Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire

“I promise I’ll give it back to you...never!” I jump from her roof to the next roof while Agatha screams at me until her voice gets raspy.

“I’ll never trust you again, you dirty liar! You-you stupid, filthy rat!” she spits out in anger. “You’ll never get away with this!”

“That the best you’ve got, Aga?” I smirk in her direction, my hands crossed against my chest. Her insults were so bad it was funny.

“Give me back my wand and jewels back right now or I’ll…” her voice trails off.

“Or you’ll what, put a magical spell on me?” I throw my head back and laugh. “You can’t get another wand for weeks, maybe even months.”

“I’ll report you to the Council! What will you do then?” The corners of her mouth turning up in victory.

I smile knowingly. “They can only do something if they can catch me first. And you don’t even know how I look,” I put on a mocking sad face.

“Yes, I do. I just saw you,” Confusion plastered on her face.

“Oh, but could you remember it?” Understanding dawns on her face and she ducks too late. I wave the wand around and say the forgetting spell. 

She holds her head in her hands as the spell goes through and by the time she looks up, I’m already gone.

*************

I settle down in the comfy chaise lounger that I had won in a very fun bet. Ha, that merchant fairy had actually thought I would play fair. Why would I after everything these people had done to me?  At the time, I had thought dumbly. I was so weak. So so weak. I needed help but what would I do? Make somebody depressed? Put them in pain? But I couldn’t do that. That was selfish. 

“But what have they ever done for you? All everyone’s ever done is take advantage of your kindness. Take your hand and help you up just to throw you back down again.” The oracle’s words had come back to me but now they aren’t just her words. The part of the brain that’s selfish, or maybe reasonable keeps asking me. 

“Will you just die? Go without a fight? Will you not have your revenge?” No, I wanted to tell that part of my brain. I wish I could just ignore it, that stupid selfish voice. But in the end, I listened to it.

Had I done everything right today? Made Agatha forget how I looked, covered my faces with my hair and just to be sure, draped my English violet-colored cloak’s hood over my head. I had not only chosen this color because it was my favorite color, but because it was the same color as my hair. That way since I had one of the rare hair colors in the Queendom of Arabella, people would think my hair was just part of my cloak. A beautiful thought hit me like a force propeller spell. I got up so fast and had one of those dizzy moments where you get tunnel vision. 

I went to my Precious room where I had placed the new jewels in my collection. My cloak has been getting kind of boring lately. I flipped open Agatha’s spellbook to a weaving spell.

I set my cloak on my table and decide maybe I should try a renewing spell first. I go back to the table of contents and flip the pages until I see the title of the spell I needed and the page number. I quickly flip to page 243 in the giant book. I cough as dust particles swirl around in the air getting freedom from the cage of the book. 

“This book is so ancient, I wouldn’t be surprised if it crumbled to nanoparticles in front of me,” I mumble grumpily.

“Yeah, you would,” My only friend who also is a monkey, says, one eyebrow raised. 

“Honestly, Ariella, nobody asked for your input on that,” Even as I say that I jump a little like I always do hearing her voice because Arie was so quiet I forget she was there.

“You know it’s true,” she says boringly. 

“Why the sass?” I ask her, my eyebrows raised now.

“Let's go outside. I wanna play around, climb trees, and breathe in the fresh air at the tops of the trees,” she says all in one breathe. 

I sigh.

“Pretty please with a cherry on top?” Even though she knows I can’t say no to those beautiful chocolate-colored sad puppy eyes. 

I put my hands on my hips and she smiles.

“Fine, bu only after I finish renewing my cloak and jeweling it,” I say firmly, leaving no room for negotiation. 

I laugh as she grins so wide I know it must hurt.

I turn back to my cloak and say the 2 lines to renew the cloak and take the jewels out of my hoodie pocket. 

"You aren't lying to me are you?" she accused, hands on her hips, eyes narrowing.

"You know I would never lie to you," I say while putting the jewels where I wanted them to be on my cloak.

"That's what you say to everybody," This time I don't turn around to look at her. She knows why I do what I do.

"You know I would never lie to you. You're the one person who supported me when everyone else in this selfish place turned their backs on me," I say the spell and squeal when I see the magic working. Doing magic felt so good. It had been months since I got to do magic and even though it was wand magic instead of the magic coming from inside me, it felt good. I would find a way to get my magic back. They had wrongfully stolen it away from me. They had taken away part of my soul. Literally. Magic was embedded into fairies' souls. Unlike witches and wizards who needed spell books and wands, we could summon our magic from within with practice and concentration.

My cloak clicks into place and rests comfortably on my neck.

"Let's go," I say my mind on the task ahead.

"We're not going to a forest, are we," It wasn't a question, but a statement. She knew what the fire in my eyes meant.

"We are. We're going to the royal forest."

"Are you having a short-term memory loss or something? That's your sister's forest. Ariadne will kill us!" her ears perk up at the name of my sister and goosebumps appear on my arms.

"We are the citizens of her queendom. She can't kill us with no proof. That would cause her people to revolt against Queen Ariadne," I say the last two words with distaste and venom.

"You're going to get me caged one day." but she was already jumping onto a tree.

I spread my wings out before remembering that they were useless. Singed and ripped, they would do be no good. I stroked them.

Memories fill my head.

It wasn't me! I would never betray our queendom. I'm the crown princess, giving Zakkas that knowledge would do me no good!

"Liar!"

"Traitor!"

"Kill her!"

"Banish her!"

"No."

She didn't yell it, yet everyone quieted down at the sound of her voice. She was the victim in their eyes after all.

"We shall take away her magic."

Gasps and whispers filled my ears but I could only look at her. The younger sister, who I had always treated with so much love and care. Yet, after mother's death, she seemed to forget it all, I remember thinking.

"That's not enough!"

I saw the joy in her eyes. I had had my downfall even before I was queen.

"Ruin her wings!" someone yells.

"Yes, yes! A fairy's pride! Take away her pride!"

I close my eyes as I remember the painful horrible day when I became a nobody.

It was time for revenge.