G’day and welcome to the brand-spanking new chapter one for losing the click. This so odd to be writing this story again. Anyhoo this chapter never existed before. Not so sure whether I’ll post this as a new story or put it in the old one… Well, you’ll know, I suppose lol. Please review and I’ll love you forever. By the way… I’m listening to it now… does anyone know what that song Mustapha means in English? Oh yeah and I changed Vilma’s name because I hated it so much and I was sick of all the –a names in this story. I really am that annoying.

1. One misty, moisty morning

It was a cold, foggy morning in Hayleigh, the capital city of North East Quynx, and the market traders were busy selling their wares and blowing their noses into various fat wads of tissue. The winter hadn’t been a kind one, and it was practically law now that every other person should have a cold. Sales of Snease – the number one miracle cold cure in the North – had doubled, and every bin was stacked high with balls of used tissue. Blue Asyn did not have a cold, but believed that she felt worse than any of these people. Her head was ringing and her stomach was churning and, in her opinion, she deserved to be congratulated on the way that she was carrying off the ‘faerie on a mission’ look so well. A lesser faerie would have just gone home to lie in bed. Not her, though. Blue liked to think that she was made of stronger stuff than most faeries, and she knew that she’d spread some gossip whether the effort made her throw up or not.

“Just don’t think about fry ups,” Blue muttered to herself. “Don’t think about…about melted cheese.”

Blue shuddered and gagged. That ‘don’t think about’ thing never worked right. She turned to a nearby coffee shop that glowed orange through the fog and felt her head cry out against this change in direction. As she leant against the door and walked inside, she had to take in deep breaths to push the bile that was rising in the back of her throat back down.

This was enough for her. She had appeared to be strong for long enough, and now was the time for her to sit down and try to get better. She pulled up a seat at the nearest table and slumped down.

According to the menu above the counter, this place was called Flossie’s, and it guaranteed that it could ‘make any morning a good morning’. More importantly to Blue, though, this place had several full tables, and spreading gossip was difficult without people to listen.

“Would you like some coffee, love?” asked a tall vampire woman from the counter.

Blue looked drearily in her direction. Although she wasn’t fond of looking as ill as she felt, she would allow herself just this once. She had come out of that room looking better than most of the other ministers and advisors anyway.

“Coffee? No…no thank you, not coffee. My – my head’s had enough for today. Spring – spring water please.”

The vampire woman, who Blue assumed to be Flossie, tilted her head to one side. “Hangover?” she asked.

Blue began to laugh, but it hurt her head too much and her jaw felt funny. “No, not that. Not that at all. I’ve just come here from the – the Castroli Castle.”

“The palace?” asked Flossie doubtfully, filling a glass of water from a bottle. “Are you feeling all right, dear?”

“Do I look all right?” asked Blue with a smile. “No, I’m not all right; I’m ill and – and more than a little freaked out at the moment.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Seriously,” said Blue. “I saw some – some strange things there.”

The vampire brought the cup of water over to her with both of her eyebrows raised high. Blue would have laughed if it hadn’t have hurt so much last time. Flossie was looking at her as if she was talking gibberish –as if she was crazy or something. That vampire had obviously never met crazy.

”Strange things?” asked the vampire. “What kind of strange things?”

“Yeah, what kind of strange things?” asked an elderly gnome from another table. Blue could see that she had the attention of at least six customers already. She supposed that they all just wanted to see a madwoman babble. This, obviously, was not an ideal situation – Blue had her pride, after all - but it was good enough. She just hoped that she wouldn’t have to speak up - her head just wouldn’t be able to deal with that.

“Well,” said Blue. “You must’ve heard about what went on a couple of years ago – you know, when that nanny Clarissa died.”

Flossie made a doubtful noise through her teeth. “Yeah, all that rubbish,” she muttered. “I remember that. What is it with people and scandal nowadays anyway?”

The elderly gnome just shook her head. “No, no…it was all very…mysterious. I remember. It could have just been some kind of illness, I suppose but – but haven’t there been more disappearances since that? Haven’t a few of the other nannies vanished since that? And a minister? Isn’t that right, Mardy?” she asked the plump faerie sitting opposite her.

“Yes,” said Mardy. She nodded gravely.

“I know that,” said Flossie. “There have been disappearances – greatly exaggerated by the press, I must add – but there’s absolutely no evidence-”

“I’ve seen it happen,” Blue hissed, feeling that the moment was right. She didn’t care whether everyone thought that she was crazy or not, just so long as they knew. The more rumours that were spread, the better, as far as she was concerned. Also, people were far more likely to remember this conversation if they thought she was a bit loopy. It would make a nice little anecdote to tell the children, she thought. “Just now. I’ve just come back from the palace.”

“Yes, we know that, dear,” said Flossie sympathetically. “You’ve already told us that.”

Blue wasn’t sure whether she should placate the woman or ignore her. She compromised, giving Flossie an airy smile and carrying on with her story. “I saw him,” she breathed.

A few of the other people in the coffee shop, including the gnome at Mardy’s table, gasped in fear. Flossie folded her arms and sat down at one of the tables. That’s it, Blue thought to herself, a little snippet of information at a time. Slow and steady wins the race.

“Sweetheart,” Flossie said. “Who exactly do you mean by ‘him’? You need to be more specific, my dear.”

“I’m sorry,” said Blue, tucking her hair behind her ears and giving what she viewed to be an innocent kind of shrug. “I thought it was obvious. Forgive me, I meant the Prince. I saw him today – well, I suppose, that’s not too weird, I used to see him a lot - but I saw what he could do.”

The gnome at Mardy’s table suddenly looked as if she was about to faint. Blue thought that she could have easily joined this stupid woman with her poor head in the state that it was in now.

“What did he look like?” asked the gnome. “I heard he had big gleaming red eyes and – and fangs!”

“Of course he had fangs, dear, he’s half vampire,” said Flossie airily.

“But,” the gnome went on, her eyes growing wider with every word. “I meant huge yellow fangs dripping with blood and entrails.” She gave a delighted shudder. “Isn’t that right, Mardy?”

“Yes, June,” said Mardy.

The vampire woman smiled at the gnome in a politely tolerant way. “June, my dear, I sincerely doubt that a five-year-old would have a mouth filled with blood and entrails. It just isn’t sanitary. You’re getting a bit carried away, that’s all.”

“That’s what I heard, Flossie,” pouted June. “Honest to the Gods, dear, that’s what I heard.”

Flossie continued to smile politely. Obviously, she didn’t want to insult a paying customer.

“Most of the time, you can’t even see him,” Blue breathed. “Most of the time, he’s invisible!”

Flossie chewed on her lower lip thoughtfully. “Yes, dear, I do think that I have heard about that before, now that you mention it.”

June’s eyes were the size of dinner plates. “So it’s true?” she breathed. “Is it true that he can possess dead bodies as well? That’s what they said in the paper, I swear! They said he made a dead fly do the cancan! Is that true too?”

Blue frowned slightly. “I honestly have no idea about that one,” she muttered.

“Oh!” breathed June. “Oh this is just so exciting!”

A young male faerie across the room raised an arm. Blue stared at it for a few moments, unsure of what it meant.

“Excuse me? Excuse me, Miss?”

“Oh,” Blue said quickly. “Yes?”

“Is it true that he can make people cry with his eyes? Is that true? Is it?”

“Yes!” cried June, leaping to her feet in excitement and clapping her hands together. “Is that true?”

Blue looked at June with some concern. Surely her excitement just wasn’t normal.

“Yes, but when I said that I saw what he could do, I didn’t mean any of that stuff.” She gestured to her blonde hair, which was messy with sweat. “I’d never usually go out with my hair like this, you know. And you’ll notice that I don’t exactly look too healthy.”

Too many of the people in the coffee shop nodded at this statement. Blue ran her fingers through her hair self-consciously and noted bitterly that none of these people were exactly supermodels themselves.

“Was it the – the death thing?” breathed June.

Blue looked at her, and nodded sadly. “That is one weird kid,” she muttered. “We were just talking – that is a few of the other ministers and advisors and I – and then he came in with this great big grin on his face. And I was like, “What’re you doing in here, Kinny? Your dad told you to stay in your room” – because that’s what his dad had said. But he stayed around and, in general, behaved like the complete brat that he is. I mean, we would have chucked him out but – but some of the others thought that he was cute and - and he stayed around. We didn’t know that anything would happen, we didn’t believe in any of the rumours and – and no one really mentioned their headaches until it was – it was too late!” She exhaled dramatically and slammed her palms upon the table.

“They died?” asked June in a low voice.

“I don’t know,” said Blue, shaking her head miserably. “As soon as I realised what was happening, I didn’t exactly want to stay around. I just got out of there as soon as I could. Every woman for herself, you understand. I suppose if – if anyone did die, we’ll hear about it in the paper. They’ll probably cover it up as some tragic accident or other but – but I know the truth and now – and now you do too.”

“And he used to be such a lovely child,” sighed June. “I remember when he was born, you know.”

Blue raised her perfectly plucked eyebrows. “It’s murder, June,” she said. “I would have thought – I would have thought that you’d criticise the King or – or something. I would have thought you’d have said something more worthwhile than ‘he used to be such a lovely child’.”

“But he did,” June said defensively. “Isn’t that right, Mardy?”

“Yes,” said Mardy.

“What about you?” Blue said to Flossie, who seemed to be the most rational person. “What do you think?”

Flossie laughed quietly. “It’s just a story, dear. It’s not real! Everyone knows that. It just doesn’t make any sense!”

“But – but I saw it,” Blue protested.

“Yes, dear, of course you did,” said Flossie with a patronising nod.

Blue wouldn’t have cared too much about this, as whether Flossie believed her or not just didn’t concern her, but she didn’t appreciate being patronised. She was, after all, Blue Asyn, the youngest ever minister of public matters, the most beautiful, most intelligent and most wonderful person she had ever met – so to speak.

“You should have seen the little guy’s face,” Blue said. “You should have heard what he said and – and you should have seen him laugh. He laughed and laughed as everyone began to get ill, and he laughed when everyone got scared, and I’m pretty sure that he went on laughing after I left. He’s got some sick sense of humour, that’s all I can say. And the King is hiding all of this from us! Don’t we have a right to know what dreadful things are going on in there? Don’t you care about that?”

Flossie laughed. “You’re not fooling me, dear, it’s just a story.”