Hello everyone! This week, I have the privilege of hosting the first round of Friday Fiction, after our long hiatus. Welcome back to all the readers and writers. To join in the fun, just add the link to your story to the linky widget below. Remember to keep your stories PG-13. Don’t forget read and comment. We all love the feedback. Happy weekend!
ENCHANTED
“You have to enchant him, my darling!” The fairy godmother bustled around her newest charge. “Stop thinking in circles and think about him. Only him. See him in your mind’s eye, know what he must be. Picture the look on his face as you captivate him.” She peered up into the plain brown eyes and clucked her tongue. “Oh you poor little thing. I’ll have you looking drop-dead gorgeous in no time at all.”
“I don’t think this is going to work.” Miranda stood on tip-toe when prompted. “And I like how I look, thank you very much.”
“What? No.” The fairy godmother waved a hand at her. “With this? No, my dear. You need—more. You look a bit, not much.” The gentle smile was apologetic. “But don’t worry. I’ve worked with less before. I can do this. It will be wonderful. You will capture his heart in a heartbeat.”
“I wouldn’t know what to do with his heart—I hardly know what to do with mine.” She jumped. “Ow. That pinches. It’s tight.” She scrunched up her face in disapproval. “And your fingers are really cold. Can’t you just have the dress magically resize or something? Besides, what I really meant was that I don’t know anything about the Prince. I wouldn’t know the first thing to say in a proper conversation.”
“Then have an improper one. Speak to him as if you’re friends. Don’t worry about the formalities. Once he falls in love with you, there’s no restrictions on mannerisms and all of that courtly business. You’ll make such a lovely couple.”
“But what if I say the wrong thing? I’m not very good at saying the right ones.”
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| found on google images. I own nothing. |
“Then don’t say anything at all, just stand there and be lovely. He won’t be able to take his eyes and look past you.”
“Staring makes me uncomfortable.”
“You can dance, can’t you? Say you can. If not, I’ll have to enchant your shoes too.”
“Shoes hurt my feet.”
“Enchanted they are then, alright, never mind.” The fairy godmother tapped her sparkle wand on the freckled cheeks, smiling when the appropriate shade of blush appeared on Miranda’s clean face. “There we go now, dearie. You look fit for a ball. Absolutely scrumptious. You’ll have the time of your life tonight.”
“I was having the time of my life with my book. It was a very good book. I wanted to read the end.”
“Now, now, it’ll still be there for you when you return home. There is a midnight clause after all.” The fairy godmother patted her arm, consolingly. “Don’t worry, it’ll be over before you know it. He’ll just eat you right up. You’re so adorable!”
“…but I don’t want to be eaten!” Miranda wailed. “I just want to be me. I don’t want to be a princess.”
“Hush, hush. Every girl wants to be a princess. Now hold still.” Matching lipstick and eyeshadow was spelled on to Miranda’s round face and the fairy godmother poked at her thick eyebrows.
Miranda sniffled, leaning away from the sparkling wand. “Even you?”
“What?”
She reached out and grabbed the wand from one pudgy hand. “I do believe in fairies.” She flashed a smile. “And I also believe in happily ever after.” She pointed the wand at the fairy godmother. “Make her a princess and please let me go back to my old life.”
There was an explosion of golden sparkles before the fairy workshop roared with vigor. It transformed the plump, grey-haired fairy godmother into a svelte, perfectly coiffed young woman, exchanging her official fairy robes for a ball gown of shimmering splendor and matching shoes.
Miranda beamed as her own fancy gown was traded back for a pair of comfy lounge pants and a silk pajama top, with fluffy pink slippers. To her surprise, the official fairy robes settled around her shoulders, cinching tight at the neck with a fancy gold and ruby broach. Soft hazel eyes grew wide in shock. “Erm,” she began, eloquently.
“Oh my.” The fairy godmother twirled in place, gloved hands hiding her face as happy tears streamed down her cheeks. “Oh. Oh my.” She sobbed. “I can’t believe it, I’m free!”
“I’m sorry, you’re what?” Miranda looked from the stolen wand to its previous owner. “What do you mean you’re free?”
“Oh, I can’t thank you enough, you dear, dear girl!” The fairy godmother hitched up her skirts and hurried over to grab Miranda in an awkward hug. “I’ve always dreamed of this,” she sniffled. “Always dreamed, always hoped.”
“Always the fairy godmother, never the princess?” Miranda bit her lip. “Can you stop choking me now?” She tried to extract herself from the vise-grip bear hug. “You’ll, ah, wrinkle your dress or something.”
The hug was retracted at once and the fairy godmother stepped back, clapping her hands together before giving a little hop. “I’m so happy.” She blubbered.
“You’re going to look like a wreck if you turn up to the ball like that.” Miranda scowled at the wand. “Here, you can have this back, just send me home first and-”
“Oh no. No. I couldn’t possibly.” The fairy godmother skittered back a few steps, a flicker of fear in her eyes. “It’s against the rules anyway.”
“The rules?”
“Well, yes. You can only acquire a wand by taking it from the previous owner—by force—and you cannot give it away, until you have fulfilled one hundred wishes.”
“…one hundred wishes? Are you kidding me? I don’t have time for this!”
The fairy godmother looked away, rubbing one arm. “That’s not quite all. It’s a position. You can’t get out of it.” She flinched, when Miranda lurched forward to grab her shoulders.
“What do you mean I can’t get out of it?”
“Just that. It’s the rules.” The fairy godmother twisted away from the harsh grip. “Don’t worry, the wand will explain. It usually does or that’s what the last one told me.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Instead, her pretty baby blues reflected a depth of emotion that was completely different from all of her expressions up to that point. It was an instance of pure sorrow. “I’m sorry. Sort of. I wouldn’t have—well, I probably would have. Anything to get away from that. Can’t disobey the wand, after all.”
Miranda looked down at the glowing, glittery stick of gold in her hand. She tried to drop it. The wand stuck stubbornly to her palm. A sinking feeling began to register. “I’m not going to get to read my book, am I?”
The fairy godmother hesitated. “You could always ask,” she said, at last. “But you should probably know that from here on, you’re not your own person any more. There’s rules and limits and-”
“And I don’t really care, as long as I get to read.” Miranda looked up. “Don’t you have a ball to get to?”
The fairy godmother twisted her now slender hands together, the glittering rings flashing in the showy light of the workshop. “I suppose. I just—be careful, won’t you?”
“Happy ever after,” Miranda offered a mock bow. “Watch out for the midnight clause, or whatever that thing was.” She waved as the fairy-godmother-princess disappeared in a puff of strawberry-scented pink smoke. She sneezed. “Well, that could’ve been worse.” She looked at the wand. “Am I allowed to read?”
There was a long pause, then a single word projected into her mind.
Yes.
“Will you get me more books when I finish the one I’m reading?”
Another pause, then another word.
Maybe.
“Can that maybe turn into a yes?”
This pause was longer than the previous ones.
Yes.
“Good. We have a deal.” Miranda tipped her head forward in an approximation of a bow. “Hi. I’m Miranda. I’ll be your new—fairy godmother?”
There are rules that must be followed Miranda.
“Tch. Of course there is. But first, I’d like to have my book.” She rolled her neck to the side and shrugged her shoulders down. “If you don’t mind?” The wand burned in her hand, but Miranda only stared at it. When the searing pain finally dimmed, she perked a brow. “My book?”
Several seconds later, the book in question materialized by her left elbow. Miranda snatched it from mid-air and made her way across the glittery workshop to take a seat in the chair by the hearth. “Is there a time limit on these wishes? A deadline or something?”
…read your book first.
“Smart wand.” Miranda beamed at it. “I think we’ll get along splendidly.”
(c) Sara Harricharan
A/N: Whew. I haven’t written one of these FF snippets in a long while, so I am a bit rusty. Please excuse me. I will stretch my writing muscles for next week. Thanks for taking the time to stop by and read.