The undines were certainly vivacious. In just the short time they’d been in Faerie – although now that I thought about it, I really had no idea how long we’d all been here – they had changed. Not only did they have legs now, but also their flesh, which had been transparent back in the human world, had turned golden under the Faerie sky. Not that I could say where in the sky the sun was. No. It was more as if the golden light – Aelvesgold, Liam had called it – had filled the transparent vessels of the undines. Their hair was now golden with sea-green highlights; their eyes had changed from moss green to sparkling citrine. Clearly they were enjoying the change. They’d imagined sparkly green and gold dresses for themselves that showed off their new long legs and brought out the sea green highlights in their hair – except for Raspberry who had given herself a pink dress and red highlights in her hair. They flipped their hair over their shoulders and held out their tawny arms as if admiring fresh manicures. I could feel heat rising off them as they gathered around me and laid their hands on me.

As they almost all did. They plucked at my arms and stroked my hair – which wouldn’t lay as smooth as theirs – and wound their arms around my waist. They chattered in a tongue I couldn’t understand, but I got their meaning well enough. They were thanking me for bringing them safely through the Borderlands. They were letting me know they were glad they had come.

Recalling their primary concern about coming to Faerie, though, I looked around for male undines. There were a few – smooth-cheeked, lanky lads who were each surrounded by a bevy of young female undines. One boy, tall with black ringlets and wearing a tartan kilt and a brooding look, stood off to the side. All the males looked alternately bored and terrified. I’d seen the look on many a young college boy. If they’d had on Ray-Bans and black jeans they would have fit right in at Fairwick College. Well, at least there were some boys, I observed, even if the female to male ratio looked worse than at a Sarah Lawrence College mixer. I hoped they weren’t all gay …

“Gay?” Raspberry asked. “They don’t even seem happy to see us.”

“Maybe they’re just shy,” I answered. “They’ve only had their sisters’ company all these years.” I looked around for one of the older undines. At first I couldn’t see any difference between the young women on the bank, but then I noticed that some were more subdued and paler. One of these had just arrived on the riverbank. Although she looked hardly older than her teens, she held herself like an old woman and her hair was ashen white. She wore a long-sleeved, high-necked dress that hung loosely on her bony frame. Her eyes were a sickly yellow-green. She was clearly ill. I didn’t think there was sickness in Faerie.