Chapter 1
Truth be told, fairy tales kind of suck. Sure, it must be nice to be on the princess or prince end of things –you find your true love and all of your problems just wash away. And of course it must be really miserable to be on the villain side of things –I don't even want to imagine being rolled down a hill in a barrel full of spikes. But no one ever considers the other characters of the story. No, no, of course not. The fairy godmother just lives to sit around waiting for Cinderella to start sobbing so she can come in, sing a little song, and poof everything better. And then that's it; that's her entire existence, and she waits out the rest of her life just praying Cinderella might desperately wish for a new dress again.
Would it have hurt Cinderella to maybe invite the godmother to a few balls or something as appreciation? Ask her to sit down to tea and maybe find out more about the fairy's life rather than being so self-absorbed? Mother always says that getting to watch the happily-ever-after is the reward, and we shouldn't expect more from our princesses, as they have a lot on their plates, and after all it is our jobs to aide them.
Alright, I suppose I should back up a few steps here and explain things to any of you humans out there. If your slower, oblivious human mind hasn't caught on yet, fairy godmothers do exist, and I happen to be one of them, although not by choice. We aren't actually fairies though, at least not the way you would imagine it. No tininess, no wings, no magic wands, and dear God, absolutely no glitter or sparkles or fairy dust. In fact, I could walk down one of your streets right by you and you would be none the wiser that I wasn't human. The only real difference is that we possess magic. And apparently the human world is just one huge giant mess that can't take care of itself, because it's the fairy world's job to keep everything in order, and make sure things happen the way they're supposed to. Obviously the godmother's job is to help true love conquer.
I know what you're thinking: fairy tales can't exist. And believe me, if I didn't actually know the truth, I'd have to agree. The whole concept of having just one true love in all the world is absurd enough as it is, and that I certainly do not believe in. You must be wondering, if fairy tales are true then how come you don't know about it? Why don't you know about magic? If us fairy godmothers are helping you so often, how can you not know? But human life is a little funny in the way that it seems to just repeat itself, yet grows even more ignorant as it does. You guys used to believe in magic. Back in the ties of Cinderella and Snow White, you had no qualms or questions about the existence of fantastical elements and beasts. But somewhere along the line you guys just refused to believe anymore. History became tales that were told to children at night. But the tales have continued on. There are always girls in dire situations in need of rescuing, and here is always some recognizable pattern that fairy godmothers can follow to identify the tale being relived. Then we pretend to be a human in the 'princess's' life and assist her with advice, and tiny pushes of magic here and there. Nothing overly dramatic or showy. After they get their so-called true love, we disappear from their lives and do they even wonder about us at all anymore? Love is ridiculous, and blinding. I am amazed you guys seem to need it so much just to survive.
Now don't go getting it in your head that all fairies are like me. Most do believe in love, and many fairies have their own little happily-ever-afters. And don't go getting it in your head that I'm one of those people who is all like "love is terrible and I'll never be that person" but then ends up falling in love unexpectedly. That's just not going to happen. You guys are such fools for romance, jeeze, be a little more realistic for once?
Anyways, we aren't the only types of fairies there are out there keeping your whole race from crumbling apart, but I'm tired of explaining, and I'm sure your whole little human head is on the verge of exploding right now from all this new information. Really, if you guys weren't so ignorant and self-centered, this wouldn't be news to you…I promise I don't actually hate humans the way it seems I do. I'm just a little impatient with your lack of knowledge and silly obsession with love is all.
Like I was saying before, being a fairy godmother isn't all that it's cracked up to be. As if it isn't enough that I'm trying to focus on all the stuff going on in my life, with finishing school, and dealing with certain fairy idiots around me, I have to be ready to swoop in at a moments notice and help some poor, whiny, helpless human girl be rescued by her very own Prince Charming.
"Genevieve Estelle Chandler, just what are you doing here?" came a voice from behind me, interrupting me from my musings. Speaking of certain idiot fairies… Only one person ever called me by my given name; even my mother uses my nickname (I think she fears my wrath too much if weren't to). I turned and glared daggers.
"I know you are daft, but surely even you can comprehend that I go by Evie."
Rhys, the bane of my existence, only grinned in reply. "You haven't answered my question. What are you doing in my section of the library?"
"It isn't your section, it's a public library."
"It's my major, not yours."
I thought for a moment about making some retort on how he doesn't own the major, and I can study whatever I damn well please, but instead decided ignoring him was the better option. Maybe being ignored would irritate him enough to leave. I returned to my reading, but much to my annoyance, he plopped down in the seat next to me, and flipped my book closed so he could look at the cover. "Mythical Beings; The Mysteries Behind their Disappearance, What on Feijeyah are you reading that for?!" I continued my obviously excellent plan of ignoring him. If at first you don't succeed, stubbornly continue what you were doing anyways, until every else cant stand it anymore and leaves you alone.
Rhys is double majoring in Magical History Mythical Sciences. He's going into the field of fairies that research the development of magic over time, and work to discover why more and more magical beings are disappearing. As I'm sure you noticed, your land isn't exactly crawling with dragons, gryphons, or ogres the way it used to be. Rhys is also an arrogant, womanizing, loathsome toad. Every time I turned around he is dating a new woman. I must admit I was quite jealous.
Not of all the women, jeeze are you even listening to me? I told you I despise him, and I'm not with all this love garbage. I am however, envious of the major he was allowed to choose. My mother never would've allowed anything aside from godmothering for me. From the moment I was born, she gave me this ridiculously fancy-pants elaborate name and expected me to flit around distributing love's precious gift with flourishes, twirls, and songs. Don't get me wrong, I love my mother, and she's not some terrible evil step-mother type figure in this story. I told you, my life is not a fairy tale, stop expecting some cliché at every turn.
Rhys, finally getting frustrated that I refuse to acknowledge him, or fight back and forth in the way we normally do, grinned again and then suddenly my book was floating in the air well above my reach. I punched him in the arm. Hard. He just widened his grin. Stupid jerk of a toad. "Why don't you just magic it down?" he suggested, voice striving for fake innocence.
There's the other thing. Godmothers just don't get as much magic as other fairies. Were allotted a certain amount each month, and it's only allowed to be used for the purpose of true love. Now I'm angry. Turning so he cant see my face redden in a flush, a stand up from my chair so violently that it falls backwards. I pause for a second to regain my balance, but then stride out of the library focusing on keeping my cool, and looking powerful. But I'm sure I actually just looked like a small child, stomping away in a tantrum.
You see, what I'm getting at is, that this whole situation I'm in now is completely Rhys's fault. His stupid fault I woke up trapped in this dreadful place. Most definitely entirely his fault, not my own, that I ended up human.