The Emerald Queen

Wolfinna sensed that the Emerald Queen would be hard to fight and remembered the other three headbands that Maddie had so wisely put in her bag. Wolfinna gave each girl a headband.

"Put these on. They will make you stronger."

"Let's circle around her," Wolffina said. This is how wolves fight, and Wolfinna, although a young wolf-girl, still knew about it. The girls obeyed and surrounded the Queen.

Wolfinna didn't want to hurt the Queen. This was her precious domain and, looking around, Wolfinna saw that her friends had made a mess of it.

"Please, Your Highness," she begged. "I know my friends damaged your perfect world, but they didn't mean to. They were only playing. They're just Kidz. Please, I beg you beautiful and fair Queen, please, I beg you, let my friends go."

The Queen listened to what Wolfinna said. For deep in heart she felt some kindness for these silly children. Perhaps they hadn't meant to hurt her Rainbow. The Queen wanted to hear more, so she asked an important question.

"And how will you ever repay me for what you have ruined? What is your payment?" she asked.

Wolfinna thought about this, then came up with a bargain.  Because bargains are very important in fairy tales. . . And Wolfinna was a very clever wolf-girl.

"Your Highness, we will tell the entire world about the amazing beauty of Rainbow," Wolfinna promised. "When the world hears about the Jewel World and about you, the Emerald Queen, they will admire you and your work. They will honor you. And they will also know to never disturb your world again. That's all that I can offer you."

The Queen thought it over. She was very proud and wanted the world's praise. And she also realized that having four talkative, lively girls around all the time would be too noisy for her.  It could disturb her peace and quiet on every level. Keeping them here might be worse than setting them free, she thought. If Kicker, Katya, Merkeeta, and JenJen could damage so much in just one afternoon, how much would they damage over time? The huge cavern the four had spent most of their time in was only a small part of her amazing underground treasure. If they stayed, they might damage even more of her vast creation.

And while the Queen was thinking about all this, Katya saw a chance and struck. All cats have very quick reflexes, and so did Katya! She knew that the Queen's power was in her emerald ring, because it glowed each time the Queen spoke. And it glowed greener when she was angry, and rainbow-like when she was happy.

Katya picked up one of the quartz stones from off the ground and threw it with all her strength. Being a descendent of the cat species, she still had some fighting instinct within her. The Queen quickly raised her hand to block the flying stone. With a scary spark the huge emerald of her ring was knocked off. The green gem was suddenly thrown into the air and with that, the Queen's spell was broken.