Prilla was thrilled. They were almost there, and they’d come so far. It had been such an adventure, and she’d been part of it. She’d escaped from Hook, and she’d persuaded Vidia to wait for Rani. Even with no talent, she’d helped.
Rani said they should eat lunch before going on. Prilla was too excited to eat. She jumped up and tried to turn a cartwheel, which was hard without fairy dust. Her wings overbalanced her, and she fell against the carrier.
Rani laughed. Prilla’s high jinks made her forget her wings, sometimes. She finished her bread and brushed the crumbs off her dress.
Prilla did a split and a handspring. Rani stood and pulled the dust satchel strap over her head. Prilla tried again to do a cartwheel. Rani opened the dust satchel just as Prilla crashed into her. Rani tumbled backward and spilled the remaining fairy dust into the wind.
Mother Dove developed a fever. Her beak chattered, and her eyes were too bright. Beck built up the sand around her and over her back to warm her. Tink hopped here and there, pressing down to make her snug.
Mother Dove thought she didn’t mind dying so much. But she minded never learning if her egg had been saved.
She thought of telling Ree that the time had come to pluck her.
Soon. She’d tell Ree soon. In the meanwhile she’d try to hang on a little longer.
No one was speaking to Prilla. Vidia had actually slapped her when the dust blew away.
Prilla had said she was sorry.
Rani had answered, “Clumsies say they’re sorry. Fairies say I’d fly backward if I could.”
So Prilla had said, “I’d fly backward if I could.”
But no one had answered.
Prilla wasn’t talking to herself either, except to call herself names. She’d ruined everything. That was her talent. Even if Kyto fixed the egg, Mother Dove would probably be dead before they got back to Fairy Haven.
Rani was sure there was no point to going on. But she led them on anyway.
They climbed on foot. Luckily they didn’t have to carry the carrier, because its balloons still had dust.
As they climbed, they watched for hawks. Vidia thought again of sharing her fresh dust. She had enough to fly herself and Prilla to Kyto and home again. But if he didn’t restore the egg, she wanted to keep the dust, the last dust anyone would ever have.
Mother Dove was delirious. She was back in her mama’s nest, waiting anxiously for food.
She was playing with her sisters and brothers, pecking them and being pecked. She was poised at the edge of the nest, working up courage for her first flight.
Tink was almost knocked over as Mother Dove tried to fly. Her wounded shoulder and broken wings should have hurt terribly, but Mother Dove’s mind was too far in the past to feel the pain.
TWENTY-EIGHT
IN FOUR hours the questers reached the first cave, which was uninhabited. Prilla heard low snap-crackling. After a few minutes, Rani and Vidia heard it too. Fire! Kyto!
And Kyto heard them. Fairies don’t make much noise, especially when they’re barely speaking to each other. But they breathe. He heard their breathing.
They climbed a crack in the rock leading to his cave. The temperature rose as they climbed. Rani was dripping sweat, and all her leafkerchiefs were soaked.
Halfway up, Kyto’s smell reached them, and they almost fell off the mountain. He stank of hundreds of years without a bath or a toothbrush.
The fairies peeked over the rim of his ledge. He saw their wide-eyed faces. The balloon carrier bobbed a few inches above the ledge.
Prilla would have felt sorry for him if his face hadn’t been so cruel. He was the size of a small elephant, and she doubted he had enough room even to turn around. His skin was scarred and chafed from pressing against his bars.
At second glance Prilla saw they weren’t bars. He was confined by roots, Never Bimbim tree roots, which dropped over the cave opening and anchored themselves in the rock at the cave’s edge. These remarkable roots are impervious to fire, and the more they’re pushed against, the more they resist.
Although Prilla couldn’t tell, Kyto didn’t quite fill his cave. There was room in the back for his meager hoard.
A Never raven flew by, about ten feet from the cave. Kyto exhaled fire and roasted the bird in the air. Then he inhaled powerfully and sucked it to him. It stuck in the roots, but he yanked it through with his teeth and ate it whole.
Rani thought, He’ll cook us before we say a word!
Prilla wished she had a talent for dragons. If only she knew how to tame him!
He glared at them. “Go away, unless you’ve come to free me.” His voice was low and raspy from smoldering for six hundred years.
The questers exchanged frightened glances. Finally, Rani found her voice. “We c-can’t f-free you. We’re n-not strong enough.”
“Then go away.”
The fairies ducked just in time. A jet of fire barely missed Prilla’s ear.
Rani had to calm herself before she could find her voice again. “We’ve c-come to t-trade. If you help us, we’ll give you three things for your hoard. B-beautiful things.”
“Show them to me.”
Rani reached for the balloon carrier.
“Dearest,” Vidia hissed, “don’t be a fool. He’ll inhale—”
“—them.” Rani nodded. “Er, I’ll d-describe them, K-Kyto.”
He hid his excitement when she was through. There were only two golden hawk feathers in dragon hoards anywhere. His would be the third. Double cigar holders and mermaid’s combs were rare too. His hoard would finally join the top rank of dragon hoards.
“Give them to me, and I won’t eat you.”
The questers ducked below the ledge.
Rani called out, “D-don’t eat us!’
“Then give them to me!”
“N-not unless you help us,” Prilla called.
Rani said, “We’ll t-take the things b-back home and stop b-bothering you.” She paused, then added, “We’ll p-put them on d-display.”
Display them! They belonged to him! Kyto belched a ball of fire. “What do you want?”
Rani stammered her way through telling him about Mother Dove and the egg.
“Show me this egg.”
They had to stand on the ledge to do it. Terrified, Prilla and Rani climbed up.
Kyto noticed that Rani had no wings.
Vidia reached into the carrier and lifted the egg onto the ledge. She started to climb up, but thought better of it. If he flamed, let the others get crisped.
As soon as Kyto saw the egg, he knew he could restore it. He pretended to consider.
Please, Prilla thought, please be able to do it. Please save Mother Dove. Please don’t kill us.
“Give me the things for my hoard...” Flames played around his lips. “… and I’ll fix your—”
“—egg.” Rani said she’d give him one hoard item immediately. Then, after he had restored the egg, she’d give him the other two. “Which do you want first?”
“The feather.”
Vidia looked for it in the carrier, but she didn’t see it. She moved things aside and still didn’t see it. “Where...”
Prilla and Rani climbed down and helped her look. No feather.
“It must have blown out,” Rani whispered.
Kyto heard. He was enraged. Bumbling fairies! He sent a fireball over the ledge where they were. It missed them by inches and singed Prilla’s hair.
It took several minutes before Rani recovered enough to speak. “We still have the c-comb and the cigar holder.”
“Three items. You said three items.”
“Please, Mr. Kyto,” Prilla begged. “Mother Dove needs her egg.”
He didn’t answer. He didn’t care if Mother Dove lived or died.
Rani wiped the sweat off her nose. “We do have something else.” She picked up her wings and held them to her chest. “Something more extraordinary than a golden feather. A pair of jeweled fairy wings.”
TWENT
Y-NINE
“RANI, DON’T do it!” Prilla cried.
Fairy wings? Kyto was thrilled. With fairy wings, his hoard would be unique. “Let me see.”
“You can’t have them!” Prilla yelled.
Kyto got ready to blow another fireball.
“Hush, Prilla.” Rani told Kyto, “You can’t see them yet, but I’ll tell you about them.” It would be a magnificent end for them, if they turned out to be the wings that saved Mother Dove. She described them.
He listened greedily. Real wings from a real fairy who’d never fly again.
Kyto wanted the wings first, but Rani refused. She’d give him the double cigar holder. Then, after he restored the egg, he could have the comb and the wings.
He smiled to himself. The fairies were so trusting. In their place, he’d have made sure Mother Dove was well before he’d given away the final item.
Prilla and Rani dragged the cigar holder up to the cave and ran away.
He ran a claw over the holder. He rubbed his cheek along it.
He sniffed it and licked it. He wished the fairies would leave and give him a few hours alone with it.
But Prilla carried the egg to him. Its pale blue shell had black splotches. The two smaller pieces nested in the big one. Atop them were the ashes that had been the egg.
Prilla rushed back to the edge of the cliff and stood next to Rani, watching. Kyto exhaled a golden flame that spat and sizzled. Through the flame, the fairies could make out the eggshell, which wasn’t changing a bit.
Kyto swallowed his flame. “This is more difficult than I expected.” He frowned. “I hope I can do it.” Inside himself he laughed. Dragons are show-offs, and he was having fun.
Prilla wanted to scold the egg, tell it this was its last chance and couldn’t it cooperate?
Kyto blew a red flame, deep as a raspberry, bright as a tomato. It rustled and crackled as it played over, around, and through the eggshell, which remained stubbornly broken.
Rani wiped her wet face. Had she sacrificed her wings for nothing?
Kyto let the flame subside. “Fairies, I will make one more attempt.”
He heaved forth a midnight-blue flame that hurled out miniature lightning bolts. A wind ripped across the ledge. Rani and Prilla threw themselves on the ground. Vidia ducked.
Prilla raised her head to watch, but the egg was hidden in flame. Kyto’s cheeks were puffed out, his eyes protruded, and his whole body strained toward the egg.
His flame licked a low-lying cloud. The heat scorched a sparrow flying two miles away. Three miles away a field of grass caught fire.
At that moment, Kyto spit into the restored yolk. Then he repaired the shell, leaving a gob of his wickedness inside.
The flame withdrew. There was the egg, whole again.
Mother Dove sank into a deep sleep. All the fairies gathered around her. If she awoke before she died, they wanted to be there to tell her farewell.
The burn marks were gone from the egg. It was the same pale blue it used to be. Rani touched it, and it felt smooth and cool. She was sure it was perfect.
Prilla and Rani carried the comb to Kyto. Then Rani brought over her wings and gave them a final pat.
Kyto could have crisped the fairies, now that he’d gotten what he wanted. But if he did, no one would know the trick he’d played on the egg. So he let them go.
Rani and Prilla loaded the egg into the balloon carrier while Vidia steadied the carrier. The three of them started down the mountain. It would take them more than a week to walk home. Mother Dove would probably be dead by then.
Prilla was beside herself with misery. We did everything, she thought. But it may all be useless, just because I had to turn a cartwheel.
Vidia was arguing furiously with herself. If she shared her fresh dust, they might reach Mother Dove in time. But if Mother Dove didn’t recover, Vidia would have wasted the last of her dust, and she’d never fly again.
On the other hand, she had only about two days of dust left. Which should she choose: the certainty of those two days or the chance of flying forever?
“Um, darlings, actually we can fly home. I have—”
“—dust. Dust! Dust?”
Vidia nodded.
Prilla and Rani stared. She’d had dust with her all along?
Prilla thought, At least I don’t have a talent for being a selfish pig.
Mother Dove soared above the beach where her body lay inert. She was still attached to that body. But the string that held her was thinning, and soon it would snap.
A music-talent fairy began the fairies’ saddest song, “Fly Not Far from Me.” More voices joined her, one by one.
Rani sat in the balloon carrier. Vidia sprinkled her dust on Prilla and on herself. Prilla noticed the difference instantly. With the fresh dust she felt weightless, and her wings felt as strong as an eagle’s wings. She understood the temptation to pluck Mother Dove—not that she’d ever do it.
But although they were able to travel faster than they had before, it still took two and a half hours to reach the Wough River.
Mother Dove was minutes from death. They couldn’t possibly reach her in time.
Never Land shrank itself again. They’d flown for only ten more minutes before they passed over Fairy Haven. Two minutes later, they landed on the beach.
Mother Dove felt the egg arrive. She found herself back in her body. The pain almost killed her.
Prilla was shocked when she saw Mother Dove. Her feathers had turned a sickly yellow, except at the shoulder where they were bloodstained. Her head hung down, and her cheeks were sunken.
Mother Dove opened her eyes and spoke in a quavery whisper. “Bring the egg closer.”
The questers lifted the egg out of the balloon carrier and brought it to her.
No one breathed. No one moved.
Mother Dove cooed.
Prilla got ready to turn a cartwheel.
Mother Dove extended a claw. A dozen fairies rushed in to stop her from toppling.
She moaned, “Kyto spoiled my egg.” Her voice ended in the beginning of a death rattle.
THIRTY
MOTHER DOVE can’t die! Prilla thought. I have to save her! I have to try! Belief saves fairies. Maybe belief can save Mother Dove. Prilla imagined herself in a tunnel. The mainland was at the far end. It had to be!
She flew along.
And there she was, at the carousel, flying from one child to the next, shouting above the organ music. “Clap to save Mother Dove! Clap if you believe in Never Land! Clap so the fairies can fly!” She saw two children clap, and then she was gone.
She was in a school auditorium where a play was being performed. She flew from row to row. “Clap to save Mother Dove! Clap to save Never Land!”
She was in a sandbox. “Clap to keep Peter Pan young!” She flew to the swings. “Clap to save Mother Dove!” She flew to the seesaw. “Clap to save Never Land!”
Back on the beach, the egg began to spin, faster and faster. Mother Dove was still gasping her last gasp.
Prilla was at a birthday party, hovering above the birthday candles. “Clap to save Mother Dove! Clap for Never Land!”
The egg shimmered as it spun. The fairies heard a high whistle. Rani and Vidia heard the crackle of Kyto’s flame.
Prilla flew over a line of children watching a parade. “Clap for Mother Dove! Clap for fairies!”
Mother Dove began to shimmer.
Prilla zoomed from home to home, shouting, “Clap! Clap! Clap for Mother Dove! Clap! Clap!”
Clap! if you’re reading this. Clap for Mother Dove! Clap for Never Land! Clap for Prilla! Clap!
The fairies heard a faint rustle. The sound grew to a roar. Was it what they thought?
It was! Children were clapping!
The fairies began to shout, “Clap! Clap! Clap for Mother Dove! Clap! Clap!”
The glorious roar grew. Thousands of children clapped. And thousands more.
In the egg, the gob of Kyto’s spit dissolved an
d vanished.
A shudder ran through Never Land.
The clapping stopped, and Prilla returned.
There was Mother Dove, as plump and healthy as she’d been before the hurricane. There was the egg, the good egg, the egg as Kyto should have re-created it, still holding the barest trace of a shimmer.
Prilla blinked, astonished. Then she laughed and turned a cartwheel.
With her wings, Mother Dove cleared sand around the egg. When she was satisfied, she settled herself on top of it.
A warm breeze blew along the beach.
Captain Hook straightened and tossed his table-leg cane overboard.
The Never bear bent his knee experimentally. Why, it was fine!
Peter Pan looked up. The ceiling of the underground home was far above his head. He wasn’t growing up! He swore he never would.
The golden hawk rose higher than he’d ever flown before. He spotted a four-leaf clover in the meadow below. He’d never felt better.
On the beach, Mother Dove turned to Tink. “Thank you, Tink. I’ll never forget that you cared for me and stood by me through the long, quiet hours. Those were the worst, weren’t they?”
Tink nodded.
“You’re my champion, Tink.”
“We all thank you, Tink,” Ree said.
Prilla wondered if Mother Dove was going to thank her.
“Vidia,” Mother Dove said, “thank you for going on the quest. I see you’ve come back unchanged. What a pity.”
“Darling, if you really want to thank me, you’ll let me pluck a feather or two.”
Mother Dove raised her head and whistled, then said, “Rani, Rani. Your poor—”
“—wings.”
No one had noticed before, but now Ree cried out, and the other fairies gasped at Rani’s empty back.
Rani threw her arms around Mother Dove’s neck and sobbed. Then she straightened and said, “I’d do it again.”
“I know. I—”
“—know. I swam, Mother Dove. I swam with a mermaid.”
She turned to Ree. “I promised to give her a magic wand. I had to, or she wouldn’t give me her comb.”
Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg Page 9