A chill breeze filled Willow as she crept through the woods. The sun had just started to sink, and it was a perfect time for Willow to explore the woods without the other shadow elves getting in her way. A white mist blurred past her vision, but she knew it was her faithful ghost wolf, Cody. He stopped right before the clearing they always went to and looked back to Willow. His Deep purple eyes seemed to hold a warning for Willow. She crept silently to where Cody now sat to see what was bothering him. To her surprise she found a human boy, he seemed to be about 17 or 18 based on what she knew. He seemed strong and well built too; He had a sword easily within reach but for the most part he didn’t have his guard up. Though maybe he was just good at hiding his intentions.

  He had sleek red hair that looked like a noble’s, it was almost the opposite of Willow’s blue-gray hair. She was able to sense a faint amount of magic coming from him, which was impressive since she failed all her lessons on magic sensing. When the boy looked her way, she ducked further behind a tree but couldn’t hold her curiosity. She peeked out and was met by curious amber eyes looking at her.

  “Hey, what are you doing in the Haunted woods? I just noticed you there.” the boy gently asked.

  Without answering she turned to run away.

  “Wait, I don’t want to hurt you. I just want to keep you safe.” Willow didn’t look back but was able to hear the boy get up and start chasing after her.

  She hid in a fallen log and watched the boy come up and stop, after losing her trail. Then he sat on a stone and started talking to himself. “Great now I’m lost. I shouldn’t have followed that girl deeper into the woods. I think I remember hearing that that’s how shadow elves kill their human pray.”

  “Is not, we don’t even eat human.” The words came out of Willow’s mouth without realizing.

  “Who was that?” The boy jumped up and looked around, he seemed to notice he had forgot his sword. He cursed under his breath.

  “It was me.” Giving up on fighting, Willow got out of her hiding spot. “Please don’t hurt me.”

  “You’re that girl I saw before, you’re a shadow elf? Oh right, I won’t hurt you if you don’t hurt me.” The boy said sitting back down.

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  “I guess we’re good then. Yes, I am a shadow elf, and for the record we only hurt humans in self-defense.” Willow defended herself while sitting on the fallen log.

  “Really, but I was always taught that Elves are barbaric animal killers.”

  “That’s not true at all.” Willow laughed. “Elves actually care more about the environment than Humans, we only kill what we need and rely on a mainly plant diet when possible.”

  “Wow, I didn’t expect that at all. How can you survive off a plant diet?” The boy leaned curiously.

  “We are able to eat only the needed meat to survive and we get the rest of the needed nutrients from berries and plants we harvest. Can I ask what your name is.”

  “Oh, yeah, of course. My name is Opiltan, but you can call me Tanner, what’s your name?”

  “Hi Opiltan, my name is Willow.”

  The two talked for hours and would have talked for longer if Willow hadn’t heard another elf wandering through the woods. She led Opiltan back to the clearing where they first met. When they got there, They found Cody protecting the sword.

  “Willow, what is that thing and why is it near my stuff?” Opiltan tried to speak quietly but Cody’s clear white ears had already heard them walking over.

  The Ghost wolf’s deep purple eyes shot toward them, and he trotted over the meet them. Opiltan moved back shooting his hands up defensively, but Willow simply called Cody over and gave him pets.

  “Opiltan this is my Ghost wolf, Cody; he was guarding the stuff you left behind so no one would steal it.” Willow filled Opiltan in and Cody went over and picked up Opiltan’s bag and sword.

  “Are you sure this is safe, I thought that Ghosts were just myths.” Opiltan said while warily grabbing his bag from Cody.

  “You also thought that Elves were monsters that kill everything that enters their territory. So, it seems like you learned a lot today.” Willow watched Opiltan grab his sword and attach it to his belt. “If you want, I can show you around the woods, I also know of a village near the border where you can safely rest.”

  “Thanks that would be great, I’m kind of lost right now and I don’t think any other Elves would be as nice as you.”

  “That’s true, Elves aren’t monsters, but you are in our territory so a threat to us.”

  “Then why are you being so nice to me?” Opiltan looked at her as they walked.

  “You’re not the first human I met; I’m friends with someone else too.” That’s all she said out loud but, in her mind, she added, ‘I’m also terrified of you, and you didn’t give me much of a choice.’

  “Really, who is the other person?”

  “I’m taking you to meet her now.”

  The two of them walked all night just talking. Willow found herself telling Opiltan more about herself than she had told anyone else, not even Natali had heard some of these things. She was starting to trust Opiltan with her life, he even seemed to be telling her things. This was the closest Willow had ever gotten to someone, and she was going to work on making it last a lifetime.