It was Samir’s fault. He was the one who accepted a dare from a six-year-old. Of course, Joan should probably accept some blame for filling Fidelity’s head with stories to the extent the child believed she was a fairy changing. But it was mostly Samir’s fault.
It started when Joan and Samir were walking home from school together, as had become the norm, when his curly-haired companioned said, “Listen, my uncle asked me to pick Fidelity up, work emergency, so this is where we part ways.”
Samir’s first response was concern. “Did something happen?”
“He wouldn’t say.” Joan said, wrapping her arms around herself, “He’s always trying to protect me, acts like I can’t handle it.” After a beat she added, “Probably something with one his vets.”
Samir paused for a moment, then before he could stop himself, blurted out flatly, “Wow. That may be the most open you’ve ever been with me in six months.” What? Why would I say that?
That statement wasn’t untrue though. All he really knew about Joan Forrester was that she had a little sister Fidelity who she adored, they lived in the Missouri backwoods on the edge of town with their ex-Marine uncle, she really liked any kind of Celtic, folk, or world music, and she was good at putting the hurt on people who was bigger than her. But only in the defense of herself or others.
Perhaps that was what drew him to her. Not just a need for protection, not just because their lockers were right next to each other. Because getting to know Joan Forrester was a challenge. And Samir never backed down from a challenge.
“I told you I was a private person, Sam.” Joan replied in a hushed whisper, eyes looking down for a few moments, wrapping her arms around herself, as if trying to protect herself.
That look whipped any thought of challenge from his mind. “I didn’t mean like that,” Samir began awkwardly, “Hey, why don’t I go with you? “
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” Joan said, shaking her head.
“Come on, she seemed to like me that one time we met.” Samir said, “Look, it looks like she’s uncomfortable, we can split up then.” It seemed like a good compromise to him.
Joan must have thought so too, sighing, “Alright.
#
The elementary school was two blocks away from the high school. When they arrived, they found a lithely built, platinum blonde girl of about six, dressed in earth tones, going down a slide, off in her little world.
“Hey, Dell!” Joan called through the gate.
The little girl looked up and went running for the front gate. “Joan!”
It would never cease to boggle Samir’s mind how Fidelity was simply allowed to walk out the front gate with her sister. In Saint Louis that would have got someone fired. Technically, it should probably get someone fired here. Only in Travis County.
Joan crouched down so she was about as tall as her little sister, “Hey, you remember my friend, Samir, right?”
The girl peaked shyly at first, then said, “Hi.”
Samir couldn’t help but smile back. Dang it, she was too adorable. “Hi.”
“It okay if he walks home to us, at least until we get to his house?” Joan requested.
“Yes.” Fidelity beamed, grabbing onto her sister’s hand with one of her own, and onto Samir’s with the other.
Well, this is unexpected. Samir thought.
Hand in hand in hand, they walked down the street, turning a corner and finding themselves in the center of town. It wasn’t much to look at; cracked sidewalks with tall, yellowed grass sticking out, store fronts boarded up, rusted. Even some of the ones still in business didn’t look to be in that good shape. Perhaps at one point the main street was a booming place, but that time was a long time ago.
“Where dips the rocky highland of Sleuth Wood in the lake, there lies a leafy island, where flapping herons wake the drowsy water-rats.” Fidelity sung, skipping between the two teens as they walked, “There we’ve hid our faery vats full of berries and of reddest stolen cherries…”
Bemused, Samir looked at Joan. “What is that?”
“Yeats,” Joan answered, “The Stolen Child. It’s one of her favorites.”
“Because of it’s about fairies!” Fidelity exclaimed with a little jump.
Samir chuckled, “I got that. So, tell me Miss Fidelity, what are your fairies doing?”
“They’re trying to get this human boy to come with ‘em to the island.” Fidelity explained, “I don’t know why. But he goes with them.”
“Really?” Samir asked in a somewhat drawn-out way he realized five seconds later was a bit condescending, even to a six-year-old. Especially one that sang William Butler Yeats poetry. “So, what happens then?”
“I don’t know.” Fidelity admitted with a shrug, “The poem ends there.”
For a minute no one said a word, then Samir said, “So, are all your favorite songs about fairies?”
“Yep.” Fidelity happily confused, “I like ‘Tam Lin’, ‘Lady Isobel And The Elf Knight’,’ ‘The Changeling’….”
Just then they came to Samir’s Street. “Well, this is me.” He let go of Fidelity’s hand, “It was good seeing you again, Del.” He looked up to her sister, “See you tomorrow, Joan?”
“Yeah.” Joan agreed.
“Can Samir come home and play with us?” Fidelity pipped up suddenly, “Please?”
Joan froze up for a moment. “Maybe another day.”
“Aw.” Fidelity wined.
“That is, if he wants to sometimes.” Joan said, looking at Samir.
Samir looked down at the adorable pale girl and then into the freckled face and rich brown eyes of her big sister. “I would love to.” He said sincerely.
That earned him a grin from Fidelity.
#
As the girls stepped into their own seamlessly front yard, Fidelity rushed ahead of her sister. “Can we play chase?”
The light brown double-wide with deep brown wood front porch sat in the middle of the property surrounding a vast neatly cut green lawn, which itself was surrounded by dense woods. Most people who came by were honestly a pit scared of the woods, but Joan never was. Ever since she had remembered she was the happiest in those woods. Exploring, flower picking, and yes, running aimlessly through the trees. On the closest tree was a tire swing Uncle Jack had set up when he realized his brother wasn’t coming back this time.
“After dinner and homework.” Joan said, following behind.
“Aw,” Fidelity winged.
Joan looked at the sun for a minute, trying to judge how long it would before the sun set. She couldn’t take Fidelity into the woods after dark, it was too dangerous. “Okay, let me look at what we got for dinner, then we can play chase for half an hour then homework.”
“Okay.” Fidelity agreed.
They walked into the kitchen, which seemed to consist of various shades of green, at the front of the trailer, adjacent to the living room which seemed to consists of varying shades of brown, Joan setting her bag down on the forest green bar table before going to the olive green fridge and opening it. She found an opaque seafoam Tupperware container with a note one. Taking off the note, she began to read silently.
Joan,
I made dinner. Just heat it up.
Love,
Uncle Jack
Joan sighed. Well, that was one less thing for her to worry about. Which, she supposed had been the point.
So why was she so mad about it?
#
That night, after chase and dinner and homework and the rest of their bedtime routine, Joan sat in Fidelity’s bed, the little girl in her nightgown and Joan in her camisole and boxers. Fidelity sat in her sister’s lap, sipping on a concoction of warm milk and chamomile tea and honey, listening to her sister sing.
“…. For he comes, the human child, to the waters and the wild, with a faery, hand in hand. For the world’s more full of weeping than he can understand. “
“Can I have another song, please?” Fidelity requested, “Just one more?”
“Alright,” Joan agreed, “But first, I need to talk to you. How do you like my friend Samir. Really?”
“He’s nice.” Fidelity said, between ships, “I like him. “After a beat she asked, “How did you find him?”
“That’s not exactly how it works, Del.” Joan informed her before saying, “Well, we’ve had lockers next to each other since school started. He was new and some people weren’t very nice about it. In fact, some people were mean. But I took care of it for him.” By taking care of it, she meant jumping on the back of the biggest jerk jock in school and using the defense skill Uncle Jack had taught them, but Fidelity didn’t need to know that part.
“Can he really come visit some time?” Fidelity requested.
“If Uncle Jack and Samir’s parents are okay with it.” Joan cautioned.
“Why do they all have to be okay with it?” Fidelity wined.
“Because” Joan began, “Samir’s parents are in charge of him and Uncle Jack’s in charge of us.”
“Why is Uncle Jack in charge of us now?” Fidelity asked.
That one got Joan for a moment. “Because this his house.” She said finally.
“What about the queen?” Fidelity inquired, looking up at her sister with wide curious eyes.
“So many questions tonight,” Joan moaned lightly, “What happened to that second song?” As her little sister straightened up, she knew the subject had been changed. “So, what song so you want?”
“’Bedlam Boys’” The little girl requested.
Joan balked. “Do you realize how many verses that song has?” She began to tickle Fidelity as she asked, “This is just a ploy to avoid bedtime, huh? Isn’t it, Isn’t it?”
#
Long after the song was done, Jack Forrester, a tall, lean veteran in his late thirties, walked into the living room of his trailer and peaked into his youngest’s niece room and found both of them, the tiny blonde wrapped in the whole of a curly-haired brunette stripped down to her underwear, her mouth slightly open. Taking a blanket, he covered them both up, kissing them on the head. “Love you girls.”
Then he stepped outside, cursing his older brother and his terrible choices. Fifteen was old enough to babysit. Not be a parent.
#
That Saturday, Joan and Fidelity were running through the woods, playing one of Fidelity’s favorite games, “Chase.” This game consisted of one sister running after the other, trying to catch said other. In this case, it was Fidelity chasing after Joan, her red hoodie standing out between the trees.
“Come on, Del.” Joan laughed, deliberately going slower so the little girl could keep up.
“Sing ‘Geordie’!” Fidelity suddenly cried out.
Joan grinned and began to sing the Child Ballad about a maiden trying to ransom her husband’s life. As she started the next stanza, she felt her heels hit something hard and found herself flying through the air, holding out her hands to stop her descent as she fell to the ground.
Joan opened her eyes, looking around at where she had fell. She was in the middle of a ring of off-white mushrooms.
“It’s a fairy ring!” Fidelity declared excitedly.
Joan stood up, looking at it. The mushrooms were plain white and in a perfect circle. She knew fairies weren’t real. However, there was something…off about the ring. Something that made her just want to take her sister and get out of there.
“Come on, Del.” Joan said, backing up and grabbing the little girl’s hand. Let’s go.
#
That might have been the end of it, if Uncle Jack hadn’t texted Joan asking for her to pick up Fidelity.
“At least this time he confirmed it was something with one of his vets.” Joan told Samir as they walked, “Not much else.”
They stopped talking as they got to the fence. Fidelity, dressed in green and white today, was spinning by herself.
“Fidelity!” Joan called out.
Fidelity looked up.
“Come on.” Joan smiled, gesturing for her to joining them.
Fidelity ran out, first hugging Joan, then Samir. “Did Joan tell you about the fairy ring?” She asked, swinging between the two as they walked.
“A what?” Samir responded.
“A fairy ring.” Joan repeated, “It’s a ring of wild mushrooms. The lore varies, but people use to think fairies gathered in them. We found one in the woods this weekend.”
“Ah,” Samir replied with a nod.
Suddenly the little girl’s face lit up as she got an idea. “Maybe I could go to school in the fairy realm.”
“What?” Samir balked.
Joan, however, was more interested in asking questions than answering them. “What’s wrong with the school you’re going to now?”
“No one knows any of our games.” Fidelity explained, “Or our songs. And one of the boys called me a freak.”
Joan stopped in her tracks, causing everyone to come up short.
“Who?!” Joan demanded, taking on a whole new tone as she crouched down in front of her sister, “I want names. Now. “
“Okay, Joan, please don’t beat up a six-year-old.” Samir pleaded, pulling her up. He had known Joan just long enough to see where this was heading.
Joan sighed. “Okay, fine.”
“Why would you want to go to school with a bunch of fairies?” Samir asked, “Wouldn’t you feel weird being the only human?”
Joan froze.
“But I’m not—” Fidelity began.
“Fidelity!” Joan snapped, in a tone Samir had never heard her use with the little girl before, “That’s supposed to be a secret, remember?”
Fidelity looked down, abashed.
However, Samir’s was both confused and more than a bit curious. “Joan, what is she talking about?”
“Nothing.” Joan insisted, gathering Fidelity up as they reached Samir’s house, “I think we better go, okay? I’ll see you in school.”
#
Upon getting her sister home, Joan sat her down in the kitchen, “We need to talk, Dell.”
“Did I do something, bad?” Fidelity asked softly, looking down.
Joan sighed. “Not bad, maybe, but foolish. Fidelity, what’s rule one?”
“Do what Joan says.” Fidelity answered, sounding as if she had down by heart.
Joan looked to make sure no one was coming in. Her uncle couldn’t know about this. Not if she didn’t want the truth to come out. “Yes, and what did Joan tell you before school started about telling people you’re a Changeling?”
“That it was our secret.” Fidelity answered, “That I couldn’t tell anyone.”
“That’s right,” Joan reminded her, “And I know you like Samir, but we can’t tell him either, okay?”
“Why not?” Fidelity asked.
Because I messed up when you were younger. Joan thought, internally beating herself, Because I’ve been lying to you because the lie was prettier than the truth.
“Is it because of the queen?” Fidelity spoke up, “Would she not like it?”
Joan couldn’t help but smile sadly. “No, once the deal was done, the queen’s part ended. She couldn’t care less.”
There you go. Lying to her again. Daddy’s little girl, aren’t you?
No. No, she was not their father. He lied to cover his misdeeds. To get away with his misdeeds. Her lies were to protect. “Samir’s a good guy, but he’s like everyone else. He wouldn’t understand it, either, because he’s not from our world. Do you understand?”
Fidelity nodded. “Can we still walk with him?”
“We’ll see.” Joan said, before giving her a kiss on the forehead, “Now come one, tell me more about these kids that have been giving you a hard time.”
#
Joan avoided Samir as best she could, for the next two days. Which was hard considering their lockers were right next to each other.
At last Samir couldn’t take it anymore. While she was getting books from her locker, he walked up and began his peace. “Look, I get that I really stepped in the other day. It was none of my business and I’m sorry. I promise to try to earn your trust again, but can we please at least try to be friends?” Because you’re kind of the only one I got.
Joan finally looked at him, looking weary.
“Hey, what is it?” Samir asked.
“There are things about my family I haven’t told you, Samir.” Joan said “Very, very bad things.”
#
As they walked to class, Joan told him her story. Her and Fidelity’s story.
“To start with my dad is a cheating, lying SOB, who cheated on his cancer riddled wife.” Joan said bluntly, wrapping her arms around herself in that protective stance again, “I don’t know how long he was cheating on Mom, but it had to be before she got sick.” She took a moment, then continued, “ It got so bad she had to stay in the hospital. Next thing I know Dad dropped me off at Uncle Jack’s and I could hear them yelling in the kitchen. Everyone was really mad at him, and I didn’t understand why. I pieced together later that, that was the day he moved Candy in.” She scoffed bitterly, shaking her head, “She was living in our house, sleeping in their bed and everything, and Mom wasn’t even dead yet. I didn’t realize what was going on until he decided he wanted to play Daddy again and took me back home and there was this strange pregnant lady in our house he was introducing as my stepmother.”
It took a moment for Samir to realize the implication. “You mean she was already pregnant with—hold up, your dad and his mistress made their lust child Fidelity ?!”
“No, that was me.” Joan admitted, “You see, Candy thought it would be a good bonding opportunity if they let me pick out the name and I was a very precocious, very bitter child. I still can’t believe they went with it. Maybe they didn’t realize what it meant, and I wasn’t as clever as I thought I was at eight. “
Neither said anything for a moment, continuing to walk, when Joan spoke again, “I couldn’t make myself blame Fidelity, though. I tried to, but the moment I saw her…it’s not her fault, how she got here. You can be mad at a…at a lot of people. But you can’t be mad at a baby.”
Samir didn’t know what to say to that, but he supposed Joan had a point there, so he nodded.
“After Mom died and Del was born, I think it must have finally hit Candy what they had done, and she couldn’t take it.” Joan said, “She took off, left the baby, I have no clue where she is now. Dad couldn’t cope. He didn’t know how to cook, didn’t know how to change a diaper, he was basically a kid. So, he handed it to me. The cooking, the cleaning, figuring out bills—well, he wrote the checks, but I was the ones doing all the math. I basically raised Fidelity. Fed her, sang her the songs my mom had taught me, made our own little world, just the two of us.” She paused, “Before Dad dumped us at Uncle Jack’s permanently, she started asking where our mom was, why didn’t she look like me. She was four. I mean, how was I supposed to explain adultery to a four-year-old? So, I told her that after Mom died, I was lonely, so I went to the forest behind Uncle Jack’s house and bargained with the queen of the fay for a little sister. I told her she was Changeling.”
“A what?” Samir responded.
“Changeling.” Joan repeated, “People used to believe that fay would steal children and whisk them off to the fairy realm and leave fairy children in their place. These were called Changelings.”
“So that’s why all her favorite songs are about fairies.” Samir concluded. She thought they were about her kind.
Joan nodded.
“And your uncle doesn’t know about any of this?” Samir asked, “The fairy stuff, I mean?” Obviously he knew the rest of the whole sordid tale.
“No.” Joan said, “And you’re not going to tell him!” She paused, then asked, her voice small, scared, “Are you.”
Samir looked at her, and suddenly he couldn’t see the fiery, challenging girl he had known for six months. Now he felt like he was looking at that frightened, confused nine-year-old.
“Your secret’s safe with me.” Samir assured her, “But you know you’re going to have to tell her the truth eventually. She’s going to figure it out.”
“I’m aware of that, Samir.” Joan almost snapped, the fiery girl back again, “But why can’t I let her live in our own little world as long as possible?”
#
That weekend, Joan made a decision: she invited Samir into their world.
“So, you must be the Samir I’ve heard so much about.” Jack said, standing on the porch and looking the boy over.
Samir suddenly found himself verynervous. “Um, yeah. You must be Joan’s uncle. Um, you’ve actually heard of me?”
“Fidelity talks about you a lot.” Joan spoke up.
Sami laughed in spite of himself. “Of course, she does.”
Fidelity herself just came running into the room, wrapping her arms around a startled Samir’s legs. “Whoa, hello to you there, too.” Samir grained, giving her a hug.
Not bad for an only child. Joan thought.
As the little girl pulled away, her face lit up. “You want to come see the ring?”
Ring? Samir thought, confused. What ring? Then he remembered. Oh, right, the fairy ring. Or the ring of mushrooms that Fidelity thinks is a fairy ring. Because she thinks she’s a fairy. What had he gotten himself into?
“What ring?” Jack asked aloud.
“We found a fairy ring while playing chase last week.” Joan explained shooting her uncle a look of what are you gonna do. “Mind if we go into woods?”
“Just be careful, okay?” Jack advised, “And be back before dark.”
“We will.” Joan said, hearding the others out of the trailer, “Bye.”
#
The half-sisters lead Samir through the woods, Fidelity happily tugging the older boy along. “This way, this way!”
“Okay, okay, okay,” Samir responded breathlessly.
Joan couldn’t help but titter under her breath, shaking her head.
They finally came to the spot where they had found the “fairy ring” under a tree. “See?!” Fidelity chirped, pointing at the ring.
Looking down at the perfect circle of mushrooms, Samir was actually impressed. “Oh, wow,” He crouched down to look at it, “Wow, this—this actually pretty cool.”
Joan grinned. “I know, right?”
“It’s just—prefect.” Samir continued. How did that happen naturally? Looking up, he asked without thinking, “How does that happen? For real?”
“The fairies do it!” Fidelity exclaimed.
Crap. Samir through, looking to Joan, both alarmed and apologetic. For a moment he completely forgot.
Suddenly, Fidelity got unusually serious. “You don’t think they’re real.”
“What?” Samir balked, “Of course, I do.”
“Don’t lie!” Fidelity exclaimed, becoming angry, her little hands in fists.
“It’s just…” Samir began, not sure what to say, “How do you know it’s fairy ring?”
“Look at it!” Fidelity pointed at the ring, “It’s mushrooms like in all the stories, and it’s perfect. You said so!”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean…” Samir began.
“Sam, what are you doing?” Joan grumbled.
“I don’t know!” Samir admitted.
“Prove it!” Fidelity shouted, “Prove it’s not a fairy ring!”
“How am I supposed to do that?” Samir questioned, “You can’t prove a negative.”
Fidelity squinted, as if confused.
“Samir, she’s six.” Joan reminded him, on edge, “She doesn’t know what that means.”
“It means you can’t prove something isn’t real.” Samir exclaimed.
“Yes, you can!” Fidelity insisted, “Try to summon one.”
“What you mean, like a fairy?” Samir asked.”
“Uh-huh.” Fidelity replied, “Do it. I triple dog dare you!”
Now, here is the thing about Samir. As mentioned before, he had never been able to back down from a challenge. It could be the inanest challenge in the world, and he couldn’t bring himself to say no.
Case in point, accepting a challenge from a first grader. “Deal.” After a beat Samir asked, “Huh, how do I do that exactly?”
Joan facepalmed, shaking her head. This could not be happening.
#
“Samir, don’t do this.”
As Joan waited with Samir in front of the trailer while Fidelity was getting supplies, she almost hoped fairies would show up and take him to their realm. She was that mad at him right now.
“Do you think I want to?!” Samir hissed, “But I already took the dare.”
“Well, back out!” Joan hissed back, “Just—tell her you changed your mind. Is it really that important to you that you best a first grader?”
“I don’t—” Samir began, “I don’t want to best her. Look, we’re tell her that it won’t work because it’s daytime, she can keep her innocence.”
“So, we can add another layer of lies to my years of deception?” Joan balked, “No way!” She was already drowning in it.
Something in Joan’s face broke Samir down. “Alright. When she gets back I’ll tell her I changed my mind.”
Just then as if on cue, Fidelity came running out with a loaf of bread and a small plastic bottle. “All we had was coffee creamer, but I think it’ll still work.” After a beat she added, “Also, I don’t know why, but Uncle Jack just burst out laughing when I explained why we needed it.”
Joan rubbed her head. That was going to be fun to explain later. He probably thought they were just playing.
“Listen, Fidelity, I’ve been thinking.” Samir said, “You might be right. It may be a fairy ring and I’m not sure we should bother them. I mean, aren’t fairies supposed to be dangerous?”
“Just let me do the talking.” Fidelity reasoned, before trasping down the stairs and towards the woods.
Joan and Samir looked to each other in alarm. “Hey, Del, wait.” Joan called after her.
#
They spent the rest of the walk back to the ring trying to talk Fidelity out of the summoning, but to no avail. She was bound and determined to prove the ring in the forest was a fairy ring.
Before they could stop her, the little girl was pouring mocha coffee creamer into a bowl and sitting it on the ground next to two slices of sourdough bread. “Now,” Fidelity said quite professionally, “Just walk around the ring counterclockwise.”
Samir looked over at Joan. “I’m sorry.” He said before approaching the ring. A pit in his stomach, he walked counterclockwise around the ring. He couldn’t believe he was doing this. Why couldn’t he keep his mouth shut for once?
For a minute nothing happened, then the wind picked up, oddly cold. The sunlight hit the ring just right and suddenly they could see several small figures with gossamer wings dancing around.
The teens just stared, Joan’s mouth agape, but Fidelity squealed, “See! I told you it was fairy ring!”
“Yeah,” Samir said blanky, “Yeah, you did.” He looked to Joan, who just gave him a look of I don’t know.
That was when one of the fairies looked at the group, flying towards them and stepping out of the ring, transforming into a woman, tall and nimble, with long hair that changed colors when the light hit it, first auburn, then red, then yellow then brown, all the shade of the fall leaves. Her flowy dress was as thin and delicate as a spider’s web. Her figure was regal, imposing. Reaching down, she took the bread and bit into it, then picked up the bowl, taking a ladylike sip, of the cream, before sitting it back down.
“Who calls upon us?” She demanded, through sharp teeth.
“Ah, I guess that’s me,” Samir said awkwardly.
Joan looked at Samir as if to ask, Really?
Looking back to his friend, Samir said, “I figure its better at this point to be honest.” That was when he felt a hand on his shoulder that set a shiver down his spine.
“Tell me,” The fairy asked, “Why did you bring us here?”
Fidelity opened her mouth to speak, only for Joan to grab the little girl up and cover her mouth.
“I, ah…” Samir began, his heart beating faster, “I, ah, didn’t think this was actually a fairy ring, so I made a bet with this kid to try to summon a fairy. I, ah, I guess it worked.”
The fairy queen’s hand tightened on Samir’s shoulder, causing him to start to panic internally.
“Hmmm.” The queen mused, “What’s your name, human child?”
Joan realized what was happening. Panicked, she called out, not thinking “Samir, no, don’t!”
The fairy queen looked at her and Joan realized what she had done. “That’s not his name!” Joan tried to insist, “It’s nickname, it’s—” Suddenly she couldn’t speak, opening her mouth, only for no words to come out.
The fairy queen put her hands on Samir’s shoulder, and he realized he couldn’t move. This can’t be good.
“Samir,” The fairy queen began coolly, “I think it would be amusing for you come with me. See how real our world really is.”
“No!” Joan shouted, letting go of Fidelity and running towards Samir and the queen.
But it was too late. The queen had ahold of Samir, dragging back into the circle as the boy let out a scream of surprise and terror, disappearing into the mushroom circle. Just as quickly as it all happened, the fairies disappeared, and the ring looked like a simple ring of mushrooms. In her panic, Joan missed the rock, suddenly falling through the air, her hands stinging as she hit the ground.
“Why didn’t you let me talk to her!” Fidelity shouted, marching up to Joan, “If I could’ve talked to her, she might not have taken Samir! She might have—”
“Because I lied, Fidelity!” Joan snapped in a ragged breath, tears blurring up in her eyes, “I lied to you because I’m a coward and I’m weak and I’m-I’m—” She couldn’t go on. “I’m sorry. This—this is all my fault.” If she hadn’t let Samir get close, this wouldn’t have happened. If she hadn’t had made up the changeling story, this wouldn’t have happened.
“No!” Fidelity shouted, running away.
Part of Joan knew that she should stop Fidelity and go get help, but that part was overwhelmed by the part that still couldn’t believe what had just happened. Was still horrified by what just happened. It was like her brain was a record with the needle caught in a certain grove. But there was one thing that was ringing out loud and clear.
This was her fault.
#
She didn’t know how long it was until Fidelity came back with Uncle Jack. Barely remembered being taken home. The first thing she could clearly recall was her uncle on the phone with 911 in the kitchen.
“…my younger niece isn’t making any sense, and the older one’s pratically catatonic.” He was saying, “Can you please just—get paramedics and search and rescue out here? Quickly, please? Whatever happen, the odds of that boy lasting night in those woods are slim…”
His odds are worse than that. Joan thought. It was the first coherent thought she had since Samir was taken. She knew all the stories. Nothing good ever happened to a human in the fairy realm.
Fairies. If she told the grown-ups that, they’d never believe her. They would think she was nuts.
If Samir was going to get help, it would have to be her.
Somehow, that did it. That thought got her to jump up from the couch and run for Fidelity’s room.
#
“Please, tell me you still have the creamer and the bread.” Joan said, bursting through the door, to find Fidelity sitting on the bed.
“I’m not talking to you!” Fidelity declared; her arms folded.
Joan knelt down, beginning urgently, “Del, I know I screwed up. You have every right to be mad at me. But if I’m going to save Samir, I’m going to need supplies.”
That broke the little girl’s resolve. “I left them in the woods. I’m sorry.”
Joan sighed, running her fingers through her hair as she stood up. “It’s okay. I’m going to need something small, something they would have to count, and I’m going to need iron.” Fairies had to count sugar or salt or seeds or anything really, that was dropped and iron burned them.
Maybe she was just the right person to do this after all.
While their uncle was busy with the first responders. Joan stuffed marbles several wrenches, a hammer, another loaf of bread, and food and water into her backpack before sneaking out the back, running for the woods.
Hang on, Samir. Joan thought, Just stay alive until I can get to you.
She knew surviving the whims of the mystical beings would be a challenge, but she also knew something about her friend. Samir was never one to back down from a challenge.