Sprite

Norah made up her mind. She was going to tell Will her secret tonight, before it was too late. Maybe he would take her with him when he found out she was a mutant like him. Her parents would be sad when she disappeared, but maybe, after things settled down, she could go to see them. Daddy would understand. Mama would, too, once she realized it was only a matter of time before Norah’s mutation was discovered. Norah felt bad for her little brother, Adam. He would have to take over the family business after all.

She waited for Will on the banks of Datro’s river. From here she could just make out the shapes of some of Grandfather’s barges in the distance. Mack had tried to escape by sneaking aboard one of the barges. It hadn’t worked. Mack had been caught and hauled right back to the very factory he had tried to leave. Norah hoped Will had a better plan.

The factories were lenient with their mutant workers, supplying them with food and housing, with minimal supervision outside of the factory. They were that sure that the mutants couldn’t really get too far. It allowed Will to sneak away at night and roam the city, as long as he showed up as scheduled for work the next morning. Mack must have been caught when he didn’t appear at the factory that morning. How did they catch him so quickly? They must have known he was ready to try something, and put an extra watch on him. Will needed to be careful. He was one of the older changelings. They might be watching him closely already.

“Hey.” Will gave her a friendly shove. It was as if the afternoon had never happened.

Norah had been so preoccupied that she hadn’t even heard him approach. She sat, looking out across the water, hands clasped around her knees. “Hey,” she answered.

“So tell me about this sprite.” Will dropped down beside her and threw an arm around her shoulder. Norah blushed.

“Last summer on my way home we met some hunters. They had captured a kid, about my age. Said he was a sprite.” Norah glanced at Will. “He didn’t look anything like the one you told me about. He was just a kid, a changeling,” she went on, remembering Pup’s tail. “But he called himself a sprite, so I guess he was one.”

“You talked to him?”

“Yeah, you asked me to keep my ears open, so I sneaked over to where they had him, and we talked. I let him go.”

“You what!”

Norah shrugged. “They had him tied up pretty good. I just cut the ropes so he could get away.”

Will stared at her. “Norah, you took a big chance. What if someone had seen you? What if the sprite had hurt you?”

“Nobody saw me,” Norah said. “I told him about you. He said you should ask for him if you make it to the forest.”

“Why did you wait so long to tell me about this?” Will demanded. He moved his arm and drew a little bit back so he could see Norah more clearly.

“There never seemed to be a good time,” Norah replied, thinking of Roselle. “Will, there’s something else I want to tell you.” She stood up, and took off the jacket she had thrown over her school uniform. Underneath her clothes she had worn her bathing suit. “I’m not who you think I am.” She stepped out of her skirt, intending to show Will her mutation by diving into the river.

Will’s mouth dropped open as she stripped down to her swimsuit. “Are you crazy? It’s freezing out here!” he hissed. “Put your clothes back on!”

“No! I—I want to show you something,” Norah said quickly, stepping to the water’s edge. “I’m—”

Will’s next words stopped her cold. “Is this about Roselle?” he asked. “Because I’m in love with Roselle and not you? Norah, you’ll always be my best friend, even if you are a factory owner. But I don’t think of you that way. Now, come on—it’s much too cold to go swimming.”

Numbly, she let Will lead her back to their spot on the bank. He handed Norah her clothes and she put them on; the moment for revelations was past. Maybe it was for the best. Her shoulders sagged, and she was surprised when Will pulled her into a tight hug.

“You’re a beautiful girl, Norah,” he murmured. “Someday you’ll meet someone who can give you the life you deserve.”

Norah stiffened, not wanting to hear it, not from him. She pulled away. “It’s not about Roselle,” she mumbled, avoiding Will’s gaze.

“I’m going to tell her tonight,” Will said quietly. “Before I go.”

Norah turned back. “You’re leaving tonight? Is it safe? So soon after Mack, I mean.”

“It’s because of Mack that I need to go now,” he told her. “I know they’ll be watching me. I don’t want to put you or Roselle in any danger.”

“But what about you?” Norah asked, worried.

Will grinned. “I’ll be fine. Pup, right? I’ll tell him you said hello.” Unexpectedly he pulled Norah to him and planted a kiss on her forehead. “You’re a good girl, Norah. I’m going to miss you.”

Norah spoke past the sudden lump in her throat. “Me, too.”

She walked with Will as far as the room she shared with Roselle. Just as she was about to climb up, Will stopped her. “Take care of Roselle for me,” he said softly, cupping her chin.

Norah nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She scurried up the trellis, and found Roselle sitting on her bed, waiting. “Your turn,” Norah said lightly, giving her best friend a weak smile.

Roselle, already dressed, shot her a grin of her own before clambering over the windowsill. “Don’t wait up,” she called back.

Norah couldn’t sleep. She worried about Will, she worried how Roselle would take the news, but deep down, she worried that Roselle would go off with Will and she’d truly be alone.

Towards dawn, Roselle slipped back over the windowsill and dropped into bed. Norah stirred, only half-awake. Some time during the night she had fallen asleep despite the thoughts that circled over and over in her brain. It was a fitful sleep, and she didn’t feel rested at all. “Is he gone?” she whispered in the semi-dark.

Roselle turned over. “You knew?” she asked in a low voice.

Norah could tell she had been crying. “Yes. Are you all right?”

Roselle sat up in bed. In the weak early morning light Norah could see that her eyes were red-rimmed. “No,” she said, breaking down into sobs.

Norah padded over and crawled into bed beside Roselle. She held her while Roselle cried. “I l-loved him!” Roselle sobbed. “How could I love something like—that?”

Norah pulled back. “What?”

Tears streamed down Roselle’s face. “He showed me his chest, his arms. He’s one of them—a mutant! I can’t believe I kissed him!” She buried her face in Norah’s shoulder, unaware that the other girl had become deathly still.

“Are you going to turn him in?” Norah asked in a small voice. If Roselle said yes, she wasn’t sure what she was going to do. Something. Hold her in this room until tomorrow if need be. Anything to give Will a little better chance.

Roselle shook her head and sniffed. “Of course not. It’s Will, even if he is a mutant,” she replied, to Norah’s relief. Tears filled Roselle’s eyes again. “That’s the problem! I really did love him, you know?”

Norah nodded. “I know.”

They didn’t go to breakfast, or to their morning classes. Roselle said her face was too blotchy. By lunchtime, she had pulled herself together and smiled ruefully at Norah. “I guess we’ll have to get in trouble all on our own now.” Her blue eyes clouded. “Do you think he got away?”

“I hope so—yes, I’m sure he did,” Norah said. “It’s Will, after all.”

Roselle laughed, her voice catching just a little. “That’s true. He’s probably with his own kind right this minute, laughing at the silly little normal girls he used to visit.”

Norah’s own smile faltered. Roselle caught her arm and led her down the path to the lunch hall.

After lunch, old Jonas came to pick Norah up for her afternoon of work-study at the factory. Norah didn’t want to go. She was afraid she would hear some news about Will’s escape, or worse, his capture. Her stomach was in knots by the time she got to her factory.

Grandfather was expected back by the end of the week, and Norah was expected to have the books sorted and organized before he returned. It was almost a relief to immerse herself in mindless work. There was no word about Will, none at all, but then again, Will had not been a worker in this particular factory.

An hour before she was due to leave, Norah made her way downstairs. As always, the fumes from the processing made her slightly ill, but she ignored it. She made her way to the back, where Mack toiled over white hot trays of molten metals. So far, none of the guards had spotted her. “Mack! Mack!” she called in a loud whisper. The smells were even worse here, and the heat was nearly unbearable. Even the guards kept a prudent distance, knowing Mack could not leave except by passing by them. So they weren’t looking for a young girl to slip by in the opposite direction. “Mack!”

The rangy mutant glanced up, then froze as he saw who stood just a few feet away.

“I’m going to get you out of here,” Norah said, coming closer. “Do you know Will?” She realized she didn’t even know Will’s last name. “He’s a friend of mine. A changeling, like you.” Mack’s eyes widened when she used the word ‘changeling.’ “He escaped last night—have you heard anything about it?”

Mack cautiously shook his head. He continued to work, casting quick glances at the two guards at the end of the corridor, but they were busy conversing with each other, not even bothering to check on their prisoner. “What game are you playing?” he muttered beneath his breath. “Go away.”

“No game—I told you, he’s my friend. I can’t help him, but maybe I can help you. Wait for me tonight. I’ll come for you then.”

Mack spit on the floor. It sizzled. “What can you do?” he scoffed. “When your grandfather gets back he’ll do what you were too stupid to do—have me killed. So now I just work a little extra for the good of the factory.”

“I can take you to the sprites,” Norah said, making Mack stare at her in shock. “Tonight—at midnight. I’ll come to your place.” The guards had been letting Mack sleep in the barracks he shared with the other mutants of the factory, reasoning that seeing his hopelessness would make an impression on the rest of them.

Mack nodded abruptly, a single nod.

Norah left, a little disappointed that Mack had known nothing about Will’s fate, but on the whole elated that he had believed her. Now, if only she could deliver. She had no idea how to find the sprites except for what she had told Will; however, she did have an idea on how to sneak Mack out of the city. Hopefully, it would be enough.

That night, she sweated in her bed despite the autumn chill. She’d forgotten it would be cold for Mack, whose mutation didn’t keep him warm like Norah’s and Will’s, for different reasons, both did. Making sure Roselle was soundly asleep, Norah crept out and quickly made her way across town to the run-down apartment building where her mutants slept when they were not working at her factory. It was actually closer to her school than Will’s place had been, which was why her grandfather had picked this particular factory to be her training ground.

She shimmied up a drain pipe and entered a second-floor window. It was just midnight. As in Will’s apartment building, this one had children sleeping in every conceivable spot. Children who were not sleeping. Solemn eyes blinked at her from a sea of faces.

“So tell me how you plan to save me.” Mack spoke, a voice in the darkness.

Norah hesitated. “You have to come with me. Now.” She glanced nervously at the other children whom she could just make out as vague shapes in the dark.

“You’ll save Mack?” A voice, young and girlish, piped up. “You’ll take him to the sprites?”

“Er—yes,” Norah said. “We have to meet by the river. It will be cold.” She added that last for Mack. “Bring only what you absolutely must.”

Mack made his way across the room and spread his arms. “All I have is myself. I’m ready to go. You’d better not be trying to trick us. They’ll know.”

“I won’t,” Norah promised. “Let’s go.”

“The rest of you—not a word of this.”

One by one, the changelings came and gave Mack a final hug. The little girl who had spoken to Norah gave her a hug, too. “Thank you,” she said simply.

Norah led Mack back to the river and made him wait, tying his shoes around his waist. “The sprite will take you downriver. Get in the water.”

Mack eyed her suspiciously. “Where is this sprite? Why doesn’t he come talk to me himself?”

“He’s shy,” Norah said impatiently. “Now, hurry, or he might leave without you.”

Mack waded into the river. As soon as he had his back to her, Norah fled a short distance up the path and stripped to her swimsuit. She hoped it was dark enough that the changeling wouldn’t recognize her. She slipped silently into the river and swam underwater until she found Mack. Then, before her courage failed her, she grabbed the front of his shirt and started swimming just under the surface, leaving only Mack’s head above the water so he could breathe. He had no time to get a good look at her, and she was moving too fast for him to look now.

Ten miles downstream she stopped near the shore and released Mack, arrowing quickly away before he could see her. “Go south,” she said in a deep voice. “Seek out the sprite known as Pup. He will aid you.” She took off, back the way she had come, swimming faster now that she didn’t have another person to tow. By the time she got back to where she had left her things, and took care of her webbing, the sky was beginning to lighten.

Roselle stirred as she climbed back into the room. “What time is it?” she murmured. “Did you go looking for Will? He’s not coming back, you know. He told me so.”

“Shh, it’s still early,” Norah whispered back. She yawned. This was the second night she had gone without sleep. Will, please be safe. You too, Mack, she thought to herself as she drifted off. She finally had a plan of sorts. It meant she would have to pretend to be a sprite herself, but if she was careful, Norah knew she could do it.