AN: If you haven't already read the muli-chapter prequal to this fanfic ("Peter's Fairies" by Princess Lucy) you really should check it out. She's doing a great job. I'm just helping edit and I'm co-authoring some parts. But for now, enjoy the next chapter of "Fairytale: a Pevensie sisters story" and then leave review to tell me what you think. BTW: some of the content in this chapter is the reason this is rated K+ and not K. For example, it's strongly implied here that Mr. Pevensie uses a not-so-nice word.
Down stairs, Mrs. Pevensie was serving Edmund, Mr. Pevensie, and Colin Lee Marcus some tea while they waited for the girls to arrive.
Then they heard familiar foot steps on the stairs. Susan and Lucy walked down, properly groomed and ready to meet the mysterious writer.
"Ah, there you are." Mrs. Pevensie said, smiling at her daughters. "This-" She motioned to the man who was now standing up ready to greet the girls he had come all this way to see. "Is Colin Lee Marcus."
As soon as she laid eyes on him, Lucy liked Colin. He was a just a little over being middle aged, perhaps in his mid-fifties. The hair on his head was white as snow but his salt-and-pepper colored mustache didn't match it. The most shocking thing about his appearance was his eyes. They were so dark a blue, that they were very nearly purple. Lucy had read of people with purple eyes in books but had never actually seen a human with them. (A dryad in Narnia she'd once known had had purple eyes that but was about it). More remarkable than the color of them though was the look in them. A look of fairly innocent marvel. Lucy had seen that look before, in Mr. Tumnus. There was something of a relief in seeing that familiar expression in a stranger's face and she suddenly felt much more at ease.
Susan thought Colin seemed like a good fellow. There was a lack of greed in his expression that she had not expected to see. Part of her had expected a pig of a man who would demand that they take him to the fairies. But this man looked reasonable. She didn't take a liking to him as much as her sister did but she didn't feel as nervous now.
"Hullo." He beamed at them, shaking their hands. "It's an honor to finally meet you both."
"It's an honor to meet you, as well, sir." Susan said respectfully.
"Well then, I must tell you that I was utterly amazed when I saw those photographs." He explained, all of them took seats in the parlor now. "I couldn't believe my eyes. But I would never doubt photographs tested by Mr. Trent. I have never met the man but I know of his work. And I also thought you both had such honest faces as well."
"Thank you." Lucy blurted out, not sure what else to say.
"You're welcome." He smiled at her. "Anyway, I've brought something for you both." Colin reached into his briefcase and pulled out two gift wrapped boxes, handing one to each of them.
Susan felt nervous again. She could guess what was in the box if she had to. She slowly pulled back at the wrapping.
Lucy on the other hand, excitedly ripped off the paper and opened the box. She let out a gasp of joy when she saw the beautiful brand new camera. Father had a nice camera but it was old, and this one was so...shinny! And best of all, it was her very own. She even noticed an inscription on the side that said 'Lucy Pevensie' in golden-looking letters.
Susan's was exactly the same except her's said, 'Susan Pevensie'. She gulped and fingered the expensive gift with great care. Why was he giving this to them? It couldn't be just a free gift. He had to want them to do something in return.
"Thank you!" Lucy said in a tone of wonder. "Thank you very much."
The writer seemed pleased with Lucy's reaction but puzzled by Susan's lack of enthusiasm. Obviously, she was the less playful of the two but that didn't mean she wouldn't enjoy getting gifts as well, did it?
"You don't fancy the camera, Miss Pevensie?" Colin Lee Marcus asked Susan.
"It's not that..." Susan said, feeling a flush rise to her cheeks at the thought of how impolite she must have seemed. "I just..." She gave up trying to explain. "No, it's lovely, really."
"I'm glad you like it." Colin Lee Marcus said almost in a sigh.
"Mr. Lee Marcus wants you to take some more photographs of the fairies for him." Mrs. Pevensie told her daughters.
"Yes, of course." Lucy blurted out before stopping to think.
Susan glared at her. "Excuse us for a moment, would you?" She grabbed her sister's wrist and pulled her into another room.
"What are you doing?" Susan demanded harshly.
"What do you mean?" Lucy asked, her eyes filled with such an annoyingly childish innocence that Susan almost wanted to smack her for it.
"We made a promise." Susan reminded her.
Oh, that. Lucy remembered. "We aren't breaking it, not really."
"Taking more photographs for a writer isn't breaking our promise?" Susan snapped in disbelief. How could Lucy say that?
"Not really." Lucy insisted. "Think about it. If he promises not to show them to anyone or something...what harm does it do us to help him out?"
"Are you out of your mind?" Susan hissed. "He hasn't even promised anything."
"Well, then..." Lucy thought it over. "We can refuse to take the photographs if he isn't willing to keep them a secret."
"How do we know we can trust him?" Susan asked.
"I just have the feeling we can." Lucy told her. "He seems so honest."
"Hey, what are you doing in here?" Edmund stuck his head into the room. "Colin Lee Marcus is still waiting for you in the other room."
"Not now, Ed." Susan frowned at him. "We're in the middle of a very important discussion here."
"If it's about taking the photographs for him, I think you should do it." Edmund told them.
"What?" Susan gasped. What was wrong with her siblings today?
"I don't know, but I think we can trust him, Su." Edmund explained. "Why don't you just talk to him about it?"
"Oh alright." Susan gave in. "This doesn't mean I agree to do anything, just that I'm going to consider it."
Lucy and Edmund both smiled happily as the three of them went back into the parlor.
"Girls," Colin said when they'd come back in. "I want to make a few things clear, I don't mean any harm to you, or your fairies."
"You don't?" Susan raised her eyebrow.
"No, of course not." Colin said. "I've just always wanted to see a fairy. But I wont ask you to take me to these. They're your fairies you see, and it's hardly my right to see them in person, but the photographs would be extremely helpful."
"Helpful with what?" Susan asked, looking suspicious.
"I'm going to be completely honest with you." He told them. "I want to put your photographs in a magazine along with one of my articles."
Susan glared at Edmund and Lucy. You see? She thought, I told you he wanted to expose them! What did I tell you?
Lucy shook her head feeling a bit foolish now for agreeing so quickly. "We can't let you do that."
"No, you don't understand." He explained. "It's only to assist my article. The location of the garden will be kept private and all your names will be changed. I want to keep both of you girls, your family, and your fairies out of harms way."
"No one will know it's us?" Susan asked to be sure.
"I give you my word that not a soul will be told your names or whereabouts." Colin Lee Marcus said.
Susan looked at Lucy then back at Colin. Then to her parents and Edmund, and back at Colin again. "Alright." She said. "We'll take a few more photographs."
"Thank you!" Colin's face lit up and he unexpectedly embraced both girls and tightly. "You don't know what this means to me."
"We must get this in writing." Mr. Pevensie told Colin Lee Marcus.
"Yes, of course." He nodded in agreement. "I'll have my lawyers contact you right away."
And so, with cake in their pockets and their new cameras strapped to theirs sides, Susan and Lucy headed back to Mrs. Esmara's garden.
"Can we get one of the queen this time?" Lucy asked her sister.
Susan nodded. "I was thinking the same thing, call her over, she seems to like you best."
"You're majesty." Lucy called. They still hadn't come up will a real name for her. "I have cake." She peeled off a large piece and held it over the bush where the queen often hid.
The queen flew out and grabbed the over-sized cake crumb just as Susan's camera went off. A fifth photograph.
The next photo graphs was of a male fairy and a gnome sitting together on a log playing what looked like the fairy version of checkers. Neither girl was in this one. A sixth photograph.
The seventh was of Susan leaning next to a flower that one of the fairies was peeking out of.
"There." Susan said, as she and her sister packed up their cameras and headed back home. "That's enough. He should be more than content with seven."
Lucy agreed with her on that one. "It's seven more than anyone else has ever had."
"Very, very true." Susan said.
Two weeks later, copies of the magazine hit the stands. Of course, the Pevensie family got an advanced copy first.
"Do they get this in Cambridge?" Lucy wondered aloud, as she flipped through the magazine, thinking about her cousin Eustace. He would probably mock them for ever if he saw this. At least they didn't have to worry about him telling his friends who they were, seeing as he didn't have any.
"Cambridge?" Mr. Pevensie said grumpily. "They get the bloody thing in the north pole."
"Dear!" Mrs. Pevensie scolded him. "Remember, we agreed that this was okay. And they've changed all our names, no one will ever know it's us."
Lucy looked down at the article.
Susan read part of it aloud, "Two sisters, Ann and Rose Smith are shown here playing with fairies in a local garden. Here we see one of the rare cases of humans in surprisingly close friendships with the members of the fairy realms. The two sisters live comfortably in their home (location withheld) with their parents and their brother, Martin Smith who were the very first to see the first four photographs proved genuine by a photo expert (name withheld)."
"I'm Martin?" Edmund crinkled his forehead. "What kind of name is that?"
"Oh, hush up Ed." Susan told him, rolling her eyes. "There's not even a picture of you in here."
"Do you think we did the right thing?" Lucy whispered to Susan.
"I think so, look at Mr. Lee Marcus." She pointed to the photograph of him next to the start of the article. "He seems so happy."
"He really does." Lucy smiled feeling satisfied. "And we didn't really break our promise."
"No." Susan said thoughtfully. "I suppose we didn't."
Meanwhile in a newspaper office in a nearby town, a grumpy, sullen looking man, pouted at his desk looking through a magazine. The story was pitched by Colin Lee Marcus who the man thought was a completely fool and generally hated him for no reason other than worthless spite and envy.
"Lies!" He snapped, slamming the magazine down on his desk just as his boss was passing by.
"Well now, Roy, no one's proved that." His boss reminded him. "And everyone takes what Colin Lee Marcus says very seriously now that he has photographs to prove it."
"They're fake." Roy grumbled. "Why else would all these names be withheld?"
"To protect the family?" his boss suggested. "it's been done before."
"I don't believe these girls." Roy said angrily. "I think Colin put them up to it."
The boss clicked his tongue. "What do you have against the man?" He asked. "You've never even met him."
"So?" Roy's bitter-for-no-reason-at-all eyes flashed with even more anger now. "I'm going to prove he's a liar."
"Leave him alone." The boss said. "You don't want to end up looking stupid."
"We'll see who looks stupid when all this is over." Roy said, picking his hat and coat and storming out of the office.
Two days later, Roy stood in a school room at St. Finbar's talking to one of the teacher's there.
"So you know this girl here?" Roy asked, pointing the photograph of Susan and a gnome.
"Oh bless me, yes." The teacher said in a friendly voice. "That's Susan Pevensie! She's a good student. Just like her brothers."
"Brothers?" Roy's eyebrows went up. "She has more than one?"
"She has only one brother living at the time but her late older brother Peter used to attend the school across the street." The teacher explained. "Very good children. I'm told that the youngest, Lucy, will be starting here soon."
"And you are certain you're not mistaken that this is her?" Roy double checked.
"Oh yes, I'm sure." The teacher said. "She and her late brother are quite the artists. Her brother used to draw the most wonderful fairies. And see this?" She pulled out a drawing of two boys and two girls in royal hunting garb chancing a stag. "Susan did it in art class last term."
"Do you know where the place in the photographs are?" Roy asked, not interested in the silly drawings.
"Now that I don't know." The teacher said, apologetically. "But, it's probably near their home in London."
"Can I get the address?" He asked,
"I can't give you that." The teacher told him.
"But I need to find these girls." He said. "it's very important."
"Alright." the teacher gave in. "But tell no one."
The very next day, newspapers that said, "Fairy Sisters secret identities revealed" were on stands everywhere.
Mr. Pevensie was beyond furious when he saw the headline that morning. "Holy s-"
Edmund quickly put his hands over Lucy's ears.
"This is horrible!" Susan cried. "How did this happen?"
"I don't know." Lucy looked down at the newspaper. "but somehow they've found out the location too!"
"The fairies are never going to trust us again!" Susan exclaimed. "People are going to come and..."
Edmund slipped his arm around his older sister. "It's going to be alright."
"No it's not." Susan groaned, pushing her brother away.
"She's right." Lucy blinked back tears. "This is horrible."
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
"Don't answer it." Susan pleaded. "it could be anyone."
"It might just be Marjorie." Lucy reminded her. "She gets even more hysterical about these things than we do."
"I'll get it." Edmund went over to the door.
It was Roy the reporter.
Edmund hated him instantly. His cold greedy eyes, tall slender form, and pale skin, reminded him of the one person he hated more than anyone else the one person who he still had nightmares about, The white witch.
"Hello, Martin." He said in a fake-cheerful voice.
"Go away." Edmund hissed at him. "You're trespassing. And you have already brought us enough trouble."
"I want to talk to your sisters." Roy insisted, putting his foot in the door.
Edmund shook his head slowly and hissed, "Over my dead body." He'd sooner throw himself in front of a moving bus before he let this man come with in ten feet of his sisters.
Roy glared at him and whispered. "I will do whatever I have to do to get what I want, going over your dead body isn't something I mind doing."
Edmund forced himself not to gulp or show any signs of the fear building up in him. He simply turned around and shouted. "Dad, call the police!"
"No need, sir." Roy called over to Mr. Pevensie. Then he turned back to Edmund before leaving. "I'll be back." he hissed in a cold, dead-serious voice.
"Girls, go upstairs." Mr. Pevensie told his daughters. "I'm calling the police anyway, just to be safe."
Edmund grabbed his sister's hands and pulled them upstairs convinced that they weren't going fast enough.
"But, Ed, he's not there now." Susan protested. "You're going to pull my arm off."
"I think he's hiding in the bushes." Edmund whispered to them. "You'll have to be very careful now."
AN: Gasp! Whats going to happen next? Well if you want to know you have to do your part and review.