Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

"Never is an awfully long time." –Wendy, 2003 Peter Pan movie

"Merryweather?" Danny raised an eyebrow at her tiny fairy friend. "Hold on, wasn't that the fat blue fairy from Sleeping Beauty? Oops, sorry if that was offensive." She winced. Merryweather rolled her eyes and groaned in the act of cleaning out the lakebed, and the huge amount of water she was levitating above their heads shook. Danny gave it an uneasy glance.

"Everyone always reminds me of that! She was my great-great-great I-lost-count grandmother. She had quite a temper, but redeemed herself when she gave Princess Aurora gifts and helped watch over her." She plucked a few dead fish off the bottom and turned them into seashells. "I was named for her, but thankfully I don't have her personality." With an almighty crash, the water fell back into the bed, thoroughly soaking Danny. "Oops, sorry." Merryweather pointed her finger at Danny and a blast of hot air dried her off.

"So you mean to tell me the Sleeping Beauty story was real?" Danny asked, twirling a flower stem in her hands.

"Well, now you know fairies are real, so you tell me." Merryweather had turned the surface of the water to glass, and was counting all the fish in the river. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, thirty, one hundred....one thousand? That's way less than last week. I hope the pirates aren't sneaking over here and eating them." She twisted her wrist and the stream bubbled merrily again. "Danny, can you ask Peter if he'll swing by the pirate camp and see if the pirates have been eating these fish? Oh, Queen Clarion will not be pleased..." she bit her lip and looked worried.

Danny looked at her friend. "Hold on. Pirates can come over and eat the fairies' fish? Is that even allowed? And I'm still trying to accept the whole 'oh yeah, BTW, Sleeping Beauty is real' thing."

Merryweather sighed. "Pirates can technically do whatever they want except come to the fairy area. They're lazy and won't go fishing in the ocean. Sometimes they manage to sneak in to areas like this"-she indicated the pond and stream-"but we usually catch them pretty fast. But I think the Queen has been distracted by a certain girl and her unusual boyfriend-"

"Hey!"

"I'm only joking. But the Queen will not be happy if the pirates are in fact eating the fish. I think she plans to throw Hook and his men off Never Land forever. He's just become too much of a problem."

"Won't Hook and his men tell the truth?"

"And be locked up in an insane asylum? I don't think so. Not to mention, Hook is one of the laziest gits on the planet. Can you see him trying to make a living? No, he is more content to sit here and bother the rest of us." Danny was surprised by the outburst from the usually kind and even-tempered fairy.

"You're right. Hook is a lazy git. Is there anything else you have to do?" Danny was itching to go visit the animal fairies.

Merryweather's face softened. "Go on, I'm almost done. Besides, you do NOT want to be around when I tell the Queen about this. Actually, I might just ask Tink to tell her..." She gave Danny a sly smile.

"Do it!" Danny laughed. "I'm going to find the animal fairies, and tell Peter to search the pirate camp. I'm sure he'll hate doing that." Merryweather smiled at her and continued counting the fish.

Danny sprinkled some more dust on her head and flew back in the direction of the central fairy town. It wasn't long before she landed in the heart of the fairy marketplace. There were so many cool things being bought and sold. Not to mention the appearance of the buyers and sellers. It made Danny dizzy. Thankfully, she soon ran into Dove, one of the animal fairies. Danny had met her on one of her first trips to Never Land without Peter.