An Ordinary Fairy Read Online Free PDF

look at Willow. He kept glancing her way, cautiously, so she wouldn’t notice. He could feel where she stood, even with his back to her.
    In this fashion, he had worked his way about halfway around the pond when Shadow began to bark and ran back down the trail with a satisfied “Look what I found!” expression. Willow had fallen behind, but now she strode forward and met the dog a few feet from where Noah stood. “What is it, boy?”
    “A deer,” Noah said, pointing to a medium-sized doe walking toward them. The deer seemed unconcerned about the big dog, or Noah. Willow smiled at the animal and spoke to her in soft tones. The deer, without hesitating, walked up to her and bowed its head. She stroked the animal’s long neck.
    “This is my friend Daisy,” she said. “I’ve known her since she was a baby. I named her that after I found her lying in a bed of daisies outside the Big House. Plus she has this white mark on her forehead.”
    Willow placed a hand flat against the animal’s neck for a moment, and spoke in a quiet voice. Daisy raised her head, looked at Noah, and then walked rapidly away into the trees.
    File that under “Dr. Doolittle Tendencies.”
    Noah continued around the pond taking test views and jotting notes until he arrived at the rock ledge, with Willow close behind. Shadow had already flopped down on the rock, panting from his explorations. Noah set the Yashica down, opened the big case and pulled out the large digital camera and its tripod.
    “What are you doing?” Willow asked.
    “I’m going to take the photographs.”
    Willow’s eyes narrowed. “What have you been doing?”
    “I’ve been deciding what pictures to take. Taking light readings, checking angles. Now that I’m done analyzing, I’ll shoot the photos.”
    “I thought photographers just fired away and did whatever felt right.”
    “Some do. I don’t.”
    I don’t care how royal you are, no one tells me how to do my work.
    Willow frowned, crossed her arms and stomped off, wandering across the ledge. Noah attached the camera to the tripod, made sure he had spare batteries and memory chips in his pocket, and then walked to the path.
    The Princess scowled at him. “I suppose you want me to follow you around again.”
    “Yes. Please.”
    “Come, Shadow.”
    They proceeded down the path. Noah stopped several times to set up the camera, verify settings and shoot some images. Each time, Willow stopped a few feet away on the path and stood waiting with her arms crossed. Noah hated working under watchful eyes, especially when their owner didn’t want to be there.
    You’re beginning to really piss me off, lady.
    Forty-five minutes later, while Noah was shooting from a small sandy beach, a racket rose overhead. Four brown ducks swooped in for a landing.
    “Oh, no,” Willow said. “I hope they don’t ruin the rest of your pictures.” The ducks maneuvered into a low-level circuit of the pond.
    “Not at all!” Noah said. “This is perfect!” He rapid-fired the shutter. The birds flew straight toward the camera. Great stuff—his editor would love it.
    With a flutter and a splash, the ducks landed, swam straight to the beach and shuffled out of the water. Noah stood still as they crossed the sand and waddled beneath the camera tripod. They marched in a row to Willow, where they stopped and quacked an apparent enthusiastic greeting. Willow’s face reddened. She leaned down to the ducks and spoke, again so low he couldn’t quite catch the words.
    “Do they have names, too?” Noah asked.
    Willow flashed a sheepish grin.
    Stanley was right. You’re even prettier when you smile.
    “No, they’re visiting, passing through on their way south.” She made motions to shoo them toward the pond. Her left arm didn’t move but pointed toward the ducks with the hand straight up and palm facing them. Maybe she did this for protection if they flew in her face, but Noah didn’t see Willow Brown as a woman who would be spooked by a