In Exchange for Magic

He pulled away from me, beaming. He laughed, throwing his head back and shaking the mud from his hands.

"We look ridiculous!" he shouted to the sky.

I observed his mud-caked clothing and hair and... Well, everything. I imagined that I looked quite the same.

"What do you say we wash off in that stream... About..." Ez's pointed ears twitched. "A mile away?"
"Stream?"
He cocked his head to the side, and his ears danced like crazy. "No... It's more of a... A creek? No... No, it's deep... A lazy river... That's it! It's a slow-flowing river!"

"You can hear a river from a mile away?" I asked, momentarily forgetting that I was still slightly angry with him.

He smirked. "I can hear a dragonfly's heartbeat from half way around the world."
"Liar."
"Yeah, I know."
I held back a giggle.
"I would have heard it much clearer and much earlier... Except the rain only just stopped... And I currently happen to be more human then I've ever been in my life."

"Sorry," I muttered.
"No matter," he shrugged. "What's done is done."

I shook my head slightly. What's done is done?

Okay, that is very un-Ez-like.

He began walking briskly towards the river that I still hadn't heard yet. I rolled my eyes and followed him.

-_-_-_-

"Get in!"
"No!"
"Come on! Don't be a sissy!"
"I don't know what's been swimming in that filthy water!"
"Oh... Just a regular creature... You know... Part vampire, elf, and human. The works."

I sighed. "I'll get in if you put your damn clothes on."
"I've got clothes on!" he protested, standing up in the shallow water.

For some reason, Ez thought that his tiny underpants, reminiscent of Mogli's little red number from "The Jungle Book", counted as clothes.

"Ez!" I screeched, shielding my eyes.
"What?"

"Okay, it might not be weird to you, but where I come from, if you went out in public dressed like that, you'd get arrested for indecent exposure!"
"Indecent exposure?" he questioned, getting back in the water. "What am I exposing?"
"Uh... Maybe your skinny chicken legs?"

Suddenly, I realized that I hadn't heard a witty retort to that last comment. I scanned the top of the water... And I couldn't find Ez!

"Ezekiel?" I demanded. "Whatever you're thinking about doing, don't do-"

Then, with the agile speed of a striking snake, Ez shot up out of the water and grabbed my ankles. He yanked backwards, tugging me into the river like a rag doll.

I plunged into the cool water and broke to the surface, soaking wet and sputtering.

"Jesus Christ, Ez! What the hell is wrong with you?"
"What's wrong with me?" he asked cheerily. "What's wrong with you?! You're so grumpy today!"

I climbed back out of the river, slopping water everywhere.

"Maybe it's because I've got your stinky essence in me."
"Well," he countered. "Maybe I'm so happy because of my human-y... ness."
"Hmph."

Ez reeled back and splashed me.

"Stop it!"
He splashed me again.
"Ezekiel... Ezekiel... What's your middle name?" I asked, attempting to scold him.
"Jonas," he replied. "After my grandfather."

"Ezekiel Jonas Sullivan," I shouted, half giggling now. "I order you to stop splashing me this instant!"

He hung his head pretending to be sad. I laughed and threw a handful of small pebbles at him.

Ezekiel Jonas Sullivan...

I thought about that for a moment...

-_-_-_-

After we rinsed our muddy clothes off in the river, we began the long trek home.

Yeah. That's right. We were walking.

Now, more than ever, I regretted making Ez stop flying.

He was way too weak to even attempt to harness the oxygen from the trees... Or whatever it was he did.

So we walked.

And, let me tell you, the Attannian Forest is big.

Turns out, the journey back to our campsite will take around two or three days!

So, we set off. Mostly, the first day, we just talked. Ez was still happy go-lucky off the shot of "human" I'd given him. He was easy to be around, and he kept cracking jokes and making me smile.

He told me all these wild stories about his encounters with magical creatures, and I told him about things back home. He was utterly dumfounded by the concept of an iPod and a digital camera. I decided to save television for another day, fearing it would make his head explode.

He told me stories of Wendice, an evil Witch that lived in a place called the Dark Forest, and his run-in with her estranged ex-husband... currently in the form of a puppy-sized elephant.

I told him, in great detail, about Harry Potter, and he laughed; wondering why humans always insisted on giving Wizards wands.

We slept in a small clearing and, for the first time, I wasn't woken up by Ez's nightmares. We got up the next morning and I mentioned it to him, but he recoiled from all conversation of the nightmares.

I noticed that, ever since I'd kissed Ez and gotten a bit of his vampire-elf blood in me... That I'd felt more... Powerful. I felt more energetic and stronger. On the second day, though, it was beginning to wear off slightly.

Ez's human benefits were washing away quicker than mine were, however. He was still cheery, but there were moments when he'd snap at me or when he'd scowl at something I said.

We slept in a different clearing on the second day, and this one was littered with trees bearing strange fruit. We devoured them with gusto, as neither of us had eaten since we'd left the campsite.

So much food made sleep come easy for me, but not so much for Ez. The nightmares started again. I woke up, and he was staring straight at me, biting his knuckles in incredible concentration.

"You okay, Ez?" I asked worried. "I mean... It's nothing like... I don't know... You being a vampire and all..."

The moon was a full, glowing orb that night.

He didn't answer, instead, he took his fist out from between his teeth. He'd drawn blood.

"Don't worry about it, sweet." He make a noise suggesting that he wanted to vomit.

He choked out, "Just go back to sleep."

I raised my head from on top of Ez's bundled shirt, which he'd let me use as a pillow.

"You sure you're okay?"
The knuckles went back in his mouth. He nodded, staring at me with wide, unblinking eyes, filled with... hunger.

Then, I noticed something. In the light of the moon, Ez's hair had become white-blonde again. He was no longer human.

Worried, I got up and took a step toward him.

"You don't look so-"
"Don't come any closer!" he warned shrilly, tearing his gaze off of me. He looked at the trunk of a nearby tree instead of me when he said in a forced-calm kind of voice: "Just lay back down over there."

He swallowed hard, staring at the tree. I took another step.

"Ez?"
"Get away from me, Rose!"
"Ez!"
"I can't stand it... I can't take it anymore!"

I stumbled away from him, tripping over my feet slightly.

He rubbed his forehead for a few seconds, trying to calm himself down. He failed. In one quick, decisive movement, he was on his feet. I let out a strangled cry as I unintentionally crossed my ankles and fell down on my backside. Within seconds, Ez was standing over me. He reached down to grab my hand and haul me to my feet... But he stopped.

Immediately, the look of malice he'd been wearing left his face. He took a deep breath. Trying to remain calm, he sat down on the ground in front of me and squeezed his head in between his knees. His jaw was clenched and he was holding tightly to fistfuls of his own hair.

"Ez," I said quietly. "I'm sort of afraid of you."
He winced.
"Can I... Can I trust you? You know, for the rest of the night?"
"I..."
"Ez..."
With great effort, he said, "Yes. Yes. I promise... You can trust me. Okay?"
I nodded. "Okay."

He raised his head... But he still didn't meet my eyes.

"Just go lie down over there somewhere," he suggested, waving his hand towards the edge of the clearing. I nodded and obeyed.

"Just..." he called over to me, still not looking. "Just make sure you're not in a patch of moonlight. That's what got me the first time."

I scooted back, making sure I was entirely blanketed in shadow.

"Hey... Rose?"
"Yeah?"
"You're safe. I... I mean... I'm not... I won't hurt you. Okay?"
"I believe you, Ez."

Nevertheless, I found it very hard to get to sleep that night.