‘What’s going on?’ she murmured. ‘What was all that noise?’
‘You mean things!’ Mariella stamped her foot. ‘You were having a feast, you were!’
Twink lit a lantern and jumped out of bed. ‘We weren’t,’ she said fiercely. ‘We were paying you back for what you did to Bimi, that’s all – and you deserved every bit of it. Show her, Sooze!’
‘With pleasure!’ Sooze leapt up and flitted over to Mariella. ‘Come on,’ she said, holding out her hand. ‘Let’s see what you’ve got in the pocket of your nightdress!
Mariella’s cheeks burned. She tossed her silvery-green hair. ‘I don’t know what you mean. I don’t have anything in my pocket!’
‘Then turn it inside out, and let us see for ourselves,’ demanded Sooze, stepping forward.
Mariella gulped and backed away. ‘I won’t! Why should I?’
‘I’ll help you, then!’ Quick as a bee-sting, Sooze lunged forward. Darting her hand into Mariella’s pocket, she pulled out a crumpled bit of petal.
‘Look, everyone,’ she said, holding it up. ‘It’s just like we told you! Bimi wrote two o’clock on it, and Mariella swapped it for another one once Bimi fell asleep!’
The fairies stared stonily at the scrap of petal. Seeing it for themselves made Mariella’s trick seem even worse.
‘You should be ashamed of yourself, you horrid thing,’ said Zena coldly. ‘You knew we’d all blame Bimi!’
‘I – I didn’t mean anything really bad by it,’ muttered Mariella. She had backed up almost against the wall by now, and looked quite sick. ‘It was just meant to be a joke. Wasn’t it, Lola?’
The thin little fairy nodded vigorously. ‘Of course! Mariella wouldn’t do anything bad. It was just a bit of fun.’
.
.
‘Yes, great fun!’ cried Twink. Her lavender wings trembled. ‘Poor Bimi had to put up with everyone turning against her, and we lost three free afternoons washing windows! Well, you got what you deserve, Mariella.’
‘And you too, Lola,’ added Pix sternly. ‘You should choose your friends better!’ She turned to Bimi, who had stood pale and quiet throughout all of this. ‘Bimi, I know we all said sorry to you before, but I want to say it again. We should have known that you’d never do such a thing!’
The others clustered around Bimi, echoing agreement. Sooze fluttered over and looked Bimi squarely in the eye. ‘I’m sorry, too,’ she said. ‘I was the worst of anyone. Will you forgive me, Bimi?’
Bimi nodded. ‘Of course! And, Sooze, I – well – maybe I was wrong about you,’ she said in a rush. ‘I’m sorry, too.’
Happiness burst through Twink as Sooze and Bimi hugged, their wings fluttering. Oh, how perfectly glimmery! Her two friends, friends at last!
‘But we still haven’t decided what to do about Mariella and her little insect friend,’ said Sooze grimly as she and Bimi pulled apart. She gave the two fairies a hard look.
‘What do you mean?’ cried Mariella in alarm. She shrank against the wall. ‘I’ve already been given my punishment.’
‘Not by us, you haven’t,’ said Zena. ‘And we’re the ones who have to live with you!’
‘I think Bimi should decide what to do,’ said Twink. She stepped close to her friend and squeezed her hand encouragingly.
‘Yes, that’s fair,’ said Pix. ‘She was the one most hurt by Mariella. What do you think, Bimi? What should we do about them?’
Bimi hesitated, biting her lip. ‘Well,’ she said slowly, ‘. . . since Mariella and Lola seem to dislike us so much . . . maybe we should do them a favour and stop talking to them for a while.’
‘Perfect!’ said Pix. She turned towards Mariella and Lola, who stood huddled together, wings touching.
‘From this moment on, no fairy in Daffy Branch will say a word to either of you,’ said Pix firmly. ‘Not until we decide that you’ve learned your lesson. And we’ll make sure that the rest of the first year follows suit!’
‘But I didn’t mean it!’ Mariella looked close to tears. ‘It was only a joke, that’s all! Can’t you take a joke?’
Sooze looked blankly around the branch. ‘Did anyone hear anything?’
.
.
The other fairies chorused that they hadn’t.
‘Come on, everyone, let’s go to bed.’ Pix’s yellow wings fluttered as she stifled a yawn. ‘We’ve got to get up in the morning, and we’re going to be tired enough as it is.’
‘Oh, Twink, do you think I was too hard on them?’ whispered Bimi as they snuggled down against the soft moss of their beds. ‘I feel really sorry for them now!’
Twink looked across the branch. Mariella lay in a miserable huddle with her covers up over her ears. Lola was sobbing into her pillow. Despite herself, Twink felt a twinge of sympathy.
‘I know,’ she said softly. ‘But they brought it on themselves, Bimi – they have to learn their lesson, or else they’ll just keep on being horrid.’ She smiled suddenly. ‘Besides, at least now we’ll get some peace and quiet for a while!’
The summer term continued in a haze of glorious sunshine and long days. The fairies tried hard to concentrate on their classes, but it was difficult when all they wanted to do was flit about outside, enjoying the sun on their wings. At least, thought Twink, they had the spectacle of Mariella and Lola washing windows to keep them amused!
At dinner a few weeks later, Miss Shimmery called for attention.
‘You may have noticed how lovely and shiny all of our school windows are.’ She motioned towards the windows of the Great Branch, which sparkled in the late-afternoon sun. ‘Well, we have some of our first-year students to thank for that!’
Miss Shimmery’s rainbow wings glimmered as she smiled down at the Daffodil Branch table. ‘They were having a hard time settling down this term, so we found them some extra work, just as promised. But let’s give them a round of applause, shall we? They’ve really done a wonderful job!’
The Branch burst into applause. The Daffodil Branch fairies grinned at each other – apart from Mariella and Lola, who sat glumly, not looking pleased at all. Miss Shimmery returned to her table and the students began to eat, chatting and laughing.
‘I suppose we can start talking to those two again now,’ said Pix, glancing at Mariella and Lola. ‘But you’d both better watch it – we won’t put up with any more mean tricks like that.’
Mariella nodded sullenly. ‘Yes, all right. And – and I’m sorry, Bimi,’ she added, not looking the blue-haired fairy in the eye. Twink didn’t think she really sounded sorry . . . though maybe it was a start!
Bimi looked doubtful too, but she nodded. ‘That’s all right, Mariella. I know you won’t do anything like that again.’
Sooze nudged Twink with her wing. ‘You know, I think we should do something to celebrate all those windows being cleaned.’ Her violet eyes were round and innocent. ‘How about a midnight feast?’
The rest of the table groaned loudly. ‘No, no midnight feasts for a while!’ said Twink with an exaggerated shudder. ‘I think we’ve had enough excitement this term!’
‘I know I have,’ said Bimi with a grin.
Sooze laughed. ‘You can never have enough excitement!’
Twink helped herself to another seed cake, chewing happily as the table buzzed with conversation around her. The party at the Dingly Dell had been glimmery – the most magical, wonderful time ever. They’d go back there again one day, she knew.
Twink looked at Bimi, and the two fairies smiled at each other. And next time, thought Twink, she’d make sure that her best friend was right there with her!
.
Bloomsbury Publishing, London, Berlin, New York and Sydney
First published in Great Britain in 2008 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
> 36 Soho Square, London, W1D 3QY
Text copyright © Lee Weatherly 2008
Illustrations copyright © Smiljana Coh 2008
The moral rights of the author and illustrator have been asserted
This electronic edition published in August 2010 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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A CIP catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 4088 1344 7
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Midnight Feast Page 6