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Author Topic: Invasion from the 8th Realm: a story of fairies, witches, elves, and others....  (Read 2262 times)

Offline Sparky

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So, if you remember my "Serena" story, Serena is a teenage witch, featured in a prophecy. Her life should be pretty straight-forward: unite the covens of England, defeat some undefined evil, and become queen. And, unsurprisingly, along the way, Serena got to meet the fairies, or more specifically, one special fairy, Elida (who has had HER own story!)

This story will be a follow-on from those two stories, the story of how Serena, with help from a lot of others, will defeat the undefined evil threat.

I'm going to write this story a bit differently from other stories I've done: instead of being one long story, it will be slightly smaller bits of story, linked together with a much simpler descriptive narrative (which means the story might (a) actually get written; (b) and written before Easter!)

So, when we last saw Serena, she had met her final companion, Harper, and along with Sarah and Samantha, had managed to discover the huge set of weapons that had been made for them, and got them upgraded. And when we last saw Elida, she had managed to get herself and Sparkle out of their time-loop by inventing fairy teleportation, discovered that she was a very important fairy, discovered that she, Lilly and Tats were destined to take over running FI5, and she had managed to work out how to remove Sparkle's and Lilly's braces.

The new story will start several months on: Lilly, Tats and Elida have been running things at FI5 for about 6 months now.... and Sebby is doing part-time tooth fairy work, and she is thoroughly enjoying it, alongside her working on the history of the old fairy castle, as well as occasionally helping Elida, because she is a great researcher.

We'll catch up with Serena a bit later on.

Offline Sparky

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Being a crossover story, there's a lot of different characters throughout the story, so I thought it might be useful to keep a list: I'll try to remember update the list when I add new characters.

I'll also include a sort of glossary, to explain other bits too..

So, let's start with characters from Elida's story:

Elida - 'protector' fairy, very powerful. Runs FI5 with Lilly and Tats. A tooth fairy by trade. Unable to do 'naughty' magic. Probably still just in her teens.
Lilly - the hero from the "Dark Fairy" story. Runs FI5. She's was the "Work Experience Girl" in the earlier fairy stories, and is actually the daughter of Sparkle etc's boss. Not actually THAT much older than Elida
Tats - a low-level princess, is a "Buildings, Castles and Palace" Fairy. Runs FI5. Similar age to Lilly.
Zia - Also a protector fairy, used to run FI5 with Sir Donald and Lady Caroline, all now retired.
Sparkle - A tooth fairy, good friends of Elida and Magic. She & Elida got caught in the "Time Loop".
Sebby - A teen fairy (and princess) from 100 years ago, aka "The Dark Fairy", but now a tooth fairy, and trying hard to understand the modern world. Great researcher.
Puck - Elida's boyfriend, works in the FI5 research & development labs.
Michael - Elida's 'handler', works at FI5. Very trustworthy, used to work with Lilly & Tats.
Annabelle - A bit of a 'kick-ass' fairy. Helping Elida / Poppy with their physical training


FI5 - the organisation that 'runs' the fairy realm, based in concept on MI5.
FAS - "Fairy Air Service": group of elite fighting fairies, modeled on SAS.
The Dark Archive - a highly restricted library, contains very old books, and books of dark magic. Elida can access it via a 'portal' in her FI5 office.
The Royal Archive - another archive, under the Royal Palace


And now people and things from Serena's story:

Serena Muffin- very powerful witch, only known witch in recent time to NOT pledge to the light, instead pledging to the 'Light Grey'. Has a mouthful of extreme braces, made of a magical metal, that protects her when she does dark magic. At the start of the story, she's still only 18.
Wanda - Serena's talking wand, gives Serena a lot of good advice.
Sarah Davis -  Serena's teacher and mentor. Her wand is Ethel.
Harper Collins - the last of 'the four' to be discovered, world class gymnast. Her wand is Yin and Yan. In her early 20s
Samantha - a powerful healing witch, and good friend of Serena's. Her wand is Madge. Same sort of age as Serena.
Aodh, Berach, Ciara and Deirbhile - four capable witches from Southern Ireland, their prophecy states they will help Serena and the others in their fight.

Coven of the Light - Serena's and Sarah's coven
Pinetree Coven - responsible for Serena's braces, and their cache of weapons
Coven of Love and Tranquillity - Samantha's coven
Coven of the Unseen Moon - used to keep themselves to themselves, but had some very important information hidden away for the 'team of four'.
Lakes Coven - Harper's coven



Offline Sparky

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Chapter 1

"Hi there, Michael!"

"Oh, hello, Elida! Nice to see you... not seen you much since... well, since Lilly and Tats moved out to their new offices." Michael knew Elida not as who she realy was - in other words, a powerful protector fairy, who helped to run FI5 - but more as a younger fairy who happened to be friends with Lilly and Tats, mainly as a result of her work on the 'Dark Fairy' case last year' He saw her as a cheerful fairy doing some sort of 'special training' with FI5.

"Yeah, actually, that raises a quick question: since Lilly and Tats have taken over from Sir Donald and Lady Charlotte, how's everyone feeling... how are you feeling about the way things are being run now?"

"I think most of us are fine with things. Yeah, there's been some changes, mostly for the good I think. One thing that helped was Lilly and Tats actually explaining what they were doing and why, made us feel we were still part of things."

"Oh, right, better than I had feared then. Hey, you in the middle of anything important right now?"

"No, nothing that won't take more than ten seconds to save...."

"Ok, in that case, can you do that, then I was hoping you would come with me, should only take ten minutes.

A minute later they had gone up a floor, and were walking along the corridor. "Umm, where we going, this is the managemant area..."

"That's right, we're popping in to see Lilly. Not a problem I hope?"

"No... just wondering what's going on, that's all."

"Don't worry, nothing bad. Here we are. Without knocking, Elida opened the door, and took Michael inside.

"Hey, Michael, nice to see you. Here, take a seat, Elida needs to have a word with you."

"Oh? I thought it would be you wanting a word. Go on then, Elida." said Michael as he sat down.

"Ok, so the reason for bringing you here to say what I'm about to say, is that if I had taken you somewhere else, you'd probably not have believed me. Having Lilly here should add some credibility. First of all, what you are about to hear is NOT for general consumption, please keep it confidential. And especially NOT for outside ears. When you hear what I'm about to say, I think you'll understand. You ok with that?"

"Yeah sure, pretty much SOP.."

"Ok, then let me dive in at the deep end. As far as you're concerned, FI5 is run by Lilly and Tats, yeah?"

"Well, yeah, everyone knows that..."

"Except it's not actually true, there's three of us, Lilly, Tats and me." Michael looked at Lilly.

"Oh, you can believe everything that Elida is telling you," confirmed Lilly

"Maybe I should have started by explaining exactly who - or what - I am. I am a 'Protector Fairy', which means two basic things: first of all, my job is to protect humans and fairies from any fairy who 'crosses the line between good and bad'. To do that, my magic abilities exceed those of every other fairy I know... well except for Zia that is, she's a 'protector' as well. The second thing is that it means I can't do any 'bad magic' myself. I've tried, and it just doesn't work."

"So, when you say 'bad, you mean fairies like Sebby. When she was 'the dark fairy' I mean."

"Yeah, that's right. Whilst it was Lilly and Tats who actually 'took down' Sebby, Zia was waiting outside, along with an FAS team, to take over if things hadn't gone right."

"You mean you're more powerful than Lilly?". Lilly was quite ok with Michael's familiarity, as they actually used to work together.

"Well, apart from the incident down the 'Golden Cup', we've never actually tested it, but as long as Lilly believes I am, then things will be ok!". Lilly and Elida both smiled. This was a conversation the two of them had had over drinks several times, but neither of them actually wanted to put things to the test, so Lilly agreed to accept that Elida was probably quite able to put her in her place, if need be.

"Ok, I can see why you need to keep this quiet, by why ARE you telling me?"

"I have a new job for you."

"A new job? You mean instead of what I'm doing?"

"No, it's going to be more an 'as and when' sort of job, so you'll keep doing some of what you're doing now - which will be good cover for you too. I need someone to do some digging for me, as well as act as my 'handler'." Michael had a confused look on his face. "First of all, I need to do my job as a Protector, so I'd like you to try and be aware as possible of any fairies 'overstepping the line', and let me know instantly. Then I can get there and sort things out."

"How you planning on doing that? I mean, by the time you've flown there, things will probably be all over. Unless you've somehow worked out how to teleport, that is..." Michael thought he was being clever, because - as far as he knew - noone could actually teleport. Of course we know different.

"I CAN actually teleport!" replied Elida.

Michael's jaw dropped. He looked over at Lilly. "She's kidding, right?"

"Nope. I told you, you can believe everything that Elida tells you. Takes 15 concurrent spells to teleport, so she tells me."

"So you can.... and do 15.... wow!" said Michael, very impressed.

"I'll give you a demo sometime. The only limitation, which I'm still working on, is I can't yet teleport within our magic-proteced buildings. So, yeah, once you tell me there's an issue, I can potentially be on site within seconds. And while I'm doing it, I'll need you as my 'voice in my ear', feeding me relevant information. Interested?"

"Yeah, sounds like it could be... I was about to say 'fun', but you know what I mean."

"Ok. So the other part of the job would be similar. I'm on the lookout for fairies - boys or girls - who are.... hmm, how do I describe this to you? Fairies who are very capable, but not in the traditional sense. So, I'm not looking simply for high achievers, who do well at school. No, they will go on and do well at university. I'm looking for the fairy that's maybe bored at school and disrupts classes, simply because they are bored: they are good at magic, and they already know what the teachers are trying to teach them. Fairies that maybe go out and annoy people and fairies, again because they're bored. Making sense?"

"Yeah, I think so. But how do I find them?"

"I hear you're pretty good at digging out information, so just get digging. Still interested in helping me?"

"Yeah, I think so! Sounds like it will be a bit of a challenge..."

"And do you like challenges?"

"Yes, I do..."

"Great. Ok, so I guess you'll need to work out any extra kit that you'll need. Maybe need to give you a 'quiet place' you can go to when you're 'on active duty'... actually, no reason you couldn't just use my office when you need to.."

"You have an office here?"

"Yeh, of course. I'll show you. I could do with a better earpiece, I'll have a word with Puck. Not sure if we should just use the phone, or use a dedicated radio system... leave that one with me, I know the dev team has some nice stuff, we used some of it when we were chasing the Dark Fairy.... "

"When do I start?"

"Is now soon enough? Come on, I'll show you my office."

Offline Sparky

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Chapter 2

Elida was in her 'normal' (tooth fairy) office, having a quick chat with Sparkle: since the 'Time Loop incident' they had become really good friends. Her phone rang. "Sorry Sparkle, it's Michael, I'd better take it". Sparkle knew all about Elida's work at FI5, and about Michael: she was on the small list of fairies who actually knew what she was, and what she was capable of.

"Yes Michael?"

"I think we have an incident that could do with your 'skills'!" he explained.

"Ok, get yourself into my office, and give me a minute to grab my coat and get outside." As she ran off, she left the call with Michael open, but put the phone into her pocket, and took her earpiece out, slipping it into her ear. "Can you still hear me ok?" she asked.

"Loud and clear, and I'm already in your office."

"Oh, nicely done! So where am I going then?"

"To the quaint town of 'Dingly Dell' apparently."

"I've heard of it, but not quite sure where it is... let me take a look as I go outside". Elida conjoured up her tablet(*), brought up the 'fairy maps' app, and voice-searched for Dingly Dell. "Ah, right, ok. Any idea where specifically?"

"Not 100% sure yet, let me see what I can find."

"Ok, I'll head to the town centre, see what I can feel: I can often 'feel' when something untoward is going on... ok, phone might go off for a moment while I teleport...". Elida was now outside, so she flew up into the air: she had worked out that teleporting whilst in the air made the 'landing' a lot simpler, not needing to be quite as exact in tems of 'height above ground'. She took a breath, and said the sequence of 17 spells to let her teleport. (yes, it's 15 to actually teleport, the other two are to probe ahead and check she's not about to appear in a building. Or a bird. "Right I'm here, pretty much over the middle of the town...."

"Head to the North East..."

"Ok...". Elida turned and started to fly to the North East, at the same time trying to 'feel' for any bad magic going on. "I think I'm sensing something....". It didn't take long for her to find where things were happening, and it didn't need any special magical skills... she could hear an angry fairy shouting out: "I'm SO fed up of kids like you, take take take, never thinking about anyone else! Well take THIS then....". The scene was actually quite amusing: in a quiet corner of the park was a tallish and beefy-looking young teen, he looked like the sort that caused trouble wherever he went, and he was currently being beaten up by a much smaller (as in 6 inches tall smaller), but very angry - and invisible to him of course - fairy!

"I got her... don't suppose you have a name do you?"

"Half a second.... I think it's Annabelle."

"Thanks" replied Elida. "Ok, Annabelle, that's enough!" she called out to Annabelle.

"No it's not, he's a right pain in the butt, and deserves every bit of this!" She landed another strong kick, this time between the kid's legs. Elida winced, and she guessed the kid probably did too.

"I said STOP, Annabelle - I assume that's your name," shouted Elida, who then threw a spell at Annabelle, that knocked her backwards, and away from the kid. "you've definitely gone too far, so STOP!"

"And who the f*** are YOU to tell me to stop?"

"Possibly your worst nightmare, if you don't back down!"

"Oh, sod that..." she said. It was clear that she had managed to make herself very angry with this kid. She and got back up, and started to go back towards the kid. Once again, Elida threw a spell at Annabelle, but she retaliated.

"I think I've got a feisty one here..." said Elida to the voice in her ear.

"Yeah, notes here seem to indicate that she has a bit of a reputation for getting angry."

Elida and Annabelle got closer to each other, and Annabelle tried to land one onto Elida. Of course, this was exactly the sort of thing Elida had been doing training for. It was an interesting sight: little Elida, not a particularly tall fairy, dressed in teen clothes, and Annabelle, noticeably taller and 'beefier'. Of course, we know what Elida is actually capable of... 'good things come in small packages' and that sort of thing...

"Oh, come on, Annabelle, that's pathetic!" said Elida, making her spin backwards, head over heels. Annabelle quickly recovered, and ran at Elida, throwing a spell that made Elida's feet catch fire - which she was NOT expecting. Elida quickly put out the flames, and threw Annabelle up in the air. She recovered well, and popping out her wings, she started to 'dive bomb' on Elida, fist out in front of her.

Elida avoided the blow, and pushed her away. Once more, she came at Elida, trying to punch her in the face. Again, Elida avided her blows, and managed to grab Annabelle's wrists, and pulled them together. With a quick nod, Elida cast a spell, causing a pair of pink fluffy handcuffs to appear on Annabelle's wrists. The handcuffs connected to a delicate yet strong small chain, the other end of which was connected to a very much more comfortable pink strap on Elida's wrist.

In retaliation, Annabelle tried to cast a spell to do something to Elida, but nothing happened.

"What the F***?"

"Magic dampening handcuffs - they're based on the rather more spectacular 'magic dampening chains and manacles' spell, but a bit more discrete don't you think? And a bit more comfortable on the wrists too. Come on, let's have a timeout, fly with me up into that tree, and we can chat!" said Elida in such a way that it wasn't so much a request as a command. After a bit of persuasion, Elida got Annabelle to fly up into the tree, and they sat together on a branch.

"What can you tell me about her?" Elida asked Michael.

"She's 18, was at 'Fairy High', where she got in a lot of trouble because of her anger issues. Currently a trainee doing general fairy duties, couple of reprimands. But as far as her abilities go, all indications are that she's well above average."

"Thanks..." said Elida

"Who you talking to?" asked Annabelle, who was starting to calm down a bit.

"Oh, just a voice in my ear! So, come on, calm down, talk to me.... what's bugging you?"

"Well, YOU are, right now..."

"APART from me, I mean. Look, we aren't going anywhere till we've sorted things out, so just accept that! Hey, fancy a coffee? I could do with one...." Annabelle was smart, and quickly realised that she was probably in big trouble, and for once was in a situation that she had no control over. And a drink right now would be rather nice.

"Don't suppose I can have a hot chocolate can I?"

"Sure, of course you can." A quick wave of a wand later, and they both had drinks. Elida let Annabelle have some of her drink, in an effort to let her calm down a bit.

"So who ARE you?" asked Annabelle. "Some of the magic you used on me was pretty advanced stuff."

"Yeah, let's just say for the moment that I'm a pretty powerful fairy, and I'm here to protect humans and fairies from angry fairies like you. Maybe if things go well, I'll tell you a bit more about myself, but for now, let's talk about you. The voice in my ear told me that you've been in trouble a few times now. I'm guessing anger problems?". Elida was talking gently and nicely to Annabelle, helping her to calm down. The calming spell that Elida had mixed into Annabelle's drink was also helping.

"Yeah, I get a bit wound up, I guess."

"And take it out on others. My voice says you're actually quite good at magic... so what's going on? Come on, I'd like to try and help you, if I can". Annabelle sighed.

"My grandpa gave me one of his old spell books when I was young. We used to read it together, and practice the magic together, it was such fun doing exciting magic." Another deep breath. "But at school it was so boring. Doing stuff I'd already learnt, but not allowed to do any of the other stuff grandpa had taught me. And now, at work, it's just simple boring stuff, like pain-killing spells for kids who have hurt themselves. Sometimes we get lucky, and a very young kid who still believes in us makes a wish. Then there's selfish brats like him down there... they have discovered for a second time that they can make wishes, but it's just 'me me me', and they deserve to be shown a lesson! But most of the time it's so mundane. I feel like a sportsman with lots of ability, but who's not allowed to do any sport to get rid of the pent-up energy inside them. Does that make sense?"

By now Annabelle had calmed right down. The combination of the magic calming of the drink, plus the mere act of explaining her issues had made her feel a bit better.

"Yup, makes a lot of sense. And I'm thinking I might be able to do something to help you. Look, if I take these things off you, you gonna behave yourself, and not go flying off. I mean, if you do, I can easily bring you back...."

A very calm Annabelle replied: "Yeah, I'm ok now....". Elida removed the magic-dampening cuffs. "Thanks, that feels better. I must admit, I do like your style... I'd never have thought of magical fluffy pink handcuffs! So, you reckoned that you might be able to help me?"

"Yes, but before I do that, I think I need to explain who I am. And to do that, I need you to cast a spell on yourself, so you can't tell anyone else."

"Cast a spell on myself?"

"Yeah, seems fairer like that: that way you won't be worried that I might be doing something nasty to you. Let me show you the spell." Elida called up her protector's book, opened it on page 27, and showed the spell to Annabelle, who read it. "I get a feeling that you actually understand the spell?" said Elida.

"Yeah, it's clever, I can see that I can only ever use it on myself."

"That's right. So, you say the spell, then I'll specify what it is you can't tell people about. Then you say the second bit to confirm it... so there's no real way I can trick you."

"I do like magic like that, it's very fair. Ok, yeah, let's do it...". Annabelle read the first part of the spell out loud, Elida defined it as 'anything she told Annabelle in the next ten minutes', and Annabelle said the second bit.

"Ok, so my name is Elida. I'm a special fairy, called a 'Protector Fairy'," and she went on to describe what that was all about.

"So, how do I fit into all that then?"

"Well, whilst I'm pretty powerful, I'm still learning a lot of magic, but like you, I have a problem actually trying the magic out. Sometimes I get to try some of it out with some of the FAS guys, as part of their ongoing training, but I was wondering if you'd be interested in becoming a sort of 'sparring partner'? Kinda like we did earlier, but more so. I think I could definitely help you get rid of some of your frustrations and anger. Plus I could actually teach you some new magic too." What Elida left out was that she hoped that, if she was any good, she might be able to help in the future 'war against darkness' as described by Serena's witch prophecy.

A small smile appeared on Annabelle's face. "You for real?"

"Of course. Although you'll need to promise to stop beating up young kids and old ladies, or other fairies for that matter. Interested?"

"Yeah, but why all the secrecy?"

"Well if everyone knew who I really was, I'd get fairies like you constantly wanting to pick fights with me, just to see how good I was. I'd much prefer have a quieter life, and let everyone just think that most of the time I'm just a young tooth fairy, still learning her trade, but maybe also doing some sort of related apprenticeship at FI5."

"Ok, I can see a certain sense in that. So how we gonna do this?"

"To be honest, I've not really thought it through that far. Maybe meeting up once a week for a 'special training session', or something like that: I can have a word with your boss and make it all official."

"Thanks!" said a by now smiling Annabelle. "I guess I ought to be getting back to the office. Shi*t, I bet my boss has heard about what I was doing to that kid: I'm gonna be in big trouble again, aren't I?"

"Hmm, maybe I can help with that.... You still with me, Michael?"

"Sure am. Nice job there by the way, good win-win solution. What do you need?"

"Who's Annabelle's boss, tell me about her as we fly back to her office."


Elida walked with Annabelle into her office. They had hardly walked in when a voice boomed out "Annabelle! In my office! Now!".

"I'm assuming that's Mrs Cozytoze? Don't worry, I'll have a word with her..." Elida let Annabelle go to her desk, while she walked into Mrs Cozytoze's office, quietly closing the door behind her.

"Who on earth are YOU?" she asked Elida rather abruptly, "I need to have a word with Annabelle..."

"Yes, about that... My name is Elida.." She pulled out one of her three security passes. Yes, Elida had three different passes. One identified her as a trainee tooth fairy, with a low security level. A second one identified her as 'Joint Head of FI5', with an 'access all areas' security level. The third one, the one that she showed Mrs Cozytoze, identified her as a non-descript 'FI5 operative', with a well above average security level. "I work with FI5. I need to talk with you about Annabelle," said Elida.

Mrs Cozytoze was a bit surprised that a young fairy like Elida (especially given the youthful way she was dressed) could be such a trusted FI5 operative, but her ID pass was quite clear.

"I guess you'd better sit down. You know what Annabelle was doing earlier?"

"Yes, indeed. I was there, and it was me who stopped what was going on. We've actually been keeping an eye on Annabelle for a while now," lied Elida, "and as a result I had a chat with her. Whilst I can't give any details of what we talked about, I think I can promise that you won't get any more issues like that with Annabelle. In addition, we have asked Annabelle to do some special work for FI5, you'll get notification of when we'll be needing her." Talking like that wasn't something Elida did very often, but it WAS fun to pretend that she was a 'we', backed by the 'mighty FI5', plus it also made FI5 sound far more important that it actually was! It also tended to stop the other person from asking any awkward questions.

For her part, Mrs Cozytoze couldn't really complain: Elida massively out-ranked her, even as just an 'FI5 operative'!

(* the ability for fairies to do magic in official buildings is a bit fuzzy: whilst most seems to be suppressed, things related to work, like 'pulling up your tablet', was ok. It's amazing what crazy rules you can have in a silly fairy story, isn't it!)


Offline Sparky

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Chapter 3

Over the next few weeks, Michael alerted Elida to another couple of incidents. One of them was quite minor, so Elida just looked on with a smile, although she did have a quiet word with the fairy afterwards, just to remind her that she shouldn't REALLY be doing stuff like that. But that she probably only did what a load of other fairies really wanted to do!


The second incident was a bit nastier, which led Elida to having stern words with the male fairy concerned. Unlike Annabelle, this boy's background was quite different, so he was not 'made an offer'.


As far as Annabelle goes, Elida had already had several 'training sessions' with her, and both of them had enjoyed their sessions: Elida had a chance to try out some of the new magic she had learnt, and Annabelle had really enjoyed the physical workout, plus picked up some new magic from Elida. At the third session, she brought Sebby along too.


"So, you asked me to look for 'strange things'.. I think I might have one for you." Michael had actually managed to catch Elida on an occasion when she was in her office at FI5.

"Go on..."

"Her name is Poppy, she's in the last year of school. From all reports, she's a pretty bright student, but she often has anger issues, and is prone to throwing tantrums in the class room. There's also some hints here of her being the target of some minor bullying. Think she fits your criteria?"

"Interesting! Maybe, maybe not, and I guess there's only one way to find out for sure. Do me a favour will you? Give the school a call, let the headmistress know I'm coming, and that I'll be wanting to see this Poppy. If they ask, give no details or hints, keep us sounding like the mysterious organisation that we're not!". Her last comment made Michael smile.


"Good afternoon, I'm Elida, I have an appointment with Mrs Lambchops, your headmistress" said Elida. She had just arrived at the school, and was talking to the receptionist.

"Of course. May I see your ID please?" Elida passed over her 'FI5 operative' ID, which suitably impressed the receptionist. After having it passed back to her, she clipped it to herself so everyone could see who she was - schools do like that sort of thing. "Let me just check she's free - I believe she is". She made a quick call. "Mrs Lambchops is expecting you, and can see you now... so down this corridor to the left, third door. It says 'Headmistress' on the door!"

"Thank you!" said Elida pleasantly.

Elida politely knocked on the door.... no need to needlessly wind up this Mrs Lampchops.

"Come in". Elida opened the door and went in... the room looked like a couple of other headmaster's / headmistress' offices Elida had seen: relatively bland, a couple of 'important pictures on the wall, that sort of thing. As she saw Elida, the headmistress was a bit surprised, she assumed that Elida would be not only older, but dressed more like an adult fairy, rather than one of her students.

"Good afternoon, Mrs Lambchops, I'm Elida, I work with FI5...".

"Yes, I was told to expect you, do take a seat. What can I do for you?"

"It's about one of your final year students, Poppy."

"Ah, yes, Poppy. A strange one is our Poppy... amazingly bright, annoyingly disruptive, and prone to emotional outbursts. Also seems to get picked on by some of the girls."

"Has she always been like that?"

"No, up till a couple of years ago, she was a model student, top of the class in both theoretical and practical magic. I get a bit of a feeling that part of her problem is that she's a bit TOO bright, and school is maybe 'holding her back'. That could explain the disruption, but we haven't really worked out what causes her upsets. So why is FI5 interested in her?"

Elida liked what she heard... this was indeed the sort of fairy she was looking for. Plus, the headmistress believed it was an FI5 thing, rather than Elida's own search.

"We've been keeping an eye open for non-conventionally bright fairies, fairies that are not the sort to want to go on to university. In fact, left alone, many of them could end up doing not so good things. We have certain 'openings' available for fairies like Poppy, assuming she is actually suitable."

"Really? I mean, that would be really good for her, I'm sure she can do better than she is now!"

"I was hoping I might be able to have a word with her," suggested Elida.

"Of course." The headmistress' eyes looked up at the clock. "If you can wait 5 minutes, it will be break time. While you wait, would you like to see her school record?"

"Oh, yes please, that would be very helpful. If you can bring it up on your screen, I'll take a copy. By 'take a copy' the headmistress assumed she'd take some pictures, but she inderestimated the tech that FI5 was working on. Puck had recently given her a tablet with an early copy of FairOS 57 (*see note below), and it had some very neat new features, one of which allowed Elida to cast a simple spell to copy the actual file from the headmistress' computer to her own tablet. Mere moments later, Elida was looking at Poppy's school record on her tablet... it was interesting reading, and Elida was getting good feelings about her.

"It's almost time, if we go now, we should catch them as they leave their classroom. I just checked, Poppy should be in room 7." The headmistress led them out of her room, and along the corridor. "You're welcome to use this room here on the left, to have a word with Poppy" she commented on the way.

The bell rang just as they got to room 7, so the headmistress opened the door, and went inside with Elida. The class teacher dismissed the girls, and Mrs Lambchops took that as a prompt to call out "Poppy, can we have a word, please?". Many heads turned, and assumed that, yet again, Poppy was in trouble!

As Poppy came over, she had a look of fear on her face, clearly wondering what she was in trouble for THIS time.

"Yes, Mrs Lambchops?" said a slightly dejected sounding girl. As Elida looked at her, she could see a lot of herself in her. She was a similar height, and had a similarly shaped body. She also had similar clothes to Elida, but that was more that Elida was dressed a bit like a student, meaning Poppy's attire was actually more 'normal' for her!

"Poppy, this is Elida, she's asked to have a word with you: I'll leave her to fill in all the details. Elida, you know where I am if you need me again, nice to meet you!"

Poppy's face brightened up when she realised that she wasn't actually being 'summoned' by Mrs Lambchops at all, but instead this 'Elida' wanted to talk to her. I mean, someone dressed like THAT can't be that bad, can they?

"Hello Poppy, I'm Elida, nice to meet you! Let's go have a chat, shall we?". Mrs Lambchops had already gone, so Elida led Poppy back to the room that Mrs Lambchops had pointed out. They both went inside, and before they even closed the door, Elida had looked around the bare and uninviting room, and said "Hmm, maybe not! Let's go and find somewhere nicer, away from the school, shall we? I assume you have a locker, so why don't you dump your school books off, grab your coat and phone and other bits..." Elida followed Poppy to where her locker was: as they walked, Elida was strongly reminded about HER days at school. Her main thought was along the lines of 'I'm glad I'm not at school any more!'

"So, where do you fancy going for a chat. I'd like us to be alone, so maybe on top of one of the tall buildings in town? Or out in a field in the country?" Elida wanted Poppy to be relaxed: she wasn't there to tell Poppy off in any way, she wanted to find out more about Poppy, see if she could be useful to the team back at FI5, whilst making life more interesting for Poppy at the same time.

"I wonder if anyone is playing tennis at the tennis courts at the sports centre? That's always a nice place to sit and relax!" suggested Poppy.

"Sounds good to me, lead the way!" On the way there, Elida spoke to Michael. "Hey, I think I'll be ok now, thanks for your help. I'll call if I need anything!". It didn't take long for the two of them to reach the tennis courts. The day was quite nice, so they went onto the roof of the adjacent pavilion. With a wave of her wand, Elida magicked up a pair of deckchairs and a table. With another wave there were a couple of long soft drinks on the table. "Take a seat!"

Having got away from school, and now seeing what Elida had just magicked up, Poppy was feeling pretty relaxed.

"So, what's this all about then? I mean, if it's a telling-off, then it looks like it could be the nicest telling off I've ever had!"

"Nothing like that at all. I guess I should tell you who I am: you know I'm Elida, but I work part-time for FI5. We've been keeping an eye out for fairies like you, that are apparently good at magic, but are having some sort of 'issue' with school. So I was sent here to talk to you. So, I'd just like to find out more about you. How good you REALLY are at magic. Why you play up in class, and why you seem to occasionally get bullied. Maybe I can start by letting you take a look at this...". Elida magicked up her tablet once more, and passed it to Poppy.

"My school record? Am I even supposed to be reading this?"

"Why not, it's all about you. Take your time, see what the teachers say about you...". Her school report was, well historically anyway, very complimentary about Poppy. In the last couple of years, it had become clear that, whilst her schoolwork remained good, her behaviour had gone downhill.

As Poppy read her school record, she sipped on her drink. "Ok," said Elida about 10 minutes later, when Poppy had finished reading: "The way I see it is that things were fine with you at school till what? 3 years ago? You were top of the class in theoretical magic, practical magic, innovative magic, and a few other subjects. Then things went downhill for some reason... and I'm guessing that's when the bullying started too? Clearly something happened, and I have a feeling much of it wasn't really your fault."

Poppy was silent.

"Look, Poppy, I'm not here to judge, I'm here to understand, and maybe even help you, make your life a bit more pleasant and interesting. So tell me your story..."

"Ok... so I'm Poppy, I turned 18 a couple of weeks ago. Mum's a general fairy, dad's a tech fairy. I have a younger brother and sister, they are both at school too. I seem to be the 'bright one' of us three. Even as a young fairy, I enjoyed doing magic, mum used to show me all sort of silly things, encouraged me, help me understand what magic I was allowed to do, and how to be careful not to do any stupid or bad magic, that might hurt someone. At school, I used to LOVE doing magic, I was really good at it, it kinda made sense to me, in the way that it didn't to most of the fairies. They needed to do loads of practice to get their magic right, I just seemed to be able to do it without even trying. That was until..."

"Until?"

"Until...." Poppy paused, clearly think how to explain it. "Until I discovered I sometimes just couldn't do magic."

"Ok, I can imagine that must have been quite frustrating. When did that start?"

"I'd started to get friendly with a different group of fairies at school. And of course, you know what teen fairies are like, we got up to silly things. And that's when I found that THEY could do certain magic, but I couldn't. I mean, I could do the magic normally, just not when we were messing around."

"Would 'messing around' maybe include doing magic for slightly.... 'naughty' reasons?".
Poppy went a bit pink: clearly she was embarrassed. "Look, I know it's very hard to admit that you've been using magic for things that aren't 100% good. It's like human kids, going off together and hiding behind their school bike shed, to share a cigarette at lunchtime. But I need to know, if I'm to help you."

"Yes... we were..."

"What sort of things?"

"Oh, burning the grass. Setting fire to daddy long legs. Tripping up human kids." Elida smiled. "What's so funny?"

"I remember fairies at my school doing that sort of thing too! Ok, let's try something... just do as I ask, and don't worry if you can't do it...". Elida magicked up a bit of paper, and made it flutter down in front of them. "Set fire to the paper for me" asked Elida.

"Easy peasy!" said Poppy, throwing a very simply fire spell at it, turning into ash.

"Ok, now set fire to this...". Elida magicked up a rather pretty butterfly. Poppy tried doing the same spell, and it didn't work. She tried it again, and again it didn't work.

"I told you, I cant! I can't do it!" shouted Poppy angrily.

"It's ok, calm down. I did say you might not be able to do it, I just wanted to see. Ok, let's park that for the moment, let's get a bit more positive for a moment: I'd like to see how good you are at more normal magic. Take some deep breaths, and relax!"

"Ok, so what do you want me to do?" asked Poppy after taking several deep breaths, and feeling better for it.

"Well, let's make it simple, but a bit of fun. Magic me up a paper sparrow, and make it fly..."

"Oh, that's easy!". Poppy thought a few seconds, working out what she would need to do, then created the paper bird. Another spell made it fly.

"Nicely done! Ok, keep it flying, and at the same time make another one -  make it out of red paper this time - and make it fly too. Mind you, I want it to fly separately from the first one."

Once again, Poppy magicked up a second bird, made of red paper, and made it fly too.

"How about a third one - and how about this one is made out of some sort of golden foil?"

It was clear to Elida that Poppy was really needing to concentrate, to keep the two existing paper birds flying, whilst making the third, then getting it to fly too.

"I'm impressed! Think you can do a fourth? Go on, give it a go!". Elida was wanting to see how much simultaneous magic Poppy could manage. Most young fairies could managed maybe 3 or 4 spells at most. Elida used to manage about 6 or 7, but of course, as a result of the 'Time Loop incident', could now manage well over the 15 she needed to teleport.

Poppy started to magic up the fourth bird, but lost concentration for a moment, and the 3 flying birds started to fall. "Ooops!" she shouted, and quickly took control of them again. It took her longer to make the 4th paper bird, as she was needing to also used magic to keep the other 3 birds flying. It would have been easy if she could make them all fly the same, but she realised what Elida was wanting. Without being asked, she started to make a 5th bird, but it needed more concentration and magic than she could manage, and the 4 birds fell down.

"Sorry..."

"No, don't be sorry, that was quite impressive. Most fairies would max out at 2 birds.. so how many spells were you using there? I'm guessing about 8 or 9..."

"Yeah, I think it was 8."

"That's well above average!"

"So, how many can you do?"

"Oh, 17 or so..."
 
"No way! Wow, that's cool!".

Elida was silent for a moment, thinking to herself. Poppy's abilities, and lack of abilities were worryingly familiar. Very familiar. But she couldn't be, could she? I mean, it's a 'once in a generation thing', isn't it? That's what Zia had said.

Poppy noticed that Elida was deep in thought. "What is it?" she asked.

"I actually have an idea what your 'problem' might be. I mean, I can't really believe it's possible, but..... well, there's only one way to find out..."

"What you on about?" asked Poppy.

"Poppy, I need you to stay here and wait for me, please. I just need to go and get something, I'll be maybe five minutes, ten at most. In the meantime, just relax, and watch the tennis, and have another drink...."

"Is everything ok?"

"Don't worry. This may seem a bit strange, but it's probably very ok! I'll be back shortly!". Elida flew up in the air, then ran her teleportation spell, suddenly disappearing from Poppy's view. Back at FI5 HQ, Elida dashed into the building, using her card to get through the security barrier. Up to her office. Then down into the Dark Archive. Where she had left her 'Protector's Book'.

It was a VERY special book. First of all, it could only be opened by a Protector Fairy - so Zia and Elida. Second, once opened, unless the Protector allowed it, the pages looked like they were covered in kiddies scribblings. But to a protector, it contained the shared knowledge of a very large number of Protector Fairies, written over quite a long period. Elida remembered the first time she saw it: Zia had made her search for the book, then open it. She also remembered how the book added her name to the list of Protectors as she watched.

So, if Poppy was indeed another Protector Fairy, then this book would prove it. But if she was, then why?

She took the book with her, left the FI5 building, then teleported back to where Poppy was waiting.

"Erm, what just happened? I mean one moment you were here, then you disappeared. Then now you're back again..."

"Yeah... teleportation spell, that's what I use the 17 spells to do!"

"Oh, wow! I never heard of anyone teleporting before."

"That's because I'm the only fairy that can do it. I'll explain later, first there's something much more important we need to do." Elida sat down, and pulled out the 'Protector's Book', and passed it to Poppy.

"What's this?"

"Open it and find out.".

Poppy opened the book without any special effort, revealing a very simple, yet also very ornate, front page to the right, but to the left was a long list of names. At the top, it simply said 'This book belongs to...'. At the bottom of the long list of names, it had Elida's name.

Elida put her hand onto the book. "Put your hand onto the book too....". As Poppy also touched the book, she saw new writing appear underneath Elida's name: 'it also belongs to Poppy'.

"What's going on?" asked Poppy. "Why did my name get added to the bottom of the list?"

"Because, as well as having belonged to Zia, and me, it now also belongs to you. It seems that you, like me, are a 'Protector Fairy'. Go on, have a look at the book..." Poppy turned the page, and was amazed at how beautiful it was.

"It contains things that a Protector needs to know about... see the different handwriting, that's because it has been added to by the different Protectors, over many hundreds of years." Poppy continued to turn the pages of the book, enthralled by it, but at the same time starting to wonder exactly what a 'Protector Fairy' is.

"So, you're probably wondering, the same as I was the first time I saw this book, what a 'Protector Fairy' is..." Elida slowly told Poppy all about why Protector Fairies existed. "You'll be very happy to hear that you're not the only one that can't do bad magic, I can't either. And as you've worked out, like you, I'm pretty good at doing magic. Hang on a moment, I just need to call Michael."

"Who's Michael?"

"Oh, he's my 'handler' back at FI5." Elida pulled out her phone, and called Michael.

"Hey, you still with Poppy?"

"Yes, that's actually why I'm calling. Can you call Poppy's school, tell them she won't be back till tomorrow at the earliest. I'm sure you can come up with something, maybe we've asked her back for an interview or something, which won't be far from the truth."

"Oh, what's going on then?"

"Need-to-know for the moment I'm afraid, but I suspect I'll need to explain it to you soon!"

"Ok, I'll call the school for you then!"

"Thanks Michael!". She turned back to Poppy, who was looking at the Protector's Book.

"Hey, I just found the teleporting spell, but it looks like it's not complete."

"That's because it's still a 'work in progress'."

"What? You mean YOU are writing it? So... you invented the magic to teleport?"

"Yup. Took about 3weeks of almost non-stop work. I'll tell you about THAT sometime too."

"Hey, shouldn't I be going back to school at some point?"

"Do you want to? What you got?"

"Umm, I think it's maths. We're looking at equations for motion and friction."

"Sounds absolutely riveting!" said Elida, very sarcastically. "To be honest, I think that sort of stuff is well beneath your abilities. No, I think you deserve to take the rest of today off school, we have far more important things to do. Hey, do you even want to go back to school?"

"Ummm..." said Poppy, rather shocked.

"Just think about it. In the meantime, I wonder if Zia is free."

"Who's Zia?"

"Another protector fairy. My predecessor, but she's retired now. Let me call her." Elida called Zia. "Zia, hi, Elida here <pause> Hey, are you free? <pause> Yeah, now. <pause> Well, there's someone I think you need to meet. <pause> Her name is Poppy, and I'll explain all when I get there. <pause> Oh, just give us a couple of minutes...<pause> Ok, see you soon!"

"Right, let's tidy up, and get going." Elida waved her hand, and the chairs, table, drinks and paper birds all disappeared. "Ok, hold on to the book, and take my hand. Oh, I suggest you take a deep breath and hold it for a few seconds, the first time can be a disorientating."

"Uh?"

"Just take the deep breath!". As Poppy took her deep breath, Elida ran up the 18 spells: the normal 17 for teleporting, and the extra one to take a 'passenger'.

(in the original story, I said it took 15 spells to teleport: that was correct. But back then Elida was teleporting 'blind', so the extra 2 spells are for Elida to check where she's about to land.)


(* FairOS, the phone / tablet operating system developed by the fairies, is the basis of what we mere humans now know of as Android and Linux. This explains one of the reasons that fairies can hack into phones so easily... there's still a couple of back doors in there that the fairies included in the kernel, before making it available to Linus Torvalds and Andy Rubin)

Offline kelly-Marie

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Good story I wish something like that could of happened to me when I was at school would of been the perfect excuse to not go back

Offline Sparky

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Good story I wish something like that could of happened to me when I was at school would of been the perfect excuse to not go back

Hehe! Shame it's 100% just a story :-( And by the way, Kellie-Marie, fairies don't ACTUALLY exist, sorry.....  8)

Offline Sparky

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Chapter 4


"Woah! What just happened? Everything just disappeared, and now we're in front of a house. And I feel a little dizzy."

"Your first teleport! This is Zia's place, we're about 20 miles from where we were."

"Wow... that is just so cool!".

Elida want to the door, and knocked on it. It was opened by Zia, an old, but still very elegant lady. "Come on in, Elida. And you must be Poppy. I'm Zia, nice to meet you!" They went through to the lounge. "Do sit down. Tea or coffee?"

"Tea for me, please. Poppy?"

"Oh, tea please!". Zia waved her hands, and a tray appeared, with 3 cups of tea, and a plate with fairy cakes on it.

"So, what's so important that you needed to come over so urgently?"

"Poppy, can you pass the book over to Zia?" asked Elida. She did so. "Just open it, and read the first page....". Zia's opened the book at the first page: her jaw dropped as she read the last line. "So, it seems that Poppy here is a Protector Fairy, just like us. The thing I don't understand is that I thought you said we were 'once in a generation' fairies." said Elida.

"Well, I thought we were! That's what I was always told. I mean, why would we NEED another Protector?"

"Maybe Mother Nature is trying to tell us something?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the only thing I can think of is that we are going to need the skills of two, or maybe even three, Protectors for some reason. Maybe it's something to do with Serena's prophecy." There was silence for several seconds.

"Yes, I guess that's a possibility..."

Zia, Elida and Poppy talked about Protector things for a while, drinking their tea, and eating fairy cakes as they did so.

"So what if I don't want to BE a Protector Fairy?" asked Poppy. Zia and Elida both smiled.

"I don't think we actually GET the option. It's kinda like being a girl fairy rather than a boy fairy, that's just what we are!" Elida pulled out her phone, and checked the time. "It's lunchtime. Poppy, why don't I take you over to over to FI5, we can grab some lunch before the canteen closes, then I can introduce you to Lilly and Tats."

"Yes, probably a good idea," said Zia.

"Who's Lilly? And Tats?"

"The three of us run FI5.".

This time, it was Poppy's jaw that dropped. "You're kidding..." <a bit of a pause> "You're not kidding, are you? I thought you said you just 'worked for' FI5."

"As far as most fairies are concerned, I'm still a trainee tooth fairy, but also doing some sort of apprenticeship at FI5. And, as far as they are concerned, FI5 is run by Lilly and Tats. It was the same when Zia was with FI5, before she retired: Donald and Charlotte ran it, and Zia was the silent third person in the team. We're there to make sure that no one, Lilly and Tats included, oversteps the line."

"Something tells me that my life is about to change, bigtime! I mean, when you walked into the classroom earlier with Mrs Lambchops, I had no idea this was going to happen!"

"I will admit, neither did I. I was assuming you'd be someone like Annabelle: she's a very capable fairy who's now working for me part-time. But I think you get the full-time position! So, want some lunch then?"

"Elida, thank you for coming over." said Zia. "Poppy, I have no doubt we'll meet again soon: if you'd like to talk, just get in touch with me!"


Elida teleported the two of them to FI5: this time she did it while they were flying, as she now prefers to do. The two of them landed in front of the building. "Welcome to FI5!" said Elida. "Ah, got your ID pass with you?" she asked.

"Yes, it's in my bag, hang on a moment.... ah, here it is!" She passed it to Elida, who took a look at it, then created a duplicate, ran a spell on it to increase Poppy's security level, then passed them both back to Poppy.

"That's your original one, use that for your normal day-to-day stuff. The other one is for when you're here, as an FI5 member, I've given you a suitable security clearance. Once you get settled in, I'll increase it. Eventually I'll do you a third pass, on the top clearance level like me." Elida led her into reception.

"Ah, hello Gloria, I'd like you to meet Poppy: she's just joined us, and you'll probably be seeing her around a bit. Poppy, can you show Gloria your new pass, please?" Gloria was the fairy currently on reception. She took Poppy's pass and checked it.

"Ah, right, good afternoon, Poppy, nice to meet you. Do go on in...."

The two of them went through to the FI5 canteen: the food there was actually quite good. While they ate their lunch, Elida called Michael.

"Hello Michael!"

"Hi there, Elida. How did the morning go?"

"Not quite the way I expected it to, but nevertheless very well. Do you know if Lilly and Tats are back from lunch yet?"

"I think they are, why do you ask?"

"In that case, can you tell, and I mean TELL, not ask, tell them both to be in my office in.... make it 15 minutes time. And can you organise coffee for four in my office too, big big please?"

"Anything for you, Elida! Bye...". Over the short period that Michael and Elida had worked together, they had created a a good friendly working relationship, each appreciating the others abilities.

"Hey, the food here's pretty good! Sure beats what we get at school!"

"Yeah, they do a pretty good job. Fancy a pudding?"

"Don't suppose they do ice cream, do they?"

"Yes, they do..."

On the way up to her office, she dropped in to see Michael. "Oh, hi there! Who's this then?"

"This, Michael, is Poppy. Poppy, meet Michael. He's my 'handler' for when I go out on days like today."

"Poppy... as in...?"

"Yes, as in Poppy from this morning. I suspect you'll be seeing her a bit more, so thought I'd introduce you."

"Hi Poppy, nice to actually meet you!" said Michael.

"I'll explain more later, but I think Poppy and I need to get up to my office."

"Yes, I told Lilly and Tats, I don't think they liked being 'told' though!"

"Don't worry, they'll be fine. I bet they are both wondering why though.... come on, Poppy!"

They had just got to Elida's office, and sat down, when the door opened, and Lilly and Tats both walked in. "So, what's so important that we were TOLD to come to see you?" asked Lilly.

"And a good afternoon to you too, Lilly.... Tats..."

"Sorry, Elida. So what's so urgent?"

"I'd just like you to meet Poppy. Poppy, this is Lilly and Tats."

"Hello Poppy!" said both Lilly and Tats. "So, what makes meeting Poppy such an important thing then?" asked Lilly.

"It seems that Poppy is a Protector Fairy, like me!". It took a few moments for what Elida just said to register for both Lilly and Tats.

"A Protector Fairy? But I thought that...." said Tats.

"... that it's a once in a generation thing? Yes, that what Zia told me, some time ago now..."

"And you're absolutely certain?".

Elida opened the Protector Book, ran an 'allow others to read' spell (which meant creating an 'allow magic' bubble first), then passed it over to Tats. "As far as I know, the book doesn't lie..."

"Oh, right. In that case, I guess we should be saying 'welcome to the team': I'm assuming that, given who she is, and that you invited us to meet her, that you told her who we are? And that you're part of the team? So, how long since you found this all out, Poppy?"

"Must be all of two hours, maybe three.... I'm still a bit in shock, to be honest!"

"Yeah, I bet you are. I can still vividly remember the day that Elida dropped the bombshell on us that she was a Protector, and that we three were going to take over running this place!" said Tats. "So, Poppy, what do you do? Or maybe I should be asking what DID you do, before finding out you were a Protector?"

"I'm still at school," replied Poppy.

"Oh... right!" Tats turned to Elida. "So, you planning on pulling her out of school, or what?"

"That's a good question, and I'm not sure. Maybe, in the short term at least, she should remain at school. I haven't told her parents anything yet either, that's something else I need to work out. Poppy, what do YOU think?"

"I think it's probably better if I stay at school for the moment, don't you think? From what you and Zia were saying earlier, I don't think I want to be announcing to the world that I'm a Protector Fairy, do I? And if I suddenly leave and come here, fairies are going to start asking questions. But how DO I explain.. well, 'things'?"

"I think I need to give you some intensive coaching, and teach you a handful of very useful spells, to help you avoid needing to answer awkward questions. You're right, I guess it's probably better if very few fairies know exactly what you are."

"What about mum and dad? What do I tell them?"

"I think I'd better come back with you tonight, and tell them a suitable story too. You can't tell them the truth yet, if at all - you can't risk them telling anyone else. I mean, my mum still thinks I'm still just a tooth fairy! If only she knew..."

"And school?"

"I'll have a word with Mrs Lambchops tomorrow, she was actually quite pleasant and helpful this morning. I'll spin her some story that we're giving you some special training, to develop your 'special skills', one or two days a week. That sound ok to you? Of course, you won't be able to tell any of the kids or teachers anything either... I think we need to work on a good 'story' for you this afternoon. Plus I can teach you a useful spell to stop you accidentally saying something you shouldn't."

"Well, it sounds like you have things in hand, Elida. Poppy, great to meet you, I'm sure we'll be seeing one another soon..." said Lilly, getting up to leave.

"Before you go: I think I should give Poppy 'Full Permission'. You ok with that?"

"'Full Permission'? What do you mean?"

"Full permission to take suitable action if she sees anyone 'crossing that line'. You guys included."

"She ready for it, do you think?"

"Maybe not today, but I don't think it will be long."

"In that case, yes, do it! Tats, you ok with that?"

"Absolutely. That's why we need Protectors! Poppy, great to meet you!"


And THAT is how Fairykind ended up with TWO Protectors - three if you also include Zia.


Offline kelly-Marie

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I forgot to say earlier live the name  you gave the teacher Mrs Lambchops reminds me we used to call my boss something chops but it wasn't lamb  definatley ruder than that if you get my drift

Offline Sparky

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Chapter 5


Its 2 weeks later. 2 weeks since Poppy discovered she was a Protector, like Elida. As far as most fairies are concerned - Poppy's parents included - Poppy is going on a special 2-days-a-week training course at FI5, helping to develop her undefined 'special skills', in preparation for joining FI5 on a permanent basis when she leaves school.

Elida has been coaching Poppy on how to answer those 'awkward questions', as well as give her help in dealing with the other kids at school... this is where Elida's young age comes in useful! Poppy is already feeling a LOT more relaxed at school, no longer as frustrated as she used to be: Elida had also suggested she turn things around, and use her skills to help the other kids with their magic. The teachers aren't complaining either, as it makes their jobs easier! As far as the 'bullies' went, Elida taught Poppy some fun magic she could use against them, that didn't QUITE 'cross that line'.

Elida had also spent some time with Poppy, explaining that they did a lot of 'secret stuff' at FI5 that they couldn't talk about to anyone, even within FI5, and got her to sign one of those documents where she had to sign her life away.


Today is an 'FI5 day' for Poppy. Like Elida when she first started visiting FI5 - back in her time loop - Poppy still doesn't know her way around, so she called Elida to tell her she was there, and that she was waiting in reception.

"Good morning Poppy! Come on up to my office, I want to tell you about something, and then show it to you, I think you'll find it interesting. Just remember that, like so many other things, you can't say anything about it - especially this one." Poppy took her up to the 'main' floor, where lots of the general staff worked, Michael included.

"Let's grab a coffee, then go see Michael," suggested Elida.

"Good morning Michael!" said Elida.

"Good morning Elida!" replied Michael, "and Poppy too!"

"Grab your coffee, and join us in my office...". The three of them walked up a floor to Elida's office, and sat down.

"So, you've met Poppy, but what you DON'T know is why she's actually here.." Elida spent a few minutes explaining that Poppy was also a Protector, and would be working at FI5 part-time until she left school. "All 'need to know' don't forget. Anyway, I'm suspecting that at some point I'll be asking you to act as 'handler' for Poppy too. You ok with that?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Ok, that's all I wanted to tell you, just wanted to keep you up to date!". Michael left the office.

"You know," said Elida when Michael had left, "I think of this as 'my' office, but I'm thinking maybe it should be 'our' office? There's plenty of space for you to have your own desk in here, and no reason you can't leave stuff here if you want."

"Are you sure?" asked Poppy.

"Look, Poppy, you really need to understand how important you are - I know, it takes a bit of time for it to sink in, it took quite a while for me to understand too. In terms of magic ability, we outrank everyone - and I mean EVERYONE - in this building. In terms of trust, I'm up the top, and you're going to be following soon. Yes, I appreciate that most people here don't realise who and what we are, but as long as WE understand..."

"I guess when you put it like that..."

"So, today I'd like to introduce you to the Dark Archive. It's something that very few fairies actually know about. Apart from Lilly, Tats, me, and now you, only a handful of others are aware of it's existence. Oh, the Queen, along with her daughter and grand daughter know, of course, and so does Sebby."

"Ok, but what is it?"

"Well, it's a library. There's three sorts of libraries. There's the ones we have under most offices: the one at head office is quite a big one, the regional offices have smaller ones. They are for any working fairy to look up anything related to the day to day magic that fairies do. Next we have the 'Dark Archive', it's full of older, darker and more dangerous magic books - as I said, it's a place that few people are aware of, for good reason. Finally there's the 'Royal Archive': even fewer people know about that one. I managed to guess that it must exist, noone told me, and I've been there once."

"Oh, great, I like books, I wonder if these books will talk to me?"

"What do you mean, 'talk to you'?"

"Some old books talk to me. You never talked to an old book?"

"Well, I talk to the books in the archive, and they respond, but I've never had one actually talk back to me!"

"Oh, ok, maybe it's just me then. So, back to these archives... I'm guessing the 'Royal Archive' is at the Palace? So where's the 'Dark Archive' then?"

"Funnily enough, it turns out that it actually underneath the Palace too, next to the 'Royal Archive', but that's not how we normally get to it. There's two remote portals we can use to get to it. The first is in what appears to be a completely normal cupboard in Lilly's Mum's office, over at head office, where I often work. The other is in that cupboard there.." Elida pointed at the cupboard in the corner of the office. "Go on, take a look!"

Poppy walked over to the cupboard, and opened the door, and looked inside. "Umm, don't wish to worry you, but it just looks like a cupboard, with some stuff in it." She closed the door again.

"Yup, well camoflaged, isn't it? Let me teach you a spell... this is NOT something you should ever tell anyone else, by the way." Elida told Poppy the spell. Like Elida, she was a quick learner.

"Go on, give it a go, then look again." Poppy cast the spell, then opened the door.

"Right... stairs!"

"Light switch is on the right....". They both went down the stairs, and into the recently redecorated lobby of the Dark Archive. "I've been doing a bit of work, trying to modernise the place a bit. Actually, you might be able to help me with the next bit, I need to knock the two rooms together and extend the place. So, over there is the 'History' room, lots of old books with old fairy and human history in them. That one is the loo. The third door here is the the 'Older Magic' room, and finally, this is the 'Dangerous and Dark Magic' room."

"We gonna be ok down here?"

"Don't worry, the 'Dangerous and Dark' books are only dangerous to normal fairies, they can't hurt us. So, this out here is a book that contains spells for normal fairies to use, to search the books. Personally, I just ask them, it's easier! Come on, let me introduce you to the 'Old Magic' books. She opened the door, and turned on the recently installed modern lights.

"Good morning books, and how are we today?" asked Elida. Today they seemed to be extra excited, many of them bouncing up and down on the shelves.

"Woah!" called out Poppy. "Quieten down a bit will you!"

"What do you mean?" asked Elida.

"You can't hear them? They're all shouting out, they're rather loud!"

"Ok books, settle down. There's someone here I'd like you all to meet: this is Poppy, and like me, she's a Protector."

"Hi books!" said Poppy. "Thanks for quietening down. Well it sounds like some of these books can definitely talk!"

"Well, ask one out, and have a chat...."

"Ask one out?"

"Yeah, let me show you. Umm. I seem to remember there's a book here that has something about Protectors back in history. Want to come on over and sit down on the desk?" A large, but not all that thick, old book came over, and set itself onto the desk.

"Oh, nice. So well behaved too!"

"They are if you're nice to them..." Poppy sat down at the desk, and touched the book. "Hi there. So you know something about us protectors then?"

"Yes, there's a few pages about protectors, starting on page 59, want me to show you?" said the book to Poppy. Of course, Elida heard nothing.

"Yes please..." The book opened, and as Poppy read the words, she once again touched the book. "Something tells me it's been a while since anyone had been able to talk to you."

"Elida talks to us a lot, she's nice, but unfortunately she can't hear us. But she seems to know how to communicate with us in other ways, in the way she asks us for things"

"Is the book talking to you then?" asked Elida.

"Oh, yes. I get the feeling these guys like you, and respect you. Hopefully I can persuade them to respect me too."

"If you are as good to us as Elida is, then you'll quickly gain our respect," answered the book.

"Oh, thank you. Ok, well, I think I need to read you again on another visit. Umm, why don't you go back to your shelf for now?"

"It has been a pleasure meeting you, Poppy!", and with that it gently closed itself, and went back to it's shelf. Poppy stood up, and walked over to the shelves. She put her hands on the books, and gently ran it along the many books on the shelf. "Hi guys, nice to meet you all! Never seen so many gorgeous books before. Oh, hello beautiful, who are you then?" Poppy's hand was on the spine of a short but fat book, with a very ornately inscribed spine.

"I contain magic that relates to all sorts of plants. Would you like me to show you?"

"Oh, yes please! I guess I should ask you to come out and over to the desk..." The book did as requested.

Today's session was to let Poppy learn about the Archive, meet the many books, and work out how to search them... which she seemed to be doing amazingly well by herself, so Elida just watched in awe as Poppy talked to the books, or more specifically, she listened to the books as they talked back to her. Ignoring 'naughty' magic, it wsn't often that someone else could do something that Elida couldn't, but today was clearly one of those days, but she didn't mind.

Elida let Poppy talk to a few more of the books, as well as wander around all the shelves, seeing what they contained. Poppy had a massive smile on her face.

"I hate to drag you away, but you should meet the books next door too."

"Ah, yes, 'Dangerous and Dark Magic', didn't you say?"

"Yes. They're actually not ALL that different from these guys, but there are a few distinctly BAD books in there... they're the ones with locks on, to protect the normal fairies, but they seems to be ok with me, hopefully they'll be ok with you too."

They left the 'Old Magic', turning off the lights, and closing the door. The lighting in the 'Dangerous and Dark Magic' room was a bit dimmer, Elida still needed to upgrade it, but had decided she'd probably wait till she re-organised and extended the place.

Once more, it seems the books were being a bit loud, but they quietened down when requested. Elida introduced Poppy, who took a look around, and stopped at one specific book that Elida knew sometimes mis-behaved.

"What do you want?" asked the book in a nasty and gruff voice, as Poppy touched it.

"Oh, come on! Do you REALLY think a voice like that is actually going to scare me?" said Poppy.

"Oh, alright then!" replied the book in a more normal voice. "I was just trying to keep up my reputation!".

"You have a reputation? In here?" Poppy giggled, and she could hear a couple of book giggle too. "Look books, it's really nice to meet you all! I get the feeling we'll all get on well together!"

"Well, if you're as nice to us as Elida is, I'm sure we will!" replied one of the other books.


"So," said Elida, "I have spent a lot of time down here, learning all sorts of magic. Including those six weeks I was in the time loop. It's a great resource for us Protectors, and I suspect you'll be wanting to spend time down here too, which is NOT a problem. By the way, if you need any help, do ask Sebby, she's a great researcher, and enjoys being down here too. But remember that she's a normal fairy, so a second person needs to be with her at all time."

"Yeah, ok. But you're right, this is a lovely place. You said you want to do some work on the place?"

"That's right. I was thinking about knocking the two rooms together, and extending the place back that way a bit, let the books have a bit more space. Also put in some more comfortable shelves for the books, these don't look especially comfortable. Upgrade the lighting too. Oh, I was wondering whether to add in a 'magic window' let them get a bit of natural light in, and let them look outside."

"So what's the problem?"

"Magic dampening spells. It's extra strong in here, for good reason. I mean, I can create a medium sized 'allow magic' bubble, but nowhere near big enough to do what's needed. There's a couple of books that I've borrowed from the 'Royal Archive', that explain how the magic was done, but they are pretty heavy going. I hid them in the 'History' room to keep them safe. Why don't you take a look at them sometime, maybe you'll be able to understand them better."

"I can give it a try. Hey, is it ok to bring drinks down here?"

"As long as we're careful, yes. Want one now?"

"Oooh, yes please!"

"Ok, I'll create a bubble, you do the drinks - coffee for me, please". Elida created the bubble, and Poppy magicked up the drinks. "Biscuits?"

"Sorry, forgot those.." The two of them sat down, and sipped their drinks.

"Hey, Elida, thanks for everything you're doing for me - it's hard work for me, but it's way more interesting that what we do at school. I just wish I could tell someone what I'm doing, it's hard to not say anything sometimes."

"Well, you can always use the spell on page 27 of 'our' book if you need to."

"Oh, can I do the whole spell on myself?"

"Yup, it can be useful sometimes - I've done it on myself a couple of times!"

Offline Sparky

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Chapter 6


About three or four months have passed since our two Protectors were first in the Dark Archive together. Poppy has spent quite a bit of time down in the archive, talking to the books, as well as learning a whole load of new magic. Last week, after a LOT of practicing, she finally managed to put the requisite 17 spells together, and was able to teleport, which thrilled both her and Elida. So now, Poppy is finishing off the description of what to do to teleport in the 'Protectors Book', that Elida started, but hadn't quite got around to finishing.

Elida has also introduced her to Annabelle, and they've done a few 'sparring sessions' now with all three of them. She has also introduced Poppy to Sebby, and they too have got on well, helped by the fact that they are of similar age (give or take a century!) In fact, Poppy has been fitting in really well. Her next big step is in a couple of weeks, when she finally leaves school, and joins FI5 full-time.

"I think it's time you met Princess Rosemary!" said Elida. "Besides, I need to show you, and Sebby, the 'Royal Archive'. Hey, why don't I just ask the Queen if we can go have tea with her, so I can introduce you to them all?

"You can just call the Queen and ask to have tea with her?"

"Not quite. Officially I would need to go through channels, and it might take weeks. Unofficially, I can speak to Princess Rosemary, and I'm sure she can fix it. So, want to meet the Queen?"

"OMG! Yes, of course I do! So what's she like?"

"The Queen? Queen Tinkerbell is a lovely old lady, and whilst quite a traditionalist in many ways, she's not scared to use technology. Let me call Rosemary..."

Elida picked up her phone, and made the call... "Hello? Rosemary?"

"Elida? Lovely to hear from you! What can I do for you?"

"A couple of things actually. First of all, there's someone I need to introduce to you and the Queen, she's a new 'Protector Fairy', like me. And I would also like to show her, and Sebby, the Royal Archive. Any chance you can twist your mothers arm, get an invite for us all for afternoon tea, then we could pop down to the Archive afterwards."

"I'm sure she'd love to meet her - what's her name?"

"She's Poppy, and she's a little younger than me. Hey, why don't you ask your mum to invite Celeste along too?"

"Excellent idea! I'll let you know when it's arranged.

"Thanks, Rosemary!" and she ended the call.

"You just called Princess Rosemary, 'Rosemary'?"

"Yeah. She actually appreciates it, she said that she gets so fed up with being called 'your royal highness' and 'Princess Rosemary' all the time. I guess it's like Tats..."

"Yeah, but Tats ain't the next queen..."

"Fair comment."

"So, what do I need to know when meeting royalty then?" asked Poppy.

"Well, given who we are, I think it's a lot easier for us. I just try and be generally nice. We call the Queen 'Your Majesty', and Rosemary is 'Your Royal Highness', but I suspect she'll quickly tell you to just call her 'Rosemary'. Rosemary is the same sort of age as your mum and dad, and the Queen is getting her to take on various tasks, so she'll be coming down to the Royal Archive with us."

"And Celeste - I assume that's Princess Celeste?"

"Yup, next in line after her mum. She's our sort of age, I think you'll like her!"

----

Elida and Poppy had teleported to the front door of the palace. They had arranged that Sebby would meet them there.

"Hiya!" said Sebby. "So, we're off to have tea with my many times over great grand-niece?" she added with a bit of a smile. Poppy looked a bit confused, then worked it out.

"Ah, yes, of course! I keep forgetting that you were actually born so long ago!"

So let's remind ourselves: Princess Sebille - training as a tooth fairy about 100 years ago - was caught in the old, mostly destroyed, palace, presumed dead. However, other fairies had put her into a long sleep. When she woke up, she felt very angry with the world, which had destroyed the Palace, and thus became 'the Dark Fairy', doing nasty things to many human's teeth. It was all caused by being in the destroyed Palace: he (the palace, that is) was rather upset too. After removing Princess Sebille from the Palace (who subsequently had the truth explained, and also calmed down) she lost her darkness, and is now pretty much a normal fairy.

So yes, Sebby is theoretically about a hundred and twenty years old, but is actually only a little older than Poppy. Probably because of her age, she has managed to 'fit it' amazingly well with modern fairy society. as well as picking up modern technology really quickly.... and whilst she probably could have 'pulled rank' and just been a 'lazy royal' and done very little, she actually enjoyed working. She was a Tooth Fairy much of the time, but she did get one perk, and that was being allowed to have a bit of time to do research work. Partly that was to understand the history surrounding the old - and now destroyed - Palace, where she was found. But also, it let her help Elida and others, as it turns out she's a bit of a dab hand at finding stuff down in the Archive. Sebby now had her own small apartment in the Palace, and got on well with the staff too.

"Come on, Rosemary should be expecting us!" said Sebby. She took them up to the rather bigger apartment that Princess Rosemary and her family lived in, and rang the bell. The door opened moments later. "You guys ready for tea with Tinkers?" asked Sebby.

Poppy looked at Elida, and whispered "Tinkers?".

"Yes, Tinkers and I seem to have a bit of a strange relationship: theoretically I'm loads older than she is, but at the same time I'm not. When we first met, and bearing in mind that I was a Queen's daughter, we just agreed to just be totally informal with each other." explained Sebby.

The five of them walked to the Queen's apartment, where a PA was waiting for them. "You can go straight in, she's expecting you!"

"Good afternoon, grandma!" said Celeste, running over and hugging the Queen.

"Oh, hello dear, nice to see you. And you too, Sebby and Elida. And I'm guessing this must be Poppy... do come over and let me see you..."

"Your majesty!" said Poppy, making a simple curtsey.

"Good afternoon, your majesty!" said Elida. "I thought that, with Poppy also being a 'Protector', like me, you really ought to meet her."

"Oh, yes, indeed! Well, take a seat everyone, I'm sure the tea and cakes will be here soon." She turned to Poppy: "So, Poppy, how are you enjoying being a 'Protector'?". Elida had told her that, whilst she was actually talking to the Queen, to be her normal self, just be respectful like you would with any older fairy.

"It's definitely interesting! I'm still at school, so only really doing my Protector stuff a couple of days a week, but Elida had been helping me."

"Are you planning on leaving school soon?"

"Yes, the year ends in a few weeks time, then I'll be a full-time Protector!"

"What's been the best bit so far then?" asked the Queen.

"Oh, the books, they are amazing, and they seem to enjoy talking to me too.."

With the ice most definitely broken, and the tea and cakes arriving soon afterwards, they all had a great time talking with the Queen - and the Queen enjoyed having a nice group of people to spend some time with.

"So, Rosemary tells me you're going down to the Royal Archive again..." said the Queen.

"Yes, there's some interesting books there that I think Sebby will enjoy reading, plus I'd like Poppy to have a chat with the books: I'm still a bit stuck on understanding the magic dampening used in the official buildings."

"Ah, yes, I remember you explaining that last time. ..."



Offline Sparky

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Chapter 7

The five fairies went together down to the Royal Archive: Elida and Poppy, Princesses Rosemary and Celeste, and Sebby. As before, Elida had expected that they would need to spend maybe 15 minutes persuading the palace that they were 'worthy' to enter the archive, and got a very pleasant surprise when they got to the main door of the archive.

"Welcome back, Princess Rosemary and Elida! I recognise you both, as well as your three guests, so please come straight in... I see you have brought a new Protector with you! Welcome!". It was the voice of the Royal Palace speaking, and since her last visit, Tats had introduced Elida to the Palace, and they had chatted. The door to the Archive opened without any fuss.

Whilst Poppy had been into The Dark Archive several times now, this was her first visit to the Royal Archive. Today's visit had several purposes: first of all, Elida wanted to show Princess Celeste (the young princess, next in line to be Fairy Queen after her mum, Rosemary) and Sebby what was down there. When she had told Sebby about the old historical books down there relating to the Old Palace, she had asked Elida to take her to have a look, which was the second reason. And, of course, she needed to let Poppy see what was down there too.

Elida created cast some light spells, nicely lighting up the place. "We're in no particular rush, so do take a look around, and while you do that, I'll open the door to the Dark Archive, and bring those books back." - she had already explained to the others how she had found the Dark Archive's location on their earlier visit. With the door open, Elida went and got the books that she had previously borrowed, and returned them to the Royal Archive.

Poppy was fascinated by the many old books, and had a quick chat with a few of them, when suddenly the small book she had been looking at accidentally fell from her hands and onto the floor. She leaned over to retrieve it, and saw to her left, well hidden in the corner under the lowest shelf, another book. She went down on her knees, picked up the book she had dropped, then carefully retrieved the hidden book.

"I wonder what you're doing down there, hidden away?" asked Poppy as she walked with it over to the desk. She put her original book down, and concentrated on this other book, clearly a very old, medium-sized book. "How odd, it's not speaking to me, and it feel's like it's... well... nervous!". She tried to open the book, to see what it was, but it wouldn't let her.

"It's ok, lovely book, there's nothing to be worried about..." said Poppy to the book, trying to reassure it.

"A nervous book?" asked Elida.

"Yeah, she not talking to me, she's kinda shaking nervously, and won't let me open her!" explained Poppy, "And I'm getting a definite feeling of worry from her...". Elida joined Poppy, and also felt the book - as Poppy had said, it felt nervous.

"Never had to deal with a 'nervous book' before! Let me go see if anyone in our Archive has any good spells that might help." Elida walked into the Dark Archive. "Ok, books, got a bit of a strange one for you today: need a spell or two to calm down a rather nervous book in the Royal Archive. Can anyone help?"

Instantly one small book flew off the shelf, and rather than going to the desk, where Elida would be able to open it and read it, it went to the door and waited.

"Something tells me you're very eager to help... well, come on then!", and she led the book into the Royal Archive, where Poppy was still holding the nervous book in her hands. The small book from the Dark Archive went and gently sat right on top of the nervous book that was in Poppy's hands.

Poppy smiled. "This new book is trying to calm down the other one. Ah... she just told it that we are the two protectors, and that she thinks their job is finally done." Poppy addressed the two books: "Yes, I'm Poppy, one of the 'Protectors', and that over there is Elida, she's also a 'Protector'."

Instantly the nervous book seemed to relax. The two books lifted from Poppy's hands, and went to the desk, where they both sat there, next to each other. Poppy put her hands onto the two books.

"I get feeling that these books know each other, they are helping each other for some reason..."

Elida went to the other side of the desk, and put her hands on the two books too. "Well, you two, you have our attention, let's see what this is about: would you care to open up for us?".

The larger book opened up, revealing the title page: 'Spells for the modern fairy'... where modern was probably at least 100 years old. It then turned the page, where it revealed some hand-written text:

'Elida and Poppy:

Please tell the future Queen Serena that we would be delighted to attend her coronation in just over 2 years time: we also look forward to meeting the members from the other five supportive realms again. I'm sure that Sebby can help the future queen decide the place and the time for the important occasion.

Love to you both: E & P'

Elida read it, then re-read it, this time out loud. A huge smile came to her face. "That is just BRILLIANT! We are geniuses!!". Poppy just stood there, not understanding.

"Ah, I've not really told you about Serena, have I?" said Elida.

"Queen Serena? Who is Queen Serena?" asked Poppy.

"Only the most powerful witch of the human realm" said Sebby, walking over to see what the excitement was all about. She read the text in the book. "Well, I understand part of it, but I think you need to explain to the others, and fill in the gaps for me though!"

"Ok, yes! Let me tell you all about Serena - in fact, we'll need to tell her the news later, so you can all meet her. So, Serena is an 18 year old witch - must be almost 19 by now - who lives in the human realm. Now, when witches reach the age of 18, they have to 'pledge to the light'... except Serena wasn't able to pledge to the light, instead pledging to 'the light grey'. This was foretold by a 500 year old prophecy, that listed various things that have already happened, but culminated in the fact that a young witch would pledge to neither the light nor the dark. She would go on to re-unite the covens of the land, fight some undefined evil, and then would become Queen of all the witches of the human realm. So, back in the 1500's, when the prophecy was written, witches were hunted as being evil, causing the covens to split up, and generally hide themselves away, so Serena has quite a job on her hands...."

"Ok, that makes certain sense, but what's that message in the book all about then?" asked Poppy.

"Well, I reckon it's a message from the future... from our future selves." explained Elida.

"What???" asked a very confused Poppy.

"Yes, the future. Look, it's definitely my writing, and 'E & P' is clearly us, and I don't remember having written this yet, so that leaves just the one option... well, assuming we rule out the multi-verse theory. I have read stories.... no, not so much stories as 'inferences' that time magic is possible, but, as I'm sure you've seen in so many films, you have to be very careful not to change the timeline, nor cause a paradox... so any information sent back in time must appear to be as vague as possible. Plus anything you do needs to be amazingly discrete, and only found by who you want to find it"

"Yeah, it's definitely vague...." said Poppy.

"And that is why it is so brilliant! But to me, and hopefully Sebby and Serena, it contains a lot of detail. Ok, let me explain. The simple fact that we are even talking about 'Serena's Coronation' - not that I imagine there would be an actual coronation - implies that Serena manages to defeat the unknown evil, and that this will all happen sometime in the next 2 years."

"Oh, yeah, THAT is clever... do go on.... what's that bit about the realms?"

"Well, we all know there's seven realms: us, the humans, the Elves, the Cyclops, the Leprechauns, the Goblins, and finally the Centaurs... so why does it say 'the other five *supportive* realms'? Well, five plus us and the human realm makes the 7 known realms. The '*supportive* realms'..  That hints to me that the 'evil forces' that Serena will need to fight could well be coming from an eighth 'non-supportive realm', otherwise why would I have even mentioned the 7 realms?"

"Ok, makes sense. But how could we be sure that it would be US that found the book?"

"Well, because we DID just find it, nobody else did, and we'll know that in the future! So looks to me like the invasion will be sometime in the next couple of years, probably in almost 2 years time. It also hints that she's gonna need the backing of us and the other five realms to succeed."

"Ok... all starting to make sense now," said Poppy, "but what's that last bit about? Why does Sebby need to get involved in choosing the place and time for the coronation? Especially if there won't actually BE one?"

"Because I don't think that 'the important occasion' refers to a coronation at all. I think it refers to an actual 'invasion date': I think the time and place are related to both Sebby and Serena"

"Well, if you were to ask me for a place that's relevant to me, I can only think of one, and that's the old Palace, over at Runesdale. Can't think of a relevant date though, other than when the old Palace got destroyed."

"I think you're related to the place, Serena is related to the date."

"What makes you say that?"

"Normally, you'd say 'the time and the place' wouldn't you? But I wrote them the other way around, 'the place and the time'..."

"Yes, that all makes sense. Tell you what, Elida, you really ARE brilliant!" Poppy smiled as she now understood how such a vague message contained so much detailed information.

"No, poppy, WE are brilliant: I have no doubt that you were as responsible for this as I was. Will be.... whatever!"

"So, we two sent these two books back to today, so we would find them? But why in here, rather than the Dark Archive?" asked Poppy.

"To answer your second question first: the Dark Archive is just too busy, if we had sent this book there - probably a much easier option - it would very likely have been found by now, so the Royal Archive is a much more sensible location for it. But how to get it in here? This place is locked down so tightly there is no way we could have magicked it into here - I told you how last time it took us 20 minutes to get in. So there's only one way the book could have got here - it took the long way around!"

"The long way?"

"This place was built almost 100 years ago, after the old palace was destroyed - Sebby can tell you ALL about that! I think we would have sent it back to just after the old palace was destroyed, told it to hide in the rubble with all the other books destined for the Royal Archive, let it be brought here with all the other books, then hide itself in the darkest corner until we found it again. Same for the other book, but telling it to head for the Dark Archive."

"So why TWO books?"

"Well, you saw how scared this lovely book was! I'm not surprised: she's been hiding away for most of a century, trying very hard to not be found, then someone - you - found her. Do you REALLY expect her to recognise you after a hundred years? And we will KNOW - in the future - what happened today, so I'm guessing we sent her 'sister' back to be able to 'reassure' her, but we sent her to the Dark Archive: apart from the fact that she has also had an extra 100 years added to her life, there's nothing particularly special about her, she could hide in almost plain sight, until a protector came in, asking for help with 'a nervous book'. That's a pretty specific trigger! As I said, we are geniuses!".

"Just one question though," asked Sebby. "Does that mean there are second copies of these books somewhere in the library?"

"It probably does, and I think we need to make sure they stay well apart from each other, Temporal Paradoxes and all that stuff. So, Poppy, you stay here with these two books, I'll  find the other two original copies. Ok, so books here in the Royal Archive, I'm looking for a second copy of 'Spells for the modern fairy'... are you in here? Don't come here, just stay where you are and 'poke your nose out'. No? What about 'Fairy love spells'? No? Ok, I'm guessing they are probably both in the Dark Archive: let me go and have a word with them."

Elida went back to the Dark Archive. "Hi books, looking for copies of 'Spells for the modern fairy' and 'Fairy love spells', please come over to the desk...". Two books, one larger, one smaller, and identical to the other two books (but looking about 100 years newer), came from the far back corner of the archive and sat on the desk. "Thank you, books. I can't say too much right now, but I need you two to stay safely in here for the moment, do NOT try to go next door, even though you may feel a desire, or even a need, to do so... it's for your own safety. At some point in the future, I'll come here with Poppy and ask for you both again, in the meantime, I want all the other books to be good to you, and protect you. Understood everyone? Thank you! You can go back to your shelves when you're ready." With that, Elida returned to the Royal Archive.

"Ok, you two amazing books!" said Elida to the two books that had spent 100 years longer sitting around than all the other books, "I need you both to stay in here in the Royal Archive - away from the Dark Archive - but there's no longer any need for either of you to hide. The rest of you, treat these two books like heroes, like royalty, what they have just done by waiting for an extra 100 years has been quite spectacular! You two, feel very proud of what you have done...." said Elida to the books.

"I guess we need to have a word with Serena at some point, don't we?" suggested Sebby.

"Yep, but I'm not seeing a great rush: let's spend some time in here and do what we came here for."


-----------

"So, I'm guessing that, when we need to send those books back in time, it should be fairly easy as we'll know what to do?" asked Poppy later on.

"In principle yes, but for one minor detail..." replied Elida.

"Oh, what's that then?"

"Well, I sure don't know any time-magic... do you?"

"Ah, yes, good point! So, tell me more about Serena. I mean, how DO you actually talk with her? I thought adult humans can't see us..."

"True, but Serena is no normal human, she's an amazingly powerful witch... kinda like us, but over in the human world, although she can do some quite dark magic if she needs to." Elida explained to Poppy how she had originally met, and how they became friends.


Offline Sparky

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Chapter 8


Elida was in her FI5 office, reading a few official documents, Poppy was 'downstairs' in the Dark Archive.

"Ahem!" said a voice that Elida recognised as being Poppy. She looked up from what she was doing, and looked at Poppy, who had a MASSIVE smile on her face.

"Poppy, I thought you were down in the Archive?"

"I was..."

"But I didn't hear you come back up the stairs..."

"That's because I didn't use them..." replied Poppy, still with that massive smile on her face.

"What, you mean you just teleported up here?"

"Yup. I finally worked out the extra spells to get around the magic dampening spells in the building!"

"Poppy, that is amazing! Abso-bloomin-lutey amazing! You have just earned a bonus amount of extra respect from me! I will admit that I had been struggling with those books."

"It's not that hard, once you make sense of everything. It's actually only another three spells, one to let you do the 'probe ahead', the other two to get the magic dampening spells to 'back off' at each end."

"Oh, nice... tell you what, these documents can wait, I think you need to teach me what I need to do!"

For Poppy, this was a watershed day: it was the first time that she had worked out some fairy magic that Elida hadn't, and it massively boosted her confidence that she was indeed quite worthy of being a Protector. In fact, the effect for Elida was similar: this was the day she started to think more of Poppy as being her equal, rather than being 'the trainee'.

-----

"Hi Lilly!". Lilly looked up from what she was reading.

"Oh, hi Elida... Poppy..." replied Lilly. "When did you come in? Never heard you..."

"That's because we didn't!" replied Elida.

"Uh?"

"We teleported here from our office." Lilly stopped an thought for a few seconds. "Umm, I thought you couldn't teleport in the official buildings?"

"Well, we can now!"

"You finally worked it out?"

"No, I've been struggling for a while to work it out. Poppy worked it out!"

"Well, what can I say? Well done, Poppy! Nice one!"

"Yes, I was rather impressed myself! Which leads me on to something else..."

"Which is?"

"I'd like Poppy to officially be recognised as my deputy here at FI5. Several times now she's shown she's pretty much as able as me."

"I'm very happy with that. You told Tats yet?"

"No... half a moment...". Elida did a new style of probe, the sort than now let her see inside the magic-restricted building. "She's in her office, let's go see her now!"

Lilly started to walk to the door.

"No, not like that. Hold Poppy's hand...". Elida and Poppy both said the spell to probe then teleport to Tats' office. Tats was standing up, a cup of coffee on her hand, when the three of them arrived in her office, a matter of about 3 feet from her. Luckily she didn't have any coffee in her mouth, but she DID managed to drop her cup, which still had a bit of coffee in it!

"What the f***??!!" said Tats, who was very surprised. "Sh*t, you guys have worked out how to do it indoors, haven't you?"

Poppy smiled very proudly. "Poppy did!" said Elida.

"Well, well done Poppy! I know Elida's been struggling with it for a while!".

"Absolutely!" echoed Lilly. "So, Elida has suggested that Poppy should officially be her deputy... I think she's probably ready to do that, what do you think?"

"Yeah, I'm ok with that... Sounds like Poppy is fast becoming an important member of FI5!"


Offline Sparky

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Chapter 9


Serena was relaxing in her bedroom, when she saw something happen in the corner of her eye. A plate, with a few crumbs on, had just appeared on her bedside table. Serena smiled.

"I wish that plate had a lovely piece of.... no, hang on, I'm getting a bit fed up with that lovely cream cake. I mean it's nice, but you can get too much of a good thing! How about a couple of those lovely custard filled doughnuts with icing on top? Oh, and how about a cup of tea to go with it? And thank you, Elida....".

Serena summoned Wanda, and cast the spell that would make Elida visible to her. She got a bit of a surprise: there was a whole group of fairies there.

"Hello Serena, nice to see you again. Sorry to come mob-handed, but I have important news, and you need to meet these guys!"

"Well, hello everyone! Make yourselves comfortable. Let me magic up a knife so I can share the doughnuts with you. I guess you all know who *I* am, so Elida, who's all your friends?"

"Well, you should remember Sebby, she came with me last time..."

"Ah, yes, hi there Sebby, nice to see you again!"

"Ok, so you remember I told you how I work with two other fairies to run FI5? Well, this is them, Lilly and Tats, they are both my friends and colleagues."

"Hello there, Lilly, hello there, Tats!".

"This here is Princess Rosemary, she's next in line to the throne..."

"Your royal highness, a pleasure to meet you!"

"And finally, this is Poppy: like me, she is a 'protector fairy'."

"Hello Poppy. Umm, I thought you once told me that you guys were 'once in a generation' fairies?"

"Yeah, seems that the universe decided that the difficult times coming up could do with two of us!"

"Oh... difficult times?"

"Yes, we have important news. Hey, mind if I use your printer?"

"Sure, go ahead, although it doesn't do wifi..."

"And you think THAT will stop me using it?" said Elida, printing out a sheet of paper: a transcript of what was written in the front of the 'Spells for the modern fairy' book. Once it had printed, Serena grabbed it, and read it.

"Interesting, but I'm not sure I fully understand it...". said Serena.

"So, yesterday, we found this written in the front of an old book: a book that we're 99.9% sure our future selves had sent back in time for us to find. To help reduce any sort of time paradox, we were clearly very careful what we wrote..." and she went on to explain what she thought it meant.

"Hmm, sounds to me like it might be helpful if I got Samantha, Sarah and Harper here, they need to hear this too!"

"Good idea, and while you do that, we can tuck in to the doughnuts. Hey, I'm gonna need another wish, for the extra teas and cakes..."

Serena phoned her three companions, then used one of her slightly darker-than-light spells to summon them over to her room. As they arrived, one by one, Serena introduced them.

And as they each arrived, they were each rather surprised to see a group of six fairies sitting in small chairs, drinking tea and eating small bits of the doughnuts. In addition, Elida had magicked up more teas and doughnuts for the 3 extra witches.

"Ok, guys, this is Elida, you've heard me mention her before. Maybe it's simpler if I hand over to her."

"Hello there, Samantha, Sarah and Harper, thanks for coming over at short notice!" She went on to introduce the other 5 fairies, and to briefly explain that she and Poppy were especially powerful fairies, rather like Serena was a special witch. "So, when Serena and I met last time, she explained all about the prophecy to me, it was definitely something we needed to be aware of. Anyway, yesterday, when we went to our Royal Archive, Poppy found a book. In the front of the book was a message, which sounds very much like our future selves sent back to us...". Serena passed them copies of the message that Elida had printed out.

"So, let me explain our thinking: that first bit says to me that we wrote it after the 'dark threat' has been defeated, and that it's all going to happen in a couple of years time: although to be honest, I can't for a minute imagine Serena actually having a coronation! The fact that the other five realms are deemed to be supportive - which I would expect them to be - says to me that the dark invasion is probably going to come from an eighth realm..."

"Excuse me for interrupting, but 5 realms? 8th realm?"

"Ah, sorry, yes, I guess I need to explain: there are 7 known realms..." Elida explained about the known 7 realms, and the unknown 8th realm. "So the last bit: we believe the time and place is nothing to do with a coronation, it's to do with the invasion. Sebby has a substantial attachment to a fairy location near the town of Runesdale, so we're thinking that's where it's going to happen. Just need Serena to work out when... but it's in about 2 years!"

"You know, Elida, I'm impressed at so many levels." said Harper. "For a start, I never really believed that you guys were real. But being able to send something back 2 years in time, that's pretty cool!"

"Actually, for reasons I won't go in to, we believe that we actually sent the book we wrote the message in back about 100 years, to wait for us to find it."

"That is even MORE amazing, how on earth did you do that?"

"We have no idea, we've not found any time magic - yet. But clearly we'll work it out... in fact, knowing that we CAN do it should make it easier to work out how. So, Serena, what's special to you that's going to happen in a couple of years time?"

"Hmm, no idea... I guess I need to have a think!"

"Well, yes, there's no great urgency, we do have 2 years. But it means that we know that we have 2 years to prepare ourselves for this invasion."

"We? I thought I was the one the prophecy says has to defeat them?" said Serena

"Something tells me that you're going to need a bit of help, magic help." explained Elida. "We've made a few very unofficial 'calls' to contacts in the other realms, they all think they will want  to get involved: their thinking is that if this invasion were to succeed, then it would be likely that their realms would be at risk next. So, our next step is to brief our 'diplomats' to open up channels with those realms, so at some point we're going to have to meet with them, discuss the practical stuff."

Serena took a deep breath. "Talk about 'in at the deep end'! I'm no diplomat..."

"Don't worry, you'll be ok, and we'll be there too. So, according to your prophecy, you have to reunite your covens - how's that going? Will it be done in 2 years"

"It's actually going very well... in fact, the whole thing has got so big now that I've delegated most of the work to a team of trustworthy witches."

"Oh, that's good. You said you were going to do something about getting some training, for the cache of weapons you found?"

"I'm thinking that we need to find some suitable army people who can train us, and now we know roughly when it will happen, it's going to concentrate my mind a bit, make me actually do something."

"Well, there must be a load of witches in your armed forces, and it wouldn't surprise me if they got a few of them together as some sort of 'special operations team'... but I guess I'll need to leave that to you. Shout if you think we can help."

"Thanks, Elida. So, do you know anything about this eighth realm yet?"

"Not yet, but we're hoping someone in one of the other realms might have some relevant information: as soon as we know anything, we'll let you know." said Elida

"So, this date in a couple of years time...." asked Sebby. "Any ideas?"

"Hmm, can't think of anything.... unless...?"

"Unless?"

"Well, I'm nineteen in a couple of week's time, so in two years time I'll be 21..."

"That sounds like a reasonably significant date to me. Yes, I know it's supposed to be 18, but unless you can think of some other suitable date...? Elida?"

"I think you're probably right: anything I'd be thinking of when we wrote the message would need to be simple and obvious, even if it was a few days out. Probably just as accurate at the location being related to the old Fairy Palace at Runesdale. Nice one, we have an approximate location, and an approximate date, I'm feeling much happier about things."

"So, lots to do" said Sarah, "but at least we now know we have 2 years to get ready!"


Offline Sparky

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The next bit of the story is about Serena...


So, Serena has met her companions, and has got all her weapons etc, plus 4 extra members of the team she wasn't expecting.

And she's now discovered that it seems that the "Dark Threat" as defined by the prophecy will happen in 2 years time. From a magical 8th realm.

In the meantime, she needs to continue reuniting the covens, but beyond that, she now needs to prepare herself and her team to be able to fight the 'Dark Threat'... and I think they could do with some serious military-style training.

So, how would she go about doing that? I'm thinking in this story that witches are probably about 0.1% of the population (the city where I live is about 50,000, so a coven of around 50 would seem reasonable), so that would give about 200 witches in the British military. Would they actually USE their witching skills: knowing the military, if they had wind of witches (and they've had plenty of time to find out about them!) then I would almost ASSUME that there is a team of witches, like the SAS / Seals / Paratroop regiment in the military. Of course, their mere existence would be kept highly secret.

But THEY are the people that Serena would need to find, both to GET trained, but maybe to also get THEM better trained in magic to help 'fight the dark threat'. There is no doubt that traditional weapons would be of no use, magic MUST be used.

So how WOULD Serena find this team? She knows noone within the military. Should she start at the top? That could be quite difficult. So how?

That's what the next bit of the story is about.....


Offline Braceface2015

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I assume the fairies would have some access to the military, even if it is unofficial. The fairies have a form of intelligence gathering that matches or exceeds what the military has, so there is bound to be some cross-over of resources.

I'm sure that some of the witches in the military would be a part of at least one of the covens and would provide some form of contact for Serena. Even if it is low-level, it is still a way for her to gain access to higher levels of authority in the military.

Offline Braceface2015

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That last chapter should be 9.

Offline Sparky

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I assume the fairies would have some access to the military, even if it is unofficial. The fairies have a form of intelligence gathering that matches or exceeds what the military has, so there is bound to be some cross-over of resources.

I'm sure that some of the witches in the military would be a part of at least one of the covens and would provide some form of contact for Serena. Even if it is low-level, it is still a way for her to gain access to higher levels of authority in the military.

Yes, I think the fairies would be aware of the military, but with Serena being the only human / witch who seems to have the magic to make them visible, that rather restricts what the fairies can actually do. Apart from making them cups of tea and giving them cakes!!!

Witches in the military: for most of them, the fact they were a witch would be relatively irrelevant, as most witches in my story do no more than trivial magic. If they are any good at magic, and use that 'in the line of duty', then it's something they will NOT be able to talk about ('official secrets act' and all that!), although, yes, someone in a coven might be willing to say that a family member is in the army or whatever. But the likelihood is that would lead to a non-useful person. So I'm thinking she needs some way to find army witches.

One disadvantage Serena has is that she is not only young, but relatively inexperienced at dealing with 'people in positions of power'. Technically, she could easily teleport past any security into the Prime Minister's office, or similar... but would they be willing to talk to her? Probably not. She'd be taken by security pretty quickly, if she didn't teleport out too quickly. So starting right at the top would be rather difficult too...

We'll find out in the next episode what she does.... (it was the best I could come up with, and it's vaguely credible!)

Chapter # updated! (that'll teach me to cut'n'paste!)

Offline Sparky

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Chapter 10


Hereford was a long way away from home, but Serena needed to be there, because THAT is where the Special Air Services seem to be based.

Serena, Harper, Sarah and Samantha had spent some time talking about how they could find someone who could give them some 'suitable' training in fighting. They worked out that, if witches made up even 0.1% of the population, then there must be quite a few witches in the armed forces. They guessed that most of them would simply 'fit in', carrying out minimal magic, just like parents would when looking after their kids.

But there must also be a small number who take a normal skill set, and develop it: let's think gymnastics for example: we all do a little bit of it at school, but there are a few who compete at the local level. Then there are people like Harper, the elite, who show off their skills at the national and international level. The numbers of people can be counted on a few hands. But that's the sort of numbers they were thinking of in the forces. In the SAS (according to Wikipedia) a troop is 16 members: having a troop of all witches would make a LOT of sense, they would have some amazingly special skills, but skills which both they, and the military system would keep very quiet about. And even if they had it wrong, and there was no specific witch troop, there would definitely be witches somewhere within the SAS. And if not the SAS, then the Para's.

And the military must have known about witches for quite some time, so we're not talking about something recent. You might ask 'why would the military know about witches?'. Well, if Serena's headmistress was aware, then there's no question that the military would be aware.

So, they needed to somehow make contact with this team of elite witches. The question was how.

One thought was to try and find such people when they were not on base... so maybe down the local pub... bit let's be honest, that's not going to be THAT easy.

The other thought was to 'start at the top'. Harper did some deep searching online, and discovered that Brigadier General Smith had take over as Director of Special Forces in 2021. The question was where he was based, and lived. The SAS has their RHQ in Hereford, but they also have a presence in the Regent's Park Barracks, in London.

Sarah had booked them all an AirBnB in Hereford, which was only a couple of miles from the base in Credenhill. The plan was that Serena, and others as needed, would get closer to the site, to let Serena probe around, and find out where Brigadier General Smith had his office, and where he lived.

Luckily, around where the base was located, there was plenty of countryside, where they could legitimately be: that might let them do some training, but it was a place where Serena could sit, and probe into the base. She would need to be careful, because if there were, as they thought, highly skilled witches on the site, it's quite possible that some of them could be on some form of 'advanced guard duty', scanning for other witches. Serena's hope was that they would be scanning for ACTUAL witches, and not be able to detect a witch scanning into the base.

Google maps showed a lot of identical small buildings, which they assumed would be the actual barracks, the living quarters for the men, so the 'offices' would likely be in one of the larger buildings.

So, their cover story was that they were simply 4 friends who had decided to have a short break, and take the opportunity to visit some local countryside. The first place they visited was the SAS Cemetery, a rather nice place where it would not seem unreasonable for people to want to visit, and sit and contemplate. It was also conveniently close to the main entrance to the base.

So they all wandered around the cemetery, then went and sat on the grass, and drank the drinks they had brought with them. Serena was able to 'wander over' to the gatehouse, where luck was on her side: there were very simplified base maps there for visitors, to help them find where they needed to go, and the main office building were shown.

So Serena wandered over to the first one. Yes, it was indeed offices, but more for support staff, not for the higher ranking members of staff. Finally she found a building that fitted the bill a lot better. As she started to 'wander around' the building, she probed the people she passed, to see if any of them were witches. The problem was, of course, that a witch with any reasonable level of skill would detect a probe, so Serena had to make them incredibly fast and light. Yes, she found one witch in a small office, and having scanned her and realised that she was a witch, she decided to stay there a bit, and watch how she reacted - luckily there was no apparent reaction, which pleased Serena. As she continued to wander around the building, she noticed that there were a few armed personnel around, clearly guarding the place.... all of which made Serena believe she was vaguely in the right place.

"Serena, I think we need to get going soon" suggested Sarah.

"Can we manage another five minutes? I'm making some good progress.."

"I think five minutes will be ok...."

She went up a floor, where she found a couple of small meeting rooms, and then a much larger 'briefing' room: she felt that she was maybe in the right place. There were a few rather nice but small offices along the corridor, with people in them. A minute later she hit gold: a much larger office, with a fairly fancy desk on one side, plus a meeting table to the other... but noone there. She worked back, to find a small outside office, with a couple of clerical staff of some sort. She scanned them, in case they were witches, but they weren't. Then she had a quick look around at various bits of paperwork on the desk: one had Brigadier General Smith's name on it.

"Ok, I think I found his office, but he's not there at the moment. So, let's move on...."


"How you feeling there, Serena?" asked Samantha, as they got up to go back to the car.

"If you're asking if I could do with some of your magic, then yes please...". As they walked back to the car, Samantha took Serena's hand, and cast some recuperative magic on her.

"Find any witches?" asked Sarah.

"Just the one, a lady in an office. She didn't seem to be worried by my quick probe though. So, let's go to that Sugwas Pools park place, its not far from here: it has some nice paths and trees to the south, how about you take us there? Once we're there, I think I'll teleport over onto that small island and check it out, might be a bit quieter for us....."

"Good idea. So what your plan?"

"I'd like to probe around a bit more, see how many more witches I can find..."

Offline TrainTrack

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Really good story, I like that it is not a story focused on only braces, but a whole lot of other things as well, along with a developing plot line. Also, how do you find time to write this much, especially with something like 3 stories going at once!?

Offline Sparky

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Being semi-retired gives me quite a bit of time. Before the words are written, I think the story concept through in spare minutes of the day... plenty of those. Plus, the story development has been happening over a period of several months.... Carol was started probably almost a year ago...big chunks got written there, then deleted, as the story was getting silly and the direction difficult.

The amount of braces in Carol will reduce massively now she has her new retainer...

Offline Braceface2015

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Writing takes time. Some of my stories were started years ago and I have worked on them off and on.

You have to make the time to write. Find a quiet place where you can work on your story and don't worry about writing a lot of pages. Even if all you do is write a few lines, you have still created something for your story.

Write about what interests you, not what you think everyone wants to read. Sparky and I have very different interests and it shows in what we write.

I prefer to use GoogleDocs when I write, while others use Microsoft Word. All of the popular programs have a spellchecker and I highly advise using it. Another good idea is to find someone to proofread each chapter for you. By the time I post a chapter, I have read it several times and still find things I missed later on.


Offline kelly-Marie

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When I used to write stories I had to write it as I thought of it then post it straight onto this site especially as I can't write by hand  I only have a tablet computer and have no idea how to do it any other way. Also I never had any training on how to use this or any other computer I'm not making excuses just stating fact. Sparky another way the fairy's could find the military people they are looking for is to take advantage of their Fi5 training and use it to gain access to the human Mi5/Ci5 organisations that could be helpful? Wish ide suggested it earlier but I've only just caught up with my reading

Offline Sparky

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.....Sparky another way the fairy's could find the military people they are looking for is to take advantage of their Fi5 training and use it to gain access to the human Mi5/Ci5 organisations that could be helpful?

Yes, I guess it could be quite easy for the fairies to find out stuff (but remember, in my fairies universe, adults generally can't see them, so can't interact with them). I'm sure they could easily hack the relevant computers if they wanted, but where would be the fun in that? We need some fun, some adventure....

No, I felt that finding a way into the military was something that Serena needed to do (although I'm sure she'll call on the fairies for a bit of help at some point!).

So, I guess you'd like another chapter, wouldn't you?.....

Offline Sparky

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Chapter 11


When they got to the park, Serena 'popped over' to the island, then came back to the others. "I think it would be advantageous if we all went over there: there's plenty of space, also plenty of cover, so we should be able to remain undisturbed".

Over on the island, Serena sat down and continued her probing, while the others used the opportunity to do some exercises, led by Harper. Like she had done earlier, Serena started to probe around the army site, but this time she decided to try the smaller buildings, where she found quite a few army guys. Outside one of the huts, she discovered a guy, and a very light probe indicated that he was a witch. She started probing a group of others nearby, to discover that they too were all witches.

She moved her attention inside the block, and could see another group, actively practising some magic. Yes, she had just hit gold: a group of army witches whose use of magic was well above the 'calming an upset child' level.

Knowing that they were all witches, Serena decided to continue very carefully - she didn't really want to be discovered yet, she needed time to work out what to do.

Over the next hour, Serena saw various other people come and go, interacting with the others, but probing for such a long time was very tiring.

"You ok, Serena?" asked Sarah when Serena had opened her eyes.

"Yeah, a bit tired, but it was well worth it." She explained what she had found out. "I think I need to stop for today, but I'd like to come back, tomorrow morning, learn more about their abilities, and who's in charge of them. From what I read, there should be 16 of them in the troop, plus a captain in charge of them... I'm sure whoever he reports to must be onsite too, and maybe that's who I need to talk to...."

"Ok, well let's go back to the house, then you can tell us more about what you've found out, and we can think about what to do."

----

Back at the house, Serena tells everyone else what she's learned, and they do a bit more research online, but don't really find anything of use, so decide to return the following morning.

As for Sarah, Samantha and Harper, they had spent the time doing some simple physical stuff: after 'warming up', they did some jogging and running, then used the trees: climbing them, and using then for pull-ups and things.

So, next morning they are back on the island, and Serena starts to probe again. They guys aren't in or near the hut, but she eventually finds them, working out in what might be simplistically called a 'gym'. She recognised a couple of the guys, and wanted to confirm what she believed, that they were all witches, so she lightly probed a few of them, to discover that yes, they were.

As she continued to watch them, she could detect that they were using some simple bits of magic, to help them do what they were doing. Another guy came in, and one of the others - one of the guys she had probed, went over to him and whispered something to him - unfortunately, it was sufficiently quiet that her probe was unable to hear what was said.

"I'll go have a word with the boss" he says.

-----------

There was a knock on the door.

"Come" replied Major Tom. The door opened, and Captain Hughes walking in, and closed the door behind him.

"Permission to speak openly and freely, sir?" he said

"Take a seat, and go on...."

Serena was still on the island and was still remotely eavesdropping. She had followed the Captain as he had walked across the site: this was her chance to find out who was next in the chain of command - and probably the person she actually needed to speak with.

"Some of the men have reported a strange feeling... a feeling of maybe being probed by an experienced witch from outside".

'Oh crap' thought Serena, 'I could have done with a bit more time to prepare for this....' She had to think on her feet....

"My apologies Major Tom, Captain Hughes, that would have been me.....". Serena was using magic to talk directly to their minds. She had worked out the captain's name when he spoke to the major's secretary, who was in the next office. The major's name was on his door. "By the way, just talk to me, I can hear you ok..." The two of them were silent for a moment, clearly very surprised at hearing Serena's voice in their heads.

"And you are? And what do you want?" asked Major Tom.

"To answer your second question, I need your help, or more specifically, I guess it would be your troop's help. As for who I am, I hasten to say I am not a threat to any of you. Have you read the 'witches' prophecy', the one written about 500 years ago?"

"It sounds familiar....." said the Major.

"Just a moment, let me send you a copy.....". Serena summoned a copy of two versions of the prophecy, and used more magic to send copies of them to the Major's desk. "Take a look on your desk, Major....".

The Major turned and looked at his desk, where he was slightly surprised to see two new pieces of paper. He spent a moment reading them, then passed them to Captain Hughes. "Yes, now I see it again, it does seem familiar..."

"I'm that young witch, named in the prophecy. I'm sure you appreciate that what I'm doing right now is probably classified as 'great skills and abilities'. And as you'll see, the prophecy says that I have to 'defeat the attacks of the darkness'... and that's where I need your help!"

The two army men looked at each other: this wasn't the way they had been trained to do things, but it was clear that this witch who had intruded was quite capable, but so far, was not posing any sort of threat.

"What sort of help do you mean?"

"Well, for a start, I'm actually quite young, so - not too surprisingly - I don't have any military training. Plus, whilst we have some rather amazing magical weapons available to us, we could really do with some training on how to use them. And I'm also hoping your troop of witches might be able to help in the fight... "

"Our troop of witches?" said Major Tom.

"Yeah, the group of guys that Captain Hughes leads. Come on, I've been watching them yesterday and today, I know they are all witches!"

"Shit, she's good!" said the captain to the major.

"Thanks for the complement!" said Serena. "So, yes, I could really do with your help to help defeat this 'dark threat'".

"So, you really want us to believe that this - 500 year old, you said, didn't you? - this prophecy is actually true?"

"Well, if you think about it, all the things up until the 'uniting the covens' bit have actually already come true... I mean, 'plague of the mask' is pretty clear!"

"Ok... and uniting the covens?"

"It's happening! Hundreds of witches from across the country are once again talking to each other, in a friendly way. So yes, still a long way to go, but it's happening..."

"So this supposed 'attack of the darkness'. You really believe that it is true?"

"Various covens have been able to provide 'resources', resources which specifically respond to me and my small team - and only to us. All apparently linking into bits of the prophecy. I'm talking not only information, but a substantial cache of advanced weapons."

"And I don't suppose you happen to know WHEN and WHERE this confrontation will take place?"

"Well, 'from unattributable intelligence obtained', it's definitely going to happen: we believe we know the place and the date... in just under 2 years time we believe."

"And you know this how?"

"I'm sorry Major, I can't give any further details right now, 'need to know' and all that." Serena was secretly amused that she was able to turn the tables on 'the authority figures' for a change! "Look, I'm rather nervous about what I'm doing at the moment. I'm probably breaking so many laws right now just talking to you, and I have no desires to get myself arrested...."

The Captain chuckled quite briefly. "Yes, I can understand you're probably a bit nervous. Can you at least tell us your name?"

"My name is Serena..."

"Hello Serena!" said Major Tom. "From what you have told me, I think we ought to meet with you, and talk a bit more...."

"I'd like that, I'm just a bit apprehensive. I mean, there's a soldier stationed outside your group of offices with what appears to be some sort of machine gun, and I can see that Captain Hughes also has a gun on him.... If you could promise me that I'd be safe, I could come there right now..."

"Yeah, might be a problem getting you through security at such short notice...."

"Sorry, I didn't explain myself too well there, did I? When I said 'come there', I was meaning I could teleport into your office."

"You must be very close to be able to do that...".

"Not at all, but my advanced magic skills let me teleport quite long distances."

"Ok, Serena, just give me a moment...". Serena heard him pick up the phone, and spoke to some sort of secretary: "I'm in an important meeting with Captain Hughes, no interruptions of ANY sort for the next 30 minutes, please!"

"Thank you Major, give me a moment..." said Serena. Serena was actually with her 'team' over on the island of the country park / lake: she told them what she was about to do.

"If I'm not back in 30 minutes... then.... to be honest, I have no idea who would be able to help!"

"Ghostbusters?" suggested Harper, smiling.

"Yeah, probably your best bet! Actually, get in touch with Elida if there's a problem."

"Good luck, Serena!"

Offline Sparky

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Chapter 12

Serena fitted her dark-metal jewellery, then held her hands up as if surrendering: she didn't want anyone to feel a need to point a gun at her. Then she had a word with her braces and Wanda, and teleported herself into Major Tom's office: it looked exactly as her scanning had indicated. She had specifically landed on the opposite side of the office from where the two SAS men were.

"Good morning Major, Captain. The only weapon I have is my wand, and she's hidden right now, for her own safety." The Major and Captain both looked at Serena: a tall slim 18 year old girl, gentle but bold makeup, piercings, long hair, jeans, t-shirt, and a denim jacket. The Captain went over and patted her down - Serena understood that they couldn't be too careful. 

Serena still felt very apprehensive and rather nervous, so had taken the precaution of preparing another teleportation spell, which would allow her to leave at a moment's notice.

The Major motioned for her to sit down and join them. "I have a feeling you should just start at the start, and tell us both what you know..."

Serena told her story: that, like in the prophecy, she was an only child. At 16 learnt that she was a witch. Found magic pretty easy to do. At 18 pledged to 'the light grey', which turned out to match the prophecy. She explained about the 'teeth of metal', how the braces were actually sentient, and provided a lot of protection from the dark magic that she was continuing to learn. "I have met my three companions, as per the prophecy, plus we have gained access to a large set of magical weapons that were being protected by a local coven..."

"When you say weapons, I'm guessing you mean old swords and shields and that sort of thing?" suggested the captain.

"Well, initially, yes, but we ran an upgrade spell: we now have some rather advanced stuff, some of which we haven't actually worked out yet..."

"What sort of things?"

"Laser rifles. Guns that can shoot around corners. That sort of thing..."

"You mean laser guided rifles?"

"No, I mean laser rifles, like you see in sci-fi films! The problem we have is that none of us have any military or weapons training: I was rather hoping you might be able to help us with some training."

"And what would we get out of this?"

"Well, if you don't mind, I think we will need your team to get involved, you know, in the fighting. Then, if things all work out, I don't see why you couldn't keep some of the rather nice magic weapons, weapons that noone else in the military has, or would be able to use for that matter."

There was a short pause. "So, this 'battle with evil', what do you know about it?"

"Well, as I said, we are pretty sure whe know where it will be, and that it will be in about 2 years time. And we have a good idea WHO it will be too."

"And who WILL it be?"

"This is the hard part to explain. Would you mind if I asked a fairy to join us?"

Captain Hughes started to laugh. "A fairy? You're joking?"

"No, I'm absolutely serious. There are 7 known realms, the human realm, where we are now. Then there's the Fairy realm, the Elven realm and 4 others. Am I ok to ask my friendly fairy to join us?"

"I guess so, if it helps to explain things" replied the Major, smiling. "Fairies indeed!" he muttered half under his breath.

"I hope you both like cream cake!" said Serena. The other two looked at her, as if she was a bit bonkers. "I wish Elida could bring us 3 slices of that lovely cream cake. And 3 cups of tea to go with it would be even better! And something for youself too."

A piece of paper appeared in mid-air, and fluttered to the ground: Serena picked it up. It simply said "Serena, please can you give me 3 or 4 minutes? Elida". She passed it over to the Major, who looked suitably bemused: he was still unsure what to actually believe. He knew what Captain Hughes and his men were capable of, and that pretty much covered everything that Serena had apprently done so far. Bits of paper with writing on falling from the air was something a 16 year old could do. Teleporting short distances was a bit harder, but the troop of witches used it regularly to their advantage. But if Serena was trying to perpetrate some sort of hoax, then why?

"Ok, so while we wait, let me tell you about the 'who'. We believe that we will be attacked by some sort of - and we assume magical - creatures from the 8th realm. There is little information about them, but the fairies and I have met with members of the other 5 realms, who realise that we all need to join together to fight them, with a variety of magic. Anyway, everyone has gone off to look in their old books to see what they can find out about that 8th realm. The big problem that I see is that as soon as anyone in the military discovers that we are 'being invaded', they'll go in mob-handed... but they'll have absolutely zero effect, apart from probably getting themselves killed. It's going to need magic to defeat a magical invasion, and a lot of it. That's part the reason I needed to find you guys. Not only can you guys help out, but Major, you need to try and persuade the military to stay well away!"

"This is starting to sound like a lot of sci-fi films..." commented Captain Hughes.

"Yep, it is. Hopefully you'll believe things a bit more when Elida gets here.". It was just then that three cups of tea, and three small plates with cake on appeared on the Major's desk.

"What the....?" said the rather suprised Major.

"Ah, she's made it... let me make her visible....". Serena called for Wanda, and ran the spell that allowed them all to see Elida: about 6 inches tall, with rather cute wings, Elida was wearing a t-shirt over a longer top, with jeans and trainers, and a short skirt on top of that. Her long ginger hair was tied back in a ponytail. Oh, and on her wrists she had some rather nice studded wrist straps. Her overall look made it clear that Elida was quite 'street-wise'.

"Major Tom, Captain Hughes, this is Elida. As she has explained it to me, she's as powerful a fairy as I am a witch, and she's one of the three fairies that runs FI5. If you hadn't worked it out yet, Elida, we're at an SAS site."

"Good morning gentlemen, nice to meet you both! By the way, do enjoy your elevenses... So, yes, I help to run FI5 - it's the fairy equivalent of your MI5. I've actually been on this site before, with some of our FAS troops, to watch what your guys do..."

"FAS?" interrupted the Major, still getting over the shock that fairies actually existed.

"'Fairy Air Services', of course. Modelled on you guys! So, what can I do to help, Serena?"

"I've just been explaining how we need their help to train us and to fight the 'invasion' from the 8th realm.... I think you should start by explaining the 7 realms to these gentlemen." suggested Serena.

"Ah, yes. So you humans exist in one of the realms, we fairies are in an adjacent realm... in fact, of all the realms, our two are the closest, and easiest to move between. The fact that we're in a different realm is the reason you can't normally see fairies. We fairies seem to exist to make your human lives a bit more pleasant, by granting your wishes - like the tea and cake there. Then there's the Elven Realm: elves are also magical, but the magic of each realm is substantially different. Then we have the Cyclops, the Leprechauns, the Goblins and the Centaurs," explained Elida. "all magical in their own ways."

"Oh, come on, you're kidding me... Leprechauns and Goblins?" said Captain Hughes.

"Yeah, and I'm clearly NOT a fairy, and you guys aren't witches!" said Elida, with a big smile.

"Point taken....". Major Tom was finally starting to believe that this was NOT a hoax: the magic needed to create the illusion of a fairy was well beyond their ability, and whilst an experienced witch might be able to do it, Serena was still rather young. Occam's Razor would therefore suggest that, strange though it might seem, this little creature WAS in fact a fairy

"Anyway, we've made contact with the other 5 realms, and they agree - in principle at least - that they ought to be working with us on this one. They realise that if your realm gets invaded, it's only a matter of time before the other realms are at risk. I assume Serena has explained that your traditional armies won't be able to do anything, it's gonna need a lot of strong magic, which I'm hoping Poppy and I will be able to help with - ah yes, maybe I should explain: Poppy and I are what is called 'Protector Fairies', we exist primarily to protect the 7 realms - yourselves included - from any untoward fairy magic. Put simply, we're the most powerful pair of fairies in the country. But we reckon we'll be able to help you all against this new magic threat too. Hey, you told them about the weapons you got? They are pretty cool!" said Elida enthusiastically.

The Major and Captain still appeared to be a bit in shock: this was the first time they had met a fairy, and this was the first they had heard about the other realms.

"Yes, briefly... I'm just not 100% sure about these guys yet..." said Serena.

"Hey, Serena, if you're worried about what they might do to the four of you, I can easily get a team of FAS guys to keep an eye on you, protect you from them..."

By now, the Major and Captain were both starting to take Serena far more seriously, and they had a quite useful conversation for the next ten or fifteen minutes.

"So, what next?" asked Major Tom.

"I'd be very interested in seeing some of the weapons that Serena says she has, and maybe try them out." suggested Captain Hughes. "It would certainly add a lot of credibility to her story."

"I'm ok with that," replied Serena. "especially if it means you'll take me more seriously. Would you like to do something this afternoon?"

"Why not?"

"Ok, well 16 of you would be far too many... how about 3 or 4 of you? And Elida, maybe your FAS guys could join us too? Keep an eye on things, plus report back to you what goes on."

"Where do you want us to go?" asked the Captain.

"Don't worry, I'll find you, and teleport you to where we need to go, it's not that far away. Whilst you won't NEED any weapons, I guess you'll feel happier if you have some!"

"And don't worry about our FAS guys, they'll find you!" said Elida.

"Major, Captain, thank you not only for your time, but for being so open minded about everything. Maybe after Captain Hughes sees the magical weapons we have, you'll both be more willing to believe everything I've told you. I/m sure we'll be talking again soon. Captain, see you after lunch." Serena looked at her phone. "One thirty sound ok?"

"13:30 will be fine...."

Offline Braceface2015

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You finally managed to get a mention of braces into your story.

Offline Sparky

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Chapter 13


Serena could see remotely that all 16 members of the troop were in their 'hut', 4 of them were clearly dressed up to be outside. They had left plenty of space for her to teleport to.

The four of them: so Serena, Sarah, Harper and Samantha had had some lunch, and were now back on the small island in the middle of the lake, just to the south of the SAS camp. (* this is actually all true: there's a small country park, Sugwas Pools, to the south of the SAS camp in Gloucestershire, with a lake and an island. Go look on Google maps!)

They had all summoned their magic armour, and a very small number of the traditional weapons. Serena specifically had her sword on her back, with her dagger on her belt to her left.

"Ok, guys, I'll be back shortly...". She used a spell to pick up the old steel engine block that she had found at a local scrapyard, and that she planned to take with her.

Serena re-probed, then teleported to where the SAS troop was: she was looking at 16 well built guys: she had no doubt that Captain Hughes had told them what had happened earlier on. "Good afternoon gentlemen!". She could see several of the men were smirking at her. "Please do not let my appearance deceive you, I am probably a lot more powerful than any of you could possibly imagine. That's why I brought this along..." she said, pointing to the metal engine block that was now on the floor in front of her.

Whilst she knew that she had gained a certain level of credibility with Captain Hughes, she had realised that she needed to gain a similar level of credibility with the other 16 witches, and she needed to do it fairly quickly. So she had thought up this little bit of 'theatre' as a simple demonstration of her abilities.

For a bit of fun, she used some magic that let her pick it up, as if it were no more than a cardboard replica, then dropped it the last couple of inches onto the floor: the 'thud' it made very clearly indicated that it was, indeed, heavy!

Serena then slowly removed her sword, offering it to Captain Hughes. "Captain, you won't damage the sword - please take a good swing at the engine block, to see what damage you can do! Go on, humour me..."

The captain took the sword and swung it hard onto the metal: there was a loud clank, and there was the tiniest of dents on the metal. The sword was, of course, undamaged.

"It's a magic sword, MY magic sword, so I control who can use it. Let me show you what it can REALLY do!". She took the sword from the captain, and without swinging it at all, used the sword's blade to cut through the engine block, as if she were cutting butter. The engine fell apart into two pieces. "I'd love to have a go on an armoured car some day!" said Serena. "But just a small demonstration of the sort of weapons we have available to us... even these old things are pretty capable!".

All 17 of the SAS guys were by now suitably impressed - it's amazing what a simple demonstration can achieve.

"Nice demonstration, Serena. These guys are looking forward to seeing the more modern stuff that you have". He introduced the three others that would be going with them. "Ok, so how do we get to where we're going?"

Serena held one of her arms out. "Just hold on to me....". With her other arm, she called up Wanda, and used her to teleport them over to the island. She could see one of the 4 guys was getting something out, clearly to work out where they were.

"Don't panic, I can tell you exactly where we are. You know the country park south of your site? Sugwas Pools. We're on the island in the middle of the lake, we've been doing a bit of practicing here... gives us a bit of privacy. I guess we need to introduce ourselves... as you know, I'm Serena. This is my teacher and mentor, Sarah. Harper here is a world-class gymnast, and is picking up a lot of powerful magic. Finally this is Samantha: not a fighter, but a healer... I'm sure you can appreciate how important that can be. Captain, I'm sure you will remember them from the prophecy I showed you earlier.". The army guys introduced themselves too.

"And I'm hoping the FAS guys are here too..."

"FAS?" asked one of the SAS team.

"Fairy Air Services.. so like you guys, just a bit smaller. Probably just as capable though!". Serena cast the spell to make them visible: they were a team of 6 fairies, looking pretty much like smaller version of the SAS guys, also wearing protective armour, but of course they had wings, and could fly. Whilst Captain Hughes had already met a fairy, the others hadn't, and they were quite surprised.

"Ok, guys, the rules for the afternoon are simple: we're all on the same side here, we need to learn from each other so we can work out what we can do to protect the human realm from this invasion... so please, no shooting each other! The weapons we have are quite a few miles away, but I can summon them as we need them. And, like my sword, they are all pretty useless unless one of us four - we 'own' everything so to speak - run a spell to let one of you use them. Let's start with this sword for example." Serena held the sword in her hand. "Captain Hughes, touch the sword's handle will you?". He put his hand on the sword, and Serena cast a spell. "Ok, you should be able to do what I did earlier...". He took the sword from Serena, and gently but easily cut through the metal engine block that Serena had brought back with them. "Try a rock or a tree, if you like...". Captain Hughes took a slice of a rock, and chopped up some old logs with little effort.

"Not bad for an ages old sword!" he commented.

"Ok, so I'm sure you'd like to see something a bit more up-to-date, how about some laser-rifles?".

Serena called up Wanda. "Visible please, Wanda...". "I guess I should introduce my wand: whilst you won't be able to hear her, she is actually sentient, and gives me good advice. So let me use Wanda to summon a couple of the laser rifles". Moments later, they were in her hands. "Now, when I say laser rifles, their ammo IS actually the laser, they are not just simple laser-guided rifles! Harper, want to give the guys a demo?".

She passed one of the rifles over to Harper, who took it, and fired it at a piece of rock some distance away... it exploded. "Who wants a try?" asked Serena. One of the guys came over to Serena. "Ok, hand on the gun, so it learns who you are". Serena cast the spell. "Ok, it's yours for about 30 minutes."

"Only 30 minutes?".

"Yeah, I need to be sure you won't just run off with it. I'm sure you could just teleport back to camp in 2 or 3 hops....."

"You said something about a gun that can shoot around corners?" said the Captain.

"Hold on... hey, don't suppose you brought some targets with you, did you?". Serena summoned one of the 'shoot around corners' guns, and 'allocated' it to one of the other members of the SAS team, who set up some targets, and tried it out. Being a magic gun, it shot silently, which was useful, as they didn't want to draw attention to themselves. One of the other guys tried it, but it didn't work until Serena 'allocated' it to him.

"Nice weapons," he agreed, "and I do like the safety mechanism!"

"Didn't you also say something about some fancy weapon you hadn't worked out yet?" asked the Captain.

"Ah, yes, THAT one. I think we're all interested to know exactly what that one does.... Let me get it!". Once again, she called up Wanda, and summoned the weapon. "So, there's this big bit here, and this helmet thing. When you put the helmet on, a display comes on, but we had no idea what it was about, or how to control it. Who wants to give it a try?"

"I think Jack's probably the best choice, he used to use this sort of stuff before he joined us". Serena 'allocated' the weapon to him for half an hour. He put the helmet on, and picked up the other bit.

"Oh, yeah, nice!" he exclaimed. "Hang on a moment...". He started making hand movements. "So where's the ammo for it then?" he asked. "You'll be looking for something about so big," he continued, making a size with his hands.

"Ah, so THAT's what those things were for... half a moment!". Another wave of Wanda and some magic words later, and a very small wooden crate appeared. "Something like this?". Serena opened the crate, revealing 4 small stubby rocket-like things.

"Yes, exactly like those, but only four of them?". Jack took one of them and slipped it into the weapon, then using his voice, his eye movements, and some motions of his hand the small 'rocket' looking device was launched, silently. Unlike most rockets which, once launched, tend to go in a gently arc towards the target, then explode, Jack was able to completely control this one. At one point he simply had it hovering about twenty or thirty feet above them. "Let's see what this baby can do. Not that far from the island that they were on was another very small island, and that's where he sent it: there was a gentle explosion. "I thought I'd better keep it on its lowest power setting. But this is so cool!"

He leaned over to pick up a second one, to find that there were STILL four of them in the box. "Where did that come from?" he asked Serena.

"Ah, yes, we've found that, when you use something, they seem to magically 'fill up again': we first noticed it when we were playing with a crossbow! Which means we get pretty much unlimited ammo!"


Offline Sparky

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I trust you all had a pleasant Christmas! I had family visiting, which is why I've not been writing or posting for the last week.

I'll apologise now for this next chapter, it's a bit of a filler...

====================
Chapter 14


The afternoon session with the four SAS guys turned out to be a success at so many levels: they quickly realised that Serena's magic abilities were at a level far higher than theirs. In fact, she took the opportunity to teach them some new magic too. Plus they now believed what she had said about the magical weapons: in the SAS guys more experienced hands, they were pretty spectacular.

Serena left Captain Hughes with one of the laser rifles, with all four of them being 'registered' to use if for the next few weeks. It was hard for Serena to 'give away' even one of the weapons, but she realised that the goodwill it generated was well worth it.

The most important thing to come out of the afternoon was the credibility they now had with Major Tom and Captain Hughes.

Over the next few weeks, there were various meetings, at various levels, many of which Serena and the others were invited to.

And as a result of all that, they were invited to join some training sessions 'in certain out-of-the-way places': they were finally receiving the practical training that they desperately needed.

------

Serena was meeting with Sarah, Harper and Samantha.

"I've been thinking..." said Serena, "so far, our contacts with the other realms have been brief and informal, and things have worked fine with me going with Elida or Poppy. But things are starting to get 'real', and I think that we need someone, an 'ambassador' so to speak, to take on the job of meeting with the 'ambassadors' of the other six realms. They need to be someone who is good with people, especially people who are not actual people, if you see what I mean. Someone who is completely 'on side' with what we're trying to do. Someone who doesn't have their own 'power agenda'. Someone who is non-aggressive...."

"And why are you looking at me?" asked Samantha.

"Because I think you would do a great job! Sarah, Harper, what do you guys think?"

"You know, I think Samantha would do a great job! Whilst I can think of a few other people who might be able to do the job, they all fail on one criteria or another," said Sarah. "Besides, it would send quite a positive message to the other realms if one of us does it, that these meeting are likely to be very important."

"Yes, and Serena is so right about needing someone who is non-aggressive. I could see all sorts of issues arising if one of us three were to go," added Harper, "plus anyone else really not appreaciate what's happening, we'd be spending so much time explaining stuff."

"But I've never done anything like that before..." said Samantha.

"I understand. But Sarah has never done any fighting before, like we're doing now. And Harper never had the need to learn magic like she's been doing. And I've never lead an army to protect us from an invasion. But we've all been learning, and I think you'll quickly learn what needs to be done. Yes, I'm sure you'll struggle a bit to start with, but the simple fact that you are 'one of the four defined by prophecy' will give you a huge amount of credibility, and I have no doubt that the others from the other realms will completely accept you. Please, have a think about it. A very serious think...."

"You REALLY think I could do it?" asked Samantha.

"I have no doubts at all." said Serena.

-----

A couple of weeks later, Samantha had her first meeting with creatures from the other realms. She wasn't alone, Serena went with her, plus Poppy went along with the fairy's new ambassador. Initially rather nervous, she settled in well: it was clear that what they were doing, and what they were wanting to achieve, was new to all of them.

The strangest thing was seeing Poppy at 'human size', a quirk of the way they had to travel between the realms... of course, in human terms, Poppy, like Elida, was normally a matter of about 6 inches tall.




Offline Sparky

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Ok, some action (no braces though :-) ) coming up...

==========

Chapter 15

Serena was at home with her mum and dad, watching TV, when her phone rang.

"Serena, it's Captain John Hughes here."

"Oh hello... wasn't expecting to hear from you," replied Serena.

"No, sorry for interrupting your evening. We have a...... a 'situation'... a situation for which I think we could use your skills. I was hoping you might be willing to help us... maybe you could think of it as some 'real world training'..."

"Ok... so what's the problem?"

"Umm, you know who we are, so if I say it's not something we can discuss on an insecure mobile phone connection, I hope you'll understand."

"Ah, THAT sort of a situation!"

"Yes. Any chance you could join us, you know where to find us."

"I'm sure I could do that. Should I bring the others with me?"

"Let's just start with you, then we can decide what to do. That sound reasonable to you?"

"Sure, give me a few minutes. At this distance I don't want to jump straight into your place, so I'll probably stop off at the island in the country park first, bit more space if I get my positioning wrong. What's the weather like down there?"

Serena had no worries about jumping into a room with a load of burly SAS men in: she had been training with them all at various times, and a lot of trust had built up between them, in both directions.

"Absolutely bucketting down... you'll want your waterproof!"

"Ok, see you soon...."

Serena had a word with her parents: they still got a bit worried about Serena when she went off to do training - despite the fact that her only injuries so far had been very minor, and usually quickly healed by Samantha. The fact that Serena was going off on an evening, at short notice, worried them a little more than normal.

"Don't worry, I've got a team of big burly guys to help protect me...". Serena had never explicitly told her parents that she was training with the SAS, she had just called them 'a small team of experienced military guys'. Mind you, she hadn't told them about the cache of weapons that she had access to either: I think that if they had known about both of those, they would be having heart attacks. But so far, true to her word, despite sometimes coming home caked in mud or oil or whatever, she had always comeback safely.

Teleporting such a distance would need her to use some dark magic, which in turn meant that she needed to take the ring (made of the 'dark' metal) off her finger, and split it up and fit the rings to her lip and nose. Next, she called up her 'military outfit' (not quite sure how to describe it, but it was the clothes that they had all got as part of the cache of magic weapons), and put it on. Over the top, she wore the substantial waterproof jacket (given to her during one of their training session recently). She stood in the hallway, and relaxed, taking a few deep breaths. "Oh, Wanda, braces... going to need a bit of the darker stuff, we need to go to the island first of all, then from there, a much more accurate jump over to the SAS guys...". She had teleported to the island many times now, just not from this distance. But because the location was 'well tagged' on those many yellow-stickies she had filed in her mind, she could soon feel the place. Yes, it was definitely raining hard, so possibly muddy under foot.

A moment later she was there, the rain coming down hard on her head. She was within a foot or two of where she had intended (which over the diatance wasn't that bad), and was only an inch too high..

She took a few breaths to recover from the long teleport. Luckily the next one was easy by comparison. She probed over to where she expected the guys to be: captain Hughes was there by himself.

"You're right, it's wet out!" said Serena as she laned just in front of him. "So, where is everyone?"

"They're in a briefing room, but I thought it better for you to land away from 'prying eyes'. Put this on..." He handed Serena her site ID badge: they had long ago agreed that John would look after it for her, it wasn't the sort of thing you wanted to get lost out in public! But with the ID, Serena would be far less likely to be stopped. "Come on, let's go there....". They walked from the 'hut' where the guys effectively lived, over to the main building, and into a fairly large room. The 16 members of the troop were there, as well as Major Tom, plus a few others she didn't recognise.

"Thank you for coming Serena!" said Major Tom. "John, do you want to explain?"

"Sure. Ok, Serena, we have what we believe is a terrorist hostage situation, in Reading. There's a team from London there now, but from reports we believe that the terrorists have all angles covered, so trying to get in will be hard... well, for THEM it would be."

"You're thinking about us teleporting in?"

"Yes, but there's a few issues before we can do that. First of all, it's going to take us an hour to get there without your help. Second, we need to know what's in there, and we're aware that our probing skills aren't all that great. We need your help on both those. Plus we could do with any suggestions, you know your capabilities far better than any of us do!"

"How many people are we talking about?"

"We believe between 6 and 8 terrorists, and probably a dozen or more hostages. At the moment, the only presence visible to the terrorists are the Police, who are trying to buy a little time. Obviously they don't know about our guys being on site, but can probably guess that there would be some sort of military presence. I guess I should say: don't worry, we're not expecting you to be DIRECTLY involved. You'd be close by, but in a safe location. We need your skills to understand who is where, so we can get in, and do what we do best - the last thing we want is casualties. So, let me show you the building, and a rough building layout...".

The captain explained the layout, and where they believed everyone was.

"This may sound a bit presumptive, but I think we ought to get Elida or Poppy, and the FAS involved..." suggested Serena. "I mean they could go in and see EXACTLY what's what, without being seen. And do we know if any of the terrorists are witches?" Out the corner of her eye she could see that, of the faces she didn't recognise, several were looking a bit confused. "John, do those guys know... well, about the FAS and Elida or Poppy?"

"Nope. They know that we are witches, and that you're a much more powerful witch. But that's about it. You want to explain?"

"Ok..." Deep breath. "Gents, please have a VERY open mind. Elida and Poppy are both very powerful fairies. Yes, fairies DO exist, with the advantage that, generally, they arte not visible to us humans. The FAS is the 'Fairy Air Services', modelled on you guys, they've been training with us recently. I guess I'd better get in touch with them...". Serena smiled. "Boy, are you guys about to get a surprise! Ok, here goes: I wish I could speak to either Elida or Poppy like right now, this is pretty urgent, code red and all that stuff!". A small fairycake appeared on the table in front of Serena, which confused her, as a couple of months ago Elida and Poppy had worked out some fairy magic that allowed them to be visible to humans.

Serena ran her 'show fairies' spell, to find a fairy that she hadn't met before standing on the table in front of her. Needless to say, a few jaws were dropping on the other side of the room.

"Hi Serena, I'm Winnie. Elida and Poppy are both 'off duty' right now, we're trying to get in touch with them..."

"Hi Winnie, nice to meet you. Thanks for the quick response. This IS all pretty important. Hey, you in a position to get the FAS guys ready to help us?"

"Sorry, no, you'll need to speak to Elida or Poppy. Hang on.... ok.... she'll call you on your phone in a few seconds.... I'll hang around in case you need anything else!"

"Thanks Winnie!". Serena got her phone out, and had just turned it on when it rang. She answered it, putting it straight on speaker. "Hi... Elida?"

"No, it's Poppy. How can I help?"

"Hi Poppy! I'm with captain Hughes and his troop, and a few others. It seems there's a terrorist incident with hostages over in Reading, could do with your help, also the FAS team's."

"Ok, that sounds important enough to me, give me a couple of minutes to 'suit up' and I'll be with you. I assume you're out at their base?"

"Yes, but not in the normal place, we're in a briefing room not far away..."

"In that case, could you throw up a beacon, so I can easily find you?"

"Sure, see you in a moment."

"Um, I don't want to appear awkward," said one of the guys Serena didn't recognise, "but you just gave away sensitive details on an insecure line..."

"Don't worry," said Winnie, "the call didn't go over your mobile network; in fact it's probably far more secure than the 'secure lines' you guys use, we often listen in to your supposedly 'secure' calls!". Serena smiled: she loved it when someone, especially a fairy, could put a 'clever-dick person in an apparently high position' into their place!

"Ok, Wanda, can we do a beacon please? And you'd better make yourself visible".

"Sure can, on both of those! Want to ask Winnie if she can see it ok?"

"Yup, Poppy will be able to see that!" replied Winnie a few moments later.


Offline Sparky

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Chapter 16


Two minutes later, and Poppy joined them. Serena and captain Hughes explained the situation. "Ok, give me a few minutes to go and sort the FAS team out. Probably best we all go straight to Reading. You guys heading there too?"

"I guess so... John?".

"Yeah, I'm kinda hoping that Serena can give us a lift there, that going to be ok with you, Serena?"

"Sure, but I'm going to need Samantha. Ok, Poppy, why don't we meet you there. I don't suppose you can give us some fairy comms, can you?"

"Sure, hang on..." Poppy waved her - ok, rather smaller than Wanda - wand, and a set of earpieces appeared on the table, one for Serena, and another 1 for ech of the rest of the SAS troop, plus a couple of spares. Serena and John each grabbed one. "Can you hear me ok?" said John.

"Loud and clear" said Poppy. "See you on site shortly....".

Now, you're possibly wondering where Elida is in all this? Well, Poppy happened to know that Elida was having a rare romantic evening with Puck, her boyfriend, so had decided that she wouldn't disturb her unless it became essential. If she needed her, she knew that Elida could join her at almost a moments notice... such are the joys of being a fairy that can teleport!

"Ok, let me call Samantha.... and Wanda, can you prepare to do a long-distance summons?"

"Sure can, boss!"

"Hi, Samantha..." said Serena when Samantha answered the call. "Look, this is best described as a 'code red'... I'm with John, and we need your help like now. I'll explain more when you get here. Let your mum know, suit up, and I'll summon you here.... Oh, and bring a couple of the pills with you, will you?". Captain Hughes knew that Serena could use ecstacy to boost her dark magic abilities, he had seen her demonstrate it on one of their training missions.

"Ok, I'll leave the call open....". Serena could hear as Samantha spoke with her mum, then ran the magic needed to put her 'work clothes' on. "Ok, I'm ready!".

So, long distance summoning: it's dark magic, and if it's just one person then Serena can cope ok, but a 'boost' from Samantha helps a lot. But she knew that she was going to need to get her and Samantha both over to Reading, then summon the rest of the SAS troop - so 17 of them - over there, which would definitely need Samantha's skills to keep Serena going. While Serena was doing all this, captain Hughes explained to the others who Samantha was, and why Serena needed her help. He had seen the pair of them 'working together' on their training many times, and understood how important her abilities were to Serena.

When Samantha 'landed', she put her hand on Serena and instantly applied a simple 'recuperation' spell. Then Serena explained to Samantha what was going on. "Tell you what, can you give me a quarter of a pill now, I think it will make my work a bit easier tonight.". These were the same ecstasy tablets that they had managed to 'steal' from a drug dealer a while ago, in the previous story.

"So, I'm thinking that I'll start by taking John over to Reading: I'll need him to explain who I am to anyone who sees us. Then I'll summon you, Samantha, and you can 'recharge' me. After that, we can find a suitable 'landing pad', and I'll get the rest of John's team over". This was something they had done before when training up in the Welsh mountains, although the distances involved had been a lot shorter. "Then we can have a word with the FAS guys, and decide the details of what we're going to do."

"Sounds like a plan," said captain Hughes. He turned to his team: "Ok, everyone, grab a fairy earpiece. Jock, once we're there, can you liaise with the other team there, and get your group close enough to be able to teleport in: by the time we do that, we should know exactly what you'll expect, so landing accuracy won't be as important. The rest of you, stay with us."

"Hi Serena, it's Poppy!" said a voice in Serena's ear.

"Oh, hi, can hear you loud and clear!". It goes without saying that these earpieces were using magic to communicate: they were more advanced versions of the ones that Puck had designed for Elida and Lilly and the rest of the team when they were working on the 'Dark Fairy' case.

"So, we're onsite in Reading, found the site. We have a suitable location for you to land... want a beacon?"

"Please.... Ok, John, get yourself ready, transport is nearly ready to go.... Wanda, I'll need to do a long-distance teleport with a passenger, followed shortly after by a long distance summons for Samantha. Once Samantha does her stuff, I'll need to summons the other 16 guys.... We've done it before, just not such a long distance!"

"Understood!".

"Braces, you ok with this?"

"We'll do our best!"

"Can't ask you to do more than that...."

Serena was still wearing her dark jewellery: she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and concentrated. She had a map in her mind: she knew where they were, and she knew roughly where Reading was. (Ok, yes, it was quite a distance. But that's why she used the dark magic teleporting spells!) As she zoomed in, she could work out where in Reading she needed to be, and started to do a wide probe. Yup, there was the 'beacon' shining brightly. She homed in on it, and could see the fairies: they were in a suitably discrete courtyard... a good landing place. "Ok, Poppy, I can sense your beacon, with you in a moment!" Serena stood up, and held out her hand. "John, ready to go?".

While Serena had been preparing herself, he had grabbed everything he would need. Unlike his men, who would be carrying several weapons each, he just had a small pistol, a radio, and a few other small bits.

Serena felt a tiny bit dizzy when she landed: a long distance teleport with a passenger did that to her. She looked around to see the fairies waiting for them. Poppy explained to them both where they were.

"Ok, let me check in, then we can find out where we really need to be." He pulled out his small radio. "Captain Hughes, comms check?"

"Good evening sir, we were told to expect you. What can I do for you sir?"

"Need a small space for 2 of us to land indoors, without too many people around. Describe me a suitable place...".

"We're in the big red building, almost opposite the primary. Give me a moment, sir, I'll find a room....". Serena was listening in, and whilst she realised that they were at the back of the big red building, she needed to work out where he was.

"I think I have him, get him to lift his left hand and wave, will you?" asked Serena. This is a trick they had used before, and John relayed the message. "Got him...".

"Ready when you are, sir!". Serena teleported them both the short distance, and the fairies followed. John recognised who he had been talking to. "Follow me sir!". They were lead to a room where a small group of senior officers were talking: John recognised most of them.

"Good evening everyone, this is Serena. She's civvy, but treat her as one of us for the moment. She'll bring the others here in a moment. And THESE guys are fairies, of the military type, I think they will be able to give us some very useful information in a bit". It was clear from the way they were talking that they were fully aware of the 'special abilities' that captain Hughes' men had, and had heard about fairies, even if they had never seen them before.

"John, I need to bring Samantha here..."

"Sure. Guys, Serena's going to call her number 2 in.... go ahead, Serena!".

"Ready Wanda?". Serena said the words to summon Samantha, and as before, she cast some recuperation spells on Serena after she landed.

"Ok, where do we stand? How much time do we have?" asked captain Hughes.

"Things seem to be relatively stable for the moment, I'd say we have maybe 15 minutes before we need to worry. What we do need is some good intel on what's going on over there." On the table there was a map and a floorplan of the building, and one of the guys gave them as much detail as they knew."

Captain Hughes addressed the FAS guys: "Guys, want to get over there and take a look around?". He turned to the others in the room "don't worry, noone over there will see them, the only reason we can see them is because Poppy cast a special bit of magic."

"Sure can.... Poppy, you stay here for the moment...". The FAS team flew off.

"John, want me to do a probe, or get the men over here first?" asked Serena.

"I think knowing what's going on over there is probably more important, I can't imagine it's going to take you that long... I'll let them know that there will be a short delay."

"Ok....." Serena sat down and concentrated, sending her probing mind over the road, and into the building. All she knew was that there would be a whole load of people. Some of them would hopefully be easily identifiable as terrorists: they would be the ones with the guns she guessed. It was scary, given that this was a real live situation, but she felt safe, knowing that there were several solid walls between them and her.

"There's a lot of people over there..." said Serena. She knew she needed to try and describe who was where. "Ok, they seem to be in THAT room..." she said, pointing at the plans of the building. "Group of 'normies' over towards there...." she said, pointing  again. "Two guys with some sort of rifles looking out the windows at the front.... sorry, one each side....". She 'wandered' around the room, knowing that the FAS guys would be there in a moment too.

"Ok, we're in.." said a voice in her ear.

"Guys" said captain Hughes, "Serena's doing a sweep of the main room where most people seem to be, can you do a careful sweep of the rest of the building, we don't need any surprises...."

"Roger that..."

"One here, another here, they seem to be watching the hostages.... so that's four of them...." said Serena, once again pointing at the plans. As she spoke, someone else scribbled notes on the plan.

"We have another two in a room adjacent" said one of the FAS guys in their ears. "They're watching the back of the building..."

"Thanks for that! Serena, can you carefully check all the hostages, they could easily have a 'stooge' planted there, seen that sort of trick before....".

Serena started homing in on the group of hostages. "What am I looking for?"

"Hidden gun, ear comms, anything that doesn't seem quite right...."

"Hmm, one guy with a Bluetooth headset... why would he still have THAT in I wonder. Hmm, interesting, he has two phones. Shit, I think he's got a gun under his arm too!". She tried to describe where he was, and his clothes.

"Well spotted... keep going.."

"Want us to check him out" said one of the FAS team in their ears.

"Good idea, do it!" said captain Hughes.

Serena continued 'walking around' the room, but didn't see anything else that seemed out of place. "Not seeing anything else..."

"Serena" asked a voice in her ear, "THIS the guy you meant?".

Serena 'went over' to the guy she'd found with the gun, and could just about make out the fairy hovering in front of him, and waving. "If that's you waving then, yes, that's him...."

"Can you scan all the terrorists, see if any are witches? Go lightly, and stop immediately if you find one...". This was, of course, what Serena had done to captain Hughes' team, several months before. "No, they all seem normal. Let me scan the hostages..."

Serena started to scan the hostages. "John, I think we have a witch in the hostages, want me to make contact?"

"Not yet, I think we have enough intel from you for the moment - well done by the way! - I think we need to get the other guys here now.....". He lead her and Samantha out, and into the room where they were before. Serena sat down with a large space in front of her, then Samantha stood behind her, hands on her shoulders.

"Ok, Wanda, braces, let's get this done... I'll do a few summons in a row, then take a short break! Ready there, Samantha?"

"Yes... go on...".

"Oh, I'd better tell them what I'm about to do!" Serena reached out to one of the team over the fairy comms, asked him to warn everyone what was about to happen. Then she issued the first summoning spell, and the first member of the team arrived in front of her. The captain got him out of the way. She managed to summon five of them before needing a short break (and some healing / recuperation spells from Samantha), during which time captain Hughes gave them a brief update. Then another five, another short break, then four, then the final two.

"Serena, take as long as you need to recover, I'll sort these guys out!". Serena thought back to the first time she'd ever teleported over to Samantha's place, using light magic, and how exhausted she had felt. And how Samantha had helped her recover. Well, she felt a bit like that, but she was aware that the 'Ecstasy boost' had made her job a lot easier.

Offline Sparky

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Chapter 17


Captain Hughes returned a few minutes later. "Thanks for doing that, it would have been a long drive without you! So, Jock's part of the team team are getting themselves into a location from where they should be able to teleport in. You feeling better now? If so, let's go back, I have a feeling we could use your skills a bit more."

"Why don't I have a quiet word with that hostage that's a witch?" suggested Serena, as they walked back to the main incident room.

"Ok, so where are we at the moment?" asked captain Hughes.

"They are asking for some water to be sent in...." said one of the men.

"My FAS team are keeping an eye on things over there, they'll let us know if there's anything to worry about, but they say things are pretty calm for the moment," added Poppy.

"In that case, Serena has identified a hostage who's a witch, I think she should try and talk to her."

"She can do THAT?"

"Yes, worked well with Major Tom and myself..."

"In that case, do it, just make sure he or she doesn't give themselves away."

"Serena, go very gently, lot's of reassurance.... you'll be ok..."

"Poppy, could do with one of your men keeping a close eye on my witch target...."

"Claude, you in the main room?" asked Poppy.

"Yes!"

"Speak to Serena..."

"Yes, Serena?"

"In the middle of the hostages, there's a lady with long hair, and a coat or cardigan that looks like it's orange or yellow...."

"Let me go over to her.... this lady? It's an orange cardigan by the way..." Serena probed, found the lady with a fairy in front of her.

"Yes, that's her, she seems to be a witch. Keep an eye on her, I'm going to talk to her, let me know if she does ANYTHING that might indicate that she's getting distracted."

"Sure will...."

Serena gently 'reached out' to the hostage that she'd felt earlier, the witch. "Hi there!" she said calmly and gently. "Don't panic. I'm Serena, and like you, I'm a witch. You can hear my voice only in your head, noone else can hear me. Just say hello to me in your head.... Whatever you do, don't say anything out loud!"

"Err.. like this?"

"Just like that. Ok, stay relaxed, don't do anything that might attract any attention to you... you gonna be ok?"

"Yes, I think so..."

"Ok, so first of all, who are you?"

"I'm Lizzy..."

"Hi there, Lizzy! Like I said, I'm Serena, I'm also a witch. I'm not far away from you, I'm with a large team who's working out how to end this situation, without anyone getting hurt. So hang on in there... ok?"

"Yeah, ok..."

"By the way, if I stop talking to you for a bit, it's because I need to tell someone else what I'm doing. I'm gonna do that now, but you can still 'think' to me, I'll still be listening."

"Ok!"

"Claude.. how she doing?"

"I'd say she's doing really well, especially if you're talking to her. I assume she has no idea that I'm here?"

"No, and not planning on telling her." "John, her name is Lizzy, she seems pretty calm... In case you need to identify her, long hair, orange cardigan..."

"Good, continue..."

"Ok, Lizzy, just so you know, I'm a very powerful witch. I've been able to scan the room you are in, and can see where everyone is, so I can see there's 4 guys in the room right now with rifles, that right?"

"Yes, and I think there's 2 others, but they aren't here right now."

"Yes, I've seen them too, they are in an adjacent room, keeping an eye out at the back. So, let me repeat: at the moment, you are quite safe. But don't do anything that could hint that you're 'talking' with me, ok?  Now, a simple question: why are you in that building today?"

"I work here...."

"Ok, sounds reasonable! What about the others there?"

"Some of them work here, some are visitors."

"Anyone seem.. well, 'out of place' at all?". There was a short pause.

"Yeah, there's a strange guy in a blue stripe shirt... "

"The guy that's over to your left? The one that has a phone earpiece in his ear?"

"Yeah, that's him..."

"What's strange about him?"

"He's been strangely calm all the time."

"Ok, so how do the guys with the guns seem at the moment? Stressed? Relaxed?"

"They seem to be pretty relaxed right now, I guess they feel they're in control.."

"Ok, let's let them stay like that. Ok, I need to talk to people here. Relax, think to me if you need me.... "

"Ok... Serena ... thanks!"

"That's ok...." Serena told captain Hughes everything she knew. "So, what's the plan? Anything more I can do?"

"The main problem we have is that there's 7 targets in total, even if the team teleports in, there's a big risk someone would get shot, and we'd like to avoid that. Anything you might be able to do that could help?"

Serena thought for a bit. "I suppose I could just kill them..." suggested Serena "although seven of them might take a while!" Clearly the darkness of her recent magic was affecting her, and she suddenly realised that fact. "On second thoughts, maybe that's not such a good thing to do!"

"You ARE kidding me, right? You can't REALLY kill people at a distance?" said captain Hughes.

"Not kidding at all - I killed my grandfather remotely.... although it was more of a mercy killing: I just stopped his heart..."

"Shit, remind me never to upset you!" said captain Hughes. Serena smiled, and thought again.

"I could summon their weapons... would that help?"

"I guess it depends how quickly you could summon them?"

"Oh, wow, now you're asking. If you think it could seriously help, why don't I see what I'm capable of. Get some of your team into the room next door, and I'll give it a go. In the meantime... Claude, you there?"

"Yes, Serena..."

"Could you guys do a quick recce, work out exactly what weapons the terrorists have there? I was detecting rifles and handguns, but need to know the total, I'm thinking about summoning them.... the weapons, that is"

"We'll get onto it. Your lady has behaved quite normally by the way..."

"Oh, good, I've finished talking to her for now..."

Captain Hughes got 4 of his men, and they all went into the room next door.

"I'd prefer to do this bit with unloaded weapons, if that's ok with you? So what you guys got on you? I can see your rifles, and guns in their holsters, anything else of interest?"

The guys quickly described the other stuff they had about them. "Ok, I'll go for all your guns and the stun grenades.... I'll work my way from left to right, and put the stuff on the table here in front of me. John, can you stand opposite me, other side of the table, it might be easier to just pass stuff to you. Ready? Guys, take a suitable pose.... Actually, John, you come this side and I'll go over there, I'd like to do this without being able to see what I'm actually doing..."

Serena concentrated, scanning to locate the weapons that she was about to teleport. After warning Wanda and her braces, she lined up over a dozen copies of the same spell, one for each item. "Ok, let's do it... Samantha, start timing me....". Serena cast her first spell, a rifle appeared in her hand, she pretty much slammed it into the table. Then the next... and the next.... ". Last one...." said Serena as she passed the last stun grenade to captain Hughes. Samantha stopped the timer, then threw some recovery spells at Serena.

"How did I do, Samantha?"

"Nineteen seconds..."

"That's too long: with seven of them you'd be looking at 30 or 40 seconds, and they're going to realise something is going on..." said captain Hughes.

"I could take the rifles first..."

"That would help..."

"I have a suggestion," said Samantha, "Is there any way we could maybe stun them, freeze them? And when I say 'we', I mean you, of course""

"I can't but.... Poppy? you there?"

"Yes..."

"Can you come through here a moment, please?" 2 seconds later and she was there.

"Poppy, do your guys know any magic that could somehow 'freeze' a human, stop them from moving? Would only need to be for maybe 30 or 40 seconds."

"I'm guessing you'd like to freeze them so you can take their weapons." said Poppy, looking at the table which was now covered in guns. "Yeah, I could do that easily, but not on seven of them without them realising. Let me have a word with the guys, see what they can do... Preston?"

"Yes, Poppy?"

"Do you guys know how to freeze or paralyse a human?"

"Yeah, could probably do it for about thirty seconds or so...."

"That's possibly long enough....thanks! Prepare yourselves to do it, will you?".

"So, what do you think, John? Get the FAS team to paralyse the 7 targets, I grab their weapons, rifles first, then the team can teleport in with close to no worries."

"It's a plan, but what things could go wrong?" asked captain Hughes.

"Well, I just proved that I can get the weapons, the slight extra distance is trivial. I guess there could be a live weapon..."

"That's ok, I can run a Fairytime spell each time you bring a weapon over, check things out..."

"Fairytime?"

"I slow down time for a bit from your perspective, gives me time to check things out..."

"Nice one, like it!" said Serena.

"Are we sure the FAS guys can paralyse for long enough? Poppy, why don't you call your guys over, let them practice on these guys?" suggested captain Hughes.

While captain Hughes went to talk to the others, the FAS team came over to where Serena, Samantha and Poppy were. After the SAS guys had got all their weapons back, they tested the complete scenario: the FAS guys froze the SAS guys. Serena started to summon the weaons. Poppy did a Fairytime spell each time a weapon arrived. Samantha helped Serena to cope.

It turned out that the fairies could knock a human out for most of 45 seconds!

Captain Hughes returned with another, more senior officer. "We just tested the scenario" explained Serena, "worked a treat. These guys were out for most of 45 seconds. Tell you what though: Samantha, I think I need to take another quarter tablet..."

"Of course, there is one big problem with what we're planning on doing... we're going to have seven terrorists and a load of civies who will see what we're doing, and discover our guys abilities. Not so good..." said the senior officer.

"I could always just mind-wipe them all after we're done..." suggested Serena.

"Mind-wipe? You can wipe a person's mind?" commented the captain.

"Yeah. It's pretty shitty dark magic, not something I really like doing - other than simple demos - but in this case, I think it is well worth doing. Used it on the drug dealer we got these E's from, he had no idea we'd taken all his E's!" explained Serena, smiling.

Captain Hughes was seeing another side of Serena, a darker side that she'd not really shared with him before.

"How does it work? I mean, do you completely wipe their mind?"

"No, nothing as nasty as that. It's more like 'forget everything that's happened in the last 10 minutes...' or maybe just 30 seconds. Want a demonstration? I'll just wipe 15 seconds from your memory. That way you'll understand the way it works."

"Is it really safe? I mean, I don't want to forget the last few hours!"

"Don't worry, I've used it as a bit of a 'party trick' on a couple of occasions, never had a problem..."

"Ok, so what do you want me to do?"

"Get your phone out, then look at the clock. Call out the seconds...."

"Ah, ok.... so 16, 17 18 ........ 40, 41, 42..."

"Ok stop there. You'll forget the last 15 seconds...." Serena said the words of the spell. "What was the last time you remember?"

"Um, 25 ... shit, it's 50 seconds now.... I just have a complete blank after that."

"Do you know that you lost the time?"

"Sort of... vaguely... something doesn't feel quite right. Shit, that is so scary! But if you could do that to everyone over there, yeah, that could be VERY useful. We can do it when we're happy all seven targets are 'secure'".

"And we'd need to wipe the hostages too. In fact, they are the ones you don't want blabbing about what they see"

"Very true."

Offline Sparky

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Chapter 18


"Ok,so I'm thinking we ought to have TWO people running a timer, just in case something goes wrong with one: I don't want to be doing stuff by guesswork. Samantha, you could do one..."

"I'll get one of my guys to do the other. Ok, let's go and explain what's about to happen to everyone, see if they are happy."

They went back to the main room, and explained what they would be doing: everyone seemed to be very happy with the plan. Then they went back to the room they were in before: they needed the space to retrieve the weapons. A couple of the senior guys came through with them, to watch.

"Hey, Lizzy, you still there?" said Serena silently.

"Yeah... what's happening? The guys with the guns seem to be getting a bit impatient."

"Ok, first of all, stay relaxed. In the next few minutes, strange things are going to happen, things that you will probably understand, but noone else there will. I need a big favour from you: if anyone looks like they want to do something, get involved, even just standing up, I need you to TELL them to just 'sit down, keep out of it, let the soldiers do their job!' or something like that. Use an 'angry teacher' voice! Is that something you think you can do?"

"I can try!"

"Thanks, that's great! But no hints to anyone about what's about to happen, that's important! Ok, so watch and enjoy the show!" "Claude, how's Lizzy reacting?"

"She's looking amazingly calm, considering what you just told her."

"That's good." said captain Hughes. "Ok, Serena, are we ready to do this?".

"Give me a few moments, will you? Samantha, could do with one of your 'calm' spells, please!" As Samantha cast her calmness onto Serena, she could sense that Serena was feeling calm yet also very tense: she understood that she needed to be tense and alert to be able to do what she needed to do.

"Ok, Wanda? Braces?"

"We're ready!"

"John, is Jock's team ready?"

"Yes, they are!"

"You guys ready to disarm these weapons I'm about to bring in? I have no desire to be hit by a stray bullet!"

"Ready, Serena!"

"Poppy? Ready to do your FairyTime magic?"

"I'm ready!"

"Ok, start the timers...let's do this!" said Serena.

Serena loaded up multiple copies of the 'summon objects' spell, then reached her mind out to the small room at the back of the other building where the two targets were still keeping an eye out the back. Serena nodded.

"FAS team: stun the seven targets and confirm..." added captain Hughes.

"Two stunned at the back". "Two at the front...". "Three and four at the front". "Mr blue stripy shirt too... we are done, over to you, Serena!" said the various FAS guys.

"Ok, six rifles incoming.... one... two... three... four... five... six!". As they appeared in Serena's hands, Poppy 'did her thing' to check they weren't about to go off - not that anyone noticed, as the Fairytime spell made it happen in an instant! Serena quickly passed them over to the three SAS guys on the other side of the table, who took them to the side to ensure they were unloaded and made safe. They were quickly replaced by four other guys.

"Eight grenades incoming in pairs .... two... four... six... eight!" Again, as they arrived, she quickly passed them over, and Poppy checked them. Again, they moved out of the way, and another four guys moved in.

"You're doing well, Serena..." encouraged captain Hughes.

"Right, seven handguns incoming... one... two... three... four... five... six...". There was a pause. "Oh, SHIT!""

"What's wrong?"

"I think Mr blue stripy shirt has more than just a handgun!"

"What do you mean?"

"He's got something down his pants, and I don't mean his dangly bits - that's quite small by comparison! There's a wire going from it to one of the two phones in his pocket. Shit, why didn't I see that before!!"

"Take a breath, Serena!" said captain Hughes. "Ok, maybe you can bring just him over here? We'll deal with it here..". The idea of summoning a guy over who had both a gun and a lump of explosive down his pants was a very scary one, but she was definitely pumped up, and realised that, if they wanted it to all work, she would need to just do it.

"Yes, give me a few seconds to load up the summoning spell."

"Ok, wait till I say so. Mike, Hussein - sounds like we have a phone controlled explosive coming in, get ready!". Mike and Hussein were two of the SAS team in the room with them.

"I have an idea, just give me three seconds...." said Poppy very assertively. She disappeared, and re-appeared two seconds later, with Claude. "Ok, when stripy shirt gets here, I'll knock him out really hard, then run a 'Fairytime' - that will pause time as far as you're concerned. I can then put a sort of force-field around his dangly bits and the phone, which will contain any potential explosion, and Claude can carefully remove the explosives, wire and phone as-is, then I'll teleport us out of here, and find somewhere safe to put the bits."

"You sure that will work?"

"The 'Fairytime' most definitely will, and it will give us PLENTY of time to work out what to do! I can't think of anything better in the few seconds we have."

"Ok, let's do it. Jock, get your team ready to go in... Serena, do it..." said the captain.

Serena ran the summoning spell, and dropped Mr blue stripy shirt in the clear area in the middle of the room. When I say 'dropped', I mean he dropped maybe three inches onto the floor with quite a bump - I'm sure Serena did that on purpose! He started to 'wake up', so Poppy hit him with the strong spell to 'disable' him.

"All done!" said Poppy moments later.

"What do you mean?"

"I left Claude with the explosive out the back and well away from anyone: he's made the explosive safe. And Mr blue stripy shirt's gun is on the table. We're done!" Several of them looked over at My blue stripy shirt: his trousers were down around his knees, his underpants just above that, with his 'dangly bits' very visible! There was no sign of wires or explosives, nor of the gun under his armpit.

"Ok, Jock, you are a go! I repeat, GO!" called out captain Hughes.

The six terrorists in the building opposite had no idea what just hit them: each had a burly SAS man next to them, with a gun at their heads. "On the floor, legs and arms spread! Do it!!!!" shouted Jock. The terrorists, who by now were coming out of their 'stun', suddenly realised their guns were gone, and discovered themselves being hurled down onto the floor! "Spread I said!!". While six of the team stood over each of the terrorists, another three went around, and secured their arms and legs with zip ties.

One of the hostages started to get up for some unknown reason. "Stay down!" shouted Lizzy. "Let the soldiers do what they need to do! Wait for them to tell us what to do!" Serena was both listening on the comms and was probing, so knew what was happening. 'Well done, Lizzy!' thought Serena.


"Hey, Samantha, what's the timer showing?"

"Coming up to a minute and a half.."

"Oh, that's not bad at all!" Serena could hear the SAS team checking that everything was ok.

"Ok, we are clear over here!" said Jock over the fairy comms.

"Right, Serena, Samantha, shall we go over, sort out the mind-wipes?" said captain Hughes.

"Why don't I wipe Mr stripy blue shirt before we go?"

"Good idea...."

"Coming up to two minutes" said Samantha.

"Sod it, he can lose the last 5 minutes!". There was another word at the end of the sentence - it started with a 'B' and ended with a 'd', but Serena said that silently under her breath. She went over to him, and did the mind-wipe: a big smile came to her face. "That's what you get for screwing with me! Just be grateful I didn't chop off your tiny d***!!" she commented to the still unconscious body. She turned to John. "Ready to go? Want a lift?".

John and Samantha held onto Serena, and she took them over into an empty space. She took a look around: the six terrorists were being held over to one side (with guns still pointed at them, of course!), the hostages were on the other side of the room, well separated. Serena decided that she needed to have a few quick words to the hostages. "Hey, everyone, I'm Serena. Just want to let you know that you are all safe now. But please stay where you are for a few minutes, I'm sure someone will be wanting to take you all somewhere to have a few words with you about what happened here today." As she spoke, she made eye contact with Lizzy, and smiled.

"Nicely said, Serena. Ok, ready to 'process' the six targets?" asked John. Serena definitely like the word 'targets', it was so much less worrying than 'terrorists'! They walked over to the first target: like the others, he was sat against the wall, hands and legs tied together, a gag in his mouth, and a blindfold over his eyes: to Serena, he looked to no longer be any sort of threat to her, which made her feel so much better. Captain Hughes had already told Jock's team what Serena was about to do, so they were ready to move out of the way as needed (guns still pointed, of course!)

"How's the time, Samantha?"

"Just under 4 minutes..."

"Ok, I'll cook him them 5 minutes!". She walked along the row of targets, and wiped them all. "Ok, they are all done..."

"Thanks Serena. Jock, you can start moving them out.... Ok, hostages next..."

"Does anyone need to debrief them about the last few minutes first?"

"Probably not.... maybe you can have a quick word with your witch though, before you wipe her?". Serena went over to Lizzy, and took her a bit away from the other hostages.

"Hi Lizzy! Thanks for what you did. You managed to stay remarkably calm the whole time - yes, I was keeping an eye on you, mainly for your own safety. Quick question: what did you see after we last 'talked'?"

"Umm... well, they all seemed to stop moving... then their guns started disappearing. Ah, yes, then Mr stripy shirt completely disappeared. Then the big guys suddenly appeared.... Then you got here..."

"That sounds about right. Anything else?"

"Can't think of anything."

"That's fine, I wasn't expecting anything else. Ok, now I'll be honest with you, what you just saw me do to the targets over there was to wipe their minds of the last few minutes, we don't want them remembering what we just did. And I'm afraid I'm going to have to do the same on all of you guys too..."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I mean, what we just did isn't the sort of thing we'd like the general population to know about."

"Yeah, I can see that, makes sense. So who ARE these guys? SAS or something? And are you one of them?".

Serena was actually able to be quite honest with Lizzy, as she knew she'd be forgetting it all in a minute! "Yes, they are SAS, great bunch of guys, but no, I'm not actually with them, just helping out... tell you what, I'll explain a bit after I wipe your mind...."

While she was talking to Lizzy, a couple of the other SAS guys had lined up all the hostages, ready for Serena to 'do the wipe', then take them out for their debrief.

"6 minutes, 25 seconds..." confirmed Samantha. Serena wiped the hostages for 8 minutes, just to be safe. "Ok, everyone, don't worry, you are all absolutely safe now. The guys with the guns have been taken away. Please, can you go with these handsome gentlemen, they need to talk to you all, to understand what went on here today." John smiled at the concept that the SAS team were 'handsome gentlemen'!


Offline Sparky

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Chapter 19


Serena went over to Lizzy again. "Sorry about this, but I'll let you remember our earlier chat." Samantha held her phone in front of Serena so she could accurately see the time, and she cast an accurate mind-wipe spell on Lizzy. "You ok there, Lizzy?"

"Yeah, what just happened?"

"I'm Serena, we 'spoke' earlier on. I just had to wipe your memories of the last 5 minutes or so, didn't want you to remember the details about what happened. But you're safe now, and the guys with the guns are all gone."

"Oh, that's good. Thank you!"

"So, I promised I'd explain to you who I am. Let me start with a simple question: has your coven been reunited with the other covens yet?"

"Yes, we have."

"And have you heard about the prophecy?"

"Yes, the reuniting of the covens was all part of it, wasn't it?"

"That's right. So... I'm Serena, I'm actually the witch that the prophecy is all about. I had to reunite the covens, and now I just have to defeat a nasty dark invasion at some point in the future. So I've been doing some training with these army guys, and that's why I'm here tonight, although I'm not actually in the army myself. And this here is Samantha, she's the 'healer' in our team, and she's been doing a really great job keeping me going this evening...."

"Oh, wow! So nice to meet you both. And thanks for doing whatever you did tonight! I'm so relieved it's all over!"

"Yeah, me too! Hey, Lizzy, thanks for your help this evening, but now I need to leave you so you can be debriefed."

----

A little while later, captain Hughes called Serena, Samantha, and all the fairies into the room they had been using earlier. Mr Blue stripy shirt was long gone, and the bomb team had relieved Claude of the phone-controlled explosive device.

They were joined by the senior officer who had watched the operation earlier.

"First of all, I need to say a thank you to you all, especially you, Serena. Today we ended up with the best possible outcome: no injuries, no shots fired, all the 'targets' safely secured, and the hostages unharmed. I don't think we could have asked for better." said the senior officer. "I have no doubt that, without your rather different ways of doing things, there would have been several fatalities. Now, Captain Hughes suggested I should also specifically thank you, Samantha: whilst Serena was doing all the 'fancy stuff', I'm very aware she couldn't have done it without your help, so thank you!"

"Thank you." said Samantha, smiling widely: it wasn't often that 'the backroom team', which is effectively what she was, received official appreciation.

"It's too easy to forget that we work as a team, and you guys - Poppy, I'm including you and your FAS team too - all worked together very well. And Serena, you lead the team very well." said captain Hughes.

"Yeah, I kinda noticed you were letting me take the lead..."

"That was my choice, I wanted you to see how how well you coped leading us all. If there had been any problems, I would have stepped in, but I didn't need to. All of our hours of training together have been very worthwhile. I'd kinda been hoping something like this would happen, to give you all a chance to do something for real."

"As part of our appreciation," added the senior officer, "please expect to see a substantial payment in your bank account to cover your 'Professional Fees' for you and your team's work here this evening. You can also expect some large and important doors to be opened to you as a result of tonight."

Offline Sparky

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I thought I'd do something a little different for today's episode, I hope you enjoy it!

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Chapter 20


Several weeks after the excitement of helping out at 'the Reading Incident', Samantha had had another meeting, as the ambassador for the witches and humans, with the other ambassadors from the other realms: this time she went by herself, along with the fairy ambassador. Whilst a little unsure of herself, she soon realised they were all feeling the same way. The fact that she was a member of 'Serena's team' had definitely been noticed by the other realms, and the meeting was very positive, with agreement to provide relevant assistance.

There was also reports of progress made of the previously requested research, with meetings planned so that the researchers could pass on the details.

But for the last couple of weeks, Samantha's life had been surprisingly quiet. Yes, she had some college work to do, but that was all now done, and she was alone in her room. She was currently in her bedroom, sat at her dressing table, and looking into the mirror. More specifically, she was looking at her teeth. Whilst Samantha's actual teeth were really good (she had no fillings) her teeth weren't perfectly straight. Don't get me wrong, they were not badly out of line... they were sufficiently ok that, as a teen, there was no way she would have qualified for braces on the NHS. And there was no way her parents could have afforded for her to get private braces, especially for such a minor 'defect'.

----

Elida went over to the kitchen area to get herself a coffee, when Faylinn arrived there too. "Hey, Elida, not seen you for a few days, nice to see you! I guess you've been busy apprenticing over at FI5?" said Faylinn, with a bit of a smile. Whilst, as far as most fairies were concerned, Elida was mainly a tooth fairy but was doing an apprenticeship over at FI5, Faylinn was one of a very small number that knew the real truth: far from being just an apprentice, she was actually helping to run the place!

Now, if you're trying to remember who Faylinn is, then she was the fairy that Elida worked together with, when they were fixing the 'trail of braces' left by 'The Dark Fairy' (and who we now know as Sebby!).

"Hey, Faylinn, how's things? Keeping busy?"

"Yeah, had a young kid this morning, braces, expanders, elastics and a facemask, he was not a happy boy. Lots of calming and soothing spells got used to relax him. Need to check in with him later, see how he's coping."

"Oh, yes, it's sad when kids need such extreme braces... but so much pretty shiny metal!"

"Yes, plenty of that! So what have you been up to recently then? Were you involved with that thing with the FAS the other week?"

"No, that was Poppy. I was having a lovely evening at home with Puck, and the first I heard of it was the next day when Poppy filled me in. Tell you what, Poppy is starting to give me a run for my money, she's getting really good, and self confident too. Luckily we get on really well, and our skills seem to complement each other really well. Tell you what though, I'm so glad I still get to do some work here, it's almost 'relaxing' to just be dealing with teeth and braces! Especially shiny metal brackets... I do hate it when they get ceramic brackets, or those new plastic 'aligners'... I mean, how can you call those aligners 'braces'? They don't even shine or sparkle!"

"Oh, definitely with you there! I mean, when they first started doing aligners, it was relatively easy to use a few 'nudge' spells to persuade them to use metal brackets, but it's getting a lot more difficult now..."

"Hmm, maybe we should just burn down the places where they make those horrible aligners?" suggested Elida.

"Nah, they'd just build more! I think we're just going to have to get used to the fact that more people are going to get treated with aligners. At least, the good news is that the total mumber of people getting orthodontic treatment has been going steadily up. Plus, with the problems caused by a lack of NHS dentists, we have plenty of people with other, non-braces, teeth problems to keep us busy!" said Faylinn.

Just then, Elida's tablet beeped. "Oh, looks like I'm needed, better go, see you around!"

"Yeah, we must have lunch together some time, have a proper catch-up." Elida was very pleased that, after the 'time loop' events, she had become friends with Faylinn.

'So, what's this call then?". She opened up the tablet to see who and what was needing her attention: she got a bit of a surprise to discover that her 'customer' was one 'Samantha Parsons', a very familiar name.

----

As Samantha looked at her teeth, some words inadvertantly crept out of her mouth: "I wish I had nice straight teeth...".

Of course, the magic of the fairy's wish scheduling system had predicted Samantha's wish in advance, and Elida was there to hear her say it. Whilst she would normally have made herself visible to Samantha, this time she stayed invisible, so she could take a look at Samantha's teeth. Yes, her actually teeth looked really nice, lovely and white (but not TOO white!), and while their positioning wasn't actually all that bad, there was definitely room for improvement.

Now, normally when someone made a wish like Samantha had just made, it would be up to the fairies to work out a way to fulfil the wish, without the human customer actually realising what was being done. However, Samantha knew about fairies, so Elida decided to take a rather different route.

"Hey there, Samantha!" she said gently, making herself visible, and flying into her line of sight. "You made a wish...."

"Did I?"

"Yeah, you wished you had nice straight teeth."

"I guess I did, didn't I? And of all people, YOU got the call?"

"Well, it's the way the wish scheduling system works: it remembers which fairies have interacted with a customer before, and allocates them again if they are available. So, you don't like your teeth then?"

"Well, I like them, I just wish they lined up a bit better."

"Whoah, there you go, another wish!" said Elida, giggling. "So, straight teeth: normally I'd have to do something to get you in to see an orthodontist, work out how to pay for it, and all that. But we can simplify things for you. So, the big question is: do you just want them straightening up, or do you REALLY want to have braces, and do things the more traditional way? If you just want them straight, I can do that for you now."

"You know, that's a very good question!" replied Samantha, looking in the mirror at her teeth again.

"I think braces would actually look nice on you" commented Elida. "Hey, want to try some? I mean, they'll be kinda like 'fake braces', they won't DO anything, but you could see what you'd look like."

Samantha thought for a bit. "Ok, yeah...."

Elida called up her wand, and cast a spell on Samantha: it wasn't often she could be quite so overt with braces - a normal human getting braces all of a sudden would get quite a big surprise, so it wasn't something she got to do very often. She put a simple set of medium-sized metal braces onto Samantha's teeth, with a suitable archwire, and dark blue ligatures. She felt a cetain excitement at being able to blatently give a human lively shiny metal braces, and realised that maybe this was how Sebby (aka The Dark Fairy) had felt when giving her victims braces. "First impressions?" she asked.

"Yeah, I kinda like the look.... you're right, they do look good, don't they!"

"Ok, so you like the idea of actually having your teeth straightened with braces?"

The more Samantha looked at the braces that Elida had put on her teeth, the more she liked them. She was also starting to have some rather nice 'feelings'. The idea of being a 'metal mouth' for a while was becoming quite appealing.

"Yes, I think I'd like that."

"Right, so the next question is whether you are interested in the experience of going to an orthodontist to actually GET the braces, or whether just getting the braces is good enough. I mean, if you just want the braces, I could probably get Faylinn to treat you."

Samantha thought about if for a moment: what did she actually WANT? She wanted to have straight teeth, and wanted the experience of having to wear braces. The thought of all the faffing around if she had to go to an orthodontist wasn't that interesting to be honest. "I think I just want the braces. So what options do I have?"

"Ok, there's plenty of options for the actual braces. But whilst I can show you what they look like, I haven't learned the skills needed to give you a proper braces treatment. I think we need to ask Faylinn to join us, she knows all about what needs to be done." Elida pulled out her phone, and was about to call Faylin, when she changed her mind. "Nah, let's have a bit of fun: Samantha, could you say 'I wish Faylinn was here to give me braces'"

Samantha smiled, letting Elida see the braces that were still on her teeth. "I wish Faylinn was here to give me braces". Seconds later Faylinn appeared. "Oh, hello there, you must be Faylinn, that's a lovely name and I DO like your outfit - it's nice to meet you!"

"She can actually SEE us?" asked a rather surprised Faylinn.

"Yeah, I made you visible to her as soon as you arrived. She knows all about us, we've been training together, along with some of the FAS guys. And I've probably just said far more to you than I should have said!"

Faylinn smiled. "So why am I here?"

"I could do with your help: Samantha here would like some braces"

"You're kidding? She wants braces? Can't you handle that?"

"I asked Samantha if she wanted to actually go to an orthodontist to get braces, and she wasn't that keen: she just want to have braces, to get her teeth straight. Now, Samantha knows about us fairies, and I'm thinking that YOU could give her braces to straighten her teeth, kinda like an ortho would... I'll put it through the system, plus we have three wishes now!"

Faylinn took a breath, and turned to Samantha. "Well, hello there, Samantha." Samantha looked back at Faylinn and smiled.

"Oh, yes, they DO look good on you! I'm guessing Elida put those on you so you could see what they look like?"

"Yeah, I did." said Elida. "I thought I'd leave you to go through all the options she has. I'm just gonna sit here, and enjoy the show!"

"Fine with me! This is going to be such fun! So, Samantha, you want to go through a 'real treatment' with braces, letting them slowly move your teeth into a better position?"

"Yes, I think I do"

"That's VERY ok with me, I'm sure that you know by now how much we fairies LOVE shiny things. And braces ARE nice and shiny!" said Faylinn. "Ok, so let me talk to you about the options you have: let's start with the size of the brackets: what you have on right now are quite typical for modern treatment. If you were to get treated privately, at a more expensive orthodontist's, then you'd probably have much smaller brackets, like these." She waved her wand, and the brackets became a lot smaller. "Much more discrete, but not the sort of thing we fairies like to suggest, just not enough shininess!"

Samantha looked at herself in the mirror. Faylinn was right, they did look a bit TOO small. "Nah, you're right, too small!"

"Ok, well, if you were getting NHS treatment, they would possibly look like this...". Again, Faylinn waved her wand, giving Samantha MUCH larger brackets. "We fairies do everything we can to encourage the NHS orthos to use these, for rather obvious reasons!".

Again, Samantha looked at her metal smile in the mirror. She knew that Serena had MUCH larger braces, full metal 'bands' that actually went all over her teeth, and she now realised that, in a strange way, she was a bit jealous of Serena's braces. These large brackets were giving her some rather nice feelings! And the molar bands looked good too!

"I get a feeling you like those, don't you?" suggested Faylinn. Samantha nodded.

"Ok, so large brackets. Any idea what colour ligs you would like?"

"Ligs?"

"Sorry, ligatures. The small rubber bands that hold the wire to the brackets. I could use wire, if you'd prefer that! At the moment you have dark blue ligs, but you can go lighter, or go for pretty much any colour. There's also silver and clear to choose from. And you can always ask me to change them at any time."

"Let's stay with these blue ones for the moment, they look pretty nice."

"Ok. Now, having looked at your teeth, I can say that I could treat you with the braces you have on your teeth right now. However...."

"However?"

"However, if you're up for it, either now, or in the future, I could give you a few interesting 'additions'"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, one very obvious option would be either headgear or a facemask, you know what they are?"

"I remember a friend having a headgear at school, a few years ago."

"Like this?" asked Faylinn, waving her wand. Faylinn was rather ejoying this 'wish. it was so much more fun tha the majority of wishes that she handled.

Samantha looked into the mirror: she had a metal facebow between her lips, connected to a neck-strap. "Well, the bit at the front is the same, but she had straps over her head?"

"Ah, a high-pull.... like THIS?". Another wave of the wand.

"Yeah, that's the one!"

"Of course, if you had both at the same time, we'd call it a 'combi headgear'". Faylinn waved her wand again. As the extra strap appeared on Samantha's head, a slight tingle went down her spine... Samantha was rather enjoying the experience! "Maybe you'd like a second facebow?" Another wave of her wand, and things got reconfigured: the upper facebow was on the high-pull, the lower on the neck-strap. "Oh, yes!" exclaimed Faylinn, "those two shiny facebows look good, what do you think, Elida?"

"Oh, yes, very nice!" replied Elida "Lots of shiny metal!". Samantha was being strangely quiet. "You know, I reckon a facemask could suit her, I think she should try one...".

"Why not: Samantha, ready to see what a facemask is like?". Samantha nodded, at the same time holding her legs tightly together. Another wave of Faylinn's wand, and the headgear disappeared. She had added in a couple of thick extra metal wires onto her braces - onto the molar bands to be exact - with loops on the front, adjacent to her canines. From there elastics connected to the bar on the front of the facemask. The facemask she was wearing was the modern style with a thick bar down the middle, pads top & bottom for the forehead and chin, with the lateral bar in the middle for the elastics. "Of course, there's a couple of other types of facemasks you could have."

Once more, Samantha looked at herself in the mirror, and liked what she saw: the most confusing thing for her was trying to work out where the strange - yet very nice - feelings had come from.

"Tell you what, let's leave that facemask on you for the moment, as you DO seem to be enjoying it, and talk about other options. I guess we can start with expanders: you don't ACTUALLY need one, but you might want to experience an expander."

"I remember a boy at school had a lumpy removable one of those, he hated it!"

"Yeah, I've seen that they are hard to wear. But no, I'm thinking of one that made of metal, non-removable. Tell you what, let's give you both an upper and lower expander to try out! Ready?" Samantha took a big breath - she was just so glad all of this wasn't for real. Well, yes, it WAS for real, but if she asked Faylinn, she would take it all off her - well she hoped she would. Except...

She nodded her head: her tongue was moved out of the way, and she discovered that she now had metal wires just inside her lower teeth, with a big lump at the front, plus a big lump in the roof of her mouth, with wires from it going to her molar bands... oh, she now had two more molar bands.

"Oh, googneth, icth fiwwing my mowf!" said Samantha with a big lisp.

"Yes, it does, doesn't it. Here, use this small mirror to take a better look what I just put in your mouth. Samantha put the mirror into her mouth, then looked in the big mirror, all of which let her see what was in her mouth a lot better. She was getting those nice feelings again....

"Why don't you just go the whole way," suggested Elida, "and give her a tongue crib and a herbst too??!!"

Samantha wasn't quite sure what Elida was talking about, but she soon discovered a moment after Faylinn waved her wand again. Shit, her tongue was now caged in, and she couldn't waggle her jaw from side to side any more, something to do with the metal rods that had appeared at the sides of her braces. Not forgetting that she was still wearing the facemask! Samantha's breathing rate was becoming shallower and faster, and she held her legs even more toghtly together, trying to cover up the very nice feelings that she was having. She was really having trouble understanding WHY having these braces were making her feel the way she was, although she wasn't really complaining, they WERE rather nice feelings after all!

Finally, she managed to calm down, and her breathing returned to normal.

"You ok there, Samantha?" asked Faylinn.

"Yes, I think so" said Samantha. Well, that's what she TRIED to say: I'll leave you to imagine how it actually came out. But she DID have a big smile on her face!

"Ok, let's go back to the basics....". Once more, Faylin waved her wand, removing everything except for the 4 molar bands (2 on top, 2 on bottom) and the large metal brackets. "So, those are normal stainless steel brackets. I can think of two possible 'tweaks'. The first is what is called 'self-ligating brackets'. Some people think they are more comfortable, but it would mean that you wouldn't need the ligs... like this...". A wave of the wand later, and Samantha was sporting a set of very modern self-ligating brackets. Normally they would be a lot smaller, but Faylin had magicked up some special large versions.

Samantha looked in her mirror: for some reason they didn't 'look right'. Yes, they looked a bit odd without the small rubber ligatures on the brackets. "No, don't really fancy those..." she said.

"That's fine with us, we much prefer the normal ones, much more sparkly! Now, the OTHER possibility is to have the normal brackets, but gold plated. Want a look?"

"Oh, definitely!". Her brackets changed back to the more normal type, with the dark blue ligs on again, but this time they were golden. They DID look rather nice!

"Like the self-ligating ones, they WOULD normally be much smaller - after all, if you can afford gold plated braces, you'd not normally want them to be QUITE so obvious, would you? But I think they look so much nicer when they are bigger, don't you agree, Elida?"

"Oh yes, so much nicer and far more sparkly and shiny!"

"I think that's about it as far as fixed braces go - well ignoring lingual braces that is, but who wants to have braces that noone can see? How stupid! Of course, I could treat you with removable braces, with springs in them...."

"You know," said Samantha, admiring her smile in the mirror, "I do rather like these braces!"

"Actually, I just thought of something you've missed, Faylinn: a removable bite plate!" suggested Elida.

"Oh, yes, silly me! Although I have a feeling that Samantha won't like it. No reason we couldn't try it though....". Faylin waved her wand, and suddenly Samantha could feel a big lump of plastic appear at the front of her mouth, at the top. She ran her tongue over it: it felt strangely nice.

"You know, it thort feelths nithe" said Samantha. "Ith it re... we... wrrwwremovable?"

"That one is, although I could give you a fixed one?"

"How do I wrrwwremove it?"

"Clips that go just above your rear molars. Tell you what, look in the mirror, and I'll show you how to get it out." As Samantha looked in the mirror, Faylin used her magic to slowly pull out the clasps enough to go over Samantha's brackets, then pulled gently down: the bite plate fell into Samantha's mouth, and she was able to remove it.

"You know, I don't think I'd want to wear this all the time, but it could be fun to wear it, like when I'm in bed."

"Yes, that would be ok, if you'd like that."

"So, how long will it take for my teeth to move into place with these braces?"

"For you, any time between 1 day and 5 years! And you can change your treatment length any time you like. How long would you like to have them? I mean, normal treatment for your teeth would probably be something like 9 months, they really aren't all that bad. But don't forget, you'll have to wear retainers afterwards! Ok, only joking about that bit, you don't HAVE to have retainers, if you don't want them: the magic will hold your teeth perfectly in the right place."

"Nine months seems fine to me! And I guess we can talk about retainers nearer the time?".

Samantha sat looking at her teeth and lovely braces in the mirror. Next to her were two small fairies, also having a good look....

Offline Sparky

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Chapter 21


"So, how's it going, being an ambassador then?" Serena asked Samantha.

"Yeah, it's a lot easier than I thought it would be, probably helped by the fact that almost everyone else is inexperienced too. It's a bit weird talking with elves and cylops and goblins though."

Serena had actually been talking with Samantha for most of five minutes when she realised something was different about her. She watched Samantha's mouth carefully. Yes, no doubt about it, she had braces.

"Hey, Samantha... so when did you get the braces then?"

"Ah, yes... my braces... I got them last night."

"Last night? I wasn't aware there was an 'all night orthodontist' around here!"

"Yeah, it was  ore of a 'home call service'." Serena was being abit slow today. "From Faylinn and Elida Orthodontic Services!"

"Ah, so they're fakes then?"

"No, absolutely not. I actually need my teeth fixing, and I was looking in the mirror last night, and it seems I said something with the word 'wish' in it. Next thing I know is that Elida was there!"

"Oh, I bet Elida enjoyed THAT!"

"Oh, we both did. She put some braces on me, so I could have a look..."

"And something tells me that you actually LIKED the look.... so where does Faylinn come into this?"

"Well, whilst Elida could 'give me braces', it seems Faylinn is more experienced at actual treatments, so Faylinn is being my ortho, giving me braces that will slowly sort out my teeth. She's good, she showed me all sorts of options..."

"And something tells me that, while she did that, Elida just looked on?" said Serena with a smirk.

"You clearly know Elida far too well, Serena!"

"I probably do. But I have a LOT of time for her and Poppy too, they are both very capable fairies, but also have no problems enjoying themselves with a bit of fun at the same time. The only thing you have to watch with the fairies is that they really DO like anything that's shiny and sparkly! So, how the braces feeling? Any soreness?"

"Oh, come on Serena, I'm a healer, I never have to suffer pain!!"

"Sorry, yes, that was a stupid comment!"

"Hey, Serena, did you ever get the money the army guy promised?"

"Oh, yes, it arrived yesterday. Quite a substantial sum too! I think we four need to sit down together, and work out how we want to use it. It'll cover any expenses for a while, and then some..."

"When you say 'substantial', HOW substantial?"

"Put it this way, there's a comfortable 5 figures, and that's NOT including the pence..."

"Oh, THAT substantial!" said Samantha after she realised what Serena had just said. "But why so much?"

"I guess when you consider the cost of what COULD have happened without our help, it's quite small in comparison. I'm also thinking that certain people have realised that, if we don't manage to stop the 'invasion' when it actually happens, then even a couple of million would be no more than a pee in a bucket. They need us as much as we need them. And by comparison, we're cheap."

"When you put it like that, yes....

"Yeah, so the pressure of us needing to get a job is pretty much gone now. We can concentrate on our magic and stuff...".

They sat quietly for a moment.

"You know, I never PROPERLY thanked you for what you did the other night: you just kept on doing exactly what I needed, and exactly when I needed it. All our training is starting to pay off." commented Serena.

Samantha had a big smile on her face (one full of metal of course): while she knew that what she did was important, and was appreciated, it did feel good when someone actually SAID it!



Offline Sparky

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Chapter 22

Time skips forward a bit here, by several months.

It is clear that 'one of those doors' as mentioned a couple of chapters ago, has been opened for them. As a brief explanation, the "Chiefs of Staff Committee" is the small group of military big-wigs that basically run the military in the UK: everyone else reports to them.

Kinda Like Lilly, Tats and Elida over in the fairy realm, I guess!

--------


"Good morning, gentlemen, thank you all for your time." The audience was the Chief of the Defence Staff, and the other 5 members of the Chiefs of Staff Committee... in other words, the top 6 UK military guys. The man talking was Brigadier General Smith, head man of the SAS.

As well as the 7 men already mentioned, Major Tom and Captain Hughes were also present at the front of the room. In addition, there were 4 other chairs at the front, currently empty. In addition, a non-descript army member stood by the door, holding a loaded semi-automatic weapon.

"The briefing you are about to receive may seem rather 'far fetched', but I can assure you that it is 100% authentic, and something we need to take 100% seriously. I'm now going to hand over to Captain Hughes, 22 SAS."
 
"Thank you sir. We have recently become aware of a rather serious and major military event that will occur sometime in about 15 months time, in the south of the country. It will be in the form of a 'magical invasion', which we actually need to ask our traditional miltary forces to completely ignore." There were 6 very confused high-ranking officers listening to this.

"I need to invite 4 special visitors to join us: for the benefit of the lieutenant by the door, the four visitors HAVE been invited, so please do NOT shoot them! Serena, when you're ready..."

10 seconds later, Serena, Harper, Sarah and Samantha all suddenly appeared at the front of the room. Rather than being in their normal clothes, they had decided that the 4 outfits that had come with all their weaponry would probably make a much better impression.

"Sorry for the delay, I screwed up the teleportation spell first time around!". The 6 big-wigs were visibly shocked at what they had just seen.

"You'd better put these on...." said Captain Hughes, passing them all 'visitor' badges with photos on.

While the other three sat down, Serena remained standing and addressed the audience.

"Good morning sirs, my name is Serena, and I am a rather powerful witch. What you just saw there was a teleportation spell, a way to get from where we were, to here, a distance of about a mile: I felt that if I just walked in through the door, you might have problems appreciating that magic actually exists. And as you can see, it most definitely does! Although I'm sure you must have already been briefed about Captain Hughes' troop of witches.".

Five minutes ago, Serena had felt distinctly nervous: it not often that a 19 year old girl gets to address the top 6 military guys in the UK. But, of course, help was to hand: Samantha ran a couple of calming spells on Serena, so when she had started to speak, she had not felt at all nervous.

"Let me introduce my friends: Sarah is my mentor, Harper is now a very able fighter, and Samantha is an impressive healer. I am here today to deliver a very important message, but before we get there, I think I need to explain a bit about the history of witches in England, who I actually am, and why I am here today."

Major Tom had explained that she needed to be authoritive, and simply present facts. As long as she did so, she could expect to not be interrupted, until she asked for feedback.

Serena explained how, in the middle ages - so over 500 years ago - witches were actually quite common, providing back then the sort of services that doctors do now: helping with hurting arms and legs, reducing headaches, and that sort of thing. Some of the witches were more able - just like many trades today - and could carry out stronger magic. And whilst there were a few 'bad witches', the vast majority practiced good magic.

"Then, about 500 years ago, people started to get scared of witches, and that's when many witches got burned at the stake, or drowned. The number of witches was clearly reduced, and those left tended to keep quiet about their abilities, lest they were also killed by the mob. The many covens who had previously interacted with each other became isolated. And around this time, just before the 'troubles', a prophecy was made. Of course, back then, it was passed down verbally - few people could write - and that is why each coven appears to have a slightly different prophecy," explained Serena.

"Gentlemen" interrupted Captain Hughes, "If you take a look at your briefing packs, then items 3a through 3d are copies of four of those prophecies. I'll let Serena explain further."

"So, yes, whilst different, the message is very similar in all the prophecies I've seen. The first - so 3a - comes from my own coven. But if you look at 3b instead, you should be able to see that the first part pretty much describes things from our very recent history. You'll note there's a bit there about "the plague of the mask", which I think describes the recent Covid issues rather well. Before I go any further though, I think I need to tell you a bit about myself..." Serena paused for a moment.

"Up until I was 16, I was like you: I knew nothing of witches and magic: our coven was what we would call a 'closed coven', whereby under-16's were simply not told anything about witches or magic. On my 16th birthday, my parents told me that I was, like them, a witch, and that I would be able to learn to do magic. Good magic, of course. So what sort of thing do I mean? A child falls over in the playground, hurting themselves, so a good witch parent might cast a calming spell, or a simple healing spell. For most people, my parents included, that's about as far as it goes.". A short pause for breath.

"In fact, I picked up magic very quickly: to me it was really obvious and simple. Then, on my 18th birthday, I was expected to make a pledge in front of the members of my coven. A pledge to the light, of course. But for some unknown reason, I wasn't able to do that. There was no way I could pledge to the darkness, so I instead pledged to the 'light grey', which upset most of my coven! Luckily one of our elders had recently read the prophecy - specifically the one that's item 3a - which seemed to describe me rather well. If you've wanting to know about that 'mouth of metal', then you may have noticed that I have orthodontic braces: if you were to look closely, you would see that the braces are quite extreme, meaning that I do indeed have a 'mouth of metal'. You'll see that the prophecies all go on to say that I will re-unite the covens of the land, which is something that I am doing at the moment. It goes on to say that I will go on to 'defeat the attacks of the darkness', and if you turn to item 3c, and look at the same part in that version, you'll see that I will have 2 others by my side - Sarah and Harper here - and a third one who does not fight: that is Samantha, a powerful witch, with the skills of healing and calming."

Once again, Serena paused for a moment.

"So you are saying that you are the four named in this supposed prophecy?" asked one of the big-wigs.

"First of all, there's no 'supposed': these are examples of many very old documents which  seem to describe events of the last couple of decades very accurately, plus clearly describe the the four of us - if you'd like to waste time, I could describe many more things which back up our 'claim'".

Once again, Captain Hughes stepped up to the front. "Gentlemen, I can assure you that my troop have all seen evidence to back up Serena's claims. Plus, as you already know, we are all witches too".

While Captain Hughes was talking, for some reason Serena felt she should lightly scan the 6 military bigwigs: she got a bit of a shock to discover that one of them was actually a witch.

"Excuse me, the gentleman who is third from my left.." Serena pointed to who she meant. "Who are you, please sir?". The man introduced himself as Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff, Major General Disorder.

"Major General, let me put this simply: would you please like to tell the rest of us the 'special skills' that you have? Or maybe you would prefer me to tell everyone?".

The room went silent, with eyes looking first at Serena, then at the Major General.

"Major General?" prompted Serena silently, speaking directly into the Major General's mind.

"Um, yes... Ok, so I AM actually a witch myself, although I never use any magical powers... But how did you know?"

"Thank you, sir, for confirming that. How did I know? Did I mention that I am a witch who pledged to the 'light grey'? Which means that I am able to use certain dark magic spells,  including the ability to scan people to see if they are witches. By our reckoning, there's maybe several hundred witches within the armed forces, although the vast majority - like you - don't use their skills. Some, like the members of Captain Hughes' SAS troop, actually use the limited amount of magic they are able to do. But Major General, can you confirm what I've been saying?"

"Well, I'm not actually familiar with the prophecies that you mention, although I have heard of its existence. Your description of the history, what most witches do, and the pledging are all quite accurate."

"Thank you very much, sir, for your honesty: it will hopefully make the rest of my job here today a lot easier. So, on to the next bit of those prophecies. The bit about having to fight and defeat some sort of dark threat: that's the real reson for us being here today."

With the 'outing' of Major General Disorder, Serena's job had just become a lot simpler. The next bit should be interesting though...

"We recently received some very credible intelligence from one of the other six realms about that dark threat, and how it could affect all of the seven realms." Serena was looking at 7 very confused high-ranking military officers.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot to explain about the realms, didn't I? So, we humans are not alone, there are 6 other realms, invisible to most of you: the fairies, the Elves, the Cyclops, the Leprechauns, the Goblins, and finally the Centaurs." There were still 6 very confused faces looking at Serena.

"Well, assuming they found us all ok, there should be a couple of fairies here with us, in this room. In fact, I am hoping they've been here all the time. Wanda, visible to all please!". The seven faces were starting to expect strange things to happen, so Wanda's appearance wasn't so big a surprise. Serena cast the spell, and the two small fairies became visible: they were actually both sat cross-legged on the table in front of the 7 military big-wigs. Jaws dropped as they saw the small creatures.

"Let me introduce two very important fairies: Elida and Poppy. They are both very powerful fairies, in the same way that I am a very powerful witch. Elida helps to run FI5, the fairy equivalent of MI5. Elida, maybe you can explain a bit more about the realms?"

"I certainly can, Serena. Good morning everyone. So yes, you guys are all part of the human realm. We fairies have our own realm, although it is very close to the human realm. And as you may or may not know, we fairies exist to help humans, and grant their wishes, using magic: for example, by training, I'm a tooth fairy, and I help kids with anything to do with teeth, including braces. The other five realms are, as Serena said, the Elves, Cyclops, Leprechauns, Goblins, and Centaurs... We all live in our own magical realms, but there is an uneasy peace between us, so we all tend to stay in our own realms, although we have recently needed to visit all of the other realms. Does that make some sort of sense?" asked Elida. Several heads nodded.

Now, you may be thinking 'hey you just dropped a load of weird shit on these military guys, and you REALLY expect us to believe they are ok with it?'. The reallity is that, if anyone is going to give a briefing to these guys, then you can GUARANTEE that whatever is in that briefing will be 100% true and correct. You wouldn't have got anywhere near these guys if your information was dodgy!

"I got to know Serena a little while ago, almost by chance," continued Elida. "She told us about the prophecy, and I promised that we fairies would help, if we could. So, I'm a bit of a special fairy..." and she explained how she and Poppy were 'Protectors'. "Anyway, some time ago, Poppy and I were in our Royal Library, when Poppy found a book, hiding in a dusty corner. When we eventually persuaded the book to open, we found a message written to us, by name, from our future selves - yeah, don't ask, it's far too complicated! The message was written in such a way as to not directly give details - we think that the universe probably wouldn't like that, in case the timeline got screwed up, I'm sure you've all seen those time films. However, the message cryptically told us to expect an invasion from an eighth realm. It hinted at a location, and it hinted at a time: just under 2 years time from back then. It also hinted that the invasion would involve magic. And I think that's where I need to pass back to Serena...".

"Any questions so far?" asked Serena.

"Yes," said one of the 7 big-wigs. "How credible is that information really? I mean, messages from the future..."

"Major General Disorder, you are a witch, and aware of magical stuff, maybe you'd like to comment?" said Serena.

"Well, it may all sound far-fetched, but you might be surprised what can actually be done with magic. I mean, these 4 ladies all magically teleported in at the start of the meeting; and who thought that fairies actually existed? I think there must be a high level of credibility placed on any information we are presented with here today."

"Thank you, sir. We too believe it is highly credible: parts of the message specifically related to me. So this is where we get to the most important part of our presentation today. As Elida said, the invasion will be a magical one. And what really worries us is that when it happens, the army, the air force, and maybe even the navy, will want to get involved - would I be right in saying that?" asked Serena.

"I think that we would see any invasion, of any sort, to be a threat to the country, and we would therefore respond suitably." replied one of the big-wigs.

"And the problem is that anything conventional you guys could do would have absolutely no effect. Zero. Zilch. You could probably drop a tactical nuclear missile on the site, and all you'd do is contaminate half the country, but you'd have not killed off the invaders, and probably not injured them either. How do I put this gentlemen? When the invasion happens, as we are sure it will, you need to leave it to us. Us witches, and the fairies, and all the others from the other realms. We can do magic. And I have no doubt that we WILL defeat the invasion."

"Sirs, if I might interject for a moment." said Major Tom. "Captain Hughes' men have seen many of the weapons that have been 'made available' to Serena, and have used many of them: they are magical and they are very powerful. Serena, too, is highly skilled at magic, the men have seen her in action. These two fairies here can do some powerful magic as well... it's a different sort of magic from us witches, and I'm guessing that will apply to members of the other realms too. We have also seen the original 'message from the future', and can vouch for it's existence. Yes, it is written very carefully, but both Serena and Elida have explained the reasoning behind it. We believe that there will indeed be an invasion from another realm, in around 15 months time, and that it will be done with powerful magic, by magical creatures. Our 'normal' forces really need to stay out of things, and just leave it to us, otherwise there will be a huge number of needless casualties. In this case, we magic users are 'the professionals': leave it to us." 

"Also," added Elida, "the prophecies that you have seen copies of clearly indicate that Serena WILL succeed in defeating this dark threat. Serena.... not human armies! If you can believe the rest of the prophecies, then you must believe that bit as well. And yes, I am in no doubt that Serena will indeed become Queen of all the witches, thus completing the prophecy... although I know that the idea of her becoming queen is an incredibly scary one to her right now."

"Gentlemen, I believe that is the end of the formal presentation," said Major Tom, "but I'm sure you have questions..."

"Yes, I think we do. Why don't you all come and join us at the table here?" suggested Major General Disorder.

As they sat down, Serena asked "I don't suppose there's the possibility of a cup of coffee is there?"

"My pleasure!" said Elida, magicking up drinks, cakes and biscuits for all present.

Offline Sparky

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Chapter 23


So where are we?

The meeting with the Chiefs of Staff had gone very well: after several further meetings with them, some of which included members of the other realms, Serena felt that they had their support, and was much happier that the military would indeed leave things to them.

The 'team of 4' have been working on and off with the SAS witch troop, joining them on many more training exercises. The 4 'human weapons from Ireland' have also been joining them, and after a while, members from the other realms started visiting the human realm, and joined in the training too. As, of course, did Elida, Poppy, Annabelle, and a load of the FAS guys. Annabelle's abilities have come along in leaps and bounds, and she has thoroughly enjoyed working with the FAS and other 'people'.

The purpose of all the training was many-fold: getting Serena's team fit and up to speed to be useful; improving the SAS troop's magic abilities; letting the members of the other realms become familiar with the human environment, and see how effective their magic would be; and letting the many different teams discover how they could best work together.

Serena picked up the skills she needed amazingly well. Harper's gymnastic abilities were pushed hard, and combined with some interesting magic, making her a very proficient fighter. Sarah, whilst maybe not as 'flamboyant' as Harper, was finding that her magic and fighting skills were also improving well. They had spent a lot of time practising using their magic weapons, and had become quite familiar with them, as had the SAS guys.

Even Samantha got involved: if she was to be able to provide healing, she'd need to be wherever the healing was needed, so needed to be fit and able to protect herself - and her skills were certainly needed a few times during the training.

The four witches had also been trying out a lot more 'power of 4' magic, and were starting to understand the sort of things they could do with it.

Even more importantly, as time passed, Serena was feeling very much more confident, both in herself and those around her, and soon found that everyone, human and non-human alike, was very willing to accept her as their ultimate leader.

No pressure then....