Sprite

Miriam burst through the bushes with her arms full of packages. Her green eyes shone with excitement. She dropped her bundles on the grass by the edge of the pond when she spotted Neistah floating lazily in the center.

“Guess what?” she called, as Neistah swam closer. “There was a dead body in our stable this morning!”

Neistah climbed out and shook water droplets off his skin. He walked over to the packages and nudged one with his toes. “What’s in the bag? Lunch?”

“Neistah! Did you hear what I said? A dead body! Papa was mad! He wouldn’t let anybody out of the house today. I had to beg him to let Jim take me here this afternoon.”

Neistah glanced around. “Where is your guardian today? He’s not in his usual spot.”

“How do you know? He left me here for a little while so he could go to the southern gate and make sure the men there had the orders. No one in or out. I can’t stay long today. When he comes back, I have to go home.”

Neistah trailed his hand down Miriam’s bare arm. She had dressed differently today. Rather than the frilly little girl dress or the boyish pants and long-sleeved blouse, she had on a fitted shirt, green to match her eyes and set off her flaming hair, and a long, tight skirt with sandals. He smiled. “Then we have time to play.”

Miriam blushed. She quickly reached behind her and pulled one of the packages into her lap. “I brought sandwiches and some fruit, too. Peaches. Do you like peaches?” She opened the bundle and spread out her lunch, avoiding Neistah’s gaze the whole time.

“I like peaches.” Neistah leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Come swim with me first.”

“I can’t—I didn’t bring my swimsuit,” Miriam replied. “With all the excitement, there wasn’t time.”

Yet she had dressed carefully in clothes meant to accentuate her appearance. “You don’t need a suit,” Neistah said, making her blush even more.

“I brought you something else,” she said, changing the subject and reaching for the next package. It contained a small knife with a serrated edge, something she had obviously found in the kitchen. She held it out to him.

“What’s that for?”

“Well, with all the excitement up at the house, what with the stranger and all, I thought you should have a way to defend yourself, if—you know,” she said. “I overheard them talking. Papa thinks the man came for you.”

Neistah took the knife, which would bend and snap at the first sign of hard usage. It was meant to cut prepared meats, or perhaps fruit. He balanced it on his fingertips, splaying his hands so that the webbing beneath was readily apparent. He spun it around. “What if I used it on you?” he asked, cocking his head to the side as he regarded her. With an abrupt movement, he held the knife by its little handle, blade pointed straight at Miriam’s throat.

She blinked in surprise, then gave a small laugh. “Stop teasing,” she said. “And please put that thing away. If Jim found out I gave it to you, we’ll both be in trouble!”

Neistah tossed the knife into the air and caught it, point first, between the tips of his forefinger and thumb. “Then it’s a good thing Jim’s not here,” he said, leaning forward to kiss Miriam’s cheek. “But I don’t need it. I can take care of myself.” What did she think? The thing would rust the minute he took it under water. He handed it back to her, hilt first. “What else did you bring me?”

Miriam pulled the last bundle forward. “Clothes,” she said, starting in alarm when Neistah’s eyes darkened. “I know you don’t want them, but these are the ones I ordered before—before. You don’t have to wear them if you don’t want to.”

Neistah shook out the long green trousers she’d had made for him. They came just to his feet, loose enough to accommodate the fins on his ankles, but effectively hiding them from sight. There was a shirt, too, gleaming white with a high collar that did the same thing for the webbing on his neck. He eyed Miriam with amusement. “Are you trying to hide what I am?”

Miriam shook her head. “I—maybe. I think at the time I was hoping I could show you off to my friends. Papa would never allow that, now.”

No, the old man wouldn’t. He had captured a magical Sprite, or so he thought, and while he encouraged his granddaughter to befriend the Sprite, he certainly didn’t want any outsiders to become aware of his existence. In that, the old man and Neistah heartily agreed. He placed the clothing back into the bag. “Take it back,” he said, thrusting the bundle in her arms. He did not plan on staying at the Hanan compound forever, and where he was going, he had no need of them.

“Fine.” Miriam’s green eyes showed a spark of fire, and she got to her feet. The red in her cheeks now had nothing to do with embarrassment. “I was just trying to help.”

“Where are you going? Jim’s not back yet,” Neistah pointed out. He watched her sway as she stomped off towards the forest. “Stay and play.”

Miriam shot him a disgusted look, and continued on. “I can go home myself,” she said.

Neistah snagged a peach from the lunch things she had brought and followed her. He bit into it. Juicy. Really juicy. He licked his lips. “I’m sorry,” he said contritely. “Come back.”

He offered her a bite of his peach. Miriam shook her head, then changed her mind and took a bite from the fruit he held out to her. “Neistah, this is serious,” she said. “I don’t mean about the clothes. I don’t care about that.”

She did. Neistah could see it in her eyes, but he held his tongue.

“I don’t want them to hurt you,” she finished softly, letting him lead her back to the pond and their forgotten picnic lunch. “That man was scary.”

“I thought you said he was dead,” Neistah reminded her. “Who killed him?”

“That’s the thing. Nobody knows. Jim captured him and was holding him prisoner in our stable, but when he went to take him to my grandfather, the man was already dead!”

“That’s good, isn’t it?”

“I guess so, but what if there are others? What if they’re really after you, Neistah? Won’t you please just take the knife?”

“If I take it, will you stop worrying?”

Miriam nodded, smiling with relief. She scrabbled in her bag and handed the knife back to him. Neistah took it, and secreted it somewhere in the folds of his trunks until he could get rid of it later. “Now,” he murmured, pressing Miriam down into the soft grass. “We have a little time.”

He kissed her, running his hands up and down her body, which was clearly outlined by the clothing she had chosen to wear. He wondered if she realized it herself. A buzzing at the back of his mind signaled that her guardian had returned to his watchpost. Neistah grinned as the man realized what was happening. He sat up, leaving Miriam breathless and still fully clothed, if in slight disarray. “Come back tomorrow,” he said, stepping to the edge of the pond. He dove neatly in, digging the useless knife out of his pocket and letting it sink slowly to the bottom.

Jim inhaled sharply when he saw the Sprite so close to Miriam. And Miriam was allowing it! Against his better judgement, he had taken her to the pond and left her there alone so he could check the southern boundaries. Not only had he found the intruder dead without a mark on him, but Bill and Dave, whom he had intended to question, were nowhere to be found. It seemed clear that the intruder had been looking for the Sprite, which meant that news of the creature had been leaked. He had not felt safe leaving Miriam alone in the woods with the creature that was now being hunted, but what choice did he have? Bill and Dave could not be trusted. And someone had to check the gates.

But this! This was the worst possible complication! “Miriam!” he yelled, coming to his feet. The Sprite had disappeared beneath the water. “We’re leaving. Now!”

Miriam didn’t say much as she gathered up the remnants of her lunch and some other things, and quietly met him at the edge of the woods. She didn’t mention her kiss with that creature, and Jim realized she didn’t know he had seen it. Should he say something? To the boss, if not to Miriam? He shook his head. No, not yet. The old man would blame him. He glared at the spot where the Sprite had disappeared into the water. He would just have to make sure Miriam was never alone with the creature again.

Neistah chuckled, coming up to the surface to watch Jim stomp away. Despite the threat of outsiders, which really weren’t a threat except to his game, Neistah enjoyed the challenge Jim had unknowingly tossed him. It would be fun trysting with Miriam right under her guardian’s nose.

x x x x x x x

Miriam combed her wavy hair, trying in vain to tame it. Lately, she had taken to wearing it loose, and she was paying for it now. She pulled at a tangle, wincing as it snagged in the comb, leaving behind long red strands. She sat cross-legged on her bed and sighed. She was so bored! Both Papa and Jim had forbidden her from going outside on her own. Ever since they had captured the stranger, they had practically locked her in her room. She wished now that she had left Neistah in the pond across the road so she could see him whenever she wanted.

Her eyes shifted to her dresser where her swimming suit sat neatly folded next to the clothes she’d had made for Neistah. Even then, she had thought of him as a boy, not a Sprite or even a mutant, never mind his obvious mutations. She would have liked to have seen what Neistah looked like in normal clothes. She took out her swimming suit and left the other clothes in the drawer.

Jim was gone, and her grandfather had gone with him as far as the outside gate. They still needed to eat, although Papa would no longer allow the wagons to drive up to the house. They did the exchange right at the gate, and drove the goods from the outside world to the house themselves. Cook was supposed to be watching Miriam, but Cook liked to nap in the afternoons. Miriam quietly closed the door to her room and tiptoed down the stairs.

x x x x x x

Something large crashed through the underbrush, and Neistah froze. There was nowhere to hide except in plain sight. He leaned against the nearest tree, fading into it as his bronzed skin and dark hair picked up the brown and green from the tree and reflected it back: no one here, nothing here.

Neistah cursed the foolish humans who had plucked red flowers wherever they found them, leaving the way unmarked. Since they were solitary, they would not grow back, not unless his people planted them again. That was unlikely to happen as long as there were hunters about.

Over the last several days, Neistah had systematically crossed John Hanan’s woods, following the stone fences, searching for the flower that would mark the way home for him. The woods outside Hanan’s estate were crawling with hunters, and even these woods were crowded lately. Miriam had not come to see him in over a week. Her bodyguard, and his watcher, Jim, had other duties. He and his men also combed John Hanan’s woods, looking for intruders like the one they had found murdered in their stable.

Usually Neistah had no trouble avoiding them. He could hear their thoughts long before they came close enough to be a threat. This time, however, he had been distracted. That was ever his downfall. It was how he had been caught in the first place. This time, his thoughts had been so wrapped around trying to find at least one remaining red flower, that he hadn’t been paying attention to anything else.

They thought he was tied to his pond by his need to be near water; if they had guessed otherwise, they would have guarded him better. It was because of Neistah that strangers had breached the metal boundary of Hanan’s property. The hunters thought he was a new breed of mutant, one they had not come across before, and they coveted the bounty that his capture would bring. They coveted it enough to risk being shot for trespassing. So far, one man had been caught, and he had died before he revealed how he had gained access to the estate. Neistah regretted that.

“Oh!”

Neistah detached himself from the shadow of the tree to intercept his unexpected visitor as soon as he realized who it was, with the result that she ran straight into him, stopped only by the circle of his arms around her waist. “Where are you going?” he whispered into her ear, savoring the rapid beat of her heart as she leaned against his chest.

“I was looking for you,” Miriam said, squirming a little as his arms tightened. “Nobody would bring me, so I sneaked out. I was on my way to Black Pond, and—“

“Black Pond?”

“Your pond,” Miriam explained impatiently. “I call it Black Pond because it is.” Her eyes narrowed. “Why are you out here? Were you looking for me?”

“What do you think?” Neistah replied, not letting her out of the circle of his arms but not answering her question, either.

“You were!” Miriam’s eyes lit up, and she took his hand, holding it gently so she wouldn’t damage the delicate webbing between his fingers.

Neistah let his free hand range up and down her back underneath her long hair. Today she wore a loose pink dress that wrapped around the front to tie in back. He undid the tie, raising his eyebrows as the dress fell away revealing her modest swimming outfit. “I told you you don’t need to wear that,” he murmured in her ear, but he stopped undressing her and gazed at her appraisingly. “You want to swim?”

Miriam swallowed, and nodded. “I thought you’d be at the pond.”

“Then let’s go,” Neistah said, pleased that she trusted him enough to go into the water with him. There would be time for other things later. He wrapped his arms and legs around her and placed his mouth on hers before he dragged her under. She hardly flinched as he dove deeper, trusting him to breathe for her when she needed it. She was a very trusting child. Neistah pressed tight against her. Not a child, not really.

With his mouth still firmly on hers, Neistah grinned. When Jim realized Miriam was not at the house, he would come looking for her here, at Black Pond. Maybe Neistah would even let him find her.