Futures Unseen (Chasing Titania #2)

Chance Encounter

I could hear him. The boy I had met the other day. He was down by the Grund. I caught his white skin between the trees. He came up to the edge of the forest, staring out at the lake.

"What brings you here?" I asked.

He shrieked, jumping when he saw me. His heart thudded loudly. I had to laugh. Why didn't he hear me?

"I was just walking," he insisted.

"Your voice sounds kinda funny," he backed away when I tried to set my ear on his chest. "I don't believe that would have brought you to the Grund. I think you came to find me."

"Did not."

"I think you did," I felt ecstatic. "I'm the only Blackwater Nymph you've ever met. Because I am a Nymph, I'd have to be here if I wanted to be natural. You came looking for me."

"So vhat if I did?" His heart was still nervously thumping.

"I would have to say thank you," I nodded. "Because I wanted to meet you again."

"You are Alcibiades," he said slowly.

"And you're Forrest."

"I wanted to meet you again too," he admitted, staring off at the island in the middle of the lake.

I decided to test him. I extended a hand, the pixie gesture for greeting one another. He took it but pulled me into a hug. Hugs were the water Fae fashion of greeting one another. He was a thoroughbred. I was some sort of abomination.

"Hey Forrest," I whispered.

"Ja?"

I kissed him again. I wasn't sure what else to do, but it's what I wanted. Forrest didn't fight me off this time. His heart told me he enjoyed this, too.

I carefully parted from him. He dropped his bag on the ground and ran. I watched him go for a moment. He wanted me to follow. I sprinted towards him.

He managed to get through the trees. Sometimes, even the best of us got lost in the trees around the Grund, using our hearing to get us back home. It had been a very long time since I ran like this. My body felt like it was swimming through the cold water under the Grund again, not as graceful as I normally was.

But I was gaining on him. I wasn't sure whose stamina it called into question, his or mine. That thrilled little heartbeat of his excited me drew me closer.

I tackled him around the waist. We tumbled down the hill to the sands around the Blackwater lake. He was under me, staring up into my eyes. He could see his reflection, I'm sure, because he reached to take out his earring, relaxing into that gorgeous Nixie I had fallen in love with.

"Why is your disguise such an odd color?" He asked.

Such an odd time. "What do you mean?"

"The colors for your disguise are so bold. They're impossible for real pixies. You don't look like you could logically belong to any clan."

"But yours does? You're practically all white."

"I look like a Quickian Fae, though," he shrugged. "Where did you get yours?"

"I learned how to do my own from Nox," I answered. "I never really thought about it before. It happened because of being part of those imprisoned, I guess."

"Imprisoned?"

I set my ear against his chest. I had him pinned. I wanted to hear it.

"I was born into captivity. My dad was a Summer Nymph. My mom was a Blackwater Nymph. And they were imprisoned when they had me. Everyone who was there had odd colored moonstone disguises."