Crocker was pissed off and when he was pissed off and had power to enact his wishes, bad things tended to happen. They still hadn't located Kevin or Turner and Chloe's little insurrection had nearly cost them dearly. It had taken five faeries to knock her out and Vicky was currently teaching her a lesson about insubordination. Again. Chloe didn't learn her lessons very well, did she? That was a shame, for such a bright student.
However, he had other problems. Someone had lent Chloe their wand. That someone was in a great deal of trouble. Unfortunately, with all the magic flying, Crocker could pinpoint the faeries in the room, not who had cast what. Six faeries stood before him and none of them would confess to loaning the girl their wand. One of them was lying. None of them would cast a truth spell.
He threatened to bring them before Vicky. Though they quavered, they did not break. They were protecting someone. Why? They were slaves and should not have free will. Moreover, they were subordinates of his; they answered to him.
Infuriated, he realized he would have to compel them. Flicking the switch on his magical receiver, he watched it drain one of the male faeries standing before him. There were three males and two females, including one with pink and brown hair whose brown eyes anchored on him hatefully. Was that the one he had sent to heal Chloe? He couldn't remember. They were interchangeable, weren't they?
The male whose magic he drained collapsed to the marble floor with a crack. Crocker checked that it wasn't the floor that had cracked before shrugging and turning to the others. He let his slave's magic enrich him and rounded on the four remaining creatures. None of them would meet his gaze save that female.
He crooked his finger and his magic drew her to him. She trembled but held her ground. He could respect that, even if he didn't respect faeries in general.
"What is your name, little faerie?" he demanded. Her lips trembled and she held her tongue. Injecting himself with more magic, he willed her lips and mouth to form words. Her eyes blazed. It should have been simple. It should have been a question of divining which one of them lacked a wand. Someone had remedied that before he could find out. They all had wands now, even the drooling idiot on the floor.
"My name is Magdalene," she said, the words escaping through clenched teeth.
"I could do anything I wanted to you. You know that, right?"
She didn't answer. If she hadn't answered to him, the loathing in her expression would have eviscerated him. He was impressed that such a small creature could harbor such dark emotions. He almost felt a kinship with her until he remembered her inferiority.
"Why don't you make this easier on both of us and tell me who gave Chloe a wand?" he suggested.
He spoke like this was a reasonable request. Vicky slipped back into the room and she had bloodstains on her smock. Crocker's stomach twisted and he surveyed Magdalene anew before glancing back at Vicky. Blood and blonde hair, he could see it glinting under the lights.
"I can force you to tell the truth," he snapped. "All I need to do is snap my fingers."
"I know," she ground out.
"Louder."
"I know what you can do. I'm not afraid. I have endured worse."
Crocker's gaze switched between his torturer and the faerie he had compelled to his side. He tilted her chin this way and that to inspect it and see whether he could verify the truth without demanding a confession. He sensed this faerie was obstinate and, with an effort, he wrenched his gaze away to contemplate the other faeries, watching apprehensively.
"Why are you doing this?" he growled. "All to protect a single child? What's so special about her? Tell me!"
"We have sworn to protect and care for children, regardless of whose they are," Magdalene said. "Your changing the universe has not altered our personalities. None of us will tell you who gave Chloe a wand unless you wring it from us."
"I can help," Vicky offered and her eyes gleamed maliciously. "They'll be begging for salvation by the time I'm done."
She advanced until she reached the throne and then took her place at his left side as his chief adviser. His system was a little screwed up, but that was what you got when you changed the world in a blink of an eye. He'd never been particularly enamored of Vicky before, but he had to admit she was thorough. Against his will, he stared at her smock again. His stomach clenched and he thought he might heave.
He was almost tempted to let this slide. It wasn't that he condoned letting mistakes slip through his fingers, but he hadn't wanted Vicky to harm Chloe in such an obvious manner. Psychological torture was one thing, but the teenager had obviously surpassed that.
The longer he hesitated, the more they would take advantage of it. A prisoner could not be permitted to carry a weapon. Moreover, she had demolished part of the throne room before being apprehended, even if it had taken little effort to repair the damage. He had to be quick and decisive.
If he deferred to Vicky, then she'd assume all the power. Also, he knew what her answer would be. She would torture the faeries for the hell of it. No, he needed someone else to speak with, someone who might be able to settle this. Unfortunately, Kevin was still at large and he doubted he'd advocate for hurting faeries. Crocker steepled his fingers beneath his chin.
"Take her and see if she talks," he instructed Vicky and Vicky grinned, skipping as she swung a butterfly net over Magdalene to prevent her escape. Magdalene whimpered and Vicky cackled, running off with her prize. Crocker's stomach gave another unpleasant heave. He wouldn't check on the girl. He wouldn't even think about her. Out of sight, out of mind. If he didn't think about what Vicky had subjected her to, it was like it hadn't happened.
"Don't cause any permanent injuries!" he warned as Vicky darted out of the throne room. He wasn't sure she heard him or, if she had, whether she would pretend she hadn't later when questioned.
Rounding on the other faeries, he returned to questioning them. Within five minutes, it grew apparent that this was fruitless. None of them would speak unless compelled and all of them denied giving Chloe ammunition. Likely, Magdalene was the inciter. He couldn't trust her to heal Chloe without attempting to undermine him. She would have to be dismissed with extreme prejudice and then placed on an auction block to see if anyone would want her, which was doubtful.
His mood dark again, he appraised what he had and how far he had come. Pulling out his phone, he flicked through Dimmsdale's streets to ascertain whether Kevin had appeared. He hadn't; Crocker suspected an underground route beneath the houses to aid and abet criminals. He would have to investigate this and damn it, the obvious person would have been Kevin, if Kevin hadn't betrayed him.
He massaged his temples and dismissed the faerie guards. Kevin would argue for clemency. Ruthlessness was in his blood and he refused to acquiesce to it. What use did Crocker have for a disobedient nephew, particularly if he had allied himself with Crocker's enemies?
The next best steps would be to consolidate his power and then march on Fairy World. Once he possessed all the power Fairy World contained, he would be unstoppable. He foresaw obstacles, but nothing too pressing. After all, he'd advanced this far.
He'd need intel on Fairy World and he regretted dismissing his guards. However, he also needed a breather to contemplate what had transpired so far today. He had commenced as a disgruntled school teacher and now was supreme ruler of Earth. It wasn't bad for a day's work, especially on March 15th. He'd be more proud of himself if it hadn't entailed gruesome consequences.
Drumming his fingers on his throne, he dropped the phone back into his pocket with his free and then snapped his fingers. He'd need someone to brief him on Fairy World before deciding to up his game and he would need to be cautious about who he picked, because there was sedition in his ranks.
He ought to be satisfied with the power he possessed, but those with power always wanted more. He had to prove to the world that not only was he right, but that he'd always been right. He had been destined to rule over them and that faeries were destined to be servants at best. Perhaps it was time to address his nation again. Maybe he could demand an audience this time and show the faeries how useless it was to contemplate fighting him.
-
Chloe stared at herself in the bathroom mirror and ran her fingers over her bald scalp. Tears welled in her eyes and she wiped at them stubbornly. Vicky had shorn off every inch of hair she could find and while Chloe didn't consider herself vain, this stung. It wouldn't be reversed either, because Crocker showed no signs of sending someone in to remedy it.
The shaven hair wasn't the worst of it. She limped from the bathroom and dragged her right leg behind. As she walked, she spread blood across her carpet. Vicky had mangled her right leg and it had transformed into dead weight, so Chloe had to hop when she moved as the right leg was almost useless now. She staggered to her bed and collapsed onto it. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes and her chest heaved with suppressed sobs.
Sharp pain radiated out from her leg and it felt like someone had pressed a hot iron to her skin. With an effort, she dragged herself further onto the bed and winced as she stained the bedsheets. She was so neat and tidy; she would have wanted to clean that up at home. Now she lacked the strength to locate the laundry room, even if she had wanted fresh linens.
"Fuck," she breathed, clenching the sheets and riding out the next wave of pain. Timmy would've been impressed at her obscenity. Her head swam and she sobbed, pressing her face into the pillow. She wanted Cosmo and Wanda, she wanted her parents, she wanted Timmy, and wasn't it a little odd that she wanted her faeries before her parents? What did that say about her?
Chloe twisted to regard her leg and saw the bone protruding. The sight caused her to pass out for a few seconds. She hadn't gotten a good look at her injuries before. There had been too much pain in too short a span to catalog them. Icky Vicky indeed.
She bit into the pillow to suppress a scream when the next wave broke, harder and hotter than before. She ought to be smarter than this. She was Chloe Carmichael and she never took punishment lying down. Nevertheless, the pain rendered thought nigh impossible and robbed her of movement save for squirming.
Someone would have to come and set the leg. Or not. She wasn't sure what Crocker intended with her. She doubted he'd wanted Vicky to contort Chloe as she had. Call her an eternal optimist, but she knew the little good in Crocker that existed would have prevented him from wishing her badly injured.
Something had to give, possibly her. For a while, she let her consciousness glide along with the agony coursing up her leg. She lost track of time and her gaze unfocused.
Sometime later, Vicky unlocked her door and slammed it open. Chloe moaned, pushing off the bed and then landing on her bad leg. She howled and Vicky's eyes gleamed. Her apron had sparkling blood adorning it and she hauled Chloe to her feet. Unfortunately, her leg would not bear weight and she collapsed back to the floor.
"Am I going to have to carry you, twerpette?" Vicky huffed, disgusted.
No, she didn't want her touching her, much less parading her through the palace. The teenager debated this and then flung Chloe over her shoulder in a move that jarred her leg again. Chloe screamed and Vicky punched her in the head.
"Shut up," she snapped. "Either you be quiet until I bring you in front of the cameras or I will keep hitting you until you do. You don't have to be conscious for this to work."
Then, without further explanation, Vicky stomped down the hall. Every movement jostled Chloe and she bit her lower lip hard enough to produce blood to prevent from screaming. She had to be chary, however, of gnawing through her lip. Every time Vicky slammed her heels, Chloe came perilously close to biting through. She was suppressing sobs because the pain was excruciating. She kept blacking out and returning to herself only to black out again.
Vicky opened a door where numerous cameras focused on two chairs. Flinging Chloe down in one, she took the other. She snapped her fingers and a faerie behind a camera turned it on. Chloe was aware that a blood trail ran from the door and then out into the hall. She was also aware, now that she was sitting, that she couldn't bend her right leg at the knee. She told herself that because this was a TV broadcast, she needed to be in control of her emotions. Therefore, it behooved her to calm herself, stop sobbing, and own her pain.
She was still a child and this proved exceedingly difficult. When the camera panned to her, Vicky cleared her throat and started.
"As Mr. Crocker's chief torturer here, I wanted to acquaint all of you with what happens when we have insurrection," Vicky said. "Show the world your leg, Chloe."
Chloe trembled, gripping the seat bottom to gird herself against the pain. Despite her lack of response, the camera panned to Chloe's leg and she fought a whimper. Vicky patted her leg and even the light touch induced agony. Chloe's vision swam and she slumped against the chair. Her fingers slipped in their holds on the plastic chair, which resembled the school chairs.
"As you can see, the subject displays reluctance to do even the simplest task," Vicky crooned. "However, if you nudge her the right way…"
Vicky slammed her fist down on Chloe's right thigh and Chloe screamed, falling sideways out of her chair. She curled up into a ball and her lips trembled. She wasn't even aware she was whispering until Vicky stood over her.
"Stop, stop, stop…" she pleaded.
"She's much more obedient now. Don't want me to do that again, do you, Carmichael?"
Chloe blanched and whimpered, shaking her head so hard that it smacked into the cement floor. She saw stars.
"Just letting you know, especially you, Turner, what'll happen when I get my hands on you. I also wanted to remind you that yes, we are close to finding you. Why not save us the trouble and turn yourselves in?"
"Timmy, don't…" Chloe gasped. "Stay away!"
"Aw, isn't that cute? You're worried about him," Vicky said and then curb stomped her right leg. "How endearing."
Chloe passed out again, the pain too intense to bear. When she awoke, it was on the bed and her right leg was folded under her deliberately. With supreme effort, she shifted it away. The pain was making her queasy now and she leaned over the bed to vomit. Digging her fingers into the mattress, she willed herself not to roll over and fall into it.
She dug her fingers into her right palm until the pain in it overrode her leg. It didn't work for long. Gasping, she fell back against the bed. Her mouth tasted awful and she had the dreadful feeling that Vicky's video had produced the wanted effect. Timmy wouldn't stand idly by and let someone hurt her, would he?
Or would he? She lacked confidence in him, but it might've been the agony talking. The cut on her leg, now that she inspected it again, was a gash and it wept blood. Fuck, fuck, fuck. What if Timmy was so selfish that he would let this slide? But they were best friends. He wouldn't leave her to Vicky's mercy, would he?
She didn't know. That was the worst part. She had no idea what Vicky intended for her or whether Timmy would rescue her. She hadn't considered herself the type of person who needed rescuing, yet here she was, a damsel in distress. It was almost cliché.
Again, she stared at nothing and let time slip away. Faerie dust sprinkled upon her sometime later and then disappeared again. Crocker wasn't healing her. He was going to let her suffer.
She wished she had it in her to resent that, but her entire existence revolved around her leg.
Sometime after the first faerie had disappeared, another one appeared. Juandissimo. She stared at him uncomprehendingly. What was he doing here?
"If I heal Wandita's goddaughter, I will get brownie points with her," Juandissimo said to himself and then added, growling, "If I punish the man who hurt Wanda, I will gain even more brownie points. He had no right to touch mi amor."
Chloe cleared her throat and Juandissimo glanced at her. His brow crinkled with compassion and she wanted to believe he was here for more than to earn Wanda's regard. She had cried so much she had given herself a headache and her throat was dry and hoarse from sobbing and screaming.
"I cannot heal you completely," he warned. "Crocker has not given permission to do so."
He then grumbled in Spanish something that sounded distinctly like obscenities. Chloe was too spent to follow.
"I can, however, splint your leg and enable you to rest."
"Anything…" she rasped and he held up his wand. The bones remained out of place, but a cast materialized on her leg and the pain evaporated. She was pathetically grateful and would have burst into tears again had she had any left.
"Sleep," he bid her and she sank into oblivion, this time without having to worry about anguish on the other side.
-
They didn't land in Tootie's house so much as slam into the floor like a toy a child has carelessly tossed aside. Timmy groaned, hip hurting where it'd struck the floor. The other humans wore similar pained expressions. Kevin was rubbing his head, Tootie her right shoulder, and Cosmo and Wanda, of all of them, had landed on the couch. Timmy glared at them and they smiled, chagrined.
They didn't get a moment to breathe, however. Air raid sirens went off and Timmy clapped his hands over his ears when he stood. What the hell was going on? And why was that godawful noise so loud?
"Everyone, into Vicky's room," Tootie announced and at their blank, incredulous stares, said, "Don't question! No time! Follow me if you don't want to be body scanned!"
"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me how the hell you know all of this about this alternate world that just popped up a few hours ago!" Timmy yelled back.
"Do you want to be captured?" she snapped.
"Of course not," he retorted. She huffed, grabbed him by the hand, and led him toward the stairs. He didn't want to take cover in Vicky's room and he dug in his heels. She got as far as the first stair before she had to halt.
"For god's sake, Timmy!" Tootie snapped.
Timmy glowered, folding his arms over his chest. Kevin stared from one to the other and then, shrugging, vaulted up the stairs. Cosmo and Wanda remained to watch the dynamic.
"How do you know so much?" he demanded.
"I'm part faerie," she growled. "Do we really have to have this conversation now?'
The air raid sirens pounded in the background and he was developing a headache. Did her explanation really suffice? And was he leaving them vulnerable by staying to argue? Huffing, he stormed up the stairs and left the others to scramble after him.
"All the magical creatures know what happened," Tootie continued as they entered Vicky's room. On the outside, it looked normal, except for the dust. Behind a wall switch, however, was pure evil.
"And everyone who has a fairy godparent, like you and Chloe. But the others think what happened today has been going on for a long time," she said.
"And Kevin?" he asked, turning to the other boy as Tootie shut the door.
"I've been running from my uncle for a while," he said. He looked baffled at Tootie's extrapolation. "As far as I know, that's how it's been."
"See?" Tootie said. Once inside the room, the sirens died and Timmy was left with a ringing in his ears. His hip still hurt.
"I don't know if this place is scan proof," Tootie explained. "But if Crocker finds out that we have two faeries with almost no power, he'll know who they are. And he'll figure out who we are because we're nearby."
"Do we have to be in here?" Timmy protested. "It's giving me the creeps."
"My room isn't soundproof," Tootie pointed out.
"Uh, sweetie, I hate to burst your bubble…" Wanda said.
"But we're gonna do it anyway!" Cosmo interrupted.
"But faeries' wands can pierce through rooms," Wanda said. "It doesn't matter where we go if they're searching for us. They can and will locate us."
"And finish what Crocker started," Cosmo said, unexpectedly grim. He and Wanda, who had too little magic to float, were standing and holding hands. It struck Timmy how childlike they looked, standing at about his height and clutching each other.
"You're saying there's nothing we can do? We're sitting ducks?" Timmy objected.
"There isn't nothing…" Wanda demurred. "Tootie has some power."
"We're depending on Tootie?" Timmy cried.
"What's the matter with depending on me? Just because I'm not trained doesn't mean I can't help!" she huffed. "Don't you have any faith in me, Timmy Turner?"
"No, not really."
"She's all we've got," Wanda said. "Sport, if we use any more magic…"
"You'll be fine," he said and desperation laced his voice. "You have to be fine. Everything has to be fine. You're my fairy godparents."
"Sometimes the world doesn't work like that," Wanda whispered and a lead weight dropped onto his chest. His eyes stung and he turned away, staring at Vicky's boarded up window. His fists balled and he swallowed a lump in his throat.
"Sometimes the bad guy wins," Tootie murmured.
"I'm not going to let that happen," he snapped. "We have something Crocker wants, right? And he has something we want."
"You're not suggesting trading Kevin for Chloe, are you?" Wanda asked, frowning.
"Even if you were, Vicky wouldn't let Crocker do that," Tootie objected. "Vicky plays for keeps."
"Don't I get a say in this?" Kevin protested.
"Let's see," Timmy said sarcastically. "You get to return to Crocker unscathed and Chloe stops being treated like Vicky's pet rat. What do you think is the better option?"
"But Uncle Denzel doesn't hate Chloe," Kevin said.
"Then why the fuck is he torturing her?" Timmy retorted.
"Language!" Wanda reprimanded. "Sport, we don't actually know if Chloe's being tortured."
"You saw how she looked. Tell me that didn't look like it," he snapped. "I still say we trade Kevin for Chloe."
"Timmy," Tootie said, sounding exasperated. "If we show up at the palace, he'll just capture all of us and to hell with your plan."
"Tootie's right," Wanda added. "We need to come up with a better plan."
"Then what are we supposed to do? Sit here and wait?" he grumbled. "Let ourselves be captured?"
"Maybe if I offer myself to Uncle Denzel, he'll release Chloe anyway?" Kevin suggested, but he didn't look too optimistic.
A TV lowered from the ceiling and Timmy blinked, as did Tootie.
"I don't remember that being there and I've had to clean this stupid room."
After it lowered, it switched on, revealing Vicky and Chloe. Chloe was bleeding from a stab wound on her lower right leg and her leg itself was twisted at an odd angle. Bile rose in Timmy's throat and he glowered at his godmother.
"Not being tortured, huh, Wanda?" he growled.
Timmy watched, stunned, as Vicky delivered her oration and then Chloe passed out from abuse. The redheaded teenager then leaned into the camera and leered at her audience.
"Timmy Turner, I hope you're watching. Because we have faeries and drones in your neighborhood waiting to pick you up right now. You can kiss your girlfriend goodbye."
"She's not my girlfriend!" Timmy said, forgetting that she couldn't hear him.
"We have bigger worries than who you're dating," Tootie said, rolling her eyes. The doorbell rang and they turned to look at each other.
"We can't answer that," Kevin said.
"Duh," Timmy snapped.
"What do we do?" Cosmo asked.
The doorbell rang again and was accompanied by someone pounding on the front door. Hesitant, Tootie opened the door and stuck her head out just as the front door fell off its hinges and landed in the living room. Timmy crept beside Tootie to spy Trixie Tang and Veronica, along with their bodyguard, standing in the house.
"They're not here to help, are they?" Timmy asked Tootie.
"Timmy! Oh, Timmy!" Trixie called.
"Hey, she remembered my name!" Timmy exclaimed.
Tootie facepalmed and muttered something indistinct. She waved her wand and propelled them out the door. She then boarded up the door and moved a dresser in front of it. Her forehead was beaded with sweat and faerie dust flew from her shoulders. He wasn't sure if what she'd done was too difficult or if she was unused to it.
"That won't hold them for long," Tootie said. "And I don't know if I can bring us anywhere else. We're gonna have to stand and fight."
"Against that?" Timmy objected. "We'll get totally crushed! You're the only one with any magic and you're not trained! You said so yourself!
"Besides, maybe they're not against me."
"Timmy, they gladly took Chloe," Tootie remarked. "Just for the reward money. They're rich kids and the only way to make money in this economy is to sell other people out. She's not here out of the goodness of her heart."
"We just want to talk!" Trixie's voice was muffled.
"See? She just wants to talk," he retorted at Tootie.
"Timmy, I don't really know women, but, no woman ever just 'wants to talk'," Cosmo said. "They don't do that."
"Then what do they do?" he asked, turning to his godfather.
"Just shut up before you get yourself killed or captured," Tootie muttered. "Let me handle this."
Before Timmy could shoot her down or defend himself, she vanished and, along with her, their only chance of defense. Aghast, he stared at where she'd been. If Tootie got her ass kicked, they were screwed.
"We're not talking to you," Trixie proclaimed, disgusted. "We're only talking to Timmy. How the hell did you get out here, anyway?"
Timmy rushed down the stairs before Cosmo and Wanda could stop him and shoved the dresser aside. He then worked on the boards Tootie had erected, but they were nailed down hard. In a puff of fairy dust, he reappeared on the other side. Ow. He'd gotten a splinter trying to take that door down.
"He's here," Tootie said. "He's not going anywhere, especially not with you."
"If you come with us, we'll make it worth your while," Trixie said. She blew him a kiss and Tootie's hand tightened on Timmy's arm. Her nails dug into his skin.
"And keep him and Chloe, right?" Tootie spat. "Along with anyone else you happen upon?"
Trixie snorted. "We don't want Chloe. Vicky can have her."
Although he was normally addled by hormones when it came to Trixie ("my scientific curiosity was aroused" as Jimmy Neutron might've said), Trixie's words pierced the fog. Trixie would've been content to let his best friend die if it meant she had him. Maybe in a weaker moment, he might have forgiven it of her. But he didn't think so. This cut him to the quick.
"And what would you do about Tootie? And Kevin?" he countered.
Trixie's gaze swept over Tootie like she was inconsequential. "Vicky can have her too. She can kill her if she wants. I don't care."
"I do!" he said. "I care what happens to Chloe and Tootie!"
He was stunned to discover this was true. "You can't have either of them! I mean, you already have Chloe, but I'm not going anywhere with you."
"I was afraid you'd say something like that…" Trixie sighed. "I thought maybe your crush on me would make you docile, but it looks like I was wrong. Bodyguard? Get rid of the riffraff and take Timmy."
"Wait. Have you always known my name?" he asked.
"Of course I've known your name," she said, rolling her eyes. "I pretend not to notice you because it's cooler. Are you coming with me or not?"
"No," he said. "You've been lying to me?"
"For fuck's sake, Timmy!" Tootie exploded. "Who cares if she knows your name? I know your name too! So do Cosmo and Wanda! And Kevin! And anyone in our school who wonders why you talk to inanimate objects all the damn time! It's not like it's a special thing that she knows! It's the bare minimum of talking to someone to know their name!"
"Yeah, but…" He had no steam and Tootie ran right over him.
"She's a psychotic bitch who sold out your best friend, would gladly throw me and Kevin to the hounds, and probably hand over Cosmo and Wanda too to let Crocker hurt them all in the interest of furthering her own agenda. The fact that she knows your name is the least fucking important thing in this whole conversation!"
Damn. Oddly, when Tootie was angry, he wasn't reminded of Vicky at all. Tootie had her own incandescent rage.
"You threw Chloe to the wolves too!" he shot back. "These wolves! Right here!"
"I did it to protect you!" she snapped. "Trixie would sell you out if it meant she could get a shiny new pair of shoes!"
"Or I could keep him for myself," Trixie ventured.
"No," Tootie snapped. "I am sick of fighting with you over him. If you cared about him, you wouldn't have your best friend scaling the walls."
Timmy turned and saw, to his consternation, that Tootie was right. The color drained from his face.
"Hey! I thought you were secretly in love with me too!"
"All's fair in love and war, Timmy," Veronica said and Tootie booted her down the siding. Veronica slid to the ground.
"Who do you trust more? Someone who is actively trying to save your hide or someone who's lied to you about almost everything the entire time you've known her?" Tootie snapped. "Someone who's just a pretty face with no substance behind it?"
"You," he said. He'd expected to pause and deliberate, but it came out unbidden. Tootie nodded and advanced on Trixie.
"You're leaving," she said. "I'm keeping him and you're going bye-bye. Later, loser."
"I don't think so," Trixie shot back, snapping her fingers. Her snooty faerie appeared to do her bidding and Tootie gulped. Tootie might be able to manage some magic tricks on her own, but against a full-blooded faerie, he didn't think there was much competition.
"We're gonna get captured, aren't we?" he said to her in an undertone.
"Kinda forgot that everyone has pet faeries," she replied, embarrassed. "Sorry."
Trixie didn't know that Cosmo and Wanda were here, though. Or that Kevin was. That was the saving grace, right? And Crocker couldn't be heartless enough to kill his faeries, right? After all, they'd been Crocker's faeries first. Something told him he shouldn't trust in that, though.
"All right, let's get this over with," he said.
"Don't worry, Timmy," Trixie cooed. "I won't let Vicky hurt you."
She rounded on Tootie. "I will, however, be glad to let Vicky wail on you."
"Yeah, yeah," Tootie muttered. "Fuck you and the horse you rode in on."
Something exploded behind them and all of them turned to stare. Tootie's room had exploded. The side was gone, as was the box with the wands, fake and real. Cosmo and Wanda didn't have magic…but if they could take it from the wands…if they could boost themselves back up…
That didn't explain what had happened to Kevin, but Timmy doubted Cosmo and Wanda had hurt him. He was probably all right, wherever they'd put him for safekeeping.
"This is getting weird," Trixie said.
"I'm out of here," Veronica said. "This is too weird for me."
"We'll be down the street," Trixie informed him. "When you've made the right decision."
She stormed off with Veronica and the bodyguard in tow. Timmy reached for Tootie's hand and squeezed. She squeezed back. Then she raised her wand and blasted all three in the back. They fell over, unconscious, onto the sidewalk. Timmy raised his eyebrows.
"I couldn't beat them fair and square," she explained. Trixie's faerie just stared and then doffed an invisible hat to Tootie before vanishing.
"That doesn't explain what happened to Cosmo and Wanda, though, or Kevin," he said.
"I'm not sure much explains Cosmo," Tootie remarked. "But, yeah…maybe they met up with someone with more power."
"And hopefully they didn't just land right back into Crocker's clutches."
-
They would feel guilty about this later. Kevin was in no danger from his uncle and they needed to reach a place to restore themselves completely. They'd poofed to Fairy World, but the resulting magical backlash from their lack of magic and hotwiring the wands had left them semiconscious in a fountain. Cosmo was collapsed atop Wanda and they weren't seeing anything except stars.
"You two!" Jorgen growled. "You have caused a mess on Earth!"
"That wasn't our fault," Cosmo protested when he was able to speak and move his limbs.
"Yet your magic is the culprit," Jorgen rejoined. He frowned, studying them. They were pale and twitchy without their magic.
"I suppose I shall let you heal while I figure out a way to remedy this," he said.
"Timmy's on it," Wanda informed him.
"Somehow, I am not reassured," he grumbled. "And I have a feeling that Fairy World's magic will not be permitted to interfere with whatever Crocker has done. You two will assist me. Or else."
"Or else what?" Cosmo asked, unable to resist tempting the fates.
"You do not want to know the 'or else'," Jorgen growled. "Trust me."