“Shame, quite liked that phone,” thought Myrtle as it disappeared. “However, it’s going to be a nasty, if short, shock for anyone who tries to follow it.”
“The question is what do I do next?” Myrtle thought. “Since everything points to Lily, then the logical thing would be to go back to the last place we saw her alive,” she added with a wave of her wand she was back in the Fairy Godmother’s Council chamber, sitting on one of the roof beams.
“These could do with a good clean,” she thought.
“Told them they needed to get rid of all of these cobwebs,” she muttered to no one in particular.
“Those ones aren’t much use,” said the spider. “The flies can see them a mile off, haven’t caught anything in them for ages.”
“So why are you still here?” asked Myrtle.
“I wont be for much longer,” the spider laughed. “The larder is nearly empty. When it is, I’ll move on, unless you can get your friends to do some dusting?” he added, looking hopeful.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Myrtle smiled. “Though, at the moment I think they have more to worry about than a few old cobwebs.”
“Would this be something to do with the fairy who set up an office up here?” the spider asked.
“Probably,” said Myrtle. “Tell me about it?”
“Started a bit back,” said the spider. “She used to sit at that table, down there. One day, she was telling a young Fairy Godmother off and she commented about the cobwebs in the rafters. That’s when she came up here to take a closer look at the space and created the office.”
“How come we can’t see it?” asked Myrtle.
“It’s invisible,” laughed the spider.
“Of course it is,” said Myrtle, looking carefully at what wasn’t there, the place where there weren’t any cobwebs.
“It’s not a very big office,” she muttered.
“Bigger on the inside,” laughed the spider. “She went there when no one was around to see her go.”
“And now?” Myrtle asked.
“Now it’s her main office,” the spider replied. “They think she’s dead and she likes it that way.”
“Is she in there now?” asked Myrtle.
“Gone out to see her sister, Ivy,” he laughed. “Does that most days at this time.”
“Will she be gone long?” asked Myrtle.
“You’re not thinking of going in there?” he asked, suddenly looking rather worried.
“The answers are in there,” Myrtle replied. “I’m not going to find them out here.”
“But she might come back and find you,” the spider stuttered.
“Life is full of these risks,” said Myrtle, waving her wand.
“I would have thought she’d put up a wand shield,” Myrtle muttered.
“A wand shield might have drawn the attention of the security team,” said a small voice. “As no one knew it was here, she didn’t think she’d need one.”
“Who are you?” asked Myrtle.
“I am Lily’s assistant,” she replied.
“And what is your name?” asked Myrtle.
“Nobody ever asks for my name,” she replied.
“I am Myrtle and I am asking,” Myrtle replied.
“I think it’s May,” she replied. “It’s been so long since anyone called me by it, it’s hard to remember.”
“The mayflower is very beautiful,” Myrtle smiled. “A harbinger of spring. How long have you been here?”
“I don’t know,” sighed May. “She brought me here when she created the space. I’ve been here ever since.”
“Don’t you want to leave?” asked Myrtle.
“I don’t have a wand, so there’s no way out,” sighed May. “And I have no where to go if I did leave.”
“Couldn’t you go back to your people?” asked Myrtle.
“She’d look for me and that would be the first place she’d go,” sighed May. “And she wouldn’t be happy, so it would be best for them if I stayed here.”
“But you don’t want to be here,” said Myrtle.
“It isn’t good here,” May agreed. “But if I leave she’ll take her anger out on my family.”
“So we need to find some way to stop her,” said Myrtle. “And I think you may be the one who can help me do that.”
“It would be good to leave here without her getting to me,” said May thoughtfully.
“How did she stage her death?” asked Myrtle.
“Image projection,” said May. “She was guessing that neither you nor Enid would want to do anything like hug her.”
“Does Enid know that Lily isn’t dead?” Myrtle asked.
“No,” said May. “It was important that Enid believed that Lily was dead. If she didn’t believe it, then no one would.”
“And she was happy with that?” asked Myrtle.
“I got the impression that she didn’t like Enid, so letting her think she was dead, she seemed to like seeing her upset about it,” May explained. “Why?”
“Enid is my Mother, I didn’t think she was that good an actor,” sighed May. “I just find it hard to believe that Lily would be that cold as to put her through that.”
“She uses people, it’s the way she is,” sighed May.
“Then would you like to be part of the solution?” asked Myrtle.
“What do you want me to do?” asked May.
“We need data,” Myrtle replied.
“There’s tons of that in here,” said May. “Where do you want me to send it?”
“That’s a good question,” said Myrtle. “Normally I would suggest sending it to security.”
“Only they have infiltrated it,” May finished.
“There are doubts about the Fairy Godmother network as well,” said Myrtle.
“The tooth fairy’s network has been hacked as well,” said May.
“Even that!” Myrtle stuttered.
“A baby goes on their books as soon as it’s born,” said May.
“Earlier than that,” said Myrtle.
“That way, they know when a baby is due,” said May.
“Of course,” said Myrtle. “If the baby’s suitable they can have someone there for the birth.”
“So where do I send this data?” asked May. “She will be back soon, so I need to know.”
“Has she got back up to the cloud?” asked Myrtle.
“Yes, doesn’t everyone,” said May.
“Then create an identical back up, one that’s updated whenever the original is and I’ll sort out who to send the details to,” said Myrtle.
“OK,” said May. “How can I get in touch with you.”
“Just think about me, I’ll know and get in touch with you,” smiled Myrtle, giving her wand a quick twitch.
“Have you done anything whilst I’ve been out?” Lily asked May.
“What?” asked May.
“Make me a cup of tea, it’s about all you’re good for,” said Lily sitting down and putting her feet up.
“Of course,” said May, looking round for the kettle. “Did you have a good time?”
“Ivy’s always fun to be with. We had a good laugh at Enid and that daughter of hers,” said Lily. “Hurry up with that tea.”
By Janice Nye © 2022
No comments:
Post a Comment