The Wonder World of Fairies C. W

Lucy and Jenna were playing in the woods. Lucy told Jenna to get more sticks. *Scratch scratch* went Lucy's shoes in the tree. Lucy was balancing sticks to make a platform in the tree. Lucy could smell the wood that she was using. “Where did Jenna go?” she thought. “She probably is getting lots of wood. I'll go help her.” She thought as she climbed down from the tree. *Crunch* went the leaves under her feet.

It had been raining before they came out to play, so Lucy could see Jenna's footprints. She followed the footprints. It was getting dark, so Lucy was starting to worry about her little sister. Lucy started calling Jenna’s name, “Jenna... Jenna...” No answer. Lucy called her name again. Still, no answer. She had gone so far into the woods Lucy could not tell where she was anymore. Lucy could no longer find Jenna’s footprints.

It was pitch dark out now and Lucy had to keep her hands up so she wouldn't hit anything. Then Lucy saw a light! “Is it Jenna?” thought Lucy. But the light was not yellow or orange or not even blue... it was PURPLE! “Why is that light purple and why is it in the middle of the woods?” thought Lucy. She started walking towards it...but when she got close, it went out! She found red hot coals where the light had been. Lucy picked up a dry stick and put it in the hot coals. A couple of seconds later, the tip of the stick lit on fire. Lucy could now see a cave nearby in the light of her burning stick. She started to feel some rain. *Drip drop* went the rain. The rain was cold. It felt like needles on Lucy’s skin. She started walking towards the cave to get out of the rain.

Once she was inside the cave, Lucy could see shimmering crystals on the walls of the cave. She walked further into the

cave realizing that the ground was going downhill. It was all dark except for her almost burnt-out fire stick. After more walking, she came to a big door. “What is this?” thought Lucy, “Did Jenna go in here?” She had walked so far, she could not see the entrance anymore, so she pushed the door open.

A flash of light hit her face like a big wave of water! She started to see again. The grass was green as the summer leaves, and it looked like Lucy was in a beautiful fairy garden. She saw a majestic castle in front of her. “Maybe whoever is in there can tell me where I am.” Lucy thought, so she knocked on the door with no answer. She knocked again... no answer. She knocked one last time and finally the door opened and a short, frightened-looking elf answered the door.

“H-h-hi,” the little elf said. “What can I help you with?”

“I'm wondering where I am?” said Lucy.

“Come, come.” said the little elf.

They walked down a hallway and came to a door. The elf took a key out of his pocket and put it in the lock. The door swung open and there was a map. “You are in Fairy Wonderland,” said the elf. Lucy walked up to the map. The elf pointed to a drawing of a castle. “You are here,” he said. “Me has to go,” he said in a funny voice and then he left. Lucy looked over the map and everything was colorful, all except for a dark place at the corner of the map. The little elf came in again.

When he saw what Lucy was looking at, he said, “That is the dark realm. We must never go there for it is far too

dangerous for us! There is good and bad here. Queen Elizabeth is Queen of Good, but her evil sister was jealous and became Queen of Bad. We have the Crystal of Life on the good side, but if they take it and bring it to the dark side, all will be gone, and evil will rule the fairy Wonderland…”

The little elf's eyes got as big as saucers. He was looking at the window on the other side of the room. There was a Dark Mist outside of the window. “Come with me. We need to hide!” he said.

“What is this? And why is it here?” said Lucy.

“The Dark Queen has cast a mist over Fairy Wonderland. We must hide and not let it touch us or we will fall under an evil spell. Follow me, we'll go to the basement.”

The little frightened elf and Lucy went down five flights of stairs. Finally, they got to a door. Inside, there were cobwebs everywhere. “We are protected down here. Every once in a while, the Dark Queen cast a dark mist over Fairy Wonderland,” the elf explained. “Usually, she attacks after it, so the mist is a distraction. We should be safe down here. The Guards will go by every station needed to protect the Crystal. We have always been prepared and we never let the Dark Queen get the Crystal of Life, but it's been really hard to guard because there's a sickness going around. A lot of guards are not healthy enough to fight, so we've just been hiding whenever the mist comes. All of the guards that can fight go out whenever they can. But, the sickness got the best of some of our guards and there's only like three guards out right now. We must be prepared and we must protect the crystal!” said the little elf.

“I don't know,” the elf said. The little elf coughed. “I'm afraid I might have the sickness. I cannot help you anymore. I would not like it if you got sick too. I will tell you if there's anything we can do about it in a letter, okay?”

“Okay,” said Lucy. The elf left. Lucy sat down, she felt depressed and scared. Everything was going wrong. “This mess is not good; people are getting sick.” Lucy thought. She was numb. What was she going to do? She felt like crying. About 20 minutes later the fog started to clear up. A note slipped under the door. It looked like it was from the elf! It read:

Dear Lucy,

The Mist has cleared up. We are allowed to go upstairs now, but do not go outside. I have to stay in my room so you will be on your own. I found another elf to help you. He's waiting upstairs. Good Luck.

Lucy opened the door and nobody was there. She went up all 5 flights of stairs she had come down on. There, like the elf said, was another elf, but he wasn't a small elf. It was a big tough looking elf!

“The Queen wants to see you,” he said in a big booming voice.

“Okay…” said Lucy.

“Follow me,” said the elf. They started walking down another long corridor. They got to a door. It was a very fancy

door, with diamonds encrusted all over it. “You can go in,” the big elf said.

Lucy opened the door and entered a large room with a throne. Sitting on the throne was a beautiful mystical woman wearing a long flowing gown. She looked like an angel.

“Hello,” she said in a voice as sweet as honey.

“Hi,'' said Lucy, “why did you want to see me?”

“I think Georgie the little elf has told you about this mess and hopefully he brought you down to the basement.” said the Queen.

“Yes, he did, so why do you need me?” asked Lucy.

The Queen replied, “Well, he said that you wanted to help, and there is a way. But it's a little dangerous and you're going to have to get out of the castle to do it. You're going to have to go to the Dark Realm.”

Lucy said, “tell me what it is and I'm up for it! I want to help save this Fairy Wonderland. Also, the reason I'm here is because I believe that my sister, Jenna, is here. Have you seen her? She has brown hair and a jumper on.”

The Queen looked worried for a second and then said, “ well, I did see someone like her come in, but she was overtaken by the Mist... I have a feeling she is at the Dark Castle. I'm sorry, but I don't know if we can save her.”

“I will do anything to save her. She’s my sister!” Lucy said. “I care about her, and I have to bring her home.”

“Okay, I understand,” said the queen. “There is one way you can save Jenna, but it's going to be really hard.” The Queen continued, “There is a mushroom patch over on the side of the castle. If you go there, there's a couple of special mushrooms that are pink and green. Take one mushroom and place it in this bag.” The Queen handed Lucy a black velvet bag and a map. “Next, you need water from the enchanted lake shown here on this map. Then you need one rose flower petal. Finally, you need a hawk’s feather. If you get all of those ingredients to make the soup and succeed to make your sister drink it, she may come back to her senses. We've never tried it before, but it is an ancient recipe. I hope it works, but if it doesn't work, we can't be sad.”

“Ok, I’m ready to go.” said Lucy.

“Great, but first I will take you to The Armor Room where you can pick an outfit. Follow me,” said the Queen. Lucy nodded and followed the queen. They went through another long corridor and came to a thick door. The Queen opened the door and Lucy went into the room.

Inside, there were five glass containers holding the most beautiful armor she had ever seen. The first one was black and gold and had a snake texture to it. The second one was hot pink and rose gold and had spikes all over it. The third one was blue and black and had a smooth texture. The fourth one was silver and purple and had a bumpy texture to it. The last one was green and silver and had little spikes on the shoulders, knees, elbows and head. Lucy picked the third one because it reminded her of the ocean. She opened the glass door and took out the armor.

There was a changing room, so she went in and changed. When she came out there was a full-length mirror. She looked like a warrior. She came out of the room to show the Queen, but she was gone. Lucy started walking back to the front door. “She is probably just busy,” Lucy thought.

Lucy went outside to begin her journey to the Dark Castle. The castle was far away, but Lucy was determined to find Jenna. She saw the mushroom patch the queen was talking about. Lucy found the pink and green mushroom and put it in the bag the queen gave her and mashed it up. Next, she headed to the enchanted lake. When she got there, she scooped some enchanted water up with her hand and put it in the bag and mixed it. The Queen gave Lucy a map of fairy wonderland, so she knew where the flower patch was. When she got there, she found the rose flowers, plucked one little pedal off of a flower and put it in the bag. Last, she headed for the hawk’s nest that was in a tree nearby. Lucy carefully climbed the tree and, in the nest, she found a hawk feather. It took her all day to gather the ingredients and get to the Dark Castle. The Dark Castle looked just like the Good Castle, but it was purple and black everywhere and there were mean looking guards at every opening. It was almost nighttime so Lucy decided that she would wait until night to strike.

When it was nighttime, she got up from behind the bush she was hiding in, and the guards were asleep. She crept to the back door and opened it. It was unlocked! Inside the castle was dark, all except for a few torches. Lucy started walking forward slowly. It was so quiet she could hear her footsteps. *Tap tap* went her feet. She kept walking and walking until she came to a door. Lucy slowly pushed the

door open and inside was a… cage! And inside the cage was... JENNA!!!

Jenna was tied to a chair and had tape on her mouth. She had scrapes all over her face, hands, and knees. She had tear stains on her face. When Jenna saw Lucy, she started to cry again. Lucy hurried and looked around for a key to the cage. She found it on a chair. Lucy grabbed the key and put it in the lock to the cage. The cage opened and Lucy took the tape off Jenna's face. Lucy gave Jenna the bag with the potion. “Drink this and you'll feel much better,” said Lucy to Jenna. Jenna took the bag and drank it all.

Magically, all of Jenna’s scratches and cuts went away! She was clean and looked good. “Come on Jenna, we gotta get out of here before someone catches us!” said Lucy.

“Good idea,” said Jenna.

They started walking back down the long hallway. When they got outside, they were too tired to walk the long trip back to the Good Realm, so they camped out in a nearby empty shed. In the morning they started walking back again. When they got back to the castle, everyone was excited to see them. They said thank you and goodbye to everyone and started to head back home. They went to the entrance that they came in. They pushed open the big door and they were back in the cave. It was still nighttime!

Lucy and Jenna were confused. “Why is it still nighttime?” they said at the same time.

They decided to hurry back to Fairy Wonderland and went to the Queen's room. They asked her why it was still night

when they had been there for two days. “Oh!” the queen said, “I forgot to tell you! Time stops in the real world when a human enters Fairy Wonderland.”

“Well, that explains it!” Lucy said.

They went back to the real world. Lucy and Jenna walked up the long cave path and into the woods. They found their way back to their tree fort and then went home. At home, their mother asked, “ what were you girls up to today?” Lucy and Jenna looked at each other and said, “Nothing much.” They both laughed.

Now both Jenna and Lucy always visit Fairy Wonderland whenever they get a chance. Little Georgie found a cure to the sickness. The Queen was honored to have a person like Lucy save the day for Fairy Wonderland and is always happy to see Lucy and Jenna when they visit.

The End.

C. W., Grade 4 Southview Elementary School, Waconia Teaching Artist, Stephen Peters