The Butterfly Trainer – Chapter 8
Flying to a halt in a nearby cherry blossom tree, Marisol parted the limbs to see a cheery little cottage just up the hill. Hearing voices, she ducked her head as her pixie dust jingled down past the quiet leaves.
Watching as an elderly lady with two little girls walked up the path to open the gate into the Garden, Mari just studied them as her eye caught sight of the boy she recognized from earlier.
Is that him? She wondered as she flew down to a lower branch to get a closer look.
Watching him tuck a journal underneath his arm, she hesitated only for a minute before she felt, not heard, a vibration of flaps behind her. Having a good idea who it might be, she asked, "What are you doing here?"
"Making sure that you don't get yourself into any more trouble than you've already have," Emma said, joining her next to her observant spot. "That hawk could have …"
"It was too small to be a hawk, Em," Mari said, not paying attention. "I'd say it was more of a raven by its size."
"Well, hawk or raven … We were worried about you, your sister was scared for you …" Emma said, trying to get her to listen.
"Posy's going to have to find someone one else to worry about. I can take care of myself," she said, watching as Thomas pulled out a small cage out from his jacket as he slipped into the house with his prize in hand.
Seeing the screen door being left partly open, Mari didn't think twice before she dove out of the Tree, saying, "Right now, the only thing on my mind is finding Papillion and making sure he's ok."
"Mari, you're not thinking straight! Wait … !" Emma called, trying to catch up as Mari made a rush dive to the door. Stopping mid-flutter, Emma anxiously watched as the door clicked shut just as Mari made it inside.
Feeling the door shut just behind her, Mari just shrunk in anxiety as she peered up to see who had just closed it.
"Tell me one thing, Tommy," Lizzy said as she locked the door behind her with one hand, which bumped Mari into her pocket as she strided over to where Tommy sat the covered box on the shelf where some of his stuff laid. Sitting her hands on top of Lizzy's right dress pocket, Mari lifted her head out to hear what they were saying.
"Why do you always just seem to disappear when Mrs. Perkins gives you leave, Tommy? Just what are you up to?" Lizzy came out and asked them as Mrs. Perkins stepped into the laundry room to check the laundry.
"Why should I tell you what I've been up to? It's not like it's any of your business, Elizabeth," Tommy shot back, untying his boots. "And, I doubt that you would believe me anyway …"
A low growl soon made goosebumps crawl up Mari's pale arms as she looked down to see that a large calico came curling up around Lizzy's boots as its sharp yellow eyes caught sight of her. Growling again, Mari thought she saw the cat lick its lips slightly as Mr. Twitches' gaze heard something bouncing about in the box Tommy had sat upon the counter.
"I would if you would just tell me," Lizzy said again, watching him as he picked up the journal that had fallen to the floor in front of them.
Taking her attention off the cat and the now-trembling box, Mari caught sight of something personal in Tommy's eyes as he said, "You wouldn't understand."
"Yes, I would," Lizzy replied, stepping a little closer, "especially if it concerns your Mom."
For a split second, Tommy's gaze changed from firm to sad and then back to sheltered as he turned to go out of the room.
However, suddenly remembering the box, he turned just in time to see that Mr. Twitches had climbed upon the counter to swipe at the box that immediately went tilting to the floor.
Gasping, Mari dove out of Lizzy's pocket towards the falling box the same time as Tommy fell to his knees to catch the faltering bundle in his hands, as the cloth was whisked away to reveal a trembling Papillion flapping frantically near the top of the cage.
"Tommy," Lizzy cried, seeing the struggling butterfly in the cage. "What are you doing with a butterfly?"
"Nothing, alright," Tommy sighed as he stood to his feet, the cage held protectively away from Mr. Twitches swipes. "Now, would you please do something about your crazy cat?"
Taking offense, Lizzy immediately sauntered over to where she took ahold of the annoyed cat and took him outside the door. Sitting him down, she turned to see Tommy holding the cage up to his eyes as he looked in to make sure the butterfly was ok before he heard Lizzy say, "Aren't you going to release it?"
Saying nothing at first, both of their eyes spotted Mari as she timidly flew up to sit her hands on the cage. Fluttering her glass tipped wings, she reached a hand through one of the air holes to rest a calming hand against Papillion's antennae.
"What in the world?" Tommy asked as Lizzy came up to watch Mari stare up at them in hopes of letting him free.
Watching the dust sheen off of her wings, Lizzy calmly took her into her hands as a hesitant Mari didn't want to leave Papillion's side.
"What is it?" Tommy asked her, totally in awe of such a tiny creature.
"You mean who is it," Lizzy sweetly corrected him. "She's a fairy."
"A what?" Tommy started to say before they heard Mrs. Perkins' footsteps step into the room.
Hiding her once again in her pocket, she said, "I'll explain later."
As Mrs. Perkins came into the room, she asked them what they were talking about, but saying nothing the two just returned to their rooms for the afternoon, Tommy to Mr. Griffins' study and Lizzy bringing Mari up to her room while Niabi was taking her nap in the downstairs guest room.
Outside the door, Emma quickly flew around the house in any hopes to find a way to get in, but seeing none, she quickly flew back to a nearby patio window to look inside.
Oh no, now where is she? Emma said to herself as she scanned the room. One minute she's there, and the next, gone. Come on, Emma, think …
Tapping and tugging at every window she could find, Emma tried every opening she could think of on the North side of the house before she felt a rushing wind whip past her as she had her hands on the door knob.
"Need a bit of a hand, sweetie?" a sugary voice said as Vidia blew her long bangs out of her eyes.
Grunting, Emma didn't look up as she said, "I don't see you helping, Vidia."
"Of course I'm trying to help, dear," Vidia said, hovering. "However, the fact is you're not listening."
Sighing with an effort not to get impatient, Emma just turned with a raised eyebrow as she asked, "Alright, I'm open to suggestions. With Mari inside and us outside, how do we get from out here to in there?"
"Have you tried the windows?"
Sighing, Emma just nodded in response.
"Then, what about the door?"
In an effort to not groan, Mari just turned towards the knob to turn it again to no avail.
"And, did you see the cat?"
Raising her head, Emma turned to attention at the mention of a cat. "Cat? What cat?"
Hearing a low growl heading away from the door, Emma and Vidia hovered cautiously past the sliding to see Mr. Twitches making his way towards the Garden as his nose twitched up into the air with a curious sniff.
"That cat," Vidia confirmed as they watched him disappear into the Garden.
"Is he dangerous?" Emma asked.
"You're the animal fairy, you tell me," Vidia answered as they landed on a window sill. "The last time I first encountered that cat, it almost had Tinker Bell for lunch."
"That just worries me then, we have to get Mari out of there," Emma said before Vidia interrupted her.
"That's what I believed, too, when it was my fault that Tink got stuck in that Fairy House when I blew that door shut and that girl brought her back here to supposedly show to her Father. But, when she didn't, I saw that Lizzy's Father had a whole room full of pinned-cased collections, mostly of which were butterflies, in his study," Vidia said, remembering with a distinctive look on her face.
"Collections? Cases?" Emma shot back in shock.
"Old collections," Vidia corrected, thinking about how things have changes. "It's not him that concerns me, though. It's that kid; he had a butterfly net and some kind of cage he was carrying them in."
Thinking of Mari's feelings about the boy, Emma then said, "Maybe there's more to what we're just seeing. Maybe there's a reason he's doing all this …"
"You just said a while ago that Mari was inside," Vidia prompted her. "Is she with Lizzy or that boy?"
"The girl, I think," Emma said, seeing that the girl she saw take Mari up to her room to be Lizzy. "The boy took Mari's butterfly with him to his room, last I looked."
"Then, we'll have to move fast. Can you stick around here and keep trying to find a way in?"
"Yeah, I can do that. No problem," Emma said, flapping higher up. "You just go tell the others."
Hearing the sky rumble up with misty clouds, Vidia just sighed to herself as she zipped up the path and away from the cottage. Beseeching the sky to stay dry, Vidia flew at high speed as she thought to herself, Please let this not be like last time.
Alright, back with another chapter. And, I apologize for the delay, but I hope this makes up for it.
Still determining the ending for this story, but I hope I'm not going to too fast either. And, it may be referencing back to the third Tinker Bell movie, but I promise that it's not going to be like that. So, I hope this chapter is ok for progression, please let me know in the reviews if you don't think so. :)
And Mr. Twitches reference, it is a known fact that he was not really fond of fairies or small critters, so just mentioned it. Enjoy. :)