by Kiki Thorpe
“But which way?” Mia asked. There was no clear path through the forest. They were surrounded by ferns and vines.
“Let’s each pick a direction,” Kate suggested. “Shout as soon as you spot her. She can’t have gone very far.”
They fanned out like spokes on a wheel. Rosetta flew between the leaves of a giant fern and over a rotting log. The trees here were twice as big as the Home Tree, the giant maple that housed all the fairies in Pixie Hollow. Thick moss grew around their trunks, giving the forest an ancient feel.
There’s something strange about this place, Rosetta thought. It wasn’t just that the plants were unusual. She felt an immense presence. It was watching, waiting. What was it?
“Iridessa?” she called.
Rosetta glanced over her shoulder. She could hear the girls crashing through the leaves. They sound like elephants, Rosetta thought. But it was comforting to know they were close.
She flew a little farther. “Iridessa?”
Rosetta landed on a broad leaf. She was afraid of going too far and getting lost. She had just decided to turn back when, suddenly, the leaf she was standing on folded around her. Rosetta was too surprised to cry out. Darkness engulfed her from all sides.
Mia was watching Rosetta out of the corner of her eye when the fairy’s glow suddenly vanished.
Had she flown out of view? Or had her glow winked out for a second? That sometimes happened when a fairy was surprised.
“Rosetta?” Mia called. “Are you all right?”
There was no answer.
Mia shivered. She didn’t want to be alone in this strange place. She turned and hurried back to the spot where she’d left her friends, yelling, “Guys, where are you?”
Mia heard leaves rustling. One by one, Kate, Lainey, and Gabby emerged from the forest. “Did you find Iridessa?” Kate asked.
“No, and now Rosetta’s gone, too,” Mia said.
“Gone? Are you sure?” Lainey asked.
Mia nodded. “I could see her light and then it just…went out. She didn’t answer when I called her.”
The girls looked at her in alarm. Mia knew what they were thinking. The fairies would never just leave them. Something terrible must have happened.
Gabby reached for her. “Mia, I’m scared.”
“Me too.” Mia grasped Gabby’s hand and pulled her closer. The four girls huddled together.
“What should we do now?” Lainey whispered.
They all turned to look at Kate. She always had a plan.
Kate licked her lips. Her green eyes flicked around the woods. “We…we have to look for them,” she said. “Everybody, stay close. Whatever we find, we’ll face it together. Okay?”
The girls nodded solemnly. Holding tight to each other, they moved deeper into the trees.
If the forest had been gloomy before, now it seemed downright sinister. Without the fairies’ light, the shadows seemed to press closer. Mia felt eyes watching them.
I wish I’d never flown into that storm!
Mia replayed the moment over and over in her mind. If she’d only listened when the fairies said to fly around the rain, they would be safe in Pixie Hollow now. Just thinking of it made a lump form in her throat.
Mia was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn’t notice the tiny creature perched in front of her until she almost walked into it.
She let out a squeal and jumped backward into Kate. Startled, Kate bumped into Lainey. Then all the girls were yelling and bumping into each other.
Lainey gasped. “What’s the matter?”
Mia pointed to the leaf. “A big freaky bug!”
Kate peered at it. “That’s no bug!”
Looking closer, Mia saw that Kate was right—it wasn’t a bug. It was a tiny man. He wore a hat made from a mushroom cap and a coat of leaves. In his arms he held a long asparagus stalk, which he pointed at Kate.
“Look!” Lainey cried. Another tiny man had appeared on a tree root. This one wore a red toadstool cap with white spots. When Lainey crouched down to look at him, he shook his asparagus at her menacingly.
With a faint rustle, dozens of sprites emerged from the forest. They were about the size of fairies, but they had no wings. They had worm-pale skin and sharp black eyes, and they all wore hats made of mushrooms. Some were wide-brimmed, like sunhats. Others were brown or red with white spots and fit snugly, like caps. The sprites surrounded the girls, aiming asparagus spears at their ankles.
Mia spotted a familiar pale blue cap. “Rosetta was right. That mushroom was following us!” she murmured.
“What do they want?” Lainey asked.
“Maybe they know where the fairies are!” Kate turned to the first sprite they’d seen, the one standing on the fern leaf. “I’m Kate,” she said slowly, pointing her thumb at her chest. “We mean you no harm. We just want to find our fairy friends.”
The sprite stared at her, unblinking.
Kate made a fluttering motion with her hands. “Fairies?” she repeated. When the sprite didn’t reply, she frowned and leaned closer. “Do. You. Understand?”
The sprite lifted his asparagus and poked her in the nose.
Kate’s head snapped back. “Hey!”
Mia giggled. “I guess they don’t speak your language, Kate. They’re kind of cute, though.”
No sooner had the words left her mouth than she felt a jab on her ankle. “What?” Mia looked down. A band of sprites surrounded her foot. They poked her with their spears.
“Quit it!” Gabby exclaimed. The sprites were attacking Gabby’s feet, too. “Mia, make them stop!”
Mia stomped her foot, and the sprites scattered a few inches. “Go on. Leave us alone!” She raised her foot again in a threatening way.
“Mia, don’t!” Lainey said. “I think they’re trying to tell us something. Look.”
A band of sprites were leading the way into the forest. They looked back over their shoulders at the girls.
“They want us to follow them,” Lainey explained.
“Why should we?” Mia said. “They’re not exactly friendly.”
“I think we should,” Kate said. “We’re not getting anywhere on our own. Maybe we’ll learn something about this weird place.”
Mia felt another poke on her ankle. She swatted away the asparagus and scowled. “All right, all right. We’re coming,” she snapped.
The sprites led the way, and the girls followed, tripping over tree roots and crashing through leaves. The deeper they went, the darker the forest became. Scraps of fog floated among the trees like silent ghosts.
Mia shivered and rubbed her arms. She noticed that the sprites moved furtively. Every now and then they glanced up toward the treetops. But when she followed their gaze, all she could see were branches. What were the sprites watching for?
They had been walking for only a short time when, without a word, the sprites came to a halt.
“Why are we stopping?” Kate asked.
They were standing in a glade formed by enormous trees. Mushrooms and toadstools dotted the ground between the thick, mossy tree roots.
Mia blinked and looked again. That large mushroom had windows and a door!
Now she noticed that what she’d mistaken for a vine was actually a bridge connecting two tree stumps. A tiny face peeked from a window in one of the stumps, then quickly vanished again.
“I think this is where they live!” she said.
Mia studied the forest with careful eyes. As she did, a tiny village seemed to emerge—slowly, then all at once. The biggest mushrooms were little houses. Tiny white fungi formed graceful paths like stepping-stones. A fungus stairway encircled a tree trunk, leading up to a tiny lookout hut.
A furry gray moth flitted past. A beetle crawled over the toe of Mia’s shoe and continued on its way, carrying a bundle of pine needles o
n its back.
The sprites’ home reminded Mia a little of Pixie Hollow. Instead of flowers and butterflies, they had mushrooms and moths. But something else was different, too.
There’s no light! Mia realized. Not so much as a firefly lantern glowed in any of the windows.
An older sprite walked slowly toward them. She had a pale, wrinkled face and wore a cloak made of rough brown leaves. Her mushroom cap had five pointed tips.
“Is she the queen?” Gabby whispered.
“Maybe,” Mia whispered back. The sprite’s cap did look sort of crownlike.
The sprite stopped when she was about a foot in front of them. “Welcome,” she said.
“You can talk?” Kate cried.
The sprite looked amused. “We speak, yes,” she said. “But we don’t always choose to.”
“Where are we?” Lainey asked.
“The village of Low Ones,” the sprite replied. “I am Ersa. We welcome you, friends of the Brilliant Ones.”
“Brilliant Ones?” asked Mia.
“The bringers of light,” Ersa said.
The girls exchanged confused looks. “We don’t know any, er, bringers of light,” Kate said. “We’re just looking for our friends.”
Ersa turned and began to walk away. “Come,” she said over her shoulder.
The girls followed her to a hollow log covered with moss. A warm light shone through the cracks in the wood. It was the brightest light they’d seen since they’d entered the forest. A few sprites armed with asparagus spears stood outside.
Ersa motioned the guards aside. At the opening to the hollow log, she stopped and beckoned the girls closer.
Cautiously, Mia knelt to look inside. She gasped in surprise.
“Rosetta!” Mia exclaimed. “Iridessa!” The two fairies were the source of the warm yellow glow.
“You found us!” exclaimed Rosetta. Her glow brightened with joy.
“We were worried we’d never see you again!” said Iridessa.
“Us too,” said Kate, leaning down. “But what are you doing here?”
The fairies told the same story. They’d been flying through the forest, and when they paused on a leaf, they’d been captured and brought to the sprites’ village.
Mia whirled toward the old sprite. “You kidnapped our friends?”
“For their own good,” Ersa said.
“Good?” Kate snapped. “You scared everyone half to death.” She turned to the fairies. “Come on. We’re getting you out of here.”
“We’re right behind you,” Iridessa said. The fairies fluttered out of the log.
“No!” Ersa cried. “Stop!”
A roaring sound came from above, as if the treetops were caught in a sudden windstorm. The noise was enough to stop the girls in their tracks.
“What?” Mia looked back to Ersa for an explanation. But all the sprites had disappeared.
Suddenly, something hard came hurtling down and hit the top of Lainey’s head.
“Ow!” she cried.
Another hard object followed. In seconds, everyone was being pelted with falling debris.
“Take cover!” Iridessa shouted.
The fairies dove for shelter in the undergrowth. The girls, who were too big to hide under anything, crouched and covered their heads with their arms. The objects stung where they struck. As they collected on the ground, Mia realized that they weren’t rocks, as she’d first thought. They were small green pinecones.
In a few moments, the barrage let up. The girls shakily rose to their feet.
“What was that?” Kate asked.
“The Great Ones,” Ersa said, emerging from under a large mushroom.
“Great Ones?” Rosetta asked.
Ersa glanced warily at a nearby sapling. Mia didn’t see anything unusual about the tree, but the sprite said, “There are spies everywhere. Let’s find a safer place to talk. But you must hide your glows.” She started away through the forest, scurrying like a mouse.
Without knowing what else to do, the girls and fairies followed. The fairies dimmed their glows to a dull light.
As they passed through the village, more sprites emerged from their hiding places to stare, gaping at the group of friends with wide eyes and open mouths.
It’s not us they’re looking at, Mia realized. It’s the fairies. The sprites were transfixed by the fairies’ light. One bold sprite even reached out to touch Rosetta’s rose-petal dress as she passed.
“They’ve never seen Brilliant Ones before,” Ersa said.
“Why does she keep calling the fairies ‘Brilliant Ones’?” Lainey whispered to Mia.
Mia shrugged. Everything about this village was odd.
Ersa led them to what looked like a small cave standing alone in the woods. As they got closer, Mia saw that it was the remains of what had once been a massive tree. A fire had gutted it—all that was left was an enormous hollow stump. It was so big that all four girls could fit inside comfortably. The blackened walls were smooth and polished. Mia guessed the fire had occurred long ago.
Ersa and the fairies sat at a mushroom table inside the hollow, while the girls sat cross-legged behind them. Sprites served them cold mushroom soup in acorn bowls.
Mia clutched the tiny cup with chilled fingers. She wished it were hot. Wasn’t there anything warm in this dark, gloomy place?
“The Great Ones are the forest giants,” Ersa explained as they ate. “They are the ones who attacked.”
“Why?” Kate asked. “Did we do something wrong?”
“They saw your glows,” Ersa told the fairies. “The Great Ones will not allow us to have any light. They attack even the tiniest spark.”
Iridessa looked aghast. “Why would anyone hate light?”
“We do not know,” Ersa said. “It has been that way for as long as we Low Ones can remember.”
“That’s terrible.” Mia tried to imagine living without light. She shivered.
“Why don’t you leave?” Lainey asked Ersa.
The sprite’s forehead wrinkled. “Leave?”
“Yeah, you could go live at the beach or someplace sunny,” Kate suggested.
“Out in the open? Outside the forest?” Ersa looked horrified. “But this is our home!” She turned to the fairies. “Where you come from there is plenty of light, yes?”
“Oh, yes!” said Iridessa. “So much sunlight. And moonlight at night.”
“And flowers blooming everywhere,” Rosetta chimed in. “Almost every day is spring or summer.”
“Tell me more,” said Ersa.
So the fairies told her about the Home Tree with its great knothole door and the dozens of fairy rooms lining its branches. They told her about fairy feasts of sun-dried berries and fresh-baked bread. They told her how beautiful Pixie Hollow looked at night, lit up by firefly lanterns.
Ersa closed her eyes, basking in the description as if the words themselves were warm. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, that’s how our village will be. Now that you are here.”
“Us?” Iridessa and Rosetta exclaimed in unison.
Ersa smiled. “With your light, our home can be like yours.”
“It doesn’t work that way,” Iridessa tried to explain. “You need sunlight. And fairy dust. We can’t glow or do magic without fairy dust.”
“Besides,” Rosetta added, “we can’t stay.”
Ersa’s face fell. “Why not?”
“We’re looking for our friend, Tinker Bell,” Rosetta told her. The fairies explained how Tinker Bell had set out to sea in a toy boat. She’d sailed off early one morning and hadn’t been seen since.
“We think she might have gotten caught in the same storm we did,” Mia said. “The one that brought us here.”
“So, this Tinker Bell is important to you?” Ersa asked.
The
girls and fairies nodded. “She’s our very good friend,” said Rosetta.
Ersa was quiet for a moment. “If you will not stay, you must do something before you leave.”
“What’s that?” asked Iridessa.
“The Great Ones live Above.” Ersa waved a hand to indicate the forest over their heads. “We Low Ones are small and helpless. We have no way to reach them. But you can fly. You must go to them and ask them to give us light.”
Mia almost laughed out loud. This little sprite had a lot of nerve! “You want us to talk to some nasty, light-hating giants? I think we’ll pass,” she said.
“You must do this,” Ersa said firmly.
“We don’t have to do anything,” Kate said. “You tried to kidnap our friends. I don’t see why we should help you at all.”
Ersa lifted her chin. “Then we have no more to discuss.” She stood to leave.
As she stepped away, her foot poked out from beneath her long skirt. Her shoe was leaf green with a pom-pom made from dandelion fluff.
The girls and fairies stared. She was wearing Tinker Bell’s slipper.
“Stop!” Mia blocked the sprite’s way with her foot. “Where did you get that slipper?” she demanded.
“Our scouts found it on the beach. They brought it to me,” Ersa replied.
“Liar!” Kate rose to her full height. “That shoe belongs to our friend Tink. What have you done with her?”
A look of fear flashed across Ersa’s face. Mia imagined how Kate must look to her—like a glaring red-faced, freckled giant.
Still the sprite wouldn’t give in. “I told you I know nothing of this Tinker Bell,” Ersa said. “But if you do as I ask, then the Low Ones will help you.”
The girls and fairies looked at one another. Could they trust her?
“She’s bluffing,” Mia said. “I bet she can’t help us.”
“Or won’t,” Iridessa added.