Immortal Stories: Eve Read Online Free PDF Page B

thing about the spaceship idea or the cocoon thing.”
    “Or an angel.”
    “Or that.  No wings, though.”
    She laughed.  “I do know a thing with wings.”
    “Me too, we call them birds around here.”
    “Not a bird.  A different thing.”
    She uncurled from the chair and stood at the edge of the balcony.  They had passed a copse of trees on their way to the apartment earlier in the day, so there was a chance…
    She made a series of low trills.  There was a very specific note and cadence she was attempting, to issue a sound she’d not tried to issue for many years.
    “What are you doing?” he asked.
    “Shh.”
    She continued.  He watched in silence, amused, confused or concerned, or all three.  After about a minute, she heard a response, and then something flew past her line of vision.
    “What was that?” Rick said.
    “Did you see?” Eve asked.
    “I don’t know what I saw.  Was that a bat?”
    “No.”
    It flew past them again.  Eve held out her arm in a pose more reminiscent of a falconer.  It landed on her wrist.
    “Hello, little one,” she said.
    “Oh my god, what?” Rick said.  He edged closer.  “What is that?”
    “A pixie.”
    “She looks like… Tinkerbell.  But with no clothes on.”
    Eve didn’t know what a Tinkerbell was, but imagined the description was likely accurate.  Pixies were tiny, flying creatures with gossamer wings and bodies that looked human.  They didn’t wear clothes, for the same reason most creatures don’t wear clothes.
    “Can we call you a she , little one?”
    “Uh-huh,” the pixie said.
    Rick jumped back about three paces.
    “Holy shit, she talks.”
    “Of course, they all can.  Although not often and not well.  They have their own language, which is what I was speaking earlier when I asked her to join us.  I’m not fluent in their tongue but I have some words.  No doubt I sound as simple to them in their language as they do to us in ours.”
    “How did… I don’t…”
    “Maybe you should sit down, Rick.”
    “Yes, okay.”
    He sat in the chair.  It took a couple of tries because the chair was not perfectly aligned with his rear, and he couldn’t seem to remove his eyes from the pixie.
    “They tend to appear as female to us,” Eve said.  “But they are each both male and female.  Some identify as male, and so I asked.  You understand.”
    “No.  Yes, sure.  No.”
    To the pixie she asked, “What can I call you?”
    “Dee,” the pixie said.
    “Hello, Dee.”
    “Hi.”  She flew off Eve’s arm, circled Rick’s head twice, and returned to the arm.
    “He sick,” she said.
    “No, he’s not sick.  He’s only confused.”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “Rick?  I think Dee is hungry, do we have something we can give her?”
    “Um…?  What does she eat?”
    “They eat insects, mostly, but have a fondness for certain fruits and fungi.  Things that grow on or near trees.”
    “We have some kung pao left.  Would she eat that?”
    *   *   *
    Dee didn’t have any interest in kung pao , or in three of the other dishes provided.  (Something with noodles and chicken, something with beef and a red sauce, something involving shrimp.  Rick ordered enough food for a month, as far as Eve could discern.)  Dee did take a liking to the mushrooms that accompanied a stir-fry dish, and seemed to enjoy the white rice.  Rick also had an apple in his refrigerator that Dee started eating as soon as it warmed to room temperature. 
    They sat in the kitchen at the table and watched their new friend eat.  Pixies could eat twice their weight in hardly any time at all.
    Rick remained utterly flummoxed by the entire thing.
    “I was prepared to accept that the stuff you were telling me was real as far as you were concerned ,” he said.  “You know, because we all have our own… reality, I guess.  Dated a witch once.”
    “Witches aren’t real.”
    “Fair enough, but she thought she was. Like, not wiccan, or I guess not just wiccan.