by Kiki Thorpe
Her mother knelt down next to her. “I know you love your wings,” she said. “But this is Julia’s special day. Can you do it for her?”
Gabby looked over at Mia, Kate, and Lainey. Mia gave her a tiny nod, as if to say, “You can do it.”
Gabby turned back to her mother. “Okay,” she agreed with a sigh.
Slowly, she slipped one arm out of the straps, then the other. Her back felt bare where the wings had been. “I’m going to put them away,” she said.
In her room, Gabby carefully folded her wings and placed them on the bed. She didn’t feel quite as excited as she had before. Without her wings, being a flower girl lost some of its magic.
Gabby heard a tiny rattle behind her, like a key turning in a lock. She looked around. The sound had come from her closet.
Gabby watched as a teeny head poked out of the keyhole. Two small arms emerged next. After a bit of wriggling, a pair of iridescent wings followed.
The fairy flew into the room. She had a long, messy ponytail and a smudge of paint on her cheek. It was Bess.
When Bess saw Gabby, her face lit up. “You’re here! So I’m not too late!”
“Too late for what?” asked Gabby.
“The wedding, of course!” Bess said. “I’d like to come with you. If you don’t mind, that is.”
Gabby’s heart lifted. A fairy had come to see her in the wedding! Her excitement returned. “Yay! But— Oh!” Suddenly, Gabby remembered her promise to Mia.
“What’s wrong?” Bess asked.
If Gabby told Bess what Mia had said, the fairy might decide to go home.
I promised Mia I wouldn’t say anything about fairies or Pixie Hollow, Gabby thought. But I never said I wouldn’t bring a fairy.
“You can come,” she told Bess at last. “But you can’t let anyone see you.”
“That’s all right. I can hide in your basket,” Bess said. She flew into the flower basket. Gabby covered her with a tissue from a box next to her bed. And not a moment too soon, for just then they heard a knock on the door.
Mia, Kate, and Lainey walked in. “Are you okay, Gabby?” Lainey asked.
Gabby stood up straight. “I am now.”
“Mami and Papi say we’ll be late if we don’t leave right away.” Mia’s eyes darted to the closet door. “You didn’t go to Never Land, did you?” she whispered.
“Of course not,” Gabby said. And squeezing past Mia and the other girls, she headed for the stairs.
City Park was the biggest park in town. It had a duck pond, a carousel, and a little grassy hill where people went to fly kites. There were lots of paths for walking or riding bikes and benches where you could sit and rest in the shade.
The wedding was taking place near the pond, which was ringed with giant willow trees. Gabby saw rows and rows of white chairs facing the water. A great white tent had been set up on the grass. A few people scurried around inside it, laying silverware on tables and putting out food.
“Isn’t this a lovely place for a wedding!” her mother said.
Gabby swallowed hard. It all looked much bigger and more grown-up than she had imagined—big, and a little scary. She wriggled her shoulders, feeling the empty space on her back where her wings should have been.
Bess poked her head out from Gabby’s basket. “Are we there yet?”
“Not now, Bess,” Gabby whispered. She pulled the tissue back over the fairy, just as Lainey walked up next to her. Lainey had her sweater bundled in her arms, as if she were carrying a package.
“Are you sure you’re okay? About your wings, I mean,” she said.
Gabby nodded. She held her hand over the basket so Lainey couldn’t peek inside.
“We’d better find someone and let them know we’re here,” Mrs. Vasquez said.
At that moment, a woman in a pink suit came striding toward them. She carried a clipboard in the crook of her elbow.
“Is this our flower girl?” she exclaimed. She checked her clipboard, adding, “Gabriela Vasquez?”
“It’s Gabby, not Gabriela,” Gabby said shyly.
“Aren’t you cute,” the woman replied. She made a little checkmark on her clipboard, then turned to Gabby’s parents. “I’m Amanda Cork, the wedding planner. I’m here to make sure everything is perfect.”
“Can we go say hi to Julia?” Mia asked.
“Of course not!” the wedding planner exclaimed. “A bride should never be disturbed when she’s dressing for her big day—”
“Is that Mia and Gabby I hear?” a familiar voice called. “And Lainey and Kate?”
The girls turned. Not far from the pond was a little building known as the clubhouse. Julia’s smiling face peeked out of the door.
“Julia!” the girls cried, rushing to her.
When Gabby saw her babysitter, her mouth opened in surprise. Instead of her usual jeans and T-shirt, Julia was dressed in a long gown made of white lace.
“You look like a princess!” Gabby exclaimed.
“You look really pretty,” Lainey agreed.
“I love your dress,” Mia gushed.
“Yeah, it really covers your knees,” added Kate.
Julia laughed. “Thank you,” she said. “You all look very nice, too.”
Ms. Cork hurried up behind them. “Are these girls bothering you?” she asked.
“Of course not,” said Julia. “They were just saying hello.”
“There’s time for all that later.” Ms. Cork sniffed. “The wedding starts in”—she checked her watch—“fifty-six minutes. You should finish getting ready! I’m sure you girls can find some way to amuse yourselves. Not you, Gabby,” the wedding planner added as the girls started to walk away. “You can stay. I have some flower girl instructions to give you.”
As the other girls left, Gabby looked around the clubhouse. Inside was a cozy room with a sofa, a dressing table, and a full-length mirror.
Gabby pointed to a long piece of gauzy fabric draped over a hanger on the closet door. “What’s that?”
“That’s my veil,” Julia replied. “Isn’t it pretty?”
Gabby nodded. The veil cascaded in lovely, loose folds. It reminded her of a waterfall. She wondered how it felt—
“No touching!” Ms. Cork exclaimed. “Your hands might be dirty.”
Gabby jerked her hand away. “They aren’t dirty,” she said, but she clasped her hands behind her back anyway.
Gabby waited for her flower girl instructions. But the wedding planner started talking to Julia. Something about place mats—or was it place cards? Gabby was having trouble following the conversation.
Suddenly, she realized Julia and Ms. Cork were heading for the door. “Wait here, Gabby. We’ll be right back,” Julia said. The door closed behind them.
As soon as they were gone, Bess fluttered out of Gabby’s basket. “I thought they’d never leave! I’m going outside to look around.”
“Are you going far?” Gabby asked, worried. She was a little scared of Ms. Cork, and she didn’t want to be left alone. “Don’t you want to see me be a flower girl?”
“I do!” Bess said. “I just want to take a peek. I’ll be back in a firefly’s flash.” With a little wave, Bess flew out the window.
Gabby sighed. As she waited for Julia and Ms. Cork to return, her eyes wandered around the room. But they kept coming back to the long white veil.
The filmy fabric looked a bit like her own fairy wings. It looked … magical. Gabby reached out a finger and stroked the veil, forgetting that she wasn’t supposed to touch it.
As she ran her finger along the edges, the veil suddenly slid off the hanger. It landed in a heap at her feet. Gabby gasped. She glanced around to make sure no one had seen, then quickly gathered up the fabric.
She meant to put it right back. But once the veil was in her arms, Gabby couldn’t resist the urge to try it on.
Just for a second, she told herself. No one will know.
Gabby tried to put the veil on her head, but it kept sliding back to
the floor. At last she discovered two little combs attached to the corners. She pushed the combs into her hair and pretended she was walking down the aisle.
But the veil was too long. She kept tripping over the end.
“Oopsie!” Gabby said as she stepped on it once, then again. “Whoops!”
At last, by wadding the trailing veil into a ball, Gabby managed to carry it over to the mirror. But when she let the veil flow down, it didn’t look pretty or princessy anymore. Instead of falling in long, lovely folds, the fabric was wrinkly and crumpled. There was a smudgy mark in one corner. Looking closer, Gabby saw that it was a footprint.
A sick, scared feeling churned in her stomach. Maybe if I hurry and put it back, no one will notice anything is wrong, she thought.
But Gabby had another problem. She couldn’t reach the hanger. It was too high over her head.
Where’s Bess? Gabby thought. She could use magic to put it back— Oh!
Suddenly, she remembered the thimbleful of fairy dust in her pocket. Gabby knew fairy dust could make things fly and float. Maybe it could lift the veil for her.
Gabby pulled out the thimble and sprinkled some dust on the veil. “Abracadabra,” she said, for good measure. “Go back to your hanger.”
At first, nothing happened. Then, slowly, the veil rose into the air. Gabby sighed with relief.
But the veil kept on rising. It floated past Gabby, past the hanger, and headed for the open window.
The veil flapped like the wings of a great white bird, then soared outside and disappeared.
Bess hovered beneath the canopy of the big white tent. Below her, Clumsies were briskly preparing for the celebration. They were setting tables, folding napkins, and carrying platters of food.
Bess marveled at the scene. The round tables reminded her of the tables in the Home Tree dining room—except they were built for giants!
She swooped down to look at one of the place settings. The bowl was big enough for her to bathe in. The teaspoon was the size of a garden fairy’s shovel. Fifteen fairies could sit comfortably around the dinner plate.
Bess darted out of the way as a Clumsy set down a vase filled with flowers. She didn’t worry about being spotted. Most grown-ups didn’t believe in fairies, and fairies could only be seen by Clumsies who believed. But she did need to take care not to get squashed.
When the Clumsy was gone, Bess poked around the flower arrangement. She undid an artfully folded napkin to see how it was done. She made faces at her reflection in a soup spoon. How am I ever going to decide what to put into my painting? she wondered. There was so much to look at—and everything was huge! She’d need a canvas the size of the Home Tree to fit it all in.
Bess held up her thumb and forefinger. She looked through the window they made, trying to frame the scene in her mind.
Bess gasped. Through the makeshift frame, she saw two tiny figures on the other side of the tent. They looked like fairies!
“Fly with you!” Bess swooped toward them, calling out the fairy greeting.
The fairies didn’t respond. They didn’t even move. As she landed, Bess saw they weren’t fairies at all, but little statues of a man and woman.
Bess walked around the statues, studying them. The woman wore a white dress, and the man was in a dark suit. The carved faces were blank and expressionless. Bess couldn’t imagine what they were for.
I’ll have to ask Gabby, she thought. As a matter of fact, it was time she found her friend.
But as she fluttered her wings to leave, Bess found that her feet were stuck. She was sinking into the ground, which, actually, was not ground at all but—
“Frosting!” Bess exclaimed. She was up to her ankles in it. Now she realized that she was standing on a giant cake. Her tiny footprints covered the top tier.
“Oh, smudge!” cried Bess. She tried to swipe one of the footprints away with her paintbrush. But she only made a bigger smear. “Double smudge!”
Maybe I can turn the footprints into a pattern, she thought. That way they’ll look like they’re there on purpose.
Bess began to walk around the top of the cake, weaving in and out. It was slow going. The frosting was as thick and heavy as mud. It took effort to drag each foot out. But at last she managed to create a beautiful spiral pattern around the statues.
She stepped back to admire her work. “Not bad, if I do say so my— Ahhh!”
The edge of cake she’d been standing on gave way suddenly. Bess slid down in an avalanche of frosting. She bounced off the second tier, rolled to the first, then fell onto the table.
She groaned and sat up. Looking back at the cake, she saw a Bess-sized track running down the side.
“Blasted broken brushes! How am I going to fix that?” she exclaimed.
But before she could even think of fixing the cake, she needed to get cleaned up. She was sticky with frosting.
Somewhere nearby, Bess could hear the sound of water trickling. She flew toward it, hoping to find a place to wash.
Bess followed the sound to a table. There were bowls piled high with strawberries, and right in the middle was a giant fountain. It flowed with something thick, brown, and sweet-smelling.
“Chocolate!” Bess exclaimed. She had found the chocolate waterfall!
Bess hesitated. She really needed to get cleaned up. But if there was one thing Bess loved almost as much as painting, it was chocolate.
“I’ll just take a teensy taste,” she told herself. “Then I’ll be on my way.” Bess climbed onto the edge of the fountain.
At that moment, a Clumsy set a bowl of strawberries down right next to her. Startled, Bess lost her balance—
Sploosh! She fell up to her waist into the chocolate.
“Ugh!” Bess stood on her tiptoes, trying to hold her wings above the thick brown liquid. If they went under, she’d never get out!
She tried to lift her legs. Gloop. The chocolate pulled one of her shoes right off.
Bess reached into the chocolate. She stuck her arm in all the way up to the elbow. But she couldn’t find her shoe. She tried with her other arm. She thought she felt it with the tip of her finger. She stretched her arms as far as she could until she finally grabbed hold of the shoe.
Bess stood up with a gasp, wiping chocolate from her chin. She was covered from neck to toe. Luckily, she’d managed to keep her wings dry. Now she fluttered them hard to pull herself out.
She landed on the table, making a big chocolate splatter.
“Ugh! What a mess!” How was she going to clean herself up now?
A loud scream made her jump. “That’s the biggest bug I’ve ever seen!” a Clumsy exclaimed.
“It’s horrible!” said another.
Bess glanced around nervously, looking for the big, horrible bug. Instead, she saw two Clumsies holding covered platters. They were both staring down at her.
They can’t be looking at me, Bess thought. Grown-up Clumsies can’t see fairies, unless … Uh-oh!
Bess suddenly realized they could see her. Covered in chocolate, she was no longer invisible. Now she looked like a big, ugly brown bug!
“Squish it!” one of the Clumsies said. The next thing Bess saw was a huge silver lid coming toward her.
Outside, Gabby hurried across the grass toward the rows of white chairs. Guests had started to arrive. The seats were beginning to fill with people.
“Bess?” Gabby whispered. She crept along the aisle. She peeked under the chairs, but all she saw were feet. Where could the fairy be?
“What are you looking for?” asked a voice behind her.
Gabby jumped and spun around. A boy her age was standing there. He was dressed in a little blue suit with a white bow tie. In his hands, he held a small satin pillow.
“I was trying to find my friend,” Gabby said, staring at the pillow. She wondered what it was for. Was the boy planning to take a nap?
“Why were you looking under the chairs?” the boy asked.
Gabby remembered her promise to M
ia about not mentioning fairies. “I thought I saw a butterfly,” she fibbed.
“I caught a butterfly yesterday,” the boy said. “It was yellow and blue. I put it in my bug hotel.”
“What’s a bug hotel?” Gabby asked.
“It’s this jar with holes in the lid. When you catch a bug, you put it in there. The bug can have a drink of water and some leaves to eat. Maybe it can take a nap. Then you have to let the bug go, so it can go home to its family.”
“Can I see it?” Gabby asked.
The boy shrugged. “Nah. It’s at home.”
Gabby hoped the boy would go away now. How could she find Bess with him standing right there?
A hand suddenly clamped down on her shoulder. “There you are, Gabriela!” Ms. Cork exclaimed. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”
Fear seized Gabby. Had Ms. Cork found out what she’d done?
But the wedding planner didn’t look angry. She held up a little box. “These are your rose petals,” she said, emptying the contents into Gabby’s basket. “You’re to sprinkle them when you walk down the aisle. Can you do that?”
Gabby nodded, clutching the basket. She hoped Ms. Cork would leave now, too, so she could go back to looking for the veil and Bess.
But Ms. Cork seemed to be in no hurry. “Let’s practice,” she said. “Take a handful of petals and sprinkle them. Sprinkle them gaily!”
Gabby lobbed a fistful of petals into the air. Most of them landed on Ms. Cork’s feet.
“A little less force next time,” she said, shaking off her shoes. “I see you’ve met Daniel. He’s our ring bearer. He’ll be going down the aisle right in front of you, so all you have to do is follow him. Can you do that?”
Gabby nodded again. She wished Ms. Cork would stop talking to her as if she were a baby.
At that moment, a shout came from the tent, followed by a loud clatter.
Ms. Cork frowned. “I’d better go see what that’s about,” she said, to Gabby’s relief. “Don’t go running off anywhere. The wedding will be starting very soon.” She bustled away.