Genevieve's Tale: A Nutcracker Retelling

Chapter Five: Fairies

Did I really do that to him? It doesn't make any sense. Vi gazed down at her hands, palms facing the night sky, then looked up at the wooden man. "I am so, so sorry if I did anything to hurt you. It was an accident." Tears pricked the back of her eyes. Do not start crying. You're in an unknown place and cannot appear too weak in front of a complete stranger.

He studied her face for a few minutes, not saying a word.

Vi squirmed under his intent gaze until she saw his facial features relax.

He took a deep breath. "I believe you. I suppose part of it is my own fault. I can understand why you would be afraid of me and my...motives."

"Thank you." She gave him a small, reassuring smile. "You should probably do something for your burns. I think putting some snow in your hands will ease the pain and reduce the chance of scarring."

He shrugged as he looked at his hands again. "I will try it, but it doesn't really matter. My hands won't be scarred anyway once the en--" The man pressed his lips together.

"What were you going to say? You are not making any sense."

"It's nothing. Let's just say that this land is...governed by completely different rules than what you are accustomed to," he said after a brief pause.

The sound of a thousand hummingbirds startled Vi. Before she could react to the situation, a group of people flew to the ground and surrounded her and the wooden man, each of them holding large staffs with a sharp point at one end that sent out sparks in a variety of colors.

"Halt! Who are you and what are you doing here?" bellowed a man with a long beard a few wrinkle lines on his forehead. By the commanding tone of his voice, Vi concluded that he was the captain.

"My name is Vi and I--" she stammered.

"Stop," replied the captain. He glanced up and down at Vi, his eyes landing below her neck. "Where did you get that?"

"It was a gift from my mother." She unconsciously grabbed the pendant as she spoke.

"Sir, look at the man's cloak," said another man with a long skinny face.

The captain turned his gaze to the wooden man then turned to the rest of the group. "You three, take this man in for questioning."

The three people nodded and moved closer to the wooden man. One of them gave their staff to another person as he held the wooden man's arms behind his back. The other two kept their staffs pointed at him.

"Unhand me," said the wooden man. "You can't take me without a good reason."

"I suggest you comply or else you will thrown into the dungeon," said the captain in an icy tone.

The wooden man grumbled under his breath as he was led in the same direction as the castle.

It wasn't until she saw them retreating that Vi noticed three pairs of iridescent wings. Vi gasped as realization dawned upon her. "You're fairies, aren't you?" she asked; her question came out partly as a statement.

"Yes. Now, tell me who you are," the captain said, not lowering his staff.

"My name is Vi."

"Vi. A nickname, I assume?"

"Yes. How did you know?"

He lowered his staff a little bit. "That's not relevant at the moment. You said that you got your necklace from your mother?"

"Yes." Why is he so interested in a piece of jewelry?

"What can you tell me about your mother?"

"I...I don't know anything about her, sir. She abandoned me when I was a child." She straightened her back to appear braver than she felt at the moment. "What does my mother have to do with this?"

"It matters because your necklace is infused with fairy magic."

"What? That's impossible."

He strode closer to her. Vi wanted to back away from him, but she couldn't do that unless she wanted to get poked in the back by one of the staffs. Squeezing her eyes shut, she felt him place one of his hands around the pendant. She was surprised when he released her necklace without uttering a sound.

"That is fairy magic. I am certain of it." He locked his bright blue eyes with hers. "You must go to the castle. It is not safe for you to remain here when there is an assassin nearby." The captain turned to the others in the circle. "Keep searching the kingdom while the two of us," he said, looking to the man on his left, "escort...Vi back to the castle."

Every fairy in the circle nodded their heads. All of the them, except the two men who were going to escort Vi to the castle, turned and walked away.

"What about--?" asked the younger man with a tilt of his head; he had a darker beard than the older man and freckles on his face.

"What?" asked Vi.

"That," he replied, pointing his finger at the ground.

She moved her eyes to where he was pointing. Vi jumped back when she saw there were more patches of green grass. How is this possible? Snow doesn't simply vanish like that.

Her breath was caught in her throat when she noticed the rodent man was almost completely encircled in a green ring.

The fairies stared at her, transfixed, their eyes unblinking.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked; her voice came out in a high squeak.

The captain walked over to the rodent man and pulled back his hood.

"Don't hurt him. He didn't make the snow evaporate. He's barely moved since--"

"Since when?" The captain gave her a steely gaze.

"Since he rescued me from a fire." With each word, her voice became softer. Why did I just reveal that to him?

"Regardless, this thing will be thrown in the dungeon," the captain replied with a slight snarl. He yanked the rodent to his feet as if he weighed nothing at all. "You," he said to the other fairy, "take Vi to the castle immediately while I question this creature."

The other fairy nodded, reached out, and grabbed Vi's hand. As soon as his hand touched hers, a buzzing sensation filled Vi on the inside. The next thing Vi knew, she could no longer feel the ground beneath her feet. She gasped in alarm. Are they planning on throwing me in the dungeon as well? Am I in danger with an assassin running around? Who has been killed?

Vi kept her eyes shut until she felt and heard the sound of crunching snow again.

Word Count: 1,120