Happily After Avery - Part 1

Pixies are easily seduced by a sunset, and do you know why? They love sweets. And right at that moment before the sun drifts to sleep, the sky blushes a beautiful pale pink, the clouds look like mounds of cotton candy with sparks of lavender - which to a pixie means there is grape soda near.

This is where our story begins.

Once up on a cotton candy sky, three mischievous pixies were chasing sugary clouds. Faith, Hope and Avery were the furthest they had ever been from Lilac Hollow, but they pressed on desperate for their lifetime supply of cotton candy.

Avery was the brave one and the leader of the Cotton Candy Expedition. She pushed forward with all her pixie dust, "Hope! Faith! Keep up, we're getting closer."

"I don't know Avery, there doesn't seem to be any candy up here," replied Faith, "I'm getting tired." Faith was always the rationale one and also the brains of the operation. She had hallowed out snap dragons and each pixie was going to fill their snap dragon full of the bright pink cotton candy of the sky.

"For the record, I only came along on this trip to keep you two out of trouble," the conservative Hope decided to chime in, "Our Fairy Godmother is going to be so mad at you two if we don't get back soon."

It wasn't long before all the pink had drained from the sky and was replaced by an inky black that made it very difficult to see. Avery stopped on a very ordinary white cloud and called to her friends, "I hearby call a Cotton Candy Expedition conference!"

Hope and Faith caught up to Avery and rested their wings on the same tasteless cloud. "I don't understand," said Avery, "It was right here. I saw the cotton candy with my own eyes!"

"We all did Avery, and it's up here somewhere. But we've got bigger problems unless you were keeping track of how to get back to Lilac Hollow. I seriously doubt that though, since you were flying like a witch on a broomstick," exclaimed Faith.

Hope began to cry and her wings shivered, "What if we never get back? What if we're stuck in this boring cloud forever?"

Avery replied, "Calm down, Hope. Let's use our senses. Close your eyes and concentrate Hope, then tell me what you feel. Faith take a deep breath and tell me what you hear, and I'll try to figure out what I smell."

The girls locked pinkie fingers and conjured up all their pixie magic. Hope spoke first, "I feel some sort of intense joy and happiness. It's like some sort of celebration."

Faith was next, "And I hear music and laughter and, wait a minute, yes, I hear applause."

Then, so excited she could barely contain herself, Avery exclaimed, "I smell TARTS! Berry tarts and lemon tarts with buttery crust."

Their pointed pixie ears directed them to the South were they saw lights that seemed to explode like fireworks. So, they did what all pixies do when something glitters.... they chased it!

As they got closer, the lights took shape. There were great structures that the girls had never seen. The people didn't have wings so they flew in big machines that made angry noises and seemed to be ruled by three lights hanging in the sky. With everything around them, there were great distractions, but the girls followed their senses. They did, in fact, fly directly into some marvelous celebration.

There were men dancing jigs and maidens carrying on around a May Pole, and there were storytellers weaving their tales with puppets and song. And, of course, there were treats. Beautiful girls wore flowers in their hair and carried baskets of tarts, lollipops, chocolates, and ice cream through the crowd. The pixies had forgotten all about their quest for a lifetime supply of cotton candy.

Hope buzzed right up to the ear of the woman with a basket of chocolate tarts. "Excuse me, could you tell me where we are? Oh my, can I please taste your chocolate?"

Much to Hope's surprise, the woman completely ignored her. She didn't understand. Pixies were the cutest most charming creatures in the hollow, no one could refuse them, except their Fairy Godmother.

Seeing Hope's failure and craving a butterscotch truffle, Avery buzzed a different vendor, "One truffle please.... and directions back to Lilac Hollow." This woman actually brushed Avery away like she was some sort of annoying bumblebee.

Faith laughed so hard she almost fell into a passerby's cup of sweet tea. "It's no use! If either of you had taken the time to read 'Outside the Enchanted World', you would know these are mortals. They don't believe, so they can't see or hear us. Most of these fools don't even believe in Santa Clause, which is fine my him, fewer houses to worry about."