Meeting Aggie

37.

"I'm interested to see how you pull this off," Poppy said. "It would be an honor to work with someone who can hone all six. No fairies who ever existed could do that."

"I appreciate it, but I'm just going on a whim. Doesn't hurt to try, since I'm running short on time."

Before I could overthink, I smashed the mirror. The pedestal turned red, and the pieces disappeared from the ground. Nerves rippled through me, but I kept my cool. I only had five minutes left, might as well take a chance.

Remiel laughed. "I don't know what I was expecting, but I'm not shocked. Not even in the slightest."

She kept laughing while Poppy was telling her to shut up. The mental battle of them arguing in my head was giving me a headache. Isidore's presence ignored them, watching what I planned to do next.

I waved my hand at the light peering into the room and refracted it toward the pedestal, which then flipped from red to green. The mirror was the hint hidden in plain sight.

"I had faith in my Aggie the whole time! And you thought she was stupid for smashing the mirror!" Poppy smugly poked at Remiel.

"You're not going to berate me for thinking it was a stupid idea! That's not my fault! Aggie has made critical errors throughout her life so sue me!" Remiel sniped back at her.

Isidore inserted herself between the two so they could calm down. "She has one more test to go through, guys! Shut up so she can focus! She has four minutes left to figure it out and she can't focus with the two of you bickering!"

Poppy and Remiel immediately went quiet. I mentally thanked Isidore, and my headache eased. I stepped over to the raven. I circled the pedestal, ensuring there were no hints anywhere that I could've missed.

I picked up the raven, examining him to ensure there were no hidden hints on him. He made a cooing noise when I let go and blinked at me.

My ears twitched as I listened closer. I didn't pick it up earlier, but it seemed to be another hint.

"Does his cooing sound like words to you, Poppy?"

The others listened with me. I wanted to ensure I wasn't hallucinating and that the raven was actually speaking to me.

"Help. Me," the raven cooed again.

Poppy said, "He said help him, but I don't understand what you're supposed to do."

I leaned closer and spoke to him. "How can I help you, little raven?"

The raven cocked his head to the side and eyed me suspiciously. "Do you finally understand me now, or are you just pretending to?"

I stood upright. That was much clearer.

"Yes, but now I'm running out of time. What am I supposed to do to pass this test and see if I have shadow magic?"

"Transform me back to my original form."

"You barely have two minutes, Aggie. Hurry up!" Isidore rushed out.

"What was your original form?"

The raven shook his head.

"Per test, I cannot tell you. You either have shadow magic or you don't."

"A little over a minute left," Poppy reminded me.

"Okay!" I facepalmed and screamed.

Calm down, Agatha. I had a minute to figure out the final test. What detail am I not seeing? Breathe. Just breathe. Slow breaths in and out. I knew that shadow magic was also a type of transformation magic, but what could the raven be?

Poppy said, "Aggie, quick! Ask him for his full name."

Though I was frustrated at the time loss, I asked anyway. "What's your name?"

"Marvin," the raven cooed quietly.

"Stop playing games. What's your full name?" I barked at him.

"Marvin Rivermoon." The raven sighed in defeat.

Poppy cheered. "He's Iris' familiar. I think he's a pixie, but it's a hunch. Do you trust me? Thirty seconds left."

I nodded and shut my eyes. I imagined him as a pixie, with Poppy's help. Pixies were permanently miniature fairies whose sole purpose was to guide their fairy master. Something light tapped me, and I opened my eyes.

A pixie with black hair and dark purple eyes smiled at me. He flew back to the pedestal, and it turned green—right as the timer was up.

The throne room rumbled in a loud, strong voice. "Time is up."

The pedestals disappeared in order of completion, and the pixie flew off of his as it disappeared. A stream of gold sparkles dropped from the ceiling, illuminated by the rising sun. In the air hovered the word "congratulations" in silver glitter.

"You passed the fairy elements test. You are now the supreme elemental, Agatha Youngblood."

Iris and Apollo entered the room. Apollo clapped and ran up to give me a big hug.

"Called it. Hands down, I definitely knew it. You owe me five videneas."

Iris rolled her eyes and handed him the money from her pocket. I raised an eyebrow at her, and she shrugged.

"It's not that I didn't have faith in you, Princess Agatha, but I thought your max fairy abilities would be three or four. You're the first fairy I've seen in history to achieve all six. A congratulations to you is in order."

"My fairy form helped me. Her name is Poppy."

Iris watched me carefully before asking, "Does 'Poppy' happen to be a nickname?"

"It is. Poppiana is my full name," Poppy said through me.

Iris smiled. "Poppiana Morningstar. I know your name quite well. First fairy queen to have four elements without a god's blessing and my great, great, great aunt."

"I should've known sooner. You look like my older sister, Alvira. Someone down the line must have changed our generational last name." Poppy hummed at her.

"It's a pleasure to work with you to train Princess Agatha, Aunt Poppy. It seems the tests made you way easier to unlock than expected."

"Not necessarily," Poppy sighed. "I'm only able to come out temporarily as Aggie still can't fully control me."

"And here I was hopeful. Back to square one it seems," Apollo grumbled.