At first things had gone well for Kirsty. The goblin had continued to give chase and had not seen her friend Rachel go into the mortuary room, but as Kirsty approached the linen basket, planning to grab it, spin it around, and with luck, have the goblin fall inside and slam down the lid on him, a second goblin came around the corner from the lifts and stairs, carrying bottles of pop and bags of sweets and crisps – he had obviously been to the shop Kirsty's parents thought the girls had gone to, and was returning with stolen supplies for their guard duty.
Kirsty reacted quickly; turning so fast she skidded on the floor and ran back the way she came, slamming into the first goblin, knocking him flying. She didn't look back to see his friend help them up and shout angrily at her as they began to pursue.
"Quick!" she yelled as she flung open the plastic swing doors, "the goblin is after me! And he has a friend!"
"What?" Rachel asked, startled.
Laura reacted quickly, flying over to the wall racked with metal locker doors. "Quickly, one of you open this drawer and hide the other side of it, the other, behind the desk." With a flick of her wand the desk chair and contents of the desk scattered across the floor between the door and the lockers.
The girls did as they were told, Rachel struggling with the locker drawer until she had the catch loosened, at which point Laura flung it open with another flick of her wand. Laura yelled, "Get down girls, stay out of sight," just as the goblins burst into the room.
The first one fell over the chair, the second falling on top of him. Angrily they both stood up, scowling. Laura flew in from of them.
"Oh dear, I seem to have escaped," she said and flew back quickly as one made a grab for her. With a roar they began to chase her, slipping and sliding and skidding on the pens, pencils, specimen pots, test tubes and various other items that Laura had scattered about. From their hiding places they could see Laura was leading them towards the open mortuary drawer.
"Now!" Laura yelled suddenly and both girls were ready, as although Laura had not had the time to explain her plan they had both guessed it. The girls jumped up and ran at the goblins and pushed them hard. They both tipped head forward into the drawer. There was plenty of space; two goblins are nowhere near as big as one adult human. Laura flicked her wand and the drawer and goblins were showered with green sparkling mini sharp knives – or rather scalpels – and the drawer slammed shut. Rachel clicked up the fastener and the lock, just to make sure.
Laura laughed triumphantly. "That will teach them to imprison me! They can just jolly well stay there 'til Jack Frost comes and fetches them!"
The girls thought she looked so fierce. "Won't they suffocate?" asked Kirsty, slightly worried. She didn't like Jack Frost's goblins at all, but she wouldn't want to kill them.
"Oh, I shouldn't think so."
Laura stopped her mid-flight triumphant dance to look at the girls' worried faces. "Oh no, of course no. And I'm medically trained for all magical creatures, not just fairies. Now girls," Laura fluttered down to the desk and sat at the edge, legs pressed together. "Thank you so much for your help. As I said to Rachel, I believe they have another fairy locked inside that office. I am rather worried to who it might be to be honest. I know that they scattered Robbie and James somewhere, but not here, there was only me left from those they pulled from the station by the time I got here. Then the next day, when they shoved some food in that damn jar they took someone into that room." Laura sighed and stretched. "But first things first. Could you help me with those things? It's not fair on the humans who work here. I'm afraid my magic might be a bit worn out after opening and closing the mortuary drawer.
While the girls picked up the chair and the desk items and tidied them back to Laura's satisfaction – she wanted it to be exactly as the human doctor had left it on Friday - they explained to Laura what King Oberon and Queen Titania had told them and Jean.
"Poor Jean," Laura commented, "she must be so worried about her father. But she is safe?"
Rachel and Kirsty nodded reassuringly.
"To be honest, that was who I thought was in that room. I think now it must be Max. There tends to be symmetry between things here on Earth and in our Realm, a symmetry that Jack Frost can't ignore. I was placed here, so probably Max too."
Once the desk and the floor were back to normal, Rachel tried the inner office's door. It was locked.
"There is probably a key in one of the desk drawers," Laura suggested, so Kirsty rifled through all four drawers with no luck. The two girls and the fairy were about to give up with frustration and think of another plan that didn't involve throwing the chair through the window when Laura, flying in angry circles, spotted a set of three keys shoved inside the pen pot.
"Here," she cried, pointing. Kirsty picked up the keys and handed them to Rachel, who on the second try; opened the door. They stepped and flew inside.
The inner office was tiny and narrow, barely more than a large cupboard, and very dark inside. Rachel found a light switch and flicked it and harsh bright light from a naked, old-fashioned bulb flooded the room. Laura flew to the far wall. Kirsty and Rachel stepped further into the room with more caution. There were shelves with empty test tubes and containers, piles of forms and wallets for requesting tests and sending reports. There was also a shelf full of old brown box files full of yellowing sheets of paper that looked like they had been there a very long time indeed, perhaps before most reports and information were kept on computer.
"We need to look for a box or jar big enough to imprison a fairy. Max is quite a big fairy too, so don't go looking at anything too tiny."
"I heard that!" yelled a tiny voice, deeper than any fairy voice the girls had heard, even King Oberon's.
"Max!" called Laura. "Where are you?"
"Laura! Is that you? You must take care. I can hear humans."
"I'm with Rachel and Kirsty. They freed me. Their Majesties sent them."
"What about those damn goblins?"
Kirsty and Rachel looked at each other. They had never heard a fairy say a bad word before!
"We took care of them," Rachel explained.
"They're having a little lie down. On ice, so to speak," Laura said.
Max harrumphed with laughter.
"Keep talking," Kirsty said. "Every one, be quiet, and everyone go to a different bit of the room, all spaced out."
Laura flew higher to be near the top shelves while Rachel walked to the back of the room and crouched down to be near the dusty cupboards under the workbench. Kirsty stayed at the door end, near to cleaner, less dusty, more recently used, shelves with the test tubes and specimen pots.
"Can you talk now please Max?" Kirsty said.
"What to you want me to stay? I'm cramped and cold and hungry. Dah dah de dum. Ho hum. I'm in here..."
"Got you!" Rachel bent down and retrieved a large, old-fashioned specimen jar with a rubber seal and lifted it up onto the workbench. Kirsty joined her friends and both girls and fairy peered at the fairy in the jar. Inside the jar, distorted by the thick, old, curved green glass; was a male fairy, with grey hair, wearing a suit, but that was all the girls could see.
He looked up at them, "Get me out of here!"
First Rachel and then Kirsty tried and failed to pull of the rubber seal of the specimen jar, but it was so difficult, vacuum-sealed.
"Oh for goodness sakes!" Laura said, exasperated, and waved her wand over the jar and the rubber lid flew off, nearly hitting Kirsty on the nose. She then sank slowly down to the bench, her wings unable to keep her up, still exhausted from her battle with the goblins and her opening and closing the mortuary door, where she had trapped them.
Max flew out immediately and went straight to Laura. He sat down next to her and put his hand on her shoulder. He wore a dark grey, slightly crumbled, suit, with a white shirt and red bow tie. He also wore heavy, dark-framed, fashionable, glasses. His large wings were deep red with pink tips and sparkling pink glitter edging all the way around them.
"Are you alright my dear?" he asked Laura.
"If I've told you once I've told you a thousand times, I'm not your dear," Laura snapped back.
"Everyone is dear to me Laura. Especially my friends. Now, what have you been doing to yourself?"
"Those goblins..." Laura began weakly.
"She was amazing!" said Kirsty.
"Awesome!" added Rachel.
"She locked them both up."
"Where?" Max asked.
"Body safe," Laura replied.
"'On ice'," Max laughed, quoting Laura's earlier quip. "I see. Well, if you are able to fly my dear, we must get going. It's been a while and I for one don't want to be here when Jack Frost comes to free them."
"Agreed. If only I hadn't exhausted myself..."
"I think you've done a wonderful job. Now, if one of these lovely girls could just carry you out?"
"Of course," Rachel said and picked up Laura very gently and lay her on her palm.
"Just until my powers are recharged. I have no intention of making a habit of this."
"No, of course not," Rachel smiled.
Max led the way, Rachel followed carrying Laura, and Kirsty came last, switching off the light, locking the door, returning the key and making sure the desk looked as it did when they had first found Laura. Of the goblins there was still no sign, the mortuary drawer remained resolutely shut.
Max directed them the opposite way to the way they had come from A , down the corridor and turning into a brighter, lighter one that came out by a door opening onto a car park.
"Are you fit my dear?" Max asked.
"Max!" Laura said, but there was an affectionate fondness behind the anger.
"I know, I know, but I call Morse and Robbie my dear too, and they never object. Have you found him? Morse? Why is Robbie not here."
"Jack Frost has taken the whole station. Everyone is missing."
"We rescued Laura before you," Kirsty said.
"And we found the police station. Jean helped us. But others are missing as well as Laura," Rachel added.
"Oh dear!"
"And we have no idea how to go about it!" Rachel exclaimed.
"I wish Jean would come back and help us," Kirsty sighed.
"Jean will be working hard to maintain the balance here on Earth all by herself," Laura said.
"Jean said something about reflecting the nature of things, but we're not sure what that means," Rachel said sadly.
"But we did find the police station at the police fete."
"And you found us here, didn't you my dears? So the same must be true for the others, there must be some reflection of the missing fairy. Other than that I haven't a clue. Unless you stay to watch Jack Frost rescue his goblins and try to follow him."
"Don't be ridiculous Max! These are human children! And it would be far too dangerous, even if their parents wouldn't miss them. I'm ready to fly now." Laura flew up off Rachel's palm. "Thank you Kirsty and thank you especially Rachel for finding and freeing me. You've both been very brave. Keep on being brave and keep your eyes open, your ears open, and your minds too, and I'm sure you will find and rescue everyone."
"Yes. Good luck my dears. Thank you so much. And now we must go. I'm so hungry. I think the goblins forgot about me. I've not had food for two days."
"You should have said!" Rachel said, fumbling through her pockets until she found a few wine gums left in a bag. She offered one to Max, who ate it hungrily, as big as a whole cake to him. Not too seem rude Rachel offered the other sweet to Laura.
"Thank you. Although the goblins fed me, this will help with the drain on using such huge magic to lock them up."
After they had eaten, the two fairy pathologists said again their farewells and flew up into the sky, vanishing as they entered the Fairy Kingdom.