My Fairy Godmonster (7 page)

“Kong, come!” I yell.

He doesn’t hear me over his whining and the
ear-shattering shrieks of the cat.

Godzilla pounces to the floor, swiping her
claws at the trapped Kong. He zooms out the end and jumps onto the
top of the dresser, crashing into the stuffed animals and
trophies.

The cat jumps behind him and tries to bite
his tail.

Kong bumps the dresser mirror. It tips over
and knocks the cat on the head. I barely grab it before it falls
off the dresser.

Kong slips off the end and crashes to the
floor.

I lean over and grab his collar.

Godzilla pounces onto my head, digging her
claws in.

“OW!” I yell, trying to get the cat off my
head.

She springs to the bed, yowling like she’s
being eaten alive.

Kong rises stiffly on all four legs and
snarls so viciously that the hair stands up on the back of my
neck.

“Kong, come!” I scream, scared and horrified
at what might happen. He looks at me a second.

Godzilla hisses and swishes under the bed.
Kong sticks his head under it, growling. He yelps. I grab his
collar and drag him away.

Long scratches bleed on his nose. I pull him
out of the bedroom and close the door. He pants, tongue lolling to
one side. I drag him to the bathroom.

My legs shake so much, I collapse to the
floor. I bury my face in his neck. Tears drip down my face.

“Oh, Kong, I’m sorry, boy.” I pull myself up
and grab a cloth from the closet. Still shaking, I wash his
scratches with hydrogen peroxide and put some aloe vera on them. He
gives me a slobbery kiss. Then I do the same to my head. I take him
to the attic and lock the door.

The bedroom is a disaster. An hour later,
everything’s back in order. Godzilla growls and howls the whole
time, staring at me with those eyes. Luckily, nothing’s broken. I
can’t do anything about the ripped curtains. Let Godzilla worry
about that.

Grabbing some pens from my desk, I go
downstairs. Hear a door slam and voices. They’re back! Only one
hundred and three invitations are done. I snatch up everything,
hurry to the attic and lock us in. I turn off the light and jump
into bed.

A few minutes later, there’s a knock on my
door.

“Win, you awake?” asks Dad.

Kong’s tail thumps the bed. “Ssh, boy.” I pet
him, ignoring Dad.

I hear his footsteps retreat and take a deep
breath.

“Good boy.” I stare at the boxes of
invitations and get to work.

Three a.m. and 225 invitations left. My eyes
are blurry. Fingers stiff and achy. How am I going to finish in
time? And how am I going to hide Kong’s scratches from Dad?

Kong jumps off the bed and goes to the door.
I unlock it and we sneak down the stairs. I let him outside and
decide to keep him in my room tonight, so Dad doesn’t see his nose
before I can explain.

A shadow covers the moon and is gone. My eyes
ache. I need some sleep, even if I don’t finish the stupid
invitations. What’s Weasel going to do to me? Send me to the attic?
Hah.

We sneak back upstairs. I open the window to
cool off the attic.

Suddenly, a head pops in the window.

“AAAGGHHH!” I yell.

“Put a lid on it,” warns Fairy Godmonster,
hanging upside down.

Kong rumbles low in his throat. I hold him
tight. “Easy boy.”

Her spiked hair looks spooky in the
moonlight. She glides through the window.

There’s a knock on the door. I suck in my
breath. “Hide,” I whisper.

“Yeah, right,” she says.

“Win, it’s David. Open up.”

Fairy Godmonster slips to a corner behind the
door.

I unlock it and stick my head out.

“I heard you scream from the open window in
the study. Are you all right?” asks David.

“Fine. Scared by a silly noise.”

“You okay up here?” My brother tries to look
around the door, but I don’t let him.

“I’ve got Mom’s things to keep me
company.”

That shuts him up.

Kong sticks his head out. David looks down
and pets him. “I see. Don’t let anyone find him in the house.”

I’m glad it’s dark. He doesn’t see Kong’s
nose. “I’ll take him to the stable early. ‘Night, David.”

He kisses my cheek. “Goodnight, Win.”

I close and lock the door.

Kong leaps over to Fairy Godmonster,
expecting to slobber kisses all over her.

She growls softly. Kong lies on the floor at
her feet.

“Good dog.” She pets him, smiling. Her fangs
don’t bother him.

“Are you crazy? Someone might have seen
you.”

“Please. I’ve been doing this a hundred and
fifty years,” she replies.

Whoa. She looks twenty-five. “How did you
find me?”

“X-ray vision.” She primps in Mom’s
mirror.

I snicker. “You’re kidding, right?”

Her yellow eyes flicker red. “What do you
think?”

“Sorry. It’s not like I’ve had a Fairy
Godmonster with x-ray eyes before.”

“Ooh, I do like spunk.” She fluffs her
tail.

I feel the laughter bubble up inside. I can’t
hold it back. My Fairy Godmonster has superpowers? I giggle.
Smother my face in my pillow and laugh hysterically.

“Is this going to become a habit?” she
asks.

“Sorry. My head feels like Jell-O. I have to
address all these invitations before tomorrow.”

“What for?”

“My brother’s getting married.”

She purrs, “A wedding. How fab. I want to
come.”

I shake my head. “Why?”

“The champagne, silly.”

She peers at the list of addresses. “Maybe I
can help. If I really concentrate, I can get my whip to work for
short periods of time. Stand back.”

Kong and I move away. Fairy Godmonster swings
the whip around her head. Her

eyes flame purple. The whip snakes across
the room flashing tiny bolts of lightning. CRACK! Black mist swirls
over the bed.

I shiver. What would Weasel do if I ruin the
invitations?

The mist disappears. I run over. The
invitations lay neatly stacked in the boxes. All addressed and
stamped.

“Thank you.” I almost cry from relief, but
hold it in.

Fairy Godmonster runs along the length of the
attic and jumps into the air in a tuck position. I know gymnastics.
I can’t believe what happens next. She does a triple, triple - a
triple twisting, triple back somersault. She lands perfectly.
Nobody can do that. Well, nobody human.

“Can all Fairy Godmonsters do that?”

She turns and smiles. “Not a chance.” She
purrs, “Call me Faro.”

Chapter 12: Be Prepared To Stop For
Enemies

The next morning I’m scared awake by someone
pounding on my door.

“You hurt my cat!” screeches Daria.

I lie back on my pillow and moan.

She pounds harder and screams, “What did you
do? Gazella never claws curtains.”

No, only live victims, I think.

Kong growls softly in my ear.

“Ssh.” I pat his head.

I wipe the sleep from my
eyes with a stiff and aching hand. I roll over.
Yeeks! Fairy Godmonster sleeps next to me clothed in a lacy,
pink nightgown. If I could be half as cool as she looks asleep, I’d
have a dozen boyfriends.

I leap out of bed and notice the time. Nine.
Whoa. I missed stable duty and breakfast. I quickly pull on
clothes.

Fairy Godmonster removes her mask and opens
her yellow eyes. I gasp. Cat, fox and human are combined into an
amazing beauty.

Daria wails, “She won’t come out from under
the bed.”

“How annoying.” Fairy Godmonster stares at
the door, her eyes flashing red. “She has a big mouth for such a
little thing.”

Kong whines to get out.

“I have to get Kong to the stable.”

She shrugs. “So, take him out.”

“I’ll get in trouble.”

“Big deal. What can they do, send you to the
attic?” She laughs softly.

I walk to the door. “Are you still there,
Daria?”

She whines, “Open up.”

“I’m coming out and my dog is with me,” I
warn.

“Liar!”

Kong barks, deep and low.

Daria screams. I hear running steps and a
door slam.

“Please stay here, Fairy G– er – Faro.”

”If you insist.”

“You can’t come downstairs,” I say.

“I’m trying to figure out how.”

Is she teasing me or does she really mean it?
Nervously, I open the door quickly and lock it behind me.

Kong runs down the stairs past Weasel. She
barely gets out of his way in time.

“What have you done to my little girl?” She
grabs my arm. “Answer me, young lady.”

“Nothing.” I yank away from her. I run after
Kong who heads for the kitchen. When I get there, Dad is putting
him outside.

He turns around frowning. “He’s supposed to
stay in the stable. It’s safer for him.”

He’s seen the scratches.

“I was lonely here while you were gone. It
was an accident. I needed more pens from my room and forgot about
the cat.”

“David did your stable chores.”

“I’m sorry, Dad. I was so tired from doing
the invitations, I didn’t wake up in time. I didn’t mean to keep
Kong inside to scare Daria. She didn’t even see him.”

“Why did she scream?”

“He barked at her from the other side of the
door.”

Dad turns away from me, but I see him smile.
I’m relieved to see a glimpse of the old Dad.

Weasel comes downstairs. “Daria says you’ve
done something to her cat.”

“It scratched me.” I show her my hand and the
punctures on the top of my head.

“Winifred. Are you all right?” Dad examines
the wounds.

“Ow! Still tender, Dad.”

“At least, they’re not infected. Are you all
right?”

“Yeah. You couldn’t pay me to be in the same
room with that wildcat.”

“I thought you said your daughter’s cat was
harmless, Erminia.”

Weasel shrugs. “I imagine that beast you call
a dog, terrorized her. She has always been a model cat.”

Dad frowns. “I insist that you keep the cat
upstairs in the bedroom at all times until you return home.”

“Of course,” sniffs Weasel.

Whoa. I really want to get out of here. “I
finished the invitations, Mrs. Dudley. All five hundred.”

“Five hundred!” exclaims Dad. “All by
yourself?”

“Who else was here, Dad? My Fairy
Godmother?”

Weasel says, “I don’t allow talking back in
my household.”

Dad clenches his jaw. “This is my house.”

Weasel lifts her nose.

I hurry out of the room before more sparks
fly. “I’ll get the invitations.”

As I leave, I hear Dad say, “Erminia, that
was quite a lot of work to ask of Winifred in one evening. How many
people are you expecting?”

“With the great distance from Boston, I doubt
there will be more than two hundred or so. It always pays to send
out more than you actually want to come. I’ll know for sure when I
receive the RSVP’S.”

Wish I could see the look on Dad’s face.

Daria is rattling my attic door when I get
upstairs.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

She turns and sneers. “I know you were in my
room,” she accuses me.

“My room,” I correct her. I unlock the door.
She tries to follow me in. “Get away from me. If you ever try to
get in here, I’ll bring my dog back up.”

I see the fear in her eyes. Then defiance.
She says as she stomps away, “I’ll find out what’s in there and
you’ll be sorry.”

“No, you will. You need to learn to respect
other people’s privacy and their property.” I open the door, slam
it closed and lock it.

I turn around and freeze. Shiny, modern
exercise equipment covers the floor. Fairy Godmonster, in a silver
leotard, is riding a stationary bicycle.

“What happened to the furniture?” I gasp
weakly.

“Chill. Everything’s still here.”

“Where?”

“In this NTMT chip.”

“In what?” I stare at the four-inch square
she removes from her pocket.

“Nanoparticle Transference Miniaturization
Transmitter.”

I stare at the transmitter, stunned. Then
stammer, “I-I can’t have a gym up here.

Someone will hear you.”

“Don’t concern yourself with
trivialities.”

My voice rises. “Trivialities? My life is
hard enough without trying to hide you and all this.”

“I got my whip to work. Made the walls
soundproof.”

“You can’t stay here.”

Her yellow eyes turn black. “Where do you
expect me to stay? In the deep, dark forest?”

“You’re a monster!”

Fairy Godmonster slowly climbs off the
bicycle. Her back stiffens with disapproval. Yellow eyes bore into
mine.

“I AM A FAIRY GODMONSTER. I expect to be
treated as such.”

“Conjure up something.”

She sniffs, “My whip is
limited until FIMM gets fixed. Luckily, I always travel with
everything I need. I
need
to exercise every morning. You don’t think looking
like this is easy, do you?”

Fairy Godmonster moves gracefully to a
weightlifting machine.

There’s a knock on the door. “Go away,” I
yell.

“Telephone, Win,” says David.

“Thanks. Be there in a minute.”

I trip over some equipment. Fairy Godmonster
grabs me before I conk my head on a barbell.

“You could use some dance lessons to make you
more graceful.”

Great. Criticism from my Fairy Godmonster.
That’s all I need. I hear hard rock blasting out of the headphones
she puts on.

David adds, “Cell phone’s downstairs in the
hall. Dad says it won’t work up here.”

The cell phone! It’s Jac. My best friend is
the only one who calls me on the cell. I unlock the door and slip
out.

“Sorry I yelled, David. I thought you were
Daria.”

David grins, “I’ve felt that way a few times
myself.”

Locking the door, I run downstairs and grab
the phone. Hurrying outside, I sit under the willow tree for
privacy.