The Mysterious World of Eddy Shade

Chapter 6: Under the Bridge

     Eddy had parked his car in one of the many nearby parking lots and walked across the street towards the river. The early morning sun was bright as it reflected off the glass of the surrounding buildings, bathing every thing in a bright yellow and gold light. He was thankful for the tall retaining wall as he made his way down one of its many narrow concrete staircases that where built along its length to allowed people access to the river bellow as it allowed him at least some shelter from the blinding glare. 

     He made his way across the wide paved path and into the low grasses along it, looking around him the whole time to see if he could see anyone. No one was around, a fact he was happy about. He was not certain what a water nymph looked like with or with out the veil. Part of him worried that they looked like a fish to other people and that he would look really silly talking to one if any one where to come by. Xander assured him he would likely have no problem finding the women if he knew what to look for. It was only now that Eddy realized he in fact did not have the foggiest idea what that was. He considered calling Xander to ask, then remembered that he was going to spend time with Thena this morning, and cell phone coverage was notoriously choppy in the mountains and the call would likely do nothing more then send him straight to voice mail. 

     Eddy was standing next to the river ready to start calling for the nymph when he noticed a little girl among the aquatic plants growing in the water near its edge. She looked like she could not be more then five, and she was sitting in the water with her knees pulled to her chest and was holding a frog while her white dress flowed around her lazily in the water. Eddy looked around again wondering where the girls parents were. He made his way towards her calling, out as he approached "Hey there, how are you?"

     The little girl looked over at him and smiled "I'm good" she chimed happily. 

     "What are you doing there sweetheart?" 

     "Playing with a frog" she proudly announced holding it up for Eddy to see with a broad smile on her face. 

     "I see that" he said kneeling next to the water near the little girl. "It's a really nice frog too" at that her smile grew even bigger. "Hey where are your parents?" Eddy asked. 

     "Away. Somewhere. I'm not really sure where" She answered without a bit of concern in her voice. 

     "I see. . . . I'm Eddy. What is your name?" he asked. 

     "Cindy" 

     "Cindy you say? Well that is a nice name." He paused and took another look at the little girl and his eyes began to widen. 

     "Hey I know you" she said as she stood up out of the water "you're the one that was here when that man was killed." 

     As the girl stood there with the water swirling around her ankles Eddy realized that despite having been sitting on the muddy river bed there was not a sign of mud on the pristine dress, in fact it wasn't even wet. "Your Cindy?" Eddy asked with surprise. 

     "Yep" she happily chimed as she made here way over to him, still holding the little frog. 

     "Grandma Thena told me you where coming." "Grandma Thena huh." 

     "Yep. That's what we all call her. Because she is so old" Cindy said smiling. "They say she is over two hundred years old. That's why her tree is so big. I've never seen it though, but I want to some day." Cindy was now standing in front of him on the bank of the river in her bare feet. 

     Eddy looked down at her surprised, he had not expected to be talking to someone so young. She looked up at him with a bright smile. She had dark hair and her vivid aqua blue eyes looked like they had specks of gold sparkling in them. She also wore a string around her neck that looked like it was old fishing line that had three fresh water calm shells hanging on it. Now that she was so close he noticed her ears didn't look quit right, they were closer to her head then they should be and had a shape similar to the fins of some fish. 

     "I'm excited to talk to you. I've never talked to a human before" she said excitedly and then frowned. "Humans ignore me." 

     "Well I am excited to talk to you to. I can't see how any one could ignore someone like you though" he said with a smile. 

     "I'm told its cause they can't see me" she said with a even deeper frown.

     Eddy concentrated and willed the part of his brain that sees the veil back into place. As soon as he did the girl vanished, frog and all. He quickly shifted his mind back so he could see her again. "Well I can see you." 

     "I'm glad" she said with a giggle. "Grandma Thena said you wanted to know about the bad man. That you want to stop him." 

     "Yes I do. Do you think you can tell me what you saw?" he said in a calming voice. 

     Cindy scrunched up her brow and looked up at the sky "He talked funny, you know like people do when their from far away? He was tall, and really skinny, and his hair was the color of my dress" on saying this she held out the sides of her dress and swayed it back and forth with pride. "His skin was really white too, like he doesn't get out in the sun a lot." She began to frown again "his eyes were really scary. They were red, kind of like they were bleeding." The little girl stared to cry. 

     "Oh it's okay Cindy. He's gone now. He won't hurt you. Eddy's going to make sure he won't hurt anyone again." Eddy hugged her and the frog squirmed against them. He looked down at her "did they say his name by any chance?" 

     "No. I'm sorry" she stepped back from him and wiped her nose on the little frog in her hand. 

     Eddy smiled "it's okay. You were a lot of help." He looked down at the little girl who was once again smiling at him "will you be okay playing out here by yourself? Do you want me to take you somewhere?" 

     "No it's okay. I've been out here a long time. I like it here" she said with a even bigger smile. 

     "Really how long?" he asked. 

     "I don't know, probably about fifty years." Then Cindy skipped back into the water. Eddy made his way back to the stairs then looked back one last time at the little nymph as she melted into the water and disappeared. 

     He stared in wonder at the water until the ringing of his phone snapped him out of it. "Hello" he answered as he made his way up the stairs. 

     "Hey Eddy" came Xander's voice over the phone. "Did you find Cindy?" 

     "Yeah just finished talking to her. Cute kid" he said. 

     Xander laughed "kid, that's funny. She is old enough to be your grandma. Any ways what did she have to say?" 

     Eddy climbed into his car. "Old enough to be my, what?" he said softly. Eddy shook his head "okay well, she saw the guy. Told me what he looked like." 

     "And?" Xander asked. 

     "Tall, really skinny, long white hair." There was a long silence on the other end of the phone "Xander you there?"

     "Eddy" Xander said nervously "What color were the eyes? Did she tell you?" 

     Eddy was a little confused buy the question, and was beginning to get worried "red" he answered slowly. "Why?" 

     "Eddy I need you to meet me at Edith's right away! Do you remember how to get there?" Xander said very quickly. 

     "Yes I think so. Xander what is going on?" 

     "I'll explain when I see you. Just get there as fast as you can. We so need to talk" and then the phone line went dead. Eddy had no idea what was going on, but he could tell something was wrong.