3 The False Fairy

CHAPTER 3

The False Fairy The fairy shielded her face with her arm. Her pearly wings flitted nervously. Lucas knelt beside Clara and peered into the bushes. "Is everything all right?" he asked the fairy. Fairies didn't usually come to the mainland. Falsk uncovered her eyes and shook her head. "My fairy friends are in trouble!" she cried. Lucas tilted his head to one side. "What kind of trouble?" he asked.

Then Falsk explained how the sound of an enchanted flute had put the fairies into a trance. "They abandoned

Primlox, following the music in a great swarm," she went on. "The strange song was coming from a dark, misty cloud moving across the sky." Lucas and Clara looked at each other in surprise. "You need to talk to the king," Lucas declared. "I can get you to the front of the line." Falsk wrung her hands. "I can't. The king won't listen to me."

Lucas frowned. "What do you mean?" questioned the prince. "Come with me. I'll see to it he does!" But Falsk couldn't look the prince in the eye. "I have a confession to make," she said sorrowfully. "I have a bad reputation in the Kingdom of Wrenly. I'm known as... the False Fairy." Lucas and Clara both gasped.

"You're the legendary False Fairy?" Lucas exclaimed. Clara shook her head in disbelief. "You made up the rumor about the Ghost of Wrenly!" The children named rumor after rumor that Falsk had made up—stories of six-headed dogs, giant ice trolls, and bats in the schoolhouse. "Okay, okay," said the mischievous fairy, squeezing her fists. "I know! I am a very bad fairy. The king and