Chapter 1
Being a kid is easy. Childhood is a breeze. You don't have to do much, just run a round a lot and stick your tongue out at people in a moderately cute way, but that's it. Of course, there are some rules, guidelines if you may. Things like, always be polite. Learn your Ps and Qs and go to bed when you're told. This isn't much though, considering what you have to do when you're an adult. Simple. At least, that's what Jae was told when she took up the job. Nobody managed to tell her that sometimes, life is different. Let's remember, not every family has a loving mother, a providing father, and a warm house. Hell, some people don't even have a family. And that's the category that Jae happened to fall into, poor sod. She hadn't even wanted the job. She'd been sipping coffee one night after a hard days labour on the masters front lawn, when three burly men with pin- stripe suits and bowler hats had walked in casually and cornered her in her own living room! "Excuse me, but could you come back later? Corrie's on." The lads had looked at each other, and a small snigger had escaped from somewhere inside the fattest one's beard. Then 'clunk', and blackness had hit her.
When she awoke, it was dark, and slightly spooky. Jae thought she could hear a dripping sound in the distance, but it stopped abruptly when she cleared her throat. Being a fairy, she was highly skilled in all arts of 'getting rid of nuisances'. Everything from bogeymen, werewolves, vampires, ghosts and ghouls (sorted into one category on the revision booklet) to pretty much anything that goes 'bump' in the night, and that includes drippings. That's how the fairies were trained in the old days; the young blood that comes in these days is a disgrace. When she was a lass, training to be a fairy was more like military combat. You learned how to fight off evil curses, evil hexes, evil.... everything. And there was no prim little tutu or ballerina shoes. Oh no, you got the wand and the wings, and that was it. You had to supply your own clothes. Not any more though. Now, fairies were too busy messing with their hair to fight off the annoyances of childhood. But Jae hadn't the time to be prattling on about the youth of today. No, she had to get out of here. She struggled for a bit, and tried toppling her chair and tried biting the ropes. After a while she gave up and laughed a little to herself. Knowing her, it had probably been the Wilson kids from next-door, dressed up and on a rampage. Knowing her, she was probably locked in her broom cupboard. She sighed, and leaned back a little. What in god's name was she going to do?
HAVING FUN?
"What the-? Oh, it's you. Took your time, didn't you? Look, just hurry up and get me out of these ropes."
I'M SORRY. I CAN'T DO THAT.
"Why not?"
ROPES AREN'T MY THING. AND BESIDES, IT WOULDN'T MAKE ANY SENSE, WOULD IT?
"What wouldn't make any sense?"
RELEASING THE PERSON I WANTED TO CAPTURE.
The figure raised a hand, and she was unconscious again. Great, she was tied up, in a dark room on her own, and now Death had decided to bail out on her. This just wasn't her day...
Being a kid is easy. Childhood is a breeze. You don't have to do much, just run a round a lot and stick your tongue out at people in a moderately cute way, but that's it. Of course, there are some rules, guidelines if you may. Things like, always be polite. Learn your Ps and Qs and go to bed when you're told. This isn't much though, considering what you have to do when you're an adult. Simple. At least, that's what Jae was told when she took up the job. Nobody managed to tell her that sometimes, life is different. Let's remember, not every family has a loving mother, a providing father, and a warm house. Hell, some people don't even have a family. And that's the category that Jae happened to fall into, poor sod. She hadn't even wanted the job. She'd been sipping coffee one night after a hard days labour on the masters front lawn, when three burly men with pin- stripe suits and bowler hats had walked in casually and cornered her in her own living room! "Excuse me, but could you come back later? Corrie's on." The lads had looked at each other, and a small snigger had escaped from somewhere inside the fattest one's beard. Then 'clunk', and blackness had hit her.
When she awoke, it was dark, and slightly spooky. Jae thought she could hear a dripping sound in the distance, but it stopped abruptly when she cleared her throat. Being a fairy, she was highly skilled in all arts of 'getting rid of nuisances'. Everything from bogeymen, werewolves, vampires, ghosts and ghouls (sorted into one category on the revision booklet) to pretty much anything that goes 'bump' in the night, and that includes drippings. That's how the fairies were trained in the old days; the young blood that comes in these days is a disgrace. When she was a lass, training to be a fairy was more like military combat. You learned how to fight off evil curses, evil hexes, evil.... everything. And there was no prim little tutu or ballerina shoes. Oh no, you got the wand and the wings, and that was it. You had to supply your own clothes. Not any more though. Now, fairies were too busy messing with their hair to fight off the annoyances of childhood. But Jae hadn't the time to be prattling on about the youth of today. No, she had to get out of here. She struggled for a bit, and tried toppling her chair and tried biting the ropes. After a while she gave up and laughed a little to herself. Knowing her, it had probably been the Wilson kids from next-door, dressed up and on a rampage. Knowing her, she was probably locked in her broom cupboard. She sighed, and leaned back a little. What in god's name was she going to do?
HAVING FUN?
"What the-? Oh, it's you. Took your time, didn't you? Look, just hurry up and get me out of these ropes."
I'M SORRY. I CAN'T DO THAT.
"Why not?"
ROPES AREN'T MY THING. AND BESIDES, IT WOULDN'T MAKE ANY SENSE, WOULD IT?
"What wouldn't make any sense?"
RELEASING THE PERSON I WANTED TO CAPTURE.
The figure raised a hand, and she was unconscious again. Great, she was tied up, in a dark room on her own, and now Death had decided to bail out on her. This just wasn't her day...