Enchantment (28 page)

Holly was speechless. Her throat tightened down with grief, so she couldn't have said anything if she'd wanted to. She sat staring into the darkness, remembering that sunny afternoon. How ugly she'd thought the spring was.

“After the folks met him I realized I'd misjudged him, maybe. I didn't know how to tell you.”

Long hair, floating in the water. Eyes that opened to smile at her, impossibly blue.

“Holly? I'm really sorry. You're right, I shouldn't diss everything you like. I guess it's a big sister habit.”

Holly drew a shaky breath. She still couldn't speak.

“I don't blame you for being angry. I would be, too. You can yell if you want to.”

Holly shook her head, blinking. She knew Mad couldn't see that, so she croaked out, “No.”

“Oh, kiddo. I'm really, really sorry. I feel like a complete jerk.” She paused, then added, “Call me when you feel like talking, OK? Even if it's just to chew me out. I can take it. OK, Holly? Will you call me?”

“'Kay.”

“I love you, kiddo.” Long pause. “Bye.”

Holly heard the line go dead. “Bye,” she whispered.

She folded the phone and set it down. The clock dial on the front continued to glow, showing the time in deep blue numbers.

Time.

Time to say goodbye.

Her heart was aching so much she couldn't think straight. She also couldn't sit still. She grabbed the cell phone and stuffed it in her pocket as she strode to the door of her room.

She had to go up to the spring. Now.

She'd been putting it off, fearing the pain, but she hurt so much right now she couldn't imagine it being worse. She snatched a mini flashlight off her bookshelf and shoved it in her other pocket.

Mom and Dad were in the living room. Holly tiptoed to the front door and quietly turned the knob, slipping out and pulling the door shut with painful slowness. She listened for a moment, until she heard her Dad laugh at some joke on the tube.

Safe. She hurried up to the street, then ran.

Streetlights made pools of orange on Mountain Loop, lighting up drifts of fallen leaves along the curbs. Autumn had arrived. Holly hadn't been paying attention.

The aspens would be turning, up in the mountains. She couldn't see them at night, and there weren't any aspens around the spring, but the thought made her run faster anyway.

She hadn't intended to go back to the spring, at least not so soon. Maybe next summer, to say goodbye before she left for whatever college her parents chose. She'd pictured herself leaving a bouquet of flowers or something. Some gesture.

What she needed right now wasn't a gesture. She needed to let go, and in order to do that, she needed to see with her own eyes that the spring was gone.

Gone, so she could stop picturing it. Stop remembering.

She sobbed as she ran, until her lungs ached and her breath rasped. Reaching the trailhead, she saw it was still closed. No more yellow tape, but there was a wooden gate across the trail, and the sign about the improvement project was still there. Holly walked around it, pulling out her flashlight as she left the lighted street and started up the trail.

It was wider, smoother. This part of the project must be finished. No more ruts, no more rocks to trip over. It was even outlined in pale stones that glowed in the light of her flash.

Sorry, Ohlan, she kept thinking as she strode up the trail. She hurt too much to run any more, and her brain was muddled. Sorry, sorry, sorry, she thought with every step.

The light jounced around on the trail with her hurried steps. She slowed down, trying to breathe more evenly. Trying to appreciate the newer, better path.

She wanted the old path. Or rather, she wanted what it had led to.

Old path was gone forever. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

Her light flicked across something big and pale. She jumped, then froze, shining her light onto what she had thought was some animal, but what turned out to be a new sign, carved and painted, dark brown letters on beige.

She raised the light toward where she thought the spring would be, but saw nothing.

Well, right. It's gone.

So why the sign?

Stepping forward, she suddenly felt familiar with the place. The concrete box was gone, but the glen was the same. She swept her flashlight beam around it, noting the trees, bushes, and rocks. Then the beam glinted across something different.

Water. Lots of it.

Slowly shining her flash around, she saw that the center of the glen was filled with water. A pool of water, ringed with rocks the size of bowling balls.

Her brain registered a sound she'd been hearing. Trickling water.

She walked toward the pool, searching for the sound. There—off to the side—a little stream. It flowed between two of the rocks and off toward the path. Following it with the flashlight, she saw the beam light up a pretty little footbridge that crossed over the water.

Wow. This was nice.

A wish that Ohlan could see it made her close her eyes. She shut off the flashlight, waiting for her sight to adjust to the darkness.

She'd come back in daylight, just to see how the pool looked then, but it wouldn't be prettier than now. Just different.

When she could see well enough, she walked over to the pool and sat on a rock. A point of light trembled on the water. Looking up, she saw a bright star shining down through the trees. Jupiter, probably.

She smiled and let out a sigh. This was better than the emptiness she'd pictured. She trailed her fingertips across the water, sending ripples across it, making Jupiter dance.

A hand reached up to clasp hers.

Gasping, she jerked her arm back, but the hand didn't let go. It was glowing, she realized, even as a head rose up out of the water beside it.

“Holly.”

“Ohlan?”

She stared, unable to believe her eyes. He gazed back, anxious, longing.

“Are you still angry?”

With a small squeak she flung herself toward him. Felt her knees suddenly wet with cold water, then warmth wrapped around her along with Ohlan's arms. They drifted to the middle of the pool. It couldn't be more than a foot deep, yet Holly felt her legs dangling. She was dry again, even her knees.

“Am I dead?”

He laughed softly and smoothed back her hair. “No.”

“But you're alive!”

“Yes.” His smile beamed. “And strong. It was the old pipes that weakened me. They were so corroded the spring couldn't flow.”

Holly frowned, struggling to understand. “I thought destroying the spring would kill you!”

“They didn't destroy the spring. Only the housing that was built for it. A spring is hard to kill.”

She dropped her head against his shoulder. Stupid! She'd been so stupid. All this time, all the tears …

“Why didn't you tell me?” she whispered.

“You asked me not to come back. You said it hurt too much.”

Yeah—she remembered saying something like that. In a dream.

She remembered the pain, too. All of it. She felt it sliding away, flowing off with the trickling stream.

He kissed her cheek, and she shivered. Not with cold; with delight.

She turned her face to his, ready for a real kiss. He obliged, and the warmth of him washed the last of her sadness away.

Pati Nagle was born and raised in the mountains of northern New Mexico. An avid student of music, history, and humans in general, she loves the outdoors but hides from the sun.

She writes in a variety of genres, but is most often drawn to fantasy or (as P.G. Nagle) historical fiction. Her stories have appeared in
Asimov's Science Fiction
, the
Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
, and in various other magazines and anthologies, including
Elf Magic,
which featured “Kind Hunter,” the story that sparked the ælven world. Her first ælven fantasy novel,
The Betrayal,
was released in 2009 by Del Rey Books. Its sequel,
Heart of the Exiled
, came out in January 2011. The third ælven book,
Swords Over Fireshore,
will come out in spring of 2012. Meanwhile,
Immortal,
an ælven novel with a contemporary setting, was released in June 2011.

Pati Nagle still lives in the mountains in New Mexico, with her husband and furry feline muse, where she loves to walk in the woods and look up at the stars.

Immortal

What do you do if the most gorgeous guy you've ever seen asks for your help?

No brainer. Len Whiting is smitten from the minute she sees the stranger's amazing eyes. She agrees to help
Caeran find the healer he's been seeking in rural New Mexico. What Len doesn't know is that neither Caeran nor the healer is human: they're immortal ælven, and they're locked in an ancient struggle with the vampires who are their kin.
Len wants Caeran's love, and wants to help the healer find a cure—but first they must cope with the bloodthirsty vampire who's got his sights set on them all.

Read a sample
of
Immortal.

Blood of the Kindred Series

Before the human race evolved, the ælven were locked in a war with their kindred and foes, the blood-drinking alben...

 The Betrayal

read a sample
at
aelven.com

 Heart of the Exiled

read a sample
at
aelven.com

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