Next to Springdale is the Realm of Nightmares which is a most horrible place. The darkest of beings live there the fairies who shunned all that was good and light which resulted in them being exiled from the Realm of Fairy. They are determined to gain enough power to reclaim Fairy. They are led by Miranda the wickedest one of all.
Miranda calls all her fellow exiles to her throne room. The Realm was once home to beings that no one remembers not even their names. She did love the decorator because it fit her perfectly. Her throne is made from bones of people. The walls were filled with skulls and the floor was the color of freshly spilled blood.
When everyone was before her kneeling she gestured at them to get up and seat themselves at the table in the middle of the room. It was huge and carved with designs right out of a nightmare. There were monsters chasing people. Huge mouths opened about to chomp down on some meaty flesh. There was another carving of people engulfed in flames. It was truly a masterpiece for one such as Miranda.
"I have called you all together to plan a way to reclaim Fairy and toss out those pathetic fairies like Lucinda and her simpering wimps out on their fannies. We were lucky to find this place and my dear Tanea found out something wickedly wonderful."
She gestured and Tanea came forward. Tanea had raven colored hair with eyes as black as the darkest night. Her skin was as pale as a pearl. Her lips were the color of blood and they always had a smirk upon them.
"I have found way into Springdale a part of the world that will give us the power we need. We can feed on the children by giving them nightmares which will dilute their innocence and belief which weakens those pesky pixies.”
“We start tonight each of you go to the street close to the doorway. It’s called Elm Street and it’s full of kids just ripe for the picking.”
They walked to the book chamber where books were brimming all over the place. Shelves stretched up to the ceiling. Miranda walked over to a small set of shelves in the corner and pulled out a book that sent up a cloud of dust and pulled a lever that was hidden behind the old tome. When she pulled it down the wall opened up to reveal a secret room.
“Everyone step inside and keep walking until you find yourself in Springdale.”
One by one each dark fairy stepped into the opening and found themselves in a fog that was thick and soupy but there was an opening that was all glittery just ahead which they walked through to find themselves in a park just behind some high shrubs.
“Now you each have your night-o-meters which will show the best children to prey on. Go now and spread your wickedness.” Miranda stepped back into the room leaving her minions to carry out his wishes.
Tanea was drawn to a house painted sky blue with a gleaming wooden door that shone in the moonlight. Inside was a little girl that was perfect to send a nightmare to. She had nightmares nearly every night so it would be quite easy to reach inside her head and send some darkness her way.
She pulled out a pouch and opened it. Inside was a black glittery powder that was used to send people nightmares.
“I just love this stuff. I am such a genius creating my own brand of fairy dust and it’s so pretty too.”
The little girl inside whose name is Sally was just drifting off to sleep clutching her bunny named Fingee. Tanea flew over to the window and looked inside. She chanted a few words so she could teleport herself inside and looked down at the sleeping child.
“Such a little beauty with your creamy skin and golden locks. May your dreams turn sour on this very night.”
Tanea tossed some darkness dust which sparkled and surrounded Sally. She watched as the dust took affect on the girl’s dreams that were sweet but would soon turn to terror.
Sally was dreaming she was having a picnic with her bunny Fingee who she never went anywhere without. She was in a meadow full of daisies growing wild. She was sitting on a fuzzy pink blanket with a wicker basket before her.
“Let’s see what’s inside the basket Fingee.”
“I hope there are carrots because I’m starving. Can’t you hear my tummy rumbling Sally?”
Sally giggled and reached over to lift the lid of the basket. A large snake slithered out which made Sally scream.
“Yes little one give into your fears.”
She looked at the cord around her next which held a glass vial that started glowing. It held the power of the purity that was being drained from the girl.
Sally started tossing and turning and making little whimpering noises. Tanea had to go back outside because she couldn’t stop cackling at the little girl’s suffering and didn’t want the nightmare to end too soon.
A wonderful dream turned ugly so quickly. The sun that was shining brightly disappeared and the sky darkened with lightning flashes ripping through the sky. Sally turned to Fingee her beloved bunny who had suddenly turned into a monster with fangs and claws reaching out for her.
“Ahhh,” Sally screamed and kept on screaming until her parents ran into her room. The room was bathed in light as they turned the light on.
“Sweetie it’s ok it was just a dream.”
Sally looked down and found Fingee by her side as always with no scary fangs or claws reaching out to bite and scratch her. She looked up at her parents and started crying as she clutched to Fingee.
The alarm went off at Dreamy’s that alerted a nightmare that could prove to be a problem. Dreamy went to her lab full of computer equipment. She activated the communications device that she hadn’t come up with a name yet to contact Sweet.
“Sweet there’s trouble on Elm Street at 1620.”
“I’m on it.”Sweet was just about to walk into the Happy Donut for a chocolate fix when Dreamy contacted her.
“So much for donuts. Dreamy get me some donuts would ya?”
“I swear one day you’re doing to turn into a donut from all those donuts you eat.”
She looked around to make sure no was around so she teleported herself to the house.
“Dreamy a dark fairy’s been here.”
“Did you check on the child inside?”
“I’ll do it now.”
Sweet walked up to the window where a little girl no more than six was inside clutching a bunny with tears rolling down her face. Her parents were in the room trying to calm her down.
“Poor thing. This should help you sweetie.”
She took her finger and pointed it towards Sally and shot out a stream of silvery light. Sally finally calmed down and was able to drift off to sleep. Her parents watched her for a while before going back to their bedroom down the hall but they left the door open just in case.
“Dreamy the little girl is going to be fine. Now I need to track down this dark fairy.”
Dreamy was at her computer pulling up the program that tracked down dark fairies and pushed some buttons in the hopes of getting a location. The fairies from the Realm of Fairy helped create it because they were also in danger from the dark fairies.
“Ok I should be able to give you a location right about… Oh no the signal’s gone which means they’ve gone back to their realm.”
“Darn I was looking forward to kicking some fairy butt.”
“Come on home I’ve got a surprise for you.”
On the counter was a box of donuts just waiting to be eaten.
“Oh Dreamy you totally rock.”
Sweet grabbed a donut and enjoyed every bite of it. She had a look on her face that she always got when eating chocolate which was sheer bliss to her senses.
“Now that you’ve had your happy let’s start planning our next move.”
“Ok but I want another donut. They aren’t fattening when you’re making plans to bring to the bad guys.”
Back in the Realm of Nightmares Tanea was with Miranda sharing her success with the nightmare and the little girl. The other fairies hadn’t returned yet.
Sweet was munching on a donut when the computer started beeping.
“What’s going on now D?”
“Another nightmare attack.”
“So I guess it’s time to put on my butt kicking boots. Where am I going?”
“1313 Mockingbird Lane.”
“I’m on it.”
Sweet was there in a flash. The dark fairy was still outside the window peering in so Sweet snuck up behind her and grabbed her using a little net that popped out of her bracelet.
“Got ya.”
The dark fairy struggled even though she was firmly trapped. The net was specially made to keep magical beings from escaping and was lined with iron which greatly weakened a fairy.
“Who are you? What’s the meaning of this?”
“Well you are sending nightmares to innocent kids and I have to tell you that I’m not a fan of that at all.”
Sweet kept a firm grip on the fairy and went up to the window where a little boy was screaming and thrashing in his sleep. Sweet blew a kiss at him sending a stream of silver light that surrounded him and he calmed down settling back into pleasant dreams.
“Now that I’ve taken care of this little guy it’s your turn.”
“You’ll get nothing from me. Did you know that you’ve got chocolate on your face.”
Sweet turned away and looked in a little mirror that popped out with the touch of a button. Dreamy created jewelry that not only looked cool but also had gadgets in them. She wiped her mouth with a tissue that was tucked away in a pocket.
“No more nightmaring for you, you little twit.”
Sweet teleported to a room at Dreamy’s that was cloaked with magic so it couldn’t be found. She put the dark fairy in a cage.
“Dreamy I got one of those pesky fairies for you. Come and help me question her since you’re the brains of the operation or so you claim.”
Dreamy and Sweet walked down the hall and went into the room which always made Sweet feel like she was stepping into a giant microwave. She was just glad that it wasn’t an elevator.
“Dreamy can’t you do something about this creepy room?”
“Sweet it’s just a room. It’s not like you’re living in it.”
“I know but it just kinda wigs me out.”
“Can we get to the business at hand?”
“This is one of those fairies sending nightmares to kids.”
“I’ll hook her up to my latest invention the Truthist.”
“The Truthist?”
“So I’m not the best namer in the world. As long as my gadgets work it doesn’t matter what they’re called.”
Dreamy hooked up the fairy to a bunch of wires and stuff that were attached to yet another one of her computers.
“Let’s start with a simple question. What’s your name?”
“I’m not telling you anything.”
“Dreamy we need to bring out the big guns
. Get your Truth Thingie.”
“Back in a minute.”
“Get ready to spill fairy.”
“My lips are sealed.”
Dreamy walked back in with a thing that looked like a blood pressure cuff. She walked up to the cage and grabbed the fairy’s arm and placed a cuff around it. There was a cord that she plugged in which started humming.
“Let’s try this again. What’s your name?”
“My name is Flo.”
“Flo so not nice to meet you. I’m Sweet and this is Dreamy. Welcome to your nightmare.”
“Sweet I’ll take it from here. Flo why are you sending nightmares out to kids?”
“We want to reclaim what is ours. All we want is to go home and we need the power we can get from kids.”
“So you use these kids as what some kind of battery or something?”
“Let me do the talking Sweet after all I’m the brains remember?”
“All right. Are there any donuts left?”
“I think so.”
“I’ll just leave you to the brainy stuff and I’ll just stuff my tummy.”
Sweet found the box of donuts and grabbed a jelly. She sat down on the couch and reached for the remote and started flipping through the channels.
“Who’s in charge of the exiles?”
“Our Queen is Miranda.”
“What are her plans?”
All of a sudden smoke appeared and Flo burst into flames. Dreamy flipped a switch on the wall and water rained down in the cage. After the flames were gone nothing remained in the cage only a black mark where the dark fairy had been.
Sweet was watching a cartoon when Dreamy walked into the room and sat down on the couch beside her.
“Is something burning?”
“Sweet I just saw a fairy die.”
“Yes but it was a bad one out hurting innocent kids. It was probably one of them that decided to barbecue the little bugger. I for one don’t want to find a piece of ear dripping off the wall.”
They started laughing and after programming Trio to clean up they stepped out for a walk in the park.
“Curses we lost Flo.”
“That’s a loss but my Queen we did gain some power.”
“Not nearly enough.”
“We’ll go back my Queen.”
“Oh Tanea what would I do without you?”
“You’ll never have to find out.”
“We need to find out what happened.”
By Barbara Desmond
