Nokken Chapter Three
“I guess I will.” I tell her. “But what should I do?”
“Just give it time. Keep coming to the lake like usual, and when he’s ready he’ll come to you. Just remember, you must be gentle, he’s had a very hard life.” She tells me.
“I know, and thank you for the advice. I do want to talk to Nokken again, but what if that doesn’t work? Would you talk to him?” I ask.
“I’m afraid that if he knew I’d spoken with you, he might give up on you entirely. It’s up to you, I can’t help you anymore. He doesn’t like me a messin’ with his business. He’s an independent soul, that one.” She says.
“Oh.” I say. “Thank you for everything, anyways.”
“No problem, please come visit anytime. You’d best be gettin’ back, it’s gettin’ rather dark now. Do you remember the way back?”
“Yes, I think so.” I reply. “I’m sure if I can’t that sprites will help me.”
“They rather seem to like you, those mischievous nurslings.”
I give my goodbyes to Huldra and exit the cave. Then I climb back up the ledge I jumped down to get into the cave. I set off back the way I came.
As I walk through the woods, I can’t help but feel as if I’m being watched. I don’t feel the presence of anything close, so I pretend I don’t notice. If there is something following me, I don’t want it to know I’m afraid. I reach the lakeside dock and can’t help but look out over the lake, searching for the Nokken. If he is there, I don’t see him. Oh well.
I check my watch. It’s already ten o’ clock. I race back through the forest and to the library. Sometimes I have a silly little contest with myself to see if I can beat my previous amount of time taken to get to the library from the dock.
It takes me one minute. Yes, beat it! I think proudly.
I walk in the doors of the library and drop the mythology book into the book drop box. It slams into the box with a clamor.
The rest of my day passes by uneventfully; chores, unpacking, reading, sketching, etc. I end up drawing Nokken from several points of view and angles. Then I picture him in my head as I lie in bed, staring silently at the ceiling. I let my eyes slip over his eyebrows, his jawline, his lanky form…
* * *
When I wake, my drawing pencils are scattered all over my bed, and I’m covered in drawings. One of my drawing pencils managed to tangle itself in my hair as I slept, so I spend five or ten minutes trying to get it out. I eventually succeed. Then I shower, brush my teeth, and quickly run a brush through my hair. Then I throw on a tank top and tight shorts with a casual sun dress on over them. It’s about ten in the morning, so mom’s up making breakfast. I eat fast and then run upstairs to put on makeup and lace up my knee-high converse.
“You have nursery today, Willy.” Says Dad.
Ugh, don’t call me that.
“Right. Thanks for reminding me.” I say, putting on an act for the good of avoiding my anxiety problems.
We get to church, which starts at 10:30, at 10:25 and help set up chairs. Then I head to the nursery to get my classroom ready. Ivy is already there preparing a snack.
“Hey.” I casually greet her.
“Oh, hey.” She replies, “I’ll tell you in a sec.”
“Okay.”
We set up snack, and when we’re done we have our first kindergartener enter the room. He situates himself at the building-block station, and Ivy sits down in one of the tiny chairs. Her knees come up to almost her chest because of how short the chairs are. I sit down next to her on the table. I’m afraid the chairs would break if I sat in them.
“So…” Ivy begins. “You can’t tell anyone, by the way.” I nod. “I’m leaving. In a couple of days. I can’t stand my family anymore, and they’d all be happier without me. I’m telling you because I want someone to know where I am so that they can come check on me. You wouldn’t mind, would you?”
“Of course not, but do you really think that’s necessary?” I ask.
“Yes. It’s necessary.” She says determinedly. “I don’t know where I’m going yet, but it has to be somewhere isolated.”
The lake… it’s perfect, except…
“I think I might know somewhere, but… there’s some other people there who are also… isolated.” I say hesitantly.
“Do you think I could stay with them?”
“I’d have to ask if they’d be okay with that.” I tell her “And it will take some serious convincing.”
“Okay. You’ll still do it though?” She pleads.
“Sure.”
She thanks me and we say nothing more about it as all our students flock in to play. Wee read to them and have a lesson with snack. Then their parents come to get them and Ivy and I clean up the room.
I tell her to call me later, so she can maybe come over tomorrow, and that I’ll ask the people I know. That is, Nokken and Huldra. We hug goodbye and leave church. Should I really help her run away? What if she died out there and I was responsible? I’m sure Huldra and the sprites wouldn’t mind, but Nokken… I’m not so sure.
The car pulls into our driveway and I get out. I run upstairs to my bedroom, rip off my dress, and throw on a sweatshirt and camo pants over the tank and shorts. I grab up my drawings and sketchbook, a book or two, my camera, a small sack of bird seed, and an old steel watch gear and throw them in a bag. I tell dad I’m going to the library and I’ll be home for dinner at seven. Then I grab a bagel from the breadbasket and race out the door and down the street before Dad can respond. Well, technically he didn’t say no…
I reach the lake in record time, on my knees huffing and puffing for air. When I recover from the repurcussions of my hard core sprinting, I stand and jog to the end of the dock.
I call out, “Nokken!”
The lake is silent. Then the water around the end of the dock bursts into motion. The intricate streams of sparkling water weave themselves into and about each other, making the shape of a spinning flower.
“Nokken?” I ask.
Then the flower breaks apart and each of the streams tales on a mind of it’s own. They tug at my clothes, hair, and bag. They pull me every which way until I’m so befuddled that I sink to my knees. I feel the strap of my bag lifted over my head and off of my shoulder.
“Hey! Stop that! those can’t get---” I hear a splash as my bag goes into the water. “wet...”
My drawings spill out and drift across the surface off the lake, while everything else starts to sink. I sigh.
The streams of water slow and come to a stop on the top rail of the dock. The trails behind them fall away and four six-inch tall figures made purely of water stand on the rail.
“Nixies!” I gasp. The graceful forms nod approvingly. Three of them are girls with flawless hair licking playfully at the light summer breeze. The fourth is a boy with bright, wild eyes and torn clothes. His lean, narrow features give him an air of grace, but not the grace of a dancer like the girls. His is an air of predatory grace, like a jungle cat hunting it’s prey. Then I hear Nokken’s voice.
“Akvo!” He calls. The boy snaps around to look at Nokken, who is walking toward us across the lake. “What are you and your sisters doing? Did you do this?” Nokken gestures at my sunken belongings.
Two of the girls hang their heads in guilt, while the other girl and Akvo nod gleefully.
“What an awful deed! Go and collect them.” He commands, pointing at the lake floor. They all dive off the dock railing and into the water. The moment they are inside the water, they disappear. They must have blended into the lake. Then four of my drawings begin to float to the surface as if riding on some unidentified current. I watch with wide eyes, awestruck. They pile my soaked belongings on the edge of the dock. Nokken looks amused.
Then I realize why. All of my drawings are of him! I blush deep red. Good thing he isn’t looking at me. He picks one up to look at it, and as he does the water seems to peel itself from the page. It is osmosed into Nokken’s fingertips where they touch the page. He scrutinizes it, and then hands it to me without a word. He does the same with the rest of the drawings.
As he looks at the last one, he says, “Huh. That’s pretty accurate.” Then he laughs and asks me, “I’m handsome, aren’t I?”
He poses, flexing the muscles in his arms. It makes them stand out under his soaked white tunic. He’s not wearing the suede jerkin, and I can see his chest and abdominal muscles too. He is lean and tall, but he couldn’t be described by the word lanky. He’s too lithe and supple. Unlike me, with my slim willowy frame, I am clumsier than a foal taking it’s first steps. When I don’t answer, he shrugs and turns to the nixies.
"Polivati, Jūra, Marée!” The girls turn. “What do you think?”
He knows they were listening, so he doesn’t explain. Two of them nod, and the third gives an exaggerated thumbs up. He grins.
“You’re not too bad yourselves.” He says to them, and they all give gestures that say, ‘Oh, stop with the flattery.’ I laugh and he turns to look at me.
“Sorry about that.” He says. “They don’t understand the concept of dry.”
“It’s alright.” I say, frowning at my camera. “How did you do that with the drawings?”
“Do what?” He looks confused. “Oh. This?”
He picks up my bag and all the water from it is absorbed into his hands.
“Yeah.” I say. He continues to dry my things.
“I don’t know. I can’t really explain it.” He picks up my camera and dries it out. Thank goodness, mom would have killed me. “What’s this?”
“Its a camera.” He looks at me with a blank expression. “It takes pictures.”
He still doesn’t get it. I turn it on and show him the screen. “How…?” He asks.
“It uses the reflections of light on mirrors to replicate what it sees.” I tell him. That’s really all I know about cameras, it’s pathetic.
“How does it ‘see?’” He asks poking at it.
“I honestly have no idea whatsoever.” I tell him. The nixies gather on top of his head and on his shoulders too see. Curiosity lights up their expressions.
“Hold still.” I say, turning the camera to face them. “Smile.”
I take the picture and they all flinch at the flash and the shutters closing. It makes me giggle. Then I show them the picture I took.
Nokken laughs hysterically and says, “Your face looks funny Jūra!”
Jūra puts her hands in her hips and pouts. Her face was frozen in a half-blink and a forming smile. She points at my camera and gives me a meaningful look.
“What does she want?” I ask Nokken. “Can’t they speak?”
Nokken and the nixies shake their heads no. Nokken answers me. “She wants you to take another picture.”
“Okay.” I tell them to smile and not move, then I take another one. They all look good in this one, and Jūra is satisfied.
I put all my drawings into my bag. “Can you make these dry?” I ask Nokken, holding out my books and bird seed.
“Of course.” He says taking them. He hands back the bird seed, but the books intrigue him. He flips one open to a random page and asks, “What language is this?”
You’ve gotta be kidding me…
“English…” I say, not sure if he’s being serious or not. “You speak it don’t you?”
“You mean, it has a written part, too?” He asks.
I nod.
“Teach me.” He demands, grabbing my wrists.
“Are you sure? It takes a long time to learn…” I say hesitantly. “And I have to go somewhere first.”
“I learn fast. I’m sure.” He says. “Go where?”
Should I tell him? I want to ask Huldra first, and she said he shouldn’t know we spoke.
“A cave.” I say, keeping it vague.
“Really? I have a cousin who lives in a cave!” He tells me enthusiastically.
“Wow! Seriously?” I ask, hoping my acting doesn’t suck like usual.
“Yeah, you wanna meet her?” He asks.
“Uh, sure.” I say. Before I have the second word out all the way he grabs my wrist and leads me toward the water.
“Wait! I have stuff that can’t get wet.” I say.
“Just leave your bag on the dock.” He suggests, letting go of me. “ Akvo and the girls will make sure it doesn’t get wet. Won’t you, guys?”
The nixies nod convincingly, but…
“I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.” I say hesitantly. The nixies look indignantly offended.
“Come on, Willow.” says Nokken, “They’ll be good.” They nod vigorously.
“Well, okay…” I say, even though that’s not really what I was thinking. I take off the sweatshirt and cargo pants and put them in my bag. Then I set it on the dock.
Nokken takes my wrist again and this time I don’t resist. We swim through the water towards Huldra’s cave. I wonder how we’re going to get up from the water. I guess we’ll climb.
The way is a lot shorter by water. We end up five feet from wall of rock, under the ledge that I jumped down onto the day before.
“Turn around.” Nokken says, turning to face away from the wall and out over the lake. I do the same.
Suddenly a huge wave emerges from the water and lifts us onto the ledge six feet above. I gasp and close my eyes, and when I open them we are sitting on the end of the ledge.
“Dry off, Nokken. You can’t come in wet.” Huldra calls from inside the cave.
Nokken sticks his hands over the lake and the water disappears from his feet as it drips from his hand into the lake below. His entire body empties itself of water and it drips from his fingers. Then he looks at me, standing in a puddle of water that dripped from my clothes, and remembers that I do not possess the abilities the he does. He laughs.
“Oh right, sorry.” He says. The he adds, “You look kinda pathetic.”
“Thanks.” I say sarcastically. He just laughs again. Then he takes my hand in his. My heart speeds up. Then he opens his other hand, palm facing up, and the water from my hair and clothes gathers itself into a little sphere in his open palm. When I am completely dry, the sphere is a little bigger than a basketball. He holds his hand of the water and then flips it over. The water splashes back into the lake.
“Come on,” says Nokken and we walk into the cave, his hand still in mine.
“Just give it time. Keep coming to the lake like usual, and when he’s ready he’ll come to you. Just remember, you must be gentle, he’s had a very hard life.” She tells me.
“I know, and thank you for the advice. I do want to talk to Nokken again, but what if that doesn’t work? Would you talk to him?” I ask.
“I’m afraid that if he knew I’d spoken with you, he might give up on you entirely. It’s up to you, I can’t help you anymore. He doesn’t like me a messin’ with his business. He’s an independent soul, that one.” She says.
“Oh.” I say. “Thank you for everything, anyways.”
“No problem, please come visit anytime. You’d best be gettin’ back, it’s gettin’ rather dark now. Do you remember the way back?”
“Yes, I think so.” I reply. “I’m sure if I can’t that sprites will help me.”
“They rather seem to like you, those mischievous nurslings.”
I give my goodbyes to Huldra and exit the cave. Then I climb back up the ledge I jumped down to get into the cave. I set off back the way I came.
As I walk through the woods, I can’t help but feel as if I’m being watched. I don’t feel the presence of anything close, so I pretend I don’t notice. If there is something following me, I don’t want it to know I’m afraid. I reach the lakeside dock and can’t help but look out over the lake, searching for the Nokken. If he is there, I don’t see him. Oh well.
I check my watch. It’s already ten o’ clock. I race back through the forest and to the library. Sometimes I have a silly little contest with myself to see if I can beat my previous amount of time taken to get to the library from the dock.
It takes me one minute. Yes, beat it! I think proudly.
I walk in the doors of the library and drop the mythology book into the book drop box. It slams into the box with a clamor.
The rest of my day passes by uneventfully; chores, unpacking, reading, sketching, etc. I end up drawing Nokken from several points of view and angles. Then I picture him in my head as I lie in bed, staring silently at the ceiling. I let my eyes slip over his eyebrows, his jawline, his lanky form…
* * *
When I wake, my drawing pencils are scattered all over my bed, and I’m covered in drawings. One of my drawing pencils managed to tangle itself in my hair as I slept, so I spend five or ten minutes trying to get it out. I eventually succeed. Then I shower, brush my teeth, and quickly run a brush through my hair. Then I throw on a tank top and tight shorts with a casual sun dress on over them. It’s about ten in the morning, so mom’s up making breakfast. I eat fast and then run upstairs to put on makeup and lace up my knee-high converse.
“You have nursery today, Willy.” Says Dad.
Ugh, don’t call me that.
“Right. Thanks for reminding me.” I say, putting on an act for the good of avoiding my anxiety problems.
We get to church, which starts at 10:30, at 10:25 and help set up chairs. Then I head to the nursery to get my classroom ready. Ivy is already there preparing a snack.
“Hey.” I casually greet her.
“Oh, hey.” She replies, “I’ll tell you in a sec.”
“Okay.”
We set up snack, and when we’re done we have our first kindergartener enter the room. He situates himself at the building-block station, and Ivy sits down in one of the tiny chairs. Her knees come up to almost her chest because of how short the chairs are. I sit down next to her on the table. I’m afraid the chairs would break if I sat in them.
“So…” Ivy begins. “You can’t tell anyone, by the way.” I nod. “I’m leaving. In a couple of days. I can’t stand my family anymore, and they’d all be happier without me. I’m telling you because I want someone to know where I am so that they can come check on me. You wouldn’t mind, would you?”
“Of course not, but do you really think that’s necessary?” I ask.
“Yes. It’s necessary.” She says determinedly. “I don’t know where I’m going yet, but it has to be somewhere isolated.”
The lake… it’s perfect, except…
“I think I might know somewhere, but… there’s some other people there who are also… isolated.” I say hesitantly.
“Do you think I could stay with them?”
“I’d have to ask if they’d be okay with that.” I tell her “And it will take some serious convincing.”
“Okay. You’ll still do it though?” She pleads.
“Sure.”
She thanks me and we say nothing more about it as all our students flock in to play. Wee read to them and have a lesson with snack. Then their parents come to get them and Ivy and I clean up the room.
I tell her to call me later, so she can maybe come over tomorrow, and that I’ll ask the people I know. That is, Nokken and Huldra. We hug goodbye and leave church. Should I really help her run away? What if she died out there and I was responsible? I’m sure Huldra and the sprites wouldn’t mind, but Nokken… I’m not so sure.
The car pulls into our driveway and I get out. I run upstairs to my bedroom, rip off my dress, and throw on a sweatshirt and camo pants over the tank and shorts. I grab up my drawings and sketchbook, a book or two, my camera, a small sack of bird seed, and an old steel watch gear and throw them in a bag. I tell dad I’m going to the library and I’ll be home for dinner at seven. Then I grab a bagel from the breadbasket and race out the door and down the street before Dad can respond. Well, technically he didn’t say no…
I reach the lake in record time, on my knees huffing and puffing for air. When I recover from the repurcussions of my hard core sprinting, I stand and jog to the end of the dock.
I call out, “Nokken!”
The lake is silent. Then the water around the end of the dock bursts into motion. The intricate streams of sparkling water weave themselves into and about each other, making the shape of a spinning flower.
“Nokken?” I ask.
Then the flower breaks apart and each of the streams tales on a mind of it’s own. They tug at my clothes, hair, and bag. They pull me every which way until I’m so befuddled that I sink to my knees. I feel the strap of my bag lifted over my head and off of my shoulder.
“Hey! Stop that! those can’t get---” I hear a splash as my bag goes into the water. “wet...”
My drawings spill out and drift across the surface off the lake, while everything else starts to sink. I sigh.
The streams of water slow and come to a stop on the top rail of the dock. The trails behind them fall away and four six-inch tall figures made purely of water stand on the rail.
“Nixies!” I gasp. The graceful forms nod approvingly. Three of them are girls with flawless hair licking playfully at the light summer breeze. The fourth is a boy with bright, wild eyes and torn clothes. His lean, narrow features give him an air of grace, but not the grace of a dancer like the girls. His is an air of predatory grace, like a jungle cat hunting it’s prey. Then I hear Nokken’s voice.
“Akvo!” He calls. The boy snaps around to look at Nokken, who is walking toward us across the lake. “What are you and your sisters doing? Did you do this?” Nokken gestures at my sunken belongings.
Two of the girls hang their heads in guilt, while the other girl and Akvo nod gleefully.
“What an awful deed! Go and collect them.” He commands, pointing at the lake floor. They all dive off the dock railing and into the water. The moment they are inside the water, they disappear. They must have blended into the lake. Then four of my drawings begin to float to the surface as if riding on some unidentified current. I watch with wide eyes, awestruck. They pile my soaked belongings on the edge of the dock. Nokken looks amused.
Then I realize why. All of my drawings are of him! I blush deep red. Good thing he isn’t looking at me. He picks one up to look at it, and as he does the water seems to peel itself from the page. It is osmosed into Nokken’s fingertips where they touch the page. He scrutinizes it, and then hands it to me without a word. He does the same with the rest of the drawings.
As he looks at the last one, he says, “Huh. That’s pretty accurate.” Then he laughs and asks me, “I’m handsome, aren’t I?”
He poses, flexing the muscles in his arms. It makes them stand out under his soaked white tunic. He’s not wearing the suede jerkin, and I can see his chest and abdominal muscles too. He is lean and tall, but he couldn’t be described by the word lanky. He’s too lithe and supple. Unlike me, with my slim willowy frame, I am clumsier than a foal taking it’s first steps. When I don’t answer, he shrugs and turns to the nixies.
"Polivati, Jūra, Marée!” The girls turn. “What do you think?”
He knows they were listening, so he doesn’t explain. Two of them nod, and the third gives an exaggerated thumbs up. He grins.
“You’re not too bad yourselves.” He says to them, and they all give gestures that say, ‘Oh, stop with the flattery.’ I laugh and he turns to look at me.
“Sorry about that.” He says. “They don’t understand the concept of dry.”
“It’s alright.” I say, frowning at my camera. “How did you do that with the drawings?”
“Do what?” He looks confused. “Oh. This?”
He picks up my bag and all the water from it is absorbed into his hands.
“Yeah.” I say. He continues to dry my things.
“I don’t know. I can’t really explain it.” He picks up my camera and dries it out. Thank goodness, mom would have killed me. “What’s this?”
“Its a camera.” He looks at me with a blank expression. “It takes pictures.”
He still doesn’t get it. I turn it on and show him the screen. “How…?” He asks.
“It uses the reflections of light on mirrors to replicate what it sees.” I tell him. That’s really all I know about cameras, it’s pathetic.
“How does it ‘see?’” He asks poking at it.
“I honestly have no idea whatsoever.” I tell him. The nixies gather on top of his head and on his shoulders too see. Curiosity lights up their expressions.
“Hold still.” I say, turning the camera to face them. “Smile.”
I take the picture and they all flinch at the flash and the shutters closing. It makes me giggle. Then I show them the picture I took.
Nokken laughs hysterically and says, “Your face looks funny Jūra!”
Jūra puts her hands in her hips and pouts. Her face was frozen in a half-blink and a forming smile. She points at my camera and gives me a meaningful look.
“What does she want?” I ask Nokken. “Can’t they speak?”
Nokken and the nixies shake their heads no. Nokken answers me. “She wants you to take another picture.”
“Okay.” I tell them to smile and not move, then I take another one. They all look good in this one, and Jūra is satisfied.
I put all my drawings into my bag. “Can you make these dry?” I ask Nokken, holding out my books and bird seed.
“Of course.” He says taking them. He hands back the bird seed, but the books intrigue him. He flips one open to a random page and asks, “What language is this?”
You’ve gotta be kidding me…
“English…” I say, not sure if he’s being serious or not. “You speak it don’t you?”
“You mean, it has a written part, too?” He asks.
I nod.
“Teach me.” He demands, grabbing my wrists.
“Are you sure? It takes a long time to learn…” I say hesitantly. “And I have to go somewhere first.”
“I learn fast. I’m sure.” He says. “Go where?”
Should I tell him? I want to ask Huldra first, and she said he shouldn’t know we spoke.
“A cave.” I say, keeping it vague.
“Really? I have a cousin who lives in a cave!” He tells me enthusiastically.
“Wow! Seriously?” I ask, hoping my acting doesn’t suck like usual.
“Yeah, you wanna meet her?” He asks.
“Uh, sure.” I say. Before I have the second word out all the way he grabs my wrist and leads me toward the water.
“Wait! I have stuff that can’t get wet.” I say.
“Just leave your bag on the dock.” He suggests, letting go of me. “ Akvo and the girls will make sure it doesn’t get wet. Won’t you, guys?”
The nixies nod convincingly, but…
“I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.” I say hesitantly. The nixies look indignantly offended.
“Come on, Willow.” says Nokken, “They’ll be good.” They nod vigorously.
“Well, okay…” I say, even though that’s not really what I was thinking. I take off the sweatshirt and cargo pants and put them in my bag. Then I set it on the dock.
Nokken takes my wrist again and this time I don’t resist. We swim through the water towards Huldra’s cave. I wonder how we’re going to get up from the water. I guess we’ll climb.
The way is a lot shorter by water. We end up five feet from wall of rock, under the ledge that I jumped down onto the day before.
“Turn around.” Nokken says, turning to face away from the wall and out over the lake. I do the same.
Suddenly a huge wave emerges from the water and lifts us onto the ledge six feet above. I gasp and close my eyes, and when I open them we are sitting on the end of the ledge.
“Dry off, Nokken. You can’t come in wet.” Huldra calls from inside the cave.
Nokken sticks his hands over the lake and the water disappears from his feet as it drips from his hand into the lake below. His entire body empties itself of water and it drips from his fingers. Then he looks at me, standing in a puddle of water that dripped from my clothes, and remembers that I do not possess the abilities the he does. He laughs.
“Oh right, sorry.” He says. The he adds, “You look kinda pathetic.”
“Thanks.” I say sarcastically. He just laughs again. Then he takes my hand in his. My heart speeds up. Then he opens his other hand, palm facing up, and the water from my hair and clothes gathers itself into a little sphere in his open palm. When I am completely dry, the sphere is a little bigger than a basketball. He holds his hand of the water and then flips it over. The water splashes back into the lake.
“Come on,” says Nokken and we walk into the cave, his hand still in mine.