Sylva and the Lost Treasure

by Margaret McNamara

  Now to keep Poppy and Lucky safe from the pirates, thought Sylva. And me too!

  Sylva kept an eye on her best friend up in the spruce tree. Poppy must not have seen the pirates yet. Her gaze was fixed on the tall grass, where Lucky was playing hide-and-seek. Sylva flew up to her as quietly as she could.

  “Poppy!” she whispered.

  If Poppy hadn’t been so good at balancing, she might have fallen off, such was her surprise and joy at seeing her best friend flying toward her.

  “Sylva!” cried Poppy. “I’m so happy you’re here!”

  “Oh, Poppy, I’m so, so sorry!” said Sylva. “Can you forgive me, please?”

  “Forgive you?” Poppy said. “I was the one who was wrong. Can we still be best friends?”

  “Yes! Oh yes, please!” Sylva and Poppy hugged each other hard. It was so good to be friends again! “Oh, I missed you so much, Poppy!”

  Then Poppy looked down from the branch. “Do you see Lucky down there?” she asked. “I would have flown down to pick her up, but those sailors coming ashore . . . they gave me a chill.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t. Do you know what kind of sailors they are?” asked Sylva.

  Poppy looked at the rowboat as it came closer and closer. She studied the two villainous-looking rowers.

  “They’re not—”

  “Yes, they are!” said Sylva. “They’re pirates. And they’re here to steal treasure!”

  “Oh no!” said Poppy. “And look—they’re already ashore. We’ve got to act quickly to get Lucky out of danger. Ourselves, too!”

  “Shh . . . ,” said Sylva. “Those pirates are saying something. Let’s listen.” It may save us, she thought. Both fairies sat perfectly still as they leaned in to hear the pirates.

  “This fog don’t please me, Mr. Leakey. It don’t please me one bit,” said the taller pirate as he and his mate unloaded the rowboat onto the shore of Pirates’ Cove. Then he wiped his nose on his sleeve.

  “Yuck,” said Sylva.

  “He looks like the captain,” Poppy whispered.

  “I don’t like the fog neither, Cap’n Sinker,” said his companion. “But where be the treasure?”

  “One’s called Sinker and the other’s Leakey!” said Poppy, laughing as quietly as she could. “They can’t be very good sailors!”

  “Or pirates!” said Sylva. She was laughing too. “We’ve got to keep quiet, Poppy. Let’s hear what they’re saying.”

  “This fog be as thick as pea soup. Just like the soup me dear old ma used to make,” said Captain Sinker. “And the same color, too. WAAACHOO!”

  “What a sneeze!” said Sylva.

  “Your ma warn’t much of a cook, then,” said Mr. Leakey.

  Captain Sinker sighed. “No, she warn’t.” He coughed loudly. “ACK ACK ACK!”

  “That pirate captain has a bad cold,” said Sylva. “Next time he sneezes, let’s scoop down and get Lucky. Then we’ll fly away home!”

  “Got it!” said Poppy.

  “Ma is the reason I ran away to sea, bless her,” said the pirate captain. He was poking around in the grass, not too far from where Lucky played. Poppy and Sylva held their breath. “Between that soup . . . and her ghost stories.” Captain Sinker shuddered. “She told me such bedtime stories about wee ghosties who came out in the fog!” He looked around at the fog rolling in on the cove. “Very much like this fog here.” The captain’s voice was shaking. “Ma said that thinking about ghosties would help me get to sleep.”

  “Nice mother,” said Mr. Leakey, very quietly.

  “I be ever so afraid of the wild ghosties,” said the captain in a small voice. He sniffed loudly. Then he pulled himself together. “But even this fog won’t keep us from seizing our treasure, Mr. Leakey,” he said, rubbing his hands.

  “Will there be gold for all on Sheepsferry?” asked Mr. Leakey.

  “It’s Sheepskerry, you jackanapes,” the captain roared. He wiped his nose on his sleeve again. “And this treasure be greater than gold. WAAAACHOOO!”

  “Let’s go!”

  Sylva and Poppy held hands and flew down from the tree branch. They landed right next to Lucky and picked her up together. She was not going to get away this time.

  But at that very moment, as the two fairies took flight with Lucky in their arms, Captain Sinker’s eyes watered. His nose itched. And he sneezed his biggest sneeze of all. “WAAAAACHOOOOOO!”

  The captain reached for his sleeve and unfurled a

  great

  red-and-white

  polka-dotted

  handkerchief.

  And Lucky saw him do it.

  “Lucky! No! No!”

  Lucky leaped out of the best friends’ arms and ran straight toward the captain.

  “Mew! Mew!”

  “What’s this?” cried the captain when he saw the kitten streaking toward him. “A pretty kitty for our ship?”

  Lucky thought the captain wanted to play—until the captain grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and tossed her into his pirate chest.

  “Mow! Mow! Mowwww!”

  “You can stay in that trunk till we get back to the Bilgewater,” he said to Lucky in a terrible voice. Sylva and Poppy were terrified.

  “And once you be aboard, my pretty kitty, you can eat up all our rats.” He laughed his nasty laugh. “Unless they eat you first.” He slammed the trunk closed with Lucky inside. “It’s a pirate’s life for you, my pretty,” he said. “A pirate’s life for you.”

  twenty-one

  Poppy and Sylva watched the scene in horror.

  “What will we do?” said Poppy, near tears.

  “We can’t steal that treasure chest,” Sylva said. “It’s too heavy. And the pirates might see us, and then they’d—” Sylva did not want to say what the pirates might do to two young fairies and their pet kitten.

  “Meeew! Meeew!” cried Lucky from inside the pirate trunk.

  “Oh, she’s breaking my heart!” said Poppy. “And this fog is so spooky. It’s making everything worse and—”

  Sylva’s eyes lit up. “What did you say?” she asked.

  “I said the fog was making everything worse!”

  “No, before that,” said Sylva. “You said the fog was—”

  “Spooky,” said Poppy. And her eyes lit up, too. “I know what you’re thinking!” she said. “I heard him say it too!”

  They both remembered Captain Sinker’s words, I be ever so afraid of the wild ghosties.

  The two best friends looked at each other. “I’ll fly out to the middle of the cove,” said Sylva in a rush. “Then I’ll make a sound like a ghost, and they’ll be scared, so I’ll swoop in and—”

  “Sylva?” said Poppy. “Why don’t we make a plan . . . together?”

  Sylva put out her hand and Poppy smiled. “Secret best-friends handshake!” Two shakes, a spin around, and touch wings together! Then they quickly came up with a plan.

  “Do you think it will work?” asked Poppy.

  “It has to!” said Sylva. “Let’s go!”

  Acting as one, Sylva and Poppy flew to their places. Poppy perched higher up on the spruce tree. Sylva quietly glided to a rock near the captain’s shovel.

  “Wooo-oooooo!” called Poppy in her spookiest voice.

  “Woooo-hooo-hooo!” called Sylva, sounding even more ghostly.

  “What was that?” said the captain. He tensed.

  “Just the wind, Cap’n,” said Mr. Leakey. “Do I dig here? Do this be the treasure?”

  “Whooo dares disturb our island?” called Poppy.

  “Did you hear that, Leakey?”

  “I did, Cap’n! It be the fairies trickin’ us.”

  “Whoooooo steals our kitten?” called Sylva.

  “Those ain’t fairies. Those be ghosts!” said Captain Sinker. “The wee ghosties who come out in the fog!”

  Sylva almost laughed out loud at the pirate captain, and she was sure Poppy was doing the same. Our plan is working!

  “Giiiiiive us baa
aaaaaack our kitten,” said Sylva. “And weeeeeeee’ll haauuuuuunt you no mooooooore!”

  “Do as they say, Leakey!” shouted Captain Sinker. “Give them the kitten, and let’s scarper!”

  “What about the treasure, Captain?” asked Mr. Leakey. “We can’t leave till—”

  “Let’s be gone, man! I’ll just grab as much treasure as I can.” The captain ripped up some flowers from where Mr. Leakey was digging.

  “You’re picking flowers, Cap’n?”

  “I have me reasons, Leakey!”

  “Gooooooooooo now!” called Sylva. “Leeeeeeeeeave the kitten to usssssssss!”

  “Turn awaaaaaay from the treasure chessssst,” called Poppy, “so we can releeeeeease the kitten!”

  With his knees knocking and his hands shaking, Captain Sinker turned his back on the treasure chest. “Didn’t you hear them, Leakey?” the captain asked. “Leave that chest and do as they say, or they’ll haunt you all your life, just as Ma warned me!”

  In a flash, Sylva and Poppy flew over to the treasure chest. With a huge effort, they lifted up the lid and turned the chest on its side. Lucky took one look at the two friends smiling in on her, flipped out of the chest, and seemed as pleased with herself as she could be.

  “Pick her up like this, Poppy,” said Sylva in a whisper, showing her how. Poppy scooped up Lucky in one sure movement and held her tight. “Now let’s get out of here!”

  “C-c-can we go now, ghosties?” asked Captain Sinker. “Pretty please?”

  “Awaaaaay with you now,” said Sylva. “And don’t daaaaaaaarken our island again.”

  “Oh, thank ye, ghosties, thank ye,” said Captain Sinker.

  “I still think they were fairies,” said Mr. Leakey.

  But by that time, Captain Sinker had dragged Mr. Leakey into the rowboat, and they splashed their way back to the Bilgewater.

  Lucky, who seemed to think it was all a game, purred in Poppy’s arms.

  “You did it, Sylva! You beat the pirates!”

  “We did it together, Poppy,” said Sylva. “Now let’s go home!”

  twenty-two

  The next day, after Sylva and Poppy had told all their friends the story of the pirates (which got better every time they told it), they pulled out the dollhouse again.

  “Poppy, let’s just say the whole dollhouse is both of ours,” said Sylva, smiling, “upstairs and downstairs. And Lucky is your kitten, who’ll live at your house—but I’ll visit all the time!”

  “Are you sure that’s fair?”

  “Fair and square to share,” said Sylva.

  “We still haven’t decorated the whole house,” said Poppy. “Why don’t we move this rug out of the bedroom into the kitchen?”

  “Wait a minute,” said Sylva. “What’s under here? Looks like there’s a crack in the floor.” She carefully lifted up the rug. “That’s not a crack,” she said. “That’s a secret door!”

  Carefully, cautiously, Sylva opened the secret trapdoor. “This must be the dolls’ root cellar,” she said. “What’s down here?”

  And then she saw it. A tiny bundle of ginger fur lying in a patch of sunlight. “Oh, Poppy! It’s another doll kitten.”

  “Another kitten!”

  “Do you think it will come to life, Poppy? Like Lucky did? Or is it just a doll kitten forever?” Didn’t Queen Mab say something about a ginger cat? Sylva thought.

  “We took Lucky out into the sun,” said Poppy. “Let’s do that with—”

  “—with Ginger,” said Sylva.

  They took the tiny little furry kitten into the sun. “This is exactly what we did with Lucky,” said Sylva. “We were walking over toward the sparkly stone. And then there was a breeze—” Sylva’s hair blew gently across her face.

  “A breeze like this one!” said Poppy.

  “And then a ray of light, like a rainbow,” said Sylva. “And then . . .”

  “Mew!”

  Turns out Ginger was a real cat, too.

  twenty-three

  Sylva had never been happier. Now she had a ginger kitten of her very own. But better than that, she had her best friend.

  “Let’s go show Queen Mab our kittens,” said Poppy later that afternoon.

  “Good idea!” said Sylva.

  The two friends flew to the palace with their kittens snugly in their arms. But when they arrived there, Lady Courtney told them Queen Mab was gone.

  “Gone?” said Sylva. “But she never goes away, except to her summer palace.”

  “And it’s only spring,” said Poppy.

  “She’s gone off on very important business,” said Lady Courtney. “I don’t even know when she’ll be back.”

  Sylva and Poppy were disappointed. They turned to go. But at that moment, they heard Queen Mab’s trumpet sounding through the woods. They looked up to see not one queen flying toward them but two!

  Queen Mab looked as elegant as ever, but her smile was even broader than usual. The other queen was dressed in robes of gorgeous purples and sparkling silver. She carried a sleek black cat in her arms.

  “That must be Queen Titania!” said Sylva. “Goldie told us all about her after she went to her palace on the mainland last fall.”

  The two young fairies fell to their knees.

  “Please, no need for that,” said Queen Mab as she flew over to Sylva and Poppy. She took the hand of the regal fairy next to her. “Shall we tell them what we’ve been up to, Nia?”

  Nia! Sylva and Poppy looked at each other, their mouths open. Did this mean Queen Titania was Queen Mab’s best friend?

  Queen Titania spoke. “Queen Mab came to see me on the mainland, and we started talking again. After all these years.”

  “I started talking again after all these years,” said Queen Mab.

  “I had hoped that my fancy-dress ball last year would make us friends again,” said Queen Titania, “but it took you two to help us change.”

  Queen Mab turned to Sylva. “I remembered what you told me on the rock yesterday, Sylva. You were right. Saying hello was a good place to start.”

  Sylva beamed. She was so proud to have helped the two great queens to become friends again!

  “What was your quarrel about?” asked Sylva. “Were you really fighting about all of Fairyland?”

  Queen Mab smiled at Queen Titania. “It’s a long story,” said Queen Mab. “Maybe we’ll tell you someday.”

  “Maybe,” said Queen Titania. She smiled back.

  “Now, shall we go to my palace for some tea?” asked Queen Mab.

  Once they were settled in Queen Mab’s walled garden, with their cats playing happily, and scones and blackberry jam and cups of sweet-smelling tea set out on the table, Queen Mab asked to hear about Sylva and Poppy’s pirate adventure. “Tell me more about Captain Sinker,” she said. “Did he have a stinker of a cold?”

  “He did! He did!” said Poppy.

  “Then I know exactly what treasure he was looking for,” said Queen Mab.

  “Was it a magic potion?” asked Poppy.

  “Was it the Narwhal’s Tusk?” asked Sylva.

  “Was it a treasure map that leads to buried gold?”

  “It was none of those things,” said Queen Mab. “Shall we show them, Nia?”

  “I think we should, Mabs.”

  Sylva couldn’t believe that anyone would call their queen “Mabs.”

  “Then come with me, fairies, and you’ll see the precious treasure.”

  With Sylva and Poppy close at her side, Queen Mab flew over to her herb garden. She plucked a handful of small purple flowers with big fat brown centers. “It’s this,” said Queen Mab.

  “That’s the flower Daisy gave me,” said Sylva.

  “Not just any flower,” said Poppy. “It’s echinacea!”

  “Ek-in-nay-sha?” asked Sylva.

  “You can call it coneflower, if you’d rather,” said Poppy. Being a Flower sister, she knew all about the plants that bloomed on the island.

  “Some fairies use
it to make them feel better when they have a cold, don’t they, Poppy?” said Queen Mab.

  “Yes!” Poppy said. “Iris makes it into coneflower tea. Is that the treasure Captain Sinker was looking for, Queen Mab?”

  “I believe it was, Poppy,” said the queen. “He comes here every so often when he gets a cold. Usually he tries to sneak on and off the island without our noticing,” she added. “I guess he didn’t count on you two.”

  “He could have just come to the dock and asked someone for a pot of tea,” said Sylva.

  “Oh, but that would not have been very piratey of him,” said Queen Mab, and she laughed.

  Queen Titania smiled, and Lucky and Ginger chased each other around the garden.

  Sylva looked halfway across the tea table, thinking how lucky she was to have such good friends. “We all found our best treasure, didn’t we?” she asked.

  “You mean the dollhouse?” said Queen Mab with a smile.

  “No, ma’am!” said Sylva.

  “The kittens?” asked Queen Titania.

  “Almost,” said Sylva. “But not quite.”

  “Oh,” said Poppy. “You must mean being best friends again.”

  All four fairies grinned. They didn’t need to say a word.

  Fairy Secrets

  Squeak’s Words

  Ahhma: Magic

  Coomada: Love it!

  Eee lalee: I’m scared.

  Lolo: I’m sad.

  Ma-bo-bo: I love you.

  No lolo: Don’t be sad.

  Odeo: Oh dear!

  Squeak!: Oops! or Uh-oh! or Yay! or sometimes, Yikes!

  How to Make a Fairy Kitten Toy

  Cut a piece of aluminum foil about the size of a piece of paper.

  Scrunch the foil into a very tight ball, making sure no edges are left hanging out, so your cat doesn’t chew on them.

  Tie a long piece of yarn securely around the foil ball, and attach the string to the ceiling or a chair. Make sure the ball hangs just above the floor.