After getting home, Ruby placed Lilac in her Melissa and Doug Dollhouse, a three-story house with teal and baby blue roofing, a living room, kitchen, bathroom, master bedroom, and a playroom at the very top. Prime real-estate for a doll.
"Okay, I know you can talk," said Ruby after Lilac was comfortably seated on the master bed, "Don't pretend you can't. I heard you do it earlier."
As quiet as a whisper, the doll let out a sigh.
"Yes, I can talk. Thanks for the save, by the way," she observed her surroundings, "I much prefer this to a trash compactor. But you need a much more comfortable bed," she emphasized by jumping up and down on the wooden base. "Like I said earlier, my name is Lilac. I'm a part of your world, and much more."
"Cool. I've never met a toy that's alive. I've tried to leave the room and watch to see if they'd move," she glanced around her room at her stuffed animals and the rest of her dolls with a new fascination. "Are they alive too?" Lilac surveyed the room.
"No, I believe those are just things."
"Oh. Darn. So, are you magical?"
"Of course."
"Can you bring other things to life?"
"No. I'm a fairy, not a wizard."
"Are there real wizards?"
"Not that I know of," she said. "I do, however, have a thank you gift for you that I think you'll find quite magical. Any more questions before we begin?"
"Is it hard without an arm?" asked Ruby.
"Is it hard without wings?" Lilac rebutted.
"I don't know," Ruby contemplated, "I've never had them, so I guess not."
"Exactly," said Lilac.
"Is this real?" asked Ruby.
"What makes it not?" Lilac posed.
"How are you alive? You're a toy. You're solid."
"Well you're weird and mushy and bleedy."
"But how are you alive?"
"I was made to be alive. How are you alive?"
"I don't know."
"But how are you moving?" Lilac proposed, "How are you breathing? Why do you think thoughts? Why do you feel things?"
"I don't know, God?"
"What makes God real?"
Ruby stopped to think. She had only been alive for eleven years, which was not enough time to properly ponder that question. There were people for that, with robes and books and wrinkles.
"I don't know, I just believe he is."
"And you're alive because of it," Lilac confirmed. "Belief powers life, and life powers belief." She began to tug at her hair, ripping purple strands from her head, brushing through them to eliminate any bits of dried hot glue. Ruby flinched every time a new one snapped loose. She entwined them in between her fingers, braiding them together, tying a tight loop at the end.
"What are you doing?"
"Giving you your thank you gift. Here," said Lilac, "This is a key. It can open any Fairy Door in the city, and we can enter into my home. Ephaestron."
The city of Ann Arbor was blessed with magic in the form of fairy doors, or little detailed doors outside businesses that were for the coming and going of fairies. Most of them had little porches where people could leave gifts.
"You mean like the one at Peaceable Kingdom?"
The Peaceable Kingdom fairy door was enchanting. Built inside the wall protected by glass was a little fairy-sized boutique. It was like a dollhouse outside of time and space, its constant vacancy adding to the mystery. Ruby had always dreamed of shrinking down and going inside. There was a brown railing and shelves full of knick knacks like miniature toys, a globe, glass artifacts, push pins, rocks, spare springs, and stacks of pennies. There was a counter in the middle of the store, and in the glass drawer were rows and rows of teeth. Ruby had once left some of her baby teeth, and a plastic ant.
"The very one. Just use the key on the front door. Oh, and you're gonna want to bring me with you. You're going to need someone to show you the ropes."