A Midsummer Night's Fling

Five

"Not even close," I laughed.

"Okay, I'm ready then."

"Keep your eyes closed," I reminded, even though she'd never opened them. I closed my own as well, and took a deep breath.

Slowly, I began to weave one of my memories into existence. When I was finished, I opened my eyes to survey my handiwork.

The green hills of Scotland formed around us, the blue sky stretching as far as I could see—not a single cloud marred its appearance. A gentle stream trickled through the grasses. Even the slight breeze was exactly as I remembered it.

When I was finally satisfied I had remembered everything correctly, I had Emilee open her eyes. Her smile was contagious.

"Where are we?" She stepped out of my embrace and bent down to touch the grass, laughing.

"Scotland," I chuckled. "I spent a summer here once, long ago. The Fae held rituals in these hills."

"What kind of rituals?" She questioned further.

"The kind that are either too embarrassing to remember or too complicated to explain," I laughed again.

"I've read stories of people being enchanted by fairies and led away," she said as she twirled around, her arms outstretched. "Is that what you did? You led young girls away to their doom?" She giggled as she waited for my answer.

"Not exactly. We always made sure they made it home safely," I said uncomfortably. My reply caused her to stop her twirling.

"Oh," she said apologetically.

"Eh, it's no big deal." I laughed away the uncomfortable feelings. I didn't seem to care about my past endeavors at that moment. "That's not why we're here, anyway."

Emilee looked at me, eyebrows raised and smiled slightly. "Oh? And why are we here then?" she teased.

"To dance—why else?" I held my hand out to her and remembered the music of Scottish bagpipes. As the sound filled the air around us, and Emilee took my hand. She surprised me when she began the traditional dance that went along with the song.

We danced joyously until there was no music I could remember. It felt like we'd been together for mere minutes, although, I was sure that hours had passed. With a breathless gesture, we flopped down onto the grass, finding our way into each other's arms, and gazed up into the blue sky. I was thinking of what to say next, when Emilee beat me to the punch.

"What's the worst thing you've ever done?" she giggled.

"Wow, what a question!" I laughed. I pondered for a moment longer and then answered.

"I had this friend, Michael and we did so much stuff together," I laughed. "We were actually responsible for a lot of things humans can't explain."

"Like what?" she asked excitedly.

"Michael had power that made him able to cloak a person's appearance for a limited amount of time. We weren't very responsible with it," I chuckled, remembering all of the trouble we'd gotten ourselves into.

"The first thing we ever did with it was invent the Loc Ness Monster. He disguised me as this giant water creature and I swam around in the lake for a little while. Everyone started freaking out about it and eventually—when the Mother figured out what we'd done—we got in a lot of trouble for it."

Emilee was laughing, sparkles gleaming in her gaze.

"What else have you done, oh great prankster?" She said in a mocking tone, bowing her head in reverence for added effect. "Is Bigfoot your creation as well?"

"Well," I said, getting slightly embarrassed.

"No way!" she snorted. "You did that too?"

"Actually, that one was all Michael, although we both got in a lot of trouble for it—mostly because we had been making fun of how a certain Fae walks. Turns out, he was high on the important person list and had just been keeping it to himself." It had been a while since Michael and I had been into mischief together. We were separated by the Mother when she'd had enough of our excursions.

"So you've always been a jokester. What an interesting and new side to you!"

She was making fun of me but I didn't mind. I loved her laugh and the way we were able to talk so freely with each other.

We laughed together a little bit longer, and then fell silent as we took in our surroundings once more.

"This place is beautiful. I can see why your kind would come here to perform their sacred rituals." I could see the sky reflected in Emilee's eyes. Her hair lay perfectly around her head—like a crown—and in that moment I wished again we would never have to be apart.

I could feel her mind starting to slowly slip away and I began to ready myself for the imminent separation. I felt . . . surprisingly good for telling her my secret and sharing part of myself with her. She knew everything now, and it didn't seem to matter to her. She hadn't asked me to leave, and that was all the invitation I needed to keep returning.

Emilee suddenly looked me right in the eye and said, "Raith, do you really love me?" I was caught off guard by the sudden change in topic and quickly stammered out my consent. My heart went from a normal rate to that of a race horse in a second and my mouth went dry. I'd almost forgotten I'd told her that during all of my questioning. Her gaze softened and—fighting to remain asleep—she leaned in slowly and kissed my lips.

The fire returned like it had never been gone, filling me with desire and longing. I reached out for her, pulling her onto my lap with her legs around my waist. I grasped her as she held my face in her hands, kissing me with renewed heat. I nipped her lower lip with my teeth and she sighed softly, holding me tighter.

She began to fade away faster, no longer able to keep herself asleep. She broke away to look at me one last time before she was gone completely. As our minds slid delicately apart and I could no longer see her, I heard her voice like a whisper on the wind.

"I love you, too."