Definitely not important. Embarrassing, yes. Important, no. “So…,” he said as he looked at Bruce. Up until now, Bruce had taken the lead in the fairy negotiations. He was the one with the fairy power. But it was now flowing from Bruce to him and the pixies were looking at him, so he decided to take a stab at a solution.
“We’re looking for the demon that fried the lake and is poisoning the ground. Do you know where he is?”
In unison, both fairies said, “Yes.”
Laddin inhaled sharply, as did Bruce. In fact, he guessed that anyone within hearing distance took an excited breath.
“Will you take us there?”
In unison, both fairies said, “No.”
Crap.
“Why not?” Laddin asked.
Erin lifted her chin. “He is very big.” She glared at Fetid Feta. “Much bigger than you.”
“We want to meet him anyway,” Laddin pressed.
“And we didn’t make him that size,” Bruce added.
Erin stomped her foot. “Yes, you did!” Fortunately, her foot stomp didn’t echo through the field. That was progress, but the way Fetid Feta bickered back at her was not.
“No,” Feta said, pointing at Erin. “You made him big with power from them.” He swept this finger at everyone in the field.
“You are big!” she snapped back. “With power from him!” She pointed at Bruce.
Wow, it was like trying to talk to toddlers. Or two spoiled actors. Laddin held up his hand and poured a little of Bruce’s power into his words. “Answer my question,” he said firmly. “How did the demon become so big?”
Both of them rolled their eyes. It would have been comical if they didn’t so desperately need the information. Feta pointed at Bruce.
“You thought.”
Erin pointed at herself. “And I made him bigger.”
Feta pointed at Laddin. “You thought.”
“And my friends made him bigger.”
Then Feta pointed past them at Nero. “You thought.”
“And we made him much bigger!”
Feta turned and pointed at Josh, who stood beside Nero. “You thought—”
“I got it!” Laddin interrupted before Feta pointed at everyone in turn. “Every human nearby thinks about the demon—”
“And he gets bigger!” both Feta and Erin said at once.
“Because that’s what you do?” Bruce asked. “The Earth fairies take thoughts and make them into things. Like the moon and the—”
“Fireworks!”
“We do it too!” Feta cried. “We do it here.” He pointed to the ground. “And there.” He pointed to the distant bushes. “And over there.” He pointed to the field to the right. “And—”
“We got it!” Laddin interrupted.
“But how does that make the demon bigger?” Bruce asked.
