WinK's Story

Chapter 3 – Mari

The next day, after a great pushing and prodding from Hatter, the fem-angel closed her curtains and swept into the room when it wasn’t so bright from all of the white furniture reflecting the bright sun. Looking the brown-haired girl up and down before shaking her head Hatter sighed. White long skirt, a white tank top and that messenger bag. No shoes. Well, no shoes wouldn’t be that big of a problem really if she could just levitate a little, which the horned-woman knew WinK could do. “You’ve got to change your clothes.”

Green eyes widened. “What?” she meeped out.

Hatter rolled her eyes. “You can’t just walk around in all white clothes you know.”

WinK’s eyes went stubborn, which was a first. “Why not?”

“Well, mainly you point out that you’re an angel, and the other important part is that the laundry will be hard as hell to do and I don’t feel like waiting on you to finish a load because they aren’t bright enough,” Hatter drawled.

WinK frowned, not sure how to take this. Pulling back her hair with a ribbon she said simply, “But I have no more clothes.”

“I had a few of my pets go out and fetch you some clothes,” Hatter said. At her words a small trail, like ants carrying food away at a summer picnic, of clothes and other things started floating into the room, carried by various pets. She saw shirts, skirts, pants, even underwear. Anything she might need was gently – or roughly depending on the pet that was carrying it – put into her wardrobe. After they had left and Hatter and WinK were left alone (with Amun sitting on WinK’s bed of course, sleeping quietly) the violet-eyed woman descended upon the clothes and pulled out a pair of black baggy pants that looked more like they were used in a sport – snowboarding maybe? – and a little green button-up shirt that matched WinK’s eyes.

Throwing the items at WinK Hatter simply said, “Put those on and meet me downstairs.”

WinK blinked, staring at the closed door, alone in the room; Amun had left on Hatter’s shoulder. With a gulp she stripped of her white clothing and slipped on the pants, cooing softly at their loose legs and their comfort. The green shirt was unlike the pants and form-fitting. With a quick thought WinK wondered how close Hatter really paid attention to her. Before grabbing her bag and running downstairs she took the moment to disobey and look through the clothes a little more. Finding black gloves with the fingers cut off she slipped them on, liking the way they looked. She also picked up a collar with a cross on it – how fitting for an angel thrown out of heaven by God – and put it on.

Taking a quick look in the full-length mirror she grinned and raised a delicate eyebrow. “Damn I look good,” she said quietly, modesty forgotten.

Pleased with her appearance (and still barefoot) she trotted down the stairs, her bag slung easily off of one shoulder. Hatter glanced up at her, eyes quick to take in the fact that the angel had like a few of the smaller items she’d picked out (the cross collar had not been her idea, but Amun’s) and was vain enough to don them. With a smirk, which WinK didn’t notice, she turned and led the way out of the house.

“Where are we going?” WinK asked as they walked through the creepy front-garden of the house.

“Sirens’ Lure,” Hatter said, flipping her sunglasses down from the top of her head when they hit the main road which was bustling with people as usual.

Their house was very close to Breedables Street, but somehow it managed to sit in front of wilds that hadn’t been tamed yet. WinK had watched the forest, beautiful emerald trees, as she cleaned out the pools in the back of house. She had been wondering if she would explore the woods when Hatter had come home and gotten angry with the change in décor.

Once they got onto Breedables Street WinK had to keep so close to Hatter that she thought the demon might get upset with the angel bumping into her all the time. Getting separated was something that she didn’t want to think about in such a large place. Some places were clear shops, with signs and welcoming doorways. Hatter had to pull WinK away from place after place. Then there were the creepier looking installations in the doorways, and WinK had to beg Hatter not to go into those.

Then the stores started becoming sparse, and there were signs that pointed off into wilds, or a meadow. When they reached a beach that looked as if it had pools made from larger rocks along the shoreline. On the beach were a few seashells that were so large that WinK (being a water angel) would have loved to take a nap in. The large sign, blue and very aquatic looking, read Sirens’ Lure.

“What are these?” WinK asked, looking over one shell carefully.

“These are Nereids. I’ve bought you one, she’ll be yours once she hatches and I expect you to take care of her and teach her and play with her,” Hatter said, seeming very pleased with herself. “You can even take her home and place her in the pools out back in the house in-between visits to Sirens’ Lure.”

“Nereid?” WinK asked, slightly confused. This was no animal of heaven.

Hatter pointed out into the water.

Looking to where her roommate pointed WinK wrinkled her nose. It was just a human, beautiful with chocolate skin and light hair, swimming through the water. With a break in the water WinK gasped lightly. It had a tail, and scales and a fin. “She’s beautiful,” the angel breathed lightly, leaning against the shell in wonder so her knees wouldn’t give out on her.

Glancing back at Hatter she asked, “Will this one look like the one yonder?”

When she turned her head back the Nereid was gone, vanished underwater or into another pool. She frowned.

“I don’t know,” Hatter said, inspecting another shell. “I don’t even know what mine will look like. Envy said that het fot found these lovely things and decided to find homes for them. I figured since you had enough spare time to redecorate – ”

WinK blushed deeply.

“ – then I figured you’d have enough time to look after one of these lovely things. Besides, you are a water angel, so I figured it would be fitting.”

“When will they hatch?” WinK asked, suddenly very eed. ed.

“Envy said in about a week. They usually hatch then.”

WinK wrinkled her nose and asked, “What’s an Envy?”

Hatter sighed and pushed her back over towards the sign that said Sirens’ Lure. Below the sign were several posts. Rules, FAQs, Nereids that had already hatched, and owners of others who were waiting for them. WinK read everything carefully, making sure to double-read the rules. In her mind she made a mental note to read such posts before she went into any establishment as there seemed to be a list of people who were banned. But, a ray of hope, there were people who were especially welcome.

Hatter was reading over a sheaf of papers when WinK was done reading. “C’mon,” the demon said. “We need to hurry you home because I know you weren’t paying enough attention to watch how we got here, so I can go out again. I’m needed.”

Hatter didn’t elaborate, but WinK touched her shell and whispered a prayer-spell of Seeing. Whenever she wanted to look at the shell she could call in that specific spell and stare at the mirror that was rigged to respond to all of her Seeing spells. Trotting off she followed Hatter, paying close attention to the way home.

As soon as they got home Hatter left again in a whirlwind of papers and mumblings, leaving Amun to sit on WinK’s shoulder.

“You want strawberry jam toast?” WinK asked after a moment of silence, still standing in the front lawn.

“Yes. Strrry rry jam, the good kind, mine in the cupboard,” he mumbled as WinK walked inside and strode down the hall to the kitchen. After the toast was made the girl pulled her mirror out of the bag and called in the image of the shell, staring at it happily. It was hers, and whatever was inside would be beautiful.

A few days passed, Hatter in and out of the house as par usual, leaving WinK sometimes lone and sometimes in Amun’s company. On one such day when WinK was alone, sitting up in one of the rooms on the East side of the house, she paused in her cleaning of the wooden floor. She had a simple woven rug she’d bought in town, and a lovely shining black grand piano that would go in the very center of the room. Her other instruments, all of them mastery for the angel since water angels also had the power of defense and music, as well as healing, would go in this room as well.

Pulling the hand-mirror, a simple round mirror that fit into her palm with a silver frame shaped like the rolling sea waves, out of her pocket she murmured the incantation and called in the picture of the shell for perhaps the fourth time that day. This time though, was not like the others. As she looked down, shocked, she saw the top half of the shell was missing, and a white piece of linen was trailing into the water.

“She’s gone!” WinK gasped, standing up quickly.

Out of the house she flew, the door banging closed as she finished tugging on the clean pink tank top, her loose jeans already pulled on. Flying down the road she didn’t slow down until she reached Sirens’ Lure where she inspected the shell herself, blinking in astonishment.

“She’s gone!” she gasped again.

A chuckle came from behind her and WinK turned to see another androgynous being, male nor female in nature she couldn’t discern, but ended up referring to it as male. His hair was long and black and his eyes a brighter, more mischievous green than WinK’s own. “She’ll come back. They always like to run away when it’s time for hatchings,” he said, flashing her a smile.

Not sensing a flirtatious manner in his kindness WinK smiled back. “Are you Envy?” He nodded and motioned behind her. When she turned the angel had to let a gasp escape her lips. A Nereid with softly tanned skin, light pink lips, bright green eyes and long chocolate brown hair, flowing in long straight locks down her back, approached with the Nereid WinK had seen on her first day. But she didn’t look at any creature other than the beauty that was hers.

Wadding into the water Nereid and angel looked at each other. “I will name you Mari,” she said smoothly. “It means water, and you certainly hold all of it beauty.”