Nymphix

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen –

“Aren’t you going to play?”

A soft voice pulled Kat from the book in her lap and she lifted her eyes to where a little girl stood looking down to where she was sitting.

“Do you not like playing with the other kids?” She took a tentative step forward, as if approaching a wild animal and looking for signs of approval. 

“Not really.” Kat replied slowly, closing the book in her lap. Taking her response as a sign, a wide grin broke out on the girl’s face and she skipped forward before flouncing down opposite Kat.

“Me neither” She whispered as if they were sisters sharing secrets with each other.

“Don’t you think they’re all a bit boring?” She leaned forward even closer until their noses were almost touching, and her silky black hair slipped forward and covered her face.

“I mean they’re all so... human.”

Kat pulled back so abruptly that she hit her head on the trunk of the tree she had been leaning on.

“W-what?” Kat stammered, looking everywhere but into the eyes of the girl, scared that she would be able to tell what Kat was. Noticing how flustered she had become, the girl giggled loudly, throwing her head back.

“You don’t have to pretend, Kat. It is Kat, right?”

Kat could only barely manage to nod, while in her head her mother’s constant warnings about the Nymphan were swarming and chattering so loud she could barely hear the girl’s next words.

“I’m Lin by the way.” She held her hand out for a handshake, a stiff awkward movement that looked completely unnatural. When Kat didn’t move, Lin took her hand and held it to her own before shaking it.

“It’s a polite way to greet someone apparently. My mum said that you always have to be polite with the Nymphan.” From the mention of that word, Kat laughed shakily to try and conceal the panic.

“I- I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m human.”

Lin laughed again, this time so loud Kat looked around to see if anyone else had heard, but no one seemed to be paying them any attention.

“Don’t be silly! You look nothing human, humans are so...” She scrunched up her nose and looked up, trying to think of a word.

“Ugly!” She finally burst out, and collapsed into giggles again. Kat had never actually seen another Nymphan other than herself, but looking at Lin now, she could see what she meant. Everything about her seemed to glow; even when they were sitting in the shade. Her porcelain skin, her sleek black hair that encased her face and her slender almond shaped eyes that were such a dark brown they almost looked red. It seemed to blatantly obvious to Kat now that she wondered how she hadn’t noticed her before among all the humans.

Kat finally found herself smiling softly in return; she didn’t look dangerous at all.

“Do you wanna see?” Lin finally burst out, as if she was been building up the courage to ask.

Kat nodded hesitantly at first, then more eagerly as the idea of seeing someone else’s magic grew more and more exciting.

“My mum’s been teaching me, so I think I’ve got it” Lin closed her eyes and took a deep breath before cupping her hands out in front of her. Kat waited and watched her hands, and just as she was about to lose interest, a small pop sounded and the smallest of flames hovered between her fingertips. Unlike Kat’s, this was real fire, burning bright and golden and even from where she was sitting Kat could feel the heat warming her face.