Chapter 2

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He set her down in a coolly lit entryway. The weather had turned stormy, but Ella could not hear anything. She squinted through the window. She could not see the bank. She could not see much of anything, in fact, because–

“We’re underwater,” she said, and gulped. “When you said swim, I thought you meant across the pond, not through it.”

Rodan pulled something from a basket woven of green reeds and held it out to show her. It looked like a pearl, small and iridescent. “This will allow you to breathe until you reach the shore,” he explained. “However, as you found me by accident, I am inclined not to give it to you. You might start a habit of taking strange things from strange men.”

“I’ll do no such thing,” Ella replied. “You saved me from drowning and refused to make love to me. As there is nothing else for it, I would rather not need you to rescue me again.” Still proper, she held out her hand and waited for the item.

“Suit yourself.” Rodan placed the pearl in her hand and indicated she was to swallow it. “The effects will last long enough for your journey.”

It went down her throat like a soft piece of ice, leaving a little trail of cold in her throat. Rodan was opening the door. He took her hand, and led her through.

Ella noted the pocket of air surrounding the open door, which held just room enough for the two of them. His arms encircled her once more. But she had not time to revel in this, for he propelled them through the bubble and into the water.

It was a rush of cold silk against her skin, running cool fingers through her hair. She managed to keep her eyes open and found it easy as anything. The blue water cleared so that she could see quite well, and the surroundings enchanted her. Schools of silver fish darted beneath them like low scudding clouds into tiny forests of graceful water weeds. They ascended quickly, the engulfing water flow changing direction, and crowds of taller water plants rose up in the distance like a vast forest. The house fell away behind them, quickly swallowed in a murky dusk, until the faint yellow glow of the windows might have been the eyes of some dreadful creature. Ella shuddered.

“You should see it when the water is at her clearest,” said Rodan, nodding ahead. A fine netting on his neck–gills, she realized with surprise–fluttered delicately. Ella tore her gaze away and looked where he indicated. Above them, a grey pallor spread across the water like a film of dust. The water looked ill.

“Is this where the stream feeds it?” She asked, forgetting to be surprised that she could speak underwater, let alone breathe. The water tickled her mouth and skin. Reaching a hand up, she murmured in surprise to find a delicate fluttering on her neck.

“Yes.” A grim light entered Rodan’s eyes. “I cannot leave the water, or I would clean it myself.”

“I will clean it,” Ella said. “I was cleaning it, before I fell in.”

“Were you?” He glanced at her in surprise. “How considerate of the spirits you must be.”

Not knowing until minutes ago that spirits lived in the pond, Ella only responded, “I love this place. Above the surface, that is.”

“And above the surface is where you must stay.” Rodan turned her to face him. “It was a delight to meet you, love. Have a pleasant life.”

And suddenly Ella found herself sitting on the bank, sopping wet.

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How odd everything looked now that she had seen the pond from beneath the surface. A fairy world at that. Or rather, a spirit world, and she hadn’t lost a thing. She decided the word spirit suited Rodan better. Despite his being, as he had said, very corporeal, it was the word he had used.

Marveling, she glanced around her. The sun was lower in the sky, meaning it was almost time for tea. She felt as though the sun ought to be higher, or in the very same place, or maybe a different color; a strange event to mark her strange adventure. But everything looked as it always had at the pond gracing the very edge of the late baronet’s land.

The stream still needed tending, but she hadn’t time for that. She would have to come back tomorrow. Ella had cleared the stream every few years to allow for the pond to remain clear, but it seemed a much more interesting task now that thoughts of a handsome, roguish water spirit stirred within her as it stirred in the cool depths.

“His manners are extremely confusing,” she announced to no one, “but I suppose, for a spirit, he could have been worse.”

Rodan watched her leave below the surface of the water, out of sight. His thoughts were a tangle of roots and water. He should not have slipped another pearl into her bodice, practically inviting her to return. Many humans had visited him in his current abode, but this one whose name he did not even know tugged at him like the waves at low tide.

How alluring she was, with her round, generous curves, her large brown eyes, her hair golden and shining! He found her simplicity refreshing, unexpected; women were coy with him, men were sometimes embarrassed to go to him. But this stranger was so honest. And demanding, he thought. He grinned a grin that made all of his clients weak in the knees. I’d like to get on my knees for her–

“No, Rodan.” He scrubbed his face violently. He’d meant what he said about her staying on land. He had good reason to say it and to believe it, to refuse to give her what everyone came to him for. He felt the weight of this reason on his shoulders every day. It rested on his shoulders the way dis-ease rested on the water’s surface.

There was nothing else for it. Time for a good, stiff– er, sobering drink, he told himself, and swam home swiftly.