Through the dark forest

by Kiki Thorpe

  “But she has Tink’s shoe!” Gabby argued.

  There was a long pause. “Fine. I’ll go see the Great Ones,” Kate said at last. “I’m not afraid.”

  Iridessa looked around. “So we’ll go. Is everyone in agreement?”

  “No, not everyone,” Kate said. She glanced at Ersa and added, “I think we should split up. That way, if—if there’s a problem, the rest of us can keep looking for Tink.”

  Kate is so brave, Mia thought. She wished she could be like her friend, but her heart was jumping in her chest like a scared rabbit.

  “Who’s with me?” Kate asked.

  Mia knew she should say “I am.” But the words seemed to stick in her throat. Before she could force them out, Lainey spoke up.

  “I’ll go.”

  Everyone looked at her in surprise. Lainey pushed her thick glasses up her nose and looked back at her friends defiantly.

  Mia felt a flush of shame. Lainey was younger than she was. And, Mia thought, about ten times braver.

  “I’ll go, too,” Rosetta said. “If the Great Ones hate light, then Iridessa won’t be safe with her light talent.”

  “Are you sure?” Kate said. “Maybe both of you should stay here just to be safe.”

  “Why would they bother with a little old garden-talent fairy like me?” Rosetta said, smiling. “Besides, there’s something odd about this forest. I don’t know what it is, but I want to find out.”

  Ersa nodded. “Wear this,” she said to Rosetta, taking off her own leaf-cloak. “For your protection.”

  Rosetta slipped on the cloak. With the hood on, her glow was barely visible.

  They came out of the cave. “How far up do you think the Great Ones live?” Lainey asked, peering up at the treetops.

  “Who knows?” said Kate. “But it might be far. We’ll need more fairy dust.”

  Kate untied the cloth sack that was hanging from her belt loop. The dust-talent fairies had given them extra fairy dust to take on their search for Tink.

  At the time, it had seemed like more than enough. But now, looking at the shimmering dust, Mia thought it didn’t seem like much at all. Who knew how long it would have to last them?

  Kate gave each girl a pinch of the fairy dust. Then she knelt to dole out pinches to the fairies, too.

  As she stood to retie the sack to her belt, she tripped over a tree root. She fell against a tree trunk, hitting her head hard.

  The girls and fairies rushed to her. “Kate, are you okay?” Mia asked.

  “Yeah.” Kate tried to rise. But she wobbled and sat down abruptly.

  “That does it,” Rosetta said. “You can’t fly in that condition.”

  Kate leaned against the trunk. Her face looked pale. “But we have to go see the Great Ones,” she said faintly.

  Lainey turned to Mia and Gabby with a worried look. “Someone else will come with me, right?”

  “I will!” Gabby said.

  “No. You stay here and take care of Kate. I’ll go.” The last thing Mia wanted to do was go find the Great Ones. But after Kate, she was the oldest. She couldn’t send her little sister and Lainey off alone.

  “You’re sure you’ll be okay, Mia?” Kate asked as they prepared to leave.

  Mia could only nod. She wasn’t sure at all. Without Kate, how would she know what to do?

  “Be Never fairies at their best,” Iridessa told them. It was something fairies said to one another when parting for an important journey. Even though she wasn’t really a fairy, the words had a reassuring ring for Mia.

  Be like a fairy at her best, Mia told herself.

  They rose into the air.

  At first the branches were sparse. But as they flew higher, the canopy became dense. Mia passed a long line of ants carrying bits of leaves on one branch. On another, she saw clusters of tiny white flowers growing. The branch had its own little garden!

  “More mushrooms,” Rosetta remarked, examining a large one growing nearby. “This forest is full of them.”

  “Look at this!” Lainey called. She was hovering next to an enormous nest.

  The others flew over for a closer look. The nest was made of sticks and twigs, and was as big around as a bathtub. Mia tried to imagine the bird that would need a nest that big.

  “What could have made it?” Rosetta asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Lainey said, examining the nest with interest. She liked anything to do with animals. “But see how old and dry the sticks are? Whatever made it hasn’t been here for a while.”

  “Well, that’s a relief,” Mia said.

  They continued upward. “I was wondering,” Lainey said as they flew, “what do the Great Ones have against light? I mean, why would they care if the Low Ones have it? From the way Ersa made it sound, they’ve never even met them.”

  “Maybe they’re just really mean,” Mia said. But she thought Lainey was right. It didn’t make sense. If the Great Ones were really so great, why would it matter to them if the tiny sprites had a lantern or two?

  As the girls flew higher, the air became warmer. Soft sunlight filtered through the pine needles.

  Mia was just thinking how much more pleasant it was up here, when she spotted a pair of red eyes staring at her from between two branches.

  “Ahh!” She sprang back. A football-sized animal scuttled away along the branch.

  “You scared it off.” Lainey peered at the hole where the critter had disappeared. She sounded a little disappointed.

  “I know.” Mia’s face burned. What was wrong with her? She was supposed to be leading, not freaking out at every little thing they came across.

  Farther up, they spotted several smaller nests, including one full of gray-feathered chicks. Shiny green beetles crawled over the bark of the tree trunks. At one point, they heard leaves crashing and saw a dark shape swinging away through the branches. But they didn’t see anything that could have been called a giant.

  At last, they reached the topmost branches. Mia crested the treetops and gasped. “Oh, look!”

  The forest rolled before them like a great green sea. Far in the distance they could see dark mountains silhouetted against the sky. In the other direction was the actual sea. It was a slightly deeper shade of green than the forest.

  “It reminds me of Never Land,” Rosetta said. “But only a little.”

  Lainey shielded her eyes and looked toward the horizon. “Is it morning or evening?” she asked. “It seems like the sun is in the same place as when we got here.”

  “But it was on the other side of the ocean before, wasn’t it?” Rosetta said. “Or maybe I’m wrong. I’m all turned around.”

  Mia didn’t reply. They had made it all the way to the top of the forest and still hadn’t come across the Great Ones. She wasn’t sure whether to feel disappointed or relieved.

  As if reading her mind, Lainey said, “I guess we should wait and see if any Great Ones come along.”

  There was nowhere to rest, so they flew back down into the canopy. In the largest tree, Mia found a sturdy branch to sit on.

  She had just leaned her back against the tree trunk, when she heard a deep voice. It was so close it seemed to be speaking right into her ear.

  “Make yourself at home, why don’t you?”

  Mia gave a start. She twisted around, looking for the speaker. No one was there.

  But as she stared at the tree trunk, the bark suddenly formed into a mouth, nose, and two deep-set eyes.

  “Well,” said the tree in the same rumbling voice, “what are you looking at?”

  Mia screamed and leaped back from the tree trunk. She lost her grip on the narrow branch and tumbled head over heels out of the tree.

  She clutched at pine needles to stop her fall, but they slipped through her fingers. Some part of her brain was crying, “Fly! Fly!” But she was too scared
to remember how.

  Mia might have fallen all the way to the ground if a branch hadn’t caught her squarely across the middle.

  “Oof!” Mia grunted. She clung to the branch and squeezed her eyes tight. She was afraid to move an inch.

  “Mia.” Lainey touched her arm. Mia hadn’t even heard her fly down. “Are you all right? Can you fly?”

  Mia shook her head.

  She heard a soft flutter of wings. Then Rosetta spoke into her other ear. “Try.”

  Mia squeezed her eyes tighter. She never wanted to fly again. All she wanted was to be safe on the ground.

  “You have to try,” Rosetta insisted. “Mia, we’ve found the Great Ones!”

  Mia opened her eyes. “We have?”

  “The trees,” Rosetta said. “It must be them. They’re the biggest things in the forest. Giants.”

  Cautiously, Mia relaxed her grip. Their mission suddenly seemed a little less frightening. What harm could come of talking to trees?

  Be a fairy at her best, Mia reminded herself. She owed it to their friends on the ground. And to Tinker Bell, wherever she was.

  “Okay,” she said. “I’m ready.”

  Lainey stretched out her hand, and Mia took it. Together with Rosetta, they flew back up to the branch she’d been sitting on. Mia was surprised to see it wasn’t more than a few feet overhead. It had felt as if she’d fallen much farther.

  “Rosetta,” she whispered, “you’d better let Lainey and me do the talking. If Ersa is right, they might not like fairies.”

  Rosetta nodded and tightened her hood.

  The face in the trunk was still there. Even though its eyes were only hollows, they seemed to bore into Mia. She glanced around and saw that other trees had opened their eyes and were watching them.

  Mia swallowed hard and turned back to the first tree. “Are you the Great Ones?”

  “Who wants to know?” the tree replied gruffly.

  They heard a sigh that sounded like wind whooshing through branches. “Must you speak to them, Magnus?” a nearby tree asked.

  “Don’t encourage them,” said another. “They’re only a couple of groundlings.”

  “What am I supposed to do?” the first tree retorted. “They’re in my branches!”

  Mia took that as permission to go on. “My name is Mia. This is Lainey and Rosetta. We were sent by the Low Ones.”

  Mia waited, but the tree said nothing. Was he even listening?

  “You know the Low Ones, right? They live in the forest? On the ground?” she asked.

  “I know the clouds and rain,” the tree called Magnus rumbled. “I know the birds that fly past. I know nothing of these Low Ones.”

  Mia glanced at Lainey. Was it true? Did the Great Ones really know nothing about the sprites? If so, why had they attacked them?

  “It’s very dark in the forest,” Mia said. “The Low Ones sent us to ask for more light.”

  “Just a few lanterns or something,” Lainey added.

  The trees’ frowns deepened.

  “Here’s the thing,” Mia hurried on. “You’re blocking all the sunlight. So could you maybe move out of the way?”

  Silence. The girls and Rosetta waited.

  A tremor started somewhere below. It traveled slowly upward through the trees, growing stronger and stronger, until the branch they were standing on started to shake. Was it an earthquake?

  Mia looked around at the other trees. Their mouths were wide open as they shook. Finally, she understood—the trees were laughing at them!

  “Move?” Magnus howled. “MOVE? I’ve stood here for seven hundred years. I’ll stand here for seven hundred more. My roots reach a half mile below the ground. We are the Great Ones. We do not move.”

  The trees went on laughing. “Let’s go,” Mia whispered to her friends. “I don’t think they’re going to help us.”

  “Wait,” Rosetta said. “Before we leave, we have to ask them about Tink. Maybe they’ve seen her.”

  Mia waited until the branch she was on stopped swaying. “Great One,” she said. “One more thing. We’re looking for our friend Tinker Bell. She’s a fairy. Have you seen her?”

  Magnus let out a long sigh. “I see many things. Who can say?”

  “Please!” Rosetta burst out, unable to stay silent any longer. “Try to think! She has blond hair and a green dress and a lemon-yellow glow—”

  As Rosetta flew forward, the hood on her cloak fell back. Her glow shone out, her bright red hair flashing. The tree’s eyes widened.

  “Spark!” he roared. “Spark!”

  “Spark!” the trees around them echoed in alarm.

  At once, the treetops began to bend and sway as if they were caught in a terrible windstorm. Their branches rattled violently.

  “Spark!” they shrieked.

  A bough hit Mia’s back. Another caught Lainey across the knees. A twig whistled past Rosetta’s wings.

  “Let’s get out of here!” Mia cried.

  They dove down through the trees, dodging the whipping branches. They didn’t stop until they reached the lower branches, where the forest was calm.

  “What was that about?” Lainey gasped.

  Rosetta struggled to catch her breath. “I think they thought I was on fire!”

  “Or they thought you were fire,” Mia said, putting it together. “They attacked the Low Ones when they saw your glows. Maybe it’s not light that they hate—it’s fire.”

  Now it made sense. A single spark could burn a whole forest down. The giant trees were protecting themselves.

  Mia thought of the burned-out stump in the sprites’ village and shivered. That stump had once been a Great One, too.

  “But how do they know?” Lainey asked. “They don’t even know who the Low Ones are. How can they see a tiny lantern or a fairy glow from all the way up there?”

  “Some trees communicate through their roots,” Rosetta said. “They must have some way of alerting one another.”

  Mia remembered Ersa’s comment about spies and the fearful look she’d given the sapling.

  “It’s the little trees!” Mia said. “They can see what happens in the forest. They must tell the big ones!”

  Lainey looked uneasily up at the giant trees. “Do you think we should try to explain that fairies can’t hurt them?”

  Mia shook her head. “I don’t think we’ll be welcomed back.”

  “Well, we’d better go to the village,” Rosetta said with a sigh. “At least we can tell the Low Ones what we’ve learned.”

  While they were talking, the sun had dipped below the horizon. The light was fading to darkness. They started to fly down toward the ground. But in the nighttime forest, they couldn’t see more than a few inches in front of them.

  Mia scraped against a branch. Rough bark scratched her skin. Nearby, she heard Lainey crashing among the branches, too.

  “It’s so dark. How are we ever going to find the Low Ones’ village without any light?” Lainey asked.

  In the darkness, Rosetta’s glow was faintly visible beneath her cloak. Mia could see it flickering like a guttering candle. When fairies fell asleep, their glows went out. Mia could tell Rosetta was struggling to stay awake.

  Mia felt exhausted, too. “How much farther do you think the ground is?” she asked.

  “Close,” said Lainey at the same time that Rosetta said, “Far.”

  There came the sound of twigs snapping. Mia heard Lainey say, “Ouch.” There was a pause. Then she added, “Rosetta, can you come closer?”

  Rosetta flew toward the sound of Lainey’s voice. A second later, Mia saw a wall of twigs and sticks illuminated by her glow. Lainey had bumped into the giant nest.

  “We could sleep here,” Lainey suggested.

  They studied the nest. Every bone in Mia’s body longed to re
st.

  “What if the bird—or whatever built this—comes back?” Rosetta asked.

  Mia made a decision. “We’ll take that chance. Lainey said it looks like an old nest anyway.”

  They climbed in. The girls stretched out. Rosetta found a comfortable spot on the edge of the nest. The twigs scratched her arms, but Mia hardly noticed.

  The moment her head touched down, she fell right asleep.

  Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

  Rosetta’s eyelids fluttered open. For a second she didn’t know where she was. With a twinge of unease, she remembered. She was in a dark forest, on Shadow Island, far from Never Land. She could barely make out the faces of the girls sleeping nearby.

  Rosetta sat up and looked around. Something had wakened her. What was it? She listened carefully.

  High overhead, the treetops rustled, stirred by the wind. She heard the branches creaking and, beneath that, another sound.

  Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. A cross between a sigh and a groan came from somewhere above.

  Rosetta flew out of the nest. Something somewhere needed her help.

  Up, up she fluttered. The trees all around her seemed to be sleeping. But for some reason she wasn’t afraid.

  As she reached the treetops, the sound came again. Rosetta recognized Magnus, the tree they’d talked to earlier. His eyes were closed. His mouth opened wide in a moan.

  “Great One,” Rosetta said. “Is something wrong?”

  The hollows of Magnus’s eyes opened. He looked at Rosetta with fear. But a second later his face twisted in agony.

  “An itch,” he moaned. “A terrible itch!”

  “Where?” Rosetta asked.

  “By my middle limbs. Ohhhhhh,” the tree groaned. “Who can rest with such an awful itch?”

  “Maybe I can help.” Rosetta flew in a downward spiral, slowly circling the trunk.

  Several feet down she heard a grinding sound. Rosetta located the source of the noise. A beetle was burrowing under the tree’s bark.

  “Go on! Get out of here, you little bully!” Rosetta kicked at the bark until the noise drove the beetle out. Then she flared her glow brightly to scare the beetle off.