The Bramblekin

Chapter 16


. "I can smell him."
Nifty glanced back. "That's rude."
"Humans smell strange," Thicket replied.
"You're covered in leaves." Replied nifty
"That's different," Thicket said.
Corey was sitting on the porch when Nifty emerged from the trees. Relief crossed his face immediately. "There you are," Corey said as he stood.
"You okay?"
"Not really," Nifty answered.
"Want to talk," Corey said.
Then Corey noticed movement behind Nifty. Thicket peeked around Nifty's side and froze. Up close, the size difference was almost ridiculous. Corey stood six-foot-four. Thicket, barely over two feet tall, reached only about Corey's knee. The little Bramblekin had to tip his head so far back to look at the human that he immediately reconsidered the idea and disappeared behind Nifty.
"That's him," Thicket whispered.
"Yes," Nifty said.
"The human."
"Yes, Thicket. I know," Nifty replied
. Corey stared at the second gremlin.
"Nifty... who is that?"
Nifty stepped slightly aside, though Thicket moved with him to remain hidden.
"Corey, this is Thicket. He's a Bramblekin."
Corey looked from Nifty to the tiny pair of ears sticking out from behind him.
"A what?" "Bramblekin," Nifty repeated.
"Woodland gremlins. Small, fast, good at hiding in thorn brush. Apparently also good at stealing food from porches." "I was hungry," Thicket protested from behind Nifty. Corey's eyebrows rose
. "Well. At least he talks."
Nifty looked up at him. "That's what you said about me."
For the first time since the crack closed, Corey smiled.
Then he noticed how tightly Thicket was gripping the back of Nifty's clothes, and Corey's expression softened. He slowly sat back down on the porch step, making himself as small and unthreatening as a six-foot-four human could manage.
"Hi, Thicket," Corey said quietly. "I'm Corey.
I'm not going to hurt you." Thicket did not answer. Corey kept his hands where the little gremlin could see them.
He did not move closer. He did not ask questions.
He simply waited. After nearly a minute, Thicket leaned far enough around Nifty to study him.
"Nifty says you're his friend," Thicket said. "I'd like to think so," Corey replied.
Thicket looked up at Nifty for confirmation. "He is," Nifty said.
Thicket considered this, then looked back at Corey. "Humans are mean." Corey nodded.
"Some of us can be." "A human threw something at me," Thicket said. Corey's face tightened.
"I'm sorry that happened." Thicket seemed confused by the apology. He did not move closer, but he also did not retreat back into the woods.
Eventually Corey brought out a little food and set it on the porch between them. He did not push it toward Thicket or tell him to eat.
He simply left it there. Thicket watched Corey, watched the food, watched Corey again, and finally crept forward to take a piece.
The three of them stayed on the porch beneath the night sky. Nifty sat on the step with his elbows on his knees.
Corey leaned against a porch post. Thicket kept as much porch as possible between himself and the human, crouched rather than seated, his little feet tucked beneath him and his ears twitching at every unfamiliar sound.
Nifty told Corey what Thicket had said: that he had gone to sleep at home and awakened in the human world with no memory of anything between. Corey's eyes moved from Thicket to Nifty.
"Like you," Corey said. Nifty nodded.
"Exactly like me."
Thicket looked between them. "What do you mean, like him?" Nifty stared toward the two trees where the purple crack had appeared.
"That's how I got here too." Thicket's face went pale. For a while, none of them tried to solve it.
Beyond the porch stood the two trees. Nothing hung between them now.
No purple light. No other sky.
No Rook. Just darkness and the slow movement of leaves in the night breeze.
Eventually Thicket's ears stopped twitching. His head dipped once, jerked back up, then dipped again.
A few minutes later the little Bramblekin had curled against the porch post with his knees drawn to his chest. For the first time since waking in this strange world, he had apparently decided he was safe enough to sleep.
Corey noticed first. "He's asleep," Corey whispered.
Nifty looked over. "Good." "You think he'll still be here in the morning?" Corey asked.
Nifty's eyes returned to the empty place between the trees. "I hope so." From inside the cabin came a soft electronic chime.
Corey glanced through the open door. The computer on Nifty's desk was still glowing, exactly where they had left it when the crack split the night apart.
Another notification appeared. One of Nifty's NFTs had sold.
A few moments later, the computer chimed again. Somewhere in the human world, another person had collected one of Nifty's drawings without knowing that the creatures in those pictures were real.
Without knowing that one of them sat on the porch staring into the woods. Without knowing that another was asleep only a few feet away.
Only hours earlier, the launch had seemed like the biggest thing in Nifty's world. Now it continued quietly in the background while everything he thought he understood had become much larger.
Nifty looked at Thicket. Then at Corey.
Then back toward the two trees. Somewhere beyond them was Rook.
Somewhere beyond them was home. Nifty still had no idea how to reach either one.
Not yet. The computer chimed once more behind him.
Nifty allowed himself a small smile. For tonight, that was enough.