Read Online Kelpie (Come Love a Fey) by Kaye Draper - Free Book Online Page B

my head and kept walking.  Apparently, he’d had a lot of time to think
about these things.  The dream world that he lived in was so elaborate. 
    Finally,
we came to a little stream running through the woods.  Leith paced to the water
and crouched by the rocky bed.  I plopped down on an old fallen log and stifled
a huge yawn.  The tree was a white birch, and I plucked at the papery, curling
bark as I waited to see what Leith would do next.  My companion stuck a finger
in the water and began whispering something under his breath.  I raised my
eyebrows but didn’t comment, using the time to soak in our surroundings.
    I
had always loved nature.  When I was a child, my parents dragged my brother and
me all over the Upper Peninsula, and most of our vacations involved long hikes
along one body of water or another.  Now that I was an adult with a career and
a life, I rarely spent much time outside.  It was strange how just being in the
woods could make me feel completely at ease, as if I only now knew that
something had been missing, once I found it again.  The sky was beginning to
lighten, and little birds were chattering and hopping about in the branches
over our heads.  The air smelled of damp earth and green things.  I took a deep
breath and let myself relax, all my worries flowing out of me.  I would have to
be careful to keep track of time so I wasn’t late to work, but for right now I
could just breathe.
    I
glanced at Leith to find that he was now sitting cross-legged beside the little
creek.  He had both hands submerged in the water halfway to his elbows.  His
eyes were closed, and he looked like he was meditating.
    I
sank to the ground, so I could lean my back against the fallen log.  I breathed
deeply of the richly scented air and let my eyes slip closed.  The soft sounds
of the forest awakening lulled me into a place somewhere between sleep and
awake.  I could feel the gentle touch of the breeze on my cheeks and hear the
birds calling, but I was conscious of the fact that I had begun to dream.
    I
was wandering in the woods.  I wasn’t lost, exactly.  I was searching for
someone.  Loneliness filled my chest.  I had been alone for so long, I barely
had any hope left.  Still, I kept searching for someone.  Someone very
important.  Someone I loved as much as the earth beneath my feet.  Someone as
essential as food and water, and air.  But he was gone.  He had been gone for a
long time.  Birds called in the woods around me, and the day began to darken
into twilight, but still I couldn’t find him.  I entered a clearing and tripped
over an old tire, tossed there by some unthinking soul.  I was thirsty.  I knew
that if I drank the water, it would be bitter and polluted.  But I was so
thirsty.  I knelt on the ground and put my lips to the water, knowing I was
just poisoning myself.  However, the water wasn’t bitter.  It was cool and
clean- perfect.  I sensed a power running through it.  Something pure.  My eyes
overflowed with tears.  It was him.  I could taste him in the water.  I lifted
my head and looked around the woods, but he was nowhere to be seen.  I could
hear his voice, but couldn’t make out words in the deep mummer.  I dashed
through the forest again, searching frantically.  He was here.  He had been
here.  Where?  Where was he?  My heart felt like it would burst.
    Cool
hands grasped my shoulders and I opened my eyes to find Leith crouching in
front of me.  He gave me a soft smile, and I wrapped my arms around him, seized
with the intense urge to make sure he was real.  The dream blended with reality
and I could feel the echo of that intense love- the love of being alive, the
love for the one who protected my home. 
    His
water-cold hands smoothed over my head and stroked my back, and the remnants of
the dream began to fade.  I sat up and pushed myself away from him.  “Sorry,” I
said shortly.
    At
the irritated sound of my voice, he withdrew his hands