Sprite
Chapter 23

“Aiee!” With a blood-curdling yell, Pup and his companions leaped out into space onto the backs of two startled hunters. “Hurry, let’s go!”

They grabbed the prisoner, a frightened changeling who shrank back at the sight of the half-naked wild boys, and scrambled back up the tangled cliff before the stunned hunters could recover their wits. With ease born of experience, they melted back into the forest.

As soon as they had put some distance between themselves and the hunters, the group split up, with two of the boys leading the changeling in one direction, while the others took off in the opposite direction. The boys with the young changeling stepped carefully, leaving no prints for the hunters to track. The second group of boys, however, stomped through the woods, their bare feet leaving visible impressions in the soft earth. Their chests were bare, too, and their long hair flailed out behind them like banners as they ran unerringly for the river.

The hunters were experienced trackers as long as their prey was the occasional escaped mutant from one of the border cities. Mutant or no, these children had basically no woodsman expertise at all. However, the mutants who had survived long enough to establish themselves within one of the secret forest communities were another matter. They had had to learn forest lore in order to survive, and they were good at it. Some of the hunters even had a superstitious dread of coming across one of these new breed of mutants who fought back and sometimes won, despite the superior fire power of the hunters.

The two hunters who had been bested of their prey now pounded along behind the second group of boys, determined to take back what was theirs. They took out their guns as they ran, hoping to get in a good shot. But when the boys reached the river, they never even slowed down. They dove right into the water, angling deep, since they knew the area well, and then veering downriver as close to the bank as they dared, until they had to come up for air. Somewhere above them, shots fired into the murky water made fizzing noises as they passed harmlessly where the boys were supposed to be.

Sucking in mighty breaths of air, the remaining two boys hovered just out of sight underneath the bank, a good thirty feet downriver from where they had started. It had taken them months to learn that trick, but it was worth it. The hunters now were convinced it was the Sprite and his cohorts who had taken their prisoner. They would think twice about pursuing. The Sprite had a reputation for ruthlessness.

Pup laughed softly under his breath. The girl should be safely at one of the hidden villages by now. They waited for another half-hour before they ventured out of the river, treading now just as carefully as their companions so they would no longer leave a trail to be followed. The warm summer air dried their cut-off shorts and their long hair, styled after Neistah’s own, as they walked back to their self-imposed guardposts by the main road out of Datro. Since winter, Pup and his friends had watched the roads for escapees from the cities, intervening when necessary, like today, when the little girl they had rescued had stumbled right off the main path and into the arms of two hunters. She had almost found the way, following clues she didn’t even realize they had been leaving for her. Neistah’s Sprites, as the boys called themselves, preferred to keep hidden unless absolutely necessary. It added to the mystique, if nothing else.

x x x x x x

Every chance she got, Norah went down to the river and slipped underwater. She felt free under there, and explored her new world eagerly. It was exhilarating and a little frightening to take the risk of being caught and exposed for what she truly was—a mutant. But to Norah, her time beneath the water was worth the risk. She felt truly alive underwater. This is what she had been born for.

So many times she wanted to confess her secret to Will, but she hesitated. He thought she was a normal. What would he think if he found out she’d been lying to him all this time?

“Will, do you think you could get me a razor?” she asked him one day. Surely he had to use one to remove the excess hair from his hands and face, the only place he was allowed to remove it because of his work.

“What for?” he asked in return, and Norah blushed, glancing down at her legs. Will laughed. “Ah, are you that old already? I suppose Roselle will want one, too.” For some reason, Will thought of Roselle as older than Norah, or perhaps more worldly-wise, although he wouldn’t share the knowledge of his true identity with her as he did with Norah. “All right, I’ll bring you girls some razors, but you’ve got to promise not to cut yourselves trying to look beautiful.”

Norah gave him an indignant glare, which only made Will laugh harder. She nearly told him right then what she needed the razor for. “Aren’t you hot under that shirt?” she asked pointedly instead. Despite the heat of the evening, Will wore his usual long-sleeved brown shirt.

He sobered quickly. “It’s my uniform,” he said, glancing up at her from under shaggy brows. “What else would I wear?”

“Can I see?” Norah asked softly. Will shrugged out of his shirt. They sat by the banks of the river in the dark with only the moon for company. Roselle knew of this hiding place. It wasn’t safe for Will to do what he was doing. She might come looking for them at any moment. Norah felt a little of what she felt when she secretly swam in the river, a thrill, followed by a shock of fear. But like those times when she dared to swim, the thrill far outweighed the fear.

His hair was golden and covered his torso from the neck down, and his arms to the wrists, in a fine short layer which was hardly noticeable, except for the sharp edges where his neck and hands began. Norah reached out to touch it, to see if it was really as soft as it looked. It was. Will pulled his shirt closed and swiftly buttoned it again.

“Were you born like that, with hair all over your skin?” Norah asked. “And your mother hid it since then?”

Will smiled, and a little of the tension went out of his shoulders now that he was fully clothed again. “Yeah, she did, at least the parts that people could see. After a while, the hair on my face and hands stopped growing back. If I hadn’t been caught, I’d still be out there, pretending to be a normal.”

Norah stared at Will, horrified when he told her the hair on his hands and face had stopped growing back. Apprehensively, she glanced down at her own hands. Would that happen to her if she kept using the razor to remove her webbing?

“Would you have liked that, being a normal?” she asked.

Will shook his head. “No, not really. I am what I am. Some day I’m going to leave Datro and replace others like me in the forest.”

Norah swallowed, her throat suddenly tight. “You know, never mind. I don’t want you to bring me a razor after all,” she said, turning away. If Will could run off to replace other changelings hidden in the forest, then so could she, if she had to. Then, maybe, Will would look differently at her.

x x x x x x

Pup caught up to the two boys just outside Earl’s camp, where they brought the changeling girl and left her standing, bewildered, in front of a tiny hut set far back among high bushes. “Another one for the sprites,” Pup announced cheerfully.

The mutant girl looked him up and down, taking in his long hair and the ragged shorts which were all he chose to wear for clothing. Her eyes widened as she realized just who her rescuers had been. Pup grinned.

Earl, however, scowled and muttered under his breath.

“Don’t mind him,” Pup told the girl. “He’ll warm up to you eventually. Go see Mary over there.” He pointed to a spot just visible between the trees. The girl had to squint before she saw any movement. “She’ll help you get settled.” Pup smiled at the young mutant girl. “Welcome to our ‘city.’” With a laugh at the absurdity of his remark, Pup bounded off to rejoin his friends.

x x x x x x

Neistah was aware of what the boys in the hidden villages had started calling themselves. How could he not? They crossed the forest blithely, doing what they thought he did—rescuing lost changelings. They were good at it, for all their human limitations. It certainly threw the hunters off track. Now, instead of one Sprite to harry them, there were many sprites, and who was to say that they weren’t all humans of one sort or other? It took the pressure off of him and others of his kind. If the changeling boys did get caught pretending to be sprites, would the hunters not believe that’s all they were?

Valin, however, was furious. “It’s not a game!” He paced back and forth on the narrow patch of earth between a dense stand of trees and a woodland lake. He wore, as was his habit when visiting mortal lands, human garb. “They copy you—your dress, your manner, your . . .” Valin ran out of words.

“My tricks?” Neistah grinned. “They should. I trained them. I never told them to dress like me. I never invited them to swim. That was all their own idea.”

“Because of you! They think to imitate you but the knives they carry are iron. Did you think of that? What if they turn them against us?”

Neistah raised his eyebrows. “Valin, they long to be sprites. Why would they attack one of us?”

“Bah!” Valin turned away. “Who knows why humans do the things they do?” He pointed a finger at Neistah. “They are not us. They can never be like us.” In an instant, he moved between the thick trees and was gone from sight.

Neistah stared after him in amazement. ’I never thought they were,’ he sent after his father, not knowing if his thoughts would reach that far.

x x x x x x

In the end, Will brought razors for both the girls, and Norah used hers, not for her legs as Roselle did, even though she really didn’t need to, but to trim the webbing that grew every time she swam. Her heart beat faster whenever she cut it, wondering if this would be the last time, but what else could she do? She had to live here, and she had to keep her secret, for now