Faeries: Before the Fame - Part Two

     “Alright, I want you to each show me what we practiced last week,” ordered Fyora.

     The Faerie Queen then nodded to Bella and Jon, who had no working wings. She gave them permission to sit on the sidelines and watch during flying lessons. Casandia went first. She flapped her thin wings as she was lifted into the air. She performed twirls and loops with ease. One after another, each faerie rose after her to show off their moves. Fyora noticed that Jennumara was not participating.

     “Jennumara,” she tutted. “Now is the time for you to be airborne.”

     “I’m not doing it,” scoffed the Dark Faerie. “I don’t want to fly right now.”

     “Well, like it or not, it is a requirement if you want to graduate,” pointed out Fyora.

     “C’mon, Jenny, it’s easy,” encouraged Baelia, who was coming down for a landing.

     “I told you not to talk to me, you brat,” spat Jennumara as she walked away from Fyora.

     The Faerie Queen just sighed.

     As Jennumara approached Jon, she heard him mutter, “Cheery little nuisance. She won’t be smiling when I’m through.”

     As he saw the Dark Faerie approach, he immediately stopped talking and moved away. Jennumara didn’t care much about his odd statement, though.

     “Okay, class, you are dismissed,” announced Fyora.

     However, before anyone could rejoice, one of the Faeries plummeted to the ground. It was Zoë. Jhudora gasped as she flapped towards the fallen Faerie. As she neared her, a strong gust of wind brushed against her side, causing her to slide into the grass as well. She looked back to see that it was Casandia who has cast the spell.

     “It’s so typical of you to help a fellow demon,” she mocked.

     Jhudora felt tears well up in her eyes. She had only wanted to aid somebody who may have been injured; yet they hurt her for that too. No matter what she did, they found some way to ridicule her about it. She turned away and darted inside.

     Illusen felt terrible for Jhudora now. She knew that Casandia would continue to assault her, so she changed her attention.

     “Way to fall, Sleeper,” she taunted Zoë. “You can’t even stay awake while you fly.”

     “Hey, leave her alone,” scolded Celeste as she caught up. “She could be seriously hurt.”

     Nobody could argue with logic like that. Soon Celeste and Baelia were at their friend's side, helping her get up.

     “Are you alright,” asked Baelia tentatively.

     “Yeah,” answered Zoë groggily. “I was just resting my eyes.”

     Only too late did she realize her mistake. Cruel laughter flowed from Illusen, Casandia, and the recently arrived Bella. The Dark Faerie’s face turned to hateful rage.

     “Just ignore them,” consoled Baelia. “They can’t hurt you.”

      ***

     Jhudora opened the door to her room and slammed it shut. All year long she had endured Illusen’s and Casandia’s brutality. Now was the time when she couldn’t take it anymore. She threw her face into her pillow and began to wail. Tears poured out of eyes and stained her pillow.

     Outside of her door, Illusen walked up. She had convinced herself that she had to say something to Jhudora. The Dark Faerie looked so hurt, and it was all her fault. She didn’t know what she would say, but she could not keep this up any longer. When she heard the screaming, her misery doubled. Maybe she had gone too far, and it was too late now. She sadly opened the door and stepped into the ill lit room.

     “Hi,” she said hardly audibly.

     “What do you want now?” demanded Jhudora between sobs.

     “Look, I know that you hate me,” started Illusen. “You have every reason to, but I didn’t want to harm you.”

     Jhudora looked at her sceptically.

     The Earth Faerie took a deep breath and began her long explanation, “You see, all my life I’ve felt sympathy for everybody, but I was always taught that Dark Faeries were bad. I thought that if anybody knew how I felt, they would claim that I was as evil as a Dark Faerie. So I kept my mouth shut, but that wasn’t good enough. I kept feeling like I was showing weakness whenever I felt pity for a Dark Faerie, so I turned my feelings into cruelty. On you.”

     Jhudora looked confused now, but she also seemed to be slowly accepting what Illusen was saying.

     “I always felt bad,” continued Illusen, “and I really am sorry for everything that I’ve done. I know that’s not good enough, so I want to do something to make it up to you.”

     “I still can’t forgive you yet,” said Jhudora who had recovered from her tears, “But what you’re saying makes sense. I can understand what you were feeling, even if you make the wrong decisions”

     Illusen nodded in agreement and asked, “Is there anything at all that I can do for you?”

     Jhudora took several minutes considering this question. Eventually she requested, “Can you make me as beautiful as you?”

     A smile appeared on Illusen’s face as an idea struck her; she then said, “I can do better; I can make you popular.”

     “What?” asked a bemused Jhudora.

     “I’m tired of not showing any compassion,” stated Illusen. “From now on, you will be my best friend, and nobody is going to hurt you as long as I’m around.”

     “Are you sure?” inquired Jhudora uneasily.

     “Positive,” declared Illusen with a little more confidence than she felt. “Now c’mon, I’ll introduce you to Bella and Casandia.”

     The Earth Faerie took Jhudora’s hand and pulled her into the corridor. She briskly walked down the halls until she they arrived at a door. Just as Illusen knocked, a horrid thought hit Jhudora. What if this was all another prank? She had been so easily fooled; now it may be too late. She didn’t have a chance to do anything, for the next second Casandia opened the door to her room.

     The Air Faerie’s smile vanished as she saw Jhudora and demanded, “What is she doing here?”

     Illusen put on a broad smile to shield her nervousness and stated, “This is my new best friend, Jhudora.”

     Casandia looked like someone had just told her that King Skarl was going on a diet.

     “What?” she asked, puzzled. “She’s an evil Dark Faerie.”

     “She is not evil,” protested Illusen. “We’ve been wrong and we need to make it up to her.”

     Jhudora felt both belittled by Casandia and protected by Illusen.

     “I don’t know what’s gotten into you, Illusen, but there is no way that I’m going to be friends with a Dark Faerie,” declared Casandia with finality.

     Illusen sighed. Although the Earth Faerie was the unofficial leader of her trio, Casandia seemed to have more control. She influenced people to do as she saw fit. It was often her that started a conflict with a Dark Faerie. Illusen had never argued with her before; it was time for that to change.

     “Then you can’t be friends with me anymore,” she said with reluctance.

     It was then that Illusen noticed Bella in the back of the room. It was not uncommon for the three of them to hang out in the same room, and the Water Faerie seemed to have just noticed their visitors.

     “What do you think, Bella?” demanded Casandia, who was hoping for some backup.

     The timid follower looked torn; she was never one to take sides.

     Eventually she just breathed, “I don’t know.”

     Casandia was trapped; she couldn’t challenge Illusen with so little support. So she grudgingly gave in. Wordlessly she gestured for the two Faeries to join them. Once inside, Illusen seemed to drop her tension with Casandia.

     “Jhudora, this is Bella, Bella, this is Jhudora,” introduced Illusen.

     The two nodded in acknowledgement.

     “Now, Jhudora, if you want to be popular, we’ll need to fix your fashion,” commented Illusen. “That purple is just ghastly, but I think if we added some green, we could make you look presentable.”

     Over the next hour Illusen fiddled with Jhudora’s new look. She added jewellery, painted her nails a jade green, styled her hair. Bella even offered some of her magic to dye a green streak through the Dark Faerie’s hair. By the end Jhudora looked much more chic.

     “Thank you so much,” she said with a half laugh.

     Illusen smiled proudly, Bella offered a reassuring grin, while Casandia just forced a look of non-disgust.

      ***

     Celeste looked up into the night sky at the thousands of stars. Every night there was a new collection of them in another position. The faerie grabbed her sketchbook and began to think of some constellations she could make. Maybe those three could form a sword. Or perhaps if she connected it to those few, it could form a castle.

     Suddenly a thunderous crash filled the vicinity. She immediately rushed outside and saw Baelia with an equally worried look.

     “What was that?” asked the startled Light Faerie.

     “I don’t know, but it came from Zoë’s room. Let’s check it out,” suggested the always daring Celeste.

     The two quickly stepped across the hall to Zoë’s room. Celeste grabbed the knob and twisted it open. Standing in the middle of the room was Zoë. Everything around her looked disorganized, as if she had cleaned it up in a rush.

     “What’s going on here?” inquired Celeste.

     “It’s nothing,” said Zoë hastily. “Nothing you should worry about.”

     Celeste was about to protest, but Baelia interrupted, “You should get some sleep, Zoë. You don’t want to sleep in again.”

     “You’re right,” agreed Zoë.

     The Dark Faerie crawled into her bed and said, “Thanks for checking on me, but everything’s fine. Goodnight.”

     “Goodnight,” the two friends chorused.

     Zoë waited for the them to leave before she got out of bed, readied her wand, and declared, “Just one more time.”

To be continued...