Some Safety Tips

One thing you ought to understand about fairy magic: when in the human world, fairies mostly use their magic for sneaky tricks, but since they don’t want to be known about, they’re very careful about it. It’s not that they can’t use their magic when a human is watching, but they want to avoid it at all costs. If the humans knew, they’d feel threatened, and mass panic and destruction would follow, as history shows. Yes, I am publishing this information on the Internet, but you’re all too smart to spread mass panic, right? ...Right?

So when you want to avoid being magicked, be-spelled, bewitched, or snatched, keep in sight of other human beings. Walk in plain sight, and be noticed. Make lots of friends; and you should have an ordinary, nonmagical (but very social!) life. But still, watch out for those slightly strange people who try to get you to go somewhere alone with them.

As a freshman in college, I was naturally rather innocent about the truth of the world around me. I didn’t know about the darker side of life, true despair, or utter failure. I thought I understood these things when I failed a class for the first time, and when I thought I would have to drop out of college before my second semester for lack of financial aid. I thought I understood loneliness, when handsome young men gravitated towards my tall, elegant roommate, and not to me. ‘Youth’ is the word for that, of course.

But in those days, only four years ago now, I still had a very rosy outlook on life. Any chance meeting might be the difference between making a new best friend or staying lonely. I was notorious for striking up lively conversations with strangers, sat in secluded gardens to think, and avoided crowds. I often walked home from work alone, tired, and smelling like cookies, which is not a good condition in which to ward off faeries (most are very fond of cookies).

I got into ballroom dancing (the idea of the aforementioned elegant roommate), and often jaunted off to and from the campus dances with a skip in my step. If a faery had walked up to me and asked for a dance in the moonlight, I’d have linked my arm through his and been happily whisked away!

           And, um, this is precisely what happened.