Finding Tinker Bell #6

by Kiki Thorpe

  Copyright © 2020 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019, and in Canada by Penguin Random House Canada Limited, Toronto, in conjunction with Disney Enterprises, Inc. Random House and the colophon are registered trademarks and A Stepping Stone Book and the colophon are trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Thorpe, Kiki, author. | Christy, Jana, illustrator.

  Title: The last journey / written by Kiki Thorpe ; illustrated by Jana Christy.

  Description: New York : Random House, [2020] | Series: Disney Finding Tinker Bell, a Never Girls adventure ; 6 | A Stepping Stone Book.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2019021219 | ISBN 978-0-7364-3989-3 (pbk.) | ISBN 978-0-7364-8278-3 (lib. bdg.) | ISBN 978-0-7364-3990-9 (ebook)

  Classification: LCC PZ7.T3974 Las 2020 | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  rhcbooks.com

  Ebook ISBN 9780736439909

  This book has been officially leveled by using the F&P Text Level Gradient™ Leveling System.

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

  v5.4

  a

  For R & F. Always keep magic in your hearts. —K.T.

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Introduction

  Map

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  About the Author

  Far away from the world we know, on the distant Sea of Dreams, lies an island called Never Land. It is a place full of magic, where mermaids sing, fairies play, and children never grow up. Adventures happen every day, and anything is possible.

  Though many children have heard of Never Land, only a special few ever find it. The secret, they know, lies not in a set of directions but deep within their hearts, for believing in magic can make extraordinary things happen. It can open doorways you never even knew were there.

  One day, through an accident of magic, four special girls found a portal to Never Land right in their own backyard. The enchanted island became the girls’ secret playground, one they visited every chance they got. With the fairies of Pixie Hollow as their friends and guides, they made many magical discoveries.

  But Never Land isn’t the only island on the Sea of Dreams. When a special friend goes missing, the girls set out across the sea to find her. Beyond the shores of Never Land, they encounter places far stranger than they ever could have imagined….

  This is their story.

  Tinker Bell stood on the deck of her boat, the Treasure, peering into the fog. As the boat’s prow parted the thick mist, Tink gripped the wheel tightly. She’d been flying her little boat over the shoreline when the fog rolled in, catching her off guard. Fog made flying treacherous. One never knew what might be hidden in it.

  Tink reached over and rang the ship’s bell. It sounded a deep, golden note. The sound made her feel less alone.

  Just then her eyes fell on the large brass compass leaning against the cabin. The compass needle was hovering on “N.”

  Tink’s heart gave a leap. Could it be? Had she found the way back to Never Land?

  It might only be a coincidence, she warned herself. Maybe the damp air was causing the needle to stick.

  She gave the compass a kick. The needle swayed, then returned to “N.”

  Tink pulled the compass down so it lay flat on the deck. She turned it around. The “N” now pointed in the other direction. But the needle stayed true.

  She flew to the wheel and began to turn the boat in the direction the needle pointed. But halfway around, she stopped. If she left Shadow Island now, she’d be leaving her shadow behind.

  Tink gripped the wheel, making her decision. She had to go. She might not have another chance.

  As wind caught the sail, the mast creaked. Tink eyed it nervously. The mast had been broken on the journey to Shadow Island. She had fixed it as best she could, but a crack remained. She hoped it would hold.

  As the boat plunged forward, she heard another sound. It came from somewhere behind her. She could have sworn someone was calling her name.

  But how could that be? No one knew her on Shadow Island.

  “It was probably a loon,” Tink told herself.

  Still, she fluttered to the stern and peered out. The fog rolled toward her in thick gray waves.

  The cry came again. This time, there was no doubt about it. Someone was calling to her!

  Tink! Tinker Bell! Tink!

  The cries were eerie and faint. They sounded like the calls of children.

  A chill ran through her. Tink did not scare easily, but she was frightened now. Someone—or something—was chasing her!

  “Sea wraiths!” Tink said with a gasp. She’d spied the wicked creatures in the water around Shadow Island. They mimicked pretty sounds to lure travelers to their doom. “I must be closer to the water than I realized.”

  She angled the rudder, and when the boat rose, she threw a cup of fairy dust on the sail. Fairy dust made the boat fly.

  But even as the boat rose higher into the air, she could hear the cries. They seemed to be getting closer. Now they sounded like the silvery voices of fairies.

  Tink covered her ears. Where, oh where, is the portal to Never Land? she wondered.

  Then she saw it. Ahead, a black cloud blotted the mist like an ink stain. It was the cloud that had brought her to Shadow Island.

  And, if the compass was right, the cloud that would take her home.

  She let the sail out fully. The boat plunged forward. The mast groaned.

  “Come on,” Tink whispered, urging the boat forward. “You can do it. Just a little farther.”

  A few more seconds and she would reach the cloud. She could see sparks of green electricity flashing inside it. Any moment now, it would sweep up the boat and pull her through the portal to Never Land.

  But then Tink heard a loud crack. The mast snapped in two.

  “No!” she cried as the sail flopped sideways.

  The boat tilted dangerously. Tink was thrown against the rail.

  She reached for more fairy dust. But the barrel rolled out of the way, and the precious dust spilled.

  “Tinker Bell! Hold on!” a voice said clearly above her.

  Tink glanced up—then froze in astonishment.

  Four bright spots of light stood out against the dark cloud. Even from a distance, Tink recognized them. It was Iridessa, Fawn, Silvermist, and Rosetta—Tink’s best fairy friends.

  Just as Tink opened her mouth to call out, the boat plummeted.

  Faster and faster it went, spinning down toward the ground. Tink could see the rocky shoreline rising to meet her.

  At the last second, she leaped free. She fluttered to safety as the boat crashed on the rocks.

  Plumes of fairy dust rose from the wreck like rainbow-colored smoke. The barrels in the cargo hold had smashed. The wind carried the dust away.

  A flash lit up the sky. Tink looked up in time to see the dark cloud vanish—taking the four fairies with it.

  “Oh no!” She flew to the compass. The glass was cracked, but the needle was what really troubled Tink. I
t was spinning, spinning, spinning….

  The portal to Never Land was gone. But Tink saw something else in the sky. She squinted at it. Then her eyes widened.

  Four girls were flying toward her. The smallest one wore fairy wings and a tutu.

  The girls’ hair was wild. Their clothes were dirty. Their faces were red from the wind. But Tink would have known them anywhere. It was Kate McCrady, Lainey Winters, and sisters Mia and Gabby Vasquez.

  Gabby landed first, flashing an enormous smile. “Hi, Tinker Bell,” she said.

  Gabby was beside herself with joy. They had done it! They had finally found Tinker Bell.

  For days, Gabby and her friends had crisscrossed Shadow Island, looking for Tink and the Treasure. They’d climbed a mountain. They’d combed through forests. They had even slept in a cursed castle!

  But it had all been worth it to find their fairy friend. Gabby was so happy to see Tink, she could have kissed her.

  The look on Tink’s face stopped her. Why did Tink look so afraid?

  “Tink?” Gabby said in a small voice. “Aren’t you glad to see us?”

  “Wh-what…?” Tinker Bell stammered. “What are you doing here?”

  “We’re here to rescue you!” Kate exclaimed, coming up behind Gabby.

  “Rescue me?” Tink echoed faintly.

  Her eyes flicked sideways. Gabby followed her gaze, and her heart dropped to her toes.

  The Treasure was destroyed. The little boat lay sideways on the rocks. Its bottom was smashed to pieces.

  A wail rose in Gabby’s throat. “Great-Grandpa’s boat! Oh no! What am I going to tell Papi?”

  She started to pick up the splinters. But at once she saw that there was no hope of putting the boat back together.

  “Oh, Gabby.” Lainey covered her mouth in horror.

  “Maybe we can fix it,” Kate said uncertainly.

  Mia tried to put her arm around Gabby’s shoulders. But Gabby shook it off. She was too upset to be comforted.

  “I promised Papi I’d bring it back!” she sobbed. “I said I wouldn’t come home without it. I promised!”

  “Bring it back…?” Understanding dawned on Tink’s face. “This is your boat?”

  Gabby nodded miserably.

  “And you came all the way here to get it?” Tink asked.

  “Yes,” Mia said. “And to find you, too, of course. The fairies are with us—Iridessa, Silvermist, Fawn, and Rosetta. We made a search party to look for you. They should be here. They were right ahead of us….”

  The girls looked around, suddenly realizing the fairies weren’t with them.

  “They’re gone,” Tinker Bell said somberly. “I saw them only for a second. They vanished into the cloud.”

  “Vanished!” Mia exclaimed. “You mean they left us?”

  “I don’t think they could help it,” Tink said. “The cloud pulled them in. I expect it would have pulled you, too, if you hadn’t dived when you did.”

  “We have to go after them!” Lainey said.

  “It’s no use,” Tinker Bell replied. “That cloud is gone. The fairies are probably back in Never Land by now.”

  “Never Land?” the girls exclaimed in unison.

  Tink sighed. “I’ll explain as much as I can. But let’s get out of the wind. Come on. There’s a cave not far from here.”

  The girls gathered up the remains of the Treasure and wrapped the pieces in Mia’s sweater.

  As they followed Tink toward the cave, Gabby checked to make sure her shadow was following. She’d already lost it once on their journey, and she didn’t need any more setbacks now.

  Her shadow was still there, thankfully. Gabby saw it lingering a short ways back. “Come on. Keep up,” Gabby scolded it, then hurried to catch up with Tink.

  Moments later, the girls were warming themselves by a small fire Tink had built from driftwood. Tink fluttered close to the flames. Gabby noticed that the fairy’s bare feet were blue with cold.

  “Mia!” she whispered, nudging her sister.

  “Oh! We have something of yours,” Mia told Tink. She took a pair of tiny pom-pom slippers from her pocket and held them out.

  “My shoes!” The fairy’s face lit up. “I thought they were lost for good!”

  She slid the pom-pom slippers on, then held out her feet to admire them. It was the first time Tink had smiled since they’d found her, and it warmed the cave almost as much as the fire.

  “We found something else that belongs to you,” Gabby said, feeling encouraged. She turned and peered into the shadows of the cave. “Come on out.”

  A tiny shadow separated itself from the darkness. It flitted into the firelight.

  “My shadow!” Tink looked as if she couldn’t believe her eyes. Then her expression darkened. “Traitor!”

  The shadow put a hand to its chest, as if to say, “Who, me?”

  “Yes, you,” Tinker Bell snapped. “And to think I ever gave shape to you. You ought to be ashamed of yourself.”

  “Tink!” Gabby said, aghast.

  The shadow reeled back in offense. Then it made a sharp reply. Of course, it didn’t make a sound. But Gabby could guess by the way it tossed its head that whatever it was saying wasn’t very nice.

  “Tink, what’s wrong?” Mia asked. “Don’t you want your shadow back?”

  “That shadow,” Tink said, pointing a finger, “is the reason for all our troubles.”

  The shadow folded its arms and huffed.

  “I don’t understand,” Lainey said.

  “I’d better start at the beginning,” Tink said with a sigh. “Let me tell you how I came to Shadow Island.”

  They all leaned closer to the fire as Tink began to tell her story.

  “It all started when I found the old map,” Tinker Bell began. “At first, I thought it was an ordinary map of Never Land. But when I looked closer, I saw a mysterious message on it. Someone had written the words ‘Shadow Island.’ ”

  Gabby shivered and scooted closer to the fire. She could see Tinker Bell’s shadow on the far cave wall. It sat with its back turned. But Gabby could tell it was listening.

  “I had never heard of Shadow Island. But I couldn’t stop thinking about it,” Tink explained. “I wanted to find it. When I saw the boat—your boat,” she added with a glance at Gabby, “I thought Never Land had granted my wish.”

  The girls nodded. They all knew how Never Land had a way of making wishes come true.

  “The day I set sail, the sky was blue,” Tinker Bell told them. “But no sooner had I left the lagoon than I encountered a strange storm—”

  “Us too!” Kate interrupted. “We flew into a storm. That’s how we got here!”

  “I thought as much,” Tink said. “That storm was the gateway to Shadow Island.”

  The fairy gave a little shudder. She pulled her leaf-cloak tighter and went on. “The boat was badly damaged in the storm. I was so busy fixing it that at first I didn’t notice the clues.”

  “What clues?” Mia whispered.

  “The shadow clues,” Tink replied. “The day I landed here, I saw shadows moving about on their own. I should have guessed then what was to come. But I only thought, ‘This must be Shadow Island after all!’ I was happy I’d found it. I didn’t stop to think about my own shadow.”

  They all glanced over at Tink’s shadow. As soon as it saw them looking, it turned away and pretended to study the cave ceiling.

  “One day, soon after the boat was fixed, I decided to explore the island,” Tink went on. “I was curious what I would find. So I took the boat and started inland.

  “Soon after we left the beach, I noticed something odd. Before, my shadow had trailed behind me. Now it was leading. It grew taller and longer, as if stretching away. I had the feeling it was looking for something.

  “I hadn’t been exploring for long, when I suddenly came upon the ruins of
a castle. Suddenly, my compass began behaving strangely. Its needle pointed toward the castle.” Tink leaned forward. “I sailed over to have a closer look at the place. And that’s when it happened.”

  Tink paused. Everyone leaned in.

  “What happened?” Gabby whispered.

  Tink looked at the dark silhouette on the wall. “My shadow deserted me,” she said.

  “Ohh,” the girls sighed in unison.

  “Maybe it was an accident,” said Gabby, who always wanted to believe the best about everyone. “I lost my shadow, too. But it didn’t leave on purpose.”

  Tink shook her head. “I don’t think so. I saw it there in the sky. It looked right at me, then flew away. It didn’t even say good-bye. That’s when I knew I’d been tricked.”

  “Tricked how?” Kate asked.

  “By my shadow, of course,” Tink said. “It was the one who wrote ‘Shadow Island’ on the map.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Mia. “How did your shadow know it was a map of Shadow Island?”

  “There never was a map to Shadow Island,” Tink explained. “It was a plain old map of Never Land. But once I saw those words, it put the idea into my head. And when you believe in something hard enough, well—you never know what you will find.”

  The girls nodded knowingly. Their belief in fairies had led them to Pixie Hollow and Never Land. How many other worlds might they find if only they thought to look for them?

  “But how did your shadow write those words without you knowing?” Lainey asked.

  “My shadow has always been a bit rebellious,” Tink said. “But I never thought it would leave.”

  “Maybe,” Lainey said quietly, “it just wanted you to appreciate it.”

  The shadow, forgetting that it was pretending not to listen, nodded.

  “The thing I can’t understand is how you all got here,” Tink said. “How did you find your way?”