The Water Witch Read Free Page B

board of IMP thought it was prudent to take them up on the offer of a meeting. The Grove has been growing more and more powerful.” I could tell by Soheila’s expression that she certainly wasn’t happy about the prospect.
    “What do
you
think about the meeting?” I asked.
    Soheila sighed again, but this time the sound was more like a gust of wind before a storm.
    “I’m afraid that IMP will be helpless to stop the Grove from pushing their own agenda, which is to close the door between this world and Faerie.”
    “Close the door … forever? Can they even do that?”
    “We’re not sure. We know that over the last hundred years every door but the one here in Fairwick has closed. Some believe that it’s a natural process, that as this world grows more crowded and polluted the avenues between the worlds become … 
clogged
. But we at Fairwick believe that the witches of the Grove have been working spells to close all the doors, and that they intend to close this one. If they do, all of us who came from Faerie will have to decide which world we want to live in …” A look of pain flickered across Soheila’s soft brown eyes.
    “Why?” I asked. “I mean, I thought you already had chosen to live in this world.”
    Soheila let out an expulsion of breath that shook the branches of the trees and rippled the water in the stream. “Many of us have, but we still need to go back to Faerie every few years to refresh our power. Otherwise we begin to fade.If the last door closes, those of us who live in this world will have to decide between going back to Faerie or eventually fading and dying in this world.”
    “What a horrible choice to make,” I said.
    “Yes,” said Soheila, “but at least we have a choice. The ones who would really suffer would be the creatures who need to come to this world to breed—like the undines.” She waved her hand toward the vibrant stream teeming with young, boisterous creatures. “Without access to this world, their species will die out.”

TWO
    W e continued to follow the stream through the woods, its gurgle accompanying us like a fifth companion. I knew when I agreed to join the Grove that my loyalty to my friends at Fairwick might be tested, but I hadn’t known that I’d be thrust into a conflict so soon. If the Grove was really coming here to close the door to Faerie, would I be compelled to take a side?
    It was true that I’d seen some pretty dangerous creatures come through the door, but I’d also seen harmless ones. Many of my closest friends had originally come from there. Which of them, I wondered now, would choose to leave this world if they knew it was their last chance to go back?
    My thoughts were interrupted by a loud splash. An undine had leapt over a boulder, her slim transparent body twisting in the sunlight as she performed a backward flip. Immediately two others copied their sister with their own flips, the second one adding a double somersault and a midair twist.
    “Great, now they’ll all have to do it,” Liz muttered, hands on hips. She clapped her hands briskly and called in a sternJean Brodie brogue, “Come along, girrrls, we haven’t got all day. No time for showing off.”
    In response one of the undines performed a triple axel worthy of Sarah Hughes at the 2002 Olympics.
    “Very well,” Liz said, the ghost of a smile flitting across her face. “Get it out of your systems.” And then, noticing me on the path behind her, she added in a low voice, “Poor things. I can’t begrudge them their little bit of fun. They have a difficult journey ahead of them … and then, this might be the last time I ever see an undine run.”
    Glancing at Liz, I noticed the smile had faded from her face.
    “Soheila told me about the meeting next week,” I said. “Do you think the Grove will really try to close the door? Will IMP go along with it?”
    Liz turned to me, her face looking suddenly older. The truth was I didn’t know how old she was. Witches