Her breath caught in her throat as the petals of the lily finally began to splay in full bloom. Magic filled the air with the scent of laughter and joy.

There, in the center, was a shimmering creature with wings.

“How did a human like you earn the Fairy Queen’s favor?” Harris’ drawling tone couldn’t draw her away this time, even with the magic lure vibrating in his breath.

The fairy was an infant, small enough to fit in the palm of her hand.

Every feature was miniature and glowing. Tiny fingers reached up as a tinkling giggle poured from fairy lips, wings fluttering like water through starlight.

Reaching out her finger, she felt the warm bubble of awe fill her with a warm giddiness that she had long since let behind in childhood.

With a coo, the sparkling infant reached out to grasp her proffered finger.

“I know you’re weird and magic likes you, but you’re not supposed to touch-” Harris didn’t get to finish.

The moment they touched, the world around them vanished.

Light and warmth swathed them and the fairy babbled with an infectious joy, grasping her finger and smiling at her with pearlescent eyes that could see eternity.

She breathed the fairy child’s name, feeling the world around her quiver in recognition. “Lily.”

The fairy child cooed once more before her milky eyes shone and faded into eyes that looked far too human.

In fact, the fairy child fit comfortably in her arms now, like a human infant.

Wings like moonbeams brushed against her arms and her breath caught as the child gurgled, a cheery sound, and the moonlight faded.

A hand fell on her shoulder and she jolted, brining Lily close to her chest as she spun.

It was only Harris. “You idiot!” The satyr hissed, eyes wide. “You just bound your soul to a fairy child!”

She turned her eyes back down to the precious little girl in her arms.

Like a rose, the child had pink cheeks and nose.

Her eyes sparkled as a trickling stream.

She was so small.

“Her name is Lily.”

Harris began gnawing on his cane. “We’re so dead if the queen finds out. We’ll be so dead we won’t even have to worry about the prophesy of the living undead.”

In her arms, Lily let out a soft coo. And for a moment, her eyes seemed milky white, and then her blue eyes were once again gazing up with wonder.

This child was more important than the prophesy, she could feel it in her soul.