The Little Fairy
Chapter 10
Human
"Are you all right?"
"Never mind that – is she dead?"
"I haven't fallen over." Vidia put the stone down. "I guess it worked."
"I don't feel anything." Fawn said, as if she expected fireworks.
"I didn't wish for you to be human, darling." Vidia said, with a very Vidia-ish smile. "Let's check on Jacquie."
Nataly stepped into the doorway and all four of them turned around and froze.
"Hi, Nataly." Vidia said, nervously.
Nataly shifted her weight onto one foot, then the other. "Have we met?" she asked, in a really worried tone. "I don't think I know you."
Tinkerbell laughed, relieved.
"Who are you?" Nataly was getting scared. "Where are we, anyway? Why are you all bloody?" Vidia, surprised, realized that she still had some blood on her.
"I was in a fight." Vidia said, soothingly. "Don't worry. Someone used a magical ring to put an enchantment on you. We took the enchantment off, and we're going to make sure that the ring is never used again. We're normal fairies from Pixie Hollow."
Nataly stepped away.
"We won't take you to Pixie Hollow unless you want us to." Vidia continued, familiar with her fears. "Ask us any questions you want to."
"Why is there a human on the roof?"
Vidia started, then she raced to the door and stopped. Jacquie was just getting up from the ground, wearing a fashionable human dress.
Jacquie didn't see her. She was admiring the dress and spinning in circles, incredibly happy.
"I'm human!" she murmured, "Human!"
"It worked." Vidia panted, suddenly feeling tired. "Someone's going to want to find Thomas Brown – on Needleman Street – it's next to a river. Jacquie will need a home near there."
"Sure, Vidia." Tinkerbell replied, staring at Jacquie. The first fairy who ever became a human.
Tinkerbell, and Fawn took Nataly and Cassie out of the house. Vidia moved to follow, but had trouble picking up her feet, and she tripped on the door frame. She staggered, catching herself.
Fawn glanced back. "Vidia, are you okay?"
"Yeah." Vidia nodded, slightly. "I'm fine. Just feeling like – oh – aspirin." She fell forward on her face in a faint.
The Little Fairy
"Oh, thank Mother Dove!" a voice spoke – loudly. It seemed familiar.
"Vidia, can you hear me?" She didn't know that voice. "Open your eyes."
Vidia blinked them wide open. The nurse fairy, startled, flew back a little.
"Do you feel all right?" The nurse asked, in a stern tone.
"I feel fine." Vidia didn't grace her with a smile.
The nurse pulled her into a sitting position. "Your wings were slightly creased when you got here. Open your wings."
Vidia obeyed.
"Close."
Vidia did so automatically. She knew the drill. She glanced around. Rosetta, Fawn, Silvermist, Tinkerbell and Iridessa were standing across the room, obviously having been told not to come over. They smiled when she looked at them, and she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow and tilt a corner of her mouth.
"A little flap . . . and try a little flutter." Vidia was getting ready to do a flitter when the nurse stepped away. "Lie down, Miss Vidia." The nurse pushed her down. "You're going to rest here at least until tomorrow. Possibly longer."
The nurse left the room.
The other fairies remained silent and still, lined up against the wall opposite the bed. Vidia regarded them for a moment.
"If you're waiting for my permission, get over here." she said, finally.
Four of them didn't waste a moment. Fawn hung back, just a little.
"I wondered if you might have touched the other stone slightly, and it might have had a delayed effect." Tinkerbell exclaimed.
"We didn't know where you were – it was so frightening!" Silvermist said.
"When he took that jar and it was empty I almost fell right out of the sky." Rosetta spoke up.
"You had everyone terrified. We didn't know what horrible things might have happened to you." Iridessa said, earnestly.
"Oh, Vidia, I was so scared. When you collapsed my heart stopped beating." Fawn confessed.
Vidia waited for them to calm down.
"What happened to me?" she asked. "I just remember that Jacquie's a human, and I wasn't feeling great."
"You collapsed."
"You fainted."
Tinkerbell and Fawn spoke simultaneously, then looked at each other.
"Go with collapsed." Vidia ordered. "What happened?"
"We flew you straight to the fairy camp, then were told to bring you here." Tinkerbell explained.
"Are we back in Pixie Hollow?" Vidia propped herself up on her elbows and looked around.
"Yes, we are!" Fawn hissed, pushing her back to lie down. "If the nurse sees you not resting she'll throw us out!"
"So what is wrong with me?" Vidia asked, from her prone position.
"Well, they sent a couple of messenger fairies and found out that you'd been dozed with aspirin. Too much aspirin." Iridessa explained. "You have Aspirinitis."
"Really?" Vidia frowned at the name.
"No, but they don't have a name for it, and we do, so we're using it." Fawn beamed.
"By the way, Jacquie told me to say that she apologizes. Actually, she apologized almost a hundred times." Tinkerbell remembered.
"Speaking of Jacquie, how's she doing?" Vidia asked.
The Little Fairy – Now human, in London
Jacquie stepped gently down the back alley adjoining Needleman Street. She carried her parasol daintily, and she had a fur sash resting lightly on her elbows.
She sighed. Being a human wasn't as bad as she's feared, and when she passed Thomas on the street she had smiled and nodded politely. He had tipped his hat to her. He hadn't spoken a single word, but she had nearly fainted.
She heard footsteps ahead of her and knew that Thomas was walking back from the office. She saw him come onto the alley and start walking away from her toward Needleman Street. She smiled as she saw his neat suit and handsome hat in perfect condition, just as he liked them.
She pressed herself into a corner, trying to make sure he wouldn't see her if he looked behind him. It was good that she did so then, for three rough-looking fellows were following Thomas and came into the alley.
Jacquie frowned, worried.
She heard one calling ahead to Thomas to stop. Thomas looked ahead and realized that he couldn't get out into Needleman street without them catching up, so he stopped.
"What can I do for you, gentlemen?" he asked, politely, but worriedly.
"We'd like to borrow some of your money." the ringleader stepped forward.
"I don't get my pay from the office until Tuesday, sirs." Thomas didn't back down.
"Listen here, young fellow -" The leader stepped forward.
"No, you listen here." Jacquie called. The three men turned. Jacquie strode toward them in a yellow colored satin dress with dark red trim. "You leave this man alone. Go find someone else to bother." The feathers on her hat and the curls on her shoulders bounced as she took long steps to protect Thomas Brown the way she had always done.
"Madam, you shouldn't be here." Thomas stepped in front of her. "I don't think you realize what you've gotten us both into."
"Look at the Mademoiselle." The leader smiled, and his two thieving friends laughed. "You're practically wearing pound pieces on your fancy dress. Hand over your pocket money, Miss."
"Madam, perhaps we should just -" Thomas began.
Jacquie ignored him, stepping between him and the men.