Clara didn’t wait for Addie to agree. She took off across the lawn of the green house, the butterflies flitting behind her. Addie had no choice but to follow.
They ran around the green house and into the backyard. It was filled with gnome statues. Big gnomes, small gnomes, gnome families . . . even gnome animals. Addie almost tripped over a gnome rabbit wearing a pointy red hat.
Past that yard, there was a thicket of trees. Then, another yard. In the middle of that yard, a teenage girl lay on a blanket with her headphones on. Her eyes were closed, and she was bopping her head to music. Addie and Clara sped right past her.
Just as Clara had predicted, once they ran around that house, they found themselves back on the street . . . on the other side of the loop.
They looked left. There was the bee swarm.
They looked right. Here came Morgan on her scooter.
“Morgan!” shouted Addie, stepping directly in front of her.
Morgan skidded her scooter to a stop and stared at them. Her long red braid peeked out of her helmet, which she’d painted with orange, yellow, and black stripes.
“Quick!” said Clara. “Tuck your hair into your helmet! Don’t ask why, we’ll explain later.”
Morgan must have seen how panicked Addie was, so she grabbed her braid and pushed it up under the edge of the helmet.
The swarm was upon them now.
It stopped and hovered, buzzing in that creepy chorus. It moved toward Addie, then Clara, then Morgan, pausing for a moment or two above each girl. Addie held her breath.
Then the swarm continued on, down the street.
“Phew!” burst out Addie with a sigh of relief.
“Weird,” said Morgan as she watched the swarm travel away from them.
There was an awkward pause. Addie glanced up to see Sky Dance and Shimmer Leaf high in the sky above.
“I love the way you painted your helmet,” said Clara to Morgan, breaking the silence.
“Thanks,” said Morgan. “My mom got mad at me for it, but I think this looks better than just plain white.”
“We have boring helmets, too,” said Addie. “Will you help us paint them?” She hoped this would be a good way to get Morgan home to her backyard.
Morgan smiled. “Yes! As long as your mom says it’s okay.”
“Don’t worry,” replied Addie. “We’ll ask.”
Once they all got to Morgan’s backyard, Addie looked around. Where was Kirby? How long would it take him to find Tiger Streak?
Then, out of the corner of her eye, Addie saw a quick blink of orange. Then another blink of yellow. She heard an unmistakable fake-buzzing. Tiger Streak! She was fluttering near the bushes, with Kirby flying circles around her.
“Hey!” said Addie, giving Clara a nudge. “Look at that beautiful butterfly!”
Clara got the hint and spotted Tiger Streak, too. “Oh! Pretty!” she added, pointing.
Morgan glanced up, saw Tiger Streak, and said, “Wow! That’s so cool!”
“Let’s try to catch it,” said Clara. She ran through the bushes toward their yard, then reappeared a few moments later with the net. Clara offered it to Morgan. “You go first.”
Morgan shook her head. “My mom loves butterflies. She’d be mad if she knew I caught one.”
“We won’t hurt it,” said Addie. “We’ll just admire it for a minute, then let it go.”
“We can take a picture of the butterfly,” suggested Clara. “Then you could paint it.”
Morgan paused, then smiled. “I like that idea! I know exactly where to paint it, too.”
She took the net. Addie and Clara exchanged a look. This might work!
Kirby left the tree and Tiger Streak followed him. They flew toward the girls, and Addie could hear Tiger Streak’s buzzing get louder.
“This way!” Kirby shouted to Tiger Streak. “The queen told us we have to go this way!”
Kirby led Tiger Streak right toward Morgan. As the butterfly got closer, Morgan waved the net.
Tiger Streak was trapped inside. Morgan had caught her!
“Yes!” shouted Addie.
Just as a big, dark shadow moved over them.
CHAPTER SEVEN
It was a shadow that hummed and changed shape.
“The swarm!” shouted Clara.
When Morgan saw the bees, she jumped back and dropped the net. Tiger Streak broke free, darting away in a blur of colors.
Addie tried to see which way Tiger Streak went, but the air around her was thick with flying things, buzzing in her ear. She covered her head and started swatting at them. Clara and Morgan did the same. But it all just made the bees more furious. They grew louder, flew faster, and Addie braced herself to feel a sting . . .
“Addie!” Kirby was whispering in her ear. “Remember what I said? Bees will only hurt you if you hurt them first.”
Addie nodded and shouted to the others. “Don’t fight them! Let’s get inside somewhere!” She saw Sky Dance and Shimmer Leaf flying to Morgan’s playhouse. This way! Sky Dance told her in a thought message.
Addie led Morgan and Clara into the playhouse.
“Blech!” cried Clara, wiping a cobweb off her face.
“Sorry,” said Morgan. “I haven’t been here in a while.”
Addie reached out to close the door behind them. One of its hinges was broken, so it didn’t close all the way, but it was good enough. The girls huddled together on the floor. Outside, the sound of the swarm swelled and reminded Addie of raindrops, beating hard against a window.
“What do they want?” cried Morgan.
The humming paused and the swarm was silent for a moment. Then, in that single, eerie voice, it said, “The butterfly! We want the butterfly!” Morgan gave Addie and Clara a look of alarm.
“Did those bees just . . . talk to us?”
“We don’t have her!” shouted Clara to the bees. “We did, but she flew away!”
“If we don’t bring her the butterfly,” said the bees, “she’ll be very angry!”
“Tell that queen of yours she can’t have Tiger Streak!” said Addie.
“And she should stop saying bad things about our friends!” added Clara.
Morgan simply sat there, looking very confused.
“Not the queen,” said the swarm. “The other. The other will be angry!”
“The other?” asked Addie. “Who do you mean?”
“The one who acts like the queen of the queen!” said the swarm.
“Who’s that?” yelled Addie. She felt as confused as Morgan must have been.
The swarm was silent for a moment, then its shadow slid away from the door.
“They left!” said Clara.
“You just had a conversation with a swarm of bees,” said Morgan, shaking her head as if to wake herself up.
Sky Dance poked her little face into the crack along the doorway. “It’s safe! You can come out now!”
Sky Dance disappeared. Morgan’s jaw dropped open. “A talking butterfly, too?” she asked.
“We’ll explain in a minute,” said Addie. She pushed open the playhouse door onto the most glorious garden she’d ever seen.
The dry, brown plants were gone. They’d been replaced with dozens of flowers, nearly twinkling in the sunshine. They were purple, red, green, yellow, orange, blue, and quite a few shades in between. Two or three bees perched on each flower, happily drawing nectar.
“Not bad, right?” asked Sky Dance proudly as she hovered over the scene. “It was Kirby’s idea to work some magic on the dead flowers. He knew it would distract the swarm.”
Morgan stepped into the garden and looked around, her eyes wide.
“Talking bees and butterflies,” she said after a few speechless moments. “My mom’s depressing garden turned into this. Are we . . . are we talking the M-word here?”
Addie smiled. There was only one M-word, as far as she was concerned. “Could be,” she said, in a way that meant yes!
She and Morgan were going to be go
od friends, Addie just knew it.
“This is great,” said Clara, “but we still have to find our missing New Bloom!”
“No need for that,” said a small voice from above. Something fluttered out of the air and landed on Morgan’s arm.
“Tiger Streak!” exclaimed Sky Dance.
“That’s me,” said the butterfly. “But how did I get here? I don’t even remember coming out of my chrysalis.”
“You were under an enchantment,” explained Shimmer Leaf. “But Morgan broke it by catching you, then setting you free.”
Morgan lifted her arm so she and Tiger Streak were staring straight into each other’s eyes.
“Hi,” said Morgan, smiling. “We have the same style.” She pointed to her orange-, yellow-, and black-painted helmet.
“Looks like I was truly meant to be your Wishing Wing!” laughed Tiger Streak. “And now I get to grant you a wish.”
“A wish,” echoed Morgan.
“Choose carefully,” added Tiger Streak. “You get just one.”
Morgan bit her lip. “There are so many things to wish for. How does anyone choose?”
“Imagine the thing that will make you the happiest right now,” suggested Addie. “That worked for me and Clara.”
Morgan stared off at the garden, where Kirby and the bees were still having their own little nectar party.
“Oh!” she exclaimed, and walked past the flowers to the rock wall. Tiger Streak fluttered into the air to follow her. There were large stones and planks of wood covering one section of the wall. Morgan began removing them. Then she stepped back.
Part of the wall was painted with flowers. Morgan’s work, for sure. They were as colorful as the real ones in the garden now, but smudged and messy. It was clear that Morgan kept making mistakes and trying to fix them. A few unfinished flowers had stems, but no blooms.
“I was trying to make this mural for my mom,” said Morgan. “She got frustrated with the garden and gave up on it. I thought, if I could give her flowers some other way, maybe she’d finally see why I paint things that she doesn’t think should be painted.”
Morgan turned to Tiger Streak and took a deep breath.
“I wish . . . I wish my mom understood me and my art. Is that silly?”
“Not silly at all. Everyone wants to be understood,” said Addie. She and Kirby exchanged a glance.
Tiger Streak flitted back and forth across the wall, examining the painted flowers. “I know just what to do!” she said. “But you should step back!”
Morgan went to stand next to Addie.
“Watch this,” said Addie, nudging Morgan with her elbow.
Tiger Streak flew three wide circles around the wall. Glittering ribbons of orange, yellow, and black unrolled behind her. Morgan gasped at the sight of it.
When Tiger Streak was done, and the colors dissolved into the air, they could all see the result.
The wall looked like a giant painting. There were flowers, grass, a few butterflies . . . and even a bee.
“Oh my gosh,” mumbled Morgan. “That’s exactly what I was trying to do, but couldn’t!”
“Glad I could lend a hand,” said Tiger Streak. “Or rather, a wing.”
“Morgan?” called a voice.
Startled, the bees flew off into the woods. The girls turned to see Mrs. Werner standing behind them. The butterflies zoomed over to the wall, hiding themselves among the painted flowers.
“What happened here?” Mrs. Werner asked, staring at the wall and garden.
“It’s . . . it’s a surprise for you,” said Morgan.
“You did this?”
Morgan looked hurt. “The wall’s ruined, isn’t it? I’m sorry. I’m sorry about Calvin’s ball and my helmet, and all the other things I painted that I wasn’t supposed to. I just want to add some beautiful things to the world.”
Mrs. Werner pulled Morgan into a hug.
“I can’t believe you brought my garden back to life!” she said.
“Oh,” said Morgan. “Right.”
“Your mural is fantastic, and I love it. Oh, honey, all you ever had to do was talk to me about how you were feeling.”
Morgan smiled big. It was the smile of a wish come true.
After Morgan and her mother went inside, Addie and Clara returned to their own yard.
They sat on the steps of the deck, cuddling with Squish. The three Wishing Wings and Kirby whirled in circles over their heads, riding the breeze.
“Wow!” called Tiger Streak. “It feels amazing to have wings. And look at these stripes! They’re as sleek as a tiger’s!”
She made a tiger-like roaring noise, followed by a growl.
“No more pretending you’re something you’re not!” teased Sky Dance, and they all laughed.
“The next time we come to the grove, can we bring Morgan?” asked Clara.
“Oh no,” said Sky Dance, growing serious. “She won’t remember anything about us. Before we left, we sprinkled Forgetting Magic all over the garden. Morgan will remember that you helped her with the mural, but that’s all.”
“What about Tiger Streak?” asked Addie. “Isn’t she Morgan’s Wishing Wing now? The way Sky Dance is connected to me, and Shimmer is connected to Clara?”
“She is, indeed,” Sky Dance replied. “Morgan will feel her butterfly spirit get stronger whenever Tiger Streak is nearby. We have to use Forgetting Magic with most humans, but with you two . . . well, you’re special. You were chosen to help us, and you truly have!”
“Hopefully, we’ll help you some more,” said Addie.
“There are still two more New Blooms under the enchantment,” added Clara.
“Yes,” said Sky Dance. “And now you know there’s a neighborhood filled with children, just like the two of you and Morgan, who need wishes granted.”
“Meeting the first new neighbor wasn’t so bad, was it?” said Clara, nudging Addie.
Addie nudged her back. It hadn’t been bad at all. Actually, it had been wonderful!
Sky Dance flew up toward the roof of the house so she could peek at the sun’s position in the sky. “We need to get home,” she said. “Mama will be eager to hear about our adventure, and we have to introduce them to Kirby!”
Kirby flew a loop in the air. “Maybe I’ll fit in better with magic butterflies than with a colony of bees who can’t think for themselves,” he said.
“That reminds me,” said Addie. “What do you think the swarm meant about ‘the queen of the queen’?”
“I’m not sure,” replied Sky Dance. “I suspect the queen bee wasn’t the one ordering the colony to capture Tiger Streak. She was being controlled, or influenced, by someone else.”
“The same someone who’s behind the enchantment!” said Addie.
“Very likely,” agreed Sky Dance.
Mew, said Squish, as if he agreed, too. They all laughed.
“I think he’s hungry,” said Clara. “We should go inside.”
“Poor Pepper!” remembered Addie. “He’s still locked in the bathroom!”
“It’s been a busy day,” said Shimmer Leaf.
“A magically busy day,” corrected Clara.
The sisters waved goodbye to their four flying friends, watching them disappear into the woods beyond the edge of the yard.
As she and Clara headed to the back door, Addie looked up to see Morgan’s face in an upstairs window of her house. She was waving at them. They waved back.
I have a new friend! thought Addie. She remembered what Madame Furia said about other kinds of magic. Friendship was definitely one of them.
Tomorrow, maybe they’d discover some more.
TURN THE PAGE FOR A SNEAK PEEK AT ADDIE AND CLARA’S NEXT MAGICAL BUTTERFLY ADVENTURE!
COMING SOON!
Sky Dance! I’m here in Wishing Wing Grove to help you. Where are you?
Addie remained quiet, her eyes shut tight. She could hear crickets in the distance. The squawk of a bird high up in a tree somewhere. The flit-flut o
f butterfly wings and the soft jingle of rushing water in the nearby creek. But nothing from Sky Dance. Addie wasn’t sure this was going to work. She’d never had a magical thought connection with anything before. Was it like a telephone? Was there a way to “call” her friend?
Suddenly, her head filled not with a sound but . . . a feeling. A feeling of deep, dark sadness. It was so powerful, Addie let out a sob.
“What’s wrong?” asked Clara, putting her hand on her sister’s shoulder.
“She’s hurting,” said Addie.
“Who hurt her?” growled Shimmer Leaf. “Where is she hurting? Her wing? Her legs?”
“It’s not pain in her body,” said Addie, shaking her head. “It’s pain in her heart.”
Shimmer Leaf’s antennae and wings drooped. “You mean . . . her feelings are hurt?”
“Yes.” Addie was sure of it now.
“It must have been something Blue Rain said to her,” said Clara.
Shimmer Leaf rolled her big bead-like eyes. “You’ve got to be kidding me. She flew away and hid because of that?”
“I can find her,” said Addie, but inside she was thinking, I think I can find her. I hope I can find her. She closed her eyes again and listened. Now she heard something:
I am not, I am not, I am not, I am not.
Addie took a few steps, and the voice grew the tiniest bit louder in her head.
Am not! She’s wrong! The thoughts from Sky Dance continued, and Addie let them guide her farther into Wishing Wing Grove. She moved past the Changing Tree, which was a huge willow with branches reaching and twisting in every direction. Then along the creek, its water clear as glass, its banks dotted with yellow crickets who shared the Grove with the butterflies and made catchy music. Sky Dance’s thoughts stopped being words and changed to soft cries. Addie’s feet seemed to know where they were going even if she didn’t.
Eventually, Addie reached a willow tree on the edge of the creek. Its roots were thick and knotted, and underneath this tangle, there was a little cave of dirt and rocks. Addie sat on the biggest root and put her head between her legs so it hung upside down, looking into the blackness of the cave. She couldn’t see anything, but Sky Dance’s cries were louder than ever.
Tiger Streak's Tale Page 4
