The First One is the Hardest
Mya Baitz
“You can’t hide forever, little Eyre,” Delta trilled in a sing-song voice. “I will find you soon enough.”
Eyre muffled a delighted giggle as they tucked themself ever deeper into the tangle of branches concealing them. They had yet to win a game of hide-and-seek against Delta, who seemed to grow more into the role of the playful older brother each day, despite the two not sharing any blood relations. But Eyre’s hiding spot today was definitely going to be a winner after failures over the last ten years—a whole one hundred and twenty moon cycles. And on top of that, it seemed that luck was on Eyre’s side in the form of distraction as a rustling emerged from a spot in the forest far away from them.
Keeping their shiny black eyes squinting to a whisper of a line, Eyre tracked Delta’s slow steps toward the sound. Should I move to a hiding spot he’s already checked because he’s distracted now? Eyre turned the thought over in their mind, wondering if it would aid or expose them. But just when they decided to chance sneaking away to a new hiding place, someone else emerged from the area Delta was approaching.
Both Eyre and Delta froze in their tracks as they took in the person standing before them. They were clearly human, unlike Eyre and Delta, given the short stubby ears and whites surrounding a colorful pair of eyes. Not to mention, their creamy brown skin was a stark contrast from a water nymph’s scaly blue complexion that they were used to.
Eyre watched in fascination as Delta’s entire composure shifted in the blink of an eye from the role of playful older brother to the calculating yet beautiful nymph of a human’s dreams. Their excitement grew at this transformation as they realized what was happening. Delta is going to play human games!
The only information about “human games” that Eyre knew was from the few times they had sneakily overheard the older water nymphs discussing their encounters. From what they gathered, human life was incredibly drab, and they were easily impressed by the majesty of the Lavender Banks. The game seemed to be an everlasting competition of how little effort you put in compared to how impressed and attached the human became to you; all of the details had been a mystery to Eyre, but hopefully not for much longer.
Taking great pains to remain still as a stone so as not to mess with this opportunity, Eyre drank in the captivating scene playing out before them. Delta held the human’s stare for a few more seconds before breaking out into tinkling laughter.
“Well, you certainly took me by surprise,” he said, with an inviting yet mischievous smile on his face. “We don’t have humans come stumbling into this neck of the woods quite often, but you… anyone could see that your being here was no happenstance with that determinant stance and expression.”
The human quickly fell for the lie—of course people landed here all of the time—and licked up the compliments like a shark to a treat. How stupid. This seemed all too easy, and Eyre began to grow impatient for some dramatic series of events to take place.
“You flatter me,” rumbled the deep voice from the human. Maybe this was a man? In any case, the attempt to brush off the compliment was for naught. He was clearly taken by Delta. “I have to agree, since I was in fact on a mission. You see, I have heard tales of the beauty and extravagance of the Lavender Banks, so curiosity pulled me here. It would appear thus far that the stories are true.”
Oh, now this was interesting. The human was trying his hand at flattery as well. Eyre scoffed internally, knowing that Delta was beyond a few fluffed up compliments. But to play along with the game, all their brotherly figure did was slightly turn away as he pretended to hide a fake blush. And yet the human was fooled again. Did the human think water nymphs were simple creatures that could easily be won over? How wrong that was! Their community thrived on the complex thought that went into everyday deception and trickery.
Seemingly “recovering” from such a monumental compliment, Delta turned back to the human and stepped closer. What a neat trick, Eyre thought. He was invading the human’s personal space slowly but surely, probably to artificially raise the tension levels. It was a bit of a gamble, because apparently humans had some sort of preference to who they mated with. Something to do with reproduction, or at least that was what Eyre had been told. It didn’t concern them at the moment since they were too young to properly participate in any form of human games. Everyone told them it was too complicated for their little brain, but based on these observations Eyre could not fathom why.
Eyre quickly put a stop to their wandering thoughts when they saw how the situation had advanced without them realizing. The human seemed to be touching Delta, a hand placed on his shoulder and slowly moving around. Well that’s weird. Eyre frowned. What are they saying to each other?
Even with heightened hearing capabilities thanks to their elongated ears, the two boys were conversing in such soft whispers that Eyre could barely make out the words. If they only inched forward a little bit…
Crash!
Oops. Eyre had fallen out of their hiding place into the open expanse, splayed out awkwardly on the grass and staring up guiltily at Delta and the human. Now they would never see the human game play out in full! They had ruined such a perfect opportunity and just because they were greedy for more details.
“I’m sorry, I—I just tripped,” Eyre squeaked out. Delta would still unscramble the truth, but at least the human wouldn’t feel surrounded by spies. “I’ll just leave now; I didn’t mean to disturb you.”
But before Eyre could manage to slip away and find a new hiding place to watch the events unfold, the human blurted out a “Wait.” Eyre stopped dead in their tracks, looking to Delta for guidance on how to proceed. The only communication he gave was a look of pure confusion and a bit of pleading—to do what, Eyre wasn’t sure—as he dropped his act for a precious second.
“It seems that all of you water nymphs are truly creatures of unworldly beauty,” the human purred. Eyre could almost imagine there was molasses dripping from his very words. “Please, I would be beyond grateful if you would stay and grace me with your company.”
Ever so hesitantly, Eyre padded forward. Something felt wrong; the air was moist with a hint of a warning. And Delta. Delta never looked as nervous and unsure as he did now, not even bothering to plaster on some fake expression of casual calm.
Once Eyre came close enough, the human lifted their chin so that they were looking up into his eyes.
“Such a pretty little thing,” he muttered, eyes roaming, seeming to absorb every last part of Eyre.
Something is wrong.
“Now, I’ve heard grand recounts of the many pleasures that the water nymphs have to offer,” the human said, hand beginning to move down from Eyre’s chin. “I can’t help but wonder if you can show me whether those people were telling the truth.”
This isn’t right, Eyre thought as panic started to settle in. This isn’t how human games are supposed to go—there’s no way.
They took a step back, trying to retreat before things went awfully wrong. “Oh I – I’m sorry, I don’t think I can show you what you’re looking for. But Delta here knows—”
“I think you can give me exactly what I’m seeking,” the human interrupted, grabbing their arm roughly with a firm grip. “Now come here, little one.”
Eyre felt frozen like a cuttlefish in the face of a predator. The only movement that they managed was a panicked dart of their ink-drop eyes in Delta’s direction. Sensing the possibility of danger, Delta started to move in on the human.
“Look, I don’t think this child will have what you’re looking for, so why don’t we find a nice quiet place and I can—”
“Don’t come any closer, you fucking animal!” seethed the human, pulling out a sharp dagger from a concealed compartment in his clothing.
Animal? But just a moment ago he seemed in love with the charms that Delta was displaying, Eyre pondered, forgetting the moment. Humans make no sense.
But one look at the frustration and fear on Delta’s face at how little he could do to help Eyre snapped them back to the present. This human was bad. He wanted to harm Delta, and maybe he would harm them too. He had a dagger pointed at Delta. He was hurting Eyre.
Instinct took over, as Eyre lunged forward, baring their pointed teeth and extending the sharp spikes of their arms to full length. The human had barely uttered a cry of reaction before he was under Eyre, precious blood oozing out of his neck, his torso, just everywhere. The air was filled with the sharp metallic scent of the reddish liquid. What did I just do.
Terror settled in, as Eyre realized that the human was no longer breathing. That his eyes were fixated on some point in the forest but could not seem to find reason to move.
It’s because he is dead. Eyre had never seen a dead person before, but they suddenly realized with full certainty that that is what they were witnessing. No. What they had done. I just killed a person. Nononononono that is not good, that is not good at all.
Before they suffocated themself to death by hyperventilating all of the oxygen out of them, Delta was crouching down beside Eyre and trying to say something. Or no, he was saying something, but Eyre’s head was buzzing so loudly that they couldn’t hear it. They tried to quiet their own thoughts to make out Delta’s words.
“Eyre, that was a very good thing you did,” Delta spoke in a slow and calm manner. Like he was used to dead bodies or something. “We need to get this human to the lake now, okay? Especially before too much blood lets out.”
What? To the lake? Would that bring him back to life? Whatever the case, Eyre trusted Delta for being the smarter and older one, but also because he always looked out for them. He must know what the right thing to do was.
Eyre nodded in response, which caused Delta to let out a short sigh of relief. “It’s only some one hundred paces, okay? Between the two of us we can do it. You grab his legs for me, Eyre.”
So Eyre did as they were told, trying to push the replay of ripping flesh, splattering blood, and the wrongness of that human’s words and touches out of their mind. They dragged the body to the riverbank at last and deposited him. Just to add to the strangeness of the day, some force or current or something dragged the body down down deep quicker than a body can sink. But that was the least of Eyre’s problems, and the strangeness quickly got filed away as another trait of their mystical home that was the Lavender Banks.
Later, Delta explained what had happened. The human was being predatory, and Delta had to define that word to Eyre as well. The human was basically using his power of being an older stranger to try and take advantage of Eyre, which reflected on his character. Eyre had probably saved a lot of people’s, especially little kids it seemed, peace of mind and breach of consent.
Even so, Eyre was still unhappy about the whole thing. Delta said it was probably a good thing that they felt bad about taking a life, but to Eyre that didn’t take away from the fact they had actually done the killing. When Cherith, Eyre’s assigned guardian and mentor, heard about the day’s events, she proclaimed it was time to begin Eyre’s education on the role that water nymphs played in serving Mother Nature. Much to Eyre’s despair, this involved feeding Her the humans that would seek to destroy Her.
“You will be contributing to the thrival of nature,” Cherith had said in an attempt to ease Eyre. “And you will even be helping humans, by ridding them of their most rotten.”
Still, Eyre vowed that they would never take another life, despite Cherith’s disappointment. Neither would they allow themself to be taken so off guard again.
But just as the moon can only hide during the day for so long, Eyre could not shirk the responsibility they had been born into for too long. That may have been Eyre’s first kill, but the desire to glean praise from their guardian and community at large made the number soar.
Mya Baitz is a Rutgers student of the 2027 graduating class. She grew up in the suburbs of Rockland County, New York, and has spent her life forging her own fantastical stories to bring some magic into her life. This snippet is one of many stories that Mya hopes to share with other fantasy lovers one day.
Mya wrote this story in a course taught by Richard Murray, who selected the piece for inclusion in WHR.