Innocent

Chapter 1 - Swappertunity Knocks

I lurked in the dark alleyway, watching the horrible, disgusting creatures. They walked and talked with an air of arrogance fueled by ignorance. Humans were the worst of all the creatures that walked the realms. They thought they were so smart with all their technological developments and fancy gadgets. Yet, they knew nothing of the world they lived in.

A man talking on a cell phone passed close by and I cringed away from the awful smell of his quickly rotting body. Humans lived such short lives, they were rotting by the time they reached a mere twenty five years. And here I am, living my best life at seven hundred and thirty four and still centuries away from reaching full maturity.

"Stomp?" Bartholomew, my pet troll, asked excitedly. He was a sweetie. Always ready to kill someone for me if I so desired.

"Not that one, love." I patted his arm to help calm his excitement. "We have to be sneaky, Bart. Do you remember how to be sneaky?"

"Bartholomew will be quiet like mouse." He whispered as quietly as he can. It wasn't very quiet, but his loyalty outweighed his lack of subtlety.

"Very good. Now let's go." Summoning shadows close around me, I exited the alley. The darkness of the night thankfully provided us with quite a bit of cover, so it didn't take too much effort. The street lights are a bit annoying though.

The little bundle in my arms shifted around, trying to get more comfortable. I look down at it, worried that it might wake up. Children were not my strong point. However, someone had to do this.

I spotted the red door with the number twelve on it. This was it.

"Stay here." I hissed at Bart, and swapped the cover of shadows for an invisibility glamour. I had to go quickly. This type of glamour was hard to maintain for long. Up the stairs, and a quick spell on the front lock got me inside. Now to locate the correct room. It shouldn't be too hard. It was usually pretty obvious. At least, that's what i had been told. I've never actually done this before.

I appeared to be in some sort of sitting area with lots of chairs, and a dark reflective object that loosely resembled a dirty mirror. I think I remembered someone calling it a television. I moved on. The first door I came to lead to a kitchen. No, not here. The second was a bathroom. Nope, got to keep going. Third time's the charm they say. I carefully open the door to the third room. Ah! This was it.

I tiptoed in, careful not to bump into anything. Thankfully, at this age, toys and books weren't being used yet. I reached the crib and peered down at the little bundle, all swaddled and cozy. I inhaled deeply. This little one didn't smell bad at all.

I took the little fae child from the sling around my neck and gently woke her up. She blinked at me sleepily. I laid her down next to the human child in the crib.

"Welcome to your new home." The fae child smiled and quickly transformed to match the human baby next to it. I scooped up the human and undid the swaddle. Before the child could start to cry, I placed it into the sling and it quickly fell back to sleep. It only took a moment to wrap up the fae child and wish it well.

"Good luck." The changeling didn't need it as much as they used to. A few hundred years ago, humans often tried to kill our little changelings. Now, they just presumed they had trouble connecting due to depression. It made things easier for us, that's for sure.

I exited the nursery and turned to leave the apartment. I immediately froze. A man was standing there, looking right at me. I know it was impossible, but he seemed to be looking right at me!

"What are you doing?" He pulled a knife out of his pocket.

Well, I guess he did see me. I checked to make sure my glamour was still working. It was. How could he see me?

I didn't say anything.

"Answer me!" He pushed me against the wall, putting the knife to my throat. I hissed in pain as the metal touched the sensitive skin. Iron.

"Nothing." I lied, but it was not to be. The tiny traitorous human decided to wake up and start wailing. He quickly scooped the baby out of the carrier and held it to his chest.

"Kidnapping? Yeah, not going to happen." He set the knife down and reached for his cell phone.

"No, the baby is still in the crib." I pointed to where the changeling baby laid, asleep. He looked back and forth between the two before carefully approaching the crib.

"I don't know what that is, but it is not my niece." He said, looking at the changeling.

"What?" I gaped, how could he tell.

"Did you really expect me to believe it? This thing has horns!" He scurried back as the changeling baby woke and hissed at him.

"You can see the baby's horns?" This man could see through the glamours.

"Yeah, it's kind of obvious." He pulled out his phone once more. "I'm calling the police."

"That's not going to do any good. They won't believe you." I lifted the fae child out of the bed and back into the sling.

"What makes you say that?" He asked while dialing.

"None of them can see me. And frankly, neither should you." And with that, I opened the nursery window and leaped out into the night air.