Tabby, Tabby, Burning Bright

by Emily Martha Sorensen

  Cassie nearly laughed. Then she wondered if she should feel bad about that.

  “I want to talk more later,” Bianca said, looking over at her. “Whenever we next get a chance. Promise me?”

  Cassie nodded.

  “I wish I had glasses like yours,” Bianca said, looking up at the ceiling. “You’re so lucky for wearing them.”

  “Oh, no, she isn’t,” the nurse said tartly. She tapped her own glasses. “You should feel lucky for 20/20 vision.”

  Bianca snorted and rolled her eyes at Cassie.

  Cassie smiled, just a little bit.

  * * *

  Bianca was back at lunch, as if nothing had happened.

  “The doctor said I’m okay, and Mom had to go back to work, so here I am,” she told Cassie.

  Cassie nodded. “I’m really glad you’re okay.”

  “Me, too,” Bianca said. “I guess I won’t be climbing up any more jungle gyms while there are fairies on them.”

  “So you do still believe me?” Cassie asked anxiously.

  “Of course I believe you. I couldn’t not believe you. Nobody else has ever come up with an explanation that explains why I get itchy. Seriously, my doctor keeps saying I have eczema. I don’t have dry skin.”

  Cassie nodded.

  “What I wonder is,” Bianca said, opening her milk carton and leaning forward, so the kids at the table behind them couldn’t hear, “why you? Why me? And why can we sense them in some way when no one else can?”

  “I don’t know,” Cassie said. “I think maybe they want something from me.”

  “Really?” Bianca asked.

  Cassie nodded. “On that first day . . . I saw a fairy that seemed to see me.” Even talking about it made her skin prickle. “Usually they don’t notice me, but this one was staring at me. If I could hear him, maybe he would have explained why, but . . .”

  “But you can’t hear them, only see them,” Bianca said.

  “Right.”

  “Still better than itching them,” Bianca said, making a face.

  Cassie nodded. She fully agreed.

  “So how do we figure out what they want, if we can’t ask them?” Bianca asked. “I don’t know about you, but I’m anxious to make this itching go away.”

  Cassie felt a pang. If I do what they want, will I stop being able to see them?

  “I . . . I don’t know,” she said, a huge lump in her throat. “Maybe all he wanted was for me to watch him. That’s all I can do, anyway.”

  “Did you watch him?” Bianca asked.

  “No. I took the glasses off.”

  “Then try watching him next time,” Bianca said.

  Cassie nodded. “And you. What do you think the fairies are trying to tell you by itching?”

  “I have nooooooooo idea,” Bianca said.

  “Maybe they want you to pay attention to the itching?”

  “Believe me,” Bianca snorted, “I’ve been doing that in spades.”

  “But now you know the reason,” Cassie suggested. “Maybe that will make a difference. Maybe . . . knowing about the fairies’ presence will help?”

  “I wish,” Bianca said. She scratched her head absently.

  “Well, I hope it will,” Cassie said firmly.

  “And I hope it won’t take long,” Bianca added.

  Cassie was wearing her normal glasses, because she hadn’t wanted to be distracted in class by watching fairies, so she pulled the special ones out of her pocket. She held them up and peeked through.

  “The fairy on your head is pulling your hair,” she said. “It has grey wings and white hair. It looks like a baby.”

  “Your sense is so much cooler than mine,” Bianca said.

  Chapter Nine

  All of the next day, Cassie kept on waiting for the same blue fairy to reappear. She didn’t see him.

  “Come on!” Cassie shouted at last, putting her hands on her hips. “What’s taking you so long? I know you want something from me, so just tell me what it is so I can do it!”

  Nothing. Silence. Cassie looked around at the empty backyard, where she’d been raking the leaves, and felt embarrassed. Someone, not a fairy, might have heard her.

  “Look, I’m sorry,” she said again, much more quietly. She started raking the leaves again, one stroke after another. “I’m really glad to be able to see you. It’s just that, if you want me to do something else, you’ll have to give me a clue.”

  She heard a rustle, and her heart caught in her throat. But it turned out it was only the wind blowing the leaves around.

  Cassie sighed loudly. When she’d volunteered to rake the leaves, she’d done it hoping that there would be fairies outside that she could watch. But there had been barely any. Maybe the fairies didn’t like the wind.

  Raking leaves without something to watch was very boring. She wished she’d volunteered for dish duty instead.

  Cassie looked up, and her vision started fading. For a minute, she panicked and clutched the rake.

  There was a lime-colored fairy hovering right in front of her. His wings were shaped like leaves, and his hair was in long, moss-colored dreadlocks that reminded her of branches. His clothes looked like woven grass, and his eyes were like emeralds.

  He was staring right at her.

  Cassie’s breath caught in her throat.

  “H-h-how do you do,” she stammered. “I’m watching you. I’m not going to pull off the glasses or look away. What do you want me to do?”

  He simply stared at her, watching.

  Cassie’s heart sped up. Having someone look at her so intently was frightening.

  “P-p-please do something!” She struggled desperately not to blink. “If there is something I’m supposed to do, please help me know what it is!”

  The fairy looked at her, not having blinked once himself, and turned away. He started to float across the yard.

  “Wait!” Cassie cried. She dropped the rake and ran after him. “Where are you going? Am I supposed to follow you?”

  Still nothing, and the fairy kept on floating. Not daring to look away, and hoping nobody would interrupt her, like her mom or dad, Cassie kept on following.

  The fairy floated all the way to the chain link fence that separated their backyard from their neighbor’s. Cassie could just barely see it in the dimness. He halted.

  Cassie stopped with him, confused.

  The fairies can all go through things. Why would he care if there’s a fence there? she thought.

  The fairy reached toward the fence and made a turning motion. A green doorknob appeared. Then a gigantic green door opened, leaving a crack from the earth to the sky.

  The fairy turned to look at Cassie. He stood there, absolutely still, his only movement from his wings constantly beating.

  Cassie gaped at him.

  The fairy simply stared and waited.

  “You want me to go through that?” Cassie squeaked finally. “Uh uh. No way. Mom always said not to go anywhere with strangers, and you, sir, are definitely strange.”

  The green fairy surveyed her. Then he blinked for the first time, and vanished.

  Cassie closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Her heart was racing. She’d already figured out that being able to itch fairies was dangerous, but maybe being able to see them could be, too.

  Maybe her parents should know about this. Maybe they would know what to do.

  Chapter Ten

  Not easy to choose the right time, Cassie thought, as her mom put Andrew in bed. But I hope this is it.

  “Mom?” she asked. “Can I talk to you for a minute? Dad, too?”

  “Can it wait?” her mother asked. “I still have those dishes to do . . .” Her voice trailed off. “Did something happen at school?”

  “Yes,” Cassie said. “Well, no. Well, yes, actually, but that’s not the main part of it.”

  Cassie’s mother suddenly looked very concerned. “Janson!” she called.

  Cassie’s father came up the stairs. “Yes?” he aske
d.

  “Cassie wants to talk to us,” her mother said.

  He looked over at her. “Okay,” he said slowly. “Is something wrong, Cass? Are you being bullied at school?”

  “What?” Cassie blinked. “What? No. No, that’s not it. Can you promise to listen to me to hear the whole story before you say anything?”

  Her parents exchanged long looks.

  “All right,” her father said slowly.

  Cassie took a deep breath and launched into the whole story. She told them about the party, about the glasses, about the blue fairy. As she did, she remembered that she had also seen an all-red fairy at the very beginning, and that one had had a door, too.

  She wasn’t sure if she should tell them about the jungle gym or the green fairy, but she did anyway. She didn’t want her parents to take the glasses away, but she also didn’t want to not tell them anything.

  Finally, she finished, and her voice ran down.

  “I . . . I know it might sound crazy,” she said at last. “But I want you to at least try to believe me.”

  There was a long silence.

  “I think I do,” her father said at last. “I try not to believe anything is impossible unless it’s been disproven. And fairies . . . well, there are plenty of myths and legends about them around the world. They could be true.”

  “I hope not,” Cassie’s mother said. “They aren’t nice creatures in a lot of those stories. If that door was real . . . and if Cassie had gone through it . . . well, the thought terrifies me.”

  Cassie’s father ran his hand through his hair. He looked lost. “One of the jobs of a parent is to protect your children. But I don’t want to tell you that you can’t take a risk to help your friend. But still . . .” He looked troubled.

  “Can I try it?” Cassie’s mother broke in. “I’m not as farsighted as you are, but your glasses might work on me.”

  Cassie nodded. She pulled the fairy eyeglasses out of her pocket and handed them over.

  Cassie’s mother went into the bathroom to take out her contacts. When she came back, she was holding the fairy glasses in front of her face, squinting. “Wowee, these aren’t my prescription,” she said. “And your face is small, if these fit.”

  Cassie laughed.

  “I don’t think I can find anything,” her mother said at last, holding out the glasses to Cassie’s father. “Would you like to see?”

  He nodded and took off his glasses. Then he held the fairy eyeglasses at arm’s length, turning slowly around the room. As he turned, Cassie caught a glimpse of a purple fairy with red hair and crumpled-leaf-like wings zooming past.

  “There one is!” she cried, pointing.

  Cassie’s father leaned forward and squinted. Her mother snapped to look through the glasses, too.

  “Nothing,” Cassie’s father said. He sounded very disappointed. “It would have been interesting.”

  “It’s very interesting,” Cassie assured him. “Most of the fairies aren’t scary, either. They’re just people.”

  Cassie’s father breathed out.

  “Well, I wish there was some way you could prove it to us,” he said. “And to be perfectly honest, I’m still hoping it’s not real. But if these glasses work, I think they might only work for you.”

  Cassie’s heart leapt. “You mean . . . you think they might have been left for me?”

  “I think so,” Cassie’s father said.

  “That would explain why no one ever said they were theirs,” Cassie said slowly. “And why they look just like mine, and have my prescription.”

  “Cassie,” her mother said sharply. “I want you to promise me several things. Or else I won’t feel comfortable letting you continue to do . . . whatever you’re doing.”

  “Okay,” Cassie said, nodding.

  “First.” Her mother held up a finger. “The same rules apply to fairies as apply to any strangers. You don’t talk to them, you don’t take food from them, and you certainly don’t go anywhere with them without our permission.”

  Cassie nodded.

  “That’s actually even more important than with humans,” Cassie’s father put in. “Fairy food is very dangerous in a lot of stories. And so is going wherever fairies live. So you definitely do not do that. I’m glad you were smart enough to figure that out on your own.”

  Cassie straightened, feeling proud of herself.

  “Second,” her mother said. “If we decide it’s too dangerous, you will give the glasses to us and not try to hide them or otherwise keep them.”

  Cassie hesitated, but she nodded.

  “And third . . .” Cassie’s mother swallowed. “You promise to be careful, just in general, okay? I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”

  “I promise,” Cassie said immediately. She had learned that already.

  “I have a condition, too,” Cassie’s father said. “You tell us everything that happens. And in return, we’ll listen to you and believe you. Okay?”

  “Okay,” Cassie said, nodding.

  Her parents both hugged her, and Cassie hugged them back. She was so glad she’d told them.

  Just knowing they believed her, or were willing to try, was a huge relief.

  Chapter Eleven

  Knowing that she had her parents’ permission made everything feel better.

  Cassie walked into school the next day with a skip in her step. Bianca ran over to her as soon as the teacher took them down the hallway to the art room. They had art class every Tuesday.

  “Did you figure it out? Did you figure it out? Did you figure out what they wanted?” Bianca demanded.

  “I think so,” Cassie said.

  “And?” Bianca squealed.

  “And I didn’t do it.”

  “What?” Bianca stared at her. “What’s wrong with you? Why would you not do it?”

  “Just because some stranger wants me to do something doesn’t mean I have to,” Cassie said primly. “I told my parents, and they set some ground rules. I’m not going to follow fairies anywhere without my parents’ permission.”

  “But we are still going to try to figure out how to stop my itching, right?” Bianca blurted out. “Right?”

  “Of course,” Cassie said. “I’m sure there’s got to be a way that’s not dangerous, that will make the fairies happy, and that my parents will be okay with.”

  “Like what?” Bianca asked.

  “Like we’ll figure that out.”

  “Everyone in, everyone in, everyone in,” the art teacher said, waving them in through the doorway. He was a tall man with spiky hair and several earrings.

  Mr. Darwin counted heads as they sat around the gigantic round table. “Good, everyone’s here. Okay, today we’re painting with primary colors. Who’s familiar with those?”

  Several hands shot up in the air, Cassie’s included.

  “What are the primary colors?” the art teacher asked. “Joshua?”

  “Red, yellow, and blue!” the boy shouted.

  “And what are the secondary colors?” he asked. Several hands stayed up. “Sunflower?”

  “Orange, green, and purple,” she said in a know-it-all voice.

  “Now, who knows why they’re called the primary colors?” Mr. Darwin asked. “Anybody? Anybody?”

  Sunflower put her hand in the air.

  “Yes, Sunflower?”

  “Because all the other colors can be derived from them,” she said snootily.

  “Right. In other words, they can make every other color,” Mr. Darwin said. “Now, you’ll see I’ve left three cups of paint in front of each of you, and you’re going to mix them on paper and see how many colors you can get.”

  Cassie started mixing her colors carefully. She made stripes of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple on the paper, like a rainbow. Daniel, who was sitting next to her, had mixed all of his colors into a muddy brown.

  “What about white?” Janelly asked, raising her hand. “How do you get white?”

  Mr. Darwin
looked thoughtful. “Actually, that’s an interesting question. You actually can’t get white when mixing colored paint.”

  “But you said all the colors!” Joshua shouted.

  “I did,” Mr. Darwin said, holding up a finger. “And you can. But black and white are a special case. White comes from mixing red, green, and blue light.”

  “You mean red, yellow, and blue,” Jasmine said.

  “Nope, I mean red, green, and blue. Those are the colors your eye actually sees.”

  “Then why did you say yellow?” Joshua shouted.

  “Because yellow’s a primary color with paint. It’s not with light. It’s weird, I know.”

  Cassie stared at her paper, thinking hard. Red, green, and blue reminded her of something . . .

  Oh! Her eyes widened. Those were the fairies I saw! Red, blue, and green!

  “Teacher, are there any other primaries?” she asked, shooting her hand in the air.

  “No, just those,” he said.

  Cassie chewed on her lower lip. She’d never seen an all-orange, all-yellow, or all-purple fairy. So maybe the fairies that could see her were all primaries.

  And what if she only got one chance at each?

  She might have already failed entirely.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Dwah da da da!” Andrew said, his head bobbing as he tried to push himself up.

  “Yes, exactly,” Cassie said, lying on her stomach with her head in her hands. Her dad had put the baby on a blanket on the floor while he was reading, so she’d decided to join them. “What should I do next? What would you do?”

  Andrew laid his head down sideways and started sucking on his fingers.

  “That probably wouldn’t help,” Cassie said.

  “Cassie! The phone’s for you!” her mother shouted from downstairs. “It’s Daisy!”

  Oh! Cassie’s head shot up. She might have some ideas!

  Cassie popped up off the floor and ran down to the phone. She grabbed it from her mom breathlessly.

  “Daisy! Daisy!” she burst out. “I think I’ve figured out the pattern with those fairies who could see me, only I’m not sure it’s a good thing, because I think I’ve seen them all already, and what if I don’t get a second chance?”