The Realms of Faerie. Linda Massola

or if indeed any spell could restore Mab and Oberon. She also realized that here in the River of Forgetfulness she was helpless. Unless of course … the fairy Tatiana! She was Mab’s only sister. Willow knew she had acted wisely when she had allowed Tatiana to become a sprite instead of simply draining her soul and letting her wander for ever among the mangroves in the forest of Gloomia.

      Tatiana as a sprite had lost all memory of her time as a fairy in the Castle of Feathers and indeed as Scowla the hag in the fortress of Gloomia. In the kingdom below the River of Forgetfulness, her days were spent singing and dancing without a care in the world. When summoned to Willow’s presence, she was surprised. She was not unhappy in her new life. Did Willow have someone else who needed to be dragged into the River of Forgetfulness? Was she entreating her to do this? Willow looked deeply into Tatiana’s eyes before running a watery hand in front of them. Tatiana’s eyes opened wide as she viewed the pictures that appeared in front of her.

      ‘Remember who you are Tatiana – remember!’ Willow was whispering.

      Tatiana saw Mab and Oberon and the Castle of Feathers. Then she saw Janus and smiled.

      Willow waved her hand again. This time, Tatiana saw herself as Scowla in the fortress at Gloomia and she shuddered as events came back quickly to her. She saw herself being dragged down into the River of Forgetfulness by Willow as Mab watched sorrowfully from the banks with the other fairies. ‘Why are you showing me this?’ she asked sadly.

      ‘You need to remember who you are,’ Willow whispered. ‘You need to understand what has happened to Mab and Oberon. You need to return to the Kingdom of Fairy to warn the fairy children!’

      ‘You mean I can return?’ Tatiana opened her eyes even wider. This was all beyond her wildest dreams after the damage she had caused.

      ‘You have a chance to earn back your life as Tatiana,’ said Willow. She once more drew her hand over Tatiana’s eyes. ‘Observe how Mab and Oberon have been turned to statues in the caves of Gloomia. You need to return to the Castle and warn everyone. Offer your help!’ she whispered urgently.

      ‘I … I have a second chance! It’s unbelievable!’

      When the fairy Tatiana, who had once been the evil witch, Scowla of Gloomia and lately one of the Whispers in the River of Forgetfulness, turned up at the Castle of Feathers, Janus greeted her in shock. He had tried to forget about his wife over the many months since she had disappeared into the River of Forgetfulness. Now suddenly, he was standing face to face with a new, softer Tatiana; the Tatiana of old who never had plans of usurping Mab. He could not believe his eyes. How could she be here? How did she escape from the River of Forgetfulness?

      ‘Willow released me,’ Tatiana explained. ‘She … she wants me to help you rescue Mab and Oberon.’ Oberon looked at her thoughtfully. Could he trust the new Tatiana?

      ‘Please – see for yourself. I can help you look into Mab’s crystal ball. Look into the caves at Gloomia, you will see that I am telling the truth!’ she begged him.

      Janus assembled the fairy children and their parents into the large hall and presented Tatiana to them.

      ‘It’s Tatiana! Don’t trust her!’ urged Arabella.

      ‘Don’t forget what she tried to do to Mab in the past …’ began Aurora.

      ‘Wait Tatiana!’ Zara held up her hand. ‘Come forward!’ she commanded. Tatiana approached and faced Zara. The other children knew what she wanted to do. Zara had a special power. Her mind was very strong. She would be able to look into Tatiana’s eyes and see if she was lying. Zara’s fairy blue eyes bored into Tatiana’s equally blue fairy eyes. She is searching my soul, Tatiana thought to herself.

      ‘She tells the truth,’ Zara said simply. ‘Come!’

      Then Tatiana led everyone towards Mab’s crystal ball. As she trained her eyes into the ball, Tatiana called on the powers of the light to show them where Mab and Oberon were. Suddenly the caves at Gloomia came into sight. Then everyone gasped as they saw the two statues side by side on the stone slabs. On the left was a black obsidian stone – unmistakably Oberon. On the right was the beautiful white crystal statue of Mab. In another part of the caves, they saw hundreds of Hatchlings that the goblins, Losing-it and Lost-it were grooming to become the future army of Whorls. As the pictures faded, the children sprang to life.

      ‘We need to go there – we need to rescue them!’ Tristan announced.

      ‘Not so fast!’ Janus cautioned. ‘We need to formulate a plan. You forget that the statues weigh many tons. We have to create magic powerful enough to break Drabon’s spells!’

      ‘You are all very powerful,’ Dominique reminded them. ‘You will be able to come up with a way of rescuing Mab and Oberon, I’m sure of it!’

      ‘She is right,’ Tatiana told them. ‘First of all, we must look at your gifts in order to put them to the best use.’

      ‘How are we ever going to get into the caves?’ asked Georgia.

      ‘Well, that’s easy. Tristan can become invisible, remember?’ Ella said. ‘And I can morph into something as small as a flea!’

      ‘True, but you can’t work magic on Drabon – only Tatiana can do that!’ replied Laura.

      ‘Yes, but Tatiana wouldn’t have any hope of getting into the caves unnoticed!’

      ‘Perhaps we need to work on them in a different way,’ Zara suggested. ‘Like how?’

      ‘Well, what about the Hatchlings? Maybe we can start with destroying the Hatchlings!’

      ‘Destroy the Hatchlings?’ The mortal children immediately objected.

      ‘What would have happened if you had destroyed us?’ Tristlin wanted to know. ‘We would never have had a second chance!’

      ‘Yes, but you weren’t really Gloomians, you were mortal children – there’s a difference,’ began Georgia.

      ‘No – not really,’ Tatiana said quietly. ‘They are still innocent life forms and it is against the law of fairy to destroy life!’

      ‘It is?’

      ‘Yes,’ agreed Janus. The Fairy Chronicles states that implicitly.’

      ‘The Fairy Chronicles?’ Janus and Tatiana looked at each other.

      ‘I think it is time to show the children the Chronicles,’ Janus said. ‘Mab would have wanted it,’ he added. The children followed Janus and Tatiana down a long hallway to a passage in the depths of the castle. It smelt musty and airless. When Janus finally opened a huge metal door the sight that greeted them was awe inspiring. Huge marble pillars flanked a white marble altar. In the middle of the altar, was a large golden book embossed with gem stones. The title The Fairy Chronicles was written in spidery writing on the cover. On each side of the book there were candles burning; candles that never died out. The book was so old that nobody knew where it had come from. Tatiana reverently opened the book to reveal its contents. There were spells listed that only Mab as queen of the Kingdom of Fairy was able to conjure up. There were spells that the lesser fairies like Tatiana were able to perform. But most significantly, there were the laws of the Kingdom. The words urged the fairies to change the way they saw themselves in the present, because by using their feelings, they would be able to create what they wanted.

       Feel that what you ask for is already there! There is always a parallel possibility – don’t just pray for peace – feel it!

       Don’t dwell on war. You give it much power when you do so. Dwell on peace instead!

       All kingdoms must live in harmony, including fairies, sprites, mortals Gloomians, goblins and gnomes. We all form a balance – we are all joined. What affects one, affects all!

       New life is to be preserved and educated at all cost – no matter whom.

      The