Above the Stars: Part One

by with_baited_breath

Beneath-the-Stars turned her small head towards the sharp words. She quickly turned it back, hoping that KadeyD would disappear. Ha! Funny thought, considering the fact that the Grarrl was already Invisible!

"Where did you look up the definition of magic, Stars? The Alphabet Soup Book?" KadeyD swung his long tail forward, so the small Faerie Poogle in front of him knew where he was from the rush of air. "You're so ridiculous. Nobody likes you, Stars. That's not magic, that's just useless bubblegum!"

The Poogle tried hard to keep her wings held high, but the weight of the Grarrl's taunting was too much for Beneath-the-Stars to bear, and the shimmery Faerie wings began to sink to the grass beneath her. "It's not bubblegum! It is magic-It's my magic."

The argument had now gotten the attention of the other pets in the courtyard, and a small crowd was gathering around them. Beneath-the-Stars sighed, putting down the rock that she had enchanted. That was what all the fuss was about? Just because Stars had the power to enchant rocks.

This particular rock had been enchanted to tap dance, and as Stars set it down onto the grass, it tap-danced quickly through the crowd and the pets roared with laughter. Stars gave a short bark, and the rock dropped, landing on someone's toe.

"Sorry," she mumbled, settling down into the grass, waiting for the argument to blow over. But KadeyD wasn't going to give it up this time.

The Grarrl's voice turned toward the pets gathered around. "Does anyone else consider dancing rocks magic?" No sound fell from the crowd, except for a few titters of laughter, and Stars felt tears spring to her eyes. "I didn't think so. See, Stars? You shouldn't be in this school. This is the Neopian School of Magic, not the Neopian School of Wannabe Magic. You've been here forever, and that's the only power you have. What bubblegum."

Stars opened her mouth to speak several times, before the words finally came out. "Just because I can't fly or make potions or disappear doesn't mean I can't use magic. My magic is just…different…that's all. It's not bad or anything. I love this school."

KadeyD snorted, and Stars shuddered. She could feel the big Grarrl's breath on her soft, wet nose, and she knew he had stepped closer. The crowd was anxious now. No one spoke back to KadeyD like that, even if he was invisible. Stars closed her eyes, tensed for the expected blow.

"Hey, leave her alone!"

The protest came from the back of the crowd, and as the pets parted, Stars opened one eye to see that it was Edgarton, a striped Korbat, winging clumsily through the crowd.

KadeyD laughed loudly. "Oh no! It's the flying rat! I'm so scared!!!"

Edgarton hovered at Stars' side, and folded his wings indignantly. "You should be! You big invisible bully! You know, if you stopped talking for five minutes, everyone would forget that you even existed! But you can't have that, now can you? So you have to go beat up on nice pets!" He wagged one crooked wing at the patch of air before him, and the crowd gasped.

For a moment there was complete silence. And everyone looked around, wondering if the Invisible Grarrl really had disappeared. But, then, with a great WOOSH! Edgarton was smacked into the soft grass. He rolled quickly and flitted up into the air, high above the crowd, just as one huge, invisible Grarrl tail smashed into the ground. KadeyD let out a howl of pain, and the pets in the crowd began to back away.

Stars looked up at Edgarton quickly, but the korbat seemed to be all right. "Leave him alone, KadeyD! Just leave us alone! You can always pick on us tomorrow, haven't you had enough fun yet?"

And then, surprisingly, the air in front of her was silent. And there was a great rush of wind and a small section of the crowd was thrown to the ground as the Grarrl pounded through them and stomped into the school building. Stars fell to the ground, her head in her front paws. This was too much!

Edgarton floated down to the ground beside her, placing a wing over her head and smiling. "Don't worry, Stars, he's just a big bully. He couldn't solve a mathematical equation if it hit him over the head. And that's all that matters, really. Brains not brawn, Stars, that's what I always say."

"Yeah, that is what you always say," Stars said mournfully. The crowd was starting to disperse now, and as the afternoon bell rang the pets in the courtyard all but disappeared. Stars heaved a great sigh of relief. Classes were over for the day. No more magic, bubblegum kind or otherwise.

"Hey, dog and rat!" The words were almost a hiss.

Stars sat up quickly, looking at the purple and orange buzz that was hovering above her. "Oh no, what do you want?"

The buzz let out a long, low hiss that was supposed to be laughter. "You better watch out. Nobody stays on KadeyD's bad side for too long…if you know what I mean. I'm watching you guys!" And with that, the buzz hissed off into a second-story window.

"It never ends," Edgarton said with a little laugh. "Oh they are silly pets though, aren't they?"

Stars shook her head. "Silly? Yeah, sure." She felt just horrible. Everyday it was something else. Everyday KadeyD or Clenching Fist, that awful buzz, had to pick on her "bubblegum" magic. She loved her rocks, and could do great things with them, but they just couldn't see that.

She looked up at Edgarton, who had pulled a small book out of his wing and was sitting with his head buried in it. Poor Edgarton. They picked on him, too, just because he liked science and math better than magic and other fantastical things. But Edgarton was nice, so why should he get picked on? Stars often wondered if Edgarton ever got sad like she did. Well, if he did, he never showed it.

She picked up a lifeless rock and held it in her paws. It shook a little, and she threw it as far as she could into the courtyard. Stupid rock. Maybe the Grarrl was right. All the other pets could do neat tricks with magic. Blue Blittzer, the school's star pet, could do almost anything-even change into other species! Stars sometimes envied the talented blue Poogle, but then she reminded herself that Blittzer couldn't make rocks tap-dance.

Stars suddenly missed her owner very much, and for just a second she wished she was back home in Faerieland, instead of bemoaning her very existence at this snobby school of magic. Why couldn't she have been sent to normal school? Or even Battledome school? Anything would have been better than this. She lifted herself and headed off toward the main building. No point in pouting when she couldn't do anything about it. Like Edgarton, she had an owner that was determined to have a pet with great magical abilities. So, she had to stay here, and learn to deal with it. She had Edgarton, and she always had her rocks.

But was that enough?

To be continued...