Disclaimer: This story is completely original. All characters, settings, and events are spawned from my own mixed up little mind and may not be used, copied, or adapted without my express written permission. Do not steal my story!!!

11.

Theodore and Verum showed up an hour later, arguing heatedly. Behind them, trailing along with wide eyes and looking quite shell-shocked and soundly confused, was Dominic. The dragon and fairy godmother-in-training weren't bothering to try and pretend that it'd all been a show; in fact, Verum was enthusiastically threatening to seal Theo's mouth shut so the next time he breathed fire and endangered the only Princess they had left, he'd only give himself a bad headache. Resting on one of Verum's shoulders, using one of her puffy sleeve as a pillow and slumbering soundly, was the little winged man. Fairy, Toby decided. Had to be.

Georgette had carried Linda into the house, then took up position standing guard next to the doorway. Toby wondered if the Knight could sit down… Well, maybe the most appropriate question was, once the Knight did sit down, if she could get up. The blonde didn't seem too burdened down by the plate mail that she wore, but it certainly looked pretty heavy.

When Linda woke up again it took Toby fifteen minutes to get her to stop pointing out the window to where Valiance was now grazing calmly and shrieking about talking horses. Georgette kindly corrected Linda ("He doth be a Pooka, m'lady…") which finally sent her mother into shocked, confused silence. Finally Toby fetched her a cup of peppermint tea from the kitchen and her mother cradled it in her hands and sipped at it.

She finished it, set it to the side and declared, "okay, Tobias Ann. Time to do some explaining…"

Verum practically skipped into the room, beaming as she waved that little twig of hers around. Toby thought it wasn't nearly big enough to be a proper wand – and were all wands really such knobby, common looking things?

"Please, allow me! Verily, I would love to tell the story."

Linda stared at her. "And you are…?"

"Verum, Tobias's fairy godmother."

"In-training," Tobias added dryly, still sitting next to her mother and rubbing her back in an effort to keep her from freaking out again.

"Well, yes. I am, however, a master story-teller. Let me explain what happened…" So with a fluff of oversized, sparkly skirts, she planted herself in a chair across from Linda. Toby noticed the little fairy was gone from her shoulder. Dominic must have heard Verum's statement, because he came in, Theo in tow.

"I'd like to hear what's going on as well."

He sat down, leaving Theo to lean against the wall next to the Knight. The dragon kept glancing at the Knight and grinning; for her part, Georgette ignored him. Apparently having 'defeated' him in the Mall meant she wasn't too concerned about smacking him down again.

"Once upon a time…" Verum started, and Toby groaned mentally. Her life was being turned into a fairy tale. They sat quietly as they listened to Verum recount how Toby had been crowned (how did she know about that, anyway?), how she'd met Theo (or that?), how Verum herself had bravely turned Theo into a dragon, how she'd asked the house to go back into place—

"It's alive?!" Linda burst out, straightening.

Verum blinked. "Oh, of course it is. It's such a good house.. Aren't you, House?" She reached over and patted the wall. The house gave a little shudder, accompanied by the creak of timbers and Toby got the impression of a cat fluffing up its fur and then settling down more comfortably.

Linda stared at Verum. "Toby…" she started.
"Yeah Mom?"

"… did our house just purr?"

"I… guess you could call it that," Toby said. She was finding it much easier not to be freaked out while her mom was.

"It's… not going to try to… migrate or anything, is it?"

Verum tapped her lower lip thoughtfully, before beaming at Linda in that expression that Toby had come to think of as her 'ignorance indicator.' She always seemed to use it when she was truly living up to her Verily Vapid nickname. "I'm not sure!"

"Oh," Linda said, swallowing. "Proceed with the story…"

Verum's eyes went to the ceiling and she tapped her lower lip again in that now-familiar thinking gesture. Toby shook her head but didn't say anything as Verum found her train of thought, telling how they'd gone to the Mall (even though she hadn't been there) and then Georgette had shown up and beaten Theo up. Theo opened his mouth to object, but shut it when the fairy godmother-in-training twitched that little twig-wand at him in warning.

"And so Georgette ran off with Toby and we told everyone that it'd just been a publicity stunt for a new movie!" Verum concluded with a big smile.

"I told them," Dominic corrected, folding his arms over his chest. Toby wondered if he was angry with her for not telling him immediately… she wouldn't be surprised. He was overprotective, sometimes.

"So… what happens to Toby now? Are these .. creatures going to continue showing up?"

"There hast nae been a Princess in a great many, many years, m'lady. Our people hath slept a great while. It doth nae be too surprising to find they seeketh the Princess out where e'er she doth dwell," Georgette said, calmly.

"Well that's nice for them, but what about my poor Toby? She has enough trouble fitting in at school as it is – those kids are horrible to her. She doesn't need stuff like this making her an even bigger target!" Toby was surprised at the anger in her mother's voice. She hadn't realized Linda had known just how bad things had gotten – of course. Dominic. She leaned forward and gave him the dirtiest look she knew how to give. He ignored her.

Verum's brow creased slightly, and she glanced to Toby before looking back at the girl's mother. "I… don't think that's going to be a problem," she said, very carefully.

"What do you mean?" Toby blurted.

"Well… we can't be sure that whomever or whatever took the other Princesses before the Sleep won't come after you, too, Princess… The best thing would be to take you immediately to the Fairy Court. That's the safest possible place for you," Verum replied calmly. Toby snorted.

"No offense, Verum, but if it or they or whatever could reach Rosalinde there, I don't consider it all that safe."

Verum frowned at Toby as Linda looked between the two of them. "Happened? What happened?"

Toby shrugged. "They don't know. She just disappeared."

"Well then it's final, Toby isn't going anywhere, certainly not somewhere that's so un-safe!"

"With the utmost possible respect, ma'am.. it's not your decision," Verum said gently. She looked over to Toby, and the brunette felt every set of eyes in the room do the same. She swallowed hard.

"So I have to choose between staying here and going to this Fairy Court?"

Verum nodded gently. "I can tell you that no matter where you are, our people are going to be seeking you out. It's inevitable. And now that you have your tiara, you're a full-fledged Princess. None of them mean you harm –"

"Except whomever or whatever made the other Princesses disappear," she said, reaching up and rubbing her finger over the tiara still sitting on her brow. She shook her head, then pulled it off, looking down at it. Dominic and her mother both jumped, Linda letting out a little gasp.

"Where'd that come from?"

Toby blinked at her mother. "This?" she asked, holding up the tiara. "It's… been on my head the entire time…"

"They can't see it," Theo said, grinning smugly at Dominic. "Non-magical creatures and people can only see it when it's on if you're in direct contact with another magical creature or near a large source of magical energy." Dominic's eyes narrowed at the dragon and Toby swore she saw sparks flying between the two of them.

"Well, if it's going to draw people to me, then I'm not going to wear it," Toby said, reasonably, and tossed the tiara onto the chair next to Verum.

Just as it touched the cushions of the seat, it disappeared, and Toby felt the sudden smooth press of silver against her forehead. She let out gasp, reaching out and feeling the tiara that was now sitting nicely around her head as if she'd never even taken it off. Verum just smiled that infuriating smile of hers.

"It's where it belongs, Princess. It's not going to just lie in some drawer collecting dust. It's not a normal tiara, after all."

"… so I noticed," Toby said, then sighed. "Look, I don't want to be your Princess. I didn't ask for any of this, and I certainly don't want to be dragged off to some weird land that I don't know anything about. If it's a choice between staying here and having to face Julie and Jenna who wish I would disappear, or going off away from everything I know closer to someone or something that's going to make me disappear forever, I'd rather stay here."

Verum glanced over at Georgette, and the two of them exchanged a glance that Toby knew meant something significant but couldn't quite read. Abruptly, the Knight scooped her helm up from where it was sitting on the kitchen table, then approached Toby.

Gracefully, she dropped to one knee in front of Toby and lifted the girl's hand to her lips, kissing the back of it. "We doth require our leave of thee, m'lady. Rest easily, we wilt return when thou hast need of us."

"Oh… okay. It was nice meeting you."

Georgette stood with a sweep of blonde hair, bowing to Linda respectfully, then strode out of the house.

"Where's she going?" Dominic asked.

Verum shrugged and wouldn't say anything more on the subject. Instead she turned to Toby, suddenly very serious.

"I will respect your wishes to stay here Princess, but I beg of you, please, let us protect you. Your life could be in danger – we have no way of knowing how this person or creature finds Princesses."

Toby sighed. "I'll make sure that I always have someone around me, Verum," she acquiesced, glancing over at Dominic.

"Not just anyone, Princess. It has to be myself, Theo, or Fizzybink. Those are the only fairy tale creatures we can trust right now, and we're the only ones who might be able to protect you should something happen." Toby caught Dominic frowning out of the corner of her eyes. He wouldn't like thinking he couldn't protect her. She knew him, she knew he was going to try anyway, even if he was completely out of his league.

"… Fizzybink? Who's Fizzybink?"

"A pompous, annoying little thing," Theo muttered, and Verum twitched her wand at him again. He folded his arms over his chest in a sulk and leaned back against the wall.

"The Prince of the Fairies. He prefers to be called 'Fiz', I believe." Verum's eyes glittered mischievously. "You've already met him. Twice, I believe."

"I have?" Toby's mind suddenly flashed back to the little winged man and she let out a little gasp. "He got me my paper at school, didn't he? And saved me in the Mall today…"

"Saved you?" Theo sputtered, then abruptly shut up when Verum (and everyone else) turned to look at him. Toby frowned, about to ask what he meant when suddenly Verum brushed her hands together briskly, standing up.

"Very well, if you wish to stay here, that is acceptable… for now, Princess. I must go report to the Fairy Queen, let her know what's happened. Fiz and I shall return as soon as things in the Court have been taken care of. Until then, Theodore, it's your responsibility to protect the Princess, and if you so much as think about breathing fire…!"

"I know, I know," Theo muttered rebelliously. Verum nodded in satisfaction, then smiled to Linda and curtsied deeply to Toby. Toby was pretty sure that no matter how many people bowed and curtsied to her it'd feel weird every time someone did it.

"Until I return…!" She swished and flicked her wand and suddenly disappeared into a hundred tiny bubbles that drifted aimlessly in the air.

Dominic cleared his throat. "Well…"

"Yeah," Toby said, then stood up. "I'm going upstairs. You think this is weird for you guys, try being the object of their adoration."

"You're not even that good at being distressed," Theo pointed out, helpfully. Three people glared at him for his trouble and he shut up once more, not even making a peep as Toby walked past him to the stairs and headed upstairs to barricade herself in her room.