Spirit Falls ~~TEMPORARILY DISCONTINUED~~

3 - Adoption

Wendy POV

   The house is quiet, strangely, when I come in. There's a note on the table from Dad, saying, in his usual messy handwriting, that he's "out fishing with the guys". I set it back down, and Ronan saunters into the kitchen.

"Well, well, well! Look who's here! My favorite Corduroy!"

He gives me the biggest sarcastic all-teeth smile a fox can give. I cuff him on the nose and cross my eyes at him, and he jumps up onto my shoulder. He weighs nothing because he's a spirit fox: he's all air.

"Aaw, what a cute little fish-girl! Are we going to have her with lemon and spices for dinner tonight?"

"Shut up, Ronan! You aren't to say a word about this to..."

I cut myself off because he isn't listening. He's now drooling over the little centaur, backing him into a corner. The poor little guy is shivering and cowering, dropping pellets from fear. Great. Now I have to deal with my bond's instincts and housebreaking those two. I set down the little girl, because she's getting heavy and I have to deal with Ronan. I snap my fingers at him.

"RONAN! You are not to try and eat them! They are under my care, and you are not to say anything about this to anyone! You hear me? I can and I will throw you out if you start acting up!"

   He slinks around me and streaks off up to my room. Good. He's in for it later. Even then, if I did throw him out, I'd never be able to live with myself, even though he's annoying, sarcastic, and manipulative. As a bond, he needs me: I'm what he came to Earth for. I turn back to where I set down the girl, and... she's gone. They haven't even spent an hour in the house yet and they're already getting into trouble. I sigh and get down to searching. I find her in the sink, fiddling with the taps. When water gushes out of one, she yelps in surprise, and her legs turn into a beautiful fish tail. Experimentally, I lift her out, and her tail turns back into legs. A mermaid. A mermaid and a centaur. I set her back in, and tend to the centaur. He's shivering and moaning, and I kneel down and put my arms around him. He presses himself against me, and his heartbeat is racing like crazy. It occurs to me that they might need food and names. It would be awkward to call them "Mermaid" and "Centaur" for the rest of their lives, and a little laugh escapes me at the thought. He jumps at the sudden noise, and I instantly regret it. I murmur in his ear to calm him down, and he looks at me with the biggest brown eyes I have ever seen.

 I carry him upstairs to my room and lay him down on my bed, then go back down for the girl. I take off my cardigan and set it on the table, and hoist her out of the sink to dry her off. She has the same beautiful brown eyes as her brother, and for a moment, I'm almost hypnotized. Then she goes back to playing with her toes and humming to herself like any normal three-year-old.  She appears to be three, anyway. I don't know how to count mermaid years. I wrap her up in my vest, and she seems enthralled by the texture of the flannel. I suddenly realize that I shouldn't have sent Ronan to my room, because now he's alone with the little guy. For some reason, I'm not worried. He's learned his lesson, and even though he's mean, sarcastic and manipulative, in the end, he always listens to me. He has to: it's our deal. He obeys me, and I don't throw him out. When I push my door open, Ronan is curled up on the uppermost shelf of my closet, giving me the evil eye. It's where he goes to sulk or to get attention. I ignore him, knowing full well that if I tend to him, he'll make a pest of himself for the rest of the day.