“It’s fairies,” the exterminator said. “Nothing I can do with fairies, they’re protected y’see.”

He locked the attic door after himself. “You’ll just need to live with it.”

“I can’t live with it. They’re interfering with everything.”

“Nothing I can do,” he said. “They’re protected. Touch their nest and you’re breaking the law. If it was gremlins, I could move them today, no problem, but fairies…”

He shrugged and left.

I looked at the attic door. At least I knew they were there now. Maybe there was nothing the exterminator could do, but nobody would ever know if I just went up there myself, would they?

It couldn’t hurt to just look; see what I’m dealing with.

Heart pounding, I unlocked the attic door again, half expecting a swarm of fairies to rush out and surround me but nothing happened. There was only silence, darkness and the silky thread of a spider’s web hanging from the opening. 

I climbed the ladder and peeked inside. I fumbled around in my pocket for my phone (it had a flashlight) but it slipped out of my hand and clattered to the bottom of the ladder.

I was scared. Did they know what I was planning? Were they trying to stop me?

“Dad?”

I lost my footing on the ladder, only just catching myself in time.

“Krissy,” I gasped. “You should be in bed.”

She hadn’t been well, poor girl. I climbed down the ladder, still shaking. She still looked a bit peaky but at least she was up. 

“What are you doing? Who was that man?” 

“Just the exterminator. He says it’s fairies.”

“You can’t remove a fairy nest.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll sort it,” I winked. I felt better seeing her up. “You want some soup? You’ve hardly eaten anything since Tuesday, you must be hungry.” 

“If you destroy the nest, you will destroy my family,” she said from behind me. “And her too.”

I turned and looked at her. Then I understood.

She wasn’t my Krissy. She was theirs. 

I could never remove that nest.