I didn’t catch it at first, the widening of the tunnel below us and the contracting of the opening above us. Faelix, when he realized what was happening, leapt out of his small alcove and turned as it started to push out behind him.

“What in the great faerie god is going on?” He asked.

“There is no great faerie god,” I said, reflexively, “and I don’t know. I thought I was feeling, but then, I don’t know.”

I’d stood up at that point in order to keep my balance and watched as the walls seemed to stretch and pull farther away from the center until we were standing in a circle, a grotto, with a small pool of water marking the exact center. Since Ant had told me not to get wet, and this seemed like one of those places where getting wet would be a very bad idea, I moved toward the spot where the cave had led back out. Though, as I looked around for any sign of the tunnel all I could see was where the rock had come together leaving a pucker of rock.

“Do you know what’s going on?” I asked Faelix, who’d decided standing on my satchel was better than flitting about as small bits of rock started to fall from the ceiling.

“No idea,” he said. “This is all new to me.”

“You’ve never heard of a living cave that eats people?” I asked.

“Nope. You?”

I shook my head. “Guess there really is a first time for everything,” I said.

Faelix let out of a huff of air as I moved to one side, a bigger piece of the ceiling falling where I’d just been standing.

The changes that turned a small cave into a large grotto didn’t take very long, though try to convince someone of that while it’s actually happening, and when it was done there was an eerie glow surrounding us.

My attention was drawn back to the puddle of water standing in the middle and since I somehow knew this was now a grotto, I was also worried about the puddle expanding and beginning to fill the room.

“I wonder what would happen if I did get wet?” I asked out loud.

“What?”

“Nothing,” I said, not allowing myself to feel the embarrassment that comes with making a mistake like that. “It’s nothing.”

As soon as I’d said that, the water in the middle of the puddle started to swirl around forming a vortex that rose into the air, a water devil as opposed to a dust devil – a devil was something I could deal with, and as it spun I could see it start to form into a shape resembling a person before finally settling into a human-like shape.

“Who dares enter my grotto!” The water devil said.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Flora Rose,” I said. “You’ve heard of me.”

The water devil looked at me, a long, lingering look up and down (who can blame it) and then at Faelix. “Who’s that?”

“Faelix,” Faelix said. “A faerie.”

“I didn’t think they allowed male faeries out of the coverts,” the water devil said.

“They don’t.”

“Why are you here?” She asked Faelix.

He motioned at me and said, “I’m with her.”

The water devil looked at me and said, “Why are you here?”

“Hell if I know,” I said. “I was following him.”

“Great,” the water devil said, “a situation where neither party understands the complexity of relationships, whose following who, and now we’re in a pickle of a situation as your combined presence woke up my grotto and that is something I simply cannot have truck with.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’m not sure you have a choice.”

The water devil nodded and seemed to take a seat, though there was nothing to sit on.

“You’re in my domain and the rules and laws of the world outside don’t work the same in here. Have a seat,” she said and with a dismissive wave of her hand a seat made of stone appeared behind me. I sat down.

“What does being in your domain mean?” I asked and looked down at Faelix, who’d adjusted his position to one of my knees.

“It means I’m the boss,” she said.

“Do you have a name?” I asked.

“Certainly.”

“May I asked what your name is?”

“Of course.”

I took in a quick breath, understanding most of the game, and asked, “What’s your name?”

“You may call me Wass,” Wass said.

“Thank you,” I said, deciding to follow a practice of politeness rather than being more aggressive. As I thanked Wass, though, I mentally tested the access to my powers. Before escaping the faerie circled, I most certainly wouldn’t have bothered because before I’d been trapped in the faerie circle there’d never been a time when I’d not had access to my powers. No, though, it seemed prudent.

“You are most welcome,” Wass said, then turning to Faelix, “What’s been going on in the big bad world?”

“Hey!” I said, “Why aren’t you asking me?”

“Because you’re supposed to be trapped in a faerie circle for ten thousand years and it seems highly unlikely that you are who you say you are.”

Faelix laughed and said, “When was the last time you were outside?”

“Never.”

“Then when was the last time you were updated on the world?”

Wass made a move that was a cross between a shrug and a shift and said, “It’s been ages since I’ve had anyone in my grotto. They just stopped coming, which meant my source of gossip and information from the outside world stopped. If I had to guess, and this is just a rough estimate, I’d say 5832 units of time since the last one was here.”

“Why wouldn’t I be Flora Rose?” I asked, finally recovering myself enough to be offended.

“I told you. Flora Rose was to be kept in a faerie circle for ten thousand years. It has not been ten thousand years, more like 17,527,391 units of time since she was trapped. Clearly, you’re not her. I’d dismiss you if I could, but you seem to be a particularly adept user of magic and as such, along with this young man, I’m not able to evict you or consume you as yet,” Wass said.

I wanted to get up and slap Wass across the face, seeing what a bit of extra magic in my slap would do to the contours of her water formed face and decided against it. As Ant had been less than clear about what context getting wet was considered under, super slapping didn’t seem like the wisest of moves. I also considered making Faelix bigger and pushing him to hit her, but decided against it as I could still sense some of the residual fallout form the giant mushroom and maybe the finger sandwiches Barrowind had served.