When all the flowers, bugs, and leaves scattered, they could take a better look at the fairy. For that was a flesh and bone fairy. Right in front of them, watching them without even blinking.

She didn't look older than a fifteen-year-old girl. Her hair, the color of the fire flames on a cold winter's night, was falling all the way to the ground. Her skin was pristine white as if made of the purest snow. But what captured their attention were her eyes—enormous eyes of the most unusual color, as if the sky and forest were captured inside her sharp glance. Her long, spiderweb-like eyelashes were trembling with every blink; she was wearing the most delicate dress made of air.

The fairy floated, as light as a feather, then she slowly descended. She seemed really happy to see Ferry.

"You're here! I can't believe you're here!" she said. Her voice was clear and sweet like the voice of a little girl.

Ferry and Matilda were standing stock-still.

"Excuse me, but do I know you?" Ferry asked after a few moments of amazement.

The fairy laughed. A burst of jolly, spunky laughter, able to chase away the fear they felt when they first saw her.

"Of course you know me, fairy-boy," she said. "Don't you remember me?"

And she danced, as light as a feather, bouncing and gently waving her hands as if caressing the wind. Then, she began singing a song. That little song Ferry had heard so many times before. The one that kept him awake at night; the same that he would hear when least expected. But now he could finally understand it.

Come along, you fairy-boy,

When the sun is gone to sleep.

Come and sing, and feel the joy,

Where the forest is too deep.

"YOU!" he almost shouted, shaken by a shiver. "You were the one singing this song all along! Who are you?"

The fairy took a small courtesy, "Well, it seems like you don't remember me. My name is Oona and I've known you for a reeeally long time. You were just a small child when I first met you. A fairy-boy. The cutest, sweetest I've ever seen."

"But how come I don't remember you?"

The fairy blinked. "Well, it must be because you grew up among humans. You see, up until the age of three, the human babies can actually see us, the fairies; then, they grow up and they can't see us anymore. And it was the same as you. You spent so much time among humans, that you almost became one of them. Almost." Then she gave them the biggest smile. "Have a seat," she said, pointing to the gigantic, decorated mushrooms nearby. "We have a lot to talk."

This time, Matilda couldn't help but interfere, "We're sorry but we're in a big hurry," she said, intending to carry on.

"Nobody asked you, Matilda!" the fairy hissed, and her look darkened as if storm clouds would've covered the serene blue of her eyes. "Besides, you're an Unfay. You are forbidy-forbidden to decide in fairyland."

Before Matilda could say something, Ferry took her aside. "Matt, I think we should stay," he whispered. "Just a little bit. Who knows? Maybe she can take us to the Blind Alley so we can find Danny."

"I don't know..." Matilda mumbled. "I don't trust her."

But since she couldn't separate from Ferry, she had to stay, too. So they returned to Oona who was waiting as if she knew they had no other choice.

"You want us to sit on those mushrooms?" asked Ferry.

"Oh, they're not mushrooms," said Oona. "They are wishful chairs."

"What's a wishful chair?" Matilda wondered.

Oona fussed for a moment, "Fine, I'll tell you. If you sit on a wishful chair, it will become one with you and know your deepest, most hidden wishes. They might be wishes you don't even know they're there, hidden into the depths of your mind where only dreams can reach. They are like fortune tellers of our land."

"Then I don't think I want to sit on that chair," said Matilda.

"Oh, you can sit all you want. You see those paintings on the wishful chairs?" she said showing one in front of them. "They are hard to read. And they are vanishing the moment someone else sits. That's why their pattern is always changing ."

The children took a better look at the mushroom-chair in front of them. It had some curious drawings which seemed like alive, and then transformed into something else, over and over again. It was a house that somehow seemed familiar to Ferry, although he couldn't say where he's seen it before.

Ferry was the first to sit. Indeed. The moment he sat, he felt the mushroom took the form of a chair. He felt it embracing him softly, making him feel like he was immersing into a substance that felt and smelled like vanilla pudding. He felt a pleasant numbness taking over his body, making him tired and sleepy. So tired, that he could barely keep his eyes open.

But then, he heard Oona's voice and he felt invigorated like after a cold rain, "So, are you ready for a fairy tale?" she asked, making herself comfortable in her wishful chair. "It happened a while ago. I was flying around, too bored of not finding anything to do. So I thought it would be fun to visit the land of people instead, and maybe find something less boring to do. And so I did.

"I've always loved to observe people. To watch them doing their daily chores. Some were selling groceries, some were going to the factory. Some would stay home while others would take care of their gardens. And the children were always playing. Of all the people, I loved the children the most.

"That day, as I was flying above the small town near the forest, I heard a giggle. So I shrank. Fairies could do that, you know. Only that, the more you shrink, the smaller you get. Some shrank so many times, they became the size of a bee. But that's a different story.

" What was I saying?... Oh, yeah, I shrank and descended from above until I reached the house the giggle was coming from. And then I met you," she said, smiling at Ferry.

"At first, I thought you were just another human baby. But when I saw you climbing everything in your way, when I saw your beautiful, shiny hair, when I saw you jumping so high, all the way to the ceiling, I knew you weren't just a baby. You were a fairy-child living among humans. A changeling. And a fairy child thinking he was a human child is thousand times more thrilling.

"So I visited you as often as I could. And boy, we had fun! I would braid your hair and brought you the most perfumed flowers. I would make your toys fly; or climb the curtains all the way to the ceiling. And we would spook that nosey neighbor lady of yours. She would always stumble and fall. And we were laughing and laughing.

"Then, I would tell you over and over again that you were not a baby boy, as your mother was calling you. I would tell you what you really were. A fairy-boy. And that's what you were trying to tell your mother when she called you by your human name. Andrew. A terrible name, if you ask me. Don't you remember me at all?" she asked with a tinge of regret in her voice.

But Ferry shook his head no.

"Well, and then school started. And I found all sorts of new games. I would guide your hand and draw the most amazing flowers and whisper the answers to all the questions, at school. Well, almost. Except for Math. Now, really, why do people have to learn Math? I find it completely useless."

"That's what I always say," Matilda agreed.

"I even had to draw you a map, so you could find me easier," she continued. But then, her gaze darkened, "Until that bald raven of yours chased me away," she grudged. And then she started to hit the air with her hands and legs as if fighting an unseen enemy.

"Who? Baldie?" Ferry wondered.

"Yeah, Baldie!" she spat the words. "Every time I would come closer, he would croak and dashed at me with that big beak of his. I've tried to explain that we were friends, but he wouldn't listen. So I thought that if I couldn't come to you anymore, I should do something to make you come to me. But how?

"And then a thought came to my mind. A brilliant thought, the size of a thousand crackers! The Midsummer Feast was coming. And, just as every time before the feast, there was the ceremony for choosing the Bringer. That should be the fairy that brings a human into this world. Usually, they are young men or new mothers. They are the ones most useful here, in Tenalach. Unfortunately, I wasn't the chosen one. It was one of my sisters," she said, frowning.

"And then, my mind lightened. I made a wager with the Bringer that she can't outdo me at hide-and-seek. Nobody can. If she won, I would give her my golden shoes, my only and most precious possession. But I won, of course.

"Yet, to tempt a human and bring him to the forest turned more difficult than I thought. You see, after so many years of vanishings, people started to be afraid. They knew someone was taken every seven years. So they began to avoid the forest more than the bees are avoiding the fire. Nobody was coming close to the forest anymore. So I had to cook up a plan. I haven't seen you for so long, fairy-boy."

Ferry had no idea how to behave in front of such an odd creature. She seemed like she knew him quite well.

"The time was running," the fairy continued, "and no one was coming to the forest. So I had to come closer to people. I had to cook up a plan to bring a human to the forest. And the easiest to fool was the children. But the parents wouldn't let the children come closer anymore, nor talk to a stranger. So I found someone that would do that for me. Someone the children trusted. Someone they would listen. Someone you trusted, too."

Ferry was ever more intrigued, "What do you mean?"

"I mean I had to make your teacher bring you to the forest," said Oona as calm as can be.

This time, Matilda was the one to interrupt her, "You did that?" she shouted. "You made Miss Summer take us to the forest?"

"I had to!" the fairy cut her short. "It was the only way. And it wasn't easy. She's a pretty stubborn young lady. At first, I moved the things around her house. She didn't seem to mind that. She wasn't spooked at all. Just as she wasn't spooked when I started to sing or whisper in her ear. Yet, little by little, she lost her peace. Sleep wouldn't touch her eyes anymore. And tiredness was coming over her, like a heavy, itchy blanket. And in the end, she surrendered to whispers and followed them. So she took you to the Shepherd's Forest. The forbidden forest."

"How could you do that?" Matilda chided her, jumping off her mushroom-chair. "You had no idea how much harm you did!"

But the fairy looked into Ferry's eyes and ignored her. "I had to, fairy-boy," she said, lowering her voice and making it sweet and innocent, like the voice of a little girl trying to make her parents buy her candies. "It was the only way I could bring that fat boy here. I was the Bringer. It was the only way to bring you here."

Now it was Ferry's turn to jump from his chair, "WHAT?! YOU TOOK DANNY?!"

"Yup, yup, some catch," she mumbled. "A fat boy who's good for nothing. Just sitting and whining. All the fairies were laughing at me," she sniffed. "But it doesn't matter as long as you're here. I knew you'd come, fairy-boy," she said. Then, she began to dance in the air, above the emerald meadow.

Ferry couldn't believe it. Now everything made sense. The whispers, the drawings, the song.

"But why?" he asked. "Why was that so important to you?"

Oona turned sad. She wasn't dancing anymore, "You see, I don't have many friends here. If I come to think of it, I have only one friend and she's rather annoying. But you... You are special. We had so much fun together."

"But how could you do that? Didn't you care about anything at all?" he shouted.

"I don't have anyone to care for... I'm lonely, most of the time," she said.

Ferry felt the rage coming over him. He clenched his teeth, then started towards the village in the valley, with Matilda following his steps.

The fairy became agitated, "Wait! You can't leave! You just got here. We have so much to do..."

But Ferry kept on walking. He couldn't believe he fell into her trap. One thing was certain—he didn't have the slightest idea about what the fairies were capable of.

The fairy followed them, looking determined, "You must stay! Now you have to play with me," she said, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

Ferry shook his head. "No, I don't have to! I came here for something else."

But the ginger fairy strutted in front of him, "Yes, you do! You owe me!"

"Owe you?" Ferry couldn't help but shout.

"Well, for drawing instead of you. For whispering all the answers at school. For protecting you from those dreadful boys who would always trouble you and your friends. I even had to make the plants grow for that foppish friend of yours. May!" she spat her name.

"I don't owe you anything!" he shouted. "I never forced you to do that."

"But you surely took the credit for it," Oona replied. "You lifted none of your pretty little fingers for any of those things."

"I don't care," Ferry cut her short, "I never asked you that."

So they passed her by and continued their way, shaken by the new, terrible things they just discovered.

But Oona didn't give up that easily. She flew after them.

"If you don't pay your debt, I will tell," she said with impish laughter. "Nobody ever entered this realm and then lived to tell."

This time, Ferry stopped. He couldn't take the risk. "So be it," he sighed. "What do you want from me?"

"I want to play," said Oona, jumping on one leg around them.

"Play? What game?"

"Hide-and-seek, of course," she giggled.

"Fine, but I wouldn't know where to hide. I don't even know this place."

Oona giggled again, "Worry not, fairy-boy! This game is a tiny bitty different than the usual."

And then she smiled—an impish smile that gave the children the creeps. Sure enough, a smile foreseeing bad things ahead.

So, introducing Oona! What do you think of her? She will play an important part in the series, so I'm really curious about your opinion. And, as always, don't forget to vote! Thank you so much for being the amazing readers that you are :*