Not Your Average Fairy Tale (Not Your Average Fairy Tale #1) (5 page)

"Why not?"

"Fairies have wings. Where are yours? Are you saving them for a special occasion? Like Halloween?"

His hands moved a little toward his back, but he stopped, clearing his throat.

My smile faded as I met his icy glare.

"You're quite the comedian," he said dryly.

"Kendall, honey? Are you home?"

I jumped as my mom opened the door and poked her head into the room. I was flat against the wall, and Ash stood near the window in full view of the doorway. He had his arms folded and still glowered at me.

"Uh …" I started as she looked around, then right at Ash. She frowned.

"Could you be a little quieter? I’m going to make a phone call and you’re talking really loud. Tell Tessa you'll call her back."

I looked over at my cell phone sitting on my dresser. It clearly wasn’t on. "Sure," I said slowly.

“Are you exercising or something?”

“No.” I said. "Why?"

“Just wondering why you're pressed up against the wall like that.”

I pushed off the wall, embarrassed. "Oh, I was …" I trailed off, not coming up with anything to tell her.

She looked confused. "Okay, well, get your homework done. I just stopped by to check on you and El, but she isn't home yet. I'm working late tonight, so I'll see you in the morning. Oh, and let me know if you go anywhere, please." She smiled. “Love you.”

"Love you, too," I said, as she shut the door. Of course she was working late.

I leaned against the wall again, lost in my thoughts until I remembered Ash was still in the room.

I closed my eyes and shook my head to try to wake myself up. I had to be dreaming. No way my mom couldn't have seen Ash standing there. I knew she hadn't, though. She would have freaked out if she saw a guy in my room.

"She can't see me, if that's what you're trying to figure out."

My head snapped up and fairy boy grinned at me. "I'm the only one who can see you?"

He nodded and leaned against the window, totally relaxed. I could tell he thought he was something special. Not that I disagreed…

"Huh," I said. I wasn't sure what else to say.

"Are you always this messy?" he asked, surveying the clothes piled all around the room.

I snapped out of my stupor. "You're a fairy. Wave your magic wand and clean it up."

His mouth quirked up. "You're still doubting me?"

"A guy shows up in my room one day, claims he's a fairy godmother, and I'm supposed to think that’s normal?" I rolled my eyes. "
You,
" I stated, "are
not
normal."

He considered me a moment before his eyes lit up and he rubbed his hands together. "You want to see my wand?"

"Um …"

He pulled a long, dark blue wand from … nowhere really, and balanced it on the tip of his index finger. "Voilà!"

"Prop," I said. “It came out of your sleeve.” Even if it had come out of his sleeve, he was a pretty good magician.

He frowned and pointed it at my feet. A trail of shimmering light flew across the room. I tried to jump out of its way, but not fast enough. I gasped as it crept up my shoes, and I tried to shake it off me.

"It's not going to hurt you," he said. I stopped struggling and watched in fascination as my shoelaces tied themselves together. "Convinced?"

My mouth dropped open, and I hopped to my bed to untangle them. "That wasn't very nice," I muttered. Okay, so he could do magic. I tried to look calm, even though my heart was beating at a million miles an hour.

"Treat others as they treat you," he said.

"It's do unto others as they would do unto you," I snapped.

He chuckled, and I folded my arms, giving up on the tangled shoelaces. I kicked them off and they fell on the floor.

“Just keep adding to the pile,” he said, gesturing toward my messy floor.

“Shut up. I bet your room looks worse than this.”

“Why do you say that?”

“You’re a guy.”

He threw up his hands. “And that explains everything.”

“Yep.”

"Whatever.” He glanced at my feet. “Nice socks by the way," he said, admiring the pink and red hearts. "They match your shorts."

My face heated as I remembered my outfit. I'm sure I looked way awesome.

He chuckled under his breath. "They suit you," he said.

"Thanks. I guess." I glanced at him again, noting the wand in his hand. He obviously did have magic, but what did he want from me? "So … Ash. Why are you here? What do you want exactly?"

"Okay. Let’s try this again for the fifth time," he said. "I'm here to grant you three wishes." He stopped and eyed me warily. "Don’t go all crazy on me and call me a genie again. It's kind of insulting."

I frowned. "Fine. Can I ask a question first?"

"Sure," he said slowly.

"Why would
I
get three wishes?"

He shrugged. "I have no idea."

"And how are you a fairy godmother? Aren't you, like, sixteen? I didn't think they had fairy godmothers that young. Or … um … male ones."

He glared at me and stood up a little straighter. "I'm seventeen."

Interesting. I was almost seventeen.

We sat in silence for what seemed like ages. I watched his slender fingers pick at his wand.

Piano fingers. Nice, long piano fingers. I shook my head. I was
not
checking out a fairy.

Sick of the silence, I asked, "So, you're really real? Can I touch you?"

A look of horror crossed his face as I stood up and walked over to him. "We aren't supposed to … uh … physically interact with humans. Especially our assignments."

I looked at him curiously, but didn't stop. He was stone still as I reached out a finger and poked him in the arm.

Yep. Definitely real.

"Wow," I said to myself, but I caught a hint of a smile from him.

"So, Kendall. Now that we know each other better, any ideas on wishes? You want me to turn anyone into a toad?"

The entire student body of my high school.

"No," I lied.

"Any handsome princes you want to dash away with?"

Cameron. If he ever decided to talk to me again. "Not really."

"Then what is your heart's desire?" Ash balanced the wand on his pinky this time, and walked around the room. "You have three wishes. The sooner you make them, the sooner I can get out of this ridiculous … er," He stopped. "This assignment. I have bigger plans than being a fairy. Not that this isn't great fun and all. I just need a job that's a little more …"

"Masculine?"

"Yes," he grumbled.

"Let me think on it," I said.

"Really?" He turned around and smiled, showing off perfect white teeth. I wondered if he was a tooth fairy as well.

"Really," I promised.

"Awesome," he said, gliding across the room. He sat down in the hot pink bean bag next to my bed.

I wondered if he knew how gracefully he carried himself. Probably not. I didn't want to embarrass him, so I didn't mention it. He already seemed out of place, being a fairy godmother and all. The fresh, rainy smell filled my nostrils again, and I breathed in deep. He really smelled amazing.

"Can I ask you a question?" I asked.

He nodded, looking more relaxed.

"If you're really a fairy, do you have, you know … wings?"

His jaw clenched, and he looked away.

"I take that as a yes."

"Do you always ask such personal questions of people you barely know?"

"Yes. I ask everyone I meet if they have wings attached to their backs."

"Ha. Ha," he said. There was no humor in his voice.

He was kind of a jerk. I thought fairies were supposed to be all nice and sweet. Then again, I'd never actually met one before. "Can I ask you something else?"

"It doesn't matter what I say, you'll just ask it anyway." He pushed his hair out of his eyes, and I noticed again how beautiful they were. Blue and silver. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

I turned away and focused on my pink bedspread. "Can I call you something other than fairy godmother? Since, well, you're obviously not a mother, or grandmother, or a girl …"

He smiled. "I'm glad you noticed."

I blushed. “Um, what about godbrother or something?”

“I’m not your brother,” he said.

“Really? I thought we were identical twins.”

His eyes narrowed.

At least
I
thought I was funny.

"Like I told you earlier. You can call me Ash."

"Okay then, Ash," I said. "Let's get to work."

Ash

Kendall played with a lock of her light hair while I drummed my fingers on her nightstand. I was already getting impatient, and it was only my first day with her.

I tried making myself comfortable in her bean bag, and shuddered at all the pink around me. Pillows, bedspread, curtains. It was unnerving. Like stepping into Lady Shenelle's office. I was tempted to turn everything blue. Or black.

"What kinds of wishes
can't
I make?" Her hazel eyes were wide, looking genuinely curious.

"Oh, you know," I said. "You can't make people fall in love … blah blah blah. No bringing people back to life, and I can't kill anyone. The usual."

Her eyes darted toward the picture on her nightstand.

I glanced at it. In the picture, Kendall was standing next to a man. Her dad, maybe? They were both smiling, and looked really happy. She noticed me looking and reached over, putting it face down. Her mouth drew into a thin line, and I thought I saw tears in her eyes.

I took a deep breath, dreading an emotional breakdown with a girl I didn't even know. "Anyway, about that wish …"

"So, I just say 'I wish', and ask for whatever I need?" She blinked the moisture in her eyes away and sat up a little taller.

I nodded, relieved she wasn't going to cry. "Yep. It's as simple as the stories."

Her eyes lit up. "Stories? Like fairy tales?"

"Of course."

"So are all the stories real? Cinderella and all that?"

I rolled my eyes.

"Don't look at me like I'm stupid. I didn't even know fairy godmothers were real," she said.

"You're looking at one." I smiled and realized what I said. "Well, sort of."

"I guess I am," she said. Her eyebrows furrowed, and she frowned.

My hand twitched. Magic tingled inside my fingertips, itching to be released. I wondered why it felt so strong. "You think of anything yet?"

"You're really serious about this?"

My mouth dropped open. She still didn't believe me.

"If I wasn't serious, I wouldn't be sitting in this pink bean bag right now."

She raised an eyebrow.

"It's not really my color," I added.

She laughed. "Okay then." She pulled on her hair again. "What I really want is for people not to be weird around me. To treat me normal. Like before …" She trailed off and bit her lip.

Before her accident, I assumed. The one that left the nasty scar on her face. Her file didn't say much about it, only that her dad had died.

"So you wish for people to treat you normal again?"

She nodded.

I snapped my fingers, making my wand reappear. The moment I touched it, my magic seemed to simmer. I pointed it at her, feeling the magic flow into the wand. A glimmer of light shot out of it, covering her with blue and silver sparkles that faded into her skin and clothes.

She smiled and lifted her hands, palms up toward the ceiling as if catching raindrops. After a second, the sparkles disappeared. "So … that's it?"

"Yep. Consider yourself normal again." I blew a few straggling sparkles off my arm. "I'm not the biggest fan of
these
, but you can't win ‘em all."

"Your job is pretty easy, isn't it?"

"I'm good at what I do." I linked my fingers together and put my arms behind my head, leaning against the wall. The bean bag was too squishy, and I couldn't quite get comfortable.

"You're also really annoying and conceited," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Touché," I said.

"The magic will work then? People will act normal around me now?"

"Yep."

"Thanks, I guess."

We sat in silence. I had to wonder if she really believed the wish would work. I guess I'd find out soon enough. I stood, knowing I should get back home. "Well, I'll see you when you’re ready for your next wish," I said.

"Okay?"

"Try to make it quick. Carrying a wand around makes me feel like a little girl." I winced. "Not that I’ve ever been a little girl."

"You certainly don't look like one," she said. Her cheeks turned red, and her eyes widened. She looked away, and I couldn't help smiling.

"See you around, Kendall," I said, and in a flash I was back in my own room.

Bare blue walls. Sam’s clothes thrown all over the floor. Papers scattered across the desk. And Sam swearing up a storm near the door.

Yep. I was home.

"You scared the crap out of me!" he said, a hand on his chest.

"Sorry." I smirked.

"We should have a rule that neither of us can teleport into our room. I'm not used to it yet. I swear you almost gave me a heart attack."

I laughed at the pile of papers scattered near his feet. "Must have gotten you pretty good."

He swore under his breath as he walked over and sat down in the desk chair. I laughed and handed him his papers.

"So, today was interesting. My assignment is …" I paused, trying to come up with the right word. "Difficult."

I sat down on my bed and pulled out a sheet of paper, attempting to write my first day notes for Lady Shenelle.

"Really? What's she like?"

"I told you. She's difficult. She threw an apple at me. An apple. At me." I paused. "Oh. And she called me a genie."

He laughed, swiveling in the desk chair and pushing himself toward my bed. "Not everyone worships you, Ash. This may do you some good. The genie part sucks, though."

I raised an eyebrow at the first bit. "No one worships me."

Sam started talking about some girl he wanted to ask out. I ignored him as I jotted down some notes.

"Am I interrupting?"

My eyes flew to the doorway. Misty, Lady Shenelle's other apprentice, stood there, clutching a stack of pink papers in her hands.

Sam jumped to his feet. His mouth dropped open slightly, and he extended a hand. "Sam Ellwater," he said. "It's a pleasure."

Her cheeks reddened. "Misty." She looked embarrassed and cleared her throat. "Sorry, I need to talk to Ash for a second."

Sam gestured toward me and I shrugged.

"I was wondering if you got your notes written?" she asked.

"Oh, um …" I glanced down at the paper in my hand and the pitiful few sentences I had managed to write.

Kendall Corrigan: Age 16

Wish #: Have people be normal around her. Not very original, but whatever.

First Impression: Cute. Blonde hair. Has sad eyes. Pretty good arm.

"Those are your notes?" They said in unison.

I scowled at them, and Misty stifled a laugh.

"It's my first day. Relax," I said.

"I have, like, three pages from my first day," Misty said.

"You're a girl. You like to write notes. Probably took up half the page with cutesy hearts and flowers."

Her cheeks flushed, and she hugged her papers to her chest.

"I have two pages, and I don't decorate mine," Sam muttered.

"You're with Master Time. Of course you have more interesting things to write about."

"Not really. My assignment needed an extra hour to study before some huge test. I spent half of it watching him drool on his math paper after he fell asleep. He ended up failing. Poor kid."

I rolled my eyes. "These notes will have to do. I can't think of anything else to write."

"You're totally going to fail," Misty said.

I ignored her. "Tomorrow I’ll try to convince her to make her second wish. I'm sure I can get it out of her."

"I haven't gotten any wishes yet," Misty said. Her lips drew into a pout. "My assignment is annoying. He hit on me within the first five minutes."

I laughed. "That means I'm winning, then."

"It's not a race," she said.

"It is now," I said.

"No, it's not!"

"Break it up, you two," Sam said.

She glared at me. "I have to go, anyway. I have another appointment with my assignment." She gave us an awkward smile and left.

"She's hot,” Sam said. “I've always wanted to ask her out."

"You can have her."

"Thanks." Sam said. "So according to your amazing notes, your assignment is pretty cute then?"

I thought about Kendall. Her short blonde hair and the horrified look on her face when she thought I was a stalker. I laughed.

"What's so funny?"
"Nothing," I said.

“You never answered my question.”

"She’d be even cuter without that scar on her cheek."

"Scar?"

"Yeah. From a car accident or something." I waved him away from my notes again.

"Besides that, she's cute?"

"She has nice legs." I smiled. "Blindingly white, but nice."

Sam burst out laughing. "If I were her, and you said that to me, I would slap that grin right off your face."

I laughed. "Like I would ever say that to her."

"Well, if you do, make sure I'm there. I've always wanted to see a girl beat the crap out of you."

"Like that would ever happen. Besides, I can just kick your butt instead." I rolled up a bit of paper and flicked it at him.

"Whatever," he said, fishing the paper out of his red hair.

"If you two are finished talking about butts, Ash can hand in his first assignment."

I glanced up, surprised and a little weirded out to see Lady Shenelle standing in the middle of our room.

"Uh ... Lady Shenelle," I started.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked.

"Do you always show up in your apprentice's room's unannounced?" I asked, scrambling to pick up papers and other things off the floor before she got a good look at the mess.

"I announced myself when I arrived." She wrinkled her nose as she looked around the room. "Like I said before, I'm here to get your first assignment. It should be ready for me to grade. You've had plenty of time."

I frowned. "I was just finishing up my notes."

Sam still sat in the desk chair, his hands behind his head. He was clearly enjoying the interchange between my superior and me.

I kicked a pair of underwear under the bed and grabbed my notepaper. "Here you go."

She took the paper, read it in two seconds and frowned. "If this is all you can think of, I may have to fail you. Misty just stopped by with twice as much as you."

Like I said. Hearts and flowers.

"What am I supposed to write? I took notes. That was all you assigned for the first day."

"I meant take
meaningful
notes. Not three sentences. Write about how your wand worked. What Kendall did when you met her. Did she seem upset? Happy? What questions did she ask? Remember, I grade you on every part of this apprenticeship. Everything you write, say, and do will affect your grade." She glanced at the paper again. "You can do better than this."

"I already got one wish out of her! Doesn’t that count?”

“One wish is nothing. I had one apprentice a few years ago who got all three wishes the same day.”

"Suck up," I grumbled.

Her eyes narrowed, but instead of reprimanding me, she sighed. "Stop by my office later. I need to make sure your wand is working correctly."

"It's fine." I pulled it out and examined it.

"So now you're a wand expert? It's part of the apprenticeship rules. Just drop it by my office tonight and you’ll get it back first thing in the morning. I'll need to check it once a week. Do you understand?"

"Okay," I said in confusion, putting my wand away.

I heard Sam chuckle from across the room, probably at the stupid look on my face.

"Stop laughing, Sam," she snapped. With a flick of her wrist, her wand appeared, complete with purple feathers and fuzzies. She pointed it threateningly at Sam. "Help him with his notes." Before Sam could react, she vanished.

"Well," Sam said. "
That
was scary."

"Tell me about it."

"Pretty hilarious, too, seeing you squirm like that."

"Ha, ha," I said. I didn't think it was funny at all. Maybe the look on Sam's face was a little funny when she pointed her wand at him. "Keep laughing."

"I will. I've never seen anyone get mad at you like that. Highlight of my day."

"There's a first time for everything."

"That was freaky how she just showed up in our room like that. You think she could have waited for you to turn in your notes yourself," Sam said. He looked around, probably trying to convince himself she was really gone.

"No kidding." I really hoped she wouldn't be doing that every day.

"I wish Misty would teleport in here more often. She's at least nice to look at."