The Secret Destiny of Pixie Piper

by Annabelle Fisher

  “Hurry brat, before I lose patience!”

  “I’m just resting, Aunt Raveneece. It’s a long way down and I’m very tired. But if you want, I’ll tell you a rhyme while I get my strength back.”

  “Make it about a birthday wish!” she ordered.

  “Okay. Please give me a second to think up a good one.” I closed my eyes as I hung on to the swaying ladder. I remembered Gray and I experimenting with my stopping power. The tomato juice had streamed into my hair, Hermie the wormie had wriggled down my back, and I wasn’t sure whether my stopping rhyme had had any effect on Gray.

  “Don’t be scared, be angry!” I whispered.

  “What’s that brat? I can’t hear you.”

  “I’m just thinking out loud, Aunt Raveneece.”

  I thought about how Mom and Dad would feel if I didn’t come home.

  I thought about Sammy, who wouldn’t understand.

  I thought about Gray, who might always wonder if he could have helped me get away.

  Then I thought of how Raveneece and her sisters wanted to steal hope—something everyone in the world needed.

  The anger inside me smoldered. It was as if my heart had caught fire. In my mind’s eye, I saw words swirling like a tornado, rising higher and higher till they spread across the sky for me to read.

  “Here’s your rhyme,” I called, looking down into Raveneece’s eyes. Then I chanted each word, loud and clear:

  “Halt the hands of clocks and watches

  Make the spinning compass cease

  Stop the evil in this place

  BY FREEZING RAVENEECE!”

  Raveneece’s mouth was open in surprise. One hand gripped the awful broom and the other was wrapped around the ladder. She was stiff. Immobilized. She was as motionless as a mannequin in a store window.

  I had no idea how long she’d stay that way and I didn’t want to find out. I reached up and grabbed the clothesline that was dangling from the hole. I tried pulling myself up, but the rope kept slipping through my sweaty hands. I clutched it between my knees, too, but they were trembling so hard, I kept losing my hold. I scrabbled against the wall with my feet, but the dirt crumbled as I tried to dig in and I couldn’t get any traction.

  I kept on struggling, the sound of my own crying echoing in my ears. And then I heard something else. Honking. I was almost there.

  Destiny flapped with joy when she saw me crawl out onto the ground. For a moment I just stretched and looked up at the stars. “Come on, let’s go home,” I said, reaching into my pocket for my goose flashlight. That’s when I felt the key to the cage. I slipped it out of my pocket and held it. I didn’t want a single reminder of that awful place, so I flipped it back into the hole.

  Ping!

  With Destiny safe in my arms, I peeked over the edge and blinked. The key was drifting down the hole in a slow, dreamlike way. It was heading straight for Raveneece. Finally it struck her nest hat and bounced off. I was about to turn away when I heard the sound of something cracking. I covered my eyes, but I couldn’t help peering through my fingers. It was Raveneece. She was shattering into pieces.

  I screamed and, with Des in my arms, ran toward Acorn Cottage. But the woods had turned into a frightening version of the place I knew. The path seemed to be closing in on me. Spiky, shrubby branches reached out, poking and pricking at my arms and legs. Rocks and pebbles made me slide and stumble. Once I fell to my knees, but even then I held onto Destiny. I could see Acorn Cottage just ahead. There was a light in my bedroom window.

  Then I heard a high, heartbreaking cry. Sweet Tooth! I’d forgotten about her. She was still down in the hole. Trapped.

  I stopped running. I was panting and shaking, and I wanted to go home so badly it hurt. But I turned and headed back.

  The woods were silent as I crouched at the edge of the hole and shone my light into the pit. I saw Sweet Tooth sniffing and pawing around the splintered pieces of Raveneece. She looked up at me and whimpered.

  “I’ve got to go down there one more time, Dessie,” I said, setting her on the ground. “She’s just a wild creature who got caught by Raveneece. She helped us get away. I’ve got to save her.”

  Des plucked at my sleeve with her bill, as if she didn’t want me to go. “I’m coming back. I promise,” I whispered as I grabbed the clothesline and lowered my legs into the hole. I felt strange—kind of like I was watching myself from a far-off place. The girl that was me-but-not-me began climbing down the ladder again. But once I reached the dirt floor, my senses jolted awake. All around me were pieces of Raveneece—little shards of ear, hair, elbow, knee, finger, toe—as if a life-size statue had been smashed. I was terrified of stepping on any of it.

  The little fox was pressed against the wall, her ears flattened and her tail between her legs. She was just as afraid as me.

  “Come on, Sweet Tooth, it’s time for you to go home to your real family,” I said, stretching out my arms and bending down to pick her up. But as I did, I saw two shiny fragments near Sweet Tooth’s paw. They were Raveneece’s angry eyes and they were glaring at me. For a moment I felt so weak I could barely stand.

  A gentle nudge at my leg made me turn. I looked into Sweet Tooth’s golden, trusting eyes and felt my strength returning. When I lifted the fox up, I could feel her trembling. “It’s okay, you’re safe with me,” I whispered.

  The ladder seemed even more fragile this time, as if any minute one of the twiglike rungs might break. About halfway up—crack!—one of them did. I let out a scream that echoed over and over, but I hung on, one leg dangling in space.

  Snap-snap-snap-snap! The rungs were breaking behind me. I was practically stepping on air when I reached the final one. Desperately, I crawled out of the hole with Sweet Tooth under my arm.

  Des was waiting for us, murmuring a stream of low, quick honks. For a moment everything was still. Then I heard something like a broom sweeping. Whatever it was stirred a wind that made the trees and grasses sway. It grew so strong it caused the dirt beneath my feet to slide. It was as if someone—or something—was trying to sweep me back into Raveneece’s hole!

  I lay flat on the ground, kicking and clawing, trying to catch a root or a shrub. I shoved Destiny and Sweetie beneath my body to keep them from being swept backward, too, but the wind gathered force. It roared in my ears and tore at my clothes like a wild beast. I felt it trying to enter my mind and sweep up my rhyming ability.

  “NO, YOU CAN’T HAVE IT!” I screamed. And for a moment, my voice was a wind, too—full of thunder and fury:

  “Broom crack! Spell break!

  You’ll never get a wishing cake.

  Braver than brave, truer than true

  Sinister Sisters, begone with you!”

  Behind me, something began rumbling. I flipped around just in time to see the dirt lid with its root handle come sliding straight toward me. I grabbed Sweetie and Destiny and rolled out of its path. The lid narrowly missed us as it skidded by and stopped right over the hole.

  When I finally stood up, my legs were shaky. But the woods seemed safe and calm again. I leaned down to give Sweet Tooth a last hug. “Go on, Sweet Tooth, go find your family,” I said.

  She lowered her front legs, as if she were bowing, before she pranced off into the woods.

  The pale light of early morning began coloring the world just as Des and I turned and headed for home. Birds were making wake-up calls and wildflowers were unfurling their petals to catch the dew. The scent of pine needles and moldering leaves, and the sharp smell of new growth, were like perfume to my nose. At the side of the path, two not-quite-ripe wild strawberries hung off their stems. If the rabbits didn’t get them first, Gray and I would be back to pick them.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  Ye Olde Familily Truths

  Acorn Cottage was silent as I carried Destiny upstairs. Although my arms were beginning to ache, I didn’t ever want to let go of her again. When I pushed open the door to my room, I saw the outline of someone in my bed. I gasped
and squeezed Destiny even tighter.

  HONK!

  “Pixie!” Mom jumped up and pulled me into her arms. “I was so worried! On my way to start coffee, I peeked in your room—and you were gone! Dad’s out looking for you.” She kissed the top of my head. Then she kissed Destiny’s. “What happened? Where did you find her?”

  “She needs food and water right away, Mom,” I said. I almost started crying again.

  “Oh! Let’s get her to the kitchen right now.” Mom put an arm around me, and l leaned against her as we walked downstairs.

  We fed Destiny and kept on petting her even while she ate. And I still held her afterward, while I sat in Mom’s lap. “I want to tell you not just what happened last night, but all of it,” I said. “But first we have to talk to Daddy. He needs to know the truth about both of us.”

  I was done keeping secrets from my parents. The Goose Ladies would have to understand. The next time I saw Aunt Doris, I was going to insist that she talk to Mom and Dad.

  “All right, Pixie,” Mom murmured into my ear. “Let’s call him on his cell. We’ll tell him as soon as he gets back here.”

  Dad thundered through the house and hugged me tightly. Then he took Destiny into his arms, cooing soft words. He always looked like a gentle giant when he held her. I began by explaining about Aunt Doris and the Goose Ladies, with Mom chiming in whenever she could. Poor Dad! He kept holding the top of his head with his hands, as if it might pop off. “I feel as if I’m stuck in a dream,” he murmured a few times.

  Before I chickened out, I hurried on to tell how and where I’d found Destiny. It hurt to see my parents, with their wild eyes and dazed looks. “You went into the woods at night? Alone?” Dad’s voice was hoarse, and he looked as if he might cry.

  “It was the wrong decision—a terrible decision—but for the right reasons,” Mom said, stroking his arm.

  Then I told them what had happened to Raveneece. Remembering the awful scene was almost as hard as going down the hole. When I was finished, I felt horrified all over again. I’d frozen Raveneece so I could get back to the people I loved. But I’d expected her to come back to life and go back to wherever she came from.

  “Mama! Dadeee! Peeksie!” Sammy called from his room. I’d never loved hearing his little voice more.

  “I’ll get him,” said Mom, standing up.

  Dad sprung up, too. “I’m calling the police,” he said. “Then I’m going to check the woods.”

  “No! No police, Dad!”

  “Pixie, be reasonable . . .”

  “But you don’t understand! The Goose Ladies are a secret!” I grabbed my backpack.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” asked Dad.

  “I have to get ready for school.”

  “Oh no, you don’t. You’re not going anywhere.”

  “Please, Daddy.” I grabbed his hand. “I have to talk to Gray. And I have to tell everyone that Destiny is back.”

  “You can call them later, when they get home.”

  “No! I—I need to have a regular day. I want to feel happy again.” I began to cry really hard.

  Dad held me until I calmed down. “I’ll walk you up the driveway,” he said, brushing the hair from my eyes. “Then I’ll check the woods and call the police.”

  Dad and I made it to the bus stop before Gray—but someone had gotten there ahead of us. Taped to the pole that held the school bus crossing sign was an envelope with my name on it. I ripped it open and pulled out the note inside:

  Dear Pixie,

  Please call me—

  111-222-3333

  Your faithful aunt,

  Doris

  All this time, I’d never thought to ask for her phone number!

  “Look, Dad,” I said, handing him the note. “I’ll call Aunt Doris after school. You and Mom can both talk to her.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Well, it’s a start,” he said.

  “And Daddy? Maybe you could wait to call the police until you talk to her.”

  “We’ll see.”

  At the sound of a door slamming, Dad and I both looked across the road. Gray scrambled down the steps and ran to meet us. “Hi, Pix! Hi, Mr. Piper!”

  “Gray, I got Destiny back!” I yelled.

  “Really? Ye-e-ea-a-a-ay!” We both started jumping up and down. I was planning to tell him everything later, but for now it felt good to celebrate.

  Squeak, rumble, squeak, rumble. The school bus turned onto our road. Dad stayed at the stop and watched me get on. I took a window seat and waved to him. He stayed there while Mac drove off. And he was still there when we got to the next corner and turned onto the main road.

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

  Ye Olde Visitor

  At dinner Dad told me he’d spent all day searching the woods. “I checked the entire path, but all I found was this, Pixie.” He held up his wrist. A piece of Mom’s clothesline was wound around it like a thick rope bracelet. “There’s no sign of a root or a hole. Or any pieces. I just don’t understand it.”

  “It wasn’t my imagination, Dad! When Aunt Doris gets here, she’ll tell you.” Actually, I could hardly believe Aunt Doris was coming. I’d called her first thing when I got home, and I think even she had been shocked by my news. Because when I’d asked her to talk to my parents, she’d agreed right away. She was supposed to arrive tonight after dinner.

  Mom looked at the clock. “I should probably change my clothes before she gets here.” She was wearing a tie-dyed T-shirt, love beads, and a scarf tied around her forehead like a headband. Today had been Sixties Day at the senior home.

  I thought of Aunt Doris’s bus driver cap, her silvery wig, and her fake hairy wart. “Don’t bother,” I said. “She’ll probably be wearing a costume, too.”

  I was right. When Aunt Doris arrived, she had on her Mother Goose outfit—the one she’d worn at the Renaissance Faire. She and Mom looked at each other and grinned.

  “I knew your great-grandmother,” Aunt Doris told Mom. “She loved costumes, too.”

  “Mom’s great-grandmother? You mean like my great-great-grandmother?” I blurted out.

  “That’s right, kiddo.”

  “But how could you have known her? Wouldn’t you have to be really old?”

  Aunt Doris cracked her gum. “We Goose Ladies don’t look our age.”

  Mom served tea and oatmeal raisin cookies and joined Dad on the couch. I plopped down on the rug, and Aunt Doris sat in a plump armchair. When she set her black cone-shaped hat beside her on the floor, Sammy ran over to check it out. He never sat anywhere unless it was time to eat.

  “Would you like to wear it?” Aunt Doris asked. She helped him put it on and he spent the rest of the evening bumping into the walls and furniture.

  “I won’t beat around the bush,” said Aunt Doris after she’d sipped her tea. “Pixie is very powerful. There hasn’t been a case of shattering for more than a hundred years. And since our apprentices’ abilities emerge between the ages of ten and fourteen, she could become an even greater force for hope over the next few years.”

  Mom touched my shoulder lightly, as if I were a priceless painting. “Are you saying the apprentices don’t all have the same degree of power?”

  “The girls’ powers vary greatly. That’s why some cakes can grant small wishes and others big dreams.” Aunt Doris cocked her head toward Mom. “Did you know the Goose Ladies’ power usually skips a generation?”

  “No!” Mom looked startled. “But my mama used to say they would come for me!”

  “It was her hope, but it was very unlikely. Your mother loved her years as an apprentice. But when she got older, she chose to leave us as many of our girls do. She wanted love and a family.”

  “So I wouldn’t be a Goose Lady forever?” I asked.

  “You might choose a different life. Or you might choose to stay,” Aunt Doris replied. “But no matter what you do, part of you will always be a Goose Lady.”

  Dad leaned forward. “I don’t know about this
. It seems dangerous.”

  “I won’t deny it,” Aunt Doris agreed. “But in addition to creating wishing rhymes, the apprentices all have special talents. Pixie’s is the power to stop bad things from happening, like the kind of turmoil humans can cause. It’s a very handy ability. The Sinister Sisters, on the other hand, have only one talent—causing trouble.” She smiled at Dad. “I’d say we have the advantage.”

  “Raveneece got her down into that hole,” he argued.

  I couldn’t keep still any longer. “It was my own fault, Daddy! Aunt Doris told me to stay away from Raveneece, but I didn’t listen. I couldn’t leave Destiny down there!”

  “Your father is right about the danger, kiddo,” said Aunt Doris. “We’re certain the Sinister Sisters will want revenge for what happened to Raveneece. That’s why we think you should stay with us at Chuckling Goose Farm as soon as school is out. You’d be under our protection. No one will be able to find you there. Of course your parents would have to agree.” She looked at Mom and Dad.

  I swallowed and swallowed, but the word revenge was stuck like a lump in my throat. “Would I be able to take Destiny?” I asked finally.

  “Of course! Every Goose Girl brings her goose along. Destiny will love it there. And so will you. Think of it as summer camp with baking. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”

  Destiny honked as if she approved. We all laughed, which made her honk some more. For a goose, she sure was a ham.

  Suddenly I remembered something. “You said the Sinister Sisters just have one talent. But what about the broom?”

  Aunt Doris narrowed her eyebrows at me. “You never mentioned a broom, kiddo.”

  “I think it caused that big wind that almost swept me back into the hole.”

  “What did it look like?”

  I closed my eyes and saw it again. “The handle was a twisted branch and the brush part was made of white feathers.” I didn’t say “goose feathers” in case Destiny understood.

  “The broom of doom,” said Aunt Doris in a hushed voice. “I’ve heard of it, but I didn’t know it still existed. I’ll have to talk to the other Goose Ladies about it. They might know more.”