The Shane and the Flower Goddess

"What's the matter?" asked Will. "Your mother says you can't sleep."

Eli cuddled his stuffed wolf tighter.

"I don't want to sleep," he said sadly.

"Why not?" asked Will, and he sat down on the bed next to his little son. "You know you won't feel good if you don't sleep."

"But I know," said Eli, who sounded on the verge of tears, "if I go to sleep, you won't be there when I wake up. You're taking the Drop again. If going to sleep means you go away, I don't want to go to sleep!"

Will cuddled the little boy and wiped a tear away from his eye.

"You know you'll be joining me sooner or later," he said. "Aren't you looking forward to that?"

Eli sniffed.

"And going to sleep means that day comes even faster."

The little boy was still uncertain.

"There's lots to look forward to in Slugterra," Will continued.

"Like what?!" Eli demanded moodily. It was obvious how exhausted he was, no matter how he denied it.

Will smiled nonetheless. He already knew which story he wanted to tell.

"There's more than you would believe," he said. "Even though I've been protecting the 99 Caverns for years, I'm still finding new things."

Eli didn't look at him, simply pulling Kiba into an even tighter hug.

"I remember once," Will said fondly as he remembered, "I was riding through the forests, minding my own business as usual, when I saw something glowing between the trees, so I got off my mechabeast and went to have a look."

"What was it?" asked Eli.

"It was a fountain," his father told him. "A great big fountain covered in thorny stems and some of the prettiest flowers I've ever seen in my whole life. They were pink and their petals were so soft, they were like silk. And the fountain was decorated with big statues of a beautiful goddess, and the waterspout was carved into her shape."

"What did she look like?" Eli asked with impatience befitting a five-year-old.

Will smiled again.

"As I was looking at the fountain," he continued, "trying to see if there were any slugs nearby, I was almost blinded by a dazzling light between the trees. I ran to look and there was a round plinth, like the sort of thing you'd put a statue on, or one of those vases that your mother likes so much. It was made of... after all this time, I'm still not sure if it was glass or crystal. It could even have been diamond for all I know. And it wasn't just glowing; there was this huge beam of light coming out of it. And then it stopped, and I saw..."

He trailed off, his eyes glazed over in wonder at the memory.

"What was it?" asked Eli. "Dad, what did you see?"

Will slowly blinked.

"A goddess," he said.

Eli gasped in amazement, completely forgetting his prior frustration.

"She was eight feet tall," Will explained, "and she wore a beautiful wedding dress and her hair was a mass of curls, the same colour as those flowers. Shining like a crystal and pink as a rose and it bounced whenever she moved. Her dress... it had a star shape cut out of it so I could see her stomach, and she had a gem there. It was pink, but it glittered like a diamond. It was... she was beautiful."

He once again smiled fondly down at his little boy.

"Did she see you?" asked Eli, whose imagination now had him enraptured.