Chapter 132: Bite Me
"Um..." Dolores was the first to speak. "We don't talk about Bruno."
The Madrigals all nodded. Although Wendy wasn't close enough to touch their shadows, she could sense their fear. Even Mirabel was struggling to hold the portrait steady.
Wendy studied the man in the picture. Bruno was older, perhaps in his forties, smiling shyly behind thick, curly bangs. He seemed a meek person, and Wendy found herself commiserating with the sadness in his eyes.
She looked at Mirabel. "What do you mean Bruno is like me?"
Mirabel opened her mouth, but Tinkerbell snatched the portrait.
"Some people will do anything to get on camera, won't they? Poor Uncle Bruno kidnapped by Oogie Boogie! Seriously, Four Eyes..."
Tinkerbell tossed the portrait. The glass shattered. "You couldn't think of a better story? Everyone knows Oogie Boogie is fake --- "
"No he's not!"
Angrily, Mirabel collected the broken frame. She looked over her shoulder, begging her family for help.
"Oogie Boogie kidnapped our Uncle Bruno two years ago! It was Halloween, the only time our abuela let him leave the house! The villagers were afraid of him, but Halloween was special. He could blend in, he was part of the holiday magic, and all he wanted to do was pass out tons of candy! But after sunset, someone knocked on our door and yelled trick or treat! Bruno answered and I saw this huge monster – "
"Oogie Boogie – " Tinkerbell said, glancing worriedly into the audience. "Is a fantasy, created by King Arthur. It's a scare tactic to make Fantasians think we need his protection – "
"But I saw him!" Desperately, Mirabel spun to the cameras. "Listen to me! He's real – I swear – I saw him! Oogie Boogie came to my house – he kidnapped my uncle – Oogie Boogie is out there and he will kidnap anyone!"
She turned to Wendy. "Uncle Bruno had powers. He could see our nightmares, he could sense our fears. The villagers said Oogie Boogie came for him because he could control shado –"
"Oogi boogie is a myth!" Tinkerbell shrieked, almost in hysterics. "There is no proof that he exists –"
"Are you kidding me!?" Mirabel jumped up and down, hands on her head. "There's butt loads of proof! That's the whole reason Jak Triton is in Gatorade commercials! Jak is famous for rescuing the King's nephew and the fox kids from Oogie Boogie!"
"He also happens to be in the military, sworn to blind obedience!" Tinkerbell placed an erect finger on her crotch. "Wink, wink yes Your Majesty, I can pretend to see a fake monster if you increase my rank and make me famous."
Ariel straightened. "My son wouldn't lie, Tinkerbell!"
"She's right!" Mirabel was emphatic. "They don't just give Gatorade commercials to anybody!"
"We've seen Jak's evidence first hand." Ariel raised her voice. "Including video footage of Oogie Boogie himself, which – by the way – is way more evidence than we had during the Battle to Take Fantasia. The first time we saw those villains was at a school dance, after the first attack – "
"Or did you forget?" sneered Ariel. "Because, you know, you ultimately joined them."
"Daaaaamn." The Madrigals hummed.
Tinkerbell clenched her jaw.
"Like mother, like son." she said. "Nothing that you or your son say is credible because you are puppets to the king. And as for you – "
She rounded on Mirabel. "If Uncle Bruno is anything like Wendy, then he's better off dead. And if Oogie Boogie was real, your uncle would already be maggot meat!"
Without warning, she smashed her martini glass at Mirabel's feet. "Guards! Get this girl off my set! And take her family too! Except for the pretty one – " She smirked at Isabella. "We like pretty girls here. Anyway – throw them out! Now!"
"No!" Mirabel clutched Bruno's portrait as the guards corralled her family. "This is a total injustice! Oogie Boogie is real! He has my uncle! He – "
The audience pelted her with trash – hats, coins, nipple covers, and anything they could throw.
Infuriated, Mirabel made a final attempt to be heard.
"If you don't believe me, then turn around! Virana Fang is in the audience! King Arthur integrated her three years ago for murdering an ambassador! She's working for Oogie Boogie! She's a spy! She's – "
Virana Fang stood. Wendy caught the movement as Mirabel was removed from the stage.
"Help my uncle!" Mirabel shouted. "Please Lady Shadow Worker! Don't let Oogie Boogie eat him! Don't let Virana Fang win! Save my Uncle Brun – "
Mirabel's pleas faded. Powerless to help, Wendy searched the audience for Virana.
She and Arista Triton were evacuating, using the pandemonium as cover.
Wendy gripped her right hand. She wished Shadow wasn't locked in her sewing basket. The urge to apprehend Virana was overwhelming, but she couldn't do it without Shadow –
Abruptly, Virana turned, as if she sensed Wendy's indecision. She held Wendy's gaze but there was something....off. Virana's eyes were moving, but they were vacant, like specimens floating in formaldehyde.
And with every other blink...they would flicker black.
Wendy's initial assumptions bubbled into a full blown accusation: somehow Virana was involved with shadow magic. Namaari and Raya were right. Virana had information that only Wendy could obtain.
Impulsively, Wendy took several steps, intent on leaving the interview and interrogating Virana.
But Tinkerbell reeled her back.
"Down horsey." Tinkerbell wrenched her skirt. "Sit like a good girl."
Wendy twisted free. "You – "
"Wowwwww!" Tinkerbell faced the audience. "What a crazy diaper baby, huh?! Can we all agree that Mirabel Madrigal is sexually frustrated?"
The audience cackled. Tinkerbell laughed invitingly at Isabella, the only remaining member of the Madrigal family. Isabella smiled, but was wringing buttercups in her lap.
"Clearly Mirabel Madrigal was planted by King Arthur!" Tinkerbell shuddered. "It just goes to show you how deceitful Fantasia's government is! King Arthur will lie through his ass to – "
"You should believe Mirabel." Wendy interrupted. "You should believe everything she said. Something is wrong in Fantasia and if we don't act now..."
She looked to her fellow guardians. "There will be another war."
The guardians felt something stir within them. Their souls had been bound to Fantasia since they were christened, nearly half a lifetime ago. Call it experience from the previous wars, or a spiritual connection, but they knew Wendy was right.
Fantasia was rotting from the inside, and like a cancer, there wouldn't be symptoms until it was too late.
The audience was silent. Stone cold.
"My...." Tinkerbell drew Wendy's chair. Secretively, she winked at the cameras. "Sounds...scary. Here...sit. Let's talk."
Almost in a daze, Wendy returned to her seat, grateful for a chance to speak unencumbered.
"The number one priority is safety. Fantasians need to know how to protect themselves. King Arthur believes Oogie Boogie may control shadows, just like Pitch Back. So, starting Monday, I will be teaching a Shadow Working class at Fantasia School for Magically Skewed, for children ages fifteen and – "
"Wait." Tinkerbell touched her cheek. "King Arthur asked you to teach a shadow working class?"
"Yes, it's meant to help – "
"To children?"
"Yes. It - "
"And for educational purposes..." Tinkerbell prepped her big-screen remote. "Can you explain what shadow working is?"
Wendy eyed the remote uneasily.
"It's...magic..." She carefully selected each word. "Magic that allows someone – "
"Someone like you?"
"Yes...someone like me....to hold shadows. Like a piece of fabric."
Tinkerbell scoffed. "Just hold shadows?"
Wendy sensed the cameras zooming in. She also sensed Tinkerbell backing her into a corner.
"Technically yes." she said. "But I can do more than hold them. Although I typically don't."
"Mmmmhmmm." Tinkerbell clicked the remote. Video footage filled the screen. At first the image was too dark to make out; the only discernable feature was the sound of people screaming.
The picture became clearer. Wendy saw herself, twenty-one years old, shadow working dozens of people in a night club. Painstakingly, she remembered. The night club was Tiana's Palace. She had been ruthlessly harassed, and the mental toll had triggered an exorcism.
Wendy had attacked every shadow she touched. It had been accidental...but she never realized just how many people she'd hurt.
Tinkerbell increased the volume. The stereo vibrated with blood curling screams.
"Restaurants always have cameras." She leaned toward Wendy. "Listen. That was you. You did this to them."
She killed the video. "Dirty shadow worker."
Wendy knew Tinkerbell was being unfair; but she was nonetheless repentant.
"I regret that night." Wendy covered the SHADOW WORKER scars on her forearm. "Nothing is ever black and white. But – "
"Oh I'm not saying shadow working is all bad." Tinkerbell picked glitter from her breast. "Clearly you've reaped the rewards."
Wendy frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"You took Peter's shadow. You've had it since we were fifteen." Tinkerbell flicked away the glitter. "How else could you bewitch him into marrying you?"
The audience murmured and the undertone was dark. Several onlookers in the front row suddenly gasped. "Oh my god! Look! Peter doesn't have a shadow!"
"Oh my god!"
"Oh my GAWD!"
"That shadow worker!"
"That dirty shadow worker!"
"Yeah! Dirty shadow worker!"
Jim adjusted in his seat. "Okay this is getting out of hand – "
"Wendy didn't bewitch me!" Peter jabbed his chest. "No one can invade this fortress! I married her because I lov - "
"If Wendy Darling can bewitch Peter Pan --- " Tinkerbell rallied the audience. "She can bewitch all of you! Beware! Oogie Boogie is a myth King Arthur created to throw you off the scent! This shadow worker is the real evil in Fantasia! All King Arthur has to do is snap his fingers, and Wendy will appear under your beds to take your shadows --- "
"Are you mad?" Wendy blurted "Are you really so selfish? Are you willing to risk the lives of Fantasians and Otherlanders because of a silly little vendetta! Well, consider our past conflicts over!"
She ground a first into her armrest. "Stop being petty and tell these people the truth!"
"Petty?! Petty?!" Tinkerbell tossed her head. "Wendy, Wendy, Wendy. You dirty little shadow worker."
"Stop calling me that."
"You've always hated me." Tinkerbell said. "Always. Ever since high school, ever since the Underworld. You're jealous because I'm a beautiful fairy and you are a dirty little shadow worker."
"I said stop calling – "
"Well don't hate me because I'm more beautiful than you." Tinkerbell caressed Peter's arm. "Hate me because your husband thinks so."
Only Jim could tell how deeply Wendy was hurt. At one point, Peter had thought Tinkerbell was beautiful, enough to be intimate...multiple times. The truth was a knife to the gut. Had she been younger, Wendy might have cried.
But she didn't cry. Wendy had suffered in life; and it taught her how to confront adversity....including a massively psychotic pixie.
Wendy looked down. She exhaled. Voice deadly, she looked at Tinkerbell.
"Is your ass jealous of all the filth that comes out of your mouth?"
The reactions were priceless.
"Yes." In Camelot, King Arthur leaned off his couch. "Get her Wendy."
"Yes." Edna Mode applauded in the middle of her celebrity watch party. "Fabulous, dahling."
"Yes." Sarah Hawkins held a fist to her chin. "Come on, sweetheart."
"Yes." Back at the television studio, Ariel fingered her trident. "Now we're having fun."
Tinkerbell bore her teeth. "You - you bitch. How dare y – "
"No." Wendy snarled. "How dare you. If you think I'm going sit through your insults, then you've got another thing coming. You think the world revolves around this silly little show, but let me tell you something – "
She sliced the air. "You are entertainment and nothing more – a clown tripping over its own feet. If you died tomorrow no one would care because you are unloved and easily replaced."
Spit, stained with lipstick, gathered at the corners of Tinkerbell's mouth.
"Unloved? Easily replaced?" Furiously, she pressed her big-screen remote. "Well speaking of unlovable...let me tell you something....I met your daughter."
Wendy sat on the edge of her seat.
"Don't..." she whispered, shadows twitching undertow. "I'm warning you."
Tinkerbell brandished the remote. A video blasted onto the big screen.
"Chien Po's Noodle Bar!" Tinkerbell exclaimed, displaying footage of Gwen pulverizing Rufio. "Gwendolyn Pan - Wendy Darling's daughter - viciously attacked this poor Ferngullian boy! She single handedly destroyed the noodle bar! This is what happens when shadow workers have children!"
Wendy's vengeance withered as she watched her daughter. The video had started not from Rufio's initial assault, but Gwen's response, making it appear that she initiated the fight. Every punch was more violent than the last. Even Peter was appalled by her brutality.
Tinkerbell reveled in their astonishment.
"Seems like mommy isn't the only one that starts bar fights. Want to know what happened next?" Tinkerbell beamed. "Gwendolyn was arrested! But someone tried to help her escape. Behold..."
The video panned to Jim hauling Gwen from the fight.
Jim cringed. Two fingers on his forehead, he slumped in his seat. "Shit."
Wendy's face contorted. Enraged, she spun to Jim. "You knew? You were there?"
Jim opened his mouth. "Wen - "
"Why didn't you say something?!"
"Listen, I – " Jim tried to explain. "I was going to tell you – "
"No you weren't!"
"Okay no I wasn't! Can we please talk about this later?"
"No - because the time to talk about it was before! Why didn't you tell me?!"
"I knew you weren't going to take it well!"
"What about this makes you think I should have taken it well?"
"Wendy can we please talk about this later?!"
"Oh my..." Tinkerbell cooed. "A lovers quarrel."
The cameras fastened on Wendy and Jim. Tinkerbell made a heart with her hands. "You two haven't been able to hide that romantic tension for years. It makes me wonder....Oh Jimmy?"
Jim looked ready to drink the blood from Tinkerbell's beating heart.
Tinkerbell merely grinned. "You were arrested a lot. And you jumped to Gwendolyn's defense before she was arrested. Just like any... father would. Could it be Wendy's daughter is following in your footsteps...because...it's genetic?"
She made a V over her tongue. "Did you finally fuck bestie behind Peter's back?"
Jim growled from the depths of his soul. "Bite me."
Tinkerbell seized the nape of Wendy's neck.
"Let her!" she screeched, shoving Wendy between Jim's thighs.
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sultal's note:
ERMEGAHD JUST SO HAPPY TO BE BACK.
Wendy is allowed to swear one time in each book. This was her moment!
keep writing -