Mary Anne and the Fairy Part 2

Soon she was in bed tucked up under the covers and had almost fallen asleep when she suddenly jumped up in bed, she turned her bedside light on and went to the draw, she picked up the small box and took the pendant out and looked at it, something was annoying her but she couldn’t work out what it was.

Mary took the magnifying glass out of the draw, she looked closely at the fairy on the pendant, then it struck her, the fairy on the pendant was Snowdrop, she looked exactly the same as Mary had seen her that morning and of course her name was on the back.

Right tomorrow I will go back to the woods and I won’t give up until I can find the clearing, it has to be there somewhere, she put the pendant back into the box and put it and the magnifying glass on her bedside table.

It took Mary a while to get to sleep because she kept on thinking about Snowdrop and why she wasn’t there today, but soon tiredness overtook her and she drifted off to sleep.

It was raining when Mary woke in the morning so she knew that it was no point rushing to get out because her mother wouldn’t let her go out while it rained, “you will catch a cold” she always said, so Mary took her time to shower and dress and was still in her room when her mother called her down for breakfast.

After Mary had finished her breakfast she looked outside and saw that the rain had eased off and the sun was starting to come through the clouds, “can I go out and play if it clears up” she asked her mother, “yes but first I need you to help me change the beds” said her mother.

When Mary had finished helping her mother she saw that it had stopped raining and the clouds had now cleared from the sky, the sun was out and quickly warming up the ground causing a mist to rise as the sun dried up the rain.

“Look at the time” said Mary’s mother “its ten o’clock already and I haven’t even started the baking yet”, “Off with you now out of my way and don’t be too late home”.

Mary went to her room and picked up the box with the pendant in and put it in her pocket she then made her way back into the woods.

 She went to where she was sure the clearing was, even though it was not there yesterday, but today there right in front of her was the clearing with all the flowers, the mushroom houses and the stream, “why wasn’t it here yesterday” she said.

Mary lay down on the now dry grass at the side of the clearing, and called quietly, “Snowdrop are you here”.

 Mary heard a fluttering noise and then right in front of her was Snowdrop.

 “Why wasn’t the clearing and you here yesterday, I looked everywhere and couldn’t find you” asked Mary, “The clearing, me and all the other fairies were here yesterday and always have been we saw you but for some reason you couldn’t see us” said Snowdrop.

 

Mary looked around and saw that there were lots of fairies around now, most of them were by the mushroom houses just looking towards Mary and Snowdrop, some of the fairies were very young and were being held my their mothers others were playing just like human children do, but the only difference was they all were flying.

 

“Did you lose a pendant with your name and picture on it” asked Mary, “why” asked Snowdrop, “well the other day I found this pendant” and Mary took the pendant out of her pocket and held it in the palm of her hand, “it looks like you and it has Snowdrop on the back” said Mary.

 “Yes I did lose it and yes it is mine that explains how you can see us” said Snowdrop.

“What do you mean” said Mary.

“Well we all have a pendant with our picture and name on and sometimes we allow certain humans to see us and join us, like Peter Pan and the children could see Tinkerbell, but first we must leave them, or give them a pendant so that they can see us, did you have the pendant with you yesterday when you came looking for us”.

“No I didn’t I forgot to take it out of my draw” said Mary.

“That was why then” said Snowdrop.

“So if I give you back your pendant does that mean that I won’t be able to see you anymore then” said Mary”.

“Yes that’s true but we could give you your own pendant, but you would have to promise never to tell anyone or give it to anyone else to wear or it will just disappear” said Snowdrop.

“Stay there while I go and get you yours” said Snowdrop and off she flew.

Snowdrop was soon back in front of Mary, she opened a small silver box and took a pendant out, she then pulled a strand of her long golden hair and used it as a chain to tie the pendant to; she gave it to Mary and said” here put this over your head”.

“That will never go over my head” said Mary, “I would be lucky to get it over one of my fingers”, “trust me” said Snowdrop, “hold the piece of hair like you would a chain on a necklace and put it over your head”.

“Ok” said Mary and lifted the pendant over her head, “Now lower it over your head” said Snowdrop.

Mary slowly lowered the pendant over the top of her head, as she lowered the pendant Mary started to get smaller and smaller until she was the same size as Snowdrop, the pendant was now hanging around Mary’s neck.

“What happened” said Mary.

“Don’t worry when you remove it you will grow back to your own size” said Snowdrop, “we fairies have magic don’t forget, and now could I have my pendant back please”

Mary gave snowdrop her pendant and Snowdrop pulled another strand of her long hair out tied it to her pendant and placed it back over her head.

“Right let me show you around and introduce you to some of the other fairies” said Snowdrop; she then took Mary towards the mushroom shaped houses.

By the time Snowdrop and Mary had reached the mushroom houses Mary was feeling quite tired and her legs were aching “I didn’t realise how far we had to walk” said Mary “it didn’t look to far when I was my normal size”.

 Snowdrop laughed and said” there will be a lot of things you will have to get use to when you are this small, especially as you don’t have any wings like us”.

 

After what seemed hours, Mary had been introduced to most of the fairies and shown around their village, “This is just a small part of our kingdom” said Snowdrop “the great palaces and larger buildings are too far away to show you today”.

Mary said that she had better be going home, as it would soon be lunch or even tea time, she was in such a hurry coming out that she forgot to put her wristwatch on and she didn’t know what time it was.

“I’m sorry but we can’t help” said Snowdrop “we don’t need things to tell us the time, for time is only where you are now and not where you will be a second later”, Mary didn’t understand what Snowdrop said but nodded politely.

Mary took hold of the pendant and slowly started to remove it and as she raised it above her head she was back to her real size.

Mary placed the pendant into the silver box that Snowdrop had given her and put it in her pocket, she lay down on the grass and said “thank you for trusting me and showing me around, is it alright if I visit you later today or tomorrow”.

Snowdrop said yes but she would not always be there to show Mary around, but there would always be other fairies that could.

“Ok and thank you again” said Mary.

When Mary walked into the kitchen her mother said “changed your mind then”, Mary said “what do you mean”, “well you only went out ten minutes ago”, said her mother as she started to cut out the biscuit shapes ready to put in the oven.

Mary looked up at the clock on the wall, the hands read ten past ten, yes she had only been gone ten minutes but that couldn’t be right, she was so tired from all the walking and she was sure that she had been with the fairies for most of the day, how could she have done all that in ten minutes?

“I’m going up to my room to play on my computer” Mary said and off she went up to her room.

Mary took the silver box which held the pendant out of her pocket and put it into the draw and sat on the edge of her bed, “I am sure I was out most of the day” she said to herself again and picked up her watch, she put the watch around her wrist and looked down at the face, the watch hands read twenty past ten.

Mary woke with a start as she heard her mother call for her to come down for lunch, “I must have dozed off”, Mary said, was I really that tired.

When Mary reached the kitchen she noticed that it was raining again, “well I won’t be able to go back out to see the fairies this afternoon” she said to herself, “sorry what did you say” said Mary’s mother, “nothing mum, just talking to myself” said Mary and sat down at the table.

It rained for the rest of the day so Mary spent time in her room playing on her computer, listening to CD’s and watching television, she was disappointed that she couldn’t go out to see Snowdrop and the rest of the fairies but there would always be another day.

When Mary woke on Tuesday she looked out of the window to see a beautiful sunny and cloudless day, great I have to go back to school tomorrow, and so I will try and spend as much time as I can with the fairies.

After breakfast Mary asked her mother if she could have a little picnic as she would like to spend most of the day watching and sketching the animals in the woods and it would save her having to come in for her lunch, Mary’s mother agreed and packed a lunch for her, “now don’t be too late back, remember your back at school tomorrow so an early night for a change”, “Ok mum” said Mary and started off into the woods, she was just crossing the path which led towards town when she stopped,” I forgot to pick up the pendant” she said and made her way back to the cottage.

“Back already, said Mary’s mother, it’s only twenty past nine and you have only been gone thirty seconds: she said laughing, “No I forgot my sketch pad” said Mary and ran up to her room she picked up her sketch pad and some pencils then took the silver box which held the pendant out of her draw and put it in her pocket.

Mary was soon back into the woods and made her way to the clearing, “yes it’s still here” she cried, she took the pendant out of the box and lowered the pendant over her head and as she did she started to get smaller just like before.

When Mary had stopped shrinking she walked towards the mushroom houses, on the way she passed some of the younger fairies who were playing a game of air ball on a triangular pitch, they stopped playing and waved to Mary as she passed, Mary waved back and continued towards the mushroom houses.

Then she heard Snowdrop calling her “where are you” said Mary and looked around to try and see where Snowdrop was, Snowdrop was just above Mary and said “I’m here” and fluttered down in front of Mary.

Mary said that she was sorry that she couldn’t come back yesterday but because of the rain she had to stop in, “what is rain?” asked Snowdrop, “what do you mean, what is rain, it’s the water that comes down from the clouds and when it’s really cold the rain turns into snow and turns everything white” said Mary, “well it never rains or snows here” said Snowdrop, “the sun is always shining and why would we want rain or snow that wouldn’t be very enjoyable it would stop us having fun”.

“But how can it not rain here, I saw it from the window and it was raining everywhere” said Mary, “Did you see any fairies, or step on any fairies or any of our houses the other day when you couldn’t find us” asked Snowdrop “I hope not, but I’m sure that I came this way when I forgot the pendant” said Mary.

“Yes you did, but you live in a human world and we live in our world and although you might think that you walked on top of us you were never really here”. “I don’t understand” said Mary “how can I not really be here when I am here”.

“Trust me, said Snowdrop “when you are here like now, you are here because you are like us, but without the wings, and when you are your normal size you’re not here, you are in your world, the only way that you saw our world and us, was because of the pendant you found and you would only see a fairy in your world if she or he were to venture into it”.

“Well I don’t understand but if you say that is why ok” said Mary.

Because they had been talking Mary hadn’t realised that she had now reached the fairy town and she wasn’t tired.

“Would you like to go with us to the dance in the magic meadow” asked Peaches a pretty fairy who had come out of one of the mushroom houses to greet Mary and Snowdrop “It should have started by now and you will be able to meet my friends and some of the elves who also come” “Yes please said Mary, “But I’m not very good at dancing so I might just watch”, “I’m sure that you will be all right” said Snowdrop “and so we can get you there quickly and  without you being tired we have made something for you to wear”.

Peaches held out two multi coloured silk like wings they were attached to a harness, “you won’t be able to fly like us but we will hold your hands and when you fly with us, the wind will get under the wings and keep you up without us getting tired”.

The wings were soon sticking up on Mary’s back with the harness tied tight.

Mary looked in the mirror and thought that she looked just like one of the fairy herself now.

Peaches and Snowdrop took hold of Mary’s hands and the next thing Mary knew she was up in the air, the wind was blowing under her wings and a couple of times Snowdrop and Peaches let go of Mary’s hand just to show her how well the wings worked and Mary floated like a glider on the wind.

Right we are going down now said Peaches the magic meadow is right below us and slowly down they went the fairies and elves already in the magic field all stopped dancing and clapped as they saw Mary gently land in the meadow.

The music was being played by a mixture of fairies and elves and everyone was dancing including Mary, “I could never dance like this before” said Mary to the elf that she was dancing with, “That’s why this is called the magic meadow” said the elf “you can do any dance, sing any song or play any instrument while you are here”.

Mary danced and danced, every elf must have asked her for a dance and there were even dances that Mary had never seen or heard of before, where everyone danced together, she ate buttercup cakes and drank dandelion juice, she even managed to draw some of the fairies, she promised to tell anyone who saw them, that she used her imagination to draw them, not that they would have believed that she really had seen and was drawing real fairies.

Soon it was time for everyone to pack up and return to their homes, the elves said that they still had lots to do before the next moon rose and the fairies still had to colour some of the flowers that had started to fade under the sunlight.

Snowdrop and Peaches took hold of Mary’s hands and off they went soaring into the sky, they laughed and sang songs all the way back to fairy town and when they landed outside Peaches mushroom house they were still laughing.

“Thank you for such a wonderful day” said Mary “I’ve really enjoyed it, I will miss not being able to come back here until the weekend, I have to start back at school tomorrow”, “That’s ok” said Snowdrop, “make sure that you learn a lot”.

Mary removed the wings and handed them to Peaches to look after, until she came back to see them again, she said goodbye and then took hold of the pendant and raised it over her head and as she did she returned back to her normal size.

Mary made her way back to the cottage and as she walked she whistled some of the tunes that she had heard at the dance, as she came into the kitchen she glanced up at the clock, she had only been gone for half an hour, how could that have been, she must have danced for at least two hours and then there was all the eating and the talking and the flying to the dance and back, but the clock was right the hands showed ten to ten.

The rest of the day Mary spent getting all her things ready for going back to school and spent some time with her friend Lily who had come to the cottage to play with Mary.

Mary wanted to tell Lily all about the fairies, but remembered what she had been told.

The day soon passed and it was time for Mary to go to bed, she was looking forward to going back to school and meeting up with all her friends, but she would miss visiting the fairies every day, but there was always the weekend and other holidays.

I am sure that I will have a lot more adventures with the fairies but that will be another story Mary said as she dropped off to sleep.

 The End