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Joe Laudati
Category:
Fantasy
Publisher: Joe Laudati
ISBN-10: 0615203248
Type: Fiction
Pages: 190
Copyright: 2008
ISBN-13: 9780615203249
One prank too many. That’s all it took to get Faela, a mischievous sprite, nearly banished from the Faerie Realm. Whether tantalizing goblins, embellishing flowers, or enraging an entire Irish town with her magical mayhem, Faela can test the mettle of even the most patient pixy. As atonement for her high jinks, King Oberon assigns her as ‘house fairy’ to the home of a widower blacksmith and his daughters. Her mission is to restore courage to Elsie, the timid younger child. But ever the will-o-the-wisp, Faela’s mission soon goes awry, as she beguiles her brownie friend Scuff, pursues romance with a young man by body-swapping with Elsie's tempestuous older-sister Katie, and spurns the salacious advances of Pooka, a fiendish shapeshifting goblin.
Faela is a delightful character, filled with spunk, and moxie. Her whimsical, off-beat adventures will surely delight readers, young and old alike. Illustrated by the author.
Excerpt
The wind carried Faela out into the hills, where the grass grew long and there were no flowers. She tossed and spun helplessly, her wings useless against the blessing’s gale force.
She shot into the bushes like an arrow, crashed along the bumpy ground and came- umpf!- to a sudden stop. A cloud of dust spewed around her.
Upside down and on her back, with legs dangling limply over her head, she blinked for a moment in surprise. Then she gave an infuriated shout.
“Humans! No sense of humor at all!”
She righted herself, and rose to her feet. Her body felt heavy, like she’d been dipped in plaster and set out to dry. She looked back and saw that her beautiful wings were utterly demolished. Nothing left but broken, twisted stems, and a few dismal flakes that clung to her like confetti.
With a pout, she stepped out of the bush, dusting little sprigs off her backside. Her feet sank into the dirt, and she startled to see her own footprints. Pixies don’t spend a lot of time on the land surface, and she felt as strange as a fish would, dancing on air.
“How do brownies manage without wings?” she asked. “I feel like I’m chained to the ground!”
Just then, the brownie burst out of the ground in front of her. The surprise knocked her back on her bottom. “Scuff!”
Totally winded, he heaved in heavy gusts of air, barely catching his breath. “Found you…at last! What’s-? Are you-? gasp! Did you-?”
“‘Faela, are you okay? Did you get hurt, Faela?’” she interjected. “I’m sure that’s what you mean to ask. Well, don’t worry. I’m fine. Just got a little bounced on my-
“HAVE YOU GONE MAD?!” he shouted.
Faela rolled her eyes. “Scuff, I’m not in the mood for a lecture, thank you. Just got one from a priest.” She reached for the wing stems behind her shoulders, and snapped them off like dried twigs. As the pieces fell to the ground, they vanished into sparkles.
Then she put a finger to her temple and-
Poof! Another set of wings appeared from her back, as beautiful as the first. They were made of thought stuff, like her body, and she could make them any size or shape she wanted.
Ignoring the restored beauty of her wings, Scuff continued to shout. “Of all the confounded nuisances, you are the worst! I’ve been chasing you for miles. What a noise you caused! And right in the town square!”
“Oh hush!” she shouted back, airborne once more. Faela floated above him, anxious to leave the dusty earth below. “So I had a little fun. What’s the bother?”
“Fun?! That priest could’ve fixed you good. Another blessing like that and-“
“And you would have no more ‘nuisance’ to spy on.”
“Very funny.”
“Poor little Scuff would have to chase after someone else for his amusement.”
“As if I had nothing better to do than to keep an eye on you all day!”
“Oh-h! Go tend to your dirt!”
She yanked his yellow cap tightly down to his chin.
“Hey! Stop that!” Scuff’s voice was muffled by the hat.
She zipped around, poking him from behind. “Who made you my guardian, anyway? Always chasing after me, telling me what to do. Why do you care so much?”
He pulled the cap off his face. “Somebody has to keep your wings out of trouble.”
“I can watch out for my own wings, thank you.” She floated off, and Scuff found himself chasing her again.
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