The Lost Chronicles
Back They Come
By Vennice Floran
“I’m telling you Natasha,” Avalon went on, “He’s been here every day, and now, nothing.”
She continued crawling around, poking her hand into the bushes at the edge of the beach, trying to lure a rabbit out with a carrot.
“Maybe he’s sleeping, or found a little rabbit buddy,” I suggested, shoving a lock of black hair behind my ear before continuing my sketch of the water’s edge.
“It must have been Nick’s sister. She couldn’t drown me, so she drowned poor Nibbles instead.”
Nick was the nix nokken, or male water spirit, we had met three days ago and was one of the supernatural things Avalon’s cousin hadn’t warned us about when he offered to let us stay in his house for the summer. He also hadn’t mentioned the ghost in the forest, Avira, who we had befriended.
The nokken, we’d discovered, had a ritual where they would drown a human when they came of a certain age. Avalon, with her big mouth, had ticked off some of them and become their target, though she managed to convince them to use small animals instead.
And now Avalon was convinced Nick’s sister had killed the rabbit she’d been feeding.
I looked up from my sketch book and spotted a boy’s head peeking out of the water, his skin a pale contrast to his dark hair. I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sight of him.
Avalon, still busy searching the bushes, waving the carrot around, and muttering here bunny bunny in an attempt to find her fuzzy little friend, didn’t notice my jump or the boy coming out of the water towards us.
“Hey,” he called, finally drawing her attention.
Avalon paused in her search, shoving the carrot into a pocket on the ancient, oversized green jacket she wore over her swimsuit.
“Nick,” she responded.
“My sister killed your rabbit,” he told her. Avalon glared at me, her point proven. I raised my hands in mock surrender. “She couldn’t kill you, so, uh . . . yeah.” He ran a hand through his hair.
Nick wasn’t like the rest of his family. He wasn’t in to the whole killing thing. Still, I preferred to stay on the shore when he was around.
“Poor little Nibbles . . .” Avalon stood, dusting the sand off her legs.
“I don’t understand how you humans get attached to other creatures like that.”
“Don’t you have, like, pet fish or something?” I asked.
“Not really,” he admitted.
“Whatever. Tell your sister she got the right rabbit,” Avalon told him, grabbing her towel. “You done your sketch, Natasha?”
“Just about . . . Done,” I told her, finishing off the few last strokes on my page before closing my sketchbook.
“You two are heading out?” Nick asked.
“We only came out to feed Nibbles,” I told him, stuffing my sketchbook and drawing supplies into my satchel. “We’re going to visit Avira tonight, so we’re heading back to the house to rest up.”
“See ya,” Avalon called over her shoulder, heading off towards the path from the beach.
“Be careful in the forest,” Nick warned.
“We’ve already made friends with a ghost,” Avalon told him. “What else is there to fear?”
“What else is there to fear?” I asked, far more serious than Avalon.
“I don’t know, but the fish have been clumped at the mouth of the river lately. Something’s got them spooked. Maybe if I had a pet fish he could tell me why.”
“Did you just crack a joke?” I asked.
“I think. I tried.” He scratched his head. “Just watch out. You managed to change a Nokken tradition, it would be a shame if something in the forest got you.”
On that cheery note, he jumped back into the water, disappearing under the surface with barely a ripple.
I immediately turned to Avalon.
“I am not getting chased around in the forest by another supernatural thing,” I told her.
“Relax. It’s probably something harmless. Mostly. We’ll just ask Avira what’s going on.”
“And she’s just going to tell us?”
Talking with Avira was nice, but it was tricky. She could only repeat things she heard, and sometimes she forgot words. Getting any information out of her was like playing with an old Q20.
“Well, then we’ll find another notebook and add it to our collection. The mysterious author must be good for something.”
