Everyone in school thought I was suspended for three days for skipping class after the interval.  And of it weren’t for Mrs. Warbler (who thinks I’m this sort of an innocent saint) was kind enough to search for the reason and inform my class. On the next day of school, I was showered with condolences in the death of my favorite aunt. I was tired enough to convince them that I had undergone some physiological trauma.
‘So,’ asked Isabelle. ‘How was Hampshire?’
‘Well, it was nice,’ I said.
‘You never told me that you have relations in Hampshire?’
‘It’s complicated,’ I said. I banged my locker close. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Andrew and Salzar standing at the end of the corridor. Under me, Trevelyan was reading “The Daily Invisible”. Fairies were fluttering around, some peaking out of my backpack. They all insisted to come.
‘Excuse me for a while,’ I said to Isabelle and walked over to Andrew who had his arms crossed.
‘So,’ I said. ‘What is it this time?’
Salzar twisted around us, while staring at the fairies that were hiding in my Backpack and under my hair. Andrew pulled out an old book from his back pack and shoved it to me. ‘Athena told you to study it.’
I gave a frown. I was heavy and leather bound. Inside in the first page was a scribble made by ink which said “Make knowledge your weapon.”
I turned to the next leaf.
“A Guide to the History of Sightless.”
‘Perfect,’ I said. ‘I have three days of work to cover, and then this!’
Andrew shrugged. ‘Zeus told you to be careful. Keep a few fairies around you.’
‘No need reminding me of that,’ I said. But they were now out of sight. I guess it’s because of Salzar.
‘How’s Slitzer?’
‘Who?’
‘The Kelpie.’
Andrew gave a good to Salzar. Salzar bowed at me. ‘There is no sight of him, your highness.’
Hearing him say that made me flinch.
‘Must you really call me that?’
Andrew, for once, smirked. ‘You’ll get used to it.’
I just hope Isabelle is not wondering why I am talking to thin air. I left Andrew and followed Isabelle to the Chemistry lab.
‘What’s that all about?’
‘Book club,’ I said.
Although Isabelle was hanging out with me again, I could sense that something was wrong. I bit my lips, trying to imagine of the things she must be feeling about me. My behavior for the past few weeks were… well… different.
‘Isabelle,’ I said, thinking of a way to ask her. ‘Is there something that’s bothering you?’
You cannot be sure. Maybe she’s having problems of her own. She lost her mom about two years ago and things don’t always go so well with her dad.
‘No,’ she said. ‘Why ask?’
‘Nothing,’ I said. ‘It’s just… I don’t know. We are not like before. You know, fun.’
‘You don’t hang around me so much now,’ she said, ‘and you seem so distracted and distant, ever since the halo moon.’
‘The halo moon? Maybe it has a psychological effect or something,’ trying to fake a laugh.
‘Maybe,’ said Isabelle. But she seemed lost in thought. Then I saw why. Shane was passing by. He was one of the nerdish jocks in school, a very off combination. Isabelle has a thing for nerds. She had been crushing on him ever since I can remember. I can tell Isa’s crushes by just looking at her listening to her rambling about that person, although I’m not really an expert on the area.
School turned out to be really boring. I had a lot of work to cover up and I spent most of my time at home filling notes and doing homework. I didn’t finish it all, but my head was so about to burst that I went downstairs and turned on the TV, only to find an elf grinning at me.
‘It is now known when, but the Council has announced to hold a vote about whether Sightless will have Amethyst Stone as her Queen_’
I switched in to some other channel and settled with a cartoon. Seriously. Then I switched in into a discovery channel which showed koalas hanging on a tree.
Tyke was eating popcorn next to me.
‘If you become queen, will this house become a castle? Can we live in the castle? Is palace food good? Will you wear a crown?’
‘If I become queen, Tyke,’ I said. ‘Don’t keep too much hope on it.’
‘I hope you’d become queen… It’s cool if I were a king. Will you marry me? Then I’ll be King!’
The way my face flushed must have alarmed Mrs. Trolsky because she gasped, ‘Tyke!’
I laughed. ‘What about I will make you one of my champion warriors?’
‘Awesome!’ cried Tyke. And he went off to play swords.
Mrs. Trolsky, who was knitting on a chair, sighed. ‘His dreams are endless.’
‘It’s nice to dream,’ I said.
‘But he’s a troll,’ she said. ‘Not a human. I guess it comes from Tolly.’
‘Tolly?’
‘Sorry dear. Tollsome’s pet name... I call my husband as Tolly. Well, if he hadn’t dreamt, he would have never become a lawyer.’
I really could not imagine Mr. Trolsky dreaming.
‘You must be nervous,’ said Mrs. Trolsky.
‘Huh?’
‘About everything in Sightless,’ she said. ‘You seem very tired.’
‘Oh,’ I said. ‘It’s just scary…. You know. I hardly know about Invisibles… Mrs. Trolsky, can I ask you something?’
She nodded with a smile while knitting a scarf with red wool.
‘Did you know I was an Enchantress? You knew before I got to know… I know you all lived here for a long time before us.’
She shook her head. ‘No really…. Well, it explains why neither of us felt to chase you and your mother out when you settled in here. We fairies have a very mischievous nature, and rather territorial.’
‘Oh,’ I said silently. ‘I find that rather hard to believe.’

For some time, I didn’t get any news from Sightless. Andrew hardly came to school and things just settled. Okay, not exactly. I had fairies in my house and Trevelyan became my official secretary.   
‘You have to do Physics homework, Lady Gem,’ he once said as I was reading a book. Well, although I scowled at him, he was right. He started to come to school, taking notes down with a pencil and a notepad. It was annoying to have him pop about (don’t ask me how) but he was pretty useful.
Then the big catastrophe happened.
I was quietly doing a titration in the Chemistry lab when Trevelyan just popped on top of the test tubes and pipettes waving a newspaper and showing all of the lab equipment everywhere.
I had to catch the burette and the titration flask and had hydrochloric acid all over my gloves.
‘Trevelyan!’ I screamed. I felt my own voice resonate with bell chimes.
Everyone in the lab turned to me, hearing the war that was going on. They must have been wondering who Trevelyan was. Mrs. Alkyl told me to clean up and sent me to the wash room to wash up all of the acids. Trevelyan popped up there in the sink line holding a newspaper over his face.
‘L-lady Gem!’
‘I’m going to kill_’
But seeing the headlines of the paper made me freeze.
“SIGHTLESS IS TO HAVE A QUEEN. Council majority votes over finally appointing Amethyst Heartfield as Queen of Sightless.’ 
‘What!’ I cried. They even used Andrew’s surname!
I felt like fainting and I usually don’t fait, on the account that I have never fainted before.
‘Lady Gem?’ said Trevelyan.
I didn’t say anything. But simply walked out of the washroom and headed to Biology class. I didn’t listen about cnidarians and when the final bell rang, Andrew was standing in front of locker.
‘How can this happen!’ I cried. ‘It must be all of Zeus’s doing!’
‘You are just going to be a queen,’ shrugged Andrew. ‘Get a hold of yourself. Show any weakness and they will shamefully overthrow you or worse.’
I sniffed. ‘You’re right. It’s just holding a title. Right?’
‘Sort of,’ said Andrew. ‘Zeus wants to see you. Now. You’d better shift. Remember, first go to Paris. Then Rome and then Sightless.’
I nodded.
I looked down at Trevelyan.
‘Don’t worry Lady Gem. I’m right behind you.’
‘Thanks.’
So, I stepped to the invisible side and shifted to Paris. Then I again went to the invisible side and went to Greece. I appeared in front of the Parthenon and no one ever noticed. Anyhow, I was sweating and struggling to catch my breath. Finally I shifted to my room.
Zeus, Athena and Andrew were waiting for me. The first thing that Zeus did was to squeeze the air out of my lungs.
‘That’s my girl!’ he yelled. ‘Now that’s how you become a queen!’
‘I. Can’t. Breath,’ I gasped.
He let go of me. ‘Sorry.’
It took me a while to catch my breath. No one had ever hugged me like that. Not even my mom. My skin was crawling with electro-static charges and it felt really awkward.
‘You called me all the way here to anacondalize my bones?’
‘No,’ said Athena.
‘Now we are going to go straight into business,’ said Zeus, plucking his bread. ‘You will be coroneted as queen in a weeks’ time and you will have Andrew as the Head of City Guard.’
‘You mean the police or the military?’
Zeus stretched his beard. ‘Both I guess.’
I looked over Zeus at Andrew.
‘Isn’t he a bit too small to be Commanding General?’
‘He is rather reputed for being fiacre,’ said Athena.
‘Seriously,’ I said.
Andrew gave me a murderous look.
‘Oh whatever,’ I said. ‘Andrew is Commanding General. Fine. That’s it?’
‘For now.’
‘But_ what must I do? Just sit around when I become queen?’
‘You have to solve the problems in the city,’ said Zeus. ‘That’s all. Handle an invasion or two, some pests, rebellions. Smother a few annoyances in the council.’
I felt myself shrink. ‘I-I’m not that clever,’ I admitted in a faint voice. ‘I don’t deal with people well and I’m a social disaster! I’m probably the most stupid sixteen year old in the world.’
Zeus and Athena looked at each other. 
‘You might be a bit stupid but you do have good grades,’ said Andrew.
‘Yeah right,’ I said. ‘DO you know that grades are usually indirectly proportional to common sense?’
‘Huh?’
‘The more nerdier you are the more awkward you become. It’s something usually applicable to people. Well, at least some people.’
Athena sighed. ‘The difference between someone who is wise and someone who is foolish is the matter whether they will think or not. You seem to be able to do some common reason and analyzing, use that brain of your to solve some problems. Solve your ignorance with knowledge. Then you will not be foolish anymore. I believe you can think.’
‘Unwanted fantasy and science fiction. Yes.’
‘Then direct the thought to leadership and handling people.’
‘Easy for you to say,’ I mumbled.
‘You will do just fine,’ said Andrew.
Athena patted on my shoulder. ‘You will not be a fairy enchantress unless you have a few tricks up your sleeve. The problem you have is in confidence.’
‘Whatever,’ I said. To change the subject I asked, ‘How is the Kelpie?’
‘Salzar is hunting him down saying his absence in suspicious,’ said Andrew.
‘Great,’ I sighed. I turned to Zeus and Athena. ‘That’s it?’
‘Pretty much yes,’ replied Athena.
I was going to be a queen. Well, no use brooding over it now. I had been dreading and expecting this.
‘How long will this last?’
‘As long as you live,’ said Zeus.
‘You mean I’ll be the ruler of this place for the rest of my life! What about school? My mom? I wanted to be a scientist and travel and worlds. Not a queen…. And I want to write a few novels too….’
My voice trailed off.
‘The travel problem is solved already,’ said Andrew.
Athena gave me a sympathetic smile. ‘Things will turn out just fine.’
I doubt that.