Jhudora's Journal: Part One

     I began running out of breath, and I broke through the water’s surface to gasp for air.

     “Hello, Dira! Back for another swim, I suppose?” the water faerie called cheerily. She was always so nice to me, even though I’m not sure swimming in the Healing Springs is exactly legal.

     I tucked a dripping strand of hair behind my ear and grinned, rubbing my eyes to wipe off any water. “Let’s just hope my wings don’t get sore like last time. Remember, I was lying in bed for a week?” I shuddered. Not being able to fly is absolutely horrid. Trust me.

     The water faerie shook her head and chuckled slightly. “Maybe,” she said, “you’ll be more careful this time.”

     “You know me. I’m never careful with anything.”

     “Of course not.” She smiled at me before turning to a wounded Neopet who had come for a potion.

     I leapt out of the water a little bit so I could use my wings without hurting them. Slowly, I rose out of the water and hovered above it. I was dripping wet. Maybe a simple wind spell would dry me off... I wondered. I closed my eyes and concentrated on shooting an air spell. Instead of a warm gust of wind that I had tried to summon, a large blue orb shot from my hands...

     ...and through Jhudora’s house.

     I winced at the sound of breaking glass. This was definitely not good. “Um... you know what? I think I’m going to Mystery Island and, um, stay there. Forever,” I declared nervously, even though no one could hear me. Not long after I said that, I heard a shout.

     “WHAT HAPPENED TO MY WINDOW?!” I easily recognized the voice to be Jhudora’s. And she did not sound happy at all. Emphasis on ‘not’.

     The dark faerie flew down to the Healing Springs and glared at the Neopets. “ALL RIGHT,” she roared, “WHO DID IT? DON’T BE SHY... SHOW YOUR DIRTY LITTLE SELF!” I gulped. She was clearly not in a good mood today.

     I meekly raised my trembling hand. “Uh... Jhudora? Er, it was me who did it.” I felt the color flush out of my face, making my dark hair stand out more than it usually did.

     Jhudora whirled around to face me, giving me a cold, hostile stare. “You!” She pointed a long green fingernail at me as she flew up to my level. “Wait until Fyora hears about this!”

     “I – I promise to pay the damage!” I sputtered, shaking violently. I don’t want to be blasted to smithereens, I thought nervously.

     Jhudora didn’t care. “I should have known it was you,” she said, poison leaking through her words. “After all, you don’t seem to be an ordinary faerie. What kind of dark faerie are you, with those wings and green eyes, anyway? Were you an experiment at the Rainbow Fountain?”

     I clenched my fists, even though that’s what I always thought too. “Hey, watch it,” I growled menacingly, not noticing she called me a dark faerie. “What kind of a dark faerie are you, with green streaks in her hair? Did you have a mishap at the Grooming Parlour?” I widened my eyes in amazement at my audacity; no one speaks to Jhudora like that. Without suffering the consequences, at least; and I was no exception.

     “Ah, so you’re a feisty one, aren’t you? Well, I can easily fix that with a spell...” She whipped out her wand from her sleeve and pointed it at me. The green tip glowed dangerously, like it would blast any second. Jhudora’s purple eyes were filled with obvious rage. Her mouth turned upward into a wicked smile; she gripped her wand tighter. “That was the last window of mine you’ll ever break.”

     I bent down slowly to get my wand so she wouldn’t be too suspicious, but she caught on quickly. With a flick of her wand, a beam of green and purple light flashed in front of me; it hit my left wing right in the center, sending me spiraling rapidly to the ground.

     With a small yelp, I narrowly missed diving in the Healing Springs and instead landed on a small red Kacheek, who was walking away from the water faerie with full health.

     “ACK!” we yelled in unison.

     I quickly stood and helped him up. “Heh heh. So sorry,” I apologized briefly. OH that’s it, she’s gone way too far this time, I thought angrily. I reached into my right black boot and pulled out my wand. Before I could turn around, though, I heard Jhudora’s voice as she landed behind me.

     “Well, well, well. It looks like you survived that after all. I can change that quickly. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt... a lot.” A malicious smile appeared on her face once more. Her wand glowed again, this time stronger than before. She raised her hand...

     ...and cried out in pain as a bolt of blue hit her arm.

     My own wand was lighting up like a flashlight, like it always does after I launch a spell. I stared in disbelief at my trembling hand. No no no no. I did not do that. I didn’t, I didn’t, I didn’t. But it was too late. Jhudora was already recovered, fuming angrily at her scorched purple sleeve as she stood up.

     “YOU LITTLE...” she began, but paused. She glared at me. “Wait until I get Queen Fyora to hear about this!”

     I shook my head wildly, my wet hair flinging water everywhere. “No, Jhudora, please, I didn’t mean--”

     Before I could finish my plead, all I remember was Jhudora yelling out in frustration and aiming another spell at me before I slipped into darkness and onto the red Kacheek again.

      ~*~*~*~

     “I’m glad that Water Faerie allowed me to heal her free of charge; otherwise this might be a lot more difficult than I’m afraid it might already be,” a grim voice said to herself. My eyes slowly fluttered open to reveal a stone room. I looked around groggily; I realized I was on a hard bench, instead of a door there were iron bars, and there wasn’t a single window in sight. It was a prison.

     Wearily, I tried to get up from my so-called bed and yelped with surprise as I fell off onto the floor. I was wide awake now; how can you not be after you just slammed your head on hard, cold stone? Grimacing and rubbing my forehead, I staggered to my feet to see none other than the Faerie Queen herself. She smiled tiredly, like she too had just woken up.

     “Hello, Dira,” she greeted. “Sorry for the inconvenience, but I understand you and Jhudora had a bit of a... problem?”

     I began to nod when I suddenly realized she knew my name. “Have you met me before? How--how do you know me?”

     “I’m a queen, and have been for a long time. I know practically everyone in Faerieland, and you... well, you’re impossible to ignore with all the things you’ve gotten into,” she laughed, her purple eyes lighting up mischievously. “Anyway, if you wouldn’t mind, follow me to the council room, and we’ll try to sort this whole mess out.”

     Truly, I minded quite a lot, but I didn’t have a choice but to walk behind her as we wandered through the many long halls covered in light purple tiles that reflected the light of the crystal chandeliers hanging above our heads. She sighed.

     “Your Majesty, is there something wrong?”

     Fyora shook her head, her pinkish-purplish hair swaying back and forth a little bit. “No, it’s just that I’m just worried about Jhudora these days. She seems much more irritable than ever.”

     OH YES, I should know that, I thought; but instead of saying that aloud, I just nodded and continued walking.

     Finally, after five minutes of walking through the endless halls, we arrived at a large, pearly door. Fyora reached into a small, almost invisible pocket in her skirt and revealed a glistening pink key. Gingerly, she inserted it into a lock in the door and turned it clockwise until it made a soft Click! sound. She smiled and pushed the door open with both hands. The large room contained a huge skylight, thirteen golden chairs, and white tiles. The light pink walls held white candles, which I guessed was for when it was nighttime. Eleven chairs were occupied by, predictably, faeries of all sorts; but the only dark faerie in the room was Jhudora. She was already scowling when Fyora opened the door, but she wrinkled her nose in disgust and her face turned scarlet when she saw me.

     Fyora stepped inside and turned around to face me. “Your seat will be over there by--”

     “Um, Your Majesty, can Dira sit here with me? Super mega pretty please?!” a familiar voice asked excitedly. I turned my head to see my best friend, Terri the light faerie. Her blond hair was pulled back into a bouncy ponytail, and I could see that she was wearing her favorite outfit, the yellow spaghetti-strap sundress complete with a black belt and slippers. Her gold-colored eyes were lit up with happiness and surprise to see me.

     The Faerie Queen smiled tolerantly, but sweetly. “Of course,” she replied briefly.

     “Yay!” She clapped her slender hands excitedly and flashed her shiny white teeth in a grin, like she always does when she’s done something that makes her all giddy and gleeful.

     Jhudora let out a small groan upon seeing the light faerie; after all, dark and light faerie don’t get along too well, and Jhudora is no exception.

     I took the empty seat by my friend and smiled at her. “This will be interesting,” I whispered before Fyora closed the door with a BANG! and began talking from her large, pink seat at the front of the room.

     The queen cleared her throat. “Sorry for the meeting on such short notice,” she announced, “but I wouldn’t be doing my job right if I let this problem slip from my attention; therefore, I have summoned you all here. Now, if I am correct, Jhudora the dark faerie and Dira the air faerie have had a bit of a problem. In order to sort this out, I will need Jhudora to tell her side of the story before we continue.” She looked at the dark faerie briefly, who was too bored to tell Fyora that I was a dark faerie.

     Jhudora rolled her dark purple eyes and slowly got up from her chair to walk to the center of the room. “Ok, so where do I start? I was giving out quests to some pitiful little Neopets when, randomly, a blue orb of magic came bursting through my window. Glass shattered everywhere. I mean, do you have ANY idea how many neopoints stained glass costs? Anyway, I stormed out to see who did it, and it was this little pest.” She paused to glare at me. “I started to yell at her the slightest bit, and she freaked out and started hurling spells at me like a psycho maniac!” I opened my mouth to oppose, but a soft nudge from Terri made me reconsider. “In self defense, I cast a spell at her, and she tore my dress! This is one hundred percent cotton, people; it isn’t cheap! Anyway, where was I? Then she took her anger out on a red Kacheek and tackled him into the Healing Springs. In an effort to save the pathetic little fellow, I cast a sleeping spell on her and here we are. Can I go home now?”

     Fyora, who had patiently listened the whole time, shook her head. “Interesting, Jhudora. Now please take a seat. Dira, it is your turn to tell us what happened.”

     I stood up nervously and strode to the center of the room where Jhudora stood, even though she was now sitting in her chair grumbling about how she hated council meetings. I cleared my throat and began. “I had been swimming in the Healing Springs, so my hair was wet and so were my clothes. Trying to dry myself off, I failed in summoning a wind spell and instead shot a magic orb straight through Jhudora’s window. She was furious and threatened to shoot me with a spell, so I reached for my wand that I hid in my boot. Suddenly, she cast a spell that hit my wing, and I plummeted to the ground on top of a red Kacheek. I got up, and there she was, about to hit me with another spell. Frantically, I pulled out my wand and hit her arm with the same spell that ruined her window. It scorched her sleeve a little bit, but not much. Of course, that made Jhudora mad and she hit me with a tranquilizer spell. That’s the truth.” My voice rose a little bit as I said that word to emphasize it.

     Fyora’s eyebrows were raised ever since the beginning. “The truth, you say. Well, we shall see about that. Jhudora, Dira, you are dismissed until you are called upon again.”

     “Finally!” Jhudora mumbled, walking out of the room. I followed her, keeping my distance in case she decided to blast me, even though all she ended up doing was shutting the door right in my face.

     When I finally made it out of the castle, a feat that took me at least ten minutes, I fluttered off as fast as I could, to get away from Jhudora, from the pink halls, from everything. I needed something to eat to get my mind off things, so I stopped by the Faerie Foods shop.

     As soon as I stepped inside, the shop owner greeted me with a grin and a tip of the hat. “Looks like my regular is here,” she laughed. She called me a regular because, well, I stop by there every day. Sure, it may take a bite out of my budget, but hey, it’s worth it. I smiled. “Hello, Dira. Can I help you? Wait, I think I know what you want... let’s see; you seem to be troubled, so you probably want a snack... something sweet...” She tapped her chin for a moment before snapping her fingers. “Aha! How about some Chocolate Faerie Mallows?”

     I laughed. “That sounds fine. Seriously, how you got to know me so well is a mystery,” I said as she handed me a bag full of the sweets. Before she pulled her hand away, I dropped in a handful of neopoints. With that taken care of, I skipped out of the shop and examined the bag. “Hmm... it says ‘Strawberry filled marshmallows dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with a little faerie dust!’ Well, let’s see how good it tastes.” I popped one into my mouth; and let me tell you, eating one of those is like going to a marshmallow filled heaven. And trust me, that’s good. Very good.

     The bag was empty in a matter of seconds, to my sorrow. Still chewing the last Chocolate Faerie Mallow I stuffed in my mouth, I walked to a pink trash can outside one of the shops. As soon as I slam-dunked it in...

     “YOU HAVE BEEN SUMMONED TO FAERIELAND!” A red Kacheek head popped out of the garbage can.

     I jumped back. “SWEET FYORA!” I shrieked. Without thinking too much, I swung my foot and kicked the can as hard as I could. It rattled violently.

     “HEY HEY HEY! CUT THAT OUT!” He glared. “What did I do to you?”

     I gaped at him in disbelief. “You... you popped out of a trash can, for crying out loud! And you’re asking what you did to me?!”

     The Kacheek crossed his arms. “Bah, whatever. Anyway, Queen Fyora wants you. So it’d be best if you flew on over there instead of scaring the living daylights out of me!”

     “You do realize I’m already in Faerieland, right?”

     “It’s not my fault that’s Fyora’s signature line. You’re needed at the castle, ok? Geez,” he said as he walked away, “you’d think someone like that would give me a break!”

     I stared at him as he went, tapping my chin. He looks sort of familiar... I thought. Oh well, no time to think about that. I have to get to Fyora’s castle. With that, I lifted off the ground and sped (well, flew) away to the looming pink palace ahead of me.

     Terri was waiting patiently for me at the entrance. “I was wondering where you were!” she exclaimed, beckoning for me to follow her. “We’re needed at the council room again.”

     I sighed. I stayed right on my friend’s heels as she walked in the many halls. Five minutes passed, and I didn’t see the large white door that led to the council room. “Um, Terri?” I poked her shoulder. “I... I think we’re lost.”

     “But we can’t be!” she protested. “I’ve been through this place, like, three times!”

     I crossed my arms. “Well, I don’t see the council room door anywhere!”

     “Fine, then, I’ll admit we’re lost, but that doesn’t change the fact that I have no idea where it is,” she retorted, placing her hands on her hips. “There are so many halls to explore! It’s hard not to-” Suddenly, her eyes lit up mischievously.

     I knew what she was going to suggest. “Terri, we are not going to explore Fyora’s castle.”

     “Oh, come on,” she pleaded, “we’re bound to find the hall if we do! Besides, aren’t you the adventurous one of the both of us?”

     I sighed; she had a point. “Fine, but only for a little while. I need to make sure Jhudora isn’t going to sue me or anything.”

     She clapped her hands again. “Great. Follow me!” She marched down the hall with me in tow.

     We took a right turn, then another right, and a left, and, well, so many turns I can’t even tell you all of them. Finally, we arrived at a huge door, but this one was light periwinkle. The knobs were adorned in shining pink pearls. Terri looked at me.

     “I know you’re as curious as I am,” she said. “We both want to know what’s in there...”

     “Terri, no...”

     “...so why don’t we open the door and go inside?” The light faerie grinned slyly. She knew she had me right then and there. Before I could open my mouth to protest, she gave the door a small shove and walked into the room with me in pursuit.

To be continued...