-Village center-

Sage was quite anxious.

He lied awake at night wondering what it would be like, to meet other fairies, to go behind his parents' backs, to leave his friend behind. Oh yeah that's right, his friend was going to that dance his human school was having, and he was leaving him to go to the dance alone, what a great friend. Sage did feel guilty, loads guilty, and nervous but also excited. And tomorrow was the day after all, June 27th.

Honestly, at some point in your life, every school day merges together until they all become the exact same day, repeated again and again. But this day was different. The air was filled with silent anticipation. Oh he couldn't wait. Sage raced home, as if it would make the ball come quicker. He wondered what fairies would wear to this ball, he didn't want to look out of place, he wanted to look just like all of them. He found this old long skirt in the back of his closet, it had loads of flowers on it and it looked like something a fairy would wear, at least to him.

Now he was sitting in his room, re-reading the letter. He had missed the part at the bottom, the part that read "Bring this invatation as proof that you were invited."

He was so relieved he had read it, he could imagine him reaching the steps to the building, full of excitement only to be turned down because he had forgotten his invitation. Crisis averted, thank God.

"MYLO!!"

He heard his mom calling his name, and he dropped the letter and ran downstairs for supper.

Sage slided into his seat and eyed the time nervously. 5:46pm.

"You know, I'm gonna be late for the dance, it's almost 6..." he said, twirling as much spaghetti onto his fork as he could

"You're talking about your school dance?" His mom questioned, Sage nodded shoveling more pasta into his mouth

"The one on the 28th?" His mom said.

Sage stopped everything.

"They sent an email out to the parents about it just today." His mother continued.

"Oh...um...that's for a different dance." Sage said, his mind starting to race thinking of any and all excuses he could use.

"Where are you actually going? Why would you lie to us?" Sage's mother said, oh jeez she was really gonna guilt trip him.

"I...can't tell you." Sage looked sadly at the floor.

"Well you can go up to your room, you're not going anywhere tonight." His mother said, crossing her arms.

"What? But I-" Sage started, immediately getting interrupted.

"Go." His mother said, and she was not to be argued with. Sage defeatedly left his seat and headed up the stairs again. The minute he entered his room he saw the invatation laying on the floor, taunting him. He sat on his bed and looked toward his clock. 5:50. Well this really did suck. Sage sprawled across his bed and began thinking if it would be worth it to make an escape plan. There's no way he would be allowed to go to his human school's dance now, so at least one dance would be better than zero? Yeah, he could pull off an escape. But how? His eyes gravitated towards his window. Yeah right, he'd need a latter for that, his flying was definitely not at that level.

Unless...

Sage lifted the latch and slid the glass of his window to the side. He also had a screen panel that was screwed in he'd have to remove, he'd need a screwdriver for that. He shoved a couple things off his desk before spotting a pair of scissors, that could work. He jammed one of the scissor blades into the screw hole and twisted it, surprisingly it worked pretty well, and soon he'd got it loose enough to twist it with his fingers. He kept unscrewing until he'd gotten to the point where he was un-screwing with one hand, and holding the screen with the other hand, to prevent it from falling into the backyard.

He un-screwed the last one, the screw fell into the backyard before Sage had even thought of catching it. He turned the screen, pulled it through his window and threw onto his floor without another thought.

He poked his head through the open window to assess how far the drop would be. Yeah, that's a big drop.

He stood on his bed, it was right next to the window so it made him able to put his leg through his window, and then the other one. With both legs in he immediately fell forward, and stabilized himself by grabbing onto the frame of his window. He couldn't hold on like this forever. It's now or never, let's go.

Wait was he actually doing this?

Something deep in his stomach told him this was a very bad idea, but then again, what fun is it to only make good decisions?

He let go of the window sill.

He fell.

He flapped his wings as much as he could but they only saved him at the very last second, the way they pulled at his back and took the impact of his fall was very painful. He sat on the grass of his backyard for a couple seconds just rubbing his back, hoping it would stop the pain.

Then he realised he really needed to call his teacher anyway, he needed to know where 'Village center' was.

So he dialed his teacher's number.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Hey, it's Sage..." his new name felt even weirder to say out loud. "I got an invatation to the fairy ball tonight, but I'm not sure where 'Village center' actually is."

"Oh I'm sorry I should've explained, I forgot you haven't even seen a fairy village. You're actually quite close, you know? You simply use the passage from your neighborhood street to the bigger street, walk down that sidewalk until you get to Huling road, then turn left and go into the forest, you should see a path, then go left."

Sage considered interrupting his teacher but he ended up letting her finish before admitting "There's no way I'm gonna remember that...can you write that down or something?"

"Oh yeah, I'll send it in a text then. See you later." His teacher hung up.

Sage stood up, his back was hurting less now, he walked towards his backyard gate and pushed it aside. He remembered the first part of his teacher's instructions, and so he walked down his neighborhood street looking for the passageway. He pulled out his phone to check the time while walking, 6:00. Well now he was officially late. You know, maybe fairies don't care much for punctuality anyway. He went through the passage way, and turned to walk down the sidewalk. His mind was so occupied thinking about what was about to happen. What were fairies like? What would fairies like? What do their villages look like? Did fairytales lie, or will it all be the most beautiful thing he ever saw? Would he regret sneaking out? Would he make friends? Oh look. He paused at the street sign, 'Huling'. So the forest should be...

Sure enough, he turned to the side and there the forest was. He walked straight into it, without the fear most people would have when walking into a strange forest at night. He was walking through weeds and dodging trees until he saw the path. Right or left? He checked the message his teacher sent him, left it was. He turned down the path and instantly noticed that it was lined with flowers. A comforting sign when you're walking through a forest alone at night. And finally he saw light, a light poking through the thick leaves and branches, a sign of life.

He stopped abruptly in his tracks.

Was this real?

Was that light real? Were fairies real?

And suddenly he was filled with excitement again, he tried to walk, to look normal, to look like he was supposed to be there, but he couldn't help but run towards the light. And suddenly he saw a cute looking cabin, a small little house covered in vines and flowers, and there were more, and more, until...

Oh my God.

There were loads of beautiful houses, some on the ground, some in the trees, fairy lights hanging from everywhere, lanterns with butterfly patterns on them, and light, so much light. He couldn't help but just stare, what was this? It was like nothing he'd ever seen before. And then he saw another fairy.

Wait what?

He ducked behind a tree the minute he saw her. She had wings like him...but hers were diffrent, they didn't have the mint coloured strip, and no swirls. In fact they looked more like butterfly wings than his did. She walked towards the big building in the center of the village, and showed the fairy standing at the door her invitation, he nodded and let her in. That must be where the ball is being held, well now he only has to follow what she did. He made sure his wings were visible, and walked towards the building, the guard fairy's eyes were instantly locked on Sage. "Uh, hi. Can I come in?" This is awkward. The guard fairy stared daggers into him, and asked "Do you have your invitation?"

No way. No way he forgot his invitation. He knew it mattered so much. Oh God why? He made a big show of checking all his pockets before finally admitting "Ah, must have forgot it." The guard didn't take too kindly to this "Get out." Sage wasn't expecting him to be this harsh, he was taken aback. "Go on. SCRAM." He said, with a little more anger than before.

All this for nothing?

"WAIT!!" A familiar voice yelled, followed by the sound of heels running towards the door. "That's my student, I know him, trust me he's not with the hunters."

That's what Brooklyn, his teacher, looked like? She was dressed head to toe in shiny jewelry and layered fabric.

"Brooklyn!! Hi!!" Sage was glad to see a familiar face, and to be saved by his teacher.

"Yes, well, if you're sure he's invited, then sorry." The guard moved to the side to let Sage through. The moment Sage stepped through the door he was doused in the shimmering light again.

The light.

He was in the light again.