The Dust Pixies, Part 9 – The Finale

June 29, 2017June 29, 2017 | Allison

Goodness gracious, it has been far too long since I added to this story! (I always say that about my writing posts, don’t I? XD ) Well anyway, here I am now! I hope you enjoy this last chapter of The Dust Pixies.

If you’d like to read the previous chapters, click here. And here’s a refresher from the last part:

Reuven was silent a moment, considering the advice. “Fine,” he said in a low voice. “I agree. Being the man who killed the Princess’s husband is probably not the best tactic. So maybe he’ll just suffer an ‘accident.’ ” He lifted his chin, dark eyes glinting.

Rosalind gasped, then shut her mouth tightly. We all looked at each other with panic in our faces.

It was time to put our plan into action.

Part 9

I reached into the burlap bag and scooped out the dust bunny. I looked into its bright little eyes and whispered, “This is it, little guy. Time to pay me back for all the trouble you’ve caused.” The bunny cocked its head and looked at me curiously, its small nose wiggling. At last it caught the scent of freedom and raced straight into the midst of the fairies’ camp.

The fairies exploded in a flurry of wings and shouts.

“Eww, it’s all dusty.”

“Well of course it is, Karina – it’s a dustbunny.”

“EEK! You mean from the dust pixies? Gross! Shoo, get away from here!”

“IT TRIED TO BITE ME!”

“What if it has rabies?”

“AHHHH!”

I grinned. Perfect – everyone was distracted. Time for Stage Two.

Lyri and I fluttered nonchalantly past the tents, looking for any sign of Finn or Anabelle Rose. A couple of fairies glanced at us but we ducked our heads and they flew back to the uproar. Our disguises – or more like our baths – had done the job.

We finally found Eli peering between the tents at the ruckus. He jumped when I touched him.

“Psst, Eli, it’s us! The dust pixies! We’ve come to rescue our friends, like we promised.”

His big black eyes widened, taking in our costumes, the absence of dust, and then our faces. He gave us a nod and a tiny smile. We tiptoed past the fairies’ tents, each one different from the others. Some were made of bright flower petals or rich green leaves, others of twigs bound together with vines. We stopped at one of the biggest tents, an enormous orange tiger lily.

“This is my house,” Eli whispered to us shyly.

“It’s very pretty,” Lyri whispered back with a smile.

Eli blushed and looked at the ground.

When he led us around to the back I had to clap my hand over my mouth to keep from shouting. There sat Anabelle Rose and Finn, bound with a thick brown vine, mouths stuffed with its leaves… I gulped: poison ivy.

When Anabelle and Finn saw us, their tired faces lighted up for a moment, but then their eyes widened and they shook their heads violently, gesturing to something behind us.

I turned and all the breath rushed out of me. Oh no. Two tall fairymen were standing behind us with their arms crossed and scowls on their faces.

“FLY!” Eli yelled.

Lyri and I took off, flying high up into the trees. Unfortunately, the fairies were right behind us. We had a head start but the fairymen were much more adept at maneuvering through the branches.

Suddenly, a bird appeared out of nowhere, shrieking and divebombing us. I could see a nest of scruffy little babies with their yellow mouths wide open behind her. I flapped my wings backward as hard as possible but it was too late. The bird slammed into me and I started spiraling to the ground.

“Mae!” Lyri screamed, following me down.

I managed to slow my fall a bit with my wings, but they hurt too much to do anything more than flap feebly. I thudded to the ground and groaned. Ouch. Everything hurt.

“Mae, are you okay?” Lyri asked, trembling.

“Uh… maybe,” I mumbled. Well at least we had lost the two fairymen.

But then I heard voices, and footsteps.

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to curl into a ball, but my body protested. Why am I here? We didn’t even help anything, just made everything a bigger mess than when we started. I heard my name shouted over and over.

“Mae, wake up! Mae, it’s us! Mae, Mae, Mae!”

I slowly opened my eyes, then snapped them open the rest of the way.

“WHAT?! How did you guys escape?” I scrambled to my feet – or tried to, but only managed to sit up. There stood Eli, Petre, and Anabelle Rose and Finn, a little weak and haggard maybe, but standing. Free.

Anabelle smiled. “While you and Lyri were distracting the fairymen, Eli and Petre freed us. Than you ever so much, boys,” she told them gratefully. Eli blushed again and Petre grinned proudly.

Finn took my hand. “And thank you for coming back to save us.” He gave me a warm smile, and I was glad I’d come, despite the pain. I could see why Anabelle had been so heartbroken about losing him.

Then a thought struck me. We were all together… except Fiona. “Where’s Fiona?”

“Well, the dustbunny situation got a little out of hand, so Fiona went to go catch him.”

“Wait, Fiona just waltzed into the middle of all those fairies?”

They all nodded. “Pretty much.”

I swallowed hard. Better hope her disguise held up. I turned my head to look for Fiona, but all I saw was a cacophony of wings and fairies and noise. Suddenly the commotion quieted and I could hear a shrill, familiar voice saying, “I got him!” The fairies parted a bit and I could see Fiona triumphantly holding up a wriggling ball of fluff. She glanced around until her eyes rested on us.

“Okay, well, I’m going to go, um… dispose of this little rascal now,” she said to the crowd, and started moving toward us. Uh-oh. As she came closer I took in her messy hair, bedraggled clothes, and the dirt and dust covering her all over. This was not good. She looked way to much like a dust pixie again.

Some of the fairies must have thought so too because a few of them turned toward us with odd expressions, like they were trying to place our faces. Suddenly, Reuven leapt into the air.

“After them,” he bellowed, “they’re dust pixies!” Unfortunately, Anabelle chose this time to peek out from behind the small bush where she was hiding. Reuven’s face turned even darker with anger. “And they’re trying to kidnap the princess!” Oh really? I thought. Who’s the one talking?

Once again, Eli yelled, “FLY!”

His father turned on him fiercely. “Oh, so now you’re against us, are you?”

I thought Eli would be too shy to speak up for us, but I was wrong. “No, father,” he said quietly. “I’m not against you – I’m just for them. They’re really not as bad as we think-”

“ENOUGH,” Reuven roared. “We will discuss your choice of friends later. For now, CAPTURE THEM.”

I gulped. An army of fairies surged toward us. I tried to lift off, but pain shot through my right wing. I crumpled to the ground, my friends gathering around me. There was no escape now.

Unless…

If we could just start Stage Three of our plan, immediately, but I couldn’t do it by myself. The fairies were coming closer and closer. Please, please, please. Suddenly the fairies halted.

“Watch out, it’s a human!” All at once the fairies turned and scattered into the bushes.

Yesssss! I could feel Rosalind’s thunderous footsteps crunching through the dry leaves.

“We’ve got to get out of here. Now,” Finn whispered. “Can you make it, Mae?” I struggled to my feet, feeling fine, but when I fluttered my wings I collapsed again and tears spilled down my cheeks.

I shook my head, “I think my wing is broken.”

Finn pulled me up. “It’s okay, Mae, we’ll help you. Do you think you could let me carry you?”

I nodded. I felt small and humiliated. Only little dust pixies, even younger than Petre, were flown piggyback, when they were too young to fly fast enough on their own, but there was no other choice. I climbed onto Finn’s strong back and we sped off. Just when it seemed we were finally clear of the fairies, I heard a shout and something whistled through the air.

Finn gasped and fell to the ground. A long, thin arrow was stuck in his back, just below where I sat.

“Nooooo,” I wailed. Anabelle swooped to the ground. “Finn! FINN! Are you okay?” Not again. We were so close. We had come to the end of our plan. What more could we do? Suddenly I felt a gust of wind and Rosalind’s huge hand scooped us up.

Somehow, we were going to get home.

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I leaped from step to step up the attic staircase. I wanted to fly – needed to fly, but my wing wasn’t healed yet. I sighed, then scolded myself. I should be thankful I wasn’t worse off. Anabelle Rose and Finn were both covered in hundreds of red, itchy sores from the poison ivy vines, and Finn was bedridden from the terrible wound where the arrow had pierced him almost all the way through.

I still hadn’t seen him since we came back since after all the explanations and crushing hugs and panicked scoldings from my parents, we had been stuck inside the house for several days as punishment – which, I had to admit, was more than fair, seeing as we broke two of the most major laws of the dust pixies: Don’t Associate With Fairies; and Don’t Ever, EVER, Under Any Circumstances, Let Yourself Be Seen By Humans. However, after telling our parents all about it, they relaxed a bit and even became curious to see this human and the fairy and dust pixie whom we had rescued.

That’s why we had all come to the attic – my whole family as well as Lyri’s. The adults paled as they saw the giant form of Rosalind laying stretched out on the dusty floor beside Finn’s house, but they made it through the introductions remarkably well, and seemed grateful to meet the one who had saved their children. Then Anabelle came out and we introduced everyone once again. I could tell my mother was impressed with Anabelle’s grace and beauty. Finally we all crowded into Anabelle’s lovely house with the beautiful evergreen forest wallpaper to see Finn. He was laying on the overstuffed couch made from green felt scraps and matchsticks. He looked very, very tired and his shirt bulged in the back with his bandage, but his smile was bigger than ever.

It was then that I knew everything would be alright. We had shown the fairies that we weren’t afraid of them, that though we had a human on our side, we were strong and brave ourselves. Despite their hostility and all the injuries they had given us, I was confident that one day soon, the dust pixies and the fairies would make peace. I remembered Eli with his big, dark eyes and knew for certain that, like humans, the fairies weren’t all bad. They were really more like us than we had ever imagined.

I looked over the mix of dust pixies and fairies and humans, and heaved a happy sigh. It had all been worth it. All the pain and panic, broken bones and baths, had most definitely been worth it.

And as I sat there listening to Finn recount his adventures, I was very grateful to that mischievous little dustbunny on Round Up Day who had unknowingly changed my life forever.

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There! Ahh, it feels so good to be able to finish a series like this. 🙂 I do hope you enjoyed it, my dear readers! Thanks for your encouragement and kind comments on this story. ♥

Until next time!

***Allison***

In Which Mr. and Mrs. Gnome Encounter Something Very Strange

January 31, 2016 | Allison

Hi, guys! I have a silly little photostory for you today that I had a lot of fun making. Oh, and the camera shown in the photostory is my sister’s, but I (erm, the gnomes) took all of the pictures with my camera.

(To see more detailed photos of some of the “stars of the story,” click here.)

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One morning bright and early, just as the sun was sleepily climbing out of his bed, Mr. and Mrs. Gnome yawned and rolled over in their beds. It was too early to be getting up just yet, but… hold everything! Was that footsteps? Human footsteps! The Gnomes were used to waking up to the sound of birds and bees and butterflies (gnomes have very good hearing – they can even hear butterflies) but it had been years since they had heard or seen any trace of a human!

The two gnomes lived deep in the woods, you see, where everything was safe and snug, and all animals, gnomes, fairies, and other creatures lived in harmony. If a human should discover them, all the fairies and gnomes and other creatures would have to move, for of course they could never feel safe knowing that a human could come and eat them up at any moment. So, although it was early, Mr. and Mrs. Gnome jumped out of bed, shivering with fear, and peeked cautiously out of their doorway.

They didn’t see or hear anything suspicious, so they ventured out a little bit. They did not at first see the very fearsome Thing directly behind them.

When they turned around they were shocked! Astonished! Fearful! Scared out of their wits! What sort of bomb or trap or malicious evil creature had the human left to snare them?

Mrs. Gnome was all for fleeing to another forest immediately, but Mr. Gnome collected a handful of bravery from the place where he kept it handy (under his hat), and boldly went to check the Thing out. He had rather a hard climb to get up to the top of it, but Mr. Gnome was an experienced Thing-climber. (At least that’s what he told Mrs. Gnome.)

Once up, Mr. Gnome scratched his head, looked around, and prepared to get down. (The wisest thing to do when you aren’t feeling very wise is to leave – that’s what Mr. Gnome’s motto was.) But before he did that, he gave a perfunctory stomp on the Thing for the reason, as he said later… well, he supposed he didn’t have a reason, but he did it just the same.

After Mr. Gnome stomped, he realized what he had stomped on: a little metal circle with strange human runes under it. The runes looked something like this: ON/OFF. But before Mr. Gnome could begin puzzling them out, he heard a shriek from Mrs. Gnome. He looked down from the Thing to see a horrifying sight – it was actually chasing Mrs. Gnome by stretching out a long black trunk to grab her with!

Now this was too much! Mr. Gnome stepped up onto the edge of the Thing and prepared to jump to Mrs. Gnome’s rescue, but before he could, he heard a strange, “CLICK!”

The thought flashed through his mind that the Thing had dispatched Mrs. Gnome forever with that “CLICK,” but when he peeped out from between his fingers, he saw Mrs. Gnome shivering in a heap on the ground. She seemed to be perfectly fine, although quite shaken.

Mr. Gnome slipped over the back of the Thing, but once again he was stopped – this time by a strange image on the back of the Thing. It looked sort of like… blurry nothingness. Mr. Gnome could not explain this strange occurrence unless… perhaps it had happened when he jumped on the button on the edge of the Thing! After all, something had happened when he stomped on the strange ON/OFF circle. Mr. Gnome was beginning to be curious (gnomes are very prone to curious-ness), so he laboriously climbed back up the Thing and stomped on the bigger metal button at the edge again. Once more he heard a click, and once more he saw a blurry image on the back of the Thing.

Mr. Gnome was beginning to have a theory, which had something to do with a piece of information a deer had once told him about concerning something which in human language sounded like, “CA-MER-A.” (This particular deer was very good at impersonating human language, and everyone begged him to do his “human accent” at every woodland party.)

So with much pleading, Mr. Gnome convinced Mrs. Gnome to stand right next to the black trunk of the Thing while he made it “CLICK.” This is the image he saw on the back of the Thing:

Down at the very corner of the image, he saw what appeared to be a blurry Mrs.-Gnome-face. Excited, Mr. Gnome helped his wife up to the edge of the black trunk and she hung down from it while he “CLICKED” it.

Hmmm. An even blurrier Mrs.-Gnome-face-and-part-of-her-body. He asked Mrs. Gnome to be a good little wife and trot farther away from the Thing.

Ahh! Much clearer, but Mrs. Gnome was only a speck! They brought a willow basket and overturned it in front of the black trunk, and Mrs. Gnome sat on top of it.

Bingo! Mr. Gnome was so excited, he nearly fell over the deep abyss of the Thing while dancing his victory dance. Now the Gnomes honed their “CLICKING” skills.

Although they didn’t become experts all at once: (In the first picture below Mr. Gnome was trying to do a hat-stand.)

-Allison(gnome photostory) 030 (1280x960)

Pretty soon, their neighbors the fairy sisters popped over for a visit. At first, of course, they were quite shocked (fairies being very timid), but as soon as Mr. Gnome explained, their fears were relieved, and they even asked Mr. Gnome to “CLICK” them. Of course he did.

A snail by the name of Bob also came along and wish to be “CLICKED,” but Mr. Gnome had to take a string of pictures because Bob turned out to be a little slow in mounting the basket.

The Gnomes were thinking of calling it a day when one last customer (or rather two) arrived. It was a strange living thing that could only be described as… an “other creature.” But, after one look at it’s pleading glance,

the gnomes gave in and “CLICKED” it too. It turned out to be a tad mischievous – that second picture gave Mrs. Gnome a fright – but it turned out alright.

Now the Gnomes really were ready to stop, but the “other creature” pleaded with them to “CLICK” his girlfriend too. So, with a sigh, they gave in. It turned out that the “other creature” must have been a bit off in the head, as well as mischievous, because his “girlfriend” turned out to be a strangely colored blob. With no eyes. Or ears. Or anything. But to please the “other creature,” the Gnomes “CLICKED” them anyway.

At last the Gnomes had pleased all of their customers and they “closed up shop” so to speak for the rest of the day. Mr. Gnome was thinking a lot that night about the Thing and he thought that perhaps he would like to become a professional “CLICKER.” But unfortunately, that was not to be.

The next day the Gnomes got out of bed and went to wish the Thing a good morning, but – it had disappeared! After they got over their initial sadness at the departure of a beloved friend, Mr. Gnome concluded that the human creature must have come back for it’s missing Thing. And he was right. Those were the pictures from my camera to prove it.

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I hope you enjoyed it!

***Allison***

Recent Clay Creations

January 27, 2016February 9, 2016 | Allison

Hi, folks! How be-est thou? XD

I really like making things out of polymer clay (some of which I sell at my Etsy shop), so I’m going to show you a few little creations I made recently. Let’s start with a few fairies, shall we? They are super tiny – the littlest one, as you can see, feels quite comfortable on a penny.

Next up is a clay custom pet I made for my grandmother. It’s of her dog, Duke. I made him from a few pictures my sister Megan took (like the picture on the bottom right.) (You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.)

-Megan(snow, sleeping bag, Duke, clay stuff) 053 (1280x960)

And then we have this lil’ gal. Her name is Alice, and you can buy her here at my Etsy shop. Isn’t she so cute? 🙂 Here she is shown standing on the top of the gnomes’ house (more on that later) and the fairies’ toadstool.

-Allison(clay stuff, sunset) 015 (1280x960)

-Allison(clay stuff, sunset) 016 (1280x960)

I made a game called Pebbles a little while ago, so I made some polymer clay pebbles for the playing pieces. I really like how they turned out! They are really shiny because I glazed them with a really nice glossy glaze. The granite looking one was a lot easier than it looks, because the clay already came like that. 🙂 The purple one has little translucent spots on it, and the rest are marbled clay.

Now for my masterpiece – the gnomes! 😀 I also made a gnome-house and table set for them.

Here are the two little gnomes…

And here are more details of their house. I made this by first forming a skeleton of 6-8 sticks, draping it over a tinfoil ball, and baking them. Then I wove a green log through those sticks for a vine, and filled in some of the gaps with more sticks in different colors. I added a sprinkling of tiny pink flowers for more color.

I made and baked the top yellow flower separately. I started with the inner layers and progressed outwards, adding the texturing details after I put the flower together. After it was baked, I glued it to the stick-part with this Sculpey glue which bonds as it bakes. And that’s it!

Here is the table set. I might sell this on Etsy sometime soon, but I’m too attached to my gnomes and gnome house to sell them. XD

And that’s it! I’m not an expert, but I still really enjoy playing with polymer clay. Do you feel like “claying” now? If you do make something, I’d love to see it! (Here is a link to the kind of clay I use. I highly recommend it!: Premo Polymer Clay.) Have you ever worked with polymer clay before?

Thanks for reading!

***Allison***

P. S. We still have snow here, but it’s at that messy state between slush and snow. It’s kind of like the last remnants of nail polish that seem to stay on your nails for weeks after most of it has worn off. I always wish both snow and nail polish would last longer, and then just go away all at once. At least the snow still looks pretty nice, although I don’t know if I can say the same thing for my fingernails. 🙂 Do you still have snow?