It was a house. A tiny house. A house that was exactly the right size for a fairy.
Tinker Bell started toward it.
Meanwhile, Vidia had turned her head and seen Tink headed for trouble.
Once again, Tink felt a hand grab the back of her dress. “Tinker Bell, we’re not supposed to go near human houses!” Vidia warned. She ran nervously behind Tink. “Please tell me you’re not going in there.”
Tinker Bell thought it was funny that, for once, brave and fearless Vidia was scared and she wasn’t. It made Tink feel good to be braver than Vidia. She pushed the door open and stepped inside. She could hear Vidia muttering, “She went in there!”
Tinker Bell clapped with delight when she saw a dented upside-down thimble made into a table. Whoever had designed this house was somebody who thought like a tinker fairy.
She picked up a tiny mint from a candy dish and was just about to pop it into her mouth when Vidia’s voice brought her up short. “Tinker Bell, don’t eat that! This could be a trap!”
Tinker Bell turned and saw Vidia framed in the doorway, looking at the inside of the house as if she expected snakes to come dropping from the ceiling.
“Oh, come on, Vidia. It’s perfectly safe.”
“Oh, really?” Vidia tested her wings, which were dry now, and began to twirl. She raised a small whirlwind that caused the door to slam shut.
“Not so safe now, is it?” Vidia asked from outside the door.
“Nice try, Vidia. But you’re not scaring me.” Tinker Bell went to check out a fairy-sized clock. Unable to resist, she reached forward and fiddled with the hands. “Gosh! This thing is amazing.”
“You just don’t know when to stop, do you?” Vidia’s voice sounded muffled and small outside the door.
Tinker Bell heard the loud snap of a twig. Then she heard Vidia struggling with the door. “Tink! Someone’s coming and the door is stuck.”
Tink rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on, Vidia. You can do better than that.”
“Tink, I’m serious,” Vidia insisted. “Get out of there.”
“Just a second, just a second.” Tink wasn’t going to give Vidia the satisfaction of hurrying. After thoroughly admiring the inner workings of the clock, she went to the door and turned the handle. It wouldn’t open. She jiggled the doorknob. “Oh, Vidia, come on. Open the door. You’ve had your fun.”
But there was an eerie silence outside the door.
Tinker Bell rattled the doorknob insistently, beginning to feel nervous in spite of herself. “Okay, Vidia. Not funny anymore.”
Suddenly, a giant shadow fell over Tink. Something was blocking the window. Tink turned and saw a giant eyeball looking in.
Tinker Bell shrieked and the giant eyeball grew large, as if whoever was peeking in was just as surprised to see her.
Tinker Bell heard a voice outside the house. Lizzy’s voice. “A … a … fairy!” she cried. “A real fairy!”
The next thing Tink knew, the house was being lifted into the air as if by a cyclone. Tink was thrown from one wall to the other as Lizzy ran through the meadow carrying the house. “Father!” Lizzy shouted. “Father! Father!”
Tinker Bell held on as tight as she could and groaned.
She had a bad feeling. The kind of feeling you get when you know you’re in trouble. Not just a smidge of trouble. Big trouble.
Vidia chased Lizzy through the meadow and back to the house. Unfortunately, Lizzy got to the door ahead of her and kicked it shut, slamming it in Vidia’s face.
Vidia peeled off and began checking the windows, flying from one to the other, hoping to find one open.
She found a window that was open just a crack. On the other side of the glass, she could see the little girl’s father. He sat at a desk with his journal and looked very busy.
Lizzy ran into the room. “Father!”
“Yes, Lizzy.”
“You’re never going to believe what I’ve found.” Lizzy plopped the fairy house on the desk.
“Maybe later, Lizzy,” he said.
“But, Father—”
“Just a moment, dear. I’m very busy with my project.”
The little girl shifted from one foot to the other in her impatience. “But, Father—”
“Lizzy, please. I am just adding this extraordinary discovery to my field journal.” He scribbled quickly and finished with a flourish. “And here it is.” He put down the pen and held up the journal so she could see. He had drawn a very detailed picture of the butterfly.
“Is that the butterfly we were looking at earlier?” she asked, her voice uneasy.
“Yes. Quite a specimen, isn’t it?”
“You’re not going to take it to London, are you?”
“Yes, of course. The Board of Regents would never believe me if they didn’t see it themselves. Now I’m sure to get that curatorship at the museum.”
Vidia watched the little girl’s eyes move up to the walls of the room. It was lined with boxes in which lots of beautiful butterflies had been mounted for display, with pins.
“As a member of the scientific community, I’m obligated to share significant findings like this with my colleagues. I know it’s unfortunate for the specimen, but really, there is no other way,” said Dr. Griffiths. “Now, what did you want to see me about?”
Vidia’s stomach churned. If this man got hold of Tinker Bell, would she wind up in one of those boxes, too?
It was clear that the same thought was dawning on Lizzy. Her eyes were sad and full of worry. She moved the fairy house slightly and held it behind her. “Um … never mind.”
Lizzy exited the room in a hurry. Vidia let out her breath with a sigh of relief. But the good feeling didn’t last long. Because following close on Lizzy’s heels was the cat.
Vidia flew from window to window until she found herself looking in on the upstairs landing. She saw Lizzy arrive at the top of the stairs carrying the fairy house. The cat slunk along right behind her.
The little girl turned and disappeared into one of the bedrooms. Again Vidia zipped around the corner of the house, peering into windows until she found Lizzy’s bedroom.
Vidia watched Lizzy put the fairy house down and look inside. She looked in one window, then another, as if trying to find Tinker Bell. “Where have you gone?” she said aloud.
Hmmmm, Vidia wondered. Where was Tink? Had she somehow managed to escape?
Clearly, Lizzy was wondering the same thing. And as Vidia watched, Lizzy lifted off the entire roof of the house so she could look down inside it.
She reeled back when Tinker Bell came rocketing out.
Tinker Bell shot up so fast, she smacked right into the canopy of the bed and fell back down on the blanket, dazed.
The cat pounced on the bed. Tink jumped up and made a run for it, diving under a pillow. The cat dove under the pillow, too, and Tinker Bell ran out the other side.
Before he could snatch her, Lizzy grabbed Tinker Bell and swooped her out of harm’s way. She quickly stuffed Tink into a birdcage and yelled at the cat. “Mr. Twitches. No! Out! Out! Bad cat. No! No! No!”
Lizzy turned back to the cage. “Don’t worry, little fairy. Mr. Twitches won’t bother you as long as you’re in there.” She grabbed the cat and went to the door. “Naughty cat. You’re going downstairs.”
As Lizzy left the room with Mr. Twitches, Vidia struggled to open the window, without success.
Inside the birdcage, Tinker Bell was really worried now, red-faced and puffing. The latch was firmly locked from the outside. The door wouldn’t budge.
Vidia realized there was no way she could rescue Tinker Bell on her own. She would have to go back to the camp for help. She looked up at the sky with a worried frown.
Dark clouds were gathering. That meant rain. Rain meant wet wings. And wet wings meant she might have to find her way back to camp on foot.
Vidia spread her wings and took to the sky.
She had to hurry. Tinker Bell’s life depended on it.
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sp; Vidia flew as hard and as fast as she could, but she couldn’t beat the storm. Thunder rumbled and lightning flashed. She was just reaching the open meadow when the rain came pouring down in sheets.
A raindrop the size of a strawberry fell right on top of her, exploding against her back and wings. Then another raindrop exploded on her head. The weight of Vidia’s wet wings pulled her to the ground. She had no choice but to walk.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, Vidia stumbled into the fairy camp, drenched and exhausted. She spotted Iridessa, Rosetta, Silvermist, Clank, and Bobble waiting for the rain to stop under the canopy of a leafy bush.
“Tinker Bell’s been captured by humans!” shouted Vidia, stumbling toward them.
Clank’s face registered his alarm. “What’s this? Tinker Bell?”
“In trouble?” Bobble jumped to his feet.
“Where is she?” Iridessa demanded
“What happened?” Rosetta gasped.
“Tinker Bell went into this little house in the meadow and couldn’t get back out. The door was jammed. Then this human came from out of nowhere and snatched her up.” Vidia went on, “I know where she is. We have to hurry and save her.”
Fawn frowned, looking out over the landscape. “We can’t fly in the rain. And the meadow’s already flooded.”
“Maybe we don’t have to fly,” Clank said. His eyes grew wide and he suddenly seemed very excited. “If we get some big leaves and sew them together with stem twine …”
Bobble caught on immediately. “Aye, and miter-cut some twigs for the subflooring …”
Clank looked downright giddy now. “Oh, and we can hold it all together with some two-and-a-quarter mooring vines.”
“What are you two talking about?” demanded Vidia. Honestly! Had they forgotten that this was an emergency?
Clank threw her a puzzled look, as if he couldn’t believe she hadn’t caught on already. It was so obvious!
“We’re going to build a boat,” Clank and Bobble answered in unison.
Vidia watched as the crew worked on the boat as a team, united in their purpose and determined to rescue their friend Tinker Bell. It was all Tink’s own fault, but still, if Vidia hadn’t tried to play that trick with the door …
Vidia blocked her train of thought. No time for that now. She watched Fawn, Silvermist, and a group of pill bugs drape a lily pad over the deck of the boat to form a canopy.
It was such a long shot, and yet everyone worked with such fierce determination. Vidia couldn’t help wondering—if she were the one in trouble and not Tinker Bell, would they be working this hard to save her?
She had the uneasy feeling that the answer might be no. So she decided to block that train of thought, too. Right now, what was important was getting Tinker Bell back. Vidia secured a mooring line, her face skeptical. “This thing had better work,” she muttered.
Rosetta took one of the mushroom caps and positioned it so that it functioned as a bumper, while Blaze flew in with a line and tied it in place.
Pill bugs bounced up and down like jumping beans, hammering nuts and bolts into place.
“More reeds over here!” Clank shouted.
Clank, Bobble, and a swarm of bees worked together to make a sail.
Bobble sewed the sail with a large needle and thread. Haste made him careless, and he poked his hand with every stitch. “Ow! Ow! Ow!” he chanted as the sewing continued.
Clank supervised all the work. He called out encouragement to the fairies, along with directions, in his big, gruff voice. “Come on … come on … Let’s get going.”
Bobble hurried from one task to the next, urging everyone on. “There you go. Now you’re talking.”
Finally, Cheese tugged a rope and raised the mast. “It’s working!” Clank shouted happily.
The boat was complete. Soon they would set sail and rescue Tinker Bell. Vidia stared out at the fairy camp with worried eyes. It was practically a swamp. Torrential rain had soaked everybody and everything. This was going to be a dangerous journey.
One by one, the fairies boarded the boat. Finally, they all stood huddled in the bow, ready to cast off.
“Well.” Silvermist gulped. “This is it.”
Fawn stuck her hand out. “Hey, faith …”
Iridessa put her hand on top of Fawn’s. “… trust … ,” she said.
Rosetta and Silvermist put their hands on top of the others and recited the rest of the pledge together, like a team in a huddle. “… and pixie dust.”
Vidia stood slightly apart. She wasn’t what you would call a team player—but she was just as determined to save Tinker Bell as the others.
Meanwhile, Tinker Bell stood in the birdcage examining the lock, trying to open it. “Come on. Come on,” she muttered furiously.
Suddenly, she heard the door open. The little human girl was back.
Tinker Bell backed up and sank down in the center of the birdcage.
“You don’t have to be scared,” the little girl told her. “I’m very nice.”
Tinker Bell turned her head away. Nice little girls didn’t trap fairies in cages.
Outside, the storm raged and thundered. Tinker Bell had never been so scared. Lizzy stared at her through the bars. “You’re so little,” she said. “Your dress is very leafy. Did you make it yourself? I like your wings. They’re like sparkly lace. “Your hair must be so soft, like silk.”
“Are you hungry?” the little girl asked then. She gingerly poked a piece of crumpet through the bars of the cage.
Tinker Bell backed away from it. She didn’t want anything to do with this human or her food.
“Maybe not. That’s okay,” said Lizzy. “I don’t like some kinds of food, either.”
She noticed the spring from the lock lying on the bottom of the cage and realized that Tinker Bell had been trying to get out. “Oh! So sorry! Where are my manners?” Lizzy quickly opened the door of the cage.
Tink grabbed her chance and darted toward the window, but she couldn’t open it.
Lizzy came running toward her and Tinker Bell flew as far away from her as she could, zipping up into the rafters and hovering as close to the ceiling as she could get.
Lizzy looked up. “Don’t be afraid. You’re safe here.” She backed off, seeming to realize that chasing Tinker Bell around the room wasn’t the best way to reassure her. “I just want to be friends. Look. I’ve been drawing fairies all my life.” Lizzy gestured toward her desk and the wall.
Tinker Bell followed the sweep of Lizzy’s arm with her eyes. Wow! The room was a treasure trove of fairy art and artifacts. Tacked to the wall were lovely paintings and engravings of fairies. Fairies dancing. Fairies flying. Fairies reclining on toadstools.
Next to the paintings and engravings, Lizzy had hung her own drawings and paintings. They weren’t professional like the others, but they were expressive. And her love for fairies was clear in every stroke of her pen and brush.
Tinker Bell couldn’t help flying down to get a closer look.
“I just love fairies,” Lizzy said. “I know all about you, too. There are lots of different kinds of fairies.”
Lizzy held up a couple of drawings that had been lying on her worktable. One depicted a fairy talking to a chipmunk. The other showed a fairy sitting on a flower.
“Some of you can talk to animals,” Lizzy continued. “And some of you can make flowers bloom. And there are even fairies that color the rainbow.”
Now that Tinker Bell had gotten over her fear, she was fascinated by this little girl. Lizzy seemed to know so much about fairies. How could this be? She was right about every detail.
Lizzy held up another picture. “This is a water fairy. You can tell because her skin is blue.”
Blue? Okay. Clearly Lizzy wasn’t fully informed. Tinker Bell had met every single water fairy, and not one of them was blue.
“And this is a candy fairy,” Lizzy said. “She’s sitting in a lollipop tree and …”
Tinker Bell shook her hea
d again. Candy fairies? Lollipop trees? Where was Lizzy getting this nonsense?
“You live under rocks and stones, and you make furniture out of potatoes. A fairy circle is a ring of mushrooms,” Lizzy continued happily, “and if a person steps in it, a fairy has to grant them three wishes from their magic bag. But if they don’t, they turn into a pile of delicious sugar, and then …”
Tink couldn’t take it anymore. The poor kid was so confused. Tink flew a little closer. “Wait a minute! Where are you getting all this?” she asked.
But all Lizzy heard was a pretty ringing sound. Her mouth curved into a wide smile. “You jingle when you talk! Like a little bell. So that’s how fairies speak.”
Tinker Bell frowned. Was that what this little girl heard? Not words, but jingling?
“Do all fairies sound the same when they talk?”
Before Tinker Bell could even think how to respond, the little girl began peppering her with questions. “So what do you think of my fairies? Oh! And my fairy house? It got a little shaken up.” She retrieved the two pieces of the fairy house from the floor and placed them together on the desk.
Tinker Bell pointed. “Did you make that?”
Lizzy cocked her head as if she was trying to decode the jingling sound she heard. “I don’t know what you’re saying.”
Tinker Bell sighed. As much as Lizzy seemed to connect with fairies, it was clear she couldn’t hear their language. But there were other ways to communicate. Tinker Bell pantomimed using a hammer and then a saw.
Lizzy understood. “Oh! You want to know if I made the fairy house. Yes, I did. Do you like it?”
Tinker Bell nodded enthusiastically. She took another look at the house and pointed to the door. She wanted to make Lizzy understand that the door was stuck. Tinker Bell pulled at the door handle, but it wouldn’t open.
“Oh! The door is stuck?”
“Yeah, bit of a problem for me earlier,” Tinker Bell said dryly, even though she knew her tone would be lost in jingling translation.
She decided to show Lizzy that the two of them had a few things in common—like a knack for fixing things.
Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue Junior Novel Page 2