AllFreeNovel
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And if someone believes something hard enough, they might just open up new wonders to explore.
She’s always ready for new places and things to explore.
Once the kids have rambled about Halloween for what feels like an hour, but can only be maybe five minutes, Andromeda says, “Huh.”
“What?” Riley asks.
“That seems dangerous.” Andromeda’s legs swing again. “Going door to door. Asking for things. Being encouraged to thank strangers. Feels very…plotted. I bet a devious faerie set it up.”
“It’s okay.” Mia beams. “My mom checks the candy I get to make sure it’s safe.”
“Does she also check to make sure you still own your soul? It’s dangerous to go around thanking strangers. Especially right now. An unseelie prince in a kingdom nearby has decided our prince wronged him. I don’t know what he’ll use in his favor or if he’ll target humans.”
Mia’s nose squishes. “How come we have to be humans, but you’re a faerie?”
“Okay.” I stand before that comment starts something else. “Recess is over, littles. Please find your way back to your seats so we can start on a super fun project.”
An obligatory handful of sighs fill the room as my little humans drag themselves back to their desks.
Andromeda scoots off hers and has almost sat in her chair when I say, “Meda. Could you come here for just one second?”
Smiling, she makes her way up to my desk. “Yes, Ms. Role?”
“Sweetheart,” I whisper, “please don’t encourage the other kids not to thank people. It might upset their parents.”
Her lips curl in a mischievous way. Leaning toward me, she whispers back, “You’re lucky.”
“I’m… Why am I lucky, sweetie?”
“My daddy isn’t a bad unseelie. He behaved himself and didn’t take your soul when you thanked him at your parent-teacher conference. And, yes, he told me about it. Practically chastised me for rambling about my adventures but not educating you on the importance of not thanking us. I’m pretty sure it’s all he remembered after meeting you.”
My stomach swirls, but far be it from me to pass up this rare opportunity to discuss her father. “Unseelie. Isn’t that the term you’ve given to the darker faeries? While the seelie are the brighter, kinder, or more good ones?”
“In a sense. It has more to do with origin than moral code. Daddy is a good faerie. Me, too. Now I am, anyway.”
“But you consider your father to be unseelie?”
Her brow puckers. “We’re both unseelie. That doesn’t mean we aren’t good.”
“Why are you both unseelie then?”
“It’s what we’re made of.” Her head tilts. “Have I not mentioned it clearly before? Does it matter to you that we’re unseelie? I’ve been doing my best to make sure things aren’t too scary for you, haven’t I?”
I search her blue eyes. “Yes, sweetheart, you’ve been good, but please don’t teach the other kids to be impolite…by human standards. We can’t upset their parents. Okay?”
Perfectly serious, Andromeda whispers, “I just want my friends to stay safe.”
“I understand, sweetheart.” I fix a smile on my face. “Thank you for looking out for them.”
Worry siphons into her eyes as she shifts her weight from one foot to the other, then murmurs, “Maybe Daddy should have taken your soul…” Her gaze drops. “If there’s a holiday like this Halloween coming up…I’d feel better if he were keeping it safe for you.” Touching my hand, she says, “Please don’t thank the fae, Ms. Role. Not unless you love one enough to belong to them.”
With that foreboding statement, she turns and wanders back to her desk.
?
I let a deep breath fill my lungs before I yell into the woods that rest behind the school outside the fence that houses our truly pitiful swing set and sand-less sandbox. It’s a nippy October evening, with a chilled breeze and a beautiful sunset, but I want to pummel the decorative pumpkins I set up at the school’s main entrances and exits.
“I’ll have what she’s having,” Zahra notes as she stabs a thick straw into a cup of boba. Sucking a tapioca pearl up the clear plastic, she chews, swallows, and sets her free hand on my back. “Do you want to talk about it?”
