Prelude - Fairy Dust and the Dream Realm

The window in the sky opened for a brief moment, and the onyx woman stepped out onto a cloud, shutting the door behind her softly. She secured her blue pouch onto her dress, and effortlessly scaled the clouds until she was at the window of a dilapidated apartment building. Within, she heard the soft snores of a young boy under the voices of George Lopez and Belita Moreno. She slipped into the window and shut it softly, so as to not awaken the boy’s exhausted mother. She crept into the living room, sprinkling sparkly fairy dust on the Rottweiler that slept at the boy’s feet. She sprinkled a bit on the child’s forehead and rolled him over gently.

A tiny canine lie covered in dried blood with a note. She smiled as she read. i tryed too klean it of butt i amost droped it n the sink. Sory. Omarian. She took out her pen and scrawled that it was okay and that she hoped he had a good day in school the next day. She dropped the bloody little tooth into her blue pouch and slipped a crisp five-dollar bill into the folded paper. She placed it back, pet the dog, and slipped out through a new door in the ceiling. She appeared in the room of a little girl living a block or two away. Squished in a large bed between her mother and three brothers, the girl slept soundly with her tooth and a small note left in a shoe. The woman took the note, wrote a response for the girl in Spanish then put a five-dollar bill in the note and left again.

“Acacia? Acacia, where are you?” her ear buzzed.

“I’m in the Bronx, Darien. Where are you?” she whispered.

“I think I got lost. Can you come help me out?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there in a bit.”

She looked at her watch. There was still a lot of sand, but it was falling fast. She retied the pouch to her belt and undid the belt that held her wings down. Two golden wings spread out. She rolled her shoulders and glitter shook from her wings onto the floor. The glitter swirled into a mini-tornado and dispersed around the room. In a minute and a half, her outstretched hands were filled with tiny teeth of all shapes and sizes. She nodded approvingly, dropping the teeth into her hands and collecting whatever glitter was left over. She opened another door in a ceiling and disappeared into another room.

Two boys slept soundly on bunk beds. The woman stepped quietly towards the bed and reached under the pillow of the lower bunk bed. She felt a piece of paper, and when she looked up, she was staring into the wide glowing eyes of a six-year-old boy. Her eyes widened, and she packed away quickly.

“Are you okay, lady?” the boy whispered.

He got no answer. He tried to get up, but she yelled, “No, don’t do that!”

The boy froze. “Why not?”

“You can’t leave your body. It’s not good.”

“I’m not leaving my—”

The little boy looked around to see that his torso and leg, which he had moved to get out of bed, were glowing gold. He smiled at his hands and looked up to see the startled woman.

“It’s okay. I’ll lay back down. See?”

The woman cautiously returned. The kid rolled his body over, so she could get his tooth, but his eyes stayed fixated on her.

“What?” she asked after a few seconds.

“Are you the Tooth Fairy?”

“Well, I’m a tooth fairy, yes.”

“Cool. Do you have a name?”

“Um… I’m Acacia.”

“That’s pretty. I’m Antonio, but my family just calls me Ant. It’s because I’m small but Ka’Veon said that I’m going to be big one day!”

“Of course, you are. You’re only seven. You have a lot of time to grow.”

“How old are you?”

“It’s impolite to ask a woman that, Antonio,” she said, looking away.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Is it impolite to ask where you’re from? Anod how many tooth fairies are there? Do you ever get lonely? Can I hug you? My teacher says I can’t hug strangers, but you already know me, right?”

Acacia smiled at him. “I’m from Lansing. There are a lot of tooth fairies, but I am your very own tooth fairy. I have friends, so I’m never really lonely. You can’t hug me because I don’t want you accidentally getting stuck in this realm, but yes, I know you and now, you know me.”

“Will I remember seeing you?”

Acacia looked at the kid’s innocent brown eyes and let the bit of glitter she had in her hand go. “Yes, you’ll remember me.”

“Can I tell people about you?”

“Of course, you can. That’s how I still have a job.” Her ear frantically buzzed again, but she ignored it.

“I have to go soon.”

“Can I ask one more question before you go?”

“Of course, you can.”

“Where does magic come from?”

The onyx lady smiled at him. “Every time you ask that question, magic is created.”

Antonio’s eyes brightened, and a grin spread on his face. “So, I’ll see you next time I lose a tooth?”

Acacia nodded. She kissed his forehead and he fell asleep instantly. “Goodnight Antonio. Sweet dreams.”

She opened a door in the ceiling and stepped onto a roof where a short guy was breathing heavily. Upon seeing her, he punched her in the arm.

“Where the hell have you been! I was facing a vicious and very rude hamster in there.”

“A hamster? You called me for a hamster?”

“She was a lot scarier than you are making her sound.”

“You lived, Darien. Everything is fine.”

“Where were you anyway?”

“I met a kid today.”

“How’d that go?”

“He was definitely inquisitive.”

“Well?”

“Well what?”

“You let him remember you, didn’t you?”

Acacia looked at the ground. Darien smacked her arm. “That breaks protocol! You know we can get written up for that!”

“Will you calm down? And if you hit me again, I’m tearing your arm off and beating you with it. This kid is imaginative and won’t blow our cover. Plus, there was something special about him. I could just tell.”

“Whatever. You ready?”

Acacia nodded. Darien opened a window in the sky, and the two disappeared into the night.