"You killed my little brother," a small voice said from the open window and Henrietta spun around.
A girl, around eight or nine years old stared down at Henrietta. Her dark curly hair spilled down the front of her unicorn pajamas.
Her round face was filled with contempt.
"You're not supposed to see me–" Henrietta whispered with astonishment.
People only ever saw Henrietta when she wanted them to.
It made getting into sold out concerts incredibly easy.
"You can't tell me what to do! I can see whatever I want" the little girl shrieked.
Sometimes, rarely, toothfairies would encounter children who could see whatever they wanted.
They would spot the ghosts of deceased grandfathers or see mermaids in the ocean.
Most ot them lost the sight before their thirteenth birthday.
"Look, you're Larima right? I'm harmless! I'm your assigned toothfairy" Henrietta said holding up Larima's tiny tooth.
"You killed my brother! I'm going to summon our family's Djinn!" The little girl shrieked, peering out the bedroom window.
"Your what?" Henrietta shrieked with confusion as the Changeling began to melt into
a puddle of green goo.
"Azoom! Get over here and smite this witch!" The little girl screamed waving one hand through the night air with the determined scowl of an enchantress.
"Please don't do that! I don't have time to deal with a Djinn" Henrietta pleaded.
Sydney was in many ways a hundred tiny towns filled with at least a hundred different cultures.
Each of them had their own beasts and monsters.
There were the incredibly rich old fae families who came to Australia on the convict ships. They mostly lived in looming mansions on the north shore.
There were the water dragons near Cabramatta who spent their days sleeping like frozen statues in top of restaurants.
Tithi and the other vetalas mostly lived in Liverpool and Parramatta.
The Djinn had started arriving only a few decades ago.
The Djinn were clever and almost impossible to negotiate with.
Something on the little girls index finger glowed and Henrietta gulped recognizing a magic ring when she saw one.
A roaring wind suddenly ripped through the trees whipping up dead gum leaves and dirt into a mini tornado that jumped straight into the sandpit. The clumpy, gritty sand flew upwards, swirling and shifting like a until it hopped onto the roof, landing a few feet away from Henrietta.
"This better be a real emergency Larima! You know I hate appearing in the sand box, the cat pees in it!" The sand tornado boomed in a deep voice that made Henrietta think of thick melting chocolate.
The night air suddenly smelt like burnt sugar and sandlewood .
Almost eyes glowed beyond the sand tornado like dying embers and Henrietta felt her heart flutter.
"It is! This witch killed Walik!" The little girl shrieked from the window.
The sand billowed and condensed until it formed the rough shape of a person. Then with a faint flickering, it suddenly became a man. An incredibly tall man whose golden glowing eyes lit up the roof top like hurricane lamps.
Like all Djinn he was almost but not quite beautiful with sharp pointy features and skin that looked as if it was carved from lapis lazuli. Pale blue curls had been styled around his four head in a duck bill quiff. He was dressed in a deep black velvet cloak and as he walked towards Henrietta sand fell from its hem leading a trail behind him.
The Djinn slowly walked around Henrietta before standing in front of her a small bemused smirk on his face.
No one had ever smirked at Henrietta like that.
She blushed.
"This lady is a Princess, not a witch, and your brother is not dead," the man said with a small smile.
It was a reassuring smile that made Henrietta almost believe him.
"I'm not a Princess! I'm a toothfairy" Henrietta giggled nervously.
The Djinn swiftly jumped behind her and began to smell her neck like a wild fox. "Toothfaires are little glorified garbage collectors, you are a fairy princess.. I can smell the silver in your blood" The Djinn whispered and Henrietta shivered.
"Alright fine! My mother is one of the fairy queens but she disowned me over a chfirt ago!" Henrietta said trying to keep her voice strong and calm.
The Djinn had thankfully stopped smelling her, but he was now hovering directly behind her.
Henrietta could feel the actual heat from his gaze.
He smirked again, revealing a hint of silver teeth.
Henrietta reached into her waist bag pulling out her student I.d.
"See, I'm a tooth fairy!" She said and the Djinn plucked the I.d card out of her hand.
"Henrietta Kit Darling, Toothfairy in training" he read, still smirking.
"She did kill my brother! I saw her! Kill her Azoom!" Larima pleaded, her tiny voice catching in her throat.
"Azoom. First of all great name. Secondly this is a huge misunderstanding! I was just killing a changeling that took her brothers place" Henrietta said, gesturing to the Changeling's sticky green body. Azoom's hand brushed briefly against her gloved arm before moving swiftly to the body.
Azoom stared at the dead Changeling with curiously for one moment and then raised a gloved hand stroking its face briefly. Then quickly he wrenched the glove off and plunged a long scaley clawed hand straight into its skull.
"Jesus Christ!" Henrietta shrieked as his hand emerged covered in green blood, holding something in his fist.
"If you're going to kill a monster, Princess, you should always go for the brain." he said, wiping the object on his coat before handing it to Henrietta.
Henrietta flinched, worrying that she had just been handed a brain. But no, it was a stone. A shiny marble-grey stone.
"Right, is everything sorted? Then I'm off, lovely to meet you Princess" Azoom said with a crisp bow as the sand began to whirl again.
"Wait! If she didn't kill my brother then where is he?" Larima asked and Azoom rolled his eyes.
For a moment he glanced up at the night sky pursing his lips with annoyance and then shook his head.
"How am I supposed to know? Wherever he is, it isn't this Earth," he replied and Larima shrieked.
"Djinn, I command you to find my brother!" Larima snapped and the roaring wind sighed with frustration.
"Are you kidding me? It's Halloween tonight! I've been invited to three dozen costume parties !" Azoom snapped back.
"My Gadda said you have to help us when we're in danger! Those are the rules," Larima snapped back and Azoom sighed, rolling his glowing eyes.
Henrietta who could easily sense a family squabble decided to quietly sort through her utility belt pretending to be busy,
"Fine, I'll track your brat of a brother down! Now go back to bed Larima before I call your grandmother," Azoom snapped, clicking his fingers.
Larima promptly spun around and disappeared back into her room, the window snapping shut behind her.
"Princess, would you do me the honour of accompanying me to dinner?" Azoom asked as Henrietta glanced up from where she was trying to figure out the best place to put the stone,
Henrietta had of course heard rumours that Changelings were made from sticks and stones but still, a rock brain explained a lot.
It was best to bring the stone to Madame Catstring and explain the whole missing child fiasco.
There were people with better training that dealt with that sort of mess all the time.
"But I'm in the middle of an ex–" Henrietta began, but was cut off when she was suddenly surrounded by a sand cloud tearing into her eyes and mouth.