"What?" Clover was flabbergasted. "A wolf? Mort didn't say anything about a wolf! Oh arh, what?" She put her hands to her head. "Is the boy..." 

"No, she didn't? I wonder why?" The guardian giggled cutting into her thoughts. "Well, I guess it was because she didn't see it then, did she? didn't she? did she?" 

"She didn't?" Clove

"Not everyone can see what's behind them. Not everybody should." 

"Okay, okay." Clover stared into the brook, trying to think over her internal screaming.

"Did the wolf eat the boy?" She asked. 

"No, oh no no... at least not in this forest" it replied with a toothy smile. "It just took it. Here one second, gone the next. Where is it gone? Well who really knows?" 

A wolf... like the one that was trying to get the little girl today? The kids the ones I've been finding, they've all been very far away from where they should have been. Where they went missing. Has the wolf been stalking them? All this time? For what? To eat them? Is it going to eat them? Oh balderdash. It's going to eat them isn't it?" 

"I have to go find and save him," she announced then she looked closely at the smiling figure in front of her. "You... you could have helped him." 

"Oh? Could I? You are the first to touch my waters for many a year. You don't know how long I've been stuck without any... motivation. Do you know where you are going? You could always touch the waters again, find out what else could happen?" 

That's really tempting. But why? Why was it offering? 

"What... do you want?" 

"Nothing, nothing how could you think I want something?" It danced around her humming itself a tune. "Well, maybe a little something," it skipped closer to her. "You want to break free don't you?" 

"Break free? What do you mean break free, I'm not imprisoned or anything," she quickly scanned around the forest and checked herself. No I'm not tied up or anything.  

"Oh silly. Of your river. You want to break free of your river." It's eyes flashed again, the reflection of lighting on still water. "I know you do, you've been searching for a way out haven't you, I could tell from the story you just told me, you don't want to go back to that River, unless you have to, well what if you don't have to?" 

"I... you could do that? You could break me free... break us all free?" She asked slightly curious.

"Well I could. Or well, I could eventually let you go. All of you? How many of you are there?"

Clover looked away form it not really wanting to think about it. "There used to be five of us, now there are three. The other two... didn't come back from being dumped into the river." 

"Ah, well, three, three is plenty. I could link you all to me instead. You'll have to do a bit of the same thing of course that you've done for it. We only want one thing. To keep us company, to tell us what you've gone through the things that you've seen, the people that you meet. That's all, that's never been much to ask for. We don't ask for blood or sacrifices! We just want to chat a little. I could break you free of your river, and link you to me. And all you would need is to drink of my waters," it smiled.