The Wishing Wings

by Jennifer Castle

Sky Dance nodded sadly. “Mama says that if we can’t break the enchantment and the New Blooms lose their magic, all Wishing Wing magic will get weaker. It might even fade forever.”

  That was too terrible a thought. “I’ll do my best to keep that from happening,” said Addie. “I promise.”

  They watched the white butterfly disappear, and then continued walking.

  At last, there was the fence of trees, and on the other side of it, the bright yellow wood of Addie’s house. Even though it had only been her house for a few days, she was super-glad to see it.

  As they crossed into the backyard, Addie told Sky Dance, “Since my mom’s home, it’s better if Clara comes out here. She won’t want to, but I’m an expert at getting her to do things she doesn’t want to.” She smiled at Sky Dance. “That’s part of a big sister’s job. You’ll find out for yourself soon enough.”

  Sky Dance landed on the railing of the back deck and said, “I hope so.”

  Addie put Pepper inside the house, then closed the door and stepped onto the deck again. She found a spot directly underneath Clara’s window. It was open, thankfully.

  “Clara!” she yelled.

  Nothing.

  “Hey, Clara!” Addie shouted again.

  A few moments passed. Then, a grumpy “What do you want?” came floating down from the open window.

  “I have a surprise for you!”

  “Nice try. I’m not falling for that trick.”

  “It’s not a trick, cross my heart and pinky promise!”

  A pause. “Is it gummy worms?” called Clara.

  “Nope. It’s better!” replied Addie.

  Another pause. “I really don’t believe you.”

  “Look, if you see it and don’t think it’s better than gummy worms, I’ll give you anything you want from my jewelry box. That’s a guarantee.”

  Now a face appeared in the window, peering down at Addie. Addie hid her hands behind her back and opened her palm. She didn’t need to say anything. Sky Dance knew to fly over and land on it.

  Clara let out a loud sigh, then her face disappeared. Addie and Sky Dance waited a very long few moments. Was she coming? What would Addie do next if she wasn’t coming?

  Finally, the back door opened and Clara stepped out, still clutching Squish under one arm.

  “I’m here,” said Clara. “Show me.”

  Slowly, Addie brought her hand forward from behind her back. She held up Sky Dance as if the butterfly were sitting on a pedestal, and resisted the urge to shout “Ta-da!”

  Clara’s eyes grew wide when she saw Sky Dance, and Addie could see the wonder and delight flickering behind them.

  “Is this not the most amazing butterfly you’ve ever seen?” Addie asked her.

  Clara was silent as she stared, stunned, at Sky Dance. Addie kept waiting for her sister to finally smile. But instead, Clara scrunched her face into a frown.

  “You always find the good things,” she said, pouting.

  “Oh, Clara,” sighed Addie, and that familiar sisterly tension filled the air between them.

  They were quiet for a few moments until a high voice crashed through the silence.

  “Hey!” Sky Dance snapped at them. “Not everything is a competition, you know. You’re two different people, so it’s okay to actually be different!”

  Clara’s jaw dropped open and she took a step back.

  “I know,” said Addie. “She talks. Also, she has magic. And she needs—we need—your help.”

  Clara shook her head hard. “No way. You are tricking me. Stop it!”

  Addie whispered to Sky Dance, “Remember how seeing is believing?”

  Sky Dance nodded, then took flight, flitting back and forth over the backyard, searching for something. When she landed, Addie knew she was supposed to bring Clara over. She beckoned to her sister, and fortunately her sister followed.

  Sky Dance was sitting on an acorn that was lying in the grass.

  “Are you watching, Clara?” asked Addie. Clara shrugged.

  Sky Dance fluttered up and flew three circles around the acorn, leaving her personal pink, turquoise, and white rainbow ribboning behind her. As the colors dissolved into sparkling dust, Clara and Addie both gasped at what had happened.

  The acorn was now a tiny seedling with green leaves, just a few inches high.

  “Give it ten or fifteen years,” said Sky Dance proudly. “That oak tree will be as tall as your house!”

  Clara dropped Squish and sank down onto the grass. “Whoa,” was all she said.

  “Clara,” said Addie, kneeling down across from her. “I’ve discovered something wonderful. And I want to share it with you. Will you let me?”

  Maybe it was the word “wonderful,” or maybe it was the word “share,” but Clara lit up in a way Addie hadn’t seen since before their parents had told them they were moving.

  “You said something about needing my help?” asked Clara.

  Addie and Sky Dance nodded.

  “Count me in.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Oh. My. Gosh.” That was all Clara could say as she stood at the entrance to Wishing Wing Grove. Addie laughed. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen her sister at a loss for words.

  “I know,” Addie told her. “We can take a tour later, but right now we need to go straight to the Changing Tree.”

  On their way from the house, Addie and Sky Dance had told Clara all about Wishing Wings and New Blooms. She’d learned about their magic, the mysterious dark enchantment, and, of course, Shimmer Leaf. Now, as they followed Sky Dance through the grove, Clara kept stumbling, too busy looking around in amazement to watch her step. She’d brought along her purple satin backpack, filled with juice boxes, graham crackers, and, of course, Squish.

  “Ever since we moved in, I’ve been watching the woods out my window,” whispered Clara, as she stared at a beautiful black, white, and silver Wishing Wing soaring past them. “I had a feeling there was something special out here, but who knew it would be magically special!”

  She doesn’t know the half of it, thought Addie, but she wasn’t ready to tell Clara about how she’d been turned into a butterfly. She liked keeping that to herself, at least for a little while.

  As they neared the Changing Tree, Sky Dance flitted close to Addie and asked, “What should we do once we get them together?”

  “I’m not sure,” Addie said. “I haven’t thought that far yet.”

  “Remember, even though it doesn’t matter how they meet, Clara still has to catch Shimmer Leaf, then set her free. It’s pretty simple when a New Bloom knows what she’s supposed to do, but Shimmer won’t be caught so easily.”

  Addie nodded, hoping that between her, Clara, and Sky Dance, they’d come up with a plan.

  The afternoon sun was lower when they finally arrived, and the slanted light made the Changing Tree glow like a lantern in the shade of the grove.

  “Wow,” said Clara, putting her hand on the thick bark of the trunk and peering into the hollow to see the three gray chrysalides. “This is really happening.”

  “Shimmer Leaf’s up here,” called Sky Dance as she flew into the branches.

  Addie pointed to show Clara, but then dropped her arm, suddenly confused.

  Shimmer Leaf wasn’t there.

  Sky Dance fluttered frantically in and out of the other branches, higher and higher, finally squeaking “She’s gone!” from the top of the tree.

  Gone? Addie hadn’t even thought of that possibility. Shimmer Leaf had seemed too afraid to move.

  “I saw it all!” cried an excited voice. Addie looked down. At her feet sat something green and red. Madame Furia. Addie lowered her hand and let the caterpillar climb on, then brought her close to her face. Clara came to listen and Sky Dance landed on Addie’s arm.

  “What did you see?” Addie asked Madame Furia.

  “Oh, it was awful,” she said, her eyes rolling around in tiny circles. “I was on my way back home when I saw two gigantic bl
ue wasps surround Shimmer Leaf on that branch. They were buzzing so loudly, it hurt my ears! Every time she flew to a new branch, they followed her. She hopped higher and higher and those wasps kept buzzing louder and louder! Finally, she had no choice but to fly away from the tree. The wasps chased her . . . and that was the last I saw of any of them.” Madame Furia’s entire body trembled, segment by segment. “The poor thing! And your mother and father are going to be so worried!”

  “We’ll find her,” said Sky Dance. “We have two human girls helping us now.”

  Madame Furia’s red eyes looked Clara up and down. “So I see,” she said. “Thank goodness!”

  “Please go tell my parents what’s happening!” Sky Dance urged Madame Furia. “Tell them to send every Wishing Wing to search the woods. We’ll find her, and everything’s going to be okay.”

  Addie put Madame Furia back on the ground, and they watched her inch away as fast as she could.

  “Do you really believe that?” Addie asked Sky Dance. “That everything will be okay?”

  Sky Dance slowly flapped her wings twice, and Addie realized that must be the butterfly version of a shrug.

  “What choice do I have?” replied Sky Dance. “You can’t have courage without confidence.”

  As soon as Sky Dance said it, Addie felt that confidence fill her. This thought-connection really came in handy!

  “I think we should split up and search in different directions,” said Clara as she sipped on a juice box.

  “That makes sense,” said Sky Dance. “I can cover a lot more ground flying than you can. Clara, you should stay in the grove, because when we do find Shimmer Leaf, we’ll need to know where you are. We have to get you together quickly. Addie, can you take Clara and search around here? I’ll fly out into the woods and help the other Wishing Wings.”

  “Where do wasps usually hang out in the grove?” asked Addie. “Maybe we can start there.”

  “That’s the strangest part,” replied Sky Dance. “I’ve never seen wasps in the grove. They have their own realm nearby, but they know they’re not welcome here. Coming in and causing trouble would break the Great Wasp–Butterfly Peace Treaty created by my grandmother and the old Wasp Queen. That queen died a little while ago. They have a new one now.”

  Hmmm, thought Addie. Maybe the wasps were not a random coincidence, but rather, part of some bigger problem. Well, they didn’t have time to figure it out. The only thing that mattered right then was finding Shimmer Leaf. The sun was sinking lower every minute.

  A cluster of other Wishing Wings zoomed through the air above, and Sky Dance rose up to join them. Addie and Clara waved goodbye as they watched the patchwork of brilliant, fluttering colors disappear into the distance. Addie sent her strongest Good luck! thoughts to her butterfly friend.

  “So,” said Clara as she stuffed her empty juice box into her backpack, then grabbed Squish and tucked him under one arm. “Where do we look first?”

  Addie led Clara as they backtracked through Addie’s flight as a butterfly, starting with the caterpillar nursery, then the creek, then the stretch of boulders where she’d first met Sky Dance’s royal parents. Clara kept pausing to touch every surface she could—moss, grass, water, bark, leaves, rock—and let out a bewildered “Ooooh” each time.

  Again and again the sisters called, “Shimmer Leaf!” pausing to listen for buzzing wasps or a high, trembling voice. They stood at the base of every tree and peered up, scanning the branches and leaves for flashes of Shimmer Leaf’s purple, peach, and mint-green wings. Addie and Clara climbed onto each large rock to get just a little closer to the sky, watching for the smallest movement anywhere.

  “This is pointless,” said Addie after a while, collapsing onto a rock. “We’re stuck here on the ground. How can we find a butterfly who may have flown far away and could be fifty feet high in a tree?”

  “It would be worse if we were just sitting around, doing nothing,” said Clara as she hopped from one boulder to the next.

  “I guess you’re right,” agreed Addie.

  Clara paused and spun around. “Wait! You’re saying I’m right?”

  “Oh, be quiet. It’s not the first time I’ve ever said you were right.”

  “It sure feels like it,” Clara huffed.

  Addie stood up to move away from her sister. She was annoyed now. Why couldn’t they get along, even in an enchanted grove? As she took a step onto the next rock, she heard a noise. It was faint, and strange, and very sad.

  “Clara, did you hear that?” whispered Addie.

  She pointed down. Clara made her way to Addie’s rock and they listened again. Clara’s face lit up.

  “I did! It sounded like something crying.”

  “It sounded like Shimmer Leaf crying!” exclaimed Addie, and without thinking, she held up her hand to Clara. Clara slapped her high-five, and they both shouted, “YES!”

  Then another, very different noise rose up from the calm. This noise was angry and threatening. It grew louder and louder. Both girls turned in the direction it was coming from.

  Two blazingly blue wasps—each one twice as big as any wasp Addie had ever seen—were flying straight toward them at top speed.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Duck!” yelled Addie. She jumped down behind the boulder, pulling Clara with her.

  The wasps raced past like fighter jets, making almost as much noise. Addie could hear one of them laugh wickedly as it went over their heads.

  Why did it have to be wasps? When Addie was five, she’d stepped on a small one and it stung her foot. She still remembered how much that hurt and couldn’t imagine what a sting from these much bigger bugs would feel like.

  “Are they gone?” asked Clara after the buzzing faded, but as soon as she did, the buzzing grew louder again. Both girls stuck their heads up. The wasps were circling back! The girls crouched down again, and Addie grabbed a nearby stick to fight them off. But the wasps didn’t attack. They landed on a rock, both of them laughing hard.

  “That was great!” shouted one, who sounded female. “We haven’t had the chance to scare a human kid in a long time!”

  “Look at them down there,” said the other. This one sounded like a boy. “They’re curled up like little snails! They won’t get in our way.”

  “Hey, humans!” taunted the first wasp. “Thanks for helping us find the New Bloom!”

  Addie winced. It had never occurred to her that the wasps might be watching them search for Shimmer Leaf.

  “So, Poke,” said the boy wasp. “What next?”

  Addie could see the wasps through a gap between two rocks. She watched the girl wasp fly down to the spot where they’d heard Shimmer Leaf’s sobs.

  “You were right, Striker. She’s definitely in some kind of crevice, where these two rocks come together,” Poke said. “But it’s a really small opening. We can’t squeeze in there to get her.”

  “Ha!” laughed Striker. “I never thought being big would be a problem!” He flew down to land next to Poke. “Can’t we just keep her here until sunset, when her magic disappears?”

  “Don’t be dumb,” sneered Poke. “We have specific orders to chase her back to the Wasp Realm.”

  Addie and Clara looked at each other with alarm.

  “We can’t let that happen,” whispered Clara.

  “But if we run to get help, they’ll come after us . . .” Addie whispered back, but then she realized something important. “Wait a minute! I don’t have to run! I can think!”

  Addie had forgotten to send Sky Dance a message that they’d found Shimmer Leaf. She knew she just had to think the words WE FOUND HER! PLEASE HELP US! COME QUICK! as hard as she could, and Sky Dance would hear her.

  “If only we could distract the wasps,” said Addie.

  “Or maybe we could trick them somehow,” added Clara.

  Clara’s suggestion set off an idea in Addie’s head. For a minute or so, everything was eerily quiet and tense as the wasps paced in front of the crevice and Addie
focused on her idea. Then she heard a flit-flut near her ear and turned to see Sky Dance sitting on her shoulder.

  Addie opened her mouth to say something, but Sky Dance whispered, “Shhh! We don’t want them to know she’s here.”

  “Who?” asked Addie softly.

  “My mom. The queen.” Sky Dance pointed an antenna at Addie’s knee, where Queen Rose Glow was now landing, looking very sad.

  “Oh,” sighed Queen Rose Glow. “I can hear Shimmer Leaf crying. My poor baby!”

  “I think I have a plan,” said Addie. She then leaned close to Sky Dance’s antennae to tell her. When she was done, Sky Dance’s eyes lit up.

  “Is that even possible?” asked Addie.

  “I think so!” replied Sky Dance. She flew over to her mother and murmured to her. The queen looked at Addie, then nodded excitedly.

  Addie turned to Clara. “Something’s going to happen. Don’t freak out.”

  Before Clara could say a word, Sky Dance and Rose Glow took flight, touching their wings together to spout the rainbow of their combined colors. As they circled Addie three times, strands of pink, turquoise, white, red, green, and silver filled the air with sparkles.

  Clara watched, her jaw hanging open.

  When all the glitter faded before Addie’s eyes, she didn’t bother to examine herself. She knew there was no time for that. Instead, she flapped her newly formed butterfly wings and took off as fast as she could. The ground fell away below her, and the air rushing past felt natural and familiar. It was like she’d always been flying!

  She knew that to the stunned Clara, it looked like her sister was gone and in her place was a Wishing Wing butterfly.

  She also knew that to the wasps, she looked like Shimmer Leaf. Sky Dance and Rose Glow had used their magic to turn Addie’s butterfly wings the same colors as Shimmer Leaf’s. The leaf patterns were not there—she understood that patterns were special to each Wishing Wing and couldn’t be copied—but she hoped the wasps wouldn’t notice.

  “Poke!” Addie heard Striker yell. “She’s making a break for it!”