Page 72 of Last Witch Attempt
“It’s the mark of a naiad,” Evan replied. “I saw it when I was studying back in the day. We had to be able to identify every paranormal creature for various tests.”
“Isn’t a naiad a mermaid?” Clove asked.
Evan shook his head. “No, but I can see how you might confuse the two. There is a water component for both.”
Thistle moved toward the books on the shelves, studied them for several seconds, then grabbed one of the thicker ones. “Let’s see what we’ve got here.” She flipped through the book, then grimaced. “Here we go.”
This was what we had come for. I needed background on naiads. I’d never faced off with one before, so this would be a new experience. As if dealing with a second Aunt Tillie, arachnids, and the Feds wasn’t enough of a new experience.
“It has multiple meanings,” Thistle started. “In Greek mythology, it was an aquatic insect nymph.” Her upper lip curved. “Could that somehow play into the arachnids being here?”
“It’s something to consider,” Evan replied. “It’s also possible that the naiad simply came across a handful of arachnids that had been recently displaced from Hawthorne Hollow and took advantage.”
“Right.” Thistle went back to reading. “The Greek mythology naiads live in and control bodies of water, lakes and rivers. The name comes from the Greek word naiein and means ‘to flow.’” She considered it for several seconds, then continued.
“Naiad can also refer to the nymph of an aquatic insect, like a dragonfly, damselfly, mayfly, or stonefly. It can also be a plant and is the name of one of the moons of Neptune.”
“I think we’re most likely dealing with the Greek mythology,” Evan said.
“That probably makes the most sense,” Thistle agreed, ignoring his sarcasm. “So, naiads were often revered by cults and considered essential to humans. Kids—both boys and girls—donated their hair to the local naiad at the spring closest to their village.
“There were ritual cleansings to worship the naiad and—ooh, gross—animals were often drowned as an offering.” She gave me a look. “Better lock up Peg and Winchester.”
I had been second-guessing my decision to keep Winchester at the inn because Landon missed him so much. Now I was glad I’d made the decision to leave him with my mother.
“There are a lot of stories, and we’re going to take these with a grain of salt,” Thistle cautioned. “Naiads supposedly took beautiful humans, kidnapping them from villages. I have no idea what they did with them—I’m guessing it was of a sexual nature—but these incidents are reported throughout the stories of the time.
“They could be jealous of the beautiful person, looking for an individual to cheat on their mates with, or maybe even ultimately fused with the individuals they stole for sex,” she continued. “Sounds like they were a bit sexed up.”
I tried not to dwell on that part.
“They’ve been studied by scholars,” Thistle supplied. “It’s theorized that these mythic kings were often paired with naiadsto give women a part in the story. The woman was, of course, villainized and turned into a sexual being.”
“That’s because men wrote the history books,” I said.
She bobbed her head. “Pretty much. All the descriptions suggest they can pass for humans. Beautiful women, one and all.”
“That’s mythology,” I argued. “We all know that some stories from ancient Greece are true. Others are not. The gods, for example, were demons masquerading as gods. It could be the same for the nymphs. They might’ve been lower demons who enjoyed hanging out by bodies of water.”
“That fits,” Thistle said. Her gaze moved to Evan. “What do you know?”
“I was a good student, for the record,” he started.
I chuckled. “You do have ‘book geek’ practically stamped on your forehead.”
“I like learning about other creatures,” he confirmed. “All of that fell by the wayside when I became a vampire. I lost who I was there for a bit. I am back to reading some, but I haven’t spent any time with naiads because I’ve never actually seen one. All I know is what I heard when I was in Detroit.”
“There are naiads in Detroit?” Thistle’s eyebrows moved toward one another. “That’s weird.”
“Why?” Evan challenged. “Detroit is surrounded by water. There’s the Detroit River, and Lake St. Clair is close. South of the city you have Lake Erie. There’s plenty of room for naiads to roam.”
“But I thought they were supposed to like nature,” Thistle countered. “Detroit isn’t a rural utopia.”
“There are rural areas to the north. And Canada is on the other side of the river. You can see Canada from Detroit. That’s another thing people forget.”
“Does that mean your group took on evil naiads?” I asked.
“I bet Bigfoot lives in Canada,” Clove said. “He probably just comes here for the occasional visit.”
