Entranced

Glad you could join us for the next engaging episode of Elliot’s Adventures. If you’re new here, you can catch up by returning to the beginning, and reading really fast…

The sweep of her wings, the arch of her neck, the delicate bend of her leg — every curve, line, and motion painted her with grace. She hadn’t seemed to notice Elliot, so he snapped his hanging jaw shut and waited in a shadow wishing his heart would stop pounding so fast.

Twirling slowly, her dance sculpted swirls in the water that spread across the pond, curling the edge of his lily pad with each pulsation. She paused, stretching to preen one wing from her shoulder to its tip, then raised her head to peer through lowered lashes deep into Elliot’s eyes. His face burned.

“I… I’m sorry. I didn’t.. I didn’t mean… to stare,” he faltered, emerging, embarrassed and captivated, into the light.

Her laugh twinkled like singing stars in twilight. “You’re Elliot?”

He nodded. “I’m engaged.”

“I know.”

His tongue filled his mouth blocking the words that tumbled from his brain and lay unspoken in a jumble in his throat.

Smiling, she asked, “Would you come with me? We’ll walk; I know you prefer not to fly.”

He would have tried — he wanted to try again, but the chance it would result in humiliation and a return to the baths descended like a curtain over his flickering vision of glory.

He nodded again and followed as she seemed to glide through the brush into the larger pool and past gatherings of splashing bathers who stopped to watch as she passed.

If she heard the whispers that crept after them, Elliot couldn’t tell.

To be continued. . .

Previously, on Elliot’s Adventures ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Next time . . .