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“Hey! Look it! Irep’s little friend is outside,” Mother said to Father, her face pressed against the window. “He looks dang awful, don’t he?”
“Hm?” Father floated over to join her at the window, touching her shoulder as he hovered above her. “You are correct, my love. Why ever would Cosmo and Wanda’s spawn be here?”
Irep rolled his eyes and opened the door of the mansion to find out—Peri did look awful.
The fairy’s hair hung flat over his eyes, not styled and loose. Peri held his head down, hugging himself with his arms. The sparkling glitter that usually danced around his wings and body was gone.
He looked dull and worn.
“Peri?” Irep asked. The fairy didn’t move or answer and Irep cleared his throat. “What brings you here?”
“I had nowhere else to go,” Peri whispered. He did not make contact with Irep. He did not raise his head. “May I come inside?”
Irep looked at his parents. His father rolled his eyes, but grabbed Mother by the arm and popped out of the room. Glad for the privacy, Irep floated back to allow Peri inside. He shut the door after the fairy and hovered next to him, unsure of what to say next.
“Thank you.” Peri hugged himself tighter and floated to the ground. He stood still and his eyes watered. “You can ignore me.”
As if that were possible.
“What happened?” Irep asked. He pushed Peri’s hair out of his eye and held it up. “You weren’t even this bad when you had to leave Timmy.”
Peri covered his mouth; his breath hitched.
Irep waited.
And waited.
“For the love of—spit it out, Cotton Puff!” Irep shouted and flapped his wings hard. “What. Happened?”
“I killed someone!” Peri shouted so loud his voice cracked. His eyes widened and he fell to his knees. He sucked in a breath and hunched over, his lisp increasing as he lost control of his voice. “I killed someone.”
Irep exhaled and touched his temple. With the amount of power Peri had, that did feel like an inevitable accident.
“Where’s the body?” Irep asked, pinching his nose. No wonder he came to Anti-Fairy World with his trouble. “I suppose I can help you dispose of it. It’s the least I can do as your double.”
“My uncles took care of it.” Peri shook his head and sniffed. He looked up and wiped his nose. “You don’t sound…upset.”
Irep wondered what Peri had wanted to say before he trailed off and settled on “upset.”
No matter.
“I’m not a good person.” Irep tugged on Peri’s arm to try and get him off the floor. Time was wasting if there was a dead body disposed of inappropriately. “You do need to elaborate, though. What do you mean your uncles took care of it?”
“My part of the job was to kill the target.” Peri pulled his arm away from Irep and sat back on the ground. He pulled his knees up to his chest and buried his face in them. “They said I didn’t have to do clean up, so I left as fast as I could.”
“Job?” Irep scrunched his nose. “It wasn’t an accident?”
Peri shook his head and held the back of his neck. His entire body jerked as he started to cry. Tears spilled over his cheeks, wetting his thighs.
“It was so awful,” Peri said. He sat back enough to wipe at his eyes, but more tears replaced each track he shoved away. “My hand shook so the first shot hit his shoulder instead of his forehead and then he screamed and there was blood splattered on me and the wall and I panicked. My uncles laughed. And my hands were so wet with blood I couldn’t hold the gun—I kept slipping my finger off the trigger.”
Peri sobbed, so open and raw, Irep felt like his own chest had been cracked open.
“Shooting him in the head was worse when I finally did it.” Peri dropped his arms and stared forward. “He just…got quiet.”
Irep lowered his shoulders and gave Peri a moment.
“I threw up,” Peri whispered. He hugged himself again. “When I got back to my room. I washed it all off, but I kept thinking about it and threw up. Pop-pop said I had done well and was excited to see my next work.”
Irep bit his thumb to keep himself quiet; he didn’t want to interrupt. Peri’s eyes turned glossy, like he was on the verge of shutting down.
“I have two more jobs.” Peri wheezed as he sucked in a breath. “And I’ll get more after that. It’s never going to end. I don’t want to do it! I didn’t want to kill anyone!”
Irep knew better than to ask “So why did you?”
“And to think we’re considered the evil ones,” Father said, popping back into the room with Mother. Irep snarled and he rolled his eyes. “Oh, don’t look at me like that! Of course we were eavesdropping! This is my house!”
Mother pulled the tape off her mouth and patted Peri on the back. She knocked him forward with each hit. “That Big Daddy of yours is a nasty piece of work!”
“I have missed something,” Irep said, looking between his contemplating Father and Peri. “Who’s Big Daddy?”
“Grandpa Anti-Fairywinkle’s counterpart,” Father provided. “He’s a mob boss that scares even that annoyance Jorgen.”
Father waved his wand, summoning a table with four chairs and tea service. He transported everyone into a seat and each Fairy and Anti-Fairy found themselves with a cup of steaming hot tea.
Mother wasted no time dumping sugar into her cup and grabbing a cookie with her foot. She munched on it, happy to ignore the somber mood of the rest of them.
“Do tell, what is dear Pop-pop holding over your head?” Father asked Peri. He took a sip from his cup and sniffed with his nose up. “It must be something serious for you to kill someone.”
Peri curled in his shoulders and clutched the teacup with both hands. “I’d rather not say.”
Father clicked his cup into the saucer. “A threat against a loved one?”
Peri flinched.
“Immediate family? Your father perhaps?” Father watched Peri close and hummed. “No, not that imbecile. It certainly isn’t your mother, so a friend, then?”
The fairy confirmed father’s question by further shrinking down into his seat, his cheeks flushing red. Irep took a drink from his tea. Well, that didn’t make any sense at all! Sammy and Goldie would rather die themselves than have Peri kill someone for their safety.
“It’s Irep, isn’t it?” Father tapped the side of his cup with his spoon. He looked Peri over and nodded. “Yes, it’s written all over you.”
Peri hid his face in his hands and nodded.
“You killed a man for me?” Irep blurted. He put his hands on the table and leaned out of his seat toward Peri. “For me!?”
“Pop-pop said he’d cut your head off.” Peri bit his lip and whispered, “He said he’d give it to me in a hatbox as a gift.”
Irep fell back into his seat.
“Right then! This won’t do at all.” Father floated up with his hands behind his back. “Come, my darling! I have plotting to see to!”
Father and mother left, taking the table and chairs with them. Irep and Peri crashed into the ground, too surprised to fly and save themselves the fall. Irep grunted as he sat up. Curse that man!
Peri grabbed Irep’s coat and shook him. “What’s your dad going to do?”
“Handle it, I suppose.” Irep looked at his arm; Peri’s hand trembled as it clutched his coat. Irep covered the hand with his own. “It will be fine. Father can—you did not hear me admit this, so help me, Peri—be a forced to be reckoned with given the right motivation.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” Irep scratched the back of his head and huffed. “Knowing Father, it’ll be messy.”
Peri deflated. “I’m so tired, Irep.”
“Then go to sleep.”
The fairy dropped his head onto Irep’s shoulder; Peri fell into a doze and Irep didn’t push him away.