Carina touched down on a branch of the Dark Pixie Dust Tree, her purple eyes scanned the landscape. Not only did the dark talent fairies guard the queen, they also serve as scouts. Today, that was Carina's job. She jumped as she felt something brush her shoulder and whirled around. Zach's face grinned back at her. "Don't do that." She growled turning away from him. It was hard to say Zach wasn't handsome. He had dark blue hair with black ends fell into his dark eyes. His face was pretty adorable for an evil fairy and he had an even cuter smile.
"What?" He gasped, faking innocence, a crows feather hidden behind his back.
"Ugh." She rolled her eyes, "Can't you see I'm busy?"
"Looks like your just hanging out."
"Don't you have Pixie Dust to sort or something?"
"You don't sort Pixie Dust." He chuckled. "I could use you help delivering though."
"In your dreams!" She scoffed, tossing her hair over her shoulder, "I do important business for the Queen and you," She paused to poke him in the chest, "are just a Dust-talent fairy."
"I prefer the term sparrowman." He shot back with a grin, "Without me you couldn't fly." He pushed off the branch and spiraled down towards the pool of Pixie Dust, nestled in the middle of the tree. Carina rolled her eyes and fluttered towards Darkling Forest.
Dark Pixie Hollow was almost an exact copy of Pixie Hollow. In place of Autumn Forest was Darkling Forest, in place of Winter Woods was Frigid Hollow, in place of Spring Valley was Anglefire grove, and in place of Summer Glade was Thorny Thicket. Darkling forest was where Carina's friend, Zara, lived.
Zara was an Animal-talent fairy. While the Animal-talent's in Pixie Hollow dealt with the cute critters like mice, chipmunks, birds, and rabbits, Animal-talent's in Dark Pixie Hollow dealt with ravens, crows, spiders, snakes, and rats. Zara and her fellow Animal-talent fairies had tried to get hawks to join them, but apparently they eat all fairies, even the evil ones.
Carina zipped through the forest, weaving in and out of the trees before coming upon a clearing. Bird houses made from bark and purple leaves hung from branches and tree houses wound their way up the tree trunks. In the clearing below, rats pulled carts, spiders and snakes were being painted, and Animal-talent fairies flitted about to lend a helping hand when needed.
Carina spotted Zara right away. Her friends black hair was tied up into a high, braided, pony tail that came down to mid calf. Her dress was made of double chrysanthemum petals dyed dark blue. A few black petals overlapped the skirt and created straps that looped over her shoulders.
"Zara!" Carina called, swooping low over the clearing to land near her friend.
"Hey!" Zara turned around from teaching a crow to hunt for worms, "What's up?"
"Nothing much," Carina shrugged nonchalantly, "scouting got boring."
"CARINA!" Zara exploded, "You have to take scouting seriously! You could threaten the existence of Dark Pixie Hollow!"
"I know, I know." Carina waved her off, scuffing the ground with her black boots. She hated when Zara got upset, once she got going there was no stopping her.
"Just go and do your job." She sighed, turning back to the young crow, "and don't mess up." She added, giving her a warning glance.
Carina rolled her eyes, "I'll be fine!" She called over her shoulder as she rocketed out of the clearing.
Carina zoomed past the treetops and rocketed towards the clouds. As she reached the point where she could go no further, she turned around and caught her breath. From up here she could see the entirety of Dark Pixie Hollow laid out before her. She smirked at the darkness she saw below. Just then she noticed a lone fairy with a trail of golden Pixie Dust. She narrowed her eyes, what was a Never fairy doing in Dark Pixie Hollow?
She rocketed towards the fairy, pulling up short when she realized who it was. "Phara?"
The fairy looked around nervously. Her black hair was full of braids, that she kept pulled up into a bun on the back of her head. Her dark blue, turtleneck dress barely made it to her knees and fanned out at the bottom in a snowflake pattern. "I know I shouldn't have gone," Phara fiddled with the bag of Pixie Dust at her side, "but I wanted to get some Pixie Dust."
"You didn't have to go to Pixie Hollow to get Pixie Dust." Carina snarled, "You could have gave us away."
"But have you ever wondered why our Pixie Dust is purple and theirs is golden?" Phara asked, her eyes lighting up. Like Zach, Phara was a Dust-talent fairy. Only she didn't know when to stop. She had been obsessed with Pixie Hollow's Pixie Dust since forever, wondering what made it glow a golden color while Dark Pixie Dust glowed purple.
"No." Carina scoffed, "I have better things to do. Now go hide that stuff before the other fairies think you're an intruder." Phara rolled her eyes and set off for the roots of the Dark Pixie Dust Tree where she lived with the other Dust-talents.
Carina closed her eyes and massaged her temples as Phara disappeared under the roots of the great tree. That girl was going to kill her. As she spiraled down towards the Dark Pixie Dust Tree a screech shattered the air. Turing around she saw a hawk, talons outstretched, flying towards her.
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