(August 4, 2025)

Fallon threw the ball for the black-and-gold dog at their side.

Tongue lolling, tail wagging, Theo bolted across the open ball park.

Then disappeared.

Fallon blinked and stared at where the dog had been. That was... okay, that was weird, right?

They looked around to see if anyone else had noticed, but there was no one else. They stood alone on the edge of the park and stared at where Theo had vanished.

Then he returned, still smiling, still wagging his tail.

But in his mouth wasn’t the ball they had throne. It was...

Was that a giant wing?

No, okay. They had to be seeing things.

“Come here, boy,” Fallon said, crouching down and gesturing Theo to come closer. Which he happily did, of course, because he was the goodest boy who always did what he was told.

Except when he portalled out of the world and started hunting... fairies, apparently?

Because Fallon couldn’t deny what they were looking at. When Theo dropped his burden, they could see it was most definitely a wing. A shimmering golden-teal appendage that looked like it had been torn from whatever creature it had been attached to.

“Where the heck did you go?” they asked their dog.

Theo barked and wagged his tail, seemingly undisturbed by what he’d delivered to his person.

Fallon shook their head, rubbed Theo between his ears, and took a tentative step towards the centre of the ball park.

The smart move would be to leave and never return. Right? After all, it wasn’t like Theo had recited some magic words to transport himself wherever he had gone. All he’d done was run. Fallon didn’t want to walk somewhere they shouldn’t. They should leave. Just turn around and go home. Maybe take the wing. Better than someone else finding it.

Maybe report it to someone? Probably wise.

Instead, they started running.