Wings, Fangs, and Four Empty Chairs

Phoenix, Arizona burned bright and golden on a Tuesday afternoon — the kind of hot where the sidewalk shimmered and everyone moved a little slower than usual.

Everyone except the tooth fairies.

Inside a squat little building on Cactus Bloom Drive, sandwiched between a taco stand and a nail salon, sat a very unusual dental office. The sign above the door read: FAIRY SMILES DENTAL — ALL AGES, ALL TEETH, NO FEAR.

Dr. Pinkie fluttered past the front desk, her pink scrubs perfectly pressed, humming cheerfully. "Good morning, Dr. Hearts!"

Dr. Hearts looked up from his phone, totally relaxed in his swivel chair. "Morning." He gave her a lazy wave.

From the hallway came a slow, deliberate clunk-clunk-clunk of boots on tile. Dr. Skull appeared — all long black hair, one green eye visible through heavy bangs, and a thermos of something that smelled suspiciously warm and meaty.

Dr. Mikey spotted him and grinned. "Dude. You look like a Halloween decoration."

Dr. Skull did not smile.

The Waiting Room Situation

Dr. Mikey's grin was still hanging on his face when the front door blew open.

Not gently, either. It smacked the wall with a bang that made Dr. Pinkie drop her clipboard.

Four kids shuffled in — three boys and a girl — all of them looking like they'd rather be anywhere else on the planet. One of the boys, the tallest one with floppy brown hair, had both arms crossed so tight his knuckles were white.

"We're the Overbite Group," the girl announced. She had red pigtails and was clearly the bravest of the four, though her voice wobbled just a little. "Our parents made us come."

Dr. Pinkie smiled her sunniest smile and crouched down to their level. "Welcome! I'm Dr. Pinkie. Nobody here bites — well, almost nobody."

She glanced quickly at Dr. Skull.

Dr. Skull unscrewed his thermos and took a long, slow sip without a word.

All four kids stared at him. The tallest boy took one big step backward.

"I want to go home," the smallest boy whispered.

Then the girl spotted Dr. Skull's hair — black, and so long it brushed his lower back — and her eyes went round.