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“Hey, kitten,” Molly said, nudging my arm. “Lemme know if you see any fairy nests. My Gran always said you could find extra ammo.”
“Jeez, I basically never know what you’re saying,” I muttered.
She lightly punched my arm.
”None of that was slang!” Molly huffed. “Faeries keep spare bullets in their nests. My granny used ta tell me stories.”
”That sounds comfortable,” I said, glancing towards the faerie grove. “Let’s get it over with now. I don’t want to be thinking about how many fingers I’ll lose.”
”Ah, I’ll keep ‘em offa ya, kitten!” Molly laughed. “Lead the way!”
”You know,” I said as we strolled down the path, “this place isn’t bad…even with the spiders, faeries and mushrooms attacking all the time.”
”Maybe it really will be a camp in the future,” Molly chuckled.
”With two campers vanishing every day,” I said.
I stopped and peeked hesitantly around a tree; the faeries were zooming back and forth across the clearing, several hovering in front of the nests they’d set up.
”Alright,” Molly said, “one distraction coming up!”
She rushed to the opposite side of the clearing and a large chunk of the flock followed her, leaving two of the nests unguarded.
I rushed over to one and peeked inside, spotting a couple handfuls of bullets in a heap; I grabbed them and then ran to the next nest.
There was a pile of moss and feathers and I dug around in it while keeping an eye on Molly; she was dodging faeries left and right and seemed to be having a time.
A jab of pain made me pull my hand back.
”What in the…”
The moss and feathers were moving, and as I watched, a tiny faerie appeared and stared up at me.
”Oh, wow…so they actually keep their babies in these, huh?”
I looked at the baby faerie, seeing tiny monarch wings on its back. The nest material moved again and two more babies peeked out at me, one with yellow wings and the other with red wings. I reached slowly out towards them.
”You’re weirdly cute,” I said. “Guess you start out like normal babies, huh.”
They suddenly began to squeak and cry.
”Oh, uh, it’s ok!” I exclaimed, pulling my hand from the nest and standing up. “Um…here, take this cupcake and don’t cry!”
I put one of Bert’s blue-frosted cupcakes in the nest and smiled awkwardly, backing away.
”Grow up and don’t attack animals, ok?” I said. “Or humans either, for that matter.”
”Kitty, time to go!” Molly hollered, grabbing my arm.
I ran after her from the faeries’ clearing and didn’t stop until Molly held up a hand.
”Find anything?” Molly panted, wiping her forehead.
”Here,” I said, giving her the bullets. “And there were only baby faeries in the other nest.”
”Babies?” Molly asked, taking the bullets with wide eyes. “Even my granny’s never seen a baby faerie. What’d you do?”
”Gave them a cupcake,” I said. “I kinda scared them so I thought it’d help.”
”You fed them?” Molly asked, slapping her forehead. “Now they’ll really never leave us alone!”
”Well, maybe them begging for food will be better than them trying to kill us,” I said, glancing at my bitten finger.
”Oh, kitten…” Molly sighed. “It’ll be worse. Well, we survived this time. Let’s get back to the shop.”
”What else did your granny know about faeries?” I asked as we walked back to the bus stop.
”Hmm…well, they love sweets,” Molly said. “Never give them your name, don’t eat their food, don’t say thanks…”
”Why not?” I interrupted. “I get they’re not even a little polite, but…“
”I don’t know why, that’s just what she told me,” Molly said with a shrug. “We’re not supposed to disturb their nests, but I never let that stop me.”
I nodded, then glanced up upon hearing multiple wings flapping.
”Oh, no…” Molly groaned, whipping around.
A large flock of faeries was approaching and soon they’d surrounded us, but didn’t immediately attack like usual. They just hovered and stared at us.
”Cupcake!” a red-winged fairy with black hair at the front of the flock shrieked. “Cupcake!”
”Hope you have some more, kitten,” Molly muttered, giving me a look.
”Yeah, I have a bunch!”
I pulled all the cupcakes I had out, most with blue frosting but a couple with green and red, and quickly set them on the ground.
”There! All for you. I didn’t mean to scare your babies.”
I backed off and watched as the head fairy squeaked and growled something to the others; they flew down and quickly gathered the cupcakes, then immediately flew off with them.
”Well, now their ankle-biters are addicted to sugar,” Molly sighed.
”Maybe they’ll stop eating bears as much,” I muttered. “It could be a good thing.”
”Or maybe they count fresh meat as sweets,” Molly sighed. “Who knows what the bloodthirsty little things think?”
The lead fairy pointed at Molly and let out an angry shriek.
”Guess we’ll hafta swing by the typewriter store after this,” Molly sighed, slowly approaching the fairy and putting the bullets on the ground.
Some more faeries picked up the bullets and then flew off.
The lead faerie screeched something and then gestured to the others, who quickly flew off. I smiled nervously when the lead faerie glared at me, but it then just flew away.
”Let’s get back to the store, kitten,” Molly said. “Getting late anyway.”
I nodded and hurried down the path with her.
I dumped all the finished materials for the Mob down the grate outside the store and waved goodbye to Molly, then trudged inside the store to my room, waving at Jessica and Charles along the way. I got ready for bed, then yawned loudly as I walked to my room.
”What a day,” I muttered, patting my potted tentacle pet. “I just want to sleep for days.”
The tentacle reached up and patted my head.
”Thanks, buddy,” I said, picking up the watering can next to it and sprinkling it with water for a minute. “I’m glad you never needed to actually be in water…not that I know anything about singular tentacle pets.”
I crossed the room and gave my worm familiar a scratch under where I thought its chin was, then also watered it.
”Good night,” I yawned, then flicked off the light and trudged to my bed, flopping onto it and burrowing under the covers.
”Sweet dreams, everybody.”
I listened to the rain for a while, finally starting to doze off.
A fluttering noise startled me awake and I opened my eyes to see a glowing fairy with yellow wings and hair hovering above me.
”Whoa!” I yelled, rolling out of bed. “What?! I don’t have any more cupcakes, but I’ll get some tomorrow!”
The fairy frowned at me and shook its head, then let out some squeaks and growls before flying closer and offering a hand.
”Um…what?”
The fairy insistently offered its hand again and I slowly took it.
”Alright…what do you want?” I asked.
”Party,” it said.
”It’s too late to party,” I said. “I’m not in college anymore, anyway, and I don’t want to apply again.”
”Team!” the fairy snapped, narrowing its gold eyes.
”Um…you want to join the team?” I asked nervously.
The fairy nodded and slapped a hand to its head.
”Yeah, uh…that might be ok,” I mumbled. “Let’s talk to everyone about it in the morning.”
The fairy nodded, then sneezed and huddled up, rubbing its arms.
”Yeah, it’s not good flying weather now, is it?” I asked, picking up a towel from my desk. “Here. Don’t get hypothermia.”
The fairy landed on the desk, huddling up in the towel and closing its eyes.
”Night,” I said, getting back in bed.
A knock on my door jolted me out of sleep and I pushed myself up, rubbing my eyes.
”You up in there?” Jessica asked.
”What time is it?” I grumbled.
”Nine in the morning,” Jessica said. “Charles got breakfast from the bakery.”
”I’ll be out soon,” I yawned, making my bed and getting ready.
I jumped when something moved on my desk; the faerie was waking up.
”Oh, morning,” I said. “Want to go meet everybody? We can get something to eat, too.”
The faerie let out a high-pitched shriek and flew over to me.
”How come you’re not as violent as the other faeries?” I asked, heading down the hall. “Normally a faerie would’ve tried to bite my face off.”
The faerie didn’t say anything.
”Well, maybe this will be a learning experience,” I said. “Wonder if can get you a weapon from La Table Enchanteé. A whisk or a little spatula could work.”
I opened the door, waving at Jessica and Charles.
”Morning!” I said. “Thanks for getting food, Charles!”
”Well, you brought it last time,” Charles said with a smile, “so I was happy to this time.”
He raised an eyebrow.
”Now you do know you’ve got a fairy on your head, right?”
”Oh, yeah,” I said. “It showed up last night. Said it wants to join up…though I’m honestly not sure if it actually understood what it was saying.”
“I suppose if it hasn’t attacked you yet, that’s a good sign,” Jessica said, tapping her chin with a pencil.
”I just hope Barker doesn’t mind,” I said. “The faeries always scare him.”
”Maybe we can teach this one to not be a little hellion,” Charles said. “Could be possible to tame them.”
”FOOD!” the faerie screeched.
Jessica and Charles stared at me.
”Yeah, um…” I chuckled nervously, “they’re kinda bottomless pits so I think I’ll just head to the bakery again. Anybody want anything?”
I jumped when the faerie grabbed my hair in its teeth and pulled.
”Just come back in one piece, kiddo,” Charles said, shaking his head.
”I’ll do my best!” I said with a pained grin, my eyes starting to water.