“Fairy Traps,” by Leah R. Cutter, appears in Stolen by the Fae, the 6th volume in the anthology series A Procession of Faeries.

Excerpt

With a determined flit, Terrance flew over the tops of the lilacs and into Old Fairy Smithers’ yard.

Instantly, the odd shaped box in the center of the yard was clear.

It was a baby! A human baby! In one of those carriers they had to protect their young. Terrance thought it might be called a car seat, but he wasn’t sure. Fairies didn’t drive cars, didn’t need them—they could just fly or use magic to get wherever they needed to go.

Terrance flew over to the baby. Stupid thing grabbed at him with its chubby hands. He probably just appeared as a shiny golden light to it.

It had rosy cheeks and pale white skin. It tracked his movements with wide, blue-gray eyes. Soft wisps of red-gold hair covered its head. Black belts kept it strapped into the carrier, probably so it wouldn’t get into any mischief. It smelled of sweet milk and some sort of perfume that the humans used.

It kicked with its fat legs and waved its arms, then giggled again.

At least it was a happy baby and not screaming at the top of its lungs, unlike the babies he’d read about in the latest Encounters magazine, which was filled with fictional accounts of human-fairy interactions, many of them lurid or impossible.

But what was a baby doing here? Why did Old Fairy Smithers have a child, a human child, in the middle of her pristine backyard? Nestled neatly between the purple hyacinths and the creeping red sedum?

—from “Fairy Traps,” by Leah R. Cutter, in Stolen by the Fae

About Leah

Leah R. Cutter writes page-turning fiction in exotic locations, such as a magical New Orleans, the ancient Orient, Hungary, the Oregon coast, rural Kentucky, Seattle, Minneapolis, and many others.

She writes literary, fantasy, mystery, science fiction, and horror fiction. Her short fiction has been published in magazines like Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and Talebones, anthologies like Fiction River, and on the web. Her long fiction has been published both by New York publishers as well as small presses.