Lure

  Chapter 23

  DAVID

  When I woke, Cearo was gone. I looked around the room for her, not that there was any place to hide. Eric was still sleeping, and Mom was rummaging through a new hole that had appeared in the wall that she and Eric had slept against.

  “Where’d Cearo go?” I asked.

  “Don’t know,” Mom answered in a clipped tone.

  Oops. That probably shouldn’t have been the first thing out of my mouth this morning. Quickly changing the subject, I asked instead, “What are you looking for in there?” I walked over and saw it was a small pantry, stocked with a little food, fresh water, and basic medical supplies. There were also extra pencils and books for Cearo’s drawing.

  “Anything useful,” Mom replied. “Eric’s ankle is already wrapped but there are things that can heal it faster. Look for a glittering, white powder or strips of blue seaweed.”

  “Blue seaweed?”

  “Yeah, that’s what it looks like anyway. It’ll actually be from a kelpie’s mane.”

  I started searching the other side of the pantry, not questioning the weirdness anymore. I was getting used to it at this point. I opened any unidentified container, hoping one would hold the powder or kelpie mane, but I had no luck. It was all just more gauze or dry food. Mom double- then triple-checked every single one she looked in, then did the same for mine. When she finally had to admit there was nothing more here, she looked like she was about to explode with frustration.

  “You’d think she’d keep these places stocked with things that actually matter!” she said as she threw a box of pencils to the ground. A couple of the pencils broke and the pieces rolled across the floor.

  I put my hands on her shoulders and tried to get her to look at me. “Mom, calm down. I don’t think she uses this place much. It’s way smaller and emptier than her library. She probably didn’t think she’d need to keep much here. But we’ll figure something out. At worst, we’ll just have to hang tight until Eric heals the old fashioned way. There’s enough food to last us that long if need be.”

  She wouldn’t meet my eyes. Her gaze fixed on half a pencil that had come to rest only a few inches to the side of her. I felt her deflate, but now she looked to be on the verge of crying. “I just want us to get out of here.” A tear escaped, but she wiped it away before it made it an inch down. “We should have just run for the closest UnSeelie gate. It’s not as far, and we’d have been long gone by now. We shouldn’t have trusted Cearo.” She had started at a whisper-yell and got quieter until the last was barely audible.

  “Why not? She may be a bit…you know, but she’s gotten us out of quite a few tricky situations now. She’s trying to help us,” I told her. I didn’t see how we could have survived this long without Cearo, to be honest. We’d be dead, captured, or at least lost ten times over. But I knew Mom’s thoughts were being clouded right now by whatever had happened when I was out.

  She looked at me and sighed. “I don’t understand how you see her.” Before I scrambled for an explanation for why I implicitly trusted her, she looked over me to Eric. Satisfied that he was still sleeping soundly, she let me in on what happened in the hours I was unconscious.

  A wisp and a siren had teamed up to hunt me, and then Eric too, when he went after me. I couldn’t believe Eric would try to save me. We didn’t stand a chance against these creatures. He hadn’t even thought about it. He just saw me in trouble and reacted. I felt so guilty for nearly getting him drowned. I felt even more guilty that because I nearly got him drowned, he was too disoriented to walk and then sprained his ankle. I was a terrible brother. Plus it’s my fault we’re stuck here, waiting for him to heal, so I’m a terrible son too.

  Throughout the story though, the only mention of Cearo was about how she saved me from the siren. That was a good thing, right? I still wasn’t seeing the problem that Mom obviously had with her. “So what exactly are you mad at Cearo for?” I asked.

  Mom sighed. “You and Eric were both drowning,” she said. “She saved you. Only you.”

  Why? Only me? I looked over at Eric’s sleeping form. “But….”

  “When she came up with you, I expected her to hand you off and dive back down, but she didn’t. She just started pulling you away. I started yelling at her, but she refused to go back down, said there was a siren, and started walking away again like that was it.” She was getting more and more upset as she talked. Their fight was making sense now. How could Cearo just let Eric drown? She got me out just fine, but she didn’t even try with him? Mom echoed my thoughts. “She would have let him die as if it was nothing. He would have if the siren hadn’t been distracted when I dove for him.”

  Mom was about to cry again, so I pulled her into a hug. “I’m sorry, Mom. I don’t get it either.”

  Through sniffles, she whispered, “Why does she only help you?” She let go of me so she could look up at my face, like the answer would be written there.

  But it wasn’t. I didn’t know why Cearo cared, only that she did. And I still couldn’t explain it, so I just mumbled, “I don’t know.”

  “It’s not his fault, Mom,” Eric’s voice suddenly said. I didn’t know how long he’d been awake, but obviously long enough to overhear a little. “Stop making him feel guilty.”

  “I’m sorry, I…,” she said, realizing how her question sounded. “Of course I’m glad you’re okay. But I don’t understand…. I thought Cearo helped people. She helped me. You know, before.”

  “You’re not people, Mom,” Eric said. We both turned to him. Knowing what we were about to ask, he explained, “You’re a fairy. Maybe she’s just like the rest of them after all. Have you ever actually seen her help a human? Besides David, I mean. He’s definitely weird.”

  No way. I wasn’t willing to believe that she was like the others, thinking humans were below her and reveling in their deaths. I had no idea why she treated Eric differently, but that couldn’t be it. No. Just no.

  Mom considered it. She didn’t agree with Eric, but she didn’t disagree either. I could see that she didn’t want to believe that, but she was having trouble counting it out.

  I had to defend her. “I still think she’ll help us.” I could sense the ‘you mean help you?’ hanging on their tongues. “I mean all of us.”

  “Why?” Eric rolled his eyes. He didn’t have the slightest doubt about his evaluation of her.

  I was thinking of how she healed me, and how last night she quietly promised to find whatever had done it and use it on Eric. I had no proof that she would actually do it, so I didn’t want to say anything about it. But what else would make them believe me? They had to believe me. Believe in her. She wasn’t a monster.

  The wall where we came in shook and crumbled. I was saved for the time being from trying to come up with a reason. Cearo stepped in, soaking wet, dripping everywhere. She didn’t seem to notice though, and she didn’t go for a fur to dry off. She definitely noticed our abrupt end in conversation, but she didn’t seem to care that we’d been talking about her. Instead, she got straight to the point. “David, I need help. Follow me.”

  “Wait, where are you taking him?” Mom cut in, barring me with her arm from taking a step.

  “He will be fine,” she told her calmly.

  “Where are you taking him?” Mom asked again, slowly, as if Cearo wasn’t understanding the question.

  “Up,” she replied. That was not a good enough answer for Mom, but Cearo cut her off before she could start again. “I need to find something. He will not get hurt.”

  “I’ll help you find it,” Mom offered. “He stays here.”

  “An earth fairy will not be able to find it. He can.”

  “That doesn’t make sense. He doesn’t know this world. I do,” Mom said adamantly.

  Cearo had had enough and wasn’t budging. She turned and walked back into the antechamber. “I need David. Earth will not do.” Her back was to us and it obvious that she wouldn’t listen to any more arguments.

 
I cut off Mom’s argument before it started. “Just let me go. You know she won’t let anything happen to me.”

  After our earlier conversation, she couldn’t deny that. She sighed and dropped her arm. “Make her tell you what she’s doing. And don’t do it if it’s dangerous.”

  I caught myself before I rolled my eyes on reflex at her motherly overprotection. It was probably called for this time. But I knew it was true when I told her, “Don’t worry. We’ll be fine.”

  I stepped into the antechamber and the wall reformed seconds later. The sound of the shifting earth echoed in the otherwise silent room. When we were cut off completely, Cearo asked, “Will you be able to swim up?”

  She was really asking if I could do it without panicking. I was still feeling wary of it after the ordeal, but I’d always enjoyed swimming before and I refused to let this scare me forever. So there was only one way to overcome it. “Yeah, I can do it, no problem.”

  The opposite wall cracked and crumbled. Water rushed in and it didn’t drain away this time. Cearo had to yell over the noise. “We have to wait for the chamber to fill or we will be dragged back.”

  The chamber was filling fast. The water was already up to my thighs by the time she finished her sentence. It took less than a minute more to reach my chest. I started treading water and just as it got up to my neck, took the deepest breath I could manage. I plunged under and used the wall behind me to push off toward the opening. The water was still flowing into the chamber, but it was slowing down now. It was easy to move through. I wasn’t trapped. I was fine. No panic. My hand hit the wall of the tunnel, and my fingers dug in. I looked up and saw light above, but thankfully it was not the light from the little man’s lantern. I kicked up toward it, and soon my head was above water once again. I breathed a sigh of relief before pulling myself out of the hole.

  Moments later, as I stood in the shallow bog, Cearo emerged as well. She stood and started walking, gesturing for me to follow. “We need to find a kelpie,” she said.

  “Okay, all I know about those is they have manes like blue seaweed. Do they look like horses then?” I asked.

  “Yes. It will appear to be a regular horse if the kelpie is on land. It will be wet, but the coloring will be normal. When they go into the water, their manes and fur change. If it is on land, look for the small fins on the ankles. That is the only way to be sure.”

  I nodded. A wet horse with fins on its ankles. It should be obvious, I thought. There was only one thing I wanted to know. “So why do you need me?” Mom was right; I didn’t know this world. I bet she could find it faster than me.

  “I think you will find it. And I think it will not want to kill you.”

  “Um, you think this because?”

  She turned around to study me. “I just do.” She started walking away. Sigh…. I decided to go with it because what else was I going to do? Hoping this wouldn’t turn into another disaster, I caught up to her.

  We ended up at a small, fast-flowing river. It wasn’t anything special from what I could tell. It could have been the same river where I met Boden back in Yosemite. But I was smart enough to know by now that nothing here is what it seems. This river was surely hiding something.

  “Try to stay out of the trees but within reach of them,” Cearo advised. “This river is deeper than it appears, and possibly home to hungry creatures.”

  I nodded. “Will the kelpie be hungry?”

  “I hope so.”

  I jerked to a halt. “Wait, I’m bait?! That’s what you need me for?!” Had she decided I was just another human? What the hell? I thought I was the one she gave a damn about.

  “I need you to see if you can track the kelpie. We are both bait. But once it senses what you are, it will not attack you.” She was a master at sounding confident and unaffected, but I still heard the ‘I think’ hanging off her statement.

  I was about to hightail it back to the bog when I saw it. A shape in the corner of my eye caught my attention. Right where the water started was an indentation. It was barely visible through the water and fading fast from the rushing current, but it was there. It was a perfectly shaped hoofprint.

  Cearo noticed my attention had switched and started frantically searching for what I was seeing. “Where? What?”

  I pointed to the nearly invisible print. I think she glimpsed it a second before it washed away entirely.

  “Which way did it go?” she asked.

  It looked like the animal that had made it had gone into the water and disappeared. I didn’t see any other tracks on either bank, but I felt sure that it had gone upstream. It was like someone was whispering the answer into my mind. I knew it had headed that way.

  I turned and started walking without a word. Cearo followed no questions asked. A minute later I spotted another print just high enough that the water touched only the edge. I pointed it out, and Cearo smiled for a second.

  “I had been looking downstream all morning,” she said.

  We picked up the pace, now fully convinced we were going in the right direction. We saw two more faint prints stamped in the mud. Just as we were about to go around a bend, the whisper in my mind told me to slow down. I obeyed and put an arm out in front of Cearo so she’d do the same.

  We moved around the curve slowly and carefully until we saw the other side. And there it was. It was like Cearo described. Standing on the bank, out of reach of the water, it looked like a wet horse. It was a deep chestnut color with a dark, almost black mane. It was beautiful, and I was filled with the desire to ride it. Did I know how to ride a horse? It didn’t matter. I’d learn. It took a step toward us, and before I could think it through, I took three steps toward it. Cearo grabbed my arm at the same time as the voice whispered for me to wait.

  I came back to myself. The kelpie must be doing something, like the wisp had, to lure me in. I looked away from it, hoping that would cut off its power.

  “Focus on what is not right about it.”

  I didn’t understand what Cearo meant. There was nothing not right about it. It was the perfect horse.

  “Look at its ankles.”

  I hesitantly did. Fins. It had fins on its ankles. That wasn’t right. Trying to keep that at the front of my mind, I let my gaze drift up. Its wet mane was a bit matted, like it was made of large, flat strips instead of thin hairs. The side of its neck not covered by the mane was slitted. Gills. This was not a horse. And like that, the spell was broken. I could look at it without losing my rationality.

  The kelpie had been taking slow, hesitant steps toward us, almost as if it was shy but still wanted to say hello. As soon as it lost its power over me though, its demeanor changed. It faced me head on and grunted. Then it charged.

  I whirled around and noticed Cearo had, at some point, stepped several feet back from me. She offered no protection as I sought to escape the kelpie. In fact, all she did was melt into the trees with a mildly worried expression on her face. After I passed her, I glanced back at the kelpie. It was gaining on me, but there was still a fair distance between us. I had to think. What can I do to get away from it? Run straight and it’ll catch up. Jump into the river and it’ll have me right where it wants me.

  I tried to launch myself into the forest, thinking maybe its weakness was being tethered to the river. I didn’t get to test the theory though. I tripped and fell hard onto the ground, half my body still beyond the treeline. I was done for now. The kelpie had halved the distance between us. I tried to brace myself for being stomped on or ripped to shreds, whatever it is kelpies do.

  Then suddenly two blue lights flared. They appeared inches from me, between the kelpie and me, but they were gone too fast for me to tell what they were. It didn’t matter though. The kelpie had seen them too, and it reared up, startled.

  When it righted itself, it stopped in its tracks. It glanced around warily. The strange lights gone for the time being, it focused on me. This creature may look like a horse, but this close I could see the intelligence in its eyes.
It wasn’t staring at me blankly or even like I was nothing more than food. It was figuring me out. It no longer grunted angrily, but instead, sniffed the air in front of me. It turned its face so it could study me intently with one eye.

  I didn’t move. I was stone. It didn’t seem to know what to make of me, and I feared that if I took off then I would startle it into action again. It was upon me now. It leaned down and nudged my leg. It didn’t bite. It backed off a step, but kept its head bent down toward me.

  “Go to it,” Cearo’s voice suddenly sounded right behind me. I jolted and the kelpie did too. Cearo put a hand on my shoulder. “Go to it. It will not hurt you.”

  “Are you insane? Let’s go while we can. Slowly,” I said.

  “No, go pet it. It will let you. And ask it if we can have some of its mane,” she said. She slipped a small knife into my hand.

  “If I try to cut it, it’ll try to kill me again.”

  “Not if you ask first,” she responded. When I still didn’t move, she prodded me in the back. “Go.” She slunk back into the trees.

  I looked back at the kelpie. It still stood there, watching me. It looked docile, and not due to the magic. It was waiting to see what I’d do.

  Very slowly, I got to my feet. Then I inched forward, unarmed hand outstretched toward it, knife held far out behind me. It flicked its tale, and I didn’t know if that was a good or bad sign. I kept going since it didn’t seem to be getting aggressive again. Finally, I placed my hand on its nose. It didn’t jump or run away, so I gave it a couple of soft pets. It watched me with its intelligent eyes the whole time.

  “Hi…,” I said to it. “Are you going to kill me?”

  I didn’t think it would answer, but it gave a small shake of its head. No, it wouldn’t kill me.

  “Why?” I knew it couldn’t answer that one. I continued to pet it lightly as it let out a whinnie. It seemed to like me, and I was starting to like it despite its attitude earlier. I smiled and ran my fingers through its mane. Being so close to it, I could see and feel now that it wasn’t hair. It was slick, like a plant would be. Some of it looked like seaweed, some of it like reeds, only the wrong color. “Can I take some of this?” I asked, feeling a piece of the seaweed-like mane. “I think it will help my brother.”

  It nodded.

  I slowly brought the knife up. Before I cut, I asked, “This won’t hurt you, will it?”

  It shook its head no.

  I cut a couple of the strips off, thinking that should be enough to go around Eric’s ankle a few times. It turned a deep greenish-blue in my hand. This must be its true form. “Thank you.”

  It nodded again and nuzzled me quickly before turning to the river. When all of its feet were submerged, it began to change. The mane turned the same greenish-blue that the pieces in my hand were, so similar to the plant life it imitated. Its coat turned to scales that were an iridescent red-orange, like a tropical fish. It shined in the light as it threw its head back and neighed in delight. I thought it was beautiful as a horse, but this…this was the most magnificent thing I’d ever seen. I waved goodbye to it as it plunged into the river.

  I turned back to the forest, pieces of the mane in hand, and saw Cearo standing a few yards in. She was watching me with a huge smile on her face. The first real smile she’d shown. It lit her up as bright as the kelpie.