1033: Story 1033: The Poison Pixie Parade 1033: Story 1033: The Poison Pixie Parade They came at dusk.
Tiny lights bobbing through the trees like drunken fireflies, weaving through the fog-drenched woods outside Whitsley Hollow.
To the untrained eye, they were beautiful.
Magical.
But Celia Wynn knew better.
She’d seen them once before — twenty years ago, when her brother walked into the woods and never came back.
They called it “The Lost Parade.”
No one believed her when she said she saw tiny figures with sharp teeth and glowing green eyes, dancing in a line behind a music no one else could hear.
Until now.
Celia had returned to Whitsley, a woman hardened by years and loss, drawn back by rumors: vanished children, strange lights, and animals turning up dead — their bodies bloated, lips stained with pollen-yellow foam.
She came armed with iron dust, salt lines, and an old druid’s charm etched on a coin from a forgotten country.
And she came with a plan.
The first night, she found them again.
Not just lights — faces.
Grinning.
Inhuman.
Tiny dancers with paper-thin wings and warped little feet that left tracks like ink blots in the dirt.
Each held a sickly flower dripping glowing sap — lureblooms, she remembered.
The pixies sang a song that wormed into your ears like a centipede.
A tune with no melody, just whispering notes that told you to follow.
To dance.
To forget everything but the rhythm.
Celia fought it.
Barely.
She followed them instead.
Not enchanted — but angry.
Through bramble and rot, she watched them weave through the trees like ants on a sugar trail.
Behind them trailed children — dazed, eyes glassy.
One girl dragging a stuffed bear.
One boy with bloody knees and a smile too wide.
At the back of the line was the Pixie Queen — twice the size of the others, her wings tattered, her crown made from thorns and baby teeth.
Her eyes bled violet smoke.
Celia stepped into their path.
She dropped a circle of iron filings, forming a trap.
“Looking for your brother?” the Queen asked, her voice like shattered music boxes.
She raised a hand, and the children froze — but the pixies hissed and twitched, the iron already burning their flesh.
“You stole him,” Celia growled.
“No,” the Queen grinned.
“He danced willingly.”
From behind her cloak, she pulled his skull, painted with runes.
Celia screamed and stepped forward—
But the circle was broken.
The pixies swarmed.
She fought, slicing wings and faces with an iron dagger, but they were many.
Too many.
She screamed one final curse — a word learned in her dreams — and the sky cracked.
The forest groaned.
The parade scattered.
Only Celia and the Queen remained.
They say a new parade walks now.
Only at dusk.
Led by a woman with silver eyes and withered wings.
She sings a mournful tune.
Some call her the Broken Pixie Bride.
But the children still follow her.
And the poison flowers bloom brighter than ever.