Treva's Children Read Online Free

fell in the water.  She darted out, snapping up the fly in her mouth then turned and swam back to the rock.  The fly did not fill the hole in her belly and so she kept a close eye out for other things to eat.  A few minutes later a grasshopper fell into the stream.  She swam for it but another fish, a perch, reached it first.
    Still hungry, she returned to her rock.
    Something strange intruded in the water near her rock, confusing her.  Before she could consider what to do, something rubbed against her belly.
    That was pleasant.  She paused.  The pleasant sensation continued.  She did not have eyelids to close but she went into a half-drowse.
    Something clamped around her body.  She squirmed, trying to escape but it was too late.  She felt herself lifted. The water was gone.  Her gill flaps flared as she tried to breathe, but no water flowed over her gills.  She could not breathe.  The clamping released and she was somersaulting through that thin stuff above the water.  She landed on a surface.  She twisted and flopped, struggling, desperate to reach the water.  Her muscles burned with the effort.  Gradually, her flopping weakened.  She lay, still trying to breathe.  And all went dark.
    Talisa woke with a start, gasping for breath.  Air.  Air filled her lungs.  She felt the sides of her neck.  No gills.  Of course not.  She was human, not a fish.
    As panic subsided, she took note of her surroundings.  The sun had set.  The lesser moon cast a dim glow over the clearing.  The woman, in whose service Talisa now lived, squatted next to the shelter.  She studied Talisa for a moment, then nodded. “You have slept enough.  Come with me.”
    Pushing aside the memory of her strange dream, Talisa rolled out of the crude bed and rose to her feet. The woman stood as well and stepped back. “Eat.  Drink.  We have much to do tonight.”
    Talisa nodded.  She looked toward the apple tree from which she had taken fruit, then back to the woman.
    “Apples, yes.” The woman waved toward the stream that flowed from the spring. “Onions.” The woman sighed. “Those will not be adequate.  There will be hickory nuts along the way.”
    Talisa hesitated.  The woman frowned. “Well, go and eat.  Your life belongs to me.  It is no plan of mine that you starve.”
    Feeling self-conscious, Talisa went to the apple tree and plucked two of the ripe fruit.  She tucked the apples into a pouch at her belt.  From the mud alongside the stream, she pulled up several small onions and rinsed them off in the flowing water.  She began to gnaw on one, grimacing at the sharp taste.  She squatted and scooped up a handful of water which she gulped greedily, the memory of the trout dying for lack of water still in the back of her mind.  She drank several more handsful of water then stood, holding the bundle of onions in her left hand.
    The woman nodded. “Good.  You can eat as we walk.  Come with me.”
    The woman waited at the edge of the clearing for Talisa to catch up. When Talisa reached her, she raised a hand, pointing at one of the trees. “Oak.” She pointed at another. “Silver Maple.” Another. “Ash.  These you know.”
    “Yes, I...”
    The woman held up a hand. “This valley is Treva’s garden.  You must know every plant, every animal in it if you are to serve me.” She gestured at a bush covered with flowers. “Night blooming jasmine.” The woman sniffed. “Breathe its scent.”
    Talisa leaned close and inhaled the scent of the bush.  A sweet odor that seemed to fill her head.
    “Come,” the woman said. “There is more.”
    Through the night, they walked, the woman pointing out various plants and giving them names.  Talisa tried to remember but by the first gray light of dawn she was hopelessly lost.
    She saw a ruddy glow in the distance, the light of a fire.  The woman touched Talisa on the arm. “I have decided to let them stay for a time.  I will tell you what they may take, where