“What is the meaning of this logo?” Lee asks, looking at the black card with golden letters, and then up at Beta and Charlie, before he looks at his parents.

  “Which one?” Kenji asks, looking at the card in Lee’s hands.

  In response, Lee points at the symbol on the card and shifts it, letting the light show the hidden symbol.

  Sue, standing by her husband, looks at the card in Lee’s hand as well, and she too notices the symbol now.

  Then Sue Watson turns pale and looks at the two women; recognising the logo, she realises that they are not from the Child Safety Association. Involuntarily, Sue takes half a step back as she says, “You belong to the Trydens? Which of them sent you?”

  Lee looks between his shocked, pale-faced parents and the two women. His five-year-old brain takes longer to understand what is happening, but subconsciously he knows that something is not right.

  Beta looks at Lee, the corner of her lip twitching, and then she turns to look back at Sue and Kenji. “Does the kid know anything about what happened?” she asks in Galactones as she points at Lee with a jerk of her chin.

  Sue is unable to say a word; Kenji only shakes his head. Lee and Sakura look around, unable to understand what is happening as neither of them speaks the, Galactones, language. But Lee can tell, thanks to his supposed past life, that by the body language, they are talking about him.

  Charlie, using Galactones too, declares, “Make sure it remains so.” Then, in Japanese, she adds, “We have the report from you now, so after the next test, someone will contact you.”

  Sue and Kenji can only nod in understanding, and then they bow as the two women exit the room.

  When the whooshing sound of the closing door is heard, Sue drops into the chair, face in her hands, and starts crying; Kenji kneels down and holds his wife…

  Sakura, not knowing why her mother is crying, starts to call for her, but Lee furrows his eyebrows, sensing that there is more to the story. So, he calls Sakura to sit beside him.

  Sakura hesitates; looking at their parents, then walks to the bed and climbs beside Lee using the chair as a stepper.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Big brother, who was the two ladies?” asks Sakura once she is beside Lee. “And why is Mummy crying?” As she looks at her mother, tears start to appear at the corner of her eyes.

  “I think they are some people that wanted to know if I was here because Mum or Dad are bad Mum and Dad,” Lee says, looking at his parents, but deep down, somehow, he feels that this is the right thing to say to Sakura, even though it might not be true.

  “Mom and Dad are good people,” Sakura says straight away. “They are not like Sakichi Mum and Dad.” She says, mentioning a six-year-old girl, a neighbour they have whose parents don’t let her play and sometimes punish her with starvation when she doesn’t clean the house like they command.

  Lee nods in agreement and grabs the phone that is on the bed stand and starts a game to distract Sakura; again, he acts on impulse.

  As they are playing, he hears his parents whisper. “Do you think they will take him back?” asks Sue; from the corner of his eyes, Lee sees that Kenji just shakes his head.

  “I believe they think the child is still too young; they wouldn’t do it,” Kenji whispers back softly, but somehow Lee feels like they are whispering next to him, even though they haven’t moved.

  “You know how they are, if they think we did something wrong,” Sue says, and her body trembles. “They will take him and place him with someone else.”

  “No. Lee is different,” Kenji says. “It was she who entrusted him to us, not the old fool.”

  At the mention of ‘she’, Lee remembers the first memory of his in this life, as Lee Watson, at the age of six months, when a woman gave him into the care of the Watsons; even though he believes she is his mother, he doesn’t see the resemblance.

  Before Lee can eavesdrop more on his parents' conversation, the sound of the door opening makes the four of them look up, only to see a nurse with soft translucent wings and pointy ears.

  In Lee’s mind, he sees a quick montage of images from movies and drawings, but they all have the same thing in common; they have never been seen by himself and they resemble fairies… that is what this nurse looks like to Lee, a fairy from the fair-folk.

  “Hello,” the fairy nurse says, looking around the room. “I am here to get Lee for his exam, but is everything alright?” she asks, looking at the tear-stained face of Lee’s mum.

  Realising that there is something his parents are trying to hide, Lee feels the instinct to help, so he says, “My mum is only worried about me.” He says this and, looking at his mum, smiles. “She thinks that I’m here because of her.”

  The nurse looks at Lee and at the way he is smiling fondly at his parents, so she reads his chart. “No. There was nothing wrong with you; you were healthy, no markings on the body. You just refused to wake up.” She finishes and puts down the chart. “So, Mr and Mrs Watson, there was nothing you did that made your son be in a coma.”

  Sue nods as Kenji says, “We thought so, but hearing it from a medical professional is a relief.” He then discreetly glances at Lee.

  The nurse nods, then takes a step forward; in doing so, she trips and her body tilts forward and she is about to fall, but her wings start moving, and she levitates back to a standard position. When she stands up again with feet on the ground, she looks around; her transparent wings turn a shade of pink. “Right, are you ready for your examination, Lee?” Her voice sounds softer and high-pitched.