Until I remembered that I hadn’t had an alarm clock for five years. But, I sat upright, gazing around my still bedroom. Nothing looked out of place. Besides the fact that Goldenrod wasn’t in her bed, on the floor. My stomach lurched as I realized all the things she could be doing to the house.
If Goldenrod had done anything else, I would make sure that I sent her on the first train back to her Fairy Country, that was for certain.
But then, I realized that it wasn’t her, that was making the noise. It was the television, that was above me, turned to the news channel. But I hadn’t turned on the television, and I didn’t watch the news. Yet, there it was.
It was still too early in the morning for me to open my eyes all the way, so I just listened to the report that was blasting over the television. The sun wasn’t even up, but they were already filming? And why was an elf on the screen? They despised technology!
“To all citizens,” the hairy, elven newscaster said, “this is a mandatory news feed that will be shown all day. As you all know, two fairies were kidnapped, and held for ransom, just yesterday. But now, the situation has grown dire. Five more fairies have been kidnapped, and despite the efforts of the Police, the culprits haven’t been tracked down.”
I rubbed my eyes, drinking it all in, drowsily.
“And they promise to strike again. They said that they will kidnap two more fairies, today alone, and that they wouldn’t stop. If you have any information about these kidnappers, please, call the hot line. You’ll be entitled to a significant reward.”
Wrapping my soft, woven blankets around myself, I realized something.
Marco had been right.
How had he known what was going to happen?
I thought about that, as I got up, and paced for a while, looking out the window.
It was obvious that the sun wasn’t coming out, any time soon. The light rain was pattering down in thick, dark sheets, the grey clouds casting a long shadow, coating the yard. I could smell the ions, drifting through the air. Puddles were condensing in the cracks, rippling with every drop that fell into their domain. The gutters on the streets ran like streams, filled with run off. River’s parched plants drained all the water from the ground, water rolling off of the vibrant petals. I reached out my hand, and felt the cool droplet plop onto my palm, and shatter into a million liquid shards.
The rain was lulling me to sleep, and I couldn’t think about fairies, kidnapped or not, just then.
I would have time to mull it over later, when I had to wake up. It was a parent teacher conference day, so we had the day off, fortunately. But I had to sleep until a certain time, or I’d be exhausted. There was no way I was going to be the early bird. Then, I heard a loud flutter of wings, and a shout, and I groaned. That sleep wasn’t going to happen that morning, that was for sure. Because Goldenrod stumbled through the door, and that could only mean bad news was coming.
She flew up onto my bed, and as my morning vision began to clear, I began to see her, clearly. And I screamed.
Her hair was tied up into thick, heavy ringlets, and had a red bow in the middle. She wore a suit made of the material from our curtains, and fringe made out of my bedspread on her shoulders. She wore a tiny little origami hat, and had a pretend sword made out of a broken toothpick. Her hair was a powdery white, and a trail of sparkles continuously dropped out of it like rain, pattering onto my floor. And I knew what color of white that was. It was the same color as my missing eyeshadow.
“What,” I said slowly, “did you do?”
“Well...you said that you didn’t want me at your school, and I was totally fine with that, you know, no big deal. But if I was going to stay at home all day, I was going to need something fun to do! So the only
logical choice was to use your bed fabric and ugly curtains as materials, so that I could become...
George Washington !”
I couldn’t believe her!
“What- why are you dressing up as George Washington?”
“Well, now I can boss people around all I’d like, forever! A President is the same thing as a Prime Minister, right? Also, I get to chop down loads of cherry trees! And wear false teeth! All I need is a few pounds of totally legal ivory -“
“I can’t believe you! For one thing, George Washington served for one term, not forever! He wasn’t a Prime Minister, either, who also doesn’t serve forever. For another thing, there are checks and balances! And you don’t just go running around, chopping down trees.”
“But-“
“And I’m not smuggling illegal ivory for you just so you can get false teeth!”
“Come on! Elephants stopped being endangered ten years ago. I’m pretty sure they could spare some.”
I rolled my eyes, and tried to hold on the the last of my sanity.
I couldn’t really do anything about her, not yet. I needed to get out of the house, and away from Goldenrod, for a little while, at the very least. And I knew just the ticket.
Ignoring Goldenrod’s rendition of the “Iron Curtain” speech, I called up Marco, excited to hear his voice. It was morning, but he had to be up, too! The news cast could make a rock get up from bed. I knew just what we could do, together. He picked up, and I held the phone to my ear.
“Hey, Livi,” he said, faintly. I could hear him yawn.
“Marco, are you watching the news?”
“No...why?”
“Because you were right about the kidnappings! Five more fairies just got taken!”
“Really?”
“Yeah! Do you want to go to the scene of the crime and check it out?”
“Well, I don’t know if I can drive. It’s raining, and... I’m not so great at parking,” he admitted.
I held the phone away from my ear for a second.
“No. There is no way that we’re bringing Goldenrod to the crime scene. She’d...destroy the evidence or something! Right now, she’s ripped our curtains to dress like George Washington . It’s just not a good idea to bring her on a road trip.” I said.
Goldenrod suddenly perked up, and soared into my knee, leaning in to hear my private conversation about her. I jerked the phone away from her, but I feared that she had learned too much. My excursion, and my social life, could be in jeopardy.
“We’re going on a road trip ?”
“No!” I lied, “Marco and I are just going...to do math work! You don’t want to come along for that!”
“You never do math! I know that much!”
“How do you even know that? You’ve literally known me for three days, not even!” I cried.
I had never told her that, nor had I ever brought it up in conversation that I struggled in math.
“See, you just confirmed it!” She crowed.
I smacked my forehead. How had I been coerced into this? I couldn’t have been more gullible if I tried. I had just revealed that I never did math, and she didn’t even have to do the work, as I did it for her. And I had thought I was immune to her branch of tricks and lies.
I glared at her, and turned back to my conversation with Marco.
“Sorry,” I said, “I think that Goldenrod actually has to come with us. At least your parking job will be perfect!”
I winced, just telling him.
“Cool. I’ll come in about ten minutes. Just tell someone that you’re going, first. Your Mom seems kind of strict. But cool.”
I was so mortified, I wanted to snap my phone, and use the pieces to build a Modern Art statue. I’d sell it, and call it Sorry, Wrong Number . Then, I’d have enough money to move to another country.
I hung up, and plopped down on my bed. I stayed still, for half a minute, before I realised that Goldenrod was standing over me. And she was sprinkling white eyeshadow into my hair. I frantically jumped up, and tried to wipe the dust from my head, to no avail. It simply stuck to my hair- sparkles included. I groaned out of exasperation. I had to get it out before Marco came. I would do it after I applied makeup and got dressed in something half way decent, I decided. There just wasn’t enough time!
After I threw on a skirt, and some slightly smudged makeup, I rushed into the bathroom, with Goldenrod giggling behind me. I turned on the sink, and let the water rush into my palms. I rubbed some onto my scalp- but that only resulted in me having a wet head. My temper was getting frayed.
I attempted to bake it off with my rusty, old hair dryer. Old Faithful had to work! I cranked up the heat, and plugged it in to the wall socket. And I felt a victorious crackling in my hair. The eye shadow was hardening, and it would have to fall off, sooner or later. I felt my hair, running my hands down my locks- and I realised too late that the eyeshadow wasn’t falling off at all. Instead, it was hardening into small, hard lumps, that had congealed together. It was even worse than it was before! I didn’t see any more options, because Marco was coming. Maybe I had time-
Knock, knock.
There was no time!
Rushing to my room, I pulled a hat off my rack, and pulled it over my horror show of curls. It was a mop .
I walking down the stairs, and swung open the door for Marco.
“Livi, Where’s Goldenrod?”
“She...she doesn’t want to come.”
Goldenrod landed on my shoulder.
“Yes, I do! Come on, let’s go- it’s going to be a parking fiesta! Bring out the music!”
I rolled my eyes, and Marco gave me a pleading look. I gave in; but she was fixing my hair and buying me new eyeshadow, later.
We all walked to the car, and hopped inside the old leather seats. The engine started, and we left, just as the pouring rain began to get worse.
Inside, I saw Annette and Elise. Apparently, they were curious about the whole kidnapping thing, too, and who wouldn’t be? Marco’s car was rather cramped with a four fairies, and four people in it. I was a little bit miffed; I kind of believed that Marco was going to take me to the house alone, and we would have had some time together. But, at least I would get to meet some new people.
“Hey, guys.”
Marco smiled apologetically, “they wanted me to take them, too- and it’s not a huge problem. There’s plenty of room in here, and I have water in the back.”
Sure, it’s not a problem to you.
“We’ll be there in less than fifteen minutes,” Marco said confidently.
Thirty Minutes Later
“Are we still lost?” Goldenrod cried.
The GPS had been fried by the pelting, tumultuous rain, and the rain was too thick for Marco to see the signs very well. There was a Storm Warning up, and the windows were blocked by racing water.
“Yup,” I replied, morosely.
We had lost the way to the crime scene, multiple times, and it didn’t look like we were going to find the road, any time soon. Marco didn’t have a map, and I didn’t have a clue. I had been expecting to get to investigate, get out, and have some hearty breakfast by now. My stomach was rumbling, and I wished that I had just stayed home, to eat some scrambled eggs or something. Goldenrod had been talking my ear off, the whole time, and within the last five minutes, she had began to complain, about everything from the drive, to the rain, to the unseasonal chill. I battled the unsatiable urge to cover my ears.
“Maybe we should pull over,” I suggested, fixing the bottom of my hair.
“No- I think that I see it! It’s right down the road!” Annette cried.
I was dubious- but Marco wasn’t. He began to drive, down the road, his windshield wipers rushing at the quickest rate that they could go. But suddenly, I heard a frightening sound. It was the sound of the cars wheels beginning to slip on the asphalt.
“Guys, I really think that we should stop-“
“We can’t stop!” Annette said, “it’s right there!”
But something wasn’t right. And I didn’t think that remaining on the road was such a great idea.
And I knew that I was right when we began to spin.
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