It was a long, wet walk back to the Home Tree. Prilla’s wings were so heavy with rain she couldn’t get off the ground––not even with double sprinkles of fairy dust.
Rani looked up at the sky. The gray clouds hovered overhead. Sometimes they dropped gentle rain. Sometimes they dropped heavy rain. And sometimes they just contented themselves with being damp.
“What are we going to do now?” Prilla asked.
Rani noticed that Prilla had asked what are we going to do, and not what are you going to do. She felt grateful that her friend wanted to help her.
“Well,” Rani said, “I must say, I don’t think Dab’s riddle is very challenging. Pixie Hollow has lots of treasures. It shouldn’t take us long to guess them. Mother Dove’s egg is one.” Mother Dove’s egg was what kept the creatures in Never Land from growing old.
“What about Queen Clarion’s crown?” Prilla suggested.
“Yes! That’s two. Maybe Mother Dove is the third. Let’s see if we’re right.” Rani lifted her voice. “Hear me, Dab, wherever you are. In the name of Pixie Hollow’s three treasures—the blue egg, Mother Dove, and Queen Clarion’s crown—I wish you back…I wish you back…I wish you back!”
Rani and Prilla stood very still, waiting for Dab to appear.
But nothing happened except that a big, fat raindrop fell and splashed on Rani’s head. “Okay,” she chirped, refusing to worry. “It may be a little harder than I thought.”
“We will figure it out,” Prilla said.
In spite of the chilly rain, a wave of happiness warmed Rani from head to toe. She was glad Prilla was such a good friend.
TWO DAYS LATER, it was still raining. As Rani sat drinking tea, she couldn’t help noticing that the tearoom was full of glum fairies.
Rani reached out and took a crumpet from the breadbasket. The crumpet bent slightly, then broke off. It landed with a plop right in her cup of tea.
Dulcie, who had baked the crumpets, sighed impatiently. “Every single piece of pastry is soggy. And there’s nothing we can do about it with the weather so damp.”
A laundry-talent fairy folded her arms over her chest. “We’ve got piles and piles of wet laundry. But we can’t hang it out to dry until the rain stops.”
“I don’t understand it,” said Iridessa, a light-talent fairy. “Usually Pixie Hollow only gets as much rain as it needs. But we’ve had a good bit more than we need. In fact, we’re having too much. The roots of the Home Tree are so wet the fairies on the first floor are complaining of rising damp.”
Rani said nothing. The first day of rain had been fun—at least for her and Prilla. The other fairies had seemed to enjoy the rainy day, too. Many had spent the time reading, chatting, and tidying their work spaces.
But by the end of the second day, the mood had worsened. In the kitchen, the cooking- and baking-talent fairies exchanged harsh words. The light-talent fairies were exhausted from trying to keep the hallways and workplaces lit. And the coiffure talents had given up in despair. In this kind of weather, they said, curls were impossible to tame. So they hung up a sign that read FAIRIES EXPERIENCING BAD HAIR ARE ADVISED TO WEAR A HAT UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.
Rani listened to the unhappy voices. If the other fairies ever found out that it was her fault the rain clouds were hanging around, it would be awful.
Prilla entered the tearoom and made her way over to Rani. “Any ideas?” she whispered.
Rani sighed. She had been racking her brains all night.
Kyto the dragon had a collection of rare objects far more priceless than anything in Pixie Hollow. Hook had chests full of pirate bounty, and the mermaids had the lovely treasures of the sea. What treasures did the fairies have that none of the others did?
Rani thought about her wings. She had asked Prilla to cut them off so she could swim in the ocean with the mermaids. It had been part of the quest to save Mother Dove and her blue egg.
As soon as she’d cut her wings off, they’d turned into tiny jeweled marvels. Those wings—those treasures—had helped to save Never Land. Rani had given them to Kyto in exchange for his help.
Rani had never regretted giving away her wings—until now. Maybe the wings were one of the treasures Dab described.
Rani shook her head. No, that couldn’t be it. Her wings weren’t part of Pixie Hollow. They belonged to Kyto now.
It was clear to Rani that she and Prilla would have to go on a treasure hunt. But in the meantime, maybe there was a short-term solution.
Rani went outside and whistled for Brother Dove. He swooped down from a nearby branch. Poor thing, Rani thought. He was wet from head to toe.
“Maybe we can create a little dry time for Pixie Hollow,” Rani told Brother Dove. “The clouds will follow where we lead. So let’s head for the caves and see if we can lose them there.”
Brother Dove took to the sky and headed north. Rani looked behind her. Sure enough, here came the flock of gray rain clouds. They trailed at a distance, but they moved with steady purpose.
Rani indicated to Brother Dove that he should change direction. Brother Dove flew below the rain clouds and headed the opposite way.
“Faster,” Rani urged. Brother Dove beat his wings harder.
Rani looked back and saw the clouds swiftly reverse their direction. They were determined to follow.
Then Rani spotted a cave in the side of a hill. “Let’s hide and see what happens. Maybe they’ll just drift away and find Dab on their own,” she said.
Brother Dove dropped his altitude and soared below the hilltop. He circled once and then ducked into the mouth of a hidden cave.
Inside the cave, they waited. Rani peered out of the entrance at the sky. She could see the clouds, but she was hidden from them. The fluffy rain clouds began to mill around, bumping into one another like anxious, agitated sheep. They moved uncertainly this way and that. Within minutes, they were a tangled, roiling gray mass.
Thunder began to echo through the valley. It grew louder and louder, reverberating through the cave. Jagged lightning flashed. Rain poured down in sheets.
Rani peered out of the cave. The wind whipped her long hair in every direction. She grabbed on to a blade of grass to keep from blowing away.
This was terrible. She couldn’t let it go on. If the clouds didn’t calm down, they might cause another hurricane. Besides, Rani thought guiltily, I promised I would be a good cloud keeper. She had to honor that promise.
“Let’s go,” she told Brother Dove. He whisked her out of the cave. “Fly toward the rain clouds,” she said. “But slowly. We don’t want to spook them.”
Brother Dove flew gently into the fluffy mass of clouds. The cloudy air was cold and wet on Rani’s cheeks. Tiny bits of ice grazed her skin.
“I’m here,” Rani said in a soothing voice. “I’m here. Everything is going to be fine.” She reached out her hand to pat one of the clouds. Her hand sank into nothingness. But the clouds seemed to sense her presence. They calmed down.
“Come on,” she said. “Let’s go home.”
The thunder began to die out. The lightning faded away. The hurling sheets of rain slowed to a light patter. Rani and Brother Dove flew back toward Pixie Hollow, the flock of rain clouds following behind them.
As they approached the Home Tree, Rani could see lots of fairies busy outside. They were gardening, dancing, and hanging laundry out to dry.
They were not going to be happy to see the rain return. Nope. They were not going to be happy at all.
RANI LOOKED AT each and every one of the shells in her collection. Were there any treasures among them? Treasures that everyone would envy and want to possess?
Rani held her conch shell to her ear. She listened to the sound of the ocean. This shell was a treasure, but only to her. It had been a gift from the water fairy Silvermist. It was the first gift Rani had received when she arrived in Never Land.
There was a knock on the door, and Rani hurried to open it. Prilla stood on her doorstep. She wore a rain hat and a slicker
made from a lily pad, and she carried a petal umbrella. Despite the fact that she was as cold and damp as the other fairies, Prilla had a big smile on her face. “Ready to search for treasure?”
“I’m ready,” Rani replied. “First stop, Aiden’s crown repair shop. If there are any rare or precious jewels in Pixie Hollow, that will be the place to find them.”
Aiden, the crown-repair sparrow man, was delighted to see Rani and Prilla. “Visitors! To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“We’re taking inventory,” Rani said quickly. “We’re counting all of Pixie Hollow’s treasures. Aside from Queen Clarion’s crown, do you know of any extraspecial jewels?”
Aiden rubbed his hands together. “You bet I do. Take a look at these.” He reached for a wooden box and turned it upside down. Beautiful gemstones fell onto the table. They twinkled in the light.
Prilla gasped. “Oh, my! They are beautiful. Are they treasures?”
“Yes, of course,” Aiden said. “Look at that moonstone. It used to be the centerpiece of Queen Clarion’s crown.”
Rani reached down and picked up the moonstone. A tiny vein ran across it. “Is that a crack?” she asked.
Aiden nodded. “Yes, a wonderful crack. One day, Tink and Beck were flying with the queen when a hawk came swooping down from out of nowhere.”
Prilla gasped. “They could have been killed!”
“That’s right,” Aiden said. “But quick as lightning, Tink grabbed the crown from Queen Clarion’s head. She took that dagger she always wears and pried this big moonstone right out of the crown. Then she tossed the moonstone to Beck. Beck loaded it into her slingshot and—pow! She got that old hawk right on his beak.”
Rani and Prilla applauded.
“That hawk flew away and never came back. But the impact cracked the moonstone. Queen Clarion said never to fix it. That crack makes the moonstone priceless.”
Aiden showed them every jewel in his workshop. He had a story to go with each one. It was almost an hour before Rani and Prilla left the crown-repair shop.
As they stepped outside, Prilla raised her umbrella. Her eyes were bright.
“Well? What do you think?” she asked breathlessly. “Did we find three treasures? Do you want to name them and wish Dab back?”
Rani sighed and shook her head. “Remember all the things we saw on our quest? Hook has bigger and finer jewels on his watch fob alone. Compared to his jewels, ours look like…well, pea gravel.”
Prilla’s face fell.
“All those jewels are treasures, but only to us. They’re treasures because of their history. But they’re not treasures that everyone would envy or want to possess,” Rani explained.
Prilla snapped her fingers. “I know! What about the pearls in the fountain? The beautiful pearls you brought from the Mermaid Lagoon.”
Again, Rani shook her head. “Those pearls are nothing compared to the ones the mermaids wear. Their pearls are ten times the size of any pearl in Pixie Hollow.”
“All right then,” Prilla said. “Let’s go look at some art. Maybe we’ll find a treasure or two in Bess’s studio.”
As they approached her studio, Rani and Prilla could hear Bess humming. They knocked on the door. Bess answered with a paintbrush in her hand.
When she saw Rani and Prilla, she grinned. “I’m so glad someone’s come by. I have a new masterpiece to show.”
“Is it a treasure?” Prilla blurted out.
Bess laughed. “Terence would think so.” She stepped back and picked up a piece of sea glass on which she had painted a portrait of Tinker Bell. Light streaming through the sea glass made the painting glow.
Prilla clapped her hands in delight. “How beautiful!”
“Yes,” Bess said. “I’m glad I had this nice piece of sea glass to practice on. Because—” Bess broke off. “Can you keep a secret?”
Rani and Prilla nodded.
“I have something wonderful. Something that will make everyone’s eyes pop,” Bess told them.
Prilla and Rani looked at each other. “Would you call it a treasure?” Prilla asked.
“Oh, yes. Look at this.” Bess went to the corner where something very large was covered with a cloth. She removed the cloth with a flourish to reveal an enormous piece of sea glass. It was almost as big as Bess. “I’m going to paint a portrait of Mother Dove on it.”
Rani’s mouth fell open in amazement. “That piece of sea glass is huge. How did you carry it all the way from the beach?”
“Terence gave me a bit of extra fairy dust in exchange for painting that picture of Tink.” Bess quickly covered the sea glass with the cloth. “Don’t tell a soul about this,” she begged. “I want it to be a surprise.”
Rani and Prilla promised they would keep her secret.
Outside the studio, Prilla looked at Rani expectantly. “Well? What do you think?”
“It’s a lovely piece of sea glass,” Rani told her. “But I’ve seen pieces of sea glass much bigger and smoother.”
Prilla’s normally friendly face darkened. “Why are you being so discouraging about all of the treasures in Pixie Hollow?”
“I’m not!” Rani cried.
“Yes, you are,” Prilla fumed. “You know what? I think you don’t want to find Pixie Hollow’s treasures. Because deep down you really want the rain to stay forever, even though it’s making the rest of us miserable.” And with that, Prilla burst into tears.
Rani felt tears forming in her own eyes. “Oh, no! Prilla! Why would you say such a thing? You must know that’s not true.”
Prilla cried harder. She pulled a leaf-kerchief from her pocket and dabbed at her eyes. “You’re right. I do know it’s not true. I don’t have any idea why I said it.”
“I know why you said it. You said it because the rain is making you cranky and sad, just like it’s making everybody cranky and sad.”
Rani handed Prilla her own leafkerchief, which wasn’t much help. Rani’s leafkerchiefs were always damp. She patted Prilla on the shoulder. “There, there,” she said in a soothing tone. “There, there.”
Then suddenly, Rani spied something. She pointed at it, so excited that all she could manage to say was, “There! There!”
IN THE DISTANCE, Rani spied a beautiful rainbow.
“That’s it!” Prilla said happily. “There’s always a treasure at the end of a rainbow. Maybe there’s a treasure in Pixie Hollow we don’t know about.”
Rani nodded. “Brother Dove can fly to the top of the rainbow. We can follow it all the way to the end.”
She whistled, and Brother Dove swooped down from a nearby branch. Rani hopped on his back. “Wish me luck, Prilla.”
Brother Dove spread his wings. They flew high up into the clouds. All of Never Land spread out below them––the forests, the shores, the lakes, the streams, and the villages. It was magnificent.
It might be lonely being the only fairy with no wings, Rani reflected. But I wouldn’t trade places with anybody. She might not have any wings, but no fairy could fly higher.
Up…up…up they went. They were heading for the rainbow’s arch. Finally, they reached the place where white light bent in the mist and reflected all the colors. It was the highest point of the rainbow.
Brother Dove was breathing hard. His wings were losing strength. Luckily, he wouldn’t have to fly any higher. Now they could glide back to the ground.
Brother Dove arced in the air. He began to follow the rainbow’s curve back toward the ground.
Faster and faster they went. The ground seemed to rush toward them. Rani looked down and saw the roof of the fairy-dust mill.
“Aiiiiiieeee!” she screamed.
As Brother Dove slowed, Rani pitched forward off his back. BANG! She fell right on top of the thatched roof. The thick straw cushioned her fall, but it was wet. Rani felt the roof give way beneath her.
CRASH! Rani fell through the roof. She landed with a pooof! right in the middle of a bin full of fairy dust. She flailed and struggled in the dust. Final
ly, Terence and Jerome leaned over the side of the bin and hauled her out.
Rani blinked her eyes, shaking the dust from her eyelashes. She saw the light fairies Fira, Iridessa, and Luna. They stood with their hands on their hips, glaring at her. Nearby, Glory and Helios, two young light-talent fairies, burst into a fit of giggles.
But the other light fairies didn’t seem amused at all. And Terence and Jerome looked perfectly horrified.
“Rani, what in Never Land are you doing?” Terence asked.
Rani had never been so embarrassed. “Well…I…um…saw the rainbow. And I thought I’d try to find out what was at the end of it.”
Fira shook her head. “We’re at the end of it. We light talents made the rainbow. And now you’ve ruined our work.”
“We’ve been using light to try to keep the dust dry,” Iridessa explained. “When our light mingled with the rain, it created a rainbow.”
Rain began dripping through the hole in the roof. Drops splashed into the bin of fairy dust.
“Oh, no!” Jerome shouted. “You’ve punched a hole in the roof and now the dust is going to get drenched. As if we weren’t having enough trouble keeping it dry already.”
“Now, now,” Terence said. “There’s no time for blaming. Quick, get some oilcloth and cover the bins.”
Everyone sprang into action.
“Can I help?” Rani asked.
“I think you’ve done enough already,” Fira snapped.
Rani felt her face flush hot and then cold with humiliation and regret. “Then I’ll just, um…just…”
She couldn’t finish. She ran outside, determined not to cause any more trouble.
But the moment she stepped outside the mill, a gust of wind hit her. It carried her up into the air.
“Help!” Rani cried. “Help!”
The fairy dust that covered her like flour had made her so buoyant she floated. The tiniest puff of wind sent her tossing and turning through the sky like a leaf.
Rani had no wings, so she had no way to control her movements. She tumbled and rolled through the air, going higher and higher. Soon she was lost in the thick fog of the clouds.
Disney Fairies: Rani and the Three Treasures Page 2