Faerie Forest: Part Three

      "Now Tammy," the little faerie whispered calmly, "I already told you what to do. You need to cast a spell. The powers of us faeries may be weakened by Queen Ila, but you are a very powerful little Cybunny. Ila wants to use your powers for her evil purposes, but you can decide what you want to do for yourself. I know you'll make the right choice, Tammy."

      Tammy nodded her head in agreement. She knew that she had to help in any way that she could.

      Ora had told her that to cast the spell, she would need more than magical powers alone. She would need to find specific ingredients. Ora seemed to know everything that she would need. The first thing that she had to get was a yellow flower from the Earth Garden.

      That was simple enough. Tammy walked quickly through that gate that she stood in and into the large, beautiful garden. One of the first flowers she saw was yellow. She bent down and grabbed its stem, pulling it out of the ground.

      "Well that was easy enough," Tammy said, obviously quite pleased with herself. "What now?"

      "Very good," Ora said, "good job, Tammy. There are only three more things you need. The first is a cup of water from the pond of the future."

      "Alright," Tammy said. She turned to leave the garden, walking back into the forest.

      "Hey, Ora?" Tammy suddenly asked as she continued walking. "I was just wondering- why do spells work the way they do? Well, what I mean is why do you need specific ingredients for them? Each ingredient has to do something, and I've been a little curious about what exactly they do."

      "Well," Ora said, "it has to do with what you want the spell to do. The yellow flower from the Earth garden represents the forest. The pond is what's Ila's using our powers for, so the pond water represents the powers that the spell will give back to us. And here we are, now."

      As Ora said this, Tammy saw the pond of the future in front of her. It looked just as mystical and wonderful as it did when she first saw it. For a second, she forgot what she had come here for.

      "Get the water," Ora hissed. Tammy jumped, remembering suddenly what she needed to do. Her eyes darted around in search of something to put the water in. She didn't see anything that might be of use. She would just have to look harder.

      "Now what are you doing, Tammy," Queen Ila's voice asked from behind her. Tammy quickly turned around, startled. Ora jumped into the air and flew off before the queen got close enough to see that she had been there. Tammy breathed a sigh of relief. If Queen Ila had seen Ora, she would surely realize that Tammy planned to free the faeries.

      "I thought you were going to be in the Earth Garden," Queen Ila said to Tammy.

      "Oh, I was," the Cybunny said, staring at the ground. She paused for a moment to give herself enough time to find something to say.

      "But I was wondering where you were," she continued, "It felt I had been waiting for you to take me home for a long time, so I came looking for you."

      "Oh," Queen Ila said, her face slowly changing into a smile, "but you would like to stay a little longer, wouldn't you?"

      "Oh, yes, of course," Tammy said.

      "Good," Queen Ila said, obviously very happy to hear this, "but you haven't been talking to any of the faeries here, have you?"

      "I haven't," Tammy lied. "Why do you ask?"

      "Well," Queen Ila said, "I just don't think it's a good idea for you to talk with them. They don't always like visitors. Just don't listen to anything they say. But anyway, is there anything I can get for you?"

      "Yes," Tammy said, smiling. She had an idea. "I would like a glass of water. I'm rather thirsty."

      "Of course," Queen Ila said, smiling. She snapped her fingers twice, and a cup of clear water appeared in her hand. She then gave it to Tammy, who nodded her head in thanks.

      "I have some things to do, now," Queen Ila said, "Do whatever you like. I'll come to look for you in a little while." Then she left. As soon as she was out of sight, Ora flew quickly up to Tammy, hovering in the air in front of her face.

      "You aren't going to listen to what she said about us faeries, are you?" Ora asked.

      "Of course not," Tammy said. Then, holding up the glass of water, she added, "But I figured out a way to get the water from the pond." Ora smiled as Tammy tilted the glass to the side, pouring out every last drop of water. She then turned to the pond and leaned over, submerging the cup in the crystal clear water. When she lifted the glass again, it was filled to the very top with pond water.

      "Very good," Ora said, "That was very smart of you. Now, let's quickly get to the next ingredient. This one is simple- we need a leaf that has fallen from a tree in the forest. This ingredient represents the forest itself."

      "Here we are," Tammy said, picking a green leaf up off of the ground, "But I thought you said that the yellow flower represented the forest."

      "They both represent the forest," Ora said, crossing her arms as she continued to float in mid air, "The forest is a very important part of the spell. Now we have one more ingredient. This one will be very difficult to find, but I think you'll manage."

      "And what is it?" Tammy asked.

      "A piece of Ila's hair," Ora told her. Tammy's eyes widened.

      "How am I supposed to get that?" she asked. "And why do we need some of Queen Ila's hair? What can it possibly represent?"

      "Don't bother asking me," Ora said, "It doesn't matter to you. The important thing is for you to get it. I'm going to stay here and wait for you. It wouldn't be safe for me to follow you- Ila would see me for sure. Leave the other ingredients with me."

      "Alright," Tammy said, her voice shaking slightly. She turned around and walked off through the forest, placing the ingredients she had under a large tree. She didn't have the slightest idea of how she might get some of Queen Ila's hair without her noticing, but she would have to try. Perhaps she could sneak up from behind her. But she knew she wouldn't be able to keep quiet enough. She would have to try to trick her, but how would she do that?

      "Oh, there you are, Tammy," Queen Ila said, happily. Tammy had been thinking so hard that she hadn't even noticed the queen standing right in front of her. She had no more time to think.

      "Queen Ila, can you do me a favor," Tammy asked nervously.

      "Of course," Ila said, smiling, "What can I do for you?"

      "Well," Tammy said, still thinking of what to say. At that moment, she noticed a green comb sticking out of the pocket of Queen Ila's dress.

      "What a nice comb!" Tammy said, pointing at it. "Mind if I take a look? It just looks so beautiful. I've never seen another one like it before."

      "Of course you can take a look at it," Queen Ila said, surprisingly falling for Tammy's trick. She took the comb out of her pocket and handed it to Tammy.

      As soon as Tammy was holding the comb, she searched for any hair remaining from its last use. She saw none. But that was alright. She had one more idea left to try.

      "It's very nice," she said, quickly handing it back to Queen Ila. As she did, she purposely slipped the comb into the ends of the faerie's long hair, getting it stuck in her hair.

      "Oh, I'm so sorry," Tammy said, "How clumsy of me. Let me help you get that out." She grabbed the comb, attempting to separate it from Queen Ila's hair. As she did, she grabbed a small piece of Ila's hair, quickly pulling it out.

      "Ouch," Queen Ila said.

      "Oh, sorry," Tammy quickly said, trying to cover up for what she had done. "The comb's really stuck. Don't worry, though, I almost have it." She then gave one last tug on the comb, and it immediately broke free from Queen Ila's hair.

      "Here you are, very sorry about all that," Tammy said, almost too quickly to be understood as she placed the comb in Queen Ila's hands and ran off.

      ~*~

      "Do you have it?" Ora's voice asked as the tiny faerie flew up to Tammy, who nodded her head. Ora smiled.

      "I knew you could do it," she said. "Now you have all of the ingredients. Here's what you have to do. Mix the flower and the leaf into the water first. Then add Ila's hair."

      Tammy followed her instructions, picking up the other ingredients from below the tree that she had left them under. She carefully placed the flower and the leaf into the glass of pond water. Then, she dropped in Queen Ila's hair.

      "Excellent," Ora said, her smile widening, "Now close your eyes and concentrate. Think only about the ingredients that you have added, and clear your mind. Think about what you want to happen. Envision all of the faeries free, and Queen Ila so upset that she doesn't know what to do."

      Tammy closed her eyes and concentrated. At first, nothing happened.

      "Think harder," Ora commanded. Tammy kept thinking, trying hard to clear her mind. It was starting to work. She could feel something changing.

      Then, suddenly, she felt like something wasn't right. Something inside her was telling her to stop. She tried to fight away this feeling of fear, but it only got worse. She decided that she had to give in and stop this spell. She forced her eyes open, but it was too late.

      The faeries throughout the forest were growing, becoming at least the height of Queen Ila, or maybe even taller. As they rapidly increased in size, they changed color from green to a deep, threatening purple shade. Tammy blinked her eyes a few times, confused.

      She then noticed that Ora was still small. But in an instant she started to grow. Her skin changed to a pale purple color, and her hair and outfit started to change color, too.

      Tammy still had no idea what was going on, but when she saw the evil smile on Ora's face she knew it couldn't be good. She had to stop this spell quickly. She closed her eyes again, concentrating as hard as she could on reversing the spell. She thought only about all of the faeries shrinking down to their original sizes and losing their powers. After a moment, everything was silent.

      Tammy opened her eyes. All of the faeries were large and had an evil look to their faces. They had all changed color, all except for Ora, who was still changing. Also, the forest was starting to disappear. One by one the trees were vanishing into thin air. The plants and grass were slowly starting to turn brown.

      Then, everything stopped. The trees stopped disappearing, leaving the few that remained in their place. Ora's dress and hair stopped changing colors and remained how they were- part green and part purple.

      "Well," Ora said with an evil laugh, "You may have succeeded in stopping the spell, but it's still too late. We were trying to destroy this place, but at least we have our powers back. Come, my fellow darkness faeries. We'd better get to Faerieland quickly."

      The faeries smiled and nodded their heads. But just then, Tammy saw Queen Ila running into view. She hurried up to Ora, glaring at her.

      "Jhudora, what did you do?" she asked angrily. Jhudora, what a strange name that was. Tammy figured that it must be Ora's full name.

      "Don't blame me," Jhudora said laughing, "Tammy was the one who freed us."

      Ila turned to Tammy, looking panicked and confused at the same time.

      "She tricked me!" Tammy said, pointing at Jhudora.

      "Ila," Jhudora said, "It was foolish of you to take the job Fyora offered you as the guard of this place. You should have known we'd escape. And now, thanks to Tammy's spell, you don't have enough power to return to Faerieland ever again. You're lucky, actually. The spell was supposed to take all of your powers away, but Tammy stopped it too soon."

      "But this wasn't supposed to happen," Ila said. "Fyora took the darkness faeries' powers away when she banished them here. You weren't supposed to ever get out. You can't do this."

      "Oh, but I can," Jhudora said, allowing her large wings to carry her into the air. "Goodbye, Ila," she laughed, "and Tammy, I think some rest would do you good. I'll transport you to your village, now. And when you get there you won't remember any of this."

      Jhudora snapped her fingers, and Tammy vanished from the forest. Then, all of the darkness faeries flew away, cackling as they soared into the sky, preparing to cause all sorts of trouble for Faerieland and all of Neopia.

      ~*~

      Ila sat by the side of the future pond, staring into its clear waters. Behind her stood her Skeith assistant, looking over her shoulder into the pond.

      "Well, the pond was right about Tamika," Ila said, sighing. "It told me she would change this place forever. She did." The Skeith nodded his head.

      "Do you see anything, now?" he asked. Ila squinted, trying hard to concentrate.

      "Barely," she said, "Its powers are almost completely gone by now. But even though things are looking bad right now, it seems to be saying they could get better. We can still make a kingdom here, and you can still rule it, just like I promised. You can be the king- King Skarl."

      "King Skarl," the Skeith thought, "I like the sound of that. And what about you?"

      "Well," Ila said, "I suppose I could stay here, too. I'll make a little home for myself. It won't be the same as living in Faerieland, but I do like it here. Everyone can call me by my full name, my real one."

      "And what would that be?" the Skeith asked.

      "Illusen," Ila said. Her assistant nodded.

      "Well, Illusen," he said, "Welcome to Meridell. I think that's what I'll call this place. What do you think?"

      "I think it sounds lovely," Illusen said, "This may be the end of Faerie Forest, but that's alright. It's also the start of something new. I know that you can make this place into a wonderful kingdom. Let the age of Meridell begin."

The End