The Halflands

Little Jenny's Journey to Fairy Land (Sample)

Before there was Aunt Jenny, there was her great-aunt, Little Jenny, whose visits to the Halflands were recorded in the books of the Little Jenny's Journeys series. The stories were written down by Cassandra Montclair, an old family friend and the housemate of Little Jenny's great-aunt Catherine. Little Jenny is an important enough influence on Aunt Jenny's life and story, that I am in the process of updating the first Little Jenny book, much the way that William Goldman did with S. Morgenstern's classic tale. Presented here are a few of the pages that I have restored so far.

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Chapter 1, The Pixie Paths

Little Jenny was a very curious girl — always wondering — wondering and wandering.

One day, while playing in the garden with her cat, Jenny wondered what it was that cats could see that she couldn’t.

Have you ever noticed how cats will chase and pounce on things you cannot see? Little Jenny noticed. And Little Jenny wondered.

“Miss Fitz,” said Jenny, for that was the cat’s name, “Miss Fitz, whatever are you doing?”

The cat pounced, pounced a very large pounce, and landed on something — something Little Jenny couldn’t see. But Miss Fitz could see it, and she was very proud. She smiled and looked Little Jenny right in the eyes.

“M’yow!” said Miss Fitz, as if that explained everything.

“Really?” asked Little Jenny. “Then let me see.”

“M’roe,” said Miss Fitz stubbornly.

“I insist!” declared Little Jenny, not willing to take ‘m’roe’ for an answer. This was, after all, an important question.

Miss Fitz hunkered down over her paws, gazing at the invisible that she’d caught.

“M’roe,” she insisted, sulkily.

But Little Jenny wasn’t going to be put off so easily.

“I will see it!” she told the cat, sternly. “Now show it to me!”

Miss Fitz pouted and scowled, as a cat will when they’re being stubborn.

Now, to understand what happened next, you need to know a few very special things. First, this happened not on just any day, but Sunday, May the First. Second, this was not just any garden. It was a garden surrounded by very old woods at the top of a hill, and the woods on that hill were made up of oak and ash. In that garden, many years before, someone had planted a May Bush, a hawthorn, that had since grown into a magnificent tree. Finally, this all happened at the top of the hour.

As Miss Fitz scowled at Little Jenny, the girl caught a glimpse — just the tiniest glimpse — of something shiny, shiny like a dragonfly’s wing.

“Let it go, Miss Fitz. And you, glittery wing, you show yourself,” demanded Little Jenny. As she did so, the nearby church bells began to ring.

Now, as everyone knows, May Day, oak, ash and thorn, and bells are all very special for fairies. What no one knew, even Little Jenny, was that the fairy that Miss Fitz had caught was, in fact, named Glitter Wings — or at least that’s what her fairy name means in English.

And so it was that Glitter Wings the fairy had no choice but to let herself be seen when Miss Fitz released her.

When Miss Fitz let the fairy go, Glitter Wings flew lickety-split, as fast as she could, towards the big hawthorn at the heart of the garden with Little Jenny and Miss Fitz hot on her tail. She crossed the fairy ring surrounding the tree, hoping to escape along the Pixie Paths that led to Fairy Land. Sad to say, Jenny and the cat were too close behind and followed her onto the Paths.

Little Jenny laughed with delight to see a real live fairy, and chased her for quite a while before noticing that she wasn’t in the garden or anywhere she’d ever seen before. When she did notice, she stopped suddenly.

“Stop!” cried Little Jenny sternly.

The fairy flew on.

“You! Glittery wings! You just stop!”

The fairy stopped, turned and fluttered about, watching Little Jenny.

“Now, you come right back here and explain yourself!” Jenny said crossly.

Little Jenny was the kind of child who loved going for walks in the woods, and she knew the hills and woods around her home quite well. Nowhere was there a misty ridge like the one she was standing on, and that worried her. Jenny wasn’t very good at worrying or being afraid, and so she wanted that to stop.

It seemed to her that all this was the fairy’s fault, and that made her cross. She wasn’t very good at being cross, either, but Nanny Kate was, so Little Jenny put her little fists on her hips, and spoke just like Nanny Kate.

“I said, you come back here, you glittery wings, you. Right here,” said Jenny and pointed down to her feet, just as Nanny Kate would.

The fairy slowly fluttered her way.

Perhaps the fairy obeyed because Little Jenny was talking just like Nanny Kate. Perhaps it was because if you use a fairy’s name, magic makes them listen to you. One way or another, Glitter Wings the fairy found herself hovering right in front of Little Jenny’s face.

“Now,” said stern Little Jenny, “you sit right down and stop fidgeting!” and held out her hand.

The fairy sat on Jenny’s palm, crossed her ankles, and smoothed out her gossamer skirts.

Little Jenny almost burst out laughing to see the fairy sit down like a scolded child. Did she look that funny herself when Nanny Kate scolded her and told her to stop fidgeting?

But this was serious. Jenny needed some answers.

“Where are we?” she asked the fairy.

“We’re on the Pixie Paths,” said Glitter Wings, as if that explained everything.

Jenny looked all around her. She seemed to be on a ridge of hills, a bit like the Hockomock Ridge that ran northeast from her home past the school. It couldn’t be that ridge though — there were no big trees along this one, just scrubby little bushes. Mists kept her from seeing much of the land around her, but she could see the tops of trees sticking out of the mists, here and there.

Suddenly she realized that she couldn’t see Miss Fitz. Where had the cat gone?

Still using Nanny Kate’s voice, Little Jenny called out, “Miss Fitz, you come right back here!”

Now, they say that all cats are a little bit fey — that means fairy-like and magical — and perhaps that meant that using her name here on the Pixie Paths was a little magical, too. Whatever the reason, Miss Fitz came out from behind one of the bushes and sat down at Jenny’s feet.

Little Jenny looked at the fairy sitting in the palm of her hand.

“What are the ‘Pixie Paths’ and where are they?” she asked.

“They are the paths between worlds. They aren’t any where. They are between,” said Glitter Wings proudly.

“Well, then how do I get home?” demanded Jenny.

“Follow the path to where it passes your world and walk out!”

“How will I know where that is?”

“Didn’t they teach you anything about walking the Paths?”

“No.”

“Then you really mustn’t be here!” exclaimed the fairy, sounding quite concerned.

“But I followed you!” said Little Jenny crossly.

“I was trying to get away.”

“Well, then, go away.”

Immediately, Glitter Wings did just that. She leapt from Little Jenny’s hand and flew off down the ridge.

Little Jenny stepped over to an outcropping of rock, sat down, smoothed out the skirt of her Sunday sailor’s dress, adjusted her beret, and started to think.

“Oh, Miss Fitz, I do believe we are in trouble. Whatever shall we do?” she asked.

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Sadly, our excerpt must end here, but never fear—there is more to come.

But… Aunt Jenny and the Delayed Quest is available on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and it starts out with another excerpt—this time the ending of Little Jenny and the Moonmaid. Who knows—after I finish Sasha's Story and Little Jenny's Journey to Fairyland, some of the other Little Jenny's Journeys stories may follow.