LOOKING GLASS

CHAPTER 16

It was not like Janet had never seen an Elf before. She had worked with one for over six months back in Baltimore. It was different here in London. Back in the states you seldom saw elves anywhere but in DC or New York City. Even there, they didn’t stray all that far from their facilities. They most definitely never traveled alone. That kid that Janet had worked with, and she could never pronounce his name right, was the only elf she had ever seen in Baltimore. A few years ago, when one visited town, it was quite often all over the local news. These days, they never said a word about it. Janet suspected that it was not because it had become common but, more like, it was just no longer all that exciting.

Here though, in London, there were elves everywhere! The funny thing about that was, Janet was not even sure how she felt about it. She was trying to get to Feyland because she wanted to learn one or two things and help her career along. These days, considering what had happened with her parents, it seemed like anything with pointed ears was a definite advantage but, it wasn’t because of the elves themselves. The one that Janet had worked with was basically, obnoxious, arrogant, aloof, and an ass hole in general. Janet hated pulling shifts with the guy.

Now Janet was starting to wonder if she had been a little rash in her opinions. She had not really talked with any elves over here, yet. They were going to take a tour of the Feyland Embassy, later in the week, and Janet assumed that she would meet elves then. There were some who were scheduled to be apart of her training later on. Janet had been apprehensive about it and, even if all turned out for the best, those were professional contacts. What she was seeing here in London was an entirely different matter. She saw elves walking down the street, not all the time but, enough. She saw them sitting in restaurants, talking on cell phones, riding the subway, and there was even one sitting in the coffee shop she was going in. She didn’t think elves could drink coffee but, then again, she didn’t think the Brits drank it either, let alone had an American chain store like this one.

As Janet stood in line she realized what was different about all these elves. She wasn’t seeing anything like the one she worked with and, in fact, she realized she wasn’t seeing much of anything at all. When you got past their ears, and their slightly different dimensions, they looked just like normal people. Janet supposed that, just maybe, that was all they really were. It was no wonder that the Londoner’s didn’t stare at them the way she did. Maybe it wasn’t really that they had gotten used to the elves as much as it was, they no longer saw them as that but, as individuals. It was something to think about.

When Janet was three or four people back from the counter, reality came crashing back. As usual, it came from the television that was mounted up on the wall, near the counter. One of the reasons Janet never watched the news was because it was always so bad and, this was no exception. She saw the image of a big ship, sitting on the water somewhere, and smoke was coming out of it.

The more interesting reaction was from the people around her. The old lady behind her was going on and on about the television and the man behind her was arguing right back. Finally, Janet turned around and asked, “excuse me, what is that?”

“I’ll be damned,” the old man said, “an American. More bloody foreigners.”

The old lady was not so taken with Janet’s nationality and she said, “the Muslims have went and high jacked one of our tankers, in the Persian Gulf. It’s out right piracy. They’re blaming us for the elves? Have you ever heard such a thing? They can go stuff themselves for all I care. Damn waugs.”

No sooner had the old lady said that when Janet found herself next to the register. She was also facing a young kid with really dark skin. Janet nervously thumbed over her shoulder, “I’m not with her.”

The boy looked unimpressed as he replied in a very English accent, “I’m Hindu lady, what’s it going to be?”

Once Janet got her coffee she felt herself strangely drawn to the television. The little incident at the counter suddenly made her think of something and it surprised her a bit. It was one thing to ignore the news back home. She felt safe there. Everything on that television might as well have been going on in another universe, and these days, some of it really was. She felt removed from it, like it was just another television show. Suddenly, here in a foreign country that was not feeling all that homey anymore, Janet suddenly started thinking that, just maybe, that stuff on the television might be important.

Just the fact that the TV had the same images going, when she finally got her coffee and stepped over to watch it, kind of suggested it might be. It must have been a local channel because everyone talking on it had a British accent. Fortunately, the TV people were a lot more understandable than a lot of people that Janet heard on the streets. She didn’t have to concentrate to understand what they were saying.

Some guy was talking off screen as the image of a distant ship, a big one, stayed in focus on the screen, “the Sultan of Oman has traditionally been a very close ally of Great Britain. We are being told that the Omani government is denying that they are responsible. However, sources in America are telling us that it is confirmed, the ships that attacked and seized the tanker, were gunboats belonging to the Omani navy. The satellite news service in Qatar, is still running video of Islamic religious officials who are claiming that the tanker, in bound for Kuwait, was filled with the Elf drug known as Fairy Dust.”

“I don’t get it,” Janet mumbled.

“What don’t you get,” said a guy who walked up next to her. Like the kid behind the counter, he also had dark skin and even curly hair. Also, like the kid who worked here, he had an English accent too. He put out a hand, “call me Hammad. You are… besides an American on vacation?”

Janet’s smile broke out ever so slowly but, she finally shook the man’s hand and then said, “I am… not on vacation. I am curious about that though?” She pointed to the screen.

Hammad replied, “surely, a lovely lady such as yourself has an equally lovely name. Since you will not tell me, I will call you Gertrude. How does that sound?”

That caused a groan and then she said, “all right, fine, it’s Janet. Happy? Can you please explain to me what’s going on?”

“Oh that,” Hammad replied. “I really don’t know. It looks like a television show but, these days, who can tell?”

“Fine,” Janet walked off with a smile and headed out the door. When she was halfway down the block she looked back to see if anyone was following her. It looked clear enough. Janet didn’t want to think she was racist or anything but, that guy gave her the creeps. He was just a little too pushy. Maybe all he wanted was her phone number but, there was no way in hell that was going to happen ether.

Then she heard a whopping sound and it was rather loud. At first, Janet looked around to see what everyone else was doing. While London did not sound all that different from Baltimore, or any other city that Janet had been too, there were still enough alien noises to put her senses just a little bit on edge. Janet realized this was mostly psychological which is why she used the people around her for a reality check. That did not help because it looked like most of them were alarmed by what they were hearing.

The whopping noise was bouncing around all over the place and it was impossible to tell which direction it was coming from. Then the helicopter appeared out of nowhere! It was no wonder it was so loud, it was nearly skimming the roof tops! It was also moving incredibly fast. It was gone so quickly that Janet barely got a glimpse of it. When it was over with she noticed the people again. Most had gone about their business with out a second glance skyward. Even so, there were still a few who were looking up and chattering about the low flying aircraft. Janet could not quite decide how normal that should be.

Janet was glad she was going back to the flat now. The day was already too much for her nerves and she had a lot to do later on. That was why she was a little miffed to run into policemen who were putting up saw horses between her and the flat. She tried to walk right by them but a cop stepped in her way, “where do you think you’re going miss?”

Janet pointed past him, “I live down there, just two blocks from here.”

“Can’t go down there right now ma’am. Sorry,” the cop replied without the slightest hint of any real sympathy.

Now Janet figured the best thing to do was ask, “is something happening? I… I… I mean I’m an American and I’m new here and…”

That caused the cop to laugh at her, “like I’d have never guessed it. Run along little lady. We’re busy here.”

It was then that Janet noticed something wrong. She was so used to seeing cops wearing guns in America that it had not stood out at first. The police man had a machinegun hanging around his torso. When Janet looked at the rest she noticed that they all had them. She thought the cops over here didn’t carry guns. She had always heard that but, since she had been here she had never really noticed.

There was no point in asking the guy about it. Janet knew a smart ass when she heard one, in any accent. That was why she turned around and walked back the way she came. She remembered passing a subway, not too far back. Maybe she could go to the next station, get off there, and get to her flat from the other direction. Janet did not even make it half way down the block when she heard the commotion coming from the other side of the saw horses.

The police had moved back away from their barricade and had formed lines. They had their weapons raised but, not all the way. They must have been responding to that noise. It almost sounded like people chanting or singing. Then Janet saw them. They emerged from behind a row of buildings. It was a mob of people and they were the ones who were making all that racket. They all had signs and, if Janet didn’t know any better she would have sworn the signs were in Arabic or some other middle eastern language. They all just marched along, singing and screaming but, not doing anything more violent than that. The police looked nervous but, at least, they weren’t shooting at these people.

Still, it was enough to make Janet to decide to leave. She turned to start walking towards the subway station and that was when she noticed the elf who was standing by the far street corner. He had his eyes glued on the demonstration that Janet was leaving. He also had a cell phone pressed against one of his big pointed ears. Janet could not tell if he was nervous, upset, happy, or whatever. She could barely tell that with Londoners, let alone another species. Janet just kept on walking.

Janet had almost reached him when a police car pulled up on the curb just behind him. One of the officers leaned out of the window and said something in a language that Janet didn’t know. The elf apparently did, he lowered his phone and looked back just in time to see the cop fire his machinegun. The back of the elf exploded in several places, his knees buckled, and his body hit the ground just as the car sped off. Janet screamed in terror.

Her first instinct was too flee. Janet got a hold of herself though. She was a doctor. Someone was dying right in front of her. He wasn’t the first though. Janet had seen gunshots victims in the ER. She had just never seen them get shot before! She huffed out, “get a hold of yourself!”

Janet ran to the fallen elf and dropped to her knees beside him. He was still alive and trying to breath. She actually wondered what to do! If this had been back at work she knew everything down to the detail but, here, with an elf? She’d never worked on one before but, she thought, how different could their anatomy really be?

The elf was trying to talk as he huffed out air. Janet knew what that was. She saw the gurgling in the bullet holes in his chest. She had nothing with her that she could use to help him! Janet knew she would have to try though. The guy had a sucking chest wound and she wondered if she could find a way to ventilate it? Could she find a piece of plastic to try and seal it up? She screamed, “think damn it!”

The elf grabbed her arm and, one long slow word at a time, he said, “what, did, I, do.” Janet wanted to cry. She had no idea what to tell him. She also suspected it would not be long before that would no longer matter.

Janet got back up and looked back towards the police, hoping to see some help. That’s when she realized that she was not the only one who had noticed what had happened. The shooting must have panicked the crowd. They were screaming and racing in every direction. They had flooded over the barricades and were stampeding the police. Someone tossed a bottle in the air and it exploded in flames when it hit the ground. Shots rang out and the mayhem only got worse. Some policemen were tackled while others tried to help their fallen comrades with sticks. Others fired into the crowd with their machineguns. Some even ran right past Janet in an attempt to escape. She then figured she had better do the same.

What was really strange was how, only just a few blocks down, it appeared as if people were just going about their normal lives. Some of them were looking at the distant smoke and wondering about the gunfire but, even they tried to go about their business. They were so normal that Janet stopped running and tried to catch her breath. After her lungs stopped hurting she began to notice her surroundings again. While not much had changed she did notice that a lot of people were answering their phones. Many of them began to get concerned looks. Word of what Janet had just seen must have been spreading.

Fortunately, Janet realized she had stopped right in front of the distinctive looking sign for the subway. She saw the stairs and thanked the stars that her luck was changing. She figured the nightmare had to be over now and, as she took a step towards the stairs, he showed up. Janet backed up against a car as the guy walked towards her. She stuttered and tried to remember his name, “Hammad? Right? That’s your name? Look, I don’t know what you want?”

He was a lot less patient this time and, he had barely had any back at the coffee shop. In fact, he acted like he was in a very big hurry. He also scared her when he said, “Janet Isaacs, right? You’re a doctor from Baltimore, right?”

“What? Did you see my internet profile or something?” Janet then demanded, “Who are you? Get away from me!”

He didn’t stop coming towards her and then, it suddenly didn’t matter. The entire world went dark. It felt to Janet as if someone had just ripped her lungs right out of her chest. She hit the concrete and, as her senses started to return, her lungs felt like they were on fire. Janet was starting to wonder if they actually were. She was coughing in uncontrollable spats and every time she tried to breath in fresh air she sucked in even more smoke and dust from around her. Janet’s mind went back into doctor mode. She started conjuring up images of what was going on inside her body and, it was not pretty. She had to get out of here but, felt way too disoriented.

Someone else did not feel as bad though. Janet felt herself being dragged and, then she realized, she had been shoved in a car door. She made out the face of that guy, Hammad, and he seemed to be the one doing it. Then he did something that nearly woke Janet all the way up. It was probably a shot of adrenalin being caused by the touch of steel to her skin.

When Janet tried to jerk her hand away from it, not only did the steel remain rapped around her wrist but, her arm would not move! She started to feel like a little trapped animal and she followed their usual protocol of panicking. That’s when Janet noticed the smoke clearing a little and she saw the flames. The entrance to the subway was just gone! The face of it was rubble and flames and smoke were shooting up the stairway. It was the very one that she had almost walked down, only seconds before.!

Then Hammad drew her attention away from the carnage as he slid in behind the steering wheel and started the car. That’s when things got really clear. Janet suddenly realized she was handcuffed to a ring on the dashboard.

“Oh god,” Janet panicked as the car started moving. Then she looked at her abductor, “don’t do this, please don’t do this. I…”

“Shut up!” He yelled back at her but, Janet realized he was not angry. He was nervous, maybe even scared.

The only thing that Janet could think to do was play on it, “you’re scared. Am I like your first kidnapping or something?”

He was really busy behind the wheel since he was driving like a maniac. He did find the time to tell her, “far from my fist little lady and, I’m not scared of you.”

“Really,” Janet snapped back, “then what?”

He pointed out the front of the car and said, “them!”

Janet looked just in time to see a brick put a huge spider web in the windshield. She screamed and then told him, “ok, I believe you.”

At this point Hammad was not listening. He was trying to get through the crowd of people that surrounded the car and was trying to smash their way in. They had bats, clubs, bricks, and even a few pipes. Janet did not see any guns but, at this point, why did that matter? She started screaming now and didn’t stop until Hammad snapped at her, “do you mind lady! It’s over! They’re behind us?”

The only thing Janet could get out was, “wha.. Wha.. Wha…” She was still doing it when the car came to a stop. They were in an alley and parked behind some black van that looked pretty tough. There were men in raincoats around it, they had radios and guns, and Hammad was talking to one of them who was a short, little, and dumpy. He also seemed to be giving the orders. He then walked up to the passenger door and said, “Doctor Isaacs? Are you all right? Are you injured?”

Hammad did not seem to be through with this guy, “do you see what they did to my fucking car? You’re paying for this!”

The man snapped back, “oh for the love of god Hammad, we’ve got bombs going off all over town, there are even riots breaking out on the west end. Get some perspective will you.”

“My car!”

“Oh we’ll fucking pay for it,” Hammad then brushed the guy off and turned his attention back to Janet. He unlocked the cuffs and politely held her hand as she got out. He then asked again, “doctor, you look flushed, don’t worry, you’re safe now.”

“Who,” Janet was finally able to say an entire word.

“Who am I,” the man replied. “Not important,” replied Major Spivey. He then pulled a cell phone from his wallet, touched the speed dial, and tossed it to Janet as he said, “someone wants to talk with you.”

At this point, Janet should not have been surprised by anything. She still was and she started crying when she said, “Mom?”