Zocs legs were shaking. His hands were hidden in his pockets, so no one could see how nervous he was, but he couldn’t hide his legs. An elder with a kind face looked at him understandingly. „Don’t worry, this task is foolproof. Now go. I’ll be waiting here.“ Zoc examined the big house. He was only about 4 inches tall which made the house look like a huge mountain. His destination was the second window from the right, on the second floor. He clenched his fists inside the pockets and started walking slowly towards the house. As he reached the wall, he looked up. From up close the house was even bigger. But he didn’t worry about reaching the window. After all he was the best in his class in climbing. The thing he was nervous about was what he had to do, once he reached the room behind the window. He turned to look at the elder who nodded encouragingly. Zoc closed his eyes, took a deep breath and then started climbing the wall. The house was completely dark. It was silent. Everyone was fast asleep.

It didn’t take him long to reach the windowsill. Next up was the difficult part. He looked inside the room. A baby was peacefully sleeping in their crib. There were shelves full of toys the baby was still too young to play with. On a little table next to the crib was a baby monitor so the parents could hear if their child was crying. It even was one of the modern ones that also had a camera. Zoc stepped into the room. The window wasn’t an obstacle since his kind can just walk through anything that was see-through. He reached the crib and paused. Stealing the sleep of a baby was the easiest task possible. They sleep so much that, if he was careful enough, the baby would not accidentally wake up. He watched the small yellow and blue beads that were flying around the baby. There were a lot more yellow beads than blue. Those represent life. When one gets older they have less and less of them, and when no yellow bead is left they die. The blue beads are a bit more complicated. They represent sleep. When one is awake blue beads are created and when one sleeps they vanish again. When there are too many blue beads, one gets tired. These blue beads are what Zoc was here to steal. He opened his bag and carefully caught some of them. He was almost done when the door opened. Zoc immediately ran to the next wall and pressed himself against it. Even though he is invisible to humans he could still be stepped on or something similarly harmful.

The light was turned on and a tall human stepped in. The hair and clothes indicated a female one. Zoc was a bit confused by her size. He thought one of the parents would have come in to check on the baby, but this human was too small for that. Maybe a sister?

He held his breath, even though it didn’t make a difference. The baby was still asleep, but had only a few blue beads left. Zoc saw one of them vanish with a small „blob“. The girl also was looking at the baby and slightly winced at the blob sound. But she only shortly looked at her sibling before she seemed to notice something else. Unfortunately this something was exactly where Zoc was leaning at the wall. It was almost as if she was looking at him directly, but that was impossible. Zoc carefully moved along the wall towards the window, constantly keeping an eye on the girl. The girls gaze also followed Zoc. But she didn’t look like she wanted to come any closer. He now hurried the last bit to the window to go back outside where he would be saver. The elder, who was waiting in a bush, would know what to do. Finally he reached the windowsill. The girl shouted „Wait!“ but he didn’t even consider it. He held his bag closed as best as possible and started hurrying down the wall. Just when he left the room, the baby began to cry. The girl now opened the window to be able to see Zoc. He was about half way down when he could hear the voice of the mother. „Mia! Why aren’t you asleep?“ to which the girl answered „But mum! There is an elf! Look!“ pointing at Zoc. The last 2 feet he just jumped. Falling from great heights wasn’t dangerous for beings of his size, but he disliked the lag of control. As soon as he reached the ground he hurried into the bush the elder was waiting in, still clutching his bag. „Mia, there is nothing there. Go back to bed. You even woke up your brother.“ „But mum, there was an elf! I saw it!“ The mother removed the girl from the window and closed it. That was close. Zoc was relieved to see the elder. „Master! I did it!“ he showed the bag with the blue beads inside, „but there was a girl, the sister, who could see me! I thought humans can’t see us!“ Zoc was a mix of excited and upset. He was still shocked about what happened. He wanted to know how this was possible and wanted the elder to explain it to him. But they only nodded and said „Lets head back home. There are a few things I have to discuss with the other elders...“ and turned to walk away. Zoc knew he would have to wait for his explanation. So he followed the older one, his heart still pounding and his hands still clutching the bag with his loot.