Greenteeth

by Molly O'Neill

The witch looked surprised to see me, her eyes blinking furiously at me through murky waters. I don’t know why she was so astonished. It was my lake she’d been thrown into; she should have expected I’d come and see if there was anyone worth eating.

A penchant for tidiness is not my most haggish feature to be sure, but then I’m not technically a hag.

My favourite piece is an old sword someone threw in the lake way back when I was just moving in. It is very fine and has some writing on the hilt though I can’t read it.

I didn’t want her to roll back into the water, but if I put her in my bed then she might mess up my nest. It sounds fussy but it takes a long time for me to organise rushes and reeds properly and I like to curl up small.

There aren’t any male Jennys and frankly the idea of human reproduction makes me feel a bit sick. We make our children from the unwanted offspring of others.

She wrinkled her nose a little at that and then managed a watery smile. She had a very nice smile, I thought. Her teeth weren’t sharp at all, but they were very neat and even. When she smiled little dents appeared in her cheeks, like a ripple passing through smooth water.

Brackus looked much the same as always. He wore his hair short, the brown curls tickling over his pointed ears and out from underneath the red velvet cap he wore at a jaunty angle.

His skin was a shining acorn brown, contrasting with his bright blue eyes and gleaming white teeth. He wore the same air of ineffable smugness that had irritated me from our first meeting.

Brackus blew another smoke ring. “Well, in truth—and if questioned I will deny ever having said this—I am rather fond of you, Jenny. You are amusingly soft-hearted for a villainous swamp creature and I enjoy sparring with you at our meetings.

There was a shimmer in the air as a charm enveloped her boots, leaving them clean and polished. Temperance picked her feet up, looking at them admiringly. “Now that’s a useful spell. You’ll have to teach me that one.” “I dress her in a gown fit for a goddess and she admires the boot cantrip,” Brackus grumbled.

Pegs, Nellys, shellycoats and grindylows nodded towards me as I hesitated at the entrance to the court, my hand clutching the hilt of the sword for comfort.

Creiddylad made her own plate, slicing rolls in half to fill with eggs and rashers of bacon. She nibbled at the creation so delicately that a less suspicious eye than my own would not have noticed that she put away three such sandwiches. She caught me watching and winked.

Even to my normally uninterested eyes, Creiddylad was profoundly beautiful. Her white-gold hair was caught up in a net, pinned in place by a halo of pearls. A crescent moon was painted on the cream-coloured skin between her dark eyebrows, the curve echoing the perfect circle of her face. The only imperfection was the queen’s uneven eyes, one violet, one green.

This was a different kind of creature entirely. Its body was slim and rangy, with long legs and a long nose. Its coat was a brindled brown, with a splash of white at his neck and tail. It looked over at us with doggish interest before padding over to Temperance and putting its head in her lap and yawning.

Golden eyes glinted from a reptilian face set with long tusks, and a long tail snapped back and forth along the lake floor, stirring the sediment. An Afanc.

A Gwyrdd Gen,

Glashtyn,

It sounds to me like she is trying to be more than what they think of her. Are you angry because she expects you to try too?”

“My world will be a darker place without you in it, my lady,” he said. She laid a hand on his cheek. “You must find a new light then. It would sadden me greatly to think of you in the darkness.”