay away from me!” Delilah shrieked. She ran off amongst the loud cheers of the audience for the amazing princess Elixsana.

Delilah weeped alone in an empty hallway of the school. She could still hear the cheers of the the people in approval of their beloved princess. That cursed bug that had taken what was most important to her. It was all an act wasn’t it? A setup from the very start to steal her moment and completely embarrass her! Why? Why?! She openly sobbed into her scalding hands still damaged and numb from the electricity and the hot silver.

“That was a brave thing you did.”

Delilah opened her eyes to see the princess  standing at her heel and looking up past her knees into her eyes.

“You were trying to protect people and your hands got burned. The machine’s design was sound. I think with a little more work we can-”

“I said stay away from me!” Delilah screeched. “I hate you!”

“Dear, please. I know things went wrong, but-”

“You ruined everything!” Delilah roared. “You pretended to believe in me, stole my hope only to taunt me with it!”

“No!” the princess yelled back. “I that is not my intention I just-”

“If you don’t leave now I don’t know what I’ll do you little shit!” Delilah yelled harshly. “I don’t need your help! I don’t want it! I don’t need anyone! Go away!” Delilah closed her eyes and hunched in on herself to get away from the tiny horrid thing that had so viciously deceived and hurt her.”

Minutes passed without a word. Her harshness must have worked as she assumed the princess had left. How had she gotten to her so quickly anyway. Surely someone that small couldn’t move that fast. It didn’t matter. The elf didn’t matter. She didn’t matter. Her failure had cemented that fact in her mind. Maybe she could move on from this but she would never risk trying to accomplish something ever again and she would be perfectly happy if she never saw another elf in her life. That’s when she felt a tiny had on her cheek.

“I’m still here, Delilah.” the princess said. “I won’t abandon you.”

“I told you to leave.” Delilah rasped. “Why won’t you listen to me?!”

“Because I believe in you.” The princess said with a genuine smile. “I know you can do great things if you continue to try.”

“You just won’t listen.” Delilah said. “Because you don’t respect me, just like everyone else.”

“Delilah, please I want to be your-”

“You don’t care about me!” Delilah snapped. “You’re just trying to lure me ni, trick me, trap me!” Delilah grasped the tiny princess in her hand. She squeezed her tight in her fingers. “You’re a not an elf or a princess. You’re demon!”

“Delilah, control yourself!”

“But you’re tiny and weak.” Delilah said eyes full of sorrow and hate. “And I’m not going to let you hurt me again!”

The princess grunted in pain as Delilah’s grip tightened. “Calm down, dear. You’re not acting rationally. I’m not trying to hurt you.”

“You embarrassed me in front of everyone!” Delilah yelled. “I told you to leave and you won’t! Why?!”

“Because I want to help you, I want to-”

“Liar!” Delilah seethed. “You want to destroy me, but I won’t let you! If you won’t leave then I’ll make you leave….forever.”

The princess’ skin went pale if that was even possible with her complexion so light already. Hey eyes went wide as Delilah raised her enemy and brought her towards her mouth legs first. “Delilah, stop this!”

The giantess ignored the elfs plea and opened her maw to consume the elf legs first. She wrapped her tongue around the elfs feet and sucked her in up to the torso. Elixsana pushed in vain against the the lips of her devourer.

Delilah almost chuckled at her fruitless attempt, at how easy this was, at how powerful she felt for the first time in her life.

The princesses face went blank her pupils dilating she locked eye with the tearful, dreadful Delilah. “Are you my special one?” she asked.

“No.” Delilah muttered coldly. She then took the elven princess entirely into her mouth and savored  her taste. For a moment time froze as Delilah realized she had a choice to make. She could spit the princess out now and perhaps take this all back. Maybe the princess wasn’t lying, maybe she was a friend, but what if she was? No more risks. Never again.

Delilah swallowed.

Chapter 2: Where is she?

Delilah licked her lips as the princess slender formed passed through her throat. She could almost feel the elf land in the pit of her stomach, as a warm and fuller filling slowly rippled through her abdomen. She burped slightly, smacked her lips, and smiled………..then she came back to reality. What the fuck had she just done!?

“Oh no!” she screamed! “I just-I just-” She couldn’t even say it! She could actually feel the princess’ squirming inside her gut, her tiny hands pressing against the inner walls of her stomach. She had just..eat-eaten a living person. She had just kill-” No. There was still time. Delilah pushed herself off the floor with her still burning hands. She had to find a bathroom and reverse this situation now before it was too late! She scurried down the hallway as fast as her stumpy legs could carry her to the nearest women’s restroom. She gave herself a once over in the mirror, a truly pathetic sight, face scorched and covered in black ash, hair wild, eyes red, she hardly even recognized herself.

“Okay!” She said giving her face a slap. Then she pushed her index finger down her throat and gagged. Nothing came up. It wasn’t that easy to just vomit on command, she tried again and again slowly building a wave a nausea as she dry heaved over and over into the sink, generating more saliva that dripped into the bowl. A pain started forming in the pit of her stomach and she couldn’t tell if it was from her own efforts or the princess”. She lurched forward and finally expelled a small eruption of brownish-green, gooey bile into the sink.

“Princess!” she cried. She sifted through her own regurgitation with her pained fingers trying to find the small body of the princess, but there was none. She would have to try again.

Delilah slowly opened her eyes as the memory repeated over and over in her head with crystal clarity. That had been four hours ago. She hadn’t thrown up the princess. Not at the school not when she’d stopped on the side of the road while fleeing her crime scene, and not that night as she forced herself to expel multiple times in her own bathroom to the point of nearly fainting. The princess was gone, and she had killed her. She let that thought linger as she stared through the darkness at her ceiling. She tried to run through the logic, replay the scenario in her head. In a fit of anger and grief, she had swallowed princess Elixsana Mara Evercrest and failed to vomit her back up? How? It had been less than a minute between her consuming the princess and her attempt to undo her crime. She can’t digest something that fast, can you? She wasn’t a biologist, but she had to remember that the princess was part of an entirely different species. Perhaps her body literally couldn’t withstand the digestive power of her stomach acids.

“Just a sign of her own weakness.” Delilah gasped as that thought passed through her mind. How could she still be so bitter and hateful to someone whose life she’d taken? This wasn’t really her was it? She wanted to deny it but there was a certain, satisfaction in the realization that she could take a life, and in such a unique fashion. Eating someone. It was a power rush. The pure, animalistic instinct of taking satisfaction in eating something else. Princess Elixsana had been her prey, consumed for her nourishment. She had to smile at the fact that right now the princess was providing her with energy and nutrition, that the princess was literally a part of her, her smooth skin the color of powdered snow, her honey gold hair, and even traits that were intangible, her elegance and grace, her quiet and pure voice that projected so far, her genuine kindness, they were all now a part of Delilah Carne, and too her own surprise, she was happy about that, and that horrified her.

As the sun rose Delilah found herself having a surprising amount of energy despite the fact that she hadn’t slept a wink. The guilt coupled with the fact that she’d be going to jail soon gave her insomnia. She wasn’t an idiot, Elixsana was a princess, people would be looking for her. Everyone had witnessed the debacle at school yesterday. It was only a matter of time before people realized the precious princess was missing and Delilah would be the prime suspect. The only real question was how much time she had. A day? Maybe two? The police could be on their way right now, or perhaps they’d wait until she went to school on Monday and bust her in front of the entire campus just to make a scene. If she wasn’t hated already what little good reputation she possibly had would be shattered with her carted away for murdering someone in front of the entire student body. Wouldn’t that be great!?

She wouldn’t worry about it, or more accurately it felt like she couldn’t worry about it. After spending all night crying and laughing as her anguish and satisfaction warred with each other perhaps she was too mentally spent to fear for her future. She just, couldn’t care at that moment. Maybe she would when she was behind bars. She went to the bathroom to shower. She hadn’t actually washed since the explosion. She’d wiped her face, but black metallic soot still clung to her skin. Some of it reflected light and sparkled like glitter on her skin. She regarded herself in the mirror. She sighed at the wild mess that was her hair. The frizzles and curls shot out in every direction. She looked like a maniac. She resolved herself to forever have completely unmanageable hair, well except?.What? A tuft of hair above her forehead curled forward and swayed in front of her face like a leaf in the wind. Just great! Delilah licked her thumb and pressed it back. If bounced back in front of her face. She could just barely make out the shadow of it in front of her eye. She found herself laughing at this.

“Go, down silly!” she giggled. She hesitated. Why did she even care about this? She disrobed and hopped into the shower.

Twenty minutes later, Delilah emerged from the bathroom with a large beach towel wrapped around her waist. Then she screamed.

“Woah!” Byson screeched. “What the fuck!”

“Stop swearing!” Delilah yelled at her youngest brother. He was thin with short dreads and a Drake T-shirt on. Was Drake even still popular? “You’re ten...and get the fuck out of my room you perv!”

“Like anyone wants to see your fat ass!” Her brother taunted. “Dad said to come downstairs…..the cops are here.”

“What?!”

“Someone’s in troubllleee!” Byson teased.

“Get out!” Delilah screamed.

“Byson! Get your scrawny ass down here boy!” The voice of their father shouted eclipsing them both. Her brother visibly shook and darted away.

Delilah rushed to her window and sure enough a black and white was parked in her driveway. “Shit!” It was over already. For a brief moment she contemplated trying to make a run for it. Maybe she could crawl out the window and then climb down the wall and-. Yeah right? She lived on the second floor and had never climbed a day in her life. Even if she was an athlete which she wasn’t what were the odds of her escaping the pursuit of  a cop car? Then where would she go? She had nothing without her family. No that was a dumb idea, besides despite what she’d done she still felt like she was a good person, and good people took responsibility for their actions. Time to face the music.

Delilah walked downstairs ready to be cuffed and taken away from her life and family forever. She saw the uniformed officer in the room talking to her father of all people. The tall bald black man shook his head and turned toward her with a scowl.

“What have you done, girl?!” he  chastised. “You’re supposed to be the good one!”

“I’m sorry daddy?!” Delilah cried as she instantly broke down. “I didn’t mean to!”

“Joseph!” her mom’s voice echoed from the kitchen. “Don’t you put this on her!”

“It’s all that science shit, woman!” he barked. “Get’s people in trouble!”

“What?!” Delilah hiccuped. What about science?

“It ain’t her fault!” Her mother barked back. “Drew was there and he told me it didn’t even work!”

“Her older brother? What did he have to do with this?”

“We’re not trying to place blame.” The officer said clearing his throat. He was a well built man with short hair and a dusty black beard. She recognized him from that day in class when princess Elixsana first appeared. “We just want to ask her a few questions.”

“I ain’t letting you haul my baby away because of some science experiment!”

“Please, Ms. Calm down. We’re just trying to figure out what happened to the princess.”

Delilah jumped. This was about Elixsana! Of course it was.

The officer turned toward her. “The princess disappeared after the event yesterday. We’ve launched an investigation and we’ve found a few things.” The officer presented a plastic bag with a silver coil inside. It was glowing brightly much like the flowers from that mysterious field. “This is from your machine right?” The officer asked.

“Yes.” Delilah admitted. What did they know? Surely they didn’t guess that she ate the princess, right?

“We need you to come with us.” Officer Hendrickson said.

“No!” her mother shrieked.

“Relax, woman!” her father bellowed. “They can’t arrest her, right?” He shot the cop a look like he might attack him if he so much as reached for handcuffs.

“No we are not arresting your daughter Mr. Carne.” The officer assured. “We just need her to look at her device and see if she can get it working.”

Was that it? Delilah had to wonder what they were up to. So they thought her machine had something to do with Elixsana’s disappearance. Not her specifically. She wanted to sigh with relief but suppressed it to not look guilty.

“I-I’ll go with you.” she said. “I’ll try to get it working but I don’t know if I can. It didn’t even work the first time.”

“We appreciate your cooperation.” The officer said.

She waited in the auditorium behind a perimeter of yellow tape as no less than six officers searched the stage area. It seemed a little excessive for one missing person but Delilah supposed the princess deserved special treatment. She wondered if this many people would look for her if she’d vanished. Delilah slapped herself. She had to stop competing with a dead girl. She gave her machine an inspection. It was completely dead. The explosion had dislodged the bolts that held the metal rings in place.They were warped and bent and most likely wouldn’t spin the same way again. She doubted it even turned on at this point. She couldn’t repair it here, it would take time and money for replacement parts to get it working again.

“Can you fix it?” The officer asked.

“I..I’m not sure.” Delilah stuttered to him. “It’s broken, and I think some of the parts are missing. I don’t even half enough bolts here to put it together.”

Officer Hendrickson sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Knew this was a longshot.” he muttered under his breath.

“I-I’m sure I can fix it if I can take it back home!” Delilah offered.

The officer gave her a questioning look. He didn’t seem to believe her.

“Sure.” he eventually said. “I’ll see what we can recover first.”

Impossible! It shouldn’t have been that easy. It dawned on Delilah that they really didn’t think she was responsible. To the police, perhaps to everyone she was just a plain girl who had been embarrassed at the fair. Her device was just an improbable gamble. They didn’t believe her responsible or even capable of the princess disappearance. Hmmph! If only they knew. Actually? Why hadn’t she confessed yet? She wasn’t a cold blooded killer, just this morning she was struggling to even cope with her crime. She didn’t want to go to prison but she knew she was guilty and didn’t deserve to get away scott free. Now that feeling was starting to vanish, like maybe she was proving something to the world by escaping any repercussions. Little Delilah had gotten away with murder! That would show everyone! She kind of liked that idea.

She sat on a bench outside of the auditorium. Having nothing to offer at the moment Delilah was escorted out of the police’s quarantined area. She had her head down and shoulders slumped as she waited for them to scavenge as much of her device as they could. She sighed and let a small tear leak out. She hated herself. How could she even think such vile thoughts. She didn’t want to get away with murder or even be one at all. She’d eaten someone, killed them! She shouldn’t be happy about it or revel in the idea of being some secret criminal mastermind. Elixsana was gone, she probably had friends, family who cared about her. How worried must her parents be? Delilah sat in self loathing as she flip flopped back and forth about whether she should reveal the truth. Would they even believe her? How would she even prove that? All the evidence was literally down the drain by now or within her body itself. The disgusting thought of sifting through her own fecal matter for a corpse crossed her mind. She’d have to at least do that. Elixsana deserved to be given back to her family in whatever way possible. The dead should be honored.

“Gross.” Delilah cringed at the very thought. Doing something like that would just be the start of her punishment for this. She heard footsteps. She looked up to see Rocky of all people jogging toward her.

“Delilah?” He stopped jogging in place in front of her. He was dressed in a football uniform with cleats. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask the same thing.” she retorted sharply.

“Practice, duh.” He grinned. “You hear about what happened to that elf girl?”

“Not just an elf girl, ogre!” Delilah heard. That’s when she noticed a small being perched on Rocky’s shoulder. An elf. A boy elf. “She’s a princess, you savage!”

“Excuse, me!” Rocky snapped with his hands up in defense.

“Who’s that?” Delilah asked.

“Duke of Montgrad, Dartex Cavengold the third!” He announced. “First cousin to princess Elixsana!”

“Oh crap!” Delilah screamed internally. Someone directly related to Elixsana! What was he doing with Rocky.

“Before you say anything this isn’t my idea. He came here with Omar but the idiot got busted for joyriding and no one else wants to watch this asshole.”

“Watch your tongue, street trash!” Dartrex said. “My family can buy and sell yours a thousand times over. I’ve eaten meals more expensive than what your father makes in a month!”

“Rocky I don’t have time for this!” Delilah snapped. “The cops are-”

“They don’t think you had anything to do with that do they?” Rocky gasped.

“Why do you care?” Delilah asked with narrowed eyes.

“Please. We all saw that contraption blow up in your face quite magnificently.” Dartrex scoffed blowing some of his dark hair out his face. “I don’t know why Elis even believed in you or that thing, humans know nothing beyond their own narrow scope of the world.”

Delilah instantly hated this man. She wished she’d eaten him instead of Elixsana.

“I’m with you girl!”

“What?!” Delilah looked at Rocky. “What did you say?”

“Nothing.” He looked at her confused. “You okay?”

“I-uh..I’m fine.”

“Look don’t freak out about the cops. They know you didn’t do anything they’re just covering their bases. Everyone said the princess just vanished. Like into thin air.”

‘If that’s what you wanna call it.” Dartrex huffed.

“And ignore this guy!” Rocky added. “Not all elves are cool after all!”

“Rocky just-”

“I know, go away.” he said. Delilah flinched at his callback. “I like what you’ve done with your hair!” he said before running off.

“Huh?” Delilah watched him jog off slightly confused.

Delilah walked through her front door with a box full of scrap metal that the cops had recovered. Not nearly enough to rebuild her machine. She found her father busy hammering something into the wall. The house they had was old, from her grandmother and alway needed repairs. He looked at her with a brief expression of relief before it turned to his typical grimace. “Georgia, she’s back. I told you ain’t nothing happen! Girl even went and got her hair did!”

Her mom came rushing down the hall to hug her. “My baby!” she said giving her a kiss on the head. “You were taking so long I thought they’d put you behind bars!”

“They didn’t do a damn thing!” Her father growled. “She just went out dicking around instead a coming home and maybe keeping her parent from worrying.”

“I came straight home, daddy!” Delilah insisted. Why would he think she didn’t

“So you just gonna lie to my face, then?” He looked at her sharply. “You old enough for that already. Tryna be like Drew now? You gotta be slicker than that! I see your hair did, girl!”

“Nigga, that aint nothing but a bit a peroxide!” her mama shouted at her daddy. “You have a friend do that for ya?” she cooed. “My girl growing up a little, find a boy she likes?”

“You ain’t bringing no boys in my house!” her father roared. “I don’t need no more grandchildren yet!”

“Don’t listen to him, baby.” Her mama comforted. “He was more worried than anyone. Just remember to call next time okay.”

“Yes, mama.” Delilah said utterly baffled to what they were talking about.

When she got upstairs she knew. She stared at herself in her bathroom mirror. Her hair, the curl that she’d been having trouble with, it was now blonde. Light blonde, and not only that but more of it had fallen over her face during the day giving her a single blonde crescent shaped bang. How in the world had that happened? It needed to go. She searched her dresser drawers for a pair of scissors to just clip these strange locks. She didn’t know how it was possible. Had some of the glowing pollen gotten into her hair that time she’d went to the other world. She didn’t believe that as she’d meticulously collected all the samples. She checked to find them all still in a bottle under her bed. They glowed softly in the darkness. No it wasn’t the pollen. Then what? It didn’t matter. She just needed to get rid of it. She brought the scissor blades to her hair then stopped before cutting. On second thought it didn’t actually look that bad. Actually it gave her face a little contrast and maybe highlighted her few features she’d dare to call cute. She was cute afterall, not beautiful but cute. She was.

“How darling.” she said to herself with a chime in her voice. She curled the blonde follicles with her finger and let it bounce in a twirl. Yes she’d keep it.

That night after dinner Delilah stared up at her ceiling like she had the night before. She’d made a decision. She would confess. She would confess Monday morning, using the corpse she would “recover” from her next passing as proof and take whatever punishment fate decided for her.

“Are you sure you want to do that, dear?” she heard. “Especially since it involves something so...unsavory. Although I suppose it would be funny to watch regardless of whether you’d actually find anything.’

“What?!”

“Because it’s gone, dear.”She heard a laugh. Delilah looked for its source and found nothing. “You won’t find anything!” Delilah felt something on her chest. Then she saw it. n a hazy form, near indistinguishable in the darkness of her room, but it was there. Something? No. Someone. “Because you ate me!” cackled Princess Elixsana Mara Evercrest. “You ate me Delilah, dear! Don’t you remember? You bitch.”

Chapter 3: Guess Who

Delilah stared in horror at the giggling form of the pixie she’d so recently devoured. Her form both physical and faded, both there and not. Like an after image, yet as Elixsana laughed and bounced around on her gut, Delilah could feel every tender footstep.

“Oh! I’m sorry Delilah, dear!” Elixsana gasped. “I don’t mean to insult you. It’s just y’know? You ate me. It’s kind of hard not to hate you, just a tiny little bit.” She closed her thumb and index finger together so there was a imperceivable gap of space between them accurately symbolizing her amount of loathing. “I just wanted to be your friend. Really and truly. Although I suppose we’re a lot closer than friends now.” She laughed wickedly at this thought doing a cartwheel across Delilah’s tummy. That’s when she noticed Elixsana’s clothes. Faded, torn, the hem of her dress scorched and full of holes, a sleeve of her button up blouse completely gone and her arm bright red. Her hair was erratic and patch in places and part to her scalp was exposed in the front.

“How are you here?” Delilah rasped. “How are you still alive.”

“Hmmm, how indeed?” Elixsana smiled. “I do wonder? Though I suppose you would know more than me. It is your mind.” There was something off about the way she spoke, all sugary and harmonious, but there was a layer of resentment at the end of some words. Something was wrong.

“You’re not real!” Delilah said. “My mind’s just playing tricks on me.’

“Well you are going on your second night without sleep.” Elixsana informed. “Though I supposed guilt will do that to you. Maybe that’s what I am. Your guilt given form by your tortured imagination. Wouldn’t that be something?”

“I’m sorry!” Delilah cried. “I’m going to turn myself in! I promise!”

“Hush.” Elixsana dismissed. “I thought you were smart. What’s to be gained from that? Assuming you could even prove you ate me without a corpse. I suppose you have motive but how many people actually knew how much you hated me. I didn’t even know!...Well maybe that Rocko boy. We’ll have to eliminate him!” Elixsana ran her finger across her throat. “That’s the gesture right. It’s what a knife? You humans are so grim/”

“You can’t kill Rocky!” Delilah screamed.

“I was joking, dear!” Elixsana said. “How am I supposed to kill anyone? I’m dead!”

“I’m-I’m just talking to myself aren’t I?” Delilah whispered to the spectral form of a dead elf. “I’m insane.”

“Probably.” Elixsana shrugged. “But if it helps. I don’t want you to feel bad.”

Delilah regarded this crazy, imaginary, ghost elf with trepidation. How was she not supposed to feel bad. Surely Elixsana was here to torment her.

“I still need you, Delilah dear.” Elixsana said walking up the length of her torso toward her face. “I wanted to take it slow. Dip a toe in so to speak, but well we’re in the deep end now. Just jumped right in!”

“Elixsana please!?”

“And we have so much work to do!” Elixsana spread her arms wide and did her best to squeeze Delilah’s hefty cheeks. “This simply will, not, do.” She hissed. “You have to take better care of yourself. I do like what you’re doing with your hair though. Do you think you’ll go full blonde or just the highlight?”

“I-I didn’t do this.” Delilah squeaked,

“Or maybe like tiger stripes!’ Elixsana beamed. “That would be a bold statement!”

“You’re doing this aren’t you!” Delilah accused. “Stop. Please.”

“How?” Elixsana asked with a raised eyebrow. “I’m as clueless as you, dear. You have all the power here. Now turn over!”

Delilah strangely found herself complying. She turned and laid sprawled out on her stomach.

“What an ass!” Elixsana chirped. “Talk about a sleeper hit! No one knows about it because you wear such baggy clothes. What did this? Genetics, cinnabons?”

She felt a smack on the bottom. “Stop teasing me!” Delilah was in tears now. She was being tormented and now teased on the one aspect of herself she was most sensitive about. Her body image.

“Oh, no!” Elixsana gasped. “Shhh, shhhh, shhh, no tears now.” Suddenly she was in front of Delilah, wiping at a huge tear with her entire palm. “It seems we’ll have to work on that self confidence most of all. It’s okay, dear. We’re a team now. I believe in you.”

Delilah snapped up in a cold sweat. Her eyes were covered and she could barely make out anything in the dimness of her room. She pushed even more hair out the front of her face. Her body was sore and she felt hungry and hollow. Her arms and legs felt very tight, like her skin had been stretched and her head hurt. As horrible as she felt externally she felt in worse inside. She remembered everything that had happened last night. Whether dream or hallucination she had completely lost her mind. The toll of someone’s death clearly weighed on her soul. All that talk of Elixsana’s about not wanting her to feel bad, or working together, believing in her. It was just her mind trying to cope, make herself feel better for what she’d done, but there was no feeling better. She’d already made up her mind. She had just one more day of freedom before she confessed.

First thing she decided to do with her last day of freedom was do something with her hair. It was usually a mess but never a hindrance. It seemed to have completely deflated overnight. She didn’t have bangs so it was disorienting to have so much suddenly covering her field of view. She stood up from bed and immediately stumbled. Her feet had gotten tangled in her underwear. She groaned in frustration and embarrassment. She pulled them back up and went toward the bathroom and fell yet again. Her undies had fallen back around her ankles. What was happening? Her clothes were usually too tight! Her underwear often gave her wedgies even. She hiked her panties up as high as she could until they wrapped around the ponch of her gut. She gripped the folds of her belly. It didn’t look like she’d lost weight so what was the problem. When she got to the bathroom she found one. Her hair! What was formerly a wild and untamed afro had fallen down around her face, framing it in wavy locks down past her ears. Just a few random strays held out around  the back. She had to tie them down into a ponytail with her scrunchie. That did nothing to fix the front. What was once a small crescent bang of blonde had become a hard line of yellow down her face from front to back. It was like a racing stripe. This was horrible! So why was she smiling?!

Delilah couldn’t fight it. Her lips curled up in a grin at her hair’s new form. She should be freaking out. This was beyond explanation. Her parents would ask questions. Her father had jumped to his own conclusion before, but what now. This was too dramatic a change to happen overnight.

“You worry too much, dear.” She said to herself. “Best just to roll with it. Besides no one will care.” True enough. No one really noticed her. Her family cared about her when she was gone but were also happy enough to let her drift about. Maybe she could make something up. Girls changed their hair on a whim all the time. It wouldn’t be a problem. She just knew it. She decided not to think on it anymore and brush her teeth.

She actually felt pretty good after finishing her bathroom time. Her arms and legs still felt pretty sore but in a nice kind of way. Like her body was taking a long stretch after not moving for an extended period of time. She hummed to herself as she strolled passed Byson and Drew arguing in the hallway bathroom.

“It’s my turn!” Byson whined kicking at their older brother. Unfortunately Byson was ten and Drew was 25, well over six feet, and built like a linebacker.

“Too bad, shrimp.” He laughed as he scrubbed his ivories. “Try again when your balls drop!”

“I hate you!” Byson screamed. She was thankful she didn’t have to share one like they did. The perks of being born a girl.

“Damn!” Drew shouted with his mouth foamy with toothpaste foam. “What happened to you?”

“Hahahahahahaha!” Byson started a laughing fit occasionally looking at her before starting again.

“What?!” Delilah said defensively. “I’m just trying something new with my hair!” She knew they would notice!

“No one’s talking about your hair.” Drew said shaking his head. “You get laid or something? Cover that shit up! There’s children present.”
Byson laughed even louder.

“Fuck you guys!” Delilah shrieked. What a couple of assholes. She really hated her brothers sometimes. Just when she was starting to feel a little bit better about herself they alway found a way to break her back down. She stormed down the hallway making audible thumps with her footsteps.

“Where’s the fire, Lilah.” Her mother asked. Georgia was a well built woman, almost six feet tall with very thick or as a man would say “thicc” legs. She used to do track in high school and strip in college if her father was to be believed. This left a rather curvy woman who looked like she could hurt you if she tried, but whose best years might have been behind her.

“I wish I was born an only child!” she raged. “Drew’s making fun of me because I’m fat!” So what is her belly stuck out a little. It wasn’t an excuse to imply she was a whore! Was she not allowed to even be comfortable in her own home.

“Oh, child.” Her mother mused. “That’s not why he’s teasing you.” Her mother bent down and gave her a hug. Delilah felt a pressure on her chest as her mother pushed into her. A pressure she’d never felt before. It almost hurt. “You need a bra, honey.” her mother said as she stood back up.

“I am wearing a bra!” Delilah insisted, even though she knew she didn’t need one. It was more to cover her nipples than to contain the boobs she didn’t-....wait. She looked down towards her chest and the two sizeable lumps that had never been there before.

“What?!”

“It’s okay, honey. I always knew you were a late bloomer.” Her mama informed. “We’ll go shopping this morning. JOE! I need your wallet!”

“How about spending some of your own damn money for once!? You work!” Her father’s voice shouted from somewhere in the house.

“Don’t you raise your voice at me, motherfucker!” Her mother shouted back. “You must have lost your goddamn mind!” She marched off to find her husband and most likely fuck him. Everyone in the house knew why they really shouted at each other so much. Delilah inspected her chest once more. You could see them through the fabric of her white tank top. They pressed outward stretching the fabric enough to make them visible with the contrast of her dark skin. A problem she never had to worry about before because her shirts fit looser on her. That’s why Drew had teased her. Her goods were basically out on display for everyone to see. What was happening to her?

Delilah looked at her nude form in the full body mirror of a women’s boutique and was mesmerized. Her body had changed, she had curves, womanly curves! A subtle angle brought on not just by her newfound breasts but something more. Her legs seemed more sculpted with rounder forms around the calves and thighs. Her stomach still full and heavy seemed to suck in slightly at the sides where her love handles were. She looked like a woman, a heavy woman, but a woman nonetheless. That plus whatever was happening to her hair and she was starting to feel good about herself. Maybe a boy would even look at her! She couldn’t wait to get to school! Something was wrong? She should be more worried than this. She couldn’t just forget about her experience last night or the unexplained change in her hair. That wasn’t a part of puberty she’d ever heard of, and why after nearly eighteen years did her figure decide to come in now?

“Don’t worry about it.” she smiled. “You look good, maybe even great sson.” Delilah felt her lips move but for some reason she felt like she hadn’t said that. “I deserve to look good.” After years of being ignored and having low self esteem she had earned a little bit of good fortune. What was she so pessimistic for? She was far from a supermodel. People would still probably look right past her.

“How you doing baby?” Her mother asked peering over the divider. The woman was tall enough to do that and Delilah found herself jealous. She wished she inherited either of her parents height.

“Mom!” She squeaked. “I’m naked!”

“You ain’t got nothing I haven’t seen before.” Her mom dismissed. “I changed your diapers missy. Now get ya ass in some undies so I can know how much I’m spending!”

“Yes ma’am.” Delilah blushed. She picked up one of the bras and a matching pair of panties. They fit better than the ones she’d worn this morning and she was shocked to see they were two sizes smaller than what she usually wore. Maybe it was just a quirk of the stores sizing system. She knew she hadn’t lost any weight. Not overnight, not enough to change her underwear size. Right? She fit on a bra that she actually needed for the first time in her life. She cupped her boobs. She smiled. They had support and lifted to create a nice bit of cleavage. Nothing remarkable but at least it was there.

“Feeling yourself now, hun?” he mom smiled down at her. “Don’t get to cocky! I ain’t ready for no grandchildren either!”

“Mom!” Delilah screeched.

Delilah collapsed face first on her bed after a busy day. Her mother had bought her thee new bras to wear now and a couple of more in different sized in case she wasn’t finished “growing” any bigger that that and she could just borrow from her mom directly. That’s not where the day had ended though. Her mom had dragged her around town running errands, grocery shopping, and stopping by the families salon to fit in a last minute client. She had to wait in an empty chair while a bunch of hens chatted while watching even more talk around a table on tv. She’d went for a walk and had gotten some attention for the first time in her life and not the kind you’d want. A man ten years her senior had spanked her ass. Her mother saw this and threw a hot iron at him. He’d called the cops, but since she missed no charges could be pressed, still it had drained Delilah’s energy.

“Humans are so barbaric.” She said to herself. She rolled onto her back and looked up at the ceiling. This was starting to become a habit but it was relaxing. She hadn’t thought of the elf all day. In fact she’d even forgotten to do her “dirty” work when last she’d used the facilities. That meant she had no proof to turn herself in with.  She knew that was probably a bad thing but she smiled anyway. For her last day of freedom it wasn’t a bad one and that’s all she could ask for. Tomorrow she would figure out a way to prove what she had done. Hell her hair probably proved that anyway. Elves also seemed to have powers of some sort or at least Elixsana did. Maybe that could help prove her case. Maybe they’d haul her off to the other world to face justice there. She imagined herself, a giant among an elven town, being hanged or beheaded surrounded by little people. It was almost funny, actually it was very funny! She laughed out loud.

“Absolutely ridiculous!” She said to no one. She took a deep breath. Clearly she still wasn’t all there. She probably shouldn’t be alone with her thoughts if she wanted to retain her sanity.

“Then let’s get to work.”

That’s right! Her device. The portal to another world, Elixsana’s world. It was broken but she still had the coils. If she pulled an all nighter maybe she oculd fix it! Even if she couldn’t it was better than sleeping, and in a way it made her feel a little better. Maybe she could gift it to the elves? Elixsana had said all that stuff about creating a bridge between their people, it wouldn’t make up for what she’d done, but as long as it helped someone she could use that to keep herself going as she rotted in an elf dungeon or a prison cell. She grabbed her box of recovered scrap and the jar of pollen under her bed and made a b-line for the garage. No time like the present.

“Good girl, Delilah dear. Good girl.”

Chapter 4: New You

Things were different. Everyone was staring at her. Was it her hair? She had gotten blonder again. Over half her hair was now a bright honey yellow. It streaked through her darker hair like little bolts of lightning. She’d tied it up behind her to try and have a more subdued look, but people noticed. Her family had noticed. She had to feed a lie that she’d been using her mother’s salon products just to get permission to leave for school. She was pretty sure her family didn’t buy it. The school was another thing entirely. Suddenly people were talking to her. Saying hello, complimenting her hair, waving, trying to initiate conversation she didn’t want. She couldn’t handle this sudden increase in attention. She was a wallflower by nature, and introvert. She had craved a moment of recognition but she never wanted to be famous, just noticed, credited, acknowledged. Well she was sure being acknowledged now.

“You’re Delilah right?” Some random girl she didn’t know asked. The girl had light skin and short raven hair combed to the side. She was tall and thin with thick rimmed red glasses that reminded Delilah of her own. Glasses she hadn’t worn since Friday. Did she not need them anymore?

“Yes.” Delilah answered.

“I saw your demonstration. Too bad about what happened.”

Here it comes. This girl was probably going to mock her failure.

“Can’t wait to see you try again!” the girl said before walking off to join her friends.

“What?!” Delilah asked herself.

Her first class went by without much trouble, although she did notice people actually talking to her. A boy asked her if she understood the subject matter and if she could explain it to him even though he hadn’t said a word to her since the year started. Someone offered her a pencil she didn’t need. It was all very strange. She tried to ignore it. She had to remain focused on her goal. She would turn herself in and hand over her notes on the portal machine. She couldn’t get the machine working last night even though she had been able to rebuild the frame. The rig turned on and the rings even rotated, but nothing had happened. She hoped that with her added notes someone could recreate the event. It didn’t make up for killing the princess and robbing the elves of a cherished monarch, it didn’t even ease her conscience, but it would have to be enough.

When class ended Delilah was the first one out. She wanted to get to her locker quick and retrieve her notes. Then she would go straight to the principal’s office and confess to everything, had over the device, and accept her punishment.

“It won’t work.”

Delilah turned around in a start. “Who said that?”

“Hey.” Lupa said down to her. “How’s it going?”

“Did you?” Delilah ate her comment. Lupa had almost a foot on her and was still very intimidating despite dressing more approachably. Delilah turned around and easily opened her locker and retrieved her notebook without even struggling for it. She slammed the door quickly and stepped aside.

“Don’t be like that.” Lupa said bending down to access her lower locker. “I thought we were square.”

“I just didn’t want to bother you.” Delilah muttered.

“It’s fine.” Lupa. “You wanna have lunch with me?” f

“I don’t-.”

“Mm-me and my friends.” Lupa added. She actually seemed a little uncomfortable. “I-I know you don’t normally hangout with anyone, and we’re not really that popular, but my crew is cool. They’ll like you.”

“I actually have plans.” Delilah informed. She was shocked to even get the invitation and any other day she would but things were different now. She didn’t deserve to have friends.

“Oh, your busy. I-I mean of course your busy!” Lupa blushed. “You’re doing all that important stuff with your machine. For the cops right?”

“How do you know about that?”

“The whole school knows the princess went missing. They just don’t know how. Some people think she went through that portal she made. They want you to try and make another one huh?”

“I mean…”

“It’s cool if you can’t talk about it.” Lupa said. “Just if you find the time, my tables open….or well we eat by the fountain actually so it’s not really a table.”

“I-(‘ll consider it.” Delilah said. She would be long gone by then. “Actually I’ll be there!” She heard herself say. She gasped and put her fingers to her mouth.

“Great!” Lupa beamed. “See ya there!” She started down the hallway.

“I just have something to do first so I might be late!” Delilah yelled out to her. Lupa waved at her and Delilah waved back. Why had she done that?

Delilah sat in a chair in front of principle Willow. Her named suited her because she was a thin and wiry as a willow branch. Her hair even fell down over her face blocking her eyes and draping her like the iconic weeping tree. No one ever actually got a good look at her face during the day because of this. Delilah only got a glimpse as her principal blew some bothersome strands out of her way only for them to fall back down a moment later. Delilah could sympathize with this woman considering her own recent hair problems. From her briefest glance she’d seen the principal looked far younger than she and possibly the entire school would expect. A woman of thirty years if not younger.

“What can I do for one of my lovely students today?” She said. Her hands clasped eagerly on the desk in front of her.

“I….have a..notebook to give you.” Delilah said trying to find the words. This was harder than she expected. She had no idea what would happen to her.

“Well thank you.” The principal said. “Why?”

‘Umm...it has my notes. On the machine I built!...I was hoping you could give it to one of the elves. Hopefully princess Elixsana’s parents.”

“I can probably pass it along.” Principal Willow said. “Is that all you wanted?”

“NO!” Delilah blurted. She fidgeted in her seat. Here it comes. “I-I...have a confession to make.”

“Hmm?” The principal raised an eyebrow as this visibly anxious girl in front of her. “Something wrong?”

“Yes.” Delilah whispered. “Terribly wrong…..I did something horrible.” Delilah paused and sucked in. “The princess. She’s missing because of me. I….I-I killed her!” Delilah confessed. She was almost proud of herself for having the courage. It was time to take responsibility.

“You...killed her?” The principal asked confused.

“Yes!” Delilah shouted. “She’s dead because of me!”

“How exactly did you…”kill” her so to speak?” Principal Willow asked. She didn’t seem very surprised or concerned. In fact she appeared rather amused.

“I ate her!” Delilah screamed. “I swallowed her whole! That’s why the police can’t find her. She’s gone!”

The principal stifled a laugh. “Ms. Carne, please. This isn’t something that should be joked about.”

“Then why are you laughing!?” Delilah snapped. “I killed her! I’m a murderer! I belong in jail!”

“Enough.” the principal said evenly. “I know there have been some rumors spreading and the police presence only stoked the fire but assure you everything is fine.”

“It’s not fine!” Delilah insisted. “I ate Elixsana, don’t you understand?! She-”

“Went back home.” principal Willow finished.

“What?”

“I received the call this morning from her parents. Opening that portal during your demonstration Friday was apparently very taxing for her. She went back to her world to rest. There’s a lot less pollution there which helps with her recovery. I was going to make an announcement this afternoon but it seems I’ll have to make it sooner.”

“But-but?”

“I know you’re worried, Delilah. The princess left quite an impression on us all in such a short time. Quite a remarkable feat for such a small one don’t you think?” The principal walked around her desk to place a hand on Delilah’s shoulder. “But you don’t have to make up stories. And don’t blame yourself. She’ll be back soon enough.” The principal winked at her then ushered her out the door. “Enjoy your lunch, Ms. Carne. I’ll make sure the Evercrests get your notebook.”

The door shut behind Delilah and she was left cold, breathless, and unable to blink.

“I told you it wouldn’t work.”

Delilah was mute as she stumbled around the school. Mute in voice and numb in mind. She was completely checking out now. A lyrical laughter was ringing in her ears as ambient noise emphasizing her dread. She was lost now. Unable to even pay for her crime, completely robbed of her reckoning. Her only hope now was in some higher power bringing judgement upon her.

“Calm down, dear.”

Delilah was no longer startled. She knew now she had been hearing things. The guilt had now followed her to school, no longer isolated to nights in her room the voice of Elixsana was tenacious enough to taunt her during the day. She would have no respite. This was her true punishment. The princess’ curse.

“Curse?! Someone’s dramatic!”

“Delilah! Delilah! Over here!”

Delilah’s head snapped toward the fountains. Lupa and a small group of girls were sitting on the red brick edge of the structure.  The founts spouted water one after the other in a precise rythm. It was probably the nicest installation at the school. Delilah wanted to ignore Lupa’s gesturing but her legs seemed to move on their own towards her.

“You decided to join us! Cool!” Lupa beamed. She was happier and more open then Delilah had assumed. She had built this whole persona of aloofness for Lupa that didn’t seem to be true. “This is Megan.” She said introducing the random girl she’d bumped into that morning. “And this is Reggie, my sister.” A girl that shared more than a few physical traits with Lupa casually stuffed a slice of pizza into her maw and grunted at Delilah. Her hair showed no sign of ever being dyed.

“You forgot about me!” Delilah heard. She then noticed a tiny girl sitting next to the pizza box. She wore an elaborate layered dress with ruffles, frills, and a pink ribbon wrapped around her waist. Her hair was pink as well, and she had fucking wings!”

“Oh, no.”

“I was getting to.”

“Posie Winterwyse!” the elf or well she seemed more like a fairy honestly. “At your service, princess.”

“Agh!” screamed a voice in Delilah’s head. “I hate her so much! Run! Run! Now!”

“I have to go!” Delilah said.

“Don’t you run away from me!” Posie squeaked she took flight, in a blink she was in front of Delilah’s face, adeptly cutting off her retreat. “Don’t pretend like you don’t recognize me! The ball, you spilled dwarvish ale all over my solstice lattice!”

“Solstice what?”

“Playing dumb!?” She huffed. “So typical of you to always dodge responsibility! My flowers were ruined, the wood was warped. I was completely humiliated!”

“Posie what are you doing?” Lupa stood up to stand between Delilah and the angry floating fae.

“Calling out our dear princess on her misbehavior and falsehoods!” Posie shrieked. “I know you’re here, Elixsana! I can smell you!”

“The princess is gone.” Lupa said. “She like vanished or something.”

“No she didn’t!” Posie insisted. “You humans may be blind but we more enlightened beings are aware of magical trickery! You’re not fooling anyone Mara.”

“I-I really don’t know what you’re talking about!” Delilah pleaded. She nearly wept at the thought of being exposed like this. So blatantly, in front of everyone, her crime would be laid bare to witness, and just when she might have been making friends! “Please just….leave me alone!”

The flying elf froze in mid air. She gave an irritated grumble than did a curtsey. “At once your highness.” She sighed and floated back down towards the pizza. She gingerly plucked off the smallest of pieces visibly disgusted by getting her hands greasy. Delilah even heard her mumble something about how gross human food was.

“That was odd  huh?” Lupa laughed awkwardly. “Don’t let Posie get to you these elves are weird, different. She’s okay when you get to know her. Please stay. Have a slice at least?”

“S-sure.” Delilah replied.

Delilah was having a good time. She and Lupa shared a few of the same interests including handheld video games. Lupa had Animal Crossing and Delilah instantly regretted not bringing her DS. Megan watched the same shows she did including dreadfully awful daytime soaps like Bold and the Beautiful or General Hospital. Reggie wasn’t particularly talkative, but she seemed happy to listen. Delilah didn’t know much about group dynamics, but she knew what is was like to be the quiet one. The only thing that dampened the atmosphere was Posie. She would constantly stare at her to the point of being uncomfortable. Everytime she looked in her direction their eyes met. Posie never talked to her but she was obviously suspicious. She was aware. Delilah knew Posie could see the shadow of her mental anguish.

“This has been fun, but I really should go.” Delilah said. “I have to prep for next class.” It was a lie, but she didn’t have the social skills to come up with an acceptable excuse to leave.

“It’s fine.” Lupa assured. “Thanks for humoring me. We’re free anytime you don’t want to eat alone. Posie will warm up to you eventually.”

“Hmmph!” Delilah saw the elf stick her tongue out at her.

Conflicted feelings flooded her as the last ring of the school bell chimed. Classes were over. Delilah had confessed. Nothing had happened. In fact it was actually a good day. She’d made friends even if only provisionally in nature. Then there was Posie, the flying elf that had seen right through her. What did that mean?

“Stay away from, Posie!”

Delilah shut her eyes tight as she walked. Of course her mind was wary of Posie. It was a sign of her own instinctual need for self preservation. That flying fairy could sniff out Elixsana, somehow. Latent magic, perhaps. Delilah still didn’t believe is such things despite seeing it first hand. It was denial pure in simple, but it helped keep her from crumbling into a sobbing heap of miserable nothing. A miserable nothing that-. She fell back and landed on her ass.

“We have to stop bumping into each other!” Rocko grinned down at her. “Distracted much?”

“Shut up, Rocky.” Delilah sighed. She didn’t feel like interacting with more people. He helped her up and the moment hung. He just stared at her with a goofy smile as the wind blew through her hair. “What?”

“Nothing!” he said a little too fast.

“I know. My hair. I look ridiculous.” Delilah sighed. “Just say your peace. You won’t be the first.”

“He thinks you’re cute.” Dartrex spoke. That’s when Delilah noticed the elvish noble perched atop Rocko’s head. “I’ll give you credit. You’ve showed some...mild improvement. Decided to take up showering would be my guess.”

“What an ass!”

“He’s still hanging out with you?” Delilah questioned.

“He won’t leave me alone!” Rocko groaned. “I told him I don’t even like him!”

“And I told you it doesn’t matter. Compensation has been paid for services rendered!”

“He paid you.”

“He paid my parents three grand just for me to ferry him around school. I have no idea why.”

“And you wouldn’t. No one expects you to think human! Just follow orders and you will be a part of greatness.”

“He’s insane!”

Dartrex stomped hard on Rocko’s head eliciting a loud squeal of pain. “I’m close1” Dartrex corrected. “You’re linked to this caveman. I can smell it! And when I find the princess I’ll be honored with a statue in the ivory halls of-”

“She went home.” Delilah lied.

“Excuse, me?”

“The principal told me she went home.” Delilah repeated, parroting the principals false information. It was a mystery why Elixsana’s parents had lied about it but Delilah had no problem spreading the misinformation. Except that wasn’t true at all. In fact Dartrex was probably the best one to tell the truth. She cursed herself for not telling Posie earlier. An elf would likely believe her confession!

“Actually I-” Delilah’s mouth shut closed! She forced it open and no words came out.

“You what?!” Both young men looked at her puzzled.

“I-I...ate..pr-p-pizza!” Came out her mouth. “I ate bad pizza today and now my stomach hurts.” Delilah forced out. “I better get home and take care of business!” She ran away as fast as her legs could carry her.

“Well that was a blowoff.” Dartrex laughed. “She doesn’t like you at all does she?”

“Shut up.” Rocko grumbled. “Besides you heard her. You’re princess whatshername went home. You can leave now.”

“Lies.” Dartrex stated. “She’s still here. I can smell her.”

“Did you have a nice day at school?” Princess Elixsana Evercrest asked to Delilah as soon as she stepped into her bedroom. She was sitting with her legs crossed at the edge of Delilah’s mattress. She was bigger too, about the size of a housecat and her clothes were fully repaired. He hair was shorter now, cut to just above her ears and combed back. Delilah was starting to get frustrated.

“You’re not dead.” She hissed at Elixsana. “This is some kind of elf prank isn’t it? What is it? Illusions, invisibility, teleportation, mind control?!”

“I think you should rest, dear.” Elixsana suggested. “You haven’t slept in three days.”

“Stop screwing with me?!” Delilah yelled. She slowly and deliberately made her way toward her fae tormentor. “I get it. I made a mistake. I hurt you and you want me to pay for it.”

Delilah reached the bed placed both hands on either side of the tiny princess. Her eyes were cold and sinister. The iris shrunken. Elixsana fell on her back. She stared wide eyed at the suddenly very menacing giantess.

“You can keep trying to mess with me if you want Elis, dear.”

The princess shook.

Sensing weakness Delilah let her body lower further trapping the tiny girl, nearly pinning her between the mattress. “But don’t forget. I’m bigger than you.”

Elixsana swallowed. She tried to scoot farther back but Delilah held her sides together with both hands. She meaty fingers were like a vice. Elixsana was the lesser of them she could never win a battle of strength.

“Delilah, remember we’re in this together.” Elixsana tried.

“Are we, really?” Delilah sneered. “Is that why you’ve been torturing me? Changing my hair, keeping me awake at night, controlling my thoughts?! Huh?! I tried to confess. I tried to do right by you! You just won’t listen. Just like before! Well,  we both know how I fixed that situation!” Delilah bared her teeth.

Elixsana was visibly trembling now.

“I ate you once.” Delilah threatened. She lowered her face until she was nearly skin to skin with her elven captor. Her mouth nearly touching Elixsana’s body. The elf closed her eyes, her breathing intensified. “I can eat you again.” Delilah closed her eyes, opened her mouth and….felt a tiny moistness on the edge of her bottom lip. Something soft was pushing into them. She felt miniscule digits on the edge of her cheek and heard a light moaning. She opened her eyes and there was Elixsana, groping at her face with her mouth open and her tongue twirling with great fervor. Delilah lifted her face up and and stared with quizzical fascination at the erratic spasms of the princess.

‘Mmm, yes.” the princess whimpered as she groped at nothing. Then she stopped. Her body frozen as the realization that her passion was no longer being reciprocated dawned on her. “Oh no.” She breathed in. “Oh, no!”

“Princess?”

“Sorry!” She screeched as her eyes nearly popped from their sockets. “I thought we were having a moment!..I mean! Not moment but a makeout!....No I-I...Ahhh! Damn it all! Now I’ve gone and ruined it!” Her whole body took on a reddish hue that highlighted her white skin. “Forget what just happened!” And with that she vanished in an instant.

Delilah fell face first into her bed as she processed what just happened. The princess who had been tormenting her, the ghost she still wasn’t sure was real or just a figment of her imagination, had just tried to kiss her. What the fuck was going on?

Chapter 5: Princess for a day

“Princess, princess, time to wake up, your highness.” Delilah opened her eyes, beckoned from the dreaming world by the voice of her least favorite servant.

“Gp away Posie!” Delilah growled and turned over in her bed, burrowing her head deep into her pillow.

“Now, now. Princess.” Posie took the edge of her sheets and ripped them away exposing Delilah’s nude body to the cold air. She curled into a fetal position and used her pillow as a blocker from the morning light. “You have responsibilities to attend to!”

Ugh! Responsibility. How often had she heard that word? The true curse of royalty. Responsibility was a burden, it forced you to work harder, be smarter, more generous, more ruthless, than everyone else in the world, and you were hated for it as it slowly killed you.

“I’m tired.” Delilah whined.

“None of that.” Posie said. “We need to get you bathed and dressed quickly. Your fathered has made a new decree concerning the migration. People need to see you to put them at ease. A crowd is starting to gather. They want their princess to comfort them.”

“Comfort them? How?” Delilah griped. She rose from her bed fully nude, but half awake. She stretched her arms up and felt up her body. She had a slight pain in her shoulder and her stomach felt cramped. She felt her taut belly and the few ridges and bumps that defined her abdomen. Her form was thin and supple, yet built and lean. The perks of being half esshanti and half whatever her father was that wasn’t esshanti. No one talked about it. It was Orc for all she knew! In the right light she often thought her skin did look a little green.

“Ginger tea.” She ordered down to Posie. Her servant was born in the floating isles, thus the wings, it also meant she was shorter than the average esshanti already. Delilah’s mixed blood meant that Posie Winterwyse barely came up to her waist. This unfortunate size disparity meant Posie was often useless when it came to dressing her, especially since she refused to fly indoors. Another reason the pink haired woman was her least favorite.

“At once, your highness.” Posie bowed before scurrying out the door. The door closed with a lock before opening up again. “Hurry up.” Posie added.

“I can have you fired, you-” The door slammed closed abruptly. Delilah sighed and rubbed her temples. Why had she been saddled with Posie?! The girl already resented her enough without being made her servant too. The Winterwyse’s were technically royalty as well, but after losing a war over a thousand years ago, since then one member of every generation was selected to leave their life of luxury to forever serve an Evercrest as a sign of their allegiance.

Something was off. Delilah nearly didn’t recognize her self. Was her skin alway this clear? Caramel colored, without so much as a blemish. She thought she was darker, and she’d lost weight. Her ponch she’d carried since her freshman year was gone! Since when?Well at least her hair was the same. Smooth, wavy, with little streaks of blonde that crackled throughout like bolts of electricity. Unique, exotic, beautiful. She stopped admiring herself and stepped into her luxury bath. Posie had told her to hurry, but a princess never rushes through anything. She started the water and poured in some rose scented bathing oil. She would take her time this morning. When the water was just at its steaming point she lowered herself in. It was probably too hot for most, but years of doing this had built up a resistance. She breathed a relaxing hum out and closed her eyes. She hoped she’d have something that would fit for school. Something baggy so her family wouldn’t notice. Wait...that wasn’t right? Princesses didn’t have to go to school. Why was she thinking about that?

“Princess!” Posie gasped as she walked into Delilah’s bathing room. “I told you to hurry and you’re still bathing!”

“It takes time for the water to get hot!” Delilah insisted.

“It’s called a shower!” Posie roared.

“You can’t talk to me like that!” Delilah whined. “I’m a princess!”

“So am I!” Posie argued. “And this princess is ordering you to get out and get dressed!” Posie actually flew toward the bath breaking her personal rule. She must have been truly angry. How important was this decree her father had enacted? Delilah let the smaller woman pull her out of the bath. “I’ll help you get dressed.”

Delilah groaned.

It wasn’t good news. Times like these were when the burned of her royalty felt the heaviest. Delilah looked among the thousands of citizens that surrounded the castle’s garden, but a fraction of the citizens in her wardenship. More than a few faces she recognized. The baker from Warfsburg who migrated when that region was attacked by a dragon. Representatives from the Bloomstor theocracy, that had abandoned the faith after the moon had fallen. Sometimes you could see the shadow of the scarred celestial body even during the day. It was an omen of the end. Their world was dying, they had to find a new one, and not everyone could come.

That was the decree her father had made. There would be restrictions. Only working families with a least two children. The elderly and sick could not migrate. IIt was now her job to ease the minds of those who had been sentenced to oblivion. She knew why her father did this. It was impossible to migrate everyone. Too many numbers and …...too little strength.

“There will be a raffle for those who do not qualify. 200 citizens will be able to see the new world. If you have a family they will be allowed to come with you. I urge everyone that does not qualify to participate in this. There is still hope.”

“How can you say that!” yelled a man from the crowd. “Force us to leave our lives to chance while the royals get a free pass!”

“Not all royals.” Delilah whispered to herself. “Please understand-”

“You ask us for understanding!? You who live a life of luxury on the backs of our work and then sentence us to death! Don’t ask us for understanding! You’re going, you get to live!”

“I’m staying!” Delilah shouted. The crowd gasped. “I’m staying. I forfeit my place to add a new family to one of the raffle winners.”

“There’s still time to change your mind.” her cousin said. He’d never so much as said a kind word to her since their childhood, yet now he’d found some compassion. Now that she’d revealed her conviction to die ruling a dying kingdom. “They can find some extra space for you and the family that won your spot. She of all people would make some extra time for you.”

“Please don’t talk about my mother.” Delilah said. It still hurt too much. “I’ve made my decision and it’s final.”

“And who’s going to lead your kingdom in this new world, huh? Rexard?! Ridiculous!” Dartrex scoffed. Dartrex never used her father’s proper title. He was a harsh ruler, who made unpopular decisions during a time of decline. He had saved thousands of lives, but no one liked him for it. “The people need you, Delilah. Stuck in a new world full of giants, and with the queen gone-”

“Leave!” Delilah shouted.

“You have to accept reality eventually.” Dartrex said before walking off. “Lying to yourself won’t help and neither will running away from your problems.”

“I love you, Delilah dear.” her mother said one last time before her eyes closed. She said she just wanted to rest, but Delilah knew they would never open again. It was too soon. There was still supposed to be time, but she suspected her mother was keeping the portal open longer than she was told. Trying to let as many people through as she could even as the magic slowly drained the life from her. Such was the burden of her responsibility, the burden that now belonged to Delilah. She cried for hours besides the peaceful corpse of her mother. The tears would never stop, neither would the pain.

They were all going. Every single one. As the de facto ruler in her father’s absence her word was law. Delilah issued the decree and less than a week later she was using her inherited dimension warping powers to create regulars portals for nearly anyone who asked. Three times a day was her schedule but she often ignored it much like her mother had. The physical toll was severe often leaving her exhausted for twice as long as she’d opened one, but she was young. Her magic was new, but with practice and study she could refine the spell and mitigate the damage. Even so it would most likely take years off her life. How many had she lost already? Her advisors had told her to stop, even Posie who had chosen to stay with her argued for a more conservative schedule. She wouldn’t stop though. Sure she could choose to leave at anytime, but that would be taking the easy way out. There had to be a way to restore the life of this world, but they needed time. Too much time. Time they didn’t have with no heirs and the only escape option tied to her lifespan. If only there were a better way.

Delilah woke up in a field of flowers. She spotted the cracked moon in the night sky. Particles of the glowing pollen floated through the air carried into the clouds by the breeze. She heard a buzzing sound. A portal was open. Electric currents spun in a perfect circle about two meters wide. Beyond the gate she could see her garage, dusty and littered with clutter.

“This is our graveyard.” Elixsana said. Delilah looked toward her feet for the elf to know avail. “My mother was buried right over there.” A hand pointed beyond her towards a crooked tree with jagged blossoms on its branches. Delilah felt a hand on each shoulder. They wrapped around her into a tight hug. “I thought I’d see her again after I died but I think she’s avoiding me.” Delilah jumped away and turned around breathlessly. It was Elixsana, dressed in an all white gown which blended with her skin an almost made her appear nude except for the hem of the dress that flowed in the breeze. She was larger now, much larger. Delilah didn’t even reach her shoulders. She stepped back.

“Don’t be frightened.” Elixsana said. “If I wanted to hurt you don’t you think I would have by now?” Elixsana stepped toward her, Delilah stepped back. The princess took another step and so did Delilah. This continued three more times.

“Okay, enough.” Elixsana stated flatly. Suddenly hands were around Delilah’s waist and she was lifted into the air, being hugged from behind. Elixsana’s cheek pressed into hers as the princess chuckled into her ear. “See, see how easy it would be? Trust me on this, dear. There’s no running from me now.”

Delilah was motionless and voiceless as the princess continued to hold her.

“C’mon dear?” Elixsana sighed. “This is a happy time. Would you prefer if I was the size of a doll again?”  

“What happened to you? What have you been doing to me?”

“Actually I think I’m just naturally taller than you.” Elixsana guessed. “Isn’t that funny someone that can fit in your hand is also taller than you? Now that we’re equals I guess you see me on the same level as you.”

“Equals?”

“Well, maybe not equals.” Elixsana said. “You’ve been asleep for awhile now. I think I might be a little stronger than you.”

“Stronger than?” Delilah panicked. “You’re trying to kill me aren’t you?!”

“Delilah, dear. Remember I’m dead. I can’t kill you. Besides, why would I want to? We’re a team.”

Delilah ran. She bolted through the portal leaving Elixsana in her strange world. She pushed over the device letting it crash into the floor. It made a loud bang and the portal fizzled out of existence. Hopefully the princess couldn’t follow her. She had to escape as far as she could. She rushed out her garage and into the hallway. She wasn’t sure what she’d do but maybe if she put some space between her and the device that would weaken Elixsana? It was a longshot based on nothing, but Delilah didn’t have much capacity for clear thought right now. She’d known from the beginning something was up. That elf had cursed her, was trying to steal her life in retaliation for Delilah’s crime, was trying to-”

“Woah, where’s the fire.” her father stopped her in the hallway. “You not destroying nothing in there are you? I heard a noise.”

Delilah was breathing heavy now as she looked up at her father, a lot less farther up than she ever had before. She was nearly eye level with his neck. Her father was 6ft 5!

“Daddy, what’s happening to me?!” she cried into his chest.

“Uh, I….” He was caught off guard by her sudden outburst. “Puberty?” She knew his daughter had been acting strangely most of the week, but he wasn’t sure what answer to give her. Her body was finally catching up to her age. She was a little taller, stronger, and a little more beautiful as much as he could admit about his own blood. “Do you want to talk to your mother about this? You having...uh….woman problems?”

“What? No!” Delilah blurted. “Oh, forget it!” She let go of him and ran off.

“Woman problems?” his wife frowned from behind the corner of the hall. “Is the best you can do after eighteen years?”

“Where the hell were you!?” He barked at her. “You could’a helped me out!”

Georgia shook her head. “Father of the year!”

Delilah started to pack her things. Maybe...maybe Rocky could let her stay the night or something. They weren’t really friends but he was kind of okay with her right?

“He’s more than “okay” with you, dear.” Elixsana said. She was smaller again. The size of a tiny action figure as she stood on Delilah’s dresser. “Is this better?”

Delilah didn’t say anything. Her biggest mistake was engaging with the ghost. That and she didn’t want to admit it helped. She needed to ask her parents about seeing a therapist.

“You are under a lot of stress.” Elixsana observed.

Delilah ignored her and headed for the bathroom. She stopped on the way there, spotting herself in her mirrored closet. She had completely changed. Not just her hair. Her skin, her height, she was thinner. Much thinner. She was wearing pair of dark grey overalls she never remembered putting on. They were flooded revealing her ankles. She wore a short sleeve shirt that revealed her arms. They were less thick, wait that wasn’t the right word. They were still thick, but less fat. She never dressed like this.

“Push ups, dear.” Elixsana said. “Be proud, you look good, but we have a long way to go on that.” Delilah collapsed onto the floor.

“How long have i been asleep?”

“Three days.” Elixsana said. “Happy Halloween? I think that’s what the holiday is called. We have a similar one in my world. It’s called the week of whispers.”

“Three days.” Delilah gasped.

“Don’t fret, dear.” Elixsana said. “I took care of things. We even got your device fixed! Isn’t that great?”

“Took care of things?” Delilah was legitimately terrified of what that implied. “What have you done to me?”

“I don’t know, dear.” Elixsana said. She looked melancholy at that. “I never asked for any of this, but it is my burden to bare….our burden now.”  She vanished again. Delilah felt herself being pulled into something soft. Elixsana’s bust. The elven princess held her close from behind and let Delilah cry into her.

“I say we embrace it.” Elixsana continued. “I’ve decided that I like you. You’re worth keeping around.”

“You’re trying to take my life aren’t you?” Delilah finally asked. Her life, her body, slowly changing, becoming something more fit for a princess. It had already happened. Elixsana had lived in her skin for three days. Maybe even longer than that.

“Like you took mine.” Delilah whispered in her ear. There it was. She knew it! This was revenge. It had always been that simple. “No. That would be incredibly petty wouldn’t it?”

“I’m scared!” Delilah weeped.

“Shhhh, shhhh, shhh.” Elixsana hushed. “You’ve been incredibly stressed. Just close your eyes. You’ll feel better when you wake up. I promise. I’ll take over for a bit longer”

“I’m not tired.” Delilah said even as her eyes started to droop. She tried to fight it, but Elixsana was indeed stronger now. Too strong to...Delilah yawned. She fell asleep.

Elixsana opened her eyes. She picked herself up off the floor and inspected herself in the mirror. Not bad honestly. Delilah had a lot to work with and was actually surprisingly strong under all that fat. Putting on some muscle had been a little too easy. She had to cut back though, manage the transformation. Late puberty was a convenient excuse but it wouldn’t cover such a dramatic change in such a short amount of time. She grabbed at Delilah’s love handles in annoyance. Delilah would need to start dieting. She’d discovered a stash of oreo cookies under the girl’s pillow. As delicious as they were they added to the waistline.

She could feel Delilah in the back of her head. A long slow, sorrowful, plea. The poor girl was so frightened and fragile. The power she’d held that day almost a distant memory. It would be so easy to snuff her out entirely and move on, but no. The girl had probably saved her and her entire kingdom in that one selfish act. She deserved better for that and would have it. Just another of Elixsana’s responsibilities as princess. The curse of the void, without any heirs it seemed to transcend life itself. Now Delilah was a part of it. Did she know? Could she peer into her past as well?

Elixsana didn’t have to worry about that now. It was Halloween and she had promised to go “trick or treating” with Rocko and his little sister. It was some human tradition where the youngest were gifted free candy in exchange for displaying elaborate costumes. It must have been some ritual to appease a human god she didn’t know of. Either way she needed to finish and appropriate costume in time. There was a whole group expecting her and as a princess she had to look divine.