As promised, here's the next chapter! It's a little late, but I
wanted to make sure it was good! Usually I skip over to another character
just to be annoying, but I decided to continue with Cedric and Norman. I
really like Mandy, and I wanted to write a part with her in it. And trust
me, Mandy's about to play a BIG part . . .
Bold Decisions
With the help of Norman, Cedric was able to stutter out their story. Mandy's face remained expressionless throughout. Cedric wasn't sure what Mandy was thinking. However, he did know that he was in trouble. Mandy was going to beat him for thinking he could go save Mari by himself. Then, she would hand him over to Mom and Dad and they would massacre him for disobeying them.
"I think . . ." Mandy began slowly, the slightest of frowns crossing her face, "that you should have told someone about all this."
"It's not that simple, Mandy! If we told, Lady Teal would be--" Cedric stopped as Mandy let out what might have been a giggle. But it couldn't have been a giggle under such circumstances.
"As crazy as Teal is she's not stupid. She'll surely have put defenses around her house. Norman wouldn't feel right disclosing the real location, and fairies can't intrude into other fairies' privacy like that. It's very likely we wouldn't find her."
"I guess that's true." Cedric frowned. Norman was highly uncomfortable, because he was sounded very disloyal to the Crown right now.
"Even if we did find it, she'd vanish before we could catch her." Mandy added.
"Yeah, but then you'd have to just call her back and--" Cedric stopped as Norman and Mandy both shook their heads.
"Fairies don't have to answer to other fairies if their lives are in danger." Norman explained.
"All right, I surrender! We can't act out our plan, and we can't go charge after them! What are we supposed to do?" Cedric groaned falling across the laundry onto the bed. His head lying in Mandy's lap. He wasn't much for dramatics, but this seemed like a good time to have some.
"Yes, I did say we couldn't charge after them. And yes, I did want you to tell someone about everything that's been going on. However, I never said that we still couldn't use the plan." Cedric shot up, and Norman blinked several times. Mandy had an unusual glint in her eye.
"You mean, you'll actually help us?" Norman also had to sit down for this. He had heard many things about Mandy, and had made his own assumption of her. She wasn't turning out to be anything like what he'd suspected.
"I'm mad. How dare Teal do such a thing, and right under my nose! I might not have been much help to Ella with her curse, but this time I'm not going to sit back. I'M the one who watches over this family, and if anyone's going to help save Mari it's me." Mandy said with determination. You could almost feel the waves of anger rolling off her body.
"Yahoo! Here we come Mari!" Cedric shouted with glee.
"And my mother? What will we do with her?" Norman asked, nearly afraid to hear the answer. Sure enough, it wasn't a pleasant one.
"Leave Teal to me." Mandy said with a strange smile on her face. "Now tell me how you two plan to get Mari under the tree?"
* * *
"If I can't put a spell on her and Norman's trying to send her back." Teal gave an evil cackle. "I'll just have to poison the little princess. Should have the same effect. Oh what to use, what to use.?" At the turn of keys in the front door, Teal quickly closed Creditable Concoctions and stuck it under the pot of water she'd been heating. Right onto the burner.
"Mom." Norman gave a curt nod to his mother. He didn't want her to be hanged, but he wasn't ready to forgive her yet.
"Oh Normie wormie! You're not still mad at Mommy wommy, are you?" Teal was distraught. She wished Norman would understand that she was just trying to get her sister's revenge. Well, she'd have it one way or another before Norman had time to interfere.
"Mother, you're about to have us both killed. I think I have grounds to be a little upset. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to try to soothe our "guest". By the way, whatever you're cooking is burning." With that, the boy headed for the basement.
"Oh! It's all right. Um, dinner will be ready in a few." Teal called trying to save the blackened book. Norman snapped his fingers and turned back around. He grabbed an apple from the kitchen table.
"I'm guessing you didn't feed her after I left." Norman scowled and continued on his way.
"But I did!" Of course, she hadn't. The little spit had tried to bite her, for goodness sake! Besides, she was trying to make her hungry so the girl would be eager to eat the poisoned food when it was finished.
Mari heard footsteps coming down the stairs. It was probably that wretched fairy, back for another go. Mari stood up quickly, ready for a fight. When the person finally came into the dim torchlight, she saw it was Norman. She was a surprised that she'd actually remembered his name.
"Hello Princess. How are you?" He inquired. Mari was about to snarl out a bitter response when she saw he came in peace. He held out a shiny red apple.
"Thank you." That was all she could say? She should be demanding to be let out or scoffing at such a futile kindness. Instead Mari took the apple, staring at Norman with a mixture of emotions. He gave her a sincere smile, and she ignored the flutter in her stomach.
"I can get you more after dinner's ready." Norman added. Mari took a tentative bite. Should she really trust this boy? He could be acting nice to get close and do just this. Poison her. The first burst of juiciness blew away that thought. Food was so good, the girl thought, remembering she hadn't lunch.
"Okay." Mari heard herself say faintly. She must be pretty hungry not to be interrogating. She snapped herself back into prissy mode.
"So what is this?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, are you feeding me to make me trust you, and then kill me? Or are you just being nice?" Mari instantly regret her words. Norman tried to hide the hurt look coming over his face.
"I wanted to make sure you get to eat. I wouldn't hurt you, Princess Mari." Norman pleaded. How were they supposed to get her back to safety, if she thought he was evil? "You don't believe me?"
Something in the way he said her name, about the look in his eyes made her want to believe him more than anything.
"I'm not sure yet." She answered quietly.
"In that case, this might help you make up your mind." Norman handed her a slip of paper. Cedric had thought of it for just this situation. He was meticulous for a nine-year-old. Mari accepted it with curiosity.
"I'll return after dinner." Norman called, already heading back upstairs. Mari unfolded the slip of paper. On it was written:
'Dear Mari, I'm writing to inform you that I'm caught up on what has happened to you. It is all thanks to our friend, Norman. He and Mandy (yes, Mandy!) are going to go to great lengths to get you back, as will I. In return, we need your complete and total cooperation. Speak to Norman to get the details seeing as I'm in a bit of a hurry right now.
Love,
Cedric.'
It was definitely Cedric's handwriting, but she couldn't believe the content! Norman and Cedric . . .And MANDY . . .saving her! It was too good to be true. Too ludicrous to be true. Mari sat down on her cot, trying to process all of it.
When Norman came back downstairs with a steaming tray of soup, she looked up at him with a hopeful glance. He was wearing that wonderful smile and it was obvious that she was forgiven. She liked him for that. Mari was beginning to think that she liked him.a lot.
"So, mind filling me in?" Mari grinned up at him. Norman gave her the tray and sat down near the bars.
"Not at all." The two talked for the remainder of the evening.
~ /~ / ~
Hee hee, love is in the air.and an escape! That's right you don't get to hear all the little details of the plan! Lol, it's coming up soon though! Thank you for reading, and please stay with me! Oh, and happy really late Thanksgiving!
Bold Decisions
With the help of Norman, Cedric was able to stutter out their story. Mandy's face remained expressionless throughout. Cedric wasn't sure what Mandy was thinking. However, he did know that he was in trouble. Mandy was going to beat him for thinking he could go save Mari by himself. Then, she would hand him over to Mom and Dad and they would massacre him for disobeying them.
"I think . . ." Mandy began slowly, the slightest of frowns crossing her face, "that you should have told someone about all this."
"It's not that simple, Mandy! If we told, Lady Teal would be--" Cedric stopped as Mandy let out what might have been a giggle. But it couldn't have been a giggle under such circumstances.
"As crazy as Teal is she's not stupid. She'll surely have put defenses around her house. Norman wouldn't feel right disclosing the real location, and fairies can't intrude into other fairies' privacy like that. It's very likely we wouldn't find her."
"I guess that's true." Cedric frowned. Norman was highly uncomfortable, because he was sounded very disloyal to the Crown right now.
"Even if we did find it, she'd vanish before we could catch her." Mandy added.
"Yeah, but then you'd have to just call her back and--" Cedric stopped as Norman and Mandy both shook their heads.
"Fairies don't have to answer to other fairies if their lives are in danger." Norman explained.
"All right, I surrender! We can't act out our plan, and we can't go charge after them! What are we supposed to do?" Cedric groaned falling across the laundry onto the bed. His head lying in Mandy's lap. He wasn't much for dramatics, but this seemed like a good time to have some.
"Yes, I did say we couldn't charge after them. And yes, I did want you to tell someone about everything that's been going on. However, I never said that we still couldn't use the plan." Cedric shot up, and Norman blinked several times. Mandy had an unusual glint in her eye.
"You mean, you'll actually help us?" Norman also had to sit down for this. He had heard many things about Mandy, and had made his own assumption of her. She wasn't turning out to be anything like what he'd suspected.
"I'm mad. How dare Teal do such a thing, and right under my nose! I might not have been much help to Ella with her curse, but this time I'm not going to sit back. I'M the one who watches over this family, and if anyone's going to help save Mari it's me." Mandy said with determination. You could almost feel the waves of anger rolling off her body.
"Yahoo! Here we come Mari!" Cedric shouted with glee.
"And my mother? What will we do with her?" Norman asked, nearly afraid to hear the answer. Sure enough, it wasn't a pleasant one.
"Leave Teal to me." Mandy said with a strange smile on her face. "Now tell me how you two plan to get Mari under the tree?"
* * *
"If I can't put a spell on her and Norman's trying to send her back." Teal gave an evil cackle. "I'll just have to poison the little princess. Should have the same effect. Oh what to use, what to use.?" At the turn of keys in the front door, Teal quickly closed Creditable Concoctions and stuck it under the pot of water she'd been heating. Right onto the burner.
"Mom." Norman gave a curt nod to his mother. He didn't want her to be hanged, but he wasn't ready to forgive her yet.
"Oh Normie wormie! You're not still mad at Mommy wommy, are you?" Teal was distraught. She wished Norman would understand that she was just trying to get her sister's revenge. Well, she'd have it one way or another before Norman had time to interfere.
"Mother, you're about to have us both killed. I think I have grounds to be a little upset. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to try to soothe our "guest". By the way, whatever you're cooking is burning." With that, the boy headed for the basement.
"Oh! It's all right. Um, dinner will be ready in a few." Teal called trying to save the blackened book. Norman snapped his fingers and turned back around. He grabbed an apple from the kitchen table.
"I'm guessing you didn't feed her after I left." Norman scowled and continued on his way.
"But I did!" Of course, she hadn't. The little spit had tried to bite her, for goodness sake! Besides, she was trying to make her hungry so the girl would be eager to eat the poisoned food when it was finished.
Mari heard footsteps coming down the stairs. It was probably that wretched fairy, back for another go. Mari stood up quickly, ready for a fight. When the person finally came into the dim torchlight, she saw it was Norman. She was a surprised that she'd actually remembered his name.
"Hello Princess. How are you?" He inquired. Mari was about to snarl out a bitter response when she saw he came in peace. He held out a shiny red apple.
"Thank you." That was all she could say? She should be demanding to be let out or scoffing at such a futile kindness. Instead Mari took the apple, staring at Norman with a mixture of emotions. He gave her a sincere smile, and she ignored the flutter in her stomach.
"I can get you more after dinner's ready." Norman added. Mari took a tentative bite. Should she really trust this boy? He could be acting nice to get close and do just this. Poison her. The first burst of juiciness blew away that thought. Food was so good, the girl thought, remembering she hadn't lunch.
"Okay." Mari heard herself say faintly. She must be pretty hungry not to be interrogating. She snapped herself back into prissy mode.
"So what is this?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, are you feeding me to make me trust you, and then kill me? Or are you just being nice?" Mari instantly regret her words. Norman tried to hide the hurt look coming over his face.
"I wanted to make sure you get to eat. I wouldn't hurt you, Princess Mari." Norman pleaded. How were they supposed to get her back to safety, if she thought he was evil? "You don't believe me?"
Something in the way he said her name, about the look in his eyes made her want to believe him more than anything.
"I'm not sure yet." She answered quietly.
"In that case, this might help you make up your mind." Norman handed her a slip of paper. Cedric had thought of it for just this situation. He was meticulous for a nine-year-old. Mari accepted it with curiosity.
"I'll return after dinner." Norman called, already heading back upstairs. Mari unfolded the slip of paper. On it was written:
'Dear Mari, I'm writing to inform you that I'm caught up on what has happened to you. It is all thanks to our friend, Norman. He and Mandy (yes, Mandy!) are going to go to great lengths to get you back, as will I. In return, we need your complete and total cooperation. Speak to Norman to get the details seeing as I'm in a bit of a hurry right now.
Love,
Cedric.'
It was definitely Cedric's handwriting, but she couldn't believe the content! Norman and Cedric . . .And MANDY . . .saving her! It was too good to be true. Too ludicrous to be true. Mari sat down on her cot, trying to process all of it.
When Norman came back downstairs with a steaming tray of soup, she looked up at him with a hopeful glance. He was wearing that wonderful smile and it was obvious that she was forgiven. She liked him for that. Mari was beginning to think that she liked him.a lot.
"So, mind filling me in?" Mari grinned up at him. Norman gave her the tray and sat down near the bars.
"Not at all." The two talked for the remainder of the evening.
~ /~ / ~
Hee hee, love is in the air.and an escape! That's right you don't get to hear all the little details of the plan! Lol, it's coming up soon though! Thank you for reading, and please stay with me! Oh, and happy really late Thanksgiving!