A Little Trickster

Chapter 1

I stepped into my house, closing the door quietly, hoping my parents wouldn't ask where I'd been. I cringed at the clicking sound the door made as it closed.

"Adora?" I heard my mother's voice call from inside the house. "Is that you?"

I sighed, knowing I wouldn't be getting off the hook for being out past curfew. "Yeah, mom."

"Where have you been? Do you know what time it is?" She asked, sounding not quite angry yet.

"I was helping Jemma with shopping. You remember Jemma?" It wasn't a lie, just not the whole truth. My mother didn't need to know I was shopping on the black market.

"Alright then, get to bed. It's late."

"Okay, night mom." I ran into my bedroom, clinging onto the various explosives I'd been able to buy.

Closing the door, I leaned against it and slid to the floor. I might have had three younger sisters and a younger brother, but I was the only one with my own room, and for that, I was thankful, despite it being the smallest room in the house. Thanks to my small stature, even for a fairy, I fit the room just fine.

I stood back up, and opened the drawer where I kept all my favorite goodies. From an outsider's viewpoint, it was just a normal drawer, but if you lifted up the false bottom, all my toys would be revealed. Only one other person, my best friend Jemma, knew about it. I stashed away everything I'd bought, including fireworks, cherry bombs, firecrackers, and other little trinkets, in the drawer before replacing the false bottom.

Feeling an oncoming yawn, I changed out of my favorite dress, and into my nightclothes. Folding my wings behind me, I slid my teenage body in between the sheets on my bed, and allowed sleep to overtake me.

~

The next morning, I opened my eyes to the sound of my screaming youngest sibling. Jak was only four, ten years younger than me, and a bit of a brat. He didn't like not getting what he wanted, to say the least.

Knowing my other siblings would be awake soon, and that they would only make things louder, I forced myself out of bed. I stretched out my arms, legs and wings before pulling a dress on, and catching a glimpse of my freckle covered body. Violet eyes, a button nose and red lips adorned my pale face. My hair, starting at strawberry blonde, then switching to a lighter shade of blonde, then fading into a dark red, fell around my shoulders. I picked up the ribbons on my dresser and tied my hair up into my usual bouncy pigtails. Pulling on my soft leather boots, I left my bedroom, finding the two youngest, Syra and Jak, screaming at each other in the hallway. I'd seen this a million times.

I picked up Jak, throwing him over my shoulder, and Syra, holding the six year old under my arm. They stopped arguing with each other, and instead aimed their complaints towards me. I would've given them a piece of my mind, but I knew from experience that it would only make it worse, so I ignored them and said nothing as I set them down at the table for breakfast.

I sat down in my own seat, looking across the table at my four siblings and parents. I stood out like a sore thumb. All of my family had black hair and tan skin, completely unmarked. I nodded at my two oldest sisters, Cynthia, age eleven, and Darla, age eight, in greeting. They smiled brightly and greeted me. They all chatted away endlessly, while I shoveled my breakfast into my mouth, not saying a word. I picked up my plate, having finished my food in record time, and put it away to be cleaned. I ran to the door, hoping to slip away unnoticed, when I heard my mother's voice.

"Adora, where are you going?" She stood up, holding her swollen belly, and walking over to me.

"Just out. I'm meeting up with Jemma today." My mother's face showed her disappointment.

"Alright. Be home by curfew today."

"I will." I gave her a kiss on the cheek before leaving my house.

I stood on the porch, looking out over the village. Homes were built onto the sides of trees, while businesses were built on the forest floor. There was suddenly an up side down, dark skinned, smiling face in front of mine, scaring me a bit.

I laughed. "Jemma, you scared me." She stepped off my roof and let her wings support her as she flew in front of my house.

"Nice to see you too, Adora." She still smiled. "Kalim is also hanging out with us today. You don't mind, do you?"

Kalim was Jemma's kind of, sort of, maybe boyfriend. Whenever they were together, nobody else mattered. I didn't like him much, but he made Jemma happy, so I tolerated him.

"I don't mind at all."

"Awesome!" She grabbed my wrist and pulled me off the porch. I would have fallen down to the forest floor, had my wings not sprung into action. "Let's go!"

I ended up spending the rest of the day third-wheeling. I probably could've just left and they wouldn't have noticed for at least an hour.

Thankfully, eventually Kalim left, leaving me alone with Jemma as the sun set. Her full attention was on me, so I got my ear talked off.

"Hey, I had a great idea for a prank you could pull on your parents."

"And what would that be?" I asked.

"Put a firecracker in their room, then set it off in the middle of the night, when they're asleep."

A smirk tugged at my lips. "Wanna help me set it up?"

"You know I do!"

"Come over to my house in the night, you can climb in my window. I gotta go now, curfew."

"I'll be there. See you soon." She flew away toward her house, and I left for mine.

~

Later that night, I woke up to a light tapping on my window. I got up and opened it for Jemma, so she could climb in. Silently, we set the firecracker, and I ignited it. Before it went off, we sprinted out of the house to avoid getting caught. Giggling, we stopped outside my house on the ground.

"I've gotta go before my parents find out I'm gone. Tell me your punishment in the morning."

"Will do." I smiled and waved as she left for her house.

I decided to take a walk in the forest before going home to my parents' wrath. I was in the forest for maybe a few hours, at least until the sun was almost up. As I walked back to the village, I started feeling unbearable heat. I ignored it. I smelled smoke. I ignored that too. I saw flames flickering in the wind above the tree line. I got an eerie feeling. At the edge of the village, I saw the flames licking the buildings, heard the agonized screams.

I was mesmerized.

I watched the village burn to ash.

Everything I'd ever known had burned to the ground, and it was my fault.

It finally sunk in.

I screamed, and I cried, and I prayed that the entire thing had only been a dream. It wasn't.

After that day, I left the village behind for good, hoping to never face the mass grave I'd created by a single firecracker, a harmless prank.