Night with the Fairies

         It was a warm summer evening. I had just turned out the light and climbed into bed, and was lying there, just listening. There was a cricket chirping down below my open window, and all the frogs down in the creek were singing. I even thought I heard an owl hooting in the distance. I had seen one out in the rafters of the shed a couple of nights ago, and I wondered if it was the same one. All of these sounds were soothing to me, so before too long, I was drifting off to sleep.
         But then I heard something that made me sit up so fast that I almost hit my head on the low ceiling. I listened again, and it was the same: I heard nothing at all. It had gone so completely silent outside that my breathing sounded so loud that I thought it might wake the neighbors. I just sat there, staring at the single window at the far end of the room. There wasn’t even a breeze stirring the thin curtains anymore. It was as if the whole world had come to a standstill.
         I got out of bed and silently crept across the room over to the window, keeping my body pressed close to the wall. I was about to look out the window, when I saw what looked to be a light shining just below the windowsill. Then it all came to me, and I actually sagged against the wall in relief. That dratted brother of mine was fooling around with his flashlight again, trying to scare me. Good thing it hadn’t worked.
         I sighed, ready to yell down to him, to tell him that he’d better stop keeping me awake, and to get inside and go to bed before I went down to get Mother or Father. I whirled to face the window, but stopped abruptly, with my face just inches from something hovering right outside my window. I almost screamed out loud, but instead clamped both hands over my mouth, and scrambled away from the window as fast as I could. For there, fluttering right there in front of me, like some exotic butterfly, was a real, live fairy.
         Once I got over my initial shock and fear, I got a little closer and looked the fairy over. Now it wasn’t anything like any other fairies that I had read about in books, or seen in movies or anything like that, so at first I wasn’t sure if I was really seeing what I was seeing.
         The fairy was no bigger than my hand in size, and he was a boy, though I had no idea as to how old he was. He was dressed completely in silver, so his clothing, when it caught the moonlight, shimmered. That wasn’t what had caused the light that I had seen, though. The fairy was almost glowing, seeming from the inside out, and his skin, which was so pale that it was pure white, was radiant, and the hair on his head was the same. He had wings, too, of course, but they were like nothing I had ever seen. They looked like a thin, paper-like material interlaced with silver threads, and they were so thin that were almost transparent, sometimes disappearing completely, making me wonder how they could ever hold his weight.
         But when I saw his face, I looked into his eyes, which were the shiniest, most alert eyes that I had ever seen on anyone, and they were black, so black that when I looked into them, it was as if I was looking into the inky darkness of a never-ending hole. And by the looks of it, he was studying me just as closely as I was studying him.
         After remaining silent for so long, I began to wonder if he ever spoke at all, but then, after stepping lightly down onto the windowsill, and continuing to look at me with those intriguing eyes of his, he startled me by opening his mouth and          “So,” he said, in a voice so soft that I had to strain to hear it. “You are ready, then.” It was not a question.
         “Ready?” I repeated.
         The fairy didn’t speak for a minute. He seemed to plan out each exact word before actually speaking it. “Yes. You will come. Now.”
         “Wait just a second,” I said, now feeling just a little bit uncomfortable in his unwavering gaze. I shifted on my feet. “Just where do you want me to go?”
         Pause. “With me.”
         “Why?”
         “We need you.”
         “Why?” I asked again. He didn’t speak. I sighed impatiently, getting just a little annoyed with him. “Okey, then, just how do you expect me to go with you? I shouldn’t be able to go to your world, just like you supposedly aren’t supposed to come to my world!"
         There was silence for a moment, and then the fairy turned around and gestured behind him, out the window. I moved forward to look, and gasped. My window looks out towards the front lawn, or what used to be the lawn, that is. There usually was a stretch of grass, usually a bit untidy and long, leading out to the main road, with the creek and some trees on one side, and a corn field on the other. Now, as if I was Dorothy and my house had suddenly been transported into a whole different world, I found myself looking out onto some strange, foreign place unlike anything I could ever imagine.
         At first, I could see nothing because of a thick sort of fog that covered the ground. Then it gradually cleared, and suddenly I could see. Everything around my house had disappeared, and in its place were some strange structures, countless numbers of them, stretching out as far as I could see. They weren’t organized in any way, and were just jumbled about like someone had just thrown handfuls of them, scattering them every which way. I could see that the ones that were closest to me were all different, each unique in their own way. They seemed to be made out of what looked to be a kind of metal, twisted and bent into circular walls and coming together into a pointed roof. In the center of all of the buildings, rising above them all, was the largest of all the structures. It was made out of the same material as all the other buildings, but it was so much more incredible. The metal forming the walls had been twisted into many ornate shapes, interwoven with threads of silver, winding in and out of the walls and high pointed roof, coming together at the top to form a tall spike, reaching up towards the sky.
         Although I was pretty sure that this was once a very beautiful place, it seemed as if it had been abandoned for years. The metal buildings, though probably once so shiny that the whole city glowed, now looked old and dull. There was no plant life in sight, though here and there was a dead, withered skeleton of a tree, the dry branches creaking and groaning in the wind. There was no sign of any other fairies or of any other life at all, and the whole place had an empty, lifeless feel about it.          So there I was, just standing there, hardly believing my eyes. The fairy turned back towards me. Thousands of questions were now crowding into the many I already had: where am I now, what is this place, what does this all have to do with me? No words could come out of my mouth. The fairy spoke.
         “Now you see why you must come.”
         “Oh,” I said quietly. As far as I could tell, I wasn’t going to get any more answers out of this fairy, but now that I saw the city, I knew almost instinctively that something was wrong. There were all these buildings, but no one in sight. Where had everyone else gone? Did something happen to them? Although at the beginning of all this I had had no intentions at all about doing what he was asking, now, seeing this, his home, I was beginning to wonder if I really should go with him, to see if I could help them or not. I could try, at least. If I couldn’t do anything, at least I tried. I paused for a moment, and then said, “All right, I’ll go with you. Lead the way.”
         The fairy didn’t smile, or seem grateful, or even acknowledge that I had finally agreed, just turned and disappeared from sight. I looked down out of the window to see him fluttering down toward the ground, his wings a blur behind him. I pulled on my shoes and headed for the stairs. Although so many strange and impossible things had happened tonight, I wasn’t going to test gravity and try to follow him out the window.
         As I made my way silently down the stairs, I kept repeating to myself, this must be a dream. This all seems so impossible, so I must be dreaming. Just wait and see, I told myself, when I get down there and open the door, everything will be normal and I’ll see that I was just imagining things again. I stopped with my hand on the doorknob, and said again, out loud this time, “This is just a dream.” I pulled the door open, but there before me, as real as ever, was exactly what I saw from my bedroom window. There were all the strange, cold buildings, there was the dead, empty landscape, and there, waiting just outside the door, was the fairy. As I stepped out the door, I met with a cold wind, which blew and swirled all around me. Shivering, I wished that I had brought a sweater, but, looking at the fairy, I saw that he was already looking impatient, so, rubbing my hands and arms in an attempt to stay warm, and with one last backwards glance, I followed the fairy away from my home and everything familiar, towards a place that was completely strange to me.
         As I followed the fairy through the buildings, I was amazed again at the fairy city. Closer now, I could see that each structure was no higher than my knee, and looking even more deserted than before. I still saw no other fairies besides my guide, but seeing all the buildings, there must’ve been thousands at one time. It made me so sad, and I wondered what on earth could’ve happened to them all. Lost in thought, I was paying no attention to where I was going. Suddenly, looking up, I saw that the fairy had led me right up before the large, central building, towering above even me, more than three times my height.
         The fairy stopped me a couple yards off from the building. “Wait here,” was the short command. He left me there, and soon disappeared into a dark opening at the base of the building. I only had to wait a short time before he came back, but this time he wasn’t alone. Following him out of the building were two more fairies. Bowing, my former guide backed away, and I had my first good look at his companions, a man and a woman.
         I immediately saw that they must be some sort of royalty, so I started to bow as I had seen the other fairy do, but the man quickly cried, "Be still!” so I snapped back up again. It didn’t feel right to tower over them like that, looking down at them, so I sat cross-legged down on the cold, rocky ground. The man who had spoken looked very similar in looks and stature to the fairy I had first met, so similar, in fact, that I could barely tell them apart. His clothes were much more elaborate, though; not only silver, but also embroidered richly in many of the same designs that I saw in the metal. Around his shoulders was a long cloak of a sort of sleek white fur and on his head was a silver crown with tall spikes. His face was blank, giving no hint as to what he was thinking.
         As for the female fairy, she stood there in front of me, looking at me with such a look of dislike and suspicion that I immediately began to feel slightly frightened of her. She was taller than her companion, and her hair, pale and shimmering, fell down in gentle waves to her knees. Her clothing had none of the elaborate embroidery that was on the man’s clothing; her clothes were actually quite plain and simple. She too had a spiked crown on her head, and her only jewelry was a single pale stone hanging around her neck.
         As I had experienced earlier in my bedroom, I found myself sitting there in front of the two fairies, and they were, without speaking a word, just looking at me. The only movement they made was when the man turned his head to look at my guide. It seemed as if they were communicating without words somehow, which made me nervous because I was pretty sure that it was about me. Finally, the male fairy turned back towards me.
         “Welcome,” he said. I nodded hesitantly, hoping that he went on. He spoke again. “I am Eldon, king of all my people.” He gestured towards his companion. “This is Ilona, our fair queen.” Ilona continued to look at me distastefully, and Eldon fell silent. I wondered if they were waiting for me to say something, so I spoke up.
         “Thank you for your welcome,” I said. “Excuse me if I sound rude, but I wondered if I could ask something?” No one said anything, so I continued. “From the looks of it, you two are in charge here, and so I’d like to know exactly what’s going on here. I have no idea why I’m here, or why you’re here, or what’s happening at all, and I still haven’t gotten an answer from him-” I pointed to my guide “-to anything that I’ve asked!"
         Eldon didn’t even blink. “Asrai didn’t explain to you because we ordered him not to,” he told me calmly. “We knew that you’d be more likely to come knowing nothing rather than knowing all.”
         “So you knew that I won’t like what you want from me?” That didn’t sound very encouraging.
         “Possibly.”
         Not knowing what else to say, I finally worked up the nerve to ask what had been nagging at the back of my mind since I first saw this place. “What has happened here?” I asked, looking again around at the surrounding buildings, still as blank and hollow as before. “What’s going on that would do this to your home?” Eldon looked away and didn’t say anything. “Well?” I insisted.
         He looked up. “All of my people are gone, far away in a place far from here. Right now they are in grave danger.”
         “Why? Why have they left?”
         “In a kingdom neighboring mine, there lives a fairy by the name of Alura.” Eldon paused for a moment, and then continued. “She is very powerful, with a far larger kingdom and more lands than I, and her army is three times the size of mine.”
         I was confused. “That’s very interesting, but what does this Alura have to do with your people? Has she captured them? Killed them?"
         “No,” Eldon said shortly.
         “Then what?
         “She has done nothing to anyone in my kingdom. But long ago, her father invaded the kingdom of my father, killing hundreds of people. For centuries now I have been planning revenge.”
         “How?”
         “I had envisioned invading her kingdom, as her father did mine.”
         “But I thought that she had the larger army?"
         “She does, so I called on all able fairies to fight for me. Even if every fairy fought, every man, woman and child, they would still be outnumbered greatly. I know many of them would be killed, but it would be for their king, a worthy death.”
         “But they didn’t want to do this, did they?”
         “No. Most didn’t want to risk being killed; they didn’t want to lose mothers, fathers, children. They also thought that Alura would defeat our army, then come and destroy those left in our city. So every single inhabitant of this city left, traveling far away from here, disregarding my orders. My people said that they’d rather risk the wilderness than be slaughtered by Alura’s soldiers.” He looked up at me. “I need you to go and retrieve them and bring them back to me. They think that they can escape from my orders if they choose to, but that’s impossible. I have a plan to put into action, and I can’t do it without them.” He paused. “It’s all very complicated. You wouldn’t understand. All you need to do, human, is to find my people and bring them to me."
         “I don’t think it’s very complicated at all!” I cried, appalled. “Your hunger for power has driven all ‘your people’ away for their safety! If they didn’t, they would surely be slaughtered in a war against Alura.” Eldon was silent. Suddenly, I scrambled up off the ground, and stood there, looking down at him. “Well, guess what? I think you’re just going to have to find yourself another person, because this is your problem. You drove these people away, so now you should be the one to bring them back!” I took a deep breath, and then continued. “Now, if you don’t mind, I think I’m going to go home. I don’t need to be here.” I turned around to head back the way I had been led in, and stopped mid-step. I turned and looked back at Eldon, who had gotten an evil glint in his dark eyes.
         “You don’t have a home to go back to,” he said matter-of-factly, almost smiling for the first time, and believe me, it wasn’t a pretty sight. “While we were speaking, Ilona kindly removed your home in case something like this happened. I see now that she was right: you can’t be trusted.”
         Since the beginning when I was first brought here to this place, I could look back and see my house looming in the distance, and it was comforting to know that there was still something familiar in this strange place. I liked to know that I could go back to my life as it was if I chose to. Now my house was nowhere in sight, only a gaping emptiness where it had been. I felt completely alone. I suddenly felt a wave of fear wash over me, and I shivered, and not just from the temperature this time, which seemed to be getting colder. If these people could make a house simply disappear into thin air, what would they do to me if I gave them an excuse? The thought was terrifying.
         “So, will you consider obeying my request now?” Eldon was saying. “Now that it’s obvious that you have no choice.”
         I sagged down to the ground again. This couldn’t be happening; it just wasn’t possible. Without meaning to, tears started rolling down my cheeks. I quickly wiped them away, not wanting the fairies to see. I didn’t want them thinking they’d gotten the better of me, though, thinking about it, I realized that they had. So, setting my jaw so that it wouldn’t tremble, I turned back to Eldon and Ilona.
         “There’s still something I don’t understand.” I said. “Why do you need me? Can’t someone else help you? Or can’t you use your ‘magic power’ to do anything? I’m no one special. Why does it have to be me?”
         “You don’t understand,” Eldon said slowly, as if speaking to a child. “Once out of the city, we, strong as we are, lose all of our powers. They’re useless. We need someone who can protect us from creatures who can take advantage of us in our weak state. That person will be you. You are just so-” he smiled slightly up at me “-conveniently sized."
         I was staggered with this information. I was supposed to some sort of body guard? How much could these people expect of me? “So if I go like you want me to and get all the others back here safely, you’d let me go back home?” I asked, knowing that it most likely wouldn’t be that simple
         Eldon seemed to consider this. “We’ll decide that once you complete your task,” he answered. “If you complete it.
         “What’s that supposed to mean?” I demanded.
         “You’ve got to understand, human, that the cold season is coming nearer. It will soon be upon us.
         “Do you mean winter?”
         Eldon laughed a shrill, bitter laugh. “The winter in your world would seem mild compared to the cold here. Here, the air is so bitterly cold that breathing it will freeze your very blood. The piercing wind is sharp enough to shred to ribbons anything in its path: wood, clothing, and-” he paused “-and flesh. In a few short days the temperature will become too cold for any fairy to survive, much less a weak human.”
         I shuddered. “How can your people survive the weather?” I asked.
         “They can’t,” came the short answer. “Not where they are. Here in the city they will be protected, but out in the wilderness they are defenseless. They have chosen to die out there rather to come back with me, but it is possible for them to be saved. So, if you refuse to help, you will not only lose your own life, but you will be responsible for the death of thousands of others, too."
         I fell silent after that. I couldn’t very well refuse to comply; who knows what these people would do to me? But how could I convince thousands of people to change their minds and return here before the cold weather hit? After a couple of moments, I had come up with an idea of what to do, and spoke again. “All right, I’ll go for you.” They didn’t say anything. Their expressions stayed blank. “But,” I continued, “I’m not going unless you come with me.”
         Now I got their attention. “Why?” Eldon demanded. “We have no need to go!”
         “Actually, you do. You’re the one who forced them out in the first place, and now you get to help convince them to come back,” I told him. “Don’t expect me to go unless you do. And besides, I’ll need a guide; I don’t know anything about this place.”
         Eldon turned away from me and spoke in a low voice to Ilona. She nodded slightly and he turned back to me. “We will go. Now. Follow me.” Then suddenly, he shot up high into the air, Ilona and Asrai quickly following suit. I scrambled up and started running after them, keeping my eyes on the three spots of light glowing against the dark sky. I passed dozens and then hundreds of homes, just a huge amount of buildings, all of them empty, and still no life in sight. I now could see for myself that Eldon wasn’t lying when he said that every single person left.
         Before too long, I could barely run anymore, so I called up to the fairies, “Hey! Come down! I need a break!” Not sure if they heard me, I flopped down on the ground anyway, gasping for breath. Eldon and the others soon landed silently next to me. “How much further?” I asked, hoping that we were just about there, because besides having to run for so long at a time, now I was beginning to feel how cold it really was. I definitely wasn’t dressed for the weather; I was still in my pajamas, and my cotton pants and thin T-shirt were nowhere near thick enough to be any protection from the wind. I long ago had started shivering, and my feet and legs had gone numb.
         “We are getting closer,” Eldon answered me. “I can see the encampment on the horizon.” I looked in the direction we had been heading, and even though I could see nothing that would indicate where the fairies were staying, I did notice one thing: we had come to the edge of the city. The jumble of buildings ended abruptly and beyond them was a wasteland of nothing but bare, open ground, full of jagged rocks and deep, gaping pits.
         “We must leave now,” Eldon said impatiently. “We cannot delay any longer.”
         I climbed slowly to my feet, and then we headed out again. Thankfully, the fairies slowed down a bit, but the pace was still too fast for my taste, especially now that I was traveling over uneven ground patched with treacherous ice, battling to stay upright as the wind howled around me. Then, as I climbed over a jagged rise, I saw in the distance a faint glow, similar to the light that the fairies gave off. I thought that maybe we had finally reached the fairy encampment. As we got closer, I saw that it was true; there were countless numbers of tents made of thin white fabric, each with a low fire just outside, burning whatever wood could be found. Unlike the city, wherever I looked I saw fairies, but now I saw them of all ages, from ancient-looking fairies huddled around fires, repairing clothing, tents and serving out food with their withered sticks of fingers, all the way down to tiny infants tumbling on the ground, clumsy with their over-sized wings.
         As we drew closer, the murmur of quiet talk ceased when my tall form became visible in the dim light. Then, as Eldon and Ilona landed at my feet, a cry of anger rose up from the crowd. The two fairies showed nothing in their faces to respond to this, keeping their faces blank as before.
         Suddenly, a male fairy broke away from the crowd, and strode out to the edge of the camp where we had halted. After a moment of silence, he cried out in a loud voice, unlike the soft, controlled voices I had heard so far. “Why are you here? What right do you have to be here?” His hands were clenched into fists, and his pale face was clouded with anger, his dark eyes flashing. “Have you come to see how low you have made us go, as we freeze out in the cold while you were lying in safety with solid walls around you, in warmth and with a full belly? I’m surprised you lowered yourself as low as us, coming out here.” He lifted his blazing eyes up at me for a moment. “Though I see you did bring some protection. Convenient, right? You scum!” He spat at the feet of Eldon, who even now didn’t respond. The fairy took a deep breath, then said, through clenched teeth, “We will not return to our homes to be slaughtered. Until you realize that this war is foolish, we will remain here.”
         I waited, looking between the two men, now silent. The only noise that could be heard was the occasional cry of a child, quickly silenced, and the sharp wind whistling across chasms and over boulders. I was now shivering uncontrollably, and I was trying hard to keep my chattering teeth from disturbing the silence. After what seemed to be a lifetime, Eldon spoke in a barely audible whisper, “If you are unwilling to return to the city, you are free to stay here. You may die if you wish.” He turned to me. “Come, human. It is useless. No one will be able to make them come.” He started to walk slowly away, into the shadows. Without a backward glance, Ilona and Asrai followed. I hesitated. I looked at the retreating figures, then back at the crowd of fairies. Though the fairy who had spoken still looked angry, looking around at the others, I saw that a lot of them looked confused, even frightened. Did they truly choose this fate, or was it chosen for them? Did they really want to end their life here, defenseless in this terrible place.
         “Wait!” I cried out suddenly to Eldon. “Wait!”
         He paused. “What is it?” He asked, not looking at me.
         “We can’t just leave all these people here!” I said. “They’re your own people! Don’t you care for them at all?” I looked back at the fairy still standing apart from the crowd. “Isn’t there any way that you can change your mind?” I pleaded. He still said nothing. I threw up my hands. “Why is everyone being so stubborn? Can’t you just make up your minds to decide something quickly and then move these people to safety?
         Eldon finally turned around. “They have made their choice. They do not wish to be a part of my plans, so they must stay here. I will find another army. I do not know where, but I would rather have an army of loyal strangers than one of my own disloyal people.”
         “Why do you even need to fight this war against Alura anyway?” I demanded. “Why are you dragging you people into your own personal problems? Do they have such a deep desire for revenge as you do?” He remained silent. I was getting angry now, also. “Well, do you want to know something? I think you’re being ridiculous. I think you aren’t doing a very good job ruling these people! A good king wouldn’t have his whole kingdom empty to get away from him!” I stopped and took a deep breath, regretting it as the frigid air burned down my throat into my lungs. “Can’t one of you just give in before it’s too late?” I said quietly.
         “It is too late, for many,” I heard a voice say behind me. I turned to see that it was the fairy who had spoken before, except now his face had softened, his voice quiet.
         Eldon moved closer. “Who?” he breathed.
         “Most of the older, frailer fairies could not survive the journey and the harsh weather,” the fairy answered. “And also children.
         “Children?” Eldon repeated.
         “Yes.” The fairy stopped and bowed his head, then said, “Your daughter was among them.”
         Eldon crumbled. He sank to the ground. “Ellette.” He said the name in the softest voice yet. Ilona stood rigidly, a shocked look on her pale face.
         I was silenced with the news. This had gone too far. “Eldon, can’t you see?” I asked quietly. “If these people stay out here much longer, none of them will survive.” I added, “Do you really want to lose everyone?”
         Eldon climbed slowly to his feet, and once again faced towards the crowd of fairies. For the longest time there was a complete silence, every single person concentrating their gaze at him. I waited. Eldon shifted his gaze from the people to the fairy still apart from all the rest, who after a short pause, hesitated, then bowed deeply. Seeming satisfied, Eldon turned back to me. “Come. You must hurry if you want to survive, human,” he said hoarsely.
         “Me?” I asked, confused. “What about the others?” I glanced back at them.
         Eldon paused. “They are ready. I have made my choice. Now, come. There isn’t much time left.”
         Although I was very relieved that they had finally worked something out between them, I didn’t react at all. Eldon was right. It wasn’t over yet; we still needed to get everyone back to the city, and quickly. I scooped up some of the fairies who were sick or weak, and also some of the tiny children, any of them who would slow the rest of the people down, carrying them carefully in my stiff hands. All the other fairies made use of their wings to carry them up and back the way I had come. Everyone tried to go as fast as their weak wings would take them, all seeming to feel the urgency of the situation. I tried as well as I could to keep up with them, but the going was slower for me; having to carry the fairies as well as travel back across the icy, uneven ground
         By the time the city came into view, I could barely walk anymore; my limbs were so stiff and it was impossible to move without causing myself incredible pain. I worked my way back through the city, and finally stumbled up before the palace. I gently set down the fairies that I had carried and turned the young ones over to their parents. Looking up, I saw that all of the fairies were spreading out into the city, going back to each of their homes. Then an amazing thing happened. As I watched, I saw the whole city change. Every single building seemed to light up, not only because of the strange light that the fairies were casting, but the very metal itself. While the structures had been dull and empty before, with dark, gaping holes in them, now, with the fairies back, they suddenly became so bright that I had to shield my eyes. The sky cleared above me, and I could see millions of stars peering down from the dark sky.
         I looked down at the ground to see Eldon and Ilona standing there, looking up at me. As I sat down before them, Eldon spoke, “Now my people are back here where they belong. Now the city is alive again. I know now that I was wrong force them into a war. Now they are home, and we are grateful for your help.”
         “I didn’t do much, really,” I protested. “I didn’t even have to intervene to protect you. You didn’t really need me after all-”
         “No.” Eldon stopped me. “You were the one that brought me with you to them. They wouldn’t have listened to me. I don’t know what they would’ve done to me if they had not seen you.”
         I was silent, and then said, “Oh, Eldon, I’m so sorry to hear about your daughter.”
         “I tried to convince her not to go,” Eldon said, more to himself than to me. “But she wouldn’t listen. She was always stubborn. She was so attached to the people here, she could imagine the city without them. So she made the choice to leave with them. And then she-” He stopped and took a deep, shuddering breath. He looked up at me. “I do not want to wage a war against Alura. I see now that my people are more important to me than any lands or kingdoms. Ellette helped me see that, and you.” He stopped, and then said quietly, “You have finished what you were brought here to do. You may go home now.”
         I whirled around to look behind me and, sure enough, there was my house at the edge of the city, right where it was supposed to be. I laughed with immense relief, and I turned back to thank Eldon, but I saw that he had gone. Only Ilona stood there now. She stepped forward and placed something in my hand. I looked down and saw that it was the stone that had hung around her neck. I looked at the tiny stone, which seemed to be shining with its own light, giving off heat, small as it was. I closed my hand around it carefully. Looking back at Ilona, she spoke to me, saying the first and only words that I would hear her say, simply, “Thank you.”
         I nodded, not being able to say anything. I took one last look around the city, now one of the most beautiful places I had seen, then turned away to go home. I walked slowly out of the city, then up to the door of my house. I reached out, and turned the doorknob. Stepping in, it was as if I walked into a wall of warm air. It wasn’t winter in here; it was still late at night one day in the summer. Nothing had changed here. I closed the door quietly behind me and silently crept up the stairs to my bedroom. Barely breathing, I went over to the window. There it was. The whole fairy city stretched out before me as it had before. I stood there for a short while, just watching as the fairies moved about through the city, and then suddenly, it melted away with a breath of wind, the whole city disappearing in the blink of an eye, no trace of it at all except one final wisp of silver cloud that swirled up into the sky, and then it too disappeared. If I didn’t have that small stone still clutched in my hand, I would have thought it was all a dream. In complete silence, I walked back to my bed and got in. There was no sound, then I heard an owl hoot, and in the distance, the frogs started singing.