Mel and Chris

It was Chris’s family that owned Mel’s grandmother.

"Well that’s a nice greeting," Chris snipped.

"What do you want Christian?" Mel snapped a little louder and had to look inconspicuous when the teacher turned around.

"Here," Chris handed him a piece of thin, luminous candy. Mel knew right away that it was from his grandma. She made this sugary treat out of sugar and light when the humans would let her. It tasted like sweet sunshine.

"Thanks," Mel had to begrudge. He knew that Chris didn’t have to bring Mel stuff from Grandma Sara. It was one of the least annoying things about Chris. He was pretty good that way. There were a number of artifacts that Chris had actually helped get to Mel’s family.

"Dad said hi," Chris added.

Mel had to smile. There were some good humans, Grandma had been right about that. He supposed Chris was one of them. He invited Mel over all the time. Mel’s mom didn’t really like him associating with humans. She did, however, like the time he got to spend with his grandmother. Mel had a suspicion about the whole set-up. He was almost positive that Chris’s dad had a green tinge to him. He couldn’t prove it though, so he just put up with Chris because it made Grandma happy. Mel had a feeling that he actually liked Chris, but he wasn’t going to admit being a human-liker.

"I have a secret that I want to tell you," Chris continued.

"Fine! Meet me at the tree," Mel said. He knew that if Chris really wanted to talk to him he’d figure out which tree Mel meant.

Mel agreed to meet Chris in the woods behind the school after class was over. He didn’t really care what Chris had to say, but Mel liked secrets. They were his favorite things in the world. He was pretty good at keeping them too. Of course, there were the times that the faerie in him rose up and Mel told the secret. He liked mischief almost as much as he liked secrets. Sometimes it was a real toss up which he liked better.

School passed painfully slow. Now that Chris had a secret Mel was anxious to get out of class. Chris was only human, so Mel didn’t think it could be anything really exciting. He still wanted to hear it though. Mel thought that was the trouble with humans, they got all excited over nothing. After all, knowing what you got for Christmas wasn’t as exciting as knowing that you could turn people into other things for short periods of time. It also wasn’t as exciting as knowing that your grandparents were worshiped as gods at one time and could make things appear out of thin air. Oh, the things that Mel had to keep locked in him!

After school Mel met Chris by the biggest tree in the forest. Mel leaned against it and had to pretend that he couldn’t understand what it was saying. Under his breath he whispered, "Shut-up stupid tree, I’m not supposed to talk to you."

"But Mel, you talk to me all the time," the tree complained with a rustling.

"Ya, well Mom found out. You should learn how to keep your chipmunks quiet," Mel snorted. He then ignored the trees jokes until Christian showed up.

"Okay," Chris surprised Mel by whispering from behind him.

Mel froze. He hoped that Chris hadn’t heard him talking to the tree. He turned around and gazed at Chris suspiciously for a moment. He gave no indication that he’d heard Mel talking to the three.