Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure (6 page)

W
hen Tink came to, she was groggy, and in a forest. She sat up and looked around. To her amazement, she saw Terence and the compass. They were only a few feet away. Terence started toward her. “Tink. I’m so sorry. I—”

“Terence,” Tink gasped. “How did you get here?”

Terence didn’t answer—because he wasn’t really there.

Tinker Bell was lying on the floor of the forest with a big bump on her head. As if by some strange magic, she felt as if she had traveled back in time. She was watching Terence and herself arguing in her house.

She saw the broken pieces of the scepter on the floor. “You! You brought this stupid thing here!” she shouted at Terence. “You broke the scepter. This is your fault.”

Terence looked stricken and sad. “Tink, I was just trying to be a good friend.”

“Go away!” Tinker Bell yelled. “Leave me alone!”

Terence’s face turned from sad to angry. “Fine. And this is the last time I try to help you!” He opened his wings and flew away, disappearing into the clouds.

Tinker Bell immediately regretted her angry words. “Terence. Terence. No. Come back. Don’t leave. Don’t leave. Don’t …”

Suddenly, she realized that she wasn’t really watching Terence or herself. She hadn’t really traveled back in time. She had been dreaming. Now she was awake, alone, and calling out for Terence.

She shook her head to clear it. What had happened? The she remembered—she had been chasing her balloon and had hit a tree. “Blaze! Where are you? Blaze?”

Tinker Bell’s heart began to sink. She had been pretty harsh with Blaze. Maybe he had run away from her, too, just like Terence.

But Blaze buzzed over and hovered at her side. Tink threw her arms around him, glad of the little bug’s company. “Oh, Blaze, what am I going to do? I lost my balloon. I lost my pixie dust. I’m starving. What have I done?”

Blaze wriggled out of her grasp and zoomed away.

Tinker Bell dropped her face into her hands. Blaze was abandoning her, too. She really didn’t blame him. She’d botched things up. Why would he feel any loyalty to her? Suddenly, something brushed up against Tinker Bell’s ankle and she let out a shriek.

She looked down and saw that it was only a harmless pill bug! Startled by her cry, he curled up into a tight ball.

Tinker Bell’s face turned red. How embarrassing! But it was only natural to be nervous. After all, she was alone in a strange forest.

But when Tink lifted her eyes, her brows flew upward in amazement.
She wasn’t alone.
In fact, she was surrounded by friendly butterflies, ladybugs, bees, and more pill bugs. Blaze hadn’t abandoned her—he had gone out and gathered up as much company to comfort her as he could find.

Tink gave the little pill bug that had startled her a pat. He uncurled himself and crawled into her lap. A group of bees came flying over and offered her a large honeycomb. “Oh!” Tinker Bell smiled. “Thank you.” She quickly swallowed several big drops of the sweet honey.

Another pill bug inched forward, balancing a leaf filled with fresh dew. Tink scooped it up and drank it down.
Ahhh!
Her thirst was immediately quenched.

Refreshed, Tinker Bell began to feel better. She beamed at her bug companions. “Wow. That hit the spot. Thank you so much.”

Blaze buzzed around, blinking his light to signal his happiness.

Tinker Bell leaned down and drew a picture of the arch in the dirt. “We’re lost,” she told her new friends, hoping they’d be able to help. “By any chance, have you seen a stone arch around here?”

A huge swarm of bees lifted Tinker Bell to her feet and pushed her in the direction of the jungle. All the bugs and butterflies hovered and buzzed, urging her to fly. But Tinker Bell couldn’t get off the ground. “Oh, no! I’m out of pixie dust. Looks like I’ll be walking from here.”

She spotted something on the ground. “My compass!” She ran to it. It had obviously fallen out of the balloon basket when it had drifted away. Now it lay in pieces on the ground. She leaned over to inspect it.
“Ouch!”
She accidentally poked herself with the needle.
Now
she understood why Terence had brought her the compass. “That
is
a sharp thingy, Terence,” she muttered. She stuck the needle in her belt. A sharp thingy was always handy to have on an adventure.

The bugs began moving, and Tink followed. They led her through the forest to an outcropping of rock that overlooked a valley. Ta-da! Tink looked across the valley, and there it was. “The stone arch! Blaze, we made it. We’re here.”

One of the pill bugs rubbed up against her ankle. Grateful for his help, Tink leaned over and gave him a pat on the head. “Thank you so much.”

Tinker Bell and Blaze waved good-bye to the bugs and set out in the direction of the arch. “Great to have friends who’ll help you out, huh?” she whispered to him.

Even though she had every reason to be happy, she couldn’t help feeling sad. She had once had a friend back home who would help her, too. Tinker Bell bowed her head in sorrow. That friendship was over now.

Back in Pixie Hollow, Terence sat with his own head bowed. He needed some advice. “I know Tink is my best friend,” he said sadly. “We should just forgive each other. Someone just needs to take the first step.”

“Who?” Terence’s companion asked.

“I think it should be Tink,” Terence said promptly.

“Who?”

“Tink. She blamed me for breaking the scepter.”

“Who?”

Terence looked up and met his companion’s gaze. His companion blinked and turned his head all the way around.
Owls really are amazing,
Terence thought.

“Who?” the owl asked again. He looked straight at Terence. “Who?”

Terence began to understand.
He
should be the one to go to Tinker Bell. “Me,” Terence answered. “Me!” A smile spread across his face. “Thank you so much, Mr. Owl. You know what? You truly
are
the wisest of all the creatures.”

Terence flew toward Tink’s house. He needed to talk to her.

He took a deep breath and knocked on the door. “Hey, Tink! It’s me. Look, I know you’re mad at me. But there’s something I need to tell you.”

Terence waited, but there was no answer from inside the house.

Cautiously, he opened the door. “Anyone home?”

Still no answer. Terence entered the house and shut the door behind him. There was a strange, musty stillness in the air. He stepped carefully over the broken pieces of the scepter that had caused so much trouble between him and Tink.

Something glittering on the floor drew his attention. His eyes widened. He kneeled down and scooped up a handful of dust. He examined it closely and gasped.
Oh, no!
In the dust he could clearly see tiny pieces of the moonstone.

That could only mean one thing: The moonstone had broken.

This was a disaster. A tragedy. He looked around. No wonder the house was empty. Tink was gone. But where?

Terence went to her desk, looking for clues. As soon as he saw her diagram for a balloon and a checklist of things to take, he understood the situation. It wasn’t good.

Tink had sailed away in a homemade balloon—and she was alone.

Tinker Bell trudged through the valley. Her heart felt almost as heavy as her feet. “It’s our last day, Blaze. We’ve got to find that shipwreck soon.”

They came to the edge of a chasm. Though Tinker Bell was out of pixie dust, there were always a few specks clinging to a fairy’s wings. Tink fanned her wings as hard as she could and felt a little lift.

She flung herself forward and held her breath. She barely managed to get across the chasm. Her hands scrambled wildly to hold on and keep her from slipping off the edge. As soon as she was on her feet again, Blaze let out a squeak and pointed to a tunnel.

A tunnel?
Tink didn’t remember anything about a tunnel in Lyria’s story. But all tunnels led somewhere, and Tink had nothing left to lose. So she took a deep breath and dove into the dark opening with Blaze right behind her.

W
hen Tink and Blaze came out the other end of the tunnel, they found themselves in a thick forest. A covered bridge encrusted with thorny thickets stretched out ahead of them. Two stone trolls guarded the entrance.

Tink put one foot on the bridge and the trolls sprang to life. She drew back, alarmed.

“None shall pass the secret troll bridge,” the tall one intoned.

Tinker Bell smacked her head. “
Troll
bridge. I thought Lyria said
toll
bridge.” She tried to laugh, and Blaze displayed his most engaging smile. “Look, fellas. I don’t want any trouble.”

The tall troll glared. “We are guardians—”

The short troll cut him off. “Hey, hey, hey.”

The tall troll plowed on. “… of the secret—”

“Hey!” the small troll barked again.

“What?” the tall troll asked irritably.

“It’s my turn to give the ominous warning, blockhead.”

“Is not,” responded the tall troll.

“Is too,” said the short one.

“Is not,” repeated the tall troll.

“Is too.”

“Not.”

“Too.”

“Not! Not! Not!”

“Too! Too! Too!”

“But you did it last time,” protested the tall troll.

The short troll looked indignant. “That was over three hundred years ago.”

The tall troll grudgingly relented. “Go ahead,” he said gruffly.

The short troll squared his shoulders and cleared his throat. “We are guardians of the secret bridge. Beat it before we grind your bones to make our bed.”

“Bread,” the tall troll corrected.

“What?”

The tall troll rolled his eyes. “The expression is ‘grind your bones to make our
bread
.’ Not
bed
.”

“Really? Who would want to make bread out of bones? Might break a tooth.”

The tall troll began to lose his patience. “Well, who’d want to sleep in a bed made of bones? Hard on the back. That’d put a crick in your neck, you knucklehead.”

The small troll seemed to remember that Tinker Bell and Blaze were watching and listening. “Ixnay in front of the ictim-vay, gravel-for-brains.”

The tall troll was too insulted to worry about what Tinker Bell and Blaze thought about them. He was just eager to hurl an insult back. “Fuzz Face.”

“Thimblehead.”

“Stinky Breath.”

“Googly Eyes.”

“Waxy Ears!”

“Unibrow!”
the small troll bellowed.

Tinker Bell and Blaze looked at each other in disbelief. These two were clearly not serious about guarding the bridge. If they wanted to waste time standing here and trading insults, that was their business. But Tink had a magic mirror to find. She started forward. “Excuse me. I need to get through!”

The two trolls snapped to attention. “None shall pass!” they proclaimed in what sounded like an official troll voice.

Now Tink was mad. If these two goofballs thought they were going to stop her, they had another think coming. Tink put her hands on her hips and thrust her face forward. “Do you have any idea what I’ve been through here? I almost got attacked by bugs and bats, and got blown all over the place by the wind, and almost starved to death to find a mirror that grants one last wish—which I wouldn’t have even needed if Terence had taken his time finding me a sharp thingy instead of making me break the moonstone. And then he didn’t even share his pixie dust because he cares more about the stupid rules than he does about me. And if that wasn’t enough, he even went and tried—”

“Whoa! Whoa!” cautioned the tall troll, interrupting. “Hang on. Hang on. Who’s Terence?”

“Is he a friend of yours?” asked the small troll.

“Well, yeah. He was my best friend.”

“But you’re not very nice,” commented the tall troll.

“Hey. Don’t you judge me. You’ve been yelling at each other since I got here.” She looked over at Blaze to make sure he was still with her.

Blaze crossed his six arms over his body and nodded at Tink—letting her know that he had her back.

“He knows I don’t mean it.” The tall troll looked at the short one. “Don’t you?”

The small troll gave him a sentimental smile. “You old softie.”

The tall troll smiled, too. “Like when I call you Wart Face.”

“Or when I called you Big Nose.”

“Booger Breath.” This time, there was a little edge in the tall troll’s voice.

“Stinky Feet.”

Now the tall troll was genuinely annoyed. “Weasel Toes!” he said, daring the small troll to try to top that.

The small troll hit right back with “Badger Brain!”

“Garden Gnome,” the tall troll thundered, delivering what was clearly the most annihilating insult in the troll arsenal.

The small troll seemed to crumble. His face fell. His eyes filled with tears. “Garden Gnome,” he whispered, as if he just couldn’t believe that his oldest and dearest friend could have said something so hurtful.

The tall troll was immediately apologetic. “Oh, dear. I don’t know where that came from. I … I … crossed the line.”

“Say the magic words,” sniffled the small troll. “Go on.”

The tall troll looked around as if to be sure no one could overhear.

Tinker Bell eagerly leaned forward, determined to catch what they were saying.
Magic words!
Maybe they were the magic words she would need to speak to the Mirror of Incanta.

The tall troll finally spoke. “I’m sorry,” he said, giving the words great weight and emphasis.

“Do you mean it?” the small troll asked weakly.

“Absolutely.”

“Do you feel it?” pressed the small troll.

“Deeply.”

The small troll considered it; then he smiled broadly. “Then I forgive you.”

“Friends?” the tall troll asked.

“Friends,” the small troll confirmed. “Come here, buddy.”

“Pal.”

Even though those weren’t the magic words Tinker Bell had been hoping for, she couldn’t help smiling as she watched the curmudgeonly trolls embrace. It was a terrible thing to see good friends fight.

“Amigo!” the small troll said happily.

“Compadre!” cried the tall one.

“You’re the best.”

“No, you.”

“No,
you!
”

Blaze nudged Tink and flickered his light. She gave him a nod. Now was the time to cross the bridge—while the two trolls were paying more attention to each other than to her.

“You’re right,” the tall troll said, switching tactics.

“I
am
the best,” he said with a sly smile.

The small troll rose immediately to the bait. “So now you think you’re better than me?”

Quietly, Tinker Bell began to tiptoe past them, leaving the trolls to enjoy their favorite activity—bickering.