The Ruby Heart: Part Three

      Once I was inside, I followed the footsteps of them for a little while until I came into a bright room filled with many different and beautiful chairs. I sat down in a Queen Fyora Rocking Chair next to my mother. "My past?" I asked, looking at my parents, who were sitting in a Chia Print Chair and a plain Red Chair.

      "Yes, your past," my mother started in a sweet melodic voice. "It began fifteen and a half years ago, when a Light Faerie named Darenila came to us and introduced herself as the leader of the Light Faeries in this kingdom. They have lived here for centuries upon centuries, forced out of their peaceful, quiet home that we also once lived in, when Scorchios and Dark Faeries when the Dark Faeries arrived to this separate world. Every few decades or so the leader comes to tell us the chosen heir. And Darenila said that there was a young Buzz kidnapped from this kingdom just as she was born, taken by the Scorchios. She said her name was Fayre, though in the domain of the Scorchios, she was called Ruby. We agreed and sent several Buzzes to take back the young girl-you."

      "And then," my father continued in a loud, clear voice, "we gave you a Gold Buzz Morphing Potion and painted you with a Royal Paint Brush. You looked horrible as a Faerie Scorchio. A year after we took you back, a Darigan Scorchio came and stole you back. But we never found him at his village. Years later, Darenila told us that Princess Fayre was alive, in Neopia, in a forest. She said that the Darigan Scorchio had been hiding all this time, tricking you into believing things that were untrue. I know not what these lies are, but they do not matter. You have come home, that villain is in the dungeons waiting for his fate -that you may decide- and all is now well. We have lasted even longer and there has yet to be a war between our kingdom and the village. And if there were to be a war, it would last for a very short time. We would easily overpower them. Now that you know your story, let us rest. Tomorrow that Scorchio will see you again, and then never again."

      My mother opened a glass door and disappeared into another room. My father left through a great wooden door.

      I noticed a small thin line creating a rectangle on a wall that did not have a door. I made a path through the chairs and walked up to it, finding it to be a hidden door. But there was no knob. I felt all around the door and found a small indent in the shape of a heart. But what use would that be to me? I was heir to the greatest kingdom I had ever seen, my parents its rulers, and I couldn't open a secret passage in my family's own castle! My hand brushed my pocket as I raised it to hit the door. And then I remembered. The ruby! Could it be? I forgot what this jewel represented and took it out of my pocket, inserting it into the small heart-shaped design just barely visible on the rectangle. It fit perfectly. As I withdrew the ruby, the door swung forwards, revealing a staircase. I stepped forward, and the door shut behind me.

      I walked down for quite a while, until there were a few flickering lights that I could see at the end of the passage. I ran down, nearly tripping over my dress, and skipped the last three steps, determined to discover what this was. Turning to face the source of the candlelight, I saw a young Light Faerie and an old Dark Faerie.

      The Light Faerie had long golden hair, blue eyes, shimmering white wings, and wore a white dress.

      The Dark Faerie had black hair, silver eyes, grey wings, and wore a dress as black as her hair.

      I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out. But the two Faeries had spotted me.

      "Hello, Ruby," the old Dark Faerie said, smiling. "My name is Tania. I see you have found this place. Only you could." Tania pulled a tattered crimson velvet curtain aside to reveal a painting.

      It looked similar to the kingdom I had seen as I first stepped through the porthole. But something seemed different about the painting. Instead of only Buzzes and Light Faeries, there were also Scorchios.

      "Long, long, long, long ago, these two species lived in peace." Tania gestured towards a Scorchio and a Buzz. "But after a while, a few Dark Faeries -my ancestors- found the entrance, and hypnotized the leader Scorchios into attacking the Buzzes. A young Light Faerie had known the attack would come, and knew how it happened. She warned the other Light Faeries. But she, for some reason, did not say that the Dark Faeries were behind it, but that the Scorchios were acting on their own will. This led everyone to believe it also. The Dark Faeries left this world once the Buzzes and Light Faeries had forced the Scorchios to flee and build a small village to the east.

      "But the descendants of the dark Faeries stayed. They helped the Scorchios. I kept this secret passage a secret with Elaine," she pointed to the young Light Faerie, "who seems to be the only one in this entire kingdom who believes my story. We have stayed here in this room, hidden, for quite some time. Elaine, though, still returns to the kingdom constantly, so no one but I," she paused, "and now you, know where she disappears to for a few hours every now and then. But I trust her not to tell anyone, even if she could tell."

      "You took away her voice?" I yelled.

      "Of course not. Just because we Dark Faeries keep to ourselves and usually end up raising the evil ones, it doesn't make us all that way," Tania replied. "And of your brother-"

      "I don't have a brother," I replied angrily.

      "Yes you do. Aaron was a few years or so younger than you are now when several Buzzes, under the impression of Darenila, an evil Light Faerie who wanted to cause trouble and start a fight between the village and kingdom, that you were a former Buzz, the heir, and took you. I found Aaron and gave him the third key -your ruby- set in the center of a long silver chain. The other two keys are-" she tapped the purple heart necklace she wore, I hadn't noticed it until then, and then the white-silver heart-shaped emerald set in the necklace Elaine wore, "-here, with us. And now, I believe it is time for us to leave."

      Elaine nodded, there suddenly came a bright white light, and in a split second she had vanished.

      Tania smiled, snapped her fingers, and vanished into thin air, leaving a puff of black and purple smoke and a silver trail of light. The light spiraled around me and became brighter, brighter, and greater. I shut my eyes.

      When I opened my eyes, I was back outside the door, and the ruby was in my pocket.

      "Oh, there you are, Fayre." I recognized the sweet melodic voice of my mother. I wanted to tell her everything that had just happened.

      But I couldn't.

      For some reason, which I believed to be a magical force, I couldn't open my mouth and say those words. It was that lying Dark Faerie, I thought. She made me lose the ability to speak. "But how could I know?" I asked out loud.

      "How could you know what, Fayre?" my mother asked me.

      "Oh, well I..." At this point an object in my pocket became very hot, so hot I was sure it would burst into flames. "Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about something." I tried to gasp, but couldn't. Those words had just come out of my mouth! I had no control over what I was saying!

      "What, Fayre?" my mother asked.

      "Well, it's a long story, not important." More words that were not my own. "Anyway, bye Mother!" I quickly left the room. What was happening to me?

      I then decided to get rid of the ruby. It was what is making me do all this, I thought. I reached into my pocket, but just as my finger landed on the heart-shaped jewel, I couldn't move my arm.

      Suddenly, Reginald came in. "Princess Fayre, your mother, Queen Amelia, and your father, King Kenneth, wish for you to be shown to your magnificent bedroom." He took my paralyzed arm and pulled me towards the staircase. It was a lovely royal blue, the sides white, and the banister was golden. Reginald led me up the stairs, higher into the tower. We went through a maze of corridors and hallways, and finally stopped at a silver door. I suddenly realized that the arm that had been reaching to throw away my ruby heart was able to move once again. I raised it to push open the door, and entered my room. I closed the door, and heard footsteps leading away. Reginald had left.

      "You know, the reason the ruby won't let you go because it is yours. It's meant to be. It won't let go."

      I looked over towards the Beauty Bed that was now mine, to see that old Dark Faerie, Tania, hovering over it. "What are you doing here?" I demanded.

      "Oh, nothing," Tania replied quietly. "I just thought you might like to know that Michelle and Jeremy have absolutely no idea what is going on. They don't even know about the village. The last time I went there, most of the inhabitants of that village, even the Dark Faeries, are disappearing. Michelle and Jeremy's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-greatgrandparents were the most recent of their family to live there. But like most others, they left the village in hopes that Neopia was a better place. The Dark Faeries did the same.

      "The magical hearts can reveal many important things. The Ruby Heart -yours- can show why the young Light Faerie, who was one of Elaine's ancestors, did not say who was truly behind the Scorchio's violence.

      "And even if you did try to betray your own family and friends, and somehow got rid of the object that keeps you attached to them, you still couldn't. And the ruby heart won't let go, and anyway, I have a question for you. What have your so-called parents or anyone else here done to show that they care about you?"

      "Mother and Father have told me the truth about my past, Reginald saved me from the Scorchios. Aaron was a liar, you are a liar, if Elaine could talk, she'd be a liar, Michelle is a liar, Jeremy is a liar, since he's their father, William is a liar, and I know who to trust," I replied, getting very angry.

To be continued…