“Glitter! Wake up! The Ice Fairy Queen wants to talk to
you,” yelled Majestic, pounding on the door.
“Why
does she want me? I never ever get one day that I can sleep in!” Glitter
moaned.
“I don’t know. I think she wants you to do a task for her. Maybe she
wants you to ask the Fire Queen about the peace agreement. I know you
can’t resist an offer like that, with how you are about humans. You’ll
be able to study them on your way.” Majestic then left, muttering,
“Human fanatic. Can’t even get out of bed.”
Glitter rolled around in bed not wanting to get up at all. She started
to go back asleep again, when suddenly her snowdog Flurry jumped up and
started licking her face. “Flurry!” yelled Glitter. She tried to push
the dog away, but he was persistent. “Fine. I’ll feed you,” said Glitter
and she got up and stretched. She went over to her icy kitchen, with ice
pans and dishes, and grabbed the snowdog food. She opened up the can and
poured some mushy stuff into ice bowl. Flurry looked up at Glitter with
loving eyes that seemed to say, “Thank you.” Then he dug into his food.
“Oh, I might as well go to the Fire Queen. It’s a once in a lifetime
thing,” said Glitter, as she walked over to her dresser and took out a
nice sparkly dress. She put it on and then she was out the door.
Glitter found herself outside with all the other snowflakes. There was a
building far out in the distance that looked like a big ice castle. It
was beautiful. It seemed to have many stories. Glitter gulped. Maybe
this isn’t going to be as exciting as I thought, Glitter thought
grimly. She got a taxi, as humans would call it, but snowflakes called
it Icewave. The Icewave drove her to the Ice Fairy Queen’s palace. The
driver was so scared that he left without asking for pay. Glitter
trembled. I’ll probably never live to see the Queen. I’m so scared I
could have a snow attack, she thought. Glitter knocked on the icy
door, her hand very shaky.
“Come in,” said a voice.
Glitter opened the door and looked around. She had never been in her
palace before, which was very odd because her friend Majestic works for
her, delivering messages. It was very cold in there. (For humans it
would be, for snowflakes it wouldn’t). There was very narrow icy
plank-like path that led to the Ice Fairy Queen.
Glitter gulped, and started walking the plank like path. After five
minutes of treacherous walking, Glitter found herself in front of the
Ice Fairy.
“I’ve heard much about you from Majestic,” the Queen said. She had a
sweet syrupy voice. Glitter found herself wondering why people were so
terrified of her. She looked like a gigantic ice sculpture with wings,
which were sparkled with glitter. On the tips of her fingers were little
icicles. The same with her toes. Instead of hair, she had icicles. She
was quite beautiful.
“0h really? I hope it was good things,” choked Glitter. Her mouth had
become very dry.
The Ice Fairy Queen laughed. Her laugh echoed through the castle,
sounding as if there were 50 queens. “I like you. You are very… very
unpredictable,” the Queen replied.
Glitter didn’t know how to respond to this. There was a very agonizing
moment of silence before the Queen said something.
“I have a task for you to do for me. As you know our world might be the
target of a vast explosion. I need for you to go to the Fire Queen and
ask for a peace agreement.”
“But why me? Won’t I melt?” Glitter asked, a little unsure of herself
now.
“I picked you because you are very interested in human culture, and it’s
a good opportunity for you to study humans. You will be passing through
human land, so if you have any spare time, feel free to go down there.
But we only have approximately five days before the Fire Queen blows up
our whole world. You must finish your journey in these five days. If you
don’t, you’ll come back to a destroyed world,” the Queen said to her.
“Do you feel up to the journey?”
Glitter was blown away. The lives of 15 million snowflakes were in her
hands. “Yes I do,” Glitter blurted out. The moment she said ‘yes’ she
regretted it.
“Good! Before you start your journey, I need to give you a potion that
will allow you to fly with the wind,” said the Queen.
“How do I know which direction to go?” asked Glitter, REALLY trembling
now.
“Don’t worry about anything. The wind will guide you,” she said.
Glitter watched fascinated, as blue glitter shot out of the ice fairy’s
wings and showered her with dust. Glitter suddenly felt very airy, and
started to float!
“Have a good journey!” yelled the Ice Fairy Queen looking up at her.
“Wait! Who will take care of...” But she didn’t have time to finish. A
gap opened up in the ceiling and Glitter floated out of the Ice Castle!
“...my snowdog!” Glitter yelled finishing her sentence, but it was no
use. The Queen couldn’t hear her.
It was actually quite fun floating up in the clouds. Glitter didn’t know
the Ice Fairy Queen meant that now she had to start the quest. She
looked down at the tiny snowflakes walking around like miniature dolls.
After about an hour of flying, Glitter found herself in front of the
gateway that separates the human world from the snowflake world. A guard
was standing there. Glitter told him her name and he wrote down that she
was leaving. “Okay, go on, Miss,” said the snowflake. The gateway opened
and Glitter was now in the human world.
Glitter was flying fine, when all of a sudden a gust of wind blew her in
the face. Glitter was getting worried. What if some kind of windstorm
is coming? I need to reach the Fire Queen. I just want to get back home,
Glitter thought, getting uneasy. Another gust blew in her face, but this
time it was harder force. It blew her a little off course. As she was
fighting against the strong wind, trying to reach the gate before it
closed, another gust of wind blew her. She closed her eyes. The wind
hurt her sensitive eyes. She found herself twirling, spinning and out of
control. She then opened her eyes and didn’t know where she was. She
couldn’t even see the gate any more. The wind was getting stronger,
stronger...
Glitter opened her eyes to bright sunlight. Sunlight? she asked
herself. She looked around. She wasn’t in the clouds at all. She could
see a girl about 12 carrying a backpack over her shoulder. She ran into
the house and Glitter. “Mom, I’m really hungry. That school food is
really yucky,” said the girl’s voice.
“Then go make yourself some cereal, that’s all we have till we go to the
store,” said the mom.
The girl then went to the sink to wash out a bowl and she saw Glitter.
“Mom! Mom! There’s something on the lawn!” Then she dropped her bowl and
ran outside.
Glitter tried her best to scrunch up, but it was no use--the girl had
already seen her. The girl got down on her knees and studied Glitter.
“Who are you?” she asked, poking a finger at her eye.
“Ouch! I’m a snowflake and I really need to go home. Please take me
somewhere freezing, I’m starting to melt in the sun,” Glitter said.
“What’s a snowflake?” the girl asked.
“You’ve never heard of a snowflake? Okay, a snowflake is just like snow,
except it is in a pretty design. Nobody believes snowflakes are alive
though,” replied Glitter.
“What’s snow?” the girl asked yet again.
“I’ll tell you if you take me somewhere cold!” The girl scooped up
Glitter, and carried her into her house.
“Here. This is a good spot for you,” said the girl, putting her in the
freezer. “Now tell me about snow.
“Bur first, I want you with me! It’ll be perfect!” She clasped her hands
together tightly.
Glitter could tell that she was a lonely girl with few friends, which
to Glitter was hard to believe because she was such a nice girl. Glitter
was willing to do anything to make her happy.
“That’s a good idea!” Glitter said to her smiling.
The next morning, Glitter woke up, feeling dazed. She looked around.
“Where am I?” Glitter wondered, starting to panic. Then she remembered
that she was with the humans, with a girl named Nichole. No wonder she
felt dazed! Glitter looked around and she was in a baby’s cradle, with
no cold source around her! She felt herself melting away. Drip...
Drip...
Glitter realized that she must act quickly. Nichole probably forgot
that I’m a snowflake and I have to have cold! Glitter thought. She
yelled as loud as she could, saying, “Help! I’m melting! Nichole!
Nichole!”
Nichole finally opened her eyes and stared at Glitter. It took her a
second to realize. “Oh my gosh! I forgot!” she exclaimed, then scooped
up the dripping Glitter and ran downstairs to stick her in the freezer.
Downstairs, Susan, Nichole’s mom, greeted Nichole and Glitter. “Hi
Honey. I can’t really believe you are running down here. Must be in the
school mood today, huh?” Susan asked. Then she stared at Glitter, but
her stare went right through her, she couldn’t see her. “Nichole, what
are you holding?” asked Susan, a weird expression on her face.
In Nichole’s rushing excitement, she blurted out, “Glitter, Mom. She’s a
snowflake, and she really needs help! She’s melting! Can you open the
freezer for me?”
This time Susan had a really worried expression on her face.
“Honey I’m not holding the freezer for you! There’s nothing to put
in the freezer! I’m calling Dr. Gray tomorrow. I’m worried about
you, Nichole,” said Susan, rapping her fingernails on the table.
While Susan was talking, Nichole had already opened up the freezer,
laying the imaginary Glitter on the table, and then placing Glitter
inside. She felt better at once. “Mother, I’m not sick. Hey I was just
kidding! Ha! Ha!” Nichole said, but Susan didn’t look convinced.
“I sure hope so,” was all Susan said before leaving the table to get
ready for work.
Nichole shook her head. “I shouldn’t have blurted out all of those
things! Now she’s going to call Dr. Gray, and they’re both going to
think that I’m crazy!” she burst out.
Glitter didn’t know what to say.
“Oh my gosh! School!” Nichole said, clasping a hand to her mouth. Her
blue eyes darted to the clock on the microwave. “I’ll be right back!
I’ve gotta get dressed, brush my teeth, comb my hair... Oh, there’s so
much to do!” said Nichole. Then she ran up the stairs, her
blondish-reddish hair swinging back and forth on her shoulders.
For about 15 minutes Glitter sat there in the freezer feeling betrayed.
I though she was my friend! She just walked off without asking me to
come along! Glitter thought sadly.
At just that moment, Nichole came running down the stairs. “Glitter, I
was thinking that I could put ice into a plastic baggy, and that would
keep you cold, so that you could go to school with me,” said Nichole.
Glitter’s eyes lit up. “Really?” she asked.
“Of course, you goof! Here you can help me,” said Nichole, taking a
plastic bag from the drawer. “You can hold it open while I put ice into
it.” Glitter held it open.
“Ok, done!” said Nichole. “Mom! Can you drive us today? It’s pouring!”
Nichole called up the stairs.
“Yeah. Wait a minute,” Susan called back. Susan came down the stairs and
looked at Nichole. “Us?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.
“Oops, I meant just me,” Nichole replied. As Susan was fumbling through
the drawers to find her car keys, Nichole put Glitter into the baggy and
stuck it into her backpack. “All ready!” Nichole announced, when her mom
turned around. She smiled.
The ride to school was quite bumpy and uncomfortable, so Glitter decided
to look around. She was in the backseat so nobody would know. She pushed
at the seal on the baggy until it opened and then walked around the
backpack. “Wow! So this is what a car looks like when it’s in motion!”
Glitter exclaimed. Glitter couldn’t help looking at the whirl of trees
and other cars go by. She suddenly felt dizzy and kind of sick. She
decided it was best if she got back into her baggy. Maybe she needed
cold. Before she could, she felt herself fall backwards onto the warm
floor of the car!
Glitter woke up and found herself lying in something that contained
round long objects, and looking into the eyes of Nichole. “What
happened? Where am I?” Glitter asked.
“One question at a time!” Nichole whispered, but did not smile. “You
should have told me you get car sick! I got out of the car a few minutes
later and there you were, lying down on the floor, almost melted away! I
screamed and was making a fit, trying to put you back in the bag. Since
Mom can’t see you, to her I was stuffing something invisible into my
backpack,” whispered Nichole, her voice a little above a whisper now.
“Mom didn’t even say anything! She thinks I’m so crazy now!” she added,
taking a deep breath.
“Nichole! Pay attention!” a man’s voice yelled.
“Sorry!” Nichole replied. Glitter hung her head.
“I’m sorry,” Glitter said.
“It’s
okay,” mumbled Nichole.
“Now, can you tell me where I’m at?” asked Glitter.
“You’re at school, of course. You’re in my Math class. Right now you’re
on my binder. It holds all of my, well, lets call it equipment,” said
Nichole. Glitter opened her mouth to say something but Nichole
interrupted her. “Don’t even ask. It would take me a year to explain
math. Lets not talk anymore, okay? I’m going to get in trouble,” said
Nichole. Glitter was very confused and decided to take a little nap.
When Glitter woke up, she found herself in some sort of a metal brass
enclosure. She started to panic. She tried yelling, but the enclosure
muffled her sound. Then suddenly, an eye looked through the air opening
of the enclosure, and then someone began twisting a knob or something.
“Nichole! Nichole! Is that you?” the frightened glitter asked.
“Yes. Don’t talk. This girl next to me is going to think I’m talking to
someone invisible,” said Nichole. Then the enclosure opened up.
“Nichole, who and what are you talking to?” asked the brunette, next to
Nichole. She had the same type of metal thing that Nichole had.
“Nobody, Amy. You must be hearing things,” said Nichole.
“Please tell me where I’m at. Please!” begged Glitter.
“You’re still are at school, and you’re in my locker. A locker is
something that holds your books and stuff,” said Nichole. Then, all of a
sudden a high-pitched bell rang. “Oh my gosh! I’m late to class! Bye!”
“Wait! Don’t you need your books?” asked Glitter.
She grabbed a Geography book, and her binder and slammed the locker.
Glitter had a very boring day, and decided not to go to school again.
She had to stay in Nichole’s locker most of the time, entertaining
herself by counting how many little dots were on the so-called locker.
The ride home was very bumpy and even more uncomfortable, since Nichole
had to ride on the bus. Glitter learned her lesson. It never crossed her
mind that she would get out of her cold baggy. The water was warming by
this time.
“Glitter, do you want to come out?” asked Nichole, her voice a whisper.
“No. I’ve learned my lesson,” Glitter replied.
“Please? I’m really bored. I hate riding home on the bus. It’s worse
when you’re alone. Nobody ever sits by me,” said Nichole.
Glitter felt bad for her so she said, “Ok.”
Nichole reached in and took Glitter out. “Won’t people think you’re
weird? Talking to something invisible?” asked Glitter.
“Doesn’t make any difference. They all think I’m weird anyway,” said
Nichole.
Glitter didn’t know what to say about this, so she abruptly
changed the subject. “I have to be leaving today,” said Glitter.
Nichole looked at Glitter questionably. “What? Where?” she asked.
“Well, you know, I have been for days. I must leave so that I can go
to the Fire Queen,” said Glitter.
“Can’t you stay one more day? Please?” asked the sad Nichole.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t, Nichole. I have to talk to the Fire Queen and
tell her to stop planning to destroy my world,” said Glitter, sadly. She
had taken a liking to this lonely girl and she felt bad leaving, but she
just had to. Nichole didn’t say anything.
“Hey. Nikki, who are you talking to? Your invisible friend? When you get
home are you going to have a lovely tea party?” asked a blonde-haired
kid in the back seat. He laughed and slapped the kid next to him with a
high five.
“Don’t call me Nikki!” Nichole yelled. The boy laughed.
“Oh sorry Nikki!” said the boy, smiling.
Then the bus suddenly stopped along the side of the road. Nichole got
frightened. She wasn’t home yet. The man unbuckled his seatbelt and
faced the front of the bus. He was a husky man, strongly built. He had
chains hanging down from his jean pockets. His eyes were brown, and he
had jet-black straight hair that hung down his back. His goatee had been
braided. He gave Glitter the chills and Nichole, too.
“Now, you listen kids. This bus is so noisy that I can’t even
concentrate!” the man said. “You!” he said suddenly pointing to Nichole.
“I could hear you out of all the kids! Who do you think you are yelling
on my bus? I’m giving you a detention; you can’t ride this bus anymore!”
said the man, taking a pink pad from his pocket and a pencil. “What is
you’re name?” he asked roughly, the pencil in hand.
“Nichole. But sir... bus driver, I was yelling because this boy...”
Nichole started to say but he cut her off.
“No excuses! Here!” he ripped off the paper and handed it to Nichole.
“But... But...” she sputtered. But it was no use.
“You what?” asked Nichole’s mom.
Nichole took a deep breath. “I got a detention on the bus because a boy
behind me was teasing me about my name. I was not in the mood,” said
Nichole. “And the bus driver looked like a motorcycle rider! Or a
gangster!” she protested.
“He couldn’t have looked that bad,” said her mom, taking a sip from her
hot cocoa
. “Mom. He did!” said Nichole.
“I really don’t want to argue about this Nichole.” Said her mom. There
was silence and all Nichole could hear was the tapping on the windows
from the rain. “Nasty weather, all of a sudden. I’m going upstairs and
watch T.V. Do whatever you want to do. Call some friends...” said
Nichole’s mom, going up the stairs with the coffee cup in one
hand.
“Um… Nichole, I don’t mean to be rude but can you let me out of this bag
please?” asked a muffled voice corning from the backpack on the floor.
“Oh sorry!” said Nichole as she unzipped the bag. She picked Glitter up
and they both went over to the couch to watch T. V.
“I need to talk to you,” said Glitter clearing her throat.
“About what?”
“I need to talk to you about me leaving. This is the perfect weather for
me to go see the Fire Queen. Tomorrow might be sunny, and in that case
I can’t go. I must leave today,” said Glitter, sadly.
There was silence. Then Nichole burst into tears. “You have been such a
good friend. Nobody has treated me as nice as you have,” said Nichole
wiping her eyes with her sleeve.
“Nichole I can’t stay here forever. You can’t keep me in a plastic cold
bag for the rest of my life. I have to go,” said Glitter, wiping a tear
from her face, too.
“I know. I know. Will you promise to tell your Queen to make snow here?
Then the snowflakes that come down will visit me. I would be much much
happier,” said Nichole.
“Okay, instead of just snow I’ll send down some of my friends,” said
Glitter.
“So you have to go now?” asked Nichole.
“Yes, I have to. My home will be blasted apart if I don’t,” said
Glitter.
“Okay. I’ll take you outside.” Nichole lifted Glitter up and walked to
the door. She opened it. “Bye,” said Nichole and she threw him in the
air to get the wind to blow him up.
“Bye!” Glitter yelled as she sailed up in the wind and rain.
Glitter stuck out her arms to change direction. In the distance she saw
some kind of a cave. This must be The Fire Queen, thought Glitter
gulping.
After about 5 minutes the cave seemed to be getting closer. Glitter
noticed that some of herself was dripping. “It must be really hot in
there,” thought Glitter. “I wonder how I’m going to avoid melting.”
Glitter put her arms right in front of her and landed on the entrance of
the cave.
By this time Glitter was a puddle of water. She heard some footsteps and
heard someone say, “Who are you?”
It turned out that it was the Queen who was standing there observing
Glitter.
“I’m Glitter. I’ve come here to ask you something. But first, will you
turn me back into a snowflake?” asked Glitter.
“Okay,” said the Queen. “I’ll have to put an ice bubble all around you,”
she said. The Queen flicked her finger at Glitter and an ice bubble
surrounded her. Then Glitter began to turn colder. In seconds Glitter
was back into a snowflake. It was then that Glitter could see the Queen.
The Queen was just practically a ball of fire, except for red eyes,
hands and feet. Her hands had little flames coming off the tips of her
fingers and the same with her feet. Instead of hair, she had big orange
and red flames. She glared a Glitter. “What do you want? And why do you
come here without notice?” she asked, her mouth in a scowl.
“I-I’ve come because my Fairy Ice Queen sent me,” said Glitter, her
mouth as dry as cotton. Glitter was eager to see the inside of the cave
but decided not to say anything. “Everybody in my world, the ice world,
is wondering why you are targeting our world and blasting it.”
To Glitter’s surprise, the Queen started laughing. Except it wasn’t much
of a laugh, it was like a crackling noise, the noise of a fireplace when
you first put the in wood.
“My world and the Sun world are having a war. I have created a machine
that will blast parts of their world down. My machine has something
wrong with it, I don’t know what yet, and it has misfired these few
times I’ve tried it,” said the Fire Queen.
“So you’re not really targeting our world?” asked Glitter speechless.
“No. I’m sorry if I blasted away some important buildings or homes. I
hope I didn’t kill anyone,” said the Fire Queen, her face filled with
worry.
“Oh no. Just a few buildings, but they can be repaired,” said Glitter
not believing what she was hearing.
“Okay. I’m glad that’s over with. Do you want to come inside?” asked the
Queen.
“No thank you. I must get back to my world to tell the news. All of my
people are anxious to know what will happen,” said Glitter.
“I understand. Will you come and visit me sometime? It gets pretty
lonesome up here,” asked the queen.
“Sure. Well, I’ll see you!” said Glitter and she jumped off of the ledge
and caught the wind. In the distance she saw the queen wave to her.
Glitter waved back.
It took about 20 minutes to reach the gates to Glitter’s world. Glitter
guessed that it was about 6:00, which was when they opened. Ahead
Glitter saw the white glittery gates. Glitter could see a guard just
arriving, to make sure that nobody else besides snowflakes came in.
In about 2 minutes, Glitter was facing the guard. “Some windy weather
huh?” asked the guard, as he took out his icepad.
“Yes. Very windy,” said Glitter, getting impatient.
“Okay. What’s your name?” asked the guard, his beady eyes focused on
Glitter. He was a quite chubby snowflake, with little icicles growing
from the tips of his fingers. She guessed he was in his late 50’s. When
snowflakes get old they start growing icicles out of their fingers and
toes. Glitter only had a stub of ice on her fingers. They would grow out
eventually though. Glitter told him, and then he wrote her name down on
the icepad.
“May I see your identification card, please?” he asked taking out a
mechanical scanning device. Glitter took her card out of her pocket then
ran it across the scanning part. “Okay,” he said looking at the screen.
“You register. Go on through.” The gate opened.
It was so nice seeing her world again, the familiar shops and houses.
Glitter was eager to see her snowdog, Flurry, but she new she must see
the queen. Glitter landed on hard ground. She toppled over and some
snowflake lady came over to help her. Glitter was deeply embarrassed.
When you’re a snowflake and you blush, it is really obvious. Glitter
then wiped some snow off of herself and held her hand up for an Icewave
taxi.
Luckily it was a different driver, one who wasn’t afraid of the queen.
In fact he was very talkative and nice. Glitter was almost sorry when
they were there. “Have a nice day,” he said to Glitter as she paid him.
Glitter was worried that while telling the queen about the big
misunderstanding, she would topple over laughing. How could we have been
so stupid? All of the snowflakes knew that the Fire Queen had nothing
against us.
Glitter walked up to the familiar cave and yelled, “I’m back!” into the
dark opening. Was she even there?
“Oh hi! You’re back so soon? You were supposed to be here tomorrow! Well
I guess the earlier the better. Anyway, how did it go?” asked the queen
stepping out of the cave.
Glitter thought that she must have been really worrying this past couple
days. She was talking a mile a minute and had ice bags under her eyes.
“It went fine! It was all a big misunderstanding. The Fire queen had no
intention of firing at our world. She and the Sun World are having a war
and she made this machine that will destroy buildings in their world.
But the first couple times she fired the machine it had something wrong
with it, so it blasted our world instead,” explained Glitter trying hard
not to laugh.
The queen was silent for a moment then burst out laughing. Glitter
joined her and at the end they both had water in they’re eyes, which
quickly turned into icicles. “How could all of us have been so stupid?
We all assumed that she was targeting our world. Did you say
sorry that we suspected her?” asked the queen, trying to break the
icicles in the corner of her eyes.
“Urr... no,” said Glitter.
“That’s okay. I’ll just have to send a letter to her,” the queen said.
She took a deep breath and said, “Well, I’m glad that’s over with.”
Glitter was about to leave but then remembered her promise to Nichole.
“Your Majesty, may I ask something of you?” asked Glitter.
The queen nodded.
“Will you make snow in the human world?”
“Sure. Why?” she asked, looking confused.
“Well, I met this human and she would really like to have snow,” said
Glitter. “Okay,” said the queen.
Glitter smiled, then walked out of the cave.
The End
Authors note: Before Glitter came to the human world there was no
such thing as snow. After Glitter came there was. So that’s how snow
came to be. And every single snowflake you see is a snowflake
visiting you to say Hi! ©