The Best Bride

18. BIG DAY

If I had gone with jewel, I might have forced her to end her celebration with her friends on time, and we could have come home before dinner. Nine O' clock - dinner hour - passed. Where was Jewel? She had never stayed out that late all by herself before.  

Father and Mother had returned back from the palace with big smiles and the news that the royal family would be taking care of everything, from the bride's wedding dress to the dinner reception. They wanted to tell everything that happened between them and the royal family in the meeting to Jewel first. But she was not home yet. The happiness radiating out from them waned.  

"I warned you," Twitter whispered in my ear.  

"Keep quiet, Twitter," I snapped at him. Although I knew he might be right, I didn't want to accept his saying. Jewel was a smart lady. She wouldn't allow anyone to harm her.  

Twitter leaned away from my ear, and kept his face straight, eyes on Father and Uncle Jelly pacing the room to and fro like two restless tigers in the cage. 

"What do we do now?" said Horn.  

Father stopped pacing and turned to us. "We've to find her." 

"But none of us knows exactly where she headed?" said Mother. 

"Each of us can go to different places and look for her," said Uncle Jelly. "That way we can save time." 

"What if she's staying with one of her friend?" asked Aunt Maxim.  

"She should have left us message if she had that plan," said Father. "But she didn't leave us anything. So we aren't sure about that. " 

Horn got up on his feet, flexing his muscles. "Tell me, where should I look for her?" 

"You go to New Ground," Father told Horn. "Nutbrun will go to Dracovilla, Jelly will search Little Town, Maxim will inspect Ding Dong and I will look for her in Bubble." His eyes shifted to Mother. "Elysandra and Twitter will remain at home and wait for our return." 

"I want to go too," said Twitter. "Pair me with Nutbrun." 

"No," said Aunt Maxim firmly. "You're staying with Aunt Elysandra." 

Twitter hung his head, the corners of his mouth turning down.  

"One more thing," said Father as everyone on the couch stood up to fulfill their duty. "Nobody will speak of Jewel's name to anyone, okay? We don't want any questions rising about her. Just check every nook and corner of the place you're going, and if any of you happen to meet or see her, just bring her home." 

Mother and Twitter bid us farewell as we made our way above ground and took flight to different directions. Dracovilla is in the western side of Bubble, and I knew the way to there just like I know about the things in my pocket.  

I flew for like twenty minutes seeing nothing, because the areas where no fairy-people live are covered in dark. And then I saw the light below far ahead of me - Dracovilla. Just like in Bubble, the trees here were decorated with lights; not with bulb lights like in my resident but with twinkle lights.  

As my feet grazed the ground, the noise emanating from every treehouse filled my ears. The place was noisy and crowded even at this time of the night. Why it wouldn't be for every treehouse here was opened for business. If fairy-people want to shop for anything, visit the bars or banks, they would come here from anywhere in Wingland. Dracovilla is like the business center of Wingland.  

I held back my head and scanned the treehouse above me, thinking from where to start my search. Somebody nudged my shoulder.  

"Sorry, lady," said a drunken fairy man, smelling awfully of liquor.