Page 15 of Enchanted By a Pirate
Anna barely suppressed an impatient snort. "I'll ask my questions and everything will fall into place. Deal?"
Margerite nodded.
Anna started with what was most important to her. "Where are my parents?"
"You're starting with the most difficult subject." Margerite laughed unhappily and fell silent again. She couldn't bear it. Anna took in a deep breath to keep her temper under control.
"Okay, let's start with something easier. Do all fairies have flower names?"
As Margerite nodded enthusiastically and Anton poked his head through the treetops to beam at her joyfully, the wheels in Anna's head began to move. She glanced up at Anton, her heart beating wildly. And then at Margerite. "Why did you call me Anemone?"
Anton and Margerite didn't say anything but just looked at her expectantly, their eyes wide. This meant the answer was left entirely to her imagination. To her own upsetting thoughts. Her pulse quickened again. This magical journey was definitely not healthy for her.
"Anemone nemorosa, thimbleweed. Why do I also have a flower name?"
Anton chuckled happily. "It's coming back, the memories are coming back."
Anna refused to consider what this could mean until Margerite tilted her head and nodded slowly.
"Yes, Anemone, you're a fairy."
7
"Are you telling me I'm a fairy?" Perplexed, Anna looked back and forth between Margerite and Anton, who nodded in agreement.
"Her memory is coming back!" Beaming with joy, Anton gave a jump and the forest shook. A trunk cracked and the tree fell with a loud crash. The giant looked at the felled beech tree with embarrassment. "I didn't mean to do that."
Anna only noticed it out of the corner of her eye. She laughed heartily. All the tension fell away as tears of laughter slid from the corners of her eyes. She wiped them aside and shook her head. "So why am I tall? Why don't I have wings? And why was I in the human world? Besides, I don't have any magical powers."
Margerite gracefully ran her fingers through a small pouch hanging from her belt and sprinkled a pinch of glitter — was it fairy dust? — over herself. In no time at all, she grew and grew, her wings shimmering transparently and disappearing until Margerite was the same size as Anna, maybe a little taller. She was still wearing her fairy clothes and was barefoot, and these were the only things that didn't make her look completely normal.
Laughter caught in Anna's throat. She stared at her wide-eyed, but Margerite merely shrugged. Apparently for her, such a transformation was the most normal thing in the world.
"We can live in both forms. However, our magical power is stronger when we are small. And, obviously we can only fly when our wings are present."
"I can hardly believe it." Anna carefully reached out her hand and touched Margerite. "You're real, aren't you?"
The fairy smiled. "Just like you. Do you want to try it?"
Anna held her breath and shook her head. What nonsense were they trying to sell her? Just because she was stranded in a fantasy world didn't mean she was a fantasy, just like them. "Maybe some other time."
She took a few steps, her eyes fixed on the ferns and mushrooms on the forest floor. If the two of them were convinced Anna belonged here, they were unlikely to help her get back home. She had to talk to someone else. Her family. Didn't Anton want to take her to her family? When she met them — and they surely weren't fairies — she would reason with them. And clear up all this madness. She tried again to recall her parents' faces, but couldn't. Why wasn't she able to remember what they looked like? What were their names and where did they live? There had to be a logical explanation.
"Where are my parents?"
"Fairies have no parents."
Anger bubbled up inside her, but she needed to stay calm. It was important to always remain calm when dealing with crazy people. She inhaled deeply and glanced up at Anton. "Didn't you want to take me to them?!"
"Not to your parents, your family. And the fairies are your family."
Anna rubbed her forehead. If things went on like this, she was sure to end up with a headache. Margerite strokedher shoulder sympathetically. In human form, she seemed so normal and ordinary that Anna felt hopeful, but thew words Margerite then spoke immediately destroyed that feeling. "We are born from a young plant's first pollen grain."
Anna laughed unhappily. "From a grain of pollen?"
"Exactly. A plant grows, produces its first bud, and when it blooms, it releases the pollen inside. As soon as a strong wind blows, it sends the particles on a journey, and when the sun's rays shine on it, the pollen turns into a fairy."
An image popped up in her mind against her will. The very notion was magical. Tired, she sighed. There had to be someone somewhere she could speak to rationally. Until then, she would play along with the two of them.
