I looked at Colin.
"Somewhere in the Faelands," Colin said. He squinted out the window. "I have never been here before, though. We might as well get out. The car won't go any farther into the magic lands."
Luna eased her door open and looked cautiously around before she stood. I held onto her shirt and thought about just burying my head in the cloth until things went back to normal.
Three elephants took mincing steps through the purple grass. I looked down and decided to hold on a little tighter. There was no way I was going to put my feet down there. What if it stained my paws? Or worse, my legs. I wouldn't look terrific in purple.
Then, one elephant took a little bite of the purple stuff. Before long, we were all eating it. Colin watched them for a moment and then shrugged again. They didn't seem to know much of what was happening, which worried me since he was the closest we had to a guide here.
The Chipmunks must have decided to stay in the car. That didn't work out well. The car made a popping noise and disappeared, dropping everything we put in it, including our new little friends, on the ground.
At that point, we all turned to Colin, including elephants and chipmunks. He looked startled, glancing around at the entire group.
"Why are you looking at me?" He asked. "What makes you think I have any idea what's going on?"
"You said this is the fae land," Luna reminded him. "And you happen to be our only Fae."
"We are in so much trouble," I mumbled. The chipmunks nodded in agreement.
I started looking around, hoping for a sign that would direct us back to our own place. I saw purple grass and orange flowers that seemed to go on for miles until they faded into the hill land beyond us. I saw nothing except the strange movement of the grass about half a mile away from us. It took me a moment to realize something was heading our way. Whatever it was, the thing appeared to be short and long.
"I think we're about to have company," I said and nodded toward the waving grass.
We all gathered in the line, but the elephants remained behind us. I had the feeling the elephants might be a little intimidating, and Colin agreed. The elephants never told us what they thought.
I could hear small voices. "High-cut, low-cut, high-cut, low-cut."
We had trampled down the grass in our area, and it wasn't long before a small army appeared at the edge.
A small army of very small people. At first, I mistook them for pixies, but they had no wings and certainly didn't have the pixie disposition. About 60 of them rushed out of the higher grass and lifted their swords and other weapons into the air as though to warn us they were not to be messed with.
I don't think laughing with the answer either. I had to do a lot to keep myself from doing more than coughing. One of them was a stout little guy with a beard all the way down to his waist. Stepped forward and looked at us with a snarl.
"Not more damned Giants," he snarled in a voice that was louder than I had expected. "What do you want here?"
He shoved his sword into the ground, waiting for an answer. It was a good question. My answer would have been to say we only wanted to get away, but that might not be polite.
We looked at Colin again.
Since he didn't look any less confused, I had to suspect he had no idea what was going on. "It might help if we knew where we are," he offered with a bright smile.
"You must be blind! It's obvious where you are. You're in the land of the purple grass."
This was not going to be as easy as I had hoped. Then something odd -- well odder -- happened. The little guys had been looking up at us, but something to their attention to the ground. And there they saw the chipmunks. Their leader yelled angrily, drew his sword out of the ground, and started to charge forward with all of his army behind him.
The chipmunks rightly panicked at this behavior. One jumped on my back, and the others climbed Colin or Luna.
Colin pointed at the army. "Stop right there."
And they did, although that had clearly not been their intention. They gave cries of fear and anger. The chipmunks made sounds of worry.
"How dare you come between us and the evil ones!"
Chipmunks as evil ones finally got a laugh from me. Neither side appreciated it. Apparently, the elephants got bored, though. They wandered off, munching on purple grass.
The leader took a swipe at Colin's ankle. He yelped and grabbed the guy up by his shirt. "Don't do that," Colin ordered. "None of us, including the Chipmunks, are here to do you any harm. What makes you think there's a great evil?"
"They come in every harvest season and raid our fields and still our food before they cross back to their own lands and leave us to find more supplies for winter."
"They go back to their own lands? How did they do that?" I asked and shifted slightly to move the chipmunk off my shoulders.
"They don't do it with your fancy fae magic. Oh yes, I know what you are. Put me down!"
Colin put him down. "How do they get home?"
"By using a gate, of course."
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