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“They’re… different. Fairies don’t think like humans do. They don’t feel the same way that we do. It doesn’t mean that they are all bad,” she reluctantly admitted as she straightened and held out her hand again, “but it does mean that it is more difficult for us to know if they mean to harm us or not. It’s better to leave them to their own space while we stay in our own space.”
“Oh.” Sally’s face fell. “Do you think that they love like people do?”
“Maybe. I’m not sure,” MaryAnne sighed as she proceeded to head to the door with her charge again. The sounds from inside had escalated now that the rest of the children had abandoned the yard. “I would like to think that they know how to love in some way, even if it’s different than how we know how to love, but I’ve never really known one like that.”
“Oh. I still want to go, though,” Sally mumbled and MaryAnne gave her hand another comforting squeeze as they stepped into the main living area and directly into chaos.
The clamor of the children was wild, their voices raised over each other, while Tibby sat surrounded by them in her worn chair by the fireplace, eyeing them all with bemusement. MaryAnne didn’t blame her. There was no making sense out of anything when all of the kids were shouting to be heard. Tucking two fingers into her mouth, MaryAnne whistled loudly, drawing the gaze of every kid in the room as they fell silent. She shook her head in exasperation at them.
“What a bunch of hyenas you all sound like. Simmer down now. You all know how to works if you want a turn to talk.”
A groan went up, but she gave the room a stern stare while Tibby hid a smile behind her hand. She was sympathetic to their frustration but didn’t budge. While talking over each other was considered perfectly normal conversation for them, it was a short road to insanity for the adults in the room. With so many kids housed under one roof, there had to be more rules in place to keep everything functioning in a reasonable manner—and that included taking turns to talk in situations like this to keep it from devolving into pure chaos. It led to a few arguments where someone felt that they were cut off early or another took their turn, but overall, it worked. She gave the now silent room an approving smile.
“Thank you. Now, before you all get excited, let me say that I know you’ve seen the flyers for the carnival, but I really don’t think it’s a good idea. At the very least, it’s something that Miss Tibby, Mister Jason and I must discuss,” she added, raising her voice over the loud, disappointed groans.
“But that’s not fair,” one of the older boys protested. “It’s a freakin’ carnival. You know, family entertainment. Stuff we had before the world went to shit.”
There was an unhappy mumble of agreement from the older kids, but it was quickly cut off at Tibby’s sharp look.
“Language, Michael. And someone hand me one of these flyers we are talking about now.” She gave the child closest to her a little smile of appreciation as a flyer was handed over and Tibby adjusted her glasses as she peered down at it. “Oh my. A fairy carnival of monsters, is it? How unusual.”
MaryAnne frowned, not liking the intrigue in the other woman’s voice. “Itisunusual, and that’s exactly the problem. Why would anyone be roaming around holding a carnival now with the way things are? And not just any carnival, but a fairy carnival. What reason could they possibly have to want to entertain a bunch of humans?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Tibby said at length, her eyes moving over the page as she read it. “What reason did anyone ever have to entertain people with the simple little joys of a carnival? I don’t see any reason why this wouldn’t be true as well when it comes to nonhumans.”
“Right. It’s just a bit of fun, MaryAnne,” Sabrina commented as she rolled her eyes.
MaryAnne gaped at her for a moment. She had no idea where this attitude had come from. Just months ago, Sabrina was the girl who could be counted on to help out with the unending work around the home. Although she had shown some small signs of rebellion that were natural for her age, she had never been outright disrespectful or argumentative to MaryAnne’s face before.
“We’re talking fairies here, Sabrina,” MaryAnne said patiently in an attempt to reason with the girl. “We aren’t talking about a little pageant put on in town. You don’t have to worry about people in town trying to eat you.”
“MaryAnne! I really don’t think that is necessary,” Tibby objected, a look of shock on her face. “We’ve traded a number of times with various monsters and fairies who have passed through, and we’ve always had a very civil exchange with them.”
MaryAnne looked over at her in surprise. It was the first that she had heard of that, but a random lone nonhuman was quite different than entire carnival full of them, and she said as much. Tibby just shook her head in response as if disappointed, her eyes dropping to the flyer once more. MaryAnne hated disappointing her, but she liked to think that she had more experience out there without the safety of walls, the protection of men, and weapons when it came to interactions with nonhumans.
“Well, I’m going. You can keep everyone else locked up in here, but not me. I’m old enough to make my own decisions and leave whenever I want,” Sabrina snapped, jumping to her feet from the chair that she’d claimed. “And Jamie is taking me. He already said so just this afternoon. This will be the first bit of entertainment that anyone will get to see, and everyone from the town is already talking about it. People are all for a bit of entertainment so long as they don’t have to let anyone inside the safety of the town. So I don’t see why any of us can’t go other than the fact that MaryAnne is too afraid to let us have any fun. She can’t even stand to leave the grounds and wants to make us all that way.”
That hurt, more for the sting of truth it had to it. She was afraid, but she also had every reason to be afraid.
“That’s mean, Sabrina,” Molly chided. She turned to give MaryAnne an apologetic look. “We should be grateful that MaryAnne cares so much about us and wants to make sure we’re safe.”
A look of chagrin crossed the younger girl’s face, but she thrust her jaw out stubbornly, unwilling to relent. “It’s true, though. Even you were excited to see it, and you haven’t wanted to leave the walls of this place since we got here. We’re all trying to grow so that we can have normal lives. Monsters and fairies and everything else that we now have to live with are going to be a part of that. It’s the new normal whether the older adults can accept it or not.” Her jaw hardened. “This is our time now to make the world we have better. And so I say we should start by going to this carnival and showing the monsters and fairies that we aren’t afraid to share this world with them.”
“So long as you don’t have to live among them or suffer them coming into your town, you mean,” MaryAnne pointed, crossing her arms over her chest. “Don’t forget that you mentioned how nice it would be to go be entertained by the very people that you wouldn’t want to allow into town.”
Sabrina turned red and fell silent, but MaryAnne couldn’t coddle her when it came to the ugly truth of certain things—especially the hypocrisy of the townspeople that she was leaning so hard on to justify her desires. With only a year and a half between her and her older sister, she was nearly eighteen now, and it was time to treat her like the adult that she obviously thought she was.
Tommy, another of the older boys, cleared his throat awkwardly. “For what it’s worth, I’d like to go. Maybe if we had an adult come with us? That could be a good compromise, right?”
“A chaperone. A good suggestion, Tommy,” Tibby said with an encouraging smile. “But MaryAnne is right—the adults need to discuss this further, so head upstairs to wash. The hot water I hauled upstairs should be cool enough by now. Go on.”
Murmuring doubtfully, the kids left the room, many of their gazes floating to MaryAnne accusingly as they walked past. She stood rigidly, her hands clasped in front of her as she bore their scrutiny until the last child exited the main room. Tibby sighed as she settled back into her chair.
“I hate to say it, but Sabrina is right. Nothowshe said it,” she quickly added when MaryAnne’s mouth snapped open to object. “There was no call for how she said it. But she’s right that we can’t keep them wrapped in wool here forever. You and I both know that they have to be able to survive out there without us. And they do deserve some fun. MaryAnne, it’s a carnival.”
She sighed and regarded MaryAnne with a sympathetic look. “I won’t keep them locked in here. It’s not fair to them to rob them of any little pleasure that they might have because we might be scared. And they do need to learn to live in the world as it is now. That’s something that’s always changing.” She gave her a searching look. “We both know that too, I think. I do know you are afraid—that you’ve probably had some bad experiences with the more monstrous creatures among the fae that you don’t talk about. “And it’s okay,” she soothed. “I’m sure Max will be overjoyed to go with them as a chaperone. You know he’s always talking about exploring a bit more. He’ll take them out and then bring them right back.”
“I don’t know, Tibby.” MaryAnne grimaced, hating her own hesitation. Maybe there was even more to Sabrina’s accusations than she was willing to face before. “If you’re certain that this is the right thing to do, then I guess I’m on board.”
