Fairy in Danger (5 page)

‘Yes, you must have got it wrong, somehow,' said Midnight's voice. ‘Shadow is the Brave One! She wouldn't do such a thing.'

Twink opened her mouth to argue – and then slowly shut it again. Maybe the tooth fairies, trapped here in their jars,
needed
to believe in the Brave One for their own comfort.

‘I suppose you're right,' she said after a pause. ‘Maybe I – I didn't understand her, or something.'

‘I'm sure that was it,' said Midnight, sounding relieved. ‘But it was a good story anyway, Twink. Would you tell it again tomorrow?'

Twink sighed. ‘No, I don't think so,' she said. ‘My friends will be coming after me soon . . .'

She trailed off, suddenly wondering whether that was the case. After all, Sooze hadn't heard where she was going – Shadow had taken Twink to one side and whispered the directions. And what if Shadow refused to help them?

Twink straightened her wings. Well, whether her friends came to save her or not, she had no intention of staying here!

‘When it's lighter, I'm going to try and escape,' she said firmly. ‘Timmy will be at school during the day, won't he?' She remembered from her time with Lindsay that human children had to leave their homes every day to be taught.

‘Yes, that's right,' said Midnight. ‘I don't think you'll be able to escape, though, Twink. You might as well just accept it: you're here with us now.'

There were murmurs of agreement from the others. Twink clenched her jaw. ‘Well, I think I'll at least try first, before I give up and live in a jar for the rest of my life!'

She could almost see Midnight's shrug. ‘Suit yourself.'

To change the subject, Twink said, ‘There's one thing I don't understand. Did you all know that Timmy was going to try and capture you?'

‘Only some of us knew,' replied the storyteller. ‘After the Brave One escaped for the first time, she told others what was happening. All we'd known until then was that sometimes tooth fairies went missing.'

‘Oh,' said Twink in bewilderment. ‘But why did you keep
coming
here, in that case?'

‘It's because of the tooth fairy pact,' explained Midnight. ‘We have a very old agreement with humans, you see. If there's a tooth that needs collecting, then we have
to come and exchange a coin for it – no matter what.'

Twink frowned. ‘But . . . why? I mean, why do you want their teeth?'

A startled gasp came from the darkness around her. ‘Because we're tooth fairies!' cried the storyteller. ‘That's what we do!'

‘But do you
like
collecting teeth?' insisted Twink. ‘At least Shadow carves things in hers – do you lot do anything like that?'

There was a confused silence.

‘Um . . . we just collect them, that's all,' said a voice finally. ‘It's what we've always done.'

‘Yes. It is our fate,' said the storyteller.

For the second time that night, Twink gave up. She was starting to realise that tooth fairies were very different from ordinary fairies . . . and she wasn't sure that they could ever begin to understand each other!

.

Chapter Five

‘Sooze! Sooze, wake up!'

Someone was shaking her shoulder. ‘Go away,' mumbled Sooze sleepily. She rolled over on to her side, pulling her bluebell-petal duvet around her.

‘
Sooze!
We fell asleep! Twink's not back yet!'
hissed Bimi.

Sooze awoke with a start. The last thing she remembered was lying in bed talking to Bimi, waiting for Twink to return – and now the sky outside their window was beginning to lighten. Twink had left
hours
ago!

She sprang out of bed, her heart thudding. ‘Something must be wrong!' she whispered. Around them, the rest of Bluebell Branch lay sleeping. Sili's soft snores echoed across the ledge.

Bimi nodded anxiously. ‘Sooze, I'm really scared. What if – what if she's hurt herself somehow, and can't get back?'

Sooze flung on her dressing gown. ‘I'm going to go and see Shadow, and find out exactly where Twink went,' she said.

‘I'm coming with you,' said Bimi, grabbing her own dressing gown.

Sooze glanced at her in surprise. ‘Are you sure? The passageway's really tight in places –'

‘Of course I'm sure!' Bimi looked close to tears. ‘Twink's my best friend! If I had only gone along in the first place, this might not have happened.'

Sooze put her hands on her hips. ‘What's
that
supposed to mean?'

Bimi blew out a breath. ‘Nothing! It's just that – well, you do tend to egg each other on a bit, don't you?'

Sooze felt a pinch of guilt as she remembered that Twink hadn't even thought of going until she'd teased her into it. ‘Well, never mind that now,' she muttered. ‘Come on, let's go!'

Soon the two fairies had climbed up the narrow trunk and were pulling themselves on to the ledge. Sooze banged on the door with her fist. ‘Shadow!' she yelled. ‘Open up!'

There was no response. Sooze banged harder. ‘SHADOW! We need to talk to you!'

‘Let's just go in,' said Bimi, reaching for the doorknob. She turned it – and the door swung open.

The room was empty.

Flitting inside, Sooze stared around her in surprise. There was no sign of Shadow anywhere! Even the shelves where the carvings had stood were now bare. It was as if the tooth fairy had never been there at all.

‘I don't like this one bit,' said Bimi. ‘Where would she have gone, with a hurt wing?'

‘If it really
was
hurt,' said Sooze grimly. She spotted something on the floor. ‘Look, it's one of her carvings!' she exclaimed, holding the owl carving up. ‘Bimi, I think she's packed up and left – she must have dropped this one on her way out.'

Bimi's pretty face paled. ‘Then we have to go after her! She's the only one who knows where Twink is.'

‘Yes, but how?' demanded Sooze fretfully. ‘It's been hours already! She could be
anywhere
by now
–
'

The two of them froze as they heard the sound of wings approaching. Without a word, Sooze grabbed Bimi and pulled them both flat against the wall by the window.

Shadow landed on the sill, balancing herself with her silvery-grey wings as she swung the window open. Glancing furtively around her, she hopped to the floor. ‘Now, where did it go . . . ?' she murmured.

‘Looking for this?' asked Sooze, stepping forward. She held up the owl carving.

Shadow gasped as she whirled towards them. ‘I – you –' she stammered.

‘Where's Twink?' demanded Bimi coldly. ‘She left hours ago!'

Shadow gulped. ‘I – I'm sure she's all right,' she faltered, edging towards the window.

Sooze leapt in front of it, blocking the way. ‘Yes, but where
is
she? Something's gone wrong, hasn't it?'

Shadow bit her lip. ‘Um . . . maybe. It's sort of hard to tell . . .'

Sooze glared at her. What on earth was this silly fairy playing at? With a sudden inspiration, she held Shadow's carving out of the window. ‘Tell us
now,
or I'll drop it!' she threatened.

‘No!' burst out Shadow. She reached out an arm as if unable to stop herself. ‘You can't – that's my best one!'

‘Watch me!' said Sooze. She dangled the owl loosely, swinging it back and forth. ‘What do you think, Bimi? Will it break when it hits the ground?'

Bimi hated unpleasantness, but to Sooze's relief she played along. ‘Maybe,' she said, folding her arms over her chest. ‘Teeth are hard, but they
do
crack sometimes, don't they?'

Shadow pressed her hands against her mouth, her eyes wide with horror.

‘Oh dear – wouldn't that be a shame, if it cracked to bits!' said Sooze. ‘It's getting very heavy . . . I don't think I'll be able to hold on to it much longer . . .'

‘Stop!' shrieked Shadow. ‘All right, I'll tell you, I'll tell you!'

Sooze brought the owl carving back inside. ‘Go on, then,' she said. ‘Where's Twink? And tell us the truth, mind, or out of the window it goes!'

Shadow gulped, her eyes on her precious carving. ‘She – she may have got into a bit of trouble. You see . . . the tooth she went to collect belonged to the Terrible Timmy.'

Sooze stared. ‘The
who
?'

The tooth fairy wrung her hands as she explained about the human boy and his collection of fairies. ‘You mean Twink's been captured?' gasped Bimi.

‘You horrible thing!' burst out Sooze. ‘You never even warned her – I ought to throw your stupid carving right out of the window!'

‘Yes, and then you sneaked off so that you wouldn't have to face us,' said Bimi, looking angrier than Sooze had ever seen her. ‘You didn't even
have
a hurt wing, did you?'

‘No,' Shadow mumbled. ‘I – I was scared, that's all. I've escaped the Terrible Timmy twice, but what if I couldn't do it again? He almost got me last time! Just the thought of being trapped in a jar makes me go into a cold sweat.'

‘Well, how do you think it makes Twink feel?' demanded Sooze fiercely. ‘Now, where's this house?'

Shadow looked taken aback. ‘You mean – you're going after her? But it's really dangerous there. You could both be trapped yourselves!'

‘Well, we'll have to take that chance,' said Bimi shortly. ‘Twink's our friend.'

Sooze nodded. ‘Come on, Shadow. You're going to show us exactly where this house is.'

The tooth fairy went snowy pale. ‘
Now?
'
she squeaked. ‘But it's practically daylight!'

‘So?' said Bimi, flitting to the window. ‘It's still really early; no one will be up for ages yet. Come on, let's go!'

Shadow tugged anxiously at her black and grey dress. ‘But I'm a night fairy!' she cried. ‘I can't fly in the daylight for more than a few minutes without getting dizzy. Can't I just
tell
you where the house is?'

‘No,' said Sooze firmly. She tucked the carving into the belt of her dressing gown. ‘I don't trust you one little bit, Shadow. Dizzy or not, you're coming with us – now!'

Climbing through the window one after the other, the three fairies took off from the branch. Following Shadow's directions they flew across the nearby meadow, and then turned and headed over a small cluster of trees. Soon a line of human houses became visible on the horizon.

‘It's one of those,' said Shadow faintly, pointing towards them. Her wing strokes had become weaker and weaker as they flew, and now she kept pressing her hand against her forehead as though it pained her.

‘Sooze, she doesn't look very well,' whispered Bimi, swooping close. ‘Maybe we should let her go back.'

‘We can't!' hissed Sooze. ‘What if it's a trick?'

Suddenly Shadow gave a cry. Her silvery-grey wings faltered . . . and then stopped fluttering altogether. She plummeted towards the earth, tumbling through the air like a stone.

Sooze and Bimi dived after the tooth fairy, and just managed to grab her before she hit the ground. ‘Shadow!' cried Bimi, laying her down on the grass and shaking her gently. ‘Are you OK?'

‘Too bright,' mumbled Shadow, closing her eyes. ‘I can't . . .' She trailed off, her head lolling limply to one side.

Bimi slapped Shadow's wrists lightly. ‘Oh, Sooze, she's passed out!' she wailed. ‘What are we going to do now?'

Sooze stared worriedly at the houses, wondering which one Twink was in, and whether she was all right. She took a deep breath. ‘I never thought I'd say this, but – but I think we'd better fly back and tell one of the teachers,' she said.

Bimi nodded, scrambling to her feet. ‘You're right. We were total moss brains not to go to them the moment Twink didn't return!' She grabbed hold of Shadow's arms. ‘Come on, Sooze, take her legs. We'd better get her back to Glitterwings as quickly as we can.'