2:17 Moonrise

It was Friday. After all the drama of the past week, Lisa had almost forgotten that tonight was a full moon. Her face fell when she saw the date marked on the calendar. She picked Madison up and held her close.
"We're going to have a nice family night in tonight, Madi. You can play with Taylor and we can watch TV. Does that sound like fun?"
"Tayyer!" Madison giggled and screeched at the sound of her big sisters' name. Lisa smiled at her and went to the bookcase to choose a recipe for that evenings meal.

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Jackson returned from work later than usual. He'd had to get a lift from a colleague as their car had been stolen a few nights before. Lisa hugged him. Jackson getting home meant the family was finally all together and safe in the house. Taylor headed towards her bedroom to do her homework, and Lisa told her to stay in the family room. She didn't want anyone out of sight, just incase. Taylor wasn't happy about this, and opened her mouth to argue. The look her father gave her silenced her immediately and she sat down on the floor where she was.

Madison was singing along to something on the TV while playing with her new favorite toy dinosaur. Her parents had thrown out her doll as soon as they knew where it had come from. She'd been upset at the time, but easily switched her affections over to 'Diny-sord'

Lisa got started on dinner. She hoped to get the girls in bed soon after the moon-rise so she and Jackson could 'keep watch' for any odd activities without having to worry about scaring the children. Taylor had just finished her homework and went to join Jackson infront of the TV.

The moon rose as they were eating, and Lisa tried to stop her fear showing.

She hurriedly put the leftovers into the fridge and took a bottle of formula out while she was there. She handed it to Taylor and told her to feed her sister while she did the dishes.

Madison threw Dinysord to one side as she happily grabbed the bottle. Taylor was annoyed. She wasn't even slightly tired, she was twelve! It was only 8 o'clock, she couldn't be expected to sleep, could she? Sure enough, Lisa tried to get her to bed. Taylor was angry, but the way her father had looked at her when she went to argue earlier stuck in her head, and she obediently went to her room.

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A few hours later, Taylor heard her parents go to bed. She jumped out of bed. She hadn't put her pajamas on, she'd been planning this all along. She wanted to play on the rocking horse. She left her room and saw yesterdays newspaper sitting on the sofa. She decided to take it to the bin outside. She just wanted to feel the moonlight on her wings more than anything, so any excuse to go out was good.

There was a woman in a long black dress standing by the mailbox. Taylor felt like she'd met her, but didn't remember where or how long ago. She dumped the paper in the can and turned to go back inside. She still wanted to go on the rocking horse.

The woman was right there.
"Shouldn't you be in bed?" Taylor looked up at her. She was pretty. She decided she had definately met the woman before.
"I feel like I've met you before." Taylor knew she shouldn't talk to strangers, especially ones hovering around your house in the middle of the night, but she didn't feel like she was a stranger.
"I'm Trisha. We've met before. You weren't very old, about your sisters' age. You're a big girl now."
"I'm Taylor." She returned.
"Do you know what you are? What you can do?" Taylor nodded proudly.
"Do you want to see? Don't tell mummy and daddy, they won't let me play." Trisha nodded and waved her hands meaning 'go ahead'.

Taylor shrunk herself down, and whizzed around Trisha. Danceing around her head and flitting around her arms.
"Wow! Well done Taylor, you learnt that all on your own?" Taylor moved up and down infront of her face, to show she was nodding 'yes'. She couldn't speak loud enough in this form to be heard. "You're very clever." Taylor could feel something wasn't right, and flew down nearer the ground and grew back to normal size.

"Who's that?" She asked, pointing to a man who had appeared beside them while she was in sprite form.
"Just a friend." Trisha smiled. The smile made Taylor uneasy, something wasn't right about her. The man next to her didn't look or feel right either. She wasn't sure what was going on, but she was going to put a stop to it.

She decided to try putting a spell on her. She didn't know many spells, but the tricks she'd played on friends at school she'd only had to think hard about before they'd happen. So thought really hard about how this woman should go and leave her alone. She closed her eyes tight and threw the invisible force at the woman. A second invisible force pushed back against her, much stronger than her own had been. She opened her eyes in shock, and found there was purple light pouring from the woman. Seeping from her pores and coming at the young fairy in wave after wave. It wasn't painful, it was an odd sensation. It felt like someone was grabbing at her arms and pushing her away.

Trisha grinned at her "You're not the only one with magic powers." Taylor lowered herself to the ground, defeated.

"You're a witch." Taylor accused. Trisha waved her arms and a blue light appeared next to where the man stood. "What are you doing?" She was worried now. She suddenly realised why her parents wanted her in bed so early, why she was never allowed out on full moons, or after dark at all. Fairies weren't the only ones with powers heightened by the moon, and not everyone with powers used them for good.

The blue light beside them began to fade, and a woman became visible through the haze. Neither the man or the woman looked at the pair, they stood there as if they were standing guard.
"What do you want from me?" Taylor quickly realised the gravity of the situation, and how much power this witch seemed to have. She wanted to run inside and jump into bed.
"Nothing, yet. Except for you to practice your magic and grow big and strong. You can't grow big and strong without sleep though, can you. Go on, get to bed." Taylor didn't disobey. She took one last look at the odd gathering, and moved around the witch and up the steps to the porch.

She glanced back and saw the witch climb on a broomstick and the woman run awkwardly after her.

She ran the rest of the way to her bedroom, making sure she locked the front door. She quickly changed, being careful not to wake her sleeping sister, and jumped into bed. Her heart was racing, she couldn't tell anyone about this. Her friends wouldn't believe her, and her family would be so angry they might not talk to her again.



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