Thicket

Chapter 15


Another branch shifted behind him. Nifty heard it, but this time he did not turn.
He stayed completely still and listened. Leaves rustled again, a little closer.
Nifty's ears angled toward the sound. He slowed his breathing.
Another scrape came from behind a fallen tree several yards uphill. There.
He had it. Nifty spun from the rock and launched himself into the brush.
Whatever he grabbed was smaller than he expected and considerably angrier. The woods exploded into kicking feet, claws, leaves, snarling, and several noises Nifty was fairly certain were insults.
"Stop moving!" Nifty shouted as he tried to hold on. "Get off me!" the creature yelled back.
Nifty froze. The creature froze too.
They stared at each other. Beneath Nifty was another gremlin.
Not Rook. Not anyone Nifty had ever seen.
The stranger was tiny even by gremlin standards, barely more than two feet tall. His body was wiry instead of stocky, made for slipping between roots and thorny brush.
His skin was mottled moss-green and earthy brown, breaking up his outline against the forest floor. Tangled dark hair held bits of leaf and twig, and small thorn-like ridges traced his forearms and shoulders.
Long pointed ears twitched at every sound while wide, watchful eyes searched for a way to escape. The little gremlin stared back at Nifty with equal disbelief.
"You're not human," he said. Nifty slowly released him.
"Neither are you."
The stranger shouted as it scrambled backward, but he did not run. For several seconds they simply watched each other, both apparently trying to decide whether the other was dangerous.
Then Nifty remembered Rook, and the questions came out too quickly. "Who are you?
How did you get here? Did you see an opening?
A purple crack? Did you see Rook?" "Who?" the stranger asked.
"Rook," Nifty said. "Did you see him?" The little gremlin shook his head.
"I don't know a Rook." He replied
Nifty stepped closer. "Then how did you get here?" "I don't know!" the stranger shouted.
His anger disappeared almost immediately, replaced by fear. "I just woke up here."
Nifty stopped.
"What do you mean, you woke up here?"
"I mean I went to sleep, and then I woke up here," the stranger answered.
"Where did you go to sleep?" Nifty asked.
The stranger looked at him as though the answer should have been obvious. "Home." Nifty's stomach tightened.
"And you don't remember anything between?" "Nothing," the stranger said. He rubbed one wrist and glanced nervously through the trees.
"I thought I was the only one. This world is strange.
Everything smells wrong. Nothing grows where it should.
The food is strange, and the creatures here are mean." "Humans," Nifty corrected him. "Whatever they're called," the stranger replied.
"One screamed at me. Another threw something.
Then a four-legged monster chased me halfway through the woods." "Probably a dog," Nifty said. The little gremlin frowned.
"I don't care what it was called. It had teeth." Despite everything, Nifty almost smiled.
"That's a dog."

"It still had teeth," the stranger insisted. Nifty sat back on the rock and studied him.
"What kind of gremlin are you?" The stranger narrowed his eyes. "What kind are you?" "I asked first," Nifty said.
He studied Nifty for an uncomfortable amount of time. His long ears slowly tilted forward. Names Thicket, and your?
“Im nifty”
"You don't look like Nifty," Thicket said.
"How many Niftys do you know?" Nifty asked.
Something changed in Thicket's expression. It lasted barely a second. “Well one but you cant be him"
"Then how do you know what all Niftys looks like?"
Thicket suddenly became very interested in a leaf stuck to his arm. "I don't."
"You just said I don't look like him."
"I said you don't look like Nifty."
"I am Nifty."
Thicket pulled the leaf free. "Then I guess you look like Nifty."
Nifty stared at him. Thicket stared back.
"You're weird," Nifty finally said.
"You're the one living with a human," Thicket replied.
Nifty opened his mouth, thought about it, then closed it again. "Fair."
Thicket's expression hardened. "You had a human with you."
Nifty stopped. "Corey?"
"The big guy," Thicket said.
Why do you have one with you?"
"Have one?" Nifty repeated.
"The human," Thicket said impatiently.
"I saw you and knew you weren't one of them. I was going to come closer. Then he kept showing up."
"His name is Corey," Nifty said.
Thicket waved the distinction away.
"Why is Corey there?"
"Because he's my friend,"
Nifty answered.
Thicket stared at him. Then he laughed.
When Nifty did not laugh with him, Thicket's face slowly changed. "You're serious?"
"Yes." Nifty exclaimed
"Your friends with a human?" Thicket asked.
Nifty looked back toward the cabin.
"I don't trust humans. I trust that one."
Thicket did not look convinced.
Nifty suddenly remembered the footprint outside the cabin.
"Was the footprint yours?
Under the window?"
Thicket frowned. "What footprint?"
"It looked like mine," Nifty said.
Thicket shrugged. "Then maybe it was yours."
Nifty sighed. "That's what Corey said."
"Your human sounds smart," Thicket replied.
"Don't start," Nifty said.
When Nifty asked about the other noises around the cabin, Thicket admitted that some had been his. He had slept beneath the porch twice and stolen food when he became desperate. But he insisted he had never gone inside. He could not explain everything Nifty and Corey had heard or seen. Somehow that answer was less comforting than Nifty had hoped.
"Come back with me," Nifty said.
Thicket immediately shook his head. "No."
"There's food," Nifty offered.
Thicket hesitated. "Still no."
"A roof.
A place to sleep."
"No."
"Corey," Nifty added as he laughed
"Definitely no," Thicket said.
Nifty sighed. "He isn't going to hurt you."
"You don't know that," Thicket replied.
"He caught me once," Nifty said
. Thicket went completely still. "He what?"
Nifty grimaced. "Bad choice of words."
Thicket backed away. "You said he was your friend!"
Nifty told him about the snare, about Corey freeing him, about the food left on the stump, the supplies, the conversations from the shadows, and the secret Corey had kept. He explained that Corey had shown him the internet, digital art, and the strange human world of NFTs. By the time Nifty finished, Thicket was still suspicious, but he was listening.
"So he knows what you are?" Thicket asked.
"Yes," Nifty said.
And he hasn't told the others? "Why?" Thicket asked. Nifty shrugged. "Because he's Corey."
Thicket clearly found that explanation useless. But eventually, he followed. On the walk back, Thicket stayed several steps behind Nifty. Whenever Nifty turned around, Thicket pretended he had not been considering escape. As the cabin light appeared between the trees, Thicket became quieter.
"He's there," Thicket whispered.
"Yes," Nifty said