Christmas Fairy Magic (8 page)

eighteen

O
ut into the fearsome wind they flew. I can barely imagine how they did it. There hadn't been quite enough food at the party, so none of them had had much to eat since their breakfast hours and hours ago. Halfway between Heart Island and Sheepskerry they were blown back out to sea, which meant their journey was even longer than it should have been. They looked in vain for help from seals or seabirds, but no other creature was foolish enough to venture out in this kind of cruel winter wind.

“Hold on, Squeak,” said Clara. “Hold on and we will get you warm and safe again.”

Rosy could tell that the baby fairy was still all right, thanks to the baby carrier Goldie had made. Still, she was squirming and fussing. “Be still, little one,” said Rosy. “I promise we will keep you safe from harm.” But even as she said the words, she didn't know if she could keep her promise.

“We have to give her a name!” called Sylva as she flew. “Oops, there goes my sneaker!”

“Not now, Sylva,” said Clara.

“Yes, now! I've got to take my mind off this wind somehow.”

“Okay!” called Rosy over the wind. “She was born one day before Christmas, so something Christmassy.”

“Holly?” called Sylva.

“Star?” cried Goldie.

“Poinsettia?” asked Rosy.

“Definitely not Poinsettia,” said Goldie.

“How about Noel?” said Clara. And even with the wind howling in her ears, Clara could hear the baby laugh. “Noel it is, then,” she said in a whisper.

“Land!” cried Sylva. “Sheepskerry Island, twenty yards away.”

Through the darkness, the Fairy Bell sisters could just see the outline of the tall spruce trees on Sheepskerry's shore. “There's White Rose Cottage!” cried Rosy. She had never been so happy to see a place in her life.

“Shall we stop there and rest?” asked Goldie. “I think I can go on, but you two must be exhausted, carrying those little ones.”

“Let's press on!” cried Clara. “I can do it now. Can you, Rosy?”

“I can!” cried Rosy.

The Fairy Bell sisters put on a final burst of speed and in a trice were on the path back to their fairy house.

“Oh no, Clara!” cried Rosy. “Our house! What's the matter?”

There was a strange glowing coming from the Bell sisters' fairy house.
It couldn't be on fire, could it?
thought Clara, her heart racing.
Not after all we've been through.

“Hurry!”

Though their wings were exhausted with the effort, and their hands and faces raw with the cold, the sisters pushed on to their house.

“If our house is gone, we'll manage somehow,” said Rosy. “The Flower sisters will take us in, or Queen Mab.”

“But all our pretty things—they can't all be burned to the ground, can they?”

As the sisters flew closer and closer to their fairy house, the glow only got brighter. But one by one they began to think that perhaps it wasn't fire after all.

“I don't think our house is on fire,” said Rosy. “There's no smoke.”

“And no flames,” said Clara. “But feel how warm it is!”

They landed on the lawn of their fairy house. The house was not on fire. It was lit with a brilliant light from inside. The light was so strong and clear that Squeakie's eyes opened for a moment. “Ahhma,” she said.

“Open the door, Clara,” said Sylva. “See if it really is magic.”

Clara tentatively put her hand on the doorknob. She turned it gently and then flung it wide.

The great room was dazzling. Where there had been an empty space, now there was a giant Christmas tree hung with every imaginable decoration, and Tink's star on top. Where there had been a few torn pieces of wrapping paper on the floor, now there was an enormous pile of presents, teetering almost to the ceiling. There was a glorious feast on the table, and a wreath was hung above the mantelpiece. The smell of cinnamon and brown sugar was in the air. Steaming mugs of hot chocolate stood on the large oak table. Even the air of the great room was filled with the sound of delicate bells.

And in the middle of it stood someone they all knew.

“Oh, Tink! Tink!” cried the Fairy Bell sisters all at once. “You've come home. You've come home at last.”

nineteen

O
h, what a feast they had! What a glorious reunion for all six Fairy Bells! So much love was there in the fairy sisters' house, Rosy thought it might burst from all the happiness inside it.

The clock had long since chimed midnight, and the sisters could not wait till the morning to celebrate. So they dug into their feast and opened gift after gift and sang till their voices wore out.

Later Clara thought there must have been magic involved, because Christmas night seemed to last forever. They finally dropped into their beds, exhausted, asleep before their heads sank into their pillows. Tink took care of the tiny new baby fairy and tenderly tucked in Squeakie when she'd stopped flying around. “We can't call her baby Squeakie anymore,” said Clara.

“Not when there's a new baby in the house,” said Sylva.

None of the Fairy Bell sisters saw the dawn, but it broke bright and clear. The glow from the Bell sisters' house could be seen even in the daylight, and soon all the fairies of Sheepskerry came to visit Tinker Bell and her sisters. Tink led them in a merry procession to Queen Mab's palace, where they gathered for a festival of song and story. Tink told them tales of Neverland that would fill a book longer than this one. Finally the sun set over Sheepskerry Bay, and Christmas Day was over.

Tink and her sisters said one last farewell.

“Are you really going so soon?” asked Sylva.

“Come back again, Tink!” said Clara.

Tinker Bell kissed each of her sisters (and baby Noel) in turn. Then she raised her wings and flew away.

Where Tink had stood, a trail of sparkles swirled in her place. “There's one last Christmas surprise for you,” they chimed. “Can't wait till you discover it!”

As Clara turned back into the fairy house, she thought she would be lonely without her big sister, Tinker Bell, there. But the house was so full of love and magic that Tink's glow wrapped around them all and filled them with even more joy.

“I suppose we should get ready for bed,” said Clara. “It's been such a long day.”

“I'm so tired I could absolutely drop,” said Goldie, admiring her new skirt of spun gold. Tinker Bell had magicked her a new one, from Neverland. “I wonder if I can wear this to bed.”

“I'd wear these sneakers to bed if I could,” said Sylva. “They'll make me go even faster than the ones I lost—or the one I lost, I should say.” Tink had made new sneakers appear by magic for her little sister.

Rosy took the sweet coral earrings off her ears and laid them carefully on her dresser. “Tink knows just what I like,” she said as she tucked Squeakie in.

“Baby?” said Squeakie.

“Clara's taking care of our new baby sister, Squeak,” said Rosy. “Don't you worry.” Rosy called to her older sister as she started work on a new shawl for her, “Have you found the stack of clothes Tink laid out for her?”

“I have!” called Clara. “What an odd assortment she chose, though,” she said to herself. “None of Goldie's old things, and hardly any of Rosy's or mine. They're all bits and pieces from our old play chest. What was Tink thinking?”

Sylva, Goldie, Rosy, and Squeak had just laid their heads on their pillows when a shriek came from Clara downstairs, followed by a great peal of laughter from baby Noel.

“Clara! What is it? Is everything all right?”

“Oh my golly,” said Clara. “I think I've found that last surprise Tink said we'd discover.”

That was enough to get everyone out of bed. The sisters flew down the stairs, Squeak leading the way.

“What is it?” asked Goldie. “What's the surprise? More presents?” Even Goldie didn't think she could take any more.

“Another baby?” Rosy was only half-kidding.

“Another kitten?” asked Sylva. “Or a puppy?”

“I've got news for you,” said Clara as she came back with baby Noel freshly cleaned and changed in her arms. “Our new fairy sister . . . is a boy.”