Nixie

Chapter 7

"Oh my god," I squealed as soon as we stepped through the gate. We were greeted with the fresh aroma of bread and the sound of people chatting. This was the dream city. Cute little houses lined the marble tiled road; little balconies hung over the white plastered houses and wide windows were stalled with different products. The roofs were made of a non-transparent glass in all kinds of different colors.

I couldn't help staring around me all the way, until Kiana stopped me. In front of us was a grand building made entirely out of white stone. Kiana whispered to me, "Got your key?" I nodded and followed her inside. Inside the bank, there were six desks, with six doors behind them. Each desk was filled with a pixie. We walked to the desk with a label that said: two. The pixie behind it didn't say a word out loud, but somehow I exactly knew what to do. I gave her my key and followed her through the black door behind her. It seemed as if we entered an infinite place. I looked up and thousands of doors hung above me, each lined with a silver, gold or bronze light. The little pixie moved the key in a swishing movement and suddenly one of the doors came down and softly landed in front of me. The pixie gave me the key and I opened the door with it.

Behind it were stacks of neat piles of thin round bronze plates. Coins. Some were a bit thicker and some were thinner. However, what really took my attention was a little white paper on the floor. I picked it up and it said:

My dear darling,

This is everything your mom and I have been saving for you since you were born. I can just remember the day my dad revealed the same to me. Here is the money you will need to survive (or shop since I know you can't live without shopping). On the shelves are some priced possessions that we decided to give to you. Keep them safe (although I doubt you won't ever need them). Now, the money goes like this: One Milja is equal to 60 Menas. A 15-dollar clothing piece would be equal to 22 Miljas.

Good luck, my princess.

Love, dad.

I smiled at the little paper in my hand before putting it in my pocket. I then decided to take some with me. I walked to the neat piles. They were lined from highest valued to lowest. I took one coin that was equal to 200 Miljas, then ten coins that were worth 50 Miljas. Lastly, I took many coins that said 1 Milja, since I was too lazy count.

Then I walked to the shelves. I didn't want to take anything, but one thing caught my eye. It was a simple circlet with round curves and a very little blue stone in the center. A little label was attached to it. I turned it in my hands, to see what it said. In my mom's neat handwriting I read, "To my little girl for her firsts." I had no idea what she meant, but I took the circlet and let it slide into my bag. Then I turned around and walked out of the door. The pixie flicked her finger and the door flew up. Then she led me out and I couldn't stop smiling.

"You okay?" Kiana said when I joined her again.

"Never been better," I smiled to her, "In fact, let's go and see what the city has to offer.

We walked out of the pixie bank onto the marble streets of Empyria. We followed the glass landmarks to Norelia Avenue. Lush green willows were in two neat rows in between the road and the sidewalk. The first thing I had to do was get my school things ready. Apparently, a shop had the whole package for a nice prize, so Kiana and I decided to try it.

We entered Scoops and we were greeted by a tall lean man. He had a long and serious face, with cold blue eyes and tightly pursed lips. His grey hair was swept back and his clothes were pressed.

"Can I help you," his low voice said. His hands were behind his back and his chin was tilted up a bit.

"Yes, please. Would you be so kind to show us the Pertina bundle?" Kiana kindly requested with a sweet smile on her face. She looked so innocent.

He scanned her from top to toe and then turned around and said, "Follow me." He strode to another room in the back and we followed.

Inside the room were shelves and counters with different crates, each having its own theme. There were packets in all colors, with or without patterns; some had beautiful pictures on them. We carefully looked at every choice, eliminating what we definitely wouldn't pick. In the end, I decided to be plain and chose a black bag with white stripes. Inside there were all the books, notebooks and school things I needed. We quickly paid and left the shop. The man scared me and I still had to find everything I needed. For the next few hours, we walked into a variety of different shops. We visited clothing shops, a little supermarket and many jewelry stores since I am obsessed with rings. I know it's the weirdest obsession ever. Every year I would ask rings and something practical for my birthday. It was the only day I could ask what I wanted and knowing me, I was expensive. I would go two months before my birthday on the internet, searching for something practical I wanted to have. Last year I decided it was time to get myself a new set of make-up brushes and facial products, since my last set was quite literally dying.

Now we were sitting at a small café that was alongside a huge square. The square was called Gellian Square. A huge building was on one side of it with beautiful glass staircases at the front. I admired the details of it. It was so polished and neat and greatly put together. It took me a few moments to actually notice that Kiana was talking to me.

"Hey, Nixie?" she said while her face was right in front of me.

"Yes, geez, get out my face, Ki!" I laughed.

"Thank god, I began to worry. Anyways, what are you going to take?" she asked. I blinked at her before I realized we were at a café and I had to order. I took a quick look at the menu and quickly decided what I wanted to take, because a server was approaching.

"Good day and welcome to Gellian Gold! Would you like me to take your order?" she said in a quirky voice. She was tall and slim and her golden hair was tucked in a perfect bun. Oh, my self-esteem was dropping like crazy right now.

"I'll take the chicken sandwich, please!" Kiana cheerfully said, so I decided I'd better say my order too.

"Could I have the Gellian surprise?" I politely asked her.

"Yes, and would you like something to drink?" She said while writing down the order.

"We'll both take the southern spumante," Kiana said before I could object.

"Yes, your food will be here in a few minutes," she quickly said and gracefully walked back inside to get our orders.

"You have to explain me a few thinks. I'm getting dizzy from the unknowingness," I said to Kina, "First, what is southern spumante? Second, what is Gellian, since it's everywhere? Third, how do you know her?"

At the last question, Kiana's eyes widened for a split second before her face morphed back into her usual smiling face.

"Okay, spumante is the only spirit, or what mortals call alcohol, that is allowed under the age of 18 but above 15. It has no alcohol, but something else. Alcohol doesn't really affect us. Then, Gellian is the name of the brother and sister that set up this city. At the time, they ruled the fairy folk together, since neither of them was married. They also were the reason we won the first war. And that girl, how did you know?" Kiana was rattling in a high tempo and it took a moment before I let all the information sink in. I sweetly smiled at her.

"You're left arm tensed up, you sat a bit more upright and your feet were tapping. Now tell me, who is she," I answered. Her eyes were wide and I was smiling, pleased with myself.

"First of all, I have no idea how you even noticed all that, but since you're kind of weird, I get it. And the girl, she was my neighbor before her parents decided to move to Australia. Her name is Sèlia." I looked at her, her face not really showing any emotion, but her eyes were filled with a weird kind of hurt. I couldn't exactly place it, but she really had some history with this girl. With Sèlia.