The Girl in the Woods

Chapter 6

Apollo and I swam out into a small cove set into the cliff face. I wanted to find a beach somewhere, but he explained to me patiently that the troll might think of waiting for us. I reluctantly agreed - he was the expert on Chinese wood trolls, not me - and we treaded lightly in the cove while the water reflected on our rocky ceiling and made our skin glow.

As Apollo stared out into the water good-naturedly, humming something under his breath, I finally found a moment to think over what had happened so far. I thought back to Feloix Felaii, the amazing city of lights. I remembered how Neroii's voice broke when he spoke about his daughters, and how he had become a white speck in the night sky as he flew away. Avaia's silver blood reflected in the recesses of my mind, and the hum of the raw power Gantris gave off shivered in my veins.

Everything that had happened so far was so overwhelming! The idea of a magical world hadn't been new to me, but I'd naively assumed that the magical world solely belonged to Apollo and his house in the woods, and the few shifters I'd come to know. My mind flashbacked to all the creatures I'd seen and encountered in Feloix Felaii - the scaly, hard skinned mongools, the unique and shifty eyed witches, the demure and sultry vampires, and the glowing beauty of the solstae. It was all new and exciting and heady - and I wished miserably that we were back in the house in the woods. A warm bed would be really nice right now.

And one of Myrnah's heavenly bread rolls. Oh, dear lord.

I glanced glumly around our little cove. Scores of algae and covered the majority of the rocky wall, and the water lapped against it gently. Looking down, the ocean floor was myriad of colour; I watched as the tail of a remarkably big fish swished as it swam far below us. That was one huge fish.

I did a double take and squinted, suddenly nervous. The fish was nowhere to be seen, but it really had been huge. I wished I took a better look - my mind was suddenly full of terrible images from movies like Jaws and Deep Blue Sea. It hadn't been a shark, but still.

"Apollo, did you see that big fish down there?" I asked him nervously.

He glanced at me with calm eyes before following my gaze.

"I don't see anything." He told me, taking my hand soothingly.

"Yeah I probably imagined it." I said nervously, smiling at him.

"Maybe." He smiled back.

Suddenly, there was a huge splash. The sound echoed around the cove, and I stared in shock at the person who had materialized in front of me and Apollo.

He had pale skin that was tinged slightly bluish, and his hair was long and golden, and it floated in silky strands around his broad, bare shoulders. His face was stretched in a wide, attractive grin at the expression on my face, and his huge blue eyes were twinkling in amusement. This wasn't why I was so shocked though. Below the water, he had a rock hard chest that end abruptly at his abdomen - from her downwards, his lower body was that of a long, powerful fish. It was blue and green, and the scales shone like jade. His powerful green tail fin flexed gently in the water as he floated in front of us. He was the big fish I'd seen!

"Jed!" Apollo laughed. "Still sneaking around, I see."

I glanced at Apollo in amazement. Did he know absolutely everyone in the magical world??

"I had to." Jed winked at me. "I could smell you from miles away, enemy of sun, but your human's scent was harder to identify. Imagine my joy when I venture closer and find that she is indeed human! I love getting a laugh out of their reactions."

Apollo chuckled. "You were scaring her a few moments earlier, friend. She was asking about a really big fish she saw below us."

"Did I?" Jed grinned and suddenly surged forward till he was right in front me. I gulped as he stared at me. "My apologies, human. It was never my intent to scare you."