Chapter 4
We find a park ten minutes away, tucked between a school and a retirement community. The setting isn’t expansive—just a few swings, a play structure, and a meandering walking trail, but it’s quiet. Almost too quiet.
“Is this place safe?” I ask my kid sister, as we pull into the parking lot, trusting her ability to quickly read the energy of a space.
Paxton closes her eyes, tilts her head, tuning into something I can’t see or feel. Then nods. “It feels safe... and serene.”
Serene is a good sign of a fairy presence.
“Good enough. Let’s go.”
First, I tuck my purse under the front seat and step out of the Prius. Cool night air brushes against my cheek as I take Paxton’s hand. Together, we head toward the grove of oak trees gathered in the shadows at the far end of the park.
“There aren’t that many trees,” observes Pax, glancing around.
“True, but most parks have at least one magical tree,” I say, leading the way. “You just have to know what to look for.”
“And magical trees have fairy doors?”
“Exactly.”
I head straight toward a massive oak at the edge of the grove.
It’s not the tallest, but it’s the most commanding: broad and perfectly rounded, its symmetrical crown shaped like a living dome.
Its bark is thick and deeply furrowed, curling in places like the folds of a wise old face.
Gnarled roots spread outward like ancient fingers clutching the earth, and its limbs stretch wide in all directions, balanced and open, as if inviting us closer.
Silver moonlight dapples its trunk, and the leaves shimmer faintly in the stillness.
My heart flutters with recognition. This is it.
I walk up to the trunk and point to a wide, swirling knot about waist-high.
Paxton leans in, blinking. “That’s a fairy door?”
“Yuppers.”
“But no one could fit through that!”
“No human, but fairies can,” I say, grinning. “And with a little fairy magic, I can, too. If I want to.”
Paxton’s mouth drops open. “You can really do that?”
I give her a wink. “Sure can, but tonight, we’re going to do this the polite way. We’re going to knock.”
And I do just that, rapping three times on the knot. It’s always three times, fyi.
Immediately, a hush falls over the grove.
Then, from the upper branches, tiny blips of lights drift downward—glowing, flitting, spinning in lazy spirals. Soon, the air fills with the faint sound of bells and wind chimes. Paxton grabs my sleeve, staring up in awe and wonder.
“Fairies,” she breathes.
“These are the tree’s residents, the guardians, each as tough as two grown men.”
The little lights dance around us in a welcoming swirl, then hover expectantly near the very knot.
“I’m requesting an audience with Queen Mother Maple,” I say aloud. “It’s urgent.”
In an instant, the lights zip into the knot, one after another. A soft, cool breeze rustles the leaves above us. We wait.
Then the knot begins to shimmer. The bark warps, twists, and opens like a mini oval-shaped door.
From within emerges a radiant figure the size of a Barbie doll with wings like stained glass, her flowing gown glittering with diamonds and dew.
Her crown, woven gold and dotted with crystals, catches the moonlight like fire.
Queen Maple.
She flies directly to me, landing on my outstretched palm.
“Tamara Moon,” she says warmly, speaking in English for Paxton’s benefit. Her voice is like sunlight through wind. “It has been too long.”
I bow my head. “Your Majesty.”
Paxton does the same, clumsily, and whispers, “She’s so pretty…”
Queen Maple beams. “Who’s this sweet light beside you?”
“My little sister,” I say. “Her name is Paxton.”
“A pure heart,” Maple murmurs, nodding. “Rare and precious.”
I feel a flutter of pride as Paxton wipes a tear, overwhelmed. “No one’s ever said such nice things about me.”
I pat her shoulder, then remember why we’re here.
“Your Majesty… I believe something dark has taken over the office of the Tooth Fairy. It may be a corrupted being, possibly a dark fairy. The Tooth Fairy herself could be in danger. One child in Tustin was attacked. Her tooth was stolen, her dreams invaded. And she’s not the only one.
Several children in the area have been affected. ”
Queen Maple’s expression darkens. “This is worse than I feared.”
“You… you feared something?” I ask.
She nods gravely. “There’s been a shift in the currents of fairy travel. A flickering where there should be pure light. We must check on the tooth fairy at once.”
“Y-you know where she lives?” Paxton blurts out.
“Of course I do, child,” Queen Maple says, smiling faintly. “She’s my sister.”
My eyes widen. “Wait. The Tooth Fairy is your—”
“I have many sisters, child,” Queen Maple says airily. “Some light, some not-so-light. You’ve met one already. Many have, in fact. She’s made of stardust.”
I blink. “Wait... are you talking about...”
“Tinkerbell!” gasps Paxton.
“Yes.” The queen chuckles. “But we call her Tink. And she’s... complicated.”
Paxton gasps. “You’re related to Tinkerbell?!”
Queen Maple gives her a wink. “But that’s a story for another night, child, don’t you think?”
Then the little queen holds out her tiny hands. “Come, Tamara. We must go at once through the tree. But just you and me. I’m sorry, Paxton, but you cannot travel through the fairy network. It is just not possible. You will be safe here with my sentries.”
I glance at Paxton. “She’s right, Pax. You’re safe here. The sentries will watch over you closely. Why don’t you sit here, under the tree? Don’t wander, okay?”
Pax nods solemnly. “I won’t. I’m safe. I feel it.”
With that, I take Queen Maple’s hand as she flies back to the magical knot. As we approach, it grows brighter and brighter and begins spinning.
A portal.
A moment later, I’m swallowed in silver light...
5.
The light flares bright as soon as I ‘step’ into the tree.
Disoriented and swaying, I soon find myself standing at the edge of what appears to be a floating realm: an island suspended in space, hovering between stars and shadow. There’s no ground below, no sky above, just an endless void swirling with an array of colors I don’t have names for.
Queen Maple takes hold of my hand, drapes my fingers over her tiny shoulders and flies up through a cloud cover.
I focus on my own magic and sprout my fairy wings, and soon fly side by side with the queen until the cloud disperse.
Soon, we are flying over a field of powdered gold.
She points down, and I land with a thud, the ground under my shoes crunching softly, like caramelized sugar laced with ash.
It should smell sweet, but instead, it smells faintly… rotten.
Molar-shaped trees rise up all around, tall and white. Their branches droop beneath the weight of black moss, looking for all the world like creeping cavities.
Once, this place must have been a dream.
Now it feels like a nightmare someone is trying to forget.
Queen Maple flies ahead of me, glowing like a tiny lantern against the gloom.
Her internal light cuts through the haze, casting short frenetic shadows.
I hurry to keep up, flapping my own wings, which carry me a few feet.
But I’m not accustomed to my wings yet and mostly just run, my footfalls echoing in the silence.
We pass candy cane lamp posts: now cracked and tilted, with broken dreamcatchers hanging limp from twisted silver chains, their webs torn.
“Maple,” I say, my voice barely more than breath. “What happened here?”
She doesn’t turn. “It’s been infiltrated, overrun.”
A cold shiver races through me.
I keep following her, half running, half flying, afraid to look down because I’m pretty sure the whole place is floating. Above what, I’m not sure. I doubt we are in the same dimension or universe.
Most likely, we’re somewhere above Fairyland, a land where I trained as a witch during my magical second childhood.
I know that world well. It’s where I played, studied, practiced spells, and made lifelong friends.
A place filled with memories that come rushing back now, warm and sharp and vivid.
But even with all that… I don’t recall an enchanted kingdom floating above it. I ask Queen Maple about it now.
“We are high, high above Fairyland, Tamara,” says the Mother-Queen, who prefers to use my full name.
Then I see it.
At the center of this broken, floating world stands a palace.
Once carved from opal and ivory, it is now overtaken by huge, twisted fangs—yellowed, jagged, and riddled with dark cavities.
They’ve ruptured the floating foundation and curl upward into a grotesque cage, wrapping the palace like the jaws of a hungry beast. The architecture within—spires of enamel, glinting crystal walls—still gleams faintly, but the beauty is smothered. Corrupted. Overgrown. Devoured.
Beyond the palace, a once-charming village clings to the floating terrain: tiny homes shaped like molars, shopfronts with awnings made of polished floss, and lanterns that once glowed with soft light.
But the rot has reached them, too. Roofs sag beneath black plaque, windows are cracked, and the gentle white paths that once sparkled with fairy dust are now dulled and stained.
What was once a place of dreams and quiet laughter feels hollow, as if the very magic that sustained it has been chewed up and spat out.
Through a jagged hole in the palace wall, I spot a smaller prison nestled within—a twisted cell made entirely of fangs, yellowed and curling inward like clenched fingers. Inside, slumped against the back of the cage, is a woman. Tiny, no larger than Queen Maple herself.
Her delicate wings hang limp at her back, one clearly broken. Her gown is tattered, her bare feet bruised and streaked with grime. Her glow—once surely radiant—is barely a flicker now, like a nightlight gasping for power.
“Oh no,” I whisper. “Is that...?”
“Yes, that’s the Tooth Fairy,” Queen Maple replies, her voice low and taut. “Her name is Sweet Root. And she’s alive... for now.”
Maple darts forward, flying low and fast, her wings a blur, covering the space between us and the palace impossibly fast. I run after her, ducking through a broken doorway into the once-magnificent palace.
Queen maple flies straight to the toothy prison.
I’m right behind her, searching for an opening through the fang-like stalagmites rising up from the palace floor.
“Sweet Root!” shouts Queen Maple, reaching her tiny arms in vain through the cage of teeth.
Amazingly, the beautiful, broken creature inside looks up and offers the barest of smiles… before her head droops once more.
Suddenly, a screech splits the air above us.
I look up just in time to see two black-winged fairies drop from the rafters.
Their bodies are long and thin, like shadow puppets torn from the wall.
Tattered wings twitch at their backs. Their eyes glow a feral red.
One of them hisses, its jaw unhinging far too wide to be natural, revealing rows of curved, needle-like teeth.
I barely get a shield up in time.
The creature slams into it, bouncing back with a shriek.
Queen Maple launches upward like a miniature missile, blasting through my shield in a blur of light.
Tendrils of energy whip from her hands, forming glowing lassos that coil around the shadow-beings.
With a sharp twist, she hurls them into the palace walls.
The impact rings out like shattering glass.
More of the dark darlings drop from the shadows above—at first a handful, then dozens.
They spill out from rafters, crawl from broken arches, unravel from the darkness itself.
The air thickens with wings and hissing.
I channel everything I’ve got... firelight, shielding wards, a push of kinetic force, but they’re everywhere. Swarming.
One of the little shits slams into my ribs. I stagger back, gasping.
Maple screams overhead.
I look up—and my heart twists.
They’ve got her by the arms and legs, yanking her in different directions like they’re trying to tear her apart.
I raise a hand, call fire, and launch a crackling blast. Two of them fall, but it’s like bailing water with a spoon.
The air is full of them now.
Suddenly, a bell chimes: clear and loud.
The air veritably glitters.
Something golden zips through a broken window, trailing a comet-tail of sparkling dust. The black fairies recoil. One shrieks and dissolves into mist as the radiant light engulfs it.
“Tink!” Queen Maple breathes above me, her voice tinged with relief.
And there she is... hovering in the air, tiny but fierce. Her golden hair whips around her face, that iconic green dress shimmering like fire.
“Need a hand?” she says in a tiny voice, grinning mischievously. Then, more serious, she adds, “One of your warriors found me. Slipped past the shadow guards and came straight to my forest palace in Neverland. I got here as fast as I could.”
Suddenly, she spins in midair like a golden drill, unleashing a blizzard of sparkling dust. Wherever it lands, darkness burns away.
Creatures flinch, stumble, fall from the sky.
But more keep coming... crawling from the walls, slithering from the shadows. Too many.
The palace groans.
Then the doors burst open.
The light from Tinkerbell’s arrival must have shattered the last of the enchantments, because from every corner of the Tooth Fairy’s palace, others emerge—guards and artisans who had been locked away in dream prisons.
Fairies with tiny swords, moonbeam weavers, sugar-sculptors, sentries made of starlight.
Their eyes blaze with purpose. They are free now.
They join the battle, sweeping into the horde with righteous fury.
I catch my breath, my ribs still aching, and hurl myself back into the fight beside Maple and Tinkerbell.
Together, we turn the tide.
For a moment, light reigns.
We fight back-to-back-to-back. Magic sings in the air, sweet and searing. One by one, the shadow fairies fall or vanish, until at last, the palace is still.
Finally, I lower my hands, panting, my heart slamming against my ribs.
Queen Maple floats to my side, her crown flickering with leftover energy. She gives it a shove, straightening it like she’s done this a thousand times.
Tinkerbell lands on my shoulder, brushing soot from her skirt. “Whew. I forgot how much I hate those things.”
I nod toward the fanged prison. “We have to free her.”
Queen Maple nods and glides forward. She places both hands on the twisted fangs. Light spills from her fingers.
“These aren’t natural,” she says, grunting as the magic resists her. “They’re symbolic.”
“Symbolic?” I echo, stepping closer.
“They represent him,” she says. “The one who did this. The one who took her place.”
I move to her side, shivering.
“And who’s that?”
Maple’s eyes glow brighter. “Our dark and jealous cousin.”