Half and Half

"Achoo!" Dawn sneezed. Mei frowned at her and pressed a finger to her lips. The Queen ran to the place where Dawn was, held out an arm, and grabbed her shoulder.

"Let go!" Dawn shrieked. What was the Queen doing here? There must be an explanation.

"You're supposed to be locked up!" The Queen said fiercely. She dragged Dawn from her hiding place and saw the others. Then she saw Mei.

"Mei!" The Queen was shocked. "I thought you'd know better than to mess with the prisoners!"

"They didn't do anything wrong!" Mei protested. "You and Father are being particularly unjust. More than usual. I'm sick and tired of you capturing these poor people!" The Queen grabbed Mei's shoulder, too. Two men were standing behind the Queen.

"Lock the other two up," she said to them. Then she dragged Mei and Dawn up the stairs. She was surprisingly strong.

Despite the situation, Dawn was relived to see bright light again. She was back inside the dusty old dining room, and Florin was sitting on his chair. He looked up lazily when the Queen came in.

"Hello," he said. "Mei, what on earth are you doing here again?"

"Tell mother to let me go!" Mei shouted. Florin shook his head.

The Queen shoved Dawn and Mei into two broken chairs, and then stood next to Florin.

"How could you do this?" Dawn said tearfully. "How could you betray your own kind? You're a fairy!" But the Queen just smiled and shook her head sadly at Dawn.

"But I'm not betraying my kind," she said. "I'm helping them." Then she reached up to her round ears and tugged one off. They were fake. Question mark-shaped ears were under the round ones. She then took off her wings, as if they were shoes that you slip off your feet. They dropped to the ground.

The Queen was a human.

Mei stared at the ground guiltily.

"You knew about this?" Dawn said. "And you never told me?" Mei sniffed, and a tear rolled down her cheek.

"You're not just half and half, Dawn," the Queen said. "Before we turn you in, why don't I explain things to you?" Dawn glared at her. She wanted to get up and run, but guards were standing at every doorway. She wouldn't have a chance.

"Fine," Dawn said, stalling.

"Well," the Queen said. "When I was young, my parents found your country--Telebone, it's called. I wanted to help them. When I turned 18, I disguised as a fairy, and married the king. Then we had a child called Isen Runebloom. He later married some woman named Fanfare, blah blah blah. Then they had you. But the king had his suspicions about me, and then split the castle in half. One half for him and one for me. He made sure that I wouldn't get out of the castle, just in case. And he was right that I was evil. Then I finally ran away, and found Florin, who was capturing fairies and pixies. I helped him whenever I could. Then the king found out, and wanted me arrested. But he couldn't do that without proof. And so he just wanted a divorce, and then I secretly married Florin, and then we had Mei. But that happened years ago.

"But... you look so young," Dawn said. And she was right. The Queen looked like she would be in her 20s.

The Queen smiled at her in mock sweetness. "Oh, I know. I really am very old, but there is a pixie called Adela, and she invented a potion for me that makes me very young. It's just for show, really," the Queen said. Dawn sighed. She apparently had a lot of secret relatives.

"But that means you're my grandmother!" Dawn said. Dawn was a little disgusted.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," the Queen said.

Dawn then realised that she had to get out of here now. She needed to rescue Fairy Godmother, find King Septimus, get Penelope to Alinar, and find her father.

Dawn wished she had her wings, so she could fly out of reach. She reached out her hand to her back, and felt something strange.

She had two wings!

Dawn gasped and then laughed. Her second wing was small, but she had two. Apparently wings grew back. She had never known that, or had even thought of the possibility. But her wing had grown back, and she was ready to get out of here.

She then lifted both feet from the ground, flying a little clumsily. Her small wing was fluttery and unstable, but she could still get in the air. The guards all crowded under her, trying to grab her ankles.

"Get her!" the Queen whispered harshly. Mei was looking up at Dawn, smiling.

"Fly through the door!" she shouted.

"Give me Penelope!" Dawn shouted back. Mei put a hand in her shirt pocket and brought out the little Elf.

"I can't reach!" she said.

Dawn lowered herself, bringing her just above Mei's head. "Give me your hand!" she said. Mei took the hand that was not carrying Penelope and snatched Dawn's wrist. Dawn, not used to the extra weight, struggled to carry her.

All this happened very fast, and the guards were running all over the place, trying to catch Mei and Dawn. But somehow Dawn managed to carry them through the doorway, and out into the open sunlight.

Dawn dropped Mei and Penelope to the ground.

"Run!" She shouted, her feet touching the ground. Her little wing was too slow.

And so they ran as fast as they could, Penelope taking refuge on Mei's head. As far as Dawn could see, there was just tall grass.

"We have to look for the stone!" Dawn said. After running for about half an hour, Dawn's knees buckled and she fell down onto her knees.

"Can't...go...any...farther..." Dawn said breathlessly, wiping sweat from her brow. Mei, too, slid down to her knees.

"We should just rest for a few minutes," she said. "Then we have to keep going." Dawn nodded and lay down in the soft grass. Penelope hopped off of Mei's head, sat down, and began to cry.

"Enough!" she sobbed. "Go home!" Dawn smiled at her reassuringly.

"We'll get home," she said. "Somehow..." Dawn looked at the large stretch of field. How would they get home?