I glare at him Mom feeds us organic food But the twins eat everything else when they’re in Faerieland I mean everything else Cakes Pies Roast rabbit and deer Pigeon soup Tiny blue eggs scrambled with dandelion stems Faerie food is very bad for humans Last week I ate a magical candy Indigo gave me I saw sparkles for hours Indigo got a time-out W henever we’re in town the twins want to eat junk I’m not supposed to let them But I still have to get them home in one piece I think I need to bribe them what about a lollipop I ask I know the lollipops here are all natural and organic If you behave we can get one each Yay they both shout Violet shoots one tiny flame out of her left thumb Indigo snuffs it out with his mitten Nice save I say His mitten is only a little bit singed I’m calling that a win 6
We leave the market At last The twins are quiet That's one good thing about the lollipops Just as we walk through the market entrance I see something Something out of place I turn quickly A woman is staring at us This is a small town I know almost everyone But I don't recognize her She has long brown hair in braids She's dressed all in black old fashioned clothes I tug the twins through the gate quickly Violet I say leaning down to whisper Do you see that woman by the cheese stall The one all in black Is she Fae Violet can see through Faerie glamours She glances back No she whispers after a second She's a human I turn just in time to see the woman duck around a corner Maybe I panicked for nothing But I'm always on edge now The first time I went 7
to Faerieland Violet and I defeated the evil queen Olea Violet took her place as Queen of Nearwood So Olea hates us And she’s already tried to kill me More than once We hurry down to the bus stop We don’t have any snow It rarely snows here But it’s cold Indigo actually zips up his coat He almost never does that cottage We don’t have to wait long for the bus It will take us out of town and drop us at the top of our driveway Driveway It’s more like a road It’s a ten-minute walk from the highway to our We live in the middle of the forest Mom calls it off-grid I guess I’m used to it But that doesn’t mean I like it I’m older now And I’m in high school I need the internet Or TV even Or a phone But Mom won’t let me have any of that stuff She likes us to live like cavemen And all the trouble we’ve had with Faeries lately has just made it worse 8
As the bus arrives I see something out of the corner of my eye It’s the woman from the market She stands on the corner staring I shove Violet and Indigo onto the bus Then I pick up Rosa and carry her on As the bus pulls away the strange woman is still on the corner Watching us 9
