I Cannot Live Without Books

When you’re walking through the woods, do you ever feel like the plants are whispering, speaking to each other? Do you ever think the trees are watching over you? Or that the leaves are shielding you from a horrible fate? Well, if you see these things you are not insane. You are not full of nonsense. You are not abnormal, though you are very rare.

You are a Tallis. A Tallis is someone who speaks the language of nature. A Tallis is someone who can see the Hoblins.

This story is about a Tallis named Autumn and how she discovers the Hoblins . . . and the secrets hidden with them.

Chapter Two

 Hoblins are not ugly, impish-like creatures that dwell deep within the Earth. In fact, they are quite the opposite. A Hoblin is a keeper of nature, a beautiful thing that takes care of the forest. And boy, are they colorful. Their hair can be any color at all, from flaming red to icy blue.

This story, however, involves a Hoblin who has neither hair color, though her hair is of little importance to her. This Hoblin’s name is Ella. Now, reader, prepare to dive in to a story where Ella helps Autumn discover who she truly is.

Chapter Three

 Autumn meanders alongside the stream, singing softly, “The cool wind blows, the sunshine glows, and everything feels like magic.” She finishes for an imaginary audience. Autumn sighs and steps down from the log on which she is standing. She picks up a leaf and picks at it, pulling it apart like all children have done many, many times. Her straight, brown hair is pulled up into a ponytail. She pushes her glasses up on to the bridge of her nose, and pulls off her red sweatshirt.

Just then, Autumn hears a voice.

“Autumn . . .” the voice whispers softly.

Autumn jumps. “Who’s there?” She shouts.

“Autumn . . .” the voice says again, this time clearer.

Sure she is not hallucinating, Autumn cautiously peers around the corner.

There, flying in midair, is a creature, almost like a fairy, with dazzling blue eyes and green hair brighter than the sun.

“Hello,” the creature says, a playful smile on her lips.

Autumn, who is used to strange things happening to her, does not jump back in shock, but is fairly surprised. “Who are you?” she asks. “No, sorry, but—what are you?”

The creature smiles and zooms forward, though she does not appear to have wings.

“My name is Ella. I am a Hoblin.”

Chapter Four

“What the heck is a Hoblin?” Is Autumn’s first question.

“A Hoblin,” Ella begins, “Is a creature that watches over and nurtures the forest, and the forest nurtures you. But enough about me. There will be plenty of time for that later. First, tell me about you,” Ella says in her soft, delicate voice.

“Well,” Autumn says uncertainly. “I—no, I’m sorry I really need more information on the Hoblin thing.”

Ella relaxes, “That’s perfectly okay. It’s a bit of a shock for every Tallis.” Autumn gives Ella a blank stare.

Now reader, you and I already know everything there is to know about Hoblins and Tallises—well, the things we need to know now. Anyway, if it’s okay with you, I am just going to skip this little dance Autumn and Ella have and go straight to Autumn telling Ella about her life. So, just go on to the next page and we can begin chapter five.

Chapter Five

After successfully explaining what a Tallis is, Ella convinces Autumn to tell her about her own life.

“This is kind of weird,” Autumn states, “considering I’ve never confessed to something as weird as a Hoblin before, but I don’t remember my life. That’s why there isn’t much to tell. I didn’t even know my own name until a couple of weeks ago,” she says with a sigh. Autumn turns to look at Ella, but she isn’t there.

Ella had stopped dead a few paces ago. A look of horror has replaced her kind smile. “What do you mean?” she whispers softly and quickly.

“I told you,” Autumn replies, slightly annoyed, “A couple months ago I woke up in the forest. I had no clue who I was or where I came from. I’d hoped someone would come looking for me—but nobody did,” Autumn finishes quietly.

Ella stares intently at Autumn, as though trying to decipher a code. Finally, she says, “Follow me,” and zips away.

Autumn chases the Hoblin through the many trees, under two different bridges and across the stream. At last, Ella comes to a halt beside a grand lake, Autumn panting beside her. Ella starts chanting something in a language Autumn has never heard. Soon the chanting becomes louder and clearer, and Autumn has to cover her ears it is so noisy. Then, as quick as she had started, Ella stops. The reason why is apparent very soon.

In the center of the lake, a sort of void is beginning to form, swirling and swirling almost like a portal. Ella flies across the lake and hovers above the portal-like thing.

“Um,” Autumn stutters. “What . . . what do I do?”

Ella stares.  “You take off your clothes, wade across the lake, and then jump into the portal,” Ella says as though this were the most obvious thing in the world.

“Um…” Autumn says with frustration. “I’ll pass on the no clothes part considering it is THE MIDDLE OF FALL!”

“Suit yourself,” Ella replies and strips down to nothing but socks. Autumn shivers as she takes a cautious step into the water and her boot plunges to the bottom of the lake floor.

Ella shakes and calls, “Hurry up over there! I’m freezing!”

Autumn takes larger steps, hoping this mysterious portal leads to Florida. With one last leap, she finds herself at the edge of the void. Autumn looks up nervously at Ella and says, “I can’t do it! I don’t even know where we’re going!” She has to shout over the noise of the portal.

“Yes, you can!” yells Ella. “As for where we’re going, we’re taking a trip to the land of the Hoblins.” And with that she gives Autumn a push that a tiny creature shouldn’t have been able to manage, and Autumn falls, screaming, into the portal.

Chapter Six

Autumn lands with a thud. She groans and staggers to her feet. She’s soaked to the bone and shivering with cold. Hovering next to her is Ella. Except for her shiny green hair, Ella is perfectly dry.

She begins to pull on her clothes, with Autumn staring jealously. When she finishes, Ella sighs and says happily, “Home sweet home.”

That’s when Autumn looks around. She and Ella are standing on a dirt path. They are surrounded by hundreds, even thousands, of houses that seem to made out of mushrooms. The house closest to Ella and Autumn has a stone driveway, and in it is parked . . . a leaf. “Huh,” Autumn thinks to herself. For them, leaves must be like cars. Just then, a young Hoblin comes out of the house, holding a small red leaf.

“Some rotten, old human ripped it!” he whines to his mother, tears in his eyes. Looking closely, Autumn thinks the leaf looks almost exactly like—the one she ripped up this morning. Ducking behind Ella, she tries to not make eye contact with the boy.

But then Autumn realizes something about what she has done . . . she has ducked behind Ella. That’s not possible! Ella is twelve times smaller than her! Apparently not anymore.

“Ella,” Autumn asks slowly. “When we went through that portal did you SHRINK ME?”

Ella turns red, and because of the combination of that and her green hair, she looks like a giant Christmas ornament. “Oh,” she says looking at the ground. “Did I forget to mention that in order to enter the Hoblin land, you have to be a Hoblin?”

Autumn argues angrily, “How is that possible? That can’t be right because I’m not a . . . Hoblin.” Autumn stares at Ella. “Did you turn me into—A HOBLIN?” Autumn shouts.

“Autumn, I’m sorry, but you have to come with me,” Ella says sadly. “The enchantment only lasts about 36 hours, and you could be of great importance to the Hoblin queens.”

Autumn, who had been staring at the sky, (which looks strangely like the water in the lake) turns to Ella.

“What queens? You never mentioned queens,” Autumn says forcefully.

Ella sighs, “Look, Autumn. I know I wasn’t honest with you, and that was a mistake. I couldn’t risk you not coming here with me. But, now that we’re here, I suppose you’d like to hear the whole story?”

Autumn nods.

“I thought so. All right, I’ll tell you, but not here, more Hoblins might be coming through the portal. I’ll take you to my place. We might as well be comfortable. It’s going to be a long story.”

Chapter Seven

Autumn has never been inside such a strange home, but she doesn’t dare tell Ella that. The dining room table is as long as the house itself, and every inch is covered with whistling items and colorful scarves. A large map is hanging on the wall with red tacks from left to right.

Ella bustles in and laughs, “I’m so sorry about the mess!” She starts putting things away on a black bookshelf.

Autumn runs her hand over the stone white mantle. She then turns back to Ella who is sitting at a nearly empty table.

“Please, sit,” Ella gestures her hand to the bench across from her.

Autumn notices the map on the wall is gone.

Ella looks Autumn in the eye and says, “Are you ready to hear my story?”

Autumn stares Ella down just as fiercely. “Bring it.”

Ella begins with a deep breath, then dives into her tale. “Ever since I was young, I have worked for the Queens of the Hoblins: Queen Spring, Queen Summer, Queen Autumn, and Queen Winter. However, 10 years ago, Queen Winter got into an argument with the other three queens. She thought the world should be an endless winter. She wanted everyone to enjoy the magic of snow. But queens Summer, Autumn, and Spring disagreed and thought it should be an endless summer they had. Queen Winter and Queen Autumn had always been the best of friends, and Winter was angry that Autumn hadn’t sided with her. Queen Winter vanished. Lots of people sent search parties, and the rest hid in their homes. A year later, when everyone thought it was safe to come out, disaster struck. It was the annual fall festival, and Queen Autumn had a big speech she was going to make in the town square.  But she didn’t show up. Guards searched the entire castle. They didn’t find her. Queen Autumn was missing. The only thing they did find was a note on Autumn’s pillow saying Winter had her and that they’d never see her again. The search is still going on for both queens, but, well, all hope is kind of lost.”

Autumn stares with her jaw open. “Okay, so two lost queens and a note from Winter, but I still don’t see how this relates to you.”

Ella smiles, “I thought you might wonder that. Queen Spring and Queen Summer hired me to find the missing queens. They knew Winter would expect big search parties, so they decided to have someone almost like an undercover spy. Right now, I’m searching for Queen Winter. See?” Ella pulls something up from under the table. Autumn recognizes the map that was previously on the wall.

“ These are all the places I’ve searched for Queen Winter. But, I’ve put my search for her on pause,” Ella says.

“Why?” Autumn asks curiously.

Ella replies, “Because I think I’ve found Queen Autumn.”

Autumn jumps up with shock. “Really?” she almost shouts. “Where is she?”

“Standing right in front of me.”

Chapter Eight

“That can’t be right,” Autumn says with disbelief. “I can’t be Queen Autumn; I’m human!”

“You were human,” Ella corrects her. “And I could be right. See, I thought you were just another Tallis who was taking it very well that she could see Hoblins. All of that changed when you told me about waking up in the forest, not knowing anything about your past,” Ella replies, a look of excitement on her face.

“So what?” Autumn asks. “I probably was in some sort of freak accident and I . . .”

Ella quickly interrupts, “Then how did you end up in a forest? It all fits! There’s a theory that Queen Winter erased Queen Autumn’s memory, and switched her body with someone else’s. That way, the other queens wouldn’t recognize her, even if she was right under their noses!” Ella says hurriedly, pacing back and forth.

“Um . . . uh . . . ha!” Autumn calls triumphantly. “Queen Autumn disappeared a year ago, and I woke up in that forest a month ago. Didn’t think of that, did you?” Autumn finishes with relish.

“Actually, I did think of that,” Ella replies with a sly smile. Autumn begins to bang her head against the wall in frustration. “Queen Winter kept you captive for a year, then erased your memory a month ago, because she thought there wouldn’t be many more search parties.” Ella’s smile stretches from ear to ear.

“Fine!” Autumn calls angrily. “But even if I am Queen Autumn, I don’t remember where Queen Winter is. How can I possibly help Queen Spring and Queen Summer?”

Ella slams her hands on the table and rises. “Don’t you realize how cold it’s been lately? If all three sisters aren’t there to keep the warmth, Queen Winter could takeover, and our world would be an endless winter! Please, Autumn, I’m not saying you are a queen, but if you are, you could save life as we know it!”

Autumn turns slowly so that she’s facing Ella. She sighs, “Tell me what I have to do.”

Ella’s face breaks in to a grin. “First things first—we need to pay Queens Spring and Summer a visit.”

Chapter Nine

The grand oak doors loom above Autumn and Ella; Autumn walking while Ella flies beside her.

“This,” Autumn says softly, “is incredible.”

Incredible about sums it up. A huge castle with rows and rows of turrets is in front of them, with a crystal clear moat where seashells are littered here and there in the sand. Long, green grass waves in the wind, daisies spread out like the shells.

Ella says kindly, “Just wait. You haven’t seen the best part.”

Autumn has a sudden urge to run up to the oak doors, yank them open, and go flying down the red velvet carpet.

Ella turns to the castle guards, both with wavy purple hair, and says, “Ella Ender and . . . guest. Here to see Queen Spring and Queen Summer.”

The guards push open the heavy doors, and the two girls enter a large entryway. Another guard leads them past display cases filled with armor, colorful portraits, and what looks like a memorial.

“That is dedicated to Queen Autumn,” Ella says, as though reading Autumn’s thoughts. Autumn stares at the memorial, wondering if it could possibly, somehow be for her.

“Heh-hem,” the guard coughs. “The throne room.” He pushes the polished doors open. Ella enters, and Autumn, slightly apprehensive, follows suit.

 Chapter Ten

If Autumn didn’t know better, she would say the Hoblin queens aren’t even Hoblins. Queen Summer has soft, blonde hair and wears a sparkling tiara on her head. Her long, yellow gown falls to the floor and covers up her silver slippers. Queen Spring’s bouncy brown hair falls past her shoulders, and her leafy green dress is nearly identical to her sister’s.  However, she dons pink shoes.

“Ella!” Queen Spring calls. “How lovely to see you! How is our… um…. special project?”

Queen Summer, however, is more focused on Autumn. Autumn shifts uncomfortably, and tries to catch Ella’s eye.

Luckily, Ella notices this. “Oh, this is my friend—Autumn,” Ella finishes uncertainly.

Obviously, the sound of their sister’s name is still hard to swallow. Queen Spring looks down at the floor, and Queen Summer’s eyes get glossy. Nervous to speak, Autumn waves. This seems to trigger the queens’ return to the present.

“Hello, Autumn, I am Queen Spring. However, I prefer you call me Spring.” Autumn nods fiercely and stares at her shoes. Something about these ladies makes her uncomfortable, as though she’s met them before; but she knows she hasn’t.

“I am Queen Summer. I hope you will call me Summer, but I get the feeling you aren’t going to speak much during this meeting. So, you not need bother with names.”

Autumn stares at the queen in surprise. “I wasn’t going to talk until you pretty much read my mind. Now I’ll talk because you’ll know what I’m thinking anyway,” Autumn says softly.

To her relief, both queens laugh. “No, Autumn, I can’t read minds,” Queen Summer says with a smile. “I’m just very good at reading emotions.”

Ella and Queen Spring chuckle, but Queen Summer is staring intently at Autumn, who is trying hard to hide what she’s thinking. A dark look passes over the queen’s face, and Autumn gets a strange feeling she knows everything.

“So, Ella,” Queen Summer begins, “What did you want to see us about?”

to be continued . . .