Jhudora's Journal: Part Two

     “Are you KIDDING me?” I exclaimed. “This is beautiful! Look at all the books!” I flew over to the nearest bookshelf and ran my finger along the spines. It seemed that this section was full of mystery books. My eyes grew wide in delight at one particular title. “Ooh, Mystery of the Kougra Paw! I love this one!” I excitedly pulled the book out of the shelf and began to walk towards the maroon arm chairs in the center of the room.

     Terri grabbed my wrist and pulled me to a space behind the bookshelf, making me drop the mystery novel. “Be quiet! I hear something!” she hissed. I would have told her that she wasn’t being quiet either, but something in her glare made me shut my trap.

     Indeed, footsteps echoed off the white marble walls. “... pesky dark faerie... won’t know what hit her... ” a familiar voice snarled. Jhudora, who thought I was a dark faerie because of my appearance. Wow, was she wrong.

     Anyway, I gulped and felt the color flush out of my face. I parted some of the books so I could see what she was doing. She was grasping a purple book that glowed pink and had a sturdy lock on it. Jhudora jumped into the arm chair and looked around to make sure no one was there, even though it wasn’t necessary. Quietly, she pulled out her wand and waved it over the lock. It turned to ash, to my absolute horror. If Jhudora caught me spying on her, I could share the lock’s fate. And that would not be good for my health.

     She blew away the ash with a small puff of breath and turned to the first section of the book. She looked at it in disgust and flipped the page, but she wasn’t fast enough; I had seen the title.

     “Dangerous Spells...by Fyora,” I whispered, trembling. What is she planning to do?

     Meanwhile, Jhudora kept reading the book, page after page, until she finally was satisfied with a spell she was looking at. Her green lips curled up in a smile. “Hmm,” she mumbled absentmindedly, “it says that this one... ooh, wings are defected... perfect opportunity for me to tie her up... powerless... It seems perfect.” I didn’t hear all of what she said, but my friend had already come up with a conclusion.

     Terri looked at me in shock. “She isn’t going to make this easy for us, is she?” she said, hardly audible. I shrugged casually, but my hands were trembling violently.

     Jhudora had closed the book and waved her wand over it once more. Another lock appeared, this time green. “Well then, getting back at that puny Faerie Queen is the only way to get back at that annoying what’s-her-face,” she smirked. Then she paused. “What is her name again?... ” she asked herself.

     With that, she stored the book underneath the chair cushion and skipped out merrily, quietly shutting the door behind her; enveloping us in darkness.

     “I think it’s safe,” I whispered, “but can you light up the place?”

     Terri conjured a ball of yellow light and walked out from behind the bookshelf. “Did you see her?” she asked, shaking her head furiously, “Look how happy she is... it’s disgusting!” She strode to the chair and pulled the spell book out from under the cushion. Revealing her wand from a pocket in her sundress, she said, “I can’t believe how glad she can be.”

     “She does look quite satisfied,” I chimed in, “but that will soon change. She is definitely not going to get away with this.”

     Terri turned to me, her ponytail swinging around. “Great, but we need to stop being brave and make a plan. Now if I can just... get... this... dumb book... open!” She wrestled with the book, pounding heavily on the lock. She yelled out in disappointment, and someone cautiously opened the door a crack.

     “Is someone in there?” Fyora’s voice demanded. Terri extinguished her light and threw the book across the room in frustration before dashing behind the book shelf again. I followed, thinking, First Jhudora, then Fyora? How creepy can this get?

     The Faerie Queen proceeded into the room, and I realized she was carrying her staff. “Whoever you are, show your--what is this?” She stopped to stare in curiosity at the glowing green book on the floor. Terri gritted her teeth.

     “Darn it,” she mouthed. If we were alone, without Fyora, she would have yelled “GAH!”, but she knew she couldn’t do that without getting caught.

     Fyora walked gracefully across the room to the book and stooped down to pick it up. The orb on the staff lit up, allowing the faerie to see the title: Dangerous Spells. She frowned. “Why would this be lying out in the open?” she mumbled to herself angrily. “And WHY IS IT GLOWING A COLOR OTHER THAN PURPLE?!” Fyora tilted her staff to the lock, trying desperately to open it with its magic. It had no effect. She glared at the book. “This must be under some sort of enchantment... I need to find out what happened, but only after the meeting,” she growled. She tucked the book under her arm and strode out of the room.

     Terri slapped her forehead in realization. “The meeting! We have to get there before she figures out we were in here!”

     I groaned. “Actually, I’m having second thoughts. Can we just stay here so I can read?”

     “Dira, you know we can’t!”

     “Aw, come on. It’s not like Jhudora will miss me or anything... ”

     “Dira!”

     “Fine,” I moaned hesitantly. She grabbed my wrist and pulled me out from behind the bookcase, past the comfortable looking arm chairs, and out of the room.

     We arrived at the hall by instinct, I suppose; Terri seems like a GPS when she’s in a rush. We stumbled into the room, yelling and tripping, Fyora gazing at us like we belonged in straightjackets.

     “Er, hello ladies,” she greeted with shifting purple eyes, “I am glad you can make it. Please take a seat and I will tell you what we have discussed during your absence.”

     Terri smiled and nodded at the Faerie Queen as she sat down in an empty chair, but a fire faerie was on her right and earth faerie on the left. There was no room left for me, so I glanced at Fyora.

     “Dira, there’s a seat over there by Jhudora,” she said dryly.

     My eyes widened and I felt my cheeks flush. “Is that really a good idea, Your Majesty?... ”

     She chuckled slightly. “Don’t worry,” she said. Then, leaning forward and lowering her voice to a whisper, she added, “It’s perfectly safe, I assure you.”

     I sighed. Yeah, sure, whatever you say goes, I thought nervously as I walked cautiously to the chair beside Jhudora. Fyora began to speak right as I sat down hesitantly.

     She cleared her throat. “Well, as you recall, we had a meeting earlier to hear each side of the story.” She paused, looking around the room. Then she turned her head to the dark faerie. “Jhudora, you seemed to exaggerate a bit of the details, and Dira--” she glanced at me, “You really should stop being so careless to avoid situations like this.”

     I felt the color drain from my face. “I’m not careless!” I protested. “It’s just that no one ever bothered to teach me how to use my magic properly!”

     “So,” Jhudora smirked, “technically you’re saying that you’re careless?”

     I folded my arms across my chest. “Hey, I was going to say that things just get out of hand. Those are entirely different things.”

     “Oh really? You would think that with all the books you’ve read, you would actually be a lot smarter.”

     “And you are? There’s some exciting news.”

     “At least I don’t go around breaking Faerieland’s rules.”

     “At least I’m actually doing something, instead of sitting on a chair and demanding for things that you could easily get yourself, but NO... you’re too lazy.”

     “You little... ”

     “Silence,” Fyora commanded sternly. “I will have none of that in this room. We must continue with affairs that actually matter instead of sitting around, bickering like Lupes and Chias.” She stared hard at us before proceeding. “Anyway, as I was saying, we have decided that both of you truly did nothing horribly wrong; after all, you were just being yourselves. So I have chosen not to punish you... ”

     Jhudora and I sighed in relief.

     “... but you two must participate in the ‘Clean Up Faerieland’ event for three days,” the Faerie Queen finished.

     “WHAT?!” Jhudora shrieked in horror, “COMMUNITY SERVICE?! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!” Her face turned red.

     Fyora tightened her grip on her staff. “Jhudora, please... ”

     She didn’t listen. “IT’S PUNISHMENT! IT’S ABSURD! IT’S HORRIBLE! IT’S... IT’S... GAH!”

     “Enough!” Fyora’s purple eyes glared at her. “If you continue this behavior, then I will stretch three days to a week. Now, I have other things to do and can’t participate, so both of you will take my place.”

     I smiled at Terri from across the room, and she beamed happily back. We had been planning to do the ‘Clean Up Faerieland’ thing for weeks!

     “I’ll sign you up as soon as possible. Is there anyone else that would like to participate?”

     Terri’s hand shot up faster than the speed of light; the earth faerie and the fire faerie volunteered also, though not as excitedly. Still, all three of them had proud grins on their faces.

     Fyora nodded her head. “Good. I’ll add your names to the list, too,” she said cheerfully, “and if any of you would like to help Dira and Jhudora, then it’s perfectly acceptable.”

     The dark faerie groaned and rolled her eyes. “Seriously? I have much better things to do than to go around picking up people’s trash, you know. I have quests to give out,” she growled.

     Fyora smiled victoriously. “Well, those quests will have to wait.”

     “But... I need some stuff!”

     “Well, make a list and I’ll get another faerie to give out the quests,” the queen suggested, crossing her legs.

     An awkward silence followed; this gave me enough time to examine the earth faerie and the fire faerie seated by Terri. The earth faerie had long, braided brown hair and wore a green strapless dress, just like a whole bunch of other earth faeries I had seen earlier. Flowers were woven into her braid and she had on delicate, grass-colored slippers. The fire faerie had burnt orange, curly locks and a bright red one-sleeve dress. On her thin wrist was a gold bracelet and she had a gold headband to keep her hair in place. In short, they both looked more presentable than I did. My dark blue waves were uncombed and most likely tangled; I was wearing my usual mint-coloured (Green looks best on me) sundress. Nothing fancy; and, really, I think an air faerie like me would be more odd-looking than attractive. So there’s my point.

     A tall light faerie sitting by Fyora coughed, snapping her back to attention. She smiled at Jhudora and me. “Well, everyone is dismissed. Your community service will begin tomorrow at noon, and you’ll stay there for at least an hour,” she said.

     All the faeries cleared out of the room, talking to their friends or just walking quietly. Terri maneuvered over to me. “Well, this isn’t going to be so bad,” she declared. “We were going to do it anyway. I’ll ‘help’ you, even though we’re going together.”

     “Yup, you better, or I’m going to send an army of Meepits to track you down.”

     She laughed. “You’re such a weirdo, Dira.”

     I smiled. “And I’m proud of it. Anyway, see you at the library tonight?”

     “Sure. Well, I guess I’d better get going, since I have some errands to run. Bye for now!” She left my side and hurried off.

     I scanned the crowd. I saw a water faerie (was she floating?!), two earth faeries, two air faeries including myself, three fire faeries, and the tall light faerie that Fyora had sat by. That made nine of the thirteen faeries; then if you counted Terri and the Faerie Queen, twelve.

     Wait... where’s Jhudora? I looked around. She wasn’t there, amidst the crowd of faeries. Then I saw something dark purple in the corner of my eye; it was headed in the direction of the hall Terri and I had explored. I stopped in my tracks. What was Jhudora doing?

     Someone tapped my shoulder. “Sorry, but can I get through really quick?” a soft voice asked. I turned around. It was the earth faerie I had seen before.

     “Oh, sorry,” I muttered, stepping to the side.

     She smiled. “Hey, you’re... Dira, right?”

     “In fact, I am. And you are?”

     “I’m Lilac.” She tucked a stray strand of hair from her braid behind her ear. “Nice job you did with Jhudora’s window, by the way. She seemed pretty mad,” she said jokingly.

     “It’s in my blood to be clumsy,” I responded, grinning. “So, you’re going to the ‘Clean Up Faerieland’ thing, too?”

     “Yeah, but I guess I just get super irritated when I see trash lying everywhere. It’s bad for the environment... wait, I shouldn’t get into that stuff because I’ll start rattling on and on and on and you’ll be pretty bored by the end of the conversation.” I laughed. “Well, see you tomorrow, Dira.” She waved before skipping off merrily to find the castle exit.

     That was COMPLETELY random, but at least she’s nice, I thought. Of course, I didn’t stop to talk to any of the other faeries; I needed to find out what Jhudora was doing. I followed the crowd of faeries to the entrance, surprised that they didn’t get lost like I had. Once I stepped outside, I flew over the palace and into Fyora’s garden. It took all my willpower not to go and play with the wild Harris that was climbing a tree, but I shook my head and fluttered over to an open window with a purple balcony and climbed in, thankful that the room was empty.

     I was ready to dash out of there when I spied a pink vanity. I looked at myself in the mirror, trying to comb my hair with my fingers, not hearing the footsteps in the hall.

     “Bailey, would you mind getting me a cup of water?”

     “I already have it, Your Majesty. Remember, you asked me a few minutes ago?”

     “Oh, yes. It’s just been a tiring day, I suppose... ”

     I stopped. Where can I hide? Where can I hide? SWEET FYORA, WHERE CAN I HIDE? I wondered frantically. I looked around the room for anything. The purple wardrobe caught my attention.

     “Well, I hope you feel better, Your Majesty.”

     I’m running out of time! I sprinted across the room, shut myself in the wardrobe, and examined the door. That’s funny, I noted, there’s a handle in here. I always thought closets never opened from the inside. But I didn’t have too much time to think, as I heard Fyora enter soon afterwards.

     “Here you go, Your Majesty.”

     “Oh, thank you, Bailey. You are dismissed for the time being.”

     “Yes, Your Majesty.”

     “You can just call me Queen Fyora, alright?”

     “As you wish, Your Ma--I mean, Queen Fyora.”

     The servant named Bailey exited the room, leaving Fyora to sip her water quietly and sit on her bed. I opened the door a little bit so I could see what she was doing. She stared at the book that Jhudora had enchanted and frowned. “Now, why can’t I get this open?”

     What?! She can’t get that open? Jhudora’s been practicing or something! I started biting my fingernails nervously. This definitely couldn’t be good.

     Fyora glared at the lock again and reached for her staff. Suddenly, she yelped in pain as the book started to sizzle wildly and smoke. She pushed it off of her lap and grimaced. The glowing book’s burning sounds faltered and disappeared altogether.

     Part of the Faerie Queen’s dress had turned to ash, revealing her scalded knees. She sighed, clearly irritated that her favorite outfit was ruined.

     She grasped her staff and pressed the orb to her knees. They instantly healed, though they turned a bit pink. “Why can’t I get it open?” she repeated angrily. She jumped up onto her feet and strode to the book to pick it up. Once it touched her hands, it started to float up to the ceiling. Fyora sighed again and fluttered to keep it in her hands.

     I muffled a laugh. If you ever want to see something funny, then watch a queen glare at a floating book. Quite odd, really.

     She looked down at her dress. “I suppose I must change my dress now,” she said dryly and began to take a step towards the wardrobe.

     I gasped. What am I going to do? I turned around, but bumped into the back of the closet. Trapped, I thought desperately, turning around. Fyora’s footsteps were growing closer by the second, but I also heard a soft creak.

     Someone grabbed me by the shoulder. I looked over my shoulder to see a dark faerie with a purple pixie cut and a servant’s dress pressing a finger to her mouth. That pose reminded me of the Library Faerie, but other than that she bore no resemblance. “Shh,” she whispered softly. She grabbed me by the hand and pulled me out of the back of the wardrobe just as Fyora opened the door.

To be continued...