of laughter floated to him through the trees in high tones. A girl? Will stood and looked around but saw no one close by. Bending over, he reclaimed his candle and axe, then he took a step in the direction he thought he had heard the laughter coming from.
The sound vanished, and somehow he felt he had moved the wrong way. Stepping back, he heard the girl’s laughter again. Turning his head from side to side, he could see the faint streamers of light diverged there, slipping into two similar but different forests. Not that way, this way. Acting on instinct, he turned a different direction—it was hard to describe, but he stepped sideways, entering the other forest. The laughter grew louder.
“Follow me!” said the girl, teasing him. Her voice sent a shiver down his spine, tickling instincts he hardly recognized.
Will looked around. “Where are you?”
“Over here!” she shouted, but when he looked, he only caught a flash of bright orange vanishing into the underbrush.
Leaping to follow, he crashed along at a reckless pace, trying to catch up to her, but she remained ahead, and always just out of sight. He continued the chase, his heart thundering in his chest, until he heard the sound of rushing water ahead. When he broke free of the trees, he saw a rocky river-bank, and the girl had stopped at the water’s edge.
No, not a girl, he thought. She was a woman, young no doubt, but in full possession of maturity. When she turned to look back at him, his breath caught in his throat.
Hair the color of flames cascaded down her back and over her shoulders, but it did nothing to hide the sight of her nakedness. She smiled at him with pearl-like teeth that seemed to sparkle in the autumn sun, distracting him for a moment from her small but pert breasts. “You’re alone,” she announced in a delighted tone, clapping her hands together.
Will had no response for that. He continued staring, drinking in the view. When she gestured for him to come closer, he took a step forward. Moments later he found himself just inches away from her, so close he could feel her breath. It smelled of mint and lavender.
Her eyes were an unnaturally bright viridian, but it was the pupils that were most startling, for they were slits, like those of a cat. “You’re not human,” he mumbled.
“But you are,” she responded, her lips curling into a smile. “Would you like to kiss me?”
Yes, yes I would, screamed his hormones, nearly drowning out his reason. Instead, he answered, “W—what?”
The strange woman pouted, then ran her hand down his chest, trailing her fingers across his stomach. “Are you afraid? My price is a small thing, though I can sense it growing as we speak.”
For a moment he could hear his grandfather’s angry voice, echoing in his memory. “Accept no debts! Think of this as part of your training.” He took a step back, away from the woman. “I have nothing to pay you.”
“Oh, but you do!” she returned, while her eyes silently devoured him. “What I want is something you would dearly love to give.”
Despite himself, Will asked, “What is it?”
“A fair exchange,” she said, her voice sly. Then she stepped closer and put one hand behind his neck and ran her fingers through his hair. “I will give you pleasure beyond measure, and all you need give me in exchange is your seed.” Lifting her chin, she leaned forward to bring her lips to his.
Will jerked, turning his head to one side before she could kiss him. “No.”
“But why?” she asked. “You have plenty. You can make hundreds of children when you return. I only need one.” Her hand stroked his thigh, moving upward until it reached…
Startled, Will stumbled backward and fell, landing heavily on the rocks. He felt something under his hand and discovered it was the axe. He had dropped it without realizing it. Will lifted it as the strange woman started to settle down on top of him.
She hissed, making a sound like an angry cat as her eyes fell on the hard metal of the axe-head. Leaping sideways, she was suddenly more than ten feet away. “You dare bring iron to this place, mageling?”
The candle flame swirled, reacting to the chaos of emotions within him—relief, fear, and no small amount of disappointment. “I came here by accident,” he managed to say.
The woman’s eyes shifted as quickly as her mood, going from anger to twinkling