Tears are also streaming down his face. She closes her eyes, wipes her tears, opens her eyes again and says in a clear, unshaking voice, "Let it be known that on this day, the second year anniversary of the battle of Zzyzx, that I, Kendra Sorenson do hereby resign my life as a human in return for my becoming a naiad. On these terms be it. I can leave the water at anytime should I need to, and if I do, I will become a fairy or a tree nymph. I will not be able to be contacted mentally or in any other way unless the person who wishes to contact me seeks me out for him or herself. I cannot be tracked, followed, or found by one person alone or by magic. This excludes Seth Sorenson. Should anyone find me, when they leave a 10 foot vicinity, they will forget that they found me. This excludes Seth Sorenson or those who I have given permission to remember me. So mote be it."
Seth stands back sadly as he watches her as she walks towards the edge of the dock. He watches as she kneels down in front of the naiad that has risen out of the water. But he can't watch anymore though as she leans down and kisses the naiad. He looks up as a splash is heard. Tears fall down his face again as he sees a bright, white glowing coming from the place where the Kendra had been pulled into the water. When the glowing subsided, he ran to the edge of the dock to see her.
When he got there, he saw that she was waiting there for him. She was smiling at him. Apparently, she had retained some of her memories. He sat down, cross legged. From what he could see, she had long, flowing, deep purple hair that had seaweed in it and different coloured eyes that seemed to glow. "What do you remember?" He asked.
"Everything right now. Although I may have one of the other naiads go through and help me get rid of certain memories," she said.
Seth nodded. That was probably the best thing to do. "You want to see what I look like?" She asked, suddenly excited.
Seth nodded again, smiling. She laid back on the water to show him a tail. The first thing he noticed was that her figure had filled out. She now had a body that would make any supermodel jealous. For a top, she simply had some strands of seaweed in a makeshift bra shirt, but Seth guessed that under the water, she had no such modesty. For her tail, he could see the the scales. Her tail was black and seemed to make zebra stripes up her waist. He could see forest green fins and looked like strands of seaweed. Her skin was tinted a light greenish colour.
Her eyes were what struck him. They seemed to be a multitude of colours, like a rainbow. Seth grinned at her. "You look beautiful. Even more so than before. Bracken would be jealous if he saw you now," he said.
She just smiled sadly. "I am sure. But I have a better life now. I can start again. But still, please don't tell anyone where I am," she implored her brother.
Seth nodded. "If you really need to get away, I'm sure that Newel and Doren would help you change," she tells him.
"It'll be really quiet without you there, you know that?" Seth says, trying to make conversation.
She just smiles at his attempts and says, "Yeah, it'll be quiet without you too."
They sit in silence for a little while longer before Seth realizes that he should probably get back soon. When he told Kendra this, she agreed and bid him farewell. She waved to him as he walked away, and then with a small splash, she dove back into the water.
When Seth got back, he didn't see anyone around. He was tempted to call out, but decided against it. He would just find them by himself. He walked around until he heard chatter, which, it sounded like it was coming from the living room where they had previously been. When he listened by the door, he didn't hear anything of worry about himself or Kendra. This angers him a lot. He opens the door, walks in and closes the door behind him, waiting for them to notice him. He leaned against the door and crossed his arms, waiting. Finally, the room started to fall silent as more people noticed him.
"Seth! You're back! Where's Kendra?" Dale asked.
Seth didn't answer, just staring hard at them. "Seth? Where's Kendra?" Bracken asked, concerned.
"Oh, now he asks. Well Bracken, if you really want to know, she's gone," Seth says.
"Gone? What do you mean gone?" Grandpa asks.
"Gone," is all he says.
"Seth," Grandma says, "tell us what happened to Kendra right now!"
"No," he says.
"Why not?" Vanessa spoke up.
"Because she asked me not to," Seth tells her.
"Guys, it's okay," Bracken says, "I can just track her magically. Her magical aura is so strong it should only take a minute."
"I don't think that will work," says a quiet voice.
It was Gavin. He was looking down at the floor, nervously playing with a stone in his hands. "No, no," Seth said, raising his hands, "let him try."
Bracken has a look of concentration on his face, one that turns to confusion. "I… I can't find her," he says.
Seth just smiles. "Guess you should have listened to Gavin huh?" He says.
Speaking of Gavin, Seth decided that he would give the guy a chance. So, he walks over and holds out his hand, and says, "Hey, I'm Seth. We haven't really met, and I think that it'd be good to give you a chance. I am pissed at what happened, but you weren't yourself were you?"
Gavin looks up at him, smiling. "Thanks. I know that I don't have a great name behind me, but I want to try again," he says, holding out his hand.
Seth smiled as he shook it. "It's good to meet the real you," he says.
"SETH!" Bracken shouts, "where is she? What did you do to her?"
"What did I do to her? Did you really just ask me that? You're the reason that she's gone," Seth says, frustrated at having to repeat himself.
"Take me to her. I can explain everything and things can go back to normal!" He says, in a happy, hopeful voice.
"Normal? NORMAL? Nothing could go back to normal between you two. They weren't even normal in the first place. You're hundreds of years older than her! She's 20. 20! How can you make that work? How?" He says.
"We were trying!' Bracken shouts at him.
"Clearly you weren't trying hard enough!" Seth yells, "You think it was easy for her to make the choice she did? You think it was easy for me to agree with that because it was the best thing to do?"
Silence follows. Seth wipes away the tears that had started to fall and regains his composure. "So. Because she asked me not to, I'm not going to tell you where she went. If you really knew her, you'd know where she is. I'll give you all three guesses and I promise to be honest in answering," he says jokingly.
"Is she in the realm of the Fairy Queen?" Bracken asked hopefully.
"Nope," Seth says.
"Did she leave the preserve?" Grandpa asks.
"Nope," Seth replies again.
"Is she in a dangerous part of the preserve?" Dale asks.
"Nope. Three guesses gone. Any other questions?" Seth looks around.
"Is she still human?" Gavin asks.
"Nope. She isn't. Good question!" Seth says, pleased that someone was finally thinking.
"Wait, what?" Bracken exclaimed, "she isn't human anymore?"
Seth nods confirmation. "Yup, so good luck finding her," he says.
He looks around for anymore questions before saying, "well, I don't know about any of you, but I'm famished. I think I'll whip up dinner."
Vanessa and Warren are the only two who grin at his statement. The rest seem lost in their own world of trying to figure out where Kendra could be. He's about to leave the room when Gavin calls, "Wait!", and rushes to catch up to them. When they get to the kitchen, Gavin, Vanessa and Warren all sit down at stools on the other side of the kitchen island. "What do you guys want to drink while I'm making dinner?" Seth asks them.
Gavin says he wants milk, but Warren and Vanessa both ask for Wine. He pours the glasses and starts to work. Now, you might think that Seth would be a horrible cook, but for the past year or so, he's been developing a passion for cooking that has only grown and flourished. He decides that he wants to make some Seasoned Lamb, on a bed of creamy, cheesy mashed potatoes with a side of caesar salad and roasted carrots and peas.
While Seth was cutting the potatoes, he was thinking about his parents. He knew that their vacation would still last a couple of weeks, but he couldn't think of what he could tell them. Really, what did you tell your parents when your sister suddenly decided to become a naiad/fairy?
Sensing that he was done with the vegetable cutting, Seth got the potatoes soaking so that they could be boiled and then eventually drained and mashed. "Seth," he turns around from putting the pot of potatoes on the stove as he hears Warren speak.
"What?" He asks as he gets the carrots and peas ready.
"Can you tell us what happened to Kendra?" He asked.
"No," he says, "and before you ask, there are a couple of reasons for this."
He stops talking as he puts the vegetables away and gets out the lamb chops. He starts prepping them as he says, "The first reason is, she told me not to tell and I'm not going to betray her trust. The second, is that there are some jerks listening outside of the door. And third, I don't really know if I trust you guys that much."
There is silence as he lightly oils the pan and puts the lamb on it. Sizzling fills the silence until Gavin said, "What did you mean by she's not human anymore?"
Seth just smiles. "Well, I wasn't lying. She isn't human anymore, and trust me when I say this, she didn't have a hard time making that decision. I mean, it wasn't easy, but seeing you and Bracken, especially on this day, just pushed her over the edge. I won't tell you where or what she is, but I can tell you that even Bracken would be jealous now," he says.
Vanessa chuckles. "Actually, I think I know where she is. Don't worry, I won't say. I'll figure it out," she says, smiling.
"I know that you said you wouldn't tell us, but could you please at least show me? I want to apologize for everything," Gavin says quietly.
Seth doesn't say anything as he turns to check the meat. On the one hand, she told him not to tell anyone. On the other, the guy had been kidnapped and impersonated. He deserved a chance to explain. "Okay. But only you, because you're a special case," Seth says.
There isn't a lot of talking as he finishes dinner. Slowly, people start entering the room, drawn by the scent of his food. Everyone is eating when Grandpa says, "Well, I think that we should put out a search party for her. She could be in great danger out on the preserve by herself."
Seth just shakes his head. "You won't find anything. She doesn't want to be found and will only show herself if you give a good reason, or if you're me."
"Why if you're you?" Dale asks.
"Because, I'm the only one of you she trusted enough to tell what was really going on. And besides, I know that you all noticed the signs that she wasn't okay, but really, they had been obvious. I'm surprised no one had asked her yet," Seth said, taking another bite.
No one says anything else after that. Seth says that he'll clean up and all of them can go do whatever. Gavin offers to help. They work in silence until, out of the blue, Gavin says, "I know I've said it before, but I'm really sorry for what they did to you. And to Kendra. She really is beautiful. I don't know how anyone could possibly want to hurt her, she seems too good and pure. You know, it's actually my fault that I got caught. Like the other me probably said, I really am a dragon brother. I was out on a mission for my dad when I was caught. They kept me for so long, I lost track of time. I was told that I was kept there for five years. Luckily, when I was found, they took away the memories of what they had done to me. They couldn't take away the scars though."
Seth just stared at him. "Wow. I'm so sorry for what happened man," he said.
"It's okay. There was nothing you could have done. I imagine that you've spent the past couple of years wanting to murder 'me' for what happened to Kendra," he said, smiling sadly.
"Well, you'll have a chance to really meet her. Do you know morse code?" Seth asked him.
"Yes," Gavin replied.
"Then pay attention," Seth said.
He then tapped out the pattern. - . . - / - . / - - -. .. -. ... - / .- - / . .-.. . ...- . -. / - .-. -.-. .-.. - -.-. -.- .-.-.- / -... .- -.-. -.- / .-. - .-. -.-. ... .-.-.- / -... . / -.- ..- .. . - / .- -... - ..- - / .. - .-.-.-
"Meet me at Eleven o'clock tonight. Back porch. Be quiet about it." Was what the message had said. Gavin just nodded and they finished in silence. Apparently, Gavin would also be sleeping in the same room as Seth.
When it hit 11 o clock, Seth used his powers to get them safely out of the house and into the forest without anyone following them. Or so they thought. What they didn't know is that Vanessa and Warren were waiting where they thought Kendra might be.
When I reread the first line, it made me think of Fix You by Coldplay. Also, I realized that I could have gone longer on the first chapter of this, but eh. It's okay. It makes sense right? As always, I hope you're enjoying this! Rate and Review!
~Marina Landbough
