The Fairy Wrangler

The Fairy Wrangler

Rapunzel: 15th century Mexico. Check. 

Note: 

-Bring food to draw fae in. 

-Get a good overview of the city(maybe map?) 

-Likes paint

Golden Goose:Elizabethan England. Check.

Note: 

-Draw birds toward water. 

-Fix pocket watch to make sure the wardrobe is correct(and comfortable!) 

Dopey:1920’s-

“New York.” I confirm to myself before entering the portal. Only one more little errand to run, then I’d be back in my New York; my cozy dorm room and pumpkin chai awaiting. The pile of Tvolstvoy books sitting atop my desk. 

I had never quite gotten used to the feeling of traveling through time. 

Realms I understood. With Realms, it was like stepping through a door. There’s a common notion that different realms operate on different speeds of time-but that’s complete crud. All realms operate on the same time(time zones do actually apply to all universe’s though)

With time-ugh. You were in this weird jello state for a minute before actually being let out. There was a sense that I was losing time when I traveled through it. This strange feeling like a gap had been opened. But of course, I stepped in. I had a job to do.  

Ugh. WJF(Weird Jello Feeling). 

My eyes readjusted to the beating New York sun of what seemed to be the summer heat. Looking down, my jeans and Harry Potter tee had disappeared-only to be replaced by a black and white drop-waist dress, black kitten heels, and a silk hat that felt smooth against the tips of my ears. 

I see a billboard for Coca-cola, and one for Castro Convertibles underneath it. There’s a faint smell of cigarettes and pizza trailing beneath my nose, followed by the scent of cheap perfume as a group of young women walk past me. 

The last two errands I had run had been fairly easy. It’s quite simple to find a girl with twenty foot long golden hair it turns out, and even easier to find a golden goose in the midst of Elizabethan England-just follow the trail of people screaming. 

My day had gone to plan, no errors to be made. And I wasn’t going to let one of Snow White’s dwarfs ruin my day. 

You see, I catch fairytale characters. Well, catch may be too strong of a word. It’s not like I’m trapping them with a net or something. Although, I did almost have to once. Had something to do with that frog prince-like from the princess and the frog. That thing refused to let me catch it. I ended up having to call my dad and it was this whole thing-anyway,where was I? Ah, yes, I’m not some sort of fairytale character catcher. I simply return them to their world, and help restore balance to both the Earthborn and Fairborn worlds. 

A.K.A, I simply return them to the pages of my father’s books.

 Well, my father and my uncles books to be more specific.

And neither of them would ever let me forget it. 

See, My father is Weilheim Grimm. 

Like, the Grimm brothers. 

As in Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretal, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs. 

As in one of the Seven Dwarfs I’m trying to catch right now. 

I can tell Howard is in desperate need of some rest time, he's as slow as I’ve ever seen it after these last few runs. He barely drags to show me where the magic is being sensed, but I follow diligently nonetheless. 

Howard is my trusty magic pocket watch. He tells me wherever magic is sensed when I cross realms. My father had had a secret knack for watches, and engineered Howard to trace magic-or more specifically, fairyborns. 

I can feel strong magic coming off as we get closer, but man, these heels were painful. I was used to wearing heels back in my New York. I was barely taller than an eleven year old, so I sort of had too. But these heels were unlike any pain I had ever experienced. 

And I’ve wrestled with an evil cat. 

I find myself holding back from screaming a little with each passing tap of my footsteps. 

But with each passing step, the smell of magic gets stronger. It is actually a sort of smell- but Dad said it’s different for everyone. For him, he said it was his mother’s cooking.The smell of pies and cooked chicken with potatoes. It reminded him of his siblings and his parent’s all sitting together for dinner when he was a young boy.

I’ve found it to be the smell of burning wood. It reminded me of the first few fairy hunts I’d done with my dad and uncle. They’d both fight over who was suited to take me-and then they’d both end up coming. We’d sometimes set up camp for a few hours because we’d arrive during nighttime and there was no use looking. 

I feel almost entranced with the smell now. 

As if it’s bringing me back to those moments. 

The stronger the smell, the stronger the magic, my uncle would say. 

But how could a small dwarf have that kind of magic? 

Howard seemed to be malfunctioning even more, as he began to pull me every which way. A couple hundred year old watch breaks, go figure. 

The best solution I could come up with was to even out the mismatched directions, and go where I thought was the center.

Which led me to a dark alley. 

I heard rat squeaks that made me squeak. 

There’s piles and piles of trash so high I can barely see the brick walls of the building’s surrounding me. Dwarf’s were notorious for mining of course, looking for gold in strange places. 

The smell made me want to puke, and I knew three or four showers to get rid of it would be waiting in my future. 

But the smell of magic was still stronger. So strong that I knew I had to trust my instinct-something was off. 

I began to hear a faint voice, getting louder and louder as I approached it. Soon it became so clear I could make out two voices. 

Hiding behind the mountains of trash piled up, I listened in. 

“No, you don’t understand! I’m late, late, late!” A squeaky voice proclaimed. It sounded like that of a boy’s-maybe thirteen or fourteen, with a faint british accent tied on. 

“I don’t have your watch,” the other voice answered, this one seemed to be english as well, only his voice was deeper. 

My curiosity got the better of me, and I peeked over the trash to find a tall young man with messy brown hair and green eyes. And a rabbit. A rabbit in a tailcoat, a top hat, looking at the man through his monocle. 

The rabbit continued to pace around. “I can sense it! My pocket watch is somewhere around here somewhere! You boy, you must have it!” 

“Rabbit, I don’t have your pocket watch!” 

“It’s here!” he declares again, I can smell the magic off of it!” 

I look down to my own pocket watch twisted between my fingers. He couldn't possibly be referring to mine could he? There was no way he could be looking for my watch since- “Ah!” 

My head turned to hear the squeak come from behind another one of the trash bags. Low and behold-there was Dopey. Rustling the trash beneath his feet, eating a possibly day old hotdog. 

Thank goodness, I told myself. Looking down at my pocketwatch, I began turning it to the correct time. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, ah-Snow White. 

“Hey!” the young man declared as he approached me. I hadn’t even noticed that he had essentially walked closer and closer to me while I was focused on Dopey. “You need to leave. Immediately.” 

I wanted to speak but my mouth refused to open. Instead I just stood there, wide-eyed and shocked. This man had been standing with a talking rabbit, and he was watching me collect one of the seven dwarfs to take back to their realm. 

“Uh-” was all I could manage. 

He looked down to see what I had been toying with between my fingers. “Rabbit, is that your pocket watch?” 

The rabbit pulled his monocle closer to his eye. “Why, yes!” he squealed, “Yes, that is my very pocketwatch!” He put out his hand-or rather, paw. “Give it here girl.” 

His harsh tone made something stir in my stomach. Suddenly I found my voice again. “This is my watch, you rabbit. I’ve had it my entire life!” 

“Listen,” the young man began, his fingers against his temples, “either you give the rabbit the pocket watch, and we can all be on our way, or-” 

“Or what?” Now I’m pissed. “I suppose you haven’t even asked how I’m not in complete shock of seeing a talking rabbit and a dwarf!” I signal towards Dopey, who’s now sitting in the corner eating something he found in the trash. “Look. this pocket watch doesn’t belong to the rabbit, it’s mine…and it’s powerful,” he was obviously from the magic world, but I still lowered my voice when I told him, “it can travel through time and realms. It is clearly not your rabbit’s watch.” 

To this, he didn’t seem the least bit stunned. In fact, he seemed to be as angry as I was. “I don’t know what stunt you think you're pulling, but I ought to take you back to the magic world with me since you know it’s existence!” 

“You’d be stupid if you think I’ll go anywhere with you!” 

“Give. me. the. pocket. watch.” he commands. 

“Come. and. get. it.” I smirked, and I began to turn the watch so I can finally get Dopey back to his correct time. 

The man seemed angry, like he could jump at me at any minute. But as I turned, and the portal began to appear, I could sense his belief in my words was growing. His eyes grew wide, like mine did only a few minutes ago. 

Just one more- “Hey!” 

The rabbit had swiped my pocket watch. 

He jumped through the portal. 

I had barely a second to think.  

I ran to grab Dopey so I could at least take him out of the Earthborn world. 

As I approached the portal, the young man still stood there. Without hesitation, I grabbed his hand. 

“What do you think your-” he could barely finish his sentence, before I pulled us both through. 

He was my only link to the rabbit, without it I was helpless. I guess my books and cozy dorm would have to wait another day. 

Someday I’ll have to find a real job.