The Misty World of Arial Hollyberry

If you have been following the day to day adventures of Arial and the faeries you know that a gnome couple, Warren and Odette, came to set up housekeeping in my garden and help the faeries understand human kind. They have been living in a Halloween pumpkin under the kitchen sink until the weather got mild enough for Warren to start building their gnome home in the ivy.

Today is Easter and Bill gave me a wonderful gift, he started to dig some stumps up so that I could plant a garden. Well, when Warren heard that there was going to be digging in the garden, he just had to be there to supervise. To quote Warren, “No one knows gardens like gnomes!” Odette wanted to go out and search for Easter eggs so she grabed her little basket, I grabed my camera, and we all went outside to watch. At first, I had a hard time keeping  Warren out from under Bill’s feet and at a safe distance. It finally came down to Odette grabbing him by the arm and pulling him back before he got smushed. Disgusted, Warren stood back with arms folded, muttering something under his breath about angles of the shovel and depth of the hole. Bill pretended not to hear him. Warren couldn’t hold still for very long, gnomes aren’t known for their patience, so after it became clear that Odette and I weren’t going to let him jump in the hole Bill was digging, he decided to wander off and tend to his frog. One thing lead to another and before long he was happily building their gnome home in the ivy. I think Odette found a few more eggs. All in all, it has been a very pleasant Easter. Happy Easter everyone! I hope your day has been as uplifting ours!

Cythia and Arial were pushing me toward the back door, you can’t tell by looking at them, but for only being three inches tall, they are strong for their size. ” Hey, guy’s, don’t you think we should wait for Bill to get home? I mean, maybe he should be here to help. There’s not going to be side effects or anything is there? You didn’t tell me how long the potion will work or what to expect…guy’s, wait!”

They pushed and I protested right up until we reached the door. What are they going to do now, they can’t push me and open the door at the same time. My frenzied train of thought evaporated when  Cythia waved her wand at the door causing it to swing open, allowing us to walk through without any hesitation.

When the black cat saw us it ceased its useless struggle.  Hanging suspended in mid air by the energy field that surrounded it, the creature stared at us with wild, flashing  green eyes. As we got closer, it pinned its ears back and produced a low throaty growl. Its razor sharp claws pulsed in and out, it was just waiting for a chance to strike.

Arial landed on my shoulder, her usual perch and whispered in my ear. “Do not worry, Kind One, you will have plenty of time to complete your mission. Go to the rear, there is a door through which you can pass. Krystal’s energy is emanating from somewhere in the back of the house. Do you understand?”

Keeping a wary eye on Mrs. Shunners cat, I nodded. “I still don’t like this.” Cythia darted over and flew circles around my head, “You’ll be just fine.” She pulled three strands of my hair out. “This is just in case of an emergency.” My mouth dropped open, “Emergency? What emergency!?”Arial snapped her fingers and the green goo appeared. She handed me the bottle and indicated that I should drink up.

I sniffed it. It smelled like green jello with a hint of licorice, and something else that I couldn’t identify but was slightly acrid. Arial helped tip the bottle to my mouth. She winked at me, “I think you will find this surprisingly different!” I pinched my nose shut and I swallowed the brew.

At first, nothing happened, then everything went blurry. The yard started rocking back and forth. I sat down to steady myself. This ethereal feeling left me slightly light-headed. From somewhere far away I heard Cythia telling the other faeries to float the cat closer. A beautiful rainbow of light shot out of  her wand and the cat went limp. I was suddenly overcome with the urge to pet the thick, glossy black fur.

The world dimmed out. When the fog lifted, I was aware that my hearing and eyesight had sharpened, I felt extremely agile and felt a driving need to hunt sweep over me. With my human awareness remaining intact, I had taken on a feline form. I no longer walked, I sauntered.

I felt Cythia and Arial coming up behind me, in one fluid movement I reacted, jumping and turning at the same time coming down on all four paws, back arched and ears pinned, ready to strike at the eminent threat. When I saw that it was just my faerie friends, I tried to apologize, but all that came out was a mewling moan so I just flicked my tail upward and began swishing it quietly back and forth.

Arial grabbed me by the whiskers to focus my attention. I tried to shake her off, but she held fast. “Remember, you are Mrs. Shunners Cat, act like you belong there. Go to the back of the dwelling and find the entrance, your new vision will help you in the dim interior. Be quick.”

I rubbed my chin up against Arial to show that I understood, then padded softly down the sidewalk and turned the corner, heading for the Shunners property, trying hard not to get distracted by the bird jumping from branch to branch in the big bush at the corner of the yard.

When I got to the garden wall, I sprung effortlessly up and proceeded to follow it to the fence that divided the front of their yard from the back. It was no effort at all for me to balance myself as I edged along the top with my new found feline grace.

The Shunners yard was overgrown with thorny vines. Bare now, but when summer came they would be covered with raspberries.  I negotiated the thorny, dead wood and made my way  to the back door. The Shunners had installed a small swinging door so that their cats could come and go at their leisure. How thoughtful of her. Weird how I could still think like me but look like a cat. This is one for the record books!

I inched slowly forward, pausing every few steps to sniff the air, then moved forward again. I felt a static charge in the air, it made my fur stand up a little and heightened my senses. After a slow deliberate approach to the little door, I stopped, then pushed it opened with my head and let myself into the dimly lit interior of Mrs. Shunners house coming face to face with my twin self, a large midnight black cat.

© Tami Ruesch, The Misty World of Arial Hollyberry, 2009.

“There is another way.” Arial’s words keep echoing in my mind. I remember the look in her eyes,  it was a look of cold determination. This was a side of Arial I hadn’t seen before and I just knew that the “other way” wasn’t going to  be easy. I decided to wait a while before I asked the inevitable question.

The storm had subsided a little, the wind had died down to  a relatively calm, steady, 35 miles an hour and it was a  balmy (Ha!) teeth-rattling, 10 degrees above zero, maybe Orlaith was getting over her anger.

I ventured out at one point, to give the dogs a potty break. Chihuahuas do not like rain, or snow, or cold, or wind. They scurried back into the house, giving me an are you joking kind of glare. I can’t blame them, I wouldn’t want to go potty out here either! I let them back inside and then thought about my faerie sign.

Glancing toward the back gate I made my way down the walk, pushing against the wind, searching for the sign. Like I suspected, it wasn’t on the wall. I found it around the corner, against the border of the garden that runs between our property and Mrs. Shunner’s, it was sticking out of a two foot high drift of snow.

Looking from the sign, to the Shunner’s house, then back to the sign again, I inched my way across the drive to retrieve it. Being this close to the neighbors house, a house that I knew harbored a dark creature from the faerie realm, filled me with shuddering dread.

It was bitterly cold outside, and despite the warmth of the parka that I had on, I felt a chill run down my spine. Using my foot to move the snow away so that I could keep watch on the house, I began excavating the sign.

As usual, the Shunner’s yard was quiet as a tomb. The drapes were closed against the outside world, nothing moved. Nothing Moved! I suddenly noticed that even in this constant wind, the bushes on the Shunners property were standing completely still. Trees and shrubs all up and down the street were tossing madly back and forth, but not theirs.

Oh, all right, you can’t tell me I’m the only one seeing this! The comparison is glaring. Time suddenly stood still, the driving storm retreated, I thought back to when I first started seeing my faerie friends. It seems like a lifetime ago, so much has happened, but it has only been three months.

I have been reading about and studying faeries for much of my life, I know that there bad faeries as well as good faeries, I just didn’t count on being plunged into the middle of a world where faeries battled over control of their realm. I naively thought that if I ever saw faeries, they would just be these sparkly little beings flitting about my flowers (duh!).

A blast of freezing wind shattered my concentration. I felt snow pelting my face and I realized that I had been standing there, for who knows how long, just staring at the Shunner’s house. Even if people can’t see the weird things going on over there, they can see me doing weird things, like standing outside in a bone-chilling snow storm. Who does that?

I shook off my thoughts and bent to retrieve the placard. Standing up, I used my glove to brush away the snow and inspected the edges for damage.The sign was intact. I skimmed over the words with my finger, Truer words were never spoken, I wonder if the people who made the sign knew what they were writing.

Something made me look up, glancing casually over at Mrs. Shunner’s front window I saw her standing in full view, something she never does, she was standing motionless, watching me. She looked like the Mrs. Shunner we have come to know, but now her eyes were glowing dark red, and she wore an evil smirk.

Startled, I jerked quickly around and started to make my way to the gate, the journey made easier by the wind  shoving me urgently away. As I started to round the corner of the house, I risked looking back. The drapes were drawn, and the little blue house with the black roof where our neighbors, the Shunners live, was radiating a sickly green-yellow light.

© Tami Ruesch, The Misty World of Arial Hollyberry, 2009.