15 for 15 Contest --- Closed

Kate skipped along through the buttercups and unkempt grass, a crown of daisies in her hair, singing to herself. She was a fairy at present, not flying, but skimming through the breeze-blown flowers at leisure. She could feel the eddies playing at her wings. Of course she knew she didn't have any. But she knew just as definitely they were there, diaphanous, shimmering, membranes of pure thought, keeping her fluttering away by will.

Of course she wouldn't have put it like that. But I would. I watched her there for a while from between my stones - her thoughts popped into my head as my own, her emotions flooded me, her exhilaration, her sense of power. It mingled with my own. I guided her with like prods and pokes in the direction of my ring of mushrooms. She didn't even look up until she was a couple of yards in front of me. I shot her a smile.

She stood unsure on the edge, grinding the toe of a little court shoe in the grass. I turned the smile up a few notches, and hunkered down.

"Hello Kate," I purred. She gave me a small smile back.

"Are you playing fairies?" She nodded.

"I like your wings." She smiled again.

I looked up above her shoulders, and winked. Then in mock-surprise I gaped, "Oh! Will you look at that!" There really were wings at her back now, glistening pink and pale blue like a soap bubble. She opened her mouth wide too, and grinned at me.

"Can I really fly now?" she asked. I shook my head.

"Not quite yet." I looked around, furrowing my brow, casting about for the source of the magic. Then I had it. I pointed a finger at the mushrooms circling me. "It must be the fairy ring. It's giving you fairy wings!" Her little face lit up.

I crinkled my brow up again in thought. "You know... I think if you come into the circle, you'll really be able to fly. The magic gets a lot stronger in here. I can feel it myself, and I'm not even a fairy."

Kate furrowed her own brow at this. "Aaaaalright..." she said hesitantly, still not trusting. It must have been the tone of voice, or maybe my eyes were too hungry. It had been so long... And she sensed something was off.

But still she took a few tentative steps forward, edging closer and closer to my little enclosure. Closer, closer and closer...

Then a shout echoed from over the hill. "Ka-ate!" sing-songed a woman, "Sandwi-ches!" She jumped, grinning even wider, and before I knew it she was gone, chanting away, "Jam, jam, jam, jam..."

She was gone before I could do anything. I knew she wouldn't be back. So back down I sat, and got back to my long wait.