Fox's Fire

Prologue: Bo

Bo met her first fairy in her backyard.

A patch of bright yellow flowers always bloomed just before the hot days of summer really began, and as a child, Bo always hurried to pick as many as she could to decorate the house. One morning, with the dew still fresh from the night before, Bo found a little girl curled up trumpet of one of those flowers. She was so tiny; even at the age of six, Bo had been in awe of how the little person was tiny enough to fit in her palm.

Bo gaped at the tiny figure and glanced around the yard as if expecting a whole flock of little people to emerge from the clusters of flowers. When the yard remained still, Bo plopped onto the grass. The dew soaked through the thin material of her shorts, but Bo only had eyes for the little girl curled within the yellow petals.

A bird twittered from the tree above, and the twittering seemed to be a signal for the little figure to stir. She yawned and stretched. Transparent wings fluttered behind her, twinkling like the dew in the sunlight. She kicked her legs out and nearly tumbled out of the flower. Bo giggled. The little head, barely the size of her thumb, whipped around towards her. Bo crawled forward until her nose nearly touched the little fairy. "What are you doing in the flowers?"

Tinkling laughter instantly bewitched her. "They make the perfect bed for a quick nap!" The fairy stopped, and her eyes widened. Little wings fluttered, and Bo jerked back when the fairy flew to her face. "You can see me?"

Bo nodded. The fairy laughed. "You're such a special girl! Would like to be friends?"

A smile split Bo's face. "Yeah!"

Bo spent the rest of the summer wondering the yard with the fairy. When yellow flowers withered under the heat of the sun, the fairy found other spots to nap in: the rain boots Bo left by the door, the wagon of a garden gnome statue, an abandoned bird's nest in the gutter. Bo treated it as a game of hide-and-seek, with her always being the seeker. The fairy was always excited to be found, though equally bewildered, and she would follow Bo around the yard as the young girl chattered.

"Do you live nearby?" Bo asked one day. She carefully poured the lemonade she had made with her mom that morning into a tiny thimble. The fairy accepted the thimble with a happy flutter of wings. "Do you wanna come to my birthday next week?"

The fairy giggled and sipped from the thimble. Her entire face puckered a second later, and Bo giggled. "Sure!"

A week later, the backyard was full of family and friends her mother had invited. Bo endured the awkwardness, accepting birthday wishes from family she never saw, but all of the kids were either too big or too small for her to play with. She sought out her fairy friend as soon as she could. The fairy swung from the birthday banners her mother had strung through the trees, dropping little flower petals on the guests below. No one seemed to realize where the petals came from.

Bo skipped over and tilted her head back. She waved until the fairy stopped her storm of petals. "Come play with me!"

The fairy smiled and fluttered down to sit on her shoulder. Bo enthusiastically talked to her while she walked the perimeter of the yard. Her mother met her on her third rotation, and Bo smiled up at her. "Mama!"

"Bonnie." Her mother paused. "Aren't you going to go play? Your cousins are starting another game of cornhole."

Bo shook her head. "I can't. The fairy's too tiny to throw the bean bags." Bo turned her head to the fairy standing on her shoulder. The fairy stared at her mother with a slight tilt to her head. "Maybe we can play hide-and-seek. We play that all the time."

Her mother smiled. "I'm sure your cousins would be okay with that. You better get to it though because we're going to cut the cake soon!"

Her mother bent down to hug her, making the fairy flutter away to avoid being crushed. She returned to Bo's shoulder as her mother returned to mingling. Bo glanced at her cousins tossing bean bags at the plank of wood and walked in the opposite direction of the screeches and cheating accusations. "That was mama. Daddy isn't around no more, so she tries to be happy a lot. Do you want some cake?"

The fairy didn't respond. Bo stopped and sat by the side of the house, hidden away from the others by the porch. The fairy landed on the ground and turned her solid black eyes to Bo. Transparent wings fell to cling to her lower back. "You didn't receive your gift from your mother."

"No, mama got me a gift." Bo pointed at the table that held her gifts, specifically the large one placed on the ground beside it. "I think it's a bike!"

"Not that, you silly human." The fairy smiled and fluttered her wings to hover in front of Bo. A tiny hand tapped the tip of her nose. "Imagination is normal for humans your age, so your mom isn't about to question what you say. You're going to be a very lonely human when you grow up though."

Bo frowned. "Lonely like mama."

"Much worse." The fairy paused, her lips pursing. She fluttered closer and caught a strand of Bo's black hair. "You should be careful who you talk to, sweetie. Not all of us like being seen by humans."

The fairy flew away before Bo could say another word. No matter how hard she searched, Bo never saw the fairy again.