Nighttime Dust

As Sydney woke up she realized that she was not in her room anymore. She in fact was outside looking at the stars. Sydney turned on her side and tried to figure out where she was. It suddenly hit her as she spotted that green bird house. But something was not right, it was about 10 feet taller than she was! What had happened during the night? Now she remembered very clearly.

Five days ago she was awoken at 3:51 in the morning by a soft tapping noise that she thought came from the inside of her head. As the tapping noise continued Sydney realized that the tapping noise was coming from her window across the room. She got up slowly and tip-toed over to the window. Peering outside she could not see anything; suddenly a small flash appeared. Sydney squinted in the darkness and saw that indeed there was more than a light; there was a small slightly darker patch in the grass. Immediately her curiosity wore off, and she sneaked down the stairs, around the entrance way, through the kitchen and out the back door. For the first time she had remembered to close the door slowly so it wouldn't squeak.

Sydney stepped on the dewed grass which chilled her feet as she approached the different colored patch. Again, as she squinted, she saw that it was looked like a tiny village. Plus the one small light was actually many smaller lights scattered everywhere in the patch. She knelt down and thought. "This is too weird to be real. I must be dreaming." It appeared that the lights were in neat rows in the middle and gradually spread farther and farther apart to the point where there was a tiny light every foot and a half or so. When she looked closer again Sydney definitely thought that this was a dream. This scene was familiar to her. It resembled a large village that her class had seen in a picture. Wait, a village? How could that be?

This was her backyard, why hadn't she noticed before? All that didn't matter, all Sydney could think about was... how? Like a firefly to an iridescent bug light, Sydney was drawn to the tiny, twinkling lights not noticing the fine blue colored dust that had settled around her. As soon as her finger came within less than a centimeter of the light, it got bigger and brighter at a rapid rate. She stopped, withdrew her finger an inch away from the light, and noticed that the light got smaller and dimmer once more. Why had the light gotten bigger? Thinking about this a little voice inside her head whispered

"....keep going....closer....closer..."

Shaking her head to get the voice out Sydney tried to go away but was strangely attracted to the light. No matter how hard she tried she could not move away. Closer, closer she came to the light, and again bigger and brighter it got. When she touched the light ever so softly there was a huge, earsplitting crack and everything went black...

So that was what had happened. All because of her curiosity she was now no bigger than ½ the size of a butterfly. How would she get bigger? All of these questions popped into her head at once scattering at the sound of a small twig.

"Who's there?" Sydney asked.

With no response Sydney inched closer to the place she heard the noise. Again she asked who was there and was answered by a voice that sounded like a human. With the voice came what looked like a fairy. First her foot parted the grass followed by the fairies body. Her long auburn hair reached down to below her waist and her face resembled a human but with a light blue tinge. Obviously the fairy was not surprised at the way Sydney looked but Sydney was staring open-mouthed at this odd creature.

"Hello, are you lost?" asked the fairy.

"No, no, I'm not lost...actually can you tell me what happens if you touch that light?" said Sydney.

"That light is our energy source, but it is lethal to our touch."

"Our touch...?"

"Yes. The touch of a fairy, it doesn't hurt you because you are human."

"Oh..."

"So, I guess you are looking for a way to become normal again. The only way to get bigger is to collect pink dust, pour it into a nearby waterfall and dive into it. Then you will be normal size again. But if you take too long you will stay like this forever and become a fairy," explained the creature.

"Forever?" asked Sydney.

"Forever. And it takes 3 moons and 2 suns to reach the place of the dust and you only have that long before you become a fairy." She answered solemnly.

"Wow! By the way, what is your name?"

"Dixie," answered the fairy.

"So how exactly do I get to the dust?"

"You must travel 7 miles to the dust and it is very dangerous"

"Okay...so will I have to walk?"

"No. You may use one of the butterflies."

"Butterflies? That's faster than walking?"

"Of course it is. They can go very fast, but it hard to hold onto them for a beginner." warned Dixie.

"All right then. Let's go."

"You must be very quiet. It is the middle of the night and if we wake anyone up they will tell the guards. Then we will not be able to get a butterfly."

So they crept through the tall grass and down the deserted street. Sydney had been right. The lights had been lined up on the edges of the buildings. As they walked on the houses got bigger and more spread apart. When they reached the place where the butterflies supposedly were, they approached a giant gate. Dixie stood still and touched the cold, black bar. A jolt of electricity went through all of Dixie's body and she sank to the ground. Sydney ran to her side. Dixie appeared to not have been badly hurt but there was a scar where she had touched the gate.

"I cannot go through but you can. Go through the gate and then head off to the right. You will come to a stable. Get out the butterfly named Legacy and fly toward the rising sun. Our villages can only be seen during the night so you must hurry. Once you get to the town of Notser, go to the stable there. Press on the yellow brick that sticks out. The wall will open up. Go through and climb the mountain to the top of the waterfall, go down the shaft, collect the dust and throw it in the waterfall." That is all you have to do.

Sydney turned around to look at the castle.

"But what if-"

But Dixie had disappeared and Sydney was by herself.

Cautiously she walked to the gate and, to her amazement went right through it.

As Dixie had told her she went to the stable off to the right, again she came to a gate and could walk through it. She guessed this was another thing she could do and fairies couldn't. Walking around the corner she came to a row of stalls, each holding a butterfly taking a rest.

She muttered their names as she walked through the stables.

"Prancer, Dancer, Pixie, Vixen, Legacy..."

Wait! Legacy was the one she was supposed to ride. Unlocking the bolt she let herself in and noticed a saddle next to the stall. Legacy had obviously heard her and woken up. Fluttering her wings she stood up and looked at Sydney. Sydney crept out and took the saddle, placed it on the butterfly's back, led her out of her stall and mounted. She had taken a couple horse riding lessons and knew a little bit of what she was doing. Dixie had been right, riding a butterfly was hard. At lift off the butterfly's wings blew her hair back and almost knocked her off. To add to that, it was hard to keep her balance with the constant tilting of Legacy. Once they got into the air it was easier to stay on but she needed a way to steer. Attached to the girth of the saddle was what looked like a bridle. She put it on Legacy, and then was able to steer.

After about 5 minutes they reached the edge of her yard and the sun was beginning to rise. She remembered what Dixie had said about the village only seen in the dark, she looked back and indeed the village was vanishing as the sun rose. Sydney turned toward the sun and never realized how pretty it was. Misty haze made everything blurry but Sydney thought it looked prettier that way. Long shadows swayed back and forth with the trees and the dew on the grass sparkled.

After riding on the butterfly for about 2 hours, Sydney was completely used to the rocking motion of the butterfly. The sun had almost completely risen and she guessed it was around 8:00 in the morning. She looked at where her watch was and it wasn't there. Then she noticed her clothes. They had changed to how Dixie's clothes had looked. Her clothes were leafy and untidy looking, but at least she wasn't in her night clothes the whole time. How long had she been like this? And at least her skin wasn't blue...yet. How long will it take for her to be exactly like Dixie? Her hair had gotten a little longer but was still straight.

Almost at mid-day, Sydney spotted the creek that was about 1 ½ mile away from her house. This butterfly really did go pretty fast. She was sure that Legacy could take a rest and she could too. Landing very gently she slid off Legacy's back and loosened Legacy's girth so she could breath easier. They both walked over to the creek and drank some water. Suddenly, a large black blob swam past her. It was almost bigger than she was. At a second glance she saw it was a minnow. She just now realized how much bigger the whole world was. After taking a drink they went to find some shade. Luckily there was a little cove next to the creek. They went inside and rested.

When she woke up it was a little before sunset or around 5:00. She had spent the whole afternoon sleeping! Quickly Sydney got up and found that Legacy was gone. Sydney ran outside and found Legacy by the creek taking another drink.

"We really need to get moving Legacy! It's almost dark and I spent one whole day sleeping!" She ran up to Legacy and tightened her girth, mounted, and pointed Legacy in the opposite direction of the setting sun. While she was sleeping, a praying mantis had come and was ready for dinner. It clicked its beak and ran straight toward them. There were two choices that Sydney could make for their escape. Either she could go to the left and try to take off in the water and get sogging wet, or she could go to the right and charge at the mantis making it think they were going to hit it. Choosing quickly Sydney charged Legacy straight at the praying mantis. By doing this Sydney had made a little runway and was trying to get Legacy to fly. Just as she had planned, the praying mantis thought that Sydney was going to run into it. It shied off to the side and Sydney flew away.

A narrow escape. She knew that there would probably be more things like that if she wasn't careful. It was nearing nightfall and it was getting chilly and even colder with the butterfly beating its wings. Now she could see the similar dark patches that were fairy towns. Each had little lights just like the first one. Even though she wasn't tired she wanted to stop. So she lowered Legacy to the ground and let it eat nectar out of a nearby flower. She gently parted the grass and made her way through the town. Unlike the one in her backyard this town was having a celebration of some kind and everyone was outside. Since there were so many people no one noticed Sydney. As the flames from a nearby bonfire danced across the ground some light fell across Sydney's arm. Her skin had turned blue. Now she was running out of time. She only had one more day to get the dust and return back to normal!

Too busy thinking about her problem she didn't notice that the people who inhabited this town had greenish skin...not blue. Bumping into someone Sydney noticed the difference in their skin. So did the fairy. It let out a shrill scream and almost everyone around her looked at her. The fairy, the one who had screamed, came back with a pitchfork. This was really bad! She absentmindedly ran through the crowd and back to the spot where she left Legacy. Sydney spotted Legacy just as she had left her, on top of a flower. The flower stem was too waxy to try to climb so she tried to think of a way to get Legacy down. Someone in the crowd behind the grass whistled and Legacy, thinking it was Sydney came down. Sydney mounted and they flew away. Flying as fast as they could go she could still hear the shrill screams of the confused town.

Sydney fluttered her eyes open and looked at her surroundings. Grass? Where were they? Where was Legacy? As she got up she heard a ripping noise. Peering through the grass she saw Legacy being attacked by a spider. It had ripped part of her antenna off. Running to the scene Sydney planned on hopping on Legacy and flying away. But to her disappointment the saddle had been ripped off. She would just have to get on Legacy bareback. She had never even ridden a horse bareback! How was she going to do this? She would just have to jump on and do her best. Running closer and closer she took a stone and threw it at the spider. Fortunately it hit it in the mouth and got stuck. Then she climbed on Legacy and took off.

Then it hit her. She had no idea where they were! Wait, maybe the town with the green people was Notser and she had to go back. Hey, there was a town right in front of her. Maybe that was it! It had a big yellow wall behind a couple of fields of flowers!

Sydney landed and hopped off to find the out of place brick. There it was right in front of her! She pressed it and it opened up. Getting back on Legacy she went through and watched the wall close up again. She was now at the foot of a mountain with a waterfall protruding off the side. She flew up and up. It seemed to take a hour to reach the top but she finally did.

Getting off Legacy she saw that there was a black gate like before. Hopefully she hadn't changed enough to not be able to go through it. As she approached it she got extremely nervous. It was her last day until she became a permanent fairy. She got through the gate fine and saw there was the shaft just as Dixie had said. She gently lowered herself down and found it was only a couple inches deep, which was pretty big compared to her size. Falling on the floor Sydney saw a bottle with a small amount of pink dust. She grabbed it, climbed back out and approached the gate.

Expecting the gate not to hurt her, Sydney ran through. But she had changed enough by then to be hurt. A huge jolt of electricity ran through her. It felt as though millions of needles were sticking her. Just like Dixie, a scar formed on her shoulder. But if she didn't get through then she wouldn't be normal size again! Time was running out and she had to do something. Her only way out was to go through the gate no matter how much it hurt. Approaching at a run Sydney burst through the gate and came to the other side. It had gone faster than the first time but at least it was over with. Running to the edge of the waterfall Sydney gently poured the dust into the waterfall. There was a giant splash as the dust hit the water and she set the bottle just about to dive in when she remembered about Legacy. She turned back and saw that Legacy was gone and flying home. She dived in and felt a cold sensation. Like before, everything went black.

Fluttering her eyes open Sydney found her new surroundings unfamiliar. Then she remembered everything. Indeed she was back to normal, but something did not feel right. She walked over to her window and saw the dark patch. Something seemed strange about her adventure. Something in every scene was relatively the same. And all conclusions came to Dixie. One of the butterflies in the stable was light blue and had a shiny brown stripe down its back. The praying mantis had been a light blue now that she thought about it and so had the spider... had Dixie been stalking her? That seemed logical and there was one face in the town of green people whose face was blue. Dixie had caused all that to teach Sydney that being a fairy was not so great if Sydney stalled, and if she did then Dixie had done something. It all made sense now. But what had Dixie been doing when Sydney had shrunk? It made Sydney think that Dixie had done this on purpose. How else would Dixie have known? She had showed up almost exactly after Sydney shrunk. And the voice inside her head! That had been Dixie! Now she knew she would never stall, someone would be there to do something if she did...

The End