Lullabies
Fairy elves are softly treading,
Folding buds as they pass by.
Cosmo finished the phrase and sighed. Timmy was softly sleeping again; no worries seemed to be flitting behind his eyes. He stilled and began to breathe more peacefully again. Cosmo turned his thoughts toward anything he could to keep him awake and found himself thinking of how he’d learned the song, and more appropriately, who he’d learned it for.
It had been one of Wanda and his’ first godchildren together. She had been a sweet little girl with no family and no friends, nothing but a name; Lilith. He remembered how her brown curls used to bob as she skipped about trying to peddle her way in life. Her pale skin and sparkling grey eyes attracted many unwanted guests, and he and his wife had been tempted many times to reveal themselves to help her. But they had known it would do nothing but harm her in the end, so they had to watch and wait. She had always been strong, though, and had never given in to any of the men who badgered her daily for un-offered goods. She always returned to her godparents with a smile.
So young, he thought to himself. She was such a little angel.
“Cosmo! Wanda!”
Cosmo leaned back on the bed, supporting himself with his arms and stared up at the ceiling as the memories flooded over him.
Wanda smiled at the young girl running at them. It was a beautiful spring day and they were enjoying it on the barrows.
“What is it, Sweetie?” Wanda asked. The girl flopped down beside them, all smiles and sunshine.
Cosmo shut his eyes and held back tears. He could hear her voice, lilting and alive; he could see her smiling face as it radiated its own heavenly light at anyone who wanted it, smell the sunshine and the flowers woven into her dark brown tresses. She was almost faerie like; her Celtic roots firmly centered in the heart of Erin. She had an otherworldly air to her that Cosmo could feel whenever he was around her, and he could have sworn he felt it now; but he knew better. He wasn’t stupid like the world thought; he knew the Rules, all five of them. He blocked himself from coming to terms and accepting she was gone as he continued to revel in the memory.
The little girl got up, giggling, and began to frolic again. Cosmo shook his head merrily.
“She’s just a kid, Wanda,” he said, placing a hand on her arm lovingly. “Besides, I like our alone time.” Wanda began to giggle almost as childishly as their goddaughter had been moments before. She batted at him playfully, blushing all the while.
“Cosmo,” she admonished giddily, “not in front of Lilith!” Cosmo glanced up to see Lilith was far from interested in whatever they were doing. She skipped happily along, chasing butterflies and stopping guardedly every time she saw a mushroom. He smiled.
“I don’t think she’ll mind,” he whispered as he leaned over her to steal a kiss.
That had been the day before Lilith had begun to have the dreams. Cosmo searched his memory of the last week to see if any of the things Timmy had done were similar to Lilith, but came up empty. Timmy had just been normal.
What could possibly have happened to him? Cosmo wondered. He envisioned Timmy’s writhing, tortured body, wracked by sobs and covered in sweat, and felt helpless knowing there was nothing he could do to stop it. He tried to push the thoughts from his mind, and found himself slipping back to Lilith and her trauma.
“Lilith, are you alright?” Cosmo and Wanda stared at their godchild with concern. She looked horrible, even for just rolling out of bed. Her eyes were dull; dark circles ringing them, and her skin seemed to be an unhealthy shade of...blue.
“Yeah,” Lilith replied flatly, “whatever.” Wanda had refrained from answering that and bit her tongue. She turned to Cosmo, who was still puzzling over the blue tint to their godchild’s skin. As Lilith left the room he turned to face his wife’s gazer with apprehension.
“Maybe it was just a bad night,” Wanda said, trying to assure herself.
“Her skin was blue,” Cosmo objected.
“Well, maybe she wasn’t covered well enough,” Wanda suggested.
“I don’t think that was the problem,” he replied. They heard Lilith leave to go to town and sighed. There wasn’t anything they could do now.
Cosmo leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, letting the blood return to his hands. That had been the day she returned covered in bruises. They should have guessed there was a problem then, but neither one of them had enough experience to know.
This had gone on for a week, slowly getting worse every day until the night she woke them up. He remembered what had happened when Wanda had returned with help. He hoped they would be so lucky this time.
Cosmo turned to see Wanda standing behind him, their childhood friend in tow. He felt the relief wash over him, knowing that she would know what to do.
“Oh Pearl,” he breathed, “Thank you for coming.”
Pearl rushed straight passed him, flicking a soft smile his way as she went. He felt her brush his mind as she did. Sudden ease came over him and he turned to where Lilith was once again sleeping. As Pearl came up to her the she transformed into a faerie; her lithe body glistening in an unearthly light, and her blonde hair wispily floating about her face. Her sparkling blue eyes held magic beyond any earthly measure as they gazed on the child before her. Lilith had been flailing about seconds earlier, but as soon as the woman came near her she began to still. Pearl stroked her hair and began to sing:
Lullaby, twilight is spreading
Silver wings over the sky;
Fairy elves are softly treading,
Folding buds as they pass by.
Lullaby, whisper and sigh,
Lullaby, lullaby.
As soon as she began, Lilith calmed. A burden seemed to lift off of her little body and she started to breathe the peaceful breaths of sleep. Pearl turned to them when she was satisfied the child was at peace, and her whole demeanor changed.
“You two,” she grated. “Next room; we need to talk.” Both followed her tentatively, not sure what she was going to do. When they were far enough away from Lilith for Pearl’s comfort, she sighed. “Something’s seriously wrong with her,” she said, crossing her arms in front of her.
“Uh,” Wanda answered sardonically, “we already knew that.” Nana glared at her.
“I mean,” she spat, “she did this to herself.”
“WHAT!?” Both faeries stood aghast. Nana nodded.
“Her Dream was out cold,” she told them. “I had to revive her. That girl doesn’t belong here.”
“How can you say that?” Wanda asked with hurt in her voice. “She’s just a little girl!” Nana placed one on her hip and jabbed the other at the doorway they had just entered through.
“Wanda,” she protested, “she’s not even human.”
Cosmo tried to shut out this part of the memory, but it was too late. His mind kept going without him.
Cosmo felt his mind reeling at the fact. As he thought about it, there were unearthly things about her, but he wouldn’t allow it.
“What should we do if this happens again?” he asked, firmly conveying they were going to be this child’s godparents to the end. Nana looked at him as if begging him to reconsider. When he didn’t back down, she shook her head and gave up.
“I’ll teach you a song to sing,” she said. “It should put her right to sleep.”
Cosmo looked over at the sleeping boy beside him and smiled. The song she had taught them was the one she had used, and it had always worked for them. Unfortunately Cosmo was learning that it didn’t work so well on all children.
His revelry was stopped by Timmy’s once again disturbed noises. As he was opening his mouth to sing the calming tune Wanda returned, Pearl right beside her. For a second, the image of himself was floating beside his wife, but as suddenly as they appeared she reverted to herself. Cosmo recognized the short red hair and golden eyes instantly. He smiled.
“Hey Pearl,” he greeted. She smiled at him.
“Hey Cos’,” she replied.
Pearl moved toward the bed where Timmy was sleeping, and realized just what she was here to do. She turned on the pink haired fairy beside her.
“You didn’t tell me it was a child!” she snapped.
“I figured you would have guessed,” Wanda countered. Pearl glared at her.
“You didn’t tell me a thing!” she exclaimed. “You just pulled me over here!”
“Oh come on!” Wanda said. “What did you expect? We found some bum on the street that needed money? We are faeries, we do kids; you are a Dream, you do dreams. You do the math!”
“Oh, and now I’m just supposed to know everything! I thought it was Cos-cos!”
“Oh don’t give me that! You knew perfectly well that it wasn’t.”
Timmy’s nightmare was becoming more unruly as they fought, and Cosmo began to sing to calm him.
Lullaby, twilight is spreading
Silver wings over the sky;
Pearl stopped as she was about to say something and turned toward Cosmo.
“Glad you remembered,” she chuckled, “but it won’t work.” Timmy had quieted, and both faeries looked at her in confusion.
“But he’s not tossing anymore,” Wanda pointed out. Pearl laughed.
“I know,” she said, “but he’ll start up again any minute. That song wasn’t made for him.”
Quickly she moved over to his bedside and smiled down on him. As she came close to him, she turned into his mother. She rubbed his back, up a few times, and then down again before opening her mouth.
Home is behind, the world ahead,
And there are many paths to tread,
Through shadows to the edge of night,
Until the stars are all alight.
Then world behind and home ahead,
We’ll wander back to home and bed.
As the music lilted about the room, Cosmo and Wanda began to feel an immense sense of peace. Everything seemed to be aright in the world for just that brief period, and nothing could harm anyone. Beautiful visions filled there heads of ancient forests and the enchanted beings that lived there coming to guard the godson.
Just as with Lilith ages ago, Timmy stopped his struggle, and all inner turmoil seemed to cease. Pearl smiled sweetly down at the sleeping innocent and combed her fingers through his hair. Suddenly darkness seemed to come over her and the tranquility brought by her song was shattered. Cosmo felt a knot in the pit of stomach start to twist as he recognized the shear terror that crossed the Dream’s face. As if in a trance she fell to her knees beside Timmy, hands still entwined in his hair.
“Oh God,” she whispered. “Where is he?” All three heard a bodiless voice answer.
“With Lucifer.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Layout by D.M.Revolution
Image from APAG / Brushes from vbrush