Chapter eight:
I ran behind the house and towards the stone gazebo that had been in the same place since before my mother died.
A sob fell from my mouth as I leaned against a stone pillar and let more tears fall down my checks. I stood there for a while, just letting out all the emotion I felt towards my stepmother. Anger, disappointment, sadness, despair.
I had always been told by my stepmother never to cry because it doesn't get anyone anywhere. But right now I didn't care what my stepmother used to tell me.
"Excuse me."
A voice from behind me startled me into letting out a tiny gasp of surprise as I turned around. I hurriedly wiped my tears before the person could see that I had been crying. The person was an old woman who was sitting in the corner of the gazebo, shrouded in darkness. It was no wonder I hadn't seen her when I first ran in.
"Could you help me, Miss? Do you think you could find me a crust of bread, or a bowl of milk?" The woman asked kindly, leaning up against her wooden walking stick. I brushed the thoughts of my stepmother and the ball out of my mind and nodded quickly.
"Yes, yes of course. I'm sure I can find you something."
I hurried down the steps of the gazebo and found a pitcher of clear water. I poured some of it into a bowl and returned to the beggar woman. I handed her the bowl with the most sincere smile I could muster and she took it from me gratefully.
"Why are you crying?" She asked gently. So she had seen me, I thought with embarrassment. But I shook her question off like it didn't matter.
"It was nothing." I whispered. "Nothing but a dream that I had." Because after all, what more was the ball then a dream?
The beggar woman looked at me like she didn't believe what I had told her. Then she raised the bowl before she put it to her lips.
"Nothing? What is a bowl of milk? Nothing. But kindness makes it everything."
I watched her drink the water and was amazed when I saw a stream of white milk run down her chin. I frowned and cocked my head at the sight.
But there had only been water in the bowl, not milk.
Before I could ask any questions, the woman set the bowl down and regarded me seriously.
"Now I don't mean to rush you, Ella, but you haven't got much time."
I was taken aback by the woman's knowledge of my name. I was sure I hadn't met her before, I had never even seen her before.
"What- how do you know me?" I whispered. The woman smiled mischievously.
"Really, I thought you would have figured it out by now. I'm your fairy godmother!" She flourished her arms out as she told me who she was, but I didn't believe it at all.
"No, you can't be." I said softly. "They don't exist. They're only made up for children."
"But your own mother believed in them, didn't she? And don't say no because I heard her."
"You heard her?" I asked, my confusion growing. But the woman didn't answer my question. She just stood up and waved her arms impatiently.
"Oh fiddle-faddle, fiddle-faddle. First things first, let me slip into something a little more comfortable." She hobbled gown the gazebo steps and I followed her slowly. Once in the yard, the woman threw her walking stick up and sent it spinning through the air. In midair the walking stick began to change. I gasped as it transformed into a thin, white wand with silver down the sides. It fell back to the woman and she caught it with one hand. As soon as the wand touched her skin, her old brown dress began to change to, along with her hair and her face. She became younger with brighter hair, and her rags turned into a huge white gown that shimmered like mine once did, before my stepsisters ruined it. The woman cracked her neck and looked at me proudly.
"There." She said with a smile. It was odd to look at her now, she looked like a completely different person and I occurred to me that she had been disguised. At the sight of her I began to smile as well.
"You really are my fairy godmother." I whispered in surprise.
"Of course I am. And you shall go to the ball!"
Excitement bloomed inside my chest at her words and my smile widened. My fairy godmother looked pleased with my happiness.
"Now, where was I? Oh yes, let's see...we need something that screams 'carriage'." The woman told me, looking around the yard. I bit my lip and turned to an overturned trough that lay in the weeds by the house.
"Oh, that trough!" I pointed to it and my fairy godmother looked, then shook her head.
"Doesn't really scream 'carriage', dear." She said. She began to walk around the yard and I followed her as she studied the sides of the house and the plants we grew.
"Alright, I'm liking a fruit or a vegetable. Do you grow watermelon?"
I shook my head no.
"Cantaloupe?"
I shook my head again.
"Beef tomato?"
"No, but we do grow pumpkins."
"Ah!" My fairy godmother's face lit up and she raised a finger. Then she tipped her head to the side as if she was unsure of something.
"Well, show me to them, we can't waste any time."
I nodded and hurried to the greenhouse where all our pumpkins were growing. There were some pumpkins that were orange and round and others that were still smaller and slightly green from youth.
"Right. I've never done a pumpkin before, but there's a first time for everything." My fairy godmother told me. She looked around and chose the biggest pumpkin in the greenhouse.
"Yes, that will do just fine. Knife!"
I found a knife on a small table by the entrance and handed it to her. She took it from my hand and handed her thin wand to me to hold in place of it. I stared at the beauty in surprise and held it very carefully.
My fairy godmother easily cut the thick vine that the pumpkin was growing on and reached down and wrapped her arms around it. She lifted it up and promptly realized how heavy it was.
"Oh! Heavy pumpkin, watch out!"
I scurried out of her way as she let the pumpkin fall to the floor in the middle of the green house.
"Oh well." She sighed. "Never mind, we'll just do it here."
"Do what here?" I asked.
"Turn the pumpkin into the carriage." She said like it was obvious.
"O-oh." I had no doubt that she could do that, I had just seen her transform herself, but the thought still surprised me.
I took a seat on the only bench in the greenhouse and watched my fairy godmother in anticipation. She stood in front of the pumpkin after I had handed her wand back and stared at the squash in determination.
"Oh for God's sake, let's just go for it!" She muttered and twitched her wand at the pumpkin. Silver sparks shot out from her wand and hit the pumpkin with amazing speed. The pumpkin shifted and moved, and I noticed a sort of glowing light coming from the inside of it.
"Oh, that's interesting." My fairy godmother said. "Something's definitely happening."
She came to take a seat on the bench next to me and watched the pumpkin's reaction. The squash continued to move around and the sides of it began to bubble and shift as the glowing became brighter. Them the pumpkin began to grow. I gasped as it swelled to the size of a table, then a couch, and then it grew so much that the sides of it began to touch out feet.
"Fairy godmother?" I asked uneasily.
"Yes?"
"I just thought...if it gets much bigger..."
I didn't have time to finish my thought because the pumpkin had started pushing up against us and the bench. I slipped off the bench and pressed myself against the wall of the greenhouse, my fairy godmother following suit. But still the pumpkin grew and I could hear the tiles of window breaking from around us as the pumpkin started breaking the greenhouse.
"Is that what you meant to do?" I asked my fairy godmother over the sound of the pumpkin.
"Do you think that's what I meant to do?"
The two of us were now pressed up against the side of the greenhouse and the pumpkin was pushing us even further into the wall. Then the wall gave way and we tumbled out into the cold grass. I picked myself up and turned to look at the pumpkin. It had completely broken the greenhouse and yet it was still growing.
My fairy godmother grabbed my arm and we ran towards the bales of hay across the yard.
"Take cover!" She yelled and I ducked behind the hay before I could get hit with a broken piece of the greenhouse.
I peeked out from the bale I was behind just in time to see the greenhouse and the pumpkin explode. They flew into the air and started spinning around, just like my fairy godmother's wand had done when it transformed.
I watched in awe as the pumpkin and the broken pieces of greenhouse all turned into gold, shiny pure gold. They assembled themselves in the air and I could start to see the formation of a carriage.
The pumpkin landed back in the ground when it was finished and I could hardly believe my eyes. It looked nothing like the pumpkin my fairy godmother had started out with. It now had four wheels, two windows on either side, and a set of doors complete with a small step in front. And it was all golden.
I gasped and smiled widely at the finished product. It was the most beautiful carriage I had ever seen.
"There you are." My fair godmother said, extremely pleased with herself.
"One carriage."
I stepped out from behind the hay as my fairy godmother started looking for something else.
"Where are those mice?" She muttered to herself. My eyes widened.
"Mice?"
I had seen Jack and Gus Gus just a few hours ago, but I did not know where they were. What would she need the mice for?
"Oh, there they are!" I pointed to my four mice friends who were sitting on the edge of the stone fountain in the middle of the yard. They looked up when I pointed to them and I could see their tiny noses twitching.
"Aha! Bibbity bobbity boo!"
My fairy godmother waved her wand again and set another set of silver sparks flying out. The sparks landed on all four mice and they instantly began to transform.
Their small legs grew taller and stronger, their once-tiny bodies grew as well, and their ears turned pure white and changed shape.
Soon, four beautiful white horses were running around the yard, stamping their hooves. I laughed and ran up to one who had once been the fat mouse named Gus Gus.
"Gus Gus how fine you look!" I smiled and stroked the soft white hair on his neck.
I heard my fairy godmother laugh from behind me. I turned and smiled at her, still very surprised that all this was real.
"Now, where are we?" She asked. "Carriage, horses, ah...footman!"
"Footman?" I watched as my fairy godmother looked around the yard for the third time only to see two small lizards scampering around the upper ledge of the fountain.
"Hello lovely lizards." She cooed. "Bibbity bobbity boo!"
With another movement of her wand, the lizards twitched and began to change as well. Their tails shrunk into nothing and their back legs grew into feet while their front pair turned into arms and hands.
I watched as two footmen appeared in front of me, completely human expect for the fact that they still looked slightly green. But it was too dark for anyone to notice.
"You called?" One asked happily, pushing his hat into place. I smiled at them and then at my fairy godmother.
"Now, I need that coachman." My fairy godmother didn't waste any time in spotting the goose from across the yard.
"Coachman?" I asked.
"Did I say coachman? I meant goose!"
She waved her wand at the goose who squawked in surprise as her silver sparks landed on him. The animal flew into the air and moved higher and higher as he changed into a human. When he landed on a stack of hay bales, he had completely changed, down to his clean uniform and his hat.
"I can't drive." The man said, holding his hands up. "I'm a goose."
I laughed and clapped my hands together in excitement. I really was going to the ball!
"Now, shoo!" My fairy godmother called to everyone in the yard. "Everyone into place, no time to be lost!" The four horses, two footmen and the coachman followed my fairy godmother and I as we raced to the front of the house where the carriage awaited.
But before we reached the carriage, I remembered something and stopped.
"Fairy godmother!" I called to the woman. She turned around and looked at me.
"Yes, what is it?"
"My dress." I explained, running my fingers through the soft fabric. "I can't go like this, can you mend it?"
"Mend it? Oh no, I'll just make a new one altogether. Something your mother would be proud of." She winked at me. I nodded enthusiastically as my fairy godmother raised her wand.
I closed my eyes as I saw the silver sparks fly from the end of the wand, and I felt the odd warmth they brought when they landed on me. Almost instantly my dress felt heavier and I resisted the urge to open my eyes. I could feel the skirt grow longer and thicker and my sleeves shortened as the fabric changed and moved around on my body. I finally opened my eyes to see my dress change and I gasped in surprise at what I was watching. The fabric was soft and moved easily around my legs. But the dress was still white, so my fairy godmother twitched her wand again and this time small blue butterflies flew towards me instead of sparks. The butterflies flew around me and dropped the beautiful color onto my dress, making it sparkle brighter then my old dress ever had. I tipped my head back and turned in a circle, loving the feeling I felt when my dress lifted from my ankles as I turned. When the butterflies were finished with turning my dress blue, they fluttered down the rest on the fluffy material around my shoulders and chest.
I breathed out in awe, and at a complete loss for words. I studied the dress, unable to tear my eyes away from it. It was bright blue, much like Kit's eyes, and there were small diamonds on the fabric that were making it shine like the moon. The dress was finer then either of my stepsisters dresses and I couldn't imagine how they would react when they saw me.
"Oh, fairy godmother, it's beautiful!"
I reached up and gently touched my hair and realized that it too had changed. Instead of being up, it fell down my back in soft waves.
My fairy godmother smiled proudly and held her hand out to me.
"Now come on, you'll be late!"
I took her hand with a wide smile and together we hurried to the front of the house. We arrived just as we saw the golden carriage pulling away. My fairy godmother called after it, waving her hands.
"Stop that carriage!" She shouted and the golden coach came to an immediate halt. I ran right up to it, my fairy godmother close behind. A footman stepped down and opened the golden doors for me and held out a hand of assistance. I smiled at him and took his hand. I had set only a single foot on the step when my fairy godmother stopped me.
"Just a moment!"
She was looking at my shoes that Dulcy had gotten from the Palace marketplace. She squinted at them and then looked up at me.
"They don't match the dress at all."
I laughed and shook my head. "It's alright, no one will be looking at my feet."
But the woman insisted on changing them. I stepped down from the step and slipped out of the shoes.
"I'm quite good with shoes, actually." My fairy godmother said proudly. Then she waved her wand elegantly at my feet. I felt the same warmth I had when my dress had been transformed as the silver sparks touched my feet. I felt my heels lift off the ground a few inches, making me taller. I pulled the hem of my dress up to watch the shoes appear and was quite surprised to see what they were made out of.
"Glass." I whispered. "They're made out of glass."
And indeed they were. The glass felt strong but also delicate at the same time and I noticed a beautiful butterfly resting on the front of each shoe, just like the butterflies on my dress.
"And you'll find that they are really comfortable." My fairy godmother told me with another wink.
"Oh, one more thing!" I said. My fairy godmother nodded.
"Yes, what is it?"
"My stepmother and the girls?" I didn't want any of them recognizing me while I was at the ball, they would ruin my chance of seeing Kit.
"Don't worry. I'll make sure they don't recognize you."
My fairy godmother giggled as she waved her wand towards me again. But instead of the warmth I had felt the first two times, these sparks were slightly colder.
"Now you really must hurry, Ella, you don't want to be late."
I nodded and finally stepped into the golden carriage. The footman closed the door behind me and my fairy godmother was walking away when she suddenly remembered something.
"Ella, I almost forgot. The magic only lasts for so long. At the last echo of the last bell of the last stroke of midnight, the magic will come undone."
I nodded at her in understanding.
"Midnight." I repeated. The woman nodded. I looked at her happily.
"That's more then enough time."
"Then off you go! And have the night of your life."
My carriage started moving and I sat back in my seat. My heart was racing with excitement and nervousness, but I couldn't have been happier.
I leaned out of the window before the carriage got too far away and waved at my fairy godmother. I could see her smile as she blew me a kiss, and then she was gone in a spiral of silver sparks.
"Thank you." I whispered. And then I leaned back in the carriage and awaited the Palace.