“You’re full of shit. There isn’t any such place,” I declared, glaring at him. “Or you really are some kind of crazy.”
“Well, nobody’s ever accused me of being overly sane,” Puck laughed, not sounding a bit put off by my disbelief. I suppose if I’d fed somebody a story like that, I wouldn’t have been shocked if they thought I was off my rocker, myself. “But that doesn’t change the fact that Faerie is a real place. It’s just not on any map you’ve ever seen.”
“Oh? Is this the part where you start telling me about some magical, fairytale land with gardens full of candy flowers and a castle made out of gingerbread?” I demanded.
“No, why, is your belief in the infallibility of the human race so damn strong that you’re convinced they’ve discovered every planet in existence in a universe that’s practically infinite?” He shot right back, a surprisingly sharp tone in his voice. “No? Good, because there are new planets being discovered almost every day. Some of them are capable of sustaining life, some aren’t. Some are inhabited, and some aren’t. The one I’m talking about just happens to be so far away, you people probably aren’t even going to come close to discovering it on your own for at least a century.”
“Fine. If it’s so far away…how did you get here?”
“Well, I already knew the way,” he grinned, his normal good humor dropping back down over him like a cloak. “Being from Earth myself, and all.”
That earned him a few more seconds of silent skepticism. “Yeah. You look like you’re from Earth.”
“I do, actually. You’re just not familiar enough with my species to know the differences. How much do you know about Earth’s mythology?”
“What….gods and goddesses? Dragons and unicorns and fairies? That kind of stuff?” I shrugged, still frowning, because I was starting to get an indication of where this conversation was going, and I didn’t much like it. “About as much as anybody does. Enough to know that it’s all crap.”
“Careful, there. One person’s myth is another person’s religion. There are plenty of people who would argue that Jesus Christ was just another important figure in human mythology.” I snorted softly. I wasn’t particularly religious, but I certainly didn’t think Christianity belonged lumped in with all that other make-believe bullshit. “My point is, myths, no matter what they are, are usually based on at least some small grain of truth. Some more than others, granted, but as far as dragons and unicorns and elves and the like….don’t you think something must have existed to plant the seed for all those stories?”
I turned to stare out the viewport. Ugh. No. Watching all those stars rushing past was still not doing wonders for my stomach, so I settled my gaze onto the floorboard instead. “Maybe. ….I guess.” I was right. I didn’t like where this conversation was going. I liked Puck. He was nice. He got me off of Voltaire, and I really, really wanted to think that he just wanted to help me. I didn’t want further proof that he was completely bonkers.
“So why is it so hard to admit that at some point in time on Earth, creatures like dragons…..or……oh, I don’t know…..sprites…..really were present?”
I frowned, still not looking at him. “What’s a sprite?”
I could see his grin out of the corner of my eye, whether I wanted to or not. “In mythology, or reality?”
My eyes rolled briefly. “Either. Both.”
“Well, in human myth, a sprite is generally a mischievous, winged creature who enjoys plaing pranks—generally harmless pranks, I might add, although the humans involved almost never saw it that way—on what were usually dull-witted humans.”
“And what’s a sprite in…. ‘reality’?” I swung my eyes over to look at him again.
His grin only widened. “I am!”
“Right.” My eyes traveled over him with pointed slowness. “I must be missing the wings. Maybe they’re invisible?”
He cast me a withering look. “No, I don’t have wings anymore. I guess you could say that one of the hazards of being my generally carefree, fun-loving self is that people occasionally decide that they hate my living guts and feel compelled to rip things off of my body.”
“Wow,” I said dryly, “I can’t possibly imagine why.” Leaning my head back, I sighed and rubbed at my eyes. At least one of us on this ship was crazy. “So…unicorns and elves and sprites are real, you’re a sprite but you just happen not to have any wings, and I’m supposed to believe that you’re telling me the truth just because my so-called King Grandpa sent you here to hunt me down, finally, after fifteen years.”
“Well, all that, and there’s the fact that you’ve actually met a healer from my world. How’re all the little bumps and bruises there, kid? Do you feel like half a building came crashing down on you…?”
“Nnnnno,” I admitted grudgingly. “But there could be some explanation—“
“Like what? Human medicine is based on technology. Did he give you a pill? Spray something on you? Give you a shot? Put you in a regeneration tank?”
“So what’s Tengu, then? I guess you’re going to tell me he’s some kind of healing fairy gone bad, that magic is real, and to get back to your world—“
“Our world.”
I ignored him. “—that all I have to do is click my heels together three times?”
“No, Tengu is an elf. He just happens to have been born with the healing gift—“
“Of course,” I couldn’t help rolling my eyes again.
Now it was my turn to be ignored. “Not that he uses it to any good purpose. And when you really sit down and analyze it, it’s more of a natural ability, really, than it is magic. If I had access to a lab, I could show you the exact differences between my brain and a human’s. I could even point out the center of the brain where the healing abilities come from….although I haven’t quite figured out yet why it shows up in some people, and not others, or why humans don’t have it when we’re pretty much genetically identical. Of course, until we get where we’re going, I’m afraid my say-so is pretty much the only explanation you’re going to get. You’ll just have to suspend your disbelief a little longer, I’m afraid.”
“Yeah,” I grumbled. “I’ll give that a shot.”
“You’re awfully cynical for a kid.” Puck frowned, looking faintly hurt. “So much for the innocence and trust of childhood.”
“I’m not a kid,” I snapped, finally succumbing to full blown irritation. “I’m fifteen years old. Which is just a little too old to believe in some stupid fairytale coming from some crazy ass nut who—“
“Holly,” Puck’s voice cut me off sharply. When I looked over at him, there was a rainbow of lights flashing on that console that hadn’t been there before. “Shut up.” Flipping a switch, he activated the rear viewscreen. It took me a minute to pick it out from among the stars, but finally I saw it: a sleek, silver ship approaching us quickly. “Strap yourself in tighter, kid.” He frowned, hands already working quickly over the controls. “We have company.”
