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have to be really careful not to misplace their skin. If they do, they can’t return to the water in their sprite form.”
    “So I take it this has happened before?”
    His head bobbed again. “Throughout history, there’ve been stories of a woman falling in love with a selkie. Over time the woman uncovered his secret, then stole his skin so the selkie couldn’t ever leave her.”
    “Talk about a forced relationship.”
    “For real,” he said with a laugh. “Now for the encantado, they don’t worry about someone trapping them on land. For them, they just have to be more incognito. When an encantado transforms, he or she looks completely like a human except for the top of their head.”
    After a glance at my puzzled face, he continued. “For whatever reason, their blowhole still remains. Because of this a hat is always used to cover it up. Another unique characteristic is the bright clothing.”
    The more Adrian spoke of them, the more his words convinced me that my abductor was really an encantado. That was how in the waves he disappeared and a dolphin appeared.
    It also turned out that the dolphin that knocked the selkie off of my net was actually the same encantado. His name was Clemente.
    I couldn’t help it…. I felt bad for thinking he was a sick pervert who kidnapped me and left me to drown. In his own warped way, he tried to help me. I still wasn’t sure why he captured me in such a dramatic fashion. If some dude approached me and told me I was a sprite, I’d think he was mad. Although unwelcome, I couldn’t pinpoint a better way to clue me in about my alter ego⎯at least at the present moment.
    The last types of sprites were known as the water fairies. Or, just fae for short. Now these guys were cool and quite unique. In fact, the fae were the only sprites that walked on land and swam in the water in the same exact form. No fins, no transformations, no nothing. Just two webbed feet.
    Although, there was a catch. Another thing my mom always said was if something was too good to be true, it probably was. Water fairies could only breathe fresh water.
    Up until this point, my mind pieced together that perhaps I was fae, but the whole fresh water thing ended that thought. I currently breathed saltwater and all.
    Like the merfolk and nixies, two main types of water fairies still existed: the Gwragedd Annwn and the Ardudwy.
    Those names were not only hard to pronounce but also rather difficult to remember.
    “We typically just refer to them as the Fae of Elfin Lake and the Fae of Gwynedd. Makes it easier,” Adrian offered.
    “I’d say so.”
    “The Elfin and the Gwynedd actually have a lot in common, both in appearance and their behavior.”
    “In what ways?”
    “Well, for starters, they both chose to stay in Wales after the battle between the Trackers and the Guardians. As far as looks, pale skin and Tudor style clothing is the norm.”
    I wasn’t quite sure what to picture. So Adrian suggested I imagine someone who’d just stepped out of the Renaissance.
    “Oh and there’s another odd thing about their clothes. The fae always appeared to look wet, ready to drip at any moment,” Adrian said.
    Now I can sometimes be socially awkward, but the fae definitely won. Not only did they drip, but also their emotions worked backwards. At weddings, they mourned and at funerals, they sang and laughed. I imagined this turned some heads or caused some uncomfortable tension.
    “There you have it,” Adrian finished, a confident smile on his face. “And it looks like the game is over.”
    One quick glance to my left proved him to be right. I was so enthralled in hearing about “my kind” that I hardly paid attention to the juking, tackling, and field goal kicking that went on right below us. I vaguely recalled outbursts of cheers when a team did well, but besides that, Adrian and I were in our own little world.
    Although, after my introduction to sprites, a void still plagued my stomach. I licked my already