Chapter 2

Cosmo blinked. Where was he? His sides were on fire, and he could briefly make out the whisperings of others around him. Feeling his stomach rise and fall, Cosmo opened his eyes just long enough to squint at the blaring light seething into him. The poisonous scent of antiseptic tingled his nose, and coughing, let his vision adjust.

"He's coming to!"

Cosmo painfully turned his head to see who had spoken. A fairy nurse, chubby and dressed in blue, floated over his head, smiling reassuringly and bearing a cup of orange juice. "You gave us quite a shock there, mister," he grinned, pushing a button on the fold-up hospital bed. There was a rrrrr-ing noise, and Cosmo felt his guts crunch together as it folded into a sitting position. "You were out for three days. Hot wands, you took the worst beating of all at the Hanikonorii attack!"

Hanikonorii…? Oh, that's right. He had nearly been killed. "Where am I?" he slurred, shakily accepting the orange juice and taking a polite sip.

"Fairyworld, Mister Samhouri. How's your head?"

Cosmo stared at him from beyond the bandages swathing his face.

"Sorry… rhetorical question."

Cosmo set the glass down between his legs, staring at the ochre liquid sloshing around citrine ice cubes. Straining his sight, he observed every last detail of the drink, and came up with these thoughts: What? No pulp?

Apparently, the word 'pulp' flicked on a little switch in his simplistic brain, and he suddenly remembered what he was worrying about. "Where's Wanda?" he asked.

The nurse laughed good-naturedly, encouraging Cosmo to drink just a little bit more. "Your wife is fine. She's in the waiting room now! You're lucky to have such a woman as her—she camped out here while you were unconscious!"

"Oh, cool," said Cosmo with a light nod. "Can I see her?"

"Of course! Here, let me change your IV, and I'll bring her right in!" Cosmo winced while he fooled with the equipment, then the nurse, using his fairy's wand to "poof" himself out of the room, and was gone.

Cosmo slumped back down, eyes dancing with the sloshing patterns of the drink. It was fascinating—he was so transfixed that Wanda's arrival didn't even register with him for a few moments.

Wanda gave a wave, and tugged her un-kept, sorry self to where Cosmo sat, weary and dejected. Her voice was a grackle squawk as she touched his matted, green hair, yawning and rubbing the sand from her eyes.

"Did you have a good night, Sleeping Beauty?" she asked, sneer tugging at the corner of her lips.

Cosmo stuck his tongue out at her and gave her the thumbs' up. "Can't say so much for a comfortable one," he giggled.

Wanda relaxed. So the taser-gun hadn't addled him up too much, after all. But then again… Cosmo was always addled.

"How's life on the outside?" Cosmo turned around, but when he saw that his hospital gown was the sort of garment that tied loosely in the back and showed his boxers, he flopped back into default position.

Wanda grimaced and reached into her pocket, pulling out a newspaper clipping she had saved.

"What's this?" Wanda handed it to him, and Cosmo skimmed it over, brow darkening. "What? They outlawed Hanikonorii?"

"Read on."

Cosmo got to the last sentence and gasped. "They're banning religion?"

"The government's trying to break us, hun. That was from two nights ago. Look at today's headline."

Wanda took out another article, and this time read it aloud:

"On the fifteenth of May, at twenty-one hundred hours and fifteen minutes, the Fairyworld Supreme Council met and discussed the tragedy of Hanikonorii. Together, they have decided that the outside world is a bad influence of the people. They passed the bill 'Operation Good Day', which states that due one week's time, the borders to Fairyworld will be CLOSED permanently. Under no circumstances may a fairy leave or enter the country. This also means that all citizens must revoke their wands, pull out of Godparenting, and relinquish their wings and all forms of entertainment from the outside world. Those who refuse to comply will duly meet their Cancellation, no exceptions. Otherwise, life will go on as normal."

Cosmo shrieked. "And that's all they wrote?" he snarled, sending his orange juice smashing to the ground.

Wanda nodded.

"But what about Katerina?" Cosmo clenched his fists, remembering their young fairy godchild, the girl with leukemia.

Wanda re-read a sentence and raised her eyebrows at Cosmo. "They're outlawing Godparenting."

"What…? But they can't do that…!"

"Yes, they can. Cosmo, are you aware of what kind of government we're under?"

"Yeah, we're under the Supreme Council, formed fifty years ago…"

Wanda shook her head. "Euphemisms, Cosmo."

"Euphemism…?"

Wanda forced a lame smile. "Sorry, sweetie. I know it's a big word. Have you ever heard of Communism?"

Cosmo shrugged. "What's that?"

"Well, how do I explain this…? Remember in the 1960s when we were the Godparents of that little boy in the Soviet Union? Fairyworld's sort of like that."

"You mean… we're under Stalin?"

Wanda couldn't help sniggering. "Um, no. Stalin died a while back. But we're under the same sort of system."

"But we're fairies! Why are we under that?"

Wanda sat down and petted his cheek. "You know how I used to work under the king? Well, I get information. There was once this woman, low rank, you know, under the fake name of 'Packleader Indigo' who worked as Fairyworld's head geneticist."

"Aren't you a geneticist?"

Wanda rolled her eyes. "I WAS. I quit my job… Well, anyway, she created these fairy-wolf hybrids, called the ASALUM—Association of Sagacious Arcane Liaisons United in Management—our Secret Police. She didn't like the king. So… she used the ASALUM to kill him and take over the country, re-creating the government. She didn't mean for it to turn Communist… but people get bad ideas. Fairies, too."

Cosmo's eyes widened with fascination. "Wow! This chick was some bold stuff! Where is she now?"

Wanda shrugged. "I dunno. She just disappeared. And you know what else? She never showed her face once."

Cosmo returned his attention to the newspaper clippings. "What'll we do?"

Wanda leaned in to his face, way close, and whispered: "I've hired an agent to smuggle us out of this country. I have a friend in a remote area on Earth… we'll never be found there."