From the Mist (Disney Fairies)

by RH Disney

  “Do you really think so?” Lainey asked.

  Silvermist took a deep breath. Even though she’d made mistakes, she’d gotten the girls this far.

  “I’m almost sure of it,” she told the others.

  Lainey squinted at the water. “Okay,” she said slowly. “But how do we get to the other side?”

  The river was wide and the current strong. Silvermist knew the girls couldn’t swim across. And they couldn’t fly like fairies.

  She looked around. Her eyes fell on the remains of an old tree that had fallen upstream. It looked almost long enough to stretch from one bank to the other.

  “Maybe we could use that log as a bridge,” she said.

  The girls walked up to the log and strained to lift it. It didn’t budge.

  “Good thing I have a little extra fairy dust,” said Myka. “This will lighten our load.” She sprinkled the dust on the log.

  “One, two, three, lift!” shouted Silvermist.

  The girls raised the log easily. It stood straight up like a telephone pole.

  “Now let it drop!” Silvermist cried.

  They did, and the log fell across the river with a huge splash. Silvermist grinned. She’d been right about the length. The far end landed on the opposite shore.

  Lainey eyed the log nervously. “It looks slippery.”

  “That’s one thing I can help with,” Silvermist said. Using her water magic, she drew water from the wood, drying off the top of the log. A stream of droplets trailed behind her like a banner until the tree’s surface was dry.

  “I’ll go in front,” Mia said. “Gabby, stay right behind me.”

  Mia stepped out onto the log. Gabby followed, flapping her arms. “If I start to fall, I can use my wings.”

  Mia grimaced as the log trembled. “Be careful, Gabby. Remember, some of us don’t have wings.”

  “We can think of it like a balance beam,” Lainey said. “Like in gymnastics class.”

  Silvermist had no idea what Lainey was talking about. She knew the girls went to school on the mainland. Maybe they learned how to walk on logs there.

  The girls put one foot in front of the other, stepping carefully. Slowly, they made their way across.

  “Look at me, Silvermist!” Gabby giggled. “I’m a balance-talent fairy!”

  Mia hopped off the log, landing on the muddy bank. Laughing, Gabby leaped into her waiting arms. But as she did, her feet pushed the log away from the shore.

  “Ahhh!” screamed Lainey, who hadn’t quite reached the end. Her arms flailed. She began to lose her balance.

  “Jump!” cried Silvermist.

  Lainey leaped as the log broke free. Her feet splashed down in the water, but her hands landed in the mud on the bank. Mia and Gabby scrambled to pull her onshore.

  “Are you okay?” Mia asked.

  “I think so,” Lainey said shakily as she climbed to her feet. She looked down at her soaked jeans and dirty shirt. “Just wet—and muddy. Yuck!” She grinned up at Mia. “I don’t know how we’re going to explain this to your parents when they wake up.”

  Mia grinned back, and Silvermist sighed with relief. That had been a close one.

  “Do we go left, right, or straight?” Lainey asked, turning to Silvermist.

  Silvermist looked around. The fog was thicker than ever to her right. She was sure now that her guess about the horses had been correct.

  “Follow me!” she said.

  Kate’s heart thudded. Cloud had climbed up and up a steep, narrow trail. They were close to the herd. That meant they were close to the end of their journey, too.

  She could hear the horses, but she couldn’t see them. High whinnies and low nickers echoed through the mist. The fog was so thick here, it was like walking through cotton. The ground beneath them felt thin and rocky—Kate could hear stones clattering beneath Cloud’s hooves. A chilly wind was blowing.

  Then, suddenly, Kate saw the herd. The horses all lifted their heads to watch Kate and Cloud’s approach. In the swirling mist, the animals looked ghostly.

  Cloud rode Kate into the center of the herd. The horses circled them, some of them nuzzling Cloud in greeting. An electric feeling coursed through Kate. Was this really happening to her? Even the animal-talent fairy Fawn hadn’t been able to talk to the horses. And yet, Kate was being welcomed into their midst.

  Kate wished this moment would never end.

  But then she heard voices. Not horses, or even fairies, but human voices. At first, she couldn’t make out what they were saying. Then, quite clearly, she heard her name: “K-a-a-ate!”

  It was Mia!

  Then she heard Lainey and Gabby, and small, thin fairy voices, too. They were all calling out to her.

  She couldn’t see her friends through the fog, so she steered Cloud toward the sound of their voices. Suddenly, Cloud stopped so fast that Kate fell forward against her mane. Cloud’s front hoof dislodged a stone. Kate listened as it bounced down …

  and down …

  and down.

  At that moment, the wind shifted, briefly clearing the mist. Kate gasped. She and Cloud stood at the edge of a narrow ledge. Before them lay a deep, rocky canyon. On the other side of the canyon were Kate’s friends, separated from her by the huge chasm.

  Mia, Lainey, and Gabby were waving and screaming. Now she could hear their cries more clearly.

  “Get away from there, Kate! The horse is …”

  Kate couldn’t hear the rest. She tried to get Cloud to back up, but the herd was crowded in behind them. There was nowhere to go.

  Cloud took a step forward. They were going to fall!

  “No!” shouted Mia.

  “Stop!” cried Lainey.

  “Kate!” screamed Gabby.

  But it was too late. Cloud stepped off the edge.

  Kate squeezed her eyes shut. She braced herself, expecting to drop like a stone. Instead, she felt a gentle wind against her face.

  Kate opened her eyes. Cloud was galloping in the air high above the canyon. They were flying!

  Cloud rode the wind. Legs pumping, she climbed up above the fog right into the clear blue sky.

  Kate couldn’t say a word. She was breathless with excitement. They were really and truly flying!

  The other mist horses galloped around them. With a sound like rolling thunder, the herd stampeded across the sky.

  At last, Kate found her voice. She cried out, a loud, joyful whoop. She felt like the queen of the sky!

  Just when it seemed as if they might leave the earth for good, Cloud began to turn. The herd followed. They raced back and landed lightly on the narrow strip of land, across the chasm from where they’d come. Cloud had brought Kate to her friends.

  Kate slid off the mist horse and grinned. “Did you guys see that?”

  “Kate!” Mia rushed over and wrapped her in a hug. Lainey and Gabby joined her. “You’re all right!”

  “Of course I’m all right,” said Kate, surprised. “Why wouldn’t I be? And what are you all doing here anyway?”

  “We thought the horse had kidnapped you!” Gabby said.

  “You mean Cloud?” Kate patted the horse’s neck. “Of course not. She’s my new best friend.”

  Silvermist and the other girls explained everything—the mist horse legend, the scary thought that Kate might be spirited away, and the long journey they’d taken to find her.

  “I was afraid we’d never find you, after my many wrong turns,” Silvermist said. “I even went to the beach, thinking you might be there.”

  “I did go to the beach,” Kate said. “Before I went to Vine Grove.”

  “Silvermist, you were right all along,” Lainey said.

  Myka smiled at her water-talent friend. “It seems you’re a better tracker than you realize.”

  Silvermist’s glow turned pink as she blushed at the compliment. “So I guess the legend was wrong,” she said. “The mist horses aren’t dangerous. I wonder how that idea ever came to be.”

  “I’ll bet
I know. Maybe once upon a time someone did ride away with the mist horses forever. After riding with Cloud, I can understand why they would want to.” Kate laughed as Cloud nuzzled her cheek. “But I can’t believe you were worried. My horse would never do anything bad.”

  Mia looked puzzled. “Did you just say my horse?”

  Kate gave a sheepish smile. “I guess I did. And in a way, she is mine—like I’m hers. But just now, when we were riding, flying up in the air, I realized Cloud doesn’t need a rider. She needs to be free. She needs to run wild with her herd.”

  Kate hugged the mist horse around the neck, holding on tightly for a long moment. Then she stepped back. “Go on now,” she said. “Go be with your friends. I’ll never forget you.”

  Cloud looked Kate in the eye and whinnied. Then she took off, climbing into the sky once again. The other horses galloped toward her. They met in a flurry of hooves and mist. Together, they raced away.

  “Look!” Silvermist exclaimed. “The fog is lifting!”

  The mist rose like a curtain. They could see the landscape clearly now: the cliffs, the canyons, and the ocean in the distance.

  Kate, her friends, and the fairies watched the horses until all they could see were the last thin wisps of their tails trailing across the sky.

  “Those clouds will be bringing rain,” Silvermist added. “We should get back to the Home Tree.” She winked at Gabby. “Before our wings get wet and we can’t fly.”

  Gabby laughed. “You know I can’t fly without fairy dust! Anyway, I’d rather walk with Kate.” She reached for Kate’s hand.

  Kate squeezed Gabby’s hand in her own. She was glad to be back with her friends. And in a way, she was glad to have two feet on solid ground again.

  “What about you, Kate?” Silvermist asked. “Are you ready?”

  Kate nodded. “I’ve had enough adventure for one day.” She smiled at Silvermist. “Lead the way.”

  Available January 2014

  Excerpt copyright © 2013 Disney Enterprises, Inc.

  Published by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York.

  Gabby Vasquez hurried up the stairs to her room. She had news—the kind of fizzy, exciting news that wouldn’t stay bottled up inside. She just had to tell someone about it!

  In her bedroom, Gabby raced to the closet. She threw the door open wide, shouting, “Guess what, everyone?”

  She stepped inside, pulling the door shut behind her. The closet was very dark, but it was a friendly sort of darkness. She could smell the sweet scent of orange blossoms and hear water trickling over rocks.

  Gabby shuffled forward. Soon she saw a window of light. A moment later, she emerged into the sunshine of Pixie Hollow.

  Hop-two-three. Gabby skipped from rock to rock, crossing Havendish Stream. She wriggled between two wild rosebushes on the far bank. Her costume fairy wings caught on a thorn. Gabby quickly checked to make sure the fabric hadn’t ripped. Then she plunged ahead, stumbling a little in her hurry.

  As she came over a small rise, she could see the Home Tree, the great maple where the Never fairies worked and lived. The fairies’ golden glows shone among the leaves, making it seem as if the branches were filled with stars. Gabby raced ahead.

  “Tink! Prilla! Everybody! Guess what?” she shouted.

  On a branch of the Home Tree, the art-talent fairy Bess looked up from her painting. Prilla, the clapping-talent fairy, awoke from her doze in a cozy magnolia blossom. The pots-and-pans-talent Tinker Bell stuck her head out of her teakettle workshop. The garden fairy Rosetta set down her miniature gourd watering can. And Dulcie, a baking-talent fairy, dusted the flour from her hands. They all flew to the courtyard.

  “What’s going on?” Prilla asked as Gabby ran up to them, breathless.

  Gabby bounced on her toes with excitement. “There’s going to be a wedding,” she announced. “And I’m the star!”

  “A wedding?” cried Dulcie, wringing her apron. “Why didn’t anyone tell me? I haven’t baked a thing!”

  “Not here, silly,” Gabby said. “At home. Our babysitter Julia is getting married, and I’m the flower girl!”

  “Is that anything like being a flower-talent fairy?” Rosetta asked.

  “Kind of,” said Gabby. “I’m in charge of all the flower magic. And I get to wear this special dress.” She did a twirl so the fairies could admire her brand-new, pale-pink flower girl dress.

  “It’s lovely!” exclaimed Rosetta, who adored dresses of all kinds.

  “I have this basket, too.” Gabby held up a little basket with a bow tied around the handle. “And I throw flower petals. Like this.” Gabby pretended to pull a handful of petals from the basket and throw them.

  “Hmm.” Rosetta frowned.

  Gabby stopped. “What’s the matter?”

  “Why not practice with some real petals?” Rosetta suggested. She plucked a few daisies that were growing nearby and shook the petals into Gabby’s basket.

  Gabby threw the petals. They plopped to the ground.

  “Well, that’s not very … interesting,” said Tink.

  “Wouldn’t it be nicer if the petals moved around a little?” suggested Bess. She dove into the basket and came up with an armful of petals. When she threw the petals into the air, they swirled like snowflakes.

  Gabby gasped. “How did you do that?”

  “It’s easy. You just need a bit of fairy magic.” Bess shook her wings over the basket. A sprinkle of fairy dust rained down on the petals. “Try it again.”

  This time the petals almost leaped from Gabby’s hand. They fluttered in the air before drifting to the ground.

  The fairies nodded happily.

  “Oh yes!”

  “Much nicer!”

  “Just lovely.”

  Gabby smiled and threw another handful just to watch the petals swirl. “Can I have some fairy dust to take with me to the wedding tomorrow? Please?”

  “I don’t see why not,” Tink said. She darted away. In a moment she was back with a little thimble bucket. It had a tight-fitting silver lid. “I made the lid myself,” Tink said proudly. “You won’t lose a speck of dust.”

  Gabby peeked inside and saw the shimmery fairy dust. “Thank you,” she said, tucking the thimble into the pocket of her dress.

  “I’ve heard of weddings, but I’ve never seen one,” said Prilla. She traveled to the world of Clumsies—or humans—more than most fairies. “What are they like?”

  “A wedding is when two people get married,” Gabby told her. “They say ‘I love you.’ Then they give each other rings and everybody claps. And then … ” Here, Gabby’s knowledge of weddings became somewhat murky, but she continued, “Then they float away on a cloud and live happily ever after!”

  “Very dramatic,” Bess said approvingly.

  “Will there be food at the wedding?” Dulcie asked.

  “Yeah. Really fancy food, like onion rings. And a cake this big!” Gabby stretched her hands up over her head. To the fairies on the ground below, the cake seemed enormous.

  “My!” Dulcie exclaimed.

  “Will there be music and dancing?” Tinker Bell asked. “At fairy parties there’s always dancing.”

  Gabby had no idea if there was dancing at a wedding. But her imagination had taken over now. “Everybody dances! And there are butterflies everywhere! And a chocolate waterfall!” Gabby spun on her toes, inspired by her own vision of how wonderful the wedding would be.

  Prilla’s freckled face took on a dreamy look. “It sounds marvelous. I wish I could see it.”

  “You could come with me!” Gabby suggested.

  “Gabby! Gabby?” a voice called out from the direction of Havendish Stream.

  Everyone turned as Gabby’s older sister, Mia, came into view. As soon as she spotted Gabby, her face darkened.

  “Uh-oh,” murmured Gabby.

  “I knew it!” Mia said, charging over. “Gabby, you’re not supposed to come here
by yourself. Remember what happened last time?”

  Gabby remembered. She’d gone to Never Land alone and gotten stuck there when the hole between their two worlds had briefly closed. After that, Gabby, Mia, and their friends Kate McCrady and Lainey Winters had made a rule that they would always go to Never Land together—a rule that Gabby, in her excitement, had forgotten.

  “It was just for a minute,” she said. “I was going to come right back.”

  “She was telling us about the wedding,” said Prilla, trying to be helpful.

  Mia rolled her eyes. “Gabby hasn’t stopped talking about it all week. It is exciting, though,” she added. “It’s the first wedding we’ve ever been to. Kate and Lainey are going, too.”

  “But I’m the only flower girl,” Gabby pointed out.

  “That’s just because you’re the littlest. Flower girls are supposed to be little. I don’t know why,” Mia said. A tiny wrinkle formed between her eyebrows, but it was gone a moment later. “I wish we could stay,” she told the fairies. “But it’s bath time for Gabby, and Mami’s looking for her. We’ll be back soon, though. I promise.”

  Taking Gabby’s hand, Mia began to walk toward the passage that led back to their world. “I can’t believe you,” she whispered to Gabby. “We only have one rule about Never Land and you’ve already broken it. And you made me break it, too. What will we tell Kate and Lainey?”

  “We don’t have to tell them,” Gabby said quickly. She was sorry she’d forgotten their agreement. She didn’t want Kate and Lainey to be upset. “You won’t tell them, will you?”

  “We’ll see,” said Mia.

  They had almost reached Havendish Stream when Gabby stopped so suddenly she yanked her sister backward. “I almost forgot,” she said. “I have to tell the fairies how to get to the wedding.”

  She started to turn around, but Mia stopped her. “The fairies can’t come to the wedding,” she said.