The Chronicles of K'drathe: Part Two

     Silvana eyed her suspiciously. “Why?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at the Royal Lupe.

      “Oh... I just needed to see a couple of answers that I didn’t get.”

      “Which ones do you need?” Silvana had feeling it wouldn’t be a small number.

      “Just one through thirty.”

      “That’s the whole assignment.”

      “I know. I didn’t have time to do it. See, Ashley came over to work on it and we talked about how boring math was, and then forgot about it and went to the Neomall - and got some totally cool new clothes, by the way - and then she had to go because-”

     “And you seriously expect me to let you copy off my homework?” Silvana said incredulously. “After what you did to me yesterday? Are you more intelligence deprived than I thought?”

      “What does ‘deprived’ mean?”

     “Oh, Fyora...” muttered Silvana. “OK, just accept the fact that you’re not getting any help, all right? Deal with it.” She walked away, leaving Princess still looking confused about the word “deprived”.

     As Silvana walked into the classroom, she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She turned around, but no one was there. She decided she had imagined it, and went to her seat at the back of the classroom.

     Rex and Princess were sitting next to each other in the first row. As their teacher, an elderly blue Ogrin named Miss Zydran with a reputation for being the strictest teacher in the school, started the class, Silvana noticed they were whispering to each other. They both looked back at her at the same time. Silvana narrowed her yellow eyes and glared back at them.

     “Rex! Princess! Please pay attention to the lesson!” Miss Zydran snapped. Silvana smirked at Rex; before he turned around he stuck his tongue out at her. So immature, thought Silvana. She felt a little satisfied at this, although it wasn’t enough for their treatment of her the day before.

     “All right, class, get out your homework. You had all weekend to work on it, so I expect each and every one of you to have it done.”

     Silvana noticed Princess say something to Rex. Miss Zydran noticed too.

     “Princess, Rex, where is your homework?”

     “I’m sorry, Miss Cerulean, but my Angelpuss ate it,” said Princess sweetly.

     “And my Devilpuss ate mine,” added Rex. He gave Miss Zydran a winning smile. Their teacher rolled her eyes disgustedly.

     “To the principal’s office, both of you. Yes, Princess, you too. Now, Silvana, what is the answer to the first question? At least I can count on you to do your homework.” Anyone could hear the admiration in Miss Zydran’s voice.

     “Teacher’s pet!” hissed Princess as she walked past Silvana’s desk.

     “Detention, Princess! Hurry up and get to Dr. Pyrrus’s office.” Miss Zydran was looking at them like she would like to kick them out of her classroom for good. Silvana definitely agreed with her.

      “Psst... Silvana!” This time the tap on her shoulder was accompanied by a voice.

     “Miss Zydran?” Silvana called. “May I use the restroom?”

     “Of course, Silvana.”

     Silvana got up from her seat and walked out into the hallway. Halfway to the bathroom, she stopped.

     “Who are you?” she whispered. No one responded.

     “Answer me!” she hissed. A passing blue Elephante looked at her like she was insane.

     Maybe I am insane, she thought miserably. She sighed and turned to go back to the classroom.

     “Hey! Silvana!”

     Silvana turned around and saw a Dark Faerie much taller than she was (considering she stood, like all Lupes, on four legs) standing behind her. She had red eyes, and black, purple-streaked hair. She wore a long, dark violet dress. “Senka?”

     The Faerie smiled. “Nice to know you remembered my name, Silvana.”

     “What do you want from me?”

     “Don’t you know me?” Senka looked put out.

     Silvana looked closely and shook her head. “No.”

     Senka sighed. “Oh, well. At least you know my name. I am the leader of a tribe of Dark Faeries that live in a place know as the Realm of the Evergreens. It’s right outside Neopia Central.”

     “Never heard of it.”

     “Well, you used to be a Faerie – a Dark Faerie. See, our plan was to send you into Neopia Central since that’s where most people live. We wanted to do this because no one likes Dark Faeries – by the way, this was all Jhudora’s plan. We wanted revenge. You volunteered to do it, of course – you were always a vengeful little Faerie. Anyway, we turned you into a green Lupe and sent you here. Obviously, we must have made a little miscalculation. You don’t remember anything about your past.”

      Silvana sighed. “Do you seriously expect me to believe that?” she asked.

      “Of course,” Senka replied. “Would you like to know your real name?”

      “No,” spat Silvana. She wasn’t about to believe anything this Faerie told her.

      “It is K’drathe,” said Senka, ignoring Silvana’s reply.

      “NO! MY NAME IS SILVANA! I DON’T KNOW WHO YOU ARE, BUT LEAVE ME ALONE!”

      Silvana ran back to the classroom as fast as she could. She threw open the door, banging it against the wall, and hurried to her seat.

     Miss Zydran looked at her a bit nervously. “Erm... Silvana? Are you all right?”

     “Uh... yeah. Yeah. I’m fine.

     “Somewhat.”

***

     “Silvana? Your teacher Neomailed us and said that you were a little strange in school today.”

     “I don’t want to talk about it,” muttered Silvana. “I was just freaked out by something; that’s all you need to know.”

     “Was it Rex again?” Rowan looked concerned.

     “No. Seriously, I’m fine.”

     Silvana sighed and rolled over in her bed. It was a straw bed, which Rowan claimed was temporary until Silvana could get the Royal Oak bed she wanted. Not that Silvana believed her.

     She got up and looked out her bedroom window. The moon was still new, so she could see all the stars clearly. But then, even the stars were blocked out by a large cloud. Silvana squinted at it. It appeared to be rapidly changing shape. Then she realized what it was. Oh, no...

     Silvana rushed over to her bed and jumped over to the other side. She lay down on the floor. Then she thought better of it and ran to the stone wardrobe on the other side of the room. She yanked the door open and got inside, slamming the door behind her.

     She heard her window slide open.

     “K’drathe? Where are you? K’drathe?”

     “Be quiet, Nila. She goes by Silvana now, anyway.”

     Silvana gasped silently as she recognized Senka’s voice. She shrank back into the shadows of the wardrobe. The door to the wardrobe slowly opened.

     Three Dark Faeries peered at her from behind the door. One she knew to be Senka; they other two she did not know.

     Senka smiled at her. “Rajani, Nila, this is K’drathe. Or rather, Silvana.”

     One of the Faeries smiled at Silvana. She had bright green eyes and matching hair. “Hi! Do you remember me?”

     Silvana shook her head. The green-haired Faerie looked disappointed.

     “She doesn’t remember anything about the Realm, Rajani. Don’t take it personally; she didn’t remember me either.”

     “She doesn’t remember?” gasped the other Faerie that had spoken when they came in through the window; Silvana guessed this was Nila. “She doesn’t remember Charna? Lamya? Sauda?”

     Senka shook her head. “Unfortunately, no.”

     “What do you want from me?” Silvana asked, her voice trembling.

     “K’drathe – I mean, Silvana – I was your best friend when you lived in the Realm. I didn’t want you to go into Neopia Central. I felt that something bad was going to happen. And it did.” She turned and glared at Senka. “But, the point is, where do you think we should attack first?” Rajani asked. Silvana just looked at her.

     “Attack?” said Silvana blankly. “Attack what?”

     Nila, a slightly shorter Faerie with blue-streaked black hair, rolled her eyes. “Attack a world in Neopia, of course. So, where should we attack? Brightvale? Mystery Island? The Lost Desert?”

     “Why do you want to attack?” inquired Silvana.

     “Because,” said Senka, who was beginning to sound impatient, “we want revenge. Just because we’re called Dark Faeries doesn’t necessarily mean that we are evil.”

     “Taking revenge on people is evil,” Silvana pointed out.

     Senka sighed. “Listen. If you won’t say anything, we’ll attack Neopia Central. Along with its inhabitants – all of them,” she added, seeing Silvana’s look of fear.

     “You would attack Rowan? Fuego? Zafiro?”

     “Nila, show her who we’ve brought.” Senka smiled, but it was not a nice smile. You might say it was evil. Nila walked over to the window, where Silvana couldn’t see her.

     Nila returned a moment later, with at least three thousand Dark Faeries hovering outside Silvana’s bedroom window. Silvana fainted.

***

     When she woke up, she realized right away that something was wrong. For one thing, everything was pitch-black. For another, she felt weird. She felt something coming out of her back, and when she reached back to touch it, there was no fur there, but cloth. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Silvana noticed that she also no longer had any fur on her hands or arms. Wait. Hands? Arms? Lupes didn’t have either. They had paws and legs. Oh, no...

     Silvana reached back again and felt something almost like leather. She gasped. She had wings. She was a Faerie.

     Suddenly the place she was in was flooded with light. She blinked for a moment, adjusting to the sudden brightness. Then she recognized Senka standing in a doorway.

     “Hello, K’drathe. Do you know where you are?”

     Silvana looked around. She saw that she was sitting in a small, one-room wooden house. A Royal Oak bed stood in one corner, and a Royal Oak cabinet stood across from it. A plain rug was on the floor, were Silvana sat. A mirror hung on the wall closest to the open door. She could see past Senka; apparently she was in a tree house.

     “My room...” she muttered. Memories came flooding back. Rajani and she playing in the dense evergreen forest. She and Nila planning revenge on Neopia. Rajani, Nila, and... K’drathe.

     K’drathe looked up at Senka. “I remember.”

     Senka smiled.

To be continued...