The Wing Spell

by Emily Bliss

  “Yes,” Cressida, Dash, Flash, Feather, and Stitch said.

  “It’s easy,” Rosie said. “Just do this.” She snorted two quick times in a row.

  Cressida giggled. She looked at Winifred, and she snorted twice. Winifred squealed with delight and snorted twice back.

  Then, Flash, Feather, Dash, Rosie, and Stitch all snorted goodbye to Winifred.

  Winifred snorted goodbye, and she and her friends hurried off into the woods.

  “I hate to say this,” Flash said, looking at Cressida and Feather, “but I think we’d better fly back to the Rainbow Realm now before my wings stop working. They’re starting to feel a little funny.”

  “Good idea,” Feather said.

  “It’s been so wonderful to meet you,” Dash said. “I don’t want to say goodbye!”

  “Neither do I,” Stitch said.

  Rosie frowned and nodded. “We have to make a plan to see each other again soon.”

  “Absolutely,” Feather said.

  “Our sisters will be desperate to meet you and your sisters,” Flash said. “We’ll definitely have a family reunion.”

  “We’ll start planning for it as soon as we get back to the Wing Realm,” Rosie said with a smile.

  Dash looked at Cressida, “Thank you for all your creative ideas,” she said. “Next time I have a tricky problem to solve, I’m coming to find you in the human world.”

  “I would love that,” Cressida said, as she climbed onto Feather’s back.

  “Goodbye, cousins!” Feather said.

  “Goodbye, cousins!” Dash, Rosie, and Stitch responded.

  The ruby on Feather’s necklace sparkled, and pink, glittery light poured from her horn. Feather lifted up into the air with Cressida on her back.

  The diamond on Flash’s necklace sparkled, and silver, glittery light poured from her horn. She galloped until lightning crackled around her horn and hooves. Then she flapped her wings and soared up into the air.

  Feather and Flash climbed higher and higher in the sky. When they began to fly fast, Cressida rested her head against Feather and closed her eyes for a few minutes. She felt happier than she could ever remember feeling. Winifred was home. She had gotten to visit the Wing Realm and the Wild Realm. She had made three new pegasus friends and one new cat friend. And she had spent time with two unicorn friends who were dear to her heart.

  When Cressida opened her eyes, Feather and Flash were already up in the iridescent lavender sky. And, in the distance, she saw stars arranged in the shape of a giant rainbow. “Wow,” Flash said, looking at the rainbow too.

  “Home sweet home,” Feather said.

  When they were right next to the twinkling rainbow, Feather and Flash glided downward, through the clouds and the blue sky. They landed on the clear stone path that led to Spiral Palace. As soon as Flash’s hooves touched the ground, light swirled around her wings, and they vanished.

  “That was perfect timing,” Feather said.

  “It sure was,” Flash said.

  Feather kneeled, and Cressida slid off her back. Feather, Flash, and Cressida walked together into the front hall of Spiral Palace.

  As soon as they entered, Sunbeam, Bloom, Prism, Breeze, Moon, and Firefly rushed over to them. “How was it?” Sunbeam asked.

  “Did you meet our cousins?” Prism asked.

  “What was the Wing Realm like?” Moon asked.

  “We want to hear every single detail,” Firefly declared.

  “The dragons have cooked a special welcome-home dinner for us to share while you tell us all your stories,” Bloom said. “They made every dish with froyananas from the Enchanted Garden.”

  The unicorns reared up and whinnied with excitement at the prospect of an entire dinner of froyanana dishes. Cressida tried not to gag. She had tried froyananas on one of her visits to the Rainbow Realm and had decided they tasted like the worst possible combination of pickles, marshmallows, tomatoes, and tuna fish.

  “Would you like to stay for dinner?” Feather asked.

  “Thank you for inviting me,” Cressida said. “But I’d better go back to the human world to eat.”

  Bloom laughed. “I remember now. Cressida doesn’t like froyananas.”

  “That’s right,” Flash said. “It’s the one thing about you none of us can understand. Well, that and the fact you like those weird things we ate when we visited you in the human world. What were they called?”

  Cressida giggled. “Freshly baked chocolate chip cookies,” she said.

  “That’s right,” Feather said, making a face. “Those things were even worse than the seaweed juice I drank in the Aqua Realm one time.”

  The other unicorns grimaced at the memory of eating chocolate chip cookies in Cressida’s room. “Those really were terrible,” Bloom whispered to Prism.

  “Horrible,” Prism agreed.

  “Anyway,” Feather said, laughing, “thank you so much for joining us, Cressida. You were an amazing adventure partner.”

  “And we definitely couldn’t have helped Winifred without you,” Flash said.

  “Thank you for inviting me,” Cressida said. “I had a wonderful time.”

  Cressida reached into her pocket and pulled out her key. She pushed her palms against it and whispered, “Take me home, please.”

  The front hall of Spiral Palace began to spin, faster and faster, until all she could see was a blur of white, silver, pink, and purple. Then everything went pitch black, and Cressida felt as though she were flying upward in space. After a few seconds, she found herself sitting in a pile of leaves while the woods seemed to spin around her. As the trees slowed to a stop, Cressida smiled and stood up. When she checked to make sure she still had her magic key, she noticed something soft and large stuffed into her pocket. She pulled it out to discover new leggings made out of the same rainbow-striped material that Stitch had used to make Winifred’s carrier. Cressida grinned, imagining all the trees she could climb and giant rocks she could slide down without worrying about ripping holes in her new leggings. And then she skipped home, her silver unicorn sneakers blinking with each happy step.

  Emily Bliss lives just down the street from a forest. From her living room window, she can see a big oak tree with a magic keyhole. Like Cressida Jenkins, she knows that unicorns are real.

  Sydney Hanson was raised in Minnesota alongside numerous pets and brothers. In addition to her traditional illustrations, Sydney is an experienced 2D and 3D production artist and has worked for several animation shops, including Nickelodeon and Disney Interactive. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling and spending time outside with her adopted brother, a Labrador retriever named Cash. She lives in Los Angeles.

  www.sydwiki.tumblr.com

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  This electronic edition published in 2020 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

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  First published in the United States of America in September 2020 by Bloomsbury Children’s Books

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  Text copyright © 2020 by Emily Bliss

  Illustrations copyright © 2020 by Sydney Hanson

  All rights reserved

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Bliss, Emily, author. | Hanson, Sydney, illustrator.

  Title: The wing spell / by Emily Bliss ; [illustrated by Sydney Hanson]

  Description: New York : Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2020. | Series: Unicorn princesses ; vol 10 | Summary: Ernest the wizard lizard’s spell allows Princess Flash to join Princess Feather and Cressida on a trip to the Wing Realm but when the spell goes wrong, Cressida must find a way to get them home.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2020026204 (print) | LCCN 2020026205 (e-book)

  ISBN: 978-1-5476-0489-0 (HB)

  ISBN: 978-1-5476-0488-3 (PB)

  ISBN: 978-1-5476-0490-6 (eBook)

  Subjects: CYAC: Unicorns—Fiction. | Princesses—Fiction. | Magic—Fiction. | Flight—Fiction. Classification: LCC PZ7.1.B633 Win 2020 (print) | LCC PZ7.1.B633 (e-book) | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020026204

  LC e-book record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020026205

  Book design by Jessie Gang and John Candell

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