The person who had knocked on the door knocked again. Alicia woke up suddenly
"Who is that?" she muttered.
The door to the other room broke open and Uncle Robert came through holding a rifle, presumably what had been inside the long skinny package he had brought to the island.
"Who is it? I'm warning you now, I am armed with a rifle" he said.
After a minute, the door opened seemingly by itself, and a tiny fairy flew in. She had pink hair, green wings, and blue eyes. She pointed at the door and it closed behind her. Then she turned and looked at them.
"Could you make me some tea please? I had a rough journey here" she said. Then she flew over to the couch where Alicia was sitting in shock. Alicia got up and ran toward her mother, who was crouching behind her husband.
"Ah, there's Nathan." the fairy said. Nathan looked at her, and saw the fairy smile back.
'Last time I saw you Nathan, you were only a baby. You look a lot like your father, but with your mother's eyes." she said.
Uncle Robert coughed. "I demand that you leave at once ma'am. You are breaking and entering" he told the fairy.
"Ah, shut up DeLace, you idiot" she said back.
She pointed a finger at the rifle in Uncle Robert's hand, and suddenly, and Nathan couldn't believe this, the rifle seemingly broke itself in half, and then got tossed to the ground.
Uncle Robert made a funny noise.
"Anyway, Nathan, happy birthday to you. I've got a cake for you here."
Nathan looked at the fairy. He meant to say thank you but what came out of his mouth was "Who are you?"
She chuckled "Oops, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Hallie, the outdoor caretaker at Newtards."
She pulled out a box, and opened it. Inside was a vanilla ice cream cake with "Happy birthday Nathan" written on it in red frosting.
Hallie pointed a finger at the fireplace and a flame appeared. Nathan felt warm air wash over him like he was in a hot bath.
She sat down on the couch, not taking up very much space because of her size. She took a bunch of different things out of a bag, a mug, a pack of marshmallows, a fire poker, and a bottle of mysterious liquid she took a sip of before continuing. She started roasting marshmallows. As she finished the first batch, Alicia moved closer to her. Uncle Robert said "Don't take anything she gives you Allie".
Hallie giggled "Your pig of a daughter doesn't need any more fattening don't worry"
She pulled out graham crackers and Hershey's chocolate bars, used them and the marshmallows to make s'mores, and handed one to Nathan. Nathan had never had s'mores before, and he was blown away. He had never had anything this delicious before. But he still couldn't take his eyes off the fairy.
"I'm sorry, but I really don't know who you are" he said.
"Call me Hallie, everyone does. And like I said, I'm the outdoor caretaker at Newtards. I assume you know about Newtards?"
"Uh, no." said Nathan.
Hallie looked shocked.
"Sorry" said Nathan.
"Sorry?" Hallie raised her voice. "It's not you who should be sorry, it's your aunt and uncle. I knew you weren't getting your letters, but I never imagined you wouldn't even know about Newtards. Have you ever wondered where your parents learned it all?"
"All what?"
"ALL WHAT?" she yelled as loud as her quiet voice could and flew up from the couch "So you're telling me that, that Nathan doesn't know anything about our world? Anything?"
"What world?" Nathan asked.
"DELACE!" Hallie yelled.
Uncle Robert mumbled. Hallie stared at Nathan.
"You must at least know about your mom and dad, I mean they're famous. You are too."
"What? My mom and dad weren't famous were they?" Nathan replied.
"You don't know, you don't know" Hallie said, bewildered.
"You don't know who you are" she said a minute later.
"Stop right there, I forbid you from telling Nathan anything more" said Aunt Poppy.
Hallie looked at her with a deathly stare.
"You never told him. Never told him what was in the note Merryweather left for him. I was there when she left it. I saw Merryweather leave it on the doorstep along with Nathan, DeLace. And you kept it from Nathan for decades?"
"Kept what from me?" asked Nathan eagerly.
"Stop, don't tell him more" said Aunt Poppy and Uncle Robert in unison.
"Shut up both of you. Nathan, you are a wizard."
There was silence in the room. The only sound was the sound of the storm outside in the lake.