Clues in the Hidden Tower: Sparkles's Mystery - Part Two

     Her birthday wasn't the only thing they were celebrating. Because the last two Faerie Festivals were cancelled (Year 11's was cancelled because of the plot and Year 12's festival was cancelled due to lack of organization) the faeries of Neopia had decided to hold a belated celebration. Since Illene was part of the decorating committee, she had asked Sparkles, Scary and Saphrine to help her. Sparkles and Saphrine were thrilled as punch to help, but Scary reluctantly joined them after a few confrontations.

     "I can't hold this anymore," Scary moaned as she attempted to hang up a set of streamers.

     "You can do it!" Sparkles insisted. Scary sighed and strung the pink and purple streamers around a tall pole. She slid down her ladder with ease.

     "Are we almost done?" asked Scary. The purple Bruce was tired with the work she had to do.

     Sparkles nodded and turned her attention to Saphrine, who was busy blowing up balloons. The whole area around them looked gorgeous with the pink and purple streamers and balloons that were hung everywhere. The other faeries were busy as well, even though many faeries were still recovering. The Air faeries were busy hanging up different coloured streamers around Faerie City. The Water faeries were fixing up special drinks for the belated festival, and the Earth faeries were helping the Soup faerie with the festive faerie treats. There was no Dark faerie in sight, which made Scary furious.

     "It's obvious those other perfume headed freaks are stealing their jobs," Scary declared.

     Sparkles laughed, but she stopped when she saw a familiar green Kacheek lurk around a nearby bush. "Mike!" Sparkles exclaimed as she waves her arms in the air. Mike looked at Sparkles, but he quickly fled without saying hello. Sparkles was confused. Why was Mike, who had saved her from a mysterious dust shower yesterday, avoiding her?

      Scary stopped her decorating and asked Sparkles, "What are you screaming at, a flying Uni?"

     Sparkles shook her head. "No, it was Mike," she explained. She pointed to the bush Mike was hiding in and said, "Mike was just there! He was watching us, but then ran away when I called to him. I don't get why he's acting so funny."

     "Did you just say Mike was here?" Illene asked. When Sparkles nodded her head, Illene quickly called Saphrine over and told her about Mike's sighting. Now Saphrine was confused.

     "That can't be Mike," Saphrine assured Illene. "I thought Mike would have left Faerieland by now. Why on earth would he stay?"

      "Who's Mike?" Scary asked. Sparkles, who was secretly anxious as well, waited for Saphrine to answer. Besides being a brave Neopian, what else was Mike?

     "Mike was a former resident of Faerieland," Saphrine explained. "He used to work for the Faerieland Employment Agency. Unfortunately he decided to quit his job after the whole Xandra-fiasco. He was taken by something, I don't know what, but it was pretty scary. It was why he left his job, and Faerieland."

     Scary eyed Saphrine suspiciously. "How did you know all that if you were a stone statue?" she demanded. "Were you lying to us before?"

     "We were told by King Altador and Prince Jazan," Illene explained. "They told us faeries what happened to our beloved land while we were stone statues. They were nice to tell us before they returned to their kingdoms."

     "Oh," Sparkles sighed. She was still a bit curious about Mike. How did he know about the magical shower? And with that, where did that sparkly shower come from? Sparkles had wanted to ask Saphrine and Illene, but the thought had slipped her mind as she helped the faeries with their preparations.

     By the time the preparations were complete, Sparkles and Scary were extremely exhausted. They helped Saphrine hang up all of the different coloured streamers, and also helped the Light Faeries (much to Scary's disgust) weave flowers into wonderful ribbons for the maypole. Illene and Sparkles were also busy baking for the festival. They made cherry-tastic faerie pies, faerie bonbons, faerie candy floss, and enough beany burpers to satisfy every faerie in Neopia! Sparkles was especially pleased about the Faerie Festival cake. It was a two layer vanilla cake covered in pink and purple icing. Illene had placed a pair of sugar faerie wings on top of the cake for décor.

     "Perfect," Illene sighed. "Now everything's ready for the festival."

     "Will Fyora come to the festival?" Sparkles asked eagerly. She was dying to meet Fyora: Queen of all the Faeries!

     "The Queen is still resting her powers," Saphrine explained as she prepared the tables. "Since she had to use her remaining powers on someone else, our road to recovery is still on hold."

     Illene nodded in agreement. "It's such a shame that Fyora doesn't have her full powers restored yet. But please don't blame Hanso. I'm sure the rest of the faeries had ditched their bitterness by now, so why can't you? Hanso was so brave to save Faerieland from that wretched curse... at least, I hope he did."

     "That Hanso is nothing but a crook!" a voice cried. Everyone was shocked when Mira the Space faerie joined their conversation. "He has caused nothing but trouble for us faeries. Besides, he had King Altador and Jazan to help him with his quest, so he didn't act alone. It's best if he leaves us alone for good." The other faeries nodded with agreement.

     "Well, now that we've gotten that out of our systems, let's set up the maypole and we'll be done for today," said Illene. Mira nodded and followed Illene's instructions. The other faeries had decided to continue with their work in order to get rid of their bitterness over Hanso. Scary and Sparkles were baffled by everyone's remarks. Was everyone mad at Hanso? And if they were, why would they?

     I thought Hanso 'saved' Faerieland, Sparkles thought, still surprised by the faeries' feelings over Hanso. According to everyone in Neopia Central, Hanso was a brave Neopian who had saved Faerieland and had broken the spell that turned all of the faeries into stone statues. Hanso had even turned himself into stone to stop the corrupted Xandra! So if he really did all this, why did the faeries resent him?

     "Look at these pretty sparkles!" a Light faerie sighed as she twirled around in a shower of purple sparkles. At the sound of her voice, all of the other faeries ran towards the sparkly shower that the Light faerie was dancing under. Sparkles gasped: that was the same shower that had struck Faerie City yesterday! Quickly, Sparkles grabbed Scary's arm and they both quickly ran under a tree for shelter.

     "Oh, how pretty," an Air faerie gasped. "I bet this shower was especially made for our festival."

     "It certainly is a surprising sight," said a Fire faerie, who was done scorching all of her last season outfits.

     As all of the faeries danced under the shower, Sparkles felt an uneasy lump in her throat. Should she warn the faeries about the shower? She quickly grabbed Scary's wrist and whispered, "I have a bad feeling about this."

     Scary nodded. "Yeah," she agreed. "I can't believe how unimaginably stupid those Light faeries are! Look at them, dancing around like they have no life at all." Sparkles just sighed.

     "I'm starting to get very dizzy," a Light faerie sighed as she collapsed to her knees. Within seconds, she had closed her eyes and was now falling asleep on the ground.

     "I'm getting... sleepy," said an Air faerie as she fell asleep. Sparkles and Scary gasped and stared at awe as the faeries collapsed to the ground, their eyes too tired and heavy to open up.

     "The faeries, they're all asleep!" Sparkles exclaimed. She was horrified as she watched the faeries sleep, and continued to watch until the mysterious shower had ended.

     "Stupid faeries," Scary muttered. "I knew those Air, Water and Light faeries were dumb enough to fall for that glitter."

     Sparkles groaned. "You do know that the Earth and Fire faeries were also struck too, right?" she asked. "In fact, I think I saw a Dark faerie-"

     "What!" Scary exclaimed as she peered her eyes for a fallen Dark faerie. When she saw a Dark faerie lying beside an Air faerie, she glared at the Air faerie beside her. "Stupid sparkle shower," she grumbled, "ruining our Faerie Festival for its selfish needs. How dare they strike the Dark faeries!"

     The Faerie Festival! Sparkles thought. She couldn't believe her bad luck. The Faerie Festival was going to be cancelled again, since all of the faeries were now asleep. As she scanned the area, Sparkles noticed something odd.

     "Where's Fyora?" Sparkles wondered. "I know she's still weak, but shouldn't she be here to help us?"

     "I know where she is," a voice muttered behind them. Sparkles immediately turned around and gasped. Could this moment be real for her?

     Scary groaned. "Oh, it's you again," she sighed. "Now what do you want?"

To be continued...