Page 72 of Simon

She slid off the rock, which was sat beside a trickling waterfall. She must have approached when I was gazing into the pond. The splashing of water hid her footsteps. I never noticed her before.

She was the female version of Peter freaking Pan.

“I haven’t been around a human in quite some time, I forget how skittish you all are. With no weapons on you, no claws or speed, I guess it is to be understandable.” She put her hands on her hips, and I saw the definition of her body. She was slim but muscular. She could take me out if she wanted.

I’m gonna die.

“You are always full of questions. Why are you so quiet now?” She tilted her chin up.

“I-I—” I couldn’t form words. I had forgotten how to talk. Now I felt like Simon.

She gracefully jumped from rock to rock. It was slow motion as she did until she got to the rock nearest to me. She sat down witha quiet ‘Hmph’ and crossed her legs. “Now, what is this about not believing in a bond or magic? You’re the first human to question it since coming to a place like this.”

She leaned over the spring and drew her finger into the water. Tiny little fish that shouldn’t be able to survive the heat of the spring nibbled on her flesh.

I bit my bottom lip. She was right. I was being callous about all of it. Physics, chemistry, biology– all from Earth– didn’t make sense here. They had their own sets of rules to go by.

I found it maddening yet exciting all at the same time.

When I first took the job, I was told to record, and put names to, the different species of plants and animals. I could study their behavior, write it all down and eventually have a book just on the Monktona Wood. Along with doing that, I’ve asked, why and how? That wasn’t part of this job, but I wanted to know.

I was having trouble letting go and letting the world around me live. I wasn’t letting myself live.

I bowed my head and looked at my fingers like they were the most interesting things in the world. She was so beautiful it hurt. “I’m a scientist; I’m supposed to ask the tough questions. I’m not from here, none of it makes sense. I didn’t study religion or believe in anything other than science.”

The woman hummed and nodded when I gazed up at her. “You don’t need to believe in anything.”

“Uh, but there is magic, for all the unexplainable things that are happening around me, in this world. The witches, the wisps, the bonds—Simon says it’s magic. ”

“It is magic,” she stated. “No need to believe when it’s actually there. Magic is the tool used to put things in motion by someone who can wield it.” She paused again and opened up her hand. Tiny lights came together, creating a tiny fox in her hand. It moved, rolled and ran, but all stayed in the exact same spot on her palm.

“You don’t have to believe in magic, Lucy. Magic is real; it was real on Earth. It is very much a part of even a human’s everyday life. Magic isn’t science, and science isn’t magic, but one and the same. It is the air we breathe.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but she continued. “How does a caterpillar come to be a butterfly?” The fox shifted, and a caterpillar appeared in her hand. “Just because humans have a fascination with categorizing, dissecting, and breaking things apart to see how they work, shouldn’t mean you should forget the magic that made it come to be.” She scoffed.

I watched the caterpillar wrap itself into a cocoon.

“Humans want knowledge because they think it is power, but the power is just how things are and one’s ability to enjoy what is. I have never understood why humans waste so much of their tiny lifespans to categorize and make up rules. When those rules are not met, they all get so grumpy. You, however, are the first I have seen that has not destroyed the nature around you to understand it. For this, I thank you.”

My body relaxed as she continued to explain. I didn’t believe in dissecting things to know about them. I usually watched. My father and I both practiced that.

The cocoon soon broke open, and a butterfly appeared. I went and sat by her on the rock, and the butterfly that sat in her hand took flight and landed on my knee.

“Why does the platypus have the mouth of a duck, the feet of an otter, tail of a beaver and lay eggs for their young?” She raised her hand, and the butterfly came flying back to her. “And one of my favorites, how about the first intake of breath of a child once they are born? Isn’t that magic?”

My eyebrow furrowed, and I lowered my head.

The woman straightened up, and the butterfly landed on one of her horns. “And what about a bumblebee?” she said excitedly. “They are so fat. By the law of human physics they shouldn’teven be able to fly!” She giggled and slapped her leg. “Really, though, they are actually Earth realm pixies in disguise. By magic, of course, because we can’t have humans freaking out about tiny little people. Humans already steal enough honey as it is.”

My mouth gaped open. “They are pixies?”

Dear gods, I hope I didn’t accidentally kill one.

The woman nodded. “You see, the Earth Realm has its own magic and the unexplainable. As a scientist of this realm, you just have to accept it as it is. There isn’t an answer to everything. In any realm, the magic, the norms, and life are different.”

I let out a large gasp. “There are other realms?”

The woman tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. “You are getting off track. But yes, there are. The Underworld, the Celestial Kingdom—Poseidon’s Realm doesn’t really count, it floats between Earth and the Celestial. Depends where he wants to go.”

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