Hey, bringing in a new character in this chapter. Her name is spelled kinda uniquely, but it's pronounced Allie, or Aly, or Ali, or however ya'll are used to seeing it.
Enjoy!
To say Raz was impressed at the gardens would probably qualify for the biggest understatement of the ice age. There was every flower imaginable, and in every color. The lilacs were blue, the lilies fluorescent pinks and yellows. The marigolds looked like they'd been dipped in a rainbow, colored every hue of every color. Snaking along the ground was a river of peach nectar that she couldn't resist dipping her hands in and having a sip. She'd always been fond of peach's sweet nectary juice, even as a joey. She had a distant memory of a pair of arms holding her, letting her drink a peach's juice straight from the fruit as a baby.
However, while the peach river was impressive, what really attracted her attention was a single bush of certain blossoms. They were glowing and silver, as if they'd been bathed in liquid moonlight. "Oh…" she reached down and picked one, a small bud ready to open. She watched in amazement as it bloomed right in her hands, opening it's pale petals to face the full moon above. Raz could only stare in awe with wide eyes as a moonbeam swept down from the sky, landing right on the blossom. The petals glowed brighter and began to shimmer, the light becoming blinding for a moment, before ricocheting off, landing on another flower of the same bush, staying connected. The process repeated, until the made-malleable moonlight had woven itself into a web all over the single bush. Then every blossom glowed, filling the grove with pure silver light.
When the bright rays died down, she dared open her eyes. The flowers looked the same… thought the petals looked ton have been injected with midnight blue glitter. And there, in the middle of each one, was a stone.
I was small and round, maybe about half an inch in diameter. It was a glorious cobalt blue in color, streaks of silver showing beneath the translucent outer shell. "Wow…" she watched as the others bent forward, releasing their glowing stones into a neat pile at the base of the bus. "Wha in the… world…" she was soon distracted as a suddenly, a lotus from a nearby bush broke away. For a moment it floated before her, a long line forming behind it. The blossoms whisked and began moving in quick wide circles, slowing pushing her forward. "Hey- wh-what… stop that!" one pushed, surprisingly hard for a flower, in the middle of her back. "Oi! Alright, alright, I'm movin, I'm movin!" she rolled her eyes at herself as she began to hop with the whirlwind of sweet smelling flowers leading. "Grea'. Now Ah've reall'eh lost I'. Ah'm talkin ta flowers. This place is messin with m' head…"
The flowers brought her to a large tree in the middle of the huge garden, surrounded by a little stream and raised up on a small hill. The water in the little creak was abnormally warm, so she didn't mind when it splashed unnaturally high and drenched her. The tree twisted and turned oddly in every direction, and the enchanted blossoms brought her to the very top of the hill. When they arrived, they ushered into a crook in the trunk, just the right size, shape, and height for sitting. Once she was situated, the flowers wove themselves into a circle, before setting down on her head- a painful reminder of the ones Shira would make her as a child. Rapidly blinking her stinging eyes, she desperately looked for anything to distract her attention. She got it.
There, floating before her, was a tiny chipmunk. Literally tiny, maybe an inch tall, if that. Her fur was rosy pink and she glowed a soft salmon color. And there, sprouting from her back, was a pair of dragonfly wings, beating a mile a minute. "Wh-What…" she hesitantly held out a finger, and the tiny creature landed on her nail, wings folded neatly against her deck. The chipmunk gave a curtsey in her green leaf skirt and straightened her pine cone chip tiara. "What are you?"
When the little creature spoke, it was high pitched and incredibly quiet and sweet. "I am Princess Alleigh. Princess of the Sprites. And we couldn't help but notice you."
"Alright… why'd ya bring me here?"
"To test ya." She said, dropping her formal voice. This little… thing couldn't have been more than fifteen years old. "We need another sprite to play with us." She gestured around, and Raz then noticed a bunch of other glowing little forms, peaking out at her from the grass, leaves, and bushes. "And we saw you, and you crossed over the Winged River, so that makes you our main choice!"
"Oh no ya don't!" she exclaimed, standing up. "I'm alread'eh bein made into Lord Blackheart's wife. I ain't-"
"Sorry." She said, flitting into the air. "But you got no choice." And, oddly, she kissed her forehead. Instantly Raz felt the change happening. It started as but a harmless tingly feeling in her tummy. Then it got painful. Some sort of force slammed into her brain, cold and heavy, like a big chunk of iron had been put into thought form and was assaulting her mind. A searing pain in her gut made her gasp and double over, like someone had set fire to her stomach. She felt her muscles shrinking, pulling tight over her bones, which were contracting and altering themselves into a new shape. And it hurt.
Alleigh watched as the kangaroo began to glow and shrink, writhing in pain, groaning and hissing in utter agony. She flitted down to the ground as the light ceased, ready to address her. She now held a faint violet glow that all sprites had, her newly sprouted wings limp and damp against her back like a newly emerged butterfly form it's cocoon. She lay on the grass at the base of the tree, looking as if she was merely having a peaceful sleep, lying there on her side. "You ok?" she asked, shaking her shoulder gently, noticing out of the corner of her eye the other sprites she was playing with appearing. "Ya alright? Hope I didn't hurt too much… Did it hurt?"
The kangaroo sprite groaned. "No. Freaking. Duh!" her eyes fluttered open and two boys helped her into a sitting position, two minks each glowing bluish silver with what looked like firefly wings. "Ow… oh, swee' mother a pearl that hurt. Jeez…" she rubbed her sore shoulder, wincing when it popped.
"Um…" the nearby princess giggled nervously. "Sorry bout that. Um…" she flittered behind her and pulled her up from under the arms, earning an angry cry of pain from the newest sprite. She steadied her more gently this time, before reaching down to her new wings. "Now let's see bout those flappers huh?" she delicately gripped the tips and opened them out, revealing a great pair of silky, silver butterfly wings, partially transparent, with intricate magenta designs decorating them. "Can ya flap em?"
"Kinda busy bein in pain here!"
"Oh, right. Sorry."
After she was decently oriented again, the newly-made oriented sprite climbed to herself, wings shivering along with them. she tried to glance over her shoulder and experimentally flapped, starting slightly when they began to beat almost consciously, lifting her quickly into the air. The two minks, who looked like twins, each gently grabbed an arm and helped her down, giving instructions.
Soon enough she'd gotten the hang of her wings, she soon was introduced to the playful side of these odd winged little creatures, and it wasn't long before she was half-forced into a game of air-tag, and, though she found it rather silly, she had to admit, this was fun! Now she knew what Silas was talking about!
After about an hour, suddenly a golden glow was visible, and everyone stopped what they were doing. "Queen Katrina!" they all gasped, rushing to her with hasty bows. She flew over too, staying shyly at the back of the crowd.
"Now, who's this then?" a smooth voice called out, and the crowd parted. Her wings were big butterfly ones twice the size of her body. She was a chipmunk like the princess, but was bright cyan blue and her wings were a deep navy blue, surrounded by a sea blue glow.
"Ma, this is Raz!" Alleigh exclaimed, hurrying to her side. "I kinda- um…"
"Oh Alleigh…" she sighed, before gently tilting her face up, looking her over. "Well, I suppose you can stay for the night. You'll be our royal guest."
"But…"
"No no, I insist dear." The woman said. "I'm sure you'll find our guest rooms most comfortable. But first" she rose into the air, arms raised above her head, and suddenly, thousands of sprites were watching. "Tonight we feast in honor of our guest, the to-be queen of this island!"
In the back of her mind Raz wondered how she could know about that, but she was distracted as Katrina took her arm and began leading her high up into the trees. As they went up, she wondered what other adventures she'd be pulled into on this island while she was here. It was obvious this was no ordinary island… what else could possibly await her? Much more, she was sure.
Kay, I've got the next four chapters already written, just gotta get them typed up and posted, kay? Please review, tell me what you think of this odd twist. I know, I know, it's very strange, but that's the whole point! Please review!