“Unless what, Soheila?”

“Unless they are allowed into this world to find a mate. Every hundred years, when the juvenile undines run downstream into Faerie there are mature undines on the other side waiting to come through the door to find a human mate. It’s their only chance to reproduce.”

“So these undines …” I pointed to the roiling mass of bodies in the stream, “are the offspring of an undine and a human?”

Soheila tilted her head and gave me a curious look. Instantly I was ashamed of the surprise – and the little bit of horror – in my voice. Soheila, after all, was an otherworldly being who had fallen in love with a human, the folklorist Angus Fraser. Perhaps she had hoped for children from the union. I myself had made love to an incubus many – many – times. Could I have gotten pregnant with Liam’s child? I felt myself go hot with the thought. A splash of cold water brought me back into the moment – and my body temperature back down to normal.

Soheila finally answered: “We believe they’re the children of an undine who came through the door in the summer of 1910 and a fisherman by the name of Sullivan Trask. Sul, as he was known. In fact, the pool we’re heading for is known as Sul’s Eddy.” Soheila had resumed the cool, dispassionate voice of a lecturer. If I’d offended her, she wasn’t letting on. “The spot is famous in local angling lore. Come, I’ll show you the sign.”

She turned to go, but I stopped her by laying my hand on her arm. I was startled by how cold her skin felt. While I knew that Soheila was always cold in the winter, since she had forsworn feeding off the life force of humans, it was shocking to discover that she was still frigid to the touch on a broiling summer day. “Soheila, was there something else you were going to tell me?”

Soheila sighed – a sound like wind rippling through the pines, reminding me that in the centuries before she became flesh Soheila had been a wind spirit. “Hmm. Well we were going to tell you later after we saved the undines. There’s a meeting on Monday, the day of summer solstice, of IMP and the Grove.”

IMP was the Institute of Magical Professionals and a much more liberal organization than the Grove, a conservative witches’ club that my grandmother belonged to. I had joined the Grove myself a few months ago in exchange for learning how to lift a curse from one of my favorite students – a fact of which my friends at Fairwick were unaware.

“I’m surprised that the Grove would meet with an organization that includes fairies and demons.” I was also surprised – and not a little put out – that my grandmother hadn’t told me about the meeting.

“So were we. They said they want to improve relations with the witches of Fairwick. The governing board of IMP thought it was prudent to take them up on the offer of a meeting. The Grove has been growing more and more powerful.” I could tell by Soheila’s expression that she certainly wasn’t happy about the prospect.