The cat jumped onto his person’s lap and curled up. She started petting him. “He’s my cat,” she said defensively, listening to the loud purrs.
“He is that,” snickered Time. “You’ve been together for longer than you can imagine.”
“I’m older than that,” she said, indignantly.
“I know,” said Time. “I am TIME, after all.”
“Why are you here?”
“I’m here to help you defend against what’s coming your way and I’m here because you called me.”
“I didn’t call you. We were simply discussing how time worked, or didn’t work.”
“You called me.”
***
“So tell me,” said Joey, once they were alone. “What is William and what’s going on?”
“There’s a story, in Fairy, about a powerful witch, who had a daughter. The daughter was even more powerful than the witch herself. The witch knew that everyone would want her daughter, because of her incredible power, so she came here, to this reality, to raise her and protect her. It wasn’t long before everyone began to look for her so, she made a guardian to watch over her. She put the guardian into William, but no one knows that part of the story. She then cast a powerful forgetting spell on the child herself, to dull her magic and hide her from those who would imprison her, using her magic for their own ends. She did all she could to keep her safe, and then she left her here and ran, leaving clues behind, so that others would follow her and never find her child. I think that child is Bunny.”
“But isn’t that just a story?”
“I think it’s a story about Bunny and William.”
“Caw.”
“Crow,” said Star. “Is it true?”
The bird flew to his outstretched arm, walked up and down, back and forth, for a few seconds, then looked directly at him and nodded.
“Wow,” said Joey.
“William wasn’t made to be regular demons. He’s not like them. He has a single purpose and he understands love.”
“And what about you, Star. What are you?”
“I used to be a normal boy,” he said, sadly. “A horrible wizard took me from the playground and put me into a cage. He…taught me things…magical things. He said I was more than I knew, but that he could see through me. I didn’t know what he was talking about but I did seem to be able to do things, once he forced me to try. I learned a lot. I learned things I would have been happier not knowing, to be honest. One day he told me I had to do something bad to someone else. I refused.”
“So he turned you into a Troll?”
“No. He beat me.”
“I’m sorry,” said Joey.
“He beat me for a week,” said Star softly. “When he realized that I would never do as he asked…”
“He had you turned into a Troll.”
Star nodded.
Joey held out his hand. “Welcome home, brother.”
Star took Joey’s hand and held it. “Thank you,” he whispered.
