Aiden Wyrne sat in front of the numbered 13 jurors of the faerie court. They were whispering among themselves, but not secretively. He could clearly make out some words, “fantastic,” “idiotic,” “amazing,” were among them and some phrases used were, “a bad example,” “unheard of,” and, one of his favorites, “amusing, but not intelligent.”
“Well, now, have you come to a consensus?” Aiden grinned, showing off his sharp teeth. This made juror 3 flinch.
“Now, don’t try to fix what isn’t broken! My good fellows, don’t worry, I’m not after the mortals’ blood. That’s the vampires.” Another wave of murmurs sprang up, leaping to each of the jurors’ ears and leaving one impression.
One that said, “trust him.”
And so they did.
As Aiden burst out of the courts, his wife stepped towards him.
“Hello, Abbi, hon!”
“Aiden, Aiden, Aiden,” Abbi Niet, formally known as Abbixnaeil, sighed thankfully. “Let me guess, you ‘convinced’ them to let us relocate to the mortal world. Through your—“
Aiden put a finger to her lips to silence her, and motioned her to follow him to the Tree of the Ages, of the Aged, and of the Age. Once they were through the Tree’s protective barrier, his grin widened. This was Abbi’s answer.
He had used Telepathy to start the whispered impression in a faerie court.
This would not end well.
As the two touched the broken mirror on the Tree to leave the faerie realm, the same thought passed through their minds.
What is it going to be like in the human world?
——193yearslater…
“Hey,” one of the boys in Karen’s class started, “Do ya know why jack-‘o-lanterns are the way they are?”
“Nuh-uh. Do I look like I care?”
The boy didn’t listen, “They made them to keep evil spirits away!”
Karen stared and listened with disinterest. They didn’t know the real story. Sure, at first some guy had the ‘brilliant’ idea to carve a turnip to act as a lamp, but once the idea had gotten out and it finally traveled to the Americas, they thought it was a good idea. Why? Because even though they didn’t have turnips, they had pumpkins.
And then they carved the pumpkins with terrible faces, which were lit up with a candle, and ‘accidentally’ drew evil spirits in. Once the spirit went into the pumpkin, it was trapped, because, unbeknownst to many, pumpkin is a trick fruit. The meat of the pumpkin is poison to those spirits that would do evil to humans.
And then to get rid of the evil spirits forever, you smash the pumpkin.
Ah, what the history books don’t teach you.
Karen continued listening to their rambling conversation, which had suddenly changed to how they didn’t believe it was already 2007, almost 2008, until Karen’s mother, Abbi, opened Karen’s classroom door and smiled, “We’re going on a vacation, Karen!”
