Fairies and the Quest for Never Land

by Gail Carson Levine

Queen Ree’s shoulders straightened. “She might.”

  A surge of energy ran through the fairies. Musicians took up their instruments and began to untune them. Singers sang off-key scales. Scouts formed a line on either side of Queen Ree.

  Beck continued to rock.

  Terence, Prilla, and Tink rushed to the balloon carriers and back to the Kyto Keeper, carrying the three collar screws. Four more dust talents came with them, bearing dust sacks.

  Tink tucked the screws under the dragon suit. A dust talent wormed himself all the way under, where Gwendolyn was sure he slathered fairy dust on the Kyto Keeper and the boulder. The other three spilled dust, much more than a day’s allotment, on Gwendolyn and the fairies who were going to help with the lifting. Gwendolyn’s tingle was so sharp it hurt.

  The dot in the sky swelled into Kyto. A moment later he was directly above, throwing Gwendolyn and the fairies into shadow. He dropped quickly and landed on the other side of the pond, about fifteen yards from the boulder, between the pile of rocks and the petrified log.

  Hate poured out of him, out of his orange eyes and smoking nostrils and red mouth, even out of his scales and the barbs on his spine.

  Gwendolyn gripped the boulder to hold herself up. His hate and his stench seeped into her, leaching away hope.

  How could they defeat him? He was too big, too powerful, too cruel, for fairies and a Clumsy to overcome.

  Mother Dove didn’t even fill his front claws. Her serenity shone through his hatred, such serenity that she might have been at home in her hawthorn. If Mother Dove isn’t afraid, Gwendolyn thought, fighting despair, she must think it will be all right.

  Or she was acting brave for her fairies.

  “Fairies…” Kyto smiled, showing a thousand yellowed stiletto teeth.

  Mother Dove said, “He stuffed his ears with mud when I tried to coo him to sleep. He can’t hear anything. Everyone at Fairy Haven is well.”

  If he couldn’t hear, the musicians and singers wouldn’t be able to distract him.

  “I’ll make him sleep,” Beck said. She tilted her head, sank to her knees, then toppled.

  Gwendolyn gasped. Had Beck died?

  Kyto’s eyes closed, opened, seemed out of focus.

  He was growing sleepy! Beck was alive, her mind burrowing into Kyto’s.

  But his eyes regained focus and stayed open.

  Prilla said, “I’ll blink for sleep.”

  Gwendolyn thought, She’s blinking to make Clumsy children clap. I can clap. He can’t hear me, so I can clap. She clapped as hard as she could, rat-a-tatting across the prairie. Clapping made her feel better. She was doing something.

  His head swayed…straightened…swayed…and straightened.

  Flames curled around his lips. Water talents made a column of water birds rise from the pond and hover, ready. But Kyto’s eyes closed and stayed shut. The flames died away to smoke. His head slumped to the ground.

  “Lift!” Tink said in Gwendolyn’s ear.

  She stopped clapping.

  Kyto’s neck stretched away from the boulder, increasing the distance the boulder had to travel, but enabling an approach from behind. Gwendolyn’s hands found grips at the base. Dulcie and Marla perched atop the dragon suit to prevent it from slipping off. Along with Tink and the other pots-andpans talents and Terence and the other dust talents and the dairy talents and the fast fliers and the sewing talents and the light talents and the nursing talents and Bess, Gwendolyn lifted.

  Strain ran through her arms into her torso, her legs, her feet. Her fingers were in agony, and the hopeless feeling engulfed her again. Still, she straightened, her eyes on Kyto. with the fairies she carried the boulder and the Keeper, one step, two steps, three. They had about sixty more steps to his head.

  How could they lug this weight another sixty steps?

  He lay on his side, his claws stretched in front of him, with Mother Dove still cupped in them. Smoke drifted from his nostrils and between his lips.

  Mother Dove could have flown away if it weren’t for her egg. Scouts drew near to lift out the nest, but they hesitated, clearly afraid of waking him.

  “Don’t let the suit slip!” Tink yelled. Despite Dulcie and Marla’s efforts, the dragon suit was sliding away.

  Fairies flew to fix the suit. Without their strength Gwendolyn almost dropped the boulder.

  Four steps. Five steps. The fairies helped again.

  Ten steps. Twelve. Twenty. They were behind the tip of his tail. Thirty steps. Halfway there!

  Gwendolyn’s hands were slick with sweat. She didn’t know how she was going to keep her grip.

  Kyto’s eyelids fluttered.

  “Set it down,” Tink called.

  They eased the boulder to the ground. While gasping for breath, Gwendolyn resumed clapping.

  With the scary grace of a snake, Kyto’s head and neck undulated upward. Peeping out from behind the boulder, Gwendolyn saw him in profile. His eye blinked twice, then stayed open. He belched a puff of flame, which arced downward into the dirt and sputtered out. Grunting, he lifted himself onto his back legs.

  Beck still lay where she’d fallen.

  Kyto, Gwendolyn thought, please don’t notice that the dragon suit has moved. Luckily, he didn’t turn his head.

  Carrying her shield, Queen Ree flew to him and landed in the shadow of his snout. She can do nothing, Gwendolyn thought.

  He raised Mother Dove as high as his mouth, her feathers glowing yellow in his breath.

  Queen Ree lowered the shield, took off her tiara, and placed both on the ground in front of her. The message was clear. Let go of Mother Dove and you can have the Never fairy queen’s tiara and shield for your hoard.

  Kyto balanced himself on one back claw. Gwendolyn kept clapping. His eyes closed, then opened. He extended his free back claw, threaded a claw tip into Queen Ree’s tiara, wrapped another talon around the shield, and pulled them in.

  “Queen Clarion, now I have your crown, your shield, and your Mother Dove.” He smirked. “Since fire won’t hurt her, I will eat her without flaming. I like my food raw sometimes.”

  “My egg!” Mother Dove cried.

  Kyto opened his cavernous mouth.

  “Help!” Gwendolyn shouted, still clapping. “Never Land!”

  T W E N T Y - E I G H T

  “LOVE! ” A sparkle darted in from beyond the balloon carriers, grew into Vidia, and landed next to Queen Ree.

  Mother Dove cooed, “Vid-d-d-d-ia…Vid-d-d-d-ia…”

  Kyto moved Mother Dove away from his mouth and smiled.

  “Vidia! My fast flameling!” He tilted Mother Dove and her nest into his right claw.

  The egg teetered on the claw’s edge and tipped.

  With a wing, Mother Dove swept it to safety under her.

  Using his left claw, Kyto pulled the mud out of his ears.

  Gwendolyn stopped clapping.

  Vidia perched on Mother Dove’s back, inches from Kyto’s snout. “Kyto, sweet, I need her feathers. She has to live to make them.”

  Brave, Vidia! Gwendolyn thought. She loves Mother Dove too much to let her die.

  Kyto considered. “Can’t you—”

  “Darling, without fairy dust I can barely fly.”

  Kyto yawned.

  Gwendolyn clapped softly, one hand just patting the other until Tink’s “Sh!” exploded in her ear.

  Kyto’s shoulders swiveled away from the Kyto Keeper.

  “Move!” Tink whispered.

  They carried the boulder and the Kyto Keeper five more steps while Kyto set Mother Dove near the musicians and singers, who were silent but poised to play.

  Mother Dove was safe! Now her wisdom could help. And Vidia could help.

  As Kyto straightened, his back to Gwendolyn and the others, they kept going, noiselessly. A few more minutes and they’d reach him.

  He flew to a spot halfway between the musicians and the tree. Gwendolyn and the others put the boulder down. He was facing it now, and he was far too far
away. She held the kiss and bit back a groan.

  “Come to me, glowing opal!” he called.

  Vidia flew to his shoulder. “Darling, you are flying beautifully.”

  He craned his neck to look at her. “Thank you.”

  “Move it!” Tink whispered.

  They carried the Kyto Keeper four steps, then four more while Kyto’s head was turned. Useless, Gwendolyn thought. The distance was three times what it had been when they’d started.

  “Kyto…” Queen Ree began, flying to him again. She reached up to adjust her tiara, but there was no tiara. She lowered her hand. “We mean you no harm. We—”

  He laughed, really laughed.

  Gwendolyn exhaled in relief. Nothing terrible would happen if he was happy and wasn’t feeling all that hatred.

  Vidia flew off his shoulder and perched on a boulder a few yards from him. “I can watch better from here, my love.”

  She’s afraid, Gwendolyn thought, noticing the flicker in her glow. Why, if he’s happy?

  “Don’t look away, brightness.”

  The musicians and singers started their racket. He turned to them, startled.

  “Lift!” Tink whispered.

  Gwendolyn felt for her handholds while still peeking out.

  A flutist flew toward Mother Dove.

  Kyto spat a blob of flame and hit the flutist. The water birds put out some of it. Gwendolyn forgot to lift or obey or beware.

  The flutist’s wings ignited, then the rest of her. Fairies shouted. Mother Dove cawed.

  Beside herself, Gwendolyn popped out from behind the boulder, jumping up and down in distress, tears streaming. Kyto could have seen her if he’d looked, or maybe he did look and judged her unimportant.

  Her thoughts came in short bursts. The Kyto Keeper would never reach Kyto. They’d never trap him. He’d kill the fairies here. He’d fly to Fairy Haven and kill the fairies there. Never fairies gone forever. Extinct, except for Vidia.

  Kyto belched fire toward the musicians and singers. The water birds put out the flame, but Gwendolyn, blinded by tears, didn’t see.

  She had to save fairies! Had to, had to, had to! She could think of only one way. Take them to the house at Number 14.

  She pulled off her backpack, shrieking, “Fairies! Come to me!” Her shouts may have been the reason a fireball flared over the Kyto Keeper.

  Through her tears she saw a spark catch Tink’s scalloped skirt. Tink fell and rolled on the ground, aflame. Not Tink! Gwendolyn leaped, hand outstretched, and grabbed her. She smothered the flame in her hand, not even feeling the heat.

  “You’re safe,” she whispered, holding tight.

  Tink kicked and fought, but Gwendolyn wouldn’t let go. “I’m saving you.”

  Tink went slack. Good, Gwendolyn thought. She understands.

  She unzipped her backpack, thrust Tink inside, and zipped it up. Now to rescue more fairies.

  She felt a jolt from the earth, from Never Land, slamming through the bones in her feet and up from joint to joint. Her chin hit her chest.

  Was the island saving fairies again?

  Through the smoke Kyto was still flaming. Never Land hadn’t helped. It was up to her. She had to catch more fairies.

  But she didn’t see Rani or the other water talents around the pond. Had Kyto gotten them?

  She didn’t hear any fairy shouts, but Mother Dove was calling Tink.

  “I have her!” Gwendolyn yelled. She saw no fairies around the dragon suit. No flying scouts. No dust talents at the balloon carrier. Were they embers too?

  “Tin-n-n-k,” Mother Dove cooed, then, “Gwen-n-n-dol-l-l-yn-n-n. Gwen-n-n-dol-l-l-yn-n-n.”

  No Vidia on her boulder. Where was she? He wouldn’t have crisped her. She had to be there. But she wasn’t.

  Then Gwendolyn understood. She couldn’t see or hear fairies.

  T W E N T Y - N I N E

  NEVER LAND is wrong! Gwendolyn thought. I’m not hurting Tink, I’m saving her, and I’ll save more.

  Grown-ups could feel fairies, even if they couldn’t see them. Hiccuping and weeping, she groped along the dragon suit. Aha! A squirming, twisting fairy! Gwendolyn shoved her or him in her backpack and zipped it.

  She caught four more fairies, then couldn’t find any others. They must have been flying from her, their rescuer.

  “Come to me,” she cried, holding out her hands. “I’ll take you to safety.”

  No fairies came. Kyto huffed a fireball straight at her, but the water birds doused it.

  She gave up. Six fairies would live. She hugged the backpack against her chest to keep them from worming out. As she flew over the fairy-dust balloon carrier basket, she reached in for enough fairy dust sacks to get her home. She stuffed them in her skirt pocket on top of the kiss.

  Then she headed east. Every few minutes she glanced back, expecting to see Kyto in pursuit. After a while, the smoke along the horizon faded into clear blue.

  Through the waning afternoon, Gwendolyn flew over the plains. At sunset, a herd of curly-maned horses galloped by below. She wondered if Kyto would crisp them after finishing off fairies.

  A few trees loomed ahead in the dark, then more and more. She had come to the forest that the wough River ran through. Without realizing, she flew lower. She could reach down and touch the uppermost leaves. It wasn’t a lack of fairy dust. It was exhaustion.

  She landed in a pine grove carpeted with pine needles, just like the bed in her bower. She lay on her side with her arms through the backpack straps. Something tapped her forearm. No use kicking, she thought and closed her eyes.

  Her dreams were of fairies. Rani taught her how to make water birds. Prilla blinked in and away, begging Gwendolyn to clap for fairies. Vidia landed on Gwendolyn’s hand repeatedly, crying, “Throw me!”

  The last dream was of Tink, zipping back and forth in front of her face. First she tugged her bangs and said, “Lift! Carry the boulder.” Then she dimpled and said, “It’s called a bower,” while Mother Dove squawked, “You weren’t beware. You harmed fairies.”

  When Gwendolyn woke, the backpack lay near her head. She pulled it closer and spotted a hole in the bottom, big enough for a fairy to squirm through.

  Tink’s dagger!

  Frantically, Gwendolyn felt around the ground. Nothing. She waved her hands in the air. Nothing.

  She had failed to save a single fairy.

  The hiccups came in waves. She didn’t bother to reach for the kiss. She deserved to hiccup forever.

  If she went back for more fairies, they’d all fly from her, if any were still alive.

  Sitting up, she emptied a sack of fairy dust over her head. She would go to Peter, who had fought so many fights and could see fairies.

  Sorry, Mother Dove, she thought. You didn’t want Peter in this battle.

  But probably Peter would be too late. How could any fairies have survived the night?

  She began flying anyway. Tootles had said not to underestimate fairies. Maybe some were still alive. The wough River roiled beneath her and caught a few of her tears. Peter had said always to have another trick to try. She hadn’t had a first trick.

  If only Kyto had been a puzzle! Then she might have solved him. But how? What could have defeated him?

  Dulcie could have baked a cake that would have put him to sleep.

  Could Gwendolyn go to Fairy Haven now and have them make one?

  They had no cake pans.

  If the questers had had something to bargain with they might have controlled him. But he had his freedom and could take whatever he wanted.

  Had Mother Dove given any clues? She’d said, Be kind to Vidia, and Vidia had saved Mother Dove. Good advice for herself but not for fairies.

  Gwendolyn’s flight slowed.

  Be kind to Vidia. Mother Dove loved her fairies. She wouldn’t have been thinking of herself.

  Be kind to Vidia.

  Because Vidia was needed and, of course, Mother Dove loved her.

  Ah, yes. Vidia wa
s the key.

  Gwendolyn turned and dumped another sack of fairy dust on her head for speed. She was going back. If any fairies were still alive, Vidia could save the rest.

  Gwendolyn thought, But first Never Land will have to help me.

  Returning felt faster than leaving. The island must have shrunk again.

  As she flew she was tormented by the memory of Tink going slack in her hand.

  By noon she saw a smudge ahead, which could have been merely a lingering haze. If Kyto and Mother Dove were gone and the Kyto Keeper was still there, she’d know that fairies had lost.

  When she reached the first landmarks, the balloon carriers and the petrified log, she began to cough. The smoke was so thick she could barely make Kyto out.

  But there he was, still flaming, and water birds were still dousing most of his flame, so at least one water talent was alive. Hope gave Gwendolyn a burst of speed, as if she’d flashed through a shower of fairy dust.

  The pond was a puddle again, a small puddle.

  Kyto trumpeted, “Little crispiness, see? I got another one!”

  Another one! Gwendolyn peered into the smoke. There! Mother Dove sat on her nest on the ground, her feathers gray with soot, her serenity gone. She was sobbing!

  The dragon suit over the Kyto Keeper was where it had been before, still an impossible distance from Kyto’s neck.

  Now, Never Land! Gwendolyn thought. Know what I need. Show me one fairy, just Vidia. Show me Vidia.

  Gwendolyn squinted into the murk. There was the tall boulder Vidia had perched on, but she wasn’t visible there or on Kyto’s head and shoulders.

  “Glitter light, are you watching?”

  “I’m watching, love.”

  Gwendolyn heard her!

  “Observe, speedy glowworm.” Kyto’s gaze shifted.

  Gwendolyn followed his eyes and saw her! Vidia! Glowing an excited orange, she buzzed back and forth between the puddle and the petrified log, always facing Kyto, watching fairies Gwendolyn couldn’t see.

  Thank you, Never Land!

  Flying low, Gwendolyn approached from the puddle, sneaking in behind Vidia. She drew closer, closer, closer. She reached, grabbed—got her!

  Kyto shouted, “Sizzle! Roast! Fry! Crisped another fairy!”