Chapter 1

In the Beginning,

Mab was many things; apathetic, dangerous, unscrupulous, ruthless, selfish, self-absorbed, greedy, mad-as-a-March-Hare and many, many more. Too many to list without the assistance of a complete steno-pool. Without much thought one could call up 2 or 3 names for her no matter how large the list is, but loving and devoted mother was never going to be added to the list.

Mother is exactly what she now was, but not in the normal way. First, Mab and The Leanansidhe were helping Harry shortly after his trouble with Justin DuMorne. They were keeping him hidden, actually they had frozen him for a period of time (approx. 6 mos.) so that no one would find him. It worked and after another 6 mos., the excitement and thrill of Harry Dresden had died down to a low murmur.

It was during this time that Mab & Lea had taken the time to study Harry, as to his magic abilities and future potential. Mab had called in some of the best seers, fortune tellers and other experts and had Harry check inside and out, literally from asshole to appetite. She had them test and save some of his blood and other body fluids. She had saved pieces of skin and hair, ensuring to get the roots.

Mab had brought in a specialist involving the human heart. She found that Harry had a slightly larger heart than the normal human and it was as strong as the day it was made. She had the doctor take 2 small slivers of the muscle of his heart and placed it in safe keeping with the other samples.

Mab had Lea get a hold of a large sample of his sperm and she hid it away, saying nothing of why or what she was going to do with it. She had all of Harry's body samples and his sperm quickly frozen. She wanted to save it for a special project that she had been thinking about for a few years. She had 2 human females enthralled to do her bidding. She had them along with all the samples from Harry that she had collected moved to a secret location that only Mab knew about. It was completely contained by magic so that no one could get out or in without Mab dropping the shield, which she wasn't going to do. By the time that Harry was unfrozen, everything was back to normal, and he had no idea about what Mab had done to him.

A short time after, Harry was able to make contact with Wizard McCoy and leave the Nevernever and Mab had started working on a very special project, but no one knew anything about it. Whenever Lea or Mab's daughter, Maeve would ask her about what she had been doing, she would tell them that if she wanted them to know, she would have told them.

She then warned them, "Understand this, under the penalty of death, by my choosing, anyone interfering with, looking into or continually asking and bothering me and/or my staff about what I choose as a project will be put to death. I believe I have made myself quite clear. Now begone with you until I have need of you." After that everyone dropped the subject and seemed to forget all about Mab and her private project.

Mab continued with her private activities for almost a year and then she called The Leanansidhe and informed her, "I will be traveling for a while and I am not exactly sure when I will return but, until I do, I am leaving you in-charge. I have already informed everyone that needs to know, including Maeve." With that said Mab left on her travels and the best anyone could tell was that she had gone into hiding. Though she stated that she had some very important and private business to take care of, it seemed as if she had completely left the realm of existence.

At first, she tried to induce fertilization of herself with magic. She took a small sample and popped it into her womb and the egg itself, but it did not and would not work, no matter what spells she tried. Finally, she figured out that it would have to be done the old fashion way or by someone in the medical field inserting it manually.

It took several tries but finally, Mab was able to carry a fertilized egg. At the beginning of the 2nd month, she had the embryo remove from her womb and planted into that of one of the young females she had originally brought with her along with Harry's sperm. The embryo settled in, and the young woman was now pregnant with Mab and Harry's baby. Mab was so pleased that she wanted to do it again with the other woman.

So, Mab had another In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) process done and this time she had several eggs fertilized and placed in her womb, hoping that at least 2 or maybe 3 would survive. This time the process worked much better, and Mab was told that she had 5 fertilized eggs. She found several more females and brought them into her secret place and at the beginning of the 2nd month, she had an egg moved into each of the women. Mab had a total of 10 eggs fertilized and then trans planted into other women. In addition, Mab had another 52 eggs fertilized, harvested and frozen right along with all the samples of Harry. She had not decided if she wanted to do more now or wait a few years and repeat the process, but either way she wanted to be ready.

Mab had come up with a plan where she would have 5 or 6 kids every other year, with Harry as the father and her as the mother. She basically figured that after 20-25 kids she would have developed an army of her own children with the combined magical abilities of The Fairy Winter Queen, the strength and extremely powerful magic abilities of Wizard Harry Dresden. She was convinced that they would have plenty of magical abilities from the joining of these 2 beings. To get more of what she wanted of each of the children, she decided that they needed to experience what life is like for humans because she believed that if they grew up and lived a life closer to that of Harry, they would be more like him. She wanted them each to be strong and independent, like Harry. She figured that if they were on their own, orphaned and adopted within the system, they would become strong and self-reliant.

She had once heard somewhere that learning at the steps of the School of Hard Knocks was the best way for people to become strong, hard-working, self-reliant, independent, strong-willed and very street wise; in short they would learn to take care of themselves and know how to survive, just like Harry. For all the problems and the being a pain in the ass that is Harry, she knew that he was strong and determined not to fail, and for that reason alone she was convinced that she and Harry would make perfect children.

One of the women started to have problems carrying the child, it was the first egg and Mab was worried that she would abort the baby. She had the fetus moved to her womb; Mab decided to carry the child all the way to delivery, which turned out to be only 6 weeks. The first egg developed well and was born, it was a girl. She was now the oldest, by only 1 year and 4 months older that her next sibling, but still she was the oldest and first born.

Harry had gone before the White Counsel of Wizards and was given another chance at becoming a good wizard that followed the rules and do as he was told. He was assigned to Wizard McCoy for teaching and training in the magic arts. He went with McCoy to his farm in Missouri and began a few years of training. He was not aware that McCoy was his mother's father. McCoy knew and was keeping it from him in an attempt to keep him safe from his enemies and many others.

After almost 5 months, Mab showed up. She seems different to Lea, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She decided that this was something she needs to keep to herself until she knew more about what it was, exactly. Mab had gone back to work in a very business-like manor but would step out for a while every few days. She never said anything, and no one ever asked but Lea noticed it along with every other odd thing about Mab. She did notice that Mab seemed to have put on weight and was working quickly to shed it. She could have used magic but that would have only hidden the additional weight, not removed it.

Lea noticed that after a couple months, Mab was back to normal. She hadn't been stepping out and the weight seemed to have worked out of her system. She wasn't working on her special project, so Lea figured that she had completed it while she had been away.

Before she returned, Mab had put the first-born child into the mortal foster care system, in the Boston area, right after she was born. Mab named her Tanzinite Dresden, and her foster mother had her name changed to Bethany Tanzinite after the adoption. She was raised and lived in the mortal world for a total of thirteen years. She didn't have the greatest home life, but she was safe. She got to go to school, have friends, get into trouble and just live life as a normal mortal child.

When she was ten, she saw what narcotics could do firsthand because she had found my foster mother laid out on the floor dead from an overdose on narcotics (Oxycodone & Fentanyl). The only real problem, as Mab saw it, was that left her with her asshole foster father for three years before Mab removed her from the mortal world and dropped her in the Nevernever. Such wonderful parental figures she had.

At the age of thirteen, Mab figured it was about time she learned something practical and shoved her into the Nevernever. She was not entirely sure how she survived but being plopped down into one of the more peaceful regions may have had something to do with it. She and Mab would meet every once in a while and Mab would explain who she was, why she grew up the way she did and why she had been dropped in the middle of nowhere within the Nevernever.

After several meeting and discussions with Mab, she came to find out who her parents were, and she guessed that Mab was only so much of an irreconcilable jackass. She didn't know about her brothers and sister, which way was which. All she knew was that she was to live in this part of the Nevernever, get to know the beings and creatures, learn how to deal with them and to work every day on her magic.

Of the other 4 children, the second born was a male and Mab named him Marcus Dresden. He was put into the foster care system in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He was adopted by an older couple 2 weeks later and grew up on their horse ranch. When Marcus was 8 years old, he was thrown from a horse that had been startled by a snake. In the fall, Marcus broke his neck and spine and was D.O.A. at the hospital.

The third born was also a male and he was named Francis (Frank) Dresden. He entered the foster care system in Kansas City and was adopted in less than a month. His parents were childless, and they loved him right from the start. Within a few days of his birth Mab could feel the magic emanating from him. Before placing him in the system like his brothers and sisters, Mab want to check him over and make sure that he was in good shape. She had one of the women, who had attended college in pre-med, check him over. She performed a complete physical, which showed he was perfectly healthy.

The 4th child was female, and she was named Cynthia Dresden. She had been born with down syndrome. She was going to grow up but physically and mentally handicapped. Mab had shown up during one of her many doctor visits and upon arriving, she froze time. She had brought a doctor with her, and he quickly examined her and told her that he could not do anything to her brain that would erase the affliction.

He did explain that he could place a spell on her that would gently over time repair most of the physical defects and ease her pain. He also suggested that he remove the essence of magic, which was strong, from her body and mind because with what she was going to have to live through, having magic would cause more problems than she should ever handle. Mab decided that she wouldn't be able to cast spells or use the magic in any proper fashion and had the doctor remove it from her. The doctor cast all of his spells and they left Cynthia to grow up as a normal human.

The 5th child born was female, and she was named Angelica, after Mab's baby sister. To ensure that Angelica's magic would be powerful, she took the magic that had been taken from Cynthia and she added it to her lifeforce. She had been told by the doctor that she needed to be sure of the person that she gave the additional power to and to make sure that she waited until she could come back and add it for her. He tried to tell her that there were several things that needed done to ensure that the power stayed within the girl and did not turn on her and cause a great deal of problems and harm to her.

Mab knew how to transfer powers and did not need to wait for the doctor. She called up the appropriate spells that she had used in the past and transferred the power into her. She was asleep on the table, but her body started jerking and jumping, not much but more that she had ever noticed before. After several moments, Angelica calmed down and returned to sleep as if nothing had happened.

She watched while she was loaded into a large basket on the back of a motor scooter and drove out of sight. She was having her taken to the Baltimore area for adoption and would check on her regularly to make sure that she was doing well and was safe. Not that she didn't have those motherly instincts and worries, but she was mainly watching for any development of her magic. She was sure that she could sense it before it had awaked within her. Mab spent a great deal of time and attention to Angelica's development because she had felt guilty about her own sister and wanted to try to make up for it through this little girl.

It is not widely known that Mab started out her life as a pure born human and a member of a large family. She was one of the middle children and her sister Angel, was the next born. The 2 girls loved each other very much and while playing outside they found an old well that had not been boarded up very well. As children will do, the girls started daring one another to jump on the boards and when Angel jumped on the boards, they broke, and she fell to her death in the old very deep well.

She had been also watching Francis in Kansas City and there had finally been a small development with him and magic. If it started to grow and develop, Mab would have him removed immediately and have his training begin just like his sister.

The other children were born, named and placed in the foster system, as well. Of these last 6 children, 3 died while they were still in the single digits old:

Samuel - entered the foster care system in Indianapolis. At the age of 4, Samuel's family was involved in a car accident involving a drunk driver. Samuel was the only casualty.

Robbie - entered the foster care system in Seattle. At the age of 7, Robbie slipped and fell down the basement stairs. He died before anyone found him.

Mary - entered the foster care system in Atlanta. At the age of 8, Mary drowned in a swimming pool. She was found at the bottom of the pool after almost 15 minutes.

The remaining 3 lived and developed strong magic powers:

Roxanne – entered the foster care system in Phoenix.

Malcomb – entered the foster care system in Fresno.

Michael – entered the foster care system in Denver.

By age 14, they were all removed from their human existence and dropped into the Nevernever to fend for themselves and gain further life experiences.

CHAPTER 2

Some 20+ years in the future –

A very inquisitive mind that currently had more information than Ivy, the Archive, and that is only because her mother once was a Fallen Angel that had been around since the beginning of time. She would develop questions by searching through libraries, and vast data holding facilities until she came across something that she was not aware of or outright didn't know. She would then search and search until she found her answer and then she would find out everything possible about that question or subject and then file away that info into her already vast knowledge base and then, start again.

Her latest issue was the process of X-rays and the human heart. She understood the physical aspects of the human heart, she had memorized the Grey's Anatomy manuals. She had moved on to X-ray's because she wanted to see the heart in action and knew that if she touched on or removed it to look at it closer someone would die, and she didn't want that to happen.

After she had spent several hours looking at X-rays and viewing actual pictures of human hearts that had been taken during autopsies, she was convinced that she had enough information that allowed her to understand the human heart from a physical and mechanical point of view, but her father had explained that the heart was also a driving force for humans, very much like the human brain the heart set rules, boundaries, guidelines and many more functions.

This was where she was having a problem. She had studied the automobile extensively and understand exactly how and why it works. No question. Now, the human heart and brain all parts of the body that aid it in living and moving about in society, but unlike the care where the engine provides energy to the transmission which apply force to the axils and wheels which move the care, linear processing.

She is finding that even though humans live in a very strict linear existence of time, the human heart and brain do not operate in a linear fashion. She was having difficulty grasping this line of thinking. She decided to speak to her father about this and ask a favor of him. She headed toward the kitchen because that was where her father was currently standing. She found him getting a beer.

As he tilted the bottle up to his lips, he spotted a small green sparkling cloud come around the corner of the hall and head toward him. He knew who it was, as he had been expecting her. She had been coming to him for the last couple months now asking questions about anything and everything in the universe. Sometimes he was able to answer some of her questions but most of the time they had to look it up in the huge stack of books, manuscripts, tomes, scrolls and encyclopedias.

She was his second daughter, but she was not human, she was a spirit of intellect with extensive mental and intellectual capabilities. She was a living library; she was immortal and never forget anything. The only time a spirit of intellect can forget something is if they choose to or are ordered to by someone they are bound to. Since the spirit is comprised of actual knowledge, forgetting anything is like cutting off a limb and in extreme cases may create a separate intellectual entity (Bob vs. Evil Bob).

As a spirit, she needs a vessel to live in outside of the Nevernever or she could be destroyed by the sunlight (just as ghosts use their graves to protect them). A spirit of intellect can, however, hitch a ride in a corporal body with permission.

The strength of an individual spirit of intellect is dependent upon their knowledge, therefore one who has more knowledge and experience will be much stronger than younger spirits and ghosts. She may be a spirit of intelligence, like Bob, but unlike Bob she is not bound to anyone and can leave her skull at any time she pleases. Also, unlike Bob, she is not held back or restricted in anyway other than she could be harmed and/or killed by sunlight.

In addition, she can perform magic that has action in the normal human plane of existence just like her father. She is stronger and has much more knowledge about magic than Harry, but she doesn't have any experience, yet.

Still as a cloud, she flew across the room right into Harry's chest where she instantly materialized into a little girl and Harry managed to catch her just as she changed yelling, "Gotcha." They had been doing this little trick for a couple years now and Harry loved it every single time. Bonea reached around Harry and gave him a big hug and giggled every time, which Harry hoped wouldn't change for many years to come.

Bonea leaned back in his arms and said, "I love you, daddy."

Harry smile really big and said, "I love you too, my sweet little girl." He then kissed her on top of her head, and they hug again.

After a few minutes, she wiggled loose from his arms and pulled him by the arm over to a chair and pushed him into it so was sitting facing her. She said, "I would like to ask if you would let me see your heart, please?"

Harry looked at her and asked, "What do you mean, see my heart? Do you mean like going inside my chest and looking at my heart? Why in the world would you want to do that?"

She stood for a second before saying, "I have been reading about the human heart and I have seen pictures, and x-rays but I need to look at a real working human heart to fully understand what I have been reading about. I thought it would be best to come to you instead of anyone else."

Harry was quiet for a second and then asked, "Would it cause me any pain or trouble?"

She smiled big and said, "Oh no daddy, it won't hurt a bit as long as I don't touch it or move it around. I just need to see what it looks like while it is working."

Harry was still not sure, but he understood that she was not like other children, and she would be learning in a completely different way from other children. He looked at her and said, "As long as you don't go pulling anything out of there, I guess it would be ok. Just remember, I am old and fragile so don't break me."

She giggled a little and then pushed his arm softly saying, "You will be fine and you're not so old, silly daddy."

As Harry sits up straight and holds his breath, Bonea put her hands on his chest and then presses her face into his chest. With no feeling at all to Harry, her head slides into his chest and she can see the inner workings of the human body. She sees everything that she has been reading about and as she pushes deeper, she can see the heart.

She makes herself very small and is now completely inside Harry's chest. She floats up toward his heart and she can see it pumping, in then out and she can hear his heart beating. It sounds loud but steady and she knows that it is the loving heart of her dad. She floats around the heart, watching it beat and seeing all of the muscles as they tighten and then loosen. It is a marvelous thing to see and now she understands everything that she read.

As she is getting ready to leave, she spots an odd mark on the underside of Harry's heart. She floats up close to get a better look and sees that it is an old scar where he must have been cut a long time ago. She looks at it closely and sees that not only was the heart cut but a piece of it was missing. It had healed over and was not causing any harm, but it was strange to her.

See floated around examining all of his organs before deciding to leave. She wasn't sure she would ever be able to do this again. She floated toward his inner skin barrier and slid through to the open air where she unshrunk herself and was back to normal. Harry had not felt anything, but he groaned, rolled around rubbing his belly and chest like he was hurting.

Bonea went to him wondering if she had somehow hurt him and he grabbed her up in his arms and started hugging her which made her giggle and twist around like she was trying to get away, but she didn't want to be anywhere else in the world.

After several minutes of wrestling, Harry asked, "Did you see what you wanted to see?"

She smiled and said, "Yes, I did. Thank you very much for letting me do that."

After a few quiet minutes, she asked, "Daddy, have you ever been hurt really bad when you fought all those bad people?"

Harry looked at her and said, "Yes, I was hurt bad a few times but nothing that came close to killing me. Why do you ask?"

She smiled sweetly and said, "I was just thinking about something I had read about the human body when it had been hurt bad and how they use to treat battlefield wounds? I saw how fragile and how easily the body can be hurt, and I was just wondering. I'm, glad you're not hurt from that."

Chapter 3

None of the children knew who their real parents were. Some thought that the people that raised them were their real parents but about half figured out that some type of fairy being was at least 1 on their parents, maybe both.

One of those children was Bethany Tanzinite Dresden. She didn't know who her parents were, but they definitely were not the people that raised her. She didn't much like her name because she thought Bethany was too wimpy sounding and where did they come up with Tanzinite. It sounded more like a name of some kind of metal you would use on the space shuttle. As she grew older, she developed the nickname of Nite Doe. She started going by that in everything but school and soon everyone forgot about her real name and started calling her by er nickname.

She did not know how she was taken but she knew for a fact that she had been taken from that hell hole of a home and dropped here, in this land of magic and magical creatures. At first, she was terrified but then she grew bolder and started roaming, trying to get an idea of where she was. In her travels, she encountered many beings and creatures that could perform some type of magic or talk or both. She found out that she was in the land of the Fairies, and it was called the Nevernever Land.

This gave her the idea that one or both of her parents was a fairy. She remembered studying mythology in school and remembered that some fairy parent would change their child's face to look like a human child and then swap the children when they were babies. They did this because fairy children were born very weak and sickly. If the magical change fooled the mother then she would raise and nurse the child back to being strong and heathy. Then shortly after, the fairy parents would take their child back.

She was pretty sure that this may have happened to her, which would mean that she was a fairy and should have some kind of magic. She would get with some of the more friendly beings and creatures, and they would show her how to do magic. Not much, mostly how to fade out of sight, like the animals when they were being hunted. They would fade out and quickly run away. They taught her all kinds of hiding and misleading magic tricks and she practiced all the time.

She would then try to get some of the not so friendly older beings to teach her different magic spell and enchantments. Some were happy to have someone to talk to and to teach things to but there were some that wanted to be left alone. She would keep asking them and hanging around until they would show her a could things and then chase her off. She always was polite and made sure to bring them food for the help they gave her.

She had bumped into a Leprechaun one day, actually he suddenly appeared in the middle of the trail and knocked her to the ground, by accident. He felt terrible and she was smiling and very nice about it, but he felt he had to do something to make up for his actions. He offered to give her a couple pieces of his gold for knocking her down, but she refused. When he insisted that he had to do something for her she asked if he could show her some magic and maybe teach her a couple spells, mostly she wanted to learn how he transported himself in, out and around the Nevernever.

Patty O'Brien was his name, and he was tickled that she was going to let him pay her back by showing off his magic ability. He honestly did not want to give up any of his gold. He showed her how to transport from one spot to another about 5 feet away. He had her practice this for several days straight until she had it down perfect. He then told her that for her to transport to another location, she had to be familiar enough with that other location so as not to pop into a large rock or building. He warned her that if she reappeared in a rock or wall or midair (like over the edge of a cliff) then she would die and there was no changing that.

He also taught her how to recall items from far distances. Like if she was out wandering around on the far side of the Nevernever and it started to rain she could concentrate hard on her raincoat, and it would appear from wherever it was. He spent a couple weeks teaching her magic before he told her that he had to be heading back home to tend to his business. They talked a little and she thanked him several times before he waved goodbye and popped out for good.

One thing he had done was to tell her about Sarah Cullen, an old Irish witch that lived up in the mountains in a cave. He told her that the witch had been a very friendly and helpful witch and she did a lot of doctoring for her village and some of the surrounding farm folks. She tended to people and animals both. She had tried to help several people in her village when a plague hit but she couldn't stop it in time to save several people from dying.

Some of the villagers felt she had probably caused the plague so she could get more money or trade goods for helping the people but when they didn't have it to pay her, she let some die to punish them. she ended up leaving her home and wandered the land for years until she found a cave in the mountains that she could live in. The reason Patty had told her about Sarah was because Nite Doe didn't know her parentage and Sarah had a way of finding out a person's parents and other family.

To make the trip easier on herself she decided to sleep at home every night. She would walk all day and then in the evening when she got tired she would teleport back to her little house for the night and then teleport back to the spot where she stopped the night before. It worked well and she got to practice longer and longer distances every day. One afternoon while walking toward the mountains, she came across a patch of wild strawberry plants. They were big, sweet and her favorite. That evening when she stopped and popped back home, she went around back and cleared a small spot of land to plant some of the strawberries.

The next day, she popped back to the strawberry patch and using her magic, teleported a dozen plants to the small patch behind her house. She was pretty proud of herself and continued walking. Along the trailer over the next couple days, she found other fruits and vegetables growing in the wild. Apples, plums, yams and potatoes and even tomatoes. She had cleared a larger spot and teleported an entire garden to her home, and she wouldn't have to worry about food for a while.

Early on day 8 of her travels, she came to the base of the mountains and started up the path. It took her 2 more days to find the cave that Sarah the Witch lived in. When she knocked on the door, no one answered. She called her name, but no one replied. She was tired and sat down on a small bench next to the cave opening and fell asleep.

Shortly, someone woke her by poking her with a stick. It was starting to get dark and a little chilly. The someone was Sarah and after they introduced themselves, she invited Nite Doe inside to warm up. They chatted and she told Sarah about Patty and how she come to know about her. They talked about her family, and she told Sarah everything, why she didn't know but it felt right. Sarah told her it was late, and she needed to rest up so she could help find her parents.

Nite Doe slept on a pallet that Sarah had made up for her out of several very think blankets and a head-roll for a pillow. She knew that she would get no sleep at all because she was so excited about finding out something about her parents and the nap she took earlier made her wide awake. She climbed into the makeshift bed and covered up to keep the chill off her arms and the next thing she knew it was morning and the sun was up bright and shiny.

She heard a noise a little behind her and saw Sarah working over a big black pot that was hanging from a large hook over the fire. There was a strong and strange smell coming from the pot. Sarah spotted her and told her that she had laid out some food for her breakfast and asked her to take the blankets out and hang them up to air out before she ate. She quickly took the blankets and hung them out and then found her way to the kitchen and the table which was covered with sweet breads, meats, cheeses, and fruits.

She called back to Sarah and asked who all she was expecting to stop by for breakfast and Sarah laughed. She told her that she wasn't sure what she might want to eat so she just laid it all out for her to pick from. While she ate, Sarah told her what all she had been doing. She told her that she had spoken to several of her friends asking them about Nite Doe and they told her several different things. They also told her about the other 5 young people around the Nevernever that looked very similar to her.

Nite Doe stopped eating and went into the front room and sat down close to the fire and listened to Sarah tell her what she had learned about them, now 6 young people that all seemed similar. She watched Sarah and wanted to ask when they could start the spell to find her parents when Sarah stepped over to her with a large old mug and a large sharp knife.

She said, "I will need to get some of your blood for this so hold out your hand and hold still." With that, she easily took her hand and put the knife point in her palm and ran it across cutting the skin. The knife was very sharp, and it didn't hurt until she was done and then it was only a stinging. Sarah turned her hand on its side and tightened her grip causing it to bleed and drip into the large mug. After several droplets of blood covered the bottom of the mug, Sarah handed her a wet cloth to whip her hand with.

She returned to the fire and stirred the contents of the pot several times and then she scoped a large ladle of the liquid into the cup she than moved back into the easy chair that looked like it had been used for a long time. She sat and became comfortable slowly swirling the liquid and the blood around in the mug mixing them together well. After a few minutes, Sarah turned the mug up to her lips and she drank the contents down, all of it. She set the mug on the table next to her and eased back in the chair. Shortly, she gripped the chairs arm with straight hard arms that were shaking. Her head slowly started to roll around her shoulders bending her neck extra hard. Her eyes had rolled back into her head and all you could see was the whites of her eyes.

Her body started to jump and lean from one side then to the other. She dropped her head down between her knees and let out a low deep moaning gurgle sound. It slowly turned to a growl as she raised her head and laid all the way back in her chair. She then went quiet and limp in the chair. She was slumping there for almost 2 minutes before she slowly levitated out of the chair and toward the center of the room.

She hung in the air like she was lying on her back in bed. She slowly started to spin counter-clockwise and then started to pick up speed until she was but a blur in the air and the wind was enough to almost force you to the floor. After almost 5 minutes of spinning, she slowed down to a complete stop before she started to roll in place. Faster and faster until there was a pop sound and she completely disappeared only to reappear sitting back in her chair a minute later.

Not knowing what to do or what might happen next, Nite Doe didn't move. She stayed right in her seat and watch Sarah slowly breath, almost like she was asleep. After almost 20 minutes of no movement, Nite Doe went and grabbed a blanket and covered her up. She sat back down and covered herself and after a few minutes of being warm and comfortable, she fell asleep.

Nite Doe awoke to the crowing of Sarah's rooster. It was a bright sunshiny morning with a promise of a good day to follow. She noticed that Sarah was still asleep and hadn't move all night. She got up cleaned her area and went into the kitchen for something to eat. She made some tea and was just finishing her 2nd cup when Sarah lifted her hand to her face and rubbed her eyes and forehead. She sat forward in her chair and started breathing normal.

"Wow, what happened," she asked?

Nite Doe explained everything that happed from the moment she cut her hand until she sat up as Sarah sat listening and said, "I remember finishing the broth but not putting the mug down. Then I was sitting in my chair peacefully."

After a few more moments, she asked if there was any tea and Nite Doe quickly grabbed her a cup and handed it to her as Sarah asked, "How long was I out?"

Nite Doe said, "Well, it is about 3 hours past sun up right now."

She said, "That means I was out for mostly an entire day. How old are you dear?"

Nite Doe thought for a few seconds and said, "The best I can figure is that I am just 16 years old, why?"

They both sat quietly thinking about what happened when Sarah said, "I was able to determine who your mother is. This would be the woman that gave birth to you, are you sure you want to know?"

Nite Doe looked at her and said, "Yes, especially after what you just went through, I feel that I should at least let you finish what you started. So, go ahead, tell me."

Sarah looked and her and said, "The reason all of that happened to me was because your blood comes from 2 very powerful magic beings. Your mother in Queen Mab."

Nite Doe stood up and said, "What? The Queen? She is my mother? Why didn't she say something or somebody else?"

Sarah looked again at her and said, "For why the queen did not say anything, I cannot answer, but for those around her they might not know, or she may have threatened them with death if they spoke of it."

Nite Doe couldn't believe that she knew her mother this whole time and that she was the reason she was stranded out here in the Nevernever back 40. She was right when she guessed that her parents were fairy people. Then she remembered that Sarah had only told her about her mother, she had not said anything about her father. She turned around and asked, "Then who is my father?"

Sarah looked up to her eyes and said, "I do not know for sure but, I do know that he is human, and he has the most powerful wizard essence I have ever encountered. If I had to guess, I would say it was probably one of the senior members of their White Counsel. All of the senior members are very powerful wizards, and they would appear to be the type that the queen might turn too to have a child."

Nite Doe stood there thinking about it and then sniped, "6 children you mean. Don't forget about the other 5 running around out there."

Sarah smiled and said, "I am not sure of any of their parentages but being that you all look very similar would suggest the same mother and father or the same one parent with different fathers or mothers. Until they are checked there would be no way of telling."

"Well, whoever they are and whomever my father is, I have to start searching for him now," she said.

Sarah stepped to her and took both her hands in hers, looked her in the eyes and said, "Be very careful on how you approach this person because they might not have been happy about your existence. The queen may be hiding you from him. Just remember that, yes he is your father, but he may not know that yet. Please be careful."

Nite Doe hugged Sarah and helped her clean up. She then gathered all her belongings, said good-bye and headed for home.

Chapter 4

"Bob, are you awake yet? Come on Bob I need to talk to you, please," she said.

The lights in the empty eye sockets lit up with an orange glow. "Who's there and what do you want, Bob replied?

She said, "Bob, Harry is gone, and I need to ask you some questions. So please wake up and come out here."

"Oh, alright, hold your horses. I'll be right out," he grumbled. Then an orange cloud seeped out of the skull and lightly touched the floor and suddenly Bob appeared saying, "I am here and what is so important?"

She smiled at him and said, "I don't have any horses. Why would you think that I had horses?"

Bob looked at her with total confusion and said, "What?"

She replied, "Before you came out, you told me to hold my horses, but I don't have any horses so why would you think I had horses?"

Bob stood there completely dumbfounded. His mouth opened but no sound came out. He just stood there for about 2 minutes not sure what to say or do but held his hand up. He stood tall and said, "I am sorry, I used what is call an "idiom", also known as an idiomatic expression. It's meaning is loosely translated as just wait a minute hold on a minute. It is a phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative, non-literal meaning attached to the phrase; but some phrases become figurative idioms while retaining the literal meaning of the phrase. I hope that answers your question."

Bonea smiled and said, "Yes, it explains it completely thank you."

Bob stood looking at her and then said, "Well, what is it that you wanted to ask me?"

She smiled again and, "Sorry, I wasn't sure how long I was to hold my horses. The reason I call for you was to ask you if my daddy has ever been hurt so bad that it caused slight damage to every single organ in has body?"

Again, Bob was dumbfounded. He stood dead still looking at this pretty little girl and had no concept for what she was asking about. He said, "No, not that I am aware of. Why would you be asking such a question? Is there something wrong with Harry?"

She said, "Of that I am not sure. He seems to be in very good health but what I saw makes me worry and wonder."

Bob gave her an odd look before asking, "What and how did you see this problem?"

She said, "I recently have been reading up on X-ray capabilities and how they have helped with the human body over the years. During my reading the books would show pictures and examples of x-rays which I found fascinating but when I had read through it all, I was still missing a few fine points or examples regarding the human body."

Bob waited patiently as she told him everything. She continued with, "I went to my dad and asked if he would let me enter and look around in his chest area so that I could see the organs as they are supposed to work, and he said yes. I entered his chest, and it was amazing to watch as the heart beat and the blood moved, and all the different things moved as they were designed to do."

Bob asked, "If everything was working as it should, where is the problem?"

She had a very serious look on her face as she said, "As I watched his heart beating, I noticed an odd-looking mark on the underside of his heart. It looked as if there was a small piece missing."

Bob was shocked and let slip, "What?", then he asked, "Are you sure there is a piece missing?"

"That is what it looked like, and I noticed it on the rest of his organs, each one had a strange looking scar and what appears to be a small piece missing from each one," she said.

Bob said, "This is not good. This means that someone has small pieces of Harry's body and just like when someone has your blood, they can use the body parts or pieces to control, curse, find or even kill you. We have to find out who has been cutting on Harry and quick before someone does something terrible to Harry."

Bonea looked like she was concentrating hard before saying, "Or, they may have already done it. I have been feeling a change in the spiritual essence pressure of the living on this planet and there has suddenly been an increase within the last several weeks. It feels familiar and I thought maybe my dad was doing some type of new spells or practicing some new form of magic, so I have followed up on it."

Bob was stunned by this and asked how she was able to tap into the spiritual life essence and gauge the pressure. She told him it was fairly easy and then she showed him how she did it. Within a couple minutes Bob was able to call it up and check or measure the pressure as often as he needed. He was very surprised at what he felt in the pressure stream. He could distinguish a few well-known streams but what bothered him was that Harry should only be sending 1 or 2 streams at the most, but he had a total of 6 live streams running right now, which really wasn't possible.

"Have you detected more than 1 stream of Harry," he asked, "because I believe I am detecting 5, no 6 total streams of Harry."

She replied, "Yes, I have felt those 6 for the last several days now and I don't understand it. Before that I only felt 2 which would have been Harry and Maggie, with Maggie's being a faction off of Harrys actual stream."

Bob looked at her and asked, "You need to check all of the streams and determine the strength and originality of each one."

She started reaching out and detecting each line and was able to identify each one individually. She said, "I have checked all of the streams and have determined that there are a total of 9 streams that have some of Harry in them."

"9, where the hell did you come up with 9," Bob asked?

"Well, I detected Harry, Maggie and myself, first. I then detected the other 6, but all of them are exactly the same essence level, like they all came from the same place."

Bob looked at her with a puzzled look and said, "I don't fully understand what you are gauging this information on, but I am getting an idea. Can you explain the differences and the similarities?"

Bonea smiled and said, "Sure I can. First, I take all of the streams that have the same depth and strength and determine the strongest of all of them, which is Harry. His essence is strongest starting with him. I then measured each stream that held a strong like essence and use it to determine the connection and any additional connections. In this case, I am looking for the essence of the mother as in Maggie and myself. Our essence is divided into 2 different contributors, Harry's and the mothers."

Bob looked at the screen she had projected out of this air so he could see as she checked each stream. He saw Harry's, the one for Maggie, a very different one for Bonea and then 6 very similar looking streams. Each was half Harry's, and the other half was someone, the same someone, very strong in their spiritual life essence, which indicated magic, strong magic. Bob asked, "Why does your stream look so odd?"

She said, "Because my mother didn't exist and did at the same time. The fact that she is a fallen angel would blow my senses apart if I were to actually measure her stream, that is just partial."

Bob looked back at the screen and said, "Someone it seems took pieces of Harry and for some reason either cloned him or cloned his essence and added with another made copies, 6 copies actually."

Bonea looked at Bob and said, "Someone may have taken some of the samples and used them to impregnant another and they bore 6 children that have Harry as their father. Either way there are 6 little Harrys running around out there. What do we do?"

"I am not all together sure what we can do other than explain all of this to Harry and let him find out what and who is doing whatever they are doing," said Bob.

"Okay, what? Wait, okay, you need to start again, this time at the beginning and clearly tell me what is going on," stated Harry?

Bonea gave a little crack of a smile and started, "Do you remember when I asked to look at your heart the other day?"

Harry replied, "Yes, I remember that."

"When I checked out your heart, I saw a small cut mark along the bottom back edge. I checked thoroughly and it looks like something cut a very small piece of your heart off," she said.

Harry state statue still for at least 1 minute before looking at Bob and asking, "Could a piece of my heart have been cut off and I not feel it?"

Bob replied, "Under certain circumstances, yes it could happen."

Harry looked at her and then back at Bob and said, "Well, it appears to have been a very small piece and I don't remember any pain or damage so as long as it's not causing me any problems I would guess than that it is alright, right?"

Bonea sighed and said, "It's not that this is a physical big deal if it was the only one but while in there I took a look at all of your organs and found that every one of them had been cut."

Harry sat as his mouth dropped open before saying, "Every one of my organs have been cut, like a piece has been removed from every organ in my body. What else could have been taken?"

Bob stated, "We can only find the cut marks on several of your organs but there are other things like brain tissue or body fluids that we have no way of checking."

Harry sat quietly thinking for several moments before he stood up and asked, "You're telling me that someone has purposely gone inside and cut samples of every one of my organs to include they could have taken blood and/or brain tissue, right?"

Both Bob and Bonea nodded their heads saying, "Yes, that's right."

Harry was quiet again and then he asked, "Why? Why would someone do this? For what purpose?

Bob added, "Harry, you know that if you have some of a person's hair or blood, you can cast several spells over them and cause all kinds of problems for them."

"So, you think someone has my samples and is going to use magic along with them to hurt me or damage me in some way," he asked?

Bonea spoke up saying, "I don't know about someone wanting to harm you, but they seem to have got other plans for your samples. We think someone is either making clones of you or children."

Harry looked at her and asked, "How would they make children of my samples?"

Bob spoke up and said, Harry, blood is not the only body fluid they could have taken."

Harry's mouth dropped open again and he started stammering, "What do you mean by not the only body fluid? What other body fluid do you think they took?"

Bonea piped up with, "Sperm daddy. We think they took some of your sperm possibly enough to make a dozen children."

Harry's mouth dropped open as he dropped into the chair. He landed in a slouch and laid his head back on the back rim of the chair. He was like that for a while before sitting up in the chair and asking, "Why do we think that they took some of my sperm for children. Whomever they are, they haven't used anything against me to harm me or mess with me in any way so maybe they aren't making any kids or didn't take any sperm, right?"

Bob said, "No, we are pretty sure that they are either cloning or birthing children."

Harry stood up and turn to Bob asking rather sternly, "How can you possibly know that they are making children or clones?"

Bonea replies, "Because I have found them daddy, or at least I have found their magical presence or essence."

Harry asks, "What do you mean you have found their magic essence? How can you do that?"

She said, "I had been feeling a change in the spiritual essence pressure of the living on this planet and there has suddenly been an increase within the last several weeks. After checking, I found that there had been an increase in 1 essence and that was yours."

Harry looked puzzled and asked, "You can detect a being magical essence on the planet, the whole planet? What do you mean there has been an increase in my essence, I feel the same?"

She explained, "Those that are related, as father and daughter share the same essence, just like DNA I get half my essence from you and the other half from my mother. When Maggie was born, she had half you and half Susan. I have found a total of 9 separate beings with your essence."

Harry was shocked and asked, "9 separate beings? Are you kidding me?" Harry scratched his head and then asked, "Are you telling me that right now there are 9 kids running around with my DNA or essence in them, really 9?"

She smiled and said, "Actually there are only 7 out there running around because one of those beings is you and 2 others are Maggie and myself, so that leaves you with 1 for Maggie who's at school and 6 others."

Bob took this moment to try and make Harry feel better by snapping his fingers and a box of cigars appeared in his hands. He stepped over to Harry, opened the box and said, "Care for 6 cigars, Harry?" Both Bonea and Bob laughed but Harry only put his face in his hands and slowly shook his head."

The first thing Nite Doe did upon arriving back home was tend to her garden and pick a few very ripe and sweet strawberries. After cleaning them and cutting them up, she put them on a small plate and went out to the large oak tree where she had a small picnic table. She spent a lot of time sitting at this table, studying, reading, eating or just daydreaming. She set the plate off to the side of the table and moved to the opposite end then she whispered onto the wind the name Elidee.

Elidee is a Wyldfae pixie, a tiny 2 ½ inch tall. She started out as an ant-sized faerie with a scarlet light which she uses mainly to communicate by flashing, because her voice is very high pitch and hard to understand. She is quite frightened by the Grimalkin, so she spends most of the time hanging out with Purpleweed, another pixie who is almost 4 inches tall now. She has silvery-purple wings and bright purple hair. Elidee and Purpleweed both left the Za' Lord's Army after their debt had been paid off.

Most pixies are Wyldfae and are pale humanoid looking that range from ant-sized up to a foot tall. They have silver dragonfly wings sprouting from his back or a silver nimbus of light surrounding them, oddly-colored manes of hair, very pale skin that is beautiful and echoes the splendor of the fae lords. Some may look very human, but they have small differences, like being very small or having a pug nose or silver dragonfly's wings. Their hair is usually a shaggy, silken, little mane, like a bird of paradise's plumes, and their voice is high pitched like a small child.

Nite Doe waited about 10 minutes before spotting a very small bright scarlet light speeding across the field and right behind it was a bright purple light. She didn't move or say anything but watched as the 2 lights flew straight for the table. The light touched down on the table and instantly turned into 2 little pixies, one scarlet and one purple. They walked slowly around the plate, check for traps or something that might grab them. Elidee stopped and turned around to look at Nite Doe and jumped off the table and landed right in her hair next to her ear.

Very clearly she heard a very high-pitched voice say, "I have missed you." The she heard, "Are those for me," as she pointed toward the strawberries?

Very softly Nite Doe said, "Yes, those are yours if you want them. I picked them from my garden just for you."

With that said, Elidee jumped off her shoulder and back onto the table then up on the plate. She and Purpleweed seemed to attack the berries and they were gone within a matter of seconds. Nite Doe giggled at the pixies because they were covered in berry juice from head to toe. She pulled out a small bowl that held some warm water and a wash cloth so they could wash the juice off.

After they had washed and used the washcloth as a towel for drying, they came over by Nite Doe and started asking her questions about her garden and what was she growing. They talked about the garden for several minutes and it was agreed that the pixies would work in the garden pulling weeds and dealing with the bugs and they would get paid with fresh fruits and some vegetables.

The Nite Doe asked, "Have either of you ever heard of a wizard named Dresden?"

Both pixies went silent and stood up as if they were going to run away. Before they could run she said, "I only ask because someone said he was a dangerous person and that I should make sure to avoid him at all times."

Elidee started talking so fast that she couldn't understand a word she was saying. She listened and watched but all she heard was a real high-pitched whine like an engine and her little light was blinking so fast it looked like one steady solid light. Finally, she stopped talking and Purpleweed told her that they knew Wizard Dresden but he they called him the Za' Lord. She told her that he was not a bad guy but a very powerful wizard and a good friend of the wee folks.

Nite Doe was a little puzzled by their reaction and she asked, "If he is a friend and such a good guy, why do you seem to be afraid when I mentioned his name?"

Elidee spoke a lot slower and said, "It is not him that we are afraid of, it is the Winter Knight that bothers us." Then Purpleweed added, "The Za' Lord is a powerful wizard, and he is also the Winter Knight. We don't want the knight to know anything about us, so we keep our distance, because we have had trouble with the previous Winter Knight and don't want to invite trouble."

Nite Doe was confused but she understood not wanting to have any trouble. So she thought about what she wanted to ask and said, "Would there be a way that you could get a message to him and get him to come here to my house in the Nevernever?"

Elidee whispered to Purpleweed and then Purpleweed said to Nite Doe, "Elidee has led the Za' Lord to people before and she and I can do it again but why would we do this? What is in it for us?"

She sat back thinking and asked, "What is it that you would like for doing this for me?"

"Pizza", both pixies seemed to shout at the same time, and it was almost as loud as a normal sized person's voice. They were both jumping up and down dancing around and doing flips and cartwheels.

Nite Doe was so shocked she also started clapping her hands and dancing around for a few minutes before calming down and watching the pixies. She said, "Okay, I will get you a real human style pizza but you know I can't leave here to enter the real world so I will send a note with you to give to Wizard Dresden and I am sure that he will get you a pizza, if I ask him too. Will that be okay with you?"

The pixies started dancing faster and now they were singing, and Nite Doe couldn't help but get caught up in their sudden happiness. They sat there for almost an hour singing and dancing, jumping up and down before they simply dropped to the table top from exhaustion. Nite Doe dropped on to the seat and slowly caught her breath before asking, "Do you really think that Wizard Dresden would actually buy you a pizza?"

Elidee sat up and said, "Of course he will because he is the Za' Lord."

The Nevernever is the home to an unknown number of magic and fairy tale folks and is at least 10 times larger than the mortal world. It is beautiful and colorful and amazing, and it can be a very dangerous land for some people. As crazy as it sounds, it is a very dangerous place for Harry Dresden the Winter Knight. Not only is it because he is a mortal wizard and many of the fae do not like or trust mortal magic practitioners, but he is also in danger because he is the Winter Knight and many of the Summer Court, as well as numerous Wyldfae which do not like the Winter Knight or Winter Court.

In addition to the biased or historical dislikes, there are also many members of the fae that have had dealings with Harry, either in his capacity as the Winter Knight or as the Wizard Dresden, and they do not like or trust him. Some dislike him so much they would try their best to kill him if they could catch him unprotected in the Nevernever. One group are the Malkin Clans that live in the Nevernever because they believe that Harry killed their king, Cat Sith.

Cat Sith was the King of the Malkins and the eldest Malkin. He was a very large and dangerous Malkin that weighed in at around 80-90 lbs. and was slightly larger tent a full-grown mountain lion. He did not like Dresden for most of the time that they knew each other, but shortly before the War of Chicago, Cat Sith and Harry had become friendly aquatintists.

After a meeting in the Chicago Botanical gardens, Harry was attacked and he along with Cat Sith fought and long hard battle which they won. Afterwards, Cat Sith was attacked and overtaken by the Nemesis. He attacked Dresden in a boat in the middle of Lake Michigan and ends up being thrown overboard in the lake where he was believed to have died.

As mentioned, Cat Sith is the eldest member of this race, which also makes him the king. If the Eldest member of the Malkins dies, the next eldest naturally becomes the eldest Malkin and therefore the next king. The Clan of Cat Sith doesn't believe that the Nemesis overtook Cat Sith and blame Dresden for killing their king. Whenever Harry is in the Nevernever in the land of Winter, he is fairly safe, but he has to watch his back because the Malkin Clan has made a vow of death against Harry, and they are extremely dangerous.

All of Harry and Mab's children were being watched by the Malkin Clans. They watch and they wait for their king to give the order to kill them. The king is not sure that killing these children would be a good idea because they are not only Wizard Dresden's, but they are also Winter Queen Mab's children. He is worried that she would seek vengeance for their deaths and wipe out the entire species of the Malkins. He has heard that she has done much worse for much less and is positive they would all be dead before sunset of the day the children died.

For now, he has his people watching the children and waiting for Dresden to show up, which he will do sooner or later and when he does, they will kill him.

Chapter 5

Harry had a restless night. He was up late thinking about what Bonea and Bob had told him. Every time he closed his eyes he would have a dream about being strapped to an operating table and there would be any one of a hundred different beings acting as the surgeon. Waving and slicing the air with various vicious looking knives and blades of destruction. Then as they started to cut into his body, he would jump up out of sleep some time screaming or shouting. He would be covered with sweat, and his heart rate would be pounding around in his chest so hard he thought it might slip right out of his chest.

Finally, he gave up trying to sleep and went into the kitchen to make himself some coffee. He made a couple slices of toast and sat down at the table sipping his coffee which was hot and black. While he sat there, he couldn't help but wonder who could have done this and when did they do it. He would have had to be out completely and since the cuts and now scars are done so slightly and without other damage, he figured that it had to have been a doctor or medical professional.

He thought back over his life about the times that he knew he had been down and out, which has been very seldom. He had been in and out for a couple weeks would have remembered something and he hadn't suffered any pain from the surgery because they could have used magic, but magic can only work so far before it isn't enough he thought of the times he had been bedridden and most of them had been at the Carpenter's house, and he was sure no one or nothing could have gotten to him there.

Most of the other times, when he had been out of it had been when he had been under the care or watchful eyes of Mab. He could remember the time when he had died, the time or two when he had gotten the worst of the fight and had woken up in hid godmothers Leanansidhe. He suddenly remembered the time after he had killed Justin DuMorne. He remembered that Mab had agreed to take him in and keep him safe from the White Counsel until he was in a better position to deal with them.

He remembered that Mab had encased him in ice, freezing him and had kept him that way for 6 moths maybe more. When he came out of the ice, he was bedridden for a couple weeks. He had no idea what had gone on while he had been frozen. He did remember that he had had some pretty weird dreams during his time on ice but that was all they had been, just dreams, … right?

That had been the longest time that he had been out of it, next to his death. He didn't remember or know anything about it. He didn't know what may have happened, but he knew that his godmother had been there, and she would know what had happened and may even know about the possible clones or children that are running around half filled with his DNA. He had to find the Leanansidhe right away.

Purpleweed and Elidee had flown most of the morning since sunup and had taken turns carrying the note that Nite Doe had written for them to give to the Za' Lord. They were very excited to get a pizza just for the 2 of them. as they arrived at the castle, Elidee suddenly stopped and said, "We have to be very careful because I am sure that the Za' Lord had a lot of strong magic protecting his home. It could be strong enough to kill us since we are so small."

Purpleweed asked, "Then what do we do? How are we going to get him to come outside if we can't go inside?"

Elidee smiled and said, "I have an idea. Come on around to the front of the castle." They carefully flew around to the front of the castle and landed on the front steps. She then pointed at a small button that was glowing and said, "I saw Toot Toot push that one time and the Za' Lord opened the door."

Purpleweed said, "Okay, I think I can get to it. All I have to do is push it?"

Elidee said, "Make sure to push it hard enough to cause the glow to stop, then do it again quickly."

Purpleweed flew up to the button and pushed on it. It barely moved, so she flew back a little way and flew at the button hitting it with her feet. The button went down, and the light went out, but the button popped right back out and the light came on again. She flew back farther and charged at the button, landing on it with her feet and again the button went down, and the glow went out. Again, the button popped out, but she had pushed it twice like Elidee told her and now she landed next to the note, and they waited.

After almost 2 minutes, which seemed forever to the pixies, the big door started to open, and a very large man stepped out of the door onto the top step. He stood looking around before looking down and spotting the pixies. He stepped around them and sat down on the steps and asked, "Are you the ones that rang my doorbell?"

Instantly Purpleweed replied, "No Za' Lord, we never touched your bell, we only pushed the glowing button beside the door, twice."

Harry laughed at what they were saying and then asked, "What can I do for you?"

Elidee spoke as loud as she could saying, "We were asked to bring this to you," they lifted the note for him to see.

After he took the note and read it, he asked, "Who gave you this note and where is she that you are supposed to take me?"

Elidee flew up and landed on his should so she could talk without yelling and said, "Her name is Nite Doe, and she is a wizard. She lives in the Nevernever in a nice little house with a very nice garden …"

Purpleweed shouted, "She grows the best strawberries you ever tasted."

Elidee looked at her and waved her arms as if to say, knock it off. She turned back to Harry and said, "Forgive her Za' Lord, she is just nervous. My friend Nite Doe cannot leave the Nevernever, or she would have come to you, so for that reason she has asked if you would come to her home. She said she has some very important information that she can only tell you. I, we, have agreed to lead you to her home in the Nevernever."

Harry smiled and said "That is a very kind thing that you both are doing and because you are so generous I want to buy you both a pizza. What kind would you like?"

This got the two pixies jumping up and down and dancing around for more than 2 minutes. When they finally slowed down he asked again what kind of pizza did they want and they both said, "Hot, with many tops."

This caused Harry to laugh out loud and hold his belly for quite a while. When he finally got control he said, "Alright, I will get you a large hot, specialty pizza." This brought much dancing and singing from the two pixies. While they danced, Harry called Tony's 'Xpress Pizza and ordered 2 large specialty pizzas for delivery. They were still dancing when he got back and told them that the pizza was on its way and should be here in about 30 minutes, which was cause for more singing and dancing.

Shortly before the pizzas arrived, Harry asked the pixies to come in the house so that they didn't have to hide or worry about being seen. They came in and just as he shut the door, Bonea appeared and scared the pixies, at first. After a little talking and some laughing the 3 were like best friends. When the pizzas arrived, Harry put one in the middle of the table and asked that the pixies not make too big of a mess eating theirs. Harry had his and he ate 3 slices before putting the rest in the fridge and when he returned there was 2 slices left of their pizza and both were laying off to the side of the table holding their bellies and groaning.

Harry asked if they were ok and Purpleweed said, "I think we ate too much pizza. My belly is full." Elidee only grunted and nodded her head in agreement.

Harry said, "I am going to move you to the living room couch so you can take a nap and then we can head out for Nite Doe's home. Is that ok with you two?"

They both nodded and stayed lying down until Harry came back with a large pillow and placed each one on it and then he moved them into the living room where he placed the pillow on the far end of the couch and offered each a small towel as their blankets. Almost immediately they fell asleep, and Harry figured that he had about 2 hours to get ready to go to the Nevernever. He needed to get some extra gear before going because one never knows who they might run into, good or bad.

About an hour and 30 minutes later, Elidee woke up and at first didn't know where she was but after looking around some she remembered that she and Purpleweed had eaten too much pizza and had fallen asleep. She got up and zipped across the room to the table but didn't see any pizza. She wondered if they had eaten it all. Just then Bonea showed up and told her that her dad had put the last of their pizza in the fridge to keep it fresh.

Bonea showed her the fridge and then opened the door showing her where their pizza was. Elidee grabbed the 2 pieces and quickly flew over to where Purpleweed was still asleep. She held a piece of pizza under her nose and waited. A few seconds later Purpleweed grabbed the pizza and ate the small piece. Bonea came over and said, "If you are going to eat that pizza, you need to take it over to the table and eat it there. My dad doesn't like it when people eat on his couch."

They agreed and each one grabbed a piece of pizza and flew over to the table. Once there they quickly ate their piece and then cleaned up the crumbs that had covered the table top.

Just as they finished cleaning the table, Harry came out of his bedroom wearing his leather duster and had his staff in his hand. He looked at the two pixies and said, "Well, now that you have eaten and taken a nap I would say it is time for us to go." He gave Bonea and hug and a kiss on the cheek and told her he would probably be home late. After all the goodbyes, Harry and the pixies headed out the door.

Harry asked where the best way was that they needed to get back to the Nevernever. Elidee told him where it was and then he asked them to fly ahead and wait for him at the way entrance so no one would see them. they said the would hide along the way and wait until he had passed and then fly ahead again until they got to the way. Harry agreed that would be a good plan and off they flew.

While he walked along he thought about this person Nite Doe. He had never heard of her before and he started to wonder what she might be, as far as what type of fae or witch or what? He also wondered what is was that she wanted to tell him and why she thought is was so important that she tell him in person? Then he thought, this could be a trap for either the Winter Knight or himself. He needed to be ready. He had on all of his power rings, and they were fully charged. He also had his blasting rod and his staff, which were also fully charged and ready to go. He checked and re-checked his gear and the many different spells on his duster just to make sure that he was ready.

Finally, he arrived at the location Elidee had told him to be and he spotted them floating down from above him until they were about even with his face. Elidee waved her arm and a portal opened into the Nevernever. They walked through and it closed behind him and they headed down one of the many pathways into the wild back country of the Nevernever. He was amazed every time he found a new part of the land that he had never been to.

It was full of brightly colored flowers and thick trees and long vine looking branches that made it extremely difficult to see very far because they were so thick they blocked the scenery. They had walked a couple miles by Harry estimate, and he asked if they could take a break, they stopped and Elidee landed on Harry's shoulder where she could talk to him without having to shout.

At first, she didn't say anything, but Harry could hear softly mumbling to herself before she spoke load enough for him to hear her, "Za' Lord, you said that you do not know Nite Doe, yet when she sends a note asking you to come to her home, you travel to meet her, I am confused?"

Harry smiled and softly said, "Sometimes a person you do not know yet is a friend waiting for you. If I don't try to meet new people, how would I make more friends?"

Elidee say quietly thinking as they walked along. She had never thought about it but it did make some sense because until she meet and got to know Purpleweed they were not friends. She asked, "But how do you know if this person you do noy know will be friendly and not try to do you harm?"

Harry figured she would ask something along these lines and replied, "You don't, but until you meet them you will never know. When meeting new people, you should always be careful, especially for you and your friends because you never know if someone wants to capture you for your magic or to eat you. For me, I have to be very careful because they could want to capture me or just kill me, which one I won't know until I meet them, does that make sense to you?"

She quickly said, "Oh yes Za' Lord, it makes a lot of sense. I guess that no matter who you are, big or small, you always have to be careful and ready if something goes bad."

He smiled, "Yes, that is it. You are very smart Elidee. Always try to meet new people and make friends but always be careful when you do."

She asked, "Do you also want to meet with the others after you meet Nite Doe?"

Harry stopped and asked, "What others? Who are you talking about?"

She said, "The other young magic users, like Nite Doe. There are 4 or 5 others Za' Lord."

He looked at her and asked, "Do you know where they are, where I can find them? Do you know any of them, know their names?"

She was a little nervous but said, "Yes Za' Lord, I know where a couple are, but they are fairly easy to find."

Harry then said, "After you take me to Nite Doe, I want you and Purpleweed to go out and find them all. Where they live, or work or play, whatever they are doing and then I want you to take me to them. this is very important to me. Can you do this for me?"

She said, "Yes Za' Lord, we can do this, but I may be tomorrow before we find them all."

He said, "That is fine. Maybe if you find a couple today, while I go and meet with them you could go looking for the others. If you need help, you can tell General Toot Toot that I need him to help you. Would you be able to do this?"

Again, she said, "Yes Za' Lord we can do this. I will send Purpleweed to find the general and then we will find these people for you."

He was glad that they were going to help because he knew that if there were new people around, the "wee folks" would know about them. he then said, "Let's get moving, we have a very busy day ahead of us."

Purpleweed was sent to find Toot Toot and have him bring as many of his people with him to help the Za' Lord search for these other young people. While Harry and Elidee continued on for another 3 miles before rounding a bend in the pathway avoiding a few large boulders and very bushy trees, then they spotted a small cottage off to the left side of the pathway. It was a nice-looking cottage, and you could smell a stew cooking along with fresh bread which only got stronger smelling as they got closer. Harry thought, it seems that we were expected.

CHAPTER 6

It appeared that someone else besides Nite Doe had been expecting Harry to show up at the cottage. Across the pathway along the back edge of the field amongst the trees sat 2 younger Malkins. They had been watching the cottage for 3 weeks and now their target had arrived. The older of the 2 was Sornak, he ordered the younger one to head back to the clan and tell them that the wizard was here. He would stay and watch in case the wizard left before the others arrived.

Mab sat reading her data that she had collected on each of the children. She was extremely upset about the children that had died during their childhood. She wondered if she should punish the parents for not watching the children more closely. She had already discovered that the Goodman's were not good parents and never should have been given a child. They were more interested in going to parties and getting drunk or high on most any type of drug.

Mab had sent one of her own people to watch and check out the Goodman's since the death of Mary. She knew that little Mary had been playing in the pool all afternoon and about the same time that the guests started arriving, she asked her mother if she could get out of the pool and go to her room. Her mother told her that she was going to stay in the pool and make sure all of her friends (mother's) saw that she was a very happy child just playing in the pool.

Mary had told her that she was tired and was getting a little cold and wanted to go to her room and put on some dry clothes.

Her mother snapped, "I told you that you will stay in this pool even if I have to tie a boat anchor to you and throw it in the deep end. Do you hear me?"

Mary got back in the water and started swimming around and her mother went in the house to drink with her friends. Later, one of the guests asked about Mary and her mother looked out at the pool. The water was like a mirror, but Mary wasn't there. She went upstairs to see if she had snuck into the house, but her room was empty. She looked at Mary's bedroom window and saw a dark object at the bottom of the pool.

She ran down the stairs, screaming and crying and then out into the yard and over to the pool. One of the men at the party, jumped into the pool and pulled Mary's body out of the water. He and another person tried CPR while another person called 911. By the time that the EMT's arrived, Mary was gone. There was nothing they could do for her. The mother screamed and cried at the loss of her daughter, and everyone started to leave because they didn't feel much like partying after the death of a child.

The mother gave a story about what had happened which was not true. She said that Mary refused to leave the pool and by the time her guests started arriving, she had gotten busy and forgot to check up on Mary. She told them that she had only left her alone of a couple minutes and didn't realize anything was wrong until it was too late.

Mary's death had been ruled as an accidental drowning and no charges were brought against either of the Goodman's. Mab knew the truth and had decided that she was going to punish Mrs. Goodman for lying and being the cause of Mary's death.

It was just another report of someone dying in their swimming pool. The Atlanta news channel 5 carried the FOX news covering Atlanta and the greater Atlanta area. The reporter stated that Mrs. Rhonda Goodman was found face down n her swimming pool this afternoon. Though, this type of household accident happens far too often, this is one of your stranger ones.

Just 5 years ago, Clayton County Sheriff's Department responded to this same address due to the accidental drowning death of a Mary Goodman, 8-years-old. Mrs. Goodman was throwing a party and her 8-year-old daughter was in the pool unsupervised. Shortly, Later, when Mrs. Goodman went to check on Mary she was not in her room and when she looked down at the pool, she spotted Mary at the bottom. She was pulled out of the water and given CPR by a neighbor until the EMT's arrived only to be reported as dead on the scene.

Now, in the same pool, the mother of that little girl was found face down on the bottom of the pool. The EMT's are reporting that Mrs. Goodman was stiff and cold as ice when they pulled her out of the pool, which is hard to except being that it is the middle of summer and during one of the worse heat-waves in Atlanta history. The sheriff's Department has not issued any information, but Mr. Goodman has been taken to county lock-up pending investigation as the only person of interest so far.

The younger Malkin returned bringing with him about a dozen of the clan's strongest fighters. They had been trained to fight any type of fight and/or opponent. They could fight with magic, guns, knives or just their fists, it didn't really matter which to them. They eased up even with Sornak and they all watched the cottage to get a glimpse of the wizard.

They each took turns telling him what had been decided and that they were not to kill the wizard but to capture him and bring him back to stand before the king, alive but if he was seriously damaged due to fighting back when they try to capture him, that was considered reasonable damage, per the king.

Sornak, started laying out a plan to best use all of their strength and capture the wizard as soon as he is clear of the cottage. They will move so fast he will not know what hit he. Then they will tie him up and take him to the king.

Heka, the oldest of the fighters, agreed that it was a sound plan. He wanted to make sure that 3 jumped down off the roof and that 4 came from behind the house and attack the legs before anything else. That way he will be off the ground and unable to get anyspells off. They all agreed to the plan and started slowly moving toward the cottage so they could get into place to wait for the wizard.

Inside the cottage, Nite Doe was nervous and worried about meeting her father. She knew that he had no idea she existed nor any of her siblings. She was not sure how he was going to react to being a father and having 6 children that he knew nothing about. She could hear someone walking up the pathway and could hear a man speaking. She checked herself in the mirror by the door and waited. Shortly came a knock and with butterflies kicking up a storm in her stomach, she opened the door.

Elidee came fluttering into the room as Harry still stood just outside the door, waiting. He asked, "Are you the one called Nite Doe? If so, I believe you requested that I come by?"

She was looking at him, checking out his nose, teeth, hair, hands, height, eyes, anything that she could see and compare to herself. She quickly noticed that he was quite tall and had dark thick unruly hair, just like her and she could see her eyes in his which convinced her that he was her father. She heard him say something but wasn't sure what it was and said, "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

He smiled and said, 'Are you Nite Doe and did you send for me?"

She smiled and answered, "Yes, I am Nite Doe, and I did request to see you, but I never really figured you would come. Come in, please, sorry, come on in."

Harry entered the cottage and found it to be very cozy, a little cluttered but comfortable. He remembered his apartment and how he had stuff all over it, it was clean but cluttered. He couldn't help but notice how much she looked like his mother, same nose, mouth and eyes.

She asked, "Would you like something to drink, I have Coke in a can, but it is cold?"

He smiled and said, "That would be perfect, thank you."

She grabbed 2 cans of Coke from the fridge and brought one for Harry and one for herself. They sat and chatted about the weather, her garden, the cottage when finally, she said, "Did you ever want kids?"

Harry had prepared himself for this type of question and said, "Yes, I have always wanted kids, but I was planning on getting married and settling down first. Why do you ask?" this put the ball right in her lap.

She realized that if anything was going to happen, she was going to have to make it happen and she needed to do that now. "Maybe you know my mom, she is the Queen of Winter?"

Harry was not ready for that. He stood up and said almost shouting, "Your mother is Queen Mab? Oh my god, really? How do you know, did she tell you? Are you sure?"

Nite Doe was a little scared with this man yelling and pacing. Finally, he sat down and said, "I am very sorry if I scared you. I just need to know how you found out that she was your mother?"

She was able to relax and studied him for a few minutes before taking a deep breath and saying, the same way I found out that you are my father."

Harry had prepared himself for this statement but when if came he was stunned into silence. He sat there looking at her but not saying a word for a few minutes. He then said, "Ok, Nite Doe, I am positive that you were not named that legally, please tell me your real legal name."

She sat for a few seconds and then said, "My legal name on the adoption records was Tanzinite Dresden, after my father. My adopting parents named me Bethany Tanzinite, but I used to be called Tanzi by the kids in school."

Harry thought and then asked, "Is it ok if I call you Tanzi, because I think in sounds great?"

She sat slightly stunned for a minute then said, "It's an alright name. if you like it then you can call me that."

Harry smiled and asked, "How old are you, Tanzi?"

She replied, "I am 16, birthday is April 15, 2005."

He asked, "How did you find out I was your father?"

She replied, "I went to a witch named Sarah of the mountain and she read my blood and told me that you are my father, and the Queen is my mother. How did you find out about me?"

He replied, "My daughter, your half-sister found 9 different readings, including me, with my DNA. I didn't know who or where, but I knew you were alive."

She asks, "Did you know that we had been born? Did you know about us?"

Harry quickly replied, "No, I didn't, and I still don't know how it was done."

She gave him a funny look and he turned red from his hair line to down in his shirt. He then said, "I know how it is done to make a baby but that didn't happen with any off you. I think someone stole some of my body parts and made you 6 kids, but I don't know who would have done it."

She smiled and said, "My money is on the Queen. I think she is the one that took your "body parts" and made some babies."

He said, "You may be right which means she is going to get one hell of a lecture about boundaries and babies. Why would someone go to all the trouble to get all the pieces they need to make babies, then make those babies just to send them to be adopted. When were you put up for adoption and where? Better yet, why don't you tell me about your life, as you know it, if you don't mind."

She sat unmoving for a couple seconds and then said, "Hey, if I can't tell my dad about my life, who can I tell, right?" Harry smiled a big smile as she slowly started telling him everything she knew about my life. He got angry and wanted to cry for her when she talked about her mom dying from a drug over dose and having to put up with her mom's husband for a couple years. Then onto the Nevernever and all the magic she had learned.

After, he just sat looking at her and wanting so badly to give her a big hug. He then said, "You have an older half-sister, named Maggie, you'll love her and a younger half-sister, sort of, named Bonea, you'll have to judge for yourself. She is quite a bit different."

They kept talking and laughing and just getting to know each other until Purpleweed and Toot Toot showed up. The first thing Toot said was, "They have the house surrounded, Za' Lord."

Harry sat looking at him and asked, "Who has what house surrounded?"

Toot replied, "About a dozen Malkins. There are 3 on the roof, 4 by the door in the kitchen and the rest are by the front door, waiting for someone, you I believe, to exit the building."

Harry stood up and started looking around, sneaking peeks out the windows and doors before asking, "General Toot Toot, how many people do you have with you?"

Toot snapped to attention and said sharply, "I have eleven elevens, Za' Lord."

Harry replied, "That is good. Tanzi, is there a fire in your fireplace?"

She quickly said, "No, there is not."

Harry said, "Good. General, I want you to go up and out the fireplace and make sure you are not seen. Get to your troops, divide them up into 3 groups and have them wait until I open the kitchen door. Then have them attack any and every Malkin they see. Make sure they stay out of reach but harass them really bad. Got it?"

Toot snapped to attention, saluted and said, "Yes, sir we will be ready. Just one question Lord, will there be pizza afterwards."

Harry replied, "Yes, of course there will be pizza for everyone. Now go, prepare for battle."

Toot saluted and quick as a wink, he was gone up the chimney, higher into the sky before turning and then coming down in the tall grass where he hid his troops. He explained the plan, divided them into 3 groups and then waited for the door to open.

Inside, Tanzi was trying not to laugh out loud because she didn't want to hurt anyone's feeling. She asked, "What is this Za' Lord stuff? What does it mean?"

He smiled and said, "It means I spend a lot of money on pizzas. Toot is always in such a hurry and some of the pixies have a little problem saying pizza lord, so it was cut down to Za' Lord. The army was set up by Toot and several of his friends when they were helping me a lot."

She now let go and laughed big and hardy. Then said, "They do errands for you, and you pay them with pizza. That is brilliant, Oh Za' Lord."

They both got a few good laughs in before Harry said, "You can stay in the house if you want, I don't want you getting hurt over my trouble."

She smiled and said, "I can take care of myself, and I have a small plan to help you and the army. So, stay close and come with me."

As they exited the kitchen door, Harry saw and felt the Malkins making ready to jump on him, so when the door shut and the 3 on the roof and the 4 round back along with all the others jumps up at the same time, Tanzi grabbed Harry's hand and snap, they were gone. The Malkins crashed into each other, land claws and feet first biting, and fighting before realizing that Harry wasn't there.

Gen Toot Toot roared, "Charge!" and the army of wee folks swarmed all over the knocked down, knocked over Malkins. They stabbed with their little swords, that were sharp as razors. They poked with their sharpened Pike Staffs, which were just as sharp. The Malkins started screaming and jumping and tumbling and falling all over each other by all they got for their trouble was cuts, scrapes, pokes and bruises.

After a good 15 minutes of getting beat up, the last of the Malkins finally managed to get to his feet and run away. They were all cut up and dripping blood as they went. Not a one of Toots soldiers got hit or hurt. They were now dancing and singing praises to the Za' Lord. Gen Toot Toot reported to Harry and was told where the pizzas would be and when. He thanked everyone for such a good job.

Harry explained to Toot what he needed them to do, and Toot said that they should find most of them within 3 hours. With that said, Toot flew off to tell the troops and then they flew away in several direction. He then turned to Tanzi and said, "Where did you learn to teleport?"

She smiled and explained about the leprechaun, which then led to Sarah of the mountain and then to him. He just smiled and said that she was brilliant and very strong in her magic.

She smiled and said, "Well, that seems to be what the queen wants. She said something about the school of hard knocks and that the strong will survive. I don't know about the rest of them but after my mom died, I stayed away from the house as much as possible. Living on the streets can be scary and make you tough."

"Speaking of the others, shall we try to find them," he asked?

Tanzi said, "I have been told that one of them lives near a small waterfall in a small valley. We could try that one first."

Harry smiled and said, "Small valley and waterfall it is, let's go."

With that said, she took his hand and they disappeared.

CHAPTER 7

The land of Nevernever is huge, it has been claimed to be as vast as your imagination. It is so large it has all four seasons at the same time, all year long. It also has every possible terrain known including some very similar to other planets. Along with the many different landscapes and terrain features, there are the people. Some look like normal humans and others don't, either close-up or far away.

The fae are an unusual type of people, there are more types of fae than any other living beings. From large (7 feet or taller) to small (8 inches or smaller) and every one between. You have some that are pure magic and some that magic almost doesn't exist and again, everything in between. They are different colors, different speech and language, some are humanoid, and some are animal-like. Some talk, some don't, some eat meat, some are vegetarians, some eat people.

The idea that a person or a group of people could live in the Nevernever and not know about another group or person is excepted as part of everyday living. Harry had been to many areas all over the Nevernever and yet he had never seen this area, nor had he ever seen anybody that looked like the beings he was seeing now, animal type alien beings.

Harry looked closely and saw what he thought looked like a lizard-like being that had been crossed with human. It was standing erect on its hind legs which were hinged like a human but had a third hinge attached at the foot so that it walked mostly on its toes with the heal up of the ground. It had arms that came out at the shoulder and long but normal looking arms with 1 elbow and a hand on each but only 4 fingers with 1 acting like a thumb. The fingers were very long and had sharp looking claws at the ends.

This being had no hair but had 5 ridges that ran from front to back on the face and head. They were covered in scales and had a greenish-yellow color to the face. The face was very lizard-like but was definitely female and surprisingly beautiful. She had 2 very averaged sized eyes and they were a bright blue.

Each being looked very different from the next. Though there were some that were similar as they may have been related, but much like humans they were different from one another. They were all kinds of colors and shapes to ridges, claws, spiked spines, some had tails others did not. Every one wore clothing of a sort, that is to say that none were walking around without some form of material draped around or across their bodies.

As they stood watching everyone, the female that Harry first spotted walked over to the bushes he was standing behind and asked in a heavily accented English, "May I give you something?"

Harry hadn't seen her come up to the bushes until she was right there, but he recovered enough to introduce himself and his daughter. Her name was "Sshhyeeen" which took him several tries to pronounce correctly. Much to his surprise, she laughed as he struggled to get it right. As they talked, Harry found that she liked humans very much and had always wanted to get to know some but with her language and pronunciations difficulties she had not been able to make friend or even just sit down and talk for a while. After talking for a little while he asked if she would mind if he pronounced her name in more of a human fashion.

She broke into a big smile and clapped her hands, just like a teen girl would, and said "I would take that for an honor".

So, he said, "It is difficult for me to pronounce your name correctly and I do not want to offend you, but your name is close to a human name "Shyeen" and is much easier to say.

She said the new name several times and said that it was almost the same name, and she would like to use it from now on.

Just then another female walked up and spoke to her and was delightfully surprised about the humans. She was almost as tall as Harry, but very snake-like her was covered from head to toe with green scales that had both lighter and darker areas but her front areas, her chest and stomach were an almost white color, much like a snake. When she spoke, every word had a long hiss sound at the end, but she seemed to speak clear human English. She said her name was very hard to say but they could call her "Tousse" which meant with strength and beauty in her language.

She was dressed very different from Shyeen. For a top, she wore what could be considered a bikini like top and around her waist she had a thin leather like belt that hung low across her abdomen. It had an attached leather cod plate that covered her crotch area from the middle of each leg and down to a few inches below her crotch. From there a long piece of fabric that matched the bikini top material hung down a few inches from the ground. This draped material was fastened to the cod plate in front and the waist belt in the back. She was properly covered but still showed a lot of scales.

They urged Harry and Tanzi to come with them to meet their people and share a meal. They brought them, to a sudden growing crowd. They were greeted, introduced and had small talk with everyone that came up to them. some of the younger ones, just giggled or shook their hands and the hurried away. After about an hour or so, the crowd slowly died away and they continued on to Shyeen's home. The two women quickly put something together and set a large tray on the table.

It consisted of fruits and some very different looking vegetables along with fresh, raw strips of some kind of meat. Harry and Tanzi were told to help themselves and try whatever they wanted. The vegetables were very different looking but tasted great as did the fruit. But they stopped before trying any of the meat. Tousse said that she understood and not to feel embarrassed as there had been many things she has tried but didn't like them either. She and Shyeen took care of all the meat and some of the fruit and vegetables.

After eating, the moved into a large room that looked like a sunken living room with large pillows and cushions scattered around the floor. They talked and then Harry asked if they had seen or heard of another human living in the area close to a waterfall. Tousse said, "You must be speaking of Mikey. He lives down in the valley about 2 hours from here next to a small waterfall. He has only been there about 3 seasons. He is adorable. He looks a little like you "Tousse" same eyes and nose."

Harry was very excited and asked, "Would either of you be able to show us the path that we need to take."

Shyeen said, "Sure it same as front path. Take west 2 hours and find waterfalling on, oh what is that word, it is a side. It is not this one but here." She said this first lifting her right hand then lifting her left hand and holding it up.

Tanzi said, "Do you mean left, like on the left side of the path?"

Shyeen almost screamed, "Yes, yes, that is word. Yes, that it is. Sometime I forgot what for word, it is hard."

After they finish talking and agreeing to return to visit, Harry and Tanzi said their goodbyes and headed west down the path. They walked and talked and shared different life experiences like any normal father and daughter would. They talked a lot about magic and Tanzi took and few moments to explain and show Harry how to teleport. At first all he did was make his shoes disappear, then his overcoat blinked out but after a little more practice he was starting to get the hang of it, though it seemed to drain his energy quickly

Before they knew it, they had walked right up on the waterfall and after a little looking around they found a small cottage, about half the size of Tanzi's just off to the side of the waterfall back among the rocks and the cliff. They slowly approached because as Tanzi knew from her experiences, there were bound to be traps and warning devices around the cottage. As they got closer to the cottage, fire burst up from a series of rocks that had been placed in a circle to prevent from burning down the trees and long grass around the cottage.

Harry stopped and said, "Hello the house, is anyone at home? Please show yourself so that we may talk."

After a couple of minutes, the head of a young boy poked out from around the side of the cottage. He hollered, "What do you want here? I don't know you. Go away or I will cause more fire and burn you." With that said he popped back behind the cottage.

Tanzi spoke up with, "Are you Mikey?"

He popped back out and looked at them before speaking, "I don't know you, so how do you know my name and it is Michael not Mikey."

Harry smiled and said, "Michael, if you will come out and meet with us we may be able to clear this all up. We don't want to hurt you we just want to talk."

He stepped out from behind the wall, a little, and said, "How do I know that you aren't lying and only want to get me close enough for you to grab me and hurt me? I don't know either of you."

Harry thought for a few seconds and said, "That is very good thinking and smart but somewhere along the way you are going to have to trust people just a little or you will be a very lonely person. My name is Harry Dresden and I believe that I am your father. This is Tanzinite Dresden, your sister, which would make you Michael Dresden. We do not want to hurt you in any way."

He said, "How do you know my name or that she is my … did you say my father?"

"Yes, Michael, I am Harry Dresden and I believe I am your father. Won't you invite us in so we can sit down and talk a little?"

Now he stepped away from the cottage and walked about half-way down to where Harry stood. He was looking at Harry like he was trying his best to remember him when finally, he broke out crying and ran to Harry and almost jumping into his arms. He grabbed ahold of Harry and them hugged as hard as he could crying the entire time and saying, "You're my dad, you're my dad," over and over.

Harry looked around the small cottage and said, "You have done well for yourself, the place looks nice."

Michael beamed from the other side of the cottage, "Thanks dad, when I was dropped here I was so scared but after I had met some of the people that live around here, I have learned a lot about living alone and depending on myself. So, you met Tousse? How did you like her?"

Tanzi replied, "She seemed very nice. She said that she likes humans a lot. That must be where you come in?"

Michael smiled and said, "She is a really nice person, and she has shown me so much. She showed me how to catch fish, which fruits and plants you can eat, and which are bad for you. She knows a lot of very helpful things. Hey, guess how old she is?"

Harry replied, "I would guess that she is about 30 years old."

Michael laughed and said, "I first thought she was in her 20's but she is only 5 years old, she will be 6 this year. Her people grow very quickly and learn at a very young age how to take care of themselves. She said that her people live a very long time. I met her father and her grandfather; he is over 100 years old. I don't think he likes humans very much."

Tanzi asked, "Why do you say that? Everyone we met seemed very nice."

Michael looked at Harry and said, "Tousse told me that her father and grandfather use to hunt and eat humans maybe as early as 10 years ago. They stopped after their leader had a meeting with the Winter Queen and was told to stop or she would start letting humans hunt this area of the Nevernever for them. Now, they eat chicken, beef and fish instead of humans."

Tanzi replied, "Wow, I never would have guessed."

Michael smiled and said, "At least we don't have to worry about them anymore."

Harry waited a few seconds and said, "Michael, tell us about your life. I don't know anything about you, and I really would like to hear about you."

He broke into a big smile and said, 'Well, I was adopted by a real nice couple that couldn't have any children of their own. I grow up in Denver and learned to hike, camp, ski and trail ride my mountain bike. Everything was great, I had friends, a school I really liked and parents that were the best, but I started to have problems with weird things happening where ever I went."

Harry asked, "What kind of strange things?"

He said, "Sometimes if I was upset about something, my computer would blow up. Really, it would burst into small flames and then start smoking. When watching the TV, when I would start cheering for my favorite team or player, the TV would blow up and big clouds of smoke were everywhere. It even happened at the movie theater, I was there with some friends, and we were laughing and goofing off and then the camera stopped working and smoke started pouring through the little windows and filling the theater."

Tanzi asked, "Did that happen all the time?"

Michael said, "No, not all the time. Sometimes nothing would happen then after a while I would forget about it and start having fun with my friends and then pow, something would go up in flames. One time I went skiing with a bunch of friends and the chair lift stopped working. We were stuck up in that chair for hours while they got everyone down. I was really scared."

Harry was watching him the entire time he spoke and then he asked, "Did you ever find out what was happening? Why all those things were getting broke?"

Michael thought about that for a minute and replied, "No, I never did find out what was happening? Was it me? Do you know what was happening?"

Harry smiled a small smile and said, "Yes, Michael I do know why and what was happening and yes, it was because of you."

Michael looked down and then up at Harry and asked, "How do you know? Why was it happening?"

Harry asked, "Tanzi, did you ever have had that kind of problem?"

She had been very quiet but said, "Yes, I have experienced some of those same problems. I figured it was because of my magic."

Harry smiled and said, "You are correct. We users of magic produce electric auras that affect any type of electrical device. The electrical feedback is too much when you are in an emotional state, like happy, excited, sad, scared or any other strong feeling you may have. As you get older and strong in your magic, you will find that you can't use computers, cell phones, go to the hospital, or drive newer cars. You can drive around a car that is about 30 years old or older because they don't have computer brains running the car. You even have to watch out for the house you live in because you will burn up the appliances and you can forget about a hot shower, because you can boil the water over a fire or on a gas stove. There is a lot of things that you have to be aware of because of your magic"

Tanzi remarked, "Well, that explains a lot."

Michael looked perplexed as he asked, "Why do you keep talking about magic, I don't have any magic and I don't believe in magic, fairies, ghosts or any of the stuff."

Tanzi did a double take and then said, "You don't believe in fairies or magic, but you are friends with a small village of walking talking lizards? How do you explain that?"

He said, "I can't. it may have been a mistake on the side of biology or some long lost or missing link between man or animal, I don't know but they aren't fairies, and I don't have any magic." Turning to Harry, he asked, "Why would you think that I would ever have any form of magic?"

Harry sat up straight and said, "Because of your parents, they are really big in the magic world."

Michael snorted a little laugh, "My parents were not big in the magic world, they were both school teachers. It was not Harry Potter or Hogwarts school of magic, my mom taught 3rd grade and my dad taught science at the high school in Denver."

Harry looked at him and thought he is really fighting this, so he said, "I don't mean your adopted parents, I am talking about you birth parents. Queen Mab is a Faerie, she is the Queen of the Winter Court, and she is the Queen of Air and Darkness. She is your mother. I am Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden; Wizard of Chicago and I serve as the Winter Knight for the Winter Court. Mab is the strongest of all fairies and I am one of the strongest mortal wizards."

Tanzi sat with her mouth open because she didn't know all of that about Mab or Harry. She now understood why she had magic and could do things that others could not.

Michael sat there with his mouth hanging open just looking at Harry and asked, "Are you kidding me, Blackstone and Copperfield, that is supposed to make me believe that you are a wizard because you have their names, really?"

Harry smiled and said, "Michael, I think we should step outside for a minute. I want to show you something." They all get up and go outside Harry leading the way over to the pond near the waterfall. He said, "Now, as you know, I have never been here before so I couldn't possibly have set up anything like smoke or mirrors, right?"

Michael smiled and said, "Yes, that would be correct."

Harry smiled and said, "Well then, let's see what I can do, how about some ice?" He raises his staff and says, "INFRIGA" and something that looks like white lightning shoots out of Harry's staff and hits the waterfall which instantly turns white and then freezes solid."

Michael is left standing with his mouth hanging open again saying, "How can you do that? That is not possible"

Tanzi said, "Now that was cool but try this," and she popped out of sight only to appear a second later standing on top of the frozen waterfall.

Again, Michael is left standing muttering to himself about how these things are not possible and they cannot be happening as Tanzi pops back standing right next to him.

Harry said, "Michael, magic is very real and you and your sister and I have it in spades. Your mother is even more powerful than I am. I guess I should return the river to water again, as he said, "Fuego" and the river of ice bursts into flames. The ice melted almost immediately and puts the fire out.

Michael has no idea what to say or what to think except that he asked, "And you think I have these same kinds of powers?"

Harry replied as he and Tanzi started for the cottage, "Yes, I do and so do you, but you have spent all these years trying to hide your abilities and I'd like to know why?" Michael watched them walk away back toward his cottage trying to figure out how this man seemed to be able to open him up and read him like a book. He quickly followed and caught up just as they got back to the cottage.

Once back in the cottage, Michael told them more about his life with his adopted parents and how they were very religious and lived by the bible. Basically, if it wasn't in the bible and approved of they did not allow it in their lives. Magic, wizards, and fairies were definitely not allowed in beings or stories and there was no discussion regarding anything that isn't allowed.

He told them about when he was 6 years old and had brought some of his toys alive with jumping and dancing. His mother had taken all of his toys and threw them in the trash. She then striped him down and whipped him from head to toe with a leather strap before making him sit for hours in a steaming hot bathtub. After my father got home and had heard the story from my mom, they took turn yelling and hitting him, berating him for being evil and associated with the devil.

They had the preacher over later that night and for the next 4 nights to read scriptures and different passages from the bible. He even read from a book about exorcism but most of it was in Latin and I don't understand Latin. After all of that, they had me doing book reports on the evils of temptation and the evil in the hearts of men

He said, "By the time my parents let up on me, I was convinced that any form of magic was evil, and I was evil for playing with it, but now after living here for the last couple months and seeing all the things that I have seen, I am convinced that they may have been wrong."

Harry smiled a little and said, "Well, to be fair to your parents there are a lot of magic users that use their magic for evil. They hurt and kill people, or simply steal from them and leave them in a bad way. But there are also many good people that use magic or know about magic, and they don't have any problems and they are some of the very best people in the world."

He let both kids sit and think about what he just said before saying, "There are some friends of mine that I would like to introduce you to, and I think that you would be amazed at the type of people that hang around magic users or are magic users."

Michael and Tanzi were both excited to see that Harry wanted to introduce them to his friends because they were worried that he might not want anyone to know about us. But Tanzi quickly lost her smile and looked down at the floor with a glum cloud over her face.

Harry asked, "Tanzi, what's wrong? Did I say something that upset you?"

She started shaking her head and saying, "No, no nothing like that. Hearing that you want to introduce us to your friends is the most wonderful thing ever, but we can't leave the Nevernever. Queen Mab said she set a spell on each of us that would warn her if any of us tried to leave. I think she was worried that we would try to go back to our foster homes."

Harry was puzzled and asked her to stand while he checked her for the magic triggers. After almost 10 minutes of searching, he found what he was looking for. It was a small snowflake necklace that Mab had given each child telling them to always wear it to stay safe. Everyone they met would see the snowflake and know that they should be left alone because they are protected by the Winter Court. There was a spell woven into each necklace that would allow Mab to check on each child and know where they were as well as alert Mab if they tried to leave the Nevernever.

They both removed their necklaces and hung them on a hook next to the fireplace. Harry told them that he wanted to take them to his home to meet their sisters and spend the night. Harry wasn't great at teleporting yet but was able to teleport Tanzi to his home in Chicago. She then popped back to grab Michael and then the two of them were there at his home.

Harry gave them the nickel-tour of the castle and showed them the other 8 bedrooms upstairs that they weren't using yet. He explained that he wanted to get all of the children and have the entire family under 1 roof, except Mab. After the tour, Harry brought them back to the living room and called for Bonea to come out and meet someone special.

The eye sockets of the wooden skull lit up with a bright green light and then a sparkling green smoke escaped through the mouth opening and floated across the floor until it touched down on the carpet right in front of Tanzi. Out of the smoke a young girl about 12 years old appeared wearing pretty light green spring dress. As she appeared and looked around both Tanzi and Michael made sound of complete surprise which scared Bonea for a second or two. She quickly turned to Harry and said, "I am sorry Daddy, I didn't know there were people here in the living room. What do I do?"

She sounded a little scared until Harry said, "You can say hello to your older sister Tanzi and brother Michael. It is alright sweetie."

Bonea quickly turned at looked at each of them and then she was on Tanzi, giving her a big hug and say how nice it was to meet her and then with Michael, who was still a little freaked out by her arrival.

Harry explained, "Bonea is an air spirit of intellect which is a spirit with extensive mental and intellectual capabilities. They are living libraries, as they are immortal and never forget anything. Her mother was a fallen angel, so she has memories and knowledge of things going back to before the earth was made, but in real life she is only 6 years old but doesn't act like it. She is not a real person and can not go outside or into the daylight directly because it could kill her."

Tanzi was amazed by her and said, "So Bonea, you mom is a fallen angel, and your dad is Harry?"

Bonea replied, "Yes, that is correct, Harry is my dad and if he is your dad then we are half sisters but if it is alright with both of you, instead of half I would prefer to love the whole you, it is easier." Both Michael and Tanzi laughed and agreed that the whole person was better than just a half.

Harry cleared his throat and said, "Bonea, can you tell them the one rule of this house of yours that applies to everyone, please?"

Bonea turned back to then and said, "Oh, yes I have to ask you to please never ever tell anyone about me. It is not that I don't like people or that dad or anyone is embarrassed for me but scared that the wrong type of people or monsters would try to steal me away because of my knowledge. So please never talk about me outside of this house or tell anyone that I exist. That goes double for Bob, but you will meet him later."

Harry smiled and said, "I hate it because I love her just like her sister and now you guys and am very proud of her, but she is right. There are those that would steal her and do very terrible things with her knowledge. Also know that it was Bonea that asked to make this a house rule, not I because she is extremely smart and know what can happen."

Tanzi was smiling and talking to Bonea, and Michael was right there listening and joining in when he could. Then she stopped and looked around before asking, "Harry, didn't you say that you had 2 daughters beside us? Where is the other one?"

Harry replied, "Yes, your big sister Maggie. She is at a boarding school right now and will be home tomorrow for 2 weeks. You will get to meet her then if you want. While on that subject I have a guest room for you Michael and if you didn't mid I wanted you to use Maggie's room tonight, if that is ok?"

Tanzi was caught by surprise because she had never had a big sister before and now she was going to sleep in her bedroom. She was so excited she doubted that she would get any sleep tonight. She said, "I don't mind as long as it is ok with Maggie. I don't want to make her mad before I meet her."

Harry smiled back at her and said, "Maggie doesn't mind as long as you don't cut all her toys in half and repaint her room, she really likes that color. Just kidding, she will be fine, don't worry."

They talked and visited for another hour or two and then everyone went to bed. Tanzi didn't have any trouble falling asleep in Maggie's bed and she had some wonderful dreams until morning. Michael was really tired and fell fast asleep and Harry walked from each room checking on each child and couldn't help being a very proud papa, but he had to have a talk with Mab soon. He was really pissed and had figured that she was the one that had taken his body parts when she had him in hiding when he was 17 years old.

Before going to sleep, he sent a wind message to Toot Toot to come to the house first thing in the morning and report on what he had found out on the other children. He was excited about finding all of them before someone or something did. The Nevernever was a very dangerous place for a full-grown magic using adult and she put 6 kids out there to fend for themselves. What was she thinking?

But, like everyone else he would have to wait until morning to see what was happening.

CHAPTER 8

The tapping sound was not going away and as he slowly woke up more he realized that it was not part of his dream but a real tapping sound. He got up, grabbed his robe and went to find the sound. He looked around and the started walking toward the sound and as it got louder he suddenly knew that it was someone at the door. He quickly opened the door and found Toot Toot and Elidee standing on the front stoop knocking as hard as they could, trying to get his attention.

He stood for a second then asked, "Why are you knocking on the door at 07:15 in the morning? There are people trying to sleep."

Toot Toot saluted and said, "Yes, Za' Lord but as you ordered that I am here first thing in the morning. I have been out here knocking for almost 20 minutes."

Toot-Toot is a slender athletic youth with a shaggy uncontrolled mop of bright lavender hair. He is just shy of 22 inches tall, has blurring young adult sized fairy wings the color of an iridescent copper penny. He was wearing an army-green jump-suit with the sleeves cut off and holes in the back for his wings. His weapons: 3 letter-openers shaped like long swords, a shorter one at his side and two crossed on his back; Toot-Toot had started to develop his fairy glamor and was quite handsome looking.

He remembered the wind message that he sent to Toot asking him to be here first thing in the morning and that is exactly what he did. It is his fault that he was not clearer but now that he was here, they might as well get what info he had about the kids so they knew how to best start their day. He ushered them inside but told them to whisper because everyone else was sleeping.

They had been in the kitchen drinking coffee and cold milk, when Tanzi came in rubbing her eyes. She saw Harry and said, "Morning Toot, Elidee, Dad can I get a bed just like Maggie's. It is so soft, and I slept great. I really would like to get that same kind of bed for my room."

Just then Michael walks in the room and sees Toot and Elidee and stops short of the table. Harry sees him and says, "This is my friend Toot Toot and Elidee. Toot runs a small but very brave army of fairies and has been searching for the others."

Michael slowly came forward greeted Toot and Elidee and sat down to listen as Toot was just telling Harry what they had found. He said, "So far, we have found 3 human children about 14 years old. There is 1 girl and 2 boys. We are sure we will find the other girl soon."

Michael asked, "Where did you find the girl?"

Toot replies, "We first spotted her in the purple valley and followed her to a small hut close to the ridgeline of the valley on the north side."

Michael said, "I don't know her, but I do know Roxanne and I know where to find her."

Tanzi asked, "How do you know her? I thought we weren't supposed to find one another or talk to them either."

Michael said, "I was out hunting for something to eat when I found a small field of these big blue berries. They weren't blueberries but they were blue, and they were berries, and they are delicious. I started picking them and after a couple hours I heard a voice singing so I went around a bunch of trees and there she was sitting by a small pond cleaning a strange looking leaf that she was planning to eat for dinner. We visited and talked for a while before I went home."

Tanzi asked, "Have you seen her since then?"

Michael said, "Only once and it was across the pond. She waved and shouted hello and so did I and we then went about our business. Haven't seen her since."

Tanzi said, "Well, we should go find her next before we find the others."

Michael smiled and said, "It would be best if we started from my house, it is a lot closer."

Harry said, "Okay then, we go back and start looking from you house and we find your sister Rozanne. First, you will all need to make sure you get something to eat and then clean yourselves up by then Maggie should be here and then we will all go. Sorry Bonea but we won't be able to take you with us as I am not sure who or what we will run into."

Bonea said, "That's alright dad, I will be fine here at home until you return. Just make sure to bring them all back for me to meet."

Harry went and gave Michael Carpenter a call and told him about what was happening and asked if he would be able to finish off a few more bedrooms upstairs for the kids and he said he would be proud to help him out. He said it might take a couple days, but I can start right away. He said he had a new crew that he wanted to see what they could do so this would be a good test for them. Harry thanked him and then headed for his room to pack a bag.

Everyone was busy taking care of cleaning up or getting something for breakfast when Maggie entered the front door and stood not knowing what exactly to do. She saw people in her house that she had never seen before going in all directions. She spotted Bonea floating toward the kitchen, so she hurried and caught up with her. When she did, Bonea was so happy to see her that she leapt into her arms talking a mile a minute about what exactly Maggie could tell.

Finally, she said, "Bonea, who are these people and what are you talking about?"

Bonea stopped and looked at her before saying slower, "These are out brother and sister. I don't know all the info but they are dad's children and they have been waiting for you so they can go find the other 4 kids that are somewhere in the Nevernever. Isn't it great and aren't you excited?"

Maggie replied, "I don't know yet, where is dad?"

"He was in his room packing up a few things," she said.

Maggie turned and headed straight for her dad's room. She knocked and then entered to find her dad bent over in his closet looking for something in the back, talking to himself. "I know it is here, I saw it just last year, I think. I hope it is here."

Maggie said, "Dad, what is going on and who are this people? Bonea said they were your children and as one of your children, I am confused?"

Harry came out of the closet and turned to face Maggie. She looked about to cry and he was not sure what was best to say first so he quickly scooped her up, hugged her tight, kiss her cheek and said, "Hi sweetie, I missed you so much."

She hugged him back and didn't move for a couple minutes. She finally loosened up and Harry sat on the bed and set her on his lap and said, "I was not aware of these children until 2 days ago. It appears that Mab took some of my body parts and fluids when I was 17 years old and then decided to make babies with it. The best I can tell is there are 6 children that are your half-brothers and sisters."

He waited and let her think about that before he continued, "Bonea found them doing some kind of sweep and used an example of my DNA to match them all up and yesterday I went looking for whoever these people were. I found Tanzi first and she told me most of what I now know. Mab had given birth and them put all the kids in adoption agencies. When they turned 13 years old she took them away from their families and dropped them in the Nevernever to grow their magic and survive."

After Harry finished, Maggie was quiet for a few seconds then said, "What is the boy's name?"

Harry smiled a little and "His name is Michael, just like Mister Carpenter's. The girl's name in Tanzi which is short for Tanzinite. Oh, by the way, I let her sleep in your bed last night, I hope it is ok?"

Maggie said, "That is fine dad. How old are they?"

Harry said, "Well, Tanzi is recently 16 years old, and Michael is 14 years old, I'm not sure about the other kids."

Maggie asked, "Who is the oldest?"

Harry smiled and said, "Well, that would be you sweetie. You are the oldest of all my children by almost 2 years on Tanzi. The best I can tell is Bonea is the youngest. Are you ready to be the older sister, the big sister to all of them? That is 6 of them and Bonea makes 7."

Maggie smiled and said, "I am a good big sister to Bonea, I guess I can do the same for the rest of them."

Harry smiled big, "I know you can. You're the greatest." They ended with a big hug and a big kiss on her cheek.

Harry and Maggie left his room and walked into the kitchen area and Maggie introduced herself to bot Tanzi and Michael. She let them know that she would be here to help them get used to the house and Chicago as they went along. After a little chit chat, Harry said it was time to go. Harry grabbed his bag and took Michael's hand as Tanzi took Maggie's and they all said goodbye to Bonea and pop, they were gone.

They popped back into being just outside Michael's cottage. He ran inside and came back with some bottled water for everyone. He then retuned inside and changed clothes and grabbed some sweet bread to eat. They all took their time drinking their water and then Harry asked Michael which way to the pond where he saw Rozanne.

Michael led the way and after almost an hour, they came to the pond but there was no sight of anyone around. They headed around the pond and started looking for a path or worn spot that would show in which direction someone would have left the pond area. Maggie spotted a small dirt pathway and they all followed her down the path. It dropped down a slow lazy decline that led them into a heavily wooded area. Tanzi was able to follow the almost not existent path, at this point.

They walked along for another hour before coming to a treehouse style cottage sitting high up between 2 very large oak trees. It was about the size of Tanzi's, but it was about 20 feet in the air and there wasn't any visible way to get up to the house, Harry figured it required magic. He told everyone to wait while he popped up there and knocked on the door. He didn't want to scare her with so many people at once.

Harry stepped aside and looked up at the railing around the cottage and pop, he was gone. Suddenly there was a loud gong sound like in the Aladdin movies which they used to announce someone of importance entering the room. Just as quick, Harry popped back into view on the ground next to where he had been standing like someone had wadded him up and tossed him back to the ground.

Maggie and Tanzi both grabbed him by his arms and helped him up asking if he was okay. He said, "Someone has set up a very strong ward to keep people from sneaking up on them. it appears to wrap all the way around the cottage. I bounced off it like a tennis ball of a racket."

Just then, a young girl came out of the cottage and stood on the porch looking down at them. she asked ,"I don't know any of you. Who are you and what do you want?"

Michael spoke up, "Hi Roxanne, do you remember me. We have talked a couple time by the pond."

Roxanne looked down at him and said, "Yes, I remember you, but I don't know the rest of you. What do you want?"

Michael asked, "Rozanne, when is your birthday?"

Roxanne was quiet for a few seconds and then said, "Why do you want to know my birthday?"

Michael said, "I think it is the same day as mine. It is February 14, 2007, right?"

Roxanne looked around and then said, "That is right, how do you know that?"

Michael said, "I also know that you were adopted while you were a baby, right?"

Roxanne replied, "This is getting weird, I think you should go, all of you go away." Before she could turn to go in the house, Harry said, "Roxanne, I am wizard Harry Dresden and I believe I am your father."

She stood door stop still for a couple minutes and then said, "You say that because he and I have the same birthday? You are trying to trick me for some reason? I had a mother and a father who loved me and now I am hiding here in this strange place and everything is about magic. Just stop and leave me alone."

She turned to go in the house, but Maggie said, "Let me talk to her. Send me up there dad."

Harry looked at her and then waved his hands and said something under his breath and pop, Maggie was gone and instantly she appeared on the porch next to Rozanne. They talk quickly and then went in the cottage. After about 30 minutes, Maggie stepped out on the porch and said, "You can come up now."

They all popped up on the porch and Maggie told her dad, "You needed to go in first and talk to her, because she is scared and lonely and hurt and she needs her dad right now."

Harry hugged Maggie and kissed her forehead before he stepped into the house. He stepped into a very lovely home and felt the strength at the threshold. He walked in and stood in the middle of the room and Rozanne stood on the far side like she was waiting.

He said, "I would guess that you have several questions, and they are all very important to you and to me. If it is okay, I would like to sit down and answer your questions as best I can, if I know the answer."

She pointed to the large easy chair to his right side, and he sat down. She slowly came over and sat across from him in a matching chair before speaking. "Why?"

Harry waited a few seconds for more and then realized that that was it. He said, "I don't know why you were born or why you were put up for adopting or why you were allowed to have a life with loving parents or why you were taken from all of that and put here. I wish I did know, but from talking to Michael and Tanzi, I have been able to put together some information. Would you like to hear what I know, so far?"

She looked up with sad eyes about ready to let loose the water works and said, "Yes, I would."

Harry paused for a second and then said, "I have recently found out the someone had stolen samples of my body parts and fluids back when I was 17 years old. That someone is mostly your mother, Queen Mab. She is a very powerful fairy Queen, the strongest of all around with magic. She started using my body parts about 16 years ago and your sister Tanzi was born. She and Michael are your real sister and brother, since you all have the same mom and dad. The adopting and living with your new families are not something I can even guess about but you were brought here into what is called the Nevernever, the land of fairies so that you can grow and develop your magic strength."

Harry paused again and asked if she had some water or something he could drink as his mouth and throat were dry as a bone. She got up and went to the ice box and brought him a cola can of Coke. He smiled and said, "Thank you, this is perfect." He took a couple long drinks of his Coke and then started again, "A couple days ago, my youngest daughter, your half-sister fond 9 total DNA matches in the spiritual cloud. After doing a little checking and with the help of a couple dew drop pixies, I was able to find Tanzi, your sister. She had quite a bit of information and was able to help me fill in the blanks, but I still don't know a lot of the whys."

She was quiet for a little while and then said, "So you never knew I had been born or adopted or kidnapped to here until 2 days ago and know you are what, trying to find us? Why?"

Harry sat up straight, finished his Coke and said, "This may be hard for you to accept but I love my kids, all of you. I don't know when or why but I plan to find out and you are welcome to be right there when I ask the why's for your answers because they are the same whys that I have, and I want answers too."

She started to cry and said, "How can you say you love me when you don't even know me.?"

Harry got up and walked over and knelt in front of her taking her hands in his and said, "I don't know you yet, but with a little time, I hope to get to know all of you and as for loving you, I don't need to know any more about you except that you and I have the same blood, we are family and I always love my family."

She started crying really hard now and jumped into his arms and hugged his neck with all her strength. He stood up and she never moved or slipped. He stood there holding her as close as he could to let her know that he was here and going nowhere. They stayed like that for a couple minutes, until she had stopped crying and as she pulled her head back a little Harry kissed her forehead like her dad should. She started crying again but this time she was able to release his neck and stand on her own feet.

She slowly got control and said that she was sorry for making herself a problem and Harry said, "You have nothing to say sorry about. If you want to hug me, that is fine, if you prefer to slug me in the arm, that is fine too. I am your dad, and you are my daughter as long as we have each other, all is good."

Harry called to the others, and they all came in, Maggie first and she gave her a big hug and then before they broke apart Tanzi grabbed them both and hugged together. They slowly unraveled when Michael stepped up and slowly up his hand out and Tanzi pushed him toward Rozanne who grabbed him and gave him a big hug. He was smiling and crying a little, but he hugged her back.

She fixed lunch, Maggie and Tanzi helped and everyone sat around talking and eating as Harry was watching it all and feeling like the very proud papa that he was becoming. After a couple hours, Roxanne said, "This is like the best day ever. I have a family; I can't believe it."

Maggie asked, "But you had your adopted family, didn't you? What about them?" she said this and looked around the room.

Tanzi spoke first saying, "My adopted mother committed suicide by taking a drug over dose and her husband was always trying to touch me but I stayed away from him. That wasn't much of a family."

Michael said, My adopted mom and dad worked all the time. I rarely saw them and when I did it was for a review of my school weekly reports or report card. I as long as I got good grades, they didn't bother me, which translate to didn't interact with me. I was alone all the time."

Roxanne said, "My adopted family had 2 kids besides me, they were their natural kids. They got pregnant after adopting me. After their kids came along, I didn't seem to exist and I was alone a lot too."

Maggie wiped the away tears in her eyes and said, "I can't say that I have the best dad in the world but I wouldn't trade him for anyone, ever. He protects and will fight to his last breath to make sure I am safe. He wiped out an entire species of vampires because they threated to kill me. He didn't wait or wonder, he just did it. He almost died when our baby sister Bonea was born but he never gave up. I am so sorry for the troubles and bad times you have had but you are now home and we will do our best to help each other and love each other like the family we should be."

Everyone rushed to her to hug her and I have to admit I had a few tears of my own. She is my favorite and the oldest. I know you're not supposed to have favorite children but there is something about the first that is magical by itself. After everyone was done hugging, I suggested that we clean up the lunch mess and maybe head out to find some other kid.

It took almost an hour to get everyone headed in the right direction but we managed. Roxanne knew of the purple valley and was able to lead them in that direction. They walked a little over 3 hours before the topped a ridge and saw a valley that was completely purple because of the flowers that grew there. Tanzi took up the lead here and found a small pathway that led around the valley and followed close to the ridgeline of the valley until they reached the north side.

They spread out and after about 30 minutes Roxanne spotted the small hut. They walked toward it but stopped short when Harry to them that he needed to approach the hut alone so she would be scared, if she saw the growing group. Harry starts out leaving the group behind. He is not sure of what kind of protection or wards awaited him so he preceded slowly and carefully until he had reached the door upon which he knocked firmly.

When the door opened he could see the wards shimmering like a film of water between himself and the young girl. She didn't smile but she didn't look upset either. She said, "Hello, who are you and why are you knocking on my door?"

Harry replied, "Hello, I am here to ask you a few questions and to hopefully provide you with some answers, if I can."

She thought for a minute and asked, "Who are you that you can provide me with answers, you don't know me and I don't know you?"

Harry stood straight and said, "My name is Harry Dresden, Wizard of Chicago."

She looked at him with large eyes and asked, "Are you the Wizard Dresden who is also the Winter Knight?"

Harry was a little surprised and said, "Yes, I am the Winter Knight. Can you tell me how you knew that?"

She said, "I have talked to several of the beings that live around here and they all know who you are. They said you work for the Winter Queen, is that right? Is she a good queen or and evil one?"

Harry smiled and said, "The Queen of the Air and the Darkness, The Queen of the Winter Court, Queen Mab, she is a strong and fair queen." Harry hoped that she was listening to that and hopped it would get him a brownie point or two.

She spoke a little quieter saying, "I met her when she brought me to this place. She told me that I was to grow in my magic and in my physical strength and then she left. I haven't seen her since."

Harry explained why he was here and that he was he father. He told her about the group that was waiting to see if you would be ok. He explained all that he knew about her birth and life and told her that he didn't want her to have to do anything. He said, "I understand that this is all very scary and shocking at some point but you and I are blood and that makes us family, if you want."

She sat thinking things over for a couple minutes and then said, "Well, it's not the craziest thing I have run into lately, so you're my dad and the queen is my mom. When do I meet her, again?"

Harry said, "I don't know when that would happen, not long from now if I guess right. I am just trying to find each of you children, make sure you are ok and let you know that you are not alone. You are welcome to come back to Chicago to my home, our home, if you want. Can I call the others to come up and meet you?"

She smiled, "Oh yes, please. I would like to meet them all."

Harry stepped out and waved to the group to come one up and then he stepped back in the house to wait with he but first he asked, "I'm sorry but I didn't get your name earlier?"

She said, "Oh my, I was busy listening and forgot to say, I am Angelica."

Everyone arrived at the house and made their way into the living room. Harry introduced Angelica and then they all started talking at once. Tanzi asked how her adopted family had been and what her life was like?

Angelica said, "My adopted mom and dad had gotten a divorce when she was 5 years old, so that just left my mom and me. We lived in Baltimore and she worked 2 jobs to pay the bills and I helped by keeping the house clean and sometimes I would cook. Not much but I was trying to help. I never saw my dad again and don't remember what he looked like. Mom got really sick and I had to stay at my aunt's house while she was in the hospital. It was about that time that the Queen took me away and brought me here."

Michael asked her when her birthday was and she said, "It is May 27, 2007." This got everyone talking again and Harry just sat and watched as they acted like a bunch of kids, actually brothers and sisters. They talked about everything, asking Maggie a ton of questions and after about 2 hours they started talking about getting some dinner and what to do about sleeping.

As they ate they talked and the idea that the girls could stay right here and the boys, well Michael and Harry, could pop back to Michaels and then they would all have enough room to sleep and stretch out. Harry agreed and after they finished with dinner, he and Michael said their good nights and popped out of Angelica's and into Michael's home.

Michael was too excited to sleep and he had a million questions about magic and being a wizard. So he and Harry sat and talked about magic from A-Z and Harry explained about the White Counsel and the Laws of Magic. He went into great depth about the laws because he didn't want Michael to do something that would get him killed by the counsel. They talked until Michael started falling asleep so Harry shooed him off to bed and he stretched out on the sofa which turned out to be very comfortable.

Harry woke the next morning, a lot earlier that he would have liked but Toot was calling his name and pulling on his cover, so he gave up and sat upright while Toot talked a mile a minute. Harry stopped him and asked him to please speak slower so he could understand. Toot told him that his people had found the last 2 children and one was in real trouble because he had wandered into a Red Cap's territory.

Harry quickly woke up Michael and said that they needed to go quickly so he needed him to get ready to go right away. 5 minutes later they took up each other's hands and "pop" they vanished and appeared just outside of Angelica's house. He knocked and Tanzi opened the door and asked, "What's wrong dad?"

Harry quickly told her what Toot had said and she said, "We need to go now, I have delt with the Red caps before and they are very dangerous and we have to hurry." She and Harry took up hands and "pop" they disappeared. They reappeared alongside a large cave opening and could hear the gnashing of teeth and growling of a very mad Red Cap.

Harry charged into the cave and there was 2 of them and they had a young man tied up and they were pulling a rope to hang him upside down so they could catch the most blood from the body. Harry pulled his blasting rod just as Tanzi popped out of sight and then appeared on top of the tied young man. She popped again and both she and the tied up young man disappeared, Harry could only hope they were far enough away and safe.

The 2 Red Caps were pissed that their victim was gone and they turned on Harry, pulling their knives and pointing and growling and snapping at him. He heard one say something about his being bigger that the smaller one so this was better. Harry had no plans of being their dinner or blood bath for their caps. He concentrated and "pop" he was gone and then he was back at Angelica's.

When Harry popped in, everybody was waiting for him. Maggie and Rozanne gave him big hugs, then angelica and Tanzi hugged him and Michael finished up a hug with the new guy. He gave Harry a long hard hug that went on for several minutes and he was crying hard by the time he was done.

Harry grabbed him by his shoulders and asked, "Are you ok son. They didn't hurt you did they?"

He replied, "No sir, they hadn't had the chance to hurt me other than punching and jabbing me in the stomach and ribs." He had a puzzling look on his face and asked, "Sir, are you my father?"

Harry dropped to one knee and looked him straight in the eyes and said, "Yes sir, I believe I am. Hi my name is Harry Dresden and I am a wizard."

His eyes got big and he mouthed the word "wow" but he only said, "I am very happy to meet you, my name is Malcomb."

This started the questions again, so harry just looked for a place to sit and watch the kids as they talked, and questioned Malcomb and then each other for about 2 hours. Harry listened as Malcomb described his life with his adopted family. He said, "I and among 4 kinds that were all adopted and there were 4 foster kids there too. His adopted mom and dad didn't have a lot of free time so he played with the other kids but the foster kids would come and go, some after only a week and it made it hard to get to know anyone."

The other kids told him about their lives and adventures, Michael was all about magic and the Laws of Magic. All of the kids had their own stories and then some had their most recent adventures. They went into Angelica's house and everyone ate lunch and then Harry said that they needed to get on the road looking for the last of them.

Malcomb said, "Hey I know where Frank lives. It is only a couple hours walk from his place."

Maggie spoke up and said, "Why don't we finish lunch, clean up and then head out to find Frank."

Everyone agreed and lunch was soon done and gone and they were heading down the trail. Malcomb led the why to his home, which turned out to be a tree house, also. It wasn't near as nice as Roxanne's and it was quite small. They passed it and headed north for a while and then west for an hour and half.

They continued walking until Angelica said, "Hey, what is that over there? It looks like a small castle or something."

They all spotted what she was talking about and Maggie noticed that the trees overhead was full of ropes. They made rope bridges, swings nets and many more. Harry noticed that the rope went in every direction and all met in the center above the castle. He called everyone to a stop and pointed out what he and Maggie had seen. He asked Malcomb how well he knew Frank and he said that they had talked a couple times but they weren't friends or anything.

Harry told them all to stay back while he went up to the house and met with Frank first. He walked off expecting to be captured in ropes any second but he walked right up to the door, just like with Angelica's house and he knocked.

Almost instantly the door opened and a young man who looked a lot like Harry when he was young said, "Hello, you must be my dad and you have a group back there of my brothers and sisters, right?"

Harry was stunned and said, "Yes, that's right. How did you know?"

Frank smiled and said, "There is not much that happens around here that I don't hear about. I also know that you are being followed by a pack of Red Caps. Who did you piss off?"

Harry looked around and said, "How close are they? How many, can you tell?"

Frank said, "They are about an hour and half away but they are moving fast and there are 7 of them. You must have made them real mad, what did you do?"

Harry smiled and said, "We took something from them before they could kill it."

Frank asked, "What was that?"

Harry said, "Your brother Malcomb." Then he said, "We need to get the rest up here and then prepare for them to attack."

Frank said, "Not a problem." He waved his arms and hands, said something in a very foreign tongue and then there was a big flash of light and all of them were standing in one room.

Harry was so surprised that he was speechless. Frank then said, "With so many, I need everyone to grab hands and step back until we are a tight circle."

They grabbed hands and slowly stepped backwards a couple steps until they were a tight circle.

Then Frank said, "No body move. I just needed to get balance to the building. Remember, don't move around." Again, he raised his arms and shook out his hands and started mumbling in that unintelligible language and then the floor rumbled and shock. It felt like a very slow elevator ride going up. After several minutes they stopped going up and they heard and couple loud clanking of metal and then the house was stable again.

He went to the window and using a spy glass he looked in the direction they were coming and he saw the first one. He quickly moved to the center of the room and waved his arms again and said something and it felt like the room was sealed to no let any air in or out. He then said another phrase and then said, "We are safe for now, but please stay away from the windows and no loud noises."

Harry asked, "Frank, what did you just do?"

He turned and said, "Father, I raised the house up into the near top of the trees and then I used a veil to hide it among the tree limbs and leaves. I also sealed the house so no sound, or smell can get out. They will arrive and find nothing and then they will move off."

Harry was amazed and asked , "How did you think of this? It is amazing."

"Thanks," he said, "I read about something like it in a Popular Mechanics: The Future and I applied it to my home and it worked."

They could hear growling and yelling coming from under the floor, Frank walked over and waved his hand over the center rug and it turned into a large glass window and everyone jumped back before they were spotted. Frank said, "It's alright, they can't see in but we can keep an eye on them from here."

They sat in chairs or on the floor watching the Red Caps search, yell, growl and then started fighting each other. After a few minutes, 2 were dead and the others used their blood to soak their caps and then they cut up the bodies and pack them out of the area. Harry waited almost 20 minutes before saying anything but then he said, "I am sorry you all had to see that. If you need to talk to someone, you can talk to me."

Frank said, "It is a little late to go anywhere, why don't you all pick a room and get some sleep." They went down the hall and it went on for a couple hundred yards. "It is a magical cabin and can be whatever size it needs to be. There will be breakfast in the morning so don't over sleep. Blankets and pillows are in each room, Good night." Everybody grabbed a room and they were all asleep immediately except Harry. Something wasn't right with this house, his boy or with his magic. He would be watching him closely to see what is going on. Also, there was the issue of Mab, he was still mad as hell at here for doing this without his permission. He wanted to know what she is planning for these kids and he had to stop her somehow from hurting, killing or worse them.

CHAPTER 9

The next morning was fantastic if you asked Harry. He just sat and watched, all the kids were in the kitchen talking at once trying to get something to eat and bumping each other like kids will do. It was total chaos and Harry was loving it. These are my children, all of them. he loved seeing them interact and fuss and yell and help each other as they went about their focused task.

Finally, when everyone seemed to have what they wanted, Harry got up and grabbed a muffin and an apple for his breakfast. He noticed that Tanzi and Frank were over near the front door in a fairly heavy conversation so he stayed with the rest but kept an eye on them. after a few minutes, Tanzi took his hand and they popped out of sight. After a couple minutes, Tanzi popped back in the living room and then Frank popped in beside her.

After a little smiling and laughing, they rejoined the group. Maggie spoke up and asked, "Dad what are we going to do today. What do you have planned?"

Harry looked and saw 7 faces looking at him waiting for him to say something, to give them some guidance. He had not made any plans other than find all of the kids and making sure they were safe. He sat forward and said, "Well, I really hadn't made any plans behind finding all of you kids, but I do have one thing I would like to do. I want us to all sit down together and talk. I know that each of you have been taking turns telling your stories and asking a lot of questions but I want to go around to each on and establish an order and get some together info, something for the whole group."

Everyone started mumbling and talking in a murmur until Harry said, "I want to go first because not everyone here knows much about me and I think that it is important that you know who and what your father is. First, I want each of you to know that every one of you in this room has the blood of 2 different people, which is how the baby making process starts." There was a little giggling and whispering and he paid them no mind.

"I want each of you to know that you all are made up of half my blood, that makes us family and I want more than anything for us to be a family. I don't believe that I have to know you for years to know that I love you, very much because you are my children. No matter how it happened, you are my children and I want to be your father. You can call me father, dad or Harry. I won't mind. So now, a little about my background. My mother was Margret LeFae McCoy Dresden. Maggie was named after her. She died giving birth to me, so I have never met her," he said.

He continued with, "My mother was born a very powerful wizard, just like all of you. My father was Malcomb Dresden, and I believe you were name after him Malcomb. He was a stage magician who could not do real magic. He died when I was 6 years old and I was placed in the foster care system. Aman who claimed to be my uncle, adopted me and taught me a lot about magic. He was a powerful wizard and member of the Wizard's White Counsel. He was cruel and mean and when I was 16 years old, he tried to kill me but I had been working on my own magic and out of pure fear for my life, I fought back and accidentally killed him."

Harry let that sink in and watched as they all murmured and whispered about what he had just told them. Roxanne asked, "Did you mean to kill him?"

Harry said, "No, I did not, I just wanted him to stop hurting me. I broke the 1st Law of Magic which is "Thou shalt not kill with magic." The White Counsel takes these laws and their violations very serious. If you break one of the laws they will hunt you down, bring you before the counsel and chop your head off. That is the truth and they don't play around about it."

Angelica asked, "Are there many laws and how do we learn them?"

Harry smiled and said, "There are a total of 7 Laws of Magic and you should have been taught them when you were younger and well before being dropped in the back lands of the Nevernever. The responsibility for teaching you what you need to know falls on your parents. I know that saying this sounds lame or like I am trying not to take responsibility for my actions but I honestly did not know anything about any of you until 4 days ago. As soon as I know, I started looking for you to make sure you were safe. I am sorry"

Quickly, almost every one of them was up and trying to hug or touch him saying that it wasn't his fault. The queen didn't tell you anything. They all felt bad for him and no one blamed him for how their lives had turned out. They all got settled down and he continued, "The White Council was after me so I came to Queen Mab for safety. She put me on ice, literally for 6 months and I believe that it was during that time that Mab took a little piece of every part of my body and of my fluids, for what reason I don't know. I met up with a senior member of the White Counsel who went with me and spoke up for me. He saved my life but I had to live with him and train with him until I turned 18 years old."

Frank asked, "Do you think Queen Mab had us planned when she took your body parts?"

Harry though for a sec and said, "Let's talk about Queen Mab, she appears to be your mother. She is the Queen of Air and Darkness; she is the Queen of the Winter Court and the most powerful Fairy Queen on earth. She is the dark to the light, the Yes to the No, Bad to the Good, I thing you have the idea. First, let me remind you that she is your mother and I will not tell you things to make you dislike her. That you will have to decide for yourselves but she is not the warm and cuddly mother type. She can mostly be cold, direct, without feeling, and that is plain straight up truth. Almost everyone fears her and they almost all have a good reason."

Angelica asked, "What about you, do you fear her?"

Harry sat back and said, "No, not really fear but I know when getting out of her way is a good thing. I have to deal with her differently than most others because I am the Winter Knight. Sometimes it is my job to stand up and tell het the truth which can be dangerous, depending on the issue. I can tell you that she is not going to be happy with me about you kids. She put you here for some reason and I have messed with that plan"

Michael asked, "Are you going to be in trouble with her? We are your kids too and she is the one that didn't tell you anything and she hasn't shared anything with us. I think that she needs to rethink who should be mad or in trouble with who."

Everyone started talking and agreeing with Michael. They were talking about how they wanted to know what she had planned and what she was thinking by dumping them in the middle of nowhere. They were just kids and that is no way for a mother to act.

Harry listened and then got them all to calm down so he could finish. He said, "I worked for years as a private detective before opening my own office and I am even listed in the yellow pages under Wizard. I got into some really bad trouble and had to ask Mab to help me, which she did but I had to agree to be her Winter Knight. I had to save Maggie from a group of people known as the Red Court Vampires. Maggie's mother was killed in the fighting and I pulled on an old magic trick which killed every single Red Court Vampire in the world."

Everyone sat silent. Maggie had her head down as she thought about what he had said. Tanzi asked, "How did you kill every one of them at one time? Was it some kind of spell?"

Harry looked at Maggie and said, "It was a blood-line spell that was meant to kill everyone in one particular bloodline, like everyone in this room right now. They were going to use it on Maggie since she was the youngest of my bloodline but I found it and reworked it and turned it back on them. when a vampire is made their now have the same blood as the one that made them. since the courts are basically one entire family, it wiped them all out."

Everyone murmured a little but they all were looking at him. He said, "I have been the Winter Knight and that means that I am the bad guy that come to you when the Queen wants you to do or act differently. Let's just say, I am the heavy when it comes to enforcing the Queen's rules. Not long ago, you may have heard about some trouble in Chicago. The regular people were told it was a serious gang problem, which wasn't completely wrong except the gangs were the fairies and more were fighting against a magical people known as the Fomor, they live in the deep ocean, and a Titan, like the super powerful being from the movies like "Clash of the Titans" after days of fighting I was able to trap the Titan and end the fighting but not before almost half of Chicago was dead or wounded and a lot of magic folks."

Everyone started asking questions about magic folks and what did he do to trap the Titan and more. Harry tried to answer most of the questions but more kept coming so he sat back and watched. Finally, they quieted down some and he said, "I had just told you the short version of my life so that you have an idea about who I am. I am not a hero but I take my job of helping and saving people very serious. I don't get involved unless there is some magic connection and then I do my best to solve it. Now I think that everyone here needs to stand up, say your name you birthday and a little about your life. Oh yah, I almost forgot my birthday is Halloween."

Maggie stood and said, " would like to first hear everyone's birthday, and what do you prefer to be called. I am Margaret Angelica Dresden, but I prefer to be called Maggie and my birthday is November 5, 2003, I will be 18 this year.

Tanzi stood up and said, "I am Tanzinite Dresden, some people call me Nite Doe but dad calls me Tanzi and I kind of like that. My birthday is August 15, 2005, I will be 16 this year." She went on telling a little of her life before and after coming here.

Next Frank stood and said, "My name is Francis Dresden, but I like to be called Frank. My birthday is May 21, 2006, I will be 15 next month." He went on to tell everyone how he was the youngest of 5 kids, all foster kids with some form of physical handicap. He had to help his mom with feeding and cleaning of the others because some could get around very easily. He said they never had much but the family was close and always took care of each other.

Angelica stood up and said, "I'm Angelica Dresden and I have the same birthday as Frank, May 21, 2006, and I will be 15 next month too." She told about her family and a story about her cat.

Roxanne stood up and said, "I am Roxanne Dresden and my birthday is February 14, 2007. I just recently turned 14." She told about growing up he her adopted home and sat down quickly.

Malcomb stood up and said, I have the same birthday as you do Roxanne, February 14, 2007. It is also Valentine's Day so it gets overlooked a lot. I too turned 14 and had a life that wasn't as great as it should have been, but I am here now and I believe that will soon change."

Michael stood up last and said, "I am Michael Dresden and I too share the same birthday as Rozanne and Malcomb. He is right, when your birthday is on a holiday, no one remembers it. My life before here was lonely and boring. I think that is going to change soon."

They started talking again and laughing and having a really good time, all of them. he noticed that earlier, Frank seemed to stand back a little from the rest of the group but he seems to have gotten over that shyness, if that is what it was and in right in the mix along with everyone else. Maggie usually holds back from people and rarely speaks out but she is one of the loudest and is always laughing or hugging and Harry couldn't have become happier or more proud of her if he had tried. He loved to watch his children and was feeling all warm and fuzzy.

He still had the conversation with Mab coming up and he didn't know how that was going to go. He was extremely pissed that she had violated him and stole parts of his body. She had no right to do that but then she decided to make children using his sperm and probably her eggs because she would want the children to be as strong as possible. What he didn't understand was why she put the kids into the human adoption services.

He watched the kids and thought about the why's and the what's regarding Mab and the children. She had dumped them in the back lands of the Nevernever with no training or guidance. About have of them were told to work on growing their magic and/or physical strength but the others were not told a seems that Tanzi is the only one that had actually spoke with Mab and she is also the only one that has been visited by Mab, at least once maybe twice.

He noticed that some of the kids had moved into the kitchen to get something for lunch and Tanzi brought him a plate with 2 sandwiches, chips and a Coke. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and went back to the others. He was all soft and ready to cry because it seemed that at least a few of them felt something for him. He ate as he thought and thought while he belched bring both laughter and "Ews" for his bad manners. But no one really seemed bothered by it so he just went on.

He fell asleep and woke to find all the kids outside and it looked like Tanzi and Frank were teaching them some magic. Tanzi wanted to make sure everyone learned how the teleport from one place to the next. She would take 2 of the kids and "pop" out of sight and they would be gone for a good 15 – 20 minutes before "popping" back into view. She then took 2 more until she had taken all that wanted to learn.

Frank was teaching the kids how to make veils that would hide them from almost anyone. These were not the cheap easy to pop up type, no they were very strong and powerfully built veils. They would take turns play hide and seek but you couldn't leave the clearing area. They would pop up their veils and he would try to find then and then he would tell them and show them what, if anything, they had done wrong or could have done better. If they got it right away, he would then show them how to levitate themselves and/or other veiled objects, like he had done with the cabin. Bot kids were very good and patient with the others and everyone seemed to learn a lot.

What really got Harry was watching Maggie learn to do these things and he could see that she was very good at all of it. Some of the kids didn't get the veils very well and some didn't get the levitating very well but they all tried and had fun learning. He popped down from the cabin and was watching until Angelica ran over, grabbed his arm and said, "Come on dad, we want you to be the counter while we hide. Then see if you can find us but you can't use any special magic to find us just your 2 eyes, ok?"

Harry smiled and agreed. He turned around, closed his eyes and started counting. He counted to 20 and said, "Here I come, ready or not here I come."

Just then, Harry heard of to the side, "Oh we all ready but are you?" It was 4 of the Red Caps that had come through earlier looking for him and the children. Harry quickly looked around and didn't see any of the kids. He stepped back a couple paces and asked, "What do you want here? It was a pleasant afternoon until now. Go away before I have to hurt you, all of you."

The largest Red Cap smiled a wicked smile and said, "Ya' hear that fellas, we might hurt us. Now that I would really like to see. Go ahead tall man, do your best."

Still not knowing where the children were but he did see some of the bushes shake and move around as if someone on stepped into the bushes. He said, "Well, I never like to disappoint a guest so, Fuego!" He swung his blasting rod at them as a group and bathed them in fire. After a few minutes, they were all running around trying to put out the flames and Harry decided he would help. He raised his rod and said, "INFRIGA" and again something like white lightning shot out and covered them all. There was loud hissing and screams and steam and some fog but that all cleared leaving 3 complete ice statues and one-half ice-covered Red Cap, the leader. He was freezing from the waist down because it was frozen solid but from the waist up he was not frozen but smoldering from the fire.

The Red Cap was screaming and cussing and shivering hard enough to snap a tooth. Harry asked him why he came back and he said, "We are going to cut you up and take a bath in your blood, that's why."

Harry rubbed his chin and said, "Oh, well as long as you have a plan. Do you know who I am?"

The leader was so mad that he was spitting as he spoke, "No I don't know who you are and I don't give a shit. I am going to cut you while you are still alive so you can feel everything, damn you."

Harry again nodded his head in agreement and said, "Ok, well I will help you out by telling you who I am. I am the Winter Knight for the Winter Queen; you do know who Mab is right?"

The Red Cap stopped moving or fighting or anything, "You are the Winter Knight? What are you doing out here? Why are you here and why did you interfere with our hunt yesterday?"

Harry smiled and said, "Hey, kids come one out." Slowly all of the kids came out of their hiding places or the bushes and walked over by Harry. He then said, "I interfered with your hunt because you were about to kill and eat this young man right here. Not only does that bother all by itself but he is my son and I would not like you to hurt him but his mother would be very upset."

The leader pulled up some bravado and said, "What do I care if his mother is upset?"

Harry laughed and looked deep into his eyes and said, "You should really care what his mother might get upset about because is mother is the all-powerful Queen of Air and Darkness, Queen of the Winter Court and better known as Queen Mab. Now, does that make you more concerned about his mother."

The Red Cap looked like someone had drain all of his blood as he had turned snow white. He looked at Harry then at Malcomb and then back to Harry. He stammered with, "I didn't know, how was I to know, he never said anything. You're not going to tell her, are you?"

Harry said, "That is up to him and these other children because they are all Mab's children and mine and I am very sure that she would find you anywhere you go and she would then take her time making sure and everyone else knows how she feels about people trying to kill and eat her children. I leave it up to them."

Malcomb stepped forward and asked, "Dad, can I freeze him now?"

Harry was surprised and asked "Do you know how to freeze him? Ok if you do then go ahead."

The Red Cap was screaming and yelling, cussing and spitting as Malcomb set himself lifted his arms and said, "Ice cube."

Suddenly the air around the Red Cap was white and thick and the yelling had stopped. As it cleared, they all could see that I giant ice cube had formed around the half-frozen Red Cap. He was frozen solid in a block of ice.

Harry stepped up and checked the ice and walked around the cube and finally said, "Malcomb, that was a good job. Nice solid single block of ice, really god job. I want you all to take a closer look at the block of ice and see what a good job Malcomb did. Mighty fine, son."

After talking with some of the kids and asking Malcomb about his ice cube, Harry waved the ice away from them all and refroze them in his ice telling the kids that it would last about 2 days before melting away. He then asked Tanzi and Frank if they could use they teleporting magic to send the new ice cubes far away. Tanzi told Frank she knew of the perfect place for them to thaw out. They both grabbed the ice and together they "Popped" out sight only to return 5 minutes later.

Frank asked, "Who were those villagers? They weren't human, they looked more like lizards?"

She smiled and said, "I recently met them and found out that they are great hunters and they haven't had a hunt for humans in many years. I figured that by the time the Red Caps thawed out, the village would be ready and make a great hunt out of them and since they are human-like they should taste just fine. Of course, the Red Caps have the option to stand and fight or they can run away, so their future is really up to them."

They all were asking Harry questions about his magic, the fire and ice he used and then they asked about the Red Caps and why they wanted to kill Malcomb. Harry took his time explaining everything he could and listened as they told jokes and poked fun at each other. Before long it was dinner time, so Harry told them that he was going to get dinner for everyone. After a few questions, he "popped" out and finally came back about 30 minutes later.

He was caring 4 extra-large deep-dish Chicago style pizzas and had a couple cases of Coke. Seems that all of his kids like Coke, surprise. Everyone cheered and they all grabbed they pizza and Cokes and sat back to enjoy the time together. Harry was so pleased he just drank a Coke and watched the kids. He was happier than at any other time in his life.

After everyone had their fill of dinner, Harry got them together because there were a few things he wanted them to hear from him and they needed to hear them now. First, he told them again about the 7 Laws of Magic, he said, "You are all pretty good with magic so I am going to tell you about the 7 laws. I want everyone to listen and pay close attention because they are something that could get you hunted down and killed if you break them. Okay, these are the 7 laws: Anyway, when it comes to the White Council if you break any of the following laws you are pretty much assured the death penalty.

1. Thou shalt not kill with magic

2. Thou shalt not transform others.

3. Thou shalt not invade the minds of others

4. Thou shalt not enthrall another

5. Thou shalt not reach beyond the Borders of Life.

6. Thou shalt not swim against the Currents of time.

7. Thou shalt not seek beyond the Outer Limits.

Harry paused while they all read over the laws a couple times and then he said, "If you break any of these laws, like I said, the White Council will hunt you down and cut off your head. If you are with someone that breaks any of these laws, you can expect to same treatment, the White Council does not care or make a difference they just punish."

He continued, "And, most important, you are not allowed to talk about or tell anyone, magical or non-magical about these laws or the White Counsel, again they will hunt you down and cut off your head. It is like their only real punishment. Does everyone understand. If you are confused or have questions, now is the time to ask them."

Roxanne spoke up with, "Earlier you said that you had broken the 1st law and they were hunting for you. When you turned yourself in, why didn't they kill you?"

Harry knew that they were listening and he said, "I had hidden for over 6 months before getting with a senior member of the White Council who stood up for me and had led an investigation into the man that I had killed. He found that everything I had told the council was true and that I didn't kill him, I had defended myself and he died. They still wanted to kill me but my old mentor, Ebenezar McCoy was very powerful and a lot of people trusted him so they gave me a 2nd chance as long as I stayed with him and was trained properly."

Harry suddenly said, "Oh, by the way, you will all be happy to know that you will be meeting Ebenezar McCoy very soon because not only is he a powerful senior member of the White Council and my mentor in magic but he is also my grandfather, your great-grandfather. You can ask Maggie about him; she has met him a few times."

Everyone turned quickly and started talking at once to Maggie. She was laughing and smiling and tell them stories about him and they all seemed very happy to have more family then they had expected. After they had talked for over an hour, Harry pulled Maggie aside and asked her to run him an errand. She smiled and "popped" out of sight. About 2 minutes later, she "popped" back. She was carrying and large leather bag and handed it to Harry.

They were all wondering what he had and when he started to speak, they all listened, "Maggie is my oldest child but besides you guys, she was not my only child. I have another daughter that a couple of you have met. She is not like your normal brother or sister; she is an air spirit of intellect. This spirit has extensive mental and intellectual capabilities. Basically, they are living libraries, as they are immortal and never forget anything."

Michael asked, "Is she a ghost?"

Harry replied, "No, not a ghost but she has many of the qualities they you would expect in a ghost. She in not corporeal, she is made up of smoke and magic. She is only actually 7 years old but her mother was a fallen angel and she shares the memories from her mother that go back before the beginning of time. Long before man ever appeared on the earth. She is very smart but remember she is still young and she is your baby sister." With that said, he pulled the carved wooden skull out of the bag and placed it on the table top facing them all. As soon as he set it down a cloud of light green sparkling smoke poured out of the skull and started to form into a person standing next to Harry.

Suddenly everyone gasped as they saw a little girl looking about 12 years old in a pretty light green spring dress standing next to Harry. She smiled and her eyes sparkled as she said, "Hello everyone, my name is Bonea Dresden and I am your half-sister since I have a different mommy from all of you. I am so very happy to meet all of you."

Maggie stood up and gave her a big hug and then took her time introducing herself to everyone. She was smiles and giggles and happier that she had ever been. Harry just watched. He really didn't know what to do so he watched as they all took turns asking Bonea questions. Some asked about things they had learned about in school or read in a book or even seen on TV. Then as usual, the whole group started talking at once and Bonea was right there in the middle of it. Harry had tears in his eyes as he watched all of his children talking and laughing together as one big family, which is what they were after all. He watched until he got sleepy and said that he was going to bed but they needed to get some rest because tomorrow they were going to see the queen and get some answers.

CHAPTER 10

The plan to go see Mab that next morning didn't pan out, but the kids didn't mind. They agreed that they should stay put until it was the appropriate time to confront her. So, over the next 2 days, they enjoyed getting to know each other by asking questions and talking. They laughed and cried, poked fun at each other as well as made fun of themselves. They told stories of their life with their adopted family, with a lot more detail than what they had said initially. The more they talked about their lives the more they realized how lonely, unhappy and unsatisfied they were about their lives.

Harry had been listening without adding to or questioning anything they said, until after everyone had a chance to share and then he said, "I want each of you to remember, the people that adopted you wanted to give you a place to live a safe and happy life but as we all know, while life is happening, shit happens and there is nothing you can do but learn to deal with it. I can tell you from personal experience that I wasn't the best child I should have been. I took it out on the person I should have been pleasant and thankful for."

He continued, "I am pretty sure some of you could have been better toward your adopted family from time to time. I had to deal with being so mean that they just gave up on me, along as I didn't hurt myself or runaway, which I am sure some may have been ok, for a while, if I had. Just remember, you had been looked after, taken care of and kept safe, for the most part. I remember my earlier life and use it as a guide for different issues and activities I find myself dealing with. Maybe if you look back it at and use it as a base of where to start from and make whatever it is better, and more to your liking."

He smiled and said, "I don't want this to seem like a lecture or anything negative. It is just a life learned lesson and something that no one but you can benefit from what you have lived through and what you have learned from it. I think that each of you have a great background of experience and a good hold on your life, so far. I want to be there to help you learn more as you grow from here. I want each of you to know that I take being your father very serious, I want to be close and hopefully become a loving family, all of us. Just think about it and if it is something you want great, if we only become friends, that's fine as well."

Everyone seemed to sit and think about what he had said. You could see them processing not just thoughts of their previous lives but the intimate invitation that he had offered. It was something that each of them secretly wanted but were not sure they were ready to open themselves to the emotional damage if it was to backfire as somethings have done for each of them, at a different level. He knew that this was an issue that would take a different amount of time for each kid to develop, so he knew that all he could do was to wait.

After a hour or so of questions about magic, Harry was satisfied that he had done his best explain most of the pitfalls of living life as a wizard among plain vanilla humans. Besides explaining the Laws of Magic, they discussed the importance of blending in or better yet not being noticed at all because standing out in a crowd because of magic was the last thing you ever want to have to deal with.

Before everyone tucked in for the night, Harry told them that he planned to confront Mab the next day. They all started talking right away asking him questions, suggesting different approaches and planned questions, but Harry told them that the best way to deal with Mab was straight forward, because direct and truthful was the only way it would work.

After the questions were all answered, he pulled Maggie and Bonea to the side and explained that he didn't want either of them anywhere near Mab when he confronted her. This was going to be personal and Mab does not like having anyone that is considered an outsider, being that she was not their mother she would definitely consider them intruders. The girls said that they understood and would be leaving in the morning right after breakfast.

Amazingly, the kids were still sitting and talking but Harry was tired and wanted to get plenty of rest because dealing with Mab was going to be draining and being that he still had no idea why Mab had taken his body parts and what her plan is for the kids. He was upset for what she had done and even though he had no idea what she was up to something he was not going to like.

He woke the next morning to the noise of people talking and moving around. After his morning shower and shave, he walked into the living room and found about half the kids awake, talking, eating breakfast and/or preparing breakfast for the others. He spotted Bonea, knowing that she doesn't really need sleep talking to Rozanne and Malcomb and Maggie was helping in the kitchen by cooking or showing one of the others how to cook something particular. Harry marveled at how she just simply stepped into the older sister role without pause or push. He was thrilled to see her like this.

Tanzi sat down next to him rubbing the sleep from her eyes and took the plate that Maggie had just slid over in front of her. As she started to eat, both Harry and Maggie started laughing and Tanzi gave them a look of wonder as to why they were laughing. Maggie whispered into her ear and she instantly was embarrassed at what had happened. She started to go all "I'm sorry" when Harry said that she was just fine and if that plate had actually been meant for him he should have grabbed it. She smiled around a mouthful of eggs and bacon and then just shrugged.

Harry got his plate quickly and after eating his fill, he headed out into the yard with all the kids following him. Maggie and Bonea told everyone goodbye for now and they would see them at home when they were finished. They were asked several times to stay but they both said that it was of a particularly personal nature between their dad, all of them and the queen. They would just be outsiders and that was not good. Everyone got in the hugs and kisses and little whispers of later promises. Harry held Bonea's skull and after she settled inside, he gave it to Maggie and then she "popped" out of sight.

After the girls left, Harry talked a little about how to talk to Mab. He first said, "I am allowed a lot more leeway when talking to the queen than most anyone else, because he is her knight but there were still limits to what she would allow and how much freedom of speech she would accept. "But we are her children, right? That makes her our mom and we can talk to mom more freely that anyone of her subjects. We have that right, don't we," asked Angelica?

Harry smiled and said, "I am not her family so I can not answer that, as far as when it is just you and your mother but in sight of the public, she can be stern. Please understand, she is a queen, the Fairy Queen and with that comes a lot of rules and guidelines. Each of you will have to work and develop you own relationship with her and no one is going to interfere with that except you and the queen."

The kids started a low murmur and had several questions but Harry made it very clear that each of them had to build and develop their own relationship with their mother. What ever it became or didn't become was going to be their responsibility. He also made it clear that as the Queen , she has had to make decisions that were not popular or acceptable to all people. Her job is not an easy one.

After they had kicked that around for about an hour, Harry formed them up just off to the side in what he felt was a non-threatening position and stepped aside to call for Mab. He said, "This is how I am able to call upon Mab if I need her in an emergency or for something very important. I would not recommend that you try this because she does not find it very good to be called like a dog, unless there is a very good reason. I will say that because you love and miss her, will not pass as a good reason, please remember that."

With that said, and everything as ready as he could get it, he squared his shoulders with his feet, raised his arms high over his head and spoke loud and clear, "Mab. Mab. Mab, Please come to my location."

Harry stepped down and back a little to wait for Mab. He didn't have to wait to long for the wind started to slowly pick up and the breeze was full of frosty artic air. The sky darkened a little, a very light snow started to fall. Suddenly the air turned cold and each of the could see their breath in a heavy cloud as the exhaled. A small white tornado slowly dropped from the sky as thunder roared and rolled. Just as the white tornado touched the ground, 2 very large and heavily charged lightening bolts stuck the same exact spot on either side and a explosion of snow and electricity burst from the very spot where a tall beautiful and amazing woman stood.

The sky started to clear and brighten a very small and light snow fall covered everything around them for a good 100 feet. She was glowing as she slowly turned to see her surroundings. She spotted Harry and asked, "My knight, why have you summoned me here at this time?"

Harry stood up straight and bowed very properly to her, which actually caused her the briefest of smiles and a peaked rise of the corned of her mouth. He held his bow and said, "Greeting and good afternoon, My Queen. I have requested your presence to this location so that we may discuss events that have unfolded, that I had no knowledge of until 4 days ago."

She watched as he held his position and actually did crack a small smile. She waved her hand at him and took 2 steps forward, towards him. This put her a little closer and directly in front of the group of children. "As you have stated, these children were not made know to you because I didn't want you to know about them yet."

This brought a comment from the children as a few said out loud, "Why?"

She turned and faced the children and said, "I do believe that the old adage claims that "Children should be seen, but not heard." Let us gain practice with that."

As she turned back toward Harry, Roxanne said, "Are you kidding me, seen and not heard. If that was what you wanted you should have bought yourself a dog or a balloon animal. I am told that you are my mother and I want to talk to my mother because I am not one of your subjects."

Mab turned and raised her hand freezing all 6 of them as individual ice statues. She then waved her hands which brought a wind that gently lifted each child and suspended them in the air. She then started to raise both arms when Harry cleared his throat loudly and produced 2 very large fireballs, one in each hand. He was standing close to her and didn't seem to approve of what she was getting ready to do.

She looked him up and down then gently set each of the kids back on the ground before turning to him and asking, "Would you really have followed through with your actions against me?"

Harry straightened and said very clearly, "For some reason, you took or possibly stole parts of my body and you made these children. That is beyond wrong and violates every principle of decent or indecent behavior of family, friend, employer or even enemy. It was wrong and you know it. Now, these children, our children are here and have questions and they want to meet and to get to know their mother, you. Why, I don't know but the do and what do you do to them? you tell them to sit down and shut up; only speak when spoken too, and you freeze them into ice cubes. Why?"

She stood there with the same look on her face and repeated herself, "I ask again, would you really have followed through with your actions against me?"

Harry stood there looking at her and said, "Yes, for my children I would have."

She stood looking at him and said, " I would have expected nothing less." She then looks over at the children and says, "I believe that you want to talk about this, so before I release them, talk."

He was completely caught off guard by Mab's actions and her willingness to talk about this situation but he knew he had to start making some sense of what she had done. He said, "Yes, I do want to talk and first, what gives you the right to take parts of my body? It is my body now and back then."

She calmly said, "I was harboring you from the White Council at the time, out of the goodness of my heart, and as that I was helping you I took samples of your body as a payment for your safety and all my effort. Was I not correct in expecting something in return for my helping you?"

Harry was stopped right there because he knew that anytime one of the fae did something for you, they fully and rightfully expect you to repay them. Repayment could be in the form or money, food, a task or errand, whatever is considered of value in return is theirs. In his case, he was being frozen and kept hidden for over 6 months in the form of a favor requested of Mab and he clearly remembered that no payment had been mentioned. This was his fault as he never asked what she may want as repayment for the favor.

He looked at her and said, "My Queen, you have made a solid point and I recall that, at the time of you granting me the favor, no repayment was discussed. Even after, the favor was done and complete, I never offered any repayment which means that you were fully within your right to take repayment as you saw fit. I am sorry for neglecting my responsibility over this issue."

She watched as Harry bowed his head in proper respect to her. She replied, "That is correct and I will accept your apology for as a human, you don't understand the importance of proper business relations." She paused and then said, "There, that issue id finished and for your next issue, I will state that once the items were taken from you they became mine. Mine to do with as I see fit. I do not need to ask you for any permission or approval to do or make something with my own items. Do you not agree?"

Again, Harry was stopped in his tracks by fae logic if there is such a thing. He stood there thinking about what she had said, how she had said it and how he was going to reply in some fashion that would matter. He thought hard and then asked, "Are you saying that the items you took were part of a business agreement or business terms?"

Mab lifted one eyebrow and said, "Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. How astute of you to grasp it so clearly."

Ignoring to jab of sarcasm, Harry said, "Where as you acquired those items in business, your use of the falls into 2 very basic and important categories. They are a moral and an ethical issue. The first is the violation of the moral code for what you used them for and the second were your action ethical. Being that you, as a fae, do not follow or abide by moral concepts such as was it right or wrong, but you do conduct your life and business by very strict ethical codes."

Again, she raised an eyebrow at his statement and said, "Again, you are correct and you seemed to have finally become knowledgeable in our ways."

Harry smiled and said, Then I accuse you of violating the ethics of business by using those items gained through business in an immoral and unethical process. You have always said that the fae do not lie, though they may not directly speak the truth unless no other option is available. Simply put, my morals are the customs established to identify right and wrong whereas your fae ethics define the good or evil character of an individual."

Harry watched as Mab stood there thinking about what he had just said, so he added, "In addition, my Queen, under your own law you are not allowed to subjugate your own children. This is a clear violation of your law. What are you doing with these children and why did you use my sperm to make them? They are our children, yours and mine, and they just want to get to know their mother."

Now Harry could see that he had made his points, and Mab was stewing over what he was accusing her of and if she felt that she needed to explain herself. Finally, she said, "I don't understand how you can act and be so ignorant of our way on a daily basis but then a day like today comes along and you suddenly become an expert at define everything so clearly. As you know better than anyone, I am not the motherly type and truly, I don't want to be."

She paused before saying, "I made this children to build my own self-reliant army, for the lack of a better word. I made them from your sperm and my egg, 2 of the most powerful magic user in the world. I also put them into the human system to have them learn the ups and downs of life and how to take life as it comes your way, just like you did without the trauma that you had to deal with. I wanted them to grow strong in the physical and magical lives and then return to help me fight and win against all comers."

She waved her hand and the ice disappeared the children continued on talking and doing what they had been before being frozen. Mab looked at Harry and said, "They are too much like you, too human for my needs, at this time. Maybe in the years to come they will be better but as of now, they are yours. Treat them well, Harry." And with all that said, she disappeared in a small flash. The snow stopped and the sky cleared and the day returned to a sunny warm afternoon.

All of the kids came over to him where he stood and hugged him and some started to cry. Tanzi looked up at him and said, "We were frozen but we heard everything she said. Harry grabbed Michael by the hand while Tanzi took Angelica and Malcomb by the hands and Roxanne took Franks hand and they all huddled close.

Harry said, "Let's go home kids" and they all "popped" out of sight.