• I followed them out the door and to the docks; a boat waited patiently with an older man and woman: Emily and Izzie’s parents. Emily, Izzie, and I had stayed quiet while we caught up to Mom and Dad; I felt awkward, sensing the start of a small crush for Emily in the back of my mind, yet I hoped neither of them noticed. I don’t think they did; I think they were just quiet.

    “Good morning!” Mom chimed as she shook hands with the man and the woman. “I’m Kristan, and this is my husband Peter.”

    “Howdy.” Dad nodded at them. “Perfect day for a tour, isn’t it? The sun’s bright and there’s not a cloud in the sky.”

    The woman smiled at them, her wavy dirty-blonde tucked neatly behind her ears. “It is really nice out. I’m Rachel.”

    “I’m Henry; nice to meet you.” The man said, and I noticed his brown hair matched Emily’s. “This must be your son? He decided to come, I see.” His appraising brown eyes wandered over me.

    I nodded. “I’m Tristan. It’s nice to meet you Henry, Rachel.”

    Mom beamed at me, proud of my polite introduction. “Well, let’s get going, shall we?” She climbed into the boat, helping Rachel get in after her. Henry followed Rachel with Dad close behind. The boat was filling up.

    “I can take Emily and Izzie in the canoe, if you want, Mom.” I offered, noticing three more people wouldn’t fit in the small boat. “They’ll be safe with me.”

    “Oh, would you, dear? That’d be wonderful.” Mom answered, settling in next to Rachel.

    “Yeah, come on.” I led them a few feet away where our canoe was docked. I noticed both Emily and Izzie continued to glance back at the adults starting off in the boat, but I tried not to let it get to me. “All right, who likes swimming?” I joked.

    They looked at me with wide eyes, fear written all over their faces. “Swimming?” Emily asked, swallowing. “I guess I could hold Izzie, and we could do it, but I sure didn’t think—,”

    I interrupted. “I was kidding. Joking around. Being sarcastic. Don’t worry about it. Just put Izzie in the middle, and you and I will row, okay?” I smiled, trying to calm them down.

    “Yeah, okay.” Emily grinned at me, her eyes sparkling when she realized I was just being playful. Gods, she was gorgeous when she was happy. “Come on, Izzie. In you go.” She lifted the young girl into the canoe, telling her to stay. After making sure Izzie was secure, she looked to me for further guidance.

    “Um, get in the front, and I can tell you what you need to do. It’s not hard.” I told her.

    She did as I said, and after a few minutes of maneuvering and getting things under way, we were chugging along to the village, Izzie squealing in delight between us.

    The island with the village was, in its own way, really pretty. As far as I knew, there were only two places on the island where a boat could dock: the long beach closest to the mainland, and a small lagoon farther away. The village was closest to the beach, and since the island was fairly large, the village didn’t stretch to the lagoon, making it only one quick way in and out.

    “This is beautiful.” I heard Emily murmur as we neared the island. Birds swooped around the cliffs bordering the beach; waves crashed rhythmically on the peach colored sand; trees swayed in the light breeze. It all added to the symphony of the island.

    “Then it only fits that you should live here.” I whispered, and when she didn’t react, I knew she hadn’t heard me. “We’ll pull up right next to Mom and Dad.” I announced to the girls. I saw the boat docked on the pier; the people climbing out were easily recognizable.

    “Yay!” Izzie shouted, slightly rocking the canoe in her excitement.

    “Hang on, there, girl!” I exclaimed, managing to keep the canoe steady.

    “Oh, sorry.” Izzie calmed, waving every once in a while.

    “Can you do me a favor, Izzie?” I asked.

    “Yeah? What?” Enthusiasm poured out of her voice, yet she caught herself before she turned around too quickly.

    “Watch our parents, for me, okay? Make sure they don’t fall off.” I told her, trying to make it sound like a very important task.

    “Okay!” She answered, settling in to avidly watch both of our parents as they watched us come in.

    Emily glanced back at me, smiling. “You’re really good with her.” She conveyed through silent communication, though I doubt Izzie would have heard her older sister, focused as the young girl was.

    “Thanks.” I mouth back, thrilled for the praise. We docked fast and easy, and while we made our way to the beach and the village, Izzie jumped up and around us, crowing her triumph at keeping our parents from falling.

    Emily walked next to me, behind both pairs of adults. “It’s too bad she can’t tell the difference of watching them and actually keeping them from falling.” She whispered to me, her eyes on Izzie fondly.

    “This is close enough for her. She did well; she deserves this.” I kept my voice as low as Emily’s, also watching Izzie.

    Emily beamed, proud of her little sister. “She did, didn’t she? Usually she’ll be just a ball of energy. You did well, too.” She leaned in, her lips on my cheek for only a second. “You deserved something, too, you know.” She murmured when she pulled away.

    I smiled, my heart beating slightly faster. “Thanks, I guess. I don’t know what I did, though.”

    “You kept her calm. No one in our family can do that. At least, not that good.” Emily scrunched up her nose in amusement. “I guess we’re just so used to being a ball of energy, we don’t think about containing her. Hey, at least we have an energy source in this Forgotten Hole, right?” She laughed.

    “Yeah, that’s for sure.” I laughed with her. “So, what made you want to live here? I mean, your parents want to, at least.”

    Emily sighed, letting her gaze drop to the wooden path that led to the village. “We used to live in a place full of all sorts of races: sprites, pixies, nymphs, even a family of buggers .”

    I started at the derogatory term. “You don’t seem like the person who would call them buggers.”

    “Sorry, I meant morphers.” She blushed. “Gramps called them buggers. Anyway—,” She hopped over a fallen log. Our parents and Izzie were too far ahead to be heard or seen. “Gramps had the space, and he needed the extra care, so we stayed with him. We were the only human family there, and since Gramps didn’t get along with the other families, neither did we. We started at a disadvantage, but it just never got better.

    “Then Gramps died, just a year ago. He’d been getting really sick in the end, so it wasn’t a big surprise. It was hardest for Izzie. I think it still is. We tried to stay there—we had no other place—but it didn’t matter for those other families. None of them wanted anything to do with us. It was the morphers that mentioned the village, and Ma and Pa decided then and there to leave.

    “We lived east of here, so as we traveled closer, we started hearing your parents’ names and the name of the town where you live, Harbury, more and more. We decided to give you guys a try, and here we are.” She finished, shrugging her shoulders.

    “Wow.” I said at a loss for better words. “All I have is: I was born; I grew up; here I am.”

    Emily giggled. “I wish my life was like that.”

    We reached the village shortly, and noticing our parents talking with a few families of the village, we strolled up to the group of adults. The village was mostly just a cluster of houses, one was designated as a general store, another was a town hall, one other as a recreational building, until all the basics of a town were represented.

    “Where’s Izzie?” Emily asked, looking around for the bubbly child.

    “Oh, she met up with one of the children here.” Rachel answered, glancing at one of the human women.

    “She’ll be just fine with my Brecken. Don’t worry about a thing.” said the woman, smiling. It might have been just me, but I noticed some tension between Rachel and the woman. I noticed some tension between almost all the adults.

    “Oh. Okay.” Emily shrugged. The adults continued with their conversation like nothing happened. Each in our own world, Emily and I stood there unsure of what to do or say.

    “Hey, look: it’s Baby Sprite!” A voice shouted from across the dirt road.

    “Damn it.” I whisper, snapping out of my reverie.

    “What?” Emily asked quietly, wondering why I cursed.

    “Them.” I said, turning around to face a group of teenage humans, all smirking. “Too bad this baby is going to beat up all of you babies. Your mommies don’t get to feed you mashed up veggies if you’re in the med room.”

    Tyler, the leader of the gang and the smartest—though that’s still not saying much—rolled his eyes. “Mhmm, whatever you say, Baby Sprite.” I watched his eyes fall on Emily, appraising her like he would a piece of fruit. “You must be new. Are you staying here with us?” He smiled, and I prayed Emily could see through his charming façade.

    “Yeah.” Emily answered, obviously wary.

    “Awesome! Do you know what house you’ll move into? Hector passed away, so his house is open . . . .” Tyler trailed off.

    “Tyler, you are so stupid. You really think her parents would move into a house that someone just died in?” I asked, skeptical.

    “He didn’t die in it, BS. He died in the med room. With doctors and nurses all around him.” Tyler rolled his eyes again. “He’d been really sick lately.” He supplied for Emily.

    My temper spiked time he called me Baby Sprite or BS, so to calm down I tried to funnel my tempestuous energy into keeping Tyler away from Emily. “Emily, do you want to go find your sister? I bet she’s around here somewhere.” I offered, hoping mentioning Izzie would get Emily to follow.

    “Why? The woman said she was fine with that Brecken. I trust Izzie; she’ll be good.” Emily answered, failing to catch on to my excuse to get away.

    “Haha, rejected!” Tyler crowed, laughing at me. “You have a sister . . . it’s Emily, right?”

    Emily nodded, and in her eyes, I saw she was starting to get intrigued. Damn it; must act fast. “Hey, Emily—,” I started, but then I remembered something Ashleigh had told me about some girls.

    “Yeah?”

    “Never mind. I was going to ask you a question, but then I answered it for me.” I grinned. “Tyler can show you around.” I suggested, and I noticed the bewildered look cross Tyler’s face.

    “Yeah, sure, I—,” Tyler started.

    “Well, where are you going?” Emily asked, her eyes wide with a feeling I couldn’t decipher. “Aren’t you going to be here?”

    “Nah, I’m going off to the lagoon. See you later!” I smiled again, heading off in the direction of the lagoon.

    “What—?” Emily started, but Tyler jumped in.

    “Great! So, come on, I’ll show you around.” He chirped, almost too happy to be the guide of a tour.

    I grinned to myself, hoping—almost knowing—that this plan would work. Ashleigh had told me that some girls might not like to see guys fighting for them, and that they would just rather pick for themselves. I was hoping going off on my own would make Emily curious enough to come after me. That was the plan, at least.