The store clerks and a hassled looking engineer gave it their best for two hours before they were forced to give up. The speakers were working but every time someone approached the microphone, they immediately clicked off.
The engineer wasn't given to imaginative thought but the speakers were reminding him for some reason of his dog when fireworks were being let off. She always slunk under the bed: she wouldn't come out but would nervously poke her head out.
But that was stupid! Speakers couldn't get scared!

Pitch was sitting on the floor, eyes closed, bored of the repetitiveness. Despite the technical difficulties, the queue didn't seem any shorter than when it had started moving. It was always the same too.
A fan would approach Cupid, eyes wide in wonder, babble something about how the song had 'changed their lives' or 'inspired' them then nearly drop the CD in excitement when she handed it back to them.
He sensed Tooth kneeling down slowly beside him.

Tooth was reaching to lightly touch Pitch's arm when his eyes suddenly snapped open. She gave a small gasp in surprise and drew her arm back.

'I don't bite', Pitch said, obviously pleased with his little joke.

'I thought you were asleep!' Tooth snapped.

'I wish!' Pitch exclaimed, 'Any kind of break to this tedium would be welcome!'

'Well that's what I'm trying to tell you', Tooth said, pointing a thumb inside the store, 'It looks like break time out there'.

Pitch looked through the door crack.
The front doors to the store were being closed (with a great deal more ease than they had been opened) and Cupid was getting up from her chair. The manager walked over to her.
Tooth caught the conversation.
The break would last for twenty minutes. After which, hopefully the speakers would be working again. In the meantime, Candy could use his office to relax, her things had been brought up from her car, it was no trouble, no trouble at all honestly, great to have a star here etc. etc.

'Okay, if I'm not out in fifteen minutes, come get me', Tooth said, easing the door open. She saw Candy enter the Manager's office.

'And destroy the threat I assume?' Pitch said, flicking some dust from his robe as he stood up.

'No!' Tooth said quickly, 'No destroying! We're just here to stop her'.

'Like you stopped me?' Pitch asked, one eyebrow arched.

'Well-' Tooth began, fingers twiddling as she searched for a tactful way to respond.
Pitch didn't give her the chance.

'So the plan is to punch her twenty feet in the air then yank her back down with enough force to knock her unconscious?'

'It wasn't twenty feet', Tooth countered lamely.

Pitch's humourless sneer widened.

'Oh come on!' Tooth groaned at her lack of diplomatic savvy, 'Can you honestly say you didn't deserve that?'

'Can you honestly say you didn't enjoy it?'

'I think it's best if neither of us answer those questions', Tooth said.

'I agree', Pitch said, the threat of a genuine smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
So the fairy princess did have a little darkness in her under the rainbows and happy thoughts.
How amusing!

'I'll be back', Tooth said, beginning to edge around the doorframe.
When a passing store worker paid her no attention, she entered the room proper and headed for the Manager's office.

'You hope', Pitch said and began to count to 100 Mississippi slowly.
He was the one designed for infiltration. Not much point being sneaky if like Tooth, you were dressed for Mardi Gras.

The Manager's office was not locked.
Tooth could see Candy sitting in the office chair, idly spinning in a circle, smiling at the impromptu ride.
She gave the door a polite knock.
'Come in!' Candy called in a singsong voice.
Tooth entered and coughed politely.

Candy swivelled round to face her. Her eyes widened and her jaws dropped.
Tooth opened her mouth to give her prepared speech.
She was quite proud of it.
It extolled responsibility, calmly asked what was going on and how it was great that music had brought people together but that great power also entailed great responsibility.
It truly was a well crafted speech. It was just a shame Cupid never heard it.

'Toothy!' Cupid cried and swept Tooth up into a crushing hug that belied her small size, 'It's been forever! When did I last see you? No! Wait! Yeah, that's it! Woodstock right? That was one awesome ride! Flowers, homemade tea, mud puddles, free hugs! Think I may've kissed a guy while I was there. Kinda weird when you're invisible huh? Oh em ghee! You doing something new with your feathers? It's really great that your colour's all natural. Do birds use shampoo?'

All of this was delivered in about five seconds.
Cupid had always treated conversation like trench warfare: bombard the other person with machine gun fire until they simply have no choice other than to wait for a ceasefire.
Tooth knew she could get over excited and babble but even she felt exhausted when Cupid really got going.

She sighed and asked: 'Why are you doing this Cupid?' as she was released from the love spirit's grip.

'Please, call me Candy', Candy insisted, waving a hand, 'That stupid name always made people think I was a boy. It's too old fashioned. Totally fuddy duddy! Besides the only thing Greek I enjoy nowadays is yoghurt. Ooh! You want one?'

'No thanks', Tooth said, settling into a second chair.

Cupid shrugged and took a yoghurt from the mini fridge stamped with her name along with a box of animal crackers. She plonked herself down on the spinning office chair and dipped a cracker giraffe into the yoghurt.

'I always have one during a signing', she said, 'Can I get you something else? Fruit? Cupcake? Potato chip? No I know! Breath mint right?'

'No thanks'.

'Suit yourself', Cupid said biting the head off the drowned animal cracker, 'So how are you Tooth?'

'I'm fine', Tooth said, taking advantage of the lull in conversation, 'How are-'

'Great! Just great!' Cupid interrupted, 'Everyone loves the song! Have you heard it?'

'Couple of times'.

'Took me a while to get it right but I think it paid off don't you?'

'Why are you doing this?' Tooth asked again.

'Why do you care?' Candy retorted.

'Because you're hypnotising people and abusing your powers', Tooth said firmly.
That was enough carrot: now was the time to take the stick out.

'You came here just so you could be a nark?!' Candy snapped, jumping out of the office chair, 'The Guardian police not like what I'm doing?!'

'The way you were going, you could've been chosen as a Guardian but now…'

'Yeah right! Maybe I got sick of always being a bridesmaid Tooth', Candy said incredulously, 'I mean I've been around longer than Jim Freeze or whatever his name is but he gets the gig and I don't?! How is that fair?!'

'It wasn't our decision', Tooth said evenly, 'It's your job to make people happy. Guardian or not'.

'They are happy! I know you were out there watching. Did you not see all those smiles?!'

'I'm the Tooth Fairy: I know what real smiles are supposed to look like'.

'Yeah yeah, I get it! You're the big important Tooth Fairy!' Candy said angrily, face scrunched like a child about to cry, 'You never understood. None of you did'.

'Cupid I-'

'My name is Candy!' Candy snapped.
She turned to the office window and started brushing her hair furiously, pink bristles tearing at her long locks.

'I tried okay?!' Candy said 'I helped people fall in love for centuries and what good did it do?!'

The brush was thrown away and Candy began practically stabbing mascara onto her eyes.
Tooth said nothing. She knew a venting session when she saw one.

'It'd be all wedding cake and strolls at sunset for a coupla weeks but then I'd come back to check on them and find them yelling at each other with kids crying in corners! Hating each other! Wrecking everything I made!'

She turned from the window and advanced on Tooth. The mascara wand may as well have been a knife.

'I have had enough of people yelling!' Candy screeched.

Tooth flinched at the volume and Candy gave a twitch. She giggled girlishly and carelessly threw the mascara wand away. She flicked her blonde hair behind her shoulder, metaphorical mask firmly back in place.

'So now, I make sure everyone plays nice', she said, clasping her hands delightedly.

'By your rules', Tooth countered.

Candy yawned dramatically.

'Getting bored now Tooth. Wouldn't have let you come in here if I thought you were gonna be a hater. You're not though. Are you?'

Suddenly her demeanour changed again. Eyes narrowed, she snapped her fingers.
A silver engraved longbow materialized in her hand. Tooth knew it well. Cupid never went anywhere without her bow. She conjured the magical arrows herself: one scratch and (depending on Cupid's mood) the victim would be madly in love or filled with virulent hatred for the next person they saw.

'You can get with the programme', Candy said coldly, 'Or go back to fairyland and get the hell out of my way. Your choice'.

'Your powers don't work on me', Tooth said.
She stood up slowly. Cupid tracked her movement with her bow.
Tooth kept her eyes on Cupid but couldn't shake a nagging feeling that they were both being watched.
Was that a shadow moving above Cupid's head?

'No they don't', Candy conceded with a nasty smile, 'But they work on humans. How many kids are still waiting to meet me? Couple of hundred? You feel like losing that many believers? Think you can deal with so many kids hating you?!'

Pitch cleared his throat politely. Candy swung around at the noise.

'Can't say it's ever bothered me', he quipped, tapping the microphone on the desk. Tooth braced herself. The microphone was connected to the PA system for the entire mall.

She just managed to jam her fingers in her ears as Pitch took a deep breath and shrieked.
The on stage microphone screeched with static, the already abused speakers gave piercing whines and light bulbs exploded like fireworks. The PA system blared with the hellish noise and echoed throughout the empty mall.

The crowd waiting outside was thrown into chaos. The trio in the office could feel as much as hear the noise of running feet.
Cupid's spell was temporarily overpowered by the knee jerk human reaction to flee from any loud noises. Pitch's shriek had subconsciously reminded every spectator of the sound of a predator, the first fear in humanity's ancient shared past.
There was a mad rush for the doors. The security men and store clerks joined the stampede deciding that no job was worth being eaten by whatever thing had made the noise.

As Candy was forced to her knees, covering her aching ears, Pitch grabbed Tooth and jumped into the shadows.

For Tooth, who had never travelled by shadow before, the feeling was strange. The shadows were soft: like a warm blanket, clinging but not sticky. Pitch was moving her bodily but she wasn't sure how. She could see his face floating above her, the rest of his darkly clothed body indistinguishable from their magical surroundings.
Doors were no obstacle. Pitch passed through them as if they weren't there.
The blurry shapes of the fleeing crowd appeared to be moving in slow motion and the shadow travellers did not make contact with a single person, Pitch easily steering them out of the path of any collision that presented itself. Seeing how Pitch travelled certainly helped explain how he seemed to jump from place to place so quickly.
She was surprised to see the shadowy bubble dissipate and the car park materialize around them. A light rain was falling. She could still hear panicked noises coming from around the corner and the tell-tale sound of sirens in the distance.

'How did we get out here?' she asked.

'Used the shadows between the cracks in the brickwork', Pitch said matter-of-factly.

'Oh', Tooth said, both in confirmation of what he had said and with increasing realization at the fact he hadn't put her down yet. He was carrying her bridal style and, though she knew she wasn't heavy, she was surprised how strong the boogeyman's arms felt beneath her despite him looking so skinny and wasted.

'Um', she continued, mentally cursing her sudden lack of meaningful syllables.
Pitch got the message though and put her down abruptly. He took a couple of steps away from her as if to signal an approved distance between them.

'You've got quite a set of pipes', Tooth commented to dispel the awkward silence and shaking her head to dispel the ringing in her ears.

'You should hear me when I practice', Pitch said, 'We tried it your way, now it's my turn'.

And like that, he was gone.
Tooth watched the liquid like shadow creep up the wall towards the lit window of the Manager's office.

'Remember: no destroying!' she yelled after him and looked for a place to wait.