Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg Page 5

  A shudder ran through the island. Mother Dove felt it and knew what it meant.

  My egg! she thought. Oh, my egg! The magic she’d been given—the best of her, her gift to the island—was destroyed. She wailed into the wind.

  FOURTEEN

  AFTER SHATTERING the egg, the storm weakened. The rain diminished. The wind slackened. The sky brightened toward dawn.

  Tink woke up. She was facedown on a broken porcelain plate, and it was a wonder she had no cuts. Her head throbbed. She put her hand to her forehead and felt a bump the size of a peppercorn. She probed it and bit her lip to keep from crying out. What happened? she thought.

  She sat up. Her memory came back. She jumped up, and fell over, her head spinning. She had to find Mother Dove. Tink stood up more carefully and began to walk, scanning the sky for hawks. She was out of fairy dust, so she couldn’t really fly. But she fluttered her wings, flew short hops, and ran in between.

  She hurried through a field of flattened bamboo littered with branches, rocks, and the pirate ship’s mast. She passed a bewildered squirrel and a lark with bloody tail feathers. She called out to the lark that she’d try to find an animal-talent fairy.

  Everywhere fairies were putting themselves and one another to rights. Queen Ree managed to push the shoe out of the tree hole she was stuck in. A scout heard Rani’s cries and freed her from the branch. The baby moles’ mother returned to her burrow, and Beck was able to leave. Terence finally let go of the root. He was covered in mud, but he was alive.

  The first to find Mother Dove was Prilla. Halfway to the fairy circle, Prilla had fallen into Havendish Stream. She’d have drowned if the current hadn’t been so strong. It had carried her to the beach, where she’d climbed up onto a sand dune. When the sky had lightened, she’d seen Mother Dove.

  She rushed across the sand. Mother Dove’s wings rested at odd angles, and her feathers were caked with sand. But Prilla thought her eyes were the worst, sunken and defeated.

  Mother Dove cooed, “Prilla…”

  Prilla was crying, tears streaming down her cheeks.

  Mother Dove’s voice was almost too soft to hear. “Prilla…I thought you might come.”

  “Oh, Mother Dove... Oh...”

  Perhaps it was Prilla’s youth, or perhaps it was Prilla’s shoulders, which refused to slump even while she wept—but Mother Dove began to believe that something might yet be done for her poor egg. And if her egg were whole again and she were reunited with it, she thought she might be healed as well.

  She delved into her store of wisdom and island lore. She concluded that there really was a chance.

  Since the egg had begun by fire and had been undone by fire, it might be restored by fire. But the fire would have to be very hot—an inferno. Where would such a fire be found? Torth Mountain hadn’t erupted in centuries.

  There was the dragon Kyto.

  But why would he help?

  Mother Dove’s chest heaved. “Find Queen Ree and Beck and bring them to me.”

  Prilla nodded and ran, speeding herself up by quick bursts of flight. Mother Dove closed her eyes and thought.

  Prilla was halfway to Fairy Haven when she met Beck, limping toward the beach. Prilla pointed the way to Mother Dove and ran on.

  She found Ree with Tink, who was holding a chunk of ice to her forehead. The queen’s tiara had been blown off, but Prilla knew her by her erect posture, the set of her head, and her penetrating gaze.

  She and Tink were perched on a branch above the ruined egg. The blackened shell had broken into three pieces. Cradled in the largest piece was a thimbleful of ashes, the remains of the egg.

  “Mother Dove wouldn’t have left her egg,” Tink said.

  Ree nodded. “The scouts are searching. But...”

  The two of them imagined all the disasters that could have overcome Mother Dove.

  Prilla started climbing the hawthorn.

  “Even if Mother Dove’s all right now,” Tink said, “she won’t be when she sees the egg.”

  Prilla reached them. She curtsied to Ree—although Never fairies never curtsied—and told them about Mother Dove.

  The three of them hurried to the beach, where Beck was weeping and stroking Mother Dove’s wing feathers. Ree wept, too, and even Tink broke down.

  Prilla, who had cried herself out, hoped she had a talent for helping after a hurricane.

  Ree said, “Are you in pain?”

  Mother Dove whispered, “Not much.”

  But Beck knew that Mother Dove’s pain was terrible.

  “There will be no Molt,” Mother Dove whispered. “I’m too weak.”

  Ree’s mind reeled. No Molt! No Molt meant no fairy dust—no magic, no safety from hawks, no safety at all.

  Mother Dove said, “I might get well if the egg…” Her voice wavered. “… were restored and it was with me again.”

  But it’s cracked and burned, Prilla thought.

  Tink thought, I’ve fixed pots almost as bad as the egg.

  “How?” Beck asked.

  “It will be difficult.” Mother Dove explained, using as few words as possible.

  When Mother Dove was finished, Ree told Beck and Prilla and Tink to send all the fairies to her, here on the beach.

  Mother Dove whispered, “Don’t go, Tink. I want you to stay with me. Ree, I’m sure there are other injured animals besides me. Have Beck help some of them.”

  Beck staggered back.

  “Beck...” Mother Dove cooed a long string of coos.

  Beck felt Mother Dove’s love, but she didn’t understand why Mother Dove didn’t want her.

  “We’re too weepy, Beck,” Mother Dove said. “Both of us. We’ll make each other sadder and sadder.” She knew Beck’s heart would break if she stayed.

  Beck nodded. But she still wished she could stay.

  Tink pulled her bangs. She had no idea how to care for Mother Dove. “I’ll do my best.”

  Beck and Prilla left the beach to round up the other fairies.

  While they were busy, the sky cleared, and the sun rose. The pirate ship sailed back into Pirate Cove. The beached mermaid made her slow way back to the sea.

  The animals and Clumsies of the island began to feel the loss of the egg. A Never bear, who’d slept through the storm, woke to find his left knee feeling stiff. Captain Hook looked in his mirror to shave and found a gray hair among his black locks.

  Peter Pan woke up in a meadow where the storm had dropped him. He was horrified to see a baby tooth on the grass next to his head. It was his first tooth to fall out, and it hadn’t even been loose yesterday.

  The fairies were slow to assemble since they couldn’t fly. Some were bandaged, some were limping. A sparrow man had been blinded. Two fairies were missing. One had been blown out to sea, and one had died of disbelief during the night.

  Terence stood at the edge of the crowd of fairies. He was still muddy. Even his teeth were brownish when he showed them in a big smile. Although he felt sad about Mother Dove, he couldn’t help showing his relief that Tink was safe.

  She didn’t see the smile.

  Ree began her speech with the news that Mother Dove was too injured to molt. “But all may be well if her egg is restored and brought to her. I will send a fairy on a quest to restore the egg and bring it here.”

  Prilla imagined being selected and turning out to have an egg-saving talent.

  Ree went on. “The fairy will take much of the remaining fairy dust. I’ll keep only enough for our scouts.”

  Everyone but the scouts grumbled.

  Ree held up her hand. “Even so, we have only a few days’ supply left.”

  Each fairy imagined life without flying or magic. Would they still be fairies or just a kind of pale glowworm?

  FIFTEEN

  VIDIA WISHED she’d had time to pluck more feathers. She had only a few handfuls left of fresh dust. “Dear hearts, we should pluck Mother Dove now. If we wait until she dies, her feathers will probably have no power at all.”
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  Prilla was horrified, along with almost everybody else. But several fairies thought the suggestion worth considering. If they plucked Mother Dove, they’d have enough dust for a year.

  Mother Dove knew Vidia was right. Her feathers would lose their power if she died. But if it comes to that, she thought, when I’m dying, I’ll tell them to pluck me.

  Tink said, “Anyone who comes plucking will have to get by me first.”

  “Me, too,” Terence said.

  Me, too! Prilla thought.

  Ree said, “Shame on you, Vidia. No one will pluck Mother Dove. We will put our trust in the quest.”

  Prilla wondered if she could follow the quester secretly, in case someone was needed in an emergency.

  “Now,” Ree said, “I want everyone to look over the damage to your talent places and report to me at the Home Tree.” She dismissed everyone except Rani.

  “Me?” Rani felt honored. She blew her nose on a leafkerchief.

  Mother Dove whispered, “Prilla, too.”

  “Prilla?” Ree said. “She’s so young.”

  “Prilla. And Vidia.”

  “Vidia!”

  Mother Dove nodded. “For her speed.”

  Ree called to them, and they returned. Prilla was astonished to be chosen. She wondered if it meant the queen saw a talent in her. The quest would be such an adventure, and she’d be having the adventure with Rani, her favorite fairy.

  Ree seated herself on a driftwood branch, and Rani joined her. Prilla sat on the sand nearby, a few feet from Tink, who was kneeling and brushing sand out of Mother Dove’s feathers.

  Mother Dove wished Tink would stop. Tink kept jostling Mother Dove’s wings, which made the pain worse.

  Vidia stood apart. “I’m not so dreadful when you need me, am I, dar—”

  Rani finished the word. “—lings. There’s good in everyone, I think.”

  Ree said, “You’ve all heard of Kyto, haven’t you?”

  Prilla shook her head.

  “Kyto is a dragon,” Rani explained. “A fiery dragon.” She wiped sweat off her forehead.

  He was imprisoned in a cave high in Torth Mountain, which rises from the center of the island. He’d been caught when he was still young by the lost boys and the fairy queen before Ree.

  Ree said, “Mother Dove believes that the egg can be healed by fire, if the fire is hot enough. Kyto’s fire—”

  Rani finished the sentence. “—is hot enough.”

  “Won’t the fire cook the egg?” Prilla asked.

  “Not my egg,” Mother Dove whispered proudly. “It would cook an ordinary egg.”

  Vidia said, “Sweeties, do you think Kyto will heal the egg out of kindness?”

  “He’s not kind!” Rani said.

  Vidia smiled her most irritating smile. “I know, dear.”

  “He’s wicked,” Mother Dove whispered. “Don’t trust him.”

  Kyto was utterly wicked. Even Captian Hook’s villainy paled in comparison. Kyto’s capacity for mischief was unbounded, and there wasn’t a shred of kindness in him.

  “Won’t Kyto want to save the egg?” Prilla asked. “Didn’t it keep him young, too?”

  “No,” Ree said. “Mother Dove says the egg had no effect on him.”

  “Darlings, freedom is the only thing that will interest—”

  Rani jumped in. “—him. But we shouldn’t free him, should we?”

  “No!” Ree said. “It would be too dangerous. Besides, fairies aren’t strong enough to do it. Mother Dove says he may restore the egg, even without a promise of freedom, if we give him some things for his hoard.”

  “What’s a hoard?” Prilla asked.

  “Dragons are collectors,” Ree said. “A hoard is a dragon’s collection of beautiful and unusual objects. It’s as dear to him as his—”

  “—flame.” Rani frowned. “What do we have that Kyto would want?”

  “Nothing,” Ree said. “You have to get the items first.”

  “Naturally,” Vidia said.

  “What items?” Rani asked.

  Mother Dove had thought hard about this. Dragons prize gold and jewels, but they prize rarities even more. The more difficult a thing is to come by, the more they want it. Mother Dove had decided on three items that were likely to tempt Kyto.

  Ree said, “A feather from the golden hawk—”

  Vidia laughed bitterly. “It’s fine to pluck the golden hawk, who’ll kill us—but not Mother Dove.”

  Mother Dove whispered, “It’s not fine to pluck anyone. But it must be done.”

  Ree continued. “Captain Hook’s silver double cigar holder, and a mermaid’s comb. Those are the things.”

  Silence fell. It would take a miracle to get even one of them.

  SIXTEEN

  REE WOULDN’T let the questers start out until they’d slept a few hours and eaten a decent meal.

  Rani dreamed her usual dream, of swimming. Her wings became flippers, and her lungs became gills. Fish circled around her. Mermaids let her join their festivities. After hours of revelry, she rose, up, up, up, and out of the water. Her flippers became wings again. She flew over the lagoon, her flight as exhilarating as her swim.

  She woke up crying. She’d never swim, never enter the ocean’s realm. After she dried her eyes, she changed into her dress with six pockets and tucked a leafkerchief into each one.

  In her sour-plum-tree home, Vidia dreamed of flying through a cloud of fairy dust. When she woke up, she opened the seven locks to the strongbox under her bed and took out the pouch that held her remaining fresh dust. She hung the pouch on her belt and tucked it into her skirt so that the bulge didn’t show.

  Prilla’s dreams again took her through the dreams of Clumsy children. The last dream—a sweet one that took place in a candy store—clung to her when she awoke, and it took her a few seconds to remember where she was.

  The quest! The quest to restore the egg, and her own quest to discover her talent. She leaped out of bed and dressed quickly. She hoped the spaghetti laces on her boots weren’t too flimsy to last.

  She pinned a swatch of her Arrival Garment inside her collar, just to have something familiar. She wished she had a stuffed animal or a doll to take. But there were no such things in Never Land.

  The questers dined in the tearoom with Ree. They were served dwarf mushroom caps filled with sesame-seed puree, the first food the kitchen had ever cooked without fairy dust. The mushrooms were half raw, and the puree was too salty, but only Vidia noticed.

  Night had fallen. Prilla saw a full moon through the tearoom window.

  Vidia said, “Ree, my love, how are we going to carry the broken egg from place to—”

  “—place?” Rani wished she’d thought of this. “And what about the quest items?” The cigar holder and the comb would be heavy.

  Ree said she would leave the egg for them at the fairy circle. “The carpenter-talent fairies are building a shed. The egg will be in there. You can store each quest item as you get it, and collect everything at the end.”

  “If we get everything,” Vidia said. “If we get anything. Sweeties, we should pluck Mother Dove now, before she croaks.” She enjoyed the shock on the others’ faces.

  Ree didn’t bother to scold her. She just added, “I’ll give you a balloon carrier to use when you go to Kyto.”

  Prilla wondered why Vidia was going on the quest if she was sure it would fail.

  But Vidia wasn’t sure it would fail, and she wanted it to succeed as much as the others did. Besides, she wanted to fly when other fairies couldn’t, and she wanted to keep her supply of fresh dust in reserve.

  Rani suggested they go after Captain Hook’s double cigar holder first.

  “Love, how do you plan to take it away from him?”

  “Won’t he be sleeping?” Prilla asked.

  “Dear child, he never takes the cigar holder out of his—”

  “—mouth. That’s only a rumor.”

  “If it is in his mouth,” Ree said,
“perhaps you can pull it out without waking him.”

  Prilla hoped she could do it and show a talent for pulling out cigar holders. Or a general talent for pirates.

  After the meal, Ree escorted them to the lobby, where a throng waited to see them off. Terence stood at the entrance with a satchel slung over his shoulder.

  Ree said, “Terence has four days of dust for each of you, and I’m keeping four days for the scouts. In five days, our dust will be gone.” Her voice caught. “And I fear Mother Dove will be gone by then, too.”

  Tears began to pour down Rani’s cheeks.

  Prilla was sad, too, but she was also excited. Her life was beginning. She was on her way to save Mother Dove and find her talent.

  Ree had the nagging feeling she needed to do something.

  Terence dipped into the satchel. He ceremoniously sprinkled a cup—not a particle more nor a particle less—of fairy dust on each quester. “Three days remain,” he said.

  He tightened the satchel’s drawstring and held the satchel out. Vidia reached for it. He drew back.

  Ree realized what she had to do. She had to name Rani leader, or Vidia would take over. Rani wasn’t ideal. She was too gushy and eager to please. But Prilla was a complete unknown, really just a newborn.

  Ree had considered going herself, but Mother Dove hadn’t chosen her. “Rani, I want you to lead the—”

  “—quest? Me?” Rani wondered if she was up to the job. “Thank you for your faith in me.”

  Prilla thought, Rani’s awfully nice, but is she a leader?

  “Vidia…” the queen said. “Vidia, look at me.”

  “Yes, dearest.” Vidia looked up.

  “The quest won’t succeed if you make trouble.”

  “Make trouble, dearest?”

  “I want you to accept Rani as your leader.”

  “Yes, dearest.”

  “And help her.”

  “Yes, dearest.”

  “And be good to Prilla.”

  “Yes, dearest.”