Nancy S. Brandt is the bestselling author of the Elijah Creek cozy paranormal series which was the basis for Joss Whedon's Nightfall, the Netflix original series that will enter its twelfth season in October 2041. Ms. Brandt is the executive producer of the series and has appeared in several episodes as Cassiopeia, the Fairy Queen. The first book in Ms. Brandt's Black King/White Knight series, Dragon's Price, was made into the feature film of the same name. Ms. Brandt is also the creator of the Misfit Monarchs series. The eleventh book in that series, Deadly Duchess, will be released in 2041. Ms. Brandt lives with her husband and three boxer dogs in Louisiana. Nancy can be found at @NancyBrandt on Wattpad.

Celesta

I saw his car pull into one of the four parking spaces in the tiny lot in front of my bakery, recently renamed "The Chocolate Fairy." I didn't like the name, because the Fairy blood in our ancestry was not something to share with the public.

Well, I say recently. It was thirty years ago, and I'd have objected, but I'd been dead for twenty years at the time and my granddaughter lacked the ability to hear ghosts.

Eugenia, my great-great-granddaughter, stared out the window as Jeremy Kyle got out of his car.

"A lady never watches out the window for her beau," I whispered in her ear.

"He's not my beau," Genie muttered, but I liked that word better than boyfriend, which made him sound like he was about thirteen years old.

Jeremy Kyle was certainly not thirteen. He was a fully grown man who clearly had a thing for chocolate eclairs.

Of course, technically, Jeremy and Genie didn't have a relationship beyond that of customer and clerk.

Oh, they'd chatted a few times, and he was quick to compliment her hair or her earrings, and she lit up when he walked into the shop, but their interactions rarely lasted longer than the time it took for her to put his dozen eclairs into a box and ring up the purchase.

He came into the shop that morning, looking, as he always did, like he just stepped out of a fashion magazine. We had no idea where he worked or even what kind of job he held. We only knew that every Wednesday, about eleven o'clock, he'd come into "The Chocolate Fairy" and order one dozen chocolate eclairs. He'd been doing this for over a year, only missing the week of Christmas and one week in the summer, when Genie and I assumed he went on a vacation.

"Good morning," Genie said, smiling. "It's nice to see you."

"You, too. I'll take my usual order."

"Of course." She began to box up the eclairs.

"Do you like Natural Angels?" Jeremy asked. Both Eugenia and I stared at him. For a moment I thought he glanced at me, but he immediately looked at the floor and a flush crept into his cheeks. "I'm sorry. You probably don't listen to Speculative Rock." He pulled out his wallet.

"I downloaded Muse of Insanity as soon as it was available," Genie said, grinning. "I sat up the night before, refreshing their webpage until I could click the buy button."

Jeremy's face lit up, and he stepped closer to the counter. "Isn't it the best?"

Genie tilted her head. "I thought Mystery and Dream Women were good songs, but their second album was better."

I stared at the two of them, wondering what they were talking about. Surely, this couldn't really be about music, could it?

"You liked Fever of Delight better?" Jeremy looked as though he'd never heard anything so odd in his life. My heart sank. Genie was going to drive him away.

"The melodies were deeper and more sophisticated than their later stuff."

Jeremy smiled and handed her the money for the pastries. "I will have to listen again and see if I agree with you." He walked away, but when he got to the door, he turned back and said, "I look forward to discussing this more."

He thanked her and left the shop.

"That was strange," she said, then she turned away and went into the back of the shop where the ovens were.

I could have followed her. As a Fairy ghost, I'm not restricted to a specific room or even this building. I chose to be here to watch over my descendants who take over the family business.

In a hundred years of doing just that, Eugenia was probably my favorite. She had a real knack for pastry making, and moreover, she loved doing it.

What was even more amazing, as far as I was concerned, Genie did all the baking without ever using magic. She was part Fairy, of course, and Genie had enough inherent magic that, with training, she could surpass even her own mother's ability.

Even without magic, Eugenia was a wizard when it came to mixing flour, sugar, and whatever else she used to make her pastries. Her--our--store could have flourished and possibly even become one of those chain deals I saw all the time on the television, when she allowed herself the rare time off to enjoy her shows.

I even told her that we could make "The Chocolate Fairy" a national success, if she contacted a banker, but she was content to do the baking herself and keep things personal between herself and her customers.

As disappointed as I was that we'd never see a Chocolate Fairy on every corner in America like that place with the coffee and blended drinks that Genie likes to stop at on her way to work, I was thrilled, or as thrilled as a Fairy ghost can be, about how much she loved baking in my shop.

Today, though, she wasn't happy about being a pastry baker.

After Jeremy left the shop, she went into the kitchen, and started pulling out all her mixing bowls, spoons, measuring cups, and baking dishes, slamming them on the huge, raised table she'd put in she took over. Not saying a word to me, she dumped flour, cocoa, and several other ingredients into a big bowl and mixed it all up by hand.

I'd seen her do this, mixing without a recipe, after she'd paid her bills or when a supplier was late with a delivery. Creating new items for the shop was her way of dealing with frustration, but today I didn't understand why she could be feeling this way.

"That was a nice conversation you had with Jeremy," I said, arranging my ghostly form to look as though I sat on the stool she'd pushed out of her way.

I didn't actually sit, or walk, for that matter. It was all an illusion that made it easier for my earthly observers to deal with me. I learned early in my death that people, even those from the Fairy Realm, are distinctly unnerved by a ghost of their loved one floating upside down or sideways while trying to communicate with them.

"Nice."

That was all she said, but, while the nuances of human idioms were still something I struggled with, I suspected she was being sarcastic.

"And he likes the same kind of music you do," I ventured. I knew this was dangerous in the mood she was in, but I had to figure out what was going on with her.

"He doesn't like Speculative Rock," she said, dropping her spoon in to the half-mixed batter and glaring at me. "He threw out a the name of the most well-known Fairy Band. That doesn't mean anything. He could have found that trolling on Facebook."

"Well, even if that were true, doesn't it mean he was looking for a way to start a conversation with you?"

She shook her head and stomped to the oven. With an angry twist of her wrist she set the temperature, then turned back to me.

"More likely, he was looking to find out if I'm as weird as he suspects. I can hear the laughter now as he talks to his buddies at work about the freak who bakes the eclairs liking Fairy Rock. It's high school all over again."

Then, as quickly as the tirade started, she dropped to the floor and put her head into her hands. She wasn't sobbing but tears rolled down her cheeks as she silently took deep breaths.

"What is it?" I asked gently. I wanted to touch her shoulder in a way humans found comforting. However, even though I was a strong Fairy when I was alive, I was still a ghost and had to abide by their rules, as annoying as that was.

Eugenia shook her head. "It's me. Look at me."

I did, and my heart swelled with pride. She was only twenty-seven, but she'd taken a floundering business that her father had no real interest in and turned into a beautiful shop.

Next year, if the finances continued the way they were going, she planned to put in a couple of tables and serve tea and coffee along with her pastries. She even had plans to possibly offer lunch in another eighteen months or so.

"I am so proud of you," I whispered.

Genie stared at me like I'd grown a second set of wings. "Maybe if I were a full-blooded Fairy, things would be different. As it is, I'm more human except for a bit of a point on my ears and hair that I can't dye. Do you have any idea what it was like to have silver hair in primary school?"

"Can't say that I do."

"Well, let's just say that it made for prime teasing opportunities to the other kids." She went back to mixing the dough. "When Speculative Rock went big, I was in high school, and it was something the Lord of the Rings geeks went crazy for. I thought maybe I could be cool if I stopped hiding my ears and people thought I was just copying the trends."

She laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Yeah, well, that didn't work. They still treated me like a freak."

"You're not a freak, honey."

Genie rolled her eyes at me. "I know, Gram. I know. But like they say, 'High school never ends.' It only takes one person to make a nasty remark about silver hair or pointed ears, and I'm right back in the cafeteria, sitting alone, ignoring the people pointing and laughing or asking me where my wings are."

She shook her head and started pouring dough into cake pans. "Jeremy brought it all back."

"Maybe he was seriously interested in getting to know you better."

She shook her head. "I'm not going to argue with you about this, Gram. You still think that humans are enchanted by Fairies like they were in the old days. It's the twenty-first century. Unless I looked like Vivica A. Fox who played the Fairy Godmother in Ella Enchanted or Helena Bonham Carter from Cinderella, guys still think pointed ears are weird."

She wiped her hands on her apron and turned to face me.

"Gram, I want a normal life with a normal guy. I love this shop, but I want children. I know Fairies live long lives, and even though there isn't much Fairy blood left in our line, wouldn't it be nice to have children running around the shop? Maybe even one of them would want to take it over someday?"

She painted a picture of something I wanted to see. When her grandmother married a mortal man and chose to live in this realm, as I had, it was delightful to see the children. I'd be happy even if more mortal blood was mixed into our line.

My daughter had been very happily married to her mortal and had seven children. They were now grandparents in their own rights and their children were scattered all over the country, happily living as part-Fairies. Some knew of their heritage, but most were unaware of the magic they possessed.

Eugenia's mother had had more skill in gardening than baking, and she left the store in the capable hands of her husband, but it wasn't until Eugenia showed her talent that "The Chocolate Fairy" began to flourish.

"Children would be wonderful," I said, with a sigh. "Why don't you close the shop and take a vacation? You can afford it, and perhaps a change of scenery will help your mood."

She appeared to think about this, then shook her head. "I can't, and not just because I would miss seeing Jeremy every Wednesday. There is too much to do. We still have a mouse problem in the storeroom, although I haven't seen any actual evidence today. I need to call an exterminator unless you'd reconsider me getting a cat."

"No." I probably said it louder than necessary, but Fairies and cats do not mix. I, personally, couldn't abide the creatures, and they felt similarly about me. In addition, cats see ghosts, and having one in the shop would alert patrons to my presence. It might be unfair and ignorant, but that wouldn't be good for Eugenia's business.

I calmed myself. "Let me look in my mother's spell books. There might be something there that could solve your problem."

"I'm not going to conjure a man," she said with a smile.

"Oh, I wish that we could." I laughed. "No, there isn't a spell for that. I think there is something that can help one of the problems though."