A Fairy Yarn

By Jessica Borchardt

MaryLynn ML Meyer is a present day 14-year-old who doesnt see herself as anything special. For her, the world revolves around books and her family. She may not admit it, even to herself, but she has a secret longing for adventure. Adventure finds her! One evening she is magically whisked off the country of Heinovla, which is in a world of fairies, a world ML didnt think existed. After she arrives she discovers that the entire royal family has gone bad, and they could care less if their conquering forces destroy half the population, just so they can have the entire country once and for all under their thumb.
When ML learns this she agrees to help and becomes a spy. With her new fairy sidekicks she sets off to gather information to send back. Along the way she wards off dullahans, learns to swordfight, falls in love for the first time, and discovers an important family secret. What is it that her mother has kept from her for all of her fourteen years? After a bloody battle, will she be able to survive and enjoy the new knowledge she gains?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 17, 2008
• ISBN: 9781469102535

Jessica Borchardt

Jessica Borchardt is a young author from the small town of Henning, Minnesota, where she lives with her family. Their road-trip style vacations have inspired many locations and landscapes for her stories, one of her favorite sites being the Blanchard Springs Caverns in Mountain View, Arkansas. In her spare time she plays (and practices) piano and tenor saxophone. She also enjoys reading- her favorite genre being fantasy, of course.

Book preview

A Fairy Yarn

Jessica Borchardt

Some stories are true that never happened. – Elie Weisel

Copyright © 2008 by Jessica Borchardt.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2008903080

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4363-3329-0

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4363-3328-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

49297

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

This book is 110% for my family.

(Get ready, it’s a long list)

To Rachel,

I’m privileged to be your fairy godmother.

To Whitney,

Who reminds me that there’s always time to play.

To Quinton,

Who was always ready to help with whatever I needed.

To Dad,

For pushing me when I don’t want to be pushed.

And last but not least,

To Mom,

The hero wielding her mighty red spatula-

This one’s for you!

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Chapter 1

English

MaryLynn, please stay after class, Miss Whaley said to ML as the bell rang to dismiss school for the long weekend.

All the other students were rushing out the door to their lockers. Any other day of the week and they’d have been moving like molasses, but today was special. It was Thursday, but there would be no school Friday because of parent-teacher conferences. That meant a whole extra day of doing nothing, for most people.

MaryLynn, would you come here please? Miss Whaley motioned for ML to come up to her desk.

Yes, ma’am, ML was shaking like a leaf; her English teacher was nice, but still very intimidating.

You have impressed me very much this week. I have never seen a student adjust so quickly after coming to a new school.

Thank you, ML really hadn’t had much of a choice. Her family had moved to the small, lakeside town of Deinola when her father got promoted to manager of a store that didn’t exactly exist yet. They were in the process of building.

Miss Whaley broke ML’s thoughts, MaryLynn, are you paying attention?

Oh yeah, I’m sorry, she replied.

Quite alright, I just wanted to mention that you’re currently behind the class in a novel we’ve been reading. Are you aware of this?

Yes, you told me I’d have some reading to do when I got here. But you haven’t given me the book yet.

That is why I wanted to see you. Here is the novel, I’m not going to make you catch up on worksheets or anything, but you need to read chapters one through twelve by this coming Monday. Can you do that?

Oh yeah, that’s no big deal.

Alright then, I’ll see you next week. You are dismissed.

Thanks.

ML had no problem reading twelve chapters of a book, she loved to read. The dilemma was finding the time. She walked home and straight into a house of chaos; unpacking and cleaning was in full swing. She could hear her mother vacuuming the living room.

ML, you got a letter from Amanda today, her brother, Nicholas, shouted over the vacuum cleaner. I set it on your dresser.

Thanks, ML yelled back. She ran upstairs to the huge room she shared with one of her younger sisters, EllenMarie. Boxes were still all over their room, neither of them had had time to unpack the extras all week. ML managed to stub her toes on three of them, after tripping over EllenMarie’s backpack.

Nick had said he set the letter on the dresser. She walked over to her dresser, which was on one side of the huge window that overlooked the street; EllenMarie’s was on the other side of the window. When ML reached it, there wasn’t a letter on it. Her sister walked in moments later.

Em, where’s my letter? she figured EllenMarie had either hidden it, accidentally thrown it away, or worse; read it. She was twelve years old and the stereotypical annoying little sister for ML.

You mean the one from Amanda? Em asked.

Yes that one.

There’s nothing in it really, don’t get upset.

You read it? How could you!?

I only peaked at it.

Em, I told you not to read, or even open, my mail!

Sorry, but I was curious. Here, have it, EllenMarie handed over the letter she had been keeping in her back pocket just to make her sister mad. By the way, ML, Mom says you’re supposed to take AnnaBertha to the park.

Well tell her I’m going to read my letter first, and then I’ll take Anna.

But Mom said-

I know! You just told me what Mom said. And I said I’d take Anna to the park after I read my letter!

Gosh, you don’t have to get mad.

Em, please! Just leave me alone.

EllenMarie turned on her heel and left the room to go occupy AnnaBertha, their youngest sibling. MaryLynn flopped down on her bed to read her letter.

Amanda was ML’s best friend from back at their old home. She had promised to write and now the letter was here! Amanda had also been the first one to use the initials of MaryLynn and EllanMarie as nicknames, and everyone else just followed suit.

Em had been right; there wasn’t much in the letter. Just a: How’s it going? School’s boring, I miss you! Nothing out of the ordinary. That disappointed ML, she needed something interesting. But for now she’d have to settle for taking AnnaBertha to the park, which was every bit as adventurous as scrubbing floors.

Come on, Anna. The sooner we get to there the sooner we can go home, ML told her sister as she waited for the five year old to finish tying her shoe. ML had a hard time waiting since she was fourteen, and knew very well how to tie her shoes. EllenMarie would probably have had some sarcastic remark for ML if she had been there. Nicholas, who was sixteen and a thriving adolescant, would most likely have had one too.

I did it Mary! little AnnaBertha shouted. I tied my shoe all by myself!

Haven’t you tied them before?

Yeah, but this time it only took me two tries!

Good job! Let’s go now.

Okay.

It was only a five minute walk to the park, and AnnaBertha only played for fifteen minutes before deciding she was hungry and ready to go home. But to MaryLynn this seemed like an eternity. She wanted to be at home unpacking, or reading the book from Miss Whaley. Anything besides keeping a five-year-old from crawling up the slide.

The girls walked in the door, not to a vacuum, but clanking plates. They were just in time for dinner.

Hurry up slowpokes, or this spaghetti’s going to get cold! their dad called from the kitchen.

Daddy’s home! Anna Bertha shouted as she ran to embrace their father. The family had hardly seen him since arriving in Deinola. He was busy all the time with the construction of the building his store would be occupying, and it was nice to have him home, if only for a little bit in the evening.

How was school? Mr. Meyer asked his three older children as they all sat down to supper.

Good, they all responded.

Do you have any homework?

Nicholas and EllenMarie didn’t have any.

I have an English assignment, ML said. I’m going to need some peace and quiet to finish it.

Why? Do you have to read a book or something? Nick said jokingly before she finished.

Twelve chapters of one, ML shot back.

Mr. Meyer broke up the fight before it started, How about you take it down to the lake? It’s nice enough, and you don’t have to walk far.

All right, just come get me when you need me home, ML replied.

Deal, as long as you take Gus with you.

Fine.

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Chapter 2

Where Bubbles Take You

After dinner ML took Gus, the family dog, with her down to the lake. They had eaten early, so she had at least three hours to read. ML sat down on the grass that was farther back from the sandy beach and opened up the book.

The sky was beautiful, and the sunshine was still intense as it seemed to play on the water. Gus ran up and down the shoreline in front of ML, spraying water in the air. He was funny to watch, and ML ended up reading the first sentence of the story ten times over. The sun was warm and made her drowsy, that didn’t help much either, she dozed off for a few minutes before Gus came to wake her up with his big, wet nose. She reread the first sentence again.

ML had only been there half an hour and was feeling very sleepy. The elements around her were key to that. Gus came and flopped down next to her, tired of running in the sand. She leaned on him as she finally finished the first chapter. It was taking all of her will power to stay awake.

ML sighed and turned to look at the lake. There seemed to be colorful bubbles rising out of it, or maybe they were floating down on the breeze. She couldn’t tell, but they certainly looked like they were coming her way. As the bubbles got nearer, they grew bigger.

It’s just like in The Wizard of Oz, ML thought. This is ridiculous! The purple bubble was now the largest and nearest to her, when it got to within five feet, it popped.

There before ML stood an absurdly beautiful woman. ML pinched herself, but if she was dreaming she didn’t wake up, and the pinch did hurt. The woman turned to her.

I am Olyvia, messenger of the Council, she said.

ML was confused, Excuse me?

The woman repeated herself, I am Olyvia, messenger of the Council."

What Council?

"The Council."

I have no idea what you’re talking about.

There is no time to explain.

Could you clue me in on who you are, where in the world you’re from, and what you’re doing here? In short, what’s going on?

Not now. You must come first, and then it will be explained. Make your choice.

ML was now frustrated, along with confused. Her lack of patience didn’t help matters either. This woman, Olyvia apparently, seemed to be from a fairytale, and she was very mysterious, yet she seemed trustworthy. What would she do? What should ML do? She didn’t know, but she wasn’t going to find out what was going on unless she went with Olyvia.

Alright, I’ll come with you.

Instantly both she and Olyvia were inside a purple bubble. It was only a matter of seconds before the bubble popped. They weren’t by the lake anymore, they weren’t even outside. It appeared to ML that they were inside a cave, or a stone house of some sort.

Follow me, Olyvia whispered.

They walked a bit and then turned to the right, and into a pitch black corridor. There wasn’t a single light in the hallway, and Olyvia wasn’t carrying one.

Where are we going? ML asked. All she got back was a shhhhh. They walked on for only a few more minutes before descending a flight of stairs, which ML almost fell down, before reaching a huge lit room that seemed designed for big meetings. She imagined it to be an old fashioned board room. Many people, or so they seemed, were sitting around a huge, circular table that took up most of the space in the room. They had been talking as Olyvia and ML entered, but now it was silent.

A huge man rose from a chair across from the entrance. He was old, really old; his appearance made ML think that if someone poked him he might fall over and die. However, when he spoke his voice was strong, and immediately made her feel at ease.

Welcome MaryLynn, he said.

Umm… hello. How did you know my name? ML asked, slightly shocked and very speechless.

I know everyone’s name. At least the name of everyone in this room, he finished speaking and then turned to Olyvia. Thank you for bringing her, my daughter.

ML then also turned toward Olyvia, You’re his daughter?

Yes, now be quiet, Olyvia bluntly responded.

The old man once again began to speak, Now, MaryLynn, I suppose you are wondering why you have been brought here.

Well, um, yeah, ML said.

I believe I answered your first question from before already. Olyvia is my daughter, and one of our messengers. Where in the world is she from? Not from your world, you are now in the land of Heinovla-

Like Deinola? ML asked without thinking, and she immediately felt rude afterwards.

No, they are two different places. Please do not interrupt. You are now in the land of Heinovla in the world of fairies.

Fairies? This is way too weird, mumbled ML.

The man laughed, Now, as for what Olyvia was doing there, you know that also, she was bringing you to me, and the rest of the Council.

What is the Council?

The Council consists of the leaders of the good fairies. You see, the number of bad fairies is rising, and they have won over the king.

Then if that’s all, why am I here?

We need a human to help even the odds.

I’m still not following you.

The Midgnon, or evil fairies, have recruited some of your people to bring about advances in their conquering and technological strategies. So we have brought you to help us, along with three others.

I’m only fourteen, and my highest grade right now is a B if I’m lucky, so how will I help?

In more ways than you think. Now, do you agree to join us, the good fairies, the Lemuel?

I guess I really don’t have a choice.

We will discuss your duties later. But for now, we will only tell you what you must know. He then turned to a tall, slender girl who had entered, Take MaryLynn to her room.

Yes, sir, the girl replied.

ML started to follow the girl, but turned around, Sir, I don’t believe I know your name.

I am Dorant, head of the Council.

Thank you, sir, ML then went out of the room with who was apparently the servant girl.

She was led to a private room, which had a color theme of