Her time in that magical town had changed how she saw the world. Before, the little oddities of her surroundings had passed unnoticed or were easily dismissed. Now, they stood out in sharp detail, like a hidden pattern she could suddenly see.
Take Marta, for instance.
Kai had always thought her supervisor was just eccentric. She never ate with the other employees, always wore that knit beanie no matter the weather, and seemed to instinctively know when someone was lying. But after Tennga, Kai began to notice things she hadn’t before. The way Marta avoided mirrors, how her hands trembled on particularly stressful days, and the way her dark eyes glinted like polished stone under the right light.
Kai couldn’t shake the feeling that Marta wasn’t quite normal.
It took weeks of observation—and quiet curiosity—before Kai finally found her answer.
One day, she caught Marta rushing down the hallway, clutching at her hat as though her life depended on it. Her panicked movements set off alarm bells in Kai’s head. Without thinking, she followed, staying far enough behind to remain unnoticed.
Marta ducked into the restroom, the door swinging shut behind her. Kai paused for a moment, then pushed it open and stepped inside.
What she saw made her freeze.
Marta was standing at the sink, her hands trembling as she held her knit hat. Her usual neat braids were gone. In their place was a writhing, hissing mass of snakes.
Marta’s head snapped up, her wide eyes locking on Kai’s reflection in the mirror. She turned, her expression one of pure terror.
Kai spun around, slammed the bathroom door shut in the face of an approaching coworker, and quickly locked it.
Marta stood there, her shoulders shaking as tears welled in her eyes. The snakes on her head recoiled and hissed in agitation, their movements frantic.
It took several minutes of soft reassurances before Marta’s breathing evened out and the snakes began to settle.
Marta didn’t look convinced, but she let it drop for the moment.
Before she could say anything else, Kai stepped closer. She reached out—ignoring Marta’s alarmed gasp—and gently began untangling the snakes. They hissed at first, but Kai’s calm presence seemed to soothe them. One by one, they relaxed under her touch, their movements becoming slow and docile.
The snakes, now neatly rearranged, blurred and shifted back into the illusion of braids.
Marta stared at her for a long moment before shaking her head and pulling her beanie back on. She washed her face at the sink, erasing any evidence of her earlier distress.
And just like that, a quiet understanding formed between them. Marta didn’t ask too many questions about Kai’s past, and Kai didn’t pry into Marta’s.
Weeks passed since that encounter, and the memory of Marta’s snakes faded into the background of Kai’s routine. But the quiet bond they’d formed remained, unspoken but present.
It had been a few weeks since Kai’s time in Tennga, and she was beginning to feel like she might slip back into her old rhythm but she couldn’t stop thinking about the town and its strange, beautiful inhabitants. About Shae’s watery smile, Rina’s fierce hug, and the way Toby’s floppy ears had drooped when he begged her to stay. It wasn’t like her to get attached. The last couple of years, she’d kept people at arm’s length—never staying in one place long enough to put down roots. But Tennga had been… different.
Shaking her head, Kai focused on the road ahead. She needed to get back to reality, back to her routine. The company truck was due for a check-in, and she had a backlog of deliveries to make. There was no time to dwell on feelings she didn’t understand. Her phone buzzed with an incoming call from Dispatch.
They’re Fae, aren’t they.” Kai hedged. Marta sighed. “
Kai hung up and stared at the road ahead, unease curling in her chest. A priority job was one thing, but being requested by name? That was something else entirely. She rarely got asked for personally, but now, having given Mayor Elarin those cards, she would bet it was a Fae requested delivery. She’d only done two so far. Though both had been relatively simple.
When she arrived at the hub later that day, Marta pulled her into her office and closed the door for privacy.
Kai inclined her head, the quiet power she carried with her filling the space. Whatever this job was, she would handle it.
She always did.
Kai’s truck hummed steadily as it tore down the highway toward Providence Canyon, though the electronics inside were far from steady. The package sitting in the passenger seat was the clear culprit. At first, she’d dismissed the dashboard clock resetting itself as a random glitch. But when her phone vibrated, then died completely despite being fully charged, and the radio sputtered into static even when switched off, she started to get irritated.
The faint hum coming from the box seemed to answer her.
Her trip was meant to take about three hours and forty-three minutes, but between the toll booth fiasco and the creeping dread of getting pulled over, it felt like an eternity. At the toll, the scanner at the gate froze the moment her truck rolled up, blinking red and refusing to register her payment.
Kai handed over cash instead, avoiding the glowing package in the passenger seat as she did so. The man gave her a long, suspicious look, his eyes flicking toward the odd hum he clearly couldn’t place. She fought the urge to snap at him, keeping her face neutral as he finally waved her through.
By the time she hit the next stretch of highway, the hum from the package had started to intensify. Worse, a faint green glow leaked out from between the carvings.
Her paranoia wasn’t misplaced. About twenty minutes later, she rolled through a police checkpoint just outside Lumpkin. Two officers waved her to slow down, one shining a flashlight across her windshield. She kept her hands on the wheel and her expression calm, even as the hum of the package grew faintly audible beneath the tarp.
Me and my big mouth!!
By the time she reached Providence Canyon, the sun had set, and the air felt heavy and charged, like the moment before a thunderstorm. She parked in the gravel lot and grabbed the package, ignoring the way it pulsed faintly in her grip. The path down into the canyon was dark, the trees overhead forming a thick canopy that blocked out the moonlight.
She didn’t need a flashlight. The pull in her chest guided her as surely as a compass. She knew where she was going—she always did.
They need a better hiding place! Seriously, how am I Not supposed to see that!” She scoffed mentally to herself. As usual, unaware of just how strange it should have been for her to be able to see it.
The shimmer rippled, and a Seelie noble stepped forward. They were impossibly tall, their golden hair cascading like molten sunlight over their shoulders. Slit-pupil eyes gleamed, catching the faint glow of the moon. The noble radiated power, an aura that should have felt like it was pressing her to the ground—but Kai stood tall, unbothered.
“
The air around her shifted, the weight of magic crashing against her like a wave. Though all Kai felt was a faint tickle across her skin, like static electricity brushing against her arms, but she dismissed it as nerves.
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Not the first time I’ve heard that.
She handed over the package, her face unreadable as the noble took it. The moment their fingers brushed the box, the air shimmered with power. Faint runes lit up along the canyon walls, casting strange shadows over the noble’s face.
The noble’s eyes narrowed, but they said nothing. After a moment, they began to turn away.
The noble stared at her, their expression unreadable. Slowly, they took the pen and signed their name in an elegant, swirling script.
After the delivery to the Seelie Noble, things took an unexpected turn. Marta’s office was suddenly inundated with calls and emails from clients requesting Kai specifically for their deliveries. Word of the quiet, unflappable courier had spread like wildfire among the Fae in Georgia, all thanks to the loose tongue of a certain Seelie Noble. Kai didn’t think much of it at first. A few odd requests here and there were manageable. But soon, it wasn’t just isolated locations like Providence Canyon. She found herself delivering to cities, neighborhoods, and even highly trafficked areas.
There was the bridge in downtown Atlanta. At first, Kai had thought the delivery location was a prank. But standing beneath the overpass, holding a box wrapped in burlap and twine, she quickly learned otherwise. She nearly dropped the package when an honest-to-God Bridge Troll the size of a small house peeled itself away from the concrete foundation.
Paul explained that the package contained a magical brick enchanted by a sorceress on the outskirts of the city. Bridge trolls like him relied on rune magic to protect their domains, and while they couldn’t produce the magic themselves, enchanted bricks or stones kept their bridges safe.
When he placed the brick into an empty slot in the wall, the bridge hummed faintly before glowing with renewed wards. Paul sighed in relief, his gratitude palpable.
This was only one of many encounters. From delivering enchanted clothing to a Dryad living in a suburban neighbourhood in Savannah to handing over a vial of moonlight to a Werewolf Alpha outside of Athens, the requests kept piling up. The Fae were everywhere, blending seamlessly into the human world, and Kai quickly learned that many human myths and fairy tales were shockingly accurate.
But the influx of Fae deliveries didn’t go unnoticed by other drivers under Marta’s supervision. Jealousy brewed, complaints were filed, and soon Marta was faced with questions she couldn’t answer without breaking the trust of their Fae clients.
That was when she called Kai into her office.
That was when Marta learned about the settlement money. Kai had been quiet about her past, but as she explained the tragic plane crash that had taken her family, Marta finally understood why her friend was so guarded.
Unbeknownst to Kai, Marta saw her in a new light that day. She admired her tall friend’s quiet strength and kind nature, vowing to make their new venture a success—not just for herself, but for Kai as well. With Kai’s funding and Marta’s organisational skills, the new delivery service quickly gained traction. Marta contacted their previous clients, providing new contact information, and recruited a small team of human drivers, all of whom signed strict non-disclosure agreements.
The Fae clients, however, remained exclusively Kai’s responsibility. Though she still insisted she was human, Marta knew better. She couldn’t see the aura of power Kai exuded, but she felt it. And as Kai continued to deliver to Fae across Georgia, it became clear that the human world wasn’t the only one recognising her potential.
Their delivery service wasn’t just a business—it was a bridge between two worlds. And Kai, whether she liked it or not, was at the center of it all.
Marta stood in front of the whiteboard, tapping the marker rhythmically against her palm. The office, small but cozy, was cluttered with sketches of logos, half-finished marketing ideas, and the faint scent of coffee and lemon polish. Her snakes peeked out from under her knit cap, hissing softly as if they, too, were debating.
Kai didn’t respond, merely returning to sipping her tea. Marta took the silence as agreement.
Over the following months, A.D.L. took off. Fae from as far as neighboring states began requesting their services. Kai tried keeping her routes close to home, though. She had no interest in venturing far—at least, not at first.
Her favorite request was a delivery to a herd of Centaurs just outside of Knoxville, Tennessee. They’d requested a shipment of rare enchanted grains. The herd had been gracious and curious, offering her stories of their long history in the region. Afterward, Kai made a detour to Dollywood, where she ended up seeing Dolly Parton herself at a parade. It had been the highlight of her week.
Kai shook her head. Marta opened the door cautiously. A man stood there, pale and immaculate in a tailored black suit. He had the air of someone important—or someone who worked for someone important. His eyes were sharp and unblinking, his demeanour cold.
Marta shot Kai a sharp look but didn’t say anything. Kai slipped the paper into her pocket, her quiet confidence unshaken. Marta sighed heavily, muttering to herself, but there was a faint smile tugging at her lips.
Kai just nodded.
With New Year’s Eve only a week away, the pair threw themselves into overdrive. The swamp mission would be delicate and dangerous, so every precaution had to be taken. For the next two days, Kai delivered every local package on their roster at a relentless pace. She drove nonstop, the A.D.L. van speeding through backroads and city streets alike. Marta coordinated from the office, taking calls, marking off deliveries, and occasionally yelling into her phone at their more eccentric Fae clients. By late Monday night, Kai parked the delivery truck for the last time that week, locking it securely. The swamp mission required subtlety, and the truck was far too obvious. Kai appreciated the effort her friend was putting into it. It made her feel warm at the thought of Marta’s caring for her.
Kai paused, looking up at her friend. The sight of Marta’s worried face—her snakes twisting in agitation—made her soften. Kai walked around the table, pulling the smaller woman into her arms. Her hand instinctively reached up, soothing the snakes back into place. Kai smiled faintly and stepped back to finish arming herself. Marta watched in disbelief as her friend began hiding weapon after weapon on her person. Slim knives disappeared into her boots, up her sleeves, even her ponytail. Pistols were secured in shoulder holsters, and spare magazines were tucked into a belt pouch at the small of her back.