But her mother put it this way: her kind, the Fair Folk, had existed just to the side of humanity since before recorded history. They were the source of legends of fairies, of Nephilim, of ancient heroes and monsters. They slipped in and out of this world physically, and sometimes they took people with them, or left their own behind. As people began to leave villages and firepits for cities with electric light, Gabrielle’s kind stopped visiting as much. Human lives didn’t have the same kind of space for them anymore.

But her world was still there, at the edges, and sometimes people would take a wrong turn on the road home and find themselves in a place where the whispers in the trees didn’t sound like any language they’d ever heard before. Sometimes children would go out playing and find a talking rabbit and follow it through a hole. Sometimes they’d come back. Sometimes they wouldn’t.

As the human world filled with light, however, the Fair world got darker. The small creatures that once seemed funny or mischievous grew cold and sly and sinister. Deals were struck with something older, something that grew every night, cloaking more and more of Gabrielle’s world in black. Before she and her people knew it, they were almost the only ones left to stand against The End.

There was a war. Gabrielle’s people fought. They spilled their blood and spent their lives. They stood for light and purity in the face of evil.

They lost.

Gabrielle made her way to the Well of Stars and dove in, hoping for the best, hoping for some chance of escape. By this time, it had been decades — centuries — since anyone had made the journey. Earth was only a legend to her.

But somehow, she found her way here. Battered, broken, and beaten, she staggered through the woods, until she found Richard.

He spent a lot of time walking alone on the paths through the woods. He never knew why, only that he felt more at home, more at peace out there. Then he saw her, and he knew what he’d been waiting for.

He took care of her. He helped her adjust to her new world. People assumed they were a couple long before they ever held hands. But Richard waited. Patiently. He couldn’t help but love her. He’d stumbled across a goddess, and no matter what she thought of him, he would never see anyone the way he saw her.

Gabrielle was a princess in her world, and a warrior. She also wasn’t the only one who made it across. For a long time, she was distracted by her mission, which was to keep the things from the Other Side from spreading. She was always busy, off having adventures, hunting the creatures that made their way into Middleton, fighting the Shadowmen when they would show up.