“Come on in, Nat,” Mr. Fireoak said as he threw open the double doors to the library.

               Inside two young women, nearly identical in looks, save for height, ignored the intrusion.

               “He CAN!” the taller of the two declared. 

               Nat fully expected her to stomp her foot.  She caught sight of the newcomers.

               “Mother!  Ummm . . . “her mouth snapped shut with an audible pop.

               “Come on in, Nat, this is my wife, Raven, and eldest daughter, Jessy,” Fireoak said with a sweep of a hand.

               Nat ducked under the lintel of the door and stood with his hands clasped together in the front.  He was a couple of inches over seven feet tall and probably weight well over three hundred pounds.  Perfectly proportioned for his size, he was well muscled with a smooth youthful face.  Straw-blonde hair has uncombed, only an inch or so long and he looked down on the two women through shockingly blue eyes.  All he wore was a ragged pair of cutoff jeans so worn they looked almost white and a tee shirt that was too small by half leaving his hard belly exposed.  From his deep bronze tan and the smell of salt spray about him it was obvious he spent a great deal of time at the beach.

               “Greetings and welcome, Nat,” the smaller girl said with a smile.

               Maybe five feet tall and only a hundred pound or so, she was stunningly beautiful with hair that cascaded down her body nearly to her knees.  She too look as if she might be ready for the beach as she wore a revealing black one piece thing that looked like a bathing suit and displayed an intricate tattoo of a pair of dragons that twined about her body.  There was a hint of amusement in her green eyes as she stepped up to the tall boy and hugged him around the waist.  The top of her head barely reached his ribcage.  Nat flinched and looked down at the tiny woman hugging him then raised his hands, careful not to touch her.

               Stepping back she crooked her finger at him, “Now bend down here.” She commanded.

               Blushing slightly Nat shook his head.

               “I’m okay,” he said giving the man a pleading look.

               “We have a shy one,” she said with a smile.  “Jessy, say hello.”

               On closer inspection the taller girl’s similarity to her mother wasn’t quite as marked as Nat had first thought.  While she had the same general facial features and the black hair, her face with fuller, softer, and the slant of her eyes less pronounced.  If asked to pick which of the two was the more beautiful, Nat figured silence would be the best bet, both were stunning.  The big difference was that Jessy was dressed in loose fitting jeans and a baggy, oversized sweatshirt.  Under that she could have weighed anything from her mom’s diminutive hundred pounds, to her father’s substantial two hundred plus.  She didn’t, however, look to Nat like he might snap her in two with a breath.  It did seem strange to him though that the mother didn’t look more than a couple of years older than the daughter.  Perhaps a step-mother?

               Nat bobbed his head and in a very quiet voice said, “Hi."

               “Jessy say hello,” Raven urged.

               Eyes glued to her feet the girl said, “Hey” in a voice as quiet as Nat’s.

               “Hey,” Nat replied.

               Raven shook her head, long black hair seeming to shimmer down her body.

               “How about showing Nat around, Jessy?” she suggested then added, “Your father and I have things to discuss.”

               “Come on this way,” the girl said, still not looking up.

               With a small hunch of the shoulders he started, “Um . . . You super too?”

               With a lift of her shoulders Jessy left Nat still wondering but with her in this place, he figured she would have some powers.

               Jessy stopped in front of the door, still watching her feet.

               “Umm . . . you are blocking the door,” she told Nat.

               “Oh!  Sorry,” Nat stepped backward through the door, forgetting to duck.  The back of his head banged against the lintel splintering the molding.

               “Sorry,” he said, ducking out into the hallway.  Jessy scooted around him like a trapped little animal.  “Anywhere here got a higher ceiling?”  The tone was slightly jesting but Jessy didn’t react as he’d hope she would.

               “Yes,” she said, then her voice rose a half octave as she began to almost babble.  “Did you get to see the school?  Get a room?  Meet my brat sibs?  Watch out for Nicky and Aaron, they put glue in my shampoo the other day.”

               The entire spate of words was directed at the floor.

               “I just got here,” Nat managed to get in as she took a breath.  “Your dad stopped me from killing a couple of guys down on the beach.  Where are we?”

               “In the main house,” she replied.

               “I mean . . . how’d I get here?”  His head swiveled back and forth trying to take in everything in the amazing house.  It was gigantic.  “And what’s this place?”

               “You are in the Wild Elf Hunt House,” Jessy replied.  “More of us home grown elves here.”

               Nat frowned, thinking it might be a joke.

               “Elves?  Like D&D?”

               “Like me!” There was a hint of sudden fire in her tone.

               “You’re an elf?” Now he knew she was joking on him.  “Let me see you ears.”

               Lifting a hand, Jessy pushed her shoulder length hair behind an ear.  Sure enough her ear was quite obviously and rather beautifully pointed.

               “Dang!” Nat gasped.

               “So is Mother and Father,” Jessy assured him.  “And all nine of us kids.  ‘Course I was once human but that was a long time ago.  So how did you become so tall?”

               Nat shrugged, the tee shirt lifting higher on his belly and staying there.

               “I dunno,” he said.  “I just started growin’ when I was about twelve.

“You look strong,” she said, looking up for the first time.  Her eyes follow the hard muscles of his belly up his body to his face.  Instantly she dropped her gaze back to her feet.

               He nodded slowly. 

“Yeah, I guess I am,” he said.

               “This is the dining hall,” she said in a rush then pointed at a door at the far end of the room.  “And through there . . . “

               She approached the open door as if fearing discovery.

               “Good, she isn’t in there.”

               Nat, still standing out in the hall, peered into the room, trying to take in the long, intricately carved table and dozen matching chairs around it.  It was the biggest table he’d ever seen and covered with a white table cloth, matched China and what he suspected was real silver flatware.  It even had a basket of fresh cut flowers as a center piece.  Pull his eyes from the opulence and blinked at Jessy.

            “Who?”

            She disappeared into the other room and Nat caught up to her in a few long-legged strides.

            “Marie,” she said as she crossed what proved to be a huge kitchen to a counter.

            He followed her “Who’s Marie?”

            “The cook,” she said.  “She hates me messing up her kitchen.”

            She lifted the lid of what looked to Nat like a cake pan only glass and snatched a pastry.  Taking a bite she muttered through the mouthful “Hungry?”

            Dropping the half eaten pastry on the counter she pulled the refrigerator open and peered inside.  She made a small satisfied sound and pulled half of a pie out.

            “Cool, there’s some left!” 

            “I guess,” Nat said tentatively.  “What’s that?”

            “Pie!” she said, her tone saying ‘what does it look like?’  “Marie made them this morning.” 

            Pushing a button, the microwave popped open and she set the pie on the turn table.  Touching more buttons with long slender fingers, she started it then turned back to Nat.

           “Like ice cream on yours?” she asked, pulling open one of two massive stainless steel refrigerators.

           “Sure, whatever,” Nat said with a shrug.  Actually, he’d only had ice cream on a cake before and then only on his birthday.  Most of the time it was just a Nutty Buddy on the beach.

           The girl set a gallon tub of ice cream on the counter then took out a scoop and set it on the top.  Pulling open a cabinet, she took down two large shallow bowls and set them beside the ice cream as the microwave beeped.  Removing the pie she used a butter knife to divide the pie into three, two she slid onto one bowl, one onto the other.  Dropping the knife in the sink, she grabbed the ice cream scoop and piled ice cream atop both slices.  Almost instantly it began to melt on the steaming pie.

           “Take your pick,” she said with a hand gesture.

           Without hesitation, he picked the smaller of the two but indicating it with a pointing finger.  Jessy handed him a spoon.  Nat noticed she left everything where it fell, the pastry, the pie pan, the empty ice cream carton, the scoop . . . the only thing that landed in the sink was the knife and that had to be a mistake.

          “Man,” she said, sounding incredulous.  “You’re nice!  Mark would have snatched the bigger piece.”

          “Who's Mark?”

“My older brother,” she said taking a bite of ice cream.  “He is out hunting with grandpa Josho.”

“You . . .?” Nat asked.

Jessy stirred her pie and ice cream together into a purple soup.  “What?  You want some fruit?  Or a sandwich.  We have pop too!”

He shook his head, hoping she’d stop for a second.

“No . . . are you?”

“I know where Nicky hid some beer,” she offered still stirring the soup.

Nat shook his head “No beer.”

“Good!” she said, sounding relieved.  “It tastes funny.”

His blank stare gave her pause.

“Am I what?!” she frowned.  “A mutant?  Just don’t tell dad, okay but I kinda am.”

She spooned the purple concoction into her mouth.

“You better eat,” she suggested.  “The ice cream is leaking onto the counter.”

Nat used a finger to wipe up the little puddle of melted ice cream.  Jessy took the opportunity to watch him, her eyes a little wide.

“Kinda?” he said, licking his finger.

“Yeah,” she confirmed, “I kinda am.”

“What can you do?”

“See, Nicky and Aaron and Luthien . . . they been doing things since they were kids.  I just started doing stuff,” she said.  “Guess I’m a little slow.”

“I been doing stuff for a couple years,” Nat offered.  “. . . like picking up cars.”

The spoon went around and around on Jessy’s plate.

“I can't do anything much in here,” she said “Dad would have a fit and Marie would cut me off of dessert for a month!”

“You can't use your powers either, huh?” Nat asked. “ Why?”  

“Practice is for class and the danger room,” she said “And I have stupid powers.   Nothing cool like my mom or dad.

“Least you don't break everything you touch,” Nat looked down at the plate and spoon.

“Is that why you’re not eating?” Her brows knitted together.  She picks up the spoon and scooped up pie.

“Bend down,” she said.  “I’ll help you.”

Nat’s face hardened a little and he said “No, thanks, I ain't a baby.”

“FINE!”  Jessy snapped.  “Just was trying to be nice!”

“Maybe if you put it in something more metal . . .” he suggested.

Digging under the counter, she brought out a metal mixing bowl and in dumped pie and ice cream.  Setting it on the counter with a clang, she did a little hop and planted her butt on the counter.  She resumed eating her purple soup.

Nat carefully picked up the bowl, crushing the lip around the top as if it had been wet tissue.

“Sorry,” he murmured giving the concoction a taste.  It was actually better than it looked.  Feeling more comfortable with the metal, he began to eat.

“Dad will raise the ceilings to the school for you,” Jessy offered, “if they are too short.  I’m sure he will get you more clothes too.”

“What’s wrong with these?”  He stopped stirring the pie and ice cream as Jessy had and looked down at his tee and cutoffs.

Finished with her portion, Jessy tossed the dirty china plate down on the counter then stepped over to the double sink and rinsed her hands and face.  Most of the water she used managed to run down the front of her sweatshirt gluing it to her body.  She dried her hands on the shirt tail.

“Only bad thing is that stuff is sticky!” she said then realized Nat had been watching her more than eating.  “Okay, Nat, Follow ME!”

Nat took the time to empty the bowl and rinse it and the spoon off, careful not to snap the faucet.  Jessy mumbled something he didn’t catch then pulled open the back door of the kitchen.  As she stepped out, she kicked a stone, sending in sailing out of sight.

As Nat emerged, Jessy pointed to a gigantic white tree a few miles away.

“Stay away from the tree,” she commanded.  “That’s Uncle Nick’s house.  He will kill you if you go near.”  Something in Nat’s smirk made her add, “That’s NOT a joke.”

“Well, who’s Uncle Nick?” His tone was flippant, dismissive.

Jessy lowered her voice and whispered conspiratorially “He is a DRAGON!  I think he is related to us on my mom’s side!”

Nat gave her a look.

“She says he is a Great One and dad just curses a lot about him but he hates visitors.”  She pointed in another direction.  “Over there is the hedge maze.  Nicky and Aaron will plot to trap you in there.”

“Who’re Aaron and Nicky?”

“And if you see a kid running around like a wild Indian, that’s my brother Ozuye Chikala!” 

She sounded serious and Nat began to wonder if any of it was a joke.

“Aaron, Nicky and Luthien are the triplets,’ she explained.  “And Thistle and Gene are the twins.”

“How many are there of you?”

“Nine!”  she said, “I already TOLD you that!”

“No kidding?!”

“Mark is 15, I am 16,” she started.

 “The triplets are six, Josho is five, the twins are three and Nathaniel is 18 months.”  She ticked them off on her fingers.  “Well I am almost 16, like any one cares.”

“So am I,” Nat managed to get in.

Again she kicked a stone deep into the surrounding forest.

“Okay, the lake is that way,” she pointed.  “There’s the beach.  The school’s around front . . . It's the goofy looking building across the street “

“How’re the waves?  Nat’s ears had almost pricked up at the word beach.

“Yeah,” Jessy said with a dismissive wave of her hand.  “The water is great.”

Nat’s blue eyes lit up but Jessy, with her head down, didn’t notice.

“You never told me where we are, or how I got here.”

“Easy,” she said with a shrug.  “You are in the Hunt Valley and Dad either flew you here or used Spock.”

“The Vulcan science officer?”  Nat stopped and stared at her, looking for a chuckle.

“Just about!” she said, stopping when he did.  “Spock, swim suits for us and a board for Nat and drop us off at the beach!”

Before Nat could speak, they were standing at the top of a cliff overlooking the ocean.  He dressed in trunks with a long board laying on the grass at his feet and she in . . . Nat stared down at the girl he’d been talking to for the last hour.  She was wearing a tiny white string bikini that revealed a slight tan sans any hint of tan lines.  He swallowed hard.

“See?” Jessy stepped over to the edge of the cliff facing the water and pointed down.  The back part of her bikini wasn’t a thong and Nat subconsciously wished it was but the view was still pulse quickening.  She was totally unconscious of amount of her body the new attire displayed.  Picking her way through scattered rocks she found a path and began to descend.

“You do that?” Nat asked, picking up the board and following.

“No,” she said, looking back over her shoulder.  She almost stumbled at the sight of the huge surfer only a meter behind her.  His body looked as if it had been sculpted from bronze.  She swallowed hard.  “Spock did.”

Jessy turned her attention back to the path and Nat stubbed his toe on a rock.  He was watching her more than his feet.  Once out of the baggy clothes, Jessy had become very distracting.  She wasn’t her mom’s size but damn she had a body better than any of the girls he knew on the beach and she wore that bikini like it was an everyday thing.   Tearing his eyes from her ass, he wonder why she’d been hiding under that sweatshirt.

“Umm . . . “ he began  “Do you surf?”

“No one ever taught me,” she said as they reached the beach.  With a small gesture sand mounded up at the edge of the surf and began to move as if an army of ants were building a nest.  In seconds a castle formed that was large enough even for Nat to fit.  He gapped at the detail of battlements and could actually see individual ‘bricks’ in the walls.

“That is what I do,” she said, dismissing the castle back into a pile of sand.  “Kid stuff . . . “

“Sweet!”

“What good is it?” she asked, looking up at him.

For a second he considered, really considered as if envisioning a scene.

“I don’t know . . . “ He said.  “Yet.”

Pulling the board from under his arm he rested the tail in the sand and seemed to lean toward Jessy.

“You wanna ride?” he offered.

“Umm . . . “ she met his blue eyes then blushed and look out at the ocean.  “You’ll umm . . . “  She blushed furiously.  “Umm . . . show me?”

Nat tucked the board up under his arm.

“Come on,” he said, striking out for the surf line.

Jessy caught him with a quick step, taking a position on the side without the board.  They waded out into the surf until the breaking waves crested at Nat’s waist.  Jessy shivered slightly as she hopped to keep her chest out of the next comber.  Nat dropped the board, nose out, in the trough between two waves.

“You’re a bit taller than me,” Jessy said with another hop.  The wave covered her to the neck and gooseflesh covered her body.  “Could you bring that thing a little closer to me?”

Holding the board in place by the tail, Nat hooked an arm around Jessy’s waist and swung her effortlessly onto it.  At the apogee of his swing she gasped, trying to fill lungs suddenly empty.  She landed unceremoniously in the center of the board on her bottom.  He stood chest deep beside the board, holding it steady until she caught her balance.  She looked at him with huge eyes.

“Man you’re strong!” she whispered.

“Nah,” Nat said with a shrug.  “You don’t weigh nothin’.”

               He turned the board slightly to face into the next wave.

               “Hey!” she exclaimed.  “You didn’t break me!”

               “Move forward on the board and belly down,” he commanded, moving to the tail of the board and wading until he felt the beginning of a drop off.

               Jessy started to scoot forward on her butt as the nose came up on the next wave.  Gripping the edges tightly she froze.

               “I got it,” Nat said calmly. The board suddenly felt as solid as a rock.  “Lay down on your belly.”

               “There isn’t ROOM!” she called back over her shoulder but she leaned forward, sliding her hands along the edges of the board.  As she did her ass rose into the air and into Nat’s face.

               “Stretch out flat!” Nat said, trying to ignore the view,

Jessy wiggled her legs into place and found her head two thirds of the way from the tail of the board, her feet resting on either side of Nat’s hips.

“How do I hang ON!?”  She was clutching the edge of the board so tightly her knuckles were white.

There was a surge behind her and the nose rose up so far she thought she would slide off the tail but the board leveled out as a wave rolled beneath and suddenly Nat’s hard body was between her legs, his chest on her ass.

Jessy wasn’t sure if it was the fear or the fact that a boy was pressed against her so hard that made her shut her eyes.  She could feel his powerful arms along her hips as Nat paddled the board into deeper water. 

“Okay,” she said just loud enough to Nat to hear.  “This isn’t so bad.”

Just as she opened her eyes, a wave easily as tall as Nat crested over her head and for an instant they submerged before shooting out into the trough behind where the board landed with a slap.  A second wave rose up and Jessy sucked in a breath to scream.

“Too SMALL!” came a voice filled with excitement.

As they passed through the next wave, Jessy realized she was on a stick in the ocean with a nut case.  Then she saw the third wave coming.

“I think we’re in trouble!!” she screamed.

The wave rose like a wall, climbing and climbing.

“Keep your hands on top the board!” Nat called.

“That’s gonna totally dunk us!!”

As the wave closed, Nat did something with his hands and legs and suddenly they were facing the beach, the tail of the board already rising behind them.  The board surged forward, falling down the face of the wave.  She felt Nat move and the weight of his body was gone from her ass.  Looking back over her shoulder she saw him standing over her, feet braced, his hand out to her.

“Come ON!” He called, waving his hand. ”Stand up!”

“WHAT?!?”

“Give me your hand!”

“I’ll fall!!”

As he leaned forward the nose of the board dropped and their speed increased.  She grabbed his hand and found herself on her feet, her body pressed against his. Hugging him for dear life she trembled.

“Turn around!” he yelled over the roar of the wave.  “I’ll hold you!”

She turned within the curl of his arm until she faced the nose.  Nat, true to his word, had one hand around her waist and pressed to her belly, the other out for balance.  He felt like a steel beam against her.  She glanced up to his face and again began to suspect his sanity.  He was laughing!
               “I guess this isn’t so bad,” she ventured.

Nat squatted down and Jessy, sensing she’d best do the same, molded her body to his.  She began to relax.  Then the wave curled and closed over their heads.  The sky was gone and all she could see ahead was a tube of water that was shrinking fast.  She risked a glance behind and saw only a roiling wall of water that was not only chasing them, but gaining.

“By the FLAME!”  She screamed, turning forward again in hopes of an escape.  “HOLY SHIT!”

The tube ahead collapsed.  With scream of pure terror from Jessy, they shot out the end of the curl into open water and slowed, almost coasting.  Nat shifted his body and the board spun end for end, the nose pointed at the next incoming wave.  With the ease of experience Nat dropped onto his ass, legs straddling the board, leaving Jessy standing.  Caught off guard she wobbled and fell off the board.  Nat’s hand closed around her hand as she sank and for the second time, he lifted her with ease onto the board.  She ended up sitting in front of him, between his legs, facing the nose. 

“Why’d you do that?!” she looked back over her shoulder at him and sputtered out seawater.

“Do what?”

“You could have drowned me letting go!” she snapped.

“Ya gotta sit down or you fall!”

“Like I knew!”

Nat adjusted the board to meet the next wave and the nose climbed up the face, forcing Jessy to lean back against Nat.

“Sorry,” he said with real contrition in his voice.  “I forgot you never done this before.”

“I've played on the beach,” she gasped, breathing hard.  “Swam in the water . . . but never this!”

A movement on the beach caught Nat’s eye and he zeroed in on a girl with long black hair coming toward them.   Jessy turned to see what was so interesting and sighed.

Nat nodded at the girl on the beach “Which sister is that?"

“She isn't.”

“Oh?” he stared at the girl.  “Who’s she?”

Jessy shrugged.

The distant girl stopped and flipped out a blanket then stretched out on her back.  Jessy frowned.

“Guess we should go say hey,” Jessy’s tone was anything but congenial.

“I’m not the only newbie, huh?”  Nat offered.

“I should be used to this,” Jessy muttered.