Changelings: The Novelization (Book 1)

Chapter Six: "Wounds"

Chapter Six

“Wounds”

The roar of waves folding onto the shore echoed in Miranda’s ears, bubbling foam on the sand even as it retreated once more. The sound of a water drop, echoing through a large, empty space. A cool breeze danced gently across her face. There was a rustling of leaves. Leaves brushing against her skin. As these senses awakened, pain soon followed. It was a dull, heavy ache, yet she felt strangely hollow on the inside. She was listless, no energy to move. She groaned, trying to break from the paralysis by turning her head on... a pillow. A blue pillow, with a wave-like design.

          With great difficulty, she forced herself into a sitting position, propping herself on shaky, numbed-out arms. A blanket fell away from her upper torso, and underneath her seemed to be a reed mat. Her eyes blinked open. She was resting in the mouth of a seashore cavern, just on the edge of a pool.

“Jaron!” she exclaimed, recognizing the tan-skinned guy reclining on a sculpture of a Loch Ness monster in the middle of the pool. Its long neck and tail curved to create arm rests. 

          “Hey princess,” he said brightly. Watching Miranda display her true form powers inspired Jaron to do a bit of showing off. He slid off the back of the Nessie-throne and dissolved in the water, re-appearing on the other side of the pool. Miranda watched as clear water rose up and formed a mask, filled in with color, and then with substance, to become Jaron’s grinning face. “Good morning. Looks like I’ve rescued you again.”

          She remembered what he was referring to – it was the previous summer, when Roxie got pulled under by a wave at this very beach. Miranda had run out and grabbed her, and got in trouble too – until Jaron pulled them both out and onto his surfboard. He’d teased her for ‘trying to pull a Baywatch’ when she was such a weak swimmer, and volunteered mouth-to-mouth if she needed it. She didn’t take the bait. He was undeterred by her lack of gratitude, making a point to stop and talk to her whenever he caught sight of her around school. “You’re a Fae,” she said, wonderingly.

“Yeah, and you are too! Who woulda thought, right?” he rested muscular arms on the rock edge, like it was a swimming pool. “I mean, it was crazy enough to hear I was a Fae, and that I was something called a Kelpie. But then they tell me I’m not just some regular grunt Fae... nah, I’m the freakin’ ruler, man! Check out my throne back there. Pretty sweet, huh?”

          Miranda felt like someone had hacked into her mind and deleted the last few entries. She knew Jaron had helped to rescue her from Sully, and she knew that she’d found Axel bleeding to death on the side of the road... but after that, her memory was like a blank sheet of paper. “What... what happened?” she asked, feeling stupid.

          Jaron got a wicked gleam in his eye, rubbing his chin for effect. “Hm. Well, first you went all leaf-covered Terminator...” Miranda finally had the presence of mind to look down at herself, and realized that her modesty was only sparsely covered by a growth of ivy-vines and leaves snaking around her body, originating from her spine. Her skin tone was also a lot darker than she remembered, webbed with veins of green. She drew the blanket around herself, and Jaron gave her a teasing look. “And then,” he said, changing the subject, “you let out this sweet energy blast thing-“

          “I what?” Never before had Miranda done anything with her powers except promote plant growth. She didn’t even know she was capable of anything else. It was even weirder to hear it described by someone else, when she didn’t remember it at all.

“Yeah!” he said, bursting with bright-eyed enthusiasm. He proceeded to act out the events with animated gestures and mock-voicing. “Sully was like ‘you wanna play, little girl?!’ And you were like 'talk to the hand!' KA-BOOM! Right in the face!”