Davenport wasn’t happy. Out of the blue, both of his children had taken off. His suspicions rose upon investigating his eldest daughter’s room. Tracie had what could only be described as a miniature tub full of green tea. Faeries. He understood then. His children were running away to protect them. That put him a bad situation.
He sat at the dining room table across from two of the neighborhood exterminators, trying to keep a straight face as he spoke of his family’s involvement with the Fae world. “My wife and I were working as scientists for the Fae. We were trying to find a cure to metal poisoning. Or at least some kind of relief from it.”
The taller of the two men whose name was Jack, scribbled something on his pad. He wrote with deliberance. His hair was some of the whitest Davenport had ever seen. “How long have you been working for this cause?” He pointed to the vest that had “watch guard” printed neatly on a tag. “It hasn’t been a long time, has it?”
“No, of course not.” Davenport felt sweat forming on his brow. These men were the proper exterminators. They were not the kind that killed faeries just to kill them. They had to have a reason. They were not a part of “the Cause”, as they put it. They were grilling him too hard. “I lost my job a few months ago. My family was desperate.”
“The Faerieology department did shut down.” The second man, Manuel, nodded in agreement, his thick auburn curls bobbing up and down. “Is your wife working elsewhere now as well?”
“She is teaching at a preschool.. The Faerie Sciences was her college minor.” Davenport sighed, passing a hand over his eyes. “Look, between the three of us, I don’t really enjoy working where I am right now. If I had any other choice, I would do something different.”
“Then perhaps you should.” Jack held out a folder. “We are a small organized group that are looking for scinetists of Faerieology. We want to study these fascinating creatures. We do not believe they are the ones who killed those children. Faeries are known to be tricksters, but very few of them have ever intentionally hurt a child. That crap about faerie kidnappings is just story.”
Davenport flipped through some of the handouts. They were, as Jack pointed out, well-organized. They had statistics on every type of faerie imaginable, and they even had a small article about the faery’s role in child development.
One flier in particular caught his attention. It dealt with the harmful effects of denying a child the right to their faery companion. He scanned it, thinking of his youngest, Tawny. He was fairly certain watching the exterminators come and wipe their house clean of faeries had traumatized her. She slept a lot in Tracie’s room after that.
The family was never sure if Tawny’s own faery had been killed during that raid. Tawny always claimed he had, but he felt that Benny must have left on his own accord to escape death. That seemed more likely for Benny’s personality. He could never convince Tawny of that. She hated him most for his current job.
“You don’t have to live with your children hating you. You could join us.”
“I don’t have the money to join a volunteer effort.” The man sighed then. “May I keep this? Just in case?”
“It’s yours.” The two men stood up. Davenport shook each of their hands. Jack smiled easily at him. “If you change your mind, feel free to call us. The number is on every flier in that packet.”
“Thanks, I will be sure to do that.” First, I need to see if I can find my children. They can’t possibly believe they’re going to be able to smuggle faeries everywhere without being caught. Their punishments would be severe. He shuddred, closing his eyes. “Tell me something. Does this program also protect the family from persecution? I don’t want to see my daughters hurt. They seem to have… taken on more than they can chew on their own.”
“We’d do everything we could to protect them. It makes all of us feel good to hear that not all children have turned away from them. Are your children here now? We could talk to them right now.”
Davenport was hesitant to answer. “They are out right now. I will give them your message. My daughter Tracie would love you guys.” He wasn’t exaggerating. Tracie had been a faerie activist from the beginning. He wished he had listened to her now. They hadn’t been on good speaking terms for months. “Thank you for your time, and I’m sorry I can’t give you an answer right now.”
“It’s not a problem. Many of us were skeptics once. You’ll come around, I’m sure.” Jack smiled confidently. “Just remember to call if you need anything.” He and Manuel showed themselves out of the house.
Davenport sighed, slumping his chair. Now he had to be the one to go and track his children down before they got themselves, and their faery refugees hurt.
***
Tracie watched Marlon in awe. The faery boy had been sitting motionless in her sister’s lap for almost twenty minutes. She assumed he was working some kind of magic. The faery energy was swirling around her like nothing she had felt before. It was intoxicating. Just as a light headed feeling slammed into her, she heard Felix’s steadying voice.
“Relax. Take a deep breath. Most of our energies are heightened now that we are away from the city area. We’ll be able to fend for ourselves just a bit better.” He surprised her with his gentle voice. Felix hadn’t come off to her as someone who was capable of being nice to anyone but family.
Tracie let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. “Felix… what’s he’s doing? And how did he get Tawny to sit so still? I’ve never seen her so motionless in my life.” The faery at her side chuckled slightly. She looked over. “What?”
“Marlon has bonded with her. When you get a friendship that strong, you learn to trust each other. She requested permission to hold him while he worked so he wouldn’t have to be on the ground. He accepted, but he gave her very specific instructions. Not sure exactly what he said, but it’s working.”
“He didn’t enchant her, did he?” Suddenly Tracie was alarmed. While it was okay for a faery that “belonged” to you to cast minor spells and magics over you just for fun, it was another matter all together for a strange one to do so.
“Marlon? Nah. He isn’t for playing with mortals like that. He has a very strict ethics code, unlike most of our kind.” Felix grinned impishly then. “I could prove it if you like.”
“No thanks.” Tracie stood up then. The forest was darkening as the early hours of evening were becoming apparent. “It’s going to be pretty cold by the time the sun sets, Felix.”
“Not a problem.” Felix said nothing more, as he went to get the two youngest party members out of the small creek where they were playing. When he came back, Terry and Gracie were giggling happily at his side. “We’ll have plenty of warmth with all of us around. Even the little ones can help us.”
“We definitely will!” Terry grinned, then quieted, seeing his brother’s state. “He’s been like that for a long while, Felix. Is it really okay?”
“Your brother knows what he is doing. Why don’t you help me gather some dry sticks, and stones. We’re going to need them.”
(This chapter will be the last chapter I make public. If you want to read more after Part 3, you will need to contact me out of this blog. Thanks everyone for reading this far.)
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Forever is a long time.... 