Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Trick or Treat ❯ Test of the Fairy ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: Yet again, I do not own fairies, princesses, ninjas, pirates, pirate ninjas, schoolgirls of the killer or dead variety, foxes, fox-girls, hobos, or candy companies of any sort. I also do not own the idea of haunted houses or portals to other dimensions. And I definitely do not own Nancy, Katy, Sapphire, Jaci, April, or David, although I do own myself. And I do not own anything else that may be mentioned in this story, whose ownership by me may be questionable. I own The Voice, although I do not own the person who is The Voice.

 

Trick or Treat

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Chapter Three

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© 2007 Ohne Sie

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Jaci had tried three additional doors after seeing David disappear through one of them. She had also seen the same thing happen to Katy a few minutes earlier. She wondered vaguely if she would be able to find the door her key fit in time to save her best friend. Then, to her amazement, her key turned and the door she stood beside opened. She stepped inside and found herself in a thick forest.

 

“Strange,” she said to herself. There air was crisp and there was a slight breeze. She looked down, noticing that the ground seemed to be much further away than it normally was. Everything seemed much larger, as well.

 

She frowned, wondering what all of this could mean, when she heard someone say, “Hello, Jaci. Welcome to your home. You're a fairy, and that means you have to be perpetually elusive in order to escape butterfly nets wielded by fairy hunters. And before you say that fairy hunters, as well as fairies, don't exist, I'm going to tell you, that yes, they do. And they'll find you if you aren't careful.” The Voice laughed. “You'll have to go into their camp, and find something for me. It will be in one of their bags, so you'll have to get very close to them, without being caught.”

 

“What do I have to find?” Jaci asked.

 

“You'll figure it out. It will be very small, like you, smaller than it would normally be. It has to be small in order for you to carry it back here. So remember this spot, and also remember that you have only one hour and forty-nine minutes to make it back here successfully. Two of your friends are already far along in their tests. Don't let them down by failing yours. Go.”

 

Jaci had never failed anything in her life, but she wondered how she could possibly pass this test, when she had no idea where the fairy hunters' camp was. She was nervous, but despite her nervousness, she smelled something strange. She realized that she had apparently become a fairy, and, in doing so, had all of the powers a fairy would have, included heightened senses. Her enhanced sense of smell revealed to her that there was something strange in the forest; something she should avoid. Of course, she went toward it without hesitation.

 

She got closer, and, upon seeing the humans and their tents in front of her, Jaci hid herself on a tree limb. She surveyed the area, trying to figure out the easiest way to get to the bags without being seen. A few times she thought one of the men spotted her, but they always looked away. One of them was holding a strange computerized device. It beeped when he aimed it in her direction. Terrified that it was some sort of fairy detector, Jaci flew toward another tree. The device stopped beeping and the man frowned. Then it started beeping again, while still being aimed at the same tree. The man waved his friends over, and they all went forward to investigate the tree. Jaci saw her chance and flew toward the bags. She thought that she heard a familiar giggle, but she shook her head, convinced she was imagining things, and focused on the task at hand: finding whatever object The Voice wanted.

 

Unzipping the backpacks proved to be a more daunting task that she had first realized. Jaci was only slightly larger than the zippers themselves. She pulled with all of her strength and barely managed to unzip the bag an inch. Still, it was enough for her to fly in and investigate the bag. Unfortunately, the bag was dark. However, instinctively, Jaci felt herself light up the bag, using some sort of built-in fairy light in her hands. “Cool,” she said, using the light to guide her way through the confines of the bag. She encountered some very foul-smelling clothes, and it took all of her resolve not to keel over right there. She spent a few moments searching the bag, but found nothing that was unusually small. She finally decided that she should try one of the other bags.

 

She flew to the second bag, unzipping it the same amount as she had the last one. She worked quickly, knowing that the fairy hunters would probably not be distracted for long. “Bingo,” she said, finding the object for which she had apparently been searching. It was sheet music, except that it was appropriately-sized for her. She rolled it up and shoved it in her sock, wondering what use The Voice had for sheet music. Then she flew out of the bag.

 

The men were coming back. Jaci panicked, flying behind the bag? “Now what?” she asked herself. If she flew out of the tent, she would probably be seen. But if she stayed in the tent, she wouldn't make it out in time. While she debated what she should do, her eyes fell on a tiny, dime-sized hole in the side of the tent canvas. She flew over to it, determined to squeeze through. Her head fit, but her wings got stuck. She tried to get her arms behind her back to flatten her wings out, but she couldn't do it. She was stuck. She pulled her head back out of the hole and tried to go through again, this time feet-first. Again, her wings were stuck. She rested her feet against the canvas and, using them as leverage, pried her wings through the hole. She flew backward, nearly hitting a tree, but she realized that she was free. Her wings hurt, but she was free. She wasted no time in zipping back through the forest. She only hoped that she had found the sheet music in time.

 

Finally she reached the area from where she had started. Amazed that she had made it back, despite paying no attention to where she was going, Jaci announced, “I'm here! I made it! Now take me back home!”

 

“Very well,” The Voice said. A door appeared and Jaci ran through it without listening to what The Voice said. “Okay, fine, don't listen,” The Voice said, clearly perturbed. “Just put the music on the desk next to the candelabrum and the ring and go through the other door. Sit on the couch and talk to your friends, whatever.” He sighed.

 

Jaci did as he told her, and said nothing. She was ecstatic when she saw Katy and David sitting on a couch in the next room. “You guys made it!” she said happily.

 

“Yeah, but Nancy, Sapphire, and April are still not here,” Katy said.

 

“And they've only got fifty-seven minutes,” David said. “I don't think they'll make it in time.”

 

“We did, didn't we?” Jaci asked. “I'm sure they'll make it.” I hope…