“Shakespeare's a paedophile, Miss.”

Joolz was struggling to keep her class under control.

“He is not!”

“But Miss, that line about my child not seeing fourteen years. Doesn’t that mean that Juliet was only thirteen when she shagged Romeo?”

The rest of the class chimed in.

“The dirt pervert!”

“Miss, is Romeo a paedo?”

“What age was Romeo, Miss? Was he a dirty old man?”

“Enough!”

Joolz held up both hands to signal for everyone to stop talking. She glowered around the room as the once rowdy group of sixteen and seventeen-year-old A-level English students dropped their eyes and stared at their copies of Romeo and Juliet.

Joolz swept a hand through her long dark hair. She knew teaching was hard but somehow, she hadn’t expected it to be this difficult. It had seemed an easy way to make money after completing her English degree at University. Do a one-year post-graduate certificate in teaching and then she could use those long summer holidays to write her novel.

St Joseph’s secondary school was a rough school. Their catchment area included the three roughest estates in Liverpool and the School’s completion rates were amongst the lowest in the country.

She looked around the room. These kids thought they knew everything. Everything was a joke. They didn’t care or respect anyone or anything.

“No, Shakespeare wasn’t a paedophile. In Elizabethan times, people got married much younger.”

“But Miss, wasn't Shakespeare Irish?”

‘No, Ireland may have produced many great writers but they can't claim Shakespeare.”

She paused and looked at the student who had asked such a strange question. Chloe O’Donnell gazed back at her. Her green eyes shone out from under a mop of unruly curls of bright red hair.

“Um, Chloe, isn’t it? Why do you ask?”

“Well, Miss. I’d read that Queen Mab is based on Queen Meabh of Connaught. Some believed her to be a Morrigan.”

“A what-a-gan?”

Joolz had no idea what the girl was talking about. She waited for Chloe to explain.

“A Morrigan is a shapeshifter. A beautiful woman who can transform into a crow.”

The rest of the class clamoured in again.

“Naw, the Puca is the shapeshifter.”

“Is that where Puck comes from, Miss?”

“See Miss, Shakespeare just ripped off everyone. The Puca changes from a man to a horse. Shakespeare just turned him into a donkey.”

“You’re the donkey, dickhead.”

“Eeee hawww.”

“You’re wrong there. Puck turns Bottom into an ass.”

The class erupted into more laughter.

Joolz could feel herself turning red. She saw Chloe looking right at her. The girl ran her tongue over her lips without breaking eye contact with the frazzled teacher.

“Enough!”

Joolz raised both hands as well as her voice.

“Puck was not a Puca, he was a hobgoblin who turned the weaver Bottom into a donkey, or ass. Puck did not turn into a donkey and Shakespeare was not Irish.”

She paused and looked around the room. She could see a couple of them trying to suppress a snigger. Liverpool had always had a large Irish immigrant population and at least a third of the class could claim Irish ancestry. Joolz was feeling slightly out of her depth regarding Pucas and Morrigans and was determined to close the conversation down.

“Also,” she continued, “Shakespeare was not a paedophile. People got married much younger then, partly because they died much younger back then.”

She saw Chloe start to open her mouth but Joolz raised a hand to stop her.

“Finally, Queen Mab is the fairy Queen, not much larger than a gnat and not a warrior queen who could transform into animals.”

She walked back behind her desk and sat down.

“Now that we have all that cleared up, for your homework, I want you to write five hundred words on “What is the dramatic function of Mercutio's Queen Mab speech?”

She smiled at the collective outpouring of groans and pleas. As the bell rang to signal the end of the last class of the day, she raised her voice to issue her final instructions

“I want them on my desk for Friday morning. Now, off you go.”

That night, she lay sprawled on the sofa, a glass of red wine dangling from her hand as she thought back to the bizarre conversations in her Sixth form class. Chloe’s breathless recounting of Queen Meabh, the warrior Queen who seduced lover and enemy alike, able to transform into a crow and the Puca and the confusion over Puck and Bottom. She was just thinking she should find out more about Morrigans and Pucas when sleep crept upon her and the glass fell from her hand.

She woke in the darkness. A rattling at the window had woken her. It came again. She shivered. The temperature had fallen and she wished she’d crawled into bed before tiredness overtook her. The window rattled again. She stood up and walked unsteadily towards the curtains.

As soon as she put his finger on the latch, the window sprang open and a large black crow flapped its way into the room. It circled, almost like it was enraged, wings flapping as it knocked a vase over on the windowsill and a picture from the piano.

Joolz stood, enchanted, unable to move. She watched, open-mouthed as the crow circled the room several more times before finally landing on the floor and turning its head to gaze at her. With a sprinkle of fairy dust, such as had been described in the play they had read that afternoon, the crow shimmered and grew. The form elongated until it stood almost six feet tall, towering over her. As the sparkles faded away, Joolz found herself staring into the cold green eyes of a beautiful woman.

The woman smiled. Her lips parted and she ran the tip of her tongue over her lips as she stared at Joolz.

“So, I am nonsense, am I?”

Joolz swallowed.

“I am Queen Meabh, but as you see, I am much taller than a gnat.”

She lowered the hood of her cloak and a mass of red curly hair cascaded over her shoulders.

‘You English, with your mistaken views of fairies, as if we were all invented by Enid Blyton.”

Meabh stalked around Joolz, her cloak brushing the floor as she examined the nicknacks and books on the shelves in Joolz’s room.

“You should know your history, Juliet,” Meabh whispered.

Joolz winced. She’d hated being called that. The irony of teaching Shakespeare was not lost on her mother who refused to call her anything but Juliet.

“Your students are right. Shakespeare plundered Celtic mythology as blatantly as he plundered everything else. And yet, he saw fit to diminish me to the size of a gnat and made me travel in a hazelnut shell.”

She unfastened the cloak and let it fall around her ankles. She was naked underneath,

“Do I look like I’d travel in a hazelnut shell?”

Joolz ran her gaze over the fairy Queen. The mass of wavy red hair, the porcelain white skin, the blazing green eyes and ruby red lips. The woman was beautiful. Joolz wasn’t sure if it was the coldness that caused the Queen’s nipples to swell and harden but they looked good enough to eat. Her gaze dropped lower and she saw the luxurious bush of red curls.

She slowly raised her eyes again and stared at Meabh, entranced as the Queen stepped closer and ran her hands up Joolz’s arms. The girl’s arms were covered in goosebumps.

“Oh, you poor thing, you’re frozen.”

Joolz wasn’t sure how she’d lost her clothes. She was sure she’d been wearing them a moment ago but now, she too was standing naked in her bedroom. Meabh led her by the hand and took her to bed.

“Kiss me.”

Joolz was only too happy to comply with the whispered command. While she may not be ‘out out’ in public, she was pretty sure some of the pupils suspected she was a lesbian.

Meabh lay on her back and Joolz climbed on top of her, straddled her hips and she kissed the strange woman who’d appeared in her bedroom. Joolz loved to kiss. She pressed her lips against Meabh’s mouth, feeling the softness and wetness as their tongues flickered.

Joolz squirmed on the bed as they kissed, her nipples dragged across Meabh’s flesh. Every tingle sent messages directly to her core, causing her insides to contract and juices to ooze out of her. She felt her juices smearing over Meabh’s mound as the red curls tickled her shaven-smooth pussy.

Meabh’s hands reached down and caressed Joolz’s ass. She squeezed and kneaded the firm cheeks as their tongues danced in each other's mouths. Then, suddenly, without warning, Meabh rolled and Joolz found herself pinned beneath the mysterious woman.

Meabh sat back on her heels and gazed at Joolz. Her fingers teased the young teacher’s calves before she gripped Joolz’s knees and spread her open. Meabh’s head darted down and Joolz arched her back and moaned loudly as she felt Meabh’s tongue parting her lips, lapping at the juices now flooding out of her before curling around her clit and flicking it with the tip of her tongue. Meabh’s fingers moved over Joolz, spreading her lips and smearing her juices over her clit and lips as she spread her open like a flower.

“Oh god oh god oh god,” Joolz whimpered as Meabh slid two curled fingers deep inside her. The squelch echoed around the room. As Meabh sucked and tongued her clit, she moved her fingers in and out, slowly building up a rhythm. Joolz moved her hands up to her own breasts and massaged them, feeling the nipples harden as she mashed her breasts together, mimicking the assault happening between her legs.

Joolz knew there was no point in even trying to hold back and with a low guttural wail, she came, writhing on the bed like a banshee as her hips bucked and jerked under the influence of Meabh’s tongue and fingers.

Gibberish, wordless cries, whimpers, moans, squeaks and pleadings spewed out of Joolz before Meabh slowly eased off, bringing her down and letting her collapse onto the bed.

Joolz lay there with her eyes closed, shuddering with aftershocks as Meabh lifted herself up off her knees and begin to kiss her way up over Joolz’s stomach and over her breasts, pressing her body into Joolz, red curls pressed against soaked smooth skin.

Joolz gazed up at Meabh. She could see her juices glistening on Meabh’s lips and chin. Then Meabh kissed her and she tasted her own flavour on Meabh’s lips.

“You taste like nectar,” Meabh whispered as she began kissing her way along Joolz’s jawline and neck.

Joolz lay there, wallowing in these new and unexpected feelings. She could count the number of relationships she’d had on one hand and three of them were blokes. No one had ever eaten her out like that before. Meabh seemed to know exactly which buttons to press and Joolz could feel her start to press them again as Meabh kissed her way down her neck, over her collarbone and down over her boobs, tongue swirling around the nipple that was so hard it seemed to tremble.

Meabh blew her warm breath over the nipple, teasing it, not touching, waiting, watching Joolz squirm. When her soft warm mouth covered the nipple Joolz reacted with another back arch and a whimper escaped her mouth. She kissed, sucked, teased and nibbled Joolz’s tits for what seemed like forever and Joolz thought she would never tire of the sensations produced. At last, she broke contact and rolled over and lay in the middle of the bed.

“Are you going to just sit there and watch or are you going to return the favour?” she asked, eyes smiling as she bit her bottom lip.

Joolz scrambled onto all fours and slowly begin crawling across the bed towards her. Her head dipped and she ran my lips slowly up Meabh’s leg from her ankle to her knee, bending her head so she could maintain eye contact with her as her mouth slowly headed towards where she knew Meabh wanted her to go.

Joolz let her long dark hair brush against Meabh’s inner thighs as she spread the Queen’s legs wider, the scent of her was heavy in the air. The aroma filled Joolz’s nostrils as she ran her lips over her mound, tongue flicking at sodden lips, then up to her belly button. Joolz’s back arched as she pressed her stomach against Meabh, her mouth greedily suckling, alternating between nipples.

“Mmmmm yes that’s it,” Meabh encouraged as she sucked harder, letting her teeth graze the nipple. Meabh’s hand snaked its way through Joolz’s hair, massaging the scalp as Joolz buried her face in Meabh’s breasts.

Meabh tugged on Joolz’s hair, causing the girl to lift her head and Meabh pulled her closer, kissing her again before arching her neck and offering it to Joolz.

Joolz kissed her way along Meabh's neck, sucking, kissing, licking, then, as Meabh pressed on the back of her head, she sucked harder on Meabh’s neck, kissing and sucking until the vivid red bruise shone like a beacon.

Joolz blushed, embarrassed at what she’d done but with a press on the top of her head, Meabh signalled for Joolz to go lower. Joolz kissed her way down over her stomach to the most perfect pussy she had ever seen.

The triangle of soft downy red hair seemed to point to where Meabh wanted her to go. She lay there, silently watching Joolz and it was only when Joolz bent her head down and parted Meabh’s lips with her thumbs that she gave an audible sigh of satisfaction. Joolz began by running her tongue slowly along Meabh’s slit from the perineum up to her clit which was growing and peeking out of its hood.

As Joolz’s tongue circled her folds, she could hear Meabh’s moans of appreciation and was rewarded with a loud squeal of pleasure when she pushed a finger deep inside her glistening love hole.

Joolz moved her finger in and out of her as she lapped and flicked her cit with her tongue. Meabh’s hips squirmed as Joolz pleasured her. Meabh was vocal. A steady chorus of “yes, yes, oh fuck yes” accompanied her every move.

“Turn round,” Meabh ordered. “Get into a 69.”

Joolz didn’t hesitate to comply and shuffled around on the bed, crawling backwards until her feet were by Meabh’s head and she felt Meabh grasp her hips and drag her pussy down to her mouth. Joolz buried her face back in Meabh’s pussy, chin rubbing on her pubis as she moved her lips over her throbbing clit. Two fingers now plunging in and out of her slick wet hole.

Meabh pushed her tongue inside Joolz, flicking at her entrance as her hands moved over her ass. Massaging the two cheeks, spreading them wide then pushing them together. As Meabh gripped Joolz’s ass cheeks, her thumbs pulled her pussy lips wide open. Her tongue moved all over, slurping at the juices that were pouring out of Joolz. Meabh’s tongue seemed to be everywhere at once, on Joolz’s clit, then poking at her pussy entrance, then flicking at the folds of her lips, then back to her clit.

Joolz buried her face in Meabh’s pussy. She sucked on her clit and pushed two fingers into her. Joolz curled them around and pressed on her insides. She was rewarded with an increase in the volume of her moans as sheI dragged the still-curled fingers out of her before plunging them back in.

Joolz was wriggling her own hips with pleasure and excitement as she continued the assault on Meabh’s pussy. She ground down onto Meabh’s face, rubbing her clit over her mouth while all the while Meabh’s fingers ran up and down Joolz’s ass crack.

The sensations were building inside Joolz again. She had never orgasmed more than once when having sex, sometimes not even once. And now this woman was giving her a second orgasm within minutes of the first. Joolz let the sensations build and build, riding them for all she was worth.

Meabh was writhing too as Joolz fingerfucked her and sucked her clit. Her fingers were soaked and Meabh’s thighs and ass were glistening. Suddenly Meabh went rigid and gave a long loud howl into Joolz’s pussy. Her fingers dug deep into her ass and pulled her pussy down hard onto her face. This was too much for Joolz and she felt her insides explode for a second time as the orgasm crashed over her. She was trapped in a headlock as Meabh squeezed Joolz’s head between her thighs and Joolz bucked and writhed as she was held tight.

Joolz thought her orgasm was never going to stop. Wave after wave crashed over her until finally, Meabh dropped her head back onto the bed and the pressure on Joolz’s clit and pussy subsided, then slowly ebbed away. Meabh parted her legs, Joolz slowly slid her fingers out of her, rolled off her and lay on the bed beside her.

Joolz lay on her back, whimpering softly, letting her legs stop shaking and feeling the oxygen return to her lungs. A thousand questions ran through her mind as the fog of orgasm began to clear. She felt Meabh sit up and turn around so they lay face to face.

“Thank you,” Joolz whispered before Meabh leaned in and kissed her again. Joolz could taste herself on Meabh and knew Meabh would be able to taste herself on her. She could see her juices smeared over Meabh’s face. A sheen of slick pussy juices on her nose, cheeks and chin.

Joolz wrapped her arms around Meabh, just wanting to live in the moment. Thoughts of what she was and how she got here evaporated as she held her tight and drifted off to sleep.

Joolz woke up confused. The other side of the bed was empty. The sheets looked unruffled. The window was closed and the curtains were drawn. Joolz lay back on the bed. She ran her fingers down her body. She was naked. She didn’t usually sleep naked and when she touched her pussy, she couldn’t believe how wet she was. She lay, reminiscing about the bits of the dream she could remember until it was ten minutes after the latest time she should be up. With a groan, she crawled into the shower.

Friday morning’s English Literature class started with the students handing in their essays on Mercutio’s speech. She glanced up as Chloe O’Donnell slid her essay along the desk.

“I see you've been visited by Queen Mab, Miss.”

Chloe’s green eyes burned into her. The curls of red hair cascaded around her face. Joolz felt the colour drain from her face. The bruise on Chloe’s neck was still a vivid red.