Enchantment by Pati Nagle Page B

did?”
    â€œYeah. Drove my parents nuts. They wanted me to study business, so I started out there, but I hated it. Then I tried education. I should have just gone with my gut to begin with.”
    Holly thought about that, wishing Mad had been here to hear it. Maybe Pam had talked about her changes of direction with her roommates.
    They reached the path along the lake shore and started walking north. Holly kept an eye on the water, watching for any movement, any sign of a face.
    â€œYou know, Carla’s graduating next spring, and she’s going to California for grad school. We’ll be looking for another roommate next year.”
    Holly didn’t say anything. She knew what was coming.
    â€œThink you might be interested in CU?”
    â€œI don’t know. Just came up to take a look.”
    â€œIt’s a good school.”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œAnd Boulder’s a pretty good town. Kind of conservative, but that’s all right.”
    They were nearing a stand of cattails where some ducks were clustered. Pam opened up her grocery sack and the birds swarmed toward her, quacking madly. She took out a handful of bread crumbs and flung them over the water, sparking a free-for-all, then offered the bag to Holly.
    With all the commotion the ducks were making, Holly figured any water spirits in the lake were probably watching from a distance. She tossed bits of bread one by one to hopeful ducks, watching them catch and gobble or miss and fight over the crumbs with other birds. She and Pam stood there until the bread was gone and Pam stuffed the empty bag in her pocket.
    The ducks figured out pretty fast that the party was over. They drifted away, quacking and nipping at each other.
    Holly looked out over the lake. Someone had a boat out at the far end, chopping up the water. She brought her attention to the shore nearby, gazing into the murk at the feet of the cattails.
    â€œDid you ever see anything interesting in the water?” she asked.
    â€œThere are some big koi in there. Someone let them loose a couple of years ago, and now they’re really huge. They’re pretty shy, though.”
    â€œDo people fish?”
    â€œSometimes. Technically it isn’t allowed.”
    Holly squatted by the water’s edge, peering deep. “Any turtles or anything?” What she wanted to ask was if Pam had ever seen a water spirit, but she was too chicken.
    â€œMight be. I’ve never seen one.”
    Pam joined her and tossed a pebble into the water. Holly frowned at the expanding ripples.
    â€œOne time when I was pretty stoned I thought I saw a mermaid,” Pam said.
    Holly glanced at her. “Here?”
    â€œOver at the north end, by those trees. It was after a party.”
    â€œLet’s walk over there.”
    She stood and started off along the path. Pam followed, but at an ambling pace. Holly slowed down to match her.
    â€œWhat did it look like?”
    â€œI don’t really remember. I thought it was beautiful, though.”
    Holly shoved her hands in her pockets and glanced sidelong at Pam. “Do you believe in mermaids?”
    Pam laughed. “In a lake in Colorado?”
    â€œWell, maybe it was some other kind of—water spirit.”
    â€œYou know, that sounds really lovely. I’d like to believe that.”
    But you don’t. Holly bit her tongue, wanting to blurt out that it was true, it was real. If she said that without proof, Pam would just think she was crazy.
    She kept an eye on the water as they walked. A couple of times she saw flickers of movement, but they could have been fish.
    The stand of trees was bigger than it looked from across the lake; a sprawling cluster of poplars and willows along a good stretch of the shore. There was a pleasant, greenish smell that she couldn’t identify, but it seemed familiar. At the near end of the tiny forest, in the shade and half-hidden by willow branches, stood a wooden dock. Holly stepped