All's Fairy in Love and War (Avalon: Web of Magic #8)

by Rachel Roberts

  “Eeeeeek!” the mini screamed, furiously flapping sparkly powder-coated wings as she and the powder puff plummeted downward. Goldie landed on the puffball, releasing a lushly scented cloud. Kara watched in amazement as the powder puff wriggled like an excited puppy.

  “Bad Puffdoggie!” a voice scolded.

  Now who said that?

  Kara gaped in disbelief. The silver comb walked across the dresser on two legs formed by its long handle! Glowering at the shaggy powder puff, the comb cleared its throat and took a deep bow. “A thousand apologies, Princess, and allow me to say I am shocked by this most unseemly behavior.”

  “Whoa, what are you?” Kara blurted.

  “We are designed to serve the Fairy Princess,” the silver comb said proudly. “My name is Angelo.”

  “What if that’s not her?” the clamshell mirror wailed, and snapped shut.

  “Of course it’s she, Mirabelle!” the green brush shouted at the mirror, exasperated.

  “Well, yeah, I guess I am, that is…” the blazing star stammered, twirling the diamond bright unicorn jewel between her fingers. “My name is Kara, and this is Goldie.”

  “We’ve been waiting one hundred and twenty-five years to serve a Fairy Princess! I’m so happy I could cry!” Mirabelle started bawling.

  An atomizer spray bottle shaped like a skunk shuffled along the table. “I am Whiffle, and I shall make you smell divine.” The glass skunk squirted an amazingly lush perfume from his nose.

  The brush pushed the atomizer away, hopping up and down on her handle. “Can’t you see the princess needs immediate attention?”

  “Skirmish, calm down,” the mirror sighed. “That’s why we’re here.”

  Kara self-consciously ran fingers through her tangled tresses. “It’s been, like, hours since I even brushed my hair.”

  The accessories gasped in horror.

  “Tell me about it,” she said.

  “This is no way to welcome our new princess!” Angelo scolded the others, trying to move them back in an orderly line. “Forgive them for not following protocol, Princess Kara, but Queen Selinda ordered us into service on such short notice.”

  Puffdoggie hopped up and down excitedly, sending sparkling powder flying.

  Oh, this is great, Kara thought. Locked away in a tree house with a bunch of enchanted toiletries! Could things get any stranger?

  Thwap! Bonk!

  Without warning, a scraggly, bespectacled flying creature zoomed through the open window, smacked into the far wall, and landed in a crumpled heap on the floor.

  “Ow.”

  “Oh!” Kara rushed over and kneeled by the creature. “Are you all right?”

  It looked vaguely like an owl, with a combination of dark gray fur and moss green feathers. Long floppy ears drooped forward, half-covering luminous yellow eyes.

  Goldie immediately stepped between it and Kara.

  The bird straightened his small glasses. Dazed yellow eyes wobbled and then focused sharply on the dragonfly. “You are the Fairy Princess Kara?” he demanded querulously.

  Goldie pointed at Kara.

  “Oh.” The bird reached into a leather shoulder pouch and withdrew a rolled-up piece of black parchment tied with a dark purple ribbon. “I had to try three windows before I found this one!” the creature huffed, struggling to his feet and handing Kara the scroll.

  “Thank you, um…” Kara began. “Who are you?”

  “Alwyn, Secret Fairy Air Delivery, Second Division,” the creature supplied, then continued his complaints. “Royal deliveries are most difficult. You never know what kind of fairy guards are out there!”

  “Would you like something to drink?” Kara gestured to a table on the opposite side of the room, piled high with brightly colored fruits and a large bowl of sparkling purple liquid.

  “Don’t mind if I do,” Alwyn grumbled, heaving himself into the air. He landed with a giant splash in the middle of the punch bowl and sighed happily. “Ooo, that feels good.”

  The enchanted accessories gathered around as Kara slipped the ribbon off the parchment and carefully unrolled it. Glowing purple and silver calligraphy shimmered from the black paper:

  MIDNIGHT MASQUERADE FAIRY RAVE TONIGHT AT THE FAERY ISLE - BY INVITATION ONLY

  “A party!” Skirmish shrieked, falling off the table in her excitement.

  “That’s no ordinary party, it’s a fairy rave!” Whiffle cried eagerly.

  “Yaaaay!” The toiletries all jumped up and down, Puffdoggy joyfully releasing clouds of powder.

  “Who sent this?” Kara asked the strange bird.

  “Turn it over,” Alwyn answered, floating on his back and gargling.

  Kara flipped the invitation over. On the back was a hand written note: If you want to help Lyra, meet me at the rave. The Forest Prince.

  The Forest Prince. He’d saved her life, but everyone at the Fairy Ring had called him a thief. Could she trust him? And a secret midnight rave didn’t sound exactly aboveboard. Still, if he could really tell her how to help Lyra…

  Alwyn hauled himself out of the bowl and leaped to the windowsill. “Back to work—I still have many more invitations to deliver. Your ride will pick you up at eleven-thirty sharp.” With that, the bird fell out the window and dropped like a stone. “Ahhh, wet wing, wet wing!”

  “Wait!” Kara cried, running to the window as the gray and green creature careened crookedly across the fairy gardens. She turned, stomped back, and flopped face down on the bed.

  “Are you going?” Mirabelle asked excitedly, her small round mirror face flashing.

  “Look at me,” Kara cried into the pillow. “How can I possibly go to a party?”

  Angelo and Skirmish leaped onto the bed and began inspecting the princess up and down.

  “Hmmm, yes, this is a challenge,” Angelo concluded, and snapped to attention. “Puffdoggie, prepare the princess’s bath at once!”

  The powder puff bounced into an adjoining room. Kara heard water filling a tub.

  “I can’t wear this,” Kara groaned, “and I don’t have anything else.” She flopped backward on the bed. Her beautiful dress was ruined.

  “If you will please follow me, Princess.” Angelo jumped off the bed and walked to a golden door in the left corner of the room.

  “A Fairy Princess closet?” Kara could totally go for that. There were bound to be dozens of gorgeous gowns in there.

  She flounced over and flung the door open excitedly.

  “It’s empty!” she wailed, looking inside the vacant, white-walled closet.

  “Well, of course it is,” Skirmish said. “Step inside and tell it what you want.”

  “No way!” Kara walked inside, Goldie chirping excitedly on her shoulder.

  The closet expanded, instantly surrounding them with gleaming walls. The rest of her bedroom disappeared, leaving only she, Goldie, and the enchanted accessories in a bright white void.

  Kara cleared her throat and said, “I want a costume.”

  In a burst of twinkles, a black and white cow costume appeared and rotated slowly in midair.

  “Tee heep,” Goldie chuckled.

  “Not that kind of costume!” Kara said.

  Mirabelle snapped open and closed. “The princess needs beautiful dresses!”

  The cow costume disappeared, and dozens of glittering ball gowns of various designs and colors twirled before her wide eyes. This was more like it.

  “No, no, no! Be gone!” Skirmish commanded.

  The rows of dresses vanished, and Kara frowned, dismayed.

  “She needs something different, something that will make her really stand out in a crowd!” the brush continued.

  Another burst of twinkles morphed into an outrageous orange sequined suit with a pair of stilts.

  Kara and Goldie looked at each other and shook their heads dismissively.

  Angelo clapped his feet. “Something in a more classic style!”

  A drab dress of dark blue with a high collar and straight
skirt rotated in the air.

  “Much better,” the comb said happily. “Elegant and understated.”

  “And boring,” Kara commented. It was time she took things into her own hands, now that she saw how this worked. Standing in the center of the closet, she called out, “I need a ball gown in violet silk, with an embroidered bodice, long sleeves, and a dropped A-line skirt.”

  A richly colored dress materialized and spun in the air. It looked exactly as Kara had envisioned it.

  “Marvelous!” Skirmish cried.

  “Inspired!” Angelo exclaimed.

  Puffdoggy barked in agreement.

  “Wait!” Tapping fingers to her lips, Kara considered. “It needs something else.” She put her fashion sense into overdrive. “Emerald, sapphire, and yellow topaz beading along the bodice.”

  “Ooooo.” The accessories swooned at the swirling patterns of glittering gems.

  The color theme gave Kara another idea. “Peacock feathers along the back of the neck and embroidered on the cuffs, and a violet satin mask with peacock feathers to match.”

  Kara’s alterations magically appeared, until the most amazing dress she’d ever seen twirled gracefully before her eyes.

  “She is a genius!” Whiffle cried. “An auteur!”

  “I so have to get one of these closets at home,” Kara exclaimed, overawed.

  “Shoes!” Goldie squeaked.

  “How could I forget the best part?” Kara gratefully hugged the mini. “With matching purse!”

  By the time she was through, she had a pair of purple satin slippers with two-inch heels, each glittering with a jeweled peacock feather.

  “Amazing!” Mirabelle exclaimed. “Your fashion magic is unequaled in the Fairy Realms.”

  “And on Earth.” Kara bowed.

  “Come, we must bustle!” Angelo clapped his feet. “Princess, in there!” Angelo pointed his comb-teeth to the steam-filled bathroom and the large golden tub in its center. “The rest of you.” He pointed to the others. “Let’s get busy!”

  The accessories quivered with excitement as they prepared Kara’s magical makeover.

  Once totally scrubbed and squeaky clean, Kara sat in a fluffy pink robe at the vanity, munching on sweet fruits and flaky pastries. Skirmish dove into her hair with a wild cry and twirled among her tresses, creating gorgeous looping curls on the right side of her head. Angelo combed the left side straight until it gleamed like a sheet of gold. Comb and brush glared angrily at each other when they saw what the other had done, and started tussling.

  Mirabelle flapped open, and iridescent sparkling eyeshadow soared out, dusting Kara’s lids. The eyeshadow’s opalescent shine highlighted her blue eyes perfectly.

  With a bark, Puffdoggie leaped and bounced off the back of the vanity, sliding open a rear panel. Dozens of crystal lipstick tubes swirled in elegant loops, displaying colors from ice pink to deep mulberry red to glittering violet. Kara chose a shimmering shade of dusky rose that would pick up the purple of her dress and bring out the natural pink of her cheeks.

  “And now for the dress.” Kara disappeared behind a vine-covered dressing screen in the corner of the room and emerged a moment later. The enchanted objects stood in awe as she examined herself in the mirror. She reached up to the curls piled high atop her head.

  “No!” Skirmish cried. “I’ve been fighting tangles all my life, and I know what’s what. Don’t touch anything!”

  Kara smiled, tugging free a lock at her temple. It spiraled down, gently framing her face.

  “Except that!” Skirmish was beside herself. “You are a diva, my lady!”

  “One final touch.” Whiffle spritzed a pink mist. A wonderful scent of jasmine enveloped Kara, with a hint of citrus to balance the sweetness.

  “It’s incredible, Whiffle!” Kara exclaimed.

  “I know,” the crystal atomizer sniffed. “I call it ‘Morning Pew.’”

  Carefully arranging the peacock mask, Kara surveyed the final effect. The rich colors of her dress ser off her gleaming blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes.

  “Hey, where’s Goldie?”

  The closet door swung open, and Goldie appeared, decked out in a glittering silver and gold lame` tuxedo, complete with a feather mask.

  “Perfect!” Kara squealed, clapping her hands.

  Unable to control themselves, the accessories burst into a rousing cheer as Kara and Goldie pirouetted in front of the mirror.

  “Da bomb!” Skirmish and Angelo cried happily, for once in absolute agreement.

  Something darker than the night alighted just outside the window. Large as a horse with shimmering black wings, a giant bat creature turned bright green eyes to Kara.

  “Princess, your ride is here,” Angelo announced.

  Kara nodded. She was ready to go.

  KARA GRIPPED THE leather saddle as the large bat creature sliced through thin clouds into silvery night sky. Below were lush forests, and every so often, mysterious glades hidden in star shadow. Dark mountains ringed the distance, hugged by billowing clouds, deep and thick barriers at the edge of the world.

  With a slight rumble, the bat ducked its head and swooped low, gliding over a huge lake that gleamed like liquid moonlight. In the distance, a mist-shrouded island rose from the luminous waters. Ablaze with lights, the isle twinkled like a floating jewel.

  The bat glided onto smooth silver stones near the lakeshore, setting down neatly between a pegasus and a flying carpet. Music echoed across the still waters.

  “Thanks.” Kara patted her steed’s leathery neck as she slid to the ground and straightened her dress. She looked up in awe. Hordes of costumed creatures were entering through a crystal archway. She had no idea what kinds of creatures hid beneath the elaborate disguises and sparkling masks; it was probably just as well.

  Relax, Kara told herself. Parties were her natural environment. If anyone knew how to handle a tricky social situation, it was her.

  Sauntering to the end of the line, she looked around for the Forest Prince, but he was nowhere to be seen.

  “… the Queen’s Fairy Ring was, like, completely destroyed!” The creature in line in front of her, wearing a floppy headdress shaped like a crescent moon, gestured excitedly as he spoke to his friend.

  Word got around even faster in the Fairy Realms than it did through the grapevine at Stonehill Middle School, Kara thought.

  “The Fairies are desperate,” the second creature declared. It was smaller than the first, and Kara saw bits of orange fur poking out from its giant fish head costume. “If they can’t find that power crystal, the goblins will declare war. That’s all we need, kingdom against kingdom fighting over the magic. No war! No war!” it shouted, encouraging the others in line to start chanting. The fish head turned to Kara. “What do you say?”

  “Um…” Kara quickly glanced down. Her unicorn gem was safely hidden inside her bodice. “War, what’s it good for?”

  “Absotootly nothing!” Goldie concluded.

  “Excuse me.” Kara hurried up the line looking for the Forest Prince.

  “Hey! No cutting in line,” someone called out.

  Kara scanned the crowd. “I’m just looking for some—doof!”

  Had she walked into a wall? Or…

  Uh-oh. Kara looked up. And up. And up. A hulking two-headed beast was staring at her. Not in a friendly way. Each of the creature’s heads wore a floppy elephant trunk mask, and beneath the black velvet costume Kara caught a flash of scaly gray skin and bulging muscles. All four of its malevolent orange eyes were trained on Kara.

  “Invitation?” One head scowled.

  Kara panicked. Everyone else had small invitations made of bark with a mysterious symbol etched onto them. They looked nothing like her black parchment with glittering purple writing. Was she in the wrong place?

  “Here ya go.” She casually slipped the invitation from her purse.

  The creature snatched the parchment, then turned around and bellowed through both mouths. “We got a PIG
here!”

  “Hey!” Kara exclaimed.

  Goldie blew a raspberry at the creature.

  “This invitation says you’re a PIG,” one head growled.

  “Pretty Important Guest,” the other head snarled.

  “That way,” both heads chorused. The thing pointed to a separate glowing archway up the path.

  “Oh,” Kara gulped. “Thanks.”

  “Ooooo.” The crowd was impressed. “Who is that? Told ya this is the rave to be at.”

  “No conjuring, no enchantments, no spells that last more than an hour…” the two-headed bouncer called out to the crowd.

  “Let’s get this party started,” she told Goldie and walked briskly through the arch—straight into the wildest party she had ever seen! Music thundered, pounding across the glade. Floating fairy lanterns strobed deep colors across a mass of partiers rocking out on the dance floor. The place was jammed!

  On a stage of carved stone inlaid with gleaming onyx, a costumed DJ was rocking the crowd into a dancing frenzy.

  A fierce looking lizard creature raised his head from a mug of steaming liquid and sniffed. Tapping his buddies, he nodded toward Kara.

  “Goldie, see if you can spot mystery guy,” Kara said, searching high and low among the costumed throngs.

  The d-fly took off just as dozens of small winged fairies glided over Kara, dusting her with twinkles of lights. Goldie twirled in the air, spinning and tumbling happily.

  “GaK!”

  A large, clawed hand grabbed the d-fly in a huge scaly fist. Goldie burst into sparkles and vanished.

  “What do you think you’re doing!” Kara’s temper flared red hot, her jewel pulsing dangerously inside her dress.

  “I caught a fairy dragon,” the massive lizard chuckled, revealing a long set of sharp teeth. He opened his empty fist and scowled.

  “That’s my fairy dragon!”

  “Fe, fi, fo, fum. I smell magic, gonna get me some.” The giant creature advanced menacingly, making Kara cringe. Its thick neck and torso were covered in black leather studded with chrome buckles and spikes.

  “I smell something worse.” Another lizard monster loomed over her, blocking any escape. “A human with magic!”

  A golden bubble popped behind Kara. Goldie walked up her shoulder, straightened her tux and stuck out her tongue.