Thanks, Aunt Alice.I’ll miss you.
You’ll be back someday,Alice had said.I know it.
At the time, I’d chalked it up to wistful aunt talk.
Now, goosebumps prickled down my arms.
Something buzzed past my ear.I swatted at it, expecting a fly.It buzzed back the other direction.I swatted again.
“Hey, do you mind?”a tiny voice snapped.“Trying to fly here.”
I froze.
Willow sat primly at my feet, golden eyes wide.The cat meowed like she was commenting on the situation.
“Who’s there?”I asked, scanning the greenhouse.“Owen?Is that you?Because if you’re hiding in a fern, this friendship is over before it starts.”
“Me.I’m here.”The voice sounded equal parts annoyed and tiny.
A flutter brushed across my cheek—a faint puff of air—and then something zipped in front of my face and pinched my nose.
“Ow!”I stumbled back into the workbench, pots rattling.“What the—”
“Well, well, well.”The little… being… hovered at eye level, hands on hips.“Who’s the fancy-pants girlie?”
I stared.
Because there was no other word for her.
Fairy.
She was maybe six inches tall, wings a blur of glittering motion.Pointed ears peeked through short, choppy hair.Her clothes looked like someone had looted a Renaissance festival and shrunk it—tiny leather vest, leggings, and what was absolutely a miniature dagger at her hip.
I closed my eyes, took a steadying breath, and opened them again.
Still there.
“Okay,” I said faintly.“Either I’m having a full-on break with reality, or—”
“Or you’re rude,” the fairy said.“Staring is rude, FYI.Willow tried to warn me you’d be dramatic.”
The cat meowed, as if confirming it.
“You can… understand the cat,” I said.
“Obviously.”The fairy rolled her eyes.“And she doesn’t like being called ‘the cat.’Makes her feel inferior.”
“Sorry, Willow,” I muttered, because apparently that was my life now.
I looked back at the fairy.“Who are you?”
“Wow, straight to the good questions.”The fairy zipped in a circle around me, inspecting my outfit like a critic judging a red carpet.“You must be Alice’s kid.You look like her.No wonder she hid you.”
“I’m her niece,” I said.“Piper.”
“Sure, sure.If that’s what you say.”The tiny eyebrows arched.“But yeah.Same eyes.It’s freaky.”
“No, it’s not,” I said automatically.
