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Tammy wrote a ‘don’t worry, back in the morning’ note to her mom and left it on the pillow.
Once she finished, Maple glided up to her nose.
“What do I have to do?” asked Tammy.
“Deep breath,” said Maple—as she blew a big puff of faerie dust into Tammy’s face.
As if the bed ceased existing, she fell over backward and plummeted straight down into a swirling chaos of color.
***
Tammy found herself staring up at tree branches.
As the crazy sensation of falling into a bottomless pit faded, she became aware of soft grass and twigs all over her back and legs. She sat up, and right away noticed some serious strangeness.
For one thing, the forest around her looked nothing like any trees she’d ever seen before. Not only did they radiate a deep, almost surreal shade of emerald green, their shapes and lushness resembled nothing from earth. Long running vines covered in luminous blue puffs crisscrossed the canopy above. Bird calls—some that sounded like people laughing—broke the distant silence. A small creature that resembled a cat, fox, and squirrel all mixed together scampered by on a branch overhead, pausing briefly to wave hello at her before it disappeared.
More shocking than the unearthly forest, when Tammy glanced down, it became apparent she no longer had the body of an eighteen-year-old. It had been a while since she’d been a kid, so she couldn’t tell exactly how old she’d become, but she now definitely qualified as alittle kid, somewhere between six and eight.
The faerie queen hovered nearby as if she’d been waiting a significant amount of time for Tammy to regain consciousness. “About time you woke up. Time to learn.”
“Whoa,” rasped Tammy. “Is this really happening or am I dreaming?”
“Yes.” Maple grinned.
Still a bit disoriented from the ‘fall,’ Tammy decided not to question the response. She was wearing her same sweats and tee-shirt, though magically smaller. More fairy magic, undoubtedly.
“First lesson is to learn how to make proper clothing,” says Maple, tugging at Tammy’s t-shirt. Maple flitted off, flew in a circle around Tammy, then hovered in front of her. A small tornado of leaf bits and vines rose up from the forest floor and wrapped around the faerie, coalescing into a dress of sorts. “Like this.”
“Why can’t I just wear these? They fit well enough.”
“They are flimsy and will be ruined.” Queen Maple giggled.
“Ruined? Is this more dangerous than you’re telling me?”
Maple burst into laughter. It took her a moment to collect herself. “No, silly. They will fall apart. Your learning will take years. These will wear out.”
Tammy recalled some of her mother’s first magic lessons had been learning how to make clothing. But her mom never really got good at it, and could only create the illusion of magic. Not real clothing. These were definitely real.
Tammy looked down at herself, then glanced at the trees. It seemed impossible for her to just start doing magic, but so did her being six or seven again while existing in a dream that also wasn’t a dream. Despite looking very much like a little girl, she remembered being eighteen. Her personality didn’t seem different; however, she couldn’t deny a small urge to start crying due to anxiety—something notably childish she wouldn’t normally do.
She remembered Allison once saying something to Sam about the most difficult part about learning magic was being able to convince yourself it really existed. Having been transported to another place at another age made it laughable to even consider magic wouldnotwork. She took in some air, closed her eyes. Yes, the more she thought about it, the more she felt like a character in a story who could do fantastic things. Whatever Maple had done, whatever Tammy had agreed to, ceased being scary and, in that instant, became an exciting adventure.
Luke Skywalker had to lift a spaceship out of a swamp. I can make a stupid dress out of leaves. Easy.
Having almost no doubt it would work, Tammy stretched her arms out to either side and beckoned the forest to give her something to wear. A single fat leaf jumped up from the ground and smacked into her forehead, where it stuck.
Tammy puffed air at it.
The leaf refused to move.
Maple laughed so hard she fell out of the air, disappearing into the duff with a softplop.
“Funny.” Tammy reached up and peeled the leaf off her face, then cast it aside.
“Trying, keep do,” said Maple in between giggles.
Tammy took a breath, cracked her knuckles, and resumed concentrating on the desire to do magic. It took her a couple minutes of concentration plus a little coaching from Maple. On her fourth attempt, a ripple ran across the duff at her feet like an ocean wave traversing leaf bits, moss, and soft vines. Seconds later, the forest floor leapt up, weaving together into a dress made of leaves, moss, and flowers far more comfortable than physically possible for the materials. Weirdly, her old clothing ceased to exist.
