“Under the rolls,” Terence said, “are sacks of fairy dust, enough to get you here again if Peter forgets to come.”
This was the best possible gift. Gwendolyn smiled and blinked away fresh tears. “I’ll be back as soon as Mother and Father and Grandma let me.”
Queen Ree pronounced her quest words. “Be careful, Gwendolyn. Be kind. Be a Clumsy at her best.”
Terence poured a fresh sack of fairy dust over her. She began to fly.
T H I R T Y - T W O
GWENDOLYN didn’t stop at Fairy Haven. Fast fliers had already told the fairies there that all was well. But she did visit the underground home where she informed Peter that he didn’t have to fly her to the mainland.
“I know the way,” she said. “In the day I head for the rising sun. At night I steer away from the star named Peter.”
He nodded, then cocked his head. “The mainland is close just now. You will have a short flight, Wendy.”
“Gwendolyn. Before I leave…” She sat—hovered, really—just above the surface of the bed.
The Lost Boys sprawled around her. Peter stood in front of his tree.
She recited a dozen fairy tales, picking stories they probably hadn’t heard before: one about a dwarf who loved to cook; one about a girl in toad form who could make a tiny dog come out of a walnut shell; and another, everyone’s favorite, about a boy who rode a horse up a hill made of glass.
Finally she stood. “Good-bye. My parents are expecting me.”
Peter said, “Where is your kiss?”
Gwendolyn hiccupped. “I lost it.”
“I see.” He hopped on one foot. “Too bad then.”
“Yes.” She rose up the tree that had been whittled for her.
She spent one night over the ocean, but Dulcie’s rolls kept her awake. The following night, just after sunset, she flew in her bedroom window at Number 14, where Mother and Father and Grandma were waiting.
A month later, Prilla blinked into Number 14 and landed on the jigsaw puzzle Gwendolyn was putting together. Filling Prilla’s arms was a canvas sack. She set it down and turned cartwheels on the puzzle, laughing and laughing, until every piece had scattered.
“Open the sack. It’s from Tink.”
Gwendolyn’s big fingers could hardly untie the triple knot, and trembling didn’t help. while she worked at it, she asked, “Did she fix her unleaky colander?”
“It went into Kyto’s collar, but now she’s repairing a pot that turns whatever is put in it into cherry pits.”
The knot came loose at last. Gwendolyn drew out a silver chain as thin as thread, but with a clasp big enough for Clumsy fingers to manage.
On the chain, roughly the size of the old kiss, was a silver frying pan.
“Turn it over,” Prilla said.
Etched across the entire back was Tink’s talent mark, a pot with steam rising and the letters TB.
Oh, my! “It’s beautiful.”
“The silver comes from pirate treasure. It’s the same silver as Queen Ree’s new tiara. Tink said to do this when you hiccup…” Prilla guided Gwendolyn’s hand around the frying pan.
“I will.”
Prilla had to leave. “Fly with you,” she said and was gone.
Gwendolyn said to the air where she’d been, “Fly with you.” Then she added what Clumsies say, “Thank you.”
Fairies and the Quest for Never Land Page 12