Dreams and Shadows

EPILOGUE

Once upon a time there were three young fairies, a Green Man, a Lutin, and a Sidhe. One day they found themselves playing in the woods. The young Green Man ran ahead and came to a tree line at the edge of the forest. The Lutin and Sidhe ran swiftly behind him, yelling for him to stop.

“Don’t step out of the woods!” yelled the Lutin.

“Why not?” asked the Green Man, about to set foot beyond the trees.

“Because past those trees is Austin,” said the Sidhe.

“What’s Austin?” asked the Green Man.

“Austin is where the Colbyman lives,” said the Sidhe.

“Yeah,” agreed the Lutin.

“What’s a Colbyman?” asked the Green Man.

The Lutin and the Sidhe looked at each other and laughed. “You don’t know what the Colbyman is?”

The Green Man shook his head. “No.”

“He’s the taker of fairy children,” said the Lutin.

The Sidhe nodded. “He sneaks into your camp at night and steals fairy children out of their cradles, two at a time. Always two at a time. And any fairy who steps outside of the Limestone Kingdom and into Austin gets turned into flowers.”

“Flowers?” asked the Green Man. “That’s stupid.”

“No, it’s true,” said the Lutin. “He points at you and turns you to flowers. And you never turn back. My mom saw it with her own eyes.”

The Green Man didn’t believe a word of it. “There’s no monster called the Colbyman and there’s no such place as Austin.”

“There is!” said both the Sidhe and Lutin at once.

“Come on,” said the Sidhe. “Let’s go back to camp.”

“Are you scared?” asked the Green Man.

“No,” said the Sidhe, lying.

“I think you’re scared,” said the Green Man.

“Uh-uh!” shouted the Sidhe.

The Green Man put both hands on his hips and smiled. “Then I dare you to cross the tree line.”

“Let’s just go back home,” said the Lutin.

“No,” said the Green Man. “I dare you to go into Austin.”

“Well, I double-dare you to go into Austin,” said the Sidhe.

The Green Man stopped smiling.

“You have to accept a double dare,” said the Sidhe. “Or else.”

The Green Man swallowed hard. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll go. I don’t believe he exists.” The Green Man turned back around and took two steps toward the tree line, standing right on the edge. He hovered a foot over the other side. And just as he was about to put his foot down, something grabbed his arm.

The Green Man jumped, startled. He screamed.

When he looked back, he saw Coyote holding his arm.

“Don’t make fun of me, Coyote!” the Green Man demanded. “I’m about to go to Austin.”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” said Coyote.

“You believe in him too?” asked the Green Man.

Coyote nodded. “Believe in him? I’ve seen him.”

“I told you!” said the Lutin.

“You three run along now. You shouldn’t be playing this close to Austin.”

“Yes, Coyote,” said the children in unison. Then they all ran off back to camp, none of them admitting how scared they really were.

Coyote turned, looking out over the outskirts of the city. Then he looked back at the scared children. And he laughed and he laughed and he laughed, enjoying the best joke that the great trickster had ever played.