“That’s right,” Tink responded happily. “So what’s your talent?” she asked.
Vidia began spinning again, until she was nothing but a blur. When she slowed down enough to be visible, she fixed Tink with a cocky glare. “What do you think it is?” she challenged.
Tink bit her lip. “Um … you’re a pollen … izer?”
Vidia skidded to a stop, outraged.
“Pollenator?” Tink tried again.
Vidia’s eyes narrowed.
“Pollen picker? Pollen plucker!” Tink was starting to feel anxious. She was clearly getting on Vidia’s nerves.
Vidia looked at Tinker Bell. “I am a fast-flying fairy,” she proudly announced. “A true, rare talent. And this is but a small part of what I do. I make breezes in the summer, blow down leaves in the fall … and my winds even brought you here, dear. Fairies of every talent depend on me.”
Tinker Bell smiled. “Hey!” she said. “That’s just like what I do!”
Vidia snorted. “Excuse me?”
“I mean, tinkers help fairies of every talent, too! So we’re kind of the same, you know?”
Vidia’s wings fanned slowly. She draped an arm over Tink’s shoulders and leaned close. “Sweetie, I make forces of nature. You make pots and kettles. I work up in the sky and you work down in a ditch.”
“Hey—” Tink started, ready to correct Vidia.
“Oh, don’t get me wrong, sunshine,” Vidia interrupted. “Being a tinker is really swell and all. But I wouldn’t go around bragging about your talent. It’s not like spring depends on you.”
Tinker Bell refused to be put down. “Of course it does!” she exclaimed. “And when I go to the mainland, I’ll prove just how important we are!”
Vidia looked confused. “When who goes to the mainland?” she asked.
Tink almost rolled her eyes. “Me, of course! For spring?”
Vidia smiled. It wasn’t a very nice smile. “Oh … oh, of course!” she said. “You’ll prove it, huh?”
“Yes, I will!” Tink said fiercely.
Vidia’s nasty smile got bigger. “Well, I, for one, will be looking forward to that,” she said. “Excuse me.” She flew off so fast, Tink could hardly see her go.
“No,” Tinker Bell called after her, “excuse me.”
Okay. So it wasn’t much of a comeback—but at least Tink had the last word.
Tinker Bell flew over Pixie Hollow, replaying in her mind the exchange with Vidia. “Mine is a rare talent,” she muttered out loud, mimicking Vidia’s sarcastic voice.
Tink snorted in disgust. “Ugh! I’ll show her what a rare talent is when I …” She broke off as a glint of light caught her eye. It was coming through the trees below.
Curious, Tink flew down to investigate. She followed the glint to a sandy cove near where the ocean’s waves lapped gently against Never Land’s shore. She landed where she thought she’d seen the glint and began digging with her hands.
Before long, Tinker Bell uncovered a silver coin. She turned the coin from side to side, watching it catch and reflect the fading rays of the sun. It sparkled so beautifully!
Are there any more of these? she wondered. She began to dig again.
The sand yielded treasure after treasure.
First she unearthed a huge brass screw. She spun it on her finger.
Then Tink found a spring. She loved the way she could push and pull it and then watch it snap back into shape with a defiant sproing!
But the most fascinating thing she found was an eyeglass lens about the size of a fairy’s window. Tink put her hand behind it and watched the lens magnify and distort her fingers. She laughed out loud.
Tinker Bell hurried to gather up all her treasures, piling them into a wobbly stack in her arms.
Tink smiled happily. She wasn’t just a tinker fairy—she was a treasure-finding fairy! Here she was, brand-new to Pixie Hollow, and already she had discovered these amazing things. Tink wasn’t sure just how, but she knew that with these treasures, she would surely find a way to prove herself.
Then Vidia would see how important a tinker fairy could be!
“Hey, Tink, what have you got there?” Bobble looked up from his bench when Tink flew into the workshop with her armful of treasures.
“I don’t know. I just found them.” She plopped the treasures down on her worktable. Clank and Bobble hurried to examine them.
“Lost Things,” Clank said.
Tinker Bell frowned. “Lost Things?”
Bobble nodded. “Aye. Stuff gets lost and washes up on Never Land from time to time. You know—from the mainland.”
“These come from the mainland?” Tink asked. That place sounded more fascinating all the time!
But she was disappointed when Bobble added, “Not much good for anything, though, eh, Clank?”
Before Clank could answer, Fairy Mary came bustling by with her seed abacus and checklist, busily taking note of the items and supplies. “Berry bushels. Check. Pollen pots. Check.” She absently glanced at Tink’s worktable. “Lost Things. Check—” Fairy Mary broke off with a frown. “Lost Things? Why are you fiddling with that junk?”
Tinker Bell shrank under Fairy Mary’s disapproving glare. “Oh … um … ,” she stuttered. “They were just so unusual… .”
“Mustn’t be wasting your time with that rubbish,” Fairy Mary scolded. “And I won’t have it cluttering up my workshop.” She shot a stern look at Clank and Bobble. “And as for you two—no more dillydallying around. Don’t forget about the Queen’s Review tonight. Goodness! There’s still so much to be done.”
Fairy Mary started to gather up the Lost Things and flew away with her arms full.
Clank noticed Tink’s disappointed look. “Sorry about your trinkets, Miss Bell.”
“We’d best be getting ready for the review anyway,” Bobble reminded her.
Tink lifted her head. “What is the Queen’s Review?”
Bobble rubbed his hands in anticipation. “The queen is going to review all the preparations for spring.”
Clank smiled. “It’s a good time for us tinkers to show what we can do, eh?”
“Indeed!” Bobble confirmed.
“Really?” Tink’s spirits brightened considerably.
Clank jerked his head toward the wagon. “Like me. I can be a wheel,” he joked as he and Bobble headed back to their worktables.
Tink didn’t laugh. Her mind was already racing ahead, making plans. Perfect … that’s my chance! she thought.
Tink dove into action. She gathered twigs, sap, walnut shells—even silk from a surprised but good-natured spider.
Her moment was coming, and she had to be ready.
That night, Springtime Square was full of fairies feverishly working to make everything ready for the Queen’s Review.
Flower-painting fairies lined up buckets of fresh-squeezed flower paint. Planting fairies stacked bushels of seeds and nuts to be counted.
Ladybugs stood in rows. Some waited patiently for their black dots to be applied; others still needed their first coat of red. A fairy waved them over. “Okay, everybody, turn!” she called to the line of bugs. “Ready for the base coat over here!”
Fawn, Rosetta, Iridessa, and Silvermist were busy with their own tasks, and Clank and Bobble hurried from group to group, lending a hand wherever they were needed.
The Minister of Spring floated through the square, overseeing everything. His face was serious, but his clothes were joyous and colorful. He wore a long, blue robe, with a pink azalea blossom on his lapel.
A garland of leaves held the minister’s long hair off his high forehead as he bent over his leaf-scroll checklist. “Splendid, splendid,” he said.
He noticed a group of fairies who were unloading berry pots in a hurry—and making a mess in the process. “Stack those neatly! Plenty of time before the queen arrives—”
He broke off when he heard a tinkling sound. “Oh! She’s here? Play, music fairies, play!” he instructed.
; A band of music fairies struck up a tune, signaling the others to line up along the pathway. The fairies hurried to take their places.
Queen Clarion came gliding in with the Minister of Fall, the Minister of Winter, and the Minister of Summer behind her.
The Minister of Spring bowed with great dignity. “Queen Clarion! Queen Clarion, Your Illustriousness! As the Minister of Spring, I welcome you to Springtime Square!”
“What, no fireworks, Minister?” Queen Clarion teased gently.
The Minister of Spring looked panicked. “Oh—well, I—That could be arranged.” He glanced around desperately. “Light fairies! Light fairies!”
Queen Clarion giggled. “I’m teasing. You always make such a fuss, and everything always turns out wonderfully.”
The Minister of Spring relaxed and laughed. “Well, I think you’ll find we have things well in hand.” He pointed at a large, closed flower growing on an ornate platform. “When the Everblossom blooms, we will be ready to bring spring to the mainland!”
“Music to my ears!” Queen Clarion turned to the crowd. “I know you’ve all put in months of practice and preparation. But keep up the good work these last few days. Because just as fairies—”
The queen broke off in surprise when Tink came hurtling along in her wagon. Tink pulled Cheese to a screeching halt, jumped out, and shouldered her way through the crowd to the front.
“Queen Clarion!” Tink shouted. “Did I miss anything?” The music squawked to a halt, and the crowd turned toward Tink, annoyed and surprised.
“No, no, no!” the Minister of Spring exclaimed.
“Whew!” Tink pretended to wipe her brow in relief and grinned. “Good!”
The Minister of Spring stepped forward to send Tink away, but Queen Clarion put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s all right,” she told him.
Tink motioned for the fairies in front of the wagon to make room. She lifted the leaf tarp that covered the back. “I came up with some fantastic things for tinkers to use when we go to the mainland. Let me show you.”
The queen’s eyebrows rose in surprise.
Some of the fairies in the crowd whispered. Others glared.
“Tinkers on the mainland? What is she talking about?” Iridessa asked.
“Didn’t anyone tell her?” Silvermist added.
Tink heard the whispering, but she did her best to ignore it. She knew that once they got a look at her inventions and understood how important they were, nobody would ever whisper or glare at her again.
Tink held up her first invention. The contraption looked like a nutcracker made of sticks, rocks, and grass twine.
She turned to Fawn.
“Baby chipmunks can’t eat the whole nut, right? Their little teeth can’t chew big bites.” Tink placed a big nut in the contraption and began to crank. “You just turn this—and …”
The rocks pressed on the shell from either side, tighter and tighter. But instead of cracking—
BLAM!
The nut shot out of the device and smacked a baby squirrel right in the nose.
The little creature stood stock-still, shocked. Then his big, dark eyes welled up with tears and his furry little chin quivered. There was a terrible silence in Springtime Square, until the squirrel let out a wail and ran off. All the fairies watched, horrified.
Tink did her best to smile. “Whoops. Just have to adjust the gears a little …”
Queen Clarion held up her hand, trying to stop her. “Tinker Bell—”
But it was no use. Tink kept right on. She knew she could do this. Her next invention was sure to go over better.
“I made this, too.” She pulled out a spray gun made from an acorn, with several reed-nozzles. “It’s a berry-paint sprayer! Allow me to demonstrate.”
Tinker Bell turned the wooden handle and …
KERBOOM!
The contraption exploded, covering the Minister of Spring with berry paint.
“Sorry! Kind of a work in progress,” Tinker Bell explained. This wasn’t going so well. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up at the queen.
Queen Clarion’s eyes were understanding and full of sympathy, but her voice was firm. “Tinker Bell, sweetheart, has no one explained?”
Tinker Bell bit her lip. Her heart pounded and she felt her throat tighten. She had a bad feeling that whatever Queen Clarion was going to say wasn’t something she wanted to hear. “Explained what?” she asked quietly.
“Tinker fairies don’t go to the mainland, dear.”
“What?” Tink whispered.
“All of those things are done by the nature fairies. Your work is here, in Pixie Hollow.”
“But … but … I thought …” Tinker Bell’s voice trailed off.
“I’m sorry, Tinker Bell,” the queen said softly.
Tink looked at the assembled fairies. Some would not meet her eyes. Others gazed at her sympathetically.
Only Vidia seemed to be enjoying Tink’s heartbreak. Her face was twisted in a mean smirk. Tink didn’t want to give her any satisfaction. She tried to pull herself together.
“Oh … okay. That’s … um … good! I mean, I really couldn’t make it anyway, so this actually works out … good!” She took the reins and began leading Cheese away, trying not to look at the crowd as it parted for her.
“Music fairies!” the Minister of Spring called out. The music fairies burst into feverish song, desperate to fill the unhappy silence.
Iridessa and Fawn hurried toward the wagon, with Clank and Bobble running behind them. Rosetta and Iridessa flew along, too.
But Tink turned away from them. She shook the reins to hurry Cheese, eager to disappear into the dark so that she could cry undisturbed.
Back in the empty workshop, Tink dropped her contraptions on her worktable and slumped down on her stool.
“Back so soon?” said a voice.
Tink spun around in surprise.
Fairy Mary stood on the far side of the workshop, checking on supplies and making tick marks in her leaf notebook.
“You didn’t go?” Tinker Bell asked.
“Oh, goodness, no. Far too much work to do down here.”
Tink watched Fairy Mary cheerfully counting pots and wondered how she could be so satisfied. “Vidia was right. Being a tinker stinks,” she muttered.
“Excuse me? What was that?” Fairy Mary looked up from her checklist.
“Why don’t we get to go to the mainland?” Tinker Bell blurted.
Fairy Mary snickered. “The mainland? Who gives a pile of pebbles about the mainland?”
“But, Fairy Mary, the other fairies get to go.”
Fairy Mary put her hands on her hips. “Now, Tinker Bell, are you a garden fairy?”
Tinker Bell knitted her brows. “Well, no.”
“Are you a light fairy?”
“No.”
“Animal fairy? Water fairy, perhaps?”
“No and no.”
Fairy Mary shook her head. “No. You’re not. You are a tinker. It’s who you are. Be proud of it.” She began to fly away, pausing to add, “The day you can magically make the flowers grow, or capture the rays of the sun or whatnot, then you can go. Until then, your work is here.” With that, she was gone.
Tink let her head fall on the table in despair. There had to be something better in store for her than this—a pile of failed inventions and no trip to the mainland. There just had to be.
Thanks to Fairy Mary’s words, it wasn’t long before she had a brand-new idea.
Tink spread her wings and zipped into the air.
She had a foolproof plan, and when the Everblossom bloomed, she would be among the fairies leaving for the mainland. This time for sure!
The next morning, Tink arrived early at the Pixie Dust Well. All the fairies began their day by lining up for their daily dose of dust. They were chatting while they waited. Tinker Bell ducked out of sight and waited to make an entrance.
“Great festival yesterday!” a flower fairy called out to h
er friend.
“Nice day for flying!” another fairy said.
Tink saw Iridessa, Fawn, Rosetta, and Silvermist, who were waiting to receive their dust from Terence. “Here you go, Silvermist,” he said.
Silvermist closed her eyes and held her nose when Terence poured the dust on her. “Thank you, Terence,” she said in a nasal voice. Then she turned back to her friends. “I hope Tinker Bell is okay,” she said.
Terence started to pour dust on Rosetta, but she politely stopped him and produced her own flower powder-puff. She delicately dipped it into the dust and gave herself a quick powder. “That poor little sapling. She looked pretty wilted yesterday.”
“I wouldn’t blame her if she stayed in bed all day!” Iridessa agreed, stepping up for her dust.
Tink listened from her hiding spot and smiled. Her friends were going to be so amazed when she told them about her great new plan!
The four fairies were indeed startled when Tinker Bell popped out. “Hey, Iridessa! Morning, girls!”
Terence was so surprised by Tink’s perky manner that he dropped his dust ladle on Iridessa’s head with a bonk!
Tink gave them a big smile.
“Tinker Bell!” Fawn cried in happy surprise.
Tink did a fancy spin around a branch and then proudly landed on it. “Guess what?” she announced. “I’ve decided I’m not going to be a tinker fairy anymore!”
Fawn and Iridessa looked shocked.
Rosetta and Silvermist looked bewildered.
And all four spoke at once. “What?”
“Well,” Tink said, “I was thinking, why do I have to be a tinker? Just because some silly hammer glowed? Who’s to say it wasn’t a mistake? Maybe I can just switch my talent!”
“Switch your talent?” Rosetta echoed in a faint voice. “I don’t know, Tinker Bell.”
“If you could teach me your talents, maybe I could show the queen that I can work with nature, too.” A gnat landed on Tink’s arm as she spoke, and she absentmindedly slapped at it. Fawn’s eyebrows shot up in dismay. “Then she’d let me go to the mainland for spring!” Tink finished.
“Oh, Tinker Bell. That’s just not how it works,” Rosetta told her sadly.
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