I jolt upright in bed the next morning, with no recollection of how I ended up there, to find a tiny face hovering over me.

I swat the thing like a fly, letting out a tiny scream as I sit up, reaching for Blue who sneaked into my bed during the night.

My scream jolts Blue awake and he wakes up, head butting into another one, earning a few curses from the third one.

“what the f...”

“baby!”

“What is happening right now?”

“It’s like a train wreck in slow motion,” comes from Dru.

“Ok people, what is going on right now?”

“What is going on is that karma is real.” The third, are they pixies? Says.

“yes, we are pixies, my name is Aodhàn, the green one is Enid and the one you just gave a concussion though well deserved is Arieen, it is a pleasure to meet and work with you and the little one.”

“well, Aodhàn I would say the same only problem is I don’t know why you are here.”

“Lady Eliane has assigned us to you to help take care of the little boy and keep him safe while you go on about your business.”

“Oh wow, that’s awfully kind of her.”

Arieen is coming to, and I thought I had the mouth of a sailor before Blue came, but she outmatches me, the mouth on that little thing.

“She’s supposed to take care of Blue?” I ask sceptically.

“she might not look like it but she’s amazing with the little ones and very loyal too, we tried to wash out the rest but sadly it is genetic, you should meet her mother.”

I turn to fully face the pixie in question, sparkling blue with white hair and twinkling eyes. She’s quite stunning once she stops snarling that is.

“stop that Ari,” comes Enid who has a calming aura around her, and yes, she’s also green all over, she looks like Tefiti from Moana, only a million times smaller, “you did way worse to her yesterday.”

“I just wanted to see if I’d like working with her.”

“What is she talking about, are you the one who did that to me at the gate?”

Told you it wasn’t me.

“yeah that was me, it seemed like a great idea at the time, and it was hilarious.”

“not from my point of view it wasn’t,” I answered, advancing on her.

“Relax girl you got your own back. I can still hear the ringing in my head, we are even.”

Blue, who has been following the conversation his head moving like a ping-pong ball finally speaks.

“mama, they are trolls.”

“Now you look here child,” starts Aodhàn offended.

“Yes, they are,” I answer with a laugh.

“Hey!” they both exclaim deeply offended.

“Sorry it’s because of your colours, he means the trolls from the animation”

They stare at me blankly.

“the singing and dancing trolls?”

Still nothing.

“well Blue, the first order of business, watching the two troll animations, we have to fix this injustice.”

“Before all that, may we remind you that you are supposed to finish choosing your courses today or Nona Ellie will come down and do them for you, her words not mine.” Enid supplies sagely.

“I’m almost done anyway, I just have to choose between photography and interior design.”

“Go with interior design, you have an eye for it.”

“What do you mean by that, Ari?”

“Yes, Lady Eliane showed us your life before you came here to make us understand you better.”

“And the work you did in your place is amazing, it looked professionally done,” concludes Aodhàn.

“Can’t you do both mama?”

“No, I can, but I won’t. That would be too much workload and that will cut my time with my little man short,” I answer, picking him up and nuzzling his neck, which causes his wings to pop out.

“Oops!”

“It is okay baby, just put them back in slowly as you practised with nana.”

“Why?” asks Enid, “he can have them out.”

It takes me a moment to catch up.

“you are right, oh my God you are right, you don’t have to hide them all the time anymore baby even your tail.”

“He has a tai...?”

I hear a smack and Ari shuts up, thank you Aodhàn.

“So, what else did Nona Ellie share about me?”

“Nona Ellie?” Aodhàn asks with a weird look.

“don’t look at me like that. She insisted I call her that, God knows why?”

“God?”

“She’s from the human world.”

“Oh right, she looks human too, the height, the frizzy hair.”

“Hey, I’m right here!” I exclaim, shutting Aodhàn and Ari up, “also you’re one to talk, you are the size of my pinky,” that was an exaggeration, to be frank, they were about 2 feet tall.

“It is a normal size for pixies,” Enid sagely jumps in.

“You just might be the shortest elf I’ve ever seen,” Ari says grinning wickedly.

“Who said I was an elf?”

“Or maybe you aren’t one, your baby is clearly a unicorn.”

“A unicorn?” I ask, staring intently at Blue.

“A term used to refer to someone who has traits from multiple species, you did say he has a tail, then he has wings, then the colour of his hair implies Mer shifter, so, unicorn.”