The Emerald Staff by Alison Pensy Read Free Book Online

you’re
done.”
    “We will, thank you,” Henry replied.
    The landlord nodded and left them to their
own devices.
    “Come on, Jocelyn, we’ll start over here,”
Faedra said, clasping her hand around the young fairy’s arm and
almost dragging her to one corner of the room.
    After about an hour of pinning and tacking,
the three stood side-by-side, hands on hips, and admired their
handy work.
    “That looks so cool,” Faedra said.
    “Yep, I think we did a good job,” Henry
replied, nodding his head.
    “I can’t wait until tonight,” Jocelyn
added.
    “Well, come on then, let’s go home and get
into our costumes.” Henry said, motioning the others towards the
door.
    Faedra still had no idea what her costume
was. She only hoped that Faen kept his promise and had one picked
out for her, otherwise, she would be looking like the odd one out,
being the only person at the party in normal clothing.
    Faen didn’t disappoint. No sooner had they
parked the car in the driveway Faen’s shaggy white dog form came
bounding over to greet them, wagging his tail. Faedra got out of
the car and scratched behind his ears. When they entered the
cottage Faen proceeded to nudge Faedra towards her room, much to
her father’s amusement.
    “Looks like he’s got something to show you,”
her dad observed with a wry grin.
    His daughter went with it and obediently
climbed the stairs to her room, her beloved dog hot on her
heels.
    When Faedra opened her bedroom door her
costume was lying on the bed. She closed the door behind them and
let out a little gasp of delight. Lined up on her bed in a neat row
was a claret red 1920’s flapper dress complete with rows of fringe
that covered the entire length of it. Next to that lay a red and
black boa, a long strand of black beads, a pair of black stockings,
and red cloche hat. On the floor beside the bed was a pair of black
satin Mary-Jane heels. Her eyes widened in awe as they skimmed over
the costume Faen had chosen for her and she whirled round to give
her dog a hug but he was now in his fae form and dressed in his
costume. She stopped dead and gaped, open-mouthed.
    Faedra raked her eyes down the length of him.
He was wearing a double-breasted gray pinstripe suit, a black shirt
with a white tie knotted at his throat. On his head was a black
fedora with a white hatband, and black and white spats adorned his feet. He was even holding the obligatory violin case.
Boy did he look good as a gangster.
    Faedra blew out a long slow whistle.
    “Do you like it?” Faen asked, hesitant.
    She was almost drooling, couldn’t he see
that?
    “Uh-huh,” she mumbled, a little lost for
words.
    “I thought we could go as Bonnie and
Clyde.”
    “I don’t think Clyde was ever that good
looking,” she mumbled under her breath.
    “Sorry?”
    “I said, I’m glad Anna made that booking,”
Faedra bumbled. “The pub looks great; it’s full of character,
perfect for our party. I’ll go and get showered so I can change
into my costume. It’s perfect Faen, I love it.” She stepped over
and planted a kiss to his cheek before grabbing her bathrobe and
dashing out of the door towards the bathroom.
    Faen did something he didn’t do very often,
as the door clicked shut behind her, he smiled, a very smug
smile.
    An hour later Faedra had showered, put on her
makeup and styled her hair in what she hoped looked like a 1920’s
style from what she remembered seeing in the odd magazine over the
years. After putting on her stockings and flapper dress, she tucked
her hair under the cloche hat that fit her head like a glove.
Throwing the boa over her shoulders she slid her feet into the
Mary-Jane heels and the look was complete. She wandered over to her
full-length mirror and did a twirl. Wow! I look like I’ve just
stepped off the cover of a vintage copy of Vogue. She felt like
one of those silent movie film starlets.
    She opened the door to let Faen in. She’d
never heard a dog gasp, wasn’t even quite sure if she’d