At the same time I blushed, Ranger X lifted the tiny witch’s hand so high that her entire body came off the ground. He dangled her before him and looked her in the eye. Even now, she didn’t seem to mind.
In fact, she did a little shimmy and winked back at him. She winked so often I wondered if it was a nervous tick. “This is kinky.”
Ranger X let go of her wrist without warning. Glinda dropped to the floor, grabbing the table for balance as she looked around the room and brushed down her ragged tutu.
“Are you okay?” I rushed forward, giving Ranger X the evil eye. “Are you hurt?”
“Not even my pride,” Glinda said cheerily. “I swallowed that a long time ago, which is great because now I can say anything I want and not worry about lookin’ stupid!”
“That’s not a bad idea,” I said. “I kind of like it.”
“I do not,” Ranger X said. “A bit of a filter is never a bad thing, especially in a professional work environment.”
Glinda rolled her eyes at me. “They keep trying to run me out of the workforce. They say I don’t dress appropriately, can you believe it?” She reached down and played with the end of a few strings flapping around her waist. “They want me to dress in all black and wear pretty makeup and pin my hair back. Sorry, but that’s not me.”
“I like your style,” I said, searching for the right word. “It’s eccentric.”
“Exactly! They want my magic, they’re gonna have to deal with eccentricities.” Glinda twirled around. “Okay, that spell should be almost cooked. Are we ready to find Gus?”
I huddled over the ball with her while Ranger X watched from the back.
“You never did say how this works,” I said. “Is it a secret?”
“Not at all. Have you met a Forest Fairy?”
“No, not yet.”
“Good. You don’t want to meet one in the wild.” She looked up at me. “See, this magic ball is mostly glorified nonsense. But it’s the unique talent that got me a cushy job at Ranger HQ—”
“Are you a Ranger?” I asked. “Sorry to interrupt.”
She shook her head. “I’m a certified Emergency Contact Specialist. I got no desire to be a Ranger. I couldn’t wear my outfit!”
“I see. About the Forest Fairies?”
“They are teensy tiny creatures, about this big.” She held up two fingers hardly an inch apart. “Annoying little creatures. Tricky as can be, and mischievous. If you’re not lookin’, they’ll give you a wedgie, steal your lunch money, and whisper your deepest, darkest secrets to those you care most about.”
“They sound terrible.”
“They are,” she said. “In the wild. Until I came along, folks looked at them as pesky insects. At worst, they’d be squashed. At best, caged. They’re not fun when they’re running around loose, but that’s where I come in. The little buggers understand me.”
“You’re...you’re their leader or something?”
“I’m not one of ’em, never mix that up,” she said. “It’s impossible to fit in with another species entirely.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”
“Lily, sometimes it’s not about fitting in. Sometimes it’s about leading without abandon. I train these Forest Fairies, and they listen to me.”
“Are they human?” I hesitated. “Well, not human, but...are they like us? As people?”
“You’re worried I’m being cruel?”
I bobbed my shoulders up and down. “I guess you could say that.”
“It’s not cruel at all. In fact, we have a pleasant arrangement. If the fairies work for me, they are allowed to use The Isle and move about freely. They mostly stay within the cover of the trees, but not always. Because of my work with the fairies, I’ve enacted a law to protect them. Currently, there’s a ban against catching fairies. It’s illegal to hold them captive, cage them, or otherwise detain one. That law never existed until I came around. They were treated in a bad way. So for most of them, our partnership was a relief.”
“Don’t they deserve their freedom regardless?”
“You weren’t here before,” Glinda said. “You have to understand that they wreaked absolute havoc on our society when they roamed free. Most of them were locked away in prison when I came around, and I worked out a deal to free them. In exchange, they run a few errands a week for me. It’s not a bad trade.”
“So they listen to only you?”
“She’s the only one sassy enough to talk back to them,” Ranger X grumbled. “They’re terrors. Horrible creatures.”