Chapter 5

The Spell

Emily

I was off to weapons, right after lunch. So far, I had been having an interesting day. I had woken up late, received 10 detentions, and found out the hard way that I was not cut out for Pirates. This streak of bad luck made me slightly nervous for the second half of the day, but I was still excited.

Catherine was walking me outside because I had no idea where I was going. I still didn’t have a map, and Catherine had promised to get me one for tomorrow. I figured she was tired of walking me everywhere. We eventually made our way outside to a field. In the distance was a big barn that Catherine told me was the dragon nook.

“I’ll take you out to see my dragon, Serengeti, later,” she said, seeming pleased.

I wasn’t exactly a weapons master. Catherine had me try just about everything, from a sword that was at least four feet long to a set of nun-chucks covered in dried, dark-red stuff, which Catherine insisted wasn’t blood. But for each weapon, I either almost killed myself or I wasn’t strong enough to even get it off the ground. By the end of the hour, my arms felt like they were on fire, and Catherine was in a foul mood. Finally she snapped after I failed, for the tenth time today, to lift a sword.
“Come on, Emily! That is the lightest sword in the whole school! Even those wimps that call themselves fairies can lift it,” she said, ignoring the murderous looks she got from some fairy students on the other side of the weaponry. She shook her head and heaved a huge sigh. “Are you even trying?”
“Yes! I am, I promise! I’m just not very good at physical activity!”
“Well, I’ll let you in on a secret. One third of your final grade is going to be this class!” Catherine took a deep breath. “Look, Emily, I know you came from a small, non-magic town, and the reason that your mom never told you about magic was to protect you. But the real world isn’t like your small little town! The real world is full of monsters and evil forces that you have never even heard of! You need to know how to fight them! So get real!” she yelled and stomped off.
I was crushed. I mean, I knew that I was a little out of place in this world, but it had never really hit me until now. As the bell rang, I resolved to get better at handling weapons. I didn’t care how; I was just going to do it. I struggled for a moment to remember where Catherine had said the Fairy classroom was, and then I set off.

○○○

I walked in the classroom and stopped dead. The room was a dream come true. It was a forest and a meadow, much bigger than it looked from outside. It was full of trees and flowers, and everywhere I looked was just nature. I had always been the girl at home who had played in the huge, forest-like backyard, and loved tending the garden. I sighed happily and looked for the teacher. When I found nobody, I sat down in the meadow. As I looked closer at a flower that Mom had taught me was called a windflower, I saw a tiny fairy sitting on the petals. She was beautiful. The fairy had long, dark, curly brown hair, and wore a beautiful dress that held an incredible likeness to the flower she sat on. Her wings were a shade darker than her hair, and looked just like a butterfly’s. Feeling incredibly shy, I just stared.
“Hello, dear!” the little fairy brightly said to me. “Are you Emily?”
I was astonished. The fairy knew me! “Y-yes, I am.”
“Oh, I apologize. One moment, please,” the fairy announced as she stood up. She fluttered a few feet over to a patch of empty ground, and a split second later, a woman who looked just like the fairy stood in front of me. The fairy was nowhere to be seen.
“Hello, Emily. I am the teacher, Miss L’Velle. And yes,” she said kindly, “I was the fairy.”
“Oh!” I exclaimed, dazzled by the transformation. “My schedule says I’m observing this class today.”
“Your schedule is correct, dear!” Miss L’Velle smiled. “Now,” she continued as many fairies fluttered in and changed to older students, “please, take a seat anywhere, wherever you feel comfortable.”
“Thank you!” I said, no longer shy. I noticed a large pond with a willow tree off to the side, and felt drawn to it. I had always felt that way around willow trees and ponds, though I had never understood why. There was an oak tree nearby, and some lily pads in the pond. I went and sat in the willow by the pool, a few branches up from the ground, and took off my shoes. I dipped them in the pond and felt content for the first time that day.

I watched as students arrived. Some walked straight to an area where it was snowing, some walked to areas filled with spring and summer flowers, and others walked straight to the trees. I particularly watched a boy about a year older than I was as he came and sat in the oak tree near my willow. He was fairly tall and thin, but you could tell he was strong. He had thick, dark brown hair and a boyish face. He turned to look at me, and I looked away, feeling shy once more. I watched the last few students straggle in the door.

Miss L’Velle stood and said, “Class, I need a few minutes before we begin. You may converse.”

I came off the tree and lay back on the grassy bank of the pond. I closed my eyes and swirled my feet in the water. When I heard footsteps a few minutes later, I was startled. I sat up with a splash and turned around.

It was the boy from the oak tree. He paused for a moment and then apologetically said, “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to say hello.”

I felt very conscious of the water on my rolled-up jeans and the dirt on the back of my shirt. “Oh, hello. My name is Emily Rhodes. I’m a new student, and I was told to observe advanced fairies today,” I replied.

“That’s cool! I’m Michael. Michael Aylwin. So I take it that you’re a fairy student?” he smiled amiably.

“That’s kind of a long story, but yes, I am,” I answered him. “I’m really excited for this class!”

“Well, it’s good to be enthusiastic. Fairies are happy by nature, and a lot of our magic requires enthusiasm and optimism.” We continued to chat for a while longer.

“By the way, any particular reason you chose the willow tree and the pond to sit by? I don’t mean to pry, I’m just curious,” Michael said.

“I’m not really sure. I’ve always felt really happy around willow trees and ponds,” I explained, hoping I didn’t sound too weird.

“Then I’m going to take a guess and say you’re probably a willow fairy. They usually feel pretty connected to ponds and such, too. I’m the same way with acorns and oak trees.”

I was astonished. “You mean everyone in here is a fairy?” I exclaimed.

Michael laughed. “Of course! Everyone in here has fairy blood, some more than others. Like Drew,” he said, shooting a glance over to a group of blond, snooty-looking fairies clustered around Drew. I hadn’t even noticed her come in. “She’s 50% fairy. She’s the student with the highest amount of fairy blood.”

I was about to respond, when Miss L’Velle stood and announced, “Class, please take your seats. We will be practicing the fairy to human form transition.” Michael went and sat down at the base of the oak as most of the class groaned. “Now, now, I know you all know how to do this, but today we have a new student viewing our class. Emily, please come up.”

My face burning, I walked up to the front of the room.

“This, class, is Emily Rhodes. She is a new student and came to view our class today. I was glad to see that a few of you welcomed her. Now, let’s begin the lesson!” she announced.

Michael was called up first. He stood up front, closed his eyes, stepped forward, and with a shimmer of sparkling air, became a fluttering fairy. He was wearing green pants and little dark-brown, handmade wooden shoes. He had on a tunic the color of a yellow-orange oak leaf, with the hems shaped to look like the edge of one of the leaves. He had rounded wings that were an odd, translucent beige color that somehow made me think of autumn. To top it off, he wore an acorn cap on his head and had a mischievous twinkle in his eye. It was, without doubt, the most amazing thing I had ever seen. Without a word, he fluttered over to his tree and sat on a branch.

After most of the class had gone, Drew came up. She turned into a fairy that reminded me of a poppy. She had a deep red dress that came down to her knees, with many thin layers that gave the effect of looking like flower petals. It had black around the waist that seemed to be made of the fuzz at the center of a poppy. She had black butterfly wings with red tips, and she wore a headband made of a poppy stem. Thick blond hair rippled down her back, and she was barefoot. Though her looks had changed, her expression showed that she was as snooty as ever. She fluttered over to her friends and sat down.

When the last person had changed, Miss L’Velle asked if I would like to try. I eagerly agreed and walked up. Most of the class was chuckling. I could understand why. I mean, a new kid do an advanced change? It took all the kids in that class years to learn how to do it, so how could I?

I was beginning to regret coming up. I tried to compose myself and stepped forward, but nothing happened. Most of the class laughed again, and I felt my cheeks burn. I stepped forward again, willing myself to change, but I couldn’t do it. I glanced at Michael, only to see him pointedly smiling. I remembered him saying, Fairies are happy by nature, and a lot of their magic requires enthusiasm and optimism.

I thought about how happy I would feel if I could change, and that since I was a fairy, I could definitely do it. Bursting with power, I stepped forward once more, and instantly felt different.

Everything was huge! My glasses were gone, but I could see perfectly fine. And I heard so many sounds! I heard wind in the trees, leaves rustling, and water lapping at the bank of my pond. I glanced at myself and discovered that I was wearing a dress made of soft willow leaves, with a small piece of soft, flexible branch tied around my waist. I was barefoot, and felt as though I was in a cool, moist breeze that blew my thick, long, wavy blond hair around. Then I realized that I was floating. No, not floating. I had wings! I spun around, glancing at the huge green wings on my back that could have been a dragonfly’s. Then I began to fall. I couldn’t control my wings! Without trying to, I suddenly changed back to my human form with a shimmer of sparkles.

I was on all fours, breathing heavily. I felt willow leaves in my hair, water on my jeans, and dirt smudged everywhere. To make it worse, I was drop-dead tired. The room was silent. Then Michael stood up and clapped, followed by most of the boys and a couple of the girls. But Drew and her group, which was a good half of the class, stayed silent. In fact, Drew looked like she was about to explode. Miss L’Velle hurried over and helped me up.

“Emily! Oh dear, you must be exhausted. Drew! Take Emily to the nurse!” Miss L’Velle exclaimed.

“Of course, Miss L’Velle!” Drew exclaimed, putting on a mask of false worry. She hurried over and helped me stumble out. As we passed Michael, I saw him gaze at me with worry. Drew led me through the hallway, and then pushed me into an empty classroom without warning.

She leaned me against the wall and began to speak in a weird, lilting voice.

“Emily, you will forget everything from today’s lesson. You will not access any fairy powers. Furthermore, you will treat me as your superior. Come on.”

I followed as my mind slipped into a haze.

We walked into the nurse’s office and I vaguely heard something about me fainting. I noticed blearily that Drew said nothing about what had really happened.

Wait...what had happened? I wondered as my memories slipped away from me.

I loved writing about the fairy stuff. It's my favorite part!