Warning: Any bolded text is highlighted for extreme violence. If you are sensitive to things like that, please skip that section. The text is bolded in the book itself as well. Enjoy the trailer!

“Life fuckin’ sucks, dude,” I muttered gently, “like, seriously. Crappy university. Everyone’s against me for being smaller than them. I already have some bitch bullying me. And NOW I have to go to calculus!” I was bitching and moaning to my dog, Shadow. He was a black miniature poodle, the only dog I had ever met that still registered me as a… well, person. After shrinking from three inches to half an inch, most animals saw me as more of more of a bug rather than a pixie. Shadow was different. He was my dog since I was a kid, and he still saw me as his owner. It was nice, being seen as a person by someone, even if it was just a dog.

It’s not like the dorm room I had was the worst thing in the world, to be entirely fair. My roommate made sure of that. Most of the walls were covered in rom-com movie posters, along with a single trans rights poster, her bedsheets were far too bright in their pink shading, and the curtains were a bit too thin to keep the sun out, but the room was open, with plenty of room to stretch my two butterfly-like wings.

“Everyone’s a strong word, Lyla.” a strong, feminine voice rang out, “I’m your friend, aren’t I?” I let out a yelp and glanced up to see an ebony face staring down at me, eyebrow raised. Damn, that still wasn’t something I was used to. The smaller size made humans far more intimidating, even more than they were already. The lumbering giants were borderline deities nowadays, especially since she was crouching over the tiny corner in which I kept all my stuff. She had insisted that I spread out, but I disagreed. Didn’t want to make enemies just because I was too “selfish”.

“Yeah, yeah,” I grumbled in response, “I know you see me as a person, too, Stella. It’s appreciated. But can’t I complain?” Stella was the best roommate I could dream of. A half human, half unicorn woman with a large horn coming out of her forehead, black hair going down to her shoulders, absolutely brilliant green eyes, she never looked down on me. No matter my size, she just saw me as her roomie… shame she was straight. I couldn’t deny that I absolutely had a crush on her until I learned she was dating some minotaur named Jake that played tennis. Would I call her a friend? Not even close. However, she was kind enough to have my back when I needed it.

“Complaining instead of going to class, little lady?” I couldn’t even yelp before Stella’s dark skinned fingers reached down, grabbing my, frankly, miniscule body between her finger and thumb, holding me up to her questioning face. She was SO lucky we were roommates, or I’d absolutely get on her case for doing that. Her fingers alone were like monoliths, holding me with the strength to crush the life out of me with nothing but a twitch. Impressively, I always found Stella to be gentle as could be.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I pouted, “lemme go, dingus. I have to get to class.” I could instantly see Stella looking at my clothes. She didn’t even need to say anything. My “Fae Rights” shirt was sure to ruffle more than a few feathers. The two of us stared into each other's eyes for a few moments, as if challenging each other to say something. 
Eventually, Stella sighed, shrugged, and released me. Never ceased to amaze me how the appendages of normal sized folk moved with such ease, but it was just part of my everyday life now. I would’ve plummeted to the ground, but my wings easily caught me, allowing me to flutter up into the air, over to my bookbag. Heavy with textbooks… many of which were far more expensive for me than for most students, thanks to my size. You’d think they’d be cheaper because they’d need less materials, but because the needs were seen as “lesser”, the powers that be tended to just shrink normal sized textbooks. Especially so in my case. Just another reminder that I wasn’t equal. Just what I needed. Great. 

“Heading out.” I waved to Stella, who waved back, already scrolling through her phone and petting Shadow. Thank God she was around to take care of him. Thanks to my size, I couldn’t properly take care of his needs like bathroom and feeding. Before we met things were… complicated. Had to make an entire pulley system that controlled a door just to let him outside, and food was entirely up to him. But since going to Briro West University, meeting Stella, Shadow’s life became so much easier.
Of course, my life wasn’t easier. If anything, it had become much harder. If I was bullied for being knee height by other fae, I was outright terrorized by other races for barely reaching over the bottoms of their shoes.

I flew out of the dormitory after soaring down the long hallway out to the entrance. Grays and blacks were the preferred colors inside, but the campus of Briro West itself was entirely different. The grass was a stunning shade of green, to an almost unreal extent. The gardeners definitely did their best to make the place look as good as possible. Dean Briro definitely paid them well to make it look as good as he did. I zoomed and buzzed across the walkway to the main campus, flying over the school’s extremely gaudy fountain, glancing down at all the human hybrids going about their business. A few of them, unfortunately, just happened to have anti-fae rights merchandise - more like propaganda - on. I saw one in particular with a cross over the words “faebug rights”. The most popular slur for fae. I watched as a girl in glasses walked up, politely asking them to go back to their dorm and change their shirt. Only to be thrown into the fountain. Not a shock.

Whatever. Stupid larger species could do what they wanted, it was going to be a long day without thinking about the rampant speciesism of the world. The majority of people, to be fair, just ignored me. Much like the dean ignored my complaints. Mostly because the biggest problem was his daughter. Courtney Briro. Not my favorite person in the world, to say the very least. She had found me on my first day, and decided right then and there that I was her victim from that day forward. My wings seemed to be her favorite target. Pixies have an abnormally quick healing ability, so she decided that was the perfect excuse to physically abuse me as much as she possibly could. It’s not hard to figure out that once a fae loses her wings, she’s no different than a weaker mouseperson… so she loved to ruin mine, leaving me as a much, much smaller mouseperson.

I managed to thread the needle through the opening door into the main building of the university. Much easier than dodging falling leaves in autumn. Sighing, I buzzed in place, taking in the entryway. Even for a normal sized human, this place must have been obnoxiously huge. The entry alone stretched for at least 35 human feet, pretty much all of that space going entirely unused by anything other than a single desk that should have been used by a guide. A guide who was never there, at least from my experience. With a grumble, I collected myself and began to fly lower to the ground, trying to make up for the time I had wasted by gaining flying speed.

SLAM. I had barely made it into the main hall, the classrooms in sight, only to be struck down by a massive, orange and yellow converse. Ugh. Not even one of the hot ones. Only one person that could own something so ugly.

“Where the hell did you think you were going?!” Courtney sneered, “You haven’t even said good morning to me yet! It’s rude to ignore your best friend, you know!” I slowly stood up and looked up at Courtney. Just as stuck up as always. Blonde, long bangs, pale skinned, blue eyed, wearing the most obnoxiously bright colors possible with her dresses.

“Where are your groupies?” I mumbled softly, rubbing my now sore arm, “Didn’t have the money to pay them to stand you today?” I watched Courtney’s face slowly contort as my comment began to click in her brain. Rage. Pure, blinding rage. Rage which led to her digging in her purse… pulling out a terrifying tool. A hole puncher.

“Looks like a certain fly needs an attitude adjustment,” she hissed, “stand still.” Like hell. I immediately took to the air, fluttering away from the woman as fast as I possibly could. Of course, that wasn’t very far. Courtney’s hand was around me within seconds. I was trapped, and I could feel her maneuvering her fingers so my wings were between the digits. I knew there was nothing I could do at that point, of course. Fluttering, screaming, kicking, biting… it was already too late. And then the hole puncher came. The blinding pain of the holes being punched into the membrane of my wings. I let out a shriek, so loud it made my throat raw. With the size of that tool, a good fourth of my wing had to be gone.

“Next time, think before you speak.” Courtney scoffed, tossing me to the ground, stomping off in a huff. I slowly stood up and looked behind me to my wings… great. Just what I needed. A fae with holes in her wings was unable to fly. I was going to be on foot for some time, and I still needed to sprint to class. Even if pixies had a rapid healing factor, those wings weren’t going to be in working condition until an hour later at least.

Then the footfalls came. Only a few steps forward and the students began to flood the halls. So many people, so many footfalls. Different genders, different species, different shoes, different everything, shit falling from their hands, all of it absolutely able to kill me in less than a second. Escape. Get out. That was all that was going through my mind. I ran to the side of the hall, somehow managing to make it without getting absolutely pulverized into a stain.

The Sizable Problems With an Interspecies Relationship by Belladonna Bryson - Out for sale now!