Chapter One
"Christianna! Christianna, come back here this instant!" Christianna could hear her mother's voice, Queen Juniper, getting fainter and fainter as she ran nonstop throughout the dense forest. Even though Christianna was only five and a half, she had the longest legs of her brothers and sisters and could easily run for hours. As she plowed through the trees and underbrush, she ran faster and faster until Christianna suddenly stopped. Breathing heavily, she took a look at her surroundings. While she was running, she didn't notice that she had run straight into Fairy Territory. All the houses were made of fairy dust and fresh pine wood from the forest, and let off an iridescent sparkle. Even though everyone was told fairies lived in tiny miniature houses and were only inches tall, by the look of the houses, Christianna concluded that all those tales were false, for they were normal size cottages.
"Oh! You don't look like a fairy!" Christianna spun around to find an adult size woodland fairy flittering nervously.
"That's because I'm not. I am a human, and my name is Christianna Dalia Fairest, and I'm running away." Christianna declared, standing up to her full height of 3ft 2 inches.
"Well! How…exciting! My name is Ophelia Dar Woodland and I'm a fairy, although you could probably guess that. Now, may I ask why are you running away, dear?" Ophelia asked, her voice tinkling and as light as air.
"My mother, Queen Juniper, has just too many rules. My brothers- Jaden, Christian, and Uden- drive me absolutely crazy with all of their wrestling and whatnot. And my sisters- Eve, Eden, Emilia- are triplets and don't pay any attention to me. I'm just tired of being a princess, quite frankly!" Christianna huffed, and sat down on the moist leaves, not caring if she ruined her gown.
"What about your father? The king, I suppose?" Ophelia flittered closer to Christianna.
"Oh, he's okay. But he's never home, so I never see him. He's always 'defending our kingdom', yadda, yadda, yadda." Christianna replied.
"Well sweetie, I must bring you back to the castle." Ophelia decided.
"Oh no! Please, no! I was so unhappy and unwanted there! Please, Ophelia, can I stay with you?" Christianna exclaimed.
Now, Ophelia wasn't the kind of fairy who adored children, especially little ones, but Christianna was an exception. With her long wavy brown hair and bright blue eyes, who could turn her down?
"Oh, I suppose. I wouldn't think about sending you back to that castle if you didn't wish upon it." Ophelia answered.
And so Christianna took Ophelia's out stretched hand, stood up, and walked while Ophelia flew to her new home.
Chapter 2
After about one week of living with Ophelia, Christianna became bored. Sure, her new home was nice- a quaint cottage decorated with a very homey atmosphere. And Ophelia had a dog that Christianna loved. Her name was Poppy and she and Christianna were inseparable. However, Ophelia had to work every other day, and that left Christianna and Poppy with nothing to do. Ophelia was head fairy at Fairy Dust Inc. She was the one who gave fairies their ability to use magic, and therefore had to be at work from noon to twilight.
A couple days later, when Ophelia was at work, Christianna was fed up with being bored. She gathered Poppy in her basket, and set out for a stroll.
It was a quiet day in the woods, with sunlight breaking through the tree tops and birds chirping pleasantly. Christianna spotted a creek, and sat down on a rock to think. It was then when she spotted it: a hideous frog with warts covering its body. The frog jumped towards Christianna and she cringed away.
"You monstrosity! Get away from me!" Christianna yelped. And with that, she threw a pebble at the creature. The moment the pebble touched the frog, a whirlwind of dust swirled around the animal. Christianna gathered Poppy in her arms, but didn't budge from her rock. As soon as the wind and dust died down, standing in the frog's place was a wrinkly old witch.
"How dare you throw a rock at me! I am Fridielza! The greatest witch in the magical world. For your action you must be punished." Fridielza screeched.
"Buh…but…but I didn't do anything!" Christianna sputtered.
"No matter to it now, sweet pea! You have angered me, and you deserve pa y back." Fridielza said, slowly twisting her hands.
"Now, what should it be? Warts all over? Nah… How about the body of a pig? Eh, I'm tired of that one. Oh! I know!" And with that, Fridielza whipped out her wand and repeated a chant.
"Eyes of hatred, heart of stone, turn this girl into the unknown! Make her have a gift so bad, she'll never in a million years get a lad! This gift, this gift, what shall it be? Immortality is what I see! When she hits the age of sixteen, let her mortal life forever wean. Only true loves' kiss can suffice, to take back this spell that's not very nice!" Fridielza waved her wand and pointed it straight at Christianna, sparks sputtering madly out of the tip.
All the while Christianna stood motionless, holding the trembling Poppy. The moment the first spark of Fridielza's wand touched Christianna's heart, she gave a yelp of surprise, and fell on the ground, motionless.
"That should teach that horrible little wench!" Fridielza said, turning herself back into a frog, and hopping away.
Poppy stood over Christianna's motionless body laying on the damp mossy forest floor. She could hear a heartbeat, but Poppy didn't like the way the frog turned into a human and hurt Christianna. She laid down next to Christianna's face, and waited for her to wake up.
Chapter 3
Ten years later…
Christianna opened her eyes, getting a sleepy view of her bedroom ceiling. The morning blue jays chirped their happy song and Poppy scurried over to Christianna's bedside, tail wagging a good morning beat.