I ran southward, hoping Ivy and Reed could diffuse the situation with the new sprites on their own. I had something more pressing to investigate.

Why can’t I sense Woods anymore? The thought made my heart sink. After fifteen minutes or so of jogging, I was at the southern end of my farm, standing before the tree prison. Finn sat in the patchy grass with his face in his hands. When he looked up at me as I approached, he was incredibly pale, and his eyes were red and puffy. Finn, like Woods, hardly showed emotion, so I knew it was bad. Melvin sat next to him, putting some interesting looking tools into a briefcase.

I glanced at the tree prison, still in shock that I couldn’t sense Woods within. “What happened here?” I asked breathlessly.

Melvin responded, “Finn and I made a final attempt to revive Woods, but it was… unsuccessful. We knew it was a slim chance from the start, but...” He paused, shifting his gaze to Finn, who appeared utterly distraught. Melvin added, “At least now, he's free from any more suffering.”

Finn buried his face in his hands, clearly overwhelmed by grief.

My mouth went dry at the wizard’s words, and I tried to corral my racing thoughts. “What—what did you try to do? A healing spell?”

Melvin stood, looking sheepish. “Of sorts.” He hesitated, as if picking his next words very carefully. “We attempted a magical transfusion spell. I got the idea from your grandfather—he once told me about blood transfusions performed on your home world, and I thought the same concept could be applied to magic.”

I glanced at Finn. That would explain why he looked so awful right now. If it was true what Melvin was saying, a large portion of his magic—something that sprites absolutely needed to survive—had been drained away. I looked at the strange tools Melvin had packed into his suitcase, briefly wondering how they’d managed such a feat. I let out a slow breath as I came to the realization that not only had he jeopardized Finn’s life, but he had also placed Woods in harm’s way without consulting me first. I felt a sudden, overwhelming surge of annoyance bordering on anger. “Did Grandpa forget to mention the rigorous training that doctors go through on my world?” I struggled to maintain a steady tone. “Did he mention that a blood transfusion isn’t typically something you just ‘figure out’.” Sure, Woods was already on the brink, but it seemed they had somehow hastened his demise with their meddling.

Both Finn and Melvin exchanged a worried glance, furrowing their brows in tandem.

Melvin turned back to me. “Well, I am a wizard of some renown,” he asserted, but one look from me told him that wasn’t at all the same thing.

I shook my head in disgust. “What made you two attempt something like this without running it past me first?”

Finn looked down at his feet. “We didn’t think you’d approve of it.”

“Obviously. Transfusions aren’t some flippant, everyday occurrence that happens all the time on my planet—despite what my grandfather led you to believe. They’re always performed by trained medical doctors. Not astronomers.”

Melvin cleared his throat but didn’t say anything in defense, his ears reddening under my scrutinizing gaze.

A surge of emotion I had been suppressing the past few weeks bubbled to the surface. Despite the rescue, the various healing spells and modalities we’d exhausted, not to mention the toll of keeping a corrupt sprite on my farm, had all been for naught. Woods had still died anyway. I felt angry tears sting my eyes, and I pinched the bridge of my nose to try and quell the frustration and grief that encircled me.

“Damn it,” I swore. “I knew this day was coming… but still.”

"Wait,” Finn said, cutting me off. “What’s that?”

I followed his gaze and peered through the gaps in the tree prison. Woods looked much the same as he had before, but I lingered on him to see what Finn was talking about. Woods didn’t move, not even to take a breath, his body remaining motionless. Melvin turned as well, gazing curiously at the bear. After a few seconds passed without any perceptible movement, both of us turned to Finn questioningly.

“Matt, use your magical sense, see if you can pick up on—”

I didn’t even wait for Finn to finish before I was tapped in, searching all around us for a magical aura I was sure was long gone. But there was something.

I inhaled sharply as I focused on Woods.

“What—what do you two sense?” Melvin spluttered. “I can’t feel anything.”

Finn and I remained silent. The aura was weak, but it was decidedly different from that of a corrupted bear. Maybe it was just our imagination, I thought as the seconds crawled by. Or… a squirrel or something. Or a bird.

Suddenly, I felt a little foolish. We were just hoping that their ridiculous plan had worked, because the alternative was too depressing to come to terms with. Woods was dead. Despite our best efforts, he had succumbed to his corruption sickness. And there wasn’t a single thing in this strange world that could bring him back.

The bear sucked in a ragged breath.

Each of us gasped in shock, and Melvin pumped his fist into the air. “It worked!” he shouted in triumph. “I knew it! No Earthly doctor can compete with the likes of my unparalleled magical genius!”

“I can’t believe it,” Finn breathed as he pushed himself shakily to his feet. “We actually did it.”

I took a few steps closer until my face was pressed into one of the prison’s gaps. "Is… he cured?”

“I don’t think so,” Finn replied, coming to stand next to me. “He still doesn’t feel like a healthy sprite.”

I opened my awareness and could sense that he was right. Something still felt off about Woods, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been before. Had their transfusion worked to some extent? Was Woods only mostly dead? “Well, at least he’s still with us,” I found myself saying. “But no more reckless treatments without consulting with me first, okay? I don’t want to risk anything else happening to Woods. He’s been through enough.”

Finn shuddered. “You don’t have to worry about me,” he said. “I never want to go through something like that again.”

We both looked expectantly at Melvin.

The wizard threw up his hands. “Bah! All right, then. No more experimental treatments. But might I point out that the transfusion did seem to have an effect on him. Only time will tell if he makes a full recovery.”

I scratched my head and glanced back at Woods. The great bear seemed to be sleeping fitfully, but his breathing had returned to a normal cadence. That was better than nothing. “Well, there’s nothing to be done here except wait. Finn, will you keep an eye on him for me? I left something of a delicate situation back at the farm.”

“Sure,” he replied, nodding. “Hopefully this ‘situation’ of yours isn’t as troubling as what we just went through.”

“No, it’s nothing like this,” I replied. “Just some newcomers showed up. They call themselves the southern sprites.”

Finn scrunched up his face in a look of distaste.

"What? You know about them, too?”

Finn nodded. “They claim to be the world’s best hunters and trappers, but all they are is a bunch of bumpkins. Woods was the one who saved most of their necks during the culling. Why are they here?”

I grimaced. “They’re looking for a corrupt grizzly bear.”

Finn regarded his brother. “This is bad. Really bad. If the southern sprites find Woods here, they’ll kill him.”

“Even though he saved them all?”

Finn nodded, balling his hands into fists. “Southern sprites are the worst, Matt. You need to get them out of here immediately.”

Melvin perked up and glanced back at Finn. “Aren’t you and Woods twins?”

Finn nodded.

“Wouldn't it be fairly easy to trick them so they don’t suspect it’s actually your brother who’s corrupt? If he helped them so long ago, they probably wouldn’t be able to differentiate based on magical auras—as it’s common for auras to change slightly over time.”

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Finn thought this over and raised his eyebrows as he met my gaze. I felt my own eyebrows raise but pressed my mouth into a tight line. Would the southern sprites fall for something like that? Finn’s and Woods’ aura couldn’t be more different, but maybe if enough time had passed, those who had met Woods would’ve forgotten.

“I suppose we could try,” Finn replied uneasily. “The only problem is I can’t turn into a bear.”

Melvin produced a notebook out of thin air, and scribbled something into it, mumbling to himself.

“So… what are we going to do about the real Woods?” I asked, motioning to the bear who was still imprisoned and slumbering within the trees.

"He’s not going anywhere,” Melvin said without looking up from his notebook. “Besides, you can sense him with your perk, right? If anything changes, you’ll be the first to know.”

I nodded. He was right, of course. I’d feel better if someone was personally watching over him, but in the end, there wasn’t anything anybody could do to help. At this point, he probably just needed to rest.

"Well, then,” Melvin said, snapping his notebook shut. “Now that that’s settled, let’s see what we can do about these southern sprites. I, for one, am interested in meeting them.”

“Wait, if I’m going to pretend to be Woods…” Finn produced Woods’ signature green hat from his pocket and pulled it over his curls.

“Did Reed make that for you?” I asked.

Finn shook his head. “Woods gave it to me… before he left. He wanted me to give it to you, but…” he trailed off.

After a slight pause, I nodded in understanding. “It’s okay. You keep it. It’s not like it’ll fit me.”

Melvin chuckled and continued walking north. Finn nodded and followed the wizard. I cast one final glance at the great, slumbering grizzly. Had he moved? A shudder ran down my spine, and I turned to follow the wizard and the sprite.

***

Melvin, Finn, and I hastily made our way back to my farmhouse, where the sprites of my farm and the southern sprites were still hashing out their differences. Rock had joined Ivy and Reed, and it looked like the argument had become extremely heated between the two groups. We could hear their yelling before they even came into view.

“Sorry about that!” I called, drawing all the sprites’ attention. Reed’s gaze hovered on Melvin, and his piercing blue eyes widened with concern.

“This is amazing!” the old wizard exclaimed. “I once thought sprites were completely extinct. And now, here, sprites from a different part of the world—”

“Melvin, now isn’t the time,” I said, cutting him off as we approached the group. This didn’t stop him from pulling back out his notebook and scribbling more notes. Each of the southern sprites drew their weapons and assumed a defensive position. “Another human,” Alder, the apparent leader of the southern sprites, growled. “You northerners love fraternizing with the enemy, don’t you?”

“Melvin’s not an enemy,” Ivy snapped. She bared an inch of steel from her own sword. “And put those things away before your hurt yourselves.”

A tense silence ensued. Melvin, for his part, continued scribbling notes, completely oblivious of the confrontation.

I cleared my throat. “Let’s all just take a second and calm down,” I said. “Listen. We don’t know anything about a corrupt bear, and these are the only sprites on my farm.” I pointed to each one as I said their names. “You know Reed and Ivy, and that’s Rock and this is Woods.” I made it a point to lock eyes with Reed, Ivy and Rock as I introduced Finn as his brother, hoping they would catch on to what I was trying to accomplish. If my hunch was right, and they suspected Woods of being the corrupt bear, having Finn pretend to be his brother would throw them off the scent. At least until we could figure out what the transfusion spell had done to the real Woods.

“Woods? As in the hero of the culling? That Woods?” Fern, the bespectacled sprite, had disbelief in her voice.

All the southern sprites lowered their weapons.

Finn sighed and crossed his arms in front of him. He looked identical to Woods in this posture—the only difference being the slightly lighter brown color of Finn’s curly hair.

“Yes,” he replied flatly. “And I can assure you that we’ve taken care of all the corrupt animals in this region. Now, please leave.”

I suppressed a look of surprise. Finn was able to imitate his brother shockingly well.

I turned and noticed that one of the southern sprite’s features had darkened as she looked at Finn. What was her name again? I focused on her a few seconds more, and her name shimmered above her head.

Skye

Alder grunted and put his weapons away altogether, prompting the others to do the same. “Well, I’ll be honest with y’all. We didn’t want to believe it, but we suspected it was you, Woods, who’d turned corrupt. None of us knew of any other sprite that could turn into a grizzly bear and would be brash enough to stay in the north where sprites are still hunted. I’m—” he cleared his throat again, meeting Finn’s narrowed gaze. “I’m sorry about that. We’ll be on our way.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. It was probably a good thing that Woods’ aura had diminished. Otherwise, the newcomers would have sensed his presence and seen right through our ruse. Still, I couldn’t help but worry about the real Woods, and if Melvin’s little science experiment had done anything to help him.

The southern sprite entourage turned and left back up the east road—all except for Skye. Her gaze lingered on Finn for a while longer. “It’s good seeing you again, Woods.” She said the word with a subtle twist. Then, she turned and followed her companions. Soon, their tiny frames disappeared from sight.

Reed, Rock, and Ivy turned to regard Finn.

“It’s spooky how well you can imitate Woods,” Reed said. “Don’t do that in front of Clay, he might start to like you.”

“Rock,” Rock agreed.

I crossed my arms. “Speaking of Clay…” Ivy, Reed and Rock all exchanged sheepish glances. “Why does he look so similar to the southern sprites? He told me he was born here, in Sagewood.”

“Well, I mean, Sagewood’s exact boundaries can be subjective—” Reed stammered. He turned to Ivy for help.

“Yeah, and really it doesn’t matter where a sprite is born—right, Rock?” Ivy and Reed turned to Rock, who shrugged.

“Rock.”

Ivy, Finn, Reed, and surprisingly Melvin all gasped at Rock’s statement.

“What?” I asked, frowning. “What did he say?”

“You kidnapped him? Sprites do that?” Melvin continued scratching in his notebook. “Fascinating.”

“Don’t write that down, Melvin. It sounds so much worse than what actually happened.” Reed ran a hand over his face in exasperation.

Melvin scribbled out what he’d written but didn’t put away his notebook. “What happened, then?” he asked, his usual scholarly excitement permeating his words.

I sighed. Whenever Rock spoke up, the other sprites usually translated for me. Sometimes, though, I had to piece together what he’d said.

Ivy looked up at me. “All right, if you really must know, Clay isn’t from Sagewood. He’s not even from Northern Etheria. But as far as he knows, he was born here.” Ivy gave Melvin, Finn, and I a hard look. “And we’re going to keep it that way. For his sake.”

“Yeah, so he doesn’t have to run around with the southern sprites…” Reed trailed off, a grimace on his face.

“Rock,” Rock agreed. At least, to me it sounded like an agreement.

All three of us exchanged a look before nodding.

Ivy continued. “Thirty-three years ago, me, Reed, and Rock were scouting. We were on the border of the Northern Territories and the Southern Isles when we found Clay.”

“No other sprites were around,” Reed chimed in, “so technically, according to sprite code, it was fine that we took him with us.”

“Yeah, he would’ve been left all alone, so we took him father north—”

“Rock.”

Both Reed’s and Ivy’s shoulders sank, and Melvin gasped.

“Ok, someone has to translate for me, or I am going to lose it—”

“We were stopped by the southern sprites. There was an altercation, of sorts,” Reed quickly said.

Melvin’s faint scribbling could be heard as Reed chose his next words carefully, but Rock spoke up first.

“Rock.”

“Yes. Basically, we won the baby sprite—er—Clay. Fair and square, no kidnapping involved. Though, technically, yes, we did bring a baby sprite from the south to the north, which is against sprite code.”

“Rock.”

“And it was the southern sprites’ fault for not tracking the magic to know when a sprite would be born, yes.”

“Rock.”

Reed sighed and nodded. “Of course, Clay doesn’t remember any of it. He was so little when we found him.”

Ivy cleared her throat, drawing our attention. “Don’t tell him or anyone else outside this farm,” she warned. “Very few know the full story.”

“Is that why you guys don’t like the southern sprites?” I asked. “Because of what happened over thirty years ago?”

Reed shook his head. “No, the southern sprites have always been unsavory—in fact,” Reed glanced back down the road where the sprites had left, “they’ll most likely come back and try to do some surveillance on your farm. We all need to be careful the next few days.”

Finn snorted dryly. “Yes, they’ll definitely be back. The southern sprites are harder to get rid of than sand lice.”

Melvin grunted absentmindedly at this, as if he knew exactly what Finn was referring to.

“I have the feeling one of them knew I wasn’t Woods,” Finn remarked after a minute. “The one with long hair.”

“I noticed that too,” I replied uneasily. “It was like she could see right through you.”

Finn pulled off the green hat and stared at it. “I’m pretty sure none of them knew Woods had a twin. I was way out of the picture by the time he was moving sprites to the south—” Finn cut himself off and gave us all a sheepish look before continuing. “Anyway, I’m going to go check on Woods again.”

“I’ll come with you,” Melvin said, putting his notebook away and following. Ivy, Reed, and Rock all disappeared into the forest, leaving me alone.

I cast my gaze across my farm, taking stock of the tasks that still awaited completion. The orchard plot required a few more turns, and a trip to Sagewood Nursery was in order to acquire some fertilizer. As I considered the nursery, my thoughts involuntarily veered toward Leia. I swallowed hard, but this time, I allowed them to linger. She’d been gone for a while now, and contrary to my expectations, her absence hadn’t become any easier. I still missed her, and often wondered if she missed me. Probably not, I thought sadly. With a sigh, I gently pushed those thoughts aside. The day’s work had left me sweaty and tired, so I made my way to the pond to wash.

As I slipped into the refreshing water, I thought about the strange turns the day had taken. Woods was alive, for now, but as far as we knew, remained corrupted. Sprites from a different region had shown up, and the others had assured me that they’d be back. Never a dull moment. Sinking deeper into the water, I tried to clear my head. The pond was freezing—my heat crystal had burned out weeks ago—but it was sobering, in a way.

“Maybe it’s time to give moving on a shot,” I mused out loud. There were other bachelorettes in Sagewood besides Leia, and if things didn't click with any of them, I could always find the reagents to return home to Phoenix. I cringed at the idea. The women here were a league apart from anything I’d encountered back on Earth.

My mind drifted to Rowan and his attempts to play matchmaker with his cousin. Well, it’s a start, I thought. Maybe I’d let Rowan know I was up for a single date, if only to divert my attention from the chaos unravelling on my farm.

I submerged beneath the water’s surface just as the sun began its descent behind the distant mountains. A few seconds later, I emerged, feeling refreshed by the invigorating coldness.