Andrew J Thomas-
Then, in her moment of despair, she looked up and took notice of 
her surroundings. She suddenly knew what Alice felt like after she 
fell through the rabbit hole. Everything defied what she knew of the
world. To say she was in the middle of a lush garden would be the
understatement of the century. The air was thick with moisture and
a pleasant fragrance. Sharon felt warm, but not hot. The ground was
alive beneath her feet. There were all manner of plants, flowers, 
birds, and small critters in motion. None of which looked familiar
to her.  The things she spotted as worms in the dirt earlier, on 
closer inspection, appeared to be moving roots of the giant trees 
all around her. Everywhere she looked, vibrant, colorful life was 
teeming.  Flocks (there was no other way to describe it) of giant 
butterflies flew overhead. Their bright oranges, warm yellows, 
and midnight blacks blended in a beautiful orchestra of color. 

Something in between a squirrel and a rabbit darted past Sharon
racing for its life, and a fierce hawk-like bird swooped down for 
the kill. Uniquely, the hawk had red feathers like a cardinal. 

Wow! This is amazing!, Sharon exclaimed.   

Yes, life in Faerie Land is always amazing. Never a dull moment,
the man-boy replied.

Noticing him again, Sharon asked, I'm sorry. I'm having a bad day.
I'm Sharon. Who are you?

My name is Marewyn, and you need to go see Iarwain Ben-Adar, 
but you can call him Tom. He will answer all of your questions, 
and perhaps, you will answer his, he replied. 

Sharon looked up at the sky to see an afternoon sun hanging in the
sky. Where had the day gone? It seemed like time didn't work the
same way up here. However it worked, time was running out, and
surely she had been missed by now. She wondered what her 
mother was doing right now. She must be distraught with worry. 
Maybe someone would climb up here in search for her; Sharon 
looked down the magic plant she had just climbed. No one would be
following her. She was sure of that.

OK, lead the way.

Right! And so we're off, Marewyn replied.

He set off at a fast pace and Sharon had to jog just to keep pace with
him. He started humming in a lilted way as he walked along the path
that was . . . forming. It looked as if the trees were getting out of his
way, but that was impossible. It also seemed that they had no regard
for her, and closed the gap as soon as Marewyn passed by. In fact,
Sharon snagged her pajamas on several branches along the way that 
she could swear weren't in front of her a moment before. Marewyn 
began to skip and his humming turned into singing:

Now let the song begin! Let us sing together
Of sun, stars, moon and mist, rain and cloudy weather,
Light on the budding leaf, dew on the feather,
Wind on the open hill, bells on the heather . . .

Marewyn's song was infectious, and even though Sharon didn't know
any of the words, she still found herself humming along. Before she
knew it, she was skipping along the path as quickly as he was, and
strangely enough, the trees didn't seem to be bothering her anymore.
Maybe everything would be OK. She could figure the riddle out. 
She was good at riddles, and wouldn't she have a great story to tell 
Sam and her mother when she returned? Not that they would believe
her.

"So where are all the giants? I mean, I DID just climb up a magical
beanstalk didn't I? Shouldn't I be hearing 'Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum!'?",
Sharon asked.

Don't be silly. That's just an old fairy tale. Besides, Jack ran off all
the giants. After Bob fell to his death, the rest just didn't have the 
stomach to live up here anymore.