The Last Fairy Tale by E. S. Lowell Page B

held it close to her face, examining the delicate pattern of its veins. Things were gradually becoming clearer due to the incredible amount of light around her. Peering up through the trees, she saw a giant orange light in the sky. The sun … she thought. She had to turn away, though, because her eyes were sensitive to the light.
     As her other senses returned, she caught a few more pleasant details. The air around her smelled sweet and fresh like the scent of flowers carried for a distance over the crisp water of a calm river. She inhaled the scent of the earthy ground below her. The atmosphere of this place felt wonderful, so warm and spacious, unlike the enclosed feeling that she was so used to.
     She spent a few moments enjoying it all, unsure of when the music had stopped. She suddenly felt more alert and began to get to her feet. As she did, she noticed that she had been lying on her father’s journal. She picked it up, brushing the dirt gently off its cover and then looked around for the source of the music, but only saw beautiful, enormous trees. She began to wonder if the music had only been in her head when she heard a voice from behind her.
     “Oh, hello.” It sounded like a young man’s voice. Olivia spun around, not sure what to expect after recent events. She looked, but she saw only the trees. Then the voice continued, “I thought you’d never wake up. I saw you fall through. After you didn’t move for a while, I went and checked on you. You were breathing, so I let you rest. You looked very tired. I never feared the worst though, just so you know!” The voice let out a weak chuckle. After a short pause it said, “Sorry if I’m awkward.”
     Olivia stared at the trees in front of her. She was certain the voice was coming from one of them. She took a deep breath to calm herself and asked, “Where are you?”
     “Oh, I’m sorry,” replied the voice. Then, on the base of the tree in front of Olivia, a shape quickly appeared in the bark. The shape was vaguely human, but much thinner and spindlier. It looked to be slightly taller than Olivia. When the etched outline was complete, the shape stepped out of the tree.
     Olivia screamed. She put a hand to her mouth and started to back away.
     The creature screamed back.
     In response, Olivia screamed again.
     The creature returned the scream and threw its arms in the air and ran behind the tree. After a moment, it slowly peered around the tree at Olivia, who had dropped the journal and was covering her eyes with both hands.
     “Don’t hurt me!” cried Olivia.
     “Hurt you? I thought you were about to hurt me! With all that screaming and whatnot…”
     Olivia lowered her hands and noticed the creature still behind the tree. A face had appeared on its brown, wood-grained skin. Its eyes were small, shiny black holes that glinted as it moved. A long nose had sprouted from the center of its face that curled up at the tip and a slit below the nose served as a mouth.
     “But I’m not a monster or anything,” said Olivia, wondering why a creature as frightening as this would be the least bit frightened by her.
     “You’re just as much of one to me as I am to you,” it said. It slowly walked back around the tree to face Olivia. “But I don’t mean to frighten you at all. I’m sorry if I look weird, but that’s just how imps look.”
     “You’re an imp?” asked Olivia. She knew the term from an encyclopedia at the orphanage. She had read that they were mythical creatures and didn’t exist in the real world.
     “Yep. And you’re a human, right?” asked the imp.
     “Yes. Well, sort of…I’ve been genetically modified,” said Olivia, looking at the ground.
     “I don’t know what you just said, but you appear to be human to me,” said the imp, smiling. “You look just as weird as those pictures in our old fable books.” It looked at Olivia, its eyes widening. “But I meant that in a good way! Oh, no…I’m