I opened my eyes slowly to make sure I wasn’t dead. Irwin was holding my hand. I looked up at him.
“What’s that thing?” I asked, pointing to the glowing, black ball he was holding.
“Oh, this?” he said tossing it to me, “It’s a Transporter. It takes you wherever you want to go.”
The transporter was very smooth and shiny. I looked at it very carefully then handed it back to Irwin.
He put it in his pocket then took my hand and started down a small path with large flowers growing on either side.
I looked around, fascinated by the colorful nature when we stopped in front of a hut.
It was made of straw, wood, and mud kinda like the one at FMSC. It had vines growing all over it and even into it.
Irwin rang the doorbell. No one answered.
“Um….Irwin?” I asked, “Does anyone even live here?”
“What for it,” said Irwin. Suddenly, the door sprang open. I looked around.
“Hello?” I said.
“Down here,” said a voice from the ground. I looked down. There standing on the doormat, stood the smallest person I have ever seen. Well she wasn’t really a person. She was more of an elf really. She had forest green locks that seemed to float around her face like balloons when there really staticy. Also she was wearing a brown vest and a cute little turquoise dress that stopped at the knees. The most interesting thing was that she was wearing clogs.
“Hello, Tabitha,” said Irwin, giving a small wave.
“Irwin,” Tabitha gave him a nod, “I hope that you are well?”
Irwin nodded.
“Well come on in,” said Tabitha turning around and walking away from the door so we could walk in.
As I went into the room, I gasped.
“It’s so pretty!” Flowers were everywhere and a mini waterfall splashed in the corner. Water lilies floated on the surface of a small pool at the bottom of the waterfall. A beach chair stood next to the glittering water. Potion bottles sat next to a cauldron with steam floating out of it.
“Thank you,” said Tabitha, “I built it all myself.”
Sweet! I thought inside my head.
I walked over to a patch of lilies(Favorite flower!) and bent down to look at them. As I opened my mouth to comment on them, a white and green pocket sized flash of light shot out from the stems of the lilies and right up to my face.
“Ahhhhhhh!” I screamed, scrambling away from the flash.
“Who are you?” peeped the flash.
“Annie,” I mumbled.
“I’m Lily,” said the little person, “I’m a flower pixie.”
Lily was wearing a white dress with yellow at the bottom and grass green leggings. Red locks rolled down her shoulders and past her elbows. A pair of glistening transparent wings fluttered behind her.
“I love your wings,” I told her.
Lily smiled and twirled in the air.
“Thanks you, miss,” she said, blushing almost as red as the roses, “I’ll go get my sisters. They'll like you.”
She fluttered away into the lilies and in a few minutes came out in the petunias with fifteen other pixies.
“These are my sisters,” explained Lily, gesturing to her many siblings, “This is Rosie, Lavender, Poppy, Daisy, Violet, Iris, Petunia, Sunny, Goldie, Marigold, Aster, Buttercup, Clover, Heather, and Rosemary.
“Say hello to Annie, sisters!”
“Hello, Annie!”
“Hi!”
“Hey there!”
“How are you!”
“I love your shirt, Annie!”
“Do you like dancing, Annie?”
“What’s your favorite flower, Annie?”
“I have a friend named Annie,”
I gazed at the flower pixies who were throwing questions at me like it was soccer and I was the goalie and they were the players trying to score.
Each pixie wore the color of their name(or flower) like Lavender wore purple with white shoes, Sunny wore a dress with sunflowers on them, and Goldie wore a skirt with goldenrod prints everywhere and so on.
“Anyways,” Tabitha said in a loud voice and facing Irwin, “Why are you here?”
“The CODE is back,” he said. Tabitha gasped and the pixies zipped away into the flowers.
I stood up and walked over to Tabitha.
“It’s true,” I said, “They were chased us but we got away just in time.”
“Why were they targeting Annie, though?” asked Irwin.
“Because of that,” said Tabitha, pointing to Princess Talia’s locket.
“What?!” I gasped, “No!”
“Oh but yes! That locket is full of the most powerful magic. And it wants it.”
“What’s it?” I asked.
“We don’t speak of it but….” she cleared her throat, “The Consumer. The Consumer wants the locket because full of the magic. It’s consumed many towns and villages but if it has the magic, it might….”
“Might what?” I breathed, leaning in.
“Take over the world,” whispered Tabitha. I gasped and almost stepped in the violets if the pixies hadn’t stopped me.
Suddenly there was a loud rapping on the door and I jumped.
“Who's there?” called Irwin.
“John,” said a voice, “John, the messenger.”
Irwin opened the door to reveal an old man with wobbly knees standing in the doorway.
“John!” said Tabitha, “Come in.”
The old messenger shuffled into the hut, stopping to wave to the pixies. He seemed sad somehow. Tabitha seemed to noticed it, too.
“Johnny, what’s wrong?”
John’s lip started to trembled then he blurted out, “Princess Talia is gone!”
“WHAT!!” yelled Tabitha, jumping from her chair and sending Rosie who had been sitting at the waterfall to fall into the small pool of water.
“King Fratton tried to stop her but it was too late!” John wailed, wringing his hands in the air, “The Consumer got her!”
I looked at the locket around my neck. It seemed heavier than before.
Tabitha seemed very sad and nodded John out the door.
Once Irwin had shut the door, tears started rolling down Tabitha’s old wrinkled face.
“Talia was my sister,” she whispered quietly, “And now she gone.”
I lowered my head at the unpleasant news. Princess Talia! Gone! It couldn't be possible! I had be hoping to give her the locket back but now who was to protect the magic inside the locket? Not me!
“Annie?” called Tabitha, beckoning me over, “You’re going have to protect that locket with your life now that Talia can't.
I gulped rather loudly and took off the locket.
“Please,” I said, “I don't know how to protect the locket! What do I do?”
“You'll know,” replied Tabitha, “Because it'll protect you.”
I felt my face mold into a confused look.
“Well, Annie and I have some other things we need to do.” said Irwin, taking my arm and dragging me to the door, “It was nice seeing you, Tabitha. Hope you feel better.”
“Good bye, Annie!” called Lily.
“Bye!”
“See you later!”
“It was nice meeting you!”
“Here's a rose for your journey!”
“Come back soon!”
“You know I really liked her.”
I waved to Tabitha as Irwin shut the door and got a sad look in return.
“Hold onto my arm.” Irwin said pulling out the Transporter.
“ATPE Base!” he hollered, launching the black ball into the air.
The Transporter opened and we were sucked inside.