Lily and I waited with the fairy in the dining room of the Safe Harbor Café while he recovered. He flitted around the room. The sunlight coming through the windows shone through his newly healed wings, and they glittered in the light. After putting away the rock containing evidence of the dark spell used against him, I walked out from behind the counter and over to the booth, where my fellow guardian, Lily, sat.

“Can you tell me about the witch who did this to you?” I asked the fairy. He flapped slowly over to us.

“No, she caught me in a honey trap. I guess I’m getting slow, or they’re very powerful because there is no way I should have fallen for a free jar of honey. What kind of gnat brain would fly by a bear of honey in the middle of the woods and think, ‘that’s a totally safe source of easy food?’ I know better, yet I flew down for a little sip.” He looked embarrassed.

“You got distracted, and they caught you that way?” Lily asked.

“Nah, I got in one little taste, and I slowed right down. It was then that the witch grabbed me. It was weird. I moved slowly like I was drunk or something, but I could think and feel like I was totally sober.”

I explained, “Actually, that makes sense. The magic doesn’t just need your wings. It needs your pain. If you didn’t suffer when she attacked you, it wouldn’t be as potent. But by slowing your reflexes and not your brain, they could create the maximum feeling of panic and fear, as well as pain. I’m sorry. That does sound terrifying.”

“I could feel all of it. It was terrible. They pulled my wings right off my back. What kind of creature does that? If they were going to eat my wings, I’d understand. Everything eats. They just needed my pain for some spell.” He flexed his hands as he talked and didn’t make eye contact. I wondered where his bow and arrows were. Fairies were fearsome archers. Perhaps his back had pained him too much to carry them. How horribly scary it must have been for him to come all this way from his home to the café. “Did you see the person who did it?”

“Do you think she was hurting more people than just you? Could you sense anyone else around you?” Lily asked, speaking quickly. I knew what she was referring to. I nudged her aside and slid in next to her on the bench. She elbowed me back.

“I can’t say I felt anyone else. But I couldn’t sense much of anything when she caught me. I saw her, but you great lumberers all look the same to me. It was a woman with light hair in brownish clothes. If you passed her on the trail, you wouldn’t think she was a dark witch.”

“So, you would recognize her if you saw her again? That’s good. We can help you bring charges, you know, with the witch tribunal. That’s one of the things we do. We orchestrate interspecies justice.”

“We can ask her if she knows anything about the other missing women,” Lily said.

“You think a pack of damn witches is going to try one of their own? You think they’ll believe me, one of the little people, over one of their sisters? Lady, thanks for fixing my wings and all, but you’re out of your mind.” He stretched his wings and flexed them back and forth. He hadn’t tried to fly, and I couldn’t tell if he was drying them out or if he was afraid to try them out in fear they wouldn’t work.

“You would be surprised. Witches really, really hate dark magic. It puts all of them at risk. So, yes, I think they would totally take it seriously. Besides, we would be backing you up.” As I watched, the fairy paced angrily up and down the table.

“If they hate black magic so much, why don’t you find out the name of the witch that did this to me and give me her address? Let’s call it a show of good faith. And then I’ll mete out a little fairy justice, and if I still have any unresolved anger, I’ll take it up with the council or whatever.”

“How about no. A big part of what we do at the guardhouse is to make sure that one species doesn’t enact a little fairy justice on another. The spirit of the Safe Harbor Café is looking out for everyone’s interests. Because what if the rest of the witches don’t know she’s evil and comes after you? Do you think you’re the first fairy she’s charmed the wings off of? What if she’s doing the same thing to other species?” The idea that there were other fairies out there—maybe other creatures with that pestilence in their bodies—made me sick. I wanted to heal all of them. The café must have sensed my wish for vengeance because it chimed the bell over the door in a show of solidarity.

“Hey, null lady, why didn’t your blankness take the spell out of my body?” Mr. Wasp asked Lily.

“Lily—my name is Lily,” she told him. She pointed her red heel-clad foot and crossed her legs so that her poofy navy dress with little anchors settled gracefully around her. Being a null was hard. Many cultures murder nulls just for existing. The spirit of the Safe Harbor Café was able to use many of those born with talents like ours, but even for a guardhouse, we were an odd pair.

“Fine then, Lily the Leach. Why didn’t your talent stop the dark magic in my back? It stopped my magic,” he asked her.

“I don’t know. My magic isn’t real exact. Sometimes a simple ‘don’t look here’ spell can fool it. You’d think the cloaking spell would be shorted out by my magic, but sometimes it isn’t. With this—who knows? If it had acted more like an infection than a spell, there’s also a chance that my magic wouldn’t read the dark magic as magic. But, you know, it’s not a science. I mean, why doesn’t the café fall down every time I walk inside? How come it’s able to be itself with me inside it? I don’t know. I guess because it’s stronger than I am?” Lily patted the table fondly. Next to her, a coffee cup bloomed from the table. She raised it in silent salute to the café and brought it prettily to her blood-red lips.

“I don’t much care for that. It’s your magic. You should know. How can you use it if you don’t understand it?” The fairy asked her.

“How can you claim to understand magic?” asked Lily.

“And this conversation is going nowhere. Mr. Wasp, do I have your permission to call the witches’ council and ask them to open an investigation?” As I spoke, the café materialized a black rotary phone with no number by the cash register. I walked over to it, “Oh, that’s just creepy, Safe. Why doesn’t it have any numbers?” In response to my question, moon phases slowly appeared in place of numbers going all the way to full. “Hmm, that’s better.” It was. I patted the phone.

The fairy said, “The phone call has the blessing of the guardhouse. Go ahead. I can see which way the wind is blowing.” He eyed the phone suspiciously.

Lily put down her coffee cup and looked at the fairy. “You have a choice. You always have a choice. If you don’t want to report this witch, I will drive you home right now, and you can forget all about it. You don’t owe us anything. You’re free to go, and I’m happy to help you get home.” I knew that she meant it, but I wasn’t sure if he did.

“No,” the fairy said, “It’s the right thing to do. If the witch that took my wings has done this to others, then I want her stopped. I won’t be responsible for others suffering if I can stop it. I’m no coward.” The fairy stood proudly up, pulled his suit jacket back on, and flapped his wings a few times. He began to lift from the table. His face, already handsome, was lit with a smile.

I picked up the heavy black phone and held it to my ear. I didn’t know who to call, but the café did. Instead of ringing, the phone chimed like the tolling of a great bell. Then the phone clicked over, and I could hear a child talking, and a muffled woman’s voice say, “Mom’s on the phone, guys.” Then, in a clear voice, the woman said, “Hello? How can I help you?”

“Hi, this is Harper down at the Safe Harbor Café. I’ve got a fairy here who had his wings removed by dark magic. I’ve healed him and secured the spell. Would you want to come down and take a look?” I asked her.

“Sure,” she said, “I’ll come right over. I assume the fairy must want to get home. I’ll have the kids with me if that’s okay,”

“Not a problem,” I told her. “We have ice cream and high chairs here if you don’t mind.”

“No, that would be great. My husband has to work tonight. Otherwise, I wouldn’t bring them. I’ll head over and see you in about twenty minutes.”