For a moment, time stood still. No one expected the Queen's strike. Not even the Guards or the Wandering Fays.

"Filthy lizard," the Queen spat the words. "Look what you made me do!" she turned to Ferry. Her gaze was blurry, and her voice harsh.

Ferry could see clearly now. The Queen had tried to hurt him, and Izzy had taken the shot for him. But there was something else he understood ─ the Queen was strong; she was dangerous.

At the sight of Izzy lying on the ground, Rosemary burst out crying. She threw herself at Fae Queen's feet. "Please, Your Majesty, please, let me heal him. He needs help..."

After a moment of hesitation, the Queen nodded. One of the guards cut Rosemary's ties so she could go to Izzy.

"I'm going to need the Moonlight Boy's sack," she said. And after another guard gave it to her, she took out the flask that Ferry's completely forgotten about. She leaned on Izzy. The arrow of steam had touched half of his face, but he was still alive. Rosemary fomented his wound with the water in the flask. Izzy moaned and open one eye. The only one he had left.

Everyone breathed easily again, fay and people. Only the Queen was still, untouched by the pain she had caused. But Ferry had now another reason for being worried. He had lost the stone. Whether for his agitated moves or because of the unexpected Queen's attack, he'd lost it. He searched around with his eyes, but no trace of it. Now that the Moon was fading, his chances of finding the Moon's Tear were getting smaller.

"I'm tired of all these," the Queen's teeth gnashed. "Get the stone!" she ordered.

The Guards grabbed Ferry and shook him, despite his friends' protests. Baldie was even threatened with a sword by Doruh. The Guards carefully searched his pockets and clothes. Nothing.

"Where is it?" the Queen dashed at Ferry.

"I ─ I don't know..." he muttered.

The Queen screamed with fury. Her shout made everyone throb.

"It's one of your games. Don't you know there is no way out of here?" she guffawed. "The Moon will leave soon. You are doomed to stay here," she shouted and her voice hit the wall of the mist fortress and broke into thousands of echoes. "Doomed..."

Ferry and his friends shivered. Even Baldie, although trying to keep his temper, looked worried by the unusual turn of events. They looked to the Moon and they could see its light fading, making room for the thin fire stripes of the sun. Far away, the Fae People were still celebrating. Far away, there was light. But beyond the wall, it was still dark. And the darkness was growing.

The last beams of the Moon were caressing the faces turned towards the sky. One of them was brighter than the other.

"I won't let you hurt them," Ferry heard Lavender's firm, calm voice.

For a moment, Fae Queen forgot about Ferry and turned to Lavender, fuming. "You can't stop me," she laughed. "You've been a mortal for far too long to use your fairy powers again."

Yet, something interrupted her venomous speech. Something made everyone stop and watch that light. At first, Ferry thought the Moon was saying goodbye, sending them its last beam of light, the last he was going to see for a long, long time. But it wasn't just a beam. It was the moonlight falling over the lost stone. Somehow, somebody found it but didn't keep it. Instead, that somebody threw it under the soft moonlight. But who? And why?

Ferry didn't have the time to think about it. Inside that long, thin beam tying the sky and ground, something was shimmering somewhere above them, like a star. It was the head of a spear. At the sight of the spear, the Guards kneeled.

"Olarf, Olarf," they kept saying, bowing deep in front of it.

Even the Queen was taken by surprise. She drew nearer to the beam with a halting pace. But, just like the others, she couldn't watch the spear for too long.

"It can't be Olarf..." she said in a low voice. "It can't be the Spear of Justice..." With her hand stretched ahead, walking like in a dream, she came closer to it.

"It's not destined to you!" Baldie shouted. "It's destined to Ferry!"

"Shut your beak!" the Queen shouted back. Then, talking to the Guards, "I command you to bring me the Moon's Tear!"

Nook dared to step closer, "But, Your Majesty, we can't take the stone without touching the Spear. And the Spear is not destined to us..."

But the Queen was ruthless, "So be it. Bring me the Spear! Or else..."

The Guards came near the beam which was proudly standing in the middle of the mist fortress. They tried to budge the Spear one by one. But the Spear was hurting their hands, throwing them on the ground each time they touched it.

Doruh made way for himself through the people gathered around the Spear. He bowed his head in front of the Queen, "Your Majesty, allow me to take it for you. I would be honored to lay it at your feet."

The Queen approved, and he rushed to grab the Spear with both hands. But this time, too, the Spear injured his hands. Doruh screamed in pain but didn't let go of the Spear, trying with all his strength to make it move. He was, too, thrown on the ground. With a battle shout, he rushed at the weapon, but an unseen force threw him on the ground.

A muffled sob woke up Ferry from his amazement. What was the meaning of all these? What was he supposed to do? What other secrets were to be revealed?

"So be it!" he heard Fae Queen's harsh voice. "If the Moonlight Boy is the only one who can move it, then I command him to bring me the Moon's Tear."

Ferry looked at Baldie, and when he saw him approving, he headed towards the Spear escorted by the Guards. Just like the others, he hesitated before touching it. He studied the Spear before he could do anything else. He looked up to see the glittering head. It shone like a bright star. The blade looked sharp and smooth as if new. Yet, on the wooden shaft, he could see scratches of past, dreadful battles and strange, unknown letters carved into the old wood. The end of the spear was encrusted with the Moon's Tear. He summoned up courage and touched it.

He had the most natural feeling. As if he felt the ash tree shaft before. He detached it from the moonlight as easy as he would've picked up a flower. It was as light as a feather.

"Now be a good boy and give me the Moon's Tear," the Queen sweetened her voice. "I don't need the Spear."

"Wait!" he heard Lavender Sky's voice. "Why is the Moon's Tear so important to you?" she asked the Queen. "I know, it's one of the most powerful magical objects in this world and beyond. It can open doors to the past. It can turn into a weapon to destroy armies. But why is it so important to you? Who are you?" she asked, stepping closer to Fae Queen.

The Queen didn't answer. Lavender came in front of her, studying her from head to toe. Under her searching glare, the Queen looked away.

"How did you become a Queen?" Lavender continued. "Who made you a Queen? And what is your real name? For Fae Queen is not a name... What is behind your name? And what did you do to Saraid, the Mighty Queen of Tenalach? You told everyone that she was powerless and she retreated. What is the place of her indwelling? Is she still alive?"

The questions went on and on, but the Queen remained silent. The Wandering Fays started to fuss and whisper. Only Alwyn was standing aside, watching everything with a wild look, of hunted prey. Ferry met her eyes. There was so much hate in her eyes, he had to look away.

Then, the tree-castle wailed, clacking its old trunk as if wanting to answer the questions on everyone's lips. Ferry even remembered the being of light in the Queen's Chamber. Was that Saraid, held prisoner by a younger, more powerful fay, eager for the throne?

"You have no right to judge me!" the Queen's voice thundered. "And you, you'll going to give me the stone," she turned to Ferry with a threatening look on her face.

Holding the Spear, Ferry felt stronger as if a drift of crisp air had crossed his body, turning him up; making him forget about tiredness and fear. Ferry held the Spear tighter, prepared for anything.

Fae Queen's eyes turned dark again. "So you want me to be the bad fairy? Very well. I'll be the bad fairy."

She crossed her hands over her head with her fists tight and her eyes shut. The moment she opened her eyes, she also opened her fists. Then she clenched them and opened them again. She then directed them to his friends. And whenever she did that, the thread tied to their feet grew thicker. The thread looked like coming to life like a snake that wrapped around its prey, choking it. Now, that snake of light dragged each one of his friends towards the lightning Orb.

Then, the Queen turned to his Guardians, shoving them with the same frightful magic. But how was that possible? Ferry had always believed that the fairy's wool was only tied to the foot of the humans to keep them in the fairyland forever. But now he saw how the thread could even put the fairies under its spell.

Ferry watched as all his friends struggled, lashed to the ground, prisoners of the shining threads that dragged them closer and closer to the Orb.

"Ferry, you need to stop that..." he heard Baldie shouting with his last strength. "You need to destroy the Orb with the Spear!"

The Orb was now pulsing and vibrating. It turned brighter. More powerful. Just like the Queen. Colors and fragments of images were dancing inside in tangled twirls. But the distance to the Orb was too big and he had no idea how to throw a spear. More even, his way was blocked by the Guards and Doruh who were all standing between him and the Orb. Even if he had tried to throw the spear, it was obvious he would've missed it. Only if...

"Fly, Ferry!" he heard Baldie's desperate voice.

What was Baldie saying? Flying? He didn't have the green feather. He couldn't fly... He'd tried so many times and he had failed each time. Why would Baldie believe he would've succeeded now?

"I ─ I can't..." he said, taking a few steps back. "I don't have the green feather..."

"You don't need the feather anymore. Fly!" Baldie shouted.

"You can fly, Ferry," Shadow also shouted, struggling to set himself free from the strait.

That's when Ferry saw Matilda. She tried to reach her mother also dragged towards the Orb. But each time she got closer to grab her by the hand, the thread pulled her back, separating them again. Her cheek was dirty, tears falling like small rivers on her face. She was losing her mother again and she couldn't do anything about it.

Then, their eyes met. "Fly, Ferry!" she implored him.

Ferry knew she never encouraged him with anything when it came to his real nature. And more, she kept reminding him that he had no fairy powers and he would never become one. And now...

"Look at me!" Matilda shouted again. "YOU.CAN.FLY!" Then she smiled at him, tears in her eyes. "Fly..."

Ferry closed his eyes for a second. In that second, he felt his feet lifting from the ground. He felt that before, but couldn't control it. When he opened his eyes, he could see the Guards of the Palace coming towards him with one of the iron nets that had weakened Baldie's strength.

He held the Spear tighter. His feet were now in the air, dangling. He had to hold on to the Spear to maintain his balance. It was obviously not the most elegant flight of a fairy and Matilda would have probably laughed in a different time and place. But he was flying. He was really flying without the green feather or the help of his friends. And that was all that mattered.

He floated a few feet above the others when he felt a hot drift embracing him. With all the fuss, he had let the Queen out of his sight. And now the Queen was working her magic on him, surrounding him with that invisible twirl. The flight, already difficult, turned more clumsy. The twirl caught on his foot, pulling him down. Ferry cried and struggled in the air. He looked up. The Moon was almost gone. Only a thin sickle, faintly shone. Ferry caught at that frail light, following it, flying towards it. And the moonlight embraced him, pulling him up, away from the darkness. The grip on his foot loosened and loosened some more until he set himself free. Ferry was flying now. He held the Spear of Justice, turning it toward the Orb. He kept flying, stumbling in the air, towards it. All eyes were on him.

Then, at the Queen's signal, the Wandering Fays rushed at him in flight, like vultures. Oona was the only one to disobey, watching the whole scene with tears in her eyes. Alwyn was in charge, the fiercest of them all.

The fairies flew smoothly, like feathers in the wind. Yet, the whole scene was frightful. Wild looks, locks in the air, and cries of prey birds, they were all now crushing Ferry. They caught at him, trying to pull him down. They threw themselves at him all at once like a wasp swarm prepared to sting. They pulled out those terrible, sharp cries giving him the shivers. Ferry tried to push them away with the Spear. He didn't want to hurt them. He didn't want to hurt anyone.

Alwyn was the most dangerous, scratching his hands and face with her long nails.

"You are going to pay for all you did to me, Moonlight Boy," she kept yelling.

Ferry was beginning to feel tired. They were six of them and he was only one. Soon, he could see the ground coming closer. It wasn't long before he was going to fall. He closed his eyes and thought about his mother. Her face came to his mind, smiling warmly as always. That's when he felt thin, yet strong arms lifting him away from the unleashed swarm. It was Oona.

She pulled him up until they were above the Orb.

"I'm going to let you go now," she said. "Don't fight who you are, Ferry. Fly and destroy the Orb!"

Ferry surrendered to the wind that began to grow stronger. Oona was gone. He was now floating above the Orb. He rushed and threw the Spear in the Orb's direction. The globe broke into thousands of glittering pieces. Then, everything turned to light.

So, climax! Let me know your thoughts! And don't forget to press that star. Thanks!