• The beam of light glimmered against the wall, a small patch of even brighter white that shivered and jumped. The kitten flattened himself against the floor, wiggled his hindquarters and leapt, batting his paws ineffectively at the spot. He landed with a thud, spun around, then stretched up onto his hind legs so he could thump against the wall again with his paws. Kess flicked her wrist, redirecting the sunlight that was reflecting off her watch face and waited for the kitten to chase it again.

    She was bored. Managing the guest house was not what she had expected it to be, and she still wasn’t adjusting to the faeries. The brownie in charge of house keeping was down right frightening with her incomprehensible babble and screaming, and the guests were just as odd. She was still picking flower petals out of the carpets since the last group left, but there were no longer toadstools growing spontaneously under the beds. What bothered her the most was that there was nothing to do, no television, not even a radio, and she couldn’t leave. The guest house had been passed into her hands, and it was her job to keep it running.

    Thank goodness Kim had bought her the kitten, otherwise she’d be completely alone here. She shifted in her chair behind the counter and watched the kitten gambol after the light again. He wasn’t much conversation, but at least he was alive.

    “Oh! Look at the wee baby poosa!” a voice exclaimed right by her ear. Kess jumped and turned around to face the woman standing beside her. She hadn’t heard the door open or close, nor had she heard the woman walk across the floor.

    “I’m sorry dear, I didn’t mean to frighten you but he’s just so sweet!”

    Kess nodded and looked at the woman more closely. Her blond hair was tied back untidily, revealing ears that came to the slightest of points. Her face seemed ageless, but there was something in her eyes that made her seem old, wise. It took Kess only a moment to decide the woman was definitely fae.

    “It’s alright,” Kess replied. “I just didn’t hear the door when you open the door.”

    “Oh I don’t bother with the silly things!” the woman laughed. “Complete waste of time!”

    Kess blinked and said nothing for a moment. Then she shook herself and opened the account book. “Are you looking for a room?”

    “Well of course, dear! Why else would I be here? Any old thing will do, really. I just need a place to rest for a few days and since it was so wonderful here the last time I was by, I thought I’d stop here again.”

    “Sure, I’ll put you in room three. Can I have your name?”

    “Jenny,” the woman replied quickly.

    Of course it is, Kess thought bitterly. She had never seen so many Jennys and Jacks is all her life as she had since she inherited the guest house. Her grandmother had told her to expect as much, that there was power in names and it was unlikely she’d ever be given a real one by a guest. Her grandmother had also told her not to be offended, that it was a matter of trust and safety.

    Kess didn’t press the mater, she simply scribbled the name down into the book and passed “Jenny” the key to her room. Jenny flashed another dazzling smile and briskly walked away down the hall to her room. Kess looked down at the kitten and sighed.

    “Well Bustifur, I guess I should go and get supper started.”

    * * *

    Bustifur dipped his paw into the bowl, shook it and mewled up at Kess. “What?” she asked. “It’s yogurt. You eat it.”

    To help illustrate her point, she took a spoonful from the container sitting in front of her on the table and ate it. Bustifer mewled again and Kess shook her head. First he wanted the yogurt, and would lick it off the tip of her finger, and now he wouldn’t touch it. Typical. She sighed and ate another spoonful, sinking further into her boredom and began to wallow.

    She missed her old job in the city, the bustle, the noise, the people. She even missed the stupid drunks who used to try and grab her breasts and the bouncers would then throw unceremoniously out onto the street. It hadn’t been her dream job, but neither was this. How dare Gramma dump this on her and then die! She never wanted it, and she still didn’t! Now she was stuck in the middle of nowhere, with next to no clients, no one to talk to and –

    “Everything’s so damned freaky!” she exclaimed, pounding her fist on the table. The kitten started, and ran to hide behind the trash can.

    “I know it is, dear,” said a voice gently. Kess looked up into the gently smiling face of Jenny, whose teeth, Kess noted now with some relief, were a normal shade of white.

    “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you,” Kess said sheepishly. Jenny just continued to smile and waved the apology away.

    “You didn’t, child, not for a moment. But you don’t need to scream and holler for a body to realize that you’re upset.” She sat down at the table and looked pointedly at the yogurt. “That’s a pretty good first clue.”

    Kess blushed and laid her spoon down on the table. She looked away from Jenny’s knowing eyes, and shook her head ever so lightly. There really was no privacy in this place, but perhaps it wasn’t such a bad thing.

    “Why don’t you put that curdled cream away and fetch some of that delicious frozen cream from the ice box with another spoon,” Jenny suggested.

    Kess hesitated for a moment, first thinking over what she had just been asked to do, and then marveling that she had been asked to do so. How did she know Kess kept ice cream in the freezer? Kess stood up and walked over to the fridge and then pulled open the freezer door. The walls were decorated in ornate frost patterns, and written elegantly across the tub of ice cream was “Yum!” Jack had been there. Again. Must be getting ready for the fall, Kess reasoned. Why else would Jack Frost be bothering with her freezer. or commenting on its contents? She took another spoon out of the drawer and passed it to Jenny as she sat down, and then opened the plastic tub of double chocolate fudge.

    * * *

    Two in the morning came and went, and still Kess and Jenny were leaning into the table and taking spoonful after spoonful of ice cream. It didn’t melt, and for some reason there never seemed to be any less than half the tub there. Kess had long ago decided to simply accept this; it meant she wouldn’t have to buy more and this was the first time she had sat down and really talked with someone for months! Jenny, as it turned out, was delightful to talk to. She was funny, attentive and thoughtful and Kess found that she was easy to talk to. It was a nice change, she reflected, to talk and have someone nod appreciatively.

    “You find the time long, my love,” Jenny said with a smile, reading Kess’s thoughts not for the first time.

    “I guess I’m just used to a faster pace,” Kess admitted, eating another spoonful of ice cream. “When I worked in the city, there were people all around, all the time. But out here, I feel like I’m losing my mind! I can’t leave, I can’t invite anyone to come stay with me, and the only company I have is Bustifur!”

    “But he’s such a lovely wee poosa!” Jenny exclaimed. Bustifur rubbed appreciatively against her leg and purred loudly.

    “He’s such a stirring conversationalist,” Kess said dryly, studying her spoon.

    Jenny sat quietly for a moment, considering Bustifur thoughtfully. The kitten turned a fluffy face up towards her, his blue eyes studying her deeply as she reached down to tickle his p***y willow grey ears. She then scooped him up into her arms.

    “That, my dear, is easily solved, isn’t it poosa?” Kess quirked an eyebrow skeptically, and began to reconsider Jenny. She may be crazier than she had originally thought.

    Which shouldn’t have come as a surprise, really Kess realized.

    Her frown deepened as Jenny began to chant:

    “Long of hair and sleek of bone,
    Turn this house into a home!
    Since the cat oft catch a tongue,
    It’s now high time that you found one!    ”

    Bustifur gave a hiss as his fur stood on end. With a yowl, he leapt from Jenny’s arms and raced from the kitchen. Kess could hear him galloping down the hall towards her bedroom. Once he could no longer be heard, Kess looked back up nervously at Jenny.

    “What did you - ”

    “Do?” Jenny finished, beaming broadly. “I’ve given you a gift. I like you Kess. Hopefully this should make life a little more bearable for you here, and it should remind you of me and of our little chat.”

    Jenny that stood up, put her spoon in the sink, and walked out of the kitchen. Kess wondered how an angry cat would help anything as she put away the ice cream and left out the milk, honey and bread for Meg and the other brownies before heading to bed herself. Bustifur was already curled up beneath the quilt at the foot of the bed. He didn’t seem any worse for wear, so Kess undressed and crawled into bed wondering what Jenny had meant about a gift. Faerie gifts, her grandmother had warned her, often cost more than they gave.

    * * *

    “Hey!”

    Kess rolled over, trying to pull the blankets up over her face. Something had tickled her cheek, and she realized grudgingly that she wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep now. Still, the bed was warm and she could feel Bustifur moving on the pillow by her head.

    “Hey!” She heard the voice again, realizing that it wasn’t a dream, and felt something lightly tapping the top of her head. Something wasn’t right.

    “HEY!” yelled the voice, and she felt a sharp tug on her hair. Kess sat up quickly with a yelp, rubbing her head and looking around the room. Bustifur was sitting on her pillow, looking up at her calmly with his tail wrapped around his front paws. He flicked his right ear twice.

    “Feed me,” he demanded calmly, his blue eyes meeting hers.