Abagail looked down at the little bug, he of white hair and beard and clad in reds and whites, a teeny golden crown on his head.
"Begone, insect, and let me have the wishing stone," the witch said, letting her attire melt away into a long black dress, black hat that went up and curled back, and simple black staff. The woman reveled in her witchiness, one of the few who still insisted on broom riding.
The fairy before her scoffed. "Wishing stone? Cursing stone, more like." And as he spoke, images began to play in the portal. Shadows at first, then resolving into shapes and colors. Hummingbirds. A little flock of hummingbirds with a myriad of colors, and each with a little fairy on their backs. Why fairies needed birds to ride on was a mystery to Abagail . . . truthfully a great deal of Fairydom was still a mystery, and she was one of the most knowledgable about the little people.
"We have your back, Uncle." A little bug said, he of green and white. Beside him was a stunning blue hummingbird with a girl dressed in baby blue and sparkling white.
"And we shall spirit the stone away, father," the fairy girl said.
But Abagail noticed a touch of worry in the lead fairy's expression. Was this backup not meant to be here? But he said nothing and prepared to defend this 'cursing stone.' And Abagail was quite willing to take it, using any means necessary.
They sat on Biff's windowsill, watching him through the glass. He just had his TV on as he busily worked on his computer. From here, they could not tell what he was doing on the computer, though Dewdrop recognized 'Land of the Giants' playing on the TV. It seemed so fake now that she was living that reality. The room itself was a mess. Half sports equipment thrown lamely about, half pop culture memorabilia (including the bottle from I Dream of Jeannie) and posters on the walls with no rhyme or reason. And on the bed a touchscreen remote. The Universal Remote.
Cornelius insisted they stay outside the room while Biff was there. Fairy's couldn't be seen well, but the prince was taking no chances. And while they waited, he told Dewdrop more of the story. Dewdrop listened. Each thing Cornelius told her seemed unbelievable, but she was coming closer and closer to accepting it as truth. She pieced the story together with what she knew of Grammy Parson, who she thought was only in her seventies. While Grammy was always quick to dote on Dewdrop and Megan, their mom was always a 'bit of a disappointment,' what and why that was had never been explained.
When the Prince first started telling his story, Dew hoped that maybe Grammy could help her become human again. But with each passing word, she was less and less sure of that. Would she be seen as a boy cursed to be a fairy, and pitied and helped? Or would Grammy just see a fairy, to be mocked and used? The answer was coming, as Grammy was flying into town shortly. Dewdrop even began to wonder if the note to her parents was the right thing to do.
"The Biff is moving," Cornelius said, breaking from his story, and breaking Dewdrop from her thoughts. She turned and watched the quarterback get up and leave his room, taking his keys with him, but leaving the remote on his bed. Dew stood up on her dainty pink stocking feet and brushed off her dress - not that it mattered as fairy clothes seemed not to get dirty ever.
Cornelius raised his sparkly wand, but then stopped himself. He turned to Dewdrop, "Perhaps you should get us through this gate."
Dewdrop brushed some pink-blonde hair from her face. "This isn't another task, is it?"
The prince shrugged, "It may be. But even if it is not, breaking and entering a human's abode is a time honored fairy tradition and you should know how to do it. Now, the window is too big to move with our magic. At least, not without a great deal of effort. Can you think of another way through?"
Dewdrop thought a moment and pondered the window. She had heard multiple times that glass was actually a liquid. She didn't know if that was true, but truth wasn't terribly important to her. She took up her pink wand, waving it around the window. She started to feel something tingling. A power stirring inside her. She focused her mind and the tingling traveled down her arm and into the wand, and then into the world as sparkling fairy dust. It covered a small part of the window and turned the solid glass into a passable liquid.
"Wow," Dew whispered in amazement. She touched the liquid glass and pushed her hand through it. It felt just like lukewarm water. With a bout of bravery she had not felt in a long time, Dewdrop stepped through the glass and into the climate controlled, sweat smelling room. Cornelius was right behind her.
"Very good. You are a natural. Far more competent with magic than I ever was."
Dewdrop didn't know what to say to that. She didn't want to be a fairy. But more and more of it was becoming easy for her to do. If she did what the Queen and Cornelius wanted -- perform her tasks, earn her wings, perfect her magic -- could she give all of that up? Could she accept being a big, lumbering human again?
Cornelius picked her up and carried her down to the remote. It was off, the touchscreen totally black. The only real sign it was a remote was the words 'Universal Remote' along the top.
"Now, what magic have humans wrought now?" Cornelius said. It suddenly hit Dew that the fairy prince had been a doll for a very long time. He may know of the broad changes in technology, but the nuances may still baffle him.
"Press that button there." Dewdrop said, pointing to the base of the phone. The prince did so and the screen blazed to life with a number of icons. Many were basic TV commands. Channel up, down, volume, input. But there were a few strange buttons on the bottom. "Image Store," and "Image Copy." While Dewdrop inspected the technological bits of the remote, Cornelius held out his hand and waved it over the screen.
"Mimicry spells."
"What's that?" Dew asked.
"Mimicry is a type of magic that can change and transform persons and objects into lesser copies of another person or object. You, for instance, were fully transformed into a fairy, right down to your fundamental essence. But a mimicry spell is more like a cloak wrapped around you."
"So the car outside can't travel through time?"
"I wouldn't think so."
Dew looked at the remote again and started to put together how the machine might work. Image Store would take a picture of what was on the TV and store it, and Image Copy sounded like it would wrap that image around someone or something. But how would it know what part of the image to wrap around someone? Dewdrop scratched her head when Cornelius picked her up again, without warning.
"Come, I think something is amiss with that pink bottle . . ." he said.
