Isabelle sat in the cold, unfinished basement, watching a small spider crawl across the floor. In the basement, there was no carpet or furniture, so she could either stand or sit on the concrete floor. She sighed and shifted her position so her legs wouldn't get numb. She'd been having to do that a lot in the past few minutes. It definitely could’ve been worse. But that was hard to remember. After a while, the door at the top of the stairs opened, and Kelsey came down the stairs holding her stuffed bear. “Hi Izzy. I brought a friend.” Isabelle managed a smile. “Thanks, Kelsey, but I don't really want to play Bear right now.” “I didn't come to play Bear. I want to play a game called What If.” Kelsey plopped down in front of Isabelle, holding her bear in her lap. “Is that a new game? We haven't done that one before.” Isabelle noticed. “How does it work?” “It goes like this. What if…” Kelsey paused to think. “What if Teddy was alive? Then you say what would happen.” “Um, sure, okay. I guess if Teddy was alive, then it might be like having a little brother. And when we play Bear, he can talk for himself. Now I've got one. What if we were princesses?” Isabelle asked. Kelsey's eyes widened. “Ooh, that would be awesome! We would have servants, feasts every day, tons of pretty dresses, everything! Okay, what if I had a tree growing out of my head?” She fell to the floor laughing. Isabelle couldn't hold back her own giggles; it was so unexpected. “Well, if it was a fruit tree, then you would never be hungry. You could just reach up and pick off a peach or an apple whenever you wanted!” “Yeah, and whenever someone is mean to me, I can pick one off and throw it at them!” Kelsey added. “And in the winter, snow won't make your head cold!” “And my thoughts are in tree language!” “And you have power over all the trees in the world!” “And when the tree's leaves change color, I change color!” They both burst into laughter again. “My turn,” Isabelle put her hand up. “What if I were a fairy?” “If you were a fairy then –” “Kelsey! Come upstairs!” Mrs. Walker's voice rang through the house. Kelsey jumped up, grabbed her bear, and ran up the stairs, leaving Isabelle alone once again. “I wish I were a fairy,” she said out loud. “Then I could just wave a wand and make all my problems disappear.” Isabelle sighed as the light flickered on and off in an almost soothing way. She yawned and lay down on the hard floor, surprised at how good that felt. She then closed her eyes and fell asleep. Isabelle had a strange dream. She was standing inside a large green pillar. She discovered that at the base, some of the green could be peeled away to form a door. She opened the door and stepped out. Isabelle found herself in some sort of flower forest. There were many large flowers and she realized the pillar she’d just exited was the stem of one of them. The ground was also covered in the regular-sized flowers. Flying in the air were... fairies? Male and female, they looked like regular people, and flew around the flowers with pink wings, some pointed and some rounded. They were human sized, which was also weird. Weren't fairies supposed to be about six inches tall? Just more proof she was in a dream. A fairy with pointed wings and wearing a lavender dress with a pink ribbon tied at her waist landed next to Isabelle with a smile. “Are you new? I'm kind of new. I just got here last month.” “Huh? What do you mean?” The fairy ignored the question and pointed to Isabelle's left. “You're just going to go straight that way to get to Flower Fairies’ First Day.” She flew away. With nothing else to do, Isabelle started walking to “Flower Fairies’ First Day”, whatever that was. Many stared at her as she went by. One fairy called to her. “Hey! Why don't you just fly?" “Because I'm not a fairy!” Isabelle yelled back. Several fairies snickered. Isabelle twisted to look behind her. No wings. She did feel something under her dress near her back, though. Wait. Dress? Isabelle looked down at herself and realized she was wearing a sky-blue dress with a skirt that seemed to be made of pointed flower petals. Whatever was under her dress was itchy, and was in that spot on her upper back that was impossible to reach. Isabelle did her best to ignore it, and made a mental note to find a different outfit as soon as possible – or to just wake up already. She continued walking until she arrived at what seemed to be a dome completely made of pink rose petals. On the front, above an opening that served as a door, was a label: Flower Fairies’ First Day. “Who knew my subconscious was so flowery?” Isabelle muttered to herself as she entered. A blond fairy was standing inside, writing something down. He looked up when Isabelle came in. “Can I help you?” “Hello. My name is Isabelle. I was told to come here for some reason, but since I'm obviously dreaming, it doesn't matter anyway.”
The fairy returned to writing. “You're not dreaming, although it is a common thing for new Flower Fairies to believe. You're in Milrale, which some humans call Fairyland. Give me a second to contact Princess Eden.” He walked into another room. Isabelle wandered around the room while she waited. She found a piece of paper on the wall. Welcome, new Flower Fairies! Shortly, you will be learning all about your new home. Good flying! “I can’t fly if I don't have wings.” Isabelle said aloud. “You don't have wings?” Isabelle whirled around to see a fairy that must have been the princess. She appeared to be about fifteen. She had brown hair pulled into a fancy bun, her dress was layered with various shades of purple, and she had a silver tiara with a purple jewel at the top. Princess Eden glanced at Isabelle's waist and smiled in understanding. “Oh, I see. You don't have a Sash yet. “Sash?” Isabelle followed her to a cabinet and a table, both made of rose petals. There was a stack of booklets on the table which were, thankfully, just regular paper. Eden went straight to the cabinet and opened it. Isabelle saw that inside was a pile of folded pink ribbons. The princess took one out and handed it to her. “Tie that around your waist. The Sash will magically allow your wings to come out through your dress without ripping it.” Isabelle tied the pink ribbon on and immediately felt something come through her dress. The itching was gone now, and she realized that fairy wings had been the cause. She reached up to her back and found that her dress was perfectly intact, but it still let her light pink, rounded wings come through. “Okay, that's totally awesome! Now could you explain to me why I'm here and how to get back home?” Eden picked up a booklet from the table and gave it to Isabelle. “That will explain why you're here. To get back home, hold the booklet with both hands and say ‘Take me to the human world’. You can get here by saying ‘Take me to Milrale’. Sometime soon, you’ll get a Fairy Companion to help you.” “Okay. One more thing. What if I want to stay here? Won't everybody notice if I'm gone?” The princess smiled. “Nope! While you're in Milrale, nobody in the human world will notice you're gone unless they see you leave. And when you go back, no one will say anything like ‘Hey, where have you been for the last three days?’ “ Isabelle sighed in relief. “Good, because I'm never going back to Mrs. Walker's.” Eden frowned. “What about your family? And friends?” “I don't have any,” Isabelle replied sadly. “They died in a car accident when I was seven. I was at home with a babysitter. I’ve been in foster care ever since.” The princess thought about that for a second. “Well, I have no idea what a ‘car’ or ‘foster care’ is, but you'll surely find some friends here. Now, why don't you get back home and read that booklet?” “Home?” “The flower you woke up in.” “Oh, okay. “ Isabelle waved and started walking away. “I guess I'll see you tomorrow?” “I have other things I need to do. But, again, soon you’ll have a Fairy Companion.” “Well, bye then!” Isabelle ran off, very much looking forward to learning how to fly.
