Marsha stares at her grandmother, unable to piece together what she’s just heard. She narrows her eyes. Then she shakes her head.

“You said Vani is part of a community of what?”

“Aetherials and Wix, yes.” Edie bobs her head. She gives her granddaughter a penetrating stare, as though she wants to see the contents of her mind. Perhaps, if she could, she wouldn’t have been worried.

Marsha stares at Vani, who’s staring right back at her. The weird occurrences with the trees on their way pop back into her head. She shakes her head.

“And you say they aren’t human,” she says. Still trying to give her grandmother the benefit of the doubt even though she’s certain she’s likely got dementia.

Edie nods.

Marsha glances at Vani. “They look pretty human to me.”

“That’s because they’re wearing a glamour.”

“And a glamour is?” Marsha asks.

“A light but extremely potent illusion,” her grandmother answers.

“Uh huh,” Marsha replies.

‘Maybe it’s not grandma, maybe I’m just hallucinating again, like with the trees. Gods I hope I actually am in my grandmas’ house at least. I hope Vani is alright.’

No sooner than these thoughts cross her mind, Edie’s front door flies open. Marsha’s heart jumps, and she spins around. Her eyes catching on the…very strange person who walks in. Very strange. Like something out of a fairytale or a horror novel.

The floorboards creak as a lithe, somewhat muscular and vampiric looking person walks into the house. The vampiric parts are… well. He’s so pale his skin is a little see-through. Veins visible underneath here and there. And his eyes are these…black pools. With glimmering gold in them like a coin at the bottom of a deep well.

‘Oh my God,’ Marsha thinks. His blood red hair is sleek and styled into an intricate undercut braid. It’s so surreal. She’d expect someone that looked that vampiric to have loose hair or something. It’s all she’s ever seen in movies and tv shows.

That brings her up short. This isn’t a movie. What is she seeing? Is it real or is she hallucinating everything like she thought?

“Daddy!” Vani squeals with delight, shocking Marsha back to life.

Vani runs past her and into the embrace of the monster-man. The man smiles with pointy needle-teeth and scoops Vani up.

Marsha looks over at her grandmother, the sigh when she sees her grandmothers’ reaction is more disappointed than relieved.

Her grandmother has a smile on her face. Like this man looks totally normal to her. And perhaps he does. It certainly supports the ‘hallucination’ theory.

Edie notices Marsha looking then, and walks over to drape an arm over Marsha’s shoulder.

“I have to explain myself to you again, lovebug,” she says. “Remember I told you there’s a whole other world going on outside this one?”

Marsha nods. Hoping something she’ll say will make sense of all of this.

“Well, that world is made up of a lot of magic. There are creatures there, and the most recognized are the Aetherials and the Wix. The Aetherials and the Wix are both magical creatures, though they operate on different dynamics. Wix operate through spells, potions, rituals and soul symbols. On the other hand, Aetherial magic courses through the persons’ blood. Vani's father, Navisdan, is the prince of Aetherial society. Which includes Wix. You’re seeing him like this because he’s unglamored.”

Marsha stares at nothing in particular. Her mind’s still juggling all the information, weighing, calculating. Her grandmother sees it too. So it’s either real or a really deep hallucination. Or a dream?

Edie sighs. Then she steals a glance at Navisdan and Vani. “It isn’t that they meant you harm. They just couldn’t go around looking like that in front of people. Would you have been so eager to help if they’d looked like they do now?”

Marsha turns and sees a younger, smaller version of the monster-man, in his arms. Her shoulders slouch abruptly.

“Vani,” she says.

The little vampiric creature looks up, still smiling. Their needle-teeth perfectly matched to their fathers’

“Your hair is very pretty,” Marsha says. “I like it much better than the orange you had on before.”

Both of them had deep, blood red hair. Almost black but not quite. Like a pool of blood on the floor that’s been left to congeal. Actually a very beautiful color.

Edie looks at Navisdan with triumph in her expression. She’d expected Marsha to flinch. But she’d simply rolled with the new circumstances, refusing to make things weird or scary for Vanisdan.

Though, for a moment, Edie wonders if that’s really… right. Marsha reacted a bit too well… like when she was a little girl and she went quiet and still when her father yelled or her mother slapped her on the mouth.

“Why don’t you go and make everyone some tea,” Edie says to Marsha. “It might help calm your nerves…”

Marsha walks out of the living room without prompting, just needing some space to process. Glad that her grandmother could tell. It’s been so long since they’d seen each other. It’s nice to know that some things are still there.

“You made quite the entrance, your highness. That’s my granddaughter there. I feared she might not be able to handle all this. But she’s stronger than I gave her credit for.”

“Mine apologies, Councilor Campbell. I didn’t think you’d have company.” He kisses Vani's’ curls. Squeezing them tight. “Thank you for taking care of my child.”

“Oh, no. That gratitude is misplaced. You should thank Marsha. She’s the one who brought Vani here,” Edie replies.

Marsha walks in with a tray. There’s a kettle with mugs on one side, and a plate of cookies on the other. She places it on the coffee table at the center of the room. Then she tilts the kettle over the mugs, filling them up.

One to her grandmother, another for Navisdan, and another to Vani. She hands them out, mechanically.

“I hope you like tea,” she says.

Navisdan nods, stiffly. “Yes.”

Marsha picks up a cookie and hands it to Vani. They smile and nibble on it immediately.

‘So they eat people-food,’ she thinks, dizzily. ‘That’s good to know.’

Navisdan and Edie exchange looks. Edie’s eyes are filled with a plea; Navisdans’, sincere regret.