Nokken Chapter Four
We walk through the cave to the fire, where Huldra sits, facing away from us and toward the fire. She pats the pillow next to her, for him to sit down.
“I have somebody I’d like you too meet first.” Says Nokken, stepping forward and letting go of my hand. At this, huldra turns and stands. At first she looks confused, but I give her a look that says, ‘Please play along,’ and she understands.
“Oh, my! What a pleasant surprise!” She says, rushing forward and taking both my hands in her own. “Who’s this?”
“This is Willow.” Says Nokken, “Willow, this is my cousin Huldra.”
I smile and say, “Nice to meet you. This place is lovely.”
“Oh, thank you, Darling. Please have a seat. I’ll brew some tea.” She says, and gets a metal stand from against the wall, unfolds it, and puts it over the fire. It has two legs on each side, which come together at a point. Both sides are connected by a horizontal bar with hooks coming down from it. Huldra gets a metal teapot and hands it to Nokken.
“Fill this with water for me?” She asks. He nods, takes it, and heads toward the cave entrance.
When he leaves the cave and is out of earshot, Huldra says, “What’s going on?”
“I needed to talk to you, but Nokken saw me first. I knew I couldn’t tell him where I was going, so I just said a cave. He was distracted by that and said he had a cousin who lived in a cave and asked if I’d like to meet her. I said yes, because it seemed like the best thing to do at the time. Anyway, I have something important to ask both of you, but---” Nokken reenters and I cut off, hoping we didn’t look too suspicious. “...and your corset is lovely.” I say to Huldra, as if that’s what we were speaking of.
“Oh, thank you, dear. So how did you come to be acquainted with Nokken? We don’t meet many humans these days.” She says.
I start to answer, but Nokken, who is hanging the teapot on a hook, answers first.
“Willow comes to the lake just about everyday. She didn’t seem like a harmful kind of human, so I revealed myself to her.” Says Nokken, “She even read books about us. In English.”
“You should have asked me before revealing yourself to a human,” chides Huldra, “But I guess it’s too late now. I’ve been meaning to learn to read english, but none of the forest creatures know it. Maybe you could teach us?”
“Okay,” I agree, “I have a favor to ask you as well.”
“Yes?” Huldra and Nokken ask almost at the same time.
“I have a friend, Ivy, who is need need of shelter. She can’t stay with me, because the people she is leaving might find her. I don’t know why she wants to leave them, but I’m sure it’s for a good reason. I don’t know of anywhere else but here where she wouldn’t be found. I thought it would be too much trouble for Nokken, but now that I’ve met you, Huldra, and seen this place I thought maybe…”
“Would humans come and search for her here?” asks Huldra.
“I doubt it. She only lives with her dad and her uncle and they don’t watch her closely at all. My plan was that she would come to my home, and then I would send her here and call her Dad asking if she got home okay. The story would be that she felt sick and headed home, but never arrived there.” I tell them. They listen tentatively.
“You sure put a lot of thought toward this.” Says Huldra. “Why only her father and uncle, though?"
"I think her mom left and took her younger siblings, too. Her uncle’s girlfriend lived there at some point, but I don’t think they’re dating anymore. That’s all I really know.”
“Alright, she can stay here.” Says Huldra, looking at Nokken for approval. He nods.
“Are you sure there’s not more going on than what meets the eye?” asks Nokken.
I give him a puzzled look. “What do you--”
“He means, could there be a horrible reason the she wants to leave?” Huldra says.
“Oh.” I say, realizing what they’re implying. “I don’t think so. If it was that reason, wouldn’t she have told someone sooner?”
Huldra gives me a sad look. “Most of them never tell.” She says and looks meaningfully at Nokken.
“When we were younger,” Nokken explains, “One of the girls in our village had a father who… you know. She and her mother never told anybody.”
“She became with child too young, and it resulted in her death.” Huldra continues. “There was no way for them to mask what they’d done, and they were shamed and exiled from Demetae.”
“That’s horrible.” I say, astonished once again by the sinful nature of humanity.
“You should ask your friend if that’s what’s happening, because she could be hurt.” Says Nokken.
“I will.” I say.
The rest of the day is spent using burnt charcoal sticks and woven grass to teach Huldra and Nokken the letters of the latin alphabet and their sounds. They both catch on quickly. At six o’clock I tell them I have to go. It’s a good thing my watch is waterproof, because I’d completely forgotten about it.
“I’ll swim with you.” says Nokken. We bid Huldra farewell and walk out onto the ledge. Nokken jumps right off into the water. I look down and see my reflection in the water; my brown newsboy cap with my short black hair tucked into it, my black lined eyes. I'm not pretty, really.
Nokken calls for me to jump in, so I come out of my distraction, back up a few steps, and execute a perfect dive. I’m only graceful when diving or swimming. I come up about ten yards from the ledge and Nokken. He claps shouts a compliment for my dive. Then he proclaims a race to shore.
We swim to meet each other and he says, “It’ll be a fair race. I won’t use any of my special tricks, and you won’t either if you happen to have any. Just swimming skill against swimming skill.”
“Okay.”
“Ready? Go!” He yells, and takes off. He probably didn’t count light up eyes and internal gills as special tricks, but I do the best I can. I go faster than I thought I could, but I still have to side breathe and check to make sure I’m going straight every so often. It surprises me when my hand his the muddy bottom of the shallow beach. I stand and search the bank for Nokken. I don’t see him. I survey the edge of the trees and the dock. He’s not there either. I turn and look out at the lake just in time to see him stand and rise out of the water.
His eyes focus on me and he says, “I let you win.”
I grin and say, “Sure you did.”
“What? I did!” He vows defensively. I roll my eyes and walk over to the dock to grab my bag. All four of the nixies stand there dutifully. Polivati and Marée pick it up and hand it to me. Jūra looks off into the distance, her eyes dreamy. Nokken takes this as an opportunity to use the water on his body to squirt her in the back off the head. Akvo points and laughs inaudibly. She squirts them both, pulling water from the lake. I pull my bag out of the squirt fight and thank the nixies for watching my bag. They all nod agreeably.
I carry the bag in my hand instead of putting the strap over my arm and head, because I don’t want it to get wet. Then I walk over to Nokken and start to say goodbye, but he interrupts me.
“Is it alright if I walk with you to the edge of the trees?” He asks.
“Yeah, sure.” I say. I’m not really sure why he’d want to, but whatever. We walk into the forest and he takes my hand. The water leaves me almost instantly. His hands are warm, but I know mine are cold. We walk like that all the way through the forest until we reach the last place where we won’t be seen from the street.
I turn to face him. “Any farther and people might see you.”
“Okay,” he says. “Goodbye, Willow.”
He lets go of my hand and turns to go, but then stops. Hesitantly, he turns back to face me. He takes both my hands in both of his. He drifts closer uncertainly, as if he hasn’t completely decided what he’s doing. His hands slide upward and so do mine, so that our hands are between our shoulders. His eyes close and his lips come down to my face, kissing my cheek. Subconsciously, my eyes flutter shut. I turn my head tilting my chip up and sideways a little, causing our lips to brush.
After that there’s no going back. He presses his lips against mine just a little harder, and his bottom lips slides between both of mine. I kiss him gently, but we are both eager and soon my tongue brushes against his teeth. His tongue slips inside my mouth and my hands let his go to slide up his chest and over his shoulders. My fingers glide into his long black hair. His hands fall to my waist and pull me against him gently.
The wind blows on us, warm and gentle, and a few strands of Nokken’s hair caress my jaw. That gives me an idea. I slip my tongue back into my own mouth and kiss him close-mouthed, edging my lips toward the corner of his mouth. I kiss his face, skirting his jaw and then down his neck. When I get to his collarbone, he takes my face in his hands and tilts my head up to look at him. He stares at me for a moment and I stare back. Then he folds his arms around my shoulders, my hands on his chest. He kisses my forehead and I lay my head on his chest, breathing soft and quick. I can feel his muscles and his rapid heartbeat under his shirt. Then he gently lets me go and slips his hands into mine, separating them from his shoulders. He lets our hands fall. Then he brushes my hair behind my ear and leans in close.
“You have to go,” he says into my ear, “You’ll be late.”
He’s right, but I don’t want to leave. I take his hands back in mine and shake my my head.
“Go on, I’ll see you tomorrow.” He says, detaching one of his hands.
I nod and put my bag over my head, holding the strap with my free hand. I kiss him one more time, just a little peck on the lips, and turn away, letting our hands slide apart as I do. I try not to look back as I walk away, but I don’t succeed. Nokken stands in the same place he was when I turned, watching me go with longing. I smile at him and he smiles back.
That escalated quickly, I think.
I walk in the front door at seven fifty-three. My mom and dad are just setting the table. I set my bag down by the stairs and kick off my shoes, lining them up at the door.
“Cutting it a little close, aren't we?” Dad asks teasingly. I give him a nervous laugh and take the stack of plates from his hands, putting them on the table. After my dad has finished the string of vegetarian jokes that happen at dinner every night, I ask my mom if Ivy can come over tomorrow to spend the night. Mom and dad say it’s okay as long as my chores are done, and they are. I go up to my room, flop down on my bean bag, and call Ivy. She picks up on the first ring.
“Hey, I’ve been trying to get a hold of you all day. Where have you been?” she demands.
I tell her, “Sorry, I was talking to my friends.”
“You mean the ones you were gonna ask if I could stay with?” she inquires.
“Yeah.”
“What’d they say?!” she asks frantically.
“They said yes. Can you come over tomorrow?” I ask.
She says, “Yeah my dad said after twelve. Is that okay?”
“Yeah,” I say, “Sounds good. I’ll have it all worked out by the time you come over.”
She thanks me and hangs up the phone. I pull out my sketchpad and draw Ivy and Huldra, the sprites and the nixies, and myself with my arms around Nokken’s neck. I think of the way kissing him felt and picture it in my head over and over. I hug my sketch pad to my chest and close my eyes, imagining the way he looked at me when i walked away, and feeling that look of longing reflected in my heart.
* * *
I wake up on the floor next to my beanbag with a sketchpad on my face. I don’t remember being here… The last thing I remember is… kissing Nokken? Oh yes, I remember now. What time is it? I look at my alarm clock. It’s ten thirty already! I run downstairs to shower, eat breakfast and brush my teeth. When I finish that, I touch up some of my chores. Then I watch an anime until the phone rings.
I run to the base and pick it up. It’s Ivy. She sounds weak and exhausted.
“Are you just gonna walk over or do you want a ride?” I ask.
She says, “I’ll just walk.”
“You sound tired. Are you sure?” I ask her. She perks up and tells me she’s sure, but I’m still a little worried.
She shows up exactly at noon, we go straight up to my room. She sits in the bean bag and I sit in the desk chair to talk over the plan.
“Okay,” I say, “Here’s the plan.”
She nods.
“At around eight o’clock, you’ll say you feel kinda sick and that you’re gonna head home. Then you’ll go into the woods by the library, near that trail nobody ever uses. I’ll act concerned and call your Dad, asking if you got home okay. Obviously, he’ll say that you didn’t. Nobody will think to look in the forest because it’s not on the way to your house. You didn’t tell your dad or hint that you were gonna run away did you?” I ask.
“No.”
I move on. “Good. He won’t be suspicious. Then I’ll get off the phone with your Dad and tell my parents I’m going to go look for you. My mom and dad might want to come with me, but I’ll find some way to get rid of them. Then I’ll take you to my friends.”
“Okay,” says Ivy.
“I have to warn you, though, my friends are a little… unique.” I say cautiously.
I asks, “What do you mean?”
“You’ll see.”
Ivy has a bag with a sleeping bag, pillow, blanket, toothbrush, hairbrush, clothes, etc. It’s just a normal sleepover bag. Luckily, Ivy has a little money. I know Ivy won’t be used to the things Nokken and Huldra eat, if they even eat at all…
So Ivy and I go to the little corner store down the street. We buy some canned food, three bottles of water, a salt shaker, a map of the area, and a compass. We hide them in the bottom of her bag. I make sure to give her a package of pads because who wants to be on their period, living in the forest? What would you even use? Moss...? Gross…
We go back home and I give her food from our pantry too. Mom and dad are absorbed in a movie, they don’t notice a thing. I give Ivy my old leatherman with a can opener and a whole bunch of other attachments. I pack her a flashlight and bug spray, too.
We make sure everything is flawlessly concealed and then head downstairs for dinner. Ivy and I make nachos for all of us, then we go upstairs to eat. Ten minutes later, Ivy is pretending to throw up in the bathroom. I stand outside the door, asking her if she needs anything. Mom gets up, concerned. She asks Ivy if she wants her to call Ivy’s dad.
“No thank you. I think I’m just gonna head home. Sorry, Willow.” says Ivy.
“That’s alright. Do need a ride?” I ask, looking at mom.
“No, I’ll be more comfortable walking.” Ivy insists.
“Are you sure, sweetie? Willow could walk with you.” asks mom.
“No, I’d rather walk by myself. Thank you guys.” says Ivy, heading for the door.
After she leaves I tell my mom that I hope Ivy will be okay. Mom says she hopes so, too. Twenty minutes after Ivy leaves, I call her dad to see if she got home okay. I pretend to accidently hit the speaker button when he says she didn’t come home. Her dad hangs up abruptly, not a good sign.
“I’m gonna go look for her.” I tell my mom and Dad. “Will you stay here in case she comes back?”
“Yeah, okay sweetie.” says mom, “Do you want anyone to come with you?”
“No I’m sure that would embarrass Ivy.” I reply.
Then Dad says, “Be careful out there Willy. You got a knife?”
“Of course, Dad.”I reply, “I always carry a knife. you know that.”
“I know.”
I walk out the front door and onto the dark city street. I’m almost to the forest when two men sitting on a porch smoking call out to me. I ignore them. They call out again and I sprint into the trees. When I’m on the little trail, I whisper loudly for Ivy.
“Ivy! Are you here? It’s Willow.” I whisper-call. Ivy emerges from the trees to my left, causing me to jump and pull my knife from my bra.
“F**k! You scared the s**t outta me!” I cry. I put the knife away and try to slow my racing heart. “Come on.”
She follows me to the dock and we walk to the end of it.
“Nokken!” I call. He jumps down from the willow tree onto the dock behind us, causing my knife to be pulled a second time.
“Sorry,” he says, “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“It’s alright.” I say, putting away the knife. “This is Ivy.”
“Hello.” says Nokken to Ivy. “You’ll be sleeping in my cousin Huldra’s cave tonight, she sent me to come get you.”
“Okay.” Ivy says nervously.
“Don’t worry,” I say assuringly, “It’s a nice cave. Now there are some things that will be very confusing to you, but I can’t explain until tomorrow. Just go with Nokken and Huldra will make sure you’re okay. She might even explain things to you.”
Ivy nods.
Nokken comes close to me and whispers, “Should I take her by water?”
“No, that’d be a lot to take in.” I say.
Disappointedly, he says, “Yeah, I figured you’d say that.”
“And don’t ask about what we talked about earlier either, it might freak her out. I’ll be here in the morning to ask and tell.” I say to him.
“Alright,” he says. Then he whispers even quieter, “Can I kiss you in front of her?”
I smile and say, “Yes, I think I can allow that.”
I wrap my hands around his neck and he puts his hands on my waist, lifting me onto my toes to make up for the small height difference between us. I kiss him passionately but I pull back too soon, sooner than I wanted to anyway.
“I have to go.” I say, and we both look back at Ivy. She stands gaping at us. “Bye Ivy.”
“Bye,” she squeaks.
Then my black clothes melt into the shadows and I run back home.
“I have somebody I’d like you too meet first.” Says Nokken, stepping forward and letting go of my hand. At this, huldra turns and stands. At first she looks confused, but I give her a look that says, ‘Please play along,’ and she understands.
“Oh, my! What a pleasant surprise!” She says, rushing forward and taking both my hands in her own. “Who’s this?”
“This is Willow.” Says Nokken, “Willow, this is my cousin Huldra.”
I smile and say, “Nice to meet you. This place is lovely.”
“Oh, thank you, Darling. Please have a seat. I’ll brew some tea.” She says, and gets a metal stand from against the wall, unfolds it, and puts it over the fire. It has two legs on each side, which come together at a point. Both sides are connected by a horizontal bar with hooks coming down from it. Huldra gets a metal teapot and hands it to Nokken.
“Fill this with water for me?” She asks. He nods, takes it, and heads toward the cave entrance.
When he leaves the cave and is out of earshot, Huldra says, “What’s going on?”
“I needed to talk to you, but Nokken saw me first. I knew I couldn’t tell him where I was going, so I just said a cave. He was distracted by that and said he had a cousin who lived in a cave and asked if I’d like to meet her. I said yes, because it seemed like the best thing to do at the time. Anyway, I have something important to ask both of you, but---” Nokken reenters and I cut off, hoping we didn’t look too suspicious. “...and your corset is lovely.” I say to Huldra, as if that’s what we were speaking of.
“Oh, thank you, dear. So how did you come to be acquainted with Nokken? We don’t meet many humans these days.” She says.
I start to answer, but Nokken, who is hanging the teapot on a hook, answers first.
“Willow comes to the lake just about everyday. She didn’t seem like a harmful kind of human, so I revealed myself to her.” Says Nokken, “She even read books about us. In English.”
“You should have asked me before revealing yourself to a human,” chides Huldra, “But I guess it’s too late now. I’ve been meaning to learn to read english, but none of the forest creatures know it. Maybe you could teach us?”
“Okay,” I agree, “I have a favor to ask you as well.”
“Yes?” Huldra and Nokken ask almost at the same time.
“I have a friend, Ivy, who is need need of shelter. She can’t stay with me, because the people she is leaving might find her. I don’t know why she wants to leave them, but I’m sure it’s for a good reason. I don’t know of anywhere else but here where she wouldn’t be found. I thought it would be too much trouble for Nokken, but now that I’ve met you, Huldra, and seen this place I thought maybe…”
“Would humans come and search for her here?” asks Huldra.
“I doubt it. She only lives with her dad and her uncle and they don’t watch her closely at all. My plan was that she would come to my home, and then I would send her here and call her Dad asking if she got home okay. The story would be that she felt sick and headed home, but never arrived there.” I tell them. They listen tentatively.
“You sure put a lot of thought toward this.” Says Huldra. “Why only her father and uncle, though?"
"I think her mom left and took her younger siblings, too. Her uncle’s girlfriend lived there at some point, but I don’t think they’re dating anymore. That’s all I really know.”
“Alright, she can stay here.” Says Huldra, looking at Nokken for approval. He nods.
“Are you sure there’s not more going on than what meets the eye?” asks Nokken.
I give him a puzzled look. “What do you--”
“He means, could there be a horrible reason the she wants to leave?” Huldra says.
“Oh.” I say, realizing what they’re implying. “I don’t think so. If it was that reason, wouldn’t she have told someone sooner?”
Huldra gives me a sad look. “Most of them never tell.” She says and looks meaningfully at Nokken.
“When we were younger,” Nokken explains, “One of the girls in our village had a father who… you know. She and her mother never told anybody.”
“She became with child too young, and it resulted in her death.” Huldra continues. “There was no way for them to mask what they’d done, and they were shamed and exiled from Demetae.”
“That’s horrible.” I say, astonished once again by the sinful nature of humanity.
“You should ask your friend if that’s what’s happening, because she could be hurt.” Says Nokken.
“I will.” I say.
The rest of the day is spent using burnt charcoal sticks and woven grass to teach Huldra and Nokken the letters of the latin alphabet and their sounds. They both catch on quickly. At six o’clock I tell them I have to go. It’s a good thing my watch is waterproof, because I’d completely forgotten about it.
“I’ll swim with you.” says Nokken. We bid Huldra farewell and walk out onto the ledge. Nokken jumps right off into the water. I look down and see my reflection in the water; my brown newsboy cap with my short black hair tucked into it, my black lined eyes. I'm not pretty, really.
Nokken calls for me to jump in, so I come out of my distraction, back up a few steps, and execute a perfect dive. I’m only graceful when diving or swimming. I come up about ten yards from the ledge and Nokken. He claps shouts a compliment for my dive. Then he proclaims a race to shore.
We swim to meet each other and he says, “It’ll be a fair race. I won’t use any of my special tricks, and you won’t either if you happen to have any. Just swimming skill against swimming skill.”
“Okay.”
“Ready? Go!” He yells, and takes off. He probably didn’t count light up eyes and internal gills as special tricks, but I do the best I can. I go faster than I thought I could, but I still have to side breathe and check to make sure I’m going straight every so often. It surprises me when my hand his the muddy bottom of the shallow beach. I stand and search the bank for Nokken. I don’t see him. I survey the edge of the trees and the dock. He’s not there either. I turn and look out at the lake just in time to see him stand and rise out of the water.
His eyes focus on me and he says, “I let you win.”
I grin and say, “Sure you did.”
“What? I did!” He vows defensively. I roll my eyes and walk over to the dock to grab my bag. All four of the nixies stand there dutifully. Polivati and Marée pick it up and hand it to me. Jūra looks off into the distance, her eyes dreamy. Nokken takes this as an opportunity to use the water on his body to squirt her in the back off the head. Akvo points and laughs inaudibly. She squirts them both, pulling water from the lake. I pull my bag out of the squirt fight and thank the nixies for watching my bag. They all nod agreeably.
I carry the bag in my hand instead of putting the strap over my arm and head, because I don’t want it to get wet. Then I walk over to Nokken and start to say goodbye, but he interrupts me.
“Is it alright if I walk with you to the edge of the trees?” He asks.
“Yeah, sure.” I say. I’m not really sure why he’d want to, but whatever. We walk into the forest and he takes my hand. The water leaves me almost instantly. His hands are warm, but I know mine are cold. We walk like that all the way through the forest until we reach the last place where we won’t be seen from the street.
I turn to face him. “Any farther and people might see you.”
“Okay,” he says. “Goodbye, Willow.”
He lets go of my hand and turns to go, but then stops. Hesitantly, he turns back to face me. He takes both my hands in both of his. He drifts closer uncertainly, as if he hasn’t completely decided what he’s doing. His hands slide upward and so do mine, so that our hands are between our shoulders. His eyes close and his lips come down to my face, kissing my cheek. Subconsciously, my eyes flutter shut. I turn my head tilting my chip up and sideways a little, causing our lips to brush.
After that there’s no going back. He presses his lips against mine just a little harder, and his bottom lips slides between both of mine. I kiss him gently, but we are both eager and soon my tongue brushes against his teeth. His tongue slips inside my mouth and my hands let his go to slide up his chest and over his shoulders. My fingers glide into his long black hair. His hands fall to my waist and pull me against him gently.
The wind blows on us, warm and gentle, and a few strands of Nokken’s hair caress my jaw. That gives me an idea. I slip my tongue back into my own mouth and kiss him close-mouthed, edging my lips toward the corner of his mouth. I kiss his face, skirting his jaw and then down his neck. When I get to his collarbone, he takes my face in his hands and tilts my head up to look at him. He stares at me for a moment and I stare back. Then he folds his arms around my shoulders, my hands on his chest. He kisses my forehead and I lay my head on his chest, breathing soft and quick. I can feel his muscles and his rapid heartbeat under his shirt. Then he gently lets me go and slips his hands into mine, separating them from his shoulders. He lets our hands fall. Then he brushes my hair behind my ear and leans in close.
“You have to go,” he says into my ear, “You’ll be late.”
He’s right, but I don’t want to leave. I take his hands back in mine and shake my my head.
“Go on, I’ll see you tomorrow.” He says, detaching one of his hands.
I nod and put my bag over my head, holding the strap with my free hand. I kiss him one more time, just a little peck on the lips, and turn away, letting our hands slide apart as I do. I try not to look back as I walk away, but I don’t succeed. Nokken stands in the same place he was when I turned, watching me go with longing. I smile at him and he smiles back.
That escalated quickly, I think.
I walk in the front door at seven fifty-three. My mom and dad are just setting the table. I set my bag down by the stairs and kick off my shoes, lining them up at the door.
“Cutting it a little close, aren't we?” Dad asks teasingly. I give him a nervous laugh and take the stack of plates from his hands, putting them on the table. After my dad has finished the string of vegetarian jokes that happen at dinner every night, I ask my mom if Ivy can come over tomorrow to spend the night. Mom and dad say it’s okay as long as my chores are done, and they are. I go up to my room, flop down on my bean bag, and call Ivy. She picks up on the first ring.
“Hey, I’ve been trying to get a hold of you all day. Where have you been?” she demands.
I tell her, “Sorry, I was talking to my friends.”
“You mean the ones you were gonna ask if I could stay with?” she inquires.
“Yeah.”
“What’d they say?!” she asks frantically.
“They said yes. Can you come over tomorrow?” I ask.
She says, “Yeah my dad said after twelve. Is that okay?”
“Yeah,” I say, “Sounds good. I’ll have it all worked out by the time you come over.”
She thanks me and hangs up the phone. I pull out my sketchpad and draw Ivy and Huldra, the sprites and the nixies, and myself with my arms around Nokken’s neck. I think of the way kissing him felt and picture it in my head over and over. I hug my sketch pad to my chest and close my eyes, imagining the way he looked at me when i walked away, and feeling that look of longing reflected in my heart.
* * *
I wake up on the floor next to my beanbag with a sketchpad on my face. I don’t remember being here… The last thing I remember is… kissing Nokken? Oh yes, I remember now. What time is it? I look at my alarm clock. It’s ten thirty already! I run downstairs to shower, eat breakfast and brush my teeth. When I finish that, I touch up some of my chores. Then I watch an anime until the phone rings.
I run to the base and pick it up. It’s Ivy. She sounds weak and exhausted.
“Are you just gonna walk over or do you want a ride?” I ask.
She says, “I’ll just walk.”
“You sound tired. Are you sure?” I ask her. She perks up and tells me she’s sure, but I’m still a little worried.
She shows up exactly at noon, we go straight up to my room. She sits in the bean bag and I sit in the desk chair to talk over the plan.
“Okay,” I say, “Here’s the plan.”
She nods.
“At around eight o’clock, you’ll say you feel kinda sick and that you’re gonna head home. Then you’ll go into the woods by the library, near that trail nobody ever uses. I’ll act concerned and call your Dad, asking if you got home okay. Obviously, he’ll say that you didn’t. Nobody will think to look in the forest because it’s not on the way to your house. You didn’t tell your dad or hint that you were gonna run away did you?” I ask.
“No.”
I move on. “Good. He won’t be suspicious. Then I’ll get off the phone with your Dad and tell my parents I’m going to go look for you. My mom and dad might want to come with me, but I’ll find some way to get rid of them. Then I’ll take you to my friends.”
“Okay,” says Ivy.
“I have to warn you, though, my friends are a little… unique.” I say cautiously.
I asks, “What do you mean?”
“You’ll see.”
Ivy has a bag with a sleeping bag, pillow, blanket, toothbrush, hairbrush, clothes, etc. It’s just a normal sleepover bag. Luckily, Ivy has a little money. I know Ivy won’t be used to the things Nokken and Huldra eat, if they even eat at all…
So Ivy and I go to the little corner store down the street. We buy some canned food, three bottles of water, a salt shaker, a map of the area, and a compass. We hide them in the bottom of her bag. I make sure to give her a package of pads because who wants to be on their period, living in the forest? What would you even use? Moss...? Gross…
We go back home and I give her food from our pantry too. Mom and dad are absorbed in a movie, they don’t notice a thing. I give Ivy my old leatherman with a can opener and a whole bunch of other attachments. I pack her a flashlight and bug spray, too.
We make sure everything is flawlessly concealed and then head downstairs for dinner. Ivy and I make nachos for all of us, then we go upstairs to eat. Ten minutes later, Ivy is pretending to throw up in the bathroom. I stand outside the door, asking her if she needs anything. Mom gets up, concerned. She asks Ivy if she wants her to call Ivy’s dad.
“No thank you. I think I’m just gonna head home. Sorry, Willow.” says Ivy.
“That’s alright. Do need a ride?” I ask, looking at mom.
“No, I’ll be more comfortable walking.” Ivy insists.
“Are you sure, sweetie? Willow could walk with you.” asks mom.
“No, I’d rather walk by myself. Thank you guys.” says Ivy, heading for the door.
After she leaves I tell my mom that I hope Ivy will be okay. Mom says she hopes so, too. Twenty minutes after Ivy leaves, I call her dad to see if she got home okay. I pretend to accidently hit the speaker button when he says she didn’t come home. Her dad hangs up abruptly, not a good sign.
“I’m gonna go look for her.” I tell my mom and Dad. “Will you stay here in case she comes back?”
“Yeah, okay sweetie.” says mom, “Do you want anyone to come with you?”
“No I’m sure that would embarrass Ivy.” I reply.
Then Dad says, “Be careful out there Willy. You got a knife?”
“Of course, Dad.”I reply, “I always carry a knife. you know that.”
“I know.”
I walk out the front door and onto the dark city street. I’m almost to the forest when two men sitting on a porch smoking call out to me. I ignore them. They call out again and I sprint into the trees. When I’m on the little trail, I whisper loudly for Ivy.
“Ivy! Are you here? It’s Willow.” I whisper-call. Ivy emerges from the trees to my left, causing me to jump and pull my knife from my bra.
“F**k! You scared the s**t outta me!” I cry. I put the knife away and try to slow my racing heart. “Come on.”
She follows me to the dock and we walk to the end of it.
“Nokken!” I call. He jumps down from the willow tree onto the dock behind us, causing my knife to be pulled a second time.
“Sorry,” he says, “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“It’s alright.” I say, putting away the knife. “This is Ivy.”
“Hello.” says Nokken to Ivy. “You’ll be sleeping in my cousin Huldra’s cave tonight, she sent me to come get you.”
“Okay.” Ivy says nervously.
“Don’t worry,” I say assuringly, “It’s a nice cave. Now there are some things that will be very confusing to you, but I can’t explain until tomorrow. Just go with Nokken and Huldra will make sure you’re okay. She might even explain things to you.”
Ivy nods.
Nokken comes close to me and whispers, “Should I take her by water?”
“No, that’d be a lot to take in.” I say.
Disappointedly, he says, “Yeah, I figured you’d say that.”
“And don’t ask about what we talked about earlier either, it might freak her out. I’ll be here in the morning to ask and tell.” I say to him.
“Alright,” he says. Then he whispers even quieter, “Can I kiss you in front of her?”
I smile and say, “Yes, I think I can allow that.”
I wrap my hands around his neck and he puts his hands on my waist, lifting me onto my toes to make up for the small height difference between us. I kiss him passionately but I pull back too soon, sooner than I wanted to anyway.
“I have to go.” I say, and we both look back at Ivy. She stands gaping at us. “Bye Ivy.”
“Bye,” she squeaks.
Then my black clothes melt into the shadows and I run back home.