Princess in Disguise by E. D. Baker Page B

hitting with enough force to shove him backward. The fairy shook his head as hair began to sprout all over his face and hands. “Noooo!” wailed the fairy, putting his hands to his cheeks.
    Liam stirred, the spell broken through Annie’s touch. “What was that?” he murmured, sitting up and rubbing his forehead. When he saw Annie looking at him, he gave her a halfhearted grin and said in a groggy voice, “Uh … I wasn’t asleep. Just resting my eyes.”
    â€œHow did that happen?” cried the fairy, who was now covered with hair the same colors as his spots. “It was supposed to be him, not me!”
    â€œWhat’s going on here?” demanded a harsh voice. “All you were supposed to do was trap them until I showed up. Serves you right, Hairy Fairy! Ha! That’s what I’m going to call you from now on!”
    The little fairy ducked his head and flew to his friends while hiding his face in his hands.
    Annie sat up, certain that there was no use in pretending to be asleep any longer. She turned to face Voracia. The evil fairy was dressed in black with a tattered red, black, and yellow snakeskin wound through her silver hair. A large black spider brooch was pinned to her chest; Annie blinked when it waved one of its legs at her.
    â€œMrowr!” wailed a scrawny gray cat shut in a cage that was much too small for it. When Voracia kicked the cage, the cat flattened its ears and crouched as low as it could go.
    â€œSo we meet again,” Voracia said, displaying the gaps in her teeth when she smiled at Annie. “First of all, I want to thank you for giving me a good reason to arrange this meeting. Not that I needed a reason, but my peers will understand better and not persecute me for giving you what you deserve. I must say, I’ve been looking forward to this. It’s because of you that my two helpers ran off. Pinch ’Em and Poke ’Em were the best helpers I ever had, even if they were lazy, good-for-nothing … Ah, well. No time to reminisce. You came to see me and they took advantage of your littlevisit and ran off, leaving me in the lurch. Now I have to make do with occasional help like these flea brains. Speaking of flea brains, I brought you a small gift.”
    Bending down, she opened the door to the cage and hauled the cat out by the scruff of its neck. The cat screeched and tried to claw her, but she shook it until its teeth rattled, then shoved it between the bars of the cage holding Annie and Liam.
    â€œDoesn’t look like much, does it? I’ll take care of that.” With a few muttered words and a wave of her hand, the fairy cast a spell on the cat. It began to grow; although it stayed the same shape and color, it wasn’t long before the ordinary cat was as big as a small horse.
    The cat was not happy. It thrashed its tail and cried, but what would have been a cat-size
Mrowr!
was now a roar that shook the cage so that the tiny fairies fell off. Liam backed away when the cat looked at him, but then it stalked to the wall of the cage and pressed its face between the bars as if it still might fit through.
    The cat became angrier when it realized that it was trapped and began to circle the perimeter of the cage, pushing against the bars with its side.
    â€œWhat are you doing, you stupid animal? Eat them!” screamed Voracia.
    When the cat continued to be more interested in getting out than in eating Annie or Liam, Voracia shook her head and told the tiny fairies, “I hardly ever let the thing out to eat. You’d think it would be hungryenough by now! I know. Maybe if they looked more like familiar food. I can’t do anything with the girl, but the boy should be easy enough.”
    She was raising her hand to cast another spell when the little fairies began to protest. “No!” cried Fern. “It won’t work!”
    â€œDon’t do it!” shouted the fairy wearing the mossy cap.
    â€œOh,