Fair Faerie Academy: Alumina the Light Faerie - Part Three

When I woke up, I was very discombobulated. I didn't know where I was. I could hear shuffling around me and the lights were dimmed. Then everything from that night came rushing back. I got up too quickly and got a head rush, but I didn't care; I needed to help Rose.

     "Whoa, girl, you should rest. You took a pretty big hit on the noggin," someone said from behind me. I didn't recognize the voice and I didn't care. I needed to get to Rose.

     "I don't care if I got hit by a meteor, I need to leave. Why am I even here and where am I?" I demanded. I turned around to see who it was I was talking to. I froze. I was talking to none other than the drummer from the Milkyways, Nathan. Act cool, I told myself.

     "Well, my band and I were outside taking a breather before we went on stage for this gig when we heard some faerie in hysterics. At first we didn't know what she was talking about, but then we saw you lying on the ground. Long story short, I carried you here. By the way, did you know that you snore?" he explained, giving me a crooked smile at the last part.

     "I do not! Do know you make a funny face every time you do a drum solo?"

     I could tell he was going to say something back, but just then a distraught Claire came barging in.

     "Oh my goodness, Alumina, you're awake! What happened back there? Who was that guy? And what happened to Rose?" she asked. I could tell that she had so many more questions, but she might as well have asked me what the square root of pi was. Right then and there I felt horrible for getting her into all this mess. I was drowning in guilt.

     "I'm so sorry, Claire. It's all my fault. I didn't want any of this to happen and now Rose is gone!" I buried my face into my hands. I just wanted to sit in the corner of the room and cry. I wanted to be alone.

     "It's going to be alright. Tell us what's going on," Nathan said, putting a hand on my shoulder reassuringly. I looked up from my hands and saw both of their faces. I saw no anger, just concern. This made me feel even worse. I took a deep breath and told them everything. When I was done, they were both silent, digesting it all.

     "Do you hate me now, Claire?" I asked her.

     "No, I don't hate. It sounds like you did your best to protect me. Besides, you helped me win the pageant and if it wasn't for you, that big guy would have kidnapped me. So really I should be thanking you. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much, Alumina."

     "Thanks, but what am I supposed to do now? That kidnapper has Rose." I felt deflated. I might as well have been a Grey Faerie.

     "Well, you said you had some tracking powder on her, so why don't we just go and get her?" asked Nathan.

     "Too dangerous," I said, shaking my head.

     "No, I think Nathan is right. We need to do something. I know if that big Grundo had taken me, you and Rose would have come and saved me," Claire said.

     I looked at both of their determined faces and knew what I had to do.

     An hour and a half later...

      It didn't take long for us to find the warehouse where Rose was being kept. The plan was for Nathan and Claire to distract the guards by acting like they were lost while I would slip unseen by the guard. Then I would take a mutant Grundo transmogrification potion. Transmogrifications do change faeries, but the effect doesn't last long. The most I can hope for is half an hour. I have to thank Ms. Defrain for teaching me that, if I get out of here that is. After I took the potion, I would go and find Rose and get her out of here. Then I would meet Claire and Nathan at this café not that far from here.

    ***

     It was time to initiate the plan. We all looked at each other before starting.

     "For Rose," we all whispered. All three of us headed towards the warehouse. When they were about to knock, I hid in the shadows. It was already pretty dark, but I was still a Light Faerie. I could already hear someone coming. I froze for a second when the door opened and I saw a mutant Grundo, but I realized it wasn't the one from earlier today, because he would have recognized Claire right away. I slipped into the warehouse and left Nathan and Claire to deal with the Grundo. The warehouse was much bigger than I expected. I took the transmogrification potion out and drank it all down in one big gulp. It was disgusting and it made me feel a little dizzy. I started noticing the potion take effect pretty quickly. My skin started turning green and I was getting taller. It didn't take long till I was fully transformed. I was about to go find Rose when a cold voice called me. Well, not exactly me, but there wasn't anyone else near me. I turned around to see none other than Dr. Sloth! My jaw dropped. All I could do was stare at him, frozen in place.

     "Don't just stand there looking useless. There is a lot of work to do if my advertisement is going to show Neopia wide tomorrow. Let's go!" he said, turning around and heading towards this door I hadn't noticed before. It had a big gold star on it with a name crossed off and Dr. Sloth's name now on it. I couldn't do anything put follow him in. The room looked like it could belong on a set of a neovision show. The set was designed to look like a neohome in Faerieland. There was even a window in it with a fake view. I was so confused. What would Dr. Sloth want to advertise and what did this have to do with all the missing faeries?

     "Bring me my megaphone and director's hat," he ordered me, sitting on his director's chair. I looked around the room, trying to spot the items he told me to get him, but I couldn't spot them. "They're on the table right next to you," he said, rolling his eyes, exasperated. I gave him the megaphone and hat, knowing I wasn't doing such a great job acting like one of his minions.

     "Bring in the faeries!" he yelled into the megaphone.

     Five faeries came in through the door of the fake neohome. They all didn't look very happy. All of them looked really sad except for this Earth Faerie that looked really defiant. My jaw almost dropped again when I saw who it was. It was Rose, but she looked so different. Her hair wasn't in her usual ballerina style bun. Instead her long wavy hair cascaded down her back. She was also wearing a beautiful, green knee-length party dress. She was also wearing makeup. All of this was pretty surprising, but what I noticed next was pretty startling. I knew another faerie there, Amber. I had to do a double take to make sure it was her, but I would know her anywhere. So that was the real reason she didn't come back to school.

     "Get in place and remember all your lines this time!" he shouted, interrupting all my thoughts. "Action!"

     Right when he said action, all the faeries stopped looking sad and looked like they were having the time of their life. They were giggling and looked like they all had been friends for a long time. I couldn't help but admire their acting skills.

     "Wow, Rose, I love your hair. How do you get it to be so shiny and smooth?" this Air Faerie asked Rose.

     "Haven't you heard of Dr. Sloth's new line of shampoo? They come in watermelon, coconut and lavender. My favorite would have to be lavender," Rose said, all happy and smiley.

     "Does it help with frizzy hair like mine? I always have to put so many different products in my hair," Amber asked, making a face when she said the word products.

     "Totally, it makes frizzy hair silky smooth. Plus think of all the money you're going to save not having to buy all those products!" exclaimed Rose.

     "Like clothes!" this Snow faerie exclaimed. They all laughed and then the faerie who hadn't talked yet, a Dark faerie, got up from where she was sitting.

     "Where are you going, Lydia?" asked Amber.

     "I'm going to get myself some shampoo before it all runs out," she answered.

     "I'll go with you," they all said at the same time. They all laughed and started heading out the door.

     "Cut!" Dr. Sloth yelled into his megaphone. "That was good, but it can be better and can someone please fix that Fire Faerie's makeup?"

     I already knew that that someone was me. I grabbed the makeup bag on the table and ran towards Amber. All the faeries looked sad again. I tried to smile at them but I think I just scared them. I grabbed some powder out of the makeup bag and started dabbing it on Amber's face. "Amber, I need to talk to you," I said urgently.

     "I have nothing to talk to you about," she said coldly.

     "Amber, it's me, Alumina from Fair Faerie Academy," I tried to explain. Her eyes widened. "I took this potion and I don't know how long I have before I turn back into a Light Faerie. I came here to help you all escape. I'm going to turn off the lights and leave the door open. I think I still glow in the dark so just follow the glow. When all of you are out, I'll lock the door before anybody else can get out. Then we get as far away from here as we can. Can you tell all the other faeries that? " I asked.

     "I will, but I have to tell you something. Dr. Sloth's shampoo isn't just any ordinary shampoo. It brainwashes you! It's going to be in every store in Neopia tomorrow," she explained to me.

     "Don't worry, after we get out of here, we'll go inform the media and the Defenders," I assured her. So this is why he took faeries and wanted to make an advertisement about shampoo. He wanted to brainwash Neopia!

     "Are you almost done?" Dr. Sloth asked impatiently. I nodded at him and put the powder back in the makeup bag. Before I went back near the table, I gave Amber a meaningful look. The faeries were in the middle of their fifth take before I turned the lights off. Sure enough, I was glowing. I just hoped that Amber got a chance to tell all the faeries. I opened the door and waited for them come. I could hear a lot of commotion. I thought I heard Dr. Sloth fall off his director's chair. Just then I saw some movement in the darkness near me. It was Amber and all the faeries! As soon as we all got out of the room, I locked the door.

     "Let's get out of here," said the Air Faerie.

     We all ran all the way to the warehouse's exit. Then we all saw something by the exit that made us all stop in our tracks. It was the mutant Grundo who unknowingly let me in, but something was wrong. He wasn't really moving. I took a hesitant step toward him and looked really hard at him. I couldn't believe it; he was sleeping. I guess it was my lucky day. I beckoned the rest to follow me. One by one, we stepped over him until all of us were standing outside the warehouse feeling the fresh night air on our skin.

     "Where do we go now?" asked the Snow Faerie.

     "There's this café not far from here where my friends are waiting for us. We'll work out everything there," I explained. They just all stared at me, wide eyed.

     "What, what's wrong?" I asked. The Dark Faerie just pointed at me. I looked down at myself just in time to see myself getting smaller and my skin turning back to normal. With all the other stuff that happened, I'd almost forgotten I took the transmogrification potion.

     "Oh my gosh! Alumina, it was you! Amber told me it was one of her friends come to help but I didn't know you knew her," Rose said, throwing her arms around and giving me a huge hug.

     I laughed. "What did you expect me to do? I didn't want you to throw your education away to become a neovision star! By the way, I like your new look."

     "You know I was going to say the same thing about you, and don't worry, I'm not going to be a neovision star anytime soon," she said.

     "I think we should leave now," the Dark Faerie said anxiously. I nodded and all six of us flew off towards the café and away from Dr. Sloth and his now ruined plan.

     One month later...

      The first week after news broke out about Dr. Sloth's brainwashing shampoo, it was chaos. Of course, his shampoo was taken off shop shelves before anybody could buy it. Somehow he escaped before the Defenders could get him. Everybody wanted to interview the faeries who stopped Dr. Sloth's plan. Who knew the media could get so crazy? More than once I found myself hiding from crazy Milkyway fans, since they found out that Nathan helped and I knew him. Nathan and I still talk through neomail but I could never tell anyone that or the fans would just bother me more. The chaos has gone down a bit, though, but I still get pointed at when I walk through the halls. I try to ignore it. Amber came back to the Academy and now I have a roommate again. Rose, Claire, Amber and I have all become really close. Of course, if anybody went through all of what we went through, you couldn't help but get close. There is a certain bond that you get when you save Neopia from brainwashing shampoo.

     "Alumina, come on! Stop daydreaming," Rose said, interrupting my thoughts. "Claire's party is in half an hour!"

     "I'm going, I'm going," I said, laughing. All was good.

The End