Iris's Discovery - Part 6

Chapter 6

The Monster Under The Bed, How Tricky Ricky Met Sarah:

This is the story of how Tricky Ricky, a trickster monster, met Sarah the princess, and helped make her life better.

Tricky Ricky:

I am walking home from a long day of telling and answering riddles, telling rhymes and singing songs, and tricking a few other monsters, it is the things that sustain me, my food and drink, I know of a short cut through the dark forest. I am not sure if I dare go through there though, there are some monsters there that do not like me, because I tricked them, made them feel stupid I think, and it was not really what I wanted to do, but I run as fast as my short legs will carry me, I am rather small, a young trickster monster, and I am completely useless in a fight, at best I can run away.

As I run through the dark woods I reach a still pool of water and I look at myself in the mirror like surface of the water, my body covering fur that shifts gently from blue at my feet through the colour of the rainbow, twice along my body, is all nice and soft and fuzzy, I can change my fur colour, I use that when I want to hide, but right now I am very happy and well fed, I get colourful then, because I want others to be happy too, and who does not get happy when they see a rainbow?

I have a small belt with a pouch on it and although I had not planned to go here I remember that the rusalka Mina lives here and I have some of those candies she likes, she is sad because people believe she is evil and their belief makes her unable to leave her pool, in the past she used to travel through the pool to the pool in the world of humans and from there travel their lands in spring and help water the plants and make them grow, now she can't even leave her pool for long or she starts hurting, because they dislike her so much and don't want her to exist in their world, I think they are mean and they don't know how powerful their belief is, it even has effect here in our world, making it scarier than it used to be long ago. I try to bring her candies and fruits when I find them, I guess I subconsciously wanted to go here.

As she surfaces I can see she is still wearing the small blue silk dress I gave her. I had found it in the under bed, the part of the world of monsters that connects all the spaces under all the beds together, from all the worlds, as long as the space under the bed is not lit by lights or blocked with some big solid object, like a shoebox, if it is blocked we can only see into the space under it, but not go there, well we can go into the beds blocked by light, but the lights made by humans or the sun, if they have not invited us, it hurts like fire. The blue dress had been abandoned there for a long time and gotten all covered in dust, so I rescued it from that fate and dusted it off and it looks really nice on Mina, but she would make anything look nice, she is so cute, with her long greenish blue hair that reaches all the way down past her feet and her hauntingly beautiful but sad blue eyes. Mina giggles musically as she sees me "Tricky Ricky! Thank you for visiting me again! I have been so lonely, nobody nice comes to visit me." her voice gets a bit sad towards the end.

I am so happy to see her smile and hear her beautiful giggle and her sadness makes me sad too and I want her to be happy "I have some of those cherry and strawberry flavoured soft candies you like so much" I say "I will give them to you if you sing for me, I love your voice so much." that and hearing someone sing is one of the ways I get fed.

Mina smiles again and giggles and blushes a little bit "you are silly Ricky, but if I get candies I will sing for you" she swims all the way up and walks out of the pool and sits on a big flat rock that is covered with moss that is right next to the pool and she dips her feet in the water.

I sit down on the ground next to her looking up at her and open my bag and take out the four candies I found in the closet, the part of the monster world that connects closets that are not lit and have enough room in them for us and are messy, if you keep the closets neat and tidy we can't go there, luckily I know this closet that is really messy and where often the girl who owns it tosses the wrappings of these candies and she has so many candies that sometimes she tosses candies along with the wrappings, into the dust that also gathers in the closet, I think she believes it is a garbage bin or something, I take things she leaves there though once it has been there for more than a month, in the dust, I don't think she will miss them.

Mina takes the candies and brings them up to her nose and inhales their scent and her smile lights up her entire face "mmm thank you Ricky" she unwraps one of the candies and takes a tiny little nibble of the candy and wraps it back up again and puts them in her own little bag and slowly sucks on the small soft piece of candy and makes happy musical sounds of enjoying the flavour "what song do you want me to sing for you Tricky Ricky?" she asks and caresses my soft fur and looks into my right now deep pink eyes, my eyes can shift colour too, with my mood or if I want to hide and still be able to see things.

"Any happy song you can think of that you want to sing, or just one of the happy songs" I say and smiles as I really like happy songs, as when she sings them she looks happy and I really wish I could make her always look happy.

Mina smiles and hums a few notes of music as if she is thinking about what song she wants to sing, or making some new melody, I could happily listen to her just doing that all day, her voice is so amazing and I lean my head to rest them in her lap and she gently caresses my fur with both hands, she is so gentle and caring with me. She sings "My Tricky Ricky, the kindest of monsters, he comes visit me, and brings me happiness, he is so colourful, so beautiful, he brings me presents and company, makes my day as bright as the days of springs of old, he thaws the winter of my heart, my pretty Tricky Ricky, so kind and funny, my little Tricky Ricky, my best friend" and makes it sound so good and my fur blushes through a slowly shifting rainbow, and I feel really special, that she made a song for me, and the beautiful joy in her face as she sings it, even her eyes look happy, with no trace of the sadness in them, and I wish this song would never end and that she would sing for me like this for the rest of time and be happy.

"TRICKY RICKY!" I hear a big bully monster roar as he runs towards us and I leap to my feet and run as fast as my little legs will take me away, I feel like such a coward, I hear Mina splash into the water and then from the middle of her pool behind me I hear her cry "NO! Don't hurt Tricky Ricky, you meanie! He is my friend! Stop chasing him and leave him be!"

I look behind me as I keep running and the big mean bully monster is chasing me still "STOP RUNNING! YOU STUPID USELESS TRICKSTER!" and he looks really angry and scary and I keep running and nearly run into one of the trees, I can hear his footsteps getting closer and I run fast and come to a stream and run along it, maybe I can loose him in the under bridge, but I am scared that maybe the trolls will try to catch me, but I know of a place where there is a closet near a bridge and if I am lucky it is night and I can escape to in the closet, and maybe from there to the under bed, where I know the big bully will not fit, he is huge, he might not even fit in the closet.

I leap under the bridge and run along under all sorts of bridges and the bully monster follows, shouting mean things at me all the way and a mean old troll wakes up and tries to grab me, but I am faster and he gets up just as the bully monster arrives under his bridge and the bully monster runs into him "hey you stop that!" he shouts and I hear them start to fight as I keep running.

I come to the bridge that leads to an abandoned lighthouse, luckily it is night in the world of humans, and I climb fast up the rocky bank from under the bridge and up to the lighthouse and through the broken door, and into the creaky old dusty closet and from it I run in the closet between the many closets I can get through and then I see one of their doors are open into a dark room and in the bed sleeps a young boy and he uses his closet to tidy his room, so the room and under the bed is tidy, but the closet is a mess, I barely fit inside it, but I crawl out as quietly as I can, I do not want to wake the boy, humans are so scary, if he turns the light on it will hurt so much, I crawl down under the bed and then I crawl from it to the nearest other bed in the under bed that is safe and not blocked and I keep crawling, some of the beds are even too small for me to crawl under, but luckily there are almost always some beds that are safe and not blocked. More than half of them are usually blocked though and sometimes you reach dead ends and have to navigate the labyrinth of safe beds, and as the time in the world of the humans passes some beds that were safe become unsafe and unsafe beds become safe, because of their terrifying sun, that lights up most homes at day, it has burned many monsters, as its light in a house that has owners that have not invited you, and I don't believe there are humans that invite monsters into their home, they don't like us at all, and they are much scarier than bully monsters, so mean to us. But right now I just scramble from bed to bed in panic, I want to get away from the mean bully monster, I keep doing so for a long time and get all covered in dust and I accidentally end up moving some single socks from under a few beds, I am sorry if any of those were yours, I did not mean to make them disappear, please don't be mad at me. If I knew where the socks came from I would put them back I promise.

I finally find a really dark room and I collapse, I hurt all over from crawling so fast and hard and I pant and start crying, stupid mean bully monster chased me away from Mina, poor Mina, I wanted to keep her company and hear her beautiful songs and listen to her giggle and tell her stories about the better times, long in the past when monsters were not disliked so much. Then I hear that I am not the only one crying in the room, it sounds like a girl is crying, and then she says "who is there?" oh no she heard me, but all the beds around me have just gotten light, I am trapped, my mother always warned me this can happen. My heart races and I half scream in a terrified voice "please don't hurt me, I am just hiding from a mean bully monster, I promise I will not hurt you or get out from under the bed, please don't burn me with your light, please I will do anything you want as long as you don't hurt me!"

I hear her sniffle and breathe and then after a little while she says "I will not hurt you, if you keep me company and tell me a story, and if you can come out from under the bed I promise I will not turn the light on, and I will give you some candy if you like, I just... if you can be my friend I could really use one right now." she says.

I am stunned with disbelief but I remember the human tales and how if a human gives you their name and invites you to their home and says your name when they do it, you can even be in the light while in their home. I am not sure if I am brave enough to try that, but I decide to ask her if she will do that "will you tell me your name and invite me by name to your home?"

"I am Sarah and I will, but I don't know your name" She says and sounds less sad and her voice is not really that scary, maybe human tales are wrong, and they don't eat monsters.

"I am Tricky Ricky" I say with a tremble to my voice, other human tales say that if they have your name they can hurt you, but I she can already hurt me if she wants, so I decide to try to trust her, but my entire body is trembling with fear now.

"I Sarah, invite you Tricky Ricky, into my home, and if you are friendly to me I promise to be friendly back." Sarah says

I feel a surge of energy inside me, like if I tricked someone, but different, I mean I guess I tricked her sort of, but also I can tell she told the truth and feel the change, I am welcome in this home now, invited, and I can feel that as certainly as I can feel that I am really dusty and my fur is a mess. I think a little bit "I want to try something, can you turn on a light that only glows above the bed?" I ask.

Sarah sounds a little confused "but you said light hurts, I don't want to hurt you, are you sure?"

I consider a bit if I am sure and then I say "if you told the truth the light will not hurt, and I want to be sure, but please make sure it does not shine under the bed, I just want to stick a finger into the light and feel if it burns or not. If it does not burn you told the truth."

"I did tell the truth, but alright..." she steps out of the bed and walks over to the dresser and I hear her open drawers and walk over to her bed "I am going to light a candle, if it hurts please tell me to put it out, I don't want to hurt you and if I failed to invite you properly I want to do try again, alright?"

"Alright I will let you try again" I say and she strikes a match and then I see the light hit a short distance from the edges of the bed, and she blows the match out and the light halves in intensity.

With a trembling hand I slowly reach out and poke just my pinky finger out through the edge of light and into it, and it does not hurt and I put my hand there and wave it around in the light and it does not hurt, normally this much light feels like putting your hand in boiling water. Slowly I slide out from under the bed and stand up and my head reaches just slightly over the bed and I look at her and smile and blink at the bright light, but it is kind of nice now, light being nice, crazy...

Sarah smiles and I an now see more than her feet, she is wearing a white silk pyjama, her eyes are blue and her long hair reaches down to past her hips and is golden and she says "ooh you are beautiful, but you look like you got tossed into a huge pile of dust and your fur is knotted and messy, is it okay if I brush you clean and brush your fur, it looks like it would be very soft to pet..." she frowns a little bit at her choice of word "I mean... sorry... you are not a pet, I meant caress, is that okay?"

I dust myself off a bit and look into her eyes a bit "if you don't try to take any hair from me and do magic on me yes."

"I promise I will not take any hair from you and you can even take any hair that ends up on the brush if you want, or the entire brush, I can get a new one." she says and bounces out of bed carrying the candle and she sets it down in a candle holder on the dresser and puts the matchbox back in the drawer and grabs a brush, she is twice as tall as me, like Mina almost, though Sarah seems a bit younger. She sits down on the floor next to me and smiles and gazes into my eyes and shows me the brush "is this safe to use on you?" she asks.

I smell it and it has a subtle perfume to it, like she does, rose, jasmine and vanilla I think, I like those scents they are soothing I nod and say "just gentle, I am very sensitive and I don't like my fur being pulled."

Sarah smiles "I will be gentle, so can you tell me about yourself, and how you came here?" she asks and starts brushing my messy fur gently and when she finds a knot she does not force the brush through instead she puts the brush away and then gently starts undoing the knot with her hands, and she also caresses my fur and focuses on what she is doing rather than stare at me with her blue eyes, she seems more happy now, but her eyes are still wet with tears and she has a sad look on her face.

I tell her about my day, all the way up to when we started talking.

Sarah listens to my story and giggles to the happy parts and smiles and then looks sad and angry about the mean bully monster, and scared about the troll, when I am done she says "I am so sorry for the reason why you ran here, but I am happy to meet you, if I could help you against the bully I would, but I probably can't travel in the under bed like you can? I would love to do that, my parents are so mean, they got upset at me because I talked with the cute and kind stable boy Hank, he takes care of our horses here at our mansion. They said they would have him beaten for daring to talk to me, that we are above his station, and he should know his place, and also I am not allowed to ride my horse Cindy for a month because of this, or even go outside, my tutors will come see me in the mansion and teach me about proper manners and how to treat lesser people, they say the only boys I get to talk to are princes from other noble houses, and only when I am older. I want to talk with Hank not some stuffy prince. I am so alone here, there are no other children to talk with and the grown ups are all too busy, or only want to teach me things and have me repeat the things they teach me endlessly like I am some sort of parrot. I am not a parrot. Though I would love to have a parrot, maybe it would be nicer to me than them." she blushes a little bit "but I am sorry I don't know if you care about all these problems of mine, I just... it is nice to have someone to talk with, I hope I am not boring you though."

I consider the human tales, and try to recall if there is a way for humans to travel to the world of monsters, like we can travel to their world, I recall some stories slightly, some monsters bring humans they capture to the world of monsters, but I don't know how "I know it is possible, but not how, for you to travel to our world, but I don't think you want to go there, besides you would scare everyone, I think... most monsters fear humans at least, they say you eat us, and um... do mean things, and your beliefs about us hurt our world many times, like with Mina, she can't leave her pool now because of humans."

Sarah look at first hopeful when I say there is a way for her to come to the world of monsters then sad about how human beliefs hurt monsters. "On behalf of humans I am sorry we hurt you, and I would like to meet Mina and learn the truth about her and then maybe I can tell stories to other humans and change their beliefs... well... if I was not so trapped here."

"I can ask other monsters later if they know how to bring humans with me, what happens when you crawl under the bed, do you not see the other beds too?" I ask.

"No I only see outside of the bed, I am not sure how you mean seeing other beds, if I saw those things I would have left already." Sarah says and smiles. "There now you are all soft and there are not knots in your fur, I like your colours a lot, and how soft and smooth your fur is." she says and I blush a rainbow of colours for her and she giggles and caresses the colours as if she is trying to catch that "that is amazing!" her eyes sparkle with joy.

"Thank you, you... um... you don't look so terrifying, for a human, and you are really nice" I say and I really want to help her escape now and think a bit and then I ask "what about in the closet?" I ask and walk and open her closet and I see how very tidy it is, no dust at all, actually her entire room is free of dust except the dusty socks and dust I brought with me "oh this closet is no good, too tidy, hmm..." I frown a bit "I... I promise you Sarah that I will try to find a way to help you escape your mean parents" I then consider a bit "do you know what Hank's bed looks like?"

Sarah giggles a bit and then looks sad "the stable hands sleep in the stable on bales of hay with a blanket if they are lucky, I gave a blanket to Hank, luckily my parents did not see that time."

"Do they have a closet?" I ask and try to wrack my mind a bit "I only ask since maybe I could send him a message from you and he to you?"

"They sort of have a closet... they keep their tools in it, very messy. Brushes for the horse, brooms and such." she says and smiles "you are sweet and if you can get him a message that would be wonderful" she walks up to the window and opens the curtain and points "the stables are over there, I am not sure if that helps." I carefully walk up to the window and into the moonlight and it does not hurt though it is much brighter than the candle despite not being a full moon and I look at the building she shows me, outside the hedge wall, the hedge... I might be able to use that...

"Broom closets work too yes, if they are messy, can you um, make your closet messy for me so I can use it?" I ask and look at the stable, I am not sure if the location will be close enough to actually be close in the closet, as the world of monsters and the world of humans do not directly mirror each other, it is fairly complicated, only really close things are close, though not always.

Sarah scoops up the socks and dust and shoves them into the closet and then pulls down several of her dresses and kicks her shoes around "is that enough?" she asks.

I walk up to the closet and get inside it and I smile "yeah it is enough, hmm, how do I give him a message? What does he look like?"

Sarah smiles and says "he has brown hair that looks like it never has even heard of a brush and brown kind eyes and he is cute I think but um not sure if that helps, he wears a simple very worn and broken wool shirt and pants, no shoes, uncoloured greyish white, he is about his head taller than me, but he might have grown even bigger overnight, he used to be shorter than me" she giggles a bit excitedly and runs over to the dresser and takes a piece of paper and writes a letter and then signs it and kisses it, she takes two candies and puts them with the letter inside an envelope and grabs the candle and a stick of vermilion red wax and melts and drips some wax on the letter to seal it and then grabs a signet ring and imprints it, outside she writes "to Hank" and does not sign from whom on the outside, but the seal probably carries some weight. She then grabs the candy bowl and letter and walks up to me "here are the candies I promised and here is the letter for Hank, just promise me to be careful, don't get hurt, I don't know if my invitation extends to the stables, they are owned by my family, and I Sarah do invite you Tricky Ricky to visit the stables and any other place on the grounds of my family, or my father's ship or any other place we own, if that works I don't know, but I hope it does. At least they don't have much light, candles are too expensive for them mother says, they are only allowed to burn wood in winter, and only enough to keep the horses from freezing."

I take the candies and put them in my bag and the letter too "I will try to get this to Hank, or leave it in his closet, if I can find the right one."

"Wait, um... the broom it has many broken straws and hank has carved its shaft a bit, a sort of um" she looks at her dresses and points "like that" she points at some lace with floral motif.

I smile "that will help, I don't think that is normal for brooms right? I don't remember seeing any like that at least, not that I looked at the brooms very hard. Is he the only one using that broom?"

Sarah nods "yeah, his father maintains the saddles and carries things that are too heavy for Hank and his mother feeds the horses, Hank cleans the stalls and keeps the stable nice and brushed clean." she then smiles "I told him to say he invites you to the stable too, just in case, I hope it was alright I gave him your name."

I feel a little scared but look into her eyes "is he going to be nice to me too? Like you are?"

Sarah nods "I think so, especially since I asked, I hope he can read well, I know his father is teaching him to read, but not sure how well he knows to read yet."

I look at her careful and very stylish yet easy to read script on the envelope "'to Hank', you write pretty and well, at least this part." I then look at the closet again and up to her "I will go see if I can find the broom you mentioned and then come back here if that is alright?"

Sarah giggles "the invitation I gave you is forever, or for as long as I am able to make it extend, not just for one time, and you can always run here and stay in my room if some monster is mean to you, I may not be here though if I am at the tutor during the day. Is there any food you like or candies? You said Mina likes cherry and strawberry flavoured soft candy, I think I can get those, I will ask Lizbeth for them, she likes giving me candies, if I am good at playing the harp."

I hug around her stomach "Mina would love that, and any clothes too that are pretty, she is a bit um... a little bit taller than you and grown up."

Sarah giggles "I will see if I can get some of mom's old clothes, what colour does she like?"

"She likes all colours like on me, she said I am pretty" I say and I remember her son and it makes me happy again.

"Yeah I like your colourful soft fur, it is magical, and pretty, not sure what colour works with greenish blue hair. But what do you like to eat? I want to leave snacks for you." Sarah says and smiles.

"I do not eat food or drink, I am a trickster monster, I get energy from tricking others and telling and answering riddles and telling and listening to rhymes and songs." I say.

"Tell me a riddle then before you leave and I will tell you one too" Sarah says and smiles.

"Everyone has it and no one can lose it, what is it?" I say and feel the energy already.

Sarah wrinkles her brow a bit and thinks "hmm a soul, no wait I know that can be sold... hmmm life can be lost... she looks down a bit defeated and then her face shines, a shadow?"

I nod and feel a burst of energy inside me as I do not have to get people to answer wrong to get energy, just them participating is good for me.

"Ok, let me think a bit..." Sarah says and paces a little and then she bounces excitedly "ooh I know: what gets wetter as it dries?"

I feel excitement and energy and I try to think, that is weird, must be some human trickery "you are tricky too Sarah..." I say and look around the room and into the closet, and I feel really stumped until I spot a rectangular piece of fluffy fabric, I remember seeing that be used before by a human when they came to their room after bathing, just don't know the name for it" I pick it up "one of these, when it dries you it gets wetter, is that it? What is it called?"

Sarah giggles and claps her hands "yes that is it, it is called a towel!" she says happily and I feel a surge of energy, answering a riddle does give me more energy than just telling one.

"I want to play more riddles with you later and rhymes and songs, but I want to get this letter to the wardrobe before the sun rises." I say and smile and then walk into the closet.

"Good luck Tricky Ricky!" Sarah says and I wave and then shift my gaze to the other closets near this one and they shift around as in the closet and other places like this are dynamic places, ever flowing and shifting. Then I see a broom that matches the description, and several brushes, a shovel and various other things, loose nails and a hammer too, and dirt and some loose hay and a horseshoe. I walk through to that closet and carefully look through the partially open door and I see the horses in their stalls and furthest away from the door to the outside I see three humans sleeping on hay bales, and one of them looks like what Sarah said Hank looks like, the stable is pitch black, and I actually do feel invited, now that I know how it feels and I do my best to sneak up to Hank and take the letter out of my bag and then as I look up at him holding his blanket close to him, in the nippy night air I see him looking at me, very surprised and groggy looking, and maybe scared too.

"Sarah sent me with a letter for you Hank, please don't scream my name is Tricky Ricky" I whisper softly and get down on my knees and hold the letter up to him hoping that by making myself even smaller I will be less scary.

Hank's eyes go wide "Sarah" he whispers loudly, and takes the letter and looks at it and whispers still loudly "t... to Ha... Hank..." he then looks at the wax seal and tries to pry it open without damaging it and fails, I look nervously to his parents, but his father is snoring loudly and they are both facing away from us, most of the wax does stay together, some of it stays stuck to the envelope too, and he slides the letter out and the candies drop onto his blanket, he sees those and takes one and offers one to me "thank you for the letter Tricky Ricky, these are tasty." I take the candy and put it in my bag, many monsters do like candy, not just Mina, so if she does not like this kind of candy I can still have use for them, maybe a fairy can tell me how to help Sarah. He moves his mouth but manages to at least not spell everything out loudly and smiles "I Hank invite you Tricky Ricky to the stables and everywhere else I can invite you, um for... forever, what does forever mean?" he is not the brightest but he is nice.

"Forever means" I try to think how to explain it best "as long as there is a sky and a ground, stars in the sky, the sky exists, the light exists or the darkness exists, then it is still forever, when none of those things exist anymore, it is still forever."

Hank looks at me "even when I am dead like grandpa and grandma? That is crazy, but I do invite you to this stable forever, or as long as it exists and to everywhere else I can invite you to."

I sense now that he understands what he is saying that his promise strengthens the invitation I already have to this place. "Would you like me to say anything to Sarah for you, or bring her anything? I am going back to her shortly." I look at his parents still sleeping and snoring.

He nods and scrambles over to behind one of the stalls and moves a plank in the floor and then he pulls out a piece of paper that has some scribbles on it made with coal and shows it to me and I see a horse and what might be Sarah shaded amazingly beautifully with coal, and some barely legible writing "my best friend Sarah and her horse Cindy" and a simple H in the corner under the life like black grass. "Give this and say I am sorry I got her in trouble, and um not be sad about my beating, it was not so bad, I would be beaten every day to just see her."

I frown at that "you should not be beaten for being friends, that is wrong, I think... humans are scary and stupid, but not you and Sarah" I take the drawing and put it away in my bag "I will tell her though, what you said, you better hide your letter though, I don't want you to get into trouble." he nods and puts it in the envelope and hides it away under the plank and puts some loose hay on it, cleaver place to hide things I think. "I may see you later Hank, sleep well" I consider what my mom says to me when she tucks me in, and it seems unlikely to really make sense but I say "may the nightmares keep the humans away from you" she usually adds 'my son' but Hank is not my son so I don't add anything else and I look at his confused face, that clearly did not make sense to him, I might have to ask Sarah what one says to humans. I get back in the closet and wave to Hank as he gets back under his blanket and smiles happily and he waves back and then I look around for Sarah's closet.

It takes several really long moments before I find it and step through and I see Sarah sitting there waiting for me and her face lights up with a smile as she sees me and she moves swiftly and hugs me tight and I briefly get scared that she is trying to kill me, but then as I feel she is not crushing me but caressing my fur as well I hug her back and look up at her "I uh gave your letter to Hank, he gave me something for you." I say and release my hug and she takes the hint and releases me "ooh what did he give you?"

I open my bag and take out the paper fragment with his drawing on it, it is sad that such a good drawing is on such a flimsy uneven and wrinkly piece of paper, it should have a nice paper like the letter paper she used, but I am guessing the big mean humans do not want their slaves to have good paper, or something. I hand it to her and she looks at it and smiles wide "this is beautiful, thank you for helping him give it to me. So much detail." she then narrows her eyes and scrunch up her brow again as she tries to read the text "aww, best friend, that is so sweet!" I smile "he also said:" and I mimic his voice and tone somewhat well "Give this and say I am sorry I got her in trouble, and um not be sad about my beating, it was not so bad, I would be beaten every day to just see her." I then pause.

Sarah giggles a bit at me sounding like him and frowns a little bit at the beating part "he is silly, I don't want him hurt..." she hugs the piece of paper to herself and looks really happy and then looks into my eyes "thank you for this, you have no idea how much it means to me, and I would really like to repay you somehow, I promise to look for that candy tomorrow, I have harp practice then, and maybe I can sing for you later, I don't think I sing very good though, I would love to send another message to Hank, but you probably have friends and family to get back to, I can't take all your time. You already did so much for me."

"One question, um... I told him sleep well and may the nightmares keep the humans away from you" I tilt my head "like my mom tells me, but he looked confused, what is the right way to say that to humans?"

Sarah giggles "nightmares are scary for us, hmmm that was funny though... we sometimes say: good night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite, or just sleep well, or good night. Those work. At least you said sleep well, so he probably understood you meant nothing bad with the rest."

"You have bugs in your beds?" I ask curious and walk over and look at he bed, I don't see any bugs. Then I look back at her and she is giggling and shake her head "no I don't think so, it is just what we say sometimes, many things people say make no sense, I know that is strange."

I smile "it rhymes though, I like it." I then consider a bit "you might want to get him better paper and a pen or something next time, I don't know. I do need to get back home though or mom will worry, so: good night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite." I say and feel the energy from the small rhyme and walk past her to the closet "I think I will take the closet out, I think I saw a closet I recognize that is close to home."

"I will keep my closet as messy as I can, and the bed space clear, please come visit whenever you want Tricky Ricky, you made my night happy, I don't even feel like crying a little anymore." she moves up to me and offers me the brush with a few of my hairs on it and I take the brush and consider a bit then I hand it over "I trust you Sarah, and I hope we will be friends forever." she hugs me "friends forever, yes I hope so too!"

When she release me I look around in the closets near her closet and smile and wave and step to the closet in an abandoned cellar and from there to my own closet in my room, I hum a happy melody and go downstairs to tell mom about my amazing day.

The next day I set off to visit the fairies at the fairy circle, and I give each of them one of the candies "I have a friend, a human and her name is Sarah, she gave those candies to me, I would like to help her be able to come with me under bed or in the closet, is there a way for he to do that?"

"Oooh minty!" they all say and giggle and listen or I think they listen, it is hard to know with fairies, they can't seem to focus on much other than eating candies and other sweets, otherwise their attention is all over the place, they flit about a bit in the fairy circle and then one of them lands on my shoulder and he says "there are a few ways... depends what you want to do with her, don't you trickster demons just trick people and such, you don't eat humans, so why do you need her to come here?"

"She wants to come here to help me and meet Mina, and use the closet to get to her friend Hank too I think." I say.

The fairy looks at me a bit perplexed "mmm I need a hundred candies, no a hundred and eleven candies, and a lock of her hair, Hank's hair and a drop of each their blood, and a lock of your fur too and a drop of your blood, the drops need to be on the same piece of paper ripped into a triangle not cut, each drop in a corner or close to it, each side ripped by one of you. Also I want a piece of iron worked by humans, don't care what kind as long as they worked it, and a glass bottle blown by humans with the air of noon in it, with the sunshine. Then I will make one bottle of magical ink, and give you a diagram, you have to tattoo the diagram on her and and him and you with a silver needle that is burning hot, it has to sizzle when you use it or the magic will not stick, it will let her travel the closet and under bed and elsewhere when thinking about going to you or Hank, and for him to do the same, also you can use it to shift the closet or under bed to go quickly to her or him, actually I want three bags of one hundred and eleven candies exactly, well... more is okay too. But I will count them! You better not try to swindle me or I will hurt you!"

Fairies are scary but they do love candy so I nod "I will tell Sarah this and see if they can get that much candy, it is very hard for them to get that much though, but I will tell them." I am not entirely sure I understand all the ingredients, especially the sunshine, I don't think humans can bottle that, but hopefully some of it will somehow be stuck in the bottle if it is out in the sun at noon and then closed.

"Fairy magic is harder for them to get, they should be happy that we let them live their useless existence on their world, if it was not for their candy I would kill them all, with all their cutting down of trees, stupid reckless idiots all of them." the fairy says and I get the feeling this particular one might be a little dark, but still he does love the candy so he probably will not go through with any bad things. Especially if I get him that much candy, I am happy that I did not need to ask the scarier monsters about ways to do this, at least fairies are happy with candy as payment, but some other monsters may ask for much worse things.

I travel to Sarah's room after seeing the fairies, using the closet. It is still morning in the humans world, time flows differently between the worlds, however the closet is open and I can get into the room and I see tucked just next to the bed a bag of candies and walk over to it and open it and the scent is the kind that Mina loves, cherries and strawberries and soft, with pink wrapping paper. I put it away in my bag and then walk over to the curtain covered window and slide the curtain open carefully letting the sunlight in and poke my hand into the light and it is warm, but does not burn, being invited is the best thing ever.

I jump suddenly as the door opens behind me and I quickly hide behind the curtain, though I notice how much I cast a shadow into the room and feel very silly, besides the curtain does not touch the floor so my feet stick out. This is a silly hiding place, but maybe I will not be spotted. However it is not anyone else but Sarah and she is humming a little song, seeming very happy today, and she giggles "I see you Tricky Ricky, you don't have to worry, nobody else goes to my room, I have to prove I am a good woman and can keep it neat and tidy, when my parents come to check on that I promise to knock three times on the door before I open it." she closes the door behind her and walks up to me "so what brings you here during the day, also I missed you, you have been gone three days and a night."

"Oh... for me it is the day after I was here last, but time is different between the worlds, and I did visit fairies, so maybe it is actually more than one day since I was here... I hope mom will not be worried."

"I got you candy too it is over, oh... you found it, good." she then sits down on the bed "so what did the fairies say?"

I explain the complicated instructions to her.

Sarah tilts her head a bit "I think... I can get that, hmmm yeah I can. Except for that sunshine, I mean we can open a bottle at noon on the balcony and let the sun shine into it and close it, but I don't think the sunlight will stay in there. I hope the fairy can accept that, but maybe you can help me catch sunlight? I don't mind the pain of a tattoo either, I just hope I can put it somewhere nice and that it does not have to be big and that it is pretty, but I don't care what it looks like really as long as I can be free."

"I don't like the idea of a tattoo, the only skin I have where one can go without shaving is in my ears or paws. Probably will have to be in my ear..." I say "but I am willing to do that for you."

Sarah giggles happily "you are the best Tricky Ricky" she then considers a little bit and hums a few notes and then she sings "Tricky Ricky, Pretty Ricky, my Friend, Tricky Ricky" she blushes a bit and giggles and shakes her head "making songs are hard, I am sorry."

I walk up to her and hug her "thank you for making a song for me, it helps me, and I liked the song" I did though she does not sing as good as Mina does, but I like it because she wanted to make a song and sing that song for me. She caresses me and hugs me back, I feel almost as worshipped as the powerful monsters known as cats that are one of the few monsters that are so powerful they own humans, and are respected and worshipped by humans. Their nemesis is their traitorous enslaved brethren the dogs, though they say they are superior to dogs, I don't know the truth about that, I only know dogs are scary, one of them nearly ate me once, cats are scary too though, but they are much more reasonable than dogs seem, as long as you treat them with respect and do exactly what they tell you to, you will usually not get eaten by them.

"I think I should go get the bottle at least, hmm and a piece of paper and silver needle, and maybe I can get some candy too, but that probably will mean I need to play the harp for a while, will you be okay here?" Sarah asks "but then maybe you can go see Mina, I don't want to keep you two apart, oh that reminds me!" she jumps out of bed and to the dresser and opens a drawer and pulls out a pretty pink silk dress, with lace and pearls on it, a bit short perhaps but very beautiful "you can give this to her, it does not fit mother anymore and I think it is pretty, I think pink will contrast with her hair and look pretty, I am not sure though." she hands it to me it is beautiful and I put it away in my bag "also I read about rusalka in one of my fathers books, they can travel pools it says, and I know of a natural pool out in our woods on our grounds here, it is near the old woodcarver's hut, he died and father does not think we need a woodcarver anymore so his house is abandoned, I remember as a little girl he had a closet nearly full of cute carved dolls, that had dolls inside them and dolls in those dolls, several levels deep. Also had other things in there that were not finished, I think he was working on a violin or such, if it is true rusalka can travel to pools maybe you can tell her about that pool somehow and then meet her out there away from bad bully monsters and use the closet to travel to her?"

I smile "I will ask her, I think she said if she can taste the water of a pool she can find it, but otherwise she can travel randomly, I will see if I can find that closet and pool. I don't know if time will be silly again, but I promise I will come back after I meet with Mina."

"I hope that works, I want you two to be safe, and nobody goes to that pool anyway, it is too far away and natural, and mother and father have a marble pool in the garden they prefer to use. I think that one would be too dangerous and it has no closet near it or anything." Sarah says and smiles "will work on those ingredients now though, and the payment. My fingers might get sore, but I will get the candy for the fairy."

With that she heads out the door and closes it and I smile at her excitement and I am excited too, and head to the closet and look around for the closet she described, and eventually I see a closet with those things she described and several spider webs and spiders and the old husks of spiders as they grow up and shed their shells, and dust. This looks abandoned, and I step through and smile to the spiders "hi friends, I hope you catch many bugs, if I see any I will bring them to you." they look at me with disinterest and patience, they will believe that when they see it, I think, also I am way too big for them to eat, so they will not even try. One of the closet doors are closed and I can't push it open, I get sad and worried that I might be unable to use this closet, but then I push the other door and it was slightly open, so I could move it, then I step through and grab the handle on the other door and pull and since I am outside it I can open it, better to make sure they are both open, if there is a pool near it. I carefully step through the house and before I try to venture out I touch the sun with my pinky and it does not burn, so I am still invited here, Sarah must count as the owner of the whole land, maybe she is their only child, and will inherit it. I open the door to outside and touch the sun again the same way and I am still safe and then I see to one side of the hut near some old very wet wood logs that there is a very nice pool, with trees growing all the way up to the water's edge shading it nicely and it has a bank with rounded stones, some moss growing on some of them, and several water lilies grow on its surface, very pretty. Then I remember I might need to bring her some of its water to taste and go back inside the house and look for a container, I find an old flat tin bottle covered in dust and I open it and smell it, traces of alcohol and wood barrel smell, I try to empty it out, but it is just traces not a drop comes out and I go and fill the water into it and close its lid and put it away in my pack.

I spot a few flies swarming around a fallen pear and see the pear tree up the hill, the pear must have rolled down here and I carefully pick the fruit with the flies up and carry it back to the closet, the flies are not scared of me though, and too interested in the tasty overripe pear to care, and I hold the pear up near the spiders nets and blow hard on the flies and they scatter and a few of them get stuck in the nets and then I put the pear down on the floor outside the closet, maybe the flies will gather here and feed the spiders more, the spiders hurry up and catch the flies as I use the closet to travel again, heading to my friend the dryad, and her friend the wood carving forest troll, he has a messy closet inside his huge dead oak tree and she provides him with fallen branches of the trees she cares for and he carves them into pretty figurines, mostly of her. Her own tree is a cherry blossom tree. They are closer than the path ran away from the bully with, close to Mina's pool that is.

They are not home, but that is alright, I was not here to visit them. I pick a couple of ripe plums from one of their fruit trees and then put those in my bag and head along the path that leads down to the pool where Mina lives, it is not well travelled, and ends several meters away from the pool, and I have to walk through a few bushes to actually reach the pool.

I look into the water at my own reflection and Mina surfaces faster than usual "Tricky Ricky! I was so worried about you, are you alright?" she asks and almost leaps out of the water and hugs me close I get wet from all the water on her and her blue silk dress. I hug her back, I don't mind getting wet.

"I am alright, I met a nice girl who wants to help you and me meet without a chance of being disturbed, and also wants to help you by writing a story about you that is good, telling others that rusalka are not evil, but nice, and she also gave me a whole bag of those candies you like and a really pretty dress. She found a spot for us to be that should be safe, I got some of the water from the pool there."

Mina giggles and kisses me and I blush "I want to meet her!" she says and smiles "give me the water please." she says and let's me go from the hug, and I fish the bottle out of my bag and hand it to her and she looks at the tin bottle and then tilts her head and opens it and smells it "tainted with rum and whisky, but I should be able to use it still" she says and drinks the water and then looks like she is concentrating "in the human world? I thought you meant here, are you sure it is safe?"

"Looks safe to me, it is near an abandoned building and sheltered by trees and has water lilies on the surface, also I was invited there by Sarah, so I am safe to be out there in daylight." I say and smile and pull out the plums for her "also I got these from Blossom and Cutter's garden for you."

"Oooh plums!" Mina says and takes them she then puts one in her bag and the other she bites into and it is very juicy and she has to slurp to not spill juice down on herself and she carefully cleans the seed up "please plant this for me there" she points to some mossy soil where the sun is currently shining.

I take the seed and then dig up the moss and soil and put the seed there and cover it with some soil, the soil is already nice and moist, I don't know about gardening though, but I hope it can grow there.

"Good thank you Ricky, um... I will head over there now, please get there soon, I am scared of being in the human world, but if you are right that it is safe I will enjoy it, and their sun does not hurt me so that is alright, I just don't want them to hurt me." she says and smiles, but I see how scared she is in her eyes, but she dives.

I run back to Blossom and Cutter's garden and back into Cutter's house and he is still not home, I wonder where they are, probably in one of the more distant places of where Blossom can reach. I go to the wardrobe and head back to the abandoned house near the pool and rush outside and to the pool and just then Mina surfaces with a gasp, she breathes heavily, but she smiles as she sees me.

"Are you alright?" I ask concerned and sit down on the bank of the pool.

Mina nods "crossing worlds is not easy Ricky, it is exhausting, but I am glad I did this place is pretty!" she swims up to one of the water lilies and caresses its petals. Then she takes out her other plum and slips out of the water and sits next to me and eats it with happy slurping and then lies down in the sun, only her feet touching the water "I feel like I was invited too, this Sarah is nice it is rare for humans to be so nice. I might be able to leave the pool if I am right, I want to try, but if I scream and fall you will have to drag me into the water please, since it will be hard to crawl back if I am wrong and in a lot of pain."

I nod and say "I don't want you hurt, but I want you to be happy, and if you can walk freely that is great. I promise to pull you back into the pool if you fall.

Mina kisses me and gets up and walks out of the water and looks really scared as she lifts her foot from the pool and then takes another few steps and giggles and spins around and dances up the hill to the pear tree and picks a pear and nibbles on it and it is juicy too and she has to slurp it "this is wonderful Ricky! You must tell Sarah I am very happy. To feel grass under my feet for once, is very nice." she starts singing some song with words I don't understand, but she sounds so very happy and she caresses the pear tree and its leaves become more vibrantly green and its bark looks younger and the lichen that was growing on it falls away. The grass also gets greener and flowers in many pretty colours, pansies I think, grow as she dances along the grass, the whole area around the pool and the water lilies get a vibrant dreamy shimmer about them and I watch her happily, even the moss on the stones around the pool gets more vibrant. The weathered wood of the house also seems to become rejuvenated and small branches sproud from the walls and leaves appear and roots shoot down into the ground she dances around all the trees that border the pool and then back to me and picks me up and dances with me, I don't quite like being handled like some sort of large doll or child for her, but her hug makes up for it, I love being hugged, especially by her. She finally falls onto the ground with me on top of her and giggles, taking one of the pansies and putting it in my hair, though it is more dull than my fur after hearing that beautiful song. She stretches out and gazes into my eyes "so you said you had a new dress for me and candies, I would love to have more of that candy and the dress too, I am very excited about the dress." then she looks at the plum seed that she had been holding between her ring and middle finger and kisses it and flips it up into the air and it flies up and glows and then strikes the ground next to us and a small plant breaks the surface and stops when it has twelve petals and is about as tall as one of her hands.

I smile as I see what she can do to this place how much she helps nature here, it confirms what I already knew, that rusalka are good for nature and if humans knew that, she could probably help them grow things. I get off her and sit next to her and open my bag and pull out the pink silk dress that is shorter than her blue silk dress and has lace and pearls and hand it to her and she giggles "that is a cute dress!" I also hand her the whole bag of candy and she giggles "I owe you many songs, one for each candy, and several for this dress" she giggles and her eyes look so much happier than usual and puts the candy in her bag and then runs behind the pear tree "no peeking" she says in an amused tone and I look away from the pear tree and she sings a happy little melody and then dances out in front of me wearing the pink dress, she looks so beautiful in it, it hugs her figure nicely, and looks almost as if it was made for her, though it only reaches half way down to her knees, still she looks really happy as she dances and sings for me and then she skips up to the house and pokes it and then steps inside the open door and giggles "I will get this house cleaned up for us!" she shouts from inside.

I look up at the sun, I think it might be close to noon so I remember I said I would be back as soon as possible "I need to go see Sarah" I say and head into the house and she squats down and hugs me and then gets back up and follows me to the closet "also don't clean the closet, I need it messy or I can't go here, besides the spiders are nice, also leave the pear there so it attracts flies.

She giggles and pokes one of the spiders "so cute little spider, I will only clean the rest of the house, and get some life into it, some flowers in pots, and maybe I can ask some bumblebees to move in too."

"That would be beautiful" I say and smile and then seeing Sarah's closet right away I wave and walk to it.

Sarah is waiting and I see she has three large bags of candies, a small lock of her hair, a piece of paper with one side ripped in a very straight line and two repeated folds to form a triangle and make it easier to rip along it, and a red spot on it that must be her blood, in one of the corners she ripped, a big spot, probably to be sure it is enough. Also stuck into a candle with a matchbox next to it is a silver needle, there is a dagger made out of slightly rusty fire blackened iron roughly hammered and then sharpened, and a pretty glass bottle with a cracked pattern on it and a good looking glass stopper on top "good you got here in time Tricky Ricky, let's go to my balcony and catch the noon air." she says and takes the bottle and walks up to the curtain and slides it aside and opens the balcony door and steps out.

I follow her out and she looks into her room at the clock on her dresser, she opens the stopper and holds the bottle up to me and aims the opening straight up and my hand join her hand on the bottle and the clock makes a slight ding and we hear a few other clocks from a few open windows, one of them tolls twelve times and the bottle starts glowing as we hold it and we both look stunned, and at the twelfth toll she puts the stopper back and the glow fades but not completely and she leaves the bottle in my hand and I carefully put it in my bag "that was strange." we both say. Then she tilts her head "what that is not normal for monsters?" I shake my head and said "maybe the fairy did something to me..."

Sarah giggles happily and relieved, she really thinks this is going to work now, I can tell "I have one hundred twenty three candies in each of those bags, many different kinds of candies." she heads back inside and I follow and she closes the balcony before sitting down with the other things. "This is iron the smith said, and gave me, when I asked, he says it is useless though, not steel." I put the big bags of candy away in my bag and I am happy my bag is bigger on the inside and always light to carry, those bags were really heavy. She hands me the lock of her hair and the piece of paper and I rip along one of the folds and then I pull the needle from the candle and pierce my finger and I almost start crying "ow" I say and my blood forms a big pink droplet and I drop it onto one of the corners that border the rip I made. I then put the paper and needle away in my bag too. "I can cut a lock of your hair if you want." she says and I nod "yeah that would be good" and she takes a small lock of my fur in her hands spinning them around each other and then uses a scissor to cut it and hands me both the scissor and lock of hair and I put them in my bag. "Now I only need Hank to rip this and give me a drop of blood and I can go back to the fairy."

Sarah smiles "I have made another letter for him, with some blank papers in and a pen, it is the type my artist says one should use to draw the type of drawing Hank does, I hope Hank will like it. I tell him about the fairy and everything in the letter too, and what he must do for us to be together. How did it go with Mina? I hope no bully monster tried to stop you this time." she says and walks to the dresser and gets the envelope and hands it to me as she sits back down.

I smile wide and giggle "oh Mina, she loves the dress, and candies, and she could travel to the pool, and she is cleaning the house up and wants to meet you and says thanks for inviting her to the pool and your lands here."

Sarah giggles "oh good that worked, when you left I remembered about the dangers and I said that I invited her several times, inside here and on the balcony, I am so glad that worked."

"So am I, and she is so happy now" I say and bounces a bit with happiness "when is it safe to visit Hank?"

Sarah considers "I wait what day is it... oh sunday yeah... the grownups are going to church right about now, even his parents so if you wait a little while longer and then go to the stables he should be alone there." she smiles "if I walk one step south, then one step east and then one step north, and I am standing at the same spot I started, where am I standing?"

I smile "a new riddle, hmmm" I furrow my brow and scratch my head "but... would I not be one step east from where I started after that?"

Sarah shakes her head "not where I am standing no."

I gaze into her eyes and I see no hint of her trying to lie or trick me, so I try to figure it out clearer, I think so hard it hurts and I love it, this riddle is amazing, I am going to use it later, then I see it "north pole?" I ask "are you not freezing wearing just a silk pyjama there?"

Sarah giggles "correct, your turn, I would be, but I forgot to say I am wearing a nice big fur cloak and fur boots and pants and shirt, over my silk pyjamas."

I laugh and think hard "what belongs to you, but is used more by others?"

Sarah raises her eyebrows and then furrows her brow and pulls her knees up under her chin and rests her head and bites her lip a little bit "is it something I can give someone?"

I nod and smile "but you will still have it." I say as I want her to solve it.

"But that makes no sen..., hmm, wait... my name?" she asks and sounds very uncertain.

I smile "yes that is correct, you are good at riddles. I am going to go see Hank now. Be back after that." I stand up and hug her and then head to the closet and then I see the right closet and head into it and then push the door and it does not budge, and I see a piece of bread and a tin cup of water in the closet. I look at that and wonder why there is human food and water in the closet. I knock on the closet door "Hank? I can't open the door, are you there?"

I hear him "oh, coming!" he says and then running footsteps and he pulls the door open "why can't you open the closet?"

"The door was closed, I can't open it if it is closed" I explain.

Hank looks confused and then says "I promise to leave it open, and if I see it being closed I will open it."

"Sarah gave me a new letter for you, and I need you to do some things for me, the letter will explain" I say and hand the letter to him.

He opens the seal carefully and sits down in front of me "I put some food and water for you in the closet. Every day." he says.

"I can't eat human food or drink, or well I can but it is not good for me. You should eat the food so you can grow big and strong." I say and he looks at me and again looks confused and then continues reading.

"Where is the piece of paper?" he asks as he is done "and a needle?" I take the piece of paper with two drops of blood out and hand it to him and he looks at the fold carefully and rips along it, the cleanest rip of all of ours and he keeps the paper with the triangle ripped out of it and I take the needle and scissor out and he leans over for me to cut his hair and I cut a piece of it and he pricks his finger with the needle and presses out a large drop of blood and places it in the remaining corner of the triangle. "Also if the fairy is going to help us, I think I want to give him my lucky horseshoe. It is iron and it comes from Cindy, Sarah's horse." he says and points to the horseshoe in the closet "I want the nice fairy to be lucky." I smile and pick the horseshoe up and put it in the bag along with the lock of hair and finished triangle with bloody corners. He then looks at the pen and smiles "a pen, a real pen, that is amazing!" he hugs me tight "hug Sarah from me and thanks for helping us, you are the best! And nice pieces of paper too, smooth and not crinkly" he says as he looks into the envelope. "I will cherish these and try to make my best drawings ever on them."

I smile at him "I am sure they will be amazing, I hope you will let me see them when you make them, and maybe if this works you can come with me and draw Mina for me so I can have a picture of her."

"I will draw anything you want for you Tricky Ricky, who is Mina?" Hank asks.

"Mina is my beautiful rusalka friend, she has the best voice ever and to see her be happy is to know joy." I say and blush a bit shifting in rainbow colours.

"You are beautiful too, but I can't draw colours, I would love to be able to draw you properly, with colours, but I only have grey or black." he says "I will try to draw you anyway, for Mina? She probably would want a drawing of you, if only I had colours..."

"I need to go hug Sarah for you now and then go see the fairy." I say and smile "oh and keep the closet messy too, and open." then I step into the closet and look for Sarah's closet, it plays hide and seek with me several times before I manage to jump to it. I hug Sarah and say "from Hank. He is very happy about the pen and papers, I think he will draw amazing things with them."

Sarah giggles "I would say hug him back from me, but you need to get to the fairy now right?" and hugs me close and then let's me go.

I nod and giggle "if the fairy is true to his word, and words mean a lot to fairies, you will hug him when I get back." I let go of Sarah and head back into the closet and back home and then hurry to the fairy circle and the fairy that spoke to me comes up to me "you have the stuff?" he says and flies away from the fairy circle behind some trees nearby, as if trying to hide this from the other fairies, he looks around himself with really shifty eyes.

I hide behind the trees with him to the best of my ability and I take out the three bags of candy and his eyes go wide and he smiles and his lips quiver a bit and saliva starts dripping as he licks them, I take out the ripped triangular piece of paper with bloody corners, the bottle and the horseshoe and dagger, and the three locks of hair.

He looks at the things and with some effort opens the bottle and puts the locks of hair inside and then the piece of paper and then pushes the bottle up inside the horseshoe and says in a surprisingly powerful voice as his eyes glow with purple that burns and causes black smoke to flow from his eyes "bind these three, through planes, space and time, sunder the seals!" I feel a sharp pain inside me and it then turns into a tingle and then a warm nice sensation and the content of the bottle bursts into intense sunlight bright fire and pink smoke rises from the bottle and the fairy inhales all of it then she snaps his fingers and a crystal vial appears and he removes its stopper and exhales pitch black smoke into it and it turns into a very thick black fluid that looks very sticky, but it has a strangely iridescent reflection to it. He coughs out the last few drops from his lungs and spits them out into the vial "disgusting!" he says and places the stopper back on. He then draws a diagram in the air "three dots, planes, space and time, and three cracks, he craws the three cracks so they go exactly between the three dots and form a tiny triangle pointing the opposite way of the dots "sunder the seal." then he draws a circular chain with nine links three links being around the three dots "bind these three." and the diagram splits in three copies and the stopper and the vial itself gets a silvery impression of the diagram on it, and the third copy flashes and becomes a parchment with the diagram on. "It needs to be accurate and burned into the skin, with a silver needle, size does not matter. If you do not do that before one moon has come and gone in both our worlds the magic inside the three of you will fail. Now I will eat my candy, and I will count it, you better not have swindled me, I can find you now anywhere you are." he grins insanely and cackles as he opens one of the candy bags and takes a candy the size of his head and bites into it with a loud crunch. I leave the bottle and iron objects for him and candy bags as I am not suicidal, never take candy from a fairy, and take the vial and parchment and put them in my bag and then get up "thank you so much, it should be one hundred and twenty three candies in each bag." the fairy looks really happy and the bags vanish in a flash of darkness and the fairy flies away with his partially eaten candy. I hurry back home and then travel through my closet to Sarah.

"I felt something a few moments ago" she says and I nod "part of the magic, now we just need to make the tattoos" I take the silver needle out and she lights the candle and I hold the needle to the flame, she considers "I don't want it to be where my parents will see..." she frowns and takes he pyjama pants off and she is wearing white silk panties under them and points to her inner thigh right below the panties. I open the vial and dip the really hot needle in it and I start very carefully making the tattoo. "planes, space and time" I say as I put the needle down for reach dot and she whimpers as her skin sizzles I heat the needle between each dot and dip it in the ink before putting the next dot down, and keep doing this as I draw the cracks "sunder the seal" then I start on the chain and she is crying because this hurts so much, but she keeps her leg completely still for me "bind these three" I say as I finish the chain and the tattoo shimmers through the colours of the rainbow and then goes pitch black and she gasps and her eyes shimmer through the rainbow through and then briefly all of her eyes including the white part go completely black before fading back to her normal colour. The tattoo shimmers with the rainbow colours as she moves, but is pitch black otherwise. She puts her pants back on. "Your turn?" she asks.

I point to my ear "this flat part is best I think..." and I lie down and try to hug the floor and lay still and she does the same work to me and I start crying after the first dot, making a wet spot on the floor, it hurts so much, I cry way more than she did, humans are scary. I feel the magic take hold of me, and I feel her too, and our hearts beat together and I know what direction she is more certainly than I have ever known a direction before. She stoppers the vial and pokes the needle into the candle and puts it out and says "I am so sorry you had to feel pain for me like this, I will never forget this, and I am in your debt forever."

I smile and get up and wipe my eyes "you already paid me with finding a safe place for me and Mina." I say and she hands me the candle, box of matches and the vial and parchment with diagram and I take a deep breath and put them away in my bag and head through the closet to Hank and he is petting one of the horses and brushing it and their foreheads are touching and he is speaking softly to it as I arrive. "Hank, time for the tattoo." and he looks to me and the horse licks his face and he chuckles and kisses its forehead "I will finish soon Cindy" and then heads over to me taking his shirt off "here over my heart" he says and leans back against the closet and I start working on the tattoo and he closes his eyes and bites his teeth together so hard I hear them gnash against each other and tears run down his cheeks. Then as the magic hits he gasps and his eyes open wide as they shimmer through the scary colour and darkness show. Then he runs outside the stable and looks at the mansion and comes back inside rotating "I feel where Sarah is and you, how?"

I stopper the vial that is still full of ink, only it is shimmering more with colours now, glowing despite still being black, it disturbing. I put it in my bag, and blow the candle out and poke the needle into it and wrap it in the parchment, putting them in the bag. "Fairy magic" I say and smile to him. He puts his shirt back on and says "so what do we do now?"

I consider a bit "when will your parents return?"

Hank seems to think a bit "oh I usually get done with brushing all the horses, I have only started on Cindy, so quite a while yet."

"Sarah's parents also return at the same time?" I ask.

"Oh they usually go with the other noble folk to a restaurant after, and return just before sunset, why?" Hank asks.

"Good, then let's try this out, come with me into the closet" I say and step into the closet and Sarah's closet keeps being there steadily, not jumping around and Hank looks really bewildered as he beholds the other closets and I think if his jaw was not attached it would have fallen off. Sarah looks into the closet "Hank!" and she runs to us and hugs Hank tightly and giggles with joy.

"Hank bring your pens and paper, you have a drawing to make for me" I say and smile and look for the closet to the house by the pool and then I spot it and head through.

Hank runs to get the envelopes and rejoins Sarah "Cindy I promise I will get to you soon" he says to her, Sarah takes his hand and pulls him with her to me and just then Mina walks into the room singing, carrying a rusty bucket with flowers in it. "Hi" she says and smiles "Sarah? I am Mina, who is your friend?"

Sarah smiles "this is Hank" she says and steps up to hug Mina "that dress looks so cute on you Mina."

Hank pats my back "she is beautiful Ricky, almost as beautiful as Sarah." he says and smiles and I look up at him and giggle "Sarah is almost as beautiful as Mina yes." I correct him and we both chuckle. We go out to the pool and Hank draws several pictures of us, alone and together and complains about the missing colours, and I make myself have a black and white but pretty patterning and he laughs and draws that.

And so, they lived happily ever after.

Continued in Part 7

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