A Fairy's Tale

~A Fairy Big Mission~

"You've got to be kidding me!" I kicked my bag across the room, scattering a handful of very important papers. I couldn't care less, though. Because instead of going to Rubius Academy and training the next generation of fairies, I, Twiggy, was being sent out on an emergency mission.

Sighing deeply, I collected the fallen papers which were supposed to be my lesson plans for the week that I wouldn't get to teach. I was really looking forward to hosting my Mysterious Spells lecture.

Trying to calm down and gather my nerves, I tucked my short, green hair into a ponytail. With the sun setting, I'd have to leave for my mission in thirty minutes. I glanced down at my matching polka-dotted linen shirt and pants that I'd made myself. It wasn't the most flattering outfit I'd worn on a mission, and Dean Ori had promised this would be the last time I'd be summoned to go to the human world. If this was my final visit to that awful place, I might as well go in style.

Ruffling through my closet, I fished out comfortable gray cargo pants and an old tee shirt from my favorite band, The Garden Party. Carefully, I adjusted the shirt around my wings, making sure they didn't get tangled up. As the finishing touch, I fitted my favorite brown bucket hat over my head and took one last look in the mirror. With my dark clothes, short hair, and moody personality, I didn't really look like a fairy at all. A touch of eyeliner and some lipstick, and I could have fit right in with The Garden Party rock band.

A knock at the front door startled me, and I flew to open it. Pacing outside was my best friend Brelle. Her wispy cotton candy pink hair bobbed with each step, and I pulled her inside before she could start crying.

"You look more stressed than I do," I laughed. "It's just one pickup. Nothing I can't handle," I tried to sound confident.

But that only worried Brelle more. She bit the ends of her lilac-painted nails and randomly pulled me in for a hug. "Maybe you ten years ago could have handled it. But we're professors now. We don't fly solo missions to collect children's teeth!"

That was true. Brelle and I had been friends since starting as students at Rubius Academy. Now we were thirty with a couple strands of gray hair and a few eye wrinkles.

"The other tooth fairies are all booked tonight. I was the only one Dean Ori could ask, apparently," I huffed.

Brelle handed me my branch bangle, a trendy wooden bracelet that would allow me to communicate with the fairy world no matter where I was. My crafty husband had made it for me back when I was head of the tooth fairies.

"Do you have the magic bean?" Brelle prompted me. "That will come in handy if there's an emergency."

I patted the pocket of my cargo pants. "It's in here somewhere."

"Parsleytwig," Brelle started. "You haven't done this in ages. We know you used to be the best tooth fairy out there, but you should be prepared for anything."

Hearing her use my full name made me flinch. But she was right. With the gloomy rain clouds rolling in over Aurelia, I was beginning to doubt my skills. What if they weren't as sharp as before?

"Sorry, Twiggy. I didn't mean to scare you," Brelle read my upset expression. "Grab your things, and let's go meet Dean Ori. She's waiting for you at the academy."

Lacing up my rain boots, I did a final check of all my things. Branch bangle? Check. Firefly light? Check. A few mints? Check. Mints always came in handy if the sleeping child had bad breath.

Nervously, I fidgeted with my wedding ring as we made the walk to Rubius Academy. As promised, Dean Ori stood in front of the great marble pillars with an umbrella. During the walk, it had started to sprinkle. Not enough to bother me, though.

Brelle's pink hair was filled with mist by the time we made it to the school's front gates. She stood behind me, intimidated by the fairy in front of us. Dean Ori was dressed in her usual olive dress and heels. Her hair budded like the tiny, full leaves of an oregano plant. Aside from me, she was the only other fairy who didn't fit the mold. She was tall, strict, and more muscular than your average fairy. I'd once gotten a peak at her biceps during Bed Climbing class and made a mental note to never get on her bad side.

However, no matter what I seemed to do, Dean Ori hated me. She sent me on all sorts of last-minute dangerous missions and always criticized my teaching style when she sat in on my lectures.

"You're not cut out to be a professor," she always said in that sharp tone of hers.

Today, she looked extra scary under the low brim of her hat. I could barely make out her gleaming, beady eyes blinking at me in irritation.

"Parsleytwig, tonight you'll be going on an emergency mission to retrieve this child's second molar. You are to collect the tooth and replace it with this coin. As usual, don't be seen, and be back by sunrise."

Dean Ori pulled a quarter from thin air and tossed it to me. I staggered forward to catch the coin, which was roughly the size of my dinner plates. Why was human stuff so annoyingly big?

Brelle wrung her hands before flitting over and wrapping me in a bone-crushing hug. Her sickly sweet perfume overwhelmed me in the best way possible.

Dean Ori must have known I was nervous by the way I twisted my pearl wedding ring. From the tiniest flicker in her dark eyes, I thought she would hug me next. But instead, she tapped her foot impatiently and pointed to the hills in the distance.

"Go on, Parsleytwig. And remember to be back by sunrise."

Her snappy comment offered the tiniest bit of comfort. Dean Ori couldn't say it directly, but she wanted me to do well and come home. Before my mind could process what my body was doing, I was launching myself at Rubius Academy's dean. My wings tangled with hers as I squeezed her in a tight hug Brelle would approve of.

"Sorry, I'm a little nervous this time," I admitted. What was I doing? Showing the most intimidating person in Aurelia my feelings?

"I suppose one hug couldn't hurt," Dean Ori grumbled. She promptly untangled our wings and dusted her wand over me, bathing me in a shower of shimmery powder. Fairy dust.

As I took off, I looked behind me, hoping my husband Florian would be running across the valley of Aurelia waving to me. But with his latest project in the works, he was definitely cooped up in his study with ten cups of green tea.

I'd be home in a few hours–just in time to bring him his eleventh cup and maybe a souvenir from the human world.

Goodbye, Brelle.

Goodbye, Dean Ori.

Goodbye, Aurelia.