Who’s to say what magic is? A bioluminescent chemical reaction, or faery lights?
The prompt is:
FAERY LIGHTS
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“Aren’t they beautiful?” Gulibelle gushed. “It looks so magical.”
“Fireflies aren’t magical,” her sister, Practicelle said. “It’s just a chemical reaction in their butts.”
Gulie was unperturbed. “I don’t think so. Once they light up, they stay lit.” She pointed to a tiny creature flitting through the night air toward a lantern that was set incongruously in the middle of the clearing. “See? They don’t light up until they go to the lantern.”
Practie wouldn’t admit that her sister was right, so she pushed through the low bushes and leaned down to look at the lantern. What she saw astounded her.
Winged creatures, no bigger than a lightning bug alighted on the top of the lantern. Forming a single-file queue, they waited their turn to climb down the side and dive into the flame. Each flared, then emerged glowing all over, not just from their butts, as Practie had said so sarcastically.
Gulie held out a finger, and one of the creatures landed on it. She could feel the warmth of the glow, not just on her finger, but in her heart as well.
“What…who are you?” she asked when she saw the faery look up at her.
The faery’s lips never moved, but Gulie heard a voice in her head. My name is Fae. What is yours?
“I’m Gulie. Nice to meet you, Fae.”
“Who are you talking to?” Practicelle asked, disturbed that her sister was so gullible. “It’s just a different kind of bug.”
Gulie gave her sister the side-eye, then thought back at Fae, My sister doesn’t believe in faeries anymore. She would just as soon swat you as talk to you.
Let this be our secret, then, Fae thought back. Come back any time the lantern is here.
Fae lifted off Gulie’s finger and was gone.
THE END
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