“No, no, no, no!!”

One girl was screaming in a tower in the Fairy Castle in France. It was July 20th, 1883. The sky was beautiful, and the birds were singing. The tower was glittering in the sunlight. It was a wonderful morning that did not suit the unpleasant scream.

　 “What’s wrong, Dominique?” Another voice echoed through the tower.

　 “My gem is gone! My gem is gone! Catherine! What should I do?” Dominique screamed again. 

Catherine replied, “Did you look all over the room?”

　 “I DID, Cath. But I could not find it!” Dominique came out of her room crying. She was a fairy with golden hair, blue eyes and fair skin. She was as beautiful as Marie Antoinette but she had pure heart. Catherine was a fairy too. She had brown hair and gray eyes. Both of them lived in the Fairy Castle with many other fairies. They were the closest friends in the world.

There are various kinds of fairies in the world such as the candy fairies, who can use magic when they eat sweets, the nectar fairies, who can use magic when they drink nectar and so on. Dominique and Catherine are a type of fairies called the “jewel fairies". A jewel fairy can use magic with their own gems. When they want to use magic, they will raise their gems and say, “Inner power, wake up by the power of my gem!”

 After a while Catherine said thoughtfully, “Well, can’t you assume that your gem was stolen?”

    “Oh, aha, maybe so…. Wait. Stolen? What? What did you say?” Dominique cried.

    “I said can’t you assume that your gem was stolen?”  Dominique looked shocked. That was a word she had not expected. Stolen? My gem was stolen?

    “You must be kidding…. Who? Who stole my jewel?”　 Dominique was terribly confused.

    “Calm down, Dom. Didn’t you take your eyes off the gem yesterday?”  Catherine said.

Dominique thought back to her actions yesterday. “What did I do yesterday? I went shopping with Cath. And then….”  Suddenly Dominique let out a surprised cry.

    “I didn’t take my eyes off the gem, but…. I read in a newspaper that the evil witch steals the fairies’ magic gems frequently. I wonder why I had forgotten.”

    “Wow! It's amazing! You found one clue to solve the case!” Catherine raised her voice joyfully.

    “But when? When did the evil witch steal my gem?” Dominique calm down and said.

    “Hmm…. What did you do when you are asleep? Did you close the windows of your room?”

Dominique groaned. She remembered that she forgot to close the bed room window. How stupid she was!

    “I have to go to the evil witch’s castle alone and get my gem back. If the witch knows how to use my magic gem, she will kill many people.” Dominique said.

    “But Dom, you cannot do anything without your gem. Besides, the evil witch is very strong.” Cath said worriedly. “I’ll go with you.”

    “I don't want you to get hurt because of me. I love you, so I don’t want you to die… As you know, my parents died because they protected me. I survived but I wasn’t happy at all. I wanted all of my family to survive.” Dominique said sadly. “I never want to see the death of others again.” Her parents died in the War twelve years ago.

     Long ago, when humans had not understood science yet, many fairies and magical animals lived on the earth. In the 1800's the number of fairies had declined but they weren’t extinct yet. They decided to coexist with humans to survive. Dominique's father was a descendant of Beltoise family, the noble family who contracted to protect by the Napoleonic family. He joined Battle of Gravelotte during the Franco‐Prussian war to help Napoleon III and died there.

    “Okay, Dom. I will never die. I promise you. You cannot do anything alone. Neither can I. But if we fight together, we will definitely win!” Catherine smiled at Dominique sweetly.

    “Cath…”  Dominique didn’t seem to be able to decide yet.

    “Trust me, please.” Catherine said.

    “All right. You’ve twisted my arm. But please swear you won’t do something dangerous. If you are in jeopardy, please flee first.” Dominique said.

    “I promise. I’ll follow whatever you say. You be careful too. Let's defeat the evil witch!” Then, they left the Fairy Castle.

 

Fly, fly, fly. They flew to the evil witch’s castle. Dominique borrowed a magical broom from Catherine as she couldn’t fly without her magic gem. Catherine flew using her wings. The sun was illuminating Catherine’s attractive wings.

    “Hey, Dom. where is the castle?” Catherine said.

    “Hmm…. Maybe we'll arrive there in a sec…. Oh, look! Look there! That is the evil witch’s castle!”

Dominique pointed in the front of her. There was a big mountain in front of them and a gothic castle was built on top of it. The castle was reminiscent of a cold heart. Crows flew around the castle and no one seemed to live around the castle. There were no houses, no shops and no churches around it. It was silent all around. Dominique seemed to become a little scared. “You can do it Dom. You are a brave girl. You can do anything with Cath,” she said to herself as they landed.

They landed the entrance of the castle.

    “Wow.... This castle is magnificent,” Catherine whispered. “Okay, let’s go into this castle.” As soon as Catherine knocked, the heavy door opened by itself.

Beyond the door there was a luxurious entrance lobby. There were many chandeliers and carpets that looked expensive. “Wow….” Their eyes rounded with amazement.

    “Welcome to my castle, girls,” A mysterious voice came from somewhere in the castle.

    “Who… Who are you?” Catherine screamed.

    “It’s me. I’m the witch. The evil witch.” A sylphlike woman they had never seen was descending the stairs. She had black glossy hair, beautiful skin, and lips like a red ripe apple. She wore a black gown and dark blown cloak which can be said to be a witch's uniform. Dominique’s eyes were fixed on her. Is she the evil witch? They were convinced that the witch was ugly.

    “Because I am a witch, I can change my appearance.” The witch seemed to have read their mind. She was calm and composed. She smiled at them.

    “Nice to meet you, witch. I’m Dominique Beltoise. And she is Catherine Laurent,” Dominique said to the witch. Although she was very nervous, she was able to introduce herself smoothly.

    “I know. You gave me your magic gem. But I don’t know how to use this gem, so please tell me.” Catherine got angry because the witch was still smiling. “Dom didin’t give her gem to you! You stole her gem!” she cried.

    “Please. Please give me back my gem,” Dominique said. “Why do you want to get more power? You are strong already, aren’t you?”

    “I…I WAS strong, surely. But I became weaker and weaker because people stopped believing in the witches. A long time ago a lot of people relied on my magic so I was a strong, good witch,” replied the witch.

    “I didn’t know that… Well, then why don't you become a good witch again?”

    “Even though I did a good thing, nobody needed me. I wanted to stop pretending to be a good person anymore. I decided to fight this unreasonable world,” the witch said sadly.

    “You’re still in time. You can change yourself now. Come with us!” Dominique tried to persuade her but the witch replied, “I’m sorry but I can’t. I have to kill you.”

As soon as the witch said this, Catherine used her magic gem.

    “My inner power, wake up by the power of my gem! Summon dragon!” she yelled. Then suddenly, an enormous dragon broke the window and came into the castle. “Come here Phineas!” Phineas is a dragon, which is kept by Cath. “Dom, jump aboard!”

Dominique jumped on the back of the big dragon and pulled Catherine up above on it. Catherine ordered, “Blow fire, Phineas!” Phineas nodded and blew fire, but the witch avoided it easily.

    “HAHAHA! You are all foolish! I am so strong that no one can defeat me!” the witch laughed.

    “She is too strong for us to defeat. What should we do?” Catherine said.

Dominique was thinking for a while and suddenly she screamed, “I have a good idea! Hide behind that pillar, Cath!”

    “Okay, but what will you do?” Catherine steered the dragon masterfully and went behind the pillar.

    “Perhaps she can protect herself from magic, but she is helpless against physical attacks. So, Cath, make a revolver with your magic. Then I’ll shoot her.” Dominique whispered to Catherine.

    “What? A revolver? What is it?” Catherine didn’t know what a revolver was.

    “Oh…um…A revolver is a small gun invented by humans about several decades ago. You can definitely kill the witch by using it,” said Dominique.

    “Wow! Great idea! Then, let’s do that!” Catherine screamed.

    “Be quiet! She will notice us!” said Dominique but it was too late.

    “You are here! I found you.” The evil witch laughed. “I’ll kill you!”

    “I will not let you go. Cath, make a gun!” Dominique screamed.

    “Okay, Dom. Inner power wake up by the power of my gem! Make a handgun!” Catherine cried.

    “What?” The witch said surprisingly. “What will you do?” She seemed to be frightened to hear what Catherine said.

    “HAHAHA!” Catherine laughed. “We aren’t foolish at all! Yow are foolish!”

Catherine made a hand gun with her magic and threw it to Dominique. “Now, Dom!”

Dominique shot the witch. “Nooooo!” The witch screamed and then, she disappeared with purple smoke. She died.

    “Hooray!” Dominique and Catherine rejoiced to win. “We did it! We did it!”

    “I’m sorry for troubling you,” Dominique said sadly as she took out her gem from the pocket of the witch’s cloak. Then, suddenly Catherine pulled on Dominique’s cheek.

    “Ouch! What?” She screamed. “What do you want to say?”

    “Well…we are best friends, aren’t we?” Catherine said.

    “Yes, we are. We defeated the evil witch together. We can do anything together. So what?”

 Catherine said after a while like this; “A friend in need is a friend indeed. You are indeed my friend so you can tell me anything! I will help you whenever you want!”

 Dominique smiled very sweetly.