Eden always thought her mother looked so angelic in that gown. Eden shut her eyes tightly as she could, pretending to be asleep as Nila rolled over beside Eden, gazing down to check if she were asleep.
The evening was cool and still as Nila drifted off to sleep.
In the dark, Eden thought she heard a rustle by the small window. She glanced up through Rea’s cold blue moonlight. The noise had come from outside.
Eden rubbed her eyes and yawned. She looked down to see Jasper lay beside her on the floor, fast asleep like the little guardian he was.
Probably just a bug or something.
She rested her head back down, darkness beginning to overtake her thoughts as she drifted off to sleep.
“Psst.”
Eden shot up out of her bed. She was sure she had heard a voice that time, almost like a loud whisper on the wind.
She quietly tip-toed to the window and peered outside but couldn’t see anything. Only the dark silhouettes of the ash and oak trees swaying gracefully in the breeze, showering the fields with a light blanket of leaves.
And then it appeared, so suddenly that Eden fell backwards in shock.
A sprite buzzed in through the window, sounding like a wasp. Its wings fluttered so fast and delicately that she could not even see them move.
The moons’ light shone brilliantly off its blue and black glossy exoskeleton. Its huge round eyes glowed as it hovered mid-air, staring back at the gawking Eden.
“I knew you were real!” Eden announced with glee.
The sprite shook its head and flew closer and brought its little finger up to its mouth, almost like it was indicating for her to keep quiet.
“Shh,” the sprite whispered.
It gestured for Eden to follow it outside. Transfixed by the sight before her, Eden eagerly did so, tiptoeing out of the bedroom.
As she left, Eden made sure to remain silent. She did not want to wake Jasper or her mother.
Eden stepped out into the brisk night. She ran barefoot over to the window where she had seen the sprite, and gleefully smiled when she spotted it once again.
The sprite smiled and waved back at her. Eden thought its huge bug-like eyes were adorable.
“My name is Eden.”
“I am Kesh,” the sprite said. Its voice was high-pitched like a squeak. “Come, follow me! I have a gift for you.”
“A gift?”
The sprite flew off towards the woods. Eden turned back to double check that Nila hadn’t awoken. She remembered what her mother had said and the rules she promised not to break again.
The sprite hovered several metres away, gesturing for her to follow.
Eden looked back and forth, unsure of what to do before finally deciding to follow the beautiful creature. She sensed she could trust it.
The midnight winds howled as Eden ran barefoot into the woods, following the buzzing of her newfound sprite friend. In the distance, she could hear Jasper barking.
Was he alright?
Eden could smell the damp, earthy texture of the forest as it enveloped her. She was beginning to feel intimidated by the scary winds, the huge pine trees surrounding her, and the dark of the night.
Nonetheless, she trailed after Kesh. Eden needed to know what it was and why it was here.
“Where did you come from?” Eden asked as she climbed over a fallen log.
“I come from a land far from here,” Kesh squeaked.
The way the sprite talked was different to how people in Eden’s life spoke. It was blunt and never seemed to say any more than what was necessary.
“Are you… really a sprite?”
“That is what your kind calls me, yes.”
Eden couldn’t help but smile. A real sprite! The stuff that old songs and legends told of. And here she was, talking with one on an adventure through the woods!
Papa is never going to believe this.
“So, what do you have for me?” Eden was full of curiosity. “Is it a treasure? A map? Something magical?”
“Come and see!”
“Everybody thinks that sprites don’t exist no more! Even mama thinks you aren’t real.”
Kesh droned around with great agility through the air. “We exist. We are real.”
“Are there more of you?”
“Yes! Come and see!”
Eden gasped with excitement at the prospect of seeing more.
The pair trekked deeper into the woods. What was ahead kept her going, her curiosity overcoming her fear.
Eventually they arrived at a large rocky formation surrounding the mouth of a dark cave. The rocks were covered with old vines, moss, and rotting leaf litter.
Kesh pointed. “In there.”
Eden was confused. “What? What’s in there?”
“Your gift!”
Eden stepped up to the entrance of the gloomy cave and looked ahead. She saw nothing within but darkness. It smelled odd, like rotting vegetation and still water.
“I don’t want to go in there,” Eden said, shaking her head.
“You must!”
“It’s too dark, I can’t see anything.”
Kesh floated for a moment. It held its hand out flat and blew a puff of air into the space above it. Suddenly, an orb of glowing blue light the size of a stone manifested above his hand.
Eden was gobsmacked.
The orb hovered mid-air, humming.
“Here, take this,” Kesh said. “It will guide you. It will…protect you.”
Eden held out the palm of her hand, exactly like Kesh had done. The orb floated over to her hand. It was slightly cool and the bright light glowing from it was sufficient to where Eden could begin to make out what was before her.
She stepped inside the cave, climbing over some fallen rocks and a thin stream of water. The orb continued to hum and glow, illuminating the cave like moonlight.
Eden turned around to see where Kesh was, but the sprite had vanished.
“Kesh?” Eden called out, but there was no answer. Only the moans of the wind
