Mystery Lake

  [51] Small Gifts

  Roxy thought about bringing some clothes downstairs for Alyssa when they arrived at the entrance to the store, but her young companion impulsively scampered up the steps before she could even propose the idea. They were met by Jake, lingering anxiously by the doorway, wrestling with the urge to go after them. He settled with visible relief upon seeing Roxy climb the stairs but twisted with wobbling befuddlement about the kid before offering, "Hi there, can I help you?"

  Little Alyssa stretched up and wrapped her arms around Jake. She nervously gave him a little peck on the cheek. Roxy raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything about it. Jake had wide, curious eyes and didn't know what to say. The kid filled that verbal space by stating, "I don't know if anyone can help me. I'm Alyssa Eckhart. And I wish I had the confidence at the start of college to say that I have a crush on Jess Butler. But Joel said it first and did better with those words."

  Roxy didn't feel surprised by that admission. Jess had mentioned it once as a hunch and stressed out a bit about whether to shoot Alyssa down, give it to her gently, or just let her surmise from her relationship with Joel. The kid glanced downward nervously and looked like she wanted to escape from the rest of this conversation. She struggled to keep her clothes together in one mass. It was just the three of them, but Roxy sensed the others were not far away.

  Chiara was actually the first to venture out with curiosity. She ducked down the same as Jake did to approach the young girl's level, but picked up on the mood of the room with quiet confusion. The old lady had the most active response, cheerfully greeting the little girl and addressing her as "young lady."

  Even when Alyssa revealed her identity, the old lady didn't change her tune. As Roxy expected, there were clothing options available. The store had a variety of branded t-shirts, jeans, sweatpants, and other items in roughly the size that Alyssa needed. Alyssa was even pointed to a pretty, fluttery dress, but she opted for a shirt and sweatpants first. The logo had a trident on the T with sparks, a classical font, and a faint supernatural style edge while looking vaguely steampunk. The colors that Alyssa opted for were a brisk, fluffy shade of pink and a light candy blue. The little girl stretched her limbs and practically pranced, but in a restrained fashion.

  Now dressed so that she didn't risk everything falling off, Alyssa fussed and aimed her eyes toward Roxy as if she should read her needs and intentions with just a glance. She could guess what was on her mind, though: a trip over to that store. How was it going to be paid for? Not that they needed to buy anything now, but she expected that Alyssa would want to.

  Roxy was somewhat charitable, but she wasn't going to buy an entire wardrobe for the kid. Despite what they talked about, she wasn't her kid. She wasn't sure if she could communicate all that succinctly in an expression, but she narrowed her eyes a little, and Alyssa let a small sigh of resignation slip out. No guilt; she wasn't going to feel guilt about this.

  Layla was the next to rejoin the group. She spotted the little kid, and her eyes lit up from their normal radiance to a blazing fire. She dashed across the room, skillfully avoiding all obstacles, and scooped up little girl Alyssa in her arms like she was a special puppet to play with and command. The kid was swiftly shocked and soon flailing. Layla treated her gently, despite her exuberant motions. And Alyssa treated her like a weird aunt or a grandma surprise. Miranda wandered out next and cocked her head at the curious happenings. Eugene was the last to show up, and it was clear his mind was already elsewhere.

  Alyssa grumbled and made sure everyone knew who she was. This didn't do much to dim Layla's reaction. She still spun the kid around until she was practically queasy. She managed to briefly escape Layla's grasp, but she still had other plans for her of a ticklish sort. No amount of squirming freed her from the hyperactive blonde's fingers. And despite her mood and general attitude, Alyssa revealed herself to be highly susceptible to this assault. She soon burst out in a torrent of gleeful giggles, whether she wanted to or not.

  Fortunately, Layla didn't go as far as to risk an accident with the kid's reduced bladder. Alyssa ran back to Roxy's leg at the first opportunity, as if Layla were a more fearful monster than any oddly named goblin. Roxy took it upon herself to lay out and summarize what was happening. The chase, the odd little gravel park place, which Maggie quietly confirmed was a dog park. The sudden spew and age reduction, the redcap attack, the odd bird creature summoning, and the remains.

  The monster mentioned snapped Eugene out of his general romantically distracted stupor, and he retrieved a text to consult. Redcap was an easy find based on the name given and its described appearance matching the folklore. The other didn't take too much longer based on its weirdly distinctive description. He announced it was something called a "fachan," or at least similar in appearance to that. Aside from the gigantic floppy appendage.

  It was supposed to be a frightful villain who could trigger heart attacks upon the mere sight of it. That didn't really match up, but it could've been storytelling exaggeration for the sake of warning. Though it had been exceedingly friendly, just like a pet, who knew how it might've treated anyone else. It was also friendly to Alyssa, but she didn't know if that was because she was a kid at the time, she was Roxy's companion, or if the monster regarded Alyssa as a friendly for some other reason. It was perplexing.

  Miranda quietly approached the two of them and ducked down like the others. Roxy had no idea what Mira was thinking. She wondered if, considering her newly discovered power, Miranda was simply trying to mimic the kid. For a second, it looked like that may be a possibility. But then she leaned back and sighed, gently planting her big bum on the carpet. Alyssa curiously peeked out from behind Roxy's protective presence.

  What could one possibly say to the other? Their situation was already complicated enough before this happenstance. Roxy doubted that either still felt any romantic attachment to the other. At least she hoped that was the case. It would be too weird otherwise. Everything was too weird all the time. Alyssa detached from her surrogate mom and slipped over to give Miranda a comforting hug. And that was all.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Speculation over why Alyssa changed so much raged with limited input from Eugene, who listlessly turned the pages of his most reliable tome. Fairy spells existed; at least it sure seemed like they did with everything else and anecdotal evidence sprawling out from the pages. Nothing specific like a name, a correlation, or a proposed remedy for something like this. Not that Alyssa was chomping at the bit to be cured. Nervous serenity surrounded her presence.

  They were being clearly and relentlessly hunted. Layla raised the point yesterday, and there could be no mistaking. The forces of light and dark fairies clearly would not stop until they were dead. Worse was surely coming for them. Whatever monsters existed in the depths of Eugene's reference book were likely fair game to show up and attack them next. Roxy had had enough of it. They needed to do something, and she hoped that their 'Federal Bureau' acquaintances might have some idea of how to put a stop to this.

  Alyssa made it clear that she really did want to look at clothes. The old lady relayed that the kids' clothing store down the block linked to a reduced-priced clothing warehouse for all ages on a side street. However, breakfast had been sadly interrupted, and that needed to be dealt with first.

  The group trudged back to the upper floor and settled into places as comfortable as they could manage. Alyssa wasn't sure where to sit, and her shrunken legs required help from a nervous Chiara to adjust her chair. Breakfast itself was a brilliant delight served up by the old lady. Layla's boundless energy was clearly activated by the bounty before them.

  A recompense for endless breakfast opportunities lost. The girl ate ravenously but with clear restraint as a courtesy to their host. Her black hole tummy couldn't just inhale everything in the cupboard, but Maggie wasn't going to let anyone go hungry as she kept the stove warm for seconds.

  Alyssa seemed like she was competing with Layla when it came to stuffing food in her mouth. Roxy worried that it was excess ambition and not recognizing the new proportions of her stomach. But the kid started slow and carefully manipulated her mouth through the first few rounds. Her exuberance soon followed. She started cautiously and then dove in with full hunger. Considering the contradiction of Layla's male body appetite being less than her regular one, Roxy entertained the possibility that little Alyssa may have the biggest void within her. The kid sure showed that she could eat, but whatever wind she had soon settled back to earth. No competition after all.

  Alyssa nervously leaned back in her chair, not trusting its stability even more now. She wore her nervously tangled thoughts on her face, as though the mass of her college-aged body insulated her from the sharpest reflection of her emotions. Without that cushion of age, all that lingered near the surface. Roxy could see hints of the little girl wanting to break down in another round of tears, along with the laughing exuberance still echoing after Layla's tickles.

  There was also bitter, flaring anger with unclear roots, tiredness wobbling heavier than how they found Jake, and the nascent signs of other emotions fighting their way beneath. Roxy casually leaned over and wrapped her arms around the girl, who was not at all her daughter, who was practically her enemy this entire trip, and who probably didn't even want to be touched. No matter what she wanted, she got a hug. A simple hug that she didn't need to worry about.

  Roxy attempted to pull away from her, but the little girl clung. She whimpered softly, as if the end of the hug was the problem rather than the beginning. Roxy shook her head and rubbed her hand along the little girl's delicate shoulders. She kissed her lightly on the top of the head.

  The whole thing was ridiculous; it felt like a game. They didn't mean anything to each other. Why was it like this? Was it another fairy trick? Were their little ghostly companions messing around with them for afterlife shits and giggles? For the first time, the presence of the princess was actually taken aback. Interesting...

  But that knee-jerk reaction was all that the cryptic royal inside her gave up. It was plenty to surmise from. These two meant something to each other. Before she could forge that notion into something deeper, a new distraction drew their attention.

  Half of them got up to check what was going on. Roxy did some careful peeking, and Alyssa stayed behind her. From the ceiling, an upside-down, shimmering whirlpool appeared, turning in a curious counter-clockwise fashion. Roxy tensed and straightened her arm in case this was the next attack round already forced upon them.

  She didn't know what to expect from the strangely swirling pool. But what dropped moments later was a pair of packages. One was wrapped in shimmering silver cloth, like dull, holographic paper, with a ribbon on the side. The other package looked burnt, a sharp black with delicate lace and the darkest shade of black enveloping the small cube. As soon as both objects had settled to the floor, landing right side up to all appearances, the whirlpool wound down and returned to the normal texture of the ceiling.

  No one made a move towards the objects for several seconds. Roxy worried about explosives or some other lethal factor. They didn't know if these were sent by the forces trying to hurt them, but poking the tops with a long stick revealed a folded message flap with a foreign language at the top and English down below. They simply read, "From the Fair Host and Court" and "From the Host of Darkness and Unseelie Horde." No other notes.

  Poking and waiting with the packages revealed no sinister traps. Alyssa offered to upchuck on them if that would help, but Roxy declined since the girl appeared quite pale at this point, despite breakfast faintly warming her features. The old lady gave both packages a firm shake and pressed her head against each. Roxy hoped that her intuition, or something like it, would tell them all they needed to know. She took a long time to arrive at her conclusion but said, "They seem fine. But I must warn you: there is much said about receiving gifts from fairies, especially the dark ones. The first rarely show kindness without seeking something in return, and the others never do, especially toward humans. Do be careful with these."