When Sophie arrived at the castle, her cousin Janet greeted her. Naturally, Sophie is very curious about what’s going on.
Sophie hugged her cousin tightly. ‘You going to tell me what the heck is happening?’ she muttered into Janet’s neck.
Janet pulled back, held Sophie’s arms. ‘I guess an explanation is in order. Come up to my room, we’ll have breakfast and I’ll tell you what I found out from our grandparents last night.’
‘Our grandparents? Aren’t they dead?’ Sophie waited to wake from this surrealistic dream. Which proceeded to get more interesting.
‘Not these grandparents, very much alive and will be for a long, long time. If we do our job right. Come on, let me explain.’
A gentle warmth touched Sophie’s cheek. She swung about to say thank you to Dragon for bringing her here, but he had already turned his back on her and was lumbering (dragons are clumsy when walking) through the wide-eyed crowd towards the gates to the courtyard.
‘He’s off to his den, for a rest,’ Janet said. ‘He’s had a busy couple of days.’
Janet kept hold of Sophie’s arm and led her inside the castle, up endless flights of stairs and into a room at the top of a tower. Sophie gazed at the high arched ceiling and the view through thick glass doors to a balcony overlooking a vast and ancient forest. She liked this part of the dream, especially when she spotted the plates of warm pastries, a jug of an exotic looking juice, and a pot of divine-smelling coffee sitting on a low table, cushions around it. Pixie and Fairy were already tucking in with relish.
Sophie joined them, took a pastry and with her mouth full demanded, ‘Explain!’
Janet sat opposite, poured coffees and handed one to Sophie.
‘Let’s start with what you know, that our mothers are sisters.’
Sophie nodded.
‘But their parents aren’t dead.’ Janet paused, gazed at Sophie. ‘When we were small, we used to play at dragons under the willow tree, right?’
‘Uh, uh.’ Was this another game, but more vivid? Sophie tasted the very real pastries and sighed.
Once, back then,’ Janet said, ‘Dragon brought me here. The Goblin King sent me to free the king and queen from a terrible Green Giant. I thought then that the king and queen were my other parents, my real ones.’ Janet shrugged. ‘I was young.’
‘But they’re really our grandparents?’
‘Yes.’ Janet held Sophie’s gaze, serious, and very much awake. ‘We are fairy princesses, Sophie, with magical powers. Our mothers rebelled against the magic, found their way into the other world and tried to live normal lives.’
‘Uh, uh.’ Fairy princess? Sophie tossed back her hair, imagining the feel of a crown on her head.
‘But the king set the Goblin King to look after me, to train me and make sure I would be prepared for whatever the future might bring.’
Sophie bridled. ‘Why not me?’
‘Your mother forbade it, and her wishes had to be met.’
Sophie loved her mother, but denying her the chance to prepare for her inheritance was a shadow on that love. And now she remembered why she had been on her way home when the dragon found her.
‘Mum’s fading away, literally.’ She set down her pastry, appetite lost. ‘Your fairy told me the only way to save her was for me to come to you. What’s going on? Why is Mum sick, and what did the fairy mean?’
Janet stood and held out her hand. ‘Let me show you.’
Sophie let herself be pulled up from the cushions and she and Janet made their way to the thick glass, which shimmered and disappeared as they approached, allowing them to walk on to the balcony.’
‘It’s all to do with the trees,’ Janet said.
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HE TURNED HIS BACK ON HER
“Excuse me, can you give me a light?” Sarah was more demanding than polite.
Clint gave her a cursory glance then turned his back on her.
She prodded him once more.
“A light..a light…can you give me a light?” More insistent, cigarette dangling in her right hand.
Clint continued to ignore her until, totally miffed, she returned to the bevy of young women she had just left, cigarette still unlit.
“What a cad! Look at how he ignores me. It’s like I don’t even exist.” A right foot stomp added to the drama.
“Well, you did dump him, darling, for that handsome young polo player,” her best friend Susan gently reminded her.
“I know that, but what’s that got to do with him refusing to light my cigarette?”
“Perhaps it’s his way of protesting,” Susan responded.
“Just plain rude, that’s what it is,” Sarah stormed.
Susan sighed. Her friend was always so dramatic in everything she said and did – had been like that since they were children.
Stunningly beautiful with shoulder length auburn hair and bright green eyes, Sarah had always known how to attract men – and how to manipulate them.
That is, until she had met Clint. Clint refused to be swayed by her charms and totally ignored her childish tantrums – so much so that after six months of dating she had told him she didn’t want to see him anymore.
Clint barely turned a hair at her dismissal, simply moved onto the next girl in his sights without a single regret – at least that was how Sarah perceived it.
And now, he wouldn’t even light her cigarette! How beastly!
“I’ll show him. Teach him not to ignore me!”
With that she charged across the room and confronted her former boyfriend.
“What’s wrong with you? Why are you ignoring me? Why won’t you light my cigarette? Sarah spluttered, totally enraged.
Clint looked at her superciliously.
“Have you quite finished with the tantrum?” he inquired politely.
“Tantrum? What tantrum? I don’t do tantrums,” she yelled, her face reddening.
“Well, what do you call this then?”
“This isn’t a tantrum. This is me demanding you light my cigarette!”
“Why should I? You ae perfectly capable of lighting your own.”
“That’s not the point. A gentleman always lights a lady’s cigarette when she asks. It’s the done thing.” Sarah’s exasperation knew no bounds.
“Lady? What lady? I don’t see any lady here,” Clint responded with a slightly quirky smile.
“Ooh, you are so infuriating,” Sarah screamed and flounced back to her friends, steam spewing from her ears.
Becoming very intriguing – where to next? Will Mum survive?
I wish I knew!