The Town Of Temlee

The sun rose over the town of Temlee, illuminating the many hills surrounding it. The leaves on the trees were just beginning to fall, blanketing the grass with various colours of red and orange. The door swung open at house 4 early that morning, the mayor of the town stepping out happily. She scanned the town and her smile faded.
"He slept in again?" She stomped over to house 9 and pounded on the door loudly.

"Dominic! Come on, this is the second day in a row!" Dominic swung open the door, still buttoning up the last button on his shirt.

"I'm so sorry Clarice! I don't know what's been going on with me lately." He said in a panic. Clarice sighed.

"how many times do I have to tell you to call me Claire or you can call me Mayor Guller like everyone else!"

He sighed. "I'm sorry Claire, if we're in such a rush we should probably stop arguing and get to w-" He stopped and stared at the hills in the distance, just behind Claire.

What's the matter with you, what are you staring at?" She asked. Dominic looked over her shoulders, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open. Claire turned around and her jaw dropped. On top of the hills that no one in this town had ever dared to explore was the silhouette of a little girl.

"Dominic... you should probably go get her, nobody knows what's beyond those hills," Claire Suggested with a hint of fear in her voice.

"You're the mayor!" He shot back.

"Fine" She replied under her breath. She pulled the wood carved wand from her purse and waved in the air while saying some odd-sounding words. In less than a second, she was standing on top of the hill with the little girl.

"Hello," Claire called to the girl, "How did you get here? Who are you." When she didn't reply Claire spoke again. "My name is Claire, I am the mayor of that town over there." She pointed over to the silhouette of the town. "You aren't allowed up here it dangerous, let's go back to the town okay." The little girl nodded. Claire pulled her wand out and teleported them back in front of house 9. The little girl stood there, shocked, not really knowing what just happened. Claire looked at the little girl confused. "What's wrong." She asked.

"You just, how did you? What just happened!" The little girl stuttered.

"I brought you into the town so you wouldn't get hurt," Claire answered. The little girl stood frozen. A sudden realization came across Claire's face. "Dominic may I talk to you for a second..." Claire asked.

"Sure" Dominic replied. They walked behind the house leaving the girl frozen where she was. Claire looked at Dominic.

"This isn't a little girl, this is something else, she may look like a little girl but she is anything but that." Dominic stared at her in confusion.

"What else could she be?" Claire thought about this for a moment.

"I think she's a human." Dominic began laughing rather loud at that statement.

"Come on Claire we all know that humans are just a fairy tale that our parents told us when we where kids, don't be ridiculous!" Suddenly the little girl walked around the corner.

"Humans, a fairy tale! Then what are you!" She shouted, clearly quite confused. Dominic was now the one who seemed petrified.

"Wizards..." Claire said cautiously.

"No! You're lying!" The little girl shot back. "Wizards are fairy tales, not humans!" Claire and Dominic exchanged fearful looks. If humans were fairy tales how was this girl standing right here without a single clue of what magic was? Dominic opened his mouth as if he was about to say something but stopped right away. He was speechless, part of him wished he had slept in even longer.

"Clearly neither of us are fairy tales okay," Claire said trying to keep as calm as possible.

The little girl took a deep breath. "Okay, my name is Rachel. I'm 12 years old, I got lost and I was looking for my family. I came across these hills and saw a town nearby and here we are." Rachel said. Dominic turned around about to go back to his house. "

No!" Claire yelled at him. ''We have to help Rachel get back to her family" She said more calmly.

"Fine." Dominic hissed. "So how are we even going to get her back to her house, are you going to teleport there?" Dominic asked.

"I can"t teleport to places I can't see, you know this Dominic." Claire barked back.

"Sorry, I forgot" Dominic replied surprised.

"We're just going to have to walk," Claire said with a scared kind of whimper in her voice.

"Are you crazy Claire! Nobody has ever been across those hills, who knows what could be beyond them!" Dominic yelled so loudly that the whole town of Temlee could probably hear him.

"Ummm, I've been across the hills there's really nothing that b-" Rachel was interrupted by Dominic.

"You can't possibly trust the girl, can you! She claims to be human!"

"I'm right here!" Rachel said offended.

"I trust the girl Dominic and if you don't then you're gonna have to stay home." Claire huffed.

"Fine by me" Dominic bellowed as he turned around and re-entered his home.

"Okay, Rachel we better be on our way before it gets too dark," Claire suggested.

Claire and Rachel set off towards the hills. Days and days had passed before they reached the small town Rachel knew as home.

"So this is what has been past these hills all this time" Claire stated in disbelief. "Yeah" Rachel answered. Claire looked around at the little houses scattered along the side of the road. "So, where is your house?" Claire asked.

Rachel pointed to a small wooden cabin at the end of the street, "Right there." Rachel responded.

Claire looked at the small cabin. "Okay," She said. They walked down the road and knocked on the door of Rachels house. When the door opened Rachels parents stood there with a glowing smile on both of there faces.

"Rachel!" They exclaimed. Rachel just smiled and looked at the ground. Her parents hugged her and told her how worried they were before even noticing Claire.

When they saw Claire they thanked her and invited her in for dinner. Claire was about to protest but when she looked over her shoulder Rachel had the biggest puppy dog eyes she had ever seen and she caved. "Oh, That would be lovely." Claire agreed.

Not too long later, they were all sitting at the dinner table eating a fantastic meal. "So, Claire how did you find Rachel." The mother asked. Claire was about to tell her all about the forbidden hills and discovering humans existed but Rachel had already told the entire story without missing a single detail. Rachels parents began laughing. Claire shot Rachel a confused look.

"Ugh, they don't believe us, do a spell!" Rachel begged.

Claire, without hesitating, pulled out her wand and muttered some more odd words and a tiny light glowed from her wand. The parents went from laughing to looking the most frightened that Claire or Rachel had ever seen anybody been. The parents chased Claire out of the house and once Claire was hidden behind a house she knew what to do. Claire saw Rachel running past the house and pulled her over to where she was standing

She looked at Rachel with a serious look on her face and said, "I have to separate our worlds, so humans can't get in and wizards can't be hurt." Rachels jaw dropped.

"So you're telling me I'm never going to see you or magic again!" She whined.

"Not at all," Claire responded. She pulled a purple amulet out of her boot and handed it to Rachel. "Visit whenever you wish," Claire told her. Rachel took the amulet and looked down at it in her hands. She went to look up to thank Claire but she was already long gone.

Rachel smiled, the amulet around her neck, and went on to find her parents and tell them that Claire had left, and there was nothing to worry about.