Ent scoffs, “how convenient.” As it tries to escape, Ent simply commands, “Stop lying, Faye!”
About to jump out the window, the Mirror stops and slowly climbs back into the room before sheepishly approaching Elf and finally turning back into the guilty young lady.
“Hurry up,” Gigi calls from outside. With this admonition being yelled, Elfie, still standing in the door for the others to see, does the smart thing and informs his dad via nano-chat of the basics of the situation without going into too much detail before he himself can get to the meaning of this confusion.
“Faye,” he says, “there were never any Mirrors today, were there?”
Scared to death, she admits, “No.”
“Why have you been lying to me today?” Elf crosses his arms cautiously so to not seem too upset.
“I…I have a lot to keep up with. You took me off guard, and I…” Faye thinks of the best way to explain without lying again. “I shouldn’t have been dishonest. That’s a direct contradiction of what I was trying to do. I became afraid, so I got desperate. Will you forgive me?”
“You know I will, but that doesn’t tell me what you’re hiding.”
“I…I can’t tell you right now, and I didn’t make up the Viewfinder, just all the Mirrors.”
“So, that thing was real?” Ent doesn’t like this thought one bit.
“It was very real,” Faye regrets to say. “I wish I had made it up.”
“Yet you knew how to beat it. You know a bunch of stuff that you shouldn’t and make claims about doing things you shouldn’t have been able to do yet, saying you know people you haven’t met and that you’ve been places you haven’t—”
“Stop!” Faye tearfully demands. “Stop that, please. I’m not trying to lie to you. There’s just stuff I’m not ready to talk about yet, alright? We have a class to finish, please.”
“Alright,” he says with a sigh. “When you’re ready, we’ll talk about it.”
As Elf starts to leave, his kindness pulls at Faye’s heart. “Wait; we’re not done.” Once she has his attention, she takes a deep breath and choses her words carefully. “Elfie, you’re everything to me, and I’m sorry I lied to you. I have to be careful with what I say because there are things I’m not permitted to tell you. But I don’t want to violate your trust over it. All I can say is that I am trying to protect the man that I love, and that I will DIE before I let the fakers have him.”
“Fakers?” Entoni repeats.
“That’s all I can say,” she responds. “I know I lied to you, and that was wrong, but when you know what I do, you’ll see why I did it. I just need you to trust me until I can tell you everything.”
“Okay, I will trust you then.” As he kindly leads her outside, he says, “I wish you would have said what you did earlier, but I’m ready to walk this road with you, no matter how little you can tell me.”
“Believe me, I WANT to tell you. I have nothing to hide. It’s just…against my orders.” Having said this, Faye promises to talk with Mr. Rug so that he is aware of their conversation in the house. Even though Elf stayed in sight of everyone, Faye wants to remain as genuine as she can, given this apparent secret mission from some unknown source. I hope it all works out.
Soon, everyone is back together, some very awkward goodbyes are given and the inhabitants of this cozy swamp head back into their house, discussing the eerie events that seem to be arising. When everyone lands in the new area, Elfie helps Faye clear herself with the others while she talks to Mr. Rug so he knows why she’s been lying all day and what was said before leaving. Knowing the character of this young woman and of his son, he knows what she’s saying is the truth now, so all is well.
Everyone is still uneasy about the situation, especially now that there is definitely a new threat out there somewhere, but the teachers are not going to let this ruin the education of their students, and this field trip will surely not end before they can visit one more galaxy, the home of all the greatest System Guards, no less. If ANYONE can help our team solve this problem, it’s the heroes they are about to meet soon.
Inner Man Theatre 