The Fairyland Saga

2

It was beginning to get dark outside. Alice walked over to her bookshelf to grab a book before she got ready for bed. The warm day had put her in the mood for a fairy tale. Sleeping Beauty seemed like the perfect choice. Carefully sliding the leatherbound volume from the shelf, she moved to her armchair by the window and began to immerse herself in the rich story.

A few hours later...

Alice started awake. She shivered, realizing that she had fallen asleep in her armchair while reading. Having forgotten to light a candle, the inside of her cottage was pitch black. She deduced that it must be nearly midnight.

Alice set her book to the side and slowly got up, stretching. She started to fumble her way across the room to her bed, but something made her stop in her tracks. It was the sound of tiny bells.

Turning, Alice peeked out of the window. As her eyes adjusted, what she saw made her gasp.

In the middle of the clearing just beyond her window was a group of glowing particles, swaying in the shape of a circle. Alice stood, frozen, for a moment before she came to her senses. She dashed over to the door, grabbed a jacket, and slowly opened the door.

Peering outside, she saw that the lights were still there. For some strange reason, she was unable to see the sources of the light, almost as if they were blurred despite their slow movements.

She carefully stepped out onto the mat and quietly shut the door behind her, before starting along the path.

She must have been doing a good job of keeping quiet, because the lights had not yet reacted to her presence. After a few more steps, Alice was nearly upon them. One more step, and she could touch them.

Breathing softly, Alice gazed at the lights, bewildered that they still had not acknowledged her in any way. They moved slowly in a circle at least a yard wide, each light glowing in a bright golden hue and swaying in a slight up and down pattern. Somehow, they were still blurred.

Then it hit her.

A Fairy Ring.

And she knew exactly what she had to do.