FIRST CHAPTER - THE THREAT

At about eleven at night Theodora went to her bedroom. It was only then that she had managed to tidy up the kitchen and leave everything ready for breakfast for her godmother Gioconda, Mr. Gaspar and the twins Ruca and Cacá.
Theodora leaned her elbows on the windowsill, rested her chin on her hands and stared through the window at the darkness in the street that was just broken by the light of some lamps that ran along the length of the road. That day she felt miserable, but did not know why except that there were profound thoughts going through her head. Sometimes she asked herself why she had to live in her godmother Giaconda’s house, to put up with her ghastly children and to be totally deprived of the company of her real family, her six sisters of whom she only knew Barbara and Pilar. What had happened to the others, Maria, Gisela, Angela and Eva?
After some time Theodora was so tired that her eyes closed and she fell into a deep sleep.
Suddenly the lamps of the street lights went out and for each one that died out an enormous dark, threatening horse with shining yellow eyes rose up. They all went towards Theodora’s window. Then the window opened and Theodora was dragged outside. The terrifying horses encircled her and made her go round and round in circles without stopping. Each of them was carrying a terrifying message.
‘Stupid fairy! Your end is nigh,’ said one of the threatening horses.
‘Theodora! The wizard Saramago’s beautiful fairy is going to disappear for ever,’ said another horse.
‘Ah ah! It’s time for me to take over the Congregation of the Fairies and not even the wizard Saramago is going to be able to stop me,’ yelled a third.
‘I’m going to use your sister Angela so that I can get everything I want,’ growled the first black horse.
‘Your magic ring is about to disappear for ever, stupid fairy. Ah ha!’ added one of the horrendous horses, as he beat against the window pane of her bedroom.
It was at that moment that Theodora woke. She was sweating, damp pouring down her face. She looked around, the window was shut, and after all she wasn’t outside running around, nor were there any terrifying horses, and the street lights were alight just as they had been before she had fallen asleep.
What didn’t seem to be right was Theodora’s ring, which shone with a red light and vibrated. And while Theodora well knew how evil Pooka could be, she also knew that although everything had seemed to be a dreadful nightmare, her dream could only be a trial run by the fairy, who was getting ready to destroy the Parallel World.
Theodora drank a glass of water, checked that the window was shut properly and lay down. The minutes went by but she could not get to sleep. There was something about that nightmare that she could not get out of her head.
‘Angela! Angela!’ repeated Theodora. ‘Why did Pooka talk about one of my sisters whom I don’t even know?’
Theodora was apprehensive as she feared Pooka would do some harm to her sister Angela but, on the other hand, she was really hopeful that she would get to meet her.
Having suffered so much from insomnia, Theodora finally fell asleep.
‘Theodora! When are you going to get up? It’s time to get the breakfast ready for the twins,’ yelled Gioconda from the ground floor.
‘Yes! I’m just coming, godmother!’ replied Theodora, who was still terrified after that night that had been so disturbed. She could not get rid of the terrifying image of the dark, glistening horse with its shining yellow eyes that she knew was the evil Pooka.
Valchyry Street, number 13, had woken to bright sunlight, the flowers at the corners of the streets where there were such fabulous houses with swimming pools and large gardens were stunning in the sunlight. The view was not at all like the hideous picture Theodora had seen the night before.
When Theodora went into the kitchen to make the Faia family’s breakfast she was visited by her friends, the goblin David and the gnome Robin, who as usual stood in a corner of the kitchen after appearing in a cloud of smoke or a small crack, like fingers snapping.
‘To what do I owe this early visit?’
‘This afternoon you’ve got to go to Moon Mountain Market because the wizard Saramago has got something to give you,’ said Robin.
‘But it’s not time for the Annual Meeting of the Fairies!’ exclaimed Theodora.
‘I don’t think it’s anything to do with the meeting,’ said Robin.
‘So what is it?’
‘I think it’s something to do with your next mission,’ said David.
‘What is it this time?’
‘I don’t know, but for sure it’s risky and Pooka is definitely on the lookout for you,’ said Robin.
‘Do you think it’s got anything to do with a nightmare I had last night?’
‘What did you dream about?’ asked David.
‘Pooka appeared in my dream in a terrifying form.’
‘As only she knows how!’ remarked David.
‘What did she want?’ Robin asked.
‘Pooka threatened that she was going to use Angela.’
‘That’s really serious. There’s no stopping Pooka!’ exclaimed Robin.
‘But what has Angela got that Pooka wants so much?’ asked Theodora.
‘Maybe it’s the answer to the mission?’ suggested David.
‘But how?’ asked Theodora.
Meanwhile, godmother Giaconda, with her fast bulk and her tiny height, went towards the kitchen. As soon as Robin and David sensed her coming they disappeared in a flash.
‘So when are you going to take the breakfast to the table? The twins can’t wait any longer to eat,’ yelled Gioconda, puffed out.
‘Godmother, I’m going right now into the dining room,’ said Theodora, picking up the tray with hot milk and fresh bread.
In the dining room the twins, Ruca and Cacá were, as usual, being as naughty as possible. This time they poured all the sugar that was in the sugar bowl on the floor. Then they went to one end of the dining room, ran towards the spilt sugar and slid as though they were snowboarding. There was so much spilt sugar that the boys’ clothes, hair and entire bodies were covered in it. Even under the sofas and carpets there were horrendous grains making everything sticky.
It was only by chance that on one of his skids across the room Robin didn’t make Theodora drop the tray she was carrying.
As though this wasn’t enough, as soon as Theodora went into the dining room she felt that irritating sensation of the small grains of sugar crunching under her feet.
On the other side of the room Mr. Gaspar was reading his newspaper without stopping the boys’ antics. For him it was much more interesting to spend breakfast reading the deaths page in the paper. He was a nutritionist and was very interested in seeing whether any of his patients, who were vast consumers of hamburgers, pizzas, cakes and pancakes, had died from overweight.
As for Gioconda, she left the brats unpunished. She merely told Theodora to clean up all that mess and put the twins in the bath. Because, for Gioconda, Ruca and Cacá were just darling little boys.