The Nimasterion

“Okay, okay, so the story goes, this king sent his daughter over the sea to a distant land to secure an alliance with a country that was formerly their enemy.  And with her, he sent gifts and such.”

“A dowry?”

“Yeah, I guess.  I don’t know if these people did dowries.  Anyway, the gifts included the usual stuff you’d expect, precious metals and precious stones, coins, and jewels.  And the one big gift, the real gift, you might say.  A crown made for the prince, and set with a very special one-of-a-kind jewel.  A jewel that was sent by the heavens.  A jewel that could shine without sunlight.  But this king had angered the gods, so they ordered the sea fairies to destroy the ship and drown the king’s daughter—“

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The Incident of the Imp

A kid…in a costume. It had to be.

Still, it was frightening. To think I almost hit the poor little guy.

Maybe it was a good thing that the costume was so good, so convincing. The sickly yellow glow-in-the-dark contacts. The pro-quality fang fixtures. That tail that almost looked as if it were whipping back and forth on its own. I thought it was some animal I’d almost hit. That would have been bad enough. If I’d known it was a kid, I might have panicked and lost control of the car. Maybe I would have hit him.

But Halloween was days ago. Was some kid having his last hurrah? Loved his costume so much, he decided to keep wearing it?

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