PROLOGUE

She flew as fast as she could, clutching the tiny bundle closely to her chest. She looked around frantically trying to remember the route to her friends place, and then she finally saw it. The house was situated behind a row of trees, nearly hidden from view. She started to fly towards the house, but her wings got caught on a branch. Pain burst through her shoulders as her wings were yanked back by the branch and she bit her lip to keep from screaming. She heard a soft whimpering noise coming from the bundle. She sighed, drew in her wings and dropped to the ground lightly on her feet. She sat down and tried to quieten the baby down. Eventually the little one stopped crying and she managed to walk over to the house. She placed the baby on the doorstep and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from her pocket, she hastily scribbled a note. Her friend would understand, after all they were best friends. She was doing her friend a favour.

She pinned the note to the bundle and straightened. She gazed at the baby. She looked deep into her beautiful green eyes with flecks of blue. Her eyes travelled across the baby's features; the blond fuzz on top of her head, her chubby cheeks and those soft pink lips. She felt her eyes sting, and she blinked a couple of times to stop the tears from spilling over. She allowed herself one last look at her baby, and then she turned and flew.

CHAPTER 1

"ARIZONA! ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION?" bellowed Ms LeProtuscio. I jumped and my head shot up, "uh yes Ms LeProtuscio." I lied. Ms LeProtuscio approached my desk, she placed her hands on her hips and glared at me, "Oh really? Well do you mind telling the rest of the class what we were just talking about? I blushed and laughed nervously, "Well …. You see... I'd rather prefer it if you told it…because, you know… you're a professional and everything …and…uh…umm. No.' I sighed, giving up. "I can't. "

I looked down and pretended to be remorseful. I saw Ms LeProtuscio rapidly shake her head in frustration, "Arizona! You have to really start paying attention in class! Every other Fairy in this class listens, except you! I don't know why you waste you're time like this! If this goes on any longer I'm going to have to call you're mother. I'm utterly serious this time Arizona." She gave me one last trademark death stare then walked away and resumed her class.

I made a face at her retreating back and stretched, feeling a little bit refreshed from my short nap. Peony, my best friend grinned at me, I returned the grin back, and tried to concentrate on what Ms LeProtuscio was saying.

The day went pretty quickly, and finally the last bell rang for the day. I grabbed my books and ran out, Peony following closely behind. As soon as escaped the confines of the school I breathed a huge sigh of relief, "Thank goodness it's finished!"

Peony laughed at me, "Honestly Ari, You're such a rebel! Why can't you just pay attention for at least 5 minutes?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "I don't see why I have to… I'm going to become the best Nefurite warrior there ever was! What does Maths have to do with being a warrior?"

Peony just shook her head and grabbed my arm, "You are so pathetic! Anyway, come with me, I have to tell you something urgent!"

I chuckled, "Okay! Relax, let's go!" I stretched out my wings and followed Peony We reached a small orchard where Peony and I used to go when we were kids. The orchard was like our own secret place; we would go deep into the rows of trees and sit under the shade where no one could see us, then we would tell each other our deepest and darkest secrets. I wondered what Peony had to tell me that would make her bring me to this place...

"Peony! What in the world is going on?" I asked, slightly amused by the way Peony could not stop fidgeting. Peony giggled, and then sat in front of me. Her brown eyes were gleaming and she couldn't stop smiling, "Ari… You won't believe it…but…I'm engaged!"

I stared at Peony, my mouth gaping open. Peony's smile faltered, "Ari... you okay?"

I quickly slammed my mouth shut and tried to school my features, "I'm fine, Peony that's great! Wow… I just wasn't expecting it…wow… so umm who's the lucky guy?"

Peony grinned, "Jake Tophee."

I forced a smile, "Wow…Jake! Who would've thought? You guys are…a perfect match!"

Jake Tophee was a nerdy kid who always had a small crush on Peony. He was smart and sweet, and didn't look too bad. I guess Peony must've finally realised that he was the man of her dreams and decided to marry him.

Peony grinned and laughed, "I know! I'm really happy, I thought that I would never get engaged…but, well…I guess I was wrong! And Jake is so, so nice! You won't believe what he did the other day …" She babbled on some more but I wasn't listening. All that was going through my mind was Peony's engaged….and I'm not….

Eventually Peony went home and I stayed behind, sitting under the tree lost in my own thoughts. I pulled out a mirror from my bag and peered at my reflection. I took in my long blond hair streaked wit red. My front fringe was growing long and was falling in my eyes; I had to cut it soon. I took out my lip gloss and smeared it over my lips. I glanced at the tattoo beside my eyes; the red, spirals shimmered in the light from the sun. It made my eyes look greener than they were. I had to admit, I looked pretty good.

I sighed; Peony wasn't anywhere near as good looking as me. She had mousy brown hair that was neither straight, nor curly. She was chubby and short, her eyes were a dull brown and had dull green diamonds tattooed around her face and in spite of that, she still managed to get engaged before I did. It was shameful.

It wasn't uncommon for fairy's to get engaged at a very young age, normally it was around seventeen to nineteen, and then they would marry at twenty three. I was turning eighteen in a few short months. Usually after the fairy got married, he or she would then pursue the career that they want to go in, and in my case, a warrior. Peony wanted to be a nurse. I chuckled quietly to myself; Peony was the sweetest, kindest, most caring fairy I had ever met in my entire life. She wasn't that pretty, but what she lacked in looks, she made up with her personality. She was just the right person to be a nurse.

I shook my head and stood up. If I kept brooding over this, I would be late for my training. I pushed out my wings; they were a sparkly silver and red, with hints of shiny green. My mother always told me that the colour and shape of your wings illustrated your personality, though mine was weird. Although Silver or gold usually meant 'royal' or 'supreme', I had no connection with royalty whatsoever, except for the princess, who was a good friend. The red meant that I was short tempered, and that there was fire burning within me. The green meant that there was a soft side hidden in me but rarely showed up because the temper and dominance usually over-powered it.

The sun beat down on my wings making them sparkle and shimmer more than ever, and than I leapt into the air.

Ever since I turned 16, I had made up my mind to be a warrior and everyone else could see that it was the best choice for me, I had the courage to stand up and fight however at times; my courage got me into a whole lot of trouble. I had strength, and very quick reflexes. I was born a warrior. Unfortunately, I couldn't say the same about my study skills. I sucked at studies to put it nicely. I grinned as my thoughts drifted to Ms LeProtuscio. She was a nice teacher…she just didn't like me much.

I reached the palace and dropped to the ground, I saw Princess Akira sitting outside with a man I hadn't seen before. She turned and saw me, "Ari! Hey!" she ran up to me gracefully and grinned. I bowed before her, "Good afternoon your highness."

She laughed and nodded her head in acknowledgement. I straightened and grinned, "Someone's happy today! What happened?"

Akira threw her head back and laughed, her golden wavy hair shining in the light. "Was it that obvious?"

I nodded slowly, a bit lost as to what was going on, and she laughed some more. The man I saw before came and stood beside her, she put her arm around him. "Ari, I'm engaged. This is my fiancé, Marcus. Marcus meet Arizona, she's a good friend of mine."

Marcus stuck his hand out, and I shook it. My mind was whirling, was this some kind of joke? Both my friends were engaged on the same day and I was still single. I shook my head and tried to feel happy for Akira, but instead I felt strange, unhappy and slightly angry. I couldn't believe it, but, I was actually jealous of my friends.

"Arizona?"

I realised that Marcus had been speaking to me, and I wasn't even listening. I quickly snapped out of my thoughts and turned to him. I inwardly gasped, I had been too busy being shocked at Akira's 'surprise announcement' that I hadn't really taken a good look at Marcus. He was tall; with straight brown hair streaked with blond, he had striking icy blue eyes, and a slight tan. His arms were rippled with hard muscles and his wings were silver, with sparkly blue and gold lightning bolts. He was a royal. A very attractive royal.

"Ye-yes? Uh …I'm uh… so sorry. I was just...uh…just…umm...distracted…" I laughed nervously.

Marcus grinned, showing a row of pearly white teeth. "Don't worry about it. So, why are you here?"

"Umm…I have special trainings with Sir Ramon."

Marcus looked impressed, "Sir Ramon? As in the 'Sir Ramon' who's the Master Warrior of this palace? Why?

I shrugged, "I want to be a warrior soon and so I'm getting special training from him. Hopefully, one day I might be able to work in the palace…"

Marcus smiled again, and my heart seemed to flip. Akira then stood on her toes and kissed Marcus on the cheek, and at once my heart went back to a normal pace. I looked at Akira, her face was glowing with love for Marcus and I knew I had to stop this stupid crush. My goal was to be the greatest warrior there ever was and I couldn't let these trivial things distract me.

I flew towards Sir Ramon's training room. He was lying down on a mat, his salt and pepper hair was growing long and I made a mental note to remind him to trim it. He looked up when I came in. "Hello Arizona. Are you prepared for your training? Remember, you must be both mentally and physically prepared for –"

"..For training, because you never know in what way the enemy may attack…bla bla... Yes I know. I've heard it a thousand times!" I grumbled,

Sir Ramon chuckled, "Just reminding you Arizona, now come. Let's start with fifty push ups."

I groaned and dropped down and started doing my push ups. Meanwhile Sir Ramon started to make a magical ball; it was Orange and Black – the colour of his wings. It was part of my training; Sir Ramon made a ball which would zoom around the room at rapid speed. My job was to shoot it.

Finally, I completed my push ups and stood up panting; I rubbed my aching arms and looked up at Sir Ramon, "happy?"

He grinned and with a flick of his hand, the ball flew to me at rapid speed. I didn't have time to shoot at the ball, and ducked. The ball flew above my head and stopped a few feet away. I saw Sir Ramon frown at me and shake his head. He took a couple of steps closer to me, "Arizona, remember, if an enemy comes at you with no warning whatsoever, you can't just 'duck.' You need to be prepared, let's do this again..."

I got into my position and waited for the ball to move, the ball flew towards me again, but this time I was ready. I thrust my hand forward, and immediately a bolt of red shot out of my hand and hit the ball. The ball vanished.

Then suddenly something hit me from behind and I fell. I winced and sat up, my nose was bleeding. White sparkly blood oozed out from my nose, I curled my lips in disgust. Sir Ramon flew over to me, "Arizona, are you okay?" He looked concerned.

I scolded myself inwardly; this was the Twentieth time that the ball had hit me from behind, I just kept forgetting. "I'm sorry…"

Sir Ramon just shook his head, "I'm not going to say that I am not disappointed in you, you know better. But, don't worry, everyone makes mistakes."

I shrugged, and got up. He looked quizzically at me and the ball, "You want to do more of this? Or you ready for something else?"

I grimaced, "something else."

Sir Ramon smiled and nodded his head once, and almost immediately a rush of orange magic surged out, and I ducked… again. I scrambled to my feet, and thrust a bolt of red at Sir Ramon. He counteracted the magic, with a rush of orange. I pushed my hands forward, trying to fight his much stronger magic. I felt beads of sweat break out on my forehead, but I kept pushing. My feet started to slide backwards, and I knew I was totally losing this mini war.

Finally I gave up and collapsed on the floor. Sir Ramon sat down and gave a weary smile, "Great way to redeem yourself, Ari," he said, using my nickname, "You fought well. Next time … avoid the ducking."

I grinned and slowly got up, my hands and nose seriously sore. I gently felt my bruised nose and groaned. I looked at Sir, he was suppressing a smile. I glared at him and stretched, immediately wishing I hadn't, my muscles ached! He chuckled, "You can take a break Arizona, and I'll see you tomorrow"

I nodded, my pride too wounded to talk, and flew towards the courtyard and sat there nursing my sore nose. Finally I got up and went in search for Akira. I loved talking to her; she always seemed to find something good in every little thing. She was great for when I had a rainy day, and having another look at Marcus wouldn't hurt…not that I was going to Akira just so I could see Marcus…I mean, I didn't even like Marcus in that way…and he was Akira's, so he was untouchable… and I'd rather prefer talking to Akira than Marcus…I didn't even know Marcus … he was boring.

I mentally scolded myself, Honestly Ari; you're acting like an 11 year old… Grow up! I flew around the courtyard, but couldn't find Akira anywhere. Instead I found Marianne, The Queen. I flew towards her, trying hard not to admit to myself that I was a bit disappointed that Akira wasn't there. She turned and smiled. I bowed down low before her once then stood up, "Your Majesty,"

"Arizona, My Dear. How are you?"

I smiled, "I'm fine you're Royal Highness and how about you? I trust that you're keeping well?"

She smiled and nodded, "Have you finished your training with Sir Ramon?"

I nodded slowly, "Yes…"

The Queen smiled "How was your lesson?"

I sighed, "It was pretty great actually. I got hit with the ball at training, my nose started to bleed, I've bruised all the muscles in my body and Sir Ramon laughed at me. Honestly, I haven't had a better day …'

She shook her head in mock disappointment and then hugged me, "You are so special, Dear Arizona. I hope you know that."

I laughed and bowed, "Yes your majesty, I guess do. If you'll please excuse me, I think I might go home."