Oscar barely slipped an inch before his back impacted against something wide and warm, with a tough surface and a little give to it. A pulse thudded behind his back and he realized it was the human’s palm.
Then, fingers and a thumb bigger than him snaked into view. They curled around Oscar faster than he could cry out or even lift his own hands to push at them, and soon enough they tightened around his small body. The light from above winked out as Oscar disappeared completely in a fist that could probably smash half his home with ease.
He yelped when a voice, a deep, rumbling voice, boomed overhead. “Gotcha!” The word sent ice into Oscar’s every nerve ending.
“Whoa,” Sam said, his eyes wide as he pushed against the fabric to one side. “Are we…?”
Dean glanced behind himself, spotting one of the entrances to the pocket. It was large enough to be a cavern of its own, and he knew how small it would look compared to Jacob. Sam and Dean, two dangerous hunters who were trained to kill monsters without hesitating, were simply a fold in the fabric against Jacob’s stomach.
Bowman couldn’t sleep, and usually when he couldn’t sleep, that meant his wings twitched and he tossed and turned for hours before giving in. Tonight, he wasn’t going to do that. He lay in his bed and almost glared at his window and the serene light that broke through it. The moon cast its cool, sharp glow upon the village of Wellwood in shining bars that mimicked the golden light of its sky sibling.
Moonlight might not be quite as refreshing as the sunlight, but Bowman knew that flying through it was just as peaceful, just as liberating.
He sat up in his bed, the oval-shaped basin in his room, and stretched his wings carefully. Why deny himself a little flying just because his aunt and uncle told him it was too dangerous to go out at night? Their warnings had never been frightening enough to keep him from it. He had to practice to be the best in the village one day, after all.
I’m not sure if I perfectly captured her in this, but I made Nixie in a pixie creator for fun and I thought I would share it with you. Hope you like it! :3
A little story from Kara while her daddy was missing!
Kara sniffled, brushing away a tear as she curled into a ball.
Her dad was gone. Christian was gone, and she had no idea how to get him back.
Her tiny form was hidden away in the walls, just like he’d always told her to do if she was in trouble. Stay out of sight, out of reach, beyond notice by any humans. She had to choke down her cries, forcing herself to stay quiet in the vents.
She’d run long and hard to get away from that terrible, horrid room where he’d been taken from. Why? Why him, why now, why did she have to lose the last person she had in her life?
Her mom was gone, nice old Mikael had vanished a week ago, and now daddy had followed, grabbed in huge hands.
She blinked her grey eyes open again, and uncurled enough to creep along the vent. The metal was cold to the touch, but it wasn’t on. If she heard the clanking motors activate deep in the bowels of the motel, she’d be forced to find a new place to hide.
Ahead, there was a slit. She came up to it, peering out to see where she was.
One of the motel rooms stretched out before her, and she very nearly ducked back down. But there were no humans up and about, just one guy sitting on the bed down there. The television was on nearby, and she stared at it. Her dad had told her about televisions before. How they could show humans things that happened very far away.
This one had a white forest on the screen, and her grey eyes reflected the sight of gentle snowflakes landing on the ground.
It was so peaceful and idyllic. A scene that Kara would never be able to see outside of the walls.
She took a deep breath, holding the image in her head. Peace. She needed to get her daddy back so they could find some peace of their own.
The human shifted, and her terrified eyes flashed back to him. He was huge. Why did humans have to be so massive?
Him moving caught her attention to something she’d missed. On his shoulder, there was another man.
The human’s voice was drowned out by her shocked reaction. She almost scrambled away from the vent, then inched forward once more to see if she’d been imagining things.
But no. It wasn’t her imagination. There was a man on the human’s shoulder, and he looked as relaxed as anyone she’d seen. No fear, no worry. Casual words exchanged between the two of them as they argued over what they should do next. The human stood and snapped off the television, dispelling the image of the snowy forest.
Kara blinked, then her resolved firmed. When the human wasn’t around, she needed to talk to this new guy. Sam.
Nope, this Jacob is completely free of any knowledge of sprites. Which is a little unfortunate regarding his initial reactions to everything, considering a Jacob who already knew how to deal with such little people might be able to handle things better. As it is, you can count on Jacob being quite flustered with the whole thing!
Bowman, if he saw a giant that big, one that towered over even the trees, might just work himself into a little bitty heart attack. Jacob’s boots are bigger than the village, how dare he! He must not wander close to the village, at all.
Of course, Jacob wouldn’t be able to see or hear him and a sigh would blow the little sprite away … Dean better keep him safe in a pocket.
What if indeed! Poor Oscar is one of my smallest characters and Jacob is one of my tallest! This is such a cute AU idea. Jacob’s meeting with Bowman was so touch and go, because the little sprite snarked up a storm! Oscar is definitely not the same personality type, so it was fun to see how differently Jacob would act with his first tiny encounter with such a timid little guy.
There was nothing interesting on TV, but that didn’t really come as a surprise. Jacob didn’t watch a lot of television, and decent movies were tough to find on the channels offered by the kinds of small-town motels he chose on his frequent road trips. They went for basic, and that was always hit-or-miss.
Not that Breckenridge was particularly small. Jacob had chosen a little motel in the summer, however, a time when business in an area known for skiing could take a dip. Mountains stood tall and proud against the sky out the window while he lounged on the bed. It was a good place to stop and rest, even with the tacky decorations and worn-down character of the place.
While he settled on a channel showing old cowboy movies, Jacob mused about staying an extra day in Breckenridge. He could wander around and enjoy the mountain air, and the jagged horizon that stood tall and stoic all around. It contrasted with his usually endless horizon view back in Iowa, where the sky was a dome.
A quiet sound derailed his thoughts. On the edge of hearing, occurring between lines on the movie, Jacob thought he heard a rustling noise. It ended as soon as he heard it, but his ears primed to the sound to listen harder anyway. He pinpointed the source easily: his backpack.
Nothing had stirred since Jacob started watching, and he need to help keep his only friends in the world right now from harm. Even if it meant directly going against what they’d told him to do.
They’ll thank me later. Maybe.
Jacob stooped down to scoop each brother onto a hand and off the ground.
He looked over Sam and Dean in his hands hastily, before glancing up at the farmhouse again. There was no time. “Sorry, guys…” His hands were shoved carefully into his hoodie pocket to let the pair slide off his palms. They’d be safe in there for a short trip, and he needed his hands free.
Oh the fate of a sprite who can be summoned. Nixie rues this word some days.
The summons was clear, and Nixie paused in her morning ablutions to cock her head to the side.
Aretha glanced over at her sister, her wings glistening in the morning air. “You will answer?” she asked, her tone as patronizing as it ever was. She gave her wings a flick to get the precipitation from the morning rain in the rainforest off, ready for flight.
Nixie ignored the tone of voice, as she always did. Alone of her sisters, she would never miss a summons. “It is who we are,” she reminded Aretha gently. “We must stop ignoring the calls.”
Before Aretha could respond, Nixie twisted the air and water around herself, vanishing and following the summons as only a sprite of aeternum could. It was the only time they could travel to the human world without using the portal itself to travel, and it brought her right to her destination.
The human world was always a shock, more because of how it changed each time she was summoned than anything. The size she was prepared for; no sprite stood over four inches in height, the fire sprites were the closest to that. Nixie’s wings vibrated once, and she alighted on the edge of the book used for the summons, the glow of the summoning magic fading away from her.
Brown eyes full of tears stared back at her, wide at the sight of the small sprite the summons had brought forth. Nixie waited patiently as the young girl, no more than twenty in her estimation, recovered from the realization that the summoning had worked.
“I am Nixie,” she introduced herself, as she always did. “Why have you summoned me?”
Hundreds of summonings in the past left her prepared for anything that might happen. Many times, she was brought forth to heal the dying or restore the poisoned waters of war. It was her reason for creation, along with guarding the flower of gold.
The girl’s face was framed by dark hair, and it bobbed as she shook her head in surprise. “B-but you… you’re real? Really real?”
Nixie did not deign to answer, merely watching the area around her with a curious eye and taking in the objects used to summon her. The circle could use some work, but the symbol in the center was well-drawn.
“Okay,” the girl pulled herself together and straightened. “I want you to make me the prettiest girl in school. That way they stop making fun of me! I’m not a geek!”
Nixie sighed at that. “Child, do you not know who you have summoned?” she asked gently. “I am a sprite. Wishes I do not grant. What you want is beyond my power.”
“B-but…”
“You should ignore what others say,” Nixie said firmly, thinking of Aretha and her constant dislike of what Nixie persisted in doing. “All that matters is who we are to ourselves. Letting their words bother you gives them power over you.”
She let her wings vibrate again, and lifted off from the book, whipping the pages and the girl’s hair into a mess. The girl opened her mouth. “No, wait!”
With a twinkling, Nixie severed the summoning and vanished back into aethernum.
Brothers Apart 