Patty Liu - Silent Reflections

Virginia slammed into the room of the inn. She found Wolf asleep with his head pillowed in Melody's lap. Instant jealousy consumed Virginia and she took a deep breath to keep herself from screaming. The journey through the maze of gigantic pumpkins with Patrick leading her had completely wiped her out. The sun had just come up and she was so tired she could've fallen asleep standing up. Patrick was still with her though. He stood behind Virginia in the doorway trying to peer into the room.

Melody awoke when she sensed other people in the room. When her eyes fell on Virginia's disheveled form in the doorway, they immediately opened wide in shock and horror. She quickly masked the expression with one of relief.

"Virginia! You are all right!" she exclaimed. Wolf stirred in her lap but didn't wake up. "We thought you had been kidnapped. Wolf has been going mad searching for you." "He doesn't look very 'mad' to me right now. What makes you think I was kidnapped, though?" Virginia asked, still distastefully eyeing the fact that Wolf was still sleeping in Melody's lap.

"We found a note. It's right there on the ground crumpled up. Wolf threw it there last night." Melody pointed at the floor. Wolf began to wake up from all the talking in the room. He opened his eyes up and looked at Melody. He smiled and reached up to carass her face.

"Good morning, Sweetie," he said, unaware that Virginia and Patrick were in the room.

Melody's face flushed and she slowly got up and raised Wolf's head off her lap. Virginia was fuming inside. I was missing this whole night and he spent the time pawing over Melody! How dare he!

Wolf cleared his head by shaking it vigorously. He looked up and finally saw Virginia standing by the door with the most intense frown on her face. Slowly, the events from the previous night came back to him. He whirled out of the bed and jumped up. He slammed himself full force onto Virginia and knocked her over to the ground. He kissed her face, her eyes, her nose and her forehead.

"Oh Virginia! Oh Virginia! You're back! My sweet sweet love of my life. I thought I had lost you!" Wolf howled with excitement. He quickly stood Virginia back up and checked her for any injuries. "Where have you been? We got the note. They said they took you and you will die if we looked for you. I'm so happy you're all right!" He hugged her again.

Virginia gasped for air. It was nice to know that Wolf still remembered who she was. She gently unwound Wolf's arms from around her.

"I'm all right. But I don't if I was kidnapped or not. I woke up in the pumpkin patch," she explained.

Wolf frowned and raised a questioning eyebrow. "Virginia, my trollup. I understand you have strange notions sometimes but huff, puff, what were you doing in a pumpkin patch? I was going mad trying to find you!"

"Well, you looked pretty comfortable when I walked in just now. Didn't seem like you were going mad."

Wolf realized what Virginia must have seen and he hung his head down shamefully. He had spent the whole night looking for Virginia in every nook and cranny in the Mother Goose village. He had finally gotten back into the room exhausted. He cried to Melody and ranted on and on about how he was a bad wolf and wolves were supposed to mate for life. Melody tried her best to console him and Wolf had eventually fallen asleep in her lap. He had been so confused. Part of him had wanted to howl with pain that Virginia had been kidnapped. But another part of him wanted to stay in the room with Melody and cuddle up with her. He had been torn in half and his constant urge to kiss Melody had not subsided yet.

Melody quickly chimed into the conversation and explained to Virginia that Wolf had been exhausted from searching for her the night before. Virginia chose to just ignore the whole explanation and just let the whole matter drop for now. There were far worse problems at hand. She picked up the crumpled paper on the ground and read it to herself. She handed the note to Patrick so he could read it. That was when Melody and Wolf finally even noticed Patrick standing there, his whole large form framing the doorway.

"Who are you?" Wolf eyed him with suspension and bared his teeth. Patrick glared right back at him and both men tensed up.

Virginia quickly jumped in and put her hands up between the two overbearing men. "Relax, both of you! This is no time to show off your manly domineering sides." She quickly explained to Wolf who Patrick was and Wolf finally relaxed and began prowling around the room.

"Huff, puff. If you weren't kidnapped, then how did you end up in the pumpkin patch? What is the last thing you remember, Virginia?" Wolf asked. He absentmindedly scratched at his forehead.

"I remember going to sleep. That is all." Virginia pondered for a moment. "Perhaps, whoever kidnapped you left you in the pumpkin patch for some reason," Melody contributed to the dilemma. She obviously didn't want the fingers pointing at her in any way. For she had been the one who drugged Virginia and dragged her to the deserted pumpkin patch.

"That could've happened. The note also seems to say that whoever instigated this knew about the disappearance of my father and Princess Wendy. We must keep our guard up from now on. Melody, we will leave you with the first gypsy clan that we come across. We don't need you to get in any harm’s way just for being with us. You are an innocent bystander in all this."

Virginia quickly busied herself with the day's plans. "We must get on our way now. We will think about this situation as we travel. Patrick, you say I owe you for your help. How about some breakfast on me?"

Patrick grunted a yes and followed Virginia downstairs to the inn's dining area. Wolf quickly followed quietly and left Melody up in the room by herself.