Pixie Magic Ch. 13

I ran towards the motionless fox. She was laying on her side with a bloody hole in the fur just below her neck.

As I approached, the fox slowly disappeared, and two "butterflies" appeared on the ground where the fox had been, one with green and blue striped wings and the other a yellow tiger swallowtail. Neither butterfly moved at first, but as I approached, the yellow swallowtail began to stir, moving its wings slowly.

As I got closer, the yellow swallowtail took flight. I stood in place as she approached me.

"I hope your happy now, Vix," I said to the yellow swallowtail as she drew nearer.

"Who are you talking to?" the yellow swallowtail said, "It's me, Fern."

"Fern!" I said, as I recognized the figure in front of the wings, "You're alive!"

"Barely," she said, "I thought Vix had me. What happened?"

"Brenda shot her," I explained, as I walked towards the other "butterfly."

I looked down at the winged creature on the ground. Its wings were broken, and its body was mangled, but the fiery red hair was unmistakable. Vix was dead. I carefully picked her up and held her in my hand.

Fern rested on my shoulder and looked at her dead sister in my hand.

"Poor Vix. I don't know whether to laugh or weep," Fern said, looking down.

"Get in the truck and change back," I whispered to Fern when I saw Brenda approaching.

"What happened to the fox?" she asked as she got closer, "It was here a minute ago."

"Maybe you only winged her," I said as I gently closing my hand to shield the fact that I was holding a dead pixie in my hand, "I was looking at this butterfly and when I looked back, the fox was gone."

"I thought for sure I got it," Brenda said, "I'm a pretty good shot."

"You took that shot in the rain and from least thirty feet away," I said to Brenda, "That was an amazing shot! But even if the shot didn't kill her, you must have crippled her severely, I don't think you'll see that fox again."

As we were talking, another truck pulled up the driveway. It was the mayor.

"So here you are!" he said, seeing me, "Where's Randy?"

"We thought he was with you," Brenda said, repeating the lie I told her, "Doctor Monroe drove his truck here."

"What have you done with my son?" he asked me.

"Me? Nothing," I said, "He took off for the woods and left his truck in my parking lot, so I thought I would drive it back here."

"I can vouch for that," Fern said, emerging from the back of the truck. She had on the wet outfit she was wearing before Vix turned her into a chipmunk, "He abandoned his truck, and we brought it back here."

"That boy knew we had an important meeting this morning," the elder Knox said, "He wouldn't have missed that for anything . . ."

The sound of the deerhounds barking in the distance caught his attention.

". . . Unless!" the mayor's face lit up and he turned to Fern, "Was his gun in the truck?"

"No," Fern replied.

(Randy's rifle was still in the clinic parking lot where he dropped it.)

"Don't go anywhere, we'll talk later!" Knox said as he went back to his truck. He sped back down the driveway.

"Do you want to come inside and dry off?" Brenda asked, "I have a few things to finish in the house, but if you give me about an hour, I can drive you back to your office."

"Thanks, Brenda," I said, "But if it's alright with you, we'd like to walk around a bit to...um...to look for that fox."

Brenda looked up at the sky. The rain was starting to let up. "Suit yourselves. Let me know if you find the carcass."

I turned to Max and Crusher, who were sitting patiently beside me.

"Do you think you can lead us to the other dogs?" I asked.

"No problem," they replied, "But you'll have to keep up with us."

"We'll try," Fern said.

We left Vix's body hidden in the back of Randy's pick-up and followed the dogs across the front lawn and into a nearby field. From there, they headed into the woods.

The dogs set a fast pace and if Fern wasn't such a good tracker, we would have lost them for sure. We sloshed through a small stream and over a ridge, eventually the distant sound of barking got louder and louder. By now the rain had stopped, but we were soaked to the skin.

"We're gaining!" the barking said, "Almost there."

We kept moving towards the barking. We followed a second stream swollen from the rain, and the barking changed.

"He's trapped! He can't move." the barking said, "Be careful, don't let him gore you like he did to Max and Crusher!"

We approached a small clearing and on the far side, we could see the stag in the distance, crying out in pain.

"My leg!" the stag cried in his bellowing voice, "I think it's broken. It hurts so fucking bad! Somebody please help me!"

We ran forward towards the stag, but a movement to my left caught my attention. There was the senior Knox with his rifle raised, about to take a shot.

"KNOX! NO!" I shouted as loudly as I could, although I was nearly out of breath from running, "Don't shoot!"

A small puff of smoke clouded the end of the rifle as a shot rang out and the sound ricocheted through the woods.

"Got him!" Knox cried out as the stag went down and disappeared into the undergrowth.

Fern and I stopped and looked at each other. Then we raced to the spot where the stag went down.

We reached the spot at the same time Knox did. All six hounds were there, lying down and crying. There, with his left foot caught in a steel foothold trap, was Randy Knox back in human form, naked, wet, and lifeless with a pool of bloody water on the ground beneath his chest.

Mayor Knox stared at the scene in disbelief. Still holding onto the barrel of the rifle, he let the butt end fall to the ground.

We stood there in silence and watched as the reality of what had just happened slowly sunk in. A small breeze kicked up, causing a slight downpour from the water on the leaves and branches above us.

Tears began to well in Knox's eyes and drip down his cheeks onto his shirt combining with the water drops falling from the branches overhead.

"What have I done?" he said under his breath at first, but then louder, "What have I done?"

"We heard a shot, what happened?"

That voice came from somewhere behind Knox. When I turned to look, two state troopers emerged from between the trees, their pistols drawn. They were Officers Branley and Varney.

As they got close enough, they could see the scene for themselves. Officer Branley holstered his pistol and took charge.

"I'll take him," he said, indicating Knox, "make sure the other two are okay."

Officer Branley took the rifle away from Randolph Knox and cuffed him.

"We're okay, and very happy to see you!" I told Officer Varney, who I'm sure could hear the relief in my voice.

"We were on our way to find you, but he had to take that Pierce character into custody first," Varney explained, "We were investigating the mayor's truck parked on the side of the road when we heard the shot."

Do you need help with him?" I asked, indicating Randy.

"No," Varney said, after checking for Randy's pulse, "This is a crime scene now. Nothing gets touched. I'll call in a forensics team as soon as we get back to the cruiser."

***

It was a little after 6 in the evening and the June sun was still up and would be for another couple of hours. We spent much of the afternoon answering questions from the state troopers and then answered many of the same questions again from the forensics investigative team.

Aside from the details of the shooting itself, no one could explain why Randy was alone in the woods and without a stitch on. We weren't going to tell the forensics team the answer to that question, and we knew they wouldn't believe us even if we did.

Hollis had returned my car along with an unnecessary apology, explaining his orders from the mayor. We drove out to Randy's farm to offer our condolences to Brenda and invited her to stay with us for company, but she declined the invitation.

It was a long day, and we still hadn't eaten. We were getting ready to pack up and go to the supermarket in the next town over when there was a knock at the door. A middle-aged woman dressed all in black and carrying a leather briefcase walked in. She looked grief-stricken.

She sat in one of the chairs in the clinic waiting room and waited expectantly for us to do the same.

"We've never met," she said, looking at me, "but I'm Winifred Knox. Does that name mean anything to either of you?"

She looked particularly hard at Fern.

"You're Randolph's wife," I said, and then dropping my voice respectfully, "and Randy's mother."

"Yes, I am," she said, dabbing her eyes with a lace handkerchief, "I normally don't get out and socialize very much. I usually leave that to my husband."

The mayor never talked about his wife, and she wasn't very well known in the town. She kept mostly to herself and apparently had some social connections in Montpelier through state senator Knox, but aside from that, no one knew very much about her.

"We're so terribly sorry for what happened to your son...to your family," I said, words that Fern echoed.

"Thank you," she said, "But I'm afraid I have no one else to blame but myself."

"You?" Fern and I said at the same time.

"Hear me out," she said, "and you'll understand why."

She sniffled and wiped a tear before continuing.

"Years ago, when I was much younger, I was called Winnie," the woman paused after she said that, looking at Fern, "Does that name mean anything to you?"

Fern had a puzzled look on her face and shook her head slowly.

"I shouldn't have expected you to remember because it was so long ago, but I knew your mother," the woman said with a faint smile.

Fern's mouth suddenly dropped open and she seemed to remember something from the past.

"Aunt Winnie?" she said softly. A small tear ran down her cheek.

"Oh, dear child," Winnie said, "You flatter me with that tear, but I don't deserve it."

"Let me give you a hug, Aunt Winnie," Fern said, standing up.

"Please sit down and wait until you hear what I have to say," she said, "You'll not want to hug me after that."

"What did you do?" Fern asked.

"Many years ago, I fell in love with a human," Winnie began, "He was a handsome man with a promising future. His father was an up-and-coming politician who looked to be going places."

"Randolph Knox," I said flatly.

"Oh, he was different then," Winnie said, catching the meaning behind my flat reply, "He loved nature and long walks in the woods. That's how we met. Protecting the woodlands and preserving the environment meant everything to him."

"What happened?" I asked.

"We fell in love," Winnie said, "He had no idea I was a pixie, of course. We would meet on the trail several times a week, even in bad weather."

"Then one day, he proposed to me. Just like that! Out of the blue," she continued, "He didn't know anything about me, or where I lived, or anything. He made me the happiest pixie in the world. I wanted to spend my whole life with him."

"But wouldn't you have outlived him?" I asked.

"Of course!" Winnie replied, "Not only that, but both our fathers totally disapproved. His father wanted nothing to do with me."

"What happened?" Fern asked.

"We got married anyway," Winnie said with a faraway look in her eye, "We figured that since we were married, our families would have to accept us. That's when I told Randolph about pixies and that I was a pixie."

"He didn't believe it at first, but when I showed him my wings and ears, he understood and accepted me for who I was," Winne said.

"But Aunt Winnie, you're still a pixie, aren't you?" Fern asked.

"No child," she said, "I went to the King, your father, and begged him to make Randolph a pixie, but he refused. So, I spoke with my sister, your mother, and told her all about Randolph. I told her I wanted her to allow me to get pregnant. I thought that if I was pregnant, your father would make Randolph a pixie."

"What happened?" Fern asked.

"Disaster," Winnie said, "Your mother and I were very close, and she allowed me to get pregnant and that's when I got pregnant with Randy. But you father was furious. Not only did he not allow Randolph to become a pixie, but he took away all my pixie powers. Gone. Forever. Then he banished me from the pixie community, and I haven't been back since."

"Well, I was besides myself," Winnie said, "I had Randy, of course, and Randolph and I moved here and made a life for ourselves. Eventually his father came around and helped us with the real estate business, mostly because it also helped his own political career."

"But I became so angry, I decided I wanted to destroy the Green Mountain Pixies," Winnie said, "I convinced Randolph to hunt down pixies and to look for the stag kings. We set out steel foothold traps all over the woods, being careful not to put them anywhere near where hikers might find them."

"That's how he captured and killed your father," Winnie said tearfully, "And more recently, captured my sister, only to have my own son shoot her."

"So, you see," Winnie said, "I'm responsible for all of that, even the foothold trap that my son died in, killed by my own husband. I should be the one sitting in jail right now, not Randolph."

"Why are you here?" I asked, "You didn't come here just to confess your wrongs."

"No, you're right," Winnie said, "I came here to make peace and amends with the pixie community."

She reached into her briefcase and pulled out a few sheets of paper.

"These documents are for you," she said, looking at the one on top. "This is the deed to this building including the ten acres of land surrounding it. It is made out in your name, Dr. Monroe. Sign here and it is yours."

"This one," she said pulling out another paper, "is the deed to 35,000 acres of woodlands. It abuts the Green Mountain National Forest and contains Hemlock Hall and the Great Oak Tree that I used to call home. It is made out in your name, Fern. With you holding this deed, the pixies will be safe from further development."

"You don't have to do this," I said.

"I do, Doctor," Winnie said, "I have lost everything that I care about, but I can at least try to atone for the wrongs I have committed against the pixie community."

"But what about the wrongs the pixie community has done against you?" Fern asked.

"What do you mean, child?" Winne asked.

"You were unfairly banished from the pixie community, and you lost all of your pixie powers," she said.

"There's nothing anyone can do about that now," Winnie said sadly, "The King is dead and there is no other King around to undue his dust. Even if there were, I doubt he would want to restore my powers once he's learned what I did."

Fern and I looked at each other and stood up.

"Stand up, Mrs. Knox," I said.

She stood slowly, looking sad and wary.

Fern and I went over to her, and we both hugged her at the same time.

"Why?" she sobbed, "After all that I did?"

"You have suffered a lot, even before today," I said, "You deserve comfort for that if nothing else."

"And you were treated badly and have paid a steep price for your behavior and injustices," Fern added.

Fern and I took a step back. I looked over at Fern and she nodded.

I cleared my throat and pointed to Fern with an open hand, "Winifred Knox, may I introduce you to the Queen of the Green Mountain Pixies, Miss Fern Meadows."

Fern morphed into her human-sized pixie appearance wearing her green "Peter Pan" outfit, complete with pointy ears, hair that cascaded down her back and breasts and Eastern Tiger Swallowtail wings fully extended from left to right. It was a dramatic and impressive sight.

"Thank you, and may I introduce you to the King of the Green Mountain Pixies, Doctor Skyler Monroe," she said smiling, pointing towards me with an open hand.

I changed into my human-sized pixie appearance, just as impressive as Fern's, with a longish pixie haircut, pointy ears and Monarch wings fully extended left to right.

A look of surprise erupted on Winnie's face and a tear wandered down her cheek.

"It's come to my attention as King of the Green Mountain Pixies," I said in a mock pompous voice, "that an injustice has been done in my kingdom."

Fern giggled. "Pixies don't have kingdoms," she said.

"Quiet, my Queen," I said smiling, "Or I'll have you taken to my chambers for a royal ravishing."

"As I was saying," I continued in a loud, pompous voice, "An injustice has been done and it is time to right this wrong. Winifred Knox, I hereby restore your—"

"Wait, Skyler," Fern interrupted, "I think you're forgetting something."

"What now?" I asked, breaking my character as pompous king, "What did I forget?"

"Are you sure she wants her powers back?" Fern said, "I mean she may not want to turn back after all these years."

Winifred was starting to smile, possibly from the prospects of regaining her powers as a pixie, but most likely from our start and stop antics.

"Winifred Knox," I began again in my pompous voice, "is it your wish to—"

"Winnie" Winnie Knox interrupted, giggling slightly.

"What?" I asked.

"Winnie," she repeated, smiling, "My real name is Winnie. My father-in-law insisted I tell everyone my name is Winifred to make me sound more important and high class. But Winnie was always my pixie name."

"Oh...well...do you want your pixie powers restored or not?" I asked quietly.

Tears of joy streamed down her face.

"Yes," she said happily, "Yes I do."

"Great," I said, conjuring a handful of dust, "Here you go then."

The multi-colored twinkling sand floated down onto her head and disappeared. Winnie's appearance changed and the tops of her ears grew to a point, her gray hair elongated past her shoulders and behind her sprouted wings resembling a spicebush swallowtail butterfly.

Winnie fingered her hair and touched the tips of her ears and did her best to turn left and right to see what her wings looked like.

"They're beautiful," Fern reassured her.

"But after what I've done," she began.

"Can't be undone," Fern said, "Pixies still live in the moment and you're more than welcome back into the forest and the Great Oak Tree."

"I don't know," Winnie said, "I don't feel I deserve it."

"Your pixie status comes with a condition," I said, "You'll be on probation for the next 3 years. You'll need to help protect the Green Mountain Pixies and the forest from harm and outside interference. If you fail to do so, you will be banished again, this time for your own actions and for good. Is that understood?"

"Oh, yes!" she replied, "That's more than I could hope for and more than I deserve."

"Everyone deserves a second chance, Aunt Winnie," Fern said.

"May I suggest you open up your farm to visitors and create fairy houses hidden away throughout the property. You could stimulate the imagination of future generations with wild tales of magic people with butterfly wings in a fairytale setting. Give them enough to delight in magical things they don't understand without revealing too many key details about the real lives or existence of pixies."

"Hmm, that sounds lovely," Winnie said, thoughtfully.

"Teach people that the magic of nature is all around us, we only have to look for it," Fern added.

"That sounds like a lot of fun. I'll do it!" Winnie said.

I looked at my phone and checked the time. "Looks like it's too late to get to the supermarket. I'm starved, what do you want to do about supper?" I asked.

"I know where we can get good food, great company and it won't cost us a cent," Fern said, "Have you eaten anything Aunt Winnie?"

***

Two hours later, I was finishing my second bowl of pixie wine and a fresh blueberry for dessert. The blueberry was small by human standards, but to a 3-inch pixie, it looked like a large, blue melon.