Chapter 4

“Is this a bad time?” Willow asked, looking around for an excuse to run away. “You seem a little hassled. You know what, why don’t I come back. I’ll come back.”

“Sit down,” Gemma ordered, mustering up all the authority she had in her to give her words a little oomf. Willow blinked slowly at her, trying to discern if she was serious or not.

Gemma was as serious as ever. Nothing mattered to her more than her job and the regulations that went along with it. Sure, the red tape was annoying sometimes, but every rule that existed was there for a reason.

While turning into an infant was not the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to her– and besides, no one else had been around to see it– she didn’t like anything that could transform you against your will. There were enough creatures in the Void with that power, no one needed another.

She was already working overtime.

Willow scurried up onto the couch and set the baby down, in the carrier, next to her. The baby– Lysandra, Gemma recalled– clapped her hands together twice, apparently content with her new surroundings.

“Did I, or did I not tell you to leave the child with an adult of he kind?” Gemma asked. She always found it best to address these situations with questions you already knew the answer to. She and Willow both knew this was wrong and they both knew what the repercussions would be.

Willow just had to come to terms with that fact.

“Well yes but-”

“And did I or did I not remind you that the transport of living beings from one dimension to the other is strictly forbidden and severely punished?”

“That too but-”

“So why should I not turn you both into the Bureau, deny all knowledge of this incident, and go about my day?”

“Because you’re a good friend?” Willow tried. “And you’re willing to help me out?”

Gemma pinched the bridge of her nose. “Your newfound daughter caused a strange flux in my magic.”

“Oh. That’s new?”

“Of course it’s new!” Gemma was harsher than she meant to be. “I’m in perfect control of my magic. I shouldn’t transform at random.”

“What’d you turn into?”

“That’s a very personal question,” Gemma shot back. She did not want to elaborate right now. She would not practice magic while Lysandra was around just in case her cries affected her magic differently this time.

Turning into a baby was one thing, but who knew what her magic might do if it was interrupted like that again?

“I don’t want to give her back,” Willow admitted, which was really the crux of all this. The little sprite had gotten herself attached to the human baby and now they were all going to suffer because of it.

Willow stuck out her hand and Lysandra grabbed one finger with her entire hand, cooing as she did so. The baby had green eyes, Gemma realized, which, in the right light, could have been copies of Willow’s gem-like eyes.

What was she thinking? It didn’t matter if they were exact replicas of each other. Lysandra could not stay.

“What do you want me to do with her?” Willow asked.

“I want her to not be here in the first place,” Gemma said. “But since we’re well past that, I want you to contact the proper authorities and have her placed somewhere with humans. They have organizations set up for this sort of thing, just like we do.”

Willow made a face and looked at Lysandra for a long moment. Her affection for the baby was tangible. Gemma knew she’d have to try a gentler approach and hope that none of her colleagues happened to be around when Willow brought the baby up from the street.

“I can’t keep her in my apartment,” Gemma said. “She- it’s not even baby proofed. Human babies are extremely fragile. Did you even read about this at all?”

Willow appeared to struggle for a moment before blurting out her answer, obviously the first one she could think of. “I can’t read.”

Gemma rolled her eyes. “Nice try.”

Lysandra burst out in another round of crying, this time, something to rival Gemma’s banshee landlady. Gemma put her fingers in her ears and winced. At least she wasn’t doing magic now. Willow didn’t need to babies to mind when she really couldn’t even mind one of them.

Although, Lysandra didn’t seem to be injured in any way. She seemed quite well, despite the unholy screeches coming from her mouth.

“Can’t you do something about that?” she asked.

“I don’t know what,” Willow admitted.

“Like returning her to a human? I’d imagine that would work well.”

Willow did not respond. Heaving a sigh, Gemma picked the baby up from her spot and tried to cradle her. It wasn’t so much that she needed the baby to be comforted, she just needed Lysandra to stop crying before her head exploded.

“I think she likes you,” Willow said, hopping up. She bounced on the balls of her feet and smiled. It was obviously an attempt to win over Gemma’s affections and it was unfortunately working, against her better judgement.

“We’ll find somewhere nice for her,” Gemma said. “But we’re not keeping her. Humans have orphanages for a reason. It’s a shame what happened to her foolish parents, but she’s not our responsibility. In fact, we explicitly do not have responsibility for any humans left behind. There are departments for that.”

“But then you’d have to get the Beauru involved,” Willow pointed out, which Gemma had to admit was true. She didn’t want anyone else involved in this. She didn’t even want to be involved in it. “And you don’t want to do that.”

Willow had won the argument. They both knew it. While Gemma did want to follow the rules, Lysandra was far too involved in her life now that her superiors would start asking questions about why she hadn’t brought this to the proper offices in the first place.

She was in trouble, there was no doubt about it.

Lysandra giggled. Gemma felt magic inside of her twist and turn at the sound. She was certainly a powerful infant. No wonder her parents had gotten involved with beings from the Void.

Perhaps her family had a strong bloodline. There were stories about humans who had a touch of the Void in them. Gemma didn’t know any personally of course, because Gemma didn’t know any humans personally, but still, it wasn’t unheard of.

The office would actually be quite interested in her, but Gemma knew by now, she’d be deeply involved in this, and only get into trouble for her actions.