“We’re not beasts,” said Jared defensively.
“What are you then?” asked the creature.
“I’m a boy,” said Jared. “And, well, that’s my sister. A girl.”
“That’s no girl,” it said. “Where’s her dress?”
“Dresses haven’t been the fashion for ages,” Mallory said with a smirk.
“We answered your questions,” Jared said. “Now answer ours. What are you?”
“The Black Dog of the Night,” declared the creature proudly, before its head spun around once more, peering at them with one eye open. “An ass or perhaps merely a sprite.”
“What does that mean?” demanded Mallory. “It’s just stupid.”
“I think it’s a phooka!” said Jared. “Yes, I remember now. They’re shape shifters.”
“Are they dangerous?” asked Simon.
“Very!” said the phooka, nodding vigorously.
“I’m not sure,” Jared said, under his breath. Then, clearing his throat, he addressed the creature. “We were looking for some trace of our great-uncle.”
“You’ve lost your uncle! How careless.”
Jared sighed and tried to decide if the phooka was as crazy as it seemed. “Well, he’s been gone a long time, actually. Close to seventy years. We’re just hoping to find out what happened to him.”
“Anyone can live that long—all they have to do is keep from dying. But I understand that humans live much longer in captivity than they do in the wild.”
“What?” Jared asked.
“When looking for something,” said the phooka, “one ought to be sure one wants to find it.”
“Oh, never mind!” Mallory said. “Let’s just keep going.”
“Let’s at least ask it what’s in the valley up ahead,” said Simon.
Mallory rolled her eyes. “Oh, yeah, like it’s going to start making sense.”
Simon ignored her. “Can you please tell us what’s up ahead? We were following this map until we got turned around by the moving grass.”
“If grass can move,” said the phooka, “then a boy could find himself rooted in place.”
“Please, please, just stop encouraging it,” said Mallory.
“Elves,” said the phooka, eyeing Mallory as though affronted. “Shall I be direct when I direct you into the direct path of the elves?”
“What do they want?” asked Jared.
“They have what you want and they want what you have,” said the phooka.
“We said we’d turn back when things got weird.” Mallory pointed at the phooka with her rapier. “And that thing is about as weird as it gets.”
“But not bad.” Jared looked toward the hills. “Let’s go on a little farther.”
“I don’t know,” Mallory said. “What about those grass things and us getting lost?”
“The phooka said that the elves have what we want!”
Simon nodded. “We’re really close, Mal.”
Mallory sighed. “I don’t like this, but I’d rather we were the ones sneaking up on them.”
They started walking down the hill, away from the road.
“Wait! Come back,” called the phooka. “There is something I must tell you.”
They turned back.
“What is it?” Jared asked.
“Bonny nonny bonny,” said the phooka with precision.
“Is that what you wanted to tell us?”
“No, not at all,” said the phooka.
“Well, what then?” Jared demanded.
“What an author doesn’t know could fill a book,” said the phooka. With that, his body toed its way up the tree until it was gone.