Peter Pan
A Different Wendy
Chapter Seven
Peter changed the subject back to the new hideout. He asked the Boys where they wanted to make their new home, and the Boys made their suggestions. Peter sent Slightly to get a piece of paper to write down their ideas. Marie ate silently, listening to their plans, and Violet and Ethan did the same.
When everyone was finished Peter said, "Everyone grab their dish and help clean up."
So all of the Boys, plus Marie, Ethan and Violet, grabbed their plate and piled them into the wash bin to wash in the morning. Then Peter said they would go into their room, for it was getting quite late, and listen to Marie tell a story.
The Boys gathered around the bed Peter set up for Marie, Violet and Ethan, and curled up next to each other with their pillows and blankets. Violet was lying down with her head on Marie's lap and Ethan was sitting on the floor with the rest of the Boys. He was becoming quick friends with Curly and Whittle, probably because they were closest to his age, nine. Peter pulled up his throne-like chair and sat in that next to Marie's bed so he was close enough to hear.
"Well, it looks like you're all ready." Marie started. "Is there any story in particular you want to hear?"
"Tell the one about Sleeping Beauty, Marie." Ethan said. That one was his favorite because she made it the most bloody.
"All right. Does everyone want to hear the story about Sleeping Beauty?" Marie questioned.
The Boys chorused their own, "Yes", "Sure", and "I know this one".
Violet had only one thing to straighten out, she sat up and whispered in Marie's ear, "Make sure it's the one where Sleeping Beauty is like you, and the prince is your dream boy, okay?"
Marie laughed, "Okay." Violet nestled her head back in Marie's lap.
"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful queen who was married to a man she didn't truly love. Everyday he would ask her to tell him she loved him, but everyday she refused because she couldn't lie about something so serious." Marie began. "So when the queen had a daughter with soft, dark curls and golden brown eyes, she knew she would let her daughter marry whomever she loved.
"But at the party for the baby girl, a dark stranger showed up. The queen wanted him kicked out, but she could get no man brave enough to make him leave. The stranger wore a dusty old cloak and heavy boots that thudded when he walked in them." Marie had stood up on the ground and pulled a blanket over her head to hide her face. She walked across the dirty floor stomping her bare feet. "His cloak covered his face, but when he spoke to a man in his raspy, throaty voice asking, "Where is the child?" The cloak slipped off a little, revealing a nasty scar starting at the top of his forehead and ending just above his lip."
Marie traced the line down Ethan's face, and he stood up to join the story, taking Marie's blanket as the cloak. She continued, "The stranger pulled the blanket back up to hide his face again, as people gasped at his scar. He made his way to where the baby of the lovely queen lay, but the queen blocked his way before he could reach for her."
Marie had Violet stand up to act out the part of the queen, for she knew her brother and sister knew this story by heart, and could help play out the lines for them. Violet put out her hand to stop Ethan from passing, "Who are you, stranger?"
"I'm here to give the little princess a gift." Ethan rasped.
"What sort of gift?" Violet demanded.
"One that will give me great power," Ethan pushed aside Violet and picked up the pillow Marie had wrapped in a blanket to be like the baby princess. Ethan held the baby up and shouted, "I'm putting a curse on this princess, so that when she turns sixteen, at the stroke of the hour she was born, she will fall to the ground, dead."
"No!" Violet screamed, grabbing the baby back and cradled her in her arms, pretending to weep, Violet said, "Get him out!"
Marie continued to narrate, "Two guards came and removed of the scarred stranger and the party continued normally for everyone else, but the queen, for any celebration was always an excuse to hang around, enjoy the food, and drink as much as you can. The queen took her baby daughter, Aurora, back to her room, where she placed her in her crib and called out the window to her faerie friend." Tinkerbelle, who had been sitting glumly on Peter's shoulder, perked up when she heard her name.
"Hey Marie," Peter interrupted. Marie stopped and looked at him, "Why don't you have Tinkerbelle and the Boy's play parts too, they like to get into the story, even if they won't admit it."
"All right, I'll give each of the Boy's parts when I get to it." Marie said, "Come here, Tinkerbelle." Tinkerbelle flew to Marie's shoulder and Marie whispered in her ear what to do, "Okay, we're ready now." She announced a moment later and continued narrating the story, "The queen's faerie friend flew in the window and asked her what she needed."
"Today was Aurora's celebration, where we announced her arrival, and while we were downstairs, a strange mad came and put a spell on her, that she will die on her sixteenth birthday!" Violet raged. "Is there anything you can do to reverse the spell?"
Tinkerbelle yelled her line so all the Boys could hear her, "I can't take that powerful of a spell completely away, but I can change it a little! On her sixteenth birthday, Aurora will not die, but fall into a deep slumber, and will awake at her true love's kiss!"
"Thank you." Violet said gratefully, "It might not be gone, but at least my beautiful daughter will not be dead. And she will get her true love to save her. How I wish my true love had saved me."
"The faerie left, as her job was done," Tinkerbelle flew back to Peter's shoulder when Marie said this, "and left the queen to dream about what her life would have been if her true love were with her. But the queen wasn't left alone for too long, the king came up to see what was wrong with her." Marie looked around and asked, "Who wants to be the king?"
Violet waved at Marie to bend down for a secret, "I was going to ask for Slightly to be the king, but he should be the prince, since I know that's who you based him on all those other times, but ask Peter if he'll be the king, please?"
"You're lucky I'm such a nice older sister, or you would be running right now." Marie warned.
"I know." Violet smiled innocently. "Can you?"
"Sure." Marie agreed. "How about you as the king, Peter?"
"Okay, just as long as you make the rest of these guys be in it too." Peter stood up.
"I will, I will." Marie smiled and winked at the Boys. Marie told Peter what to do and let them start up again.
"Why did you leave in the middle of the celebration?" Peter thundered, grabbing Violet, not roughly, by the shoulders.
"I'm – I'm sorry, but a powerful wizard put a spell on Aurora that she would die on her sixteenth birthday. I had to do something about it." Violet stuttered.
Peter released her and said, "What are we going to do?"
"Well, I had a friend change the spell so she'll only fall asleep until her true love kisses her, but I don't think this guy will give up." Violet shook her head, "Maybe we should send her to live with the three witches – I mean, uh…sorcerers until after her sixteenth birthday. They're kind and would take her in, and since they live in the middle of the forest, she can't be harmed."
"But then we won't be able to see her." Peter picked up the pillow bundle.
"It's for her protection, though." Violet reminded. "And we could probably visit sometimes, as long as we keep it secret and make sure no one knows about it."
"Okay."
"So the king and the queen kept their promise and the next morning they went to the…sorcerers' home in the middle of the woods and asked if they would keep their baby girl until she turned sixteen." Marie said. "Who wants to by my sorcerers?" Marie questioned the Boys.
"Oh, I know who everyone else should be, come here, Marie, and I'll tell you." Violet said before any of the Boys could volunteer. She whispered her thoughts in Marie's ear, and Marie made a face. "You have to, Marie, it's perfect." Violet whined.
"Fine." Marie rolled her eyes. "Little sisters," she mumbled.
"Hey!" Violet protested.
"I mean, I love little sisters, don't the rest of you?" Marie asked. "Anyways, Whittle, Barky and Hoppy, you guys are the sorcerers. Okay?" The Boys nodded and stood up.
"Cool, we get to be sorcerers." Barky gave Hoppy a high five.
"And have magic powers!" Whittle added, and they high fived him too.
"Okay, come here." Marie told the Boys what they were supposed to do, and they started up the story again.
"The sorcerers took good care of Aurora, and as she grew, they grew to love her even more. She called them her uncles: Uncle Blitz, Uncle Winkle, and Uncle Tinsel." Violet took over narration since Marie was going to be Aurora now, which Violet announced to everyone, "I get to be the story teller right now, because Marie is going to be Aurora in a minute." She whispered to them and then got back to the story, "When it was just seven days before her sixteenth birthday, Aurora found she was being pushed out of the house more often than usual. Sometimes she would be asked to go pick some flowers because the house was looking dull, or to find the ripest berries to bake a pie for after dinner. She had not a clue what her uncles were up to, but she knew it must be something big, when she was once again sent out of the house for the day to do whatever she wanted and not to come back home until it was nearly dark. This only meant the uncle's had run out of ideas to get rid of her."
Marie pretended to leave the room and go outside, but really she just snuck around behind the Boys and sat with Ethan until she had to come back for her part. Barky and Hoppy busied themselves pretending to look through a cook book and not understanding what the directions read, while Whittle faked looking out a window to make sure Aurora was gone before he spoke.
"We better finish all of this today, I have a feeling she's beginning to suspect something." Whittle said.
"Well, we should have the cake ready by today, as long as we get it right this time, and then we can make sure the king and queen are informed about tomorrow night's secret party." Hoppy replied.
"Yes, I'll send the letter now, so they get it in time." Barky got up and started to write on an imaginary piece of paper.
"While her uncles busied themselves with this," Violet spoke, "Aurora was walking in the woods, and visiting her friends of the forest."
Marie stood up and walked around the room, humming a tune she didn't quite know where she picked up, but decided it was fine to be singing to her animal friends. "What are those old men up to now?" Marie laughed to herself.
"Aurora walked for a while, filling her basket with flowers and berries, and singing with the birds and petting the chipmunks that followed her." Violet said. "She stopped to sit under a tree by a little stream and eat her roll she brought for lunch." Marie sat down and pretended to eat a roll. "She heard the hoofs of a horse approaching and hid behind the tree to see who it was, as she was told to do by her uncles if ever a stranger entered the woods." Marie looked around for something to pretend to be her hiding tree but found none, so she ducked behind Peter who was still standing. All the Boys laughed, including Peter.
Violet giggled and continued to narrate, "Aurora heard the pounding of the horse's hoofs and peeked out from behind the tree and saw a prince sitting upon a noble white horse…oh yeah, I forgot!" Violet paused. "Slightly, you get to be the prince."
Slightly glanced over at Marie and then back at Violet, "Are you sure?"
Marie hurried over to Violet and whispered that maybe she should have Nibbs or Tootles, or even Curly be the prince, but Violet stood by her first pick, "Of course I'm sure." She pushed Marie back behind Peter. "Come here, then, so I can tell you what you are supposed to do."
Slightly hesitantly went to Violet and bent down to hear her instructions. Slightly nodded that he understood and joked, "So do I get a horse?" Violet put a finger up to her mouth, "If there's someone who wants to be the horse?"
"How about you, Curly, since I know you're definitely not going to want to speak in front of everyone." Peter offered him. Curly turned red, but nodded. He got up and stood next to Slightly.
"Hey, Curly, horses are usually on the ground, you know, even if they are as noble as you." Slightly suggested smiling as Curly blushed even more of a beet red. He kneeled down.
"Hey, Slightly, princes usually sit on the horse, you know, even if it is a prince, like you." Marie mimicked.
Slightly frowned, but sat lightly on Curly's back so he wouldn't kill the poor younger boy. Curly was not just three years younger than Slightly, because Slightly was not heavy, just older and more built, but he was a skinny kid.
"That's enough," Violet quieted the both of them. "Now, where was I? Oh yes, a prince on a white horse was stopped next to the river, not too far away from where Aurora was peeking out." Marie peeked out again as Curly struggled to crawl a little closer to her under Slightly's weight. "The prince hopped off of his horse to let the poor thing get a drink, as they had been riding hard all morning to get to the kingdom in time. The prince's father said he would be meeting his soon-to-be wife in a few days, when she came back to the palace from her vacation, and he was to be there when she arrived." Slightly got off Curly and Curly sat down, pretending to take a drink from the little river.
"What am I supposed to do, Jack?" Slightly asked Curly, "I'm not even old enough to get married, and neither is she. Father told me she's only just sixteen, and I'm only sixteen, as well."
Curly stared dumbly at him, as a horse would do, and Slightly kept talking. "I shouldn't have to marry someone I don't want to anyways. I don't even know her, so how am I to love her?"
Marie was listening to 'the prince' and she took a step forward, so she wasn't all the way hidden by a tree, just enough so she could see his face if he turned. "I wish I could have some time to spend with her before I meet her formally, so I know who she is. My wedding vows would be a bunch of lies if I know nothing about her." Slightly said, pacing along the side of the make believe river.
He saw Marie, pulled out his sword and grabbed her arm all in one motion, "Who are you and why are you spying on me?"
"I'm – I'm Aurora." Marie gulped. "And I wasn't spying, I was hiding."
"What were you hiding from?" Slightly asked, still holding the dagger to her throat.
"You," Marie said. "I live here, and I'm not supposed to talk to strangers, so it's me who should be holding a knife to your throat, shouldn't it?"
Slightly put the sword back in its sheath, "Sorry. That was rude. My name is Teddy."
"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Teddy." Marie curtsied and shook his hand.
"The rest of Aurora's free day was spent with the disguised prince. Teddy didn't tell her he was a prince because he didn't want her to treat him any differently than she would a normal man." Violet said. "When it began to get dark, Aurora said she'd better be getting back to her house for dinner before her uncles came looking for her. The prince said he would come tomorrow night to see her, if it was alright with her. She said she would love to see him again. He kissed her hand and rode off on his horse."
Neither Marie nor Slightly moved. Violet looked at them, "Hello? I said: he kissed her hand and rode off on his horse." Slightly looked over at Marie who was biting her lip, and looked away again. "Maybe we should finish this tomorrow night," Violet suggested, "I'm wicked tired."
Ethan understood what she meant and yawned, "Yeah, me too. I want to be awake for the ending, and it still has a while to go, so maybe we should wait until tomorrow night. You know, spread out the story a little for us."
Peter didn't understand what they were doing, but he agreed with separating the two halves of the stories, "Yes, we'll finish it tomorrow. Go to bed, Boys, and Marie and Violet and Ethan."
Marie sat where she was, and so did Slightly, but when everyone else started going to their beds he whispered in her ear, "I'm sorry," and got in his bed.