The Fairy Lantern and the Fox Doll

Red Herring Bay

Sam stood on the beach and looked at the water laid out just so. Next to Sam, laying on their backs to best catch the afternoon sun, Alice and Ashley were silent.

Sam, chest bare to the thankfully underpopulated beach, teetered between the pros and cons of entering the water. Unconsciously, Sam clutched the smooth wooden figurine in the left pocket. Warmth spread up through the hand enticingly.

"Ok Kirla, we can go swimming if you want to," Sam whispered to the doll.

Ashley stirred from her towel.

"If you're going in, I'll come with you, Sammy boy." Ashley, her black one-piece clear against her glowing skin, rose up and walked towards the water without waiting. Sam ran after her, smiling yet irked.

When they came to the edge of the ocean, both momentarily paused without saying why. And then together, they plunged in.

"Cold!" they hissed through clenched teeth, then laughed at their outburst. In the moment, Sam felt uniquely close to Ashley. Sam wanted it to stretch out for a while longer.

"Sam," Ashley's voice changed from cousin to leader, "I found Grandma Lacy's ring, but nothing happened. I still can't find Grandpa, or even feel his presence. Honestly, I don't know how you know, and at this stage I don't care. I'm asking straight out: will you help me find him?"

Sam watch the moment they had shared dissolve into the water with sadness, then replaced with warmth from Kirla. Sam sighed out the disappointment and breathed in the salty air."Why do you need to find Sean Maddoc so badly?"

Ashley gave Sam a discerning eye. She was used to Sam the push over. This was a different Sam before her.

"Grandpa, or as you say Sean Maddoc, is the Goblin King. Have you noticed that when you go into the Land of Time that it seems to take more and more time? Before it was an instant, less even! Now, it can be hours. That's no ok! I don't know how or why, but it has to do with Grandpa." Ashley, usually so calm, was panting with her speech, her face bright red.

Before Sam could reply, the fox doll sprung out of Sam's grasp. Sam dived underwater and was met with Kirla's tails disappearing into the surf.

"Wait!" Sam yelled after the fox made flesh and furiously swam after him. Ashley followed a second later, and together they chased the fox through the clean blue green water of the beach.

Deeper and deeper they swam, diving through a field of agate kelp Sam. They struggled to keep the fox's ochre tails within sight. Sam started to wonder why she wasn't gagging for air when the kelp field ended and a mermaid flashed past them.

Sam inhaled with shock, realising a second later that water should be choking her, only to find that it was pure air going in and out of her lungs. The mermaids had white hair and blue green skin. It was hard to tell where the human body ended and the fish tail began. She giggled at Kirla as he propelled over to her, and Sam heard the sound perfectly. Confused, Sam looked over to Ashley.

It was still Ashley, part of Sam knew that, but it also wasn't Ashley, and a part of Sam couldn't accept that. Ashley, looking uncomfortably similar to the Unseelie King on top of the Noon Tree, stood on the red sand and surveyed the watery scene without interest. He adjusted his black collar, the one piece swimsuit gone, his sickly green skin stark against the formal attire.

"How do you think we arrived at the Land of Time?" The not-Ashley's voice was gruff and low. Sam, her mind refusing to adjust, continued to swim in the water and watch Kirla play with the mermaid.

"I'm not sure. I've heard there are other ways into the fairy world, but this is my first time coming across one. Should we... go up?"

Ashley nodded curtly and abruptly started swimming upwards towards an orange swirling sky. Sam knew Kirla would follow when he was ready.