Fairy Rescue

by Gwyneth Rees

  Opal looked horrified. ‘Our fairy queen was called to a Fairy High Council meeting in Scotland early this morning. Is this what it’s about?’

  ‘Yes. Queen Flora has gone there too,’ Poppy explained. ‘Maybe you could go there and tell her and all the other fairy queens that we know who the kidnapper is. There’s bound to be a library near to where they’re having their meeting, isn’t there?’ She quickly turned to Maddie and said, ‘It’s like I told you – book fairies can travel to other libraries instantly if there’s an entry-book there.’

  Opal was nodding. ‘I’ll go there as soon as I’ve had a look outside for Emerald. After all, she might not have been kidnapped. She might just have got lost.’

  ‘There’s no time to lose,’ Poppy said. ‘I’ll go and look for Emerald – but you have to go straight to Scotland, Opal.’

  ‘Well, all right then,’ Opal agreed. ‘Emerald’s got blonde hair and a bright green dress and she’s very nervous around humans so you probably shouldn’t take Maddie when you go looking for her. I’ll go back through the entry-book now and see what I can do. You never know. Our fairy queen might even bring all the other fairy queens back through this entry-book with her when she hears what’s happened.’

  As she spoke, the entry-book, which had continued to sparkle as they talked, suddenly produced another beam of light. ‘I’ll see you in a little while,’ Opal said, flying into the light beam and disappearing inside it.

  Maddie just stared at the book open-mouthed.

  Poppy, who had been left standing on the shelf, said, ‘Thank goodness for that. When Queen Flora and the other fairy queens come back they’ll know what to do, and they’ll bring lots of fairy dust with them.’

  ‘Are you going to look for Emerald now?’ Maddie asked.

  ‘Yes. You’d better stay here. I’ll ask a bird to give me a ride. You get a much better view from the air.’

  ‘I thought you weren’t allowed to go for rides on birds in case you fell off.’

  ‘I’m not going to fall off – anyway, this is an emergency!’

  Maddie took Poppy outside and placed her on the ground, where she immediately started to chirp at a thrush who was pecking at the earth in a nearby garden. The thrush flew over to her and Poppy spoke to it in chirps and twitters. Soon the fairy was climbing aboard the bird’s back.

  ‘Be careful, won’t you?’ Maddie said anxiously, because Poppy was so busy chattering to the bird in its own language that she didn’t look like she was concentrating very hard on holding on.

  ‘Don’t fuss!’ Poppy snapped, giving her a little glare as the thrush took off. ‘I’ll meet you back at the house in a little while, and we can go and visit Horace together.’

  Maddie stepped back into the library van and spent another few minutes looking in vain for a book about butterflies. Suddenly a figure appeared in the doorway and she turned her head, expecting to see the librarian. But instead she gasped in shock as she saw that the person who had stepped into the back of the van was Horace Hatter himself.

  Mr Hatter was staring at Maddie and he seemed about to say something when a plump, cheerful lady appeared behind him, who Maddie realized must be the librarian.

  ‘Hello, Mr Hatter. Come to choose another book? How was the one I ordered in for you?’

  ‘Too many pictures, not enough facts,’ Horace grunted, and it was then that Maddie noticed the large hardback book he was holding. It had a picture of a big red butterfly on the cover. He handed it to the librarian.

  ‘Hello, dear. Can I help you?’ the librarian said to Maddie.

  Maddie thought very quickly. ‘I’d like to borrow that book, please,’ she said, pointing at the one Horace had just handed in.

  ‘You like butterflies too, do you?’ The lady smiled at her. ‘Have you got your ticket?’

  Maddie handed it to her. ‘It’s my grandma’s, but she says I can use it.’

  Behind them Horace was reaching up to take a book down from the shelf and, to Maddie’s horror, she saw that the book he had picked out was the magic entry-book.

  ‘You can’t take that!’ Maddie blurted before she could stop herself.

  Horace and the librarian stared at her in surprise. Now that the entry-book had stopped glowing it looked just like any other book.

  ‘Mr Hatter can choose whichever one he likes, dear,’ the librarian said briskly.

  Horace stepped over to her with the entry-book in his hand. ‘Here’s my card,’ he muttered.

  ‘Thank you, dear. Just let me scan the barcode . . .’

  Horace held it up for her to scan, and quickly left.

  ‘Here’s your book,’ the librarian said, handing Maddie the book on butterflies.

  Maddie rushed outside, knowing that she had to find Poppy and get Grandpa to take them to Horace Hatter’s house straight away. She hurried to the village store, where Grandma was chatting to her friend, Wilma, who worked there. There were some plastic bags on the counter and Maddie quickly took one and slipped her book inside. She didn’t want to broadcast the fact that she had only just acquired a book on butterflies.

  ‘Have you got your eggs, Grandma?’ Maddie asked.

  Grandma nodded and smiled at her. ‘Did you find a good book?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘What did you get?’

  ‘Oh . . . it’s just a book about . . . about things you get in the countryside . . .’ Maddie said vaguely. ‘I suppose we’d better get back so you can finish your baking, hadn’t we?’ she added, taking a hopeful step towards the door.

  Grandma laughed. ‘What she means is that she wants me to stop my gossiping and get a move on,’ she told Wilma.

  They were only halfway home when they met Grandpa walking along the road towards them with Milo.

  ‘Is everything all right?’ Grandma asked him immediately.

  ‘Of course. I just fancied stretching my legs, that’s all – thought I’d come and meet you. I just passed Horace Hatter. He’d been to the library too. Miserable-looking book he’d got under his arm.’

  ‘Poor Horace,’ Grandma said. ‘He came into the shop today on his way to the library. I was talking to Wilma and we were just saying afterwards that he must get very lonely living in that big old house all on his own. He never has anyone to stay as far as I know, and Wilma says he’s always on his own whenever she sees him.’

  ‘If you ask me, Horace likes being on his own,’ Grandpa grunted. ‘He never mixed as a boy either, as far as I remember, unless he was trying to swap one of his stamps.’

  ‘He must have had a very lonely life,’ Grandma said.

  ‘I asked Grandpa if he’d take me to see Mr Hatter’s butterfly collection,’ Maddie put in quickly.

  ‘Well, you know, that’s not a bad idea,’ Grandma said. ‘It wouldn’t hurt at all for him to have a bit of company. I reckon you should take her,’ she told Grandpa firmly.

  ‘If you’re so worried about him all of a sudden, why don’t you take Maddie to visit him?’ Grandpa retorted.

  ‘Because you’re the one who knows him best. Anyway, I’ve got to get on. I’ve got my cake to bake – unless you don’t want cake this week. You can take Maddie to see Horace after you’ve walked me home. Stretch your legs over to his house, why don’t you?’

  Grandpa sighed. ‘We can go and see Horace if you really want to, Maddie. But I’m warning you now – don’t expect a warm welcome when we get there.’

  ‘Don’t worry, Grandpa – I’m not expecting that,’ Maddie said.

  They walked back with Grandma as far as their own house where Maddie looked in the garden for any sign of Poppy. She also made an excuse to go inside and up to her bedroom to see if Poppy was there, but she wasn’t. Maddie guessed she must still be out looking for the missing book fairy.

  ‘Come on, Maddie. It’s now or never as far as I’m concerned,’ Grandpa shouted to her. ‘And why don’t you bring that butterfly book you were talking about?’

  Maddie knew that she was just going to h
ave to do this without Poppy, and she only hoped that Milo would remember whatever it was he was meant to be doing.

  Soon Maddie was following Grandpa up the road towards Mr Hatter’s house, holding Milo on the lead in case a car came past.

  ‘Horace might not even open the door to us,’ Grandpa warned her.

  Maddie frowned. She was worried about that, but she guessed she would just have to face that problem when she came to it.

  They soon arrived at a very large old house set back from the road that didn’t look in a very good state of repair.

  ‘Believe it or not, Horace has lived in this place all his life,’ Grandpa told her. ‘It used to belong to his parents and he’s lived here on his own ever since they died.’

  They opened the front gate and Maddie remembered what Poppy had told her and quickly bent down to unclip Milo’s lead.

  As they walked up to the front porch, they noticed that all the curtains were drawn across. ‘He told me once that he likes a dark house,’ Grandpa said. ‘Said it preserves his specimens better or something.’ He shook his head as if he thought Horace was very strange indeed.

  They had to ring the bell twice before the door opened a short way and Horace peered at them through the gap. ‘Yes?’ he grunted.

  Grandpa cheerfully explained that Maddie was very interested in seeing his butterfly collection.

  ‘It’s a private collection . . . it’s not for children to gawp at,’ Horace answered curtly, beginning to close the door again.

  Milo, who had been sniffing a plant in the garden, seemed to spring into action. He ran at top speed towards Maddie and Grandpa, brushing past their legs and Horace’s to shoot through the front door and into the house.

  Horace whirled round and shouted at him, and Grandpa called out his name very sharply too, but Milo had already found the staircase and was bounding up it. Horace rushed into the house after him, leaving the front door open, and Maddie quickly stepped inside.

  Grandpa followed her. He had stopped calling for Milo to come back, she noticed, and instead he gave her a wink. ‘I can’t say I wanted to come and visit Horace in the first place, but seeing as I’m here . . .’

  As Horace started to climb the stairs after Milo, Maddie and Grandpa stood in the large dark hallway and had a good look round.

  ‘When I was a boy I always wanted to get a peek inside this place,’ Grandpa whispered, ‘but Horace never invited anybody in.’

  The hall had a patterned carpet and the walls were covered with old-fashioned flowery wallpaper that was peeling a bit in places. There were four doors leading off from the hall and three of them were open. Maddie put the butterfly book she had brought with her on the hall table and followed Grandpa – who was leading the way enthusiastically now – into the nearest room. She did a double take when she saw inside it. All over the walls were cases and cases of butterflies. Lined up along the mantelpiece and on shelf units on either side of it were rows of stuffed birds and animals with staring glass eyes, and on the coffee table there was a large glass case displaying dead beetles.

  Leaving Grandpa to look around, Maddie slipped out into the hall again and headed for the open door opposite, which led into a large dining room. There was a large dark-wood table in the centre and a matching Welsh dresser, the shelves of which were heaving with old-fashioned china crockery. There was also a huge collection of china ornaments displayed along the mantelpiece and filling two large glass cabinets on either side of the fireplace.

  ‘When we were children Horace used to boast about how his father collected dead animals and his mother collected expensive china and how they had the biggest collections in the country,’ Grandpa said, coming to join her. He walked over to the mantelpiece and began to inspect the ornaments. ‘I wonder if it’s here . . .’ he murmured.

  ‘You wonder if what’s here, Grandpa?’ Maddie asked him in surprise.

  Grandpa lowered his voice, even though Horace was still chasing Milo about upstairs. ‘When I was a boy Horace came to my house once to try and get me to swap him a stamp he particularly wanted. His mother came to collect him and noticed the one good china ornament my mother had in the front room. She took a fancy to it and asked my mother if she could buy it. My mother refused. Not long after that Horace came round again, and that evening my mother went into the front room and saw that the ornament was gone. She went to the Hatters’ house to speak to Horace, but his parents wouldn’t let her through the front door. She even told our local bobby, who paid them a call, but he didn’t have any luck with them either.’

  ‘What’s a bobby?’ Maddie asked.

  Grandpa laughed. ‘It’s an old name for a policeman. Listen, you go and help catch Milo. I’m going to have a look through this lot to see if I can spot that piece of my mother’s. Wouldn’t it be funny if after all these years . . .’ Grandpa’s eyes had lit up like a young boy’s, Maddie saw, as she went back into the hall again.

  Horace was already on his way down the stairs, dragging a very yappy Milo by the collar. ‘You should keep this animal on a lead,’ he spluttered.

  ‘Oh, I will,’ Maddie burst out, rushing up the stairs to take Milo from Horace – and promptly letting him go again. As Milo raced back up to the top landing, Mr Hatter looked as if his face was going to explode. Maddie darted down into the hall again, and as Horace climbed back up the stairs, she looked at the two remaining doors. The one that was open clearly led into the kitchen, so she hurried across to the door that was shut and tried the handle.

  Unfortunately Milo wasn’t as nimble this time. Mr Hatter caught him again straight away and kept a firm hold of his collar as he dragged him back downstairs. He reached the hall just as Maddie was opening the door (which she had half expected to be locked) and entering the room.

  ‘HEY!’ he shouted, making her jump. His face was red with anger as he used the hand that wasn’t holding Milo to point towards the front door. ‘Out!’ he rasped. ‘Get out of my house right now!’

  But Maddie had already seen inside the room, and although she hadn’t spotted any fairies, she had seen several empty birdcages.

  Maddie stood where she was and turned bravely to face Horace. ‘What are all those cages for?’ she asked him.

  ‘That’s none of your business!’ Horace snapped. ‘Now get out!’

  ‘Horace, can you come here a minute?’ Grandpa called out from the dining room. ‘I’d like to ask you about one of these ornaments.’

  Horace looked startled, as if he hadn’t realized that Grandpa was wandering all over his house too. He took Milo to the front door and shoved him outside, closing the door behind him before making his way to the dining room. ‘You’d better get out there and make sure he doesn’t run off,’ he said gruffly to Maddie.

  ‘OK,’ Maddie said, though she had no intention of doing that just yet. Anyway, Milo wouldn’t run off if he knew that she and Grandpa were still inside the house.

  As soon as Horace had gone into the dining room she stepped inside the room with the cages. It seemed to be another, smaller, sitting room. The birdcages were the really old-fashioned, free-standing kind you hardly ever saw nowadays. Maddie looked all round the room, but there was no sign of the missing fairies.

  There was one locked cupboard and Maddie stood with her ear pressed against it, calling, ‘Daisy! Primrose! Are you in there?’ She held her breath for a few moments, but there was no reply.

  Maddie glanced again at the cages, thinking about the butterflies on display in the glass cases in the other room. It would be far better if these cages were meant for the fairies, she thought, since at least that would mean Horace wasn’t planning on sticking a big pin through their bodies and displaying them on a piece of card.

  Maddie reminded herself that she had to look for the entry-book too. It didn’t seem to be in this room, so maybe she should try the kitchen.

  As she tiptoed back out into the hall again, Grandpa came striding into the hall as well, holding a rather ugly china ornament of a she
pherdess in one hand. Horace was close behind him.

  ‘Put that back!’ Horace was shouting.

  ‘I knew it was you who had stolen it!’ Grandpa exclaimed.

  ‘How dare you!’

  ‘How dare you! Maddie, come on! We’re going home!’

  Maddie knew this was her last chance to find out if Daisy and Primrose were there. And since she couldn’t think of any other way, she blurted out, ‘Mr Hatter, have you stolen any fairies?’

  Horace looked at her as if he thought she had lost her mind.

  But Grandpa was clearly keen to leave now. ‘Maddie, come on!’ He held out his free hand for Maddie to come with him as he stepped out through the front door.

  They hurried down the path with Horace shouting after them, ‘You bring that back or I’ll have the police on to you!’

  ‘You do that!’ Grandpa yelled back. ‘I just wish my mother was alive to see this!’ And he marched off down the road clutching the ornament protectively.

  Poppy was waiting in Maddie’s bedroom when they got back, having been dropped off on the window ledge by the thrush. She told Maddie there had been no sign of Emerald and that none of the other birds or animals she had asked had seen her since the previous week. ‘I think she must have been kidnapped too,’ Poppy said gloomily.

  Maddie explained how she had gone to Horace Hatter’s house with Grandpa and not found anything apart from the empty birdcages. ‘I wanted to wait for you to come too, Poppy, but there wasn’t time.’

  ‘That’s OK. Did Milo go and look upstairs like I told him?’

  ‘Yes – if it wasn’t for him we’d never have got into the house in the first place.’

  ‘I’d better go and ask him what he saw,’ Poppy said.

  So she went and had a chat with Milo, who barked back that there had been no sign of any fairies in any of the upstairs rooms, but that there had been a very rude cat who didn’t believe in fairies and had laughed at him when he’d asked her about them.