The Woods Beyond (Disney

by Kiki Thorpe

  Prilla blinked. She was in a brown room. It had brown curtains, brown carpet, and a brown couch. A young boy lay on the floor with his chin in his hands. He was watching TV.

  Prilla flew over to him. “Clap if you believe in fairies!” she exclaimed.

  Lost in his show, the boy didn’t look up.

  Prilla darted in front of his nose. The boy waved a hand, as if swatting a bug. His eyes never moved from the screen.

  Tears of anger and frustration sprang to Prilla’s eyes. She began to fly circles in front of the boy. “Hey!” she shouted. “Hey! Do you see me?” Prilla waved her hands. She blew a raspberry. She turned a cartwheel in the air.

  Finally, she caught the boy’s attention. His eyes widened and his mouth formed an O.

  Prilla grinned. At last! “Clap if you believe—”

  “Watch out!” a voice screamed.

  Prilla jerked back in surprise. But it wasn’t the boy who had cried out. The call had come from far away, in Never Land. Something was wrong.

  Prilla snapped back to Pixie Hollow. The scene before her was chaos.

  A giant was blundering along the bank of Havendish Stream. Prilla’s mind was still on her blink, so it took her a moment to recognize Lainey. The frogs were in a frenzy, hopping up and down the banks as their fairy riders chased after them. Lainey was trying to catch the frogs, too. But she only seemed to be making things worse.

  “Don’t worry, I’ve got him!” Lainey yelled as she closed in on a frightened frog.

  “Lainey, no!” a fairy cried. But Lainey was trying so hard to catch the frog, she didn’t seem to hear.

  When Prilla was coming out of a blink, she always felt a bit fuzzy, and she was slow to react. It wasn’t until Lainey was almost on top of her that Prilla realized she was about to get stepped on!

  “Stop, Lainey! STOP! STOP!” Prilla screamed.

  Lainey drew up short. Her foot hovered just inches above Prilla.

  A look of horror crossed Lainey’s face. “Oh my gosh!” she said. “I didn’t see you. I’m sorry, Prilla! I’m so sorry!”

  Almost getting squished was the last straw. Prilla’s bad mood suddenly bubbled over, and she burst out, “Lainey, you must be the clumsiest Clumsy who ever lived!”

  Lainey looked stunned. She turned and stumbled away.

  Prilla regretted her words at once. “Lainey—” she called after her.

  But it was too late. Lainey was gone.

  Lainey sat alone beneath the branches of the weeping willow. She hadn’t cried once that whole terrible morning. But now the tears flowed down her cheeks.

  Everything was wrong. Lainey’s bad day hadn’t gotten better in Never Land. It had gotten worse—much, much worse. To think she’d almost stepped on Prilla…

  Lainey squeezed her eyes shut. Try as she might, she couldn’t erase Prilla’s words: “You must be the clumsiest Clumsy who ever lived!”

  Outside the willow, she heard fairy laughter. Normally, Lainey loved the bell-like sound, but today it made her cringe. Were they laughing at her? By now everyone in Pixie Hollow would have heard what happened. They’re probably all talking about what a big, dumb Clumsy I am, Lainey thought.

  Lainey got to her feet. She couldn’t stay here. She wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to face her fairy friends again. But where could she go?

  The willow room was where the girls had slept their first night in Pixie Hollow. Now they mainly used it as a place to keep things. There were daisy chains Mia had made with the weaving-talent fairies and seashells Gabby had collected on the shores of Never Land.

  Lainey spotted her deer harness hanging from a peg on the tree’s trunk. The animal-talent fairy Fawn had given Lainey the harness after a particularly rough deer ride.

  I’ll find a deer, Lainey decided. I’ll ride and ride till I’m as far away as I can get. Just the thought made her feel a little better.

  Lainey had never been deer riding without Fawn. In fact, she’d never been in the forest on her own. But that didn’t stop her. Grabbing the harness, she ducked outside and looked around.

  Just beyond the willow was a deer trail that led into the woods. Lainey followed it. The trail was no more than a matted-down path through the forest undergrowth. It disappeared in some places, only to pick up again in another spot. Sometimes Lainey wasn’t sure she was following the same trail, or even following a trail at all. But the woods were quiet and peaceful, and it felt good to walk.

  A bird whistled, and Lainey whistled back. She crossed a little stream, where silvery fish flashed in the shallows. Lainey stuck her hand into the cool water and watched them scatter. A tiny frog, no bigger than a walnut, hopped along the bank. Lainey picked it up and cupped it in her hands, feeling its little heart beating.

  As she set the frog back in the water, Lainey had the feeling she was being watched. Slowly, she lifted her head. A black-eyed doe was staring at her from behind the trees.

  Her deer! Lainey jumped to her feet. The movement startled the deer and it darted away.

  “Wait! Please wait!” Lainey cried, chasing after it.

  The doe bounded down a slope. Lainey followed. But she lost her footing on the steep hill. The harness fell from her hand. She tumbled the rest of the way down and landed in a pricker bush.

  “Oww!” Lainey tried to get up. Each little movement only made the thorns dig in more. She was stuck!

  As she wondered what to do, she heard a voice say, “You’re a pudding head!”

  Lainey looked around, startled. Through the leaves of the bramble she spied two red, pointed ears. They looked like the ears of a fox.

  “If a bear and a lion got in a fight, the lion would definitely win,” the voice went on.

  “No way!” said a second voice. “I’m telling you, the bear would win.”

  Lainey shifted and caught a glimpse of a rabbit’s fluffy white tail.

  “Would not!”

  “Would so!”

  “Would not!”

  An electric thrill went through her. All her life Lainey had wanted to talk with animals. She longed to know their feelings and thoughts. And here at last were two she could understand perfectly!

  But she was still stuck. Frantically, she tried to get out of the pricker bush. The thorns scratched her skin and tore at her clothes. She could hear the rabbit and fox moving away, still arguing.

  Gritting her teeth, Lainey tore herself free. But by the time she reached the place where the animals had been, they were gone.

  Lainey stomped her foot in frustration. Where could they have gone so quickly? She began to scour the area for a hole or a burrow, any place an animal might hide.

  Not far away was a holly tree studded with bright red berries. There was a hollow in its trunk. Just the sort of cozy home an animal might like, Lainey thought.

  She went over to the tree and peered inside. The hollow was bigger than she expected. She couldn’t see the bottom.

  “Hello?” Lainey called. “Anyone there?”

  Were her eyes playing tricks on her? Or did she see a faint light somewhere deep down? With her hands stretched out in front of her, Lainey leaned in farther.…

  She slid down through the tree!

  “Oof!” she grunted as she tumbled into a dim chamber.

  When her eyes adjusted, she saw that she was in a little room. The ceiling was a network of tree roots. Some of the roots had grown into the room and had been cleverly crafted into furniture. The four posts of the wide bed were made from roots as thick around as Lainey’s leg. A washbasin made from a giant tortoise shell was wedged between two roots. Fresh springwater trickled into it from a hole.

  A hearth had been dug from the dirt wall. A few coals still glowed inside it—this must have been the light Lainey had seen. In the center of the room was a table made from an old stump. Mushrooms big enough to sit on surrounded it. Lainey tried a mushroom stool and found it quite comfortable. Bowls made from gourds sat on the table. Lainey peeked into one, but it held only water.<
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  Everything was made for someone just about Lainey’s size. It was a wonderfully cozy home, though it didn’t seem like the house of a fox or a rabbit. She wondered whose it was.

  A terrible thought struck her. What if the house belonged to a troll or some other wicked creature?

  She heard voices overhead. They seemed to be just outside the entrance.

  Lainey didn’t want to be caught standing there. She looked for an escape, but the hollow was the only exit. Beneath the bed, there was a narrow gap between the mattress and the floor. Getting down on her belly, Lainey squeezed into it.

  And not a moment too soon. A second later, a furry creature rolled into the room.

  It got to its feet and stood with its back to Lainey. Was it a troll? Lainey couldn’t be sure. It had fur like a bear. But it stood upright.

  Lainey heard a scuffling noise as several more creatures came tumbling down through the tree. As one stood, she caught a glimpse of its face.

  Lainey gasped. It wasn’t a fox or a bear or a troll. It was a boy!

  There were six boys altogether, dressed in animal skins. Some of them carried clubs or swords. Others carried bows and arrows—not toys, but real wooden arrows with sharp flint arrowheads, the kind Lainey had only ever seen in books.

  A boy with green eyes went to the table. “Who’s been touching my mug?” he exclaimed, pointing to a gourd.

  “Not me,” said a boy who was dressed as a raccoon. He turned to a curly-haired boy in bearskins. “Was it you?”

  “Not me,” said the curly-haired boy. He questioned a boy wearing rabbit ears in place of a hat. “Was it you?” And on they went, until each of the boys had denied touching the mug.

  “Well, somebody moved it,” said the green-eyed boy.

  Beneath the bed, Lainey watched them in astonishment. All along, Lainey had thought that she and her friends were the only children on Never Land. And now to find out there was a whole pack of boys—the strangest boys she’d ever seen!

  Just wait till Mia and Kate and Gabby hear about this! she thought.

  “Maybe a rat moved it,” suggested the curly-haired boy in bearskins.

  “I’ll get that rat!” said the green-eyed boy.

  Lainey inched backward, trying to make herself as small as possible. It turned out to be a mistake. The movement caught the boys’ attention.

  They drew their weapons. “Come out, rat!” one of them shouted.

  Lainey squeezed her eyes shut. She was done for! “I wish I’d never left Pixie Hollow!” she blurted out.

  “That doesn’t sound like a rat,” one boy remarked, lowering his club.

  “It doesn’t look like a rat, either,” said another, peeking under the bed.

  The boys bent their heads together to discuss the situation.

  “It said it came from Pixie Hollow!”

  “It’s awfully big for a fairy.”

  “It’s not as pretty as a fairy, either.”

  “I can hear you, you know,” Lainey said.

  There was a moment of surprised silence. Then the boys continued their conversation.

  “Do you think it might be a pirate?”

  “Too small for a pirate.”

  “It’s not as ugly as a pirate, either.”

  Lainey was getting tired of being talked about as if she weren’t there. “I’m not a pirate,” she called out. “I’m just a girl.”

  “What sort of girl?” one of the boys asked. “Mermaid or fairy?”

  “Just a regular girl,” said Lainey. She crawled out from beneath the bed.

  The boys could not have looked more shocked if a talking turnip had popped up from the dirt floor. Their eyes grew round as nickels. Lainey noticed that most weren’t much older than she was, and some looked younger. Suddenly, she felt much less frightened.

  “My name is Lainey,” she said. When they didn’t reply, she prompted, “What are your names?”

  The boy wearing rabbit ears stepped forward. “I’m Nibs.” He pointed to the tall, green-eyed boy in fox skins. “That’s Slightly. The curly-haired one is Cubby. And these two you can’t tell apart are the Twins.”

  A small boy wearing a skunk tail tugged Nibs’s sleeve, then pointed to himself.

  “Oh, yeah,” said Nibs. “And this is Tootles. He doesn’t talk.”

  Lainey laughed at the funny names. “What are your real names?” she asked.

  Nibs lifted his chin. “My name’s as real as my nose,” he replied.

  “Sure,” Lainey said quickly, not wanting to hurt anyone’s feelings. “I just meant, I’ve never heard names like those before.”

  “Peter gave them to us,” Cubby said.

  “Who’s Peter?” asked Lainey.

  The boys looked shocked. “Peter Pan, of course!” exclaimed one of the Twins. “He’s—”

  “Our captain!” the other Twin finished.

  From the boys’ proud faces, Lainey could tell they thought very highly of this Peter. She wondered what sort of captain he was—and what he would think of a girl showing up in his hideout.

  As if he’d read her mind, Nibs said, “He’s away now. But he’ll be back in time for lunch. In fact, we were just on our way to get the rhinoceros.”

  Lainey raised her eyebrows. “You’re having rhinoceros for lunch?”

  “Of course not!” Cubby said with a snort. “You can’t eat rhinoceroses. They taste awful!”

  “We’re having coconuts for lunch,” Nibs said.

  “We need the rhinoceros to ram the tree and knock the coconuts down. Obviously,” Slightly explained.

  “A real rhinoceros?” Lainey had never seen a rhinoceros before. Suddenly, she wanted to see this one more than anything. But what if the boys wouldn’t let her go with them?

  “I can speak Rhinoceros, you know,” she said quickly.

  That wasn’t strictly true, but it wasn’t a total lie. Fawn was teaching her to speak (or rather, squeak) Mouse. And while not all animals spoke Mouse, of course, Lainey had discovered that it was possible to squeak to a bear and make herself understood. She had never met a rhinoceros before. For all she knew, they spoke Mouse fluently.

  Nibs looked impressed. “Well then,” he said. “You had better come along.”

  Prilla stood on a mossy bank above Havendish Stream. Down below, on the mudflats, the leapfrog race was in full hop. Animal fairies seated on frogs jumped over one another. Mud flew as they chased each other toward the finish line.

  Fairies on the banks cheered for their friends. But Prilla was only half paying attention. Every so often, she fluttered up above the crowd to look for Lainey. She had been sure Lainey would show up to see her animal-talent friends race. But there was no sign of the girl.

  With a last gigantic leap, one of the frogs sailed across the finish line. The rider was so covered in mud, at first no one could tell who it was.

  “And the winner is … Fawn!” declared the referee.

  As Fawn stepped forward to claim her prize, Prilla rose into the air. She would look for Lainey somewhere else.

  As she flew, Prilla spotted Kate and Mia crouched beside the stream where the water ran fast. They were watching the leaf-boats dart over the rapids.

  “Who’s winning?” she asked, flying up to them.

  “Rani was in the lead,” Mia said. “But her leaf got stuck in a whirlpool. Now it’s a tie between Silvermist and Marina.”

  “Go, Silvermist! Go, Marina!” Kate cried as the fairies flashed by in their maple-leaf canoes.

  “I was wondering if you’d seen Lainey,” Prilla said.

  Before Kate or Mia could answer, Gabby ran up. “I won a prize!” she exclaimed.

  “A prize for what?” Mia asked, surprised.

  “Pea-shooting,” Gabby said. “The garden fairies let me try.”

  “I thought the games were only for fairies,” Kate said.

  “They said I was an honorary fairy. I won third place!” Gabby held up a tiny ribbon no bigger than a daisy petal.

>   Mia and Kate laughed. “Gabby, you’re ten times the size of a fairy,” Kate said. “You only won third place?”

  “I know I’m big,” Gabby said. “But they have magic.” Smiling proudly, she pinned the ribbon to her collar.

  “Was Lainey at the pea-shooting contest?” Prilla asked.

  Gabby shook her head. “Uh-uh.”

  “I thought she was at the leapfrog races,” Mia said.

  “I just came from there. I didn’t see her,” Prilla replied.

  “Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Lainey all day,” Kate said. “She wasn’t at lunch, either.”

  Prilla wrung her hands. “I’m afraid I might have something to do with that.” She explained what had happened earlier that day. “I didn’t mean to hurt her feelings,” she told the girls. “I was just scared and upset. I know it wasn’t her fault. She didn’t see me sitting there.”

  “I’m sure she’ll understand if you tell her you’re sorry,” Mia said.

  “That’s what I want to do,” Prilla replied. “But I can’t find her.”

  “We’ll help you,” Kate said. “She must be somewhere around here.”

  The girls and Prilla looked for Lainey in all her usual spots. They checked the barn where Lainey liked to chat with the mice. They checked the tree where she picked her favorite pink-gold peaches and the mossy rock where she liked to lie on her back and watch flamingos fly past. But there was no sign of her.

  As they were passing the willow tree, Mia suddenly had a hunch. She darted inside. The others followed.

  “She’s not here, either,” Mia said as they came in.

  “Do you think she went home?” Gabby asked.

  Kate shook her head. “I can’t believe she would leave without telling us.”

  “Well, she’s not in Pixie Hollow,” Mia said. “Where else could she be?”

  “Look!” Gabby said suddenly, pointing to the trunk of the willow.

  The others looked. “I don’t see anything,” said Kate.