Starting the Magical Adventure: Read the Beginning of 'Cat and Chick in the Fairy City'

Cat And Chick In The Fairy City

To my sister Masha and my Mum and Dad

Chapter I

Cat and Chick, like most twin sisters, always got the same gifts from their parents, Papa Cat and Mama Hen. Every time, their parents would do the same thing: while the sisters were asleep, they snuck into their room, placed a little stool by their beds, and on top of each stool placed a gift. On Cat and Chick’s twelfth birthday, they did the same thing, but instead of presents in the usual sense of the word, this time there was something incredibly surprising. 

Waking up that day was particularly exciting, like waking before dawn knowing that you are about to go on a journey to unknown lands. Even while still dreaming, Chick began to anticipate. She flew over a vast green field, calm and without a single soul, heading towards her favourite spot – the mouth of a small, clear river, with tall grass partially covered in its water. She turned left and right, controlling her speed as if she was riding a skateboard or snowboard through the air. Then, suddenly, she thought that soon – already at the door – she would be flying not in a dream, but in real life. That maybe right now, on the stool by her bed, awaited the doorway to a world where everything was possible – not just flying, but anything at all. She hurried so much that she flew as fast as she could, blurring the scenery into a green-grey nothing. She shot out of her dream, sitting up in bed with her eyes wide open.

At that moment, Cat, who always woke up with both joy and mild anxiety – a new beautiful day of this world was beginning, where there was so much to get done — stretched her paws and, feeling the special gaze of Chick, turned around. No way! She immediately understood everything by looking into Chick’s eyes – her sister was waiting for her so they could do it together. 

Cat shot upright. Beside her ordinary bed, on the most ordinary stool, carefully placed by her parents at a distance of an outstretched paw, there it was: glowing blue-violet, made of miracles, multi-page (which was especially exciting), in a hard amethyst cover tightly wrapped with dried ivy, bursting with newness and mystery – the book of her life.

Inside, it held every turn, every fateful detail: where to go, what to do, and who to meet in order to live the brightest, fullest, and simply the best life possible.

Cat and Chick had never seen anything more magical. And nothing less magical either. It was the first magical thing they had ever seen. A call from another world – the Fairy City, where they had hoped to go in their dreams, where there would be so many adventures, enough for a thousand lives – and where they would have to go today. This time for real.

They looked at each other and grabbed their books simultaneously. The books were exactly the same from the outside. Chick looked at hers closely. The book would only open by itself once they were in the Fairy City, so for now they had to be content with the cover, which was securely protected by a tightly wound (very tightly – Chick checked) dry magical ivy. Cat and Chick heard Mama Hen in the kitchen talking to Papa Cat: “Just two tiny bundles of soft blankets… only twelve years ago.” Cat and Chick looked at each other.

“It’s time to let the bird... and the kitten, leave the nest,” replied Papa Cat.

So it was true. Time to get ready for the Fairy City! Cat jumped out of bed into her slightly worn blue slippers, going over the lists she’d made four years ago in her mind – which one to start with? The list of things to take? The list of all the people she had to say goodbye to? Definitely best to start with the list of lists.

But Chick stayed still, holding her book. It was believed that these books were brought at night by flocks of emerald parrots. And although Chick had heard a less romantic version from older friends, saying that the books had long since begun coming by regular mail, she didn’t believe this was true. Once, when she and her dad went to the forest for mushrooms, and Chick had almost purposely gotten lost, she saw a flock of birds in the dark forest sky between the trees. They swirled like tea leaves in a glass, only from left to right, all while speeding along. Marvellous technique! Perhaps, on that day, she’d seen those mysterious book-giving birds. Chick tested the ivy again – tight. Something absolutely wonderful was under the cover of her book, and her heart fluttered with excitement.

Meanwhile, Cat was already ticking off the list of things she had put in her suitcase. It was important not to forget anything, and she wouldn’t; that was just Cat. Warm night-time socks to keep her paw pads soft – done. Favourite mug in the shape of a strawberry – done. Salt lamp for reading in bed – done. Unicorn stickers she awarded herself with every evening for doing everything she had planned in the morning – inserted into the netted pocket of her suitcase lid. And, naturally, her most favourite item – her collection of appliance instruction manuals. Reading them from time to time gave Cat peace of mind, knowing she was doing everything right. 

There were so many things, and all of them had to fit into two small suitcases. No one could take more than that to the Fairy City. Neither could she bring her most precious Moonstick, her elderly pet snail. Every time she passed Moonstick while she was packing, Cat gently stroked her shell, saying things like, “You’re my bunny-gunny” or “You’re the prettiest snail in the world.” As she sorted through her necklaces, she even made up a song, the main words being “snail” and “Moonstick,” while the snail wiggled her little shell in time to the tune. 

Recently, Cat had decided to write down in a notebook her various nicknames for her snail, from “bunny-gunny” to “figgy-piggy,” and one notebook wasn’t enough. In fact, she’d stopped after filling the fourth one. In the last hour she must have gone through all the names from those notebooks. Snail was already six years old, out of the seven given to them to live, and Cat was going away, probably for a long time, and it was impossible to predict when she would return. Taking Moonstick with her would be too risky – such an elderly snail might not be able to bear the long, arduous journey, so Cat had made the responsible decision to leave her at home. Mama Hen would look after the snail, of course, but still, it was all very sad. Cat wanted to cry, to run and hug her mama. For two minutes she persuaded herself not to do it, repeating that she was an adult cat now, and then she did.

When Cat reached the kitchen, she saw Mama Hen reading a ten-page instruction manual written by Cat on how to take care of the snail. That helped Cat get her paw on herself a little. After all, she was going to the Fairy City — it was time to behave like a grown-up cat. 

Cat knew how to calm herself down – she should make herself a tea with mint and wild strawberries, sit, clear her mind, and think about nothing. But this time, even tea didn’t help; she still felt uneasy. So uneasy that she ended up reading the kettle’s manual while it brewed.

Even that didn’t work, and before she realised what she was doing, Cat began to tear the little fabric bobbles off the kitchen towel and lay them out on the table in the shape of a daisy. 

“Cat. Cat,” she heard Mama Hen’s voice.

“Huh?”

Mama Hen came up to her and said, “Let’s listen to the silence.”

She sat down next to her, took Cat’s paw with her wing, and then they closed their eyes and listened to Papa Cat banging on the roof with a hammer.

“I’m so sad,” Cat cried.

Mama Hen teared up too and hugged her.

“When you feel like crying, you should cry,” Mama said, stroking her head with her wing. “You won’t fill a ladle with your tears, but when they run out, something new will begin. Something that couldn’t start until those tears were gone.”

Cat cried it all out and sniffed.

“That’s better. You need to learn to find peace, Cat. Books in the Fairy City only open when they sense peace.”

“Mama, can I take my roses with me?”

Mama Hen thought about this. Had the luggage inspection become stricter since the time she snuck in her hydrangea?

“Just make sure you hide them well.”

Chick, who by then had already stuffed all her belongings into her hiking backpack, was helping Papa Cat fix the roof of their two-storey treehouse. 

“Hand me the chisel,” Papa said.

Without looking, Chick felt around, found the tool, and passed it over. Down below, she heard Cat’s soft purring. 

“You are the most beautiful roses in the world,” Cat was saying in the garden, wrapping small pots of miniature roses in paper.

Chick turned her gaze back to the roof. She looked at the tiles, the sky, the trees, and Papa; everything inside her was bubbling with excitement. It was so wonderful – so many new things she would learn, so many interesting adventures to look forward to!

“I’m going to live in the Fairy City!” she shouted. Papa grinned proudly. 

The roof was finished, and now they had to carefully walk along the top to slide back into the window. Papa went first and turned to Chick:

“Scared?”

The roof wasn’t dangerous, but it was scary.

“Well, not really. It’s not frightening, if you don’t get scared,” Chick said, just as she always did.

She tried not to be scared, and it worked – the fear vanished. She reached the window easily and jumped in, pleased with herself.  

“You are something special, Chick,” Papa said, patting her on the shoulder. It was only his third sentence today, after “Come help me on the roof” and “Hand me the chisel,” but that was enough. 

“And remember,” Papa suddenly added as they stood in the attic, “if things ever get too hard in the Fairy City, think of me often, and I’ll come.”

Chick hadn’t considered that it might be hard for her. She got along well with everyone and was known for her ability to solve any conflict peacefully. For other emergencies, she had her favourite battle crossbow packed.

“Do you think it will be tough out there?”

“Well, it is the Fairy City,” Papa said mysteriously.

“But how will I recognise you? They’ll put the spell of oblivion on me.”

“I don’t think you’ll find a cat with ears this big anywhere else.”

It was true, Papa’s ears were huge.

“Let’s come up with something else too, just to be sure.”

Papa thought for a moment.

“Let me eat a grapefruit.” 

That made sense too; nobody ate grapefruit like Papa Cat. Whether he peeled them with his paws, cut them with a knife, or scooped them out with a spoon, his patience was always overcome by his love of grapefruit, and he always ended up covered in juice and sticky to the ears.

It took Cat a whole day to tick off all the lists. In the end, only one thing remained: “Sit for a moment before leaving.” The whole family sat quietly in the kitchen, in a very deep silence. Then Papa clapped his knees and said, “Time to go.” Cat finally ticked the last empty box and stuck a unicorn sticker on her calendar for the day. Done. Now they could leave.

Bye-bye, treehouse, Cat thought as they walked down the path.

She turned around and looked at the house. Cat felt that no matter where she was, some part of her would always be here, in her parents’ house. Not a big part. Just a tiny little cat. But it would always be here. Cat even knew where that part would be: on the kitchen shelf between the ketchup bottle labelled “cinnamon” and the carafe of water. In a yellow dress – looking just like her, only many times smaller. Cat smiled and hurried to catch up with the others.


On their way, the family stopped by Granny Purr’s house. The silver-furred cat, wearing a quilted green dressing gown, immediately led them to the table with treats. Fried potatoes with mushrooms, pancakes, pickled cucumbers, and lentil pies – in such quantities that it would have been enough to feed a party of ten. But the family of the Cat and the Hen had prepared for such a development and hadn't eaten for four hours. 

“Why did you eat so little?” Granny Purr asked unhappily, when everyone had eaten so much that it was hard to breathe. 

Then Granny gave Cat and Chick fifteen gold coins each for their birthdays. 

When Cat hugged Granny goodbye she suddenly realised why she was so sad today - she caught herself with a bad thought: her chances of seeing Granny again were about the same as seeing her pet snail. 

And not because Grandma was ill, no, she was well, and not because she was quite old. 

It was simply that - Granny was so wise that there was nothing left for her to learn or discover in this world. She wasn’t interested in the gossip other grannies passed around the town, chatting through paper cups. She simply lived her life without judging anyone, loved everyone, felt a little lonely at times, and just… waited.

And what if it suddenly happened? To burst into tears on Cat's part would have been inappropriate, like saying out loud - "I'm afraid Granny won't live long!". She, holding back as much as she could, looked into the kind cat's eyes with grey lashes. There, she saw a playful spark, like that of a child.

“There's no need for you to worry about us saying goodbye," Granny said gently and winked. 

Cat’s heart felt lighter. Perhaps the all-knowing Granny knew something she didn’t.

For some more time, Cat and Chick went through their belongings, trying to make room for the jar of strawberry jam they had been given. In the end, the family reached the park not early as they had hoped, but just in time. Chick had never been to the park in the evening before. What is there to do in the park when it's dark? It's a park. At night it seemed to disappear for her, and more importantly it was closed. But today was a special day — or rather, evening — as twilight fell.

The rose garden was completely different, like looking at the back of embroidery. The roses were blue and the trees were purple; Everything else was probably the same. Only the atmosphere was kind of mysterious. 

Oh yes, and there was the giant perch. It stood in the middle of a large field at the very centre of the park and was as tall as a three-storey house. The perch lay on its belly, with its fins resting on the ground.

On its back, it carried passenger cabins covered in shiny metal on either side, with square windows and two rows of seats. Mountain climbing equipment was attached to the roof: huge carabiners, slings, a helmet, and so on, little things. This was their bus. Or rather, an Anabus – a giant Anabas, a crawling fish. Or, as it preferred to introduce itself, a climbing perch.

Even the beautiful oak tree on the far side of the park was completely hidden behind the perch’s body.

Chick stood next to Anabas' right eye and was about the same height. The black, shiny eyeballs were close to each other and didn’t blink. Chick looked closely at them.

“What?" Anabas asked in a deep bass. 

“Nothing,” replied the Chick, “Sorry.”

Ahead of them lay a long journey across mountains and seas — just think about it! On the back of a giant land fish specially bred in the Fairy City! It had been hard to imagine such a thing before. They’d probably have had to walk with their bags. But technology in the Ordinary City was advancing quickly, thanks to the inventions brought by the citizens of the Fairy City. And in the Fairy City itself, there were countless technological wonders. It was even said that there was a machine that allowed you to talk to someone who was very, very far away, and you didn't even have to pull a string between paper cups.

How many more amazing discoveries would Chick see in her lifetime? How many miracles would she witness? It’s mind-blowing! It’s so inspiring! That feeling in her chest rose again: excitement mixed with happiness and wonder. And a confidence — adventure awaited.

“We’re going to the Fairy City!” Chick shouted, unable to hold back her excitement. She jumped with joy, shaking Cat by the shoulder. Those standing nearby turned to look at her. They were other youngsters with their parents who had come to see them off — about forty in total. According to the traditions of cat-and-chicken families, children were sent to the Fairy City at the age of twelve. In other families, it was different, but mostly older. 

The Fairy City didn’t call everyone. Not everyone was ready for the challenges and lessons. And some just didn't want to. Which for Chick was unthinkable.

“Well,” said Papa Cat, hiding his excitement, "we've taught you everything we could. The rest is up to you”. 

Mum smiled slightly at this heartfelt speech, from which Chick realised that a longer speech was being prepared.  

Meanwhile, Cat noticed her classmate Wallaby – the albino kangaroo who smiled every time she looked at him, and she noticed that when something funny happened in class, they would turn to look at each other. Cat didn’t want to get ahead of herself, but lately, the knights with shields and armour she had been drawing in her notebooks seemed to always turn out to be albinos.

At the same time, Anabas tiredly and carelessly cast a forgetfulness spell on the incoming passengers with a flick of his fin, and the seats on either side of him were slowly taken. 

Chick waited eagerly for her turn looking forward to the new sensations she would experience from the spell. But nothing special happened.

Although something did happen a little later – when Anabas, through a loudspeaker, insistently and somewhat annoyingly read out an announcement that they would only be "taking care of business" strictly at stops on land, and that they wouldn't be able to get off in the sea, "for objective reasons," "don’t even ask." Just then, some cat with big ears ran into the bus and put two gift boxes in Chick’s wings.

"We forgot to give this to you, it's for your birthday," said the generous stranger.

In each box Cat and Chick found identical glowing house slippers, the same puzzles and brainteasers, and birthday cards signed in messy paw-writing, unmistakably by Hen’s paw - "Wishing you happiness in the new place". It was all exactly what they wanted. 

The Anabus moved on. Unfamiliar animals waved goodbye outside the window. The sisters waved back, hoping that somewhere out there among the crowd were their mum and dad. 

Chapter II

Cat and Chick had only ever had one argument in their lives, when they were six years old. That time, Chick wanted to go for a walk with the Cat, but the Cat wanted to stay at home. They sulked and went to opposite corners, but after half a minute, they looked at each other, couldn't hold back, and burst out laughing — they looked so funny. And because they simply couldn't stay mad at each other and didn’t enjoy arguing, they learned to find compromises. So such a simple question as "who will sit at the window in the anabus" did not cause them any problems. 

The Cat, who had learned the route in advance, split it in half so that each of them could sit by the window — once as they climbed to the top and once as they sailed across the sea.

It was also written in one of Cat's notebooks that she was the first to sit by the window last time, so she gave up that seat to Chick at the beginning of the journey. Everything has to be done by the book.

"That’s your classmate," Chick remarked, nodding towards the albino Wallaby sitting two rows ahead.

"Shush!"  said the Cat, embarrassed.

"Let’s go and say hi!" Chick gave her a little push, but just as Cat began to peer out into the passage, Anabas's loud, bored voice rang out: "Walking while moving is strictly prohibited."

Cat sighed, gave up on the idea, and was lost in thought as she began drawing a braid pattern in her checkered notebook.

"What are you thinking about?" Chick asked.

They always did that — if they saw one of them flying too far out of reality. 

"Oh, nothing." Cat hesitated. "I was just thinking… it would be nice if he wrote me a note. Something like: ‘Hey, Cat, how are you doing? Glad you're on this trip too.’”

"So write it yourself".

"No way! I'm so embarrassed, I don't want to intrude".

"What’s embarrassing about being friendly? And what do you mean by ‘intrude,’ Cat?” Chick was honestly perplexed. “It’s a pleasure to talk to you".

Cat sighed deeply, trying to take in not only the air but also Chick’s confidence that things really were that simple.

"HeLLo, hOw aRe yOu?" – Cat wrote in her notebook, then crossed it out, tore out the page, and crumpled it up.

"Are you going to Magic City too?" – This note was crumpled up even faster.

"Hello! How wonderful that we’re going to Magic City! I can’t wait to see it! – Cat.", she composed, not without Chick's help. 

The note began its journey to its destination. After three minutes and one thoroughly chewed pencil, a reply arrived: "Hi! So glad to hear you’re coming too. Hooray! – Wallaby."

Сat twitched her knees in joy and gave Chick’s shoulder a shake. Chick smiled.

It was already dark outside the windows, and the Climbing Perch slightly dimmed the light in the cabin. Chick was admiring the black peaks of the mountains against a sky – so full of stars, as if someone there had torn a bag of stars, spilling them all onto a clear glass plate. Cat wrapped herself in a plaid and turned on her side. She smiled and closed her eyes. But suddenly, she turned back to Chick and said:

“The coolest thing about today is that the books came to both of us!”

She and Chick rejoiced at this fact, as they had completely forgotten it during the day's busyness. It would have been an oversight not to rejoice.

Cat turned on her side again, closed her eyes and fell sweetly asleep with the pleasant feeling that everything for today was finally done. 

They spent the whole night and a little bit of the next morning in the anabus. At times, the Climbing Perch—whistling classic Magic City hits—climbed vertically upwards, so they had to fasten their seatbelts and practically lay on their backs. At other times, they tried on oxygen masks just in case the cabin leaked in deep water. All this did little to hinder their attempts to sleep — though sleep enveloped them and then receded like a warm summer breeze.

Chapter III

Cat and Chick, stretching and yawning, stepped out of Anabus’ cabin and could not believe their eyes. The famous vastness of the Fairy City could be felt right from here. A hundred parked Anabuses stood in neat rows by the platforms. Grey speckled Anabuses, all huge and identical, shimmering with their scaly surfaces and glass windows in the morning sun. They had arrived from all sorts of cities: from the Ordinary City, the hometown of Cat and Chick, to New Ordinary City, Ordinary-on-River, and even the science city Ordinary Park.

Before stepping out of the Anabus station into the long-awaited Fairy City, they first had to pass the Book Control. It was a large, bright hall lined with glass booths. In each booth sat an owl. Cat and Chick joined the queue behind the older passengers to see how it all worked and what they needed to do. And here is how it was: the owl took a passenger’s book, and in its wings the ivy wrapped around the cover instantly untangled itself and slipped down onto the high desk where the owl sat. The owl skimmed through the book, stamped one of the pages, and the ivy quickly wrapped around the book again before it was handed back.

Everything was so quick and simple that Chick even questioned the effectiveness of this process. Is it really necessary? What would happen if someone wanted to run across? Had anyone passed through without a book, just like that? She looked around. There weren’t even any barriers. And just as she had that thought, a Lizard from the next queue dashed past the booths, but a thick purple beam, as if light were tangled in a shimmering mist, lifted him into the air and carried him into one of the Anabuses. 

"My bad," shouted the Lizard, "I realise my mistake!”

But the doors of the Anabus had already closed. Everything happened so quickly that not even all the passengers in the queue noticed anything.

Telekinesis! - Chick thought excitedly.

The beam vanished, but Chick traced it back to where it had come from. High up near the ceiling was a niche in the wall, a sort of alcove in which a grey-feathered Raven in a white kimono sat upon a tatami mat.

It was Cat’s turn. A polite Owl wearing a hat made of an upside-down pink morning glory flower took her book. The ivy untangled and fell away as the owl thumbed through the pages with interest and pleasure, then stamped one of them and handed the book back.

“Welcome to the Fairy City,” she said.

“Thank you!” Cat replied cheerfully.

The whole process took about ten seconds, and Chick impatiently thought that just half a minute more and she would get to see the Fairy City!

Cat walked past the glass booths and, before disappearing into the corridor leading to the arrivals hall, waved her paw at Chick as if to say, I’ll be waiting for you there. Chick nodded.

Lovely Owl, smiling, took Chick's book, the ivy dutifully fell down, and she began flipping through the pages. And as she leafed through them, the smile gradually faded from her beak. She reached the end and began anxiously turning the pages backwards. Chick stood on her tiptoes, hoping to see at least a small part of a page, but Owl held the book upright in front of her beak. 

“Is something wrong?” Chick finally asked.

“Helena!” Screeched the Owl instead of answering.

An owl with a white flower for a hat came out of a neighbouring box with a determined step, stood at the back of the first Owl, and now both were anxiously looking into Chick’s book.

“How?” Helena didn't understand, “there's no way! Such a book belongs only to..." she lowered her voice, and Chick heard a set of sounds that she could neither remember nor understand. 

“It's going to be a disaster," confirmed the first Owl. 

Within moments, the entire flock of owls had gathered around the booth, gasping and flipping through the book.

All the queues had stopped moving, and the passengers chattered unhappily, staring in Chick's direction. Chick was about ninety per cent sure that something had gone wrong.

She glanced around, looking at the disgruntled passengers, and suddenly noticed a shadowy spot on the floor to her right — it was gradually increasing in size. Chick raised her head and froze: the grey-haired Raven in a white kimono was slowly descending through the air. By this point, Chick's certainty that she was in trouble had reached one hundred percent.

The Elder Raven extended the same misty purple beam and pulled Chick’s book towards him. He flipped through it for a while. To Chick’s delight, he was the first one who didn’t immediately lose his mind from what he saw there.

“Well,” he said. “We must let her through.”

“I will not take on such a responsibility!” the Owl in the pink hat shrieked, flapped her wings and ran out of the booth.

Her chair was taken by Helena. She looked sternly at Raven:

“I can only see one valid reason to let her into the City: we haven't had an armageddon in a long time.”

The Raven shrugged. “What if she’s our amulet against any Armageddons?”

“Our last amulet should never have been let in — we would have saved ourselves a lot of trouble.”

“Let's see if this amulet has what that one lacked.”

The Raven stood next to Chick and swept his wing. A cylindrical white silk projection screen formed around them, on which episodes of Chick’s life flashed.

In one, Chick found someone's toy lying in the street, so she and her mother investigated and returned the missing toy to its owner. In another, Chick nursed a beetle with a broken leg. In a third, she stood up to her classmates who were bullying the weakest kid in school.

It turned out that the Elder Raven had shown the passengers a little film proving that Chick was not so bad after all, which was very kind of him, considering they had already started muttering about her being the cause of their long wait.

Even though these were rather personal moments, Chick was grateful for anything that could bring this delay to an end.

“There is no mistake. It's a pure soul," Raven concluded.

“How long will it remain one, with the fate you want to place upon her? And on one so young? Send her home and save both her and all of us from a great deal of trouble.”

“There are those who are not afraid of trouble for the simple reason that they are capable of solving it," Raven said.

Chick nodded in affirmation, though it seemed no one particularly cared.

Owl Helena continued to insist:

“Are you ready to risk your life? And mine? The lives of everyone in this city? And especially," she pointed at the Chick, "her life? 

A frightened whisper went up in the queues. 

The Raven and Helena had already been speaking quickly, but now the words were coming so rapidly Chick could no longer understand anything. Then they fell into a meaningful silence — but suddenly they laughed before they immediately grew serious again.

It was as if they were communicating telepathically.

In the end, both nodded at each other as a sign that they had talked it over, or rather, had kept quiet about it, or rather, they arrived at an unspoken decision together.

The Elder Raven gazed at Chick kindly and lifted his wing. A beam of light came straight at her.

No! Not back into the Anabus!

Chick squeezed her eyes shut, but instead of feeling the movement of air, she felt something in her soul. She didn't immediately recognise what the feeling was called. Still, she knew what it was like — it was like in her earliest childhood, when her mum used to bathe her and Cat in the bathtub and then hugged them with a warm fluffy towel. Chick opened her eyes and felt that she had become even more chick-like: the desire to explore the big, beautiful Fairy World filled her even more. The hot heart in her chest started burning. 

“Thank you," was all she could manage to say.

The Elder Raven gave a slight bow and returned her the book, the ivy on that one tightened in a flash.

“What's in my book?" Chick couldn’t help but ask.

“All in good time. The book will open for you when you are ready to know your future. Just know that you will be treated differently in this city. Some will envy you, some will fear you, but we need you. Welcome".

He gave another bow and pointed to the exit. 

Meanwhile, Cat was standing in the arrivals hall, working up the courage to approach a business-like dog in a strict black suit, who was sitting with one paw crossed over the other, reading a magazine titled Investing in Money. Her ears were pulled into a tight knot at the back of her head, and by the description, she looked like their distant relative – Misses Dog, who was supposed to meet them.

Overexcited Chick, unable to wait a moment between her and the Fairy City, ran out of the corridor and walked straight up to the dog.

"Misses Dog?"

The dog raised a single eyebrow, finishing the paragraph.

"I've got so much to tell you later!" Chick whispered in Cat’s ear, who was slowly unravelling the courage she no longer needed.

"It's not nice to whisper in front of strangers," the dog said and finally set the magazine aside. 

It was definitely Misses Dog. Mum had said that she was so slim because she spent at least two thousand calories a day watching what others had done wrong and making sure to report it to them.

They stepped out of the Anabus Station building and saw the whole Fairy City in all its glory. No one had any doubt that the first thing that Chick would say in the Fairy City would be: 

"No way!"

Chick's heart was pounding with excitement. The view of the Fairy City from the Anabus station hill was beyond imagination, no matter how much she had imagined it before, her mind could not comprehend it all. The city looked as though a set of colourful building blocks were scattered across a sea of mossy mounds.

It was surprisingly green. A true forest city, huge, stretching out — as far as the eye could see, with its farthest suburbs seemingly propping up the clouds.

Green hills rose up between the districts. Within their boundaries, the districts looked quite monotonous — except, of course, for the Odds and Ends District, which gleamed like an artist’s palette of colours and lights.

At the city’s centre stood the Crystal Tower of the Crystal District, visible from every point in the city — a transparent, ribbed column that slowly rotated around its axis, scattering glimmers of light in all directions. The tower was flanked by a blue river which wound through the city like a snake, crossing over itself to create islands and, at the mouth, went straight up into the sky, flying towards the sun.

The tops of the hills were connected like threads by the lines of the Airborne Spaghetti Road. Three of its rings spread out from the Crystal Tower, like concentric ripples on water from a clear spring stream. 

In addition, tiny specks of colourful midges could be seen in the air – the city’s flying residents. They moved rather chaotically and yet never collided, perhaps, thought Chick, because exchanging thoughts was a step lower in the magic skill than the ability to fly.

But the most unimaginable and, quite literally, sky-high spectacle was waiting for them any minute now. The arrival of the Spaghetti Dragon! Chick studied the details closely: to the right, at the very end of the platform, a pipe was sticking out to the side and at an angle. At the top of the pipe was a massive hoop. A long spaghetti string ran through the centre of the hoop, stretching far into the distance – the other end of it went far to the left, through another identical hoop many miles away at the previous station.

Chick could smell the aroma of tomato and basil sauce wafting from a pipe that led down into the depths of the Fairy City dungeons, one of which contained a kitchen with a giant plate of spaghetti. Right after the aroma, a Koala wearing an orange high-visibility vest shot out of the pipe, pulling a single string of spaghetti behind her. She floated off towards the next station, where she would thread the spaghetti through another hoop. This was the first sign of the Spaghetti Dragon’s oncoming arrival.

The spaghetti strung parallel to their platform began to tremble. That was the second sign. Chick lit up at the thought — how wonderful it would be if the fate in her book, even just a little, had something to do with the dragons!

A Tapir in a dark blue uniform and a peaked cap stepped up to the very edge of the platform. That meant the Spaghetti Dragon was almost here!

The spaghetti stretched like a string, and in a second the huge red levitating dragon pulled it into its mouth, flying close to the platform, its head caught right in the hoop. It licked its lips with a bluish tongue, and it's golden, almond-shaped eyes narrowed in satisfaction.

“Unbelievable!” Chick shouted in excitement. The dragon glanced at her sideways with its right eye. Misses Dog wrinkled her nose. 

“Is this one ours?” Cat asked.

“All dragons heading from this platform are ours,” replied Misses Dog.

They stepped into the double-decker carriage perched atop the Spaghetti Dragon’s back. Inside sat mostly the young passengers, inhabitants who hadn’t yet learned to fly, and those who could but needed to get somewhere quickly — for no one flew as fast as the Spaghetti Dragon.

The Tapir in a uniform pressed a button on the pipe and the ring holding the Spaghetti Dragon’s head fixed opened. Instantly, the dragon began slurping up the next spaghetti, and they shot forward like an arrow.

Cat and Chick clung to the window, where the city districts were flying by. Cat gripped the handrails tightly, a little afraid of the speed. Chick was admiring that speed. 

“The Winged Dogs District!” Chick shouted happily, recognising the places from her parents’ stories. “The Neon District! The Crystal District! Wow! The Space District! Look, Cat!” She could hardly keep up with all the marvels.

Some passengers looked at the sisters with kind, slightly nostalgic smiles. Chick opened a small window (after all, there wasn’t a sign saying it could not be opened), and she and Cat enjoyed the breeze.

“The Fighting Robots District! The Brigands District! The Grateful Animals District!”

Bam! A squirrel jumped on the glass with a frantic cry: "Take me with you! I'll be useful to you!" and scrambled towards the window. Cat and Chick screamed in fright. Misses Dog slammed the window shut.

"It’s best to stay away from this district…" She returned to her seat and continued reading the magazine. Without looking, she pulled an orange lollipop candy out of her bag and ate it. She folded the wrapper fifteen times so that it turned into a dot that was so small it just disappeared into the air. The scent of grapefruit filled the air. Chick was now certain that Misses Dog was from their father's side of the family.

A bell rang throughout the carriage, and Misses Dog pulled a collapsible cup out of her bag and put it to her ear.

“Yes, it's Dog, I'm listening. Oh, it's you. No, nothing much, I’m on the Spagetrain. No, of course, I haven’t forgotten how to fly, it’s the clients. They’re new, just off the Anabus, can’t do a thing yet."

Cat and Chick watched without looking away or blinking every second that Misses Dog was talking on the marvellous wireless cup. 

“Alright, we’ll catch up later," Dog finished and turned to Cat and Chick. "What?"

The sisters finally blinked and looked away.

"I wish I had a cup like that," thought Cat, "You could call your mum every five minutes and tell her that you are doing well. Although," she mused, "Mum always seems to know when something is wrong with her kitten or chick.

Chick was so excited about everything around her that she even forgot where they were going for a while. And they were going to see different places where Cat and Chick might live.

***

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Thank you for reading the first chapter of Cat and Chick in the Fairy City! The fact that you’re here means so much to me!

It will take me some time to translate the book from Cat language into English. I plan to release 1-2 chapters per month, with the next update coming on May 25, 2025.

In the meantime, you can subscribe to updates or support the project by simply treating me to a coffee.

Thank you for being part of this magical journey — I can’t wait to share more of the Cat's story with you! See you soon!