Friends Forever

by Titania Woods

  The mixture became a creamy paste as she stirred. Stripe peered into the bowl and sniffed it, his good wing fluttering with curiosity.

  ‘Now for a healing song,’ said Twink.

  She thought for a moment, and then started smoothing the salve on to Stripe’s broken wing. The wasp winced, but seemed to understand that he needed to keep still as Twink sang:

  .

  Heal, wing, heal!

  Don’t be broken, heal!

  Mend together,

  Whatever the weather.

  Heal, wing, heal!

  There was a flash of green light from the salve. Stripe jumped, and craned his neck to look over his shoulder. Twink sank back on to her heels, heart thumping. The salve glowed for a moment, and then disappeared.

  .

  .

  Stripe’s wing was still broken.

  ‘Oh!’ breathed Twink in disappointment. Had her song not been good enough? Or had she mixed the salve wrong? But it had glowed! Surely that was a good sign?

  Maybe the spell just took time to work. Twink gazed anxiously at Stripe’s wing, trying to work out whether it was less crooked and bent than it had been. She couldn’t tell. If only there was someone she could ask! Mr Woodleaf, or her parents, even.

  Twink’s spirits leapt as she thought of her mother and father. Her parents were the kindest, wisest fairies she knew – and as Fairy Medics, they dealt with poorly creatures all the time. They’d be sure to know how to help Stripe.

  But what if they were just as horrified as everyone else? Twink winced at the thought. No, she couldn’t ask them. She couldn’t ask anyone.

  ‘We’ll just have to wait and see,’ she murmured, stroking Stripe’s back. ‘I’ll put more salve on tomorrow.’

  The wasp nuzzled her hand with his head, humming worriedly.

  Twink smiled. ‘You can understand every word I say, can’t you? Oh, it’s so daft, Stripe – nobody could hate you once they knew you. But everyone just keeps talking about the Great Wasp Wars. Neither of us were even born then!’

  Her head jerked up as a sudden noise came from outside the stump. Stripe stiffened and stared at the doorway. Frowning, Twink flitted to the door.

  ‘Hello?’ she called cautiously, peering out.

  Nobody was there. The long strands of grass around the doorway waved gently, as though something had left in a hurry.

  Twink swallowed as the blades of grass slowly stilled. It was probably just a cricket, she told herself. That’s all. Nothing to worry about.

  But even so, her wings felt as cold as ice.

  .

  Chapter Four

  The first-year Common Branch was a long, comfortable room with soft moss carpets. Glow-worm lanterns dotted the ceiling, and a cluster of fire rocks glowed warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Now, in early autumn, the rocks gave off a friendly heat that the young fairies found very welcome.

  Sitting at one of the mushroom desks, Twink tried to do her Flower Power homework – perking up a pot of drooping clover. But no matter what she tried, the round green leaves still sagged sadly.

  Finally Twink sighed and pushed the acorn pot away. It was no use. You had to really concentrate to heal a plant, and all she could think of was Stripe, alone in his stump. I hope he’s not cold, she thought, glancing at the dark windows.

  Around her, the other first-year fairies chattered and worked on their projects. Everyone seemed to be having great fun with them. Even Bimi was busy, drawing on a piece of oak-leaf parchment.

  ‘Watch, everyone!’ called Sooze. ‘This is my new dance!’

  Twink looked up as Sooze leapt to the centre of the branch. Sili laughed. ‘Go on, Sooze, impress us!’

  ‘Right, here it is.’ Sooze pushed her oak-leaf cap jauntily over one eye and then did a high kick that sent several fairies flitting backwards. Snapping her fingers, she strutted across the branch on the points of her toes, kicking with every step. Then with a sudden high leap she started twisting and spinning, shaking her hips and clapping her hands.

  With a final prance, Sooze shot over their heads, pink wings fluttering. She drifted down to earth with a whoop! and punched the air.

  ‘Well, what do you think?’ she demanded.

  The fairies had held back their laughter as Sooze danced, but now they erupted into shouts of merriment. ‘Oh, Sooze!’ gasped Pix, holding her sides. ‘What kind of a dance is that?’

  ‘A new one!’ grinned Sooze. ‘Madame will never have seen anything like it before.’

  ‘Well, that’s true – nobody has,’ said Zena. She shook her head with an admiring smile. ‘Sooze, you’re too much!’

  ‘Ha! You’re all just jealous of my wonderful dancing skills!’ Sooze plunged into her whirlwind dance again, snapping her fingers. Sili jumped up to join her, following her moves. The two girls collided midair, and collapsed into giggles.

  Pix rolled her eyes. ‘You two will get us into trouble if you’re not careful! You know we’re not supposed to fly in here.’

  Sooze pulled Sili to her feet. ‘Oh, stop worrying, Pix. Come on, Sili, let’s do it again!’

  Twink smiled as Sooze and Sili high-kicked their way across the branch. Zena was right – Sooze was too much sometimes! And unlike Twink, she never seemed to have a care in the world. Twink turned back to her clover with a sigh.

  But before she could get started on it again, Bimi came over, bouncing with excitement. ‘Look, I’ve done a plan for our tapestry!’ She held out the oak-leaf parchment. ‘What do you think?’

  Twink made room for Bimi on the mushroom seat, and the two fairies sat side by side, wings touching, as they looked at the parchment.

  As Bimi had said, it showed the history of the fairies: kings and queens in old-fashioned clothing; Glitterwings as a tiny sapling; the Great Wasp Wars; Queen Mab as a young ruler. In the final drawings, Glitterwings had grown to a mighty tree, and Queen Mab sat wise and ancient on her fairy throne.

  ‘Bimi, it’s wonderful!’ said Twink in surprise. Somehow she had half-believed her friend when she’d insisted she wouldn’t do a good job.

  Bimi ducked her head down with a shy smile. ‘It’s not too bad, is it?’

  ‘Bi-mi!’ Twink flapped her wings, laughing. ‘Weren’t you listening? It’s completely glimmery!’

  Bimi’s pretty face flushed with pleasure. ‘And guess what – I asked Mrs Lightwing if we could do our project together, and she said yes! So I reckon we’ll need to start sewing in all our spare time – during break, and our free periods, and maybe even a few lunches –’

  Twink’s heart sank to the floor. She needed all of her spare time to take care of Stripe. ‘Bimi, I’m sorry, but . . . I can’t,’ she forced out.

  Bimi’s eyes widened. ‘But I thought we were doing it together!’

  Twink tried to laugh. ‘You don’t need me. Look how well you’ve done already! Besides, I – I’ve got an idea for a project of my own that I want to do.’

  Hurt creased Bimi’s face. ‘But you said you’d help! Twink, please – I can’t do it without you.’

  ‘Of course you can!’ cried Twink. Guilt pinched at her. ‘You’ll do a fantastic job, wait and see.’

  .

  .

  Bimi slowly rose from the mushroom and tucked the parchment under her arm.

  ‘Bimi, I’m sorry,’ said Twink miserably. ‘I’d love to do the project with you. I just can’t.’

  Bimi stared at her. ‘Why not?’

  Twink faltered. In the middle of the branch, Sooze and Sili were still dancing noisily. Several of the others had joined in, too – including Pix, who had given up trying to keep order and was now kicking higher than anybody.

  ‘I just can’t, that’s all.’ Twink played with her snail-trail pen, unable to
meet her friend’s eyes. ‘Like I said, there’s something else I want to do, on my own.’

  Bimi shrugged and looked away. ‘Well . . . whatever. Have fun with your project, I suppose.’

  ‘Bimi, wait!’ Twink called after the blue-haired fairy as she flew from the branch. But it was too late. Bimi was gone.

  Twink slumped her chin on her hands. Oh, and she and Bimi had been getting on so well this term, too! Last term they’d fallen out for days, because Bimi had been jealous of Twink’s friendship with Sooze. Now, just when that finally seemed sorted, this had to happen.

  And there was nothing Twink could do to fix it. She couldn’t abandon Stripe, and she could never explain to Bimi what she was really doing. Twink’s eyes stung with unspilled tears.

  ‘Oh, deary me. Having problems, are we?’ cooed a voice.

  Twink started. Mariella stood leaning against the desk, fluttering her pale green wings innocently.

  ‘What do you want?’ muttered Twink. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

  ‘Nothing,’ said Mariella, widening her eyes. ‘I just overheard your little tiff with Bimi, that’s all. Such a shame, isn’t it?’

  ‘What is?’ asked Twink warily.

  Mariella flapped a wing. ‘You know – when you can’t do two things at once. Wasps, I really hate it when that happens!’

  Twink’s breath caught in her throat. Wasps? Did Mariella mean –

  Lola sidled up beside Mariella, smirking. ‘Yeah, wasps,’ she echoed. ‘Or . . . just one wasp, maybe.’ She and Mariella looked at each other and sniggered.

  Twink jumped up and grabbed Mariella’s arm. ‘You know, don’t you?’ she whispered fiercely. ‘You found out, somehow!’

  Mariella’s green eyes widened until they looked like they might pop out. ‘Found out what? I can’t imagine what you mean. Lola, do you know what she means?’

  .

  .

  Lola shook her head, imitating Mariella’s wide-eyed expression.

  Twink dropped her hand as she suddenly realised what had happened. ‘It was you, wasn’t it?’ she demanded. ‘Outside the stump this afternoon. You were spying on me!’

  Mariella’s eyebrows arched. ‘Well, that’s nothing compared to you! Stealing honey from the school, sneaking off into the wood, making friends with a wasp –’

  ‘Shh!’ Twink looked over her shoulder. The others were still dancing and laughing, not paying any attention to them. She clenched her fists. ‘You – you won’t tell, will you?’

  Mariella folded her arms across her chest. ‘I really feel it’s my duty to,’ she said primly. ‘You’re betraying the fairies, Twink. Have you even thought how ashamed your parents would be? Not to mention Miss Shimmery! Why, she’d probably expel you!’

  Twink swallowed hard. Sickeningly, she knew that Mariella was right. Both her parents and Miss Shimmery would probably be horrified at what she had done.

  ‘Please, Mariella,’ she whispered. ‘You can’t tell! It’s not just me, it’s Stripe. He’s hurt, and –’

  Twink stopped as an expression of wicked delight burst across Mariella’s face. ‘Stripe?’ she repeated. ‘You’ve given it a name? Oh, that’s just glimmery!’ She nudged Lola, and they dissolved into snorts and splutters.

  Twink’s face was on fire. ‘Mariella, you can’t tell!’ she said desperately. ‘Remember what happened last term? No one thinks much of tell-tales here!’

  Mariella stopped laughing as a look of doubt crossed her face. She recovered herself with a sneer. ‘It’s not telling tales when it’s this serious! You heard what Madame said – no fairy has helped a wasp for a thousand years. No one would ever forgive you, Twink. And they’d probably banish that wasp friend of yours – or worse!’

  Twink’s blood turned to ice. ‘Please don’t tell, Mariella!’ she begged.

  ‘Hmm.’ Propping her finger on her chin, Mariella tilted her head to one side in exaggerated consideration.

  ‘Please!’ said Twink again. She swallowed hard. ‘I’ll do anything you want!’

  Mariella slowly dropped her finger. Her green eyes glinted like a flash of snakeskin.

  ‘Anything?’ she asked.

  .

  Chapter Five

  Twink felt as if the next few days would never end. It seemed like every time she turned round, Mariella had another petty little chore for her to do: polishing her pixie boots, carrying her petal bag between classes, even doing her homework.

  Twink had baulked at this last task. ‘Mariella, I’m not going to do your homework for you!’ she said hotly. ‘That’s cheating.’

  The pointed-faced fairy had merely raised a silvery eyebrow. ‘Oh. Well, I suppose you don’t care about Stripe very much, do you?’

  That was always her answer whenever Twink objected. And then Twink had no choice but to grit her teeth and do whatever horrid task Mariella had ordered. The only good thing was that everyone was so wrapped up in their projects that nobody had noticed she’d turned into Mariella’s personal slave!

  Even Bimi hadn’t noticed – which wasn’t too surprising, since her best friend seemed to be avoiding her. Every time Twink saw Bimi she was hard at work on her tapestry, keeping her blue head firmly down.

  Twink had tried to talk to her a few times, but conversation between the two girls had become stiff and awkward. Finally Twink gave up. She ached to make things up with her friend, but how could she? She didn’t dare tell Bimi about Stripe – Bimi hated wasps as much as everyone else!

  Twink sighed as she wrote out Mariella’s Fairy Dust homework. At least she knew now that the healing spell was working on Stripe. For over a week now, she had applied it faithfully – and to her immense joy, Stripe’s wing had first straightened, and then started to mend itself.

  It won’t be much longer, she told herself fervently. Stripe will be well soon, he really will! Then she could let him go, and Mariella could say whatever she liked.

  And maybe things could get back to normal with her and Bimi.

  ‘Stripe, hold still!’ laughed Twink. ‘I’ve got to put the salve on.’

  In answer, the young wasp rolled on to his back, wiggling his black legs in the air. Twink tickled his stomach and he hummed loudly, waving his legs about.

  It was just before dawn: the hour when she and Stripe could spend the most time together. But Twink’s nightly excursions were taking their toll. She had to fight to hold back her yawns during class, and had already been told off several times for not paying attention.

  Mrs Lightwing had been especially scathing during Flight class yesterday, when Twink had bungled a series of barrel rolls.

  .

  .

  ‘Great Mab, girl, are you trying to look like a bird in a hurricane?’ their year Head had demanded, propping her hands on her hips. ‘Because you’re giving an excellent imitation of it!’

  Stripe flipped over on to his front again. His large eyes gleamed in the light of the glow-worm lantern. The battered old stump felt cosy to them both now – a friendly, homely place.

  ‘You’re feeling better, aren’t you!’ grinned Twink. Holding the lantern up, she peered carefully at his wings. You had to look hard now to see that one of them was still slightly bent and torn.

  ‘Glimmery!’ she said happily. ‘I bet you could fly now. But we’ll put the salve on one more time, just to make sure. OK?’ She tapped Stripe on the head with mock severity.

  The wasp settled down. Twink smoothed the salve on to his wing with gentle fingertips as she sang in her high, sweet voice. Closing his eyes, Stripe swayed to the music.

  A green flash lit Twink’s face as the salve glowed briefly, and then vanished. Grabbing up the lantern, Twink eagerly scrutinised Stripe’s wing.

  ‘It’s healed!’ she cried. She scooped the wasp up
into a hug. ‘Oh, Stripe, it looks as good as new! You can fly now, I’m sure of it!’

  Stripe twisted about in astonishment, staring at his wing over his shoulder. He fluttered it, testing it out.

  Twink leapt from the bed and darted across the room. ‘Come on!’ she cried. ‘Fly to me!’

  Stripe’s eyes widened. He hesitated, not moving.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ said Twink. ‘Come on, you can do it!’

  The wasp looked anxious. His legs moved restlessly, as though he was about to take off.

  Twink clapped her hands. ‘That’s it! Just jump into the air!’

  Stripe seemed to take a big breath. All at once, he crouched his black legs and jumped. He seemed to hang in the air for a moment, his wings not moving . . . and then he crashed to the floor.

  ‘Oh!’ gasped Twink. She raced to his side. The little wasp sat up, looking dazed. ‘Stripe, what happened?’ she asked, stroking his back. ‘You didn’t even try to move your wings!’

  The wasp’s eyes filled with tears. He huddled against the floor, looking miserable.

  Twink stared at him. ‘Stripe? What’s wrong?’ But then all at once she knew. ‘You’re . . . you’re scared, aren’t you?’ she said slowly.

  Stripe looked away. Twink sat cross-legged beside him. ‘Is it because of whatever happened to you?’ she asked in a hushed voice. ‘Has it made you afraid to fly again?’

  Stripe sighed. He had no way of telling Twink about the magpie that had attacked him, or the nightmares that had haunted him ever since. No matter how he tried, he couldn’t forget the terror of tumbling through the air, unable to fly.

  ‘I know whatever happened must have been really scary, but your wings are fine now,’ Twink reassured him. ‘And you need to fly again, so you can go home to your family. I bet they miss you!’

  Stripe listened intently to her, his large eyes taking in every word. At the mention of his family, he took a deep breath and stood up, fluttering his wings again.

  ‘That’s it!’ Twink jumped up. ‘Come on, fly to me.’ She backed away a few steps and held out her hands.