The Color Yellow: Part Six

      "Remember," Yellow repeated as they peered into the hallway, "after you pick the lock, keep the door partially open and keep lookout. If you see her coming down the hallway, we'll have a few seconds to hide."

      "I know," Forest responded. "But I'm not even sure I'll be able to pick the lock. Picking a lock to an abandoned pool is one thing, but I'm sure a Dark Faerie's office is going to have magical protection."

      "Maybe. If that's the case, we'll leave and try to think of a different way to get in." They were at the door now. "Hurry!" Yellow said, turning around to make sure no one was following them.

      It was crucial for them to get into the Headmistress's office; inside was a hourglass that had Queen Fyora's magic trapped inside it. Fyora, who was now the Grey Faerie known as Ms. Rofay, was relying on them!

      Forest pulled out a paperclip. "Here we go," he muttered, bending it into the right shape and kneeling in front of the door. He stuck in it and, putting his long ear against the door, he jiggled it. His tongue was hanging out in concentration. "Come on..." he whispered.

      Click! "Finally," Forest breathed. He stood up and pushed the door open. Yellow followed him inside, and Forest closed the door. "I can see through the keyhole," he explained as he kept watch.

      Yellow rushed to the front of the office; there, on her desk, was the hourglass. Only a little puddle of liquid was left at the top; another drop oozed into the bottom in the few seconds he stood watching it. He held Fyora's wand tightly in his hand. Now what?

      He needed to break the hourglass, he was pretty sure. Did he need to break it with the wand? Perhaps he should bring it to Ms. Rofay. But she wasn't able to tell him what to do; she had only given him hints.

      Yellow reached for the hourglass and picked it up; it was heavier than it looked, and he used both of his hands to support it, with the wand crushed between the hourglass and his right hand. The purple liquid inside sloshed around a little.

      "Yellow!" Forest screamed, but a second later there was a thud and a whoosh. Yellow turned to see Headmistress Safelila floating in mid-air, her huge bat-wings looming over him menacingly. Forest was lying against the wall, knocked out.

      The Dark Faerie took a breath and smiled, gently floating to the ground. "Yellow," she said, "this is the second time you've been in my office in only two days, and you're not even an official student yet. This doesn't set a good precedent for the rest of your career here, I'm afraid."

      "What did you do to Forest?" Yellow said, his voice cracking on his friend's name. He took a step back as Safelila stepped forward.

      "Don't worry about him, he's only knocked out. He'll be perfectly fine. He won't even be punished for this, as long as you give me that hourglass." Her eyes flickered to Yellow's hands, and then widened. "Why, you even have a Faerie wand too. You'd better give that to me as well."

      "I know," Yellow said. "I know everything. Ms. Rofay isn't just an ordinary Grey Faerie, she's Fyora. And you stole her magic, didn't you?"

      Headmistress Safelila merely smiled. "Did she tell you that, Yellow? You shouldn't take her little riddles so seriously. Just give me the hourglass. It's quite valuable; you wouldn't want to break it."

      As soon as she said the word break, Yellow knew that was what she was truly afraid of; he could see it in her eyes, her cruel, hard eyes.

      He lifted the hourglass up and slammed it towards the ground. "No!" the Headmistress screamed out, and she rushed forward to grab it. But she was too late; the glass hit the ground and broke.

      Yellow watched as the glass shattered; for a moment, time itself seemed to stop, and the glass held itself together. Then it flew upwards and outwards; Yellow closed his eyes and ducked down, but still felt pieces of glass hit him. He squinted to see the Dark Faerie blocking the door; the purple liquid that had been in the hourglass was levitating, except that it didn't look like liquid anymore. It looked more like gas, except brighter. A floating ball of purple light.

      "You fool," the Dark Faerie hissed, but her eyes were directed towards the purple light. It pulsed, and Yellow felt the wand in his hand react. Hesitantly, he held it up, and the purple light zoomed into the wand. He felt the energy there, tangible, in his hands. It was moldable, like clay.

      Now the Headmistress was looking at him. "I can give you anything, Yellow," she said. "I can give you everything."

      Yellow's eyes flickered for a second at Forest; he was relieved that the glass hadn't cut him. He turned his gaze back towards the Dark Faerie and pointed the wand at her.

      "No." As he said it, he felt a rush of magic leave the wand. It hit her square in the chest; she convulsed, and then collapsed. The magic in the wand was pulling him forward. Quickly, he stepped over her body and opened the door. Now the wand was pulling him harder. He had to run to keep up with it. He was concentrating so hard that he nearly knocked into a Faerie.

      "I'm sorry," he said. "Do you know where..?"

      But he stopped; he was looking at the Faerie Queen herself.

      "Your majesty," he gasped, bowing. Then, suddenly, he remembered that he had her wand, and he rose quickly in a motion that seemed more awkward than graceful and held her wand out to her.

      She smiled, and in that moment she seemed like Ms. Rofay again. "Thank you, Yellow," she said, taking the wand from him. The wand pulsed and Fyora closed her eyes. Her skin was warm and healthy, her hair was purple again, and most noticeable of all, she had her wings back.

      "Where is Safelila?" Queen Fyora asked, grasping the wand more tightly. Yellow pointed to the office, and Fyora flew down the hallway. After a moment, Yellow sprinted after her.

      In the office, Fyora tapped the Dark Faerie with her wand; ropes sprouted from it and bound her tight. Then she saw Forest lying unconscious; she flew to him and tapped him as well. He stirred and opened his eyes. "Headmistress Fyora?" he asked uncertainly.

      But Fyora had already flown to her desk, she opened the window and motioned for a Weewoo. "Bring me the head of the Chia police," she said, and the bird nodded and flew off.

      Yellow was feeling as confused and dazed as Forest looked, and so he went and sat down next to him, trying to fill him in on everything that had happened. As they watched, the Chia Police came and took Safelila, still unconscious. Finally, the school nurse came and examined the pair of them.

      "A minor concussion, but you should be fine," the Flotsam said to Forest. Then she turned to Yellow. "You look perfectly healthy, except for the cuts from the glass. Put some of this ointment on it and it will heal overnight," she paused. "Thank you for giving us our headmistress back."

      "You're welcome," Yellow said, and the Flotsam led Forest away to the hospital wing.

      "Yellow," said a voice, and he turned to see the Faerie Queen. She was smiling. "I believe I owe you an explanation. And I promise, I will give you one. But I'm afraid it must wait till tomorrow. A lot of important things have been neglected in my absence, and I must see to them first before I satisfy your curiosity. I ask you now to go and find your friends and to stay with them, and then to come and see me tomorrow before you leave to go back home."

      "Yes... yes, of course!" Yellow said. "Thank you, Ms. Rofay... I mean.... I mean Fyora... I mean, Queen Fyora.... Or, no... Headmistress Fyora."

      The Faerie Queen smiled again. "Good bye, Yellow."

      Yellow walked out of her office. "Good bye."

     ~~~

      "I still can't believe we helped save Headmistress Fyora," Willy said.

      "I know. Just wait until my owner hears about this!" Zani exclaimed.

      Forest snorted. "What do you mean? You guys didn't do anything. It was me and Yellow who did all the work."

      "You must still have a concussion. Don't forget that we distracted Safelila, even if only for a few moments."

      "Yeah, and besides, weren't you unconscious the whole time?"

      Yellow smiled, happy to hear his friends bickering among themselves. He hadn't gone to see Fyora yet; he was waiting for his owner, Lina, to get there.

      He spotted an Eyrie-pulled carriage and waited until it landed, but it was not Lina who got out. He searched the skies again for a similar carriage.

      "Did you guys meet with the headmistress yet?" Yellow asked.

      "No," Willy said. "She wants to talk to you first. You were the one that pieced the puzzle together, after all."

      "I'm definitely going to this school now," Zani said.

      Yellow bit his lip; he had been thinking about that all last night, after getting over the initial shock of everything that had happened. Before he had been so sure that he wanted to go to Faerieland Central, but now...

      He watched another Eyrie-pulled carriage descend, and this time, it was Lina. He smiled and ran to her, and she grabbed him up in a big hug.

      "Oh, Yellow, I'm so glad you're safe," she said. "I only heard this morning what had happened. Why didn't you message me? I would have come to get you sooner!"

      "It's okay," Yellow said. "I'm okay. But come on! Fyora wants to see us!" Yellow grabbed her hand and pulled her into the school, waving briefly to his friends. He led her down the hallway to the Headmistress's office and knocked on the door.

      "Come in," the Faerie Queen invited.

      The office had changed in the day since he had been in it last; it was brighter, and happier. The walls were adorned with light purple and pink, and the windows let in gold light. Fyora was sitting behind her desk; the hourglass next to her was broken, the glass glinting.

      She smiled when she saw them. "Yellow, thank you for coming to see me. And you must be Lina. You have a wonderful Aisha here."

      "Yes," Lina said, patting Yellow. "I know I do."

      They sat down, and Queen Fyora explained how the Dark Faerie had tricked her and put an evil spell on her, trapping her magic inside that hourglass. She only had a year to restore her magic; otherwise, she would have been a grey Faerie forever. But, with the year almost being up, Safelila had gotten neglectful, and Fyora had been able to put clearer and clearer clues into her papers, hoping that some bright student would be able to piece it all together.

      "And Yellow was just as bright as I had hoped," she said. "And that is why, with the unanimous support of my staff, I would like to grant Yellow a full tuition-paid scholarship to attend Faerieland Central."

      Lina gasped. "Wow. Thank you so much, Your Majesty. That is very generous of you."

      The Faerie Queen smiled. "That is not all. Yellow's friends, Zani, Forest and Willy, will all get full-tuition scholarships as well. It is the least I could do for restoring my magic and my freedom."

      "Wait..." Yellow said. The Faerie Queen paused and gestured for him to continue. "I... I want to thank you for the scholarship, but, I'm going to decline." He took a deep breath. "I really liked Faerieland Central, and I like my friends that I've made here, but, I haven't changed at all since I came here. I did everything here that I would do at home. And that's made me realize how much happier I would be at home."

      He looked towards Lina, hoping she would understand. "You see, I'm glad that I came here for preview weekend. I'm really glad, actually, because I've made some great friends and I was able to help Queen Fyora, but... but it's not my home."

      Lina laughed. "Good. I'm relieved."

      "Relieved?" Yellow asked, confused.

      "Yes, relieved," Lina said. "I really would have missed having you home."

      "Well, Yellow, I don't want you to walk away without any type of reward at all," the Faerie Queen said. She tapped a long finger against her chin. "Hmm... if you do not want to go to school here... how about a job?"

      "A job?" Yellow and Lina asked at the same time.

      "Yes, a job," Fyora said. "As an official adviser. I could use someone as bright as you, and it would be good to get some young blood into the castle."

      Yellow sat still, stunned. The Faerie Queen wanted him to be an adviser? Him?!

      "It will be a paid position, of course," Fyora continued. "You'll need to make it to Faerieland for advisory meetings as often as you can. And, of course, you will need to continue to do well in school."

      "Wow," Yellow said. "Yes. Yes, of course. I would love to."

      "Great. We have a deal then." Queen Fyora stood and shook his hand. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Yellow. And you, Lina."

      "Same. It was a pleasure to meet you," Yellow said.

      "You know," Fyora said, as they were about to leave. "I've always liked the color Yellow."

The End