by Kiki Thorpe
Mia bolted upright as a thought came to her. “I hope Gabby kept our promise. I hope she didn’t try to go to Never Land while we were sleeping.”
On their last visit, the portal had closed, and Gabby had been stuck alone in Never Land. After that, the girls had made a promise to always go to Never Land together. But Mia was worried that Gabby wouldn’t be able to resist going on her own anyway, since the portal was now in her room.
The three girls dressed quickly. Kate pulled her thick red hair away from her face with a barrette without bothering to comb it. Then she, Mia, and Lainey tiptoed across the hall to Gabby’s room.
Inside the door, Kate stopped short. “Do you guys see what I see?” she whispered.
Lainey and Mia nodded. A dense mist hung over half the room.
Meanwhile, Gabby slept peacefully on her back, unaware of anything unusual. Her arms were spread wide, as if she were waiting for a hug.
“She looks so sweet,” Mia said softly. “Maybe we shouldn’t wake her.”
Suddenly, Gabby sat up. “What’s going on?” she said, looking around. “Why is my room so foggy?”
“I don’t know. Something strange is happening,” said Mia. “Look at the closet door.”
A heavy mist hovered around the doorframe. More fog seemed to seep from beneath the door—the door that led to Never Land.
Kate rushed over. “I’ll check it out.”
“Wait, Kate. We all go together, or we don’t go at all,” Mia reminded her.
Kate stopped with her hand on the doorknob. “Hurry and get dressed, Gabby.”
Gabby hopped out of bed. She slipped a pink tutu and a pair of costume fairy wings over her pajamas. “Ready!” she announced.
Kate pulled open the door. Gabby, Mia, and Lainey crowded behind her.
Inside the closet, fog swirled from floor to ceiling. It covered Gabby’s toys and clothes. Holding hands, the girls stepped through the mist.
Kate heard a tinkling sound, like bells ringing. She took another step. Faint voices floated toward them.
“I hear the fairies!” Lainey said.
The voices grew louder as the girls crept forward. The walls around them curved, becoming the inside of a hollowed-out tree trunk.
Finally, they stepped out from the tree. They were standing on a grassy bank in Pixie Hollow. At least, Kate thought it was Pixie Hollow. It was hard to tell. Fog covered everything.
“I can barely see!” exclaimed Lainey. She wiped her glasses.
Kate shuffled forward a bit, squinting. “There has never been fog in Pixie Hollow before. It’s always sunny when we visit.”
She didn’t see Havendish Stream until she almost walked into it. Now she could see the fairies whose voices they’d heard. They were water fairies paddling birch-bark canoes. The fairies called out to one another so their boats wouldn’t bump.
“Watch out!”
“Where did this fog come from?”
“Go to the right, Silvermist!”
Spring, a messenger, flew over the water, shouting to the fairies. “Everyone to the courtyard! Queen Clarion has called a special meeting!
“Oh!” She stopped inches in front of Kate. “I didn’t know you girls were here. Better come, too!”
At the courtyard, Kate stared up at the Home Tree. The giant maple, filled with fairy bedrooms and workshops, usually sparkled with fairy glow. But today its branches were hidden in mist.
Around the girls, fairies crowded into the pebbled courtyard. They landed on the low tree branches, where they sat lined up like birds on a telephone wire. They chattered nervously, filling the air with a low hum.
“What’s going on?” Kate asked a baking fairy, Dulcie, who was hovering nearby.
“Queen Clarion is worried about this fog. We all are. It is awfully strange weather for Never Land.”
“What’s causing it?” Kate asked.
Dulcie shrugged. “All I know is it’s making the fairies hungry. At breakfast today, everyone ate like it was the Harvest Feast.”
“Breakfast?” Kate’s stomach rumbled. They hadn’t had a chance to eat.
Dulcie winked knowingly. “I’ll get you girls some treats right away!” Nothing made Dulcie happier than filling empty stomachs.
Moments later, serving-talent fairies delivered basket after basket filled with blueberry puffs. Each puff was the size of a marble. Kate ate two dozen.
Rain, a weather-talent fairy, flew by carrying a medicine dropper. She pressed the dropper’s bulb to draw in some mist. Then she peered at the droplets inside.
“Sure, it’s a mist easter with foggish low bursts,” she announced. Then she frowned. “But squalls are down.”
“Is that good or bad?” Kate asked. But she was talking to herself. Rain had already flown away.
KIKI THORPE spent much of her childhood reading, daydreaming, and searching for fairies in the forests of Idaho—pastimes that were good training for writing children’s books! She is the author of several books in the Disney Fairies chapter book series, including the New York Times bestseller The Trouble with Tink. She lives with her husband, Greg, and their two children in San Francisco.