Two hours later, and Addison was sitting by herself at the table. The woman had gone, leaving a stack full of 20’s and a handshake behind.

Around the bar, there was one other table with a giggling woman who sat next to a man with a shit-eating grin, and a single waitress cleaning up the rest of the tables and the bar. The staff hadn’t spoken up yet about closing time, but Addison got the impression she would be asked to leave before too much longer.

Even paying customers could wear out their welcome. And it had been a long day for all parties.

She took in a deep breath and leaned back against the chair. The night was still in front of her, bar or no, with a long list of possibilities. Would they let her go early? Perhaps spend some time on earth - free from a greedy charge for the first time in her life?

At the beginning of the excursion she had been hopeful, but now the doubt was creeping into her. With a roll of her eyes that no one else was around to see, she stood up and walked out the door. They had ordered drinks and eaten a snack, and the money on the table would cover all of it. Most likely Addison could have taken some of it with her and not let the waitress short, but she didn’t have it in her. She had used every haggling skill in her arsenal and would need to somehow refill when she was pulled back underground.

There didn't seem space in her thoughts for doing math and counting out money, especially since she was lucky any of her parents bothered to teach her such things.

Addison let out a heavy sigh of frustration as she walked into the cool air. Melodrama had been following her from realm to realm and it was wearing on her. She felt disconnected and young.

She felt young and foolish, and it frustrated her even worse when she knew she was on the brink of other things. She kept her head down as she walked; watching the ground in front of her and listening for any footsteps or engines in the vicinity.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Listening like it mattered at all.

Before she could catch wind of even a breeze blowing around her, she was standing at the crossroad — in the exact same place she had arrived. She squared her shoulders, and closed her eyes, and clenched her teeth when her gut suddenly jumped into her throat.

A jolt ran through her body, like when she fell in her sleep and woke up with a start.

“You made the deal,” Rikas said.

The sound hit Addison's ear at an unfamiliar pitch, high and far too pleased. “She made the deal. I just hung around long enough.”

“No, Girl. You managed to make a deal. You bartered — a soul for a soul.”

Addison opened her eyes and turned around, her cheeks feeling hot. The implication Rikas made sat heavy in her gut. “I made the deal so I didn’t have to keep doing it. You are the ones that shuffle me around — that give me tasks and insist I do your dirty work. It's your job — do it.” The words were out before she could stop them. A situation she seemed to be running into a lot recently.

“But that's why we have you.” Rikas smiled ear to ear, showing all of his sharp and off-white teeth. The ambient light rocked, swaying a spotlight on the man's pinkish skin and ruining the illusion he might be human.

“Until the baby is born. Then you have another, and you can leave me be.”

Rikas laughed.

He laughed for longer than Addison would have been able to hold her breath, and he laughed until her chest began to tighten in anxiety. The memory of her brief few moments of power relieved her for a few seconds until he finally took a breath and spoke again.

“It's so funny that you think you will ever have your way.”

----------------------------------------

“You are as gloomy as ever.”

Addison opened her eyes and turned her head, glancing over towards the original of the sound. A wisp of a fairy sat on the ground several feet away, head slightly tilted to the side. “How long have you been here?”

“How long have you?” the fairy asked. She straightened her neck, pale blue hair now slinking over both shoulders. “I was sent to bring you home.”

There hardly a breath in-between the two thoughts. Addison lifted her gaze back upwards, looking upwards. The canopy of trees covered most of the space above her, with only hints of the sun and sky coming through. From where she sat it looked like the earthen sky. She could pretend she was looking at a blue sky and white clouds, and that the specks of yellow belonged to a hiding sun.

Gravity kept her on the ground, but it didn’t keep the fairy child from flying upwards and hovering above Addison's face. “She wants you to come now.”