Nenfari: an Assassin's Flower novella

  * * * * *

  Later, after Allen and James had gone home and the kids were watching a program on Discovery, I filled the teakettle and fired the stove underneath it, while I told Mom about the snail-dragon.

  "I wouldn't have believed it, but look what Arrie drew," I said showed her the coloring book.

  She gave a bemused smile, shrugged. "I think you're right. Maybe it appeared to all three of you so you could learn to trust your own vision."

  Fixing two cups of Cranberry Cove, I sat down and watched her work on the manuscript she was editing. "A lot of faeries lately," I said. "First Joth and his story, then a nature sprite of some kind. What was with Joth when I came home anyway?"

  Mom looked up from the manuscript and brushed white-blonde hair out of her eyes. "Sheesh! First it was his story, and then when he heard Arrie asking to go next door, he started rattling on about the Sidhe."

  "The Sidhe? Again with the Sidhe?"

  "Some nonsense about how they might try to kidnap Arrie."

  "Oh come on!" Sidhe is the Gaelic term for faeries, the ancient gods of the Celts. Like most pagans, we believe in the Sidhe as well as other nature spirits, but the idea that they'd actually materialize--and come after our family--was more than a little far-fetched. Except I'd never seen a nature faery before either.

  "So what's with his story?" Mom asked. "I read the first chapter. I suppose I better find the time for the rest of it."

  Stirring honey into my tea, I gave her a brief rundown of the plot. "It was weird. Maybe because I read it before bed. In my journey this morning I saw the Gates he was talking about." I grabbed my journal from my room and let her read the notes. "Oh, and it's funny," I added, "the woman in my journey looked sort of like our English sub at school."

  "You're probably right," she said. "Most likely your journey drew some of the symbolism from his story. I wouldn't worry about it." She picked up her manuscript and pen again. "Do you mind putting the kids to bed? I've got to finish proofing this before morning. Three more chapters to go."