Farrah in Fairyland (16 page)

Farrah hated
how the King emphasized the word Superiora so deliberately. The
clear division between the Superiora and the Ordinaria was always
evident when the two groups got together, especially when the King
spoke. Although not overtly, his tone always gave away his belief
that the Superiora were the superior species.

At that
moment, Farrah caught a glimpse of Giuseppi. He was sitting with
his parents a couple of rows in front of Farrah. She felt strange
not sitting next to her best friend, but she understood that
Giuseppi didn’t want to anger his parents any further.

Every now and
then Giuseppi would turn his neck to look at Farrah. One time, he
wasn’t discrete enough and Giuseppi’s mom cuffed him in the back of
his head.

The King
continued to speak in what turned out to be one of his most
long-winded speeches to date. Finally, the show was about to begin
as the King held up his cipher.

“I pronounce
the Fairyland Talent Contest now open!”

With these
words fireworks shot out like lightening bolts from the top of the
King’s cipher. The multicoloured clouds around them looked like
Flutterflies, better known to humans as butterflies. The creatures
were twice the size of butterflies and entirely see-through,
zipping around like tiny airplanes above the crowd. Spontaneous
oohs and ahs were heard as they watched the glowing Flutterflies
and the fireworks disappear into the sky.

Farrah
recognized the senior Fairy Godmother who appeared out of thin air
at the podium. Magnifica was her name and she was a hideous fairy
to say the least. The drooping folds of her skin made her look more
like Dogue De Bordeaux than a fairy. Farrah did not know her
personally, but back at the Pixie Academy, Farrah remembered that
Samantha bragged of her personal relationship with Magnifica. The
Fairy Godmother spoke using words, which sounded like a soothing
song.

“Welcome, all,
to the Fairyland Talent Contest and thank you King Comoradi for
such eloquent words. I’m sure that you and the Queen will have a
most difficult time judging the talents of our competitors this
year. As you already know, we have trained the Superiora exercising
the highest of standards at the Pixie Academy.”

The crowd gave
a respectful applause. Farrah however, glared at Magnifica who
continued to speak.

“I’ll be your
MC for the day. So without further adieu, I’ll introduce your first
act. He is an Aqua Fairy that promises to dazzle you.”

Upon hearing
this, many of the fairies in the front row took out their goggles
and placed them over their eyes in anticipation that they would get
wet.

“Put your
wings together for Sorgiva.”

Farrah looked
on as a Farfallo waddled sideways on all fours with a bucket of
water on his head. At centre stage, he smashed the wooden bucket
violently on the floor. Water splattered all over the stage floor
and began to steam. The steam vapours grew more intense until Mr.
Sorgiva emerged from out of the fog. A loud round of applause met
him.

Sorgiva was
holding a tiny glass of water in his hand. He took a sip being
careful not to swallow, until his cheeks were filled with water. He
swished the water in his mouth and spat it out. As the water hit
the air, it turned to ice.

He snatched the
ice with his fingers and in no time, it took the form of a spider
web that floated in the air. After spitting out all of the water,
the Aqua Fairy stepped back. That allowed time for the crowd to
cheer once again. He took another sip from the glass and spat the
water onto the ice web. An ice spider appeared at the centre of the
web to which another thunderous cheer erupted from the crowd.

Sorgiva grabbed
his pouch and sprinkled some dust onto the web. The web began to
grow until it covered the entire crowd. As it hovered overhead, the
Acqua Fairy remained in mid-air beside the web. He sprinkled some
more dust onto the ice web. This time the spider sprung to life. At
first, the spider ran in circles, much like a car on a racetrack.
Then much to the horror of the crowd, the spider began to grow.

It finally
stopped growing when it reached the size of an immense
Brontosaurus. Its ugly features, including its two sharp fangs that
hung out the sides of its mouth were large enough to be seen by the
Ordinaria families sitting in the back row. A few of the fairies in
the crowd actually fainted upon seeing the gigantic spider. Others
shrieked in horror. Although Farrah had been on looking intently at
the act, Samantha distracted her. Farrah had spotted her when she
jumped out of her seat as the ice spider gnashed its giant
teeth.

Samantha was
sitting about twenty rows in front of where Farrah sat. She was in
the Fairy Godmother and Father section and had turned her head away
from the stage. It was obvious that she was not paying attention to
the act. She grinned at Farrah creepily and then leaned over to
whisper something into her friend Roula’s ear.

With one eye on
Samantha and one eye on Sorgiva, Farrah caught a glimpse of the end
of the act in which the Aqua Fairy turned the web and the Spider
into a tidal wave that rushed onto the crowd. The fairies in the
crowd were relieved when the wave stopped a mere inches from their
heads. A few drops dripped into Farrah’s eyes. She swept the water
away with her hand as she returned her attention to Samantha who
had turned back around.

There was a
thunderous applause from the crowd. Every fairy had risen to their
feet to applaud Sorgiva. The King and Queen also looked pleased as
they made a few notes and like the rest of the crowd, awaited the
next act.

The crowd was
treated to a series of incredible acts, each one better than the
last. Every now and then Farrah felt in her pocket to make sure
that the Star of Fantaseea was still there. The last time she felt
around the star was unusually warm. Although tempted, Farrah dared
not take the star out of her pocket. She wanted to guard her
secret. She knew that it was the key to her success.

On the stage
was a Mezmo Fairy. He had asked for a few volunteers. Although
Farrah would have surely volunteered under normal circumstances,
today she wanted to remain sharp. In all, five fairies took part in
the act. This included a Tinker Fairy, who wore a hat of mechanical
gears. The grinding of the gears had become unbearably loud,
forcing many of the fairies in the crowd to cover their pointy
ears.

One of the
other volunteers, a stocky Toddle Fairy, had fitted his wings with
some sort of bubble maker. He pelted the fairies in the front row
as he floated up onto the stage. Lastly, there were two Forest
Fairy brothers whose wings were decorated like Maple trees. They
had also used some Pixie dust to convert their hands into two large
roots. They stuck them like anchors into the floor of the stage and
hoisted themselves up. Even the Queen volunteered. It caused much
concern of the King who had been holding her hand. He was hesitant
to let go, but after a brief struggle, he did.

The Mezmo Fairy
summoned a cloud bench from the back of the audience where an
Ordinaria family of house painters were sitting. They tumbled
unexpectedly to the ground, arousing laughter from many of the
Superiora. All five volunteers took a seat on the bench facing the
stage. The Mezmo Fairy stood behind them. He requested the help of
two Farfallo creatures who walked onto the stage carrying a large
sack of Fairy dust. It was the biggest sack that Farrah had ever
seen.

One by one, he
asked each of the fairy volunteers to dip their feet into the dust.
They all obliged, including the Queen. Not wanting to ruin her
diamond-encrusted shoes, the Queen took them off and tucked them
underneath the cloud bench. At first, nothing happened as the
fairies sat perfectly still. Then individually, they fell to the
ground, causing the crowd to coo. The cooing got even louder when
the Queen tumbled to the ground. The King got up to his feet and
was about to approach the stage when the Mezmo Fairy spoke.

“Fairies and
gentlefairies, do not be afraid. The fairies before you on this
stage are merely sleeping. When I snap my fingers, they will awake.
When they do, we will be able to read their minds.”

Not wanting to
give away any more details to maintain the element of surprise, the
Mezmo Fairy took his spot behind the volunteers. He snapped his
fingers. Simultaneously, the volunteers opened their eyes. Although
the fairies looked dishevelled, they appeared to be normal. Then
Farrah saw it. At first, she thought that her eyes were playing
tricks on her. The head of the Toddle fairy had grown triple the
size right before everyone’s eyes. Soon the heads of the other
fairies also started to grow.

Shocked and
delighted, the crowd began to clap. The forehead of each fairy had
grown to gross proportions. Apparently, the Queen had the most on
her mind with her head having grown larger than the rest of her
body.

The Mezmo
rubbed some more dust onto the gigantic foreheads of each Fairy.
Instantly their heads became transparent allowing the crowd to peer
into their thoughts. Some laughter arose when the images of the two
Forest Fairy brothers were revealed. Both were picturing the same
Fairy girl that they had a crush on. Upon realizing this, both
brothers became infuriated with one another, and started to tussle
on the floor of the stage. The Mezmo Fairy Quickly dispelled them
back to their seat with the crowd applauding in approval.

The Tinker
Fairy had been thinking of her latest invention. It looked like
some sort of oversized telephone. She quickly attempted to cover
her massive forehead as she did not want to reveal any secrets of
her not-yet completed contraption. Respectfully, the Mezmo Fairy
also returned her to her seat. Finally, The Mezmo fair approached
the Toddle Fairy, whose head was second largest next to the
Queen.

He was thinking
of an indistinguishable number of toys. The toys bounced
chaotically in his head and made the crowd dizzy as they followed
along with their eyes. Each toy was colourful and loud, making the
head of the Toddle Fairy look like a popcorn maker. The Mezmo fairy
could see that his volunteer had become agitated so he returned his
head to its normal size. Thankful, he took his seat on the
bleachers. The fairy children watched him intently, as they hoped
that some of the toys would pop out the top of his head.

As Farrah
looked at the head of the Queen, it was unclear what she was
thinking about. At first, it looked dark and stormy. A flash of
lightning had appeared and was followed by the crack of thunder. At
the centre of her head was a black blob. It started out the size of
a quarter then grew quickly. As the image grew clearer, the crowd
became horrified.

A few Fairies
fainted, collapsing like heaps to the ground. There was no
mistaking what the Queen was thinking of. It was a Cornuto creature
and it stared horrifyingly at the crowd. Unflinching, its
blood-shot eyes shot daggers at the King. The Securo looked on
nervously as the Cornuto gave a large roar.

The first row
of Tooth Fairies jumped back trampling over the Forest fairies
behind them. Not wanting to scare the crowd any longer, the Mezmo
Fairy returned the Queen’s head back to normal. He summoned the
throne of the Queen to the stage and she took a seat before it
floated back to its original spot next to the King.

Everyone in the
crowd stood up offering the loudest ovation of the day. Only one
fairy remained in his seat. It was the King. Despite the loudness
of the crowd, Farrah could clearly see that they were engaged in an
argument. The King’s arms flailed around in disbelief. He
questioned why the Queen was having such repugnant thoughts.
Calmly, the Queen raised her palm upward, also perplexed by her
thoughts.

Once the crowd
quieted down, the King and Queen returned to their notes. It didn’t
take long for them to judge the act. After a short conversation,
the King walked up to the stage and handed the MC an envelope.
Magnifica opened it quickly and then spoke into the horn.

“Okay, fairies
of Fairyland, It appears that we have a winner. Drum roll
please.”

Magnifica took
some pixie dust out and with one swipe into the air, the horns at
the top of the heads of the Farfallo creatures turned into
oval-shaped drums. A low rumble echoed as they rapped in unison on
the drums.

“The winner of
the 30th annual Fairyland talent contest is...”

“Wait!”
shouted Farrah as she rushed up to the stage.

Startled,
Magnifica dropped the envelope to the ground. She bent down to pick
it up and adjusted her glasses to get a better look at the culprit
that had interrupted her.

“What is it
you want, Ordinaria? Do you have an act for us?” She asked
sarcastically, which enticed some laughs from the Superiora
section.

“Well,
actually I do!” responded Farrah confidently – the crowd’s laughter
changed to shocked ahhhs.

At that
moment, Farrah’s father had taken off his hat and attempted to
shield himself out of view, as some fairies had turned around to
look at him. He was worried that they were about to throw shoes at
him.

“Oh, my sweet,
Ordinaria, don’t you know that this contest is for talented,
Superiora fairies only?” continued Magnifica sounding even more
condescending as she turned up her nose at Farrah.

Farrah
struggled as she tried to grab onto the edge of the stage. Finally,
she hoisted herself up and she headed straight for the podium.

“Fairies of
Fairyland, I respectfully request a moment of your time. I promise,
you won’t be disappointed.”

“Get off the
stage!” shouted a faceless fairy from the Acqua section. This was
followed by a few heckles and moans from the other Superiora
sections before the King got up to his feet, instantly quieting the
crowd.