Chapter 11:

Fairies and Spiders

Sonic turned her head and looked around herself. All she saw was her tiny store room, the thin mattress still on the floor and a stool in one corner. Her tiny table held a small bag of food and a cup of clear water. She tilted her head in confusion. She had just eaten. Why was the food there? She heard the tiny chime again and looked around once more. She shifted on her feet and finally spotted it.

A dusty beam of light was coming from the lightbulb outside her room. As it touched the rafters near the ceiling, it illuminated something sparkling. This light took on shape and became a tiny winged creature sitting on the ceiling beam of the store room. Sonic edged forward very slowly, her feet just barely shuffling against the rough floor. Once she did so, the door shut tight behind her.

She jumped slightly, startled into letting out a small noise. The room was now dark, only lit by a few points of light coming from the ceiling. As her eyes adjusted, she saw the creature again, and then another and another. No less than five winged creatures stood on her table, rested on her mattress or sat on her ceiling beams. Each one seemed to be made purely of light and shadow, with tiny specks of jewels or other material floating inside them.

One of the creatures chimed and touched the cup of water. She had an elven face with a high forehead, pointed ears and a mischievous smile. Sonic was sure it was a she, because she wore a pink dress which looked to have been spun from cobwebs, had skin of moonlight and eyes like coals. Floating in her ethereal body were flecks of emeralds.

"You brought me food?" sonic asked. "Thank you. I'm not starving though. I just had some birthday cake."

The creature on the ceiling chirped like a bird and Sonic smiled. He was blue, like the heart of a flame and had glowing orange eyes. Floating through him were specks of coal. Sonic figured she should listen to him. He looked intense, like Lancelot did sometimes.

"Oh… Alright," she said laughing a little. "I suppose I am still hungry and thirsty."

She watched the other three creatures curiously. They must be fairies she told herself. They looked different up close, nothing like the little lights she saw fluttering in the forest or jumping in and around the branches of the willow. They were stuffing her mattress with new straw or was it feathers, creating a tiny little window she could see through, and putting a small ball of light on the ceiling so she wouldn't always be in darkness.

The moonlight fairy held out the cup of water to Sonic and she accepted it. The fiery fairy flew down and unpacked an apple, some bread and cheese. Sonic drank half the water, then ate the bread and cheese. She finished the water, which was the best tasting water she could never have imagined. It was always that way, reminding her of all the good things in life. Once that was all gone, Sonic felt full and happy.

"I'm finished," she told the little fairies. "Thank you for the food."

The moonlight fairy held out the apple, the fruit glowing in its hands. She made a show of polishing the apple on her dress and showing Sonic the sparkling fruit again. The apples had never looked this way before, though the water always tasted the same. The fairy held out the apple again and Sonic took it.

"Oh alright," she said. "If you insist, I must comply. I love gala apples."

Sonic took a large bite and relished in the tart juice slipping down her throat, quenching her thirst just as well as the water had. As she savored the apple, the other three creatures, finished with their tasks, came back and began doing Sonic's hair. Sonic ate the apple, core and all and smiled a red smile. Two of the fairies grasped her hands and cleaned them with magic before doing her nails.

"Why thank you!" Sonic exclaimed happily. "You don't have to do that though. Can I get your names?"

She watched as each fairy drew a small picture in the air. The fiery fairy was called Coal, the moonlight fairy was called Quicksilver, and she couldn't quite figure out the other three pictures. The fairies were red, green, and yellow respectively. Each had something floating in their light as well. One had animal fur, one had leaves, and one had a tiny rainbow orb.

"I'm going to call you rainbow," Sonic said to the yellow fairy, who beamed and chimed. "And you are Fern, and you are… How about I just call you Faun?"

The green fairy chimed and the red fairy shrugged. Sonic was just about to ask another question when she heard a yell and someone stomping loudly above her head. The fairies flew away through the walls, the cup and bag disappearing. Sonic frowned and stood from her stool. She didn't even have time to thank them. She opened the door and ran upstairs.

"What is the problem Amy?" she yelled. "I was trying to have some me time."

"There's a spider in my room!" Amy shrieked. "Kill it! It's got eggs and everything!"

Sonic slipped into Amy's room and found the spider. She carefully detached the web and spider from the wall. She took the egg sack with as well. She knew the spider would die soon, but the children needed a good home. Amy saw her new look then and called out for her mother.

"What on earth is going on here?" asked Lisa. "Sonic? Why are your nails done and why is your hair curly?"

"I saved some nail polish from when Annabel threw hers out," said Sonic. "If you'll excuse me, I have a spider to deal with."

"You are not excused," snarled Lisa. "Let me see that nail polish."

"I don't have it with me," said Sonic, "And in any case, my hands are full."

The bright pink hedgehog made a move to swipe the web from Sonic's hands but she dodged. Sonic ran back to her little room and affixed the web to the wall. She then rummaged through her treasures and found a tiny bottle of nail polish the same color as hers from the make-up kit Margarete had given her. Sonic kissed the nail polish good-bye and headed out of her room.

"Here it is," said Sonic, handing Lisa the polish.

"This?" asked Lisa. "This is high quality nail polish. We can't afford this! Where did you find this? Did you steal it?"

"No!" Sonic exclaimed. "I told you! Annabel threw it away."

"I've thrown away lots of old nail polish bottles but nothing like this," said Annabel, staring at the bottle in envy. "This is of royal quality. Did you steal it when you had a shoe day?"

"No," Sonic thought sarcastically, "It was given to me as a present by a princess."

"I didn't steal it!" Sonic stated loudly. "So I lied. I don't know where it came from."

"Go to your room," said Lisa icily. "No shoes for three days and you will be waxing the floors tomorrow."

She made a shoeing gesture as though Sonic was merely an annoying fly, then pocketed the tiny bottle of nail polish. Sonic walked sadly to her room and closed the door. The little window was still there, though since it was a basement, it showed enchanted scenes Sonic had never seen before. The light bounced on the ceiling, a silvery white willow the wisp captured from an eery forest. Sonic sat on her mattress, which was now stuffed with feathers instead of straw.

"Why are you being so whimsical Sonic?" she asked herself. "You just had to give away one of your treasures, and you have to wax the floor tomorrow, and you have no shoes for three days!"

Her voice got louder and louder as she ranted, not even the sound of someone stomping on the floor above her shut her up. Sonic only quieted when Quicksilver seemed to melt from the wall and landed on her knee. The little fairy felt cool like dew, and her pink cobweb dress sparkled with hints of sapphire blue.

"Hi Quicksilver," said Sonic. "Thanks for making my prison look nicer."

Quicksilver gestured to her dress, then up at the web on the wall. The spider was already repairing it, though she looked tired and slow. The egg sack was firmly anchored to the web. Sonic looked between dress and web and nodded.

"Your dress is made of spiderwebs," she said. "I know. It's very pretty."

Quicksilver lifted a hand and touched Sonic's palm with it. A little prick of pain went through her, but then she noticed Quicksilver was holding a needle, a very tiny needle. Sonic stared at the needle in fear, then realized it was only a sewing needle. Then it clicked in her head.

"Do you think the spider would let me borrow some of her silk?" Sonic asked.

Quicksilver chimed affirmatively and melted back into the wall. Sonic lay down and stared up at her light. The little willow the wisp bounced happily along the ceiling as though telling Sonic to follow it. Sonic fell asleep watching it wander around and around the room.