The Bridesmaid Earns Her Wings

by Heather Horrocks

  As much as she cared for him, she couldn’t go along with delusions. Which meant she had to go to the office, tell him it was over between them, and quit her job. She couldn’t see him every day, not after this.

  For the next twenty minutes, she tried on different combinations of tops and skirts, pulling one off and trying another. Even with the few outfits she’d taken with her to Vegas for the three-day bachelorette party, it took forever.

  She finally settled on the first one she’d tried on — a dress and sandals.

  She left home a bit later than normal, but it didn’t matter because, hey, she was quitting today, right?

  Still, she walked a little faster.

  She stopped outside the building and studied it, wishing she could just go back to the hotel, but she had to do this. Michael might be crazy, but he deserved to hear she was breaking up with him in person. She wasn’t the type to send a break-up text.

  She stepped inside the door. Peggy looked up and smiled. “Good morning, Dixie.”

  Summoning a ghost of a smile, she returned the greeting. “Good morning, Peggy.”

  Dixie walked in farther — and caught her own reflection in the long, special effects mirror.

  She really did have wings and a crown, just like the other day when she’d admired the ‘special effects’.

  She turned to say something to Peggy, when she realized Peggy’s reflection showed fangs again.

  She turned back to the mirror. Then back to Peggy.

  Peggy looked a bit perplexed as she stared back and forth between the mirror and Dixie. “Is something troubling you?”

  Dixie didn’t want to say the next words, for fear the other woman would think she was going crazy, but she had to know. “Are you a ... vampire?”

  Peggy’s face relaxed into a smile. “I sure am.”

  “And I’m a ... pixie?”

  Peggy scratched her head, looking a bit warily at Dixie. “Yes, of course you are. In fact, you’re the princess of the pixies.”

  Dixie turned back to the mirror. As she moved, her wings fluttered and the tiara-like crown glinted on her forehead in the glow of the fluorescent lights.

  Furrowing her brow, she turned back to Peggy. “This really isn’t special effects?”

  Shaking her head, Peggy came around the desk to stand in front of the mirror with Dixie. “No, honey. It shows the truth of every creature. It’s the Revealing Mirror.”

  Dixie sank down into a chair in front of Peggy’s desk. “So it’s true? It’s all true?”

  “Yes. I’m surprised your father didn’t tell you about the rest of us, but I don’t understand how you don’t know about yourself.”

  Why was everyone talking about her father? Dixie shrugged her shoulders and looked Peggy in the eye. “I’ve never even met my father.”

  Peggy looked skeptical.

  Stunned, Dixie realized the truth. There was a paranormal world she had known nothing about before, and she was part of it. She didn’t even know how that could be possible.

  “So … am I human?”

  Peggy shook her head. “You’re a pixie.”

  “What happens if a human stands in front of the mirror?”

  “They just see a human. They see everyone as human, whether they are or not.”

  Dixie pulled out her phone and texted Stacy. It was time to show her the mirror. “My friend is going to drive over and check out the mirror.”

  “If she’s human, don’t say anything to her. It’s forbidden in the Code.”

  Dixie sighed. Of course it was. “I’ll expect you to explain that Code to me.”

  Peggy nodded.

  It took Stacy ten minutes to arrive. When she entered, Dixie stood up and introduced her to Peggy.

  Dixie said, “I really want to show you this mirror. It’s a ... special effects mirror.”

  Stacy turned and looked. “Is it turned off or something? Because we look exactly the same as normal.”

  Stacy did look exactly the same, but Dixie’s wings and crown were still evident.

  Dixie shook her head. “But don’t you see—?”

  Peggy interrupted in a loud voice before Dixie could say another word. “The mirror is broken. Hopefully it will be fixed before you leave town.”

  “That’s disappointing,” Stacy said. “I was really looking forward to seeing the cool reflections.”

  “I was really looking forward to showing you,” Dixie sighed, exchanging a glance with Peggy.

  Stacy shrugged and turned toward the door. “I’ve got to get back to the hotel. I got a call and that small design firm in St. George wants me to come in for an interview first thing in the morning. I’m going to drive there tonight. I’m hopeful something will come of it. Plus my sister lives there, so I’m going to stay a few days with her.”

  “Good luck,” Dixie said.

  Stacy hugged her, and turned to Peggy. “It was good to meet you.”

  After she left, Dixie sank into the chair again. “I need chocolate.”

  Peggy opened her desk drawer and pulled out a Cadbury milk chocolate bar. “Will this do the trick?”

  “Yes. Thank you.” Dixie took the bar. “And I think I’m going to take the day off while I adjust to this news.”

  “Are you going to be all right?”

  “I think so. I just need a little more time. Will you please let Michael know I’ll be in tomorrow?”

  Peggy nodded.

  Dixie stood again, glancing at her wings and crown one more time. “A princess, huh?”

  “Yes, Your Highness.”

  Shaking her head, she walked back outside and toward the hotel.

  The psychic’s words floated through her head. Go to Moonchuckle Bay and you’ll find the true love you desire.

  So she’d come to Moonchuckle Bay, and she’d found Michael, who seemed to be the true love she desired.

  The psychic had told Stacy that her lifemate was here, too, but Stacy was human.

  And Grandma had told her, Sometimes you have to trust in life.

  Her head spun. She wasn’t ready to talk to her mother yet, but it was time to call Grandma and get some answers.

  Before she could pull out her phone, a couple of faux vampires passed her, headed toward Town Square. She veered after them.

  If Peggy and Michael were telling the truth, these weren’t faux vampires. They were the real deal.

  Dixie followed them up Mane Street, past Make Believe Boulevard, and up to Town Square. Once she arrived, she’d looked at each of the creatures in the square with a different eye.

  Vampires. Werewolves. Gargoyles. Elves. Could it really be true?

  Shaken to the core, she sank onto the bench by the hot dog stand and called Grandma.

  Her grandmother answered on the second ring. “I’ve been waiting for your call, Dixie.”

  Her grandmother always had a sense of when things were going to happen.

  “Hi, Grandma.”

  Her grandmother sounded concerned. “Are you all right, sweetheart?”

  “Yes. Just confused.” Dixie sighed. “Is Mom there?”

  “She’s out back, watering the flowers. I’ll go get her—”

  “No! Don’t. I want to talk with you.”

  “All right.”

  A vampire, fangs out, posed with tourists for a picture, shaking their hands afterwards.

  “I need you to tell me the truth.”

  “I always do, baby girl.”

  “I’m not in Vegas anymore. Stacy and I came to a town in Utah because a psychic in Vegas told us we’d find our lifemates here.”

  “And did you find yours in Moonchuckle Bay?”

  “How did you know the name of the town?”

  Grandma sighed. “I’ve wanted to tell you since you were born, but your mother refused to let me.”

  “Tell me what I really am?”

  “You tell me what you think you are.”

  “A pixie?” Her voice was challenging.

  “Yup,
It’s true,” Grandma said matter-of-factly.

  Dixie settled back on the bench; this was going to be a long conversation. “Tell me the rest.”

  Regret laced her grandmother’s voice and she replied, “I can’t. You’ll have to ask your mother. It’s her story to tell. Do you want me to put her on?”

  “No. I’m not ready to talk to her yet.”

  “Don’t be too angry, dearest. She did it to protect you.”

  Dixie absorbed that for a moment, then asked the next most important question niggling her brain. “And are there really things like vampires and werewolves?”

  “Yes.”

  “So can vampires go out in the sunlight and eat real food?”

  “Yes, after their initial adjustment period of several years when they can only tolerate blood and liquids.”

  Dixie grew quiet, pondering.

  After a few seconds, her grandmother asked tentatively, “Are you still there?”

  “Yeah. That’s just a lot to absorb. I’ll call you back tomorrow.”

  “All right, sweetie. Take your time.”

  “Don’t tell Mom where I am, please. Not yet.”

  “All right.”

  “Promise me, Grandma.”

  “I promise not to tell her until you’ve spoken with her. Call her tomorrow, though, because time is of the essence. Now she’s coming back toward the house; I have to go.”

  “I love you, Grandma. Goodbye.”

  She hung up, pondering what she’d just learned.

  So Michael was a vampire. A freak of nature.

  She was a pixie. Another freak of nature.

  And she loved him. She really had found her lifemate here.

  She needed to talk to Michael.

  The Potato Famine of 1848

  MICHAEL CAME OUT OF THE big meeting in the conference room to find Peggy there. She pointed toward his office. “You have a visitor.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Are you going to give me any clues as to who it is?”

  “Nope.” She shook her head. “You’ll figure it out.”

  He carried the file folders to his office, and opened the door.

  Dixie!

  He came in and closed the door, tossing the file to the desk and closing the distance between them.

  She stood and put out her arms.

  He pulled her into an embrace and hugged her. “I was so worried when Peggy said you’d left earlier.” His voice came out ragged.

  She squeezed him tight, her arms around his waist. “I was so worried when you told me about the whole paranormal world. I thought you were crazy or something.”

  He pulled back, studying her face for clues. “And what do you think now?”

  “That we need to have a nice long talk.” She pulled free of his arms. “Can we get out of here? I don’t want to be interrupted.”

  “Sure.”

  “Can we go for a long drive?”

  “You got it.”

  He opened the door for her and she led the way. She waved to the other two secretaries and smiled at Peggy, “Thanks for everything.”

  Peggy winked. “It was my pleasure. Good luck.”

  Michael tossed back over his shoulder, “Please clear my calendar for this afternoon.”

  “Already done, boss.”

  Once they were on Mane Street headed for the freeway, she said, “Would you drive me back to the bay on the lake?”

  “I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.” He flipped a U-turn and headed toward the lake.

  Dixie took a deep breath and plunged ahead. “Tell me about being a vampire. I don’t know anything about them.”

  Michael still couldn’t believe that her father had kept her totally ignorant of other creatures. It didn’t make sense; she’d been to town for special events. But he kept those thoughts to himself until she felt more comfortable with the idea.

  He rarely spoke of his turning, but he wanted to share his story with her. “My family immigrated to America from Ireland during the potato famine of 1848.”

  “Your ancestors, right?”

  “My great-great-grandparents.”

  “At least you’re not that old.” She was joking, but sounded nervous.

  He turned into the parking lot of the mostly deserted beach and parked. They stayed in the car. “I was born in 1910.”

  She studied him. “So you’re over a hundred years old. How is that possible?”

  “During the Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919, my brother Isaac and I caught the flu. We would have died, except for a vampire who offered to turn us. She turned our entire family, to save us.”

  She was silent. He reached out and took her hand, and she clung to it.

  At least she saw him as an ally, then. “I know it’s a fantastic story, but it’s all true.”

  She sighed and looked out the windshield. “It’s crazy, but I do believe you.”

  Relief flooded him. “What is your story?”

  “I don’t even know. My mother never told me anything.” She sighed. “I have to call her and untangle this mess.”

  He knew that her mother had run away when she was born, but he would allow her a little delusion while she struggled to come to grips with the truth.

  “I have to call my mother first,” she repeated. “Then I’ll tell you what I learn from her.”

  He squeezed her hand. “I’ll wait.”

  “I have to gear up for it, so it may take a couple of hours.”

  She looked at him then, her eyes warm and loving. When she leaned over and kissed him, he knew they were going to be okay.

  They kissed again.

  Then, with a sigh, she pulled back. “Would you drive me back to the hotel now? I’ll call my mother and then try to absorb what she tells me. Tomorrow, if you can come back out here, I’ll tell you what I find out.”

  He kissed the back of her hand as he turned to drive them back to her hotel. “You have a date.”

  Dixie climbed into her ridiculously cute Minion pajamas. For some reason she couldn’t explain, she loved those silly yellow guys. But even the Minion PJs couldn’t lift her spirits tonight.

  And Stacy wasn’t even here to talk with her about it. She’d tried calling her, but her phone was either dead or silenced.

  Why hadn’t her mother told her the truth about who she was? Did she not know? Was her mother a pixie? Her grandmother? Or was it her father, whom she didn’t know anything about? Which brought her back to her mother’s lies — why had she claimed her father had died in the Gulf War when Dixie was a baby?

  Still agitated, she picked up her phone and flopped down onto the bed. It was time to call her mother and ask these questions, not accepting any excuses or lies. She would ask her mother about her story, who her father was, where they’d come from. Why she was a pixie but had never known it.

  As she powered up her phone, there was a knock at the door. She rolled her eyes. Really? Right at this precise moment? It was as if the universe itself were conspiring to keep her from getting the answers she so desperately craved.

  Another knock, this one closer to pounding.

  “Okay, okay, I’m coming,” she said, grabbing her Minion-free pink robe and wrapping it around herself.

  She looked through the peephole — and saw a woman who looked just like her. It was like looking into a tiny round mirror. What the heck...?

  More pounding. “I know you’re in there. Open up. You can’t hide from me.” A woman’s voice.

  Hide? Dixie wasn’t hiding. She opened the door a few inches. “Yes?”

  The woman pushed her way in and slammed the door behind her, pointing at Dixie as she screamed, “You imposter!”

  “What? Get out of my room!”

  It was shocking how much the woman looked like her — except she looked full of rage, which came spewing out when she spoke. “I order you to drop your glamour this instant.”

  “What? Are you nuts?”

  The woman looked like Dixie did — in the Reflectin
g Mirror! She had wings and a crown!

  “How dare you?” The woman advanced on her.

  Dixie stepped back, raising her hands. The verbal attack was unnerving enough. She didn’t plan on suffering a physical assault. “Hey, back off, nutcase. What is wrong with you?”

  The woman looked incredulous. “You dare disobey a direct order?”

  This town was nice, but it had more than its fair share of whack-jobs. First the guy in the park and now this woman. This woman who looked exactly like her! And then Dixie wondered if maybe she had some answers. “Who are you?”

  “Don’t pretend you don’t recognize me, since you’ve glamoured yourself so exactly that even Lord Dragomir could barely tell us apart.”

  “Lord ... who again? What are you talking about?”

  “Don’t pretend ignorance. I have ordered you to drop your glamour and you have expressly refused.”

  “Is that a pixie thing? Glamour?” Like she knew how to glamour herself — or drop any glamour she might have naturally.

  Looking disgusted, the other woman threw her hands in the air. “If you insist on playing stupid, I will give you a direct order you cannot ignore. You will drop your glamour by the full moon three days hence — or you will face the wrath of the king himself. I will check every noon to see if you are still glamoured.”

  “Don’t come up to my room again, you nutcase.”

  “I will have no need to see you again. I can sense it from the lobby. You cannot hide yourself from me, imposter.”

  Then the woman flung open the door, marched out, and slammed it so hard it reverberated.

  Stunned, Dixie stared at the door.

  What. Just. Happened?

  She sank to the bed. Who was that woman? She must be another pixie. And were they all nutcases? Because Dixie really didn’t want to be lumped in with a bunch of crazy people.

  Then another thought struck her. Did all pixies look alike? Was there a coven — or flutter, or whatever a group of pixies was called — somewhere close by full of pixies that looked exactly the same as Dixie? Wow. That was a sobering thought. And what did the male pixies look like? Or were there none? Was that why she didn’t know who her father was? Because pixies didn’t need males to have more identical pixie babies?