"Okay, okay," Steven said, the bright Pixie light reflecting from his eyes. "I'll follow you, but I don't like your change in color and demeanor." He turned to Laura and whispered. "I hope we're doing the right thing."
"We?" Laura said. "I didn't--"
"Enough!" the Pixie said. "You cannot be allowed to follow me if you don't trust me."
"How are we supposed to trust you if you can change on us so easily?"
"Again with the we, Steven?"
The Pixie's color changed again and slowly the light turned from a harsh red glow to the soft shimmering light she had been previously.
"It is a Pixie law that trust is important," the Pixie said. "No, I haven't explained that in strong enough terms. It is paramount that you trust in me. You see, when the tree fell and we pixie's thought it belonged to us--remember it fell into our wood, after all--we trusted you humans. Of course that turned out to be a big mistake." Pixie glared at Laura and then it moved to Steven. For just a moment the soft light switched to a deep, pulsing red, but just as quickly it returned to the peaceful, sedate, soft white glow. "Sorry," the pixie said. "I can get very excited when I talk about this." She took a long inhale and then let it out slowly. "Shall I continue?"
Laura grasped her brother by the upper arm, just above the elbow. "Maybe we should just leave, Steven," she said. "What do you think?"
Steven wanted to leave, he really did. But he remembered how quickly the pixie changed from this loving, peaceful light into the horrid and scary light. He looked at his sister and saw the worry in her dark eyes. When he turned back to Pixie he noticed her glaring at him, and all around her edges a light moved quickly, like those LED lights that border an object and keep moving alternately from one light to another.
"Well?" said Pixie.
Steven turned back to his sister, and said, "I don't think we have a choice here Laura. I mean, we can lose either way. If we say no, we won't follow you," he turned a sideways glance at the Pixie and shot her a nervous smile. "Or we can try to find our way out of the wood on our own." He noticed that his hands were shaking and his palms were sweating. He rubbed his palms along his thighs to wipe away the sweat, but when he looked down he saw that where he had wiped his hands on his thighs there was a greenish glow. His eyes widened. "What the hell?" he said, astonished.
"Hehehehehe," the pixie laughed. "You see?" she said. "I have all kinds of magical powers--"
"Magical powers?" Laura said, the nervousness in her voice was unmistakable. "Steven, are you sure we should have come here at all?"
"It's too late now, missy," the pixie said, it's voice becoming louder. "You should have thought about that long before you bothered us by coming here. Don't forget that the wood is filled with trolls, and they aren't nearly as nice as I am."
"Nice?" Laura said and stamped her foot. "You call yourself nice when you demand that we follow you?"
"I have demanded nothing!" The pixie's voice had turned thunderous. "I told you that you have a choice. Follow me to safety or go it alone and find certain death."
"Steven, I'm scared."
"You're scared?" Steven stammered. "Don't you think that I'm just a little scared too?"
Suddenly, the pixie's light grew warmer, fainter, nearly translucent. She shimmered softly. "I don't mean to scare anyone," she said with a voice that was both soothing and low. "I am not here to do anything like that. I simply want you humans to understand that I am here to help you."
"Can I have a few minutes alone with my sister? Please? I won't say anything bad."
"It will be better if you don't," the pixie said. "Remember my magical powers."
Steven stared up at the pixie, and said, "Right, right," he turned to his sister and rolled his eyes. "Magical powers, let's remember that sis."
"Don't mock me, human," the pixie's thunderous voice shook the trees around them. Then it suddenly turned soft again. If you looked closely you could just about see a shape resembling a smile deep inside the light. "I mean, you shouldn't mock someone who is only trying to help you, sorry."
"Right," Steven said slowly. "So is it alright if I discuss this with my sister now?"
The shaped smile widened inside pixie's light. "Certainly. Go ahead. I was only reminding you that I can hear everything you say."
"Okay," Steven said and turned to face his sister. "Let's remember that, sis."
Laura shook her head vigorously, but there was no mistaking the fear emanating from her once beautiful eyes. Her lower lip trembled, further announcing her fear.
Steven put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, sis. Let's talk about what we should do." He glanced back over his shoulder and saw that the pixie had sat on the ground, her back against the broad truck of a huge tree. Steven shot pixie a smile, then turned back to his sister again.
"Okay sis, you go first," he said in a voice that was not much more than a whisper. "I want to hear what you have to say about all of this. He stared across the darkness at Laura, waiting for her to reply. But instead of replying, she just stood there trembling.
"Laura, Laura?" Steven grasped both of his sister's shoulder and gently shook her. "Laura! Come on, snap out of it or we'll never find our way out of here."
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to Steven, Laura's body shivered and she seemed to awaken from whatever had held her captive.
"Well," she said slowly, and looked around as if seeing the dark wood for the first time. "We're still here?" she said with a tremor in her voice.
"Are you okay, Laura?" Steven asked, concern rippling his forehead. "Let me look into your eyes." He stepped closer to his sister and stared into her eyes. "Everything looks okay to me sis," he said. "Just take a minute to gather yourself--"
"We have wasted so much time already," Pixie said. "Let's get a move on, giddy up, saddle up, get along little doggy." Pixie smiled and then laughed. "I have always wanted to say that." Hehehehe.
I don't think I'm the only one losing his mind around here, Steven thought. He turned back to his sister.
"Are you okay now?" he asked.
"Yeah, yeah, I am," Laura said, but her voice spoke more of disorientation than clarity.
"So what do you say?" Steven felt more than saw the pixie's light move. He turned fearful eyes toward the light and watched it move up to the top of a tree, then higher, then higher again, then way up past the top of the tree top.
"Watch this humans," Pixie shouted.
Suddenly Pixie fell down into the tree. Steven and Laura watched pixie fall through the tree. She bounced off the branches ricocheting from one branch to the next like the small metal ball inside a pinball machine.
"Wheee!" Pixie shouted as she bounced from tree limb to tree limb. "Wheee."
Steven turned to Laura and his eyebrows rose high into his forehead.
I think that pixie is crazier than either one of us."
"I think you're right," Steven. Her eyes moved around in their sockets as her gaze followed the crazy pixie bouncing inside the tree's leaves.
"Anyway, Laura," Steven said bring her back to their conversation. "What do you think? Do we follow," he turned and glared at the pixie, "her? Or do we go it alone?"
Laura hesitated before answering, but when she did her voice was filled with uncertainty. "I think we should. I THINK, I said, remember that!"
"Okay, so you're leaving it up to me again?"
"Yes, I suppose I am," Laura said, her eyes still glued to the pixie bouncing around the tree shouting whee, whee.
"Okay, then don't complain when I make a decision if it turns out wrong."
"Sure, sure, Steven," Laura said. But Steven wasn't convinced she had agreed.
1397 
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