Chapter 3

Cory’s mother was lugging a heavy tooth bag when she flew through the window. After dropping the bag on the table, she fluttered to the middle of the room. The air shimmered and she returned to her normal size, just a little shorter than her daughter.

Cory sighed. She didn’t want to have this conversation now, but she didn’t have any choice if she wanted to tell her mother before the TFG announced that Cory had quit. It was going to be doubly hard because even ordinary conversations with her mother had been strained ever since Cory started working on her own. The two fairies agreed on very little, and they weren’t anything alike, from the way they thought to the way they looked. Other than having the same delicate, pointed ears, they didn’t have much in common. Delphinium’s hair was the same blue as the flower she was named after, like most people born into a flower-fairy family. Cory had dark chocolate–colored hair, which was unusual among fairies. Like the rest of her family, Delphinium had leaf-green eyes. Cory’s eyes were turquoise blue, the same shade as the eyes of the father she had never known.

“Mother, I …,” Cory began.

Ping! Another letter bearing the TFG insignia appeared in the basket, only this time the flying tooth was bright red.

“Just a minute, Cory. I have an urgent message,” said her mother as she reached for the envelope.

Cory watched in disbelief while her mother ripped the envelope open. The TFG couldn’t possibly have notified her already! But when her mother raised her head to glare at her, Cory knew that that was exactly what they had done.

“You quit!” Delphinium said in a horrified voice. “How could you do that? No one quits the Tooth Fairy Guild! We’ve talked about this before! Being a member of the TFG is a lifelong commitment.”

“And I’ve told you that I want to quit I don’t know how many times, but I always let you talk me out of it. This time is different, Mother. I’m not meant to be a tooth fairy. I don’t like it the way you do. Flying around at night collecting teeth is not how I want to spend the rest of my life. I want to do something that matters, something that will make a real difference, something that will help people. Collecting teeth isn’t at all what you said it would be, and I am not going to do it anymore.”

“But the job … The prestige … Being a tooth fairy is one of the most exalted jobs a fairy can hope to earn! Most fairies can only dream of belonging to the TFG!”

“Maybe,” said Cory. “But it’s not my dream. Honestly, Mother, I’ve given the job a chance like I told you I would, but I can’t just—”

Her mother’s eyes had narrowed when her glance fell on the tooth washer that had already finished cleaning Cory’s collection. “How many did you get?” she interrupted, lifting the lid and peering inside. “Four! You got only four teeth in an entire night!”

Cory winced as her mother’s voice grew shriller. “I had a bad night.”

“You must not have tried!” Delphinium cried, throwing her hands in the air in exasperation. “You collected more teeth your very first night out!”

“I’m no good at it, Mother. I’ll certainly never be as good as you.”

Delphinium pulled one of the mushroom-shaped stools out from under the table and sat down with a groan. “Good or bad, the Tooth Fairy Guild will never let you quit. You’ve gone through all the levels of training. You’ve learned everything they have to teach you. If you were going to quit, you should have done it before you reached the third level and learned their most guarded secrets. No one outside of the special guilds is supposed to know how to go from our world to the humans’, or pass through solid objects when the job requires it. I was so certain that you would learn to love the job. I just didn’t want to see you throw your life away on some second-rate job as a flower fairy.”

“I never wanted to be a tooth fairy, Mother. If only you had listened to me!”

Delphinium slapped the table so loudly that Noodles, Cory’s pet woodchuck, woke in his basket in the corner, blinking up at them with his big, brown eyes. “Oh, I listened to you, all right! I’ve heard nothing but complaints from you, even though I did my very best teaching you everything I know, but have you ever thanked me or shown any sort of appreciation? I don’t know why I ever bothered. But there’s only one thing you can do now,” she said, getting to her feet. “You have to take a new leaf and write to the guild, telling them that it was a mistake and you didn’t really mean to quit.” Her back was stiff as she strode to her desk and took out a fresh leaf, thrusting it at Cory.

“I’m not doing that!” Cory said, backing away from her mother. “I’m glad I quit and I’m not going to take it back. I’ll see you later. I can’t talk to you when you’re like this.”

“When I’m like what?” her mother called after her as Cory stalked out the front door.

Cory was furious. When her basic tooth-fairy training was over and Cory still didn’t like it, Delphinium had told her that she’d enjoy it once she’d learned all there was to learn. And now that Cory had learned everything, Delphinium had the nerve to say that it was too late to quit, that Cory should have left the guild sooner. As far as Cory was concerned, saying that prestige was more important than how much one liked a job or how fulfilling one found it didn’t make it true.

Delphinium had once said that most people didn’t like what they did for a living, and that Cory was naive to think that she could ever have a job that she enjoyed. But Delphinium loved the job and had declared countless times that it was the job she had dreamed of when she was a little girl. For her to say that most people didn’t like their jobs didn’t make sense. Where did she think Cory had gotten the idea that she could love a job, if not from watching her?

Cory had been wandering for nearly an hour when she realized that she had walked in a big loop and was near her uncle’s house. Her uncle, Micah, was her mother’s brother and was nothing like Delphinium. Both of their parents were flower fairies, but Delphinium was all about appearances and climbing the fairy ladder, while Micah dressed like a flower fairy, acted like a flower fairy, and had taught at the Junior Fey School since before Cory was born.

“I wonder if he’s left for work yet,” Cory murmured, and turned toward her uncle’s house. If anyone could give her good advice, it would be her uncle Micah.

He was there still, seated at his kitchen table with a cup of berry juice and a plate of cold, roasted parsnips and potatoes in front of him. His pet squirrel, Flicket, sat on the table, gnawing a walnut and dribbling pieces of shell.

“Uncle Micah, is it okay if I come in?” Cory said through the open window.

Her uncle glanced up from passing another walnut to the squirrel and smiled. “Cory! Of course you can come in. You’re always welcome here. You know that. Are you hungry? Have you eaten breakfast yet? Or would you call it dinner since I assume you’ll be going to bed soon?”

“I’m too upset to eat,” Cory said as she came through the door. She shooed a blue jay off a mushroom stool and took a seat at the table. “I just had another argument with Mother. I quit my job at the TFG today.”

“Ah,” said Micah. “Then your mother must be upset, too. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I know how much you disliked the job, so I think you did the right thing, but I can also see how your mother would be unhappy. Everyone knows how highly she thinks of the TFG.”

“She wants me to tell them that I made a mistake and don’t really want to quit. I’m not going to do it, but I know she’s going to keep after me until I give in. I dread going home just to have the same argument all over again.”

Micah picked up his cup of berry juice and fished out a bit of walnut shell before taking a sip. “You can always stay here with me while you look for another job. I have a guest room if you want it.”

“Are you sure? Because I’d much rather stay here than face my mother.”

“I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it.”

“Would you mind if I brought Noodles?” Cory asked. “He and Mother don’t really get along.”

“The more the merrier,” said Micah. “You know I like animals.”

“In that case, can I move in tonight? I’d like to wait to get my stuff when Mother goes to work.”

“Tonight would be fine. I have to leave in a few minutes, so make yourself at home. The guest bed is already made up if you want to get some sleep.”

“That sounds perfect,” Cory told him. “But do you think I could have something to eat first? My appetite just came back.”