Category: Fantasy Publisher: Club Lighthouse
Type: Fiction
Pages: 61
Copyright: 2009
ISBN-13: 9781897532607
The continuing adventures of a recent Med School grad with magical healing powers as he and his med school sweetheart return to help his friends fend of an assault on their kingdom.
This book has been superseded by "Flying with Fairies - the compete set. Exhausted from his battle with the magical forces on the other side of the parallel univers, a recent medical school graduate with magical healing powers seeks to return to the life he knew before his conscription. Unfortunately, such is not to be. The forces that he batled before have been set back, but not defeated and he must once again confront them. supported by family, friends and his college sweetheart, he applies his special skills to the support of the peace loving people who called him.
Excerpt
"Pizza's here!" Danny called as he struggled to balance two pizzas, a six pack of beer and a six pack of soft drinks while opening the apartment door.
"That was fast," Stacey said from the sofa as she swung her feet off the coffee table to the floor. "What did you do, fly?" She wrapped Danny's bathrobe tighter around her body and brushed her bright red hair out of her eyes.
"I know it's the middle of the night, but did you really think I would do the Superman thing in full view of a City of Boston Police precinct station? You know me better than that."
"No, I don't know you better than that. I thought I did, but I was wrong. Until a couple of hours ago I didn't know you could fly, or that you were a healer or that you had a buff friend named Eric who was a fairy with dragonfly wings who could fly and who could get hurt colliding with the guy wire on a radio tower and that I could heal him of his injuries."
Eric took the pizzas from Danny and set them on the dinette table. "You learn quickly. Come get some pizza," Eric said. "You had a long day yesterday and we've kept you up all night. You must be starved."
"And I learned that Eric is a healer and he can sense other healers. Let's see, what else?" She opened the pizza box. "I learned that you like anchovies. ANCHOVIES? YUCK! I hate anchovies!"
"I only put them on one half of one of the pizzas. Eat the other one," Danny replied.
"What else have I learned in the last couple of hours? Your parents are mages. You helped the fairies defeat the elves in a bloody war. You have a friend who is an ogre."
"More like a comrade in arms," Danny quibbled. "He's really Michael's friend."
"You are friends with the queen of the fairies and you helped her realize that this fairy guy Michael loved her."
"I would have done it if he didn't," Eric interrupted with a mouth full of pizza.
"You have friends who are centaurs and you left a woman behind in the land of the fairies who you think is pregnant with your baby. And you have pictures to prove all of it. Have I hit the high points?"
"Enough of them," Danny offered. "Don't forget you need to be in Newton by ten. You're meeting that girl whose parents were killed in the wreck on the Mass Pike yesterday."
"I haven't forgotten," Stacey snapped. "Was that only yesterday?"
"Yup, time flies when you're having fun," Danny quipped as he popped open a beer. "You realize this it the first alcohol I've had in this house since the last time you came to visit."
"At least you remembered what beer I like."
"How could I forget?"
"Look, yesterday morning I was having breakfast with some EMT buddies from the hospital I worked at while I was doing my residency when they got the call for the big wreck on the Pike. I dropped in at the hospital to see if I could help. You came in straight off vacation and went directly into surgery. We worked all day saving lives. We are doctors. We save lives. Just another day at the office. So far so good. I wanted to decompress after the long day and I came here for a little casual sex instead of my normal late night drive to the suburbs and things got strange in a hurry. In the, what is it, eight hours since we left the hospital, my life has turned completely upside down. Cut me some slack, OK?"
Danny's answer was interrupted by a knock on the fire escape door. Danny's face lost its color. Eric stopped eating in mid-chew. The bottom of the fire escape was locked. There were only two ways to get to that door. One was from one of the other apartments, but the people in the other apartments would come to the front door. The other was to fly. The second knock was more insistent than the first.
Eric furled his wings and put his jacket over them before answering the door. Danny reached behind him and picked up the ceremonial sword, a gift from the fairy queen, that he had laid on the desk. When Eric was sure that Danny was ready, he opened the door.
"Hello, Eric," the elderly man on the landing said cheerfully.
"Judge Levine? Mrs. Levine?" Eric sputtered.
"Dad? Mom? What are you doing here?" Danny shouted.
"May we come in?" Danny's father asked politely.
"Yes, come in."
Danny's mother held her arms out to Stacey. "It is good to see you again. How are you dealing with all this?"
"Um, Mrs. Levine, how did you get on that landing?" Stacey asked fearfully.
Mrs. Levine looked at her son who up to this very second had no idea his parents could fly, but jarringly had come to that inescapable conclusion. "Does she know about you?"
Danny nodded.
Mrs. Levine's face lit up. "We flew."
Before Stacey had a chance to react, two pixies, one male and one female, flew in through the open door and landed on Mrs. Levine's shoulder. "Greetings!" they cheerfully said in unison.
"That's it!" Stacey shrieked, "I'm out of here!" She started for the door.
"Better put some clothes on first," Mrs. Levine suggested.
Trembling, Stacey threw herself on the sofa and covered her face with her hands. The pixies gently rearranged the folds of Danny's robe so her thighs were not exposed.
The female pixie said, "Doctor Danny, she's awfully pale. You should fly her to Florida for the weekend so she can get a tan. We know some great beaches."
Stacey rolled her head side to side slowly saying, "No, no, no." She sounded ready to cry.
Mrs. Levine sat beside Stacy and enfolded her in her arms. As gently as she could, she said, "You know, Stacey, she's right. It wouldn't do to have the entire fairy world know Danny's girlfriend has pasty legs."
Stacey rolled her hands back, her eyes wide with shock. "I am not his girlfriend! He left a pregnant woman behind in fairy land. SHE is his girlfriend."
Mrs. Levine patted Stacey's knee. "Well, you are a girl and you are in his apartment with no clothes on and you are his friend so that makes you his girlfriend. The pixies are horrible gossips and whether you like it or not you are big news."
"No, no, no, what about the other woman?"
"Aurora? You'll meet her soon enough, I suppose."
"Won't she hate me?"
Mrs. Levine laughed, "No, dear, she got what she wanted and sent him on his way."
"I don't understand."
"You don't need to, dear. Trust me. Look, instead of hanging out looking like the start of an X rated movie, get dressed so we can see about getting you to Newton by ten."
"How do you know I need to be in Newton by ten?"
"The pixies. There are no secrets from the Pixies. Take a shower. You'll feel better."
Stacey slowly shook her her head and cautiously headed for the bedroom.
"Dad!" Danny said exasperated as Stacey closed the bedroom door. "Did you pick all the anchovies off the pizza?"
"They weren't as fresh as I would have liked, but they were tasty."
Danny made a growling noise in his throat. "All right you two, it's about time you came clean with me. I thought you were a pair of drunks, but you're not. What's the deal?"
"It was a cover. It allowed us to be abroad at all hours of the day or night. We have been tracking down enchanted elven gold for years and some of that had to be done at night. No one pays attention to the wanderings of a drunk. It worked quite well."
"How did you know I was home?"
"We felt you pull power. You have a distinctive signature. We could tell every time you used it. We knew when you were healing. We knew when you were flying. Ever since you healed your friend Brian, we've known what you could do. We heard about the wreck on the news and felt your work at the hospital. That's how we knew you were home. We were glad you were using your power for the victims, but when we felt you draw it again in the night from here, we became concerned. There were other signatures in the power we didn't recognize. We sent the pixies to spy on you and they reported that Eric was here and that you had healed him except that even accounting for Eric, the signature was wrong. Someone else was drawing power from here and we were afraid it was one of our enemies. I am thrilled to find out it was Stacey. I always liked her. You should have brought her home from school more often."
"But we killed all the elves. What other enemies do we have?" Danny asked.
"No, you killed Hassan and the male elves in his army, but the female elves and the children survived. Not only that, Hassan's clan was only one elven clan. You won a big battle, but the war has been raging for a thousand years. Whatever victory you might have achieved is but a skirmish in the total conflict. In spite of our best efforts, this war will likely go on for another thousand years. All we can do is keep from losing it."
"There's an encouraging thought," Danny sighed.
Danny's mother put a piece of the pizza on her plate and popped the top on a soft drink. "I always loved the smell of pizza in the morning." She grinned maliciously.
Danny sat in silence while he ate the remains of the slice his father had denuded of anchovies. After he finished it, he said, "Now, what do we do?"
"Your mother and I will continue our search for enchanted elven gold and you will train a medical corps. We will be happy to help your training if you need us."
"Medical corps? Like Army Medical Corps? Like MASH units?" Danny sputtered.
"Exactly," his father replied through a mouthful of pizza.
"You want me to train a bunch of kids from the Boston suburbs and take them into battles like the one I just fought? You want me to risk the lives of innocents?" Danny was aghast.
"Not exactly like, but similar. They will stay behind the lines of combat."
"No! There were no lines of combat! There were no safe areas. Ask Eric."
"That's true, sir, there was no safe place to hide. We all fought," Eric affirmed.
"I heard you were particularly brave, Eric, visiting the ogres, centaurs and gnomes all in a single day. That was an incredible feat of flying stamina and courage. Truly heroic. Had you not enlisted the centaurs' aid, the castle would have fallen," Danny's father said.
"Thank you, sir. I did what I needed to do. I wasn't trying to be a hero," Eric said softly with a catch in his voice. "Sir, did you see the valley where the centaurs shot down the elves and their dragons?"
"No."
"I did. It was horrible. I never want to see, hear or smell anything like it again."
"I have seen other battles," Danny's father said gently. "They are the same in that regard. However many you see, you never get used to them. Unfortunately, your cousin Michael will need your services sooner or later. There will be other battles and you will hate every one of them."
They ate in silence until Stacey appeared.
"Oh, my dear," Danny's mother said, "you can't go looking like that."
"I don't have time to drive home and change."
"Dear, do you still live in Lexington?"
"Yes, right off Route 2."
"Eric, can you cloak?" Danny's mother asked.
"What's that?"
"Create a bubble of invisibility while you fly."
"No," Eric shook his head, "I didn't know there was such a thing."
"It's rare among fairies, but common among pixies. Some dragons can do it. Could you carry Stacey forty leagues or so?"
"How high?"
"Not very."
"I suppose I could carry her, why?"
Mrs. Levine stood to all of her four and a half feet tall and took off her jacket. When she unfurled her wings, everyone in the room gasped. Stacey collapsed on the sofa with her hand over her mouth. Danny choked on his drink. Eric stood in silence. Danny's father stood up and kissed his wife. "I love when you do that. You are so beautiful."
"Mom! I didn't know you had wings!"
"Well, now you do."
When heart rates and respiration returned to normal, Mrs. Levine said, "Stacey, can you navigate your way home from the air?"
"Yes," she said tentatively.
"Good, give Justin your car keys," she said pointing at Danny's father. "Eric and I will take you home so you can change. I will cloak and Eric will carry. Justin will drive your car to Newton and we will meet him there. We'll fly back and meet you here later."
"Mom, I can drive the car," Danny protested.
"No, little boy, you are going to take a nap. You've had a long day and as soon as I can get everyone else some rest, we're going to do it."
"Yes, mother."
"Eric, I know you're tired, but I will help as much as I can."
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Danny, bed!"
"Yes, mother." Danny walked into the bedroom and closed the door.
"Stacey," Danny's mother said, "this will be one of the scariest things you have ever done. I need to ask that you not scream. I can cloak vision and radar, but I can not cloak sound. Understand?"
"Yes," Stacey answered trembling.
"Good, Eric will carry you on his back."
"Won't that get in the way of his wings?"
"A little," Eric answered, "but forty leagues isn't far."
Fairy Chief Justice Justin Levine used his son's computer to map the location of the doctor's office mentioned in the email printed on the desk. He stepped out on the fire escape for the short jump to the hospital parking lot where Stacey had left her car.
Flying with Fairies - Chapter # 2
Stacey was not as terrified by the flight as she thought she would be. The strong steady rhythm of Eric's wings was comforting and reassuring. She had thought that the wings would beat in unison, but they did not. The muscles in Eric's back tensed and the front two wings beat down. The leading edge was lower than the trailing edge on the down beat. At the bottom of the front wings' travel, the rear wings beat down with their leading edges lower. The wings would pause in the lower position for a moment and rotate so that the air spilled backwards as the wings raised, first one pair then the other. A brief pause and the cycle started again. Mrs. Levine stayed below and slightly in front of them.
Eric set Stacey down gently on a jogging path not far from her parents' house. Stacey's parents had insisted that she live at home until she finished med school so she would not be too deep in debt when she graduated. Living a hundred yards from the bus stop had been convenient. Now that she had passed her med boards and had a job, she would be finding a place of her own.
Stacey raced in the front door and headed upstairs for her room. Her mother met her there. "I didn't hear you drive up."
Panic stricken as she rummaged through her clothes, Stacey said, "One of my friends dropped me off. I stayed at his place last night. We worked the wreck on the Pike and I was too tired to come home." The words tumbled out in a nervous rapid stream, an instant clue that she was not being altogether truthful.
"He didn't come in?"
"He went to get gas."
"Was it that young man you brought home last summer?"
Stacey had forgotten that Danny had been there. "Yes." She pulled a tailored business suit out of the closet and started to change.
"He seemed kind of strange."
"Mom, you don't know the half of it."
"Are you still seeing him?"
"Romantically, no, professionally, yes. He is brilliant and we talk about our patients."
"But you say he's strange, Is he dangerous? Why don't you tell me about it?"
"Mom, I'd love to sit and chat, but we have a meeting in Newton with some potential pre-med students and I am late."
"I'll leave you alone. You know how proud we are of you passing your boards first try and getting that nice job in Burlington."
"Yes, and I love you, too."
Stacey tossed a hair brush and some lipstick into her purse and jetted out the door.
Eric greeted her when she returned, "Are you ready?" He flashed her a broad smile.
"Let's go!"
Stacey had a pretty good idea of where they were going and they had no trouble meeting Danny's father with her car. Once they were all together, Mrs. Levine said, "So, we'll see you after work tonight at Danny's?"
"Um, Mrs. Levine, could Eric stay with me? I am not sure I want to face her alone."
Eric smiled, "I'd be happy to stay."
Mrs. Levine returned the grin. "Keep her out of trouble."
Eric laughed and took Stacey's hand as they headed for their appointment with the girl from the wreck. They met the girl in the waiting room and Stacey asked about her condition before she saw her own doctor. Eric leaned his head back against the wall and promptly went to sleep. After the girl's doctor examined her, Stacey met with him for a few minutes and was heartened by his opinion that her bruises would heal and there was no permanent damage. Stacey was afraid to try her new found skills on a stranger or she would have arrived at the same conclusion herself.
"How are you getting home?" Stacey asked.
"I have taxi money," the girl replied.
"We'll take you home. Shall we get lunch first? I spotted a little restaurant a few doors down."
"Sure."
Stacey shook Eric to wake him. "Wake up sleepy head."
Eric blinked, yawned and started to stretch when, suddenly aware of his surroundings and the tightening of his jacket, pulled his arms back in and stood up. "I'm awake. Really. OK. Let's go." He yawned again. "Long night."
"Diane, this is my friend Eric. He dropped in last night. It was kind of a surprise."
"Pleased to meet you," Eric said as he held out his hand.
"Pleased to meet you." She shook his offered hand. For a split second, her eyes got wide and then with the sharpness of recognition, narrowed in suspicion.
Eric and Stacey noted the reaction, Eric with pleasure and Stacey with concern.
"I'm starving! Can we go eat?" Stacey said.
"I'm hungry too," Diane said. "Let's go."
Over lunch they discussed Diane's current living arrangements now that her parents were gone. Just turned seventeen, she would be finishing her junior year in high school in a couple of weeks. Her brother was in his second year at junior college, but did not have a job and could not live on his own. The family had already decided that her brother would be better off moving to Phoenix and living with their paternal grandparents until he either found a job or was admitted to a four year school. He would finish the school year here and then move as soon as possible. There was general agreement that Stacey should finish high school where she was. The only problem was that her aunt and uncle really did not have space for her and with their three small children, they had their hands full. Their maternal grandmother had moved in with Diane and her brother so they could stay where they were until the school term ended but after that, the lease would end on the apartment and they would have to move.
Diane's aunt and uncle had pledged that they would make it work for the year until Diane went off to college, but Diane knew how much of a hardship that would be for them and did not want to put them through it. After lunch, they drove Diane home. Eric slept in the back seat of the car while Stacey went up to meet Diane's grandmother. They chatted about Diane's condition and Stacey extended the invitation for Diane to come visit at the hospital any time she could get away. Stacey came away with a vague unease about the grandmother that she could not explain.
Stacey returned to the car and woke Eric. "So, what's the answer?"
"She has power. She is very strong. She is stronger than you and may be as strong as Danny."
"Can she fly?"
"I think so. I'm not sure."
"Anything else?"
"She knows I'm different."
"You think?"
"Oh, yeah."
"Does she know what you are?"
"I don't think so."
"I'll take you back to Danny's so you can tell them what you learned and I have to go to work."
"I can get to Danny's from here. You go to work."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'll hitch a ride on a truck. I watched them on the way out. See you tonight after work." He stepped out and took off. Stacey drove to work.
Danny woke up late in the afternoon. His mother held the phone out to him. "It's the hospital."
Danny quickly came awake. One of the orderlies was on the phone. There was a girl at the hospital demanding to see him. The orderly recognized her as being in the hospital the day of the wreck on the Pike. Danny assured the orderly he would be right there. While Danny dressed, his mother brought him up to speed on Eric's report of the morning. Eric was crashed out on the sofa or he would have explained it himself.
"I think you should come with me. I am not real good at dealing with emotions," Danny said.
"You think?"
Danny rolled his eyes. "Please come with me."
"Of course, dear." Mrs. Levine headed for the fire escape.
"Not that way. We need to walk. We can't get there too quickly."
"Ah, right. We walk." Mrs. Levine clearly did not like the idea of walking to the hospital.
They walked in silence. When Danny and his mother entered the waiting room, Diane launched herself at him and stopped short when she realized that the woman who had entered with him was actually with him. "Diane Parker, please meet my mother, Mrs. Rachel Levine. Mother, this is the girl I told you about."
Diane made no attempt to hide her surprise or her fear.
"Pleased to meet you Miss Parker. Are you any relation..."
"The statue on Lexington Green, yeah, I'm related to him." She had answered the question thousands of times.
"It is my honor to meet a member of such a noble family." Mrs. Levine took Diane's hand in both of hers. A look of recognition passed between them. "Danny, can we go somewhere private?"
Danny turned to one of the doctors who was in the waiting area talking to a patient's family. "Dr. Gupta, could I borrow your office for a few minutes."
"Certainly, Dr. Levine, soon you will have one of your own. I am very pleased that you will be joining us."
"I am looking forward to it."
Danny led the way to Dr. Gupta's office. As soon as he had closed the door Diane challenged, "Mrs. Levine, what is going on here?"
"Please call me Rachel."
"Rachel, please tell me what is happening? Something is not right."
"On the contrary, dear, something is going very right. You must promise that whatever I say or do, you will not shout or scream or make any loud noise."
Diane opened her mouth to say something but shut it instead.
"I will not hurt you," Danny's mother said softly.
"I promise."
"Please take of your blouse, dear."
Diane looked at Danny with a question in her eye.
"He is a doctor and I am his mother. You don't have to take off your bra, just your blouse."
Diane turned away from Danny as she removed her blouse. Mrs. Levine touched Diane's back along either side of her shoulder blades. She gently traced a line with her fingers. "Danny, come here and put your hand on her shoulder."
"What is he doing?"
"Seeing if he can feel what I felt." She made a small hand motion which Danny understood, but Diane did not.
Danny nodded as he returned the hand motion.
"It is as I thought. Diane, please put your blouse back on."
When Diane had finished tucking her blouse back into her skirt, Mrs. Levine said, "Diane, please turn around. Put both your hands over your mouth. Do not say a word. Your life is about to change in ways that none of us can even imagine." Mrs. Levine took off her jacket. Slowly, gracefully, she unfurled her wings as Diane watched at first horrified and then transfixed. Then as gently as she had opened them, she closed them again and put her jacket back on.
"The boy I met this afternoon, he was like you, wasn't he?"
"Yes, dear. We are fairies, like in the stories."
"Is Dr. Harrington like you?"
"No, Stacey is not exactly like us but she has powers like you."
"What power do I have?"
"You're a healer, and once we fix your wings, you will be able to fly."
"But, I couldn't heal my mother!"
"Diane, I couldn't either, and believe me, I tried," Danny said sadly. "There was too much damage. With my training and experience I couldn't save her standing on top of the strongest point in the power line. There was no way you could have done it. It is not your fault. When I saw her, I was surprised she lived as long as she did. That must have been your work."
Silent tears flowed in Diane's eyes. "What do I do now?"
Mrs. Levine took her hand. "Dr. Stacey Harrington, of the Lexington Harrington family, will invite you to stay with her, but you will be staying with us, dear."
"Why me?"
"Someone in your family tree married a fairy. For no reason I can explain, you, dear, inherited from them. You are part fairy. We have much to talk about, but this is not the place. Danny's apartment is walking distance from here. Shall we go?"
They quietly left the hospital with Mrs. Levine's arm wrapped around Diane's shoulder comforting her.
Danny's landlady, Mrs. Goldstein, was sweeping the front step when they arrived. "Mrs. Goldstein!" Danny called, "I would like you to meet my mother, Rachel Levine."
"Mrs. Goldstein, Danny has told us of you. It is a pleasure to meet you."
"Please call me Sonya. If you need anything, please come downstairs. I will be happy to share what I have. And who is this young lady? You've been crying my dear. What's the matter?"
"Mrs. Goldstein, this is Diane Parker. Her parents were killed in the wreck the other day on the Pike."
"Oh, I am so sorry. You must have been heartbroken. Have you eaten? You look pale. Would you like some chicken soup? Chicken soup is good for everything. Come with me. Nothing makes a person feel better than chicken soup and pleasant conversation. Danny, Rachel, come have some soup!"
Danny's mother raised an eyebrow at him.
"Mom, Mrs. Goldstein makes awesome chicken soup. There is nothing that makes me feel better on the night before a big exam than a bowl of her chicken soup. Trust me on this."
"Better than mine?"
"Yes."
"This I have to see."
They spent an hour in Mrs. Goldstein's cluttered little apartment. She regaled them with stories of her children and grandchildren now scattered across the country. Finally, Mrs. Goldstein declared she was tired and shooed them out. When they left, Diane's tears of sorrow had been replaced by tears of laughter.
Justin and Eric were watching a Red Sox game on television when Danny, Rachel and Diane arrived. "So, what's for dinner?" Justin demanded when they had closed the door.
Danny reached into his desk and tossed a menu at his father. "Chinese take out, Dad. You know how to use a phone!" He tossed the phone at his father.
Diane looked back and forth between Danny and his father. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"
Danny smiled. "Nope. I'm enough trouble all by myself."
"That's for sure," Danny's father quipped. He proceeded to order enough food for a group twice their size even assuming Stacey joined them in time for dinner.
Eric stepped up to Diane. Even standing as tall as he could he barely came to her chin. "Welcome, Diane, I was hoping you would come." He blushed. "I am happy to see you."
Diane blinked. "Oh, my god. How old are you?"
"Nineteen. Only a little older than you."
"You are a boy fairy."
"And you are a girl fairy."
Diane took a deep breath. "Are fairy years like human years?"
Eric looked to Mrs. Levine because he did not know the answer.
"Close enough, dear, for affairs of the heart, except that fairies are more likely to die in battle than humans. Eric is a combat veteran. He is a hero, although to listen to him tell it, he was merely a simple messenger boy."
"Really?"
"Mrs. Levine exaggerates." Eric looked down, embarrassed.
"No, she doesn't," Danny said. "If Eric hadn't risked his life to contact the centaurs, the fairy castle would have fallen to the elves and their fire dragons. I would have died along with the others."
"Centaurs?"
"Ogres and gnomes as well," Danny said. "Eric, you can tell the story as well as I can. Why don't the two of you go out on the fire escape where you can talk in private."
"Do you think that's wise?" Danny's mother asked after they had closed the door.
"Better the fire escape than the bedroom," Danny replied.
"Do you think you can repair her wings?" Mrs. Levine asked.
"Not by myself. I'll need help. They don't appear damaged, but they never grew. We need to make them grow. I might be able to do it if Sinead and Mary were here, but I don't know how to reach them."
"The pixies can find them and bring them," Danny's mother suggested.
"Can you call the pixies?"
"No, they come and go as they please."
"What about the two that came with you?"
"They're probably hiding somewhere near here. If they want to run this errand for us, they'll come out. If not, not. They must be convinced that this favor we ask of them is important enough to earn their attention."
"If we are to give Diane her wings, we can't do it without their help. Would giving a fairy her wings be important enough?"
Two pixies floated down from behind the valence on the living room window drape. "Doctor Danny, we would be honored to find Sinead and Mary for you. We must ask a favor in return."
"What would you ask?"
"My sister is having a difficult pregnancy. The healers think it is triplets. Can you help her?"
"Twins are rare among pixies. Triplets even more so. With multiple births, the mother usually dies," Mrs. Levine said softly.
"Can she come here or do I need to go to her?"
"If one of the girls can carry her, it would be better if she came here."
"By all means, we must do everything we can to save your sister and her babies."
The pixies flew out the open window.
The pixies returned two hours later. The Chinese take out had been eaten, the dishes had been cleaned and the leftovers put in the refrigerator.
Sinead carried the obviously pregnant pixie and set her on the kitchen table. The pregnant pixie's consort flitted nervously around the room until the male pixie of the original pair sprinkled him with dust and he fell to the floor in a heap. Justin picked him up lest he get stepped on and put him on the desk underneath an upside down spaghetti strainer.
After the briefest of greetings, Danny, Sinead and Mary set about making the tiny creature as comfortable as they could. They piled rolled towels around her to make as close as they could to an obstetrical table. They did what they could for her as they waited for the contractions to stabilize.
Stacey walked in to find Eric with his wings unfurled snuggled next to Diane on the sofa. Diane was resting her head against Eric's shoulder as he gently stroked her hair. Justin was watching television oblivious to the chaos in the rest of the room. Two pixies were perched on one of the valences. A third pixie made desperate noises from under a spaghetti strainer on the desk. Danny, his mother and two fairies Stacey did not know were so intent on whatever they had on the kitchen table that they did not hear her come in.
Stacey needed all of five seconds to figure out what was going on when she reached the table.
"I am so glad to see you. Her water broke ten minutes ago," Danny reported. "It's triplets. I think one is breech."
Shaking her head, Stacey washed her hands in the sink. "Get out of the way! I don't need power for this. Be ready to catch." She looked at Sinead and Mary. "Do you know what to do with the baby once I give it to you?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Danny, what do pixie babies eat other than their mother's milk?"
"Honey."
"Figures. We don't have any do we?"
"No. We have maple syrup."
Stacey looked up to the female pixie sitting on the valence and motioned her down. "Help him mix up something we can feed these babies. Their mother will not be ready to breast feed for a while." The pixie nodded and flew to the kitchen counter.
Stacey looked at her fingernails. "Damn, it took so long to grow these." She quickly trimmed her long nails.
"Why did you do that?" Sinead asked.
"Too easy to puncture something vital with long nails. Are you ready?"
"Yes, ma'am."
Stacey spoke to the pregnant pixie. "I won't lie to you. Some of this will hurt and none of it will be pleasant. Push when I tell you to push and relax when I tell you to relax."
Less than a minute later a strong contraction started. The first baby was partially lateral breech. One shoulder appeared at the top of the cervix. Between contractions Stacey inserted two fingers and, using external pressure from her other hand, gently eased the head into its proper orientation. On the next contraction she brought the head out. She paused until the contraction abated and flipped the arms out one at a time. The rest of the baby followed easily. She quickly tied the cord and passed the baby to Sinead. The second one was head first and slid out as gracefully as could be expected under the circumstances. She handed the second one to Mary to tend to. The third one was not dropping. Two intense contractions failed to dislodge it. Stacey knew she would have to get it out the hard way.
With spoon handles holding open the birth canal, Stacey reached into the pixie's womb and brought out the third baby. Mrs. Levine carried it to join its sisters. The first two had been quiet little girls. The last was a boy and a noisy one at that. Sinead and Mary expertly tended to the babies. Stacey finished with the mother and covered her with a towel so she could rest. She called Eric and Diane to assist moving the pixie mother to the desk next to her still captive consort. "Monitor her vitals and don't let him out yet."
"Yes, Dr. Harrington."
"Call me 'Stacey'."
"Yes, Dr. Stacey."
Stacey sighed and slowly collapsed on to the sofa. Danny sat beside her to comfort her.
Once the crisis had passed, Mrs. Levine addressed the male of the original pixie pair that had brought the girls. "How far did you step back?"
"Two weeks."
Mrs. Levine cursed under her breath. "Where am I supposed to hide Sinead and Mary for two weeks until they can return?"
"We knew you would figure something out."
"Thanks."
Justin wandered over. "That isn't your sister, is it?" he asked the pixie.
The pixie looked away. "No."
"She's the Duchess of Willow, the queen's sister, right?"
"Yes."
"And we have delivered three contenders to the throne that the queen tried to have killed instead of helping a barren queen have an heir of her own."
"Yes."
"And we have drawn enough power for every magical creature within a hundred leagues to have sensed it, and if we heal Diane's wings, which we need to do, we will draw even more power exposing us to discovery in a place we simply can not defend." Justin shouted in anger.
"Dad, we would have helped her even if we had known who she was. This building has a steel structure. Elves can not penetrate it. One tried while Stacey was delivering the third baby. He burned himself on the fire escape railing."
Stacey stood and asked, "What did you just say?"
Rachel took her hands and looked into her eyes before answering, "We're at war, and you've been drafted."
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