The Water Faerie Necklace: Part Two

     A small Anubis was approaching her. What a cute Anubis he was! His head was slightly cocked and his eyes were wide open. He appeared lost, and he limped heavily on his left paw.

     “Why, you are cute,” Julie said in her dream. It was strange; she could not see herself. Her dream was in first person.

     The Anubis made a whimpering noise.

     “What do you want from me?” Julie asked.

     He whimpered again and gestured his head, pointing behind him.

     Julie then realized that the Anubis wanted her to follow it. Reluctantly, she followed, staring at her surroundings. Why hadn’t she realized before that she was in a forest? She could see trees blocking the sun, their roots digging into the flesh of the dirt. Didn’t Anubises live in the desert?

     Suddenly, the Anubis stopped. He sat down on the ground and stared up before him.

     Julie could see a palace before her. She had never seen a building so tall in her entire life, almost surpassing the trees in height. It was sparkling gold, and a wide staircase was beckoning her.

     “We’ve been waiting for you,” a voice said.

     It was the Anubis talking. “Come with me into your memories and your future.”

     “I know I’m dreaming,” Julie whispered. She had no doubt about that, but why didn’t she wake up?

     The palace doors opened, and Julie cautiously stepped inside. The floors were solid gold, and Julie felt out of place by walking on them. The ceiling raised high above Julie’s head, and a chandelier hung from the top. Spiraling staircases stretched from one floor to the next. While the main hallway was showered with light, the rest of the palace was shrouded with darkness.

     “Wow,” Julie said.

     “It is all yours,” said the Anubis. “You have the power to control this place.”

     Julie did not understand what the Anubis was talking about. Suddenly, a red Nimmo dressed in an ill-fitting suit and a hat too small for its head came out of the shadows. He handed her a scroll tied with a blue ribbon.

     “Thank you, Clive,” the Anubis said.

     The Nimmo, presumably Clive, nodded and stepped back into the shadows. It was so dark that Julie did not know if he was still standing in the hallway or in another part of the palace.

     “This is for you,” said the Anubis. He gestured towards the scroll. “Use it wisely, because you can only read it once.”

     “I will,” said Julie. She still had no idea how the scroll was relevant to her dream.

     “You can exit now.”

     As Julie walked out of the palace doors and back into the discomforting forest, she could hear a buzzing sound in the distance. She laughed and realized that it was her alarm clock. She had to wake up.

     Julie arose from her bed clutching the cool, blue stone of her necklace. A scroll tied with a blue ribbon lay on her nightstand.

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     “Why do you want to see me?” asked the Faerie Queen. She was standing, towering over the seated Tombola man.

     The Tombola man was afraid. He had never spoken before the Queen in his lifetime, and had only seen her once or twice when she made a visit to Mystery Island. She was beautiful, and he felt very awkward around her. His T-shirt paled in comparison to her gorgeous gown. He opened his mouth to answer her.

     “I have made a mistake, Fyora,” the Tombola man squeaked. “Please forgive me.”

     The Faerie Queen’s face turned soft. “Tell me what your mistake was, kind Tombola man,” she said. Her voice was so quiet, it almost came out as a whisper.

     “I sold the Water Faerie’s necklace to a common Wocky.” The Tombola man could not believe that he had said that out loud. He braced himself for the Queen’s response.

     “Okay,” Fyora said. “I understand.”

     This certainly was not the response the Tombola man was expecting. “The Water Faerie gave it to me many years ago. She said that she needed to hide it, because its power was too overpowering for anyone, even a Faerie. So I hid it in my shop, hoping that nobody would ever find it.”

     “Yes,” said Fyora. “Nereid told me about her trip to your shop. She told me about the necklace’s power.”

     “That is the problem, though,” said the Tombola man. “I do not know of the power, and neither does the girl. As far as I know, she thinks it is just a pretty piece of jewelry.”

     Fyora smiled. “You do not need to worry,” she said, “because there is one thing that Nereid told me but did not tell you. The only person who can unleash the power of her necklace is a true Water Faerie. There is no harm in the Wocky wearing the necklace for a while because nothing will happen. Trust me. She is not a Water Faerie.”

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     Julie dressed quickly, eying the scroll on her nightstand. Was it the same scroll from her dream, or a crazy coincidence?

     She decided not to read it, because the Anubis told her that she could only read it once. She had to use it wisely.

     When she finally came down the stairs for breakfast, her sisters were already placing their empty bowls into the sink and almost out the door for school. Julie grabbed a handful of cereal and exited with them, careful not to meet Kaleigh’s eye.

     “Come here, Julie,” Kaleigh said.

     Julie moaned and left her sisters to go to school without her.

     Kaleigh was cleaning the bowls. She did not look at Julie. “I do not want you to skip today,” she said. “I will be calling your principal to make sure that you were at every class.”

     Julie moaned again. “There’s no reason to do that. I promise I will be at school.”

     “I don’t think I can trust you,” said Kaleigh.

     “Fine,” said Julie. She tried not to let her anger show. Kaleigh was treating her like a baby. She wasn’t even thinking of skipping that day. She never liked skipping more than one day a week. It was no use in telling Kaleigh that.

     “Have a good day at school,” Kaleigh called when Julie was out the door. When the door slammed shut, Kaleigh continued to clean the dishes.

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     Julie hated school. She hated the entire atmosphere. Every hour she walked to a different room to a different teacher that taught a different subject, but in the exact same way. Everything was boring. The worst part about school, though, was that everybody seemed to have friends. Nobody was seen alone, and if they were, they were considered a loser.

     Julie was considered a loser.

     It wasn’t that she had trouble making friends, it was that she had no desire for them. She did not think that she needed a bond with any other Pet. She had herself to bond with.

     At school that day, Julie was even more distracted than usual. She would not take notes or even try to listen to what each teacher was saying. She found herself in the wrong room once. During a test, she just stared around the room, wondering why everybody was silent. She realized that she was supposed to be taking a test when the class ended.

     She spent the entire school day fingering her necklace. The blue stones felt like diamonds and the white feathers felt as soft as snow. She could not believe that something so pretty was clasped around her throat.

     Her last class of the day was science. Science was normally her least favorite class, and she normally tuned out her teacher, a Zafara named Mrs. Williams. However, on that particular day, she felt it impossible to tune out her teacher, and the clock ticked away unbearably slow.

     When the class ended, Julie had no idea what she had learned. She could not get up from her desk. Her brain was sending messages to her legs, but her legs were not receiving them.

     “Julie?”

     Julie looked up. Mrs. Williams was talking to her.

     “You do know that class has ended, right?”

     Julie stared. The rest of the desks were empty, but she was still sitting as if class was still in session. She laughed. “Yes, I know,” she said. Quickly, she stood up and exited the classroom, leaving her textbook in her desk.

     She did not stop walking until she reached home. When she reached into her knapsack for her key, she chuckled to herself. She did not even realize that she had been walking all that time. Her legs were doing all the work for her, without any help from the brain.

     Kaleigh was waiting for her. “I’m very proud of you,” she said. “The principal told me that you were at every class today.”

     “Yes,” said Julie. She did not want to talk. “I think I’m going to get my homework done early.”

     Kaleigh raised an eyebrow. “Okay,” she said slowly.

     Julie ran up the stairs to her room with all of her might. She slammed the door shut and reached over to her nightstand, grabbing the scroll that lay on top of it.

To be continued...