Nature Rules - 2022 WATTY'S SHORTLIST

More Questions Than Answers

I must have gasped aloud. Both Crinae and Hyla turn to me.

"What?" asks Crinae. "What is it?"

"Don't you see who it is?" I ask Hyla as I try to become part of the wall.

"No," she says.

"It's Trunken!" I exclaim.

"The Waterstealer?"

"No, Trunken the fairy godfather," I say. "Of course, Trunken, the Waterstealer."

"Oh no," Crinae says. "We have to get out of here."

Too late. Adam walking towards us with the thrashing troll. Trunken's howling and rasping bad words at the Keeper.

"Shut up," growls Adam. "Unless you know what's good for you."

The Waterstealer unleashes another torrent of verbal abuse on Adam. Just as the two pass us, Crinae moves her foot and clumsily kicks a rock over the side of the ledge. It makes a horrible, horrible loud sound as it bounces here and there down the wall, and drops onto the floor in front of the Waterstealer.

Trunken looks up.

"Oh," he says in a nauseatingly sweet voice. "Hello, there. I've met you lovely ladies before."

His voice, his manner, him – I'm going to throw up.

"Leave them alone," Adam growls, putting his free hand around Trunken's throat.

"Okay, okay," simpers Trunken. "I'm only being nice."

Trunken's terrible blue eyes find mine and lock. I'm terrified but I can't look away from the evil inside of them until the Keeper drags the Waterstealer down the corridor. Their figures fade away in the darkness of the tunnel.

I'm shivering in the warm air. Trunken's one of the most frightening things I have ever encountered. I think I'd rather be taken by a Moto than the Waterstealer.

"How creepy is that thing?" says Crinae.

"Creeptastic," Hyla says.

The curiosity of watching the settlers is waning. The sight of Trunken drains all our energy and I'm tired. I want to go to sleep.

"Let's go" I say. And we do.

***

No one's around when we arrive at Solomon and Katherine's. They're probably with Adam questioning Trunken. Joanna does drop in to prepare us a meal. She won't tell us where our host couple is.

"Off to sleep," she says later in the evening when we're all reading. "I'll be by in the morning to help you get ready for school."

"Good night," we all tell her and head to bed.

I can't fall asleep. Every time I close my eyes, Trunken appears. He points at me and sneers and laughs. I toss and turn until Crinae hits me.

"Stop it!" she says and then turns over and falls asleep again. If only it were that easy for me.

I will all the mental pictures of the Waterstealer to vanish. They do and I drift off.

Joanna gets us up and has us fed and washed and then off to school without much chatting. Class is indeed small. Enrollment has dropped from 25 to 12. Mr. Cho is pale and his eyes are puffy. He hasn't had much sleep either.

We still have instruction throughout the morning but towards the end of the lesson, he calls us together.

"This is the last day of school," he says to the class. "There are going to be changes made to the curriculum and I have to be in meetings with your parents to see what is appropriate. Until then, I'm going to give you homework that I expect you to finish on your own. Naia and Crinae, I'll still be seeing you."