Hidden: A Pregnant Fairy Godmother's Journey...
Date: 2017-10-20 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Fantasy; Romance; Paranormal
Description: Even being the best fairy godmother in all the land, Ciera’s been hiding a secret. Not only is she pregnant, but she’s magically pregnant with a human child. Humans are not allowed in the fairy realm. Period. That includes half-fairy/half-human babies. The only solution is to give the baby to its father before the Fairy Council finds out her secret. Finding the father should be easy, how many men named John could possibly live in this place called Chicago?

Hidden:

A Pregnant Fairy Godmother’s Journey

JOYNELL SCHULTZ

Copyright © 2017 Joynell Schultz

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 0-9984101-7-9

ISBN-13: 978-0-9984101-7-3

WET DOG PRESS

THANK YOU

Instead of a dedication, I always start with a thank you. A thank you directed toward you, the reader, for choosing this novella amongst literally millions of choices. I hope you enjoy Ciera & Dane’s story in Hidden: A Pregnant Fairy Godmother’s Journey.

Also, a big thank you to my family, who continue to support me and give me time to write. Without their awesomeness, I’d never begin to write anything.

Also, a huge thank you to my writing partner, Troy, who keeps me focused and moving forward. Without him, this story still wouldn’t be finished.

BLURB

Even being the best fairy godmother in all the land, Ciera’s been hiding a secret. Not only is she pregnant, but she’s magically pregnant with a human child.

Humans are not allowed in the fairy realm. Period. That includes half-fairy/half-human babies. The only solution is to give the baby to its father before the Fairy Council finds out her secret.

Finding the father should be easy. How many men named John could possibly live in this place called Chicago?

You can grab this free story by visiting www.joynellschultz.com/subscribe

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

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About the Author

Chapter 1

Ciera

Under the violet-tinted sun, Ciera tapped her wand against her hand and forced a calming breath. She focused on the light breeze tickling her face and the sweet, almost undetectable scent of the rainbow high in the sky.

My glamor will stay—it must.

To a fairy godmother like Ciera, a simple glamor spell to change your physical appearance should be easy. Heck, it had always been easy for Ciera, but now, in her current predicament, her magic was weak and drained too quickly.

In eight more months, her abilities would return. Could she keep pretending that long?

“Are you sure this will feed us forever? It’s such a small garden plot.” A farmer stood in front of Ciera, waiting for her to grant his wish. His hair was a vibrant copper color that complemented his worn, brown leather trousers. A little girl in his arms tightened her hold around her father’s neck. Her red hair blended in with her dad’s as she buried her face in his shoulder.

Ciera stopped tapping her wand and waved it towards the tilled soil tucked against a plain, tigerwood fence. “You think that’s small? You should have seen what I did with a few empty wine barrels on the other side of the kingdom. Trust me. You have nothing to worry about.”

A shiver of magic flowed up Ciera’s spine and wrapped itself around her stomach. She looked down at her belly to see her glamor enchantment flicker. Did the farmer notice? She jerked her head towards the man to see him focused on his daughter.

Ciera shifted her weight from foot to foot. “We need to get moving, though. I…um…have stuff to do.”

Ciera scooted across the yard to dig her toes into the small patch of tilled-up sand. No matter how much love Erdians gave the nutrient-poor soil, stuff still wouldn’t grow without fairy intervention. The cool and dry dirt softly tickled her feet as she walked across it.

Even with her dying magic, she could easily turn such a small area into fertile soil. She had fertilized fields as far as the eye could see for many royal families. She tapped her wand against her hand. “No problem. Your wish is my command. Dibbity, dobbity, doo!” Ciera gave a little wink toward the man; her signature move.

She channeled her magic into the wand. The current flowed as slow as honey today, growing slower day-by-day.

How long will I be able to put up this charade?

The magic seized up, not wanting to budge. She shook her head and tried again. Reaching deep inside her core, she warmed the honey to make it flow faster. Staring at the tip of the wand, she waited for the golden glow.

One flicker, then another, but then her magic dissolved into nothingness.

The glamor she created to hide her growing belly dissolved and her flat stomach disappeared, revealing her true abdomen size, giant, like the size of one of those leather balls royalty threw through hoops. Ciera pulled all the magic she could find, from everywhere; inside her heart, from back home, and even the little bit that resided in Erde, and rewove the glamor around her, disguising her pregnancy.

This time, when she jerked her head up toward the father, his eyes were wide. She needed a distraction. “Um, do you have a glass of water?” Her stomach swirled and she became lightheaded. She reached behind herself to the petrified dragon egg lining the garden and plopped down, composing herself.

When the man disappeared into his house, Ciera released all her magic to give it time to recharge. She placed her hand on her stomach as she tried to regain control.

“What are you doing to me?” she whispered while rubbing her belly. “This is way too early. I still have eight months left. How am I going to hide you without magic?” The child swirled inside. It had been doing this more and more lately. It took seventeen months to grow a baby fairy, and Ciera had been pregnant for nine. A stomach this size was impossible at this point.

An image of the baby’s father flashed through her mind. Gray, well-groomed hair and kind, brown eyes that seemed almost desperate. When she first realized he wasn’t a fairy, she had been disappointed. She had passed him off as an Erdian, but now, she wasn’t so sure.

What if he had been human?

How long did it take to grow one of their babies? And if this was a human child, did that explain the odd behavior of her magic?

Stop thinking about that!

The human realm was off limits, and the other fairies would certainly shun her. She had worked so hard to earn her status with her peers.

Footsteps approached, and she wrapped herself in the glamor once again.

“How are you feeling?” The man handed over a copper-hammered cup filled with water while holding his child in the other arm.

“Like a dragon flying upside-down.” The cool drink did nothing to alleviate her nausea. Her anxiety was making her sick to her stomach, and she needed to get control of it. “Now, let’s give this another shot.” She stood up and examined the sandy soil. She focused on her magic, but all she found was a hollow void where the baby grew.

She pulled harder, fighting with the child in a game of tug-of-war. She pulled one way, and the baby pulled another. When Ciera felt she had a good grip on a strand of magic, she quickly shoved it down her arm and into her wand.

Quick, Ciera. Hurry. You can’t fail.

“Dibbity, dobbity, doo!” She zapped at the soil, filling her mind with images of rich green vegetation and plum red fruits. The ground quivered with a ripple of light, and parts of the soil turned from pink and yellow sand to black dirt, but not all of it.

Shaking her head, she searched again for her magic. She found a tendril connected to her glamor and pulled and stretched it, but then realized the baby’s grasp was tighter than hers. She gave a yank and shot the magic down her arm and into her wand before there was a protest. Quickly, she gave the garden another zap. “Dobbity, do!”

This time, nothing happened.

“I’m sorry.” She felt her magic recoil into the child inside her. A ripple shot through her spine, and her glamor quivered again. “I’m still not feeling well, and my magic’s not behaving quite right.”

“But you’re the best. Your Fairy Council assured me.” The man squeezed his child’s hand.

Under the toddler’s eyes were dark circles—she was hungry. The father was already too thin. Ciera couldn’t let them starve.

Come on, baby. Cooperate.

Sweat tickled Ciera’s brow as she focused on any magic she still had. She clenched all her muscles and forced the magic back into her wand. As soon as it appeared, she zapped the egg she had been sitting on. A simple spell on a smaller object, turning the fossil into a roasted platypus surrounded by magic beans on a silver platter.

Ciera wiped her brow, and her chest heaved. “I’ll be back when I’m better. For now—” She caught her breath. “—eat the platypus and trade the platter and magic beans for some fruits and veggies. Magic beans are in high demand, maybe you can even get a cow for them.”

With that, Ciera tried to transport herself to the fairy realm, but that didn’t work. She probably looked ridiculous, squishing her eyes shut and waving her wand around her head. Argh! “I’m just going to leave through the gate and take a walk.”

Before the man said anything, the gate swung shut behind Ciera as she jogged down the dusty, yellow road with her wings flapping for speed and an arm wrapped around her unglamored belly for support.

I need to get home to my father. He’ll know what I should do.

How could she not complete an assignment? She hadn’t found a long-term solution for that hungry man and child. Could she go home a failure? It’d wreck her reputation, and the other fairies would wonder how this was possible. They’d figure out her secret.

Deep breath, Ciera. Rest. Let the magic recharge.

But what if this is a human baby?

That gray-haired man Ciera had met in a dream had a machine for one of his arms. Erde didn’t have contraptions like that. Did the humans? It didn’t make sense because fairies hadn’t crossed over to the human realm in a hundred years.

Her grandfather’s words haunted her: But you’re not a normal fairy. You’re a purple fairy.

She had always dismissed him as just flattering her, but maybe some of what he said was right?

No, Ciera. You’re like everyone else, only you have to work twice as hard because you want to be the best.

Maybe she could hide here in Erde. She loved this world with its warm violet sun, green grass, and the smell of the sea. She used to spend all her free time here, but over the past few months, her fading magic would no longer allow it. If she stayed too long, she’d lose her ability to fly, to grant wishes, and, perhaps her ability to return home.

Now, thinking that the child could be human, there was no way she could stay. The Fairy Council would find her, discover her secret, and…she lost her breath thinking the next thought…take away her hard-earned position of top fairy godmother. They’d surely stop assigning her any wishes to grant.

Ciera detoured off the yellow dirt road and ventured into the forest, finding a patch of minty-smelling moss. She lay down and began to drift asleep, nearly certain that the baby was human. There was no other explanation.

Focusing on what she could remember from nine months ago, she tried to figure out what went wrong

She had just granted King Wren’s wish for an appropriate suitor for the princess. This had taken way too long, yet she was the fourth fairy godmother on the project and the first to succeed.

She returned home that day, completely exhausted from hours of sending her magic out searching all the neighboring kingdoms, and fell asleep wondering what was next. She felt like she could take on the world. A brief thought passed through her mind if there would be even bigger challenges on Earth, but she dismissed that idea.

The human realm was off-limits.

But she wanted a challenge, and that world tugged strongly at her as she fell asleep.

She dreamt of a man with whitish gray hair and these dark, intense eyes. The most prominent thing was his arm made of silver. Her desire to grant a wish pulled strongly on her, taking over her logic. She didn’t even know what wish she was granting, but knew what she had to do.

“Lift your hands,” she had said.

He lifted one hand and pointed his index finger, then lifted his other. A claw or hook of some type. She touched a finger to both of his hands, smiling with pleasure as a bright violet light traveled down the man’s non-silver arm, through his finger, and transferred to Ciera. It traveled up her arm and her belly tingled when it settled there. She left feeling complete.

It wasn’t until a three months ago she discovered her pregnancy, and it wasn’t until well after that she began to wonder if that man was human. She kept pushing that thought away, not understanding how that was possible. Who heard of humans with robotic arms? And a fairy-human baby? She had dismissed it as some type of glamor magic.

Besides, for a fairy pregnancy, all ten of their fingers must touch in their dreams and a yellow light transfers. Quite different from what had happened.

The Fairy Council wouldn’t understand. Fairy godmothers always had control of their dreams, but this one was different.

The man, the human, must have wished for a child, and for some reason, she granted it. Ciera never could refuse a wish, especially a wish that was not for wealth or prosperity, but a wish that came from the heart…

How could that be wrong?

Chapter 2

Ciera

When Ciera woke up, she rubbed the moss from her cheek and blinked to adjust to the darkness. How long had she slept? Double moons illuminated the Erdian sky above. She loved that sight. The fairy realm had no moons. The legend was that long ago, the fairies sent their moon to Erde as a goodwill gesture to ensure peace between their realms. What if the fairies had sent their moon to Earth? Would things be different?

Come on, magic. Be there.

Taking a deep breath, she gripped her wand. A small flame of magic surrounded her heart. It was weak and flickered as it fought to burn. She dug deep, thinking of her father and her home.

Urging the delicate magic tendrils down her arm, she channeled them into her wand and gave it a little swirl around her head. Her body tingled warmly as she transported herself back home.

When she opened her eyes, she located her father in the kitchen shaking his wand at an assortment of flutes hovering above their multi-colored elfwood table. Learning long ago not to interrupt his music, Ciera eased herself down onto a ledge carved into the wall of the hollow trunk of the ogre tree they called home.

She tucked herself into the opening, grateful for the massive size of their home. There was always enough room to allow fairy wings to beat freely, but now, putting space between her and her father gave her time to form a plan.

What was she going to do?

The music carried her thoughts away, making her want to dance. Before she knew it, she was up, flapping her delicate wings a few times to fly, but then she stopped. She’d need magic to get off the ground, and it took everything she had to hide the baby.

Instead, she closed her eyes, swaying with the melody and assessing how much magic she had left. Her abilities had been slowly decreasing, but over the past few days, that was no longer the case. At this rate, by tomorrow, she’d have nothing left.

It was time to come clean and tell her father about the baby. How else would she get him to go to Erde and help fertilize that farmer’s soil? She rubbed her belly and waited for the song to end.

After the last drawn-out note, her father flicked his wrist and made the flutes and his wand disappear. He turned to Ciera and stroked a hand down his long, graying green beard. “Welcome home.” He made his way across the expansive space, stopping right before her. “How’d the wish go?” His eyes widened, prominently displaying his vivid green irises as he seemed to take in her face. She was never good at hiding secrets from her father. “What’s wrong?”

Go ahead. Tell him. He’s the only one who can help.

Holding her breath, she let the glamor surrounding her disappear and stood up, turning sideways so he could see the magnitude of her problem. She couldn’t tell her father her suspicions that the baby was human. That secret was too much to burden him with.

Would he realize that anyway? Why else would she have hidden her pregnancy this long? She bit her lip, tasting blood as all the scenarios ran through her mind. It was clear that if the Fairy Council found out about this pregnancy, they’d surely punish her. Would they punish her father, too?

“Um…Dad.” Her palms began to sweat, and she struggled to get out her words. Just say them, Ciera. Own up to it. “It’s that I’m…um…” She rubbed her belly.

A huge, white-toothed smile slowly shone out from under her father’s beard. “You’re carrying a child! It’s about time. I don’t know what took you so long.”

Her arms dropped to her sides. “You’ve been waiting for this?”

“Of course! All your classmates created a child long ago already.” He reached out to touch her stomach, but she swatted his hand away.

“But I’m the only purple fairy. It’s not possible.”

Her father put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. “You’re the most determined fairy I know. Nothing stops you at anything. Besides, intercolor reproduction isn’t impossible, and it’s every female fairy’s duty to continue our species.”

Continuing her species wasn’t anything Ciera worried about. She focused on granting wishes, which brought her more happiness than reproducing. Perhaps she had dismissed the idea long ago, when she learned fairies were supposed to stick to the same color. What male fairy would wish to raise a purple fairy baby, anyway?

Her dad’s expectant stare returned her to the big issue: the baby had to be human. She turned away and stared at the mint green lichen wall.

His voice softened. “What’s wrong, honey? You don’t seem to be your usual flamboyant self. Your hard work may have earned you the title of fairy godmother, but, historically, you need to actually be a mother to hold that title.”

Her stomach turned. Would it count if the baby was human? She sat down on the bench.

Her dad spun in a circle, pulling his wand out and waving it around. “Who’s the lucky man who’ll get to raise this baby? Is there another purple fairy out there? Did he finally find you and visit in your dreams?”

Ciera tried to speak. Tried to spew out some lie, but the words caught on the end of her tongue. “Not exactly.”

The tip of her dad’s wand glowed. “Let me see him.”

Ciera sprang to her feet, but she was too late. Her father zapped the mirror on the wall, and it filled with an image of the gray-haired man—a human. The father of her child.

Her father cocked his chin and wrinkled a full green eyebrow. “He’s not purple, or green, or blue. He doesn’t even have wings! His clothing is odd, and his arm… What is that contraption?” He took a step closer to the mirror. “He’s not from Erde either, is he? They don’t have technology like that.”

It took all of Ciera’s energy to stay silent. He needed to know.

Her dad’s jaw fell open, and he began to pace. “This is impossible. How can you be carrying a human child? Inter-realm fairy law prohibits our contact!”

“Dad, this dream was different! I didn’t have a choice. It just happened.” Ciera bit her lip again. Had she had control? She always wanted the next challenge—always wanted to prove herself an equal to the green, red, and blue fairies. The pull of this man’s wish was so strong.

Her father’s pacing sped up, his wings beating slightly to increase his speed. “This is a disaster! What will we do with this child? If the Fairy Council finds out, we lose everything we’ve worked for. We earned first pick of assignments, now we’ll be put at the bottom of the list—if we stay on the list at all! We may not get any work again—ever. We’ll lose our cottage. Lose our status in the fairy realm. You can’t be here with that human inside you.” With a big wing-beat, her father stopped right in front of her. “Who knows about this?”

Ciera’s stomach flipped in knots. “Nobody. I mean, I’ve been able to keep the glamor on so far, but now my magic’s not working right. It’s too early to fail since I’m only nine months pregnant.”

“You’re only nine months along?” Her dad rubbed a hand against his balding head. “You have eight to go? Your magic should be fine until the last week of your pregnancy, but what do I know? That’s a half-human baby, all rules are off.”

“My immediate problem is that I left Erde without completing my last assignment. If that Erdian reports my failure to the council, it may not matter that I’m pregnant. We may lose everything anyway. It took every ounce of magic I had just to return home.”

“Nobody can find out. You need to hide. You need to stay away from the other fairies so they don’t discover you.” Again, he paced.

“I can stay in Erde. I love it there.”

“Yes. Yes. The Fairy Council has no power there, but the fairies would still find out. If we wish to keep getting assignments for you, they can’t know. The only place completely away from the fairies is Earth. You can give this baby to the father and return like nothing happened. I’ll figure out a cover for you. A vacation. A family emergency. Something.”

Ciera took a big breath. Going to the human world would be another law she broke. “What if they discover I’ve gone to Earth? Nobody’s gone in a hundred years. The stories of how the Great Councilman was caught by one of them and tortured… Cut into tiny pieces…” Suddenly, Ciera couldn’t swallow.

“He should have been able to escape, but they must have taken his wand.” Her father shook his head. “He had wings. Of course, they were curious who he was. We’ll disguise you.” He pulled his wand out and sent his magic to the tip, making it glow. “Once the baby’s born, you’ll regain your powers and you’ll be able to return home.” He gave her a zap, causing her wings to tingle.

She twisted around to see the silvery purple vanish into thin air. “What about this?” Ciera waved her wand.

“No problem.” He waved his wand and turned hers invisible, yet it still felt solid in her hand. “Tuck it into your waistband.” Next, her father zapped the mirror on the wall, and the silvery-armed man appeared again, disappearing into an image of a map. A star on a place named Chicago.

“Is that where he is?” Ciera asked. “A village named Chicago?”

“I’ll send you there right away. The sooner this is over, the better. He should be easy for you to find, but just in case—” Her father waved his wand again, causing letters to scrawl across the mirror. “—his name’s John. What an unusual name. You can ask for him. Everyone should know him with that arm and unusual name of John. How big can that village be?” Her father began to wave his wand to zap her away.

“Wait, Dad. I need you to finish the wish I was granting. Visit that Erdian cottage in the Kingdom of Shadow and find the man named Ursuuli. He and his daughter are hungry. They need their soil fertilized. I know you’re not a fairy godmother, but if you could just grant one wish? Then cover my tracks so nobody knows I’m losing my magic? I told that man I wasn’t feeling well.”

“Of course.” Her dad pulled Ciera into his arms and kissed the top of her head. “Be safe.”

Before Ciera could say anything in return, her father waved his wand and her world was swallowed in a bright white flash of fairy magic.

Chapter 3

Ciera

Crossing into the human world, to Earth, felt like moving slowly through a muddy swamp, and it smelled that way too. Ciera’s limbs grew cold, her skin tingled, and she couldn’t see or breathe. When dizziness threatened to make her pass out, she collapsed against the ground. As feeling returned to her hands and legs, they stung. She regained her vision to see the scrapes on her knees and palms from her landing, but she quickly forgot about them. A smile spread on her lips. This was going to be exciting. The biggest challenge she’s faced in her life.

Tall, geometric buildings with windows that reflected the light surrounded her. The ground was not dirt, but a firm surface like a stone, completely flat and compacted.

“Who is she, Mommy?” came a high-pitched voice.

“I don’t know. We’ve got to keep going.”

A line of at least ten humans stared at her. Her mouth grew dry from thinking about the stories her father told her of the last fairy to come to this world. Dissection? She twisted around and jetted her hand to her waistband. Her heart rate slowed when she confirmed her wings were still gone and her magic wand still hung on her waistband—not that it would do her much good until she had the baby.

“But she appeared out of nowhere,” an elderly man said.

“Maybe you weren’t paying attention,” a woman with blueish hair replied beside him.

“Wow, that’s some purple hair she’s got,” came an undistinguishable voice.

Ciera pulled her hair back, hiding it. This was her opportunity. She rose to her knees. “Well, today’s your lucky day. You can help me find John. Does anyone know where he is?”

“Wh—Where’d you come from?” the man asked.

“I need to find a robotic-armed John,” Ciera insisted.

“A John? Like a toilet?” asked a young man wearing a ridiculous hat that made him resemble a duck.

Ciera shook her head and straightened her tiny fairy dress. “No, John is his name. Come on, hu—I mean, people. I really need to find him.”

“She’s pregnant?” someone else whispered.

Argh! Another thing that made her different. Clearly this was getting nowhere. Ciera looked down at her scraped, stinging palms, then her ears filled with a loud rumble as a machine raced toward her.

“Get out of the street!” someone yelled.

The rumbling noises grew louder, and she covered her ears. A few sounded like off-tune horns her dad played. Lights shone into her eyes, blinding her. The human voices grew stronger, urging her to move. An image of being captured and laid out on a dissection table made her shiver.

Scrambling to stand, she wrapped an arm around her stomach and gave her wings a beat, only to realize they were gone. She took off running, as fast as her legs could carry her, away from the lights, the noise, the commotion, and the people that thought she was different. It was like she was back in grade school.

She found an empty side street and slowed to a walk, orienting herself to this new world and catching her breath. Be brave, Ciera. Nobody knows you’re a fairy.

She pulled words from her childhood education: skyscrapers, sidewalk, automobile. Her stomach tickled as the thrilling memories of how she learned these words also returned. In school, her teachers would create a magical portal to show great documentaries of the human world called movies. They watched Jaws, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Omen, and something about a man with a saw to teach them how savage the human world was. Deep inside, Ciera didn’t believe this world could be so cruel, but found the documentaries stimulating and highly entertaining.

The class thought it was just a distraction so the teacher could relax and not have to teach, since none of them ever thought they’d set foot in this world. Deep down, Ciera knew that she would. Hoped she would. The challenge of being able to grant wishes to beings that thought magic was impossible made Ciera happy.

In Erde, the people believed they were entitled to a wish or two in their life. How would a human feel? Amazed. Mystified. Scared? Ciera’s skin prickled with the excitement, and she smiled, rubbing her bare arms.

“Hey, honey, whatcha grinning at?” came a gruff voice. Ciera turned her head toward the heavy man, leaning against an automobile…no, a motorcycle with a stick of fire in his mouth…a cigarette.

“I was just thinking to my childhood.” She turned around, revealing her giant belly, and gave him a little curtsy.

“Oh, I wanted to buy you a drink, but that’s probably not best.” The man motioned to a door behind him. Above the door hung a sign saying, “Moe’s Biker Bar.”

She smacked her lips. “No thanks. I’m not thirsty, and I need to keep going. Do you know where I could find a man with a robot arm?”

“A robot arm? Are we in a sci-fi flick?”

Flick? Like a flicker of wings? She twisted around to ensure her wings were still invisible. “I don’t understand.”

The man threw the cigarette on the ground and stomped on it, twisting his foot to put out the fire. “Nah, I don’t know of any men with robot arms.”

“Well, thank you, I need to keep going then.”

“Hey,” the man said. “Where is your accent from? I can’t place it. It seems a little Irish, but with the harshness of Russian.”

“Neither place, but far enough away.” Don’t dissect me, please. Ciera focused on the narrow alley in front of her. There were more humans lining it. Maybe one of them knew her mystery man.

As she set off in that direction, a drop of rain fell on her arm. Icy rain. Then another and before she made it far, it was pouring. The rain made her scraped knees and palms sting worse. She rubbed her eyes and shivered.

Red, tan, and white brick walls from the backside of large buildings lined the alley ahead. Various overhangs broke up the geometric lines that reminded her of the castle corridors in Erde. One rather large green canopy had a handful of humans gathered underneath. She confirmed her wings were gone before she made her way to join them. It’d be quick.

Rain only lasts a few minutes before a rainbow will paint the sky.

As she slogged toward the humans, a piercing whistle made her jump.

“Hey, sweet stuff. Need something?” A man from under the overhang motioned her closer.

She shook off her startle and jogged closer. “Yes, I need something. I’m looking for a man named John.”

“There’s probably fifty thousand men with that name in this city alone.” He rubbed the dimple on his chin.

“Fifty thousand? In Chicago?” The air left Ciera’s lungs, but she pushed forward. “He shouldn’t be hard to find. He has a robot’s arm.”

The man turned toward the other humans and twirled a finger around his ear. His mouth lipped, “Crazy.”

“I am not crazy!” Ciera said, stopping in her tracks. “And I can read lips perfectly well.”

She sucked her magic from deep inside her heart and funneled it. Nothing. Oh, she wanted to turn him into a toad!

“Ouch!” she exclaimed. Something jabbed her in her back. She spun around to see a man with a full beard holding a metal contraption toward her. A gun. Ciera laughed. What was he going to do with that thing? Guns were only used to hunt animals. Now, a knife or a scalpel would be troublesome.

His voice growled. “Hand over your money.”

“I have no money.”

“Your jewelry.” The corner of his dark mustache twitched.

“I have none of that either. If that’s what you want, you should just wish for it.” Oh, that’s right. Human world. No fairy godmothers.

Laughing erupted from the men—no, there was one woman with them. She had ratted, dirty hair, and her hands shook from something besides the cold. She was young. Maybe eighteen.

Ciera gave her a focused stare. “And you. You should go home to your father.” Ciera turned back to the man holding the gun. “Unless you’re planning on eating me, you should put that thing away.” She put her hand on her hip. “Do I look like I have any money or jewelry? I mean, come on.” She waved a hand down her body. “Where would I put anything like that in this outfit?” Ciera imitated one of the human documentaries she remembered from school.

The man with the gun laughed as he jabbed it closer. “Fearless, huh?”

The woman stepped forward, examining Ciera and focusing on her belly. “What are you doing out by yourself on this side of town?”

Ciera sighed. “I’ve already told your friends here. I’m trying to find a man with the robotic arm. His name’s John.”

Another man spoke up and stepped forward, leaving the wall he’d been leaning against. “If you don’t have any money, I could find another use of you.” His arm slid around her waist. “I like my woman barefoot and pregnant.”

Ciera slapped him away. “Hands off the baby. It belongs to the man I seek. It’s obvious you can’t help me. Now, I must be going. I’d like to say meeting you was a pleasure, but I’d be lying.” Ciera kept her cool, but inside, her heart raced. Was this how all the humans were? Would the baby grow up to be like these people—these humans?

In school, she’d learned that they were evil. Full of harm. Just look at what happened to her ancestors when they were captured. Humans destroyed what they didn’t understand. Ciera never believed it fully. She had been dreaming of this world for as long as she remembered and saw a lot of good, too. She had only thought, when she made it here someday, she’d have her magic to protect her, just in case.

Maybe school had been right.

As much as she wanted to run, she walked away, holding her head high and not looking back.

Once she had turned a corner and another, her heart stopped racing and she yawned. She needed to find a home for this child so she could return to her father and continue with what she loved doing: granting wishes. She needed to find John, fast.

The rain poured, and Ciera’s light purple hair hung in her eyes and turned nearly black from being drenched. She was so tired and cold.

The sky darkened and daylight faded. Her thoughts jumbled, and she needed sleep. She tried to use magic to dry herself off, to wish for some warm furs to wrap herself in, but there was nothing.

If she could just go inside somewhere to warm up. She stepped up on a doorstop and traced her finger along bars protecting the door, similar to the dungeons of Erde. Were these bars to keep people in, or out? Rattling one doorknob after another, she finally gave up. Buildings were locked tight in this world.

Barely able to keep her eyes open, Ciera found an abandoned bench under an overhang that appeared inviting. Above the doorframe read, “Coffee Shop.” Yawning, she headed that way.

Curling up into a little ball and ensuring her wand still hung on her waistband, she brushed the rain from her skin and shivered herself to sleep. A dream filled her head.

At home, she snuggled in her soft fairy bed. She was a child and her father sat beside her, reading a story, only she couldn’t hear the words. She was loved and accepted and that was all that mattered. Then, their roof began to leak and water dripped on her head, but her father didn’t notice. She scooted over, but the drops found her again. Suddenly, her entire cheek grew wet and warm, but it wasn’t from the leaking roof.

She woke and flung her eyes open to a big hairy beast trying to eat her. It had huge white teeth and a giant pink tongue. Ears that flopped on the side of its head. She fumbled to stand up on the bench, to get away from the monster.

What was this thing?

“Woof! Woof!” the beast yelled. Now its tongue hung out of its mouth while it panted.

Ciera wanted to scream, but air didn’t escape. She tried to remember those movies she watched at school. She remembered one… Cujo. It was a dog. A crazy, rabid dog! Her heart hammered in her chest.

“Sherlock Bones, get over here!” someone yelled from up ahead on the sidewalk. She had a canopy covering her head…an umbrella.

The beast shook off a pile of water onto Ciera, then trotted off toward the woman.

Ensuring the coast was clear, she sat down on the bench and rubbed her belly. Had it grown since she’d fallen asleep? What was she going to do? This mission was proving harder than expected. She hadn’t realized how much she relied on her magic.

And you thought you didn’t belong in the fairy realm? Now, stop feeling sorry for yourself! Sitting on a bench won’t get you what you need.

She hadn’t earned the title of The Best Fairy Godmother in Erde by staying in the comfort of her tree home. No. She went out and earned it. After taking a deep breath, she stood, straightened her dress, squeezed the rain from her hair, and began walking, sticking to the lighted streets.

After some time, the beautiful moon was directly overhead and nobody remained on the sidewalks. She came to a giant glass window with a light on inside. She moved closer and shaded her eyes to see inside. The light came from a lantern that cast long shadows into the darkness. Odd trinkets lined some shelving, reminding her of a gypsy’s traveling home.

Ciera rubbed her goosebumps, brushing the water from her arms, and pulled the soaked hair off her cheeks. Her tiny dress, heavy with rainwater, grew uncomfortable as it rubbed her skin. She crawled up to the window and peered inside.

Inside, the light flashed around, perhaps a man held it.

I need to get out of this freezing rain.

A soft, warm, and fuzzy blanket lay across a rocking chair just behind the glass. If Ciera could just get inside and dry off, she could come up with a plan and perhaps the rain would stop. Once daylight came, she’d resume her search for the baby’s father.

She pulled on the door, but it didn’t budge. Locked. Perhaps the man would let her in? Would he be evil like the other humans she’d met on this quest? Like what she saw in the movies? She thought of the man with the robotic arm. He didn’t seem evil, and this man inside—maybe he knew this robotic arm John. Somebody had to.

Ciera placed her fingertips against the window and laid her forehead against the glass. With a deep breath, she gave the surface a little tap. The light inside spun around and blinded her. Blinking, she forced herself to stare straight ahead and attempted a smile, though her teeth chattered. Through her eyes, she tried to convey her need to the man inside.

Chapter 4

Dane

Dane jumped and his heart leapt into his throat when his flashlight reflected off eyes outside the antique shop window.

I’m caught!

He stopped breathing as he rushed to escape out the side door.

Three steps toward the exit, he halted. The eyes reflected a bright, vivid shade of violet, unlike anything he’d ever seen before. It couldn’t be a human. He turned his flashlight back toward the window, going through a list of animals that made their homes on the streets of Chicago. The eyes were too big for a rat, cats reflected green or yellow, and a raccoon’s were not violet.

You’re tired. Hurry up and get home.

One more pass of his flashlight, and he caught the violet shimmer again. When a human face illuminated, he jolted back. His palms sweated against the flashlight. He needed to get out of there before the police caught him, but the sad excuse for a woman outside captured his attention.

Her drenched hair was plastered to her face, and her jaw quivered. After flicking his flashlight away, the helpless look of those beautiful eyes haunted him. He turned back toward her again, hoping she was gone, but wanting her to still be there.

Bad timing. Don’t do this now.

Sad, puppy dog eyes stared at him. He took a deep breath.

What are you doing? You need to find the jewelry box and leave.

But Dane couldn’t tear his gaze away.

She’s shivering and only looking for some place dry. She doesn’t know you’re robbing the place. You could be the owner.

Turn away. Let her be.

He couldn’t let her in. Rule number one of being a thief is you don’t get caught. To Dane, that meant getting in and out as quickly as possible.

Ignoring the woman, he flashed his light around the junk in the shop. He had seen the antique silver jewelry box earlier today in the glass display case, but it was gone. What were the chances someone bought it? He moved his light around on the other shelves He wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans. Did they put the valuables away at night?

A heaviness pulled upon Dane as if the woman were still watching him. He maneuvered his flashlight toward the window again, but instead of the violet reflection, he saw a wet, tiny dress that clung to a huge abdomen.

Crap! She’s pregnant.

Ignore her.

But he couldn’t.

The rain ran down her face, and she squinted.

Dane, what the heck are you doing?

He pointed to the side door where he had come in. Earlier that day, he had slipped a thin plastic guard over the latching mechanism.

The woman disappeared around the corner of the building, and Dane cursed himself as he went to open the door.

Don’t let this be a trap. You’re a fool!

The woman’s voice was beautifully exotic—a bold brogue that conflicted with her daintiness. “Thank you for being nice. I’ve been out in that nasty weather for way too long. Does it ever lighten up here? This is the longest rain I’ve ever seen. And cold. Brrr.” She rubbed her arms, heading toward a blanket draped over a rocking chair near the front window.

“It’s spring in Chicago. It’s always like this.”

“Well, it’s absolutely dreadful. I don’t like it one bit.” Water dripped from the ends of her hair onto the linoleum floor as she dried herself off. Dane needed to look away from her wet clothing. The way the fabric clung to her was too distracting—even with her rounded stomach.

“Go ahead. Dry yourself off. Have a seat. I need to find something.” Dane retreated to the backroom, searching for the box.

“What are you looking for?” Her voice was right behind him.

Dane’s heart galloped.

She placed a hand on his shoulder. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. I mean, you’re not in trouble. I’m not going to dissect you or anything.”

Dissect him? He laughed, then began to rummage again. “Just a silver jewelry box with an elephant engraved on the lid.”

He could feel her warm breath. “Well, I’m looking for a man.”

Dane choked, then his reasoning kicked in. She was a prostitute. That was why she wore barely any clothes and was on the street at night. Of course, the wrong type of woman always attracted him. He refocused on the shelves, coming to a large beige safe. Was his box inside? “I’m not interested. Why don’t you head back outside? Take the blanket with you.”

She had it bundled around her body. “You’re not like the others.”

“Because I’m not interested?”

She leaned forward. “Because you’re nice.”

She thought this was nice? Dane stopped. “I don’t know what you want, lady, but I can’t help you. I need to find that jewelry box and get out of here.” …before the police come.

“You seem like you could use my help,” the woman said. As her hair dried, it appeared to soften and lighten, showing a hue as gorgeous as her eyes. What kind of contact lenses reflected light? Somehow, the purple hair and purple eyes made her appear elegant and beautiful, delicate perhaps. Not gaudy and obnoxious like Dane usually thought of the non-natural colors women sometimes dyed their hair.

Dane worked his way to a back office, pulling out desk drawers and opening boxes, searching for the safe keys, or, if he was lucky, the jewelry box.

The woman disappeared into the aisles of the store and then returned with a silver jewelry box. “How about this one?”

A growl rumbled from deep in his chest. “Where’d you get that one?”

The woman stepped from the room and called back. “It was inside that display case right there.”

Dane rushed from the office. “No, no, no! You didn’t.” The woman had opened the back of the case, triggering the alarm. Dane rushed toward the side entrance. “We gotta get out of here! The police are probably on their way.”

“Police?” Her eyebrows arched.

“You set off the alarm.” Dane ran his hands through his hair. “This isn’t my store. I’m here to steal the silver box.”

The woman folded her arms over her chest. “You’re a thief?”

“Never mind, we gotta go.” Dane opened the door and stepped into the ally. The woman followed, clasping the blanket around her shoulders with one hand and supporting her stomach as she ran with the other. The odd pitter patter of her feet hitting puddles had him looking down. She was barefoot. What was he doing?

She panted, “What will happen if the police catch us?”

“We’ll go to jail.” He slowed to a jog as she followed.

Why didn’t you leave her in the store? Your soft side always gets you in trouble!

His mind told him to ditch her. To run fast, where she couldn’t follow, but that soft side he cursed said he couldn’t abandon her.

Block after block, the woman’s heavy breathing told him to slow down, but he pushed forward. He had too much to lose.

Finally, the woman panted out, “I can’t keep going. My stomach’s growling. I haven’t eaten in over a day. My vision’s turning black.”

Dane stopped. What had he done? “Up a block is a little diner. They’re open around the clock. We can get something to eat, dry off, and then you can get back to finding your man.”

The woman attempted a smile through ragged breaths. It was stunning—literally.

That has to be how she gets her men.

But her smile wasn’t seductive or naughty. It was sweet and innocent. Her eyelashes batted under the streetlight and a drop of rain fell from them onto her cheek. His hand ached, wanting to wipe it away.

Chapter 5

Ciera

Ciera tightened the blanket around herself as she followed the thief into a little eating place a long enough walk away. The man led her to a booth tucked away in the corner, and she struggled to wedge her belly between the bench and the table.

She closed her eyes and filled her lungs with an aroma better than anything she had ever smelled before. Her stomach growled. “What’s that? It smells so delicious that my mouth is watering.” She opened her eyes to the man’s intense stare. His black eyebrows and vivid blue irises were a combination she could only describe as beautiful. A masterpiece, but looks didn’t mean anything. He was a thief.

He broke her examination by nodding towards plates of food lined up on a high counter beneath a bright, red-tinted light. “It looks like meatloaf and mashed potatoes.”

“Meatloaf?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve never had meatloaf.”

“I won’t say anything then.”

A woman in a dull yellow dress with a stained apron stopped at the end of the table. Out of her mouth jetted a pink bubble that popped. She sucked it in and chewed obnoxiously. “What can I get you?”

Ciera didn’t hesitate. She wanted to experience everything she could in the short amount of time she’d be in the human world. “I’ll take that delightful smelling meatloaf.”

The waitress laughed. “I’ve never heard delightful and meatloaf in the same sentence.”

The man finished. “I guess I’ll take the same. And two hot chocolates.” He looked at Ciera. “Unless you want coffee? Something hot to warm you up.”

Ciera smiled and leaned forward on the table, whispering to the man, “Is hot chocolate as delightful as meatloaf?” If it was, how could she pass that up?

The corner of the man’s lip turned up. “It’s better.” He seemed to force himself to look away. “Okay. We’ll both take the meatloaf and a hot chocolate.”

As soon as the woman left, Ciera got right to business. She was on a mission, and it didn’t matter if this man was a thief or not, he might know where to find John. “I tried asking earlier, but I’m looking for a man.”

“I already told you, I’m the wrong guy.”

“But you don’t even know who I’m going to describe.”

“Who? It’s not me you’re looking for?” He almost looked disappointed.

Ciera laughed and waved a dismissive hand. “No, of course not, you’re a thief.”

“Shhh!” the man hushed, glancing around the room.

Leaning forward on the table, Ciera whispered, “I’m searching for a man with a robot arm. He lives in this miserable city and is named John.”

“A robot arm? Like a Halloween costume?”

“Costume?”

The man shook his head and rubbed the dark scruff on his cheek. “You know, dressing up like Robot Man. Mister Roboto.” The thief began making all sorts of weird, jerky gestures with his arms. Then he waved a hand at Ciera. “Oh, never mind. Where did you come from, anyway?”

Ciera knew she couldn’t tell him. It would be one step closer to the dissection table. “Not Chicago. Far away from Chicago, actually.”

“That’s obvious with your accent and what you’re wearing. I guess it’s somewhere a little warmer and exotic.”

“It is warmer, but I don’t know about exotic. Don’t worry about it. I don’t really fit in anywhere.” Ciera wrapped her arms around her stomach and the baby’s kick was stronger than she experienced before. Oh, this child was developing much faster than she knew what to do with it. Maybe it would be a giant baby. Weighing as much as a baby dragon in the seventeen months it took to grow. How would she get this out of her, especially without magic?

“What’s wrong?” The thief pulled her attention back to the table.

“Nothing’s wrong. Nothing at all. I’m fine. Everything’s good.” Ciera futzed with the silver utensil-like things laying on top of a folded, white piece of soft paper.

“You had this expression on your face. Like when you stared into the antique shop window.”

“What expression?” Did she appear different? Like a fairy?

“Oh, I don’t know. Big eyes, ruffled eyebrows, and a sad twist on your lips. Like a little lost puppy dog.”

“Dog?” She remembered the documentary Cujo. “Like that beast that licked my face while I tried to sleep? It was horrifying. I thought it was going to eat me.” She wiped her face where the dog had licked. “Now I wonder what else do they lick with that tongue? If it’s anything like a drag—” Ciera stopped cold, waiting for his face to change.

The thief only smiled. “Lots of things. Their butts for one.”

“Ewww,” Ciera said, rubbing her face with the blanket.

The man’s laugh was full and deep, almost like music. “When did this happen?”

“Right before I met you. I was so tired, but couldn’t sleep. The bench was terribly uncomfortable anyway, and the rain kept waking me up.”

The waitress placed a plate of something brown drenched in sauce and something white and mashed peeking out in front of them both. Ciera pried her eyes from the mess and looked up at the thief. “This is meatloaf? It smells so good, but looks like mud.”

The waitress pulled out a few napkins from the pouch around her waist and gave that pink stuff in her mouth a few smacks before speaking. “You’re not from around here, are you? Everyone knows about Sally’s famous meatloaf. I assure you it tastes a lot better than it appears.”

“I’ll take your word for that,” Ciera said.

The man picked up the silver utensils and began to scoop his meatloaf. Ciera did the same. In Erde, they had spoons and knives, but this utensil was different. It had four pointy things.

After throwing a bite of food in his mouth, the man spoke. “So, what’s your story? Don’t you have a home? Where’s the baby’s father?” The thief motioned toward her stomach.

“Which one of those questions would you like me to answer first?” She followed the man’s lead and threw a bite of the brown goop in her mouth. It hit her tongue with a flavor explosion. Meaty, spiced, and comforting. These humans were right—it was delicious.

“Where’s your home?”

She swallowed the delicious goodness and threw another bite in her mouth before she answered. “I already told you. Far away from here.”

“Why are you here then?”

“I’ve told you that too.” She shoved more food into her mouth. “I’m looking for John. The man with a robot arm who lives in Chicago.”

“And where’s the father of your baby?”

“Aren’t you listening to me? His name is John. He lives here, and I must find him so I can return home. I thought thieves—”

“Shhh,” the man said again, a finger over his lips and more forceful this time.

Ciera dropped her voice. “I thought people in your…profession were smart and cunning. It seems you’re missing everything I say.”

“Well, not too smart and cunning, obviously. I let you into the antique shop, and you ruined everything.”

“Serves you right for stealing, anyway.” She shoveled another scoop of the meatloaf into her mouth.

The man bit his lip. He ran his utensil through the whited mashed stuff on his plate before his words came out. “You’re probably right. We’re talking about you right now though. What I want to know is who are you hiding from? Are you in trouble?”

Ciera filled her mouth with more food to keep from speaking.  “I’ll be in trouble unless I can get rid of this baby.”

“Get rid of the baby? Have you ever had a child before?”

Ciera shook her head, feeling the crispiness of her dried hair. She ran her fingers through it, softening it from the rain. “No. Where I come from, mothers don’t raise children. They have important work to do and a child only gets in the way.”

The man laughed and shifted in his seat. “Well, here, I’m told fathers don’t raise children.”

“That can’t be. John needs to take his child.”

By now, Ciera had cleaned her plate while the man’s was still half-full. “Are you going to eat that?” Ciera eyed the delicious, warm, savory concoction and then focused on the thief’s face, salivating while she waited for a response.

“You want mine?” He laughed again, then pushed his plate across the table. “Here.”

In a few minutes, she had one plate licked clean—literally—and was finishing up the other one. The thief stared at her, mouth agape.

Ciera wiped her mouth with her forearm. “What?”

“You are an interesting creature.”

“Creature?” Did he know she wasn’t human? Her heart began to race thinking of a human hacking her into little pieces. She reached for her invisible wand. It was there, but would do her no good.

The waitress returned and picked up the plates. “Wow, did you lick this one clean?”

Ciera straightened against the firm wooden booth. “Are we not supposed to do that?”

The waitress shrugged. “I guess there’s no rules against it. I’ll tell Sally you approve of her cooking.”

“Please do. Tell her it lived up to the delicious odor.”

The waitress pulled a pad of paper from her apron and ripped off a piece. “You can pay me whenever you’re ready.” After clearing the table, she headed back to the kitchen.

“Pay?” Ciera swallowed. She hadn’t thought she’d need money. She knew humans used that as a form of barter, but she had been so used to paying with magic and wishes.

The thief looked over to her. “I’ll take care of it, but you don’t have any money?”

Ciera shook her head.

“Of course you don’t.” The thief ran his fingers through his black hair and sighed. “Go outside and wait for me down the street a bit. I’ll be out in a few moments.”

On Ciera’s way out of the restaurant, she waved at the waitress and called back into the kitchen, “Sally, that was the best meatloaf I’ve ever had.” She tightened the blanket around her body and moseyed out the door.

Chapter 6

Ciera

Ciera stood down the road a little way from that delicious meatloaf place. She felt warm for the first time since getting to Chicago. Maybe it was the hot chocolate or being dry, or simply from her stomach being full. She felt content, maybe even happy.

She stood beneath a streetlight and waited for the thief. Moments later, out the door barreled the dark-haired man, at an awkward pace that picked up. Faster and faster.

He ran straight toward her.

“What’s going on?” She gripped her invisible wand.

“No time now,” he said, out of breath. “We gotta go.” He grasped her hand and dragged her down the alley. As Ciera rounded the edge of the building, she saw a man in a white apron running after them. His belly was almost as big as hers.

“What’s going on?” she repeated.

“They don’t like it when people don’t pay their bills.”

“Who didn’t pay? Oh.” Ciera’s insides clenched. “If I would have known you didn’t have money, I wouldn’t have eaten there.”

“If you didn’t look so miserable, I wouldn’t have taken us there.”

They turned a corner at the end of the alley, and Ciera glanced over her shoulder. The man with the apron was nowhere to be found.

The man tightened his warm, calloused grip on her hand. “You needed to eat and take care of that baby. Maybe you don’t want the child, but it’s still your responsibility.”

“Not want the child?”

“Well, you’re trying to get rid of it.”

After the next turn, Ciera stopped. “It’s not that I don’t want it. I can’t have it. Two completely different things.”

The thief turned around and stood right in front of Ciera, his fists clenched. “Imagine that baby’s now ten years old. Could you tell the child you gave it up? That you wanted her or him, but was afraid to stand up for her or him?” A fire brewed in the thief’s eyes as he searched her face for an answer.

Ciera stepped forward. “We’re not talking about this. You don’t know me and you don’t know what my options are.”

The thief went to say something, but shut his mouth. He dug into his pockets and pulled out a wad of green paper.

Ciera’s eyes latched onto the currency. “You had money? Why didn’t you pay the bill then? We did eat the food.”

He shoved it in Ciera’s hands. “Priorities, but I think you need this more than me. Get yourself someplace to stay and get some help. Call the police, something. Someone will help you. Just not me.”

With that, the thief turned from Ciera and began to dash away.

Ciera fumbled the green paper in her hands. What would this do? All she wanted was information to find the baby’s father. How could this man be warm toward her one moment then retreat the next? Despite being a thief, he was different from the men that tried to steal from her when she first arrived into this town. Different from the movies she had watched in school. Maybe he was like that man in Erde who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor.

This thief showed compassion and sorrow upon his face. He wanted what was best for her, and her child.

Glancing down the alley, the man’s silhouette disappeared around another building. She rubbed the goosebumps that had returned on her arms. A whiff of garbage from the giant metal bin beside her made her wrinkle her nose. What was she doing staying here? She tightened her grip on the money. That man would help her, despite what he told her. In this strange world, he was the closest thing to a friend she had.

Don’t let him get away.

No matter where he was going, it was better than here. She dropped the blanket, wrapped her arms around her belly for support, and took off into a sprint. Her bare feet fell nearly silent on the now dry pavement.

Sneaking around was so much harder when she didn’t have her magic, nor her wings. As a fairy, she could shrink down small, fly, and make herself invisible. Now, she performed an elegant dance, sneaking along the side of the buildings and staying in the shadows as the morning sun began to rise.

Night on the streets of Chicago was not the best place for an out-of-magic fairy godmother. She stayed away from people sleeping on the sidewalk, and so did the thief she followed. Was this place just as dangerous for humans?

After way too much time following the man, her lack of sleep snuck up on her and her eyelids grew heavy. The grace of her movements disappeared, and her vision blurred. How long had it been since she slept? Did her little nap on the bench count?

With heavy legs, Ciera dragged her feet. Just when she thought she couldn’t anymore, the thief stopped in front of a large metal door on a multiple-story dwelling. He pulled keys from his pocket and began to flip through them.

Ciera wouldn’t let him get away. She sprang from around the corner and ran toward him with all the energy she had left. Just a few more steps. One, then another, but the man disappeared into the dwelling. The door swung shut at the same time her foot came crashing down on a pile of glass.

“Oh my fairy dust!” she exclaimed, pushing forward. She threw her fist repetitively against the door, ignoring the sharp pain in her foot. “You’ve got to let me in. Thief, do you hear me?” Determination coursed through her. Warm, sticky liquid oozed between her toes. On the cement was a smear of blood.

She snatched her head up and closed her eyes. What had she done? Were all her toes still attached? She pried an eye open and glanced back down.

Yup, all ten.

Pain shot through her foot and radiated up her leg. Was there something stuck in the sole? She tried to pick up her foot, but her belly kept getting in the way.

With a sigh, she moved away from the door and sat on the edge of a step. She took a deep breath and twisted her foot around the best she could manage with her enormous stomach. Despite all the blood, the gash wasn’t that huge. She’d had worse injuries when she got in that tiff with the unicorn.

Around her, people started exiting buildings now that the sun was stronger in the sky. Hmm… It must be safe here during daylight. She searched the humans for a silver, robotic arm, but didn’t find anything.

How many people lived in this village, anyway? If there were 50,000 with the name John, did that make this city have millions of people? Where did she even begin? She was the best fairy godmother, and understood everything in her world and in Erde too, but Earth confused her.

She could no longer see her bleeding foot behind the tears.

Stop it. You’ve never been one to feel bad for yourself. Do something.

But she was helpless here in the human world. Helpless without her magic.

No, you’re not. Use your wits.

Ciera repositioned her leg and examined her wound closer, searching for glass. Without thinking, she reached for her magic to heal it.

Nothing.

She fought the urge to zap herself inside the building and make the thief tell her how to find John. How to survive in this world. To yell at him for insulting her ability to care for the baby.

But perhaps he was right.

Chapter 7

Dane

Dane stood in the entry commons of his apartment complex. On the security system monitor beside the door, the purple-haired woman’s image filled the screen. She sat on the cement porch picking at the bottom of her foot. Blood covered her hands, and she struggled to position her leg around her pregnant stomach. He had only hesitated, hoping she would leave, but now, with the injury, he couldn’t abandon her.

Dane leaned his forehead against the cool metal door, hand on the knob, ready to turn. It didn’t matter if she was crazy. There was an innocent child inside her.

Why can’t you be an uncaring thief? Life would be so much easier that way.

Dane took a deep breath and twisted the knob.

The woman’s beautiful violet eyes glanced up as he stepped outside. The mixture of her tears and the smile on her face urged him to care for her.

Damn her.

He didn’t need more responsibility.

Dane ran a hand through his hair. “Come on, let’s wash that up.” He had thought she couldn’t look more attractive, but the spark of joy her eyes gave off, paired with the dimple on her cheek, had him melting inside. He pushed the thoughts away.

You’re only going to get hurt, like last time.

She attempted to stand, but struggled with her stomach. Rushing to her side, Dane slipped a hand around her arm and helped her up.

The woman leaned into him. “I thought you didn’t like me.”

Dane glanced at her stomach. “I can’t leave you and the baby outside, helpless.”

The woman pulled away and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not helpless.”

“Okay, okay. Come on then, let’s wash up your foot.” Dane imagined the trail of blood she’d leave if she tried to hobble her way inside. Wrapping an arm around her, he helped her to hop inside the complex. There was one sink he could think of that wasn’t inside his apartment. “This way. I’ll wash you up in the basement.”

After helping her hop down the stairs, he patted the top of the washing machine next to the sink. “Scoot up here.”

The woman tried to prop herself up onto the machine, but couldn’t lift her weight.

Not helpless?

He struggled to hide his smirk.

Her voice could have cut glass. “Are you laughing at me? That’s not very nice.”

He shook his head then hoisted her up onto the machine. “You’re just a little different from most people I’ve met.” He turned the water on, checking the temperature until it warmed.

The woman turned her head over her shoulder, appearing to check her back. Then she patted a spot on her waistband. “How do you find most people to be?”

“They hide things. Put their best self forward.”

“I hide things too.”

“Like the baby’s father? Like where you’re from?” Dane shook his head. Neither of these things mattered to him, anyway. “It’s just that you seem different from most people.”

She snapped her head up and caught him with her intense eyes. “Different? What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because you’re so blunt with your wants and needs. It’s refreshing. Or the fact that you followed me, despite me not being very nice.” He placed a hand against her bare knees to swing her legs into the sink, but snatched it away, realizing how intimate the gesture was. Purple sparkles danced on her cheeks.

Dane, you’re losing it. It’s just glitter.

He focused on her feet. “This may sting some.”

“Pain is not a problem.”

Dane cupped her bleeding foot with one hand and guided it into the sink and under the water. He rubbed it gently with soap and rinsed the best he could as the sink filled.

She winced, and then her face softened as Dane rubbed the blood from between her toes. “I’m sorry,” she said.

“It’s okay. I don’t mind cleaning you up. You should wear shoes, though.”

“No, not for that. For ruining your episode of thievery. You’re so nice. I’m sure you had a grand plan, and I interrupted.”

Dane took in the sincerity in her expression. “It’s okay. There’ll be other things to take.” He dropped her feet into the pool of water. “Now we just need to bandage the cut. Hold on.” It appeared the blood had slowed down. He made his way to the back of the basement and unlocked his storage room door. Inside, he had his camping supplies, including a bright flashlight and a first aid kit. He returned to the woman.

He lifted her foot again and dried it with some paper towels. “So, what’s your name?” He shined the light against her flesh, catching the shimmer of a tiny piece of glass. When he picked it out, she didn’t cringe like he expected.

“Ciera.”

“Well, Ciera. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Dane.” He wiped the wound with a gauze pad and applied a triple-antibiotic Band-Aid. He swung her legs around again, to dangle off the front of the washer. “It wasn’t as bad as it seemed. Lots of blood, but it was a little cut. Either you bleed a lot, or the glass sliced you just right.”

She squared her shoulders and stood tall. “Well, thank you, Dane. I’m not used to so much kindness from someone who doesn’t want something from me.”

“Want something from you? Oh, no. I don’t want that. I’m just doing what’s right—you know, for the baby.”

“Yes, of course. Now, will you help me find the man with the robotic arm?” Her eyes widened while she waited for his response.

“You keep saying robotic arm. Could you describe it more?” Dane rubbed his cheek.

Why was he giving in to this foolishness?

“His arm was silver, hidden under a shirt, but I saw his hand. It contained three metal prongs that came together at the tip like this.” Ciera made a gripping gesture with her hand like a claw machine at an arcade, then yawned. “His name’s John.”

“Yeah, you’ve already told me that. Perhaps his arm is a prosthetic? Maybe we can start by calling the prosthesis stores and see if they have a customer named John.”

Ciera’s face lit up, but another yawn stopped it. “We? You’re going to help me?”

“If it gets your pregnant self off the streets, yeah, I guess I am. But not until later. I need to get upstairs.”

Ciera wiggled her way off the washing machine.

Dane held his hand out. “Whoa there, you’re not coming upstairs with me. Do you have anywhere to go?”

She shook her head, her violet hair falling over her face.

“Well, you can sleep in my storage unit. At least it’s off the street, out of the rain, and warm. I have camping stuff in there: a cot, sleeping bag, and lantern. You should be fine. There’s a bathroom over there.” He nodded toward the stairs.

Ciera gave a little clap. “That would be wonderful. And you’ll find me when you’re ready to help me find John?”

Dane shook his head in disbelief. “Yeah, I’ll help you on your crazy quest.”

Ciera flung her arms around him, and Dane stiffened, but returned the gesture. Her warmness pressed against him sent a tingle up his spine. With her belly snugly against him, Dane wondered if the baby would have Ciera’s dimples, and what her true hair and eye color were.

Stop it. You’ll help her, but then she’s gotta go. You don’t have a place for her in your life. You’ve already been down the road with someone who wasn’t stable.

Chapter 8

Ciera

As soon as Ciera’s head hit the pillow in Dane’s storage unit, visions of her father and home filled her dreams.

When she woke, she lay in the darkness, contemplating where her life was taking her.

Did anyone even realize she was gone?

Sure, the mortals from Erde noticed, as there was one less fairy godmother to grant wishes and watch over them. But did anyone truly miss her? Not the fairy, but the entity? The person.

Her father would miss her.

She had no friends. She had put work and success above everything else, plus she never really fit in, being a purple fairy.  If she never returned, would anyone care?

Why was she doing this to herself? The day had been long and miserable. She wouldn’t think this anymore. Tomorrow, Dane would help her find her baby’s father. He’d be happy to have the child and give it a loving home. Raise it as a human.

What if the baby has magic?

It couldn’t. Babies always took after their fathers, and that was one reason why the fathers raised them.

She sat up and waited for Dane. How long would he be? She flicked on the lantern he had given her and set it on a box beside the cot. The room was piled with things—Dane’s things, she imagined. In one box, cooking things overflowed the edges. Another held long metal sticks. She touched the tips, they were sticky, covered in white goop, and burnt marks.

Ciera limped to a box and kneeled before it. What secrets were inside? Had Dane stolen all these things? Kept them as conquests? Or were they going to be given to someone in need?

She pulled her hands away and returned to the cot, waiting. Her mind drifted to the emptiness her dreams left her with. What was her purpose in life? Grant one wish after another, but leave no legacy?

The baby kicked.

Legacy…

That’s ridiculous. You can’t keep the baby.

A knock sounded on the door. “Ciera?” Dane’s voice was gentle.

She straightened and smoothed back her hair. “I’m here.”

“Are you decent?”

“What do you mean?”

“Um, do you have clothes on?”

Ciera laughed. “Of course. Should I take them off?”

“No, no. Please don’t.”

The door squeaked when Dane stepped inside, illuminated from the yellow glow of the lamp. His hair was wet and he now wore deep blue pants and a purple shirt that made her smile. Had he done that for her? Under his arm, he carried a smooth black device. Ciera scooted over as Dane sat beside her on the cot.

His eyes were soft when they found hers. His eyebrows arched. “Do you sleep in your contacts?

“Contacts?”

“It’s just that your eyes are this unnatural shade of purple. I assumed they were contacts.”

Ciera looked away. Did humans not have violet eyes? “They are purple. They’ve always been that color.”

Dane split the black device open into two parts. The top side glowed to life, like one of those TVs she’d seen when watching those documentaries. “Here, let’s look it up.” He tapped some buttons on the bottom half and images of violet eyes displayed on that little TV device. “I’ll be,” he said. “Some people do have violet eyes. You’re a rarity, though. The rarest in the world.”

Even in this world, huh?

Ciera turned toward Dane. “Thank you for helping me.”

“Let’s look up ‘robotic arm’ and see where we should start.” He clicked some more buttons, and the screen became populated with images of robotic arms. He turned the device toward Ciera. “Any of these?”

She absorbed the shape of each arm, they appeared like they would be fastened to a table of some kind, not a human. “No. It was attached to his shoulder.”

“Like a prosthetic?”

Ciera shook her head. “I don’t know.”

Dane clicked away at the buttons and the display populated with people, mostly men, with devices attached to their shoulder. “Like that?”

“Closer. I don’t know. He had a shirt on, and all I saw was his forearm down.”

“You got pregnant from a man wearing a shirt?”

She straightened. “Is there something wrong with that?”

“And all you know is his first name?” One of Dane’s dark eyebrows arched.

“I didn’t even know that. I had to find it out later.”

Dane shook his head and seemed to scoot away. “It’s just you don’t seem like that kinda girl.”

“What kinda girl do I seem like?”

Dane sighed and leaned closer. His eyes seemed to sparkle as they examined her. “You seem kind and thoughtful. Careful, but a bit daring. Nervous, and a little innocent, but I guess that makes sense.”

Ciera turned from him, uncomfortable by the intensity of his gaze. That was when she saw the familiar silver fingers on the device’s screen. More of a hook than anything else. She had touched it in her dream while the magic happened. “That one.”

Dane moved his fingers, and the image expanded. “It says it’s a Boston Arm. It’s an older type of prosthetic. Maybe a temporary solution before a better prosthetic can be obtained. There shouldn’t be that many places in Chicago that sell these. We can call one.”

Ciera just stared at him. This was a new kind of magic. Devices that gave a world of information right below Dane’s fingertips. Look what happened to a world without fairy influence. Innovation. She remembered learning about phones in school, but the device Dane pulled out was quite different. More of a little contraption like the one he had brought for them to do their research on.

He handed it to her. “Here, call them.”

Ciera took the device from his hands and turned it over in her fingers. How did this thing work? It looked nothing like the ones she learned about in school. Where were the buttons?

“Here’s the number.” Dane pointed to a spot on the shiny black machine. “There are a few stores in town. I don’t know if this John goes to any of them, but it’s worth a try.”

As Ciera spun the phone in her hand, her stomach gave a big rumble. This baby was taking everything out of her. All her magic, her food, and it appeared her sanity. How far had she come? Her father always told her, “You only grow in times of struggle.” Oh boy, she wondered who she’d be when she came out of this one. Ciera found a button and clicked it. The phone glowed like the other device. She stared at it.

“Don’t tell me you don’t know how to use a smartphone?”

Ciera looked into Dane’s intense blue eyes and gave her best sly smile. “Okay, I won’t tell you.”

Dane laughed. “I should have seen that coming. Here.” He took the device from her and touched some numbers on the screen. When he handed it back to her, she heard a faint ringing sound. Pushing it closer to her ear, the sounds became clearer.

Soon, on the other end, was a woman’s voice. “Windy City Prosthetics, this is Mary. How may I help you?”

“Yes. Hi, Mary. This is Ciera. I’m looking for John. He has a robotic…um…prosthetic arm.”

“Excuse me? You’re looking for an employee or a client?”

“I’m looking for John.” Frustration built inside Ciera. How would she explain? “He’s got a Boston Arm. I’m pregnant with his child and trying to track him down.”

Dane pried the phone from Ciera’s ear and held it up to his own. “Hi, this is Dane. Don’t mind Ciera, she’s a little blunt. We’re looking for more information on prosthetics. Do you carry the Boston Arm or another claw type?” He pulled the phone away and touched the device. Soon Mary’s voice filled the air.

“We have a full line, including that type. There are a few variations.”

“Are they on the internet?”

“No, you’ll have to come down and see the catalogue.”

“Do you know of a man named John who has this type of arm?”

“I really don’t know. I’m just the front desk. You’d have to talk to one of our specialists, but they’re occupied right now, and I’m not sure they can give that information out.”

“Okay, thank you. We’ll stop in sometime today and talk to them.” He swiped the phone’s screen.

Ciera’s stomach gurgled again. She wrapped her arms tightly around it.

“Let’s get you some breakfast…or I guess it’s lunch already, then we’ll stop over at the store. It’s not far from here. Maybe you can look at the catalogue to see if they have the exact device you saw before we go any further.”

“I don’t want to eat and run off without paying again.”

Dane leaned in and gave her shoulder a little nudge with his own. “That’s why I can’t see you in your line of work—getting pregnant like you say you did. You’re so uptight.”

Ciera fisted her hands. “I’m not uptight. I have things that I stand for. Besides, getting pregnant is a woman’s duty. It’s what we’re made for.”

A deep laugh rolled from Dane. “Really? A woman’s duty? Wasn’t it just yesterday you wanted nothing to do with the child?”

“I need to get rid of the baby. Raising a child is not my duty.”

Dane’s eyebrows rose, and he stood up. “I’m not going to argue. Come on, you can buy breakfast. I know you have a wad of cash.”

Ciera reached under the bed and pulled out the money Dane had given her yesterday. She held it out to Dane. “Take it back.”

“I don’t want it. You need it more than me.”

She folded it neatly and shoved it in the only spot she knew to hold it—her undergarment. Dane shook his head at her.

“Do you find me amusing?” Ciera asked.

“More than you can imagine,” he said, putting his hand on the small of her back and escorting her out the door.

~ ~ ~

Ciera found herself comforted by her breakfast, as eggs were something familiar. But when she scooped up a few chunks of scrambled eggs into her spoon, an emptiness filled her as she thought of her father waiting for her to return. He was all she had. What would happen when he was gone? She’d be so lonely.

Stop thinking about it. He’s got twenty-three years and sixteen days left.

“What are you thinking about?”

She jerked her head up, searching for anything to say. “What animal do these come from? They’re different from what we have at home.”

“The eggs? What animal?” Dane laughed. “They’re chicken eggs. What kind you eat? Duck? Quail?”

“Platypus.”

Dane scooped up his eggs. “I shouldn’t have asked.”

The waitress set the bill down, and Ciera reached into her undergarment to pull the wad of money out.

Dane reached out his hand. “No, keep that. I’ll cover this.” He pulled out a little plastic rectangle. “I had a nice breakfast with you. There’s something about your quirkiness that reminds me of someone I know.”

“A friend?”

Dane seemed to want to say something, but stayed quiet. Ciera bit her tongue, waiting. She had learned that if you don’t say anything, frequently more information came. Did that work on humans too?

Dane chuckled to break the silence. “No, not a friend. Family.”

The waitress came, and Dane grabbed the bill. After scribbling something on the piece of paper, he slid out of the booth. “Are you ready to go find this robot man of yours?” He lifted his hand for her to take.

Ciera smiled, gripped his hand, and wiggled out from behind the table. “You bet.” She laced her arm around Dane’s and pulled him into her tightly. “Thank you for helping me. I think we make a great team.”

Dane beamed a beautiful smile that made Ciera almost feel at home and tightened his arm against hers. “You’re welcome. A team, huh?”

“Yes, a team.” The word seemed foreign to Ciera—something she never expected to say…or find in this world.

Chapter 9

Ciera

Soon, Ciera and Dane arrived at a tan building with a sign overhead that read, “Windy City Prosthetics.” When Dane placed his hand on the small of Ciera’s back, a chill ran up her spine. She turned to see his welcoming eyes.

How would Dane get along with her father?

Stop it. You just want to be close to somebody in this crazy town.

Dane gave her a nod. “You ready?” He opened the glass entry door for her.

Inside, metal devices—artificial limbs of all kinds—covered the walls. One corner held racks of black, tan, and white shoes, while the other had bracing devices of some kind, like walking sticks, but made of metal.

A counter ran the length of one wall. Behind it stood a pudgy woman who watched Dane and Ciera like a phoenix watching his prey. Examining one device after another, but nothing reminded her of the man in her dream.

“Can I help you?” the woman asked. Her voice was familiar.

If Ciera had her wings, they would have flapped and floated her to the ceiling, thinking this could be the step to find John. Almost if he could read her mind, Dane grabbed her hand, grounding her.

“Yes, are you Mary? I’m Ciera, and we spoke this morning. I was looking for the man with the—”

Dane gave her hand a little tug while his words interrupted her. “We’re here to see the prosthetic catalogue.”

“Yes.” The woman turned around, tracing her fingers along the bindings of some books. She pulled out a brown one with white letters on the side. “Here’s the line we carry.”

When Dane let go of Ciera’s hand, she suddenly felt empty. She laced her fingers together in front of her belly.

“Thank you,” Dane said, taking the catalogue. “Mind if we sit over there and look at it?”

The woman shook her head. “Not at all.”

On a padded bench near the shoes, Ciera and Dane sat shoulder-to-shoulder while flipping through the pages. When she turned the final page, a heaviness settled on her. None of the claw-type hands had a silver forearm—they were all flesh-toned.

“It’s none of these,” she whispered to Dane.

He tucked the book under his arm and carried it back to the counter. “Do you have other books? The one we’re looking for isn’t in this one.”

Mary shook her head, then brushed a stray strand of brown hair back into her bun. “No, that’s the only brand we carry. What are you looking for?”

“A silver forearm,” Ciera said. “The man’s whole arm was silver.”

“Titanium.” Mary said. “That’s a trademark of ‘Better Than the Original.’ We don’t carry that line. This one is just as good.” She flipped open the catalogue.

“No, no, no,” Ciera said. “I need a particular man. He has the silver arm. If you don’t sell them, where can we find them?”

“Maybe at Prosthetics R Us on the other side of town or maybe he was measured at his doctor’s office and purchased it online?” Mary shrugged.

“Online?” Dane said. “If he bought it online, how could we possibly track him down?”

Mary pulled her glasses down. “You are looking for a specific person with a prosthetic? You know nobody will be able to give you that information. We’re protected by HIPPA. All our client info is private.”

Ciera’s heart sank. “Really, I must find him. He’s the father of my child.”

Mary held her hand out. “I really don’t want to get into any family drama. Just know there’s nothing I can do to help.”

Ciera wanted to fly across the counter and rummage through every piece of paper there.

Instead, Dane wrapped his arm around her, holding her firmly to the ground. He twisted her toward him, and her world disappeared in his soft blue eyes. Inside her stomach, she felt a tingle. What was happening to her? Was this the baby’s doing also?

Dane rubbed his hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay. They don’t sell that type, anyway. We’ll check out Prosthetics R Us.”

Ciera calmed, focusing on the man in front of her.

He turned and awkwardly smiled at the shopkeeper. “Pregnancy hormones. You have to forgive her.” He then escorted Ciera outside.

Ciera wanted to stomp her foot. “We need to find him. I’m running out of time!” She wanted to get out of this human world as soon as this baby was born. Before someone found out about her. Either the fairies would kick her out of the fairy realm, or the humans would find her and dissect her. Neither option seemed very pleasant.

“Ciera, use your head. I’m a thief. There’s always a way to get the records. We just need to be better prepared for the next store.”

She suddenly felt light as hope filled her, but then a realization squashed it. “No, that’s wrong.”

“Hey, sometimes you need to do bad things if the reasoning behind them is good.”

He was a good thief. He had to be. “Like rob from the rich and give to the poor?”

“Like Robin Hood?” Dane laughed. “Not exactly. That is over-glorified thievery. I’m not heroic at all.”

“I don’t understand. Either you’re a good thief or a bad thief.”

“It’s more complicated than that. Do I want to steal? No. Do I have a choice?” His voice cracked, and he silenced a moment, thinking about it. “Maybe. It’s just that sometimes, you do bad things for other people. People you care about. People you love.” He placed his hand on her stomach. “Like, you seem to want to do whatever it takes to get your child a good home. I completely understand that. I think that’s a grand reason, if there ever was one before.” His words were soft, almost a whisper.

Ciera caught glossiness in his eyes. Did men cry in this world? She smiled, wanting to cheer him up. “I’ll do whatever it takes.” She took Dane’s hand. “Just show me how.”

They spent the next hour coming up with a plan for visiting Prosthetics R Us. When they entered the store, their elaborate dance began.

Ciera tightly clasped Dane’s hand as they walked into the building like they had a purpose. She let him do the talking.

“Hi, I’m looking for a surprise for my brother. He received his prosthetic here from you. See, my wife here—” Ciera gave a smile and a little curtsy. “—has taken to knitting. She wants to make him a sleeve for his device, only we don’t know what size to make. I was wondering if you could let us know its dimensions. It’s a ‘Better than the Original’ brand. A Boston Arm style.”

The man behind the counter rubbed his well-trimmed beard. He pulled out a catalogue and flipped it open to a page displaying a few photos of exactly the arm in Ciera’s dream.

“That’s it,” she whispered to Dane.

He squeezed her hand. “Do they all come in the same size?”

Ciera’s insides tightened, hoping the answer was ‘no.’

The man ran his finger down the page. “It appears like they come in three sizes. Adult male, adult female, and child.”

Child? Ciera’s insides twisted into a knot. A child who needed a fake arm? Here’s where a little fairy magic would go a long way.

“Well,” Dane continued. “John’s kinda a small guy. Maybe he has the female variety. Is there a way you can look it up?”

The man went to the computer and began to tap some keys. Ciera tried to remember what letters he touched, since Dane said people needed a secret code…a password to unlock these devices.

The man stopped pushing the buttons. “What’s John’s last name?”

If only Ciera knew that answer. Who knew humans would have two names?

“Smith.” Dane’s voice was calm as he leaned on the counter.

The man clicked some more. “I have two John Smiths in my records.”

“I imagine you do. Smith is a common last name.” Dane scratched his temple. “Is there a different way to search? Maybe by prosthetic device?”

A clicking sound filled the air as the man continued to push buttons. “I can search by phone number.”

Dane patted his waist and shook his head. “Honey,” Dane said, turning toward Ciera. “Do you have your phone with you?”

Ciera shook her head.

Returning his focus toward the clerk, Dane shrugged. “We don’t seem to have our phones along. Who remembers people’s numbers these days, anyway.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t help you then. I can write down both the male and female sizes for you, though.”

Dane’s fake smile looked sincere. “That’d be great.”

Ciera raised up on her tippy-toes, wanting to beat her wings with excitement. Their plan was going perfectly. “Do you have paper records anywhere? Perhaps it would be easy to search that way?”

The man’s eyes shifted to a file cabinet beside him, but then he stopped. He backed up a few steps. “I don’t understand what you’re after. This whole thing seems bizarre.”

Dane tightened his grip on Ciera’s hand, giving it a little tug to tell her it was time to leave. “Well, never mind. We can just ask his girlfriend. Hopefully she knows. Thanks for the dimensions.”

With Ciera feeling sweat on her temple, they scurried out the door and as far away from the store as they could get. Dropping Dane’s hand, Ciera rubbed hers together, thinking of their next move.

Dane’s words interrupted her, “Stop worrying. We’ll figure it out.” He smiled. “Remember, I’m a thief. Let me tell you what we’ll do tonight. Did you get his computer password?”

Ciera nodded. “It was Amy-two-zero-zero-four.”

“Good. That’s all we need.” Dane led Ciera around the building and pointed out the loopholes in the shop’s security system, recited the store’s hours, the neighboring store’s hours, and had laid out an entire plan on how they’d get the records nearly as fast as a fairy godmother could zap themselves a meal.

He suddenly halted and glanced down at his wrist. “Oh no, it’s after four already! I gotta get home.”

A short ride later in an automobile Dane called a taxi, he secured Ciera in the storage unit. “Rest. I’ll come get you sometime after midnight, and we’ll get those records.”

Ciera smiled and kissed him on the cheek, causing her chest to constrict pleasantly. It was a shame the fairy realm banned all human contact, Ciera could get used to having a human friend. “Thank you for all your help. And if it means anything to you, I think you’re a good thief.”

She swore Dane’s cheeks turned pink as he shut the door.

Chapter 10

Dane

Dane sat at his kitchen table, shuffling through page after page of bills. The numbers were not even comprehensible to him. There was no way to keep his apartment, put food on the table, and pay back what he already owed—no matter how hard he tried. Right now, food and living expenses were paid, the rest of them ignored. Even if he hadn’t given Ciera that hundred dollars, this would still be a lost cause.

As he flipped them over and over in his hand, his mind wandered to the woman in his storage room. She had kissed him on the cheek, and he hadn’t realized how much he liked it until he felt his cheeks heat. When he had introduced her as his wife, it felt complete—it felt right. Did he just miss being married?

Maybe it was time he started dating.

Stop it. Your life’s too full already. You don’t have time for women nonsense. Besides, she’s pregnant with another man’s child. A man she is still looking for.

Was that camping cot too hard for her? He did have a nice soft sofa sleeper up here in his living room. Did she need a shower? How had he ignored that? She must be washing up in the bathroom beneath the stairs. How dare he do that to a pregnant woman—who kissed him. He rubbed his cheek. Her lips had been so soft.

Ignore the attraction.

“What’s up, Dad?” When had his daughter come out of her bedroom?

Dane dropped his hand. “Just paying bills, honey.”

“Do we have enough this month?” She leaned against the chair across from him, pulling her worn t-shirt straight.

Dane thumbed through the upside-down stack. “We’ll be alright. I’ll make sure of it.” He flashed his daughter a smile, but her worried expression didn’t change. It was so much easier when she had been little and didn’t understand. Didn’t ask questions like, ‘Why don’t you have a job? Where does our money come from? What happened to Mom? Will you ever remarry?’

“It’s after your bedtime. Why aren’t you sleeping? Is something going on at school?”

Rosa shrugged and picked at her purple fingernails. “No, just the same old, same old.” Her pale lips turned down in a frown before she glanced away.

Dane knew that expression. “Come on, something’s going on. You weren’t all right at dinner either.”

Rosa pulled her long red hair to the side and sat down, lacing her fingers together on the table. “It’s just there’s this one boy who keeps saying Mom didn’t want me and that’s why she took off.”

Dane cringed. At some point, he’d have to tell her the whole story. He thought of the woman downstairs, wanting to give up her child. If only his wife would have been that transparent, their life would be quite different now. Maybe he just ignored the signs…wanted to ignore the signs.

“You know how I told you mom was sick, and she couldn’t care for you? Well, it’s true. She couldn’t help raise you and that made her sad. Very sad.”

Rosa’s lips puckered while she was in thought, then her voice was soft. “I wish she would have hung in there. I would have made her happy.”

Dane swallowed and took a deep breath, wishing that his wife could see the woman Rosa was growing up to be. “It’s not your job to make someone happy. It’s not anyone’s job, really. I could have guided her more, but it was up to her to want to change.”

“Now you’re doing it, Dad. What do you tell me? It’s in the past.”

Dane forced a smile. “You’re right. So, tell me about this boy at school.”

“I guess I should have told him the truth—that Mom was dead. I couldn’t, though. Is it wrong that I don’t want anyone to know?”

Dane shook his head, and his voice turned quiet. “I don’t like telling anyone either.” His vision clouded, and he blinked away the tears. “Things like that should never happen to anyone.” He shook his head, refocusing on his daughter’s issue. “You know what they say about boys who tease.”

“What? That he likes me? I don’t think so.”

Dane forced a shrug. “I don’t know. I used to do it all the time.”

“Now what do you do when you like a girl?”

Dane gave an uncomfortable laugh. “I don’t have time to like girls.” He thought of Ciera. “But if I did have time, I’d take them out to lunch. I’d support whatever goals they had in life, whatever quest they were on, no matter how crazy I thought it was. Be there to support them. Kinda like you and me.”

Rosa smiled. “So, you’d be nice to them?”

Dane’s head filled with an image of pregnant Ciera in the basement, laying on the hard cot in a nearly dark room. “Not always, but I should be.” He rubbed Rosa’s head.

She jerked away. “Dad, you know I’m too old for that.”

“As always, you’ve helped me more than I’ve helped you. I swear you’re raising me. Just tell that boy to get lost and ignore him. You wait and see. When you’re in eighth grade next year, or maybe high school, I bet he’ll ask you to a dance.”

Rosa shook her head in denial, then gave a sly smile. “Well then, I’ll need to start coming up with really good excuses why not. Something that will make him regret how he treated me.”

“If he knew about your mom, he wouldn’t tease.”

“But I don’t want any special treatment. I don’t want to explain it.”

“I know. Me neither.” Dane stood up. “I have a problem I need to take care of in the basement. I’ll be right back.”

As soon as Rosa nodded, he nearly flew out the door and down the two flights of steps. When he arrived at the storage unit and knocked on the door, there was no reply.

“Ciera?”

Nothing.

He cautiously opened the door to an empty room. Everything was put away neatly, except for his lantern on the floor with broken glass surrounding it.

He felt queasy. Had he chased her away? He couldn’t have brought her upstairs with his daughter. He didn’t trust her for that.

No. That’s not true. You didn’t want her to meet your daughter. You didn’t want to explain your situation to her.

He ran his fingers through his hair and sat on the cot, his insides turning, thinking of her out on the street alone, barefoot and pregnant. How cliché. What if something happened to her?

No. No. No.

He couldn’t live with that.

He flew upstairs, told Rosa he was going out for a little while, and ran out the door. Searching the streets of Chicago for the most charming, pregnant, violet-eyed woman he’d ever seen.

Chapter 11

Ciera

Ciera walked the streets of Chicago. She hadn’t been able to nap like Dane suggested, and the hard cot wasn’t to blame. She was disgusted with herself. She loved helping others and was used to being able to grant people’s wishes. Ever since she arrived in Dane’s life, she had only caused him trouble.

He helped her when he should have been mad that she interfered with him stealing that jewelry box, whatever his reasons for wanting it were. Then, she was spending his money and taking all his time away. He was providing her with shelter, staying in his storage unit, and on top of it now, she had broken his lantern. Without her magic, there was nothing she could give him in return.

That wasn’t true.

She would make it up to him and set things right. Plus, if he was going to help her break into the prosthetic store and steal information on John, she would help him first. It was what fairy godmothers did. Helped people before they did anything for themselves.

Dane wanted that silver jewelry box with the elephant on top and she was going to get it for him. She’d follow the plan he laid out to break into the prosthetic store, but instead, would return to the antique shop. Without a doubt, he was a good thief and Ciera wouldn’t stop whatever grand plan he had.

Under the cover of darkness, she’d break in and get what Dane wanted. One-two-three and it’d be over.

Who needed magic when you had determination?

~ ~ ~

Thrilled for the fairy godmother skill of a great sense of direction, Ciera found that antique shop without any trouble. Now, she stared through the shop’s large front window like she had two nights ago. The silver jewelry box Dane needed was inside somewhere, and she’d find it. She owed it to him. There was only one place inside they hadn’t looked. One door they hadn’t opened.

When she got her magic back, she’d set this all right. She’d grant the store owner’s wish, whatever it was. That would be of greater value than the silver box. She’d also fix the window she was about to break. Ciera had taken a rock she found outside Dane’s apartment and stood back. Winding up her arm, she let it loose, flinging it at the window.

The glass shattered. With feet wrapped with bandages from Dane’s first aid kit, she carefully pushed the rest of the glass out of the way and stepped inside.

Passing through long aisles filled with old dishes, lanterns, and other contraptions, she rushed toward a door tucked in the corner of the shop.

Please be in here.

She pushed it open to reveal a desk with papers sprawled across the top. Along one wall sat boxes piled upon boxes. Ciera pulled one off the shelf after another. Inside were miscellaneous items. Dolls. Miniature glass decorations. Garbage.

When she finished rummaging through the boxes, her chest grew heavy. How could she return empty-handed? She never failed.

She spun around to find one more box sitting on the floor behind the desk. Taking a deep breath, she opened the container to see a beautiful, shiny jewelry box. An ornate elephant decorated the top.

Ciera smiled as she tucked it under her arm and crawled back out the window and away from the shop as fast as her legs would carry her. Oh, did she wish she had wings.

As she waddled through the streets, holding her belly with one arm and the silver box with another, she heard loud ear-piercing whistles and sirens that grew louder. She ignored them, rushing down one alley and then the other, eventually finding her way back to Dane’s apartment. She had put a little piece of tape on the door lock, just like Dane had told her about, which allowed her to return inside the building and hide away in the basement without anyone noticing.

She beamed when she rested the jewelry box on top of a fabric folding chair. After staring at it for quite some time, she laid on the cot, realizing Dane would be so happy. So proud of her. It was the least she could do—he was helping her find Robot-Armed-John.

As she drifted to sleep, an odd thought tugged at her consciousness. How did father fairies not live with the mother of their children? A long time ago, Ciera’s mom had died, so she never thought of this possibility, but now, laying in the same building as Dane, there was something comforting about having him close by.

That’s absurd.

He’s human, and you’re on Earth.

But she couldn’t help it. His gentleness with her. The way he helped, despite not wanting to, made her feel, well, warm inside—complete. In her twenty-six years, she finally felt like she belonged somewhere besides at home with her father.

~ ~ ~

Ciera awoke to Dane rushing into the storage unit. She jumped—her heart nearly in her throat. Her voice was groggy as she pulled the invisible wand from under the pillow. “What’s going on?”

“I thought you left. Now, there’s blood on the door handle.” Dane’s eyes darted toward Ciera’s arm, and he knelt in front of her, gently grabbing her forearm and giving her arm a little twist. A few dried crimson stripes stuck out against the pale skin of here upper arm. “What happened to you?”

Ciera tried to rub the dried blood off, twisting her head to see the back side of her arm. “I must have cut myself on the glass. I was so excited to help that I didn’t notice.”

“Excited? Glass?” Dane followed Ciera’s gaze to the silver box resting on the chair. “Where’d you get that?”

“The antique store I met you at. You’ve been so helpful to me, I thought I’d get you what you were looking for.” Grant your wish even without my magic.

“You stole it?”

“How else would I get it?”

Dane’s body darted straight. His head shook side to side as he paced in front of Ciera. “You’re not a thief. You could have been caught.” He stopped. “Tell me the details. How’d you take it?”

“I threw a rock through the window and hurried inside.”

“A rock through a window? That’s not how you do it.”

Ciera sprang up. “Well, it worked, didn’t it? There it is. Inside the shop, there was a door we didn’t open the other night, and I searched for the box as quick as possible.”

Dane stopped at the door and leaned outside, wiping a finger in her dried blood on the handle. “Were you followed?”

Ciera shook her head. “By who?”

“I don’t know. The police? Anyone?”

“I don’t think so.”

“You don’t think so? This isn’t good. You came back here after leaving blood at the crime scene. If they gather your DNA there, and someone tracks you here… It could lead to me, and…” Dane ran his hand through his close-cropped hair.

A small voice called from outside the storage unit. “Dad?”

“Crap!” Dane’s eyes turned to lasers, freezing Ciera in place while his expression tightened. He peered his head out of the room. “Yes, honey?”

Honey? Dad? Dane had a child? Pieces started to click in place. How he’d taken sympathy on her being pregnant. How he wouldn’t bring her up into his home. How his touch on her injured foot was so soft and fatherly.

Dane slipped out of the room and closed the door. Ciera’s hands clenched into fists. Was he hiding her? Twisting the knob, she flung the door open.

Dane’s hand rested on a child a foot shorter than Ciera. Not a teenager, but somewhere in between. Her fiery red hair reminded Ciera of Erde and for a moment, she was homesick. It may not be her home, but her favorite place to be.

As Dane guided the girl to the steps, Ciera cleared her throat. “Hi, I’m Ciera. Your father’s friend.”

The girl’s face seemed to glow, only to be reined back by her father’s stern voice. “Rosaleen, go upstairs. I’ll be right there and we can talk about this.”

“Why is there a woman in our storage unit? Dad, what were you doing in there?” A sneaky smile on her face.

Dane turned his focused stare to his daughter and pointed upstairs. “Go. Now.”

With a humpf, the girl folded her arms over her chest and stomped up the steps. Once out of sight, Dane turned toward Ciera. “You need to leave.”

“I don’t understand how this changes anything. Why were you hiding me from her? Is it because I’m not like you?”

“What did you want me to do? It’s hard enough to keep her life normal, much less expose her to a crazy pregnant lady with purple hair.”

“Crazy? You think I’m crazy?”

“Come on, Ciera. You were out on the street, drenched in rain. You’re pregnant and don’t even have shoes. You have no place to go and are looking for a man with a robotic arm that you met in your dream. What am I supposed to think?”

“But you were helping me.”

Dane threw his arms up. “Helping you live out your delusions. I thought if we figured this out, you’d be able to move on. I was giving you someplace dry until the child was born. Then the hospital would help find you, and the baby, someplace safe to go.”

“I don’t need any help. I have this under control.”

Dane pointed into the storage unit. “By breaking a window and hurting yourself? By leaving a trail of blood?”

Ciera felt herself mimicking Dane’s daughter. She folded her arms over her chest. “I was trying to show my gratitude.”

“It’s not even the right jewelry box. It’s not silver.”

Ciera’s heart dropped. Her voice was nearly a whisper. “Not the right one?”

“No. It’s wrong. And now, your blood is at the crime scene. You’re injured, and I don’t know what to do with you.”

“You’re just mad because your daughter found out about me.” Ciera’s insides tensed again. She rubbed her stomach. It was achy now, too much excitement in one night. It tightened again. “Ouch.” She stepped away from Dane, clasping her stomach. “I just need to sit down.”

Dane rushed to her, grabbed her arm, and escorted her back to the cot. “Don’t tell me you’re in labor now.”

Ciera shook her head. “I can’t be. I’ve only been pregnant for nine months.”

“Nine months? Crap, crap!” Dane helped her onto the cot. “How long have you been having stomach pain? When did your doctor tell you to go to the hospital?”

“Doctor? Hospital? We don’t need medicine.”

“Maybe we don’t, but you might.”

Ciera gripped her belly as it clenched again into a tight knot.

“We should get you to the hospital.”

Ciera struggled against him. “I’m fine. I don’t need help.”

“Stop it. You may be in labor.”

“I’m not in labor.” Ciera sat back up. “It’s fine now. I just got worked up.”

Dane pulled his hand off her upper arm, bloody fingers. “Urgh. I opened up your cut.” Dane sighed. “Come with me. Let’s get you upstairs and clean you up properly. If you have another contraction, I’m taking you in.” He wrapped an arm around Ciera’s waist, and she pushed away.

“I’m fine. I don’t need help,” she repeated.

“I don’t care,” Dane said, helping her up two flights of stairs and into his apartment.

Chapter 12

Ciera

Dane’s apartment was full of color. Ocean blues and sunny yellows covered the walls. There were even some purple chairs and canisters of some kind. It was simple with only a few things, not like the places Ciera had seen on TV so long ago. Dane sat her at the table, and the big brown eyes of Dane’s daughter greeted her.

“What’s your name?” the child asked.

“Ciera, and I think I heard yours was Rosaleen.”

“You can just call me Rosa. Dad uses my whole name when he’s stressed.”

“Hmmm… Rosaleen’s a pretty name, though. It means beautiful flower, right?”

Rosa shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Well, it does, doesn’t it, Dane?”

Dane came out from a room in the back of the tiny apartment, holding some rags and packages in his hand. He pulled a chair out beside Ciera and took her arm. “It actually means beautiful rose.”

“Really?” Rosaleen sat down and leaned on the table. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

Dane didn’t take his eyes of Ciera’s wound. His voice was gruff. “Because your mother gave you that name. Because a rose was her favorite flower.”

“My mother?”

“We’re not talking about that,” Dane said.

Ciera pulled her arm away. “Ouch!”

Dane sprang to his feet. “What? Another contraction?”

“No, they stopped. You can sit down and relax. It’s just that you’re hurting my arm.”

Dane switched out the fabric he was wiping her wound with. He then pulled on a sticky covering, like he had with the cut on her foot.

Ciera examined his focused face. “Why don’t you talk of her mother? You say a mother should care for their child, yet that’s obviously not the case here.”

Dane’s movement’s halted, and he looked up into Ciera’s eyes. The pain she saw on his face radiated down into her own heart. No words came out of his mouth.

But a little voice beside her spoke solemnly and almost with wisdom. “My mother didn’t want me. She didn’t want us.”

Dane twisted toward his daughter and took her hand in his. “It’s not that she didn’t want us. She was sick.” He looked to Ciera. “She had postpartum depression really bad.”

“Postpartum depression?” Ciera struggled with the new words.

“It’s hard to explain. You know how you feel different now that you’re pregnant?”

Like losing her magic?

Dane continued, “Well, after the baby’s born, sometimes mothers have hormone changes mixed with fatigue and adjustments to motherhood that make them imbalanced. It didn’t help that Josalyn was unbalanced to begin with.” Dane looked at his daughter. “We’ve talked about this before. She was sick and should have gotten treatment. It’s not that she didn’t want us. It’s just that she didn’t want anything.”

Rosa nodded, and Dane turned to Ciera. “Rosaleen’s mother was young. We both were. We didn’t know what we were doing. We had nobody to guide us.” He stood and kissed his daughter’s temple. “It’s way late and time for bed. You know I love you, right?”

Rosa wrapped an arm around her father, and Ciera’s insides softened at the look in Dane’s eye. She bit her lip and rubbed her belly.

“Yeah, Dad. I know. You tell me that all the time.” His daughter’s voice grew bolder. “Where’s Ciera going to sleep?”

Dane nodded toward the room attached. “She can have the sofa sleeper tonight. Tomorrow, though, I’m going to have to find her a place to stay.”

Rosaleen smiled slyly. “Too bad. I was hoping she was your girlfriend.”

Dane coughed. “She’s pregnant.”

Rosaleen’s smile widened. “Does that mean I’m going to get a little sister? Maybe a brother—”

“No.” Dane’s face was firm. “I just met her. I’m not the father.”

“I know how that works, Dad.”

“Okay, enough.” Dane stood up and scooted her out of the room. “Off with you.”

Rosaleen stopped and glanced over her shoulder at Ciera, a different kind of smile filled her face. “Um… If you’re my dad’s friend, could you come to school with me next week? There’s a mother-daughter tea.” Dane stepped away, allowing Rosa to turn fully toward Ciera. “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to take my dad to another event. See, the kids started asking about my mom, and maybe you could pretend?”

Ciera smiled. “I won’t be able to pretend, but I’d still love to go. I adore tea.”

“No. Maybe. Don’t burden her with our troubles.” Dane rubbed his chin. “We’ll talk about this in the morning. Go now.”

Once Dane tucked the girl away behind a door, he guided Ciera to a soft-looking bench. He removed the cushions and a bed magically unfolded. He pulled it out for her and grabbed some blankets from a chest in the corner. “I don’t know if this will be much better than the cot downstairs. Instead of being too firm, you may feel the springs underneath the soft mattress.”

“The cot was fine. I’m sure this will be good, too. I can sleep anywhere, even on the forest floor.”

“Forest floor?”

“Oh, never mind. I imagine you don’t have forests here in Chicago.” Ciera settled herself into the bed and fluffed the pillow Dane provided. Dane began to step away, but Ciera caught his arm, stopping him. “I’m sorry I messed everything up.”

He sighed and sat beside her on the mattress, shaking his head and whispering, “You didn’t mess it all up. I’m a thief. What kind of life is that for my daughter? I keep saying that I’ll stop, but the money’s good, and I can’t.”

“But, you’re doing good, aren’t you?”

“No, Ciera. I’m not. I steal to pay for things. This apartment. Food. Electricity.”

“Food for Rosa?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I think you’re doing good.” She snuggled back into the pillow. “If you don’t like it, maybe you can stop.”

With a grave expression, Dane shook his head. “Nobody will hire someone with a criminal record. I’m lucky I found a landlord to rent to us. Rosa can’t lose me in addition to her mother.”

His eyes grew glossy, and Ciera’s heart throbbed. She slowly stretched her hand out toward the stray hair on Dane’s temple. He closed his eyes as she brushed it away.

Dane continued, “I always wanted something more for our future.”

Ciera pulled her hand away and straightened, leaning away from the pillow and closer to Dane. “And what was that?”

“I don’t know. A house in the country.” He laughed. “I always told Josalyn we’d get a few chickens. It’s not worth thinking about now, though. Life frequently throws you curveballs, and it’s okay. I have Rosa and that makes me happy.” His eyes opened and latched on to hers. “Everything comes together, one way or another.”

She whispered, “I’ll fix everything. I promise.” Then leaned back.

Dane’s hand found hers, and Ciera felt her body tingle with the emotions tucked away in his gaze. “I don’t know how you’ll do that, but thanks.”

Ciera couldn’t stop herself. She leaned forward and put her head on his shoulder, wrapping her arms around his body. Instead of him being stiff this time, he relaxed into her. His hand came up and tilted her chin away. Ciera closed her eyes, remembering the emotions that must be swirling inside Dane.

He whispered, “You’re so thoughtful, and a bit quirky…and…well…beautiful. I don’t know what it is about you, but I can’t stay away.”

Beautiful? Nobody had called Ciera that before.

Before Ciera could open her eyes, she felt his warm lips on her cheek beside her lips. It wasn’t much, just a gentle promise, and then he pulled away. “You need a good night’s sleep. We’ll figure out the prosthetic store tomorrow.”

Dane flicked off the lights and retreated behind another door in the back of the apartment.

~ ~ ~

Ciera’s eyes stung as sunlight streamed in from the living room window. Voices whispered near her, and she rolled over, squinting to see Dane and Rosaleen sitting at the kitchen table. Eating something out of a bowl, slathered in milk. She wondered what animal the milk was from. Obviously, it wasn’t platypus. Perhaps dog milk? There seemed to be a lot of dogs around.

“I don’t know why she can’t come with me to the mother-daughter tea. It’s also for special friends,” Rosa said.

“And for fathers. I’m going with you.”

“But Melinda says I’m turning into a tomboy because I don’t have a mother, or aunts, or any females in my life.”

“You’re not a tomboy.” Dane sighed, his voice a whisper that Ciera could barely hear. “Besides, it’s next week, and she won’t be around then.”

The spoon clinked in the bowl. “Why?”

Guilt filled Ciera as she listened. Eavesdropping wasn’t right. She gave a little cough, clearing her throat. “Good morning!” She smiled her biggest smile, hoping that would make things better.

Rosaleen’s voice was hopeful. “Can I ask her now, Dad?”

“But I want to come.”

Rosa tilted her head and tightened her lips, giving an expression that appeared hard to refuse.

Dane moaned. “Go ahead.”

“Wait. Let me get ready.” Ciera smiled as she made her way to the table, sitting on the chair across from Rosaleen, which happened to be next to Dane. She sat up straight and attempted to cross her legs, but her stomach wouldn’t let her. She settled on crossing her hands over her knees. “Okay. I’m ready now.”

Rosa’s eyes widened. “About that mother-daughter tea next week. Are you able to come to school with me?”

“Has your father agreed to it?” Ciera asked.

Dane shook his head no, but his words disagreed. “Yeah, I guess I did.”

Ciera clapped. “Fantastic! I’ve always wanted to go to a human school.” She snapped her mouth shut when she realized what she said.

“Human school?” Dane shook his head. “Don’t tell me you never went to school.”

“Oh, I did. Mine was just a little different. My father used to come to all my programs, too.” Ciera leaned down. “See, my mother also died when I was young.”

“I’m sorry,” Dane said.

Ciera shrugged. “It’s okay. I had the most fantastic father to raise me.” She laughed. “And look at me. I turned out okay.”

“That explains it.” Dane’s voice was monotone as he lifted his bowl and drank the milk. When he set it down, he licked his lips.

“What does that mean?” Ciera asked.

Dane laughed. “I’m just teasing you.”

“So, you do tease girls you like?” Rosa snickered.

Dane snapped his head toward his daughter. “I don’t like—” Then he turned toward Ciera. “Okay, she’s kinda fun. Never mind that.” He refocused on Ciera. “Where is your father, anyway? You seem close and with you being pregnant, maybe he could help you out.”

Ciera’s chest constricted. “He is helping me by sending me away. He says I need to find the father of this child and give him the baby.”

Dane knocked the bowl back. “That’s absurd! And you’re listening to him?”

“He’s right!” Ciera pushed herself up, her fists tight.

Dane took her shoulders and turned her toward him. “Don’t you understand what a gift a child is? How can you give that up?” His jaw was tight and eyes full of fire.

Ciera forced her fists to unclench. “I’m sorry I don’t feel that way and I’m sorry my differing opinion angers you.”

“It does! How could it not? That’s the most…the only frustrating thing about you. Do me a favor, okay?” He rubbed his hand down his face, regaining his composure. “When the baby comes, at least hold it. Look into its eyes before you decide to part with her or him.” Dane stood behind his daughter, rubbing her shoulders. “You have no idea how special children are. How much they unexpectedly, yet wonderfully, change your life, and you could never imagine, nor want a life without them.”

Ciera’s vision clouded with tears. She sat down and looked at her hands now folded on the table. “I don’t want to think about it.” She had no choice, it was the way of the fairies. Plus, this child was human. There was no place for it in the fairy godmother realm, and once her magic returned, there was no way she could stay in the human world. How would she raise a child, anyway? There was no way to perform fairy duties with a child on her hip.

Stop thinking about it! It’s the human child giving you the wrong emotions. Just like it took over your magic, it’s taken over your feelings.

Dane took a few steps toward the apartment’s entrance. “Rosa, it’s time for school. I’ll take you there. Ciera, don’t leave. I’ll be back for you.”

Dane and Rosaleen shuffled about the apartment and eventually left Ciera alone. She rubbed her belly. How was it she was starting to see the other side? Did all fairy godmothers go through this, or was it just because her beliefs were being challenged?

It didn’t matter—things would change once the baby was out. She’d have her magic back, and if she didn’t find John before then, she’d easily be able to find him after.

Chapter 13

Ciera

When Dane returned, Ciera expected a lecture about tea with his daughter, about stealing that jewelry box, about cutting her arm, and the risk of leading the police to his apartment.

Seated at Dane’s kitchen table, she bit her bottom lip and folded and unfolded her legs the best she could while watching his flat expression for any hint to what he was thinking.

Dane sat down across from her, and his words were calm. “Tonight, we’ll break into the prosthetic store and sort through those files, pulling all of them that belong to someone named John. We’ll find what you need, then you need to go.”

Was he trying to get rid of her? She straightened in the chair. “We could go back to the antique store and get you the right jewelry box.”

“No. My opportunity passed. I can’t return there.”

Ciera’s stomach turned. “I’m sorry I caused trouble. That wasn’t my intention. Was the box important?”

“It’s an old antique from Europe. Worth five thousand dollars. No, it’s not important, but it would help Rosa and me out a little.”

“Do you like stealing?”

Dane laughed. “No. I hate it. I hate how my heart pounds every time, worried I’m gonna get caught. I hate not knowing if I’ll find fortune, or end up on a dry spell. I worry how I’ll keep shelter over Rosa’s head and food on the table.” His voice dropped to a whisper and he looked away. “I worry she’ll find out.”

“She doesn’t know?”

“No.” He frantically shook his head.

“You can’t keep it from her. It’d hurt her more if she finds out a different way.”

“She can’t find out. Knowing about her mother is enough.”

Ciera sat back in her chair. “What about an actual job? A real one?”

“I’ve tried. Nobody hires someone with a criminal record, and the few I’ve had don’t pay enough to support a family plus pay back…pay bills.” His voice trailed off.

“How much have you tried? Come on. If you put your mind to it, anything’s possible. Just look at me. I wasn’t supposed to amount to anything, and now…I’m—” Ciera bit her tongue.

“Pregnant and penniless?”

“It’s only temporary. Well, the pregnant part. Money’s not important where I come from.”

Dane stood right in front of Ciera. That fire in his eyes returned. “I find you irritating. The more I get to know you, the worse it gets! I don’t need to explain my reasoning to you. I wish you’d return to where you came from.”

“You wish?” Ciera felt the pull of her fairy godmother heart, the part where the magic was stored, but was now empty. Unable to grant that wish, she gnawed on her lip. She was sure she wasn’t the best fairy godmother anymore. Not only didn’t she have her magic, but Dane wished she wasn’t there. She quickly looked away, hiding the tears welling in her eyes. “Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.”

Her hands shook, and all those emotions she’d been experiencing came to the surface. The baby completely took away her ability to hide her feelings, and it seemed to give her ones she hadn’t had before. As she wiped a tear from her cheek, she focused on the one way she knew to grant his wish.

She stood and ran from the room, out the apartment door, and down the steps. She made it to the front entrance when a tug on her arm had her halt. She turned around to see Dane behind her.

By now, her vision was useless, fully clouded with tears. She attempted to wipe her face dry, but when a loud, awkward sob that sounded like a griffon’s mating call escaped her mouth, she buried her face in the crook of her elbow.

Dane pulled her into his chest, tilted her head back, and wiped her cheeks dry. His stern face slowly disappeared as his jaw and brow relaxed. With a soft voice, he focused on her eyes and spoke. “Stop that. I’m sorry. I have no right to tell you how to live your life, just like nobody else has the right to tell me how to live mine.”

A few more griffon sounds escaped while Ciera buried herself into Dane’s chest. She wrapped her arms around him, enjoying the warmth and comfort of his body. He smelled of the ocean in Erde, and Ciera longed for that realm. She longed for anywhere but here amongst the humans.

“Come back upstairs.”

Ciera shook her head, but didn’t know where else she’d go.

Dane kept his arm draped around her while he led her back into his home. Once the door shut behind him, he hugged her again.

“I—I’m sorry. The baby’s getting the best of me.” Ciera pushed her sobs away. This was useless and not getting her anywhere closer to finding the baby’s father, nor helping Dane.

“It’s hormones. I’ve been through this before with Rosa’s mom, and it terrifies me.” He laid his cheek on the top of her head.

Ciera nodded. “It terrifies me too.”

Dane pulled her away and wiped the last tears from her eyes. He stopped a moment, and she felt vulnerable. “Ciera, who are you really? Nothing’s making sense. You seem like you’ve never seen technology. You say odd things. Eat platypus eggs. I said you were crazy before, but I don’t believe that.”

She wanted to tell him everything, but the images she had been shown throughout her childhood of dissected fairies kept her mouth shut. All that came out was, “Does it matter? I guess we both have secrets we’d like to keep…for now.”

To her surprise, Dane shook his head. “No, I guess it doesn’t matter.” He leaned down, and she felt him inhale the scent of her hair. “You smell like a lilac bush.”

“I’m sorry.” She began to cry again.

Dane laughed and tilted her chin up to meet his gaze. “Oh, stop that crying now. It’s my favorite flower.”

Ciera laughed, tears flowing. “I can’t help it.”

Dane gripped her cheeks in his hands and rubbed her cheekbones with his thumbs. He shook his head. “Ciera, I find you amazing.”

She didn’t expect that. “What did I do?”

“Shhh.” Dane leaned down and his soft cheek slowly traced her temple, then brushed against her own cheek. Soon, his lips found hers and his arms wrapped around her. Ciera had never really touched lips with anyone before, and she stiffened. Dane backed away, shaking his head. “I’m sorry. I thought… I don’t know what I thought. You have some power over me, and I thought you wanted this too.”

“I’ve never done it before.”

“Come on, Ciera! You’re pregnant, for heaven’s sake.” Dane pulled back, hands brushing through his hair. “Never mind. I’m sorry I said that. Okay. Let’s focus. Tonight, we find this John of yours. Tomorrow, you need somewhere to go. You still can’t stay here.”

“I can’t?”

“No,” Dane snapped. “I can’t allow my daughter to get emotionally attached to you.”

“And how about you?” Would Dane miss her? Was there any chance he was getting attached? He did touch her lips with his. She remembered watching that term of endearment in those documentaries so long ago.

“Me? That’s absurd. You said yourself that you’re going home after the baby is born.”

“That’s true,” Ciera said, feeling an emptiness inside her from no longer being in Dane’s arms. “But I still have eight months.”

Dane laughed. “You’re about ready to pop now. Oh, never mind. I won’t ask. Get ready. We have a big day ahead of us.”

~ ~ ~

After Ciera and Dane finished planning their evening heist, they spent the rest of the day watching reruns of some show called Friends. Ciera didn’t know why, but it made her laugh. Dane made her this stuff called popcorn, and Ciera didn’t want to stop eating. She made him make her another bag.

She found herself admiring him while he waited for the popping to stop in that magic machine. Somehow, she felt she’d miss him when this was all over. When she came to this human world, the last thing she expected to find was someone as complex and intriguing as Dane. Someone she could see as an equal, even if he had no magic at all.

And what about the baby that resided inside her? Would he or she be as amazing as Dane and his daughter? Did it even matter that the baby was human?

Of course it did. It had to.

Chapter 14

Dane

Dane leaned into his daughter’s room. Already in bed, Rosa lay with her nose in a fantasy book. Its cover displayed a princess holding a sword to a dragon. For a moment, he thought of Ciera as that princess. A brave woman who was a bit out of place.

“Good night, Rosa,” he said.

“Hold on a moment.” She threw a bookmark between the pages and placed the book on her nightstand. “Okay. Night, Dad.”

How he raised such an amazing girl was beyond his comprehension. He smiled while flicking the bedroom light off before joining Ciera in the living room.

Ciera’s bright smile when he sat down beside her only made him feel happier. For once, his life felt complete.

“That was beautiful,” Ciera said, motioning toward Rosa’s room.

“Tucking her in? It was nothing. Just our routine.”

“I just enjoy seeing that soft side of you.”

Dane blushed, then brushed his hands against his jeans. “Are you ready for tonight?”

Ciera’s smile dissolved. “It just doesn’t feel right.” She folded and unfolded her fingers on top of her belly.

“Don’t tell me your conscience is taking over. You didn’t have a problem breaking into the antique store and taking that jewelry box.”

“That was for you. Now, that this is for me, I don’t know.”

“Come on.” Dane rubbed his hand along her back. He really wanted to help her. Once she had John’s name, she’d be able to move on. “All you’re taking is information. How else will you find this robotic arm guy, anyway?”

Ciera’s bit her lip, glancing away for a moment, pulling Dane into her beautiful eyes. “Magic.”

“Magic?” Dane laughed. “You’re just like Rosa. Believing in magical princesses.”

“I’m not even close to a princess, and I’d never want to be one of them. They’re trapped in a dusty castle and always have to be respectable. That’s not my style. Plus, they don’t have magic.”

Dane leaned back and rubbed his chin, playing her game. “I suppose you’re right. You wouldn’t be a princess. Not a peasant either. You’re more like a…” He examined her purple hair and matching eyes. That sparkling glitter returned to her cheeks. She looked like someone from one of the fairy tale books he used to read Rosa. “A magical fairy, perhaps.”

Ciera coughed.

Dane patted her on the back, and when she recovered, he stood up. “Come on. Let’s get going. We have to find your mystery man.”

~ ~ ~

They took a bus to a stop near Prosthetics R Us. On their walk, they went over the plan multiple times.

“We won’t have much time,” Dane said. “The alarms are usually attached to the phone lines. I’ll cut the wire a few buildings down the street, that way it won’t look specific to Prosthetics R Us. Hopefully, the alarm doesn’t go off. Even if it does, we need to make it quick. We need to be in and out before the police come.”

“Police?”

“Don’t worry. I’m a pro at this. Once we’re inside, you try the computer and I’ll search the file cabinets.”

“Um…maybe it’s better if you use the computer. I saw my first one yesterday.”

“Your first one? Yeah, I should have expected that.” Dane ran a hand through his hair. “One day, I’ll figure you out. Okay, on second thought. You dig through the files, and I’ll see what computer magic I can do.”

“Magic?”

“Figure of speech.”

Before Ciera could say anything else, Dane positioned her against a building next to the prosthetic store with a clear line of sight down connecting sidewalks and streets.

Dane looked right, then left. His words were a whisper. “First, your job is to wait until I motion for you. Watch for people and let me know if you see anything suspicious when I get back from disabling the security system. What’s your cover story?”

“I’m on my way home and resting here. I thought I had a contraction, but it was nothing.”

“Good.”

With that, Dane made his way down a few buildings and, with a wire cutter, he cut the phone lines that ran down a telephone pole. He kept glancing down the street toward Ciera. There was something about her that radiated beauty. It was like she almost glowed in the dark, but not quite.

After finding the alarm’s battery back-up panel and disconnecting a few wires, Dane rejoined Ciera.

“My heart’s pounding,” Ciera whispered as they snuck to the back door of Prosthetics R Us.

The soft glow of the yellow streetlamps caused her long eyelashes to cast shadows onto her cheeks.

“Mine’s doing it too,” Dane said. “No matter how many times I do this, the adrenaline still flows.” Dane pulled out his locksmith set and bump keys and began to play with the lock. Industrial ones were so much harder to pick than residential. When the internal pins engaged and he pushed the door open, he finally took a breath.

Ciera gave a little clap. “You did it!”

“You doubt me? Come on, we’ll have to hurry,” Dane whispered. “If the alarm has a cellular override, we’ll only have at most ten minutes before the police arrive.” In the many times he’d broken into buildings, his rule was always to get in and out within five minutes. Five minutes was safe—six might not be.

Ciera ran inside and tried to hop the long counter, but with her pregnant belly, she struggled. Dane tried to open the half-door, but it was stuck. He helped her over the surface before hopping it himself. Ciera went right to the file cabinets and began sorting through them while Dane booted up the computer and typed the password Ciera had observed, Amy2004.

Dane clicked the keys, and swirled the mouse on the screen, taking a moment to orient himself. How hard could this program be?

Minutes passed. “How’s it going?” Dane called over his shoulder.

“No Johns yet.”

Just when Dane clicked the “patients” tab on the computer, a flash of red and blue lights reflected off the monitor. His muscles tensed, but he forced himself to spin around.

“Ciera, we gotta go. The police are outside.” Dane’s heart hammered, and by the look on Ciera’s face, so did hers.

She grabbed Dane’s hand. “I didn’t find anything.”

“Neither did I.” A sense of loss filled him. “Come on. It’s okay. We’ll figure this out a different way.”

Dane lifted Ciera and helped her over the counter. He then flew over the top. When he righted himself, all he saw was Ciera doubled over in pain, clutching her abdomen like she had in his basement.

Oh no. Not now.

Dane put his hand on her back and tried to guide her out the door. “You’re not having the baby now, are you? You’re gonna have to wait.”

Outside came the heavy sound of footsteps.

Dane wrapped his arms under Ciera’s and pulled her with him, but she couldn’t walk. Her face scrunched up, and she was breathing heavy. An image of his daughter flashed across his vision. The smile on her face when she said she loved him. Of her frustration over being teased at school.

Dane couldn’t get caught. He needed to be there for Rosa, no matter what. “Come on, we gotta go.”

He intertwined his arm in Ciera’s and headed for the door. Despite her size, Ciera was heavy in his arms. She leaned against him and clutched her abdomen. Dane tried to carry her, but the noises grew louder.

“Are you okay?” Dane asked.

“Yes,” she panted. “I’m fine. Hurts…to move. I can’t keep going.”

“You have to. Come on!”

“No. You go. You have more to lose than me.”

Dane examined the woman beside him, hardly able to walk. There was no way both could get away. His breath caught in his lungs when he found himself agreeing with Ciera. It was the only solution. Leaning down, he placed a kiss on the top of her head.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, feeling tears threatening to escape. How had this woman touched him this much? “They’ll get you the help you need. Maybe they can help you find the man with the silver arm.” Dane’s stomach clenched while his internal voice argued with itself.

You can’t leave her.

But it’s for the best.

She’d get the help she needed for her instability. Maybe find the father of the child. At the very least, some good healthcare to deliver the baby. It was the only solution.

Think of Rosaleen.

Dane looked into her lost purple eyes and hesitated, but finally tore himself away, sprinting out the door as the police came around the corner of the building.

Dane ran as fast as he could, taking the side turns and rushing through an abandoned building he knew so well. When he emerged on the other side, he was alone. No noises of the police. No Ciera. He fell back against the side of a brick building and rubbed his hands through his hair.

How could you do that, Dane?

She needed you.

All of a sudden, his chest constricted and he couldn’t get air. He pulled in as much as he could through his mouth and nose, but it felt like he was suffocating. His chest hurt. Was he having an asthma attack? Heart attack?

It served him right for ditching his partner.

But you’re of no help to anyone behind bars.

He focused on his breathing. Inhale. Exhale. Repeat. He slid down the wall and lay on the dirty Chicago sidewalk. He felt sweat bead on his forehead.

It’s a panic attack. Get back in control.

After way too long of focusing on his breathing, he pried himself off the ground and forced himself to return home. His insides felt hollow as he wondered how he’d live with that guilt of leaving Ciera.

Even worse, what would he tell Rosa when Ciera didn’t show up again?

And what if he had been caught? That was too close.

Something had to change.

He had to set things right.

Chapter 15

Ciera

Ciera sat in plain room with dingy gray walls behind a fake wood-topped table. Her contractions had stopped, and she cursed the child, wishing it would come out already. Across from her sat a woman, her hair tight in a low unicorn-tail and a shiny silver shield pinned to her dark blue uniform.

“Are you ready to talk now?” the woman asked.

“I’ve been ready since you found me.”

“Alright. Then tell us what your name is.”

“I’ve already told you, it’s Ciera.”

The woman tapped her writing device against the table. “What is your last name?”

“I don’t have one.”

“You realize how much trouble you’re in, breaking and entering. What’s worse is that your fingerprints match a crime scene from two nights ago. Now add not cooperating with the police, and you’ll be doing a lot of time behind bars.”

Ciera fumbled with her invisible wand, still tucked in her waistband, and wanted to argue that she wouldn’t be. As soon as the baby came, she’d zap herself out of there as long as they didn’t dissect her first. She decided to keep quiet.

The woman tried another question. “Who was that man you were with?”

Answering that question felt like a betrayal, so she stayed silent again. Dane would get himself in trouble someday, and Ciera didn’t want to hurry that along. She’d never live with the guilt of Rosaleen not having a father. She already didn’t have a mother.

The round of questioning with this woman with the shiny badge went in circles, alternating between Ciera being honest and staying silent. Neither made the woman with the badge happy.

Finally, the woman shuffled her to a room with only a bed and bare walls, surrounded by metal bars.

Completely exhausted, she lay down and fell asleep.

~ ~ ~

A tapping on the bars woke her up. “You have a visitor. Will you accept a Mister Dane Valentine?”

She rubbed her eyes at the uniformed man. Dane Valentine? “Yes. Of course.” She reminded herself that humans had two names.

The bars slid open, and as Ciera followed the man into a separate room, butterflies danced in her stomach. Dane had come for her. When the door opened, she saw Dane with the most grief-filled expression on his face. He sat in a separate room, with glass between them.

Ciera wanted to be mad at him for leaving her, but she completely understood. She couldn’t hold back her smile. “You’ve come to get me out. I knew you’d come.”

Her escort spoke up. “You’re not going anywhere. He can’t hear you unless you use this.” He handed her a phone receiver that looked familiar, like the ones she had seen in those old documentaries.

She sat down and picked up the phone. Dane already had it against his ear. She repeated her words, tears blurring her vision. “You’ve come to get me out?”

Dane shook his head. His voice cracked. “I can’t. I’m here to tell you that I’m sorry.”

“You’ve already told me that.”

“I’m sorry, and I wish we had met under different circumstances.”

Ciera tilted her chin. “Different circumstances? What do you mean? Like if I didn’t ruin your plan to get that jewelry box?”

“Shhh.” Dane leaned forward. “No. Not that. Forget about the box. You’re just so…positive. And amazing. And, oh, it’s just not right. You’re pregnant and need to find that baby’s father.”

Ciera was silent a moment, allowing Dane’s words to sink in. “You think I’m amazing?” Even without magic? “But I keep messing everything up.”

“No. You don’t. You’ve helped me see that I need to do something else. I need to get Rosa out of this city and start fresh.”

“Dane, I need to tell you something—” At that moment, Ciera jolted from cramping in her stomach. It’ll pass. You still have eight months before the baby’s ready. She looked up at Dane, concern in his expression. The cramping didn’t stop, it only got worse.

When warm water ran down her leg and she heard it dripping on the floor, she slid her chair back and forced herself to stand, phone still against her ear. She wouldn’t let it go, it was her connection to Dane.

Dane’s words were full of panic. “Your water broke! This is it, the baby’s coming this time.”

He stood, dropping the phone and pounding on the glass mirror behind him. Was it a magic mirror? She read his lips in the reflection. “She’s in labor! Send her help!”

The door behind Ciera buzzed open, but what happened next was a blur. Ciera couldn’t focus on anything but the intense pain in her stomach and that they were taking her further away from Dane. She was wheeled outside in some type of chair, in shackles. A vehicle with flashing lights and a loud siren drove her to a hospital. Workers ushered her to a room and dressed her in an odd, faded blue gown with her hands still in chains.

Her heart hammered and she tried to fight back, but the frequent pain in her stomach and her small size left her helpless. The humans had figured out who she was. Why else was she being treated this way? It had to be time for her dissection.

She tightly grasped her invisible wand and tried to pull comfort from it, despite her inability to use her magic, but instead she made her own wish.

Oddly, it wasn’t to return to her father or to spare her from the dissection.

It was simple.

All she wanted was for Dane to be there with her.

Chapter 16

Dane

Dane followed the ambulance to the hospital. Bursting through the main entry doors, he pushed his way to the front of the reception line and panted. “Where’s maternity?”

The woman pointed to a set of elevators. “Fourth floor.”

Dane squeezed into the crowded elevator and slumped into a corner. Things weren’t moving fast enough. He tapped his foot, then pushed the lit-up elevator button again and again.

When he sunk back into the corner, he caught an odd reflection from a man in a wheelchair beside him. When Dane turned his head, his jaw fell open at the sight of a silver prosthetic arm.

The exact arm with clawed fingers Ciera had described.

Was she telling the truth?

It has to be a coincidence.

Perhaps he should mind his own business, but he’d never forgive himself if he didn’t ask. Dane pushed himself out of the corner and tapped the gray-haired man on the shoulder. “Excuse me. This may be an odd question, but is your name John?”

The man cocked his head. His words were a little slurred. “Do I know you?”

“Not exactly, but I must know. Is your name John?”

“Yes. Why?”

Dane, you’re a fool for not believing her. “Do you know Ciera?”

John slowly shook his head. “I’ve never heard that name before, but my thoughts are a little fuzzy. They’ve given me some medicine and I’m not thinking quite straight.”

“Ciera has violet eyes and purple hair. The sweetest smile. Simply beautiful and the most interesting personality, too. You’d remember her if you met her.”

John wrinkled an eyebrow. “Violet eyes? Purple hair?”

“And a small little mole on her left cheekbone. It makes her appear adorable.”

John was shaking his head. “Hmmm. I dreamt about someone like that almost a year ago, or so. I couldn’t get her image out of my mind, but it was just a dream.”

Dream? If Dane hadn’t been exposed to Ciera’s wild ideas and completely naive behaviors, he would have dismissed this. Instead, he pressed on. There was something here for him to discover. “So, you never met her? She says she’s pregnant with your child.”

John kept shaking his head. “Can’t be. I never met her and my dream wasn’t like that. All we did was touch a fingertip and a purple light began to glow.” His words flowed out as the elevator stopped at the second floor. Shuffling around, they let some people to exit.

“What else?” Dane urged.

“The week before that dream, I was told I could never have children, though I’m probably too old for them anyway. I had a hard time dealing with the finality of it, so I made a wish.” He shook his head. “That was a ridiculous wish, but that dream made me feel…I don’t know…content with my fate.” His words now slurred to a nearly indiscernible level.

“Sorry, sir,” the nurse pushing John said. “His meds are kicking in. We need to get him to surgery.”

John’s eyelids were heavy, and Dane backed up, allowing them to exit the elevator on the third floor.

Dane’s mind rushed with all sorts of things. Was the man telling the truth? It wasn’t possible this was true, but his most prominent thought was that none of it mattered. He needed to be with Ciera.

Dane stopped on the maternity floor, rushing to the desk. “I need to see Ciera. She’s having a baby right now.”

The glow of the computer monitor reflected off the woman’s glasses. “Are you the father? Only the father is allowed in.”

Father? He took a deep breath. “Yes. Of course I’m the father. Let me in.”

She pushed her glasses up and pointed down a corridor. “Check in with the officer outside room eight. It’s way at the end of the hall.”

Dane didn’t stop. He ran straight toward room eight’s door. Reaching for the handle, the security guard stopped him. “You can’t come in.”

He was a thief. He could lie with the best of them. “But I’m the father, and she needs me.”

Dane pushed his way inside and stood beside Ciera. Her eyes lit up at the sight of him, but then fear shone through.

She whispered, “They’re going to dissect me.”

Dane took her tiny, soft hand. “I won’t let anything happen to you. I’m here. You’re not alone.”

She smiled, and his heart galloped. Why had he spent all this time without a partner? He knew, deep down, he had been waiting for someone special.

Waiting for someone just like Ciera.

She breathed heavily and gritted her teeth.

“Push,” the doctor said.

Dane’s eyes teared, remembering the birth of his own daughter. That day changed his whole life. Would this day change Ciera’s too? How could it not?

A tear flowed down Ciera’s cheek. Dane’s world spun, and he couldn’t focus on what was happening until the doctor placed the baby against Ciera’s chest.

The smile on her face made Dane feel complete.

“It’s a girl,” she whispered to him.

The baby opened her eyes and clear, beautiful violet eyes stared at Dane, making him smile, too.

He wiped his tears and leaned down, placing a kiss on Ciera’s forehead for no other reason than it felt right.

Chapter 17

Ciera

Ciera’s skin tickled as her heart pulsated with magic. She felt its electricity flow through her body, completing her. She wiped her eyes with the hospital gown and stared at the smear of tears on the fabric. With her magic returned and the baby no longer physically connected with her, why was she still crying? She had blamed those feelings on the child inside her, but they should have gone away with the return of her powers.

She needed to get a grip on her emotions. This was so unlike her. Had this human world changed her? Had Dane? Rosaleen? Or the baby in her arms?

Wrapping her fingers tightly around the invisible wand tucked beside her in the hospital bed, she pulled at her magic and stopped time for everyone except her and her child. The doctor at her feet, the nurses beside her, and Dane froze in place. When her little girl cried against her chest, Ciera pulled her closer, unable to stop her own flow of tears.

My daughter.

Those words seemed foreign yet they felt so good. Better than the return of her magic. The girl was part of her. A part she never would have wished for, yet couldn’t imagine being without.

Kamda.

The word hit her from her childhood. Her grandfather had given Ciera that nickname. It meant one who fulfills all the wishes of others. That fit her daughter nicely.

Ciera smiled. “Kamda, it is. Do you like that name? You’ve granted wishes I didn’t even know I had, and I have a feeling you’ll grant more—even if you don’t have magic.”

How could she even have considered getting rid of her child? Being human, did Kamda have power over her like Dane did? But she didn’t care. Dane was frozen beside her bed, clutching the railing. He had a smile on his face, but was that a frozen tear in his eye?

Dane had asked her to do him a favor and hold the child before she turned him or her over to the father. She hadn’t understood why, but now, as she brushed her finger against the baby’s soft cheek, she understood that holding the baby changed everything. Dane was wise, and she hadn’t known it.

Kamda opened her eyes, and it was almost like gazing into a mirror. Equally vivid violet irises to her own stared back. That shouldn’t have happened, but Ciera shouldn’t have been a purple fairy, anyway. Could it be possible the baby had magic?

“You can’t stay here,” Ciera whispered. “What if you grew wings and were captured? Dissected?”

She looked up at Dane again. He was also so different from her, yet their hearts were in the same place.

It had been so long that the urge to grant a wish was all-consuming. Besides, she was a true fairy godmother now.

What was Dane’s wish?

To have a complete family. A mother for his daughter. A life without stealing.

What was Ciera’s wish?

She looked down at the child cradled in her arms. Her wish was similar to Dane’s. A complete family…to feel like she belonged…to make sure her child always felt loved. Ciera thought to all the lessons she’d had about the terrible things in this human world.

No wonder we were forbidden from coming here. We would have found out that many parts are not so bad. Full of loving people, like Dane, and Rosaleen.

She took a deep breath and waved her wand to unfreeze him.

“What’s going on?” Dane’s eyes widened as they took in the frozen doctor and nurses.

“Don’t look at them. Look at me,” Ciera said, setting her wand on the bed then stretching a hand toward him. When his focus was on her, she spoke clearly. “Listen to me. I told you I’m not from here and need to go home. I can’t bring my baby there, but I think there’s a place I can go.” A place where the fairy council’s rules don’t apply. She squeezed his hand. “I was wondering if you and Rosaleen would like to come with me. Start a new life…together.”

Ciera let go of his hand and gripped her wand again. She pulled her magic, waved her wand, and said the magic words. “Dibbity, dobbity, doo!” She bit back a smile as her, Dane, and the baby were swallowed in a flash of light.

Dane stood beside her and Kamda in a beautiful garden outside the hospital. She was dressed again in her immaculate fairy gown and her abdomen returned to pre-pregnancy size. She gently squeezed the baby in her arm. She twisted around and gave her beautiful silver-streaked purple wings a flap, lifting off the ground briefly before setting herself back down. Oh, did she miss them.

Beside her stood Dane, his jaw opened wide as he rubbed his hands down his face. “I must be dreaming,” he said. “You have wings. We’re not in the hospital. What just happened?”

“I told you I’d fix everything with magic. It makes no difference if you think you’re dreaming or not. Your answer will be the same. While they took me to this hospital all tied up in chains, all I wanted was for you to be near. The thought of going home now, without you or my child, would break my heart.”

The unfamiliar tight expression on Dane’s face dissolved and the softness Ciera had grown accustomed to returned. “I understand that feeling. Your daughter is family.”

“And you and Rosaleen need a fresh start. There’s this land called Erde where we can start over…together.” Ciera moved the baby to one arm, tucking the wand in her waistband and clutching Dane’s hand again.

A sly smile turned one corner of Dane’s mouth up into a grin. “Are you proposing to me?”

“Proposing? I don’t understand.”

“Marriage.” Dane laughed, then turned Ciera slightly to examine the wings on her back. “You really aren’t from around here, are you?”

Ciera sighed. “I told you that already. And I’ve never been good at keeping tradition. Men always raise their babies, but with her…” She readjusted her grip on Kamda. “That’s not an option. I can’t let her—” Her eyes met Dane’s. “—or you go.”

Dane shook his head. “A fresh start in a place called Erde?” Dane bit his lip and rubbed his free hand through his hair. “Ciera, there’s something I need to tell you first. You may not want me along. I found John at the hospital. He was going in for surgery.”

“You found John? Why would this change my mind?” Kamda let out a small gurgling sound and Ciera held her tighter. “Oh.” Her wings lost all their energy and felt like dead weight on her back. The thought of giving up her child now tore at the pit of her stomach.

“You can try to be a family. He seemed like an okay guy.”

“But I don’t know him. I know you and want to be with you.”

He dropped her hand. “I’m just a thief with a complicated past. You’re this amazingly strange, but wonderful person. I don’t want to hurt you or her.”

“But—”

“John says he met you in a dream.” Dane touched the green vines that climbed up the wooden arch they stood beneath. “I knew this wouldn’t end well. I kept telling myself you were crazy, but part of me believed you from the start, even though it made no sense. I had spent so much time protecting Rosa’s heart and mine that putting my faith into something I didn’t understand was not possible then.”

“Yet you showed up to rescue me.”

“How could I not? You’re all I think about, Ciera. Maybe I’m dreaming now, but even if its make-believe, I’m happy to be here with you for however long I can be.”

“So, you’ll come with me?”

Dane rubbed a hand through his hair, and his shoulders sagged. “I know my answer without hesitation, but I need to consider Rosa—”

Ciera put an index finger to Dane’s lips. “Shhh. Not now. Think about it, okay? Talk to her. I want to treasure this moment, and I have a lot to think about as well.”

Ciera pulled Dane close and kissed his cheek, then smiled as she found his lips. She loved this human tradition of kissing. Hopefully, she got to do more of this in the future—with Dane. “I’ll be back soon.” She grabbed her wand, then pulled the magic from deep inside and said those magic words, “Dibbity, dobbity, doo!” With a wink, she sent Dane home to his daughter.

She sat on a cement bench under the vines and softly rubbed her child’s cheek. Humans may not be allowed in the fairy realm, but there were no rules against them in Erde. The solution seemed simple, but she needed to see John. She needed to set things right with the father of her child.

~ ~ ~

Two days had passed before Ciera had the nerve to see John. She had spent the time hiding with Kamda along the Erdian Sea. With a wave of her wand and the magic words, she found herself standing outside a hospital room in the human realm.

She brushed the purple fuzz on top of Kamda’s head and cradled her close. “We’re here. This is your father. I may have to leave you here.” Ciera blinked away her tears as she knocked on the door. How could you love someone so much after only knowing them for a few days?

“Come in,” came a voice she recognized from nearly ten months ago. It was kind, yet much weaker than she remembered.

The large wooden door creaked open and on the hospital bed lay a man she barely recognized. The same silvery hair and kind, brown eyes, but he was only a skeleton compared to what he had been. Dark shadows rode high on his too prominent cheek bones. The man tried to sit up, but shook with weakness as he pulled on the bed rail with this only arm. The silver one was gone, leaving nothing in its place.

“Do I know you?” He squinted at Ciera.

“Yes. We met nearly ten months ago. Actually, we met in a dream.”

He laughed and laid his head back into the pillow. “Purple hair and eyes are pretty hard to forget. I’m getting worse every day. Dreams seem real now. I met a guy in an elevator who knew you a few days ago. The nurses say it wasn’t a dream and the love and determination I saw on his face seemed real as well.”

Ciera took a step back and shook her head. “Love?” Dane loves me? “But it’s impossible for someone to love me. Dane and I just met.” Kamda squiggled in her arms. Impossible to love someone so quickly. Not true. Tears tickled her cheek. For her whole life, she thought nobody, besides her father, would love her. Now, she had love surrounding her.

John coughed, then wiped his mouth with a rag.

“Are you okay?” Ciera asked, bouncing her daughter in her arms.

His voice was weaker than before. “Yeah. Fine. As good as it gets for a dying man.”

“Dying man?”

“Bone cancer. It metastasized. First, they took my arm. Now my leg.” He patted the blanket over his body, showing his missing appendage. “I’m coughing up blood. I don’t have long to live. But it’s okay. I’m sixty-four, and it was a good life.”

“Would you want to live longer?”

“I wish I could.”

Ciera felt her magic pulse. A wish.

John continued, “I had promised my wife I’d take her to New Zealand. We had plans to hike the Tongariro Crossing, but then I got sick. Now, without a leg, it’s impossible.”

Ciera took a deep breath. “How about a baby?”

“What would I do with a child? I’m too old. Sometimes in life, you have regrets. I always wanted to continue my bloodline, as I was the last of my line. But raise a child?” He laughed. “Maybe thirty years ago.”

Ciera gently squeezed Kamda’s foot and pulled the courage to say the impossible. It was the way of the fairies. Fathers raised their children. She had to come clean—it was the right thing to do. She swallowed and her voice was weak. “Well, here she is. Your family line.”

John laughed again. “Not possible.”

“Anything’s possible.” Ciera’s magic pulsated again. She pulled the wand from her waistband. If she cured John, would he want the baby? If she let him die…

Anger bubbled inside Ciera that she even had that thought. She didn’t waste any time, as she didn’t want to hesitate. She reached down into her heart and threw a large dose of magic into her wand. “Dibbity, dobbity, doo!” She winked and gave John a zap of fairy magic.

“There,” Ciera said, slipping her wand back into her waist and holding Kamda close. “You’re as healthy as you were twenty years ago.”

John’s eyes widened as he examined his arm and leg.

“Serious question. Do you want to go to New Zealand, or do you want a baby? You only get one answer.”

He laughed again. “That’s not even a choice. New Zealand with my wife.”

“Your wish is my command.” Ciera waved her wand, funneled the magic into the tip, and zapped John, sending him and his wife to New Zealand. “Dibbity, dobbity, doo!”

She tucked her wand away and rocked Kamda back and forth. “Don’t you worry. I want you enough for both of us.”

She was sure their paths would cross again someday.

There was no way she’d stay out of the human world, there were so many wishes to grant, but for now, she took a deep breath. It was time to figure out what to do about Dane and Rosa.

Chapter 18

Dane

Dane should have been ecstatic to discover magic was real, in awe of the power Ciera had, but instead, he felt empty. Four days had passed since he last saw her and he couldn’t stop thinking about her. About her smile, her determination, and her kind heart.

How could someone he’d known for only a few days leave him with such an impression?

Sometimes, you just know when two people fit together, and it happens when you don’t expect it, nor want it. It didn’t matter what crazy adventure either of them were on, they supported each other through the journey.

It felt like he was only going through the motions as he took Rosaleen to school, helped her with her homework, and listened to her stories. He had shoved his bills aside. There was no way to make it right without a fresh start. He had always dreamed of a place in the country with his wife and children. Now, all he had was a musty apartment in the city. No wife, but he did have a beautiful daughter whom he cherished and wouldn’t trade for anything.

It was the day of the mother-daughter tea party at Rosaleen’s school and disappointment was clear on her face. Dane had dressed in his best polo shirt and planted a fatherly smile upon his face.

“Come on, honey. It’ll be fine. I’m an awesome dad and all.”

Rosaleen smiled. “I know. It’s just when you have hope for something different, and then it doesn’t happen.”

He patted his daughter’s shoulder. “I understand that more than you believe.”

“You liked her, didn’t you?” Rosa raised an eyebrow, wise beyond her years.

Instinctually, he wanted to deny it, but he didn’t. In fact, a few nights ago, he admitted to himself it was more than a friendship, and he’d blown it by not jumping at the chance to go with her. “I did. A lot. We just were from two different worlds…really, really different worlds.”

As Dane shoved his wallet into his pocket, a glittering shimmer disrupted the air in front of him. He jumped back and rubbed his eyes.

Ciera stood there with her baby cradled in her arms. Her silvery wings moved slowly, reflecting the light on their silver strands. The gorgeous smile on her face made Dane smile, too. Somehow, it put him at ease.

It hadn’t been a dream. He had known that—had accepted there was something magical about that woman. She had transported them to a garden, and then he’d ended up back at home in a blink of an eye.

He had thought he’d never see her again. A fairy was not someone you settle down with. Not someone to raise a family with. Not someone you meet in real life. The only words he could croak out were, “You came back.”

She laughed musically. “Of course. I told you I would, and I always keep my promises.”

In the days Ciera had been gone, Dane had broken down and told Rosaleen all about the magic wand and how Ciera and her baby floated in the air, then sent him back home. Rosa had accepted it with a giddy smile, telling Dane all about fairies and other magical creatures in the stories she’d read.

Now, Rosa did a little excited shuffle, then glided around Ciera, examining the sparkle in the air surrounding her. “Wow, Dad. You were right. She does look like a fairy godmother. Look at those wings.”

Ciera laughed. “That’s because I am a fairy godmother.”

“Shucks!” Rosa called. “I was going for a pixie.”

“A pixie! Those creatures are dreadful. They’re always causing trouble. They don’t grant wishes at all, other than for their own benefit.”

Dane couldn’t school the smile from his face. “You are something, Ciera. I truly missed you.” He wanted to hug her and pull her close into his arms, but instead, he fumbled for words. “So, what are your plans for today?” She had liked him, right? Did he misread her body language? How could this incredible being be standing here in his apartment? He was nothing more than a thief, trying to raise his daughter.

Ciera sat down at the table. “I hear there’s this fabulous mother-daughter tea party at Rosaleen’s school. How could I miss that?”

Was she only here because of a promise to Rosa?

Rosaleen leaned forward and showed almost all her teeth in her gigantic smile “You kept your promise.”

“That I did. I need to talk with your father, but right now, let’s go drink some tea.”

As they stepped toward the door, Dane felt emptier than before. The two women that meant everything to him were walking away.

When Rosaleen stopped, his heart did a pitter patter.

“Dad, you can come too. I mean, it’s only fair since you’ve been both my father and my mother.”

Ciera reached a hand out for Dane, and when he grabbed it, he thought time had stopped once again. “Come on, Dane. I want you beside me as much as possible.”

Dane stood taller and smiled. These two women were truly amazing.

Rosaleen led the way out the door. She turned toward Ciera. “Don’t you have magic? Can’t you just zap us to my school?”

Ciera laughed. “And risk being caught? Take the chance of ending up on a dissection table? I don’t think so.” She then waved her wand and said, “Dibbity, dobbity, doo!” and her wings disappeared, making her almost appear human.

“But you have magic,” Rosa said. “If they catch you, you can escape.”

"Not if my wand gets taken from me. Or broken. Besides, taking the bus gives us more time together.”

Ciera dropped back beside Dane. When she took his hand again, a ripple of pleasure climbed up his arm.

He pulled her close and whispered, “I want you beside me as much as possible, too.”

Once they were waiting at the bus stop, Dane put a stop to Rosaleen’s million questions, making her listen to some music instead.

Ciera leaned into Dane and whispered, “I came for your answer.”

“To your marriage proposal?” Dane chuckled.

Ciera playfully nudged him with her shoulder. “No, not that. Remember, I’m not one for tradition.”

“You didn’t need to give me time to think about an answer.”

“So, will you come with me?” Ciera’s eyes brightened. “I have a place for us. A place for you to raise those chickens you want. The world of Erde is looking for a permanent fairy godmother resident, and I have a flock of chickens needing to be fed.”

“Chickens, huh?”

“Hey, you did say that was your dream! No changing wishes now.”

“I was hoping for a platypus farm.”

“Silly man. There are no platypus farms. They come from the wild. Besides, those are nasty in comparison. Grainy and almost fishy. The royal family will surely love chicken eggs. My dad’s been wanting to try one of those things since I told him about them. It’ll be wonderful. My dad will visit us…and we’ll visit the human world once in a while, if we have time. The land of Erde is having trouble with a giant right now. Something about magic beans, and I have a lot of work ahead of me.”

Dane glanced beside Ciera at his daughter. As good as this all sounded, leaving her wasn’t an option.

“Oh, don’t worry.” Ciera gave Dane a wink. “She’s coming too. I learned from a wise man once that a child should never be parted from their parent, if at all possible. You’ll fit right in. A father always raises their daughters, and…um…I was hoping you’d help me with mine.” Ciera tightened the grip on her little girl. “It’ll be hard to carry the baby all the time while granting wishes, plus they’ll start to wonder.”

“So, you’re basically hiring me as a nanny.” He chuckled.

“A nanny? No. I was hoping to hire you to watch my child.”

Dane shook his head. “After all this, is that all you want from me?”

Ciera bit her lip, and Dane saw frustration on her face. He arched an eyebrow and waited in silence.

“No.” Ciera blew out a breath. “It’s just an excuse to get you to come along. When I was in the hospital, all I wanted was more time with you. This is buying us time. An excuse to be together.” She looked down at her baby. “In fact. What I really want is to invite you and Rosa into my family, or maybe you’ll invite me and Kamda into yours.”

“Now that sounds like a good proposal.”

“But you do need a real job, don’t you?  Chicken eggs may not be enough. And Rosaleen looks just like an Erdian, anyway. Most of them have red hair. Nobody will ever know she’s human. You coming to Erde is a good fit. So, are you coming?”

Dane sighed. “I’d love to, but it’ll be her decision. I’ll go wherever she wants.”

Ciera zapped the headphones off Rosaleen’s head. “Wanna go to a magical land with princesses, dragons, and giants, for real?”

Rosa’s jaw fell open. “Seriously? Who would say no to that?”

Ciera zapped the headphones back in place and looked back at Dane. “See? That was easy.”

“What about the father of your child?”

Ciera sighed. “I visited him. He didn’t want to be a father, only wanted his bloodline to be carried on. He got his wish. Besides, he’s not in a position in life to care for a child. I cured his cancer, but he…um…has his own wife to be with, his own dreams, and is not looking to start over.” She took Dane’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “But you are, right?”

Dane smiled. A complete family was something he had always hoped for and thought he could never have. It was his wish, coming true. “You should already know that answer. Since we met, I haven’t been able to refuse you. There’s something about us that just fits together.”

“So that’s a yes?”

“It is.”

Ciera’s eyes lit up. “Oh, and I want to try something again.”

Dane cocked his head. “Wh—”

Ciera’s lips interrupted his words. They were soft and tasted as sweet as she smelled.

“Ewww,” his daughter called from beside him.

He reached out and covered her eyes, giving a little chuckle as he kissed Ciera again.

THE END

If you enjoyed this novella, another story in the fairy universe can be found in the short story collection, Quick Escape: Fantasy Tales. (The story’s titled, The Fairy Flu.)

You can download this collection free by signing up for Joynell Schultz’s newsletter here: http://www.joynellschultz.com/subscribe

Hidden: A Pregnant Fairy Godmother’s Journey… was written as a part of a multi-author project. Each author created a story about anything they wished, in any genre they liked, as long as it had the title Hidden.

Learn more about this project and pick up some other Hidden stories by visiting https://www.HiddenReader.com or https://www.facebook.com/HiddenReader.

One Title. Endless Possibilities.

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About the Author

Joynell Schultz has always strived for an interesting life. From driving a bright lime green SUV, having an awesome Great Dane as a pet, to an ever-changing list of hobbies from triathlons, wine making (even though she doesn’t drink it) to a desire to learn to juggle (that she only secretly thinks about.)

She is a pharmacist by training, but is currently managing the family business of a zoo. Talk about interesting! From drones aggravating the cougar to the elk in rut. From baby goats being born to adopting a sheep raised in a second-story apartment, there’s always something fun going on. And that was just this week!

In the little free time she has, she loves creating interesting imaginary worlds to tell tales of human relationships.

Contact Info:

Email: joynells@gmail.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/joynelljschultz

Webpage: http://www.joynellschultz.com

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