The Night Fairy

Cereus rose like a sleepy shadow from the murky swamp. All below her took on the muted hues of dusk, then evening, and finally followed inky midnight. Were it not for the tiny twinkling of stars one might have thought they’d gone suddenly blind, except most had grown used to the occurrence, regular as clockwork.

The night fairy’s gossamer wings covered the skies as she flew from the east leaving the quiet velvet blanket in her wake. Under her spell the earth stilled until plants and animals all slept.  Cereus loved the calm deep of darkest night, for here she could weave her spells undetected. Alone. Except tomorrow was All Hallows Eve.

She sighed in frustration. Every part-timer and wanna-be would be out. Did they really think they could usurp her rule? No little witch was up to the task, of that she was certain. Tonight she would make sure they weren’t.

“Why are you up so early, dear sister?”

Cereus started at the interruption, and turned slowly to face her twin, and nemesis, Lily. With icy stares the two fairies faced off. “What brings you to my home, sister?”

Lily laughed, filling the swamp with water lilies and cattails. “You have stepped into my realm, as you well know, Cereus. The day hours are mine. So back to my question. What cha doin’?”

Stretching tall, Cereus cast a dark cloud at her sister, who easily countered with beams of sunlight.

“Now you know better, Cereus,” Lily said. “Your spells cannot reach me.”

“And you know soon your spells will fade under mine.” Cereus glared imperiously. “You cannot defeat me.”

“Perhaps,” Lily purred, “But all bets are off on All Hallows Eve, as you well know. So we’ll see, won’t we?” With that, the day fairy bowed and flew out of Cereus’s murky swamp, a trail of rainbows shimmering behind her.

In a fit of temper Cereus stirred the swamp, sinking all of the lilies. “Humph. That’s enough of that!”  What would the world do without the hours of peace she brought them, Cereus mused.

Could Lilies light defeat the night? Cereus knew it was, sadly, possible on All Hallows Eve. With iron resolve she bent to her work, brewing darkest shadows and deepest hues into her batch of dreams to spread with tonight’s dark.

Once again the beautiful night fairy took to the skies, but tonight the dark came early, and deeper than most nights. Tonight, the night before All Hallows Eve, Cereus alone would be awake. Even Lily could not resist the deep sleep she scattered below. No mere daylings would foist her from her realm. She hoped.

All Hallows Eve dawned murky, laced with clouds, and lightening danced between them. Cereus smiled, knowing that mothers everywhere would be keeping little ones home, safe from the dangers posed by the ghosts and ghoulies afoot this night. Only those with evil intent would dare this trick or treat, and for them Cereus had a treat, all right. Sleep would send them, one by one, to their beds, and that right early.

The night fairy took to the skies with a vengeance that night. She was slow with dusk, ‘tis true, the better to slow the witches and warlocks, the werefolk and vamps who plotted against the gentle beings she graced with her peace. Gently, softly she crooned her lullaby to all below.

Where was Lily now? Cereus laughed out loud, knowing that her sister could not resist the power of her sleep potions. As she hovered over the fairy’s bower watching Lily and all her fairy folk, one and all yawned deeply and then curled in sleep peacefully waiting for dawn. “They’re such children,” Cereus crooned gleefully.

The night was now jet black, Cereus knew night was safe, for at least another year. Finally, with her task complete, she flew back to her deep, dark caverns beneath the swamp, where she would wait patiently until tomorrow. Then, when the sun grew tired, she would rise again to cover his rest.