11

Laura arrived back at their cottage and tempting as it was to dash off into the woods with the wisps she knew her friend needed a miracle to save her from The Witch Finder General. So she waved to the wisps and darted into the bedroom window closing it behind her. Whilst she stood no chance, at this late hour, of flying to the nearest fairy settlement and back again, she did remember her cousin, who like her had settled in a human settlement and mingled with them unknown. Laura landed in the room and, literally, in a snap she changed back to her human persona. Slamming the window she dashed downstairs and grabbed the phone of the hall table and ran into the kitchen.

The phone rang and rang and rang. Laura was convinced her cousin had gone out into the woods herself. She preyed to herself for Mary to answer. 

“Hello?”

“Mary, Its Laura.”

“Hi Laura, are you ok? You sound out of breath.” asked Mary

“Wow, what a day…..” Laura began.

As quickly as she could she explained the weekend they’d had and how Nuala was now sentenced to hang in the morning. She then asked if there was a fairy magic that may break the enchantment over the village.

Mary pondered the question for a moment, “Well from what you have told me, to be able to pass from one person to the next through the village, it cant be too complicated else there would be weaknesses that could break the chain. Being a simple enchantment, I can think we can probably break it.” Mary was really good with fae magic, possibly better then Nuala, but that was for another day. “Now, I know you are not so practiced in creating fairy dust spells, but I can talk you through it. We are going to need the crowd to be wound up as highly as it can get before releasing the magic.. You yourself will have to be pumped and with a lot of Luck and a little skill. I think we can make a spell to break the enchantment. Now have a look through Nuala’s ingredients. I’m going to need….”

It was late and Laura was tired, but she began poking through the cupboards picking out sachets and vials, pots and pans following closely as her cousin described the process over the phone. An hour later Laura was left with a thick slightly yellow creamy gunk in a small glass bowl.

“Now massage this ointment all over your body and by the morning your fairy dust should be infused with the spell to break the enchantment.” Finished Mary.

“But I’m no good with Fairy Magic, I really struggle to call up fairy dust on demand.” whined Laura

“You need to wind yourself up into a frenzy. Hold your breath if you have to. Bring the blood to the surface. Get the dust to spring out of you. You will do it, Laura, You will, I promise. You have to!”

Laura felt nervous and full of fear. She’d never had any success with fairy dust. What if she couldn’t summon the dust before Nuala was hung? It had failed her so many times in the past. Her magical ability was like an old car, sometimes it would start and sometimes it wouldn’t. When it did start, there was no guarantee that it would keep working and there was no guarantee that you’d get the result you wanted. She’d given up practicing magic years ago for that very reason. “I’m leaving right now, but it will take me all night to get there. I’m not sure I’ll make it there in time to help. You need to be prepared to do this on your own. Rub that ointment in and get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.” Laura gave a silent preyer said good bye to her cousin.