Sprite

The house still looked the same. A pang of homesickness swept through Norah, overriding her anxiety for a few short moments. It was the same, but she wasn’t. She glanced at Pup, who had been avoiding her ever since they started the long trek through Hanan’s woods to the main house. He walked with his head down, occasionally conversing in low whispers with Mack, the changeling who led them. Lou, Mack’s younger sister, walked quietly next to Roselle, but her whole face was suffused with joy.

Norah expected her father to be waiting for their group to arrive, but she didn’t expect her mother to be there, too. Both her parents stood outside the front entrance of the old white house, oddly still as the mixed group of guards and changelings, and changeling guards, and Adam, converged upon the house.

Norah swallowed nervously. What would her mother think? What would her father say? She closed her eyes and tried to calm her thudding heart.

As she expected, her parents picked her out immediately in the group of mutants, not half surprising, considering Adam galloped at their head yelling her name out. “Look who I’ve brought back! Norah!” he shouted, grinning from ear to ear. “She’s not dead—she’s a mutant! See?”

Norah thought her mother would faint. She reeled back so that Jim had to catch her, and then they both stared at Norah in disbelief. She felt self-conscious with all her webbing exposed for the first time since she had made the decision to stop hiding it.

In the meantime, the changelings who surrounded Norah also looked at her as if she had suddenly sprouted wings. She wished she had, so she could fly away. Pup refused to come near her, and even the girls who had called themselves ‘Norah’s Sprites’ now stared at her suspiciously. Except Roselle. She pushed forward and put out her hand. “It’s so nice to finally meet you,” she said. “I’m Roselle Arnold. Norah and I were roommates back in Datro.”

Stony-faced, Jim shook Roselle’s outstretched hand. “Adam, ride to the East Gate and tell Ross I want him back here,” he said. His eyes glossed over the girls and focused on Pup, who stood quietly next to Mack.

“Aw, but Dad . . . .” Adam protested, glancing in dismay from his sister to his parents.

“Mack, go with him.” Mack started, just as unwilling as Adam to miss what was to happen next. Reluctantly, he took the bridle of Adam’s mount and led it, along with Adam, away.

“The rest of you, come this way.” Jim motioned towards the open front door of the house. “Unfortunately, I’m going to have to ask you to remain as my guests for a little while longer.”

Pup looked like he was going to argue, but he clamped his teeth shut and followed the others into the dark house. He didn’t look at Norah as he brushed by her.

Jim held out a hand as Norah made to follow the other changelings into Papa’s old den. “Not you, Norah,” he said quietly, the first words he had spoken to her. “Go with your mother. I’ll talk to you later.”

His face was still icy, but Norah saw a spark of regret in her father’s eyes. She stood frozen in the hallway until Roselle took her by the arm and led her back to the kitchen, where Norah’s mother waited, looking just as stricken as when she had first seen Norah.

“Mama,” Norah whispered.

Miriam blinked, and her eyes focused slowly on her daughter, as if surprised to see her there in front of her. She hesitated. “Come into the kitchen,” she said, leading the way. Roselle and Norah followed, trailed by the rest of ‘Norah’s Sprites.’ She shooed away the older woman who had been cutting vegetables at the counter, who glanced curiously at the girls, but made no further comment. She wiped her hands on her apron, and shuffled out of the room, leaving Miriam alone with the newcomers. Miriam held out her arms. “Norah,” she said, her voice catching.

Norah came in to them and they both cried a little, surrounded by the other girls who looked on with wide eyes.

“You’re so beautiful,” her mother murmured, stepping back to look. “So tall.” She didn’t mention Norah’s mutations, but she did reach up a hand and tentatively stroke Norah’s delicate neck webbing.

Even Roselle had tears in her eyes. She and the other girls crowded around the big kitchen table, as mother and daughter reunited. Lou tugged on Roselle’s sleeve. “She’s Norah’s mother?” she whispered.

Roselle nodded, wiping her eyes and smiling.

Lou looked down at her own six-fingered hands and back up at Norah’s mother, who was also smiling now, and had her arms around Norah’s waist as they talked softly. “Oh,” said Lou. She smiled too, then.

Miriam turned to the rest of the girls, beaming, although her face was still streaked with tears. “Let’s get you and your friends settled. Norah, you can take your old bedroom. Maybe Roselle wouldn’t mind staying with you? The other four can have the guest room across the hall.”

“Mama, I don’t know if we’ll be staying--,” Norah began, but she cut off when her mother’s face drained of color.

“But you can’t leave! I only just got you back! Besides, it’s too dangerous out there. Your father and I—“

“She’s not going anywhere.” Jim strode into the kitchen, still looking grim, but he slipped his arm around Norah and gave her a little kiss on the temple. “I just explained to Pup that I can’t let any of you go yet. There are things you don’t know. Pup has agreed. You’ll stay here through the winter.”

“Pup has agreed?” Norah echoed incredulously.

Just then Pup strolled in through the open doorway. “Pup has agreed,” he said firmly. “Norah, you should have told me who you were.”

“Why? What difference would it make?” Norah asked, feeling a little bit guilty. Pup had no business making plans for her and her girls, however.

“Avery is out here because of you. What do you think he would do if he found out you were one of us? Give up and go home? No, it would be ten times worse. At least here, you’re safe. Avery wouldn’t think to look for you here.”

“And I won’t let him,” Jim added. “He knows I’ve been harboring mutants. He’s been trying to take over the Hanan lands for years, and now he’s trying to convince the rest of the council that I’m not fit. Now that you’re gone, he wants this place and the rest of the forest with it. He’s not going to get it.”

“Just stay with us through the winter,” Miriam said, putting her hand on Norah’s arm. They made a striking family picture: Jim, with his arm still around his daughter, Norah, taller than both of them, and Miriam, petite and fiery red. Another red-haired little girl wandered in, rubbing her eyes. She stopped short when she saw the strangers in her kitchen, before letting out a wail of distress. Miriam walked over and scooped up the little girl, shushing her and rubbing her back. “Shh, it’s all right, Jenny,” she said softly, turning her daughter to look at the people in the room. “Say hello to everyone. This is your big sister, Norah.” Jenny buried her face in her mother’s shoulder.

X x X x X x X x X x X

Norah sat cross-legged on the bed and watched Roselle try to coax Jenny up to sit with them. Her little sister still wanted nothing to do with Norah, although she had taken quite readily to Roselle, and even to Lou. Coming home was not what she thought it would be. She had been replaced with a normal child, even though her parents would never say that out loud.

At first, her parents had been appalled that Norah had decided to embrace her mutations, but more for her sake than for their own. Norah’s defection from Datro had led directly to the current crisis, although, as Jim was first to admit, Avery had been heading down that road for years. Giving him Norah to raise as his successor had been a stopgap measure at best, one that had backfired the more Norah grew into her mutation.

Her father had taken Norah aside after the girls were all settled, and Pup was installed in the bunkhouse out by the stables. Pup would be allowed to leave, after Adam returned with Ross, one of Jim’s trusted employees. Pup could contact the other changelings, while Norah had to stay here, where it was safe. “We thought you had been killed,” he told her. “I was a fool for trusting that man with you. I never should have let you go to him.”

“It wasn’t all bad,” Norah murmured. In his own way, her grandfather had loved her and tried to take care of her. And she had loved the school, and meeting Roselle. And Will.

“I never would have guessed you were Datro’s Sprite,” Jim said. “Maybe I should have. What made you decide to get involved in helping the mutants?”

Norah bit her lip. “It was my fault one of them got punished,” she said, thinking of Mack. “I had to fix it. It was the only way I knew how.”

Jim laughed shortly. “I guess it runs in the family,” he said. “I found Mack wandering around the forest and all I could think of was you. I took him home with me, and offered him a job. He was the first.” Jim shook his head. “I wish I could do more.”

X x X x X x X x X x X

The other girls followed Miriam around the house as if she were their mother, chattering happily and helping with household tasks. Even Roselle, especially Roselle. She took the place Norah should have had, if Norah had grown up here, if things had been different. Roselle had heart to heart talks with Norah’s mother, asking for advice, talking about Will. Roselle finally admitted that she didn’t have a mutation like the rest of the girls, and that she had come with Norah to the forest mostly because of Will.

Norah tried to fit back into her old life, but she found it difficult. Even her mother’s clothes were too small for her, and she preferred to wear the long gown that Anais had given her. Miriam couldn’t understand it. Even the other girls had taken to wearing normal clothes again rather than their self-imposed ‘Sprite’ outfits. Miriam had the group cutting and sewing most mornings.

Pup stayed for a day or two, then left again with her father’s blessing. He was to coordinate between Hanan’s men and the other changelings, and let Earl’s group know that Norah and her ‘Sprites’ had not fallen prey to hunters.

“Let them know there’s a place for them on Hanan lands if they want it,” Jim said quietly just before Pup left.

A week later, Pup was back, alone. Norah was not privy to the discussion he had with Jim and the other leaders, who included her little brother Adam, but she cornered Pup later as he made his way back to his bunk in the old shed behind the stable. “Have you seen Neistah?” she asked.

Pup glanced around, then took her arm and led her around the back of the stable. “Shh,” he cautioned her. “You haven’t mentioned him to anybody, have you? Neistah prefers to keep a low profile.” He eyed her curiously. “Just what is your connection to him anyway? I had thought, before, that you were like him, but then I found out who you really are, so you can’t be.” He gave her a quizzical grin. “Neistah told me you were one of mine. I didn’t completely believe him until I met your parents and your brother and sister.”

Norah sighed. She sank down to sit on a convenient rock, and waited for Pup to sit down beside her. “I don’t really know,” she admitted. “Neistah says I must have some of his people’s blood in my ancestry to make me like—this, but I can’t explain it either.”

“Do you love him?”

“What? No. Not really,” Norah amended. “He’s—I feel connected to him. I—I don’t belong here anymore. I miss the water.” She looked up at Pup. “I don’t know what to do.”

Pup put his arm around Norah’s shoulders. “Then we’ll go swimming. There must be some place around here that’s suitable. What did you do when you were little?”

“I wasn’t allowed to swim then,” Norah muttered. Then she remembered Black Pond. “But Adam was—and he showed me a place. “ She stood excitedly. “Come on!”

It was cold, but Pup had his fur, and Norah didn’t feel the cold once she slipped under the dark water. She had startled Pup when she stripped off her multi-colored gown to swim in her own skin, but he only hesitated a moment before he jumped right in behind her, clad in his ‘Sprite’ shorts and his own well-insulated skin. For a human, he didn’t swim that badly, and he stuck it out for a good half-hour before he climbed out, shivering, while Norah continued to swim, spiraling down to the sandy bottom and back up again. She could leave through the small opening at the bottom of this pond if she got really desperate. It calmed her down. She didn’t have to leave just yet. It would break her mother’s heart.

Norah arrowed up, arcing through the air to land feet-first on the shore next to Pup. He whistled in appreciation, and belatedly, Norah remembered that she wasn’t wearing anything except her hair. Blushing in embarrassment, she went to fetch her dress and pulled it over her damp body. It clung to every surface.

“Come here.” Pup patted the ground next to him. His voice was husky. “Feel better?”

“Much.” Norah smiled shyly, and wasn’t that surprised when Pup leaned forward and kissed her. Her heart fluttered.

“So do I,” he said with a grin.

“You’re not mad at me anymore for not telling you I was Avery’s granddaughter?”

Pup shook his head. “It turned out all right,” he said. “More than all right. Now I know you’re human like me.”

Norah was not so sure about that, but she smiled back at him anyway.