Free Enchantment by Pati Nagle Page B

darkness. Head and shoulders above the water, she looked pearly, not quite glowing. A round face, with large, slightly slanted eyes. The face Holly had seen earlier that day. A small shiver went through her.
    â€œHi,” she said.
    The water spirit watched her, waiting, eyes wary. Holly shifted to a more comfortable position.
    â€œMy friend is weak, and we don’t know why. He can’t go very far from his spring. Do you know what could cause that?”
    â€œThe spring could be failing,” said the spirit. Her voice sounded like the wind in the rushes nearby.
    â€œFailing?” Holly frowned.
    Dying, she meant. Ohlan dying?
    â€œCould there be some other reason? Some kind of magical attack?”
    The spirit laughed, a whispering sound. “You humans are obsessed with magic. You think it is an object, a tool to be picked up and used. The only magic is the life that flows through everything.”
    â€œBut why would the spring fail?”
    â€œLife ebbs as well as flows, child.”
    And Ohlan’s life was ending? No. She wouldn’t accept that.
    â€œIsn’t there anything I can do?”
    The spirit tilted her head, gazing at Holly with an expression of pity, a hint of a smile. It made Holly angry.
    â€œHey, lookie here!”
    Holly jumped, then turned her head. The kids who’d been goofing around across the lake had come to the dock. There were five of them, boys her age or a little younger, in ripped up baggy jeans and muscle shirts. The one in front had black hair and a tattoo on his bare shoulder. He grinned.
    â€œWhatcha doin’ out here, baby? Fishing?”
    Holly looked back at the water, but the spirit was gone. She scrambled to her feet, heart pounding.
    She could jump in the lake, but she probably couldn’t get away that way. They could run around the shore faster than she could swim. Would they give up and go away, or chase for the fun of catching her?
    The black-haired guy set a foot on the dock. The others closed in behind him. Holly shoved her hand in her pocket, but she hadn’t brought her cell phone.
    â€œIs there a problem here?” said a deep voice.
    Holly glanced past the boys and saw a policeman. A nice, big, burly policeman with a nice, big gun on one hip and a nightstick on the other. Relief flooded her.
    The boys froze in their tracks; the black-haired one scowled. The policeman looked from them to Holly.
    â€œYou with them?”
    â€œNo, sir. I’ve never seen them before.”
    â€œMove along then, boys.”
    The black-haired guy flashed Holly a look of pure hate, then backed off. He put on a smile for the cop, pushing one of his buddies into another, jostling and laughing. The cop stood watching while they ambled away, then looked at Holly.
    â€œShall I walk you home?”
    Holly swallowed. “Yes, please. And thanks. Thanks—so much.”
    â€œYou might not want to come here alone again.”
    â€œYeah.”
    She hurried off the dock to join him. Glanced back toward the lake, but didn’t see anything. Disappointed, she turned toward Madison’s place.
    The cop walked beside her, unhurried. Holly expected a lecture, but he didn’t say anything more. She glanced at him a couple of times, thinking he looked vaguely familiar but unable to place him. He went with her up the hill to the townhouse, and Holly stopped at the gate.
    â€œThanks again.”
    â€œYou’re welcome. I’m sorry I couldn’t help about your friend.”
    â€œWhat?”
    Before her eyes, the cop wavered, then shrank and melted, uniform and gun vanishing as he morphed into the water spirit from the lake, draped in something filmy and green that stirred with the breeze. Holly gasped.
    The spirit smiled. “All things come and go. The key is to enjoy them while they are here.”
    She began to shrink again, brightening at the same time with a glow that had nothing to do with the porch light. In the space of