Alexa ventured another peek through the branches. “Swim?” she asked.
“Show yourself,” commanded the brunette. She sounded stern.
The archer tripped clumsily. “Whoa! Ahhh, legs!” she cried, righting herself.
“Just come out!” huffed the brunette.
Alexa bit her lip. She didn’t have much choice. After all, she was a stranger here—not to mention the fact that she didn’t have a bow and arrow. Alexa crept out from under the bush. She nervously brushed leaves from her dress.
The two girls looked her up and down, examining her.
“Who are you and— Wait. A tiara? Are you a princess?” asked the brunette.
“I’m Princess Alexa,” she said, bending to curtsey.
As she did, she noticed that her clothes had changed completely! Her everyday dress was gone, and in its place she wore a glittering gown of neon pink.
How had this happened?
Alexa glanced in the direction of the tunnel and scratched her head.
In front of her, the two girls dropped to their knees, in the clumsiest curtsies Alexa had ever seen. They tried to address her properly.
“Your Highness, my name is Nori,” said the brunette seriously.
“And my name is Romy, Your Princessness,” the archer said, flopping to the ground in a dramatic curtsey.
Princess Alexa stifled a laugh. “I’m sorry,” she said shyly. “Maybe I should just go back the way I came and—”
“No! Stay!” Nori said.
Romy jumped up from the ground. “You can help us!” she cried eagerly. Then she turned to Nori. “She can help us!”
Alexa looked from one girl to the other, confused. “Wh-what are you talking about? Help with what?”
“Well.” Nori sighed, unsure how to begin. Then she told Alexa about a princess named Malucia.
Malucia’s parents ruled the kingdom of Zinnia with magic and love. But Malucia had been born without magic—in a kingdom where everyone else had it. The princess decided that if she couldn’t make magic of her own, she would take it from others.
So she waited for her parents to go on a trip. Then she began terrorizing the land with her army, stealing the magical powers of all the creatures she could get her hands on.
“She took my wings away,” Nori continued, explaining that she used to be a fairy, free to flutter wherever she pleased. “But now our luck will change because you’re here.”
Alexa shook her head. “I’m still not sure what you think I can do,” she said.
“Malucia came and took my tail away,” Romy said, hanging her head sadly. “No more swimming for me.”
“I’m so sorry. That’s horrible!” Alexa exclaimed. “Are you a fish?”
Romy laughed. “No, a mermaid!” she declared.
Everything was starting to make sense to Alexa. No wonder Nori and Romy seemed so unsure on their feet—they were used to flying and swimming instead. And in their world, princesses had magic, which was why they thought she could help.
There was just one problem: Alexa wasn’t from their world, so she didn’t have magic.
“Now that you’re here, all our problems will disappear,” Romy continued.
Nori signaled to the bushes nearby.
Before Alexa knew it, she was surrounded by fairies of all different sizes. Even some mermaids swam to the side of the river. They all wanted to see the princess who had come to save the day.
“Your Highness, you’re the only one who can rescue us,” Nori declared.
Alexa was sure Nori and Romy were joking. But as they stared at her expectantly, Alexa began to realize they were serious.
She had no idea what to do.
Alexa took a step back. “Look,” she said, as firmly as she could. “I’m very sorry to hear about this Malucia and what she did to you. But I can’t help anyone.”
Romy waved her hand through the air. “Well, sure you can!”
“With your magic!” cried Nori.
The fairies all around them nodded.
“I hate to disappoint you,” Alexa continued. “But I don’t have any magic.”
Nori and Romy looked confused.
“So you don’t know about that wand in your hair?” Romy asked, chuckling.
Now it was Alexa’s turn to look confused. “Wand?” She reached up and pulled out her hair stick. Sure enough, just like her dress had transformed, her hair stick was now a golden wand with a sparkling gem on top! She shook her head in disbelief. “I have no idea where this came from. Or the gown,” she said.
“How else does a princess dress?” Nori asked, unconvinced.
Alexa thought for a minute. “Well, for hanging out around the castle, I usually wear something like . . . how can I describe it? It’s sort of like . . .” She waved her wand absentmindedly.
Zing!
A beam of magic shot from her wand toward Nori. It knocked the wingless fairy to the ground.
“Oof!” Nori gasped.
Alexa rushed to her side. “Are you okay?”
Nori nodded. Then both girls looked at Nori’s outfit. She wore the very same dress that Alexa had been wearing when she’d left the royal garden only moments earlier!
“Whoa-ho-ho!” Romy shouted.
“Ugh, yellow!” Nori exclaimed, eyeing the dress suspiciously.
“Wow,” Alexa said. “Did I just do that?” She looked at her wand and wondered—was it really magic? There was only one way to find out.
“Let’s see if I can change it back!” she suggested. She waved her wand through the air a few times. Nothing happened. “Hang on, I’ll get it.” She flicked her wand again and waited. Still nothing.
“If I hold it like this or . . . ?” But nothing seemed to work. Just as quickly as Alexa’s magic had appeared, it seemed to have vanished.
One of the furry creatures Alexa had seen earlier bounced over to Nori. It gestured nervously. Nori held a hand to her ear. “Listen.”
Alexa heard a click-clicking noise nearby.
“Oh no!” Romy cried.
“Sniffers!” Nori whispered. “Malucia’s minions! They’ll smell your magic!”
Romy grabbed Alexa’s wand and lowered it. “Dive!” she called.
All of the mermaids, fairies, and creatures scattered away, frightened and panicked.
“Romy! You get the princess to the grove, and I’ll throw Sniff and Whiff off the scent,” Nori commanded.
“Come on, Alexa!” Romy grabbed Alexa by the arm and pulled her through the brush, tripping as she went. “Ugh! Legs!” she cried.
Alexa followed Romy as best she could, struggling to understand what was happening. Minions? Sniffers? Smelling magic?
She glanced over her shoulder and watched as Nori grabbed handfuls of leaves and herbs and scattered them on the ground.
“All right, sniffers, sniff this!” Nori called.
Romy and Alexa arrived at a large grove of thick trees. Nori joined them. They hid as two armadillo-like creatures rolled over the hill. They made a click-click-click sound as they moved about, sniffing Nori’s herbs.
Romy tugged on a nearby vine and three long silk ropes tumbled from the floating tree above.
“Here you go!” Romy said, swinging one of the ropes toward Alexa, who caught it in both hands.
“What’s this?” Alexa asked, putting her foot in a loop at the bottom of the rope, like Romy. Then she grasped it with both hands and waited. Suddenly, the rope shot upward into the tree.
“Hold tight!” Nori said, grabbing hold of her own rope.
Alexa clung to the rope with all her might as it zoomed through branches and leaves, rising higher and higher. She had never been so far off the ground before.
This must be how it feels to fly like a fairy! Alexa thought.
The rope stopped by a wooden platform built into the tree branches like a tree house. Following Nori and Romy’s lead, Alexa jumped onto the platform. The girls peered carefully over the edge.
Down below,
the sniffers unrolled themselves to get a better scent around the base of the tree.
“Ugh! Stenchweed!” cried the sniffer with the purple face.
The green-faced sniffer rolled his eyes. “Well, yeah, Sniff! A one-nostriled dipthorn with a cold could have picked that up!”
“But wait, wait, wait, Whiff. On the end I’m getting a hint of berry.” Sniff inhaled deeply. “And chocolate, leather undertones.”
Whiff threw up his paws. “What? Now you’re just making stuff up.” He sniffed the ground. “I’m not getting any of that!”
“That’s because your nose is shorter. Which is why Mom always liked me better,” Sniff teased.
“You’re just messing with me again,” Whiff said, frowning. “She never said that. Did she?”
Sniff put his nose to the ground once more and concentrated on picking up a scent.
“You better find the unicorns or Malucia is going to turn you into a clodwinkle,” Whiff warned.
“I better find them?” said Sniff. “Oh no, no, no, you better find them, you clodwinkle.”
“You’re a clodwinkle!”
The sniffers continued arguing with one another as they rolled out of sight.
One thing was certain: they’d both be in trouble if they didn’t find those unicorns for Malucia.
Up in the treetop, Nori and Romy sighed with relief.
Alexa struggled to put it all together. “What were those?” she stammered.
“Sniffers,” Nori replied. “They work for Princess Malucia. Let’s go. We’re almost home.”
The three climbed farther up the tree and ventured onto a floating piece of land. It rested in the air above the canopy of trees—impossible to see from the ground.
“Home!” Romy exclaimed.
“A strategically camouflaged hideout,” Nori said. “But, yeah, home.”
Alexa took in her surroundings. The island was bustling with life and beautiful beyond words. Fairies, both big and small, buzzed about. They weaved in and out of branches and vines, gathering fruit or playing games.
“This is— I can’t even— I love it!” Alexa cried, clasping her hands with delight.
Next, they walked through a canopy of branches to a clear, cool lagoon. It didn’t make sense that a lagoon could simply be hanging between the trees—yet here it was, mermaids splashing around lily pads and resting on shore. Alexa was speechless—she had read about fairylands and magical kingdoms in her books. But seeing one firsthand was beyond her wildest dreams.
Nori motioned for the fairies, mermaids, and other woodland creatures to gather around. “Attention!” she began. “This is Princess Alexa.”
“She’s come to save us,” Romy added.
The fairies and mermaids bowed to Alexa and chattered excitedly.
“We’re saved!”
“Welcome, Your Highness!”
Alexa shuffled her foot nervously. How was she going to tell them that she didn’t have the powers they thought she did?
Then some of the fairies noticed Nori’s princess clothes and began to giggle.
Nori’s face reddened. “Um, Princess Alexa, no one can take me seriously looking like this,” she complained.
In all the excitement, Alexa had forgotten that Nori was still dressed in princess gear.
“Your clothes! Hmm. Let’s see,” she said, placing her finger on her chin. “When the magic worked before, I was thinking about what I usually wear. So maybe—if I think—and point—” She closed her eyes and waved her wand, all the while thinking about Nori’s original clothes.
Zing!
A flash of pink magic zipped toward Nori. And her old clothes reappeared! The crowd gasped.
“Ah!” Nori exclaimed, relieved. “Thank you!”
“It worked!” Alexa cried.
Romy looked closely at Nori’s shirt. “You even got rid of the embarrassing berry stain!” she joked.
“That was embarrassing,” echoed a mermaid, chuckling.
Nori crossed her arms. “Hmph,” she said, pouting. But Alexa could tell she was trying not to laugh along with her friends.
Just then, Alexa felt someone—or something—nudge her from behind. She turned to see a small purple unicorn nuzzling her shoulder.
“Wow. Hello there,” Alexa said softly, patting the unicorn’s nose. She had never seen a real live unicorn before. Talk about magic!
Two more unicorns stepped forward—a rose-colored one and another sky blue. “Unbelievable.”
“Watch out, their horns are kind of sharp,” Romy warned.
The purple unicorn brayed at Romy, offended.
“I’m sorry,” Romy replied, holding up her hands in protest. “They are!”
“The fairies and mermaids have come together to protect the unicorns from Malucia,” Nori explained.
“Back home we don’t even have one unicorn, much less three,” Alexa said. She patted the rose-colored unicorn on the neck.
“There’s one more,” Nori continued. “The most powerful of all: the Queen Unicorn.”
“She’s hidden in another part of the forest, far away from Malucia,” Romy added.
Nori scaled a branch and motioned for Alexa to follow. They climbed to the highest platform, and Nori pointed to a large castle looming in the distance. “That’s where Malucia lives,” she explained.
Alexa marveled at the beautiful castle. It was candy-colored and resting on a double-rainbow bridge. To Alexa, it seemed impossible that a princess would do anything to harm her own kingdom—especially one this breathtaking. Why did Malucia think she needed all the magic for herself?
“She’s greedy and deceitful,” Nori said softly.
“Wicked and monstrous,” added Romy.
Alexa shook her head in disbelief. Royals should protect their kingdoms—not steal from them. But she knew that living up to others’ expectations was difficult. Maybe Malucia just needed to find her own path.
One thing was clear: Nori and Romy needed a plan to get Malucia to return the magic to its rightful owners. But how?
Across the land of Zinnia at the royal castle, Princess Malucia was busy making her own plan. “Nooo!” the ten-year-old princess shouted, standing on her throne, hands on her hips. She wore a sour expression and purple pigtails. “No, no, NO!” She pushed her too-big tiara out of her eyes and stamped her foot.
Several trogs—the princess’s monstrous guards—held up an enormous cake for Malucia to inspect. The cake was decorated with a crude icing drawing of the princess herself. The trog chef stood nearby, anxiously awaiting her reaction.
“That doesn’t look anything like me!” Malucia shouted. “This has to be the best cake ever in the history of . . . history!” She hopped down from her throne, stopping to check that her golden scepter was still in its cradle. She paced around the cake, examining it. “Is the first layer chocolate?”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” replied her trog attendant, Grodlin. He was in charge of the princess while her parents were away. But lately Malucia had been calling all the shots.
“And the second layer’s wickleberry?”
“Of course, Your Majesty,” Grodlin declared, adjusting his spectacles on his nose.
“Then one red velvet, one more chocolate, and three more wickleberry?” asked Malucia.
Grodlin and the trog chef glanced at each other.
“Uh . . . I—I’m not certain,” Grodlin ventured.
“Argh!” Malucia cried, shooting him a dirty look. “Grodlin, I’m about to have all the magic in the kingdom. To celebrate, there’s going to be a party to honor the greatest, most magical princess ever—ME.” She crossed her arms. “So there better be a perfect cake. Got it?”
Just then, Sniff and Whiff rolled in, their leathery scales clicking against the stone floor. Behind them, two trog guards carried in a fairy. She flapped her wings, trying to escape, but they held her firmly.
“Your Highness,” said the first trog proudly. “We found a youngling fairy in the woods today.”
Sniff raised his paw. “Actually,” he began smugly, “that ‘we’ would be me, Your Highness. I’m the one who sniffed her out.”
“What are you talking about?” Whiff argued. “I was there, too, you know.”
Sniff shook his head. “I recognized that faint aroma of laydelberry. All fairies have it, and only experts like me can detect it.”
Whiff rolled his eyes. “Unbelievable.”
“I hope Your Highness is pleased,” Sniff said, bowing deeply. “Her name is Nola.”
Nola, no bigger than a bird, stared defiantly at Malucia. Her feathery wings quivered with fear and anger. If only she had taken a different way to the grove, she could have avoided the sniffers.
“She is a tiny snack,” Malucia sneered, looking down her nose at the trembling fairy. “I want the unicorn combo—supersized! Have you found them yet?”
Sniff and Whiff shrugged and pointed to each other.
Malucia tapped her foot impatiently.
“Um, not quite yet,” Sniff said. “But we’re out there, noses up, twenty-four seven!”
“Well, get going, then,” the princess commanded. “And don’t come back until you have those unicorns.”
Sniff and Whiff bowed their heads and waddled out of the throne room before curling up and rolling away.
Malucia turned her attention to the fairy. “Now. You,” she growled.
“Let me go!” Nola said, tussling with the guards.
“You’re no unicorn, but you’ve got magic. And I want it,” Malucia declared, standing on her throne again. The trog guards stepped away from Nola as Malucia raised her scepter. Its giant orb began to glow.
“You don’t need my magic!” Nola pleaded.
“On the contrary, my winged friend,” Malucia replied, pointing the scepter at Nola’s wings. “There is nothing more tragic than a princess without magic. So I must take what I need from you. I want it all!”
She aimed her scepter and—zap!—a sickly yellow-green ray shot from its orb. It surrounded Nola’s wings, sucking the magic from her. Once Nola’s wings were completely drained, they disappeared. Whoosh!
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