Light as a Feather

Chapter Fifteen

     Jilah came to the mansion unexpectedly after school one day. Annabelle answered the door to find her pale face, looking much more haggard than she had ever seen it.

     "Annabelle, is your mother here?"

     "Yeah, she's just upstairs," Annabelle answered, raising her eyebrows.

     "I need to speak with her. May I come in?" Jilah asked, her voice pleading. The house was eerily quiet.

     "Yes, please come in," Annabelle told her. She moved away from the door so that Jilah could enter. She did, and immediately began to climb the stairs.

     Annabelle didn't have much to do in the mansion after she had done her homework. There was always her cell phone, but that brought limited pleasure to her. She decided to go out in the garden. She hadn't been there in a while.

     As she went outside, she shut the back door quietly. She looked around to make sure that nobody was snooping (especially Tyler), and then she began the only spell she knew that had nothing to do with nature. The invisibility spell. Jilah had taught it to her after she had mastered a few other things, telling her that it was a necessity to learn it. The gifts were able to learn other spells; it was just more difficult to perform them.

     Annabelle saw a clear, silvery dome encircling the yard, which meant she had done it right. Nobody would be able to see her, or what she was doing.

     She walked up to the roses to see the little fairies that lived there. The queen's name was Rose, which was very fitting. But when Annabelle looked, there weren't as many fairies out, which was odd because the weather was so nice. Fairies were usually like butterflies and they loved the sunshine.

     Annabelle knew where the queen lived, and so she pulled the leaf to the white rose bush so that she could see. The queen was there, and when she saw Annabelle, she immediately smiled. She was, of course, finely dressed. While other flower fairies' dresses were knee-length, hers fell down to the floor. It was made out of a rainbow of different colors, and she wore a silver ring with a purple jewel in it as a crown. There were a couple of other fairies, but they looked glum, and they weren't paying much attention.

     The queen began to speak, her words coming out in different sounds, like bells that were in assorted notes. The trick to speaking to them as a human was whistling. Annabelle did her best to remember what Jilah had taught her, and in this way she talked to the fairy.

     The queen said, "Annabelle, is there something you need from me?" Every time Annabelle talked to a fairy, that was the first thing they said. It was like they had signed a contract or something, saying that that was always what they would say, no matter the circumstances.

     "No, thank you," Annabelle replied politely. "I came to say hello. How are you doing, Queen Rose?"

     "Not very well."

     Annabelle frowned. "Why is that? Is there not enough food for all of you?"

     "Oh, no, nothing like that," the queen said, getting a bedraggled look on her small face. "We always have plenty. It's just... a few of my fairies have lost their powers."

     "How?" Annabelle asked, shocked. She'd never heard of that.

     The queen shrugged. "Nobody knows. They're in the hospital wing right now."

     "May I speak to them?" Annabelle asked nicely.

     "Of course. Whatever you say is done, Annabelle." The queen clapped her hands, and a servant fairy with rather plain wings rushed to her side. She ordered him to show her the sick fairies. The servant nodded obediently and looked at Annabelle. He flew to a leaf a couple of inches away, and gestured to it, showing her that she should lift it to see.

     Annabelle did, and she saw a fairy with a yellow petal dress and brown, curly hair. Her face was white as a sheet, and her eyes were red. Even though they were tiny, Annabelle could see that much.  "What happened?" Annabelle whistled.

     "I don't know, exactly," the fairy answered. "My powers started going away one day. They began to fade. I don't know why. Nobody knows. Ask Blush and Greenberg, they will tell you the same." She motioned to the other two tiny figures. One wore a pink and green dress, and her sandy blonde hair was tied in a neat little bun. The other was a boy, and he wore greens and blues with a green hat.

     "What is your name?" Annabelle asked the fairy in the yellow dress.

     "I am Buttercup. Call me Butter."

     "Thank you, Butter."

     The fairies looked up at her with solemn eyes. "Do you know what's going on?" the one called Blush asked.

     "I'm afraid I don't. I will have to ask Jilah, or my mother."

     Greenberg seemed to think it over. He looked at me with eyes that were nearly begging for a solution. "Please figure it out soon. I can't help the other plants grow without my powers, and Buttercup and Blush can't help the flowers grow if they don't have powers either. Please help us."