by Bonnie Lamer
My eyes are still narrowed. “Why is this possibility fatter than the others, then?”
“Simple,” he smiles. “Your Familiar is from another universe. In the multiverse theory, the physical landscape of each universe is generally mirrored with the others. If it existed in his universe, it must exist in ours. It simply may not have evolved in the same manner.”
Everything he is saying is true, yet, I still find it annoying. “So, basically, the times you told me a race didn’t exist could just have been pure ignorance on your part,” I smirk.
His response is to tickle me mercilessly. Laughing and gasping for breath, I try to push his hands away but it’s like he has ten of them and it’s impossible. He doesn’t stop until Taz jumps on the bed and growls at him. At least, that’s what Kallen hears. What I hear is, “We have important things to discuss so get your wanker hands off her before I gnaw your fingers into nubs and use the remnants to stuff your mouth and nose so you can’t speak or breath.” It’s a good thing Kallen can’t understand him.
Still, my gorgeous husband gets the gist of it. There is more to Felix’s story and we need to hear it. Both of us sobering, we sit up and give our full attention to my second Familiar, not the one still grumbling on the bed. “Go on,” I tell Felix who was quite content not to finish his story if his now reluctant posture means anything. “Tell us about Pixies.”
“Vile little creatures,” Felix finally says and I immediately know they must exist here. If he had said they were little rays of sunshine that only farted rainbows, there is no way they would be in my life. Vile little creatures? They definitely will be. When did I get so cynical? I certainly won’t be farting rainbows anytime soon.
I am pulled out of my reverie by Felix’s next words. “They eat magic.”
“What did you say?” Out of the corner of my eye, I see Kallen has picked up on the panic in my voice.
“They eat magic,” Felix repeats.
I need more clarification than that. “What do you mean, ‘they eat magic?’” I ask. Hearing my words, Kallen is now doubly frustrated he can only hear one side of the conversation. His expression is growing as panicked as mine and he’s not easily ruffled like I am.
“They are magicless creatures who have the ability to eat the magic of others,” Felix explains patiently.
Now I am getting frustrated with my Familiar’s explanation. “Felix, I understand your words. I need more detail. Why do they eat magic? Do they steal it and use it against people?”
“They do not have the ability to wield magic,” Felix assures me. Yet, I am not reassured.
“What do they do with it then?”
“Nothing.”
Okay. He needs to be a little more forthcoming with the details or I’m going to snap. “Do they need the magic to survive? Is it a nutrient of some sort to them?”
“No.”
“Felix, don’t make me threaten you like I do Taz. Explain with actual sentences.”
Clearing his little throat, Felix finally does and I don’t like his words any more than I did his lack of them. “They eat it simply because they can. They get no other satisfaction from it other than to be mean.”
That seems a bit farfetched. “There must be some benefit to them. An entire race wouldn’t do something just to be mean.”
Felix defends his claim. “Studies were done, Angels were consulted.”
I guess my doppelganger did have better access to Angel knowledge than I do since she lived amongst them when she was growing up. “Maybe they missed something,” I reason, refusing to believe something so foreign to what I’ve known of the universe. Even among the Sasquatch, a race I am not fond of considering those I’ve met, I know there must be nice ones. Many nice ones. “Or only some of the Pixies were mean. Just the ones who left their realm.”
“To the best of my knowledge, a nice Pixie has never been found,” Felix insists. “Even the Raziel of my universe believed that to be the case.”
Well, that’s quite damning proof for the Pixie race. Raziel in any universe is omniscient. Which means the Raziel of this universe also knew of the existence of Pixies. And the fact that we may have some in this realm right now. Yet another reason for him to be pulled away, I guess, so he didn’t warn us.
“Okay, what did your Xandra do to get rid of them?” I ask.
“Nothing,” Felix informs me.
“Nothing?” I ask in amazement. “She didn’t mind these creatures who could eat her magic?”
“Well, she did kill a few,” Felix amends. “But she had to do it by hand. Pixies are immune to the effects of magic.”
Aghast, I repeat, “Immune to the effects of magic?”
Kallen has followed enough of the conversation to get the gist of it. Horrified, he says, “There are creatures here who not only weaken the magic of Fairies by eating it, but they are also immune to being spelled or stopped by the use of magic?”
“That about sums it up,” I agree. I flop back on the bed again. “Life just doesn’t get any easier, does it?”
“I am not certain there are Pixies here,” Felix hedges. “I only thought I caught the scent of one. Around the time Tabitha’s magic waned. And when the King’s magic waned. And yours.”
Mine? When did mine wane? Oh, when I first tried to make the vengeful spirit shut up. And later, when I tried again. I remember Felix acting weird then. I sit up on my elbows and give him a wry look. “I think that’s pretty good proof they are here.” At least Dagda and Tabitha will be glad to hear there is nothing wrong with their magic. “I take it your Xandra killed them out of frustration.”
“They sought her out because of her variety of magical flavors. Apparently, each magical race has a different taste to the Pixies. Angels are considered a delicacy among them.” With a glance in Kallen’s direction, he adds, “Fairies also rank high on their list.”
When sensing magic, Kallen and I usually refer to its ‘flavor.’ I had no idea that there was a real taste involved. Then again, we sense the magic. We do not eat it. “I still don’t understand how, exactly, they eat the magic.”
“They do not truly ingest it,” Felix explains. “It is similar to the inhaling of gases. When magic is pulled from the earth, it is a physical thing even though we cannot see the magic itself, only the results when it is used.” He’s a pretty smart Tasmanian devil. I wonder if his IQ is higher than Taz’s. “Pixies are able to somehow draw the magic within them and metabolize it, rendering it useless. The more they inhale, the more they like it.”
My mouth drops open. “They are nothing more than drug addicts?” I explain to Kallen what Felix just told me. Scowling back down at my Familiar, I say, “I knew there was more to it than them being mean.”
A frown on my husband’s perfect face, he asks, “Can they be rehabilitated?”
Though he cannot understand him, Felix responds to Kallen’s question. “What would they have to gain through rehabilitation? They aren’t addicted, just cruel. And basically unstoppable.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Pixies are self-sufficient. Being omnivorous, they can live off the land in pretty much any environment. They are nomadic. They do not form communities, preferring to travel in small packs or in mated pairs. They do not seek relationships with members of other species in any capacity as they are incredibly unfriendly. They do not require items of trade, or even temporary lodging. They live out of doors and they do not require clothes. They have unique metabolisms that can adapt to even the harshest elements, growing excessive body hair when it is cold and shedding it when it is warm. They can even store water within their cells if they find themselves in a drought. They may like the magic, but it is not truly an addiction. It is more of a game to them and they get little joy from anything else except stealing magic from others. The pleasure they get from it is more from watching others suffer than it is from ingesting the magic, even if they do like the taste of it.”
They are like the cockroaches of the m
agical world. “If you cut off their heads can they live for a week?” I ask sardonically.
Felix cocks his head. “I believe if you cut off their heads they die instantaneously.”
I wave him off. “Never mind.” To Kallen, I say, “We need to talk to Isla and Dagda. This can’t wait.”
Resigned to the fact that his knowledge of the universe has been permanently altered, Kallen nods. He sends a message to Dagda who has probably just reached the palace. He’ll be annoyed to turn back, but it sounds like we have a possible infestation and we need to figure out what to do about it. Otherwise, it won’t be video games and cars which destroy Fairy society as we know it. We need to learn how to be Pixie exterminators and fast. I suspect Fairies get pretty cranky when their magic is being stolen and nothing is done about it.
4 Chapter
Dagda is very annoyed by being called back. “Couldn’t this have waited until morning?” he demands as he stalks into the kitchen and barely refrains from slamming the door.
Isla, Kallen and I are seated at the kitchen island counter. Though vexed we wouldn’t say why we wanted to speak to Isla and Dagda, Tabitha and Garren agreed to watch Mom, Dad and Adriel while Kallen and I fill Isla and Dagda in. We left Kegan and Alita upstairs, ignorant that anything new is going on. We didn’t want to start a small panic by filling everyone in at once. We will run it by Dagda and Isla and let them help decide what to do. “No, it can’t,” I insist to my biological father.
There must be something in my expression because after studying me for a minute, he sits down at the counter with a sigh. “What has happened now?”
“We believe we have Pixies,” I tell him and Isla.
Annoyed as he is, I would never have expected Dagda to start laughing. Loudly. Finally, he turns to Kallen, “I assume you attempted to explain to her that Pixies do not exist? That they are nothing more than mythology?”
“I did,” Kallen begins and I give him a dirty look. “Then I was proved wrong.” Much better.
Dagda has a ‘you poor, love sick fool who will believe anything your wife wants you to believe’ expression on his face. “I cannot believe you called me back here to speak of nonsense.”
“Was it nonsense when you couldn’t do a simple spell?” I demand.
His expression now one of ‘how dare you remind me of that for now I must make you look foolish’, my biological father says, “I understand you have had a rough night. That does not make the monsters under your bed real.” I didn’t know Fairy children worried about monsters under their beds. I thought that was a human thing. After all, Fairy children have magic. They could reasonably fight a monster under their bed. Unless, of course, that monster was a Pixie.
“Wait until you see the monster under your bed tonight,” I mutter under my breath. Kallen covers his snicker with a cough.
Isla has been quietly taking all of this in. Finally, she says, “What proof do you have?”
Slamming his palm on the table, Dagda scoffs at her, “Do not tell me you are falling for this.”
Narrowing her eyes in his direction, Isla drawls, “I have learned that Xandra’s instincts during trying times tend to be spot on. I am surprised you have not learned the same.” Wow, was that a compliment? For me, anyway. Not so much for Dagda.
Something that has not slipped his notice. “And I have noticed that her knowledge of the magical world is quite limited and she must rely on others to let her know when she has been misinformed.”
“Then you have not been paying attention to how much she has learned since coming here. Perhaps more attention spent on what she has accomplished rather than what she still needs to learn would be beneficial here,” Isla counters.
Turning to Kallen, I ask, “Can you see me? Or did a Pixie eat so much of my magic, I’m now invisible.”
Kallen reaches out and pokes me in the rib, making me jump and giggle. “Nope, I can see you just fine.” I’m not sure his conclusion needed to be based on a poke in the ribs, though. Getting ready to poke him back, he catches my hand and brings my fingers to his lips and kisses them.
“If you are done pawing each other,” Dagda says dryly.
I feign surprise. “Oh, am I a part of the conversation again? I was getting used to only being the subject of it.” Me, snarky? Nah.
“Now, if we can all agree to have open minds,” Isla says with a pointed look at Dagda. “Please explain.”
When Dagda doesn’t interrupt again, I take a deep breath and tell them what Felix told me. I have to check with my Familiar, who is sitting at my feet, on a few of the details. When I am finished, Dagda leans forward with his hands folded on the table and says, “But, no one has actually seen one of these Pixies. You are going solely on your Familiar’s claim that he ‘thought’ he picked up the scent of Pixie.”
I bite my lip and stare down at Felix. “Um, how sure are you that you smelled Pixie?”
At the same time Taz growls in his friend’s defense, “If he said he smelled Pixie, then he smelled Pixie.” Felix says, “About eighty percent.”
As much as I appreciate Taz sticking up for Felix, I repeat Felix’s words. “He’s about eighty percent certain.”
“He had a lot of experience with Pixies?” Isla asks. I nod.
Addressing the one most resistant to believing any of this, Kallen says to Dagda, “The simple fact that both your magic and Tabitha’s was reduced in the rendering of a simple spell is proof toward the existence of Pixies. Unless there is a general malady going through the realm which affects magic.” I can’t tell if he’s being sarcastic or not.
Dagda assumes not. “I will have the village physician summoned to determine if such a malady exists.”
“And if it doesn’t?” I push. “Because my magic was affected, too.” Kallen looks at me in surprise. I haven’t mentioned that detail until now.
With a beleaguered sigh, Dagda relents. “Then we will begin a search for Pixies.”
“Pixies?” Adriel says in surprise from the doorway. “Here? Impossible.”
Damn Angels and their ability to keep knowledge to themselves. “You knew about Pixies and never told us?” I accuse. “What kind of friend are you?”
She narrows her eyes at me. “The kind who is really cranky right now since I have been attacked by two spirits since you were supposed to retire for the evening.”
I suppose continuing to piss off an Angel of Death is not a good thing. Moving forward. “Why is it impossible that Pixies are here?”
Coming farther into the room and leaning her elbows on the island counter, Adriel explains, “Because just like humans, they have not discovered how to leave their home realm on their own.”
Somewhere in there is an insult toward humans. I begin to take offense when I remember I am not, in fact, human. Still, I didn’t know I could leave my home realm, either. Not until killer Fairies showed up at my door. “Well, Felix is pretty sure they’re here. So, either they found a way out on their own or someone helped them along.”
Both Kallen’s and Dagda’s faces sober and then anger begins to take root. It takes me a moment to understand why. It hits me hard in the gut when I finally get it. Mouth agape, I stare up at my husband. “Could someone have brought Pixies here to weaken us?”
A string of curses leaves Dagda’s mouth. When he can finally use words that have more than four letters and do not involve doing things that are probably impossible to other people’s bodies, he growls to Kallen, “Get Naja here. Now.” If he is summoning the head of his security, my biological father now believes that we do, indeed, have a Pixie problem.
5 Chapter
The house is once again alive with activity. No one will be getting much sleep tonight, it seems. Even Kegan and Alita have been summoned back downstairs. From the way they are smiling widely at each other every chance they get, I am going to assume they made up in the carnal way. Eew. I do not want to think about their sex life. They are currently watching Mom and Dad while Tabitha and Garren have been
sent on a search of the house for Pixies. Kegan put his foot down when it was suggested that he and Alita do it out of fear of what a magic eating being could do to his child’s growth. Since none of us know what could happen, he got his way this time. Even Alita didn’t argue that he was being overly cautious. Felix, the only one who knows what Pixie’s smell like, is aiding in the search. Taz is sticking close to me. Whether he is protecting me or is expecting me to protect him, I’m not certain. Probably a bit of both.
I must admit, I am a little afraid of these Pixie’s. The havoc they can wreak by leveling the playing ground in this realm could significantly change history. The Giants, a warring and sometimes cruel race, are kept in check out of fear of Fairy magic. If the magic is gone, Fairies are not even close to being a physical match to them. It doesn’t stop there. Most Fairies would also have a hard time fighting larger races such as the Centaurs and Sasquatch if it came down to it. I have faith in Kallen’s abilities, and Dagda’s and even Kegan’s. But I know I would go down hard if faced with a horse-man charging at me. Other races, such as the Elves, are not much of a concern because they rely so heavily on magic like the Fairies do. We’d be pretty evenly matched. On the other hand, I should probably get serious again about learning hand-to-hand combat.
Dagda, Kallen, Isla and Naja are currently making lists of enemies who could be behind the sudden appearance of the Pixies. We haven’t gotten to the bigger issue yet. What to do about them. We simply need more information. And the only one with that information is currently off using his nose to determine if there really is a threat. We decided we should be certain before we went off the deep end with plans. Technically, Adriel has information, but she values her wings too much to tell us much. Typical Angel bureaucracy getting in the way. If she says too much instead of letting us figure it out ourselves, she affects our freewill. Doing such will cause Tabbris, the Angel who monitors such things, to snatch away the wings waiting for Adriel when she returns to Angel time after her mortal life is over. I understand. I still want to dangle her off the side of a building by her toenails until she tells us what we need to know, but I really do understand her side of it. Can you tell I’m scared? I haven’t had magic for long, but I’m already pretty darn used to having it. And using it to win my battles.
