Goblin Watch

A Chapter by SwagMaster

Nikki is confronted with an unusual and frightening surprise.

After sitting there for a moment, Nikki forced the confusion away, and stood. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, something was nagging at her, telling her things she refused to accept.

Deciding to walk it off, Nikki forced herself off the bed and out the door. Closing the door behind her, Nikki wandered the majestic halls of the fairy kingdom, her thoughts whirring.

Finally looking up, Nikki found herself in an unfamiliar hallway. Paintings lined the walls, with big windows in between each picture. The carpeted floor was full colors, swirling, mixing, and matching, so brilliant, Nikki had a hard time tearing her eyes off of it. The paintings were big, detailed, oil paintings, of different fairies. From their great finery and crowns, Nikki guessed they were of the fairy kingdom's rullers. A few pictures were only of a single fairy, a female or male, wearing the same huge crown that King Manari wore; that particular crown was showed in every single painting without fail, on one fairy's head. It probably signified which fairy was the supreme ruler. Most pictures at least showed the supreme ruler's husband or wife, and a great many included princes and princesses.

Nikki was so mesmerized by the fantastic pictures, she didn't notice she was not alone until it was too late. The two of them crashed into each other, falling to the ground. Scrambling back up, Nikki examined the other with terror.

He had big, yellow, bulging eyes, and his skin was sickly green and wrinkled. His ears were huge and pointed, and his mouth was full of craggy teeth. As soon as she sighted him, Nikki knew he was not a fairy.

Suddenly, the ugly thing was replaced by a average looking fairy, with long shimmery wings and blue hair. His eyes, however, were still yellow, and they narrowed as Nikki was unable to mask her horror.

"What's wrong?" he demanded, and his now normal hand moved to some sort of handle sticking out of his pocket. Nikki gulped.

"Nothing." she lied. "Your eye just startled me, that's all. Sorry for bumping into you."

"You should be." he snarled, and composed himself. "I'm Nodemon." Nikki refrained from rolling her eyes, but really? Nodemon? That has got to be the worst coverup ever. "My eyes are a birth defect." Nodemon informed Nikki, and then eyed her suspiciously.

"You have no wings." he observed.

"Birth defect." Nikki retorted. He scowled, but didn't protest at Nikki's lie.

"What are you doing?" Nodemon growled.

"I could ask you the same question."

"I asked first."

"Fine." Nikki fake sighed, trying to mask the complete terror she felt as an actual goblin stood three feet from her. "I was just wandering, really, but I decided I might go visit Vinessan."

"You know the Princess?" Malice sparked in Nodeomon's eyes, despite his attempts to keep cool. After recollecting himself, he continued. "I actually have to go find the Princess, to, um.....fix the....lightbulbs! Yes, that's it! The lightbulbs, uh, spontaneously exploded, and I'm the, um, lightbulb man."

"Uh, huh." Nikki held back a smile at his poorly fabricated lie. "Oh, sure, I can take you. This way; just follow me." Nodemon waited until he thought Nikki wasn't watching him, and silently cheered enthusiastically, which made Nikki fight to suppress a smile. As she led Nodemon along the halls, taking the long way to Vinessan's room, her brain spun wildly as she tried to think of a way to capture Nodemon. As if it was an answer to her prayers, she spotted Auntie Em and Hendrik strolling in the halls, laughing and talking.

"Em! Auntie Em!" Nikki called excitedly, waving her hands to attract their attention. Sure enough, Auntie Em and Hendrik grinned and waved, jogging over to Nikki and Nodemon.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Nodemon hissed, his face full of panic.

"Oh, that's Auntie Em and Hendrik." Nikki said cheerfully. "They were lovers, once, and then they broke up, but I'm working on getting them back together. I've made a ton of progress, but this conversation will be the turning point, so, if you don't mind..." Nikki made a shooing gesture with her hands, and Nodemon, who had no idea who the brownies were, had no choice but to believe her and move a safe distance away, far enough that he would hear nothing of Nikki's talk.

"Why, hello, dear!" Auntie Em bubbled. "Who's your friend?"

"I need you two to listen, and listen hard." Nikki whispered urgently. "My 'friend' is a goblin in disguise. Don't answer, just listen." she added, seeing Auntie Em open her mouth. "He's trying to get the princess, and I agreed to take him there, pretending I have no idea what he is. I'm going to take him the long way, and I need you two to meet us there with a full security detail and someone to remove the enchantment that makes him look like a fairy, okay?" The brownie couple nodded, and dashed off together in the direction of Vinessan's room.

Nikki motioned for Nodemon to join her again, and the two set out again along the long way to the chambers of the princess.

It was a long, silent walk to the room, with Nodemon completely quiet, most likely plotting his nefarious plan. Nikki was almost relieved to reach the room, and prayed fervently that Auntie Em had heeded her warning.

"This is it." she said hesitantly, and squeaked with fright as Nodemon, in his eagerness, shoved her aside to reach the door. He flung it open, and screamed.

Nikki craned her neck to see in the room, and was impressed to see forty or so armed to teeth guards, all pointing spears at Nodemon's neck. A fairy in blue robes chanted something, and Nodemon flickered, then disappeared, replaced by a disgusting, frightening goblin.

"You're under arrest." a guard commanded in a deep voice, and gripped the goblin roughly. "Come with us, or suffer the consequences."

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