Shadows (Completed-Under Revision)

Start Again

Thanks for adding Shadows to your reading list! Enjoy! (Although, I suggest not starting from the end, of course.)

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Danica:

"This has to end now."

Suddenly, my mother appeared, an entourage of royals behind her.

"Madame? How did you make it out there...", started Amir's mother only to be interrupted by the human Queen.

"Ambassador, I will forgive the grievous misuse of magical resources and overlook this slight...misjudgment only if you release my daughter and her friends immediately."

"Misjudgment?", cried out the Fairy Ambassador. "Do you know whom you are addressing?"

Raising her eyebrows, my mother related, "A disgraced princess who married a human."

Seething internally, Amir's mother smiled warmly at my mother, but signaled for the faeries to charge and retrieve the lost fiancée for her son.

"No, I refuse," I stated. Holding my ground, I glanced at Amir to my right and Anthony to my left.

"We stand with her," said Trey, taking a stance in front of me as if to block the fairy guards from my sight. As if that would have any substantial dampening effect on their magic, but at least he tried.

Anthony rubbed his eyes once over, cleaned his dark shades, before looking up at the sky.

"The day is ripe for change."

"What?", shouted Amir's mother, still befuddled over the meaning in this statement. Shrugging her shoulders, she proceeded to move forward, but was blocked by the witch that cursed me.

"Move, or I move you," she drawled.

"I'm..."

"I know, I know...self-important." Scoffing, the witch twirled a wand, placing a temporary protective spell on me and my comrades.

"Mom, please...This isn't what Dad would have wanted," pleaded Amir.

Glaring at her son, the fairy ambassador moved to strike the witch. Alas, her new foe disappeared into thin air.

"Aren't you cursed forever, darling?", asked the Fairy Ambassador. "We have remedies for that, just follow along and..."

"No," I shouted. "I have spent my whole life locked up in a tower, afraid to go out lest humans be scared of me. Finally, I have what I want-people who accept me despite me being invisible to the naked eye most of the time."

Taking Anthony's hand in mine, I recalled the chant that made me this way, and sang it louder for everyone to hear.

"Here me oh great spirits hear,

Let this child now disappear.

Her illusion no more hold,

The clarity her aunt foretold.

Invisibility my gift to you,

And may this be ever true

Til one who loves her anew

See her truly like the morning dew.

This shall be my curse forever more!"

An idea struck me while singing. In my lonely childhood days, I had read that sometimes curses could be undone by coming up with new lyrics to replace the old ones. If I no longer had a curse, then the faeries would have no justifiable reason to continue with the alliance in the face of opposition.

Not that the Faerie Ambassador was right either way, but I had to try and figure out a way of this somehow.

Here me oh great spirits hear,

Let this woman now reappear.

The clarity of which she foretold,

Granted by what makes her bold.

Even though she was blue,

She now knows what to do.

The witch gave her the clue,

It was always you.

That she loves herself galore!

A bright light rose above my head as sprinkles of pixie dust showered the ground. Various faeries lay dazed on the ground, wondering what on Earth had happened.

Repeating the chant, I was joined by others who were seeking to reverse my curse. If the Fairy Ambassador had once sought to use my curse as a weakness. Some sort of twisted disadvantage that she could wrangle into a promising engagement, she had no idea who she was messing with.

Marrying for mere convenience's sake was not in my cards, nor will it ever be.

For the one I like...and maybe love above all else...well, it's me.

Like Penelope, I had learned that dignity and self-love are so important.

If you do not love yourself, how can you love others and live to tell the tale?

Trey shouted at his friend, and told him to pick me up. Not having seen what had occurred, but guessing the outcome of the chant, he lifted me off the ground.

Twirling me around in the fairy dress, I observed his smile grow wider than a river.

Prince Anthony, at least from what I could see, appeared happy.

Fairy Ambassador on the other hand...

"Are you going to tell your father about this?", murmured the fairy princess as she watched her outraged son tap his foot in impatience.

"I don't have to, mother," Amir remarked. "From the looks of it, the whole Fairy Court will laugh at your buffoonery for years to come."

"I just wanted...for you to be happy," she pleaded, hanging onto the arm of her son with a longing to be understood in her eyes.

"She's a mother," remarked my mom. Tapping her shoulder, now having reached her side, she exclaimed, "That means I understand where she is coming from. Sometimes, you have the urge to secure a future for your babies."

Glancing around the mangled backyard of the fairy palace, she grimaced, saying, "That does not give you the right to force it on to her, or everyone else, without her consent."

"It's the Twenty-First Century for goodness sake," joked Anthony.

With that, I knew that the lost prince of Lesotho would make no complaint if we left her alone.

Less hassle that way. After all, we were mainly teenagers in that group. What could we do against a royal when some of us still had a curfew to keep and homework to...

"Oh no. I forgot I had homework to do!" I groaned. With all the excitement, I had forgotten I was still in public school! Being homeschooled does have its advantages because Aunt Fleur would never let me forget the dates! (Of course, she was the one who graded it too.)

"Homework?", Trey asked.

"And a test tomorrow," reminded Anthony.

"Thanks Anthony, I would have almost forgotten to say that..."

"Test?", squeaked Trey.

"Oo...what about that project that's due for Art Class next class..."

"PROJECT?" At that, Trey fainted.

Making sure he still breathed, Amir let out a slight chuckle.

We all laughed our socks off.