By the time midnight came, I was already standing outside in the courtyard. It was fairly easy to get out of the castle when the guards knew who my aunt was. I guess being a Helsing did have its perks, even if it was all a lie. Looking up at the moon, I couldn’t help but feel at home knowing that my real mother was none other than the Moon Goddess. I could almost feel her loving hand touching me.

“Off in outer space?” I heard Keaira ask as she wrapped her arms around me. It was nice to have someone like Keaira around with everything that was going on. She made everything feel just a little better in the world. Sighing, I leaned back against her.

“No, just thinking about everything that I have learned about myself and things that I still need to learn. There is much that I need to tell you all, so this is why we have to go somewhere where certain people can not find out what we are talking about,” I said as I allowed her to support me. For as fragile as she looked, Keaira was surprisingly strong. Not as strong as me, but at the same time, I wouldn’t want to test her strength either.

Everyone else arrived a few minutes later. No one really talked as we all gathered around. I guess it was the fear of being caught out after curfew, but everyone wanted to know what Alex and I had to tell them. For the first time in my life, I knew what real friends were. Sure, I had had friends in my old school, but most of them were fake friends who only pretended to like one another because it helped their popularity. It saddens me to say that at one time, I used to be one of those girls.

“Ah, good. Everyone is here, I see. Now, are you all sure you really want to do this knowing that some of you aren’t exactly welcome?” Calita asked. We all gave our answers; there was no backing down now. I needed everyone to know what was going on. After hearing everyone's answer, Calita raised her finger, drawing what looked like a door in the air. As she did, a kind of light followed her finger. When she was finished drawing the door, she mumbled something we couldn’t hear, and the door opened. There was an explosion of color, and we could see land on the other side of the door. One by one, we went through the door.

As we reached the other side of the door, I was shocked at just how amazing their world looked. Despite how small fairies were in our world, the moment we stepped through the door, they were about the same size as us. Even Calita was about my height. It was the first time I truly got to see what she looked like, and I was amazed. She had a nice oval-shaped face and slightly slanted eyes. She was petite, with curves that made me jealous. Her wings took up nearly her entire body size. She was very beautiful.

“Welcome to the fairy world, and before you ask, no, I haven't grown, you have shrunk. Because we can’t physically make ourselves any larger, it was much easier for the magi to make guests smaller. Now, come on, my house is just down the road. You can’t miss it,” Calita said. We all followed her lead. I was curious what her house would look like. I kind of envisioned something like Tinkerbells house in Peter Pan, but as we walked down the road, I realized just how silly that thought was.

After a few minute's walk, Calita stopped at what looked to be a castle. It was enormous. I wondered briefly why we were here. This was more for royalty.

“Well, here we are. Cartino palace. Please try to show some restraint inside, unless you want to be thrown out and banned from the city for all eternity,” Calita said. There was a seriousness to her voice that said that she wasn’t kidding about this. We all nodded and waited for her to let us in. She walked up to the front doors with a sigh and opened one side, motioning for us to go inside.

The inside was everything you would expect to see inside of a castle, including the grand staircase. I was utterly in awe but the craftsmanship. Portraits were hanging from either side of the hall we were standing in. Almost immediately as we entered the castle, a man dressed in black standing in front of us.

“Ms. Calita, what are you doing here at this late hour?” the man said. Calita gave him a glare, and the man bowed his head. “Forgive me, miss, I did not mean to intrude. Your parents are fast asleep,” the man said,

“That is alright Goustoff, we aren’t here to see my parents anyway. My friends have things they need to talk about, and apparently, the school isn’t the best place to talk about these things,” Calita said. The man nodded, then bowed and walked away.

By the time we reached Calita’s room, I was nearly out of breath. Who knew that a castle could be so huge. I guess that is what happens when your family practically runs fairyland. When she opened the door to her room, I was a little shocked. Instead of the pink and flowery room, I had envisioned, her room was more gothic. There were posters of rock bands hanging on the wall. Her bed was covered with black blankets, and the only sign of color was one of the center pillows, which was red.

“I know what you must be thinking. Because I am a princess, I should like the same things that all fairytale princesses liked, but the reality is, this is who I really am. I just put on a mask when I am around others,” Calita said. I had no words for her comment. It just goes to show that you can’t judge a book by its cover.

            “So, queen to be. Now you have the privacy away from the school and my parents in bead, you have the floor, but try to keep it short and to the point. There is no telling when someone will realize that the child of the Helsings' is in this very castle.

            Looking around the room. I sighed. I didn’t know where to begin. Sure, I had been telling my friends everything that had been going on, but I didn’t know how, and I didn’t want them to look at me differently. I was almost about to run away and not say anything until I saw the smile on Keaira's face. Just that little smile was enough to give me the courage I needed.

            “I have some things to tell you all, and I don’t know where to start,” I said as I watched their faces turn to focus entirely on me. This was the point of no return. It was now or never. Slowly, I began explaining everything to them.