Ada, sitting in the palm of Lila's hand, felt angry. This giant, Lila's mother, didn't believe she was real! She stood up.
"Hey, I'm real," Ada said. "Why don't you believe Lila? Can't you see that I'm right here?"
"Lila, where did you find it? It might belong to someone," Lila's mother said.
Now Ada was even more angry. "She just ignored me!" she cried.
"I didn't find her," Lila said, "and she's mine."
Ada sat down again. Why were they just talking over her? Lila's mother was the first giant other than Lila that Ada had seen, and she didn't seem very nice. Was Lila the only giant who was kind?
"Well, where did it come from?" asked Lila's mother.
Ada was even more angry. "I'm not an it! I'm a she!" she yelled.
Lila touched Ada's hair. "She was born in the shed," Lila said.
"Are there more of these things?" Lila's mother asked.
Lila frowned. "Mother, fairies are born when a baby laughs for the first time. Isaac laughed for the first time yesterday, and that's when Ada was born."
Ada scratched her head. What was Isaac, and was that really how she was born?
"Lila, I don't believe in fairies," Lila's mother said. "And you shouldn't either."
That was too far. Ada, furious, flew out of Lila's hand and right into the face of Lila's mother. "I am real!" she shouted. "Stop ignoring me and calling me it! You may not believe in me, but you can't stop Lila from believing in me! I am real!"
Lila's mother, without warning, grabbed Ada by the wing and looked her over. "I don't see any screws or cracks," she said. "How ever did they make it?" She scratched Ada's arm with her fingernail.
"Ouch!" Ada cried. She tried to get away, but Lila's mother had too strong of a grip on her wing. She put her feet on Lila's mother's finger and tried to push herself away.
"Mother, stop! You're hurting her!" Lila cried.
"I can't hurt it, it isn't alive," Lila's mother replied. She touched the place where Ada's wings connected to her back. "How did they connect these?"
Ada looked at Lila with a terrified face. "Help!" she cried.
"Mother, give her back! You're scaring her!" Lila cried.
"Where's the off switch?" asked Lila's mother.
Ada did the only other thing she could think of. She turned to Lila's mother's finger and bit down hard.
"Ouch!" cried Lila's mother, and let go of the fairy.
Ada flew over to Lila and hid in her hand.
"Mother, she's scared!" Lila yelled. "You hurt her wing!"
"It bit me," said Lila's mother.
"She bit you," Lila said, "because she was scared."
"Robots don't have teeth," Lila's mother said. "It might really be alive."
"She is alive," Lila said, "and right now she's scared!"
Ada looked out from her safe place in the palm of Lila's hand and gave Lila's mother the most hurt look she could make.
"Those facial expressions are so realistic," Lila's mother said. "What did you call it - her?"
"Her name is Ada," Lila said.
Lila's mother reached towards Ada. She shrunk back, scared.
"I'm sorry, Ada," said Lila's mother. "I wasn't trying to scare you. I thought you were just another thing Lila made up to try to convince me to believe in fairies."
Ada crawled a bit further out from her safe place.
"What kind of fairy is she?" Lila's mother asked.
"She's a water fairy," Lila replied.
"Oh, good, she can help me with the dishes," her mother said.
Lila laughed. After a moment's hesitation, Ada laughed too.
"Well, I guess I was wrong about fairies," said Lila's mother. "Show me what she can do."
