When I came down for breakfast this morning, I found Suki the Pixie sitting in my chair.  I went over to see her, and I saw that her wings were drooping and she was sobbing uncontrollably.  I wasn't quite sure how to comfort a one foot high pixie, but I asked her what was wrong.

'I was thinking about our h... h... home,' sobbed Suki.  'The sun shone every day, and we'd drink sunlight out of golden cups.  The flowers were all friendly, and every day they would watch as we danced with the fairies.

'We heard that a wicked witch had seized power and declared herself Queen, but we took no notice until the ghouls and spectres began arriving in our land.  One night they slipped unnoticed into my house, and I found myself cornered, just as I was going to bed.  I wouldn't be here today if I hadn't taken a cup of sunlight with me, to drink if I woke up during the night.  I threw this at the ghouls and spectres, and of course they can't stand the light, and they scattered.

'The next morning, we pixies decided that it wasn't safe, and we would have to leave.  We packed enough sunlight for a week, and a few belongings, and we left.  After a long journey, we arrived here.  Our sunlight was all gone, and the sun here is weak.  We could drink your sunlight but it gave us no strength.  We looked everywhere for something we could eat.  When we were near starving, we found that we could get strength from thistles.

'They are horribly prickly, but they keep us alive.'  At this point, Suki became completely inconsolable, and I didn't get to hear any more of the story.

Eventually I had an idea how I could cheer Suki up.  I got a thistle leaf and cut the prickles off with a vegetable knife.  When I offered that to Suki she brightened up straight away.

I discovered the snag soon after.  The vegetable knife is small as knives go, but it's still too big for the pixies to handle.  So I found I'd got a job, cutting prickles off thistle leaves.  After a while, Suki introduced me to her brother Siôn, and then to her cousin Lily.  As more pixies turned up, it started taking longer and longer to prepare enough thistle leaves for them to eat.

Eventually I managed to find a pair of scissors that was small enough for them to handle.  Suki's other cousin Ithric arrived.  They took turns trimming prickles off the thistle leaves with the scissors, and then they ate the leaves with—not exactly enjoyment, but relief.

One day I found all the pixies in the garden, and I asked Suki what they were doing.  'We're planting more thistles,' said Suki brightly.  'You don't mind, do you?'

It was hard to say no, but I wasn't keen on having my garden used as a thistle farm.  While I was trying to see a way out of this conundrum, though, I noticed something else.  The pixies' inner lights were becoming dim, and their wings dull.  Suki had only a tiny glow left, Siôn a little more, and so on, until Ithric looked almost normal.

It was clear what was happening.  The pixies' strength was coming from the prickles, not from the rest of the leaves.  When we realised this, Suki was distraught—but her glow started to return, once she began eating prickly leaves again.  The other pixies simply moved out.  Now all I've got is one homesick pixie and a garden full of thistles!

One day I was staring absent-mindedly into some water that had collected on the patio.  I suddenly noticed that Suki was standing next to my feet, and then she touched the water with one finger.  For a moment the water turned silver; a perfect mirror.  Then it changed again, and I was looking through it, at events that had already happened in another time and place.

'I said we were friends with all the flowers at home,' said Suki quietly, 'but there is always one exception.  This is the day we were leaving.  Look.'

I saw a line of pixies trudging wearily along a road, which ran through a vast empty plain.  Suddenly, unexpectedly, the pixies came across a single tall sunflower growing at the side of the road.  'Ha ha ha,' it laughed nastily, swaying backwards and forwards on its stalk.  'Goodbye and good riddance!  Ha ha ha!'

'That sunflower is right here,' said Suki, still keeping her voice down.  'It's the one growing against your fence, and I'm scared.  I want to know why it has followed us.'

'But it can't be,' I protested.  'That sunflower has been here since it was a seed.'

'The flowers aren't as magical here as they are at home, but they still move around when humans aren't watching,' said Suki.  'Just after you went to bed last night, your old sunflower left.  Just before you got up this morning, this one arrived.  It's quite obvious really.  Your old sunflower had 634 seeds in the middle of its flower, this one has 719.'

'I can't say I ever counted.'

'So what do you want me to do about this sunflower?' I asked Suki.  'I suppose we could dig it up.'

Suki turned pale.  'That would make me a murderer!' she gasped.  'It was unkind to us when we were leaving, but it doesn't deserve to die!'

'Okay,' I said quickly.  'We won't dig it up.'  I couldn't help thinking about all the weeds I dug out of the garden and threw in the council's green bin.  I hoped the pixies hadn't seen, and what did they think of me if they had?

'If you don't want to dig it up, do you want to do anything about it?' I asked, once a bit of time had passed and Suki's glow was back to normal.

Suki thought for a moment.  'We need to know if it's meeting anyone,' she said.  'It's harmless enough on its own, but it might be here as a spy.  I don't think it will meet anyone while we're watching, though.'

Now, the pixies have always been confused by electronic gadgets.  (Electronic gadgets are also confused by pixies, and tend to stop working after the pixies play with them.)  I thought it would probably work the same way with sunflowers, and this gave me an idea.

I put my camcorder on its tripod and pointed it at the sunflower.  I switched it to record at night and started it running.  After a moment's thought, I folded the screen away.  If the screen was out, I knew I would end up with a recording of pixies watching themselves pulling funny faces.  I then left the camcorder until the following morning.

The next day I scanned through the recording.  At three o'clock in the morning, I saw Siôn arrive.  I scratched my head.  I had been wondering who or what the sunflower would meet, but why Siôn?  The sunflower swivelled round until it was facing him.  'How many pixies do we have in this house?' it asked quietly.

'Only one.  I've lost the others, curse it.  They moved out when they found they couldn't eat trimmed thistle leaves.'

'One will be enough for starters,' said the sunflower silkily.  'In two days time it will be full moon, and the witch's power will be at its height.  She can snatch your pixie then, for starters.  For main course, she can come back at the next full moon.'  The sunflower sniggered quietly at its bad pun.

'I've known Siôn ever since he was two inches tall,' said Ithric.  'I remember the day he first walked, and the day he first flew.  I'm sure he'd never sell us to the witch on purpose.  Someone must have put a spell on him.'

As the pixie family had watched my video, they had been baffled to see Siôn talking to the sunflower.  Why he would give away his own family was beyond any of them.

'He'll have to be watched,' said Lily quietly.  'We don't know why he's doing this, so we'll just have to make sure he doesn't do too much harm.'

'We should ask the rabbits to keep an eye on him,' said Ithric.  'They won't mind, and they're everywhere, so he won't have much chance to do something without being seen.'

'What about the night of full moon,' I asked Suki.  'Apparently they are going to try and kidnap you.  What do you think they will try to do?'

Suki shuddered.  'Probably a few ghouls or spectres will be sent.  The witch could send other things too, but I don't think she will.  She won't see any need, not for one pixie who she expects to take by surprise.'

'So can you throw sunlight at them again?'

'It won't work if they're serious about taking me.  They would have to back off if I threw a cup of sunlight, but then it would be dark again, and they could come back and try again.'

I suddenly understood the horror of Suki's last experience at the hands of the ghouls and spectres.  It was one thing to throw the sunlight and see them scatter, but then she had been left alone in the dark, not knowing whether they would come back.

'What if there was a light that would last until morning, if necessary?' I asked.  I explained that I had a miniature torch, and the light was generated by something called a battery, which wouldn't run down until the next day.

Suki found that she could lift the torch and press the button that turned it on, with a bit of a struggle.