The Water Faerie Necklace: Part Four

     She stammered, “I was blessed by a Water Faerie when I was little. Is that the reason my soul is that of a Water Faerie?”

     Fyora thought for a moment. “I wouldn’t think so,” she said finally. “Many Pets have been blessed by Water Faeries, and they do not have their soul.”

     “How would you know?” Julie asked. “Have you ever tested them?”

     “Well,” said Fyora, “not exactly. But I am almost positive that they are not like you.”

     Julie sat on the ground. It was too much to take in. “I wish I could remember what the scroll said,” she whispered. “Then I would at least have an idea how to take the necklace off.”

     Fyora sat next to her. “I understand. You feel overwhelmed because of the power that this necklace can give you.”

     “I don’t want more power than anyone else,” said Julie. “I just want to be equal with them.”

     Smiling, Fyora said, “I know your heart is kind, child.”

     “Yes,” Julie said. She wrinkled her brow. “I do have one question. If all of the power from this necklace has been unleashed inside me, how come I do not feel it?”

     “What do you mean?”

     “I just supposed that I could, you know, feel the power pulsing through my veins or something.” Julie felt foolish for saying that. “What exactly is power, anyway?”

     Fyora shrugged. “It is one of those words like honor or trust. You do not know exactly what it is, but you do know when you have it.”

     “Trust,” Julie repeated. She suddenly thought of Kaleigh and slapped her forehead. “I’m sorry, Fyora, but I must be getting home. My owner wanted me to come home before five, and it is four-thirty.”

     “Okay,” said Fyora. She watched as Julie stood up and exited her sight.

     As Julie walked across Faerieland, she chuckled a bit to herself. She had just had a heartfelt conversation with the Faerie Queen about how she was a Water Faerie. She laughed again. “Life can be weird, sometimes,” she said to herself.

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     She spent the entire rest of the night trying to remember what the scroll said. She stayed locked in her room, racking her brains, writing down whatever came to mind, and trying to piece together tidbits from her memory. She was left with nothing after hours of thinking.

     “Julie!” somebody called. Her voice was muffled by the closed door.

     Julie sighed, her train of thought lost, and opened the door. “Who is it?”

     “It’s Tara!”

     Julie had not spoken to Tara in over a week. Out of all of her sisters, she was the least close to her.

     She found Tara sitting on her bed with an open notebook. “I’m writing an original play for drama class,” Tara said. “Can you please play some of the parts as I act it out?”

     “I’m kind of busy right now,” said Julie. “Can you ask someone else?”

     “Kaleigh’s in the games room, Megan’s at her friend’s house, and Alexandra’s at the book shop in Neopia Central,” Tara replied. “You’re the only one home.” When Julie did not answer, Tara said, “Please? It will really be a good thing.”

     Julie exhaled. “Fine,” she said. She did not want to complain or grumble because then she would certainly not get her way. She decided it would just be best if she did Tara a favor.

     The two sisters acted out Tara’s play. The play was boring, just like Tara, but Julie did not want to say anything about it. When Tara asked her how she thought the play was, Julie just said, “It’s good, but you should tweak the dialogue in Scene Two.”

     Tara went to work on finishing up her play, and Julie went back to her room to think about the scroll again. As she left Tara’s room, she could see small starbursts of light below her. One of the stones on her necklace, the one to the very right of the clasp, was flashing.

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     Fyora could sense something, but was not sure if it were a good thing or a bad thing. She drank some tea to calm herself down. Again, she could sense something, a strange pulsing.

     “It’s the girl,” she said to herself. “I just know it’s that pink Wocky. What was her name? Julie. I know that she is the one causing trouble.” Fyora drank a sip of her tea. “Or is she doing something right?”

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     Julie dreamt again that night. Much like the dream from the Wednesday before, she could see a limping Anubis pointing to a palace behind him. The Anubis was talking about something that she could not understand. A red Nimmo named Clive gave her a scroll.

     She wanted to wake up and see if another scroll was sitting on her nightstand, but for some reason, she could not. Her dream had to finish first.

     “You can exit now,” the Anubis said.

     Julie ran out of the palace and back into the forest. This was the part of the dream when her alarm clock rang. But why wasn’t it ringing? She realized that it was Sunday; she did not set her alarm. She continued running.

     “Julie!” somebody said.

     She felt warm hands on her. She arose with a start and saw Kaleigh standing before her.

     “It’s almost noon,” said Kaleigh. “I was beginning to think that you were going to sleep the entire day!”

     Julie laughed. Kaleigh did not know how true that was.

     “I’m going to get dressed now,” said Julie. Kaleigh shut the door to her room, and Julie searched frantically for the scroll. She first searched her nightstand, but there was nothing on it. Then she frantically searched every drawer in her dresser, but she found nothing. She finally searched her bed, and found a slightly squashed scroll under the covers. She must have leaned on it while she was sleeping.

     She grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil from her desk and untied the blue ribbon. She was going to write down everything the scroll said before she closed it.

     Each Faerie has power

     But it needs to be found

     A necklace does not give somebody power

     It has come from within

     A moral deed is one sign

     That there is power in you

     But along with

     A lighthearted joke

     An icy mind for quests

     A strong heart and body

     And a little bit of luck

     The necklace can do its job

     Julie closed the scroll and laid the piece of paper carefully on her desk. She was not going to lose that paper if her life depended on it.

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     Julie was in Faerieland again. She wanted to see Fyora so she could get advice on what to do.

     “You received another scroll?” Fyora said when Julie told her of the news. “How?”

     Shrugging, Julie said, “I had the same dream that I had the first time I got the scroll. And I wrote down exactly what it said before it disappeared.” She handed Fyora the piece of paper.

     Fyora read intently. After a while, she said, “How many stones are on your necklace?”

     “It’s not my necklace,” Julie said. “It’s Nereid’s.” When Fyora did not reply, she said, “Five, including the big one in the center.”

     “Yes,” said Fyora. “I think I now understand what the scroll is saying.” She showed Julie the paper and pointed to the fifth line. “I sensed yesterday one of the stones of your necklace flashing. When did it flash, approximately?”

     Julie tried to remember. “Right after I helped my sister with a play she wrote for drama class.”

     “Interesting,” said Fyora. “Would that, by any chance, be considered a moral deed?”

     Shrugging, Julie said, “I guess. But I would think a moral deed is something like helping at the Soup Kitchen or something.”

     “Any good thing can be a moral deed,” Fyora said. “You did help your sister, right?”

     Julie nodded.

     Fyora handed the paper to Julie for her to hold. “This is my theory,” she said. “Each ‘sign’ that the scroll mentions: a moral deed, a lighthearted joke, an icy mind for quests, a strong heart and body, and a little bit of luck, represents the five things that you need to accomplish before you can take off the necklace and get rid of the power it holds. Each of the five things represents the five stones on your necklace. As one of the stones flashes, I believe that the power in it diminishes. As you accomplish each task mentioned in the poem, the power of the necklace will lessen and lessen until you can take it off.”

     “I understand,” Julie said. “I just have to figure out what exactly the scroll is mentioning”

     Fyora nodded. Suddenly, she gasped. “My theory was right!” she exclaimed, pointing to the right of Julie’s necklace. “One of your stones has already fallen off!”

     Julie had to strain her eyes to see, but she could tell that the stone that was flashing the night before had vanished from her necklace.

To be continued...