Page 17 of Enchanted By a Pirate
"Make it right? How are you going to do that?" Iris's voice crackled with anger.
Anna looked resolutely at the tiny, angry creature fluttering through the air in front of her. "First, I need you to tell me everything you know."
"I don't have time for this!" Iris tossed her long ponytail over her shoulder. "I have a family to protect — our family that you betrayed, Anemone. Don't show up at the fairy tree again or you'll regret it!" Her unyielding gaze drifted to Margerite. "And you should think carefully about where your loyalty lies." With those words, she turned and zipped away.
Margerite looked contritely at her toes, and Anna left her alone for a moment and glanced up at Anton. If she was going to believe anyone, it was him. "Toni, why can't I remember any of this?"
The giant shrugged his massive shoulders, looking as helpless as a small child. "We don't know."
"What happened to me after I gave the fairy dust to the pirates?"
Margerite's shoulders trembled. A tear escaped the corner of her eye and ran down her cheek. She looked at Anna sadly. "I don't know, but the captain did something to you. Shortly afterward, chaos broke out and you were not seen again — until today."
With those words, goosebumps spread across Anna's arms and she rubbed them, shivering. "How many months ago was that?"
"Months?" Margerite shook her head, her blonde locks brushing her shoulders. "Not months, Anemone, years."
Anna peered up at Anton, who nodded sadly. "You were missing for an awfully long time. But I knew one day you would find your way back to us and make everything right again. I believe in you, Anemone."
As he spoke, she was flooded with warmth and she smiled gratefully at him. She was grateful to have him standing by her. And she would stick to her word. She would restore order, even if she had no idea how to go about it. First, she needed to find out what had happened so many years ago.
"So, you're assuming the captain took my memories and then brought me back to my world?"
"Not to your world, to the non-magical world." As Anton shook his head, the treetops whooshed to the sides and countless leaves rained down on them. "I'm certain he was afraid you'd stop him. That's why he banished you."
The captain she supposedly fell in love with banished her? "Then why did some pirates bring me back?"
Anton stroked his hairy chin. "I'd like to know that too."
"Maybe because they ran out of fairy dust and were hoping you would give them more," Margerite speculated.
"Did the captain know about your abduction?" Anton asked.
With the way he'd called out her name? "I don't believe so. He seemed more than a little surprised to see me."
"He saw you? He knows you're back?" Margerite's voice trembled. She huddled her shoulders and glanced around warily. Was she worried that the pirates would jump out from behind the trees at any moment?
"Yes, but Freddy saved her," Anton said, remembering what Anna had told him.
Right — that helpful pirate had shown up. Odd that he hadn't shown loyalty to his captain and allowed her to escape. "Who is Freddy and why did he help me? Is he on the side of the fairies?"
"Not exactly, but his sense of decency and honor is pleasantly unusual for a pirate." Margerite ran her hand over her arms, which were covered with goosebumps. "You must, under no circumstances, fall into the hands of the pirates. I bet they wanted to get more fairy dust from you."
More fairy dust? Was that what those pirates were after? Then they absolutely had to protect the source — if there was one. "Where do the fairies get fairy dust?"
Skeptical, Margerite narrowed her eyes. "There is one source, but it…has dried up."
What? It just kept getting worse. A quiet sadness settled over Anna. "So how can you still fly and take care of the flowers?"
"Luckily, we don't need fairy dust to fly, which is why we can continue to do it, but the flowers…" She sighed heavily. "We collected the remaining stock back then and Iris monitors the allotments like a vulture. There is still a little left, but even that bit won't last forever. It's not nearly enough to make the flowers bloom, especially since the giants still aren't blowing the wind over our kingdom. So, even if we were to make a single flower bloom with the little bit that remains, there would be no wind to blow the pollen so it could turn it into a fairy."
"So, we need to restore the source so you can have enough fairy dust to make the flowers bloom again?"
Margerite nodded. "With every new flower that blooms, fairies can be born. If we had enough dust at our disposal, we could venture out and finally take care of our kingdom again."
If Anna managed to get the source flowing again, she could make amends for her past wrongdoings. Deep in thought, shewrapped one of her glossy red strands around her finger. Margerite smiled and Anna looked up. "What?"
"Just like you used to do."
