In the Game

by Kiki Thorpe

  “Where should we race?” Kate asked.

  “Your choice, love.” Now that she’d gotten her way, Vidia was feeling generous.

  They both looked around. Vidia knew from her last trip through the portal that they were in Mia and Gabby’s backyard. It looked different now, though. Last time there had been snow on the ground.

  Kate pointed to a gap between two houses. Far in the distance, Vidia could see a tall pole with a line attached. “We’ll race to that telephone pole. Ready?”

  Vidia nodded. “Start us off.”

  “On your mark,” Kate said, crouching beside her. “Get set… Go!”

  When Kate said “Go!” Vidia shot forward so fast that Kate could feel the breeze from her wings. In seconds the fairy was far ahead. She looked like a tiny dot of light, a faint shooting star against the blue sky.

  Kate watched as she disappeared from view. “Sorry, Vidia,” she said softly. “I’ll have to race you some other time.”

  She wondered how long it would take the fairy to notice she hadn’t followed. Kate knew Vidia would be furious at the trick. But right now she had something more important to worry about—finding Rascal.

  “Here, Rascal! Here, doggy!” Kate called as she ran back to the spot where she’d left him. She thought she heard the jingle of dog tags. But it turned out only to be wind chimes tinkling in someone’s backyard.

  She checked up and down the alley, trying to ignore the rising feeling of panic. How long had she been talking to Vidia? Five minutes? Ten? Rascal could be far away by now. And there was no telling which way he’d gone.

  Or was there? After all, she had fairy dust. Kate knew from her flights around Never Land that the best way to see in every direction was to look from above.

  Kate looked around. The alley was empty. Now was her chance.

  She closed her eyes and tried to think light, happy thoughts. She imagined herself floating up like a feather on the breeze. A second later she felt her feet rising off the ground.

  Kate opened her eyes and gasped. How different it was flying above her neighborhood! She could see everything! She looked straight down into Mia’s backyard—there were some toys Gabby had left out on the lawn. And there, two doors down, was Lainey’s house, with the old toolshed in the back. I’ll bet I can even see my house from here, Kate thought, turning to look.

  “Oh no!” she whispered. Mia, Lainey, and Gabby were coming down the block!

  Quickly, she ducked behind the branches of a tree. She watched through the leaves as her friends came through the side gate into Mia’s backyard.

  “Kate? Are you here?” Mia said, looking around. “I guess she’s not back yet.”

  “I can’t believe we didn’t find Rascal,” Lainey said. “What am I going to do?”

  “We could put up posters,” Gabby suggested. “You know, with a picture of Rascal. Maybe someone will call if they see him.”

  “I don’t have a picture of Rascal,” Lainey said. “Besides, I don’t want the whole neighborhood to know I lost him. Not yet, anyway.”

  “Okay,” said Mia. “We’ll keep looking.”

  Kate felt terrible. Poor Lainey, she thought. She thinks it’s her fault. Kate had to find that dog!

  She flew up to the nearest rooftop, landed lightly, and looked around.

  Mia’s street was mostly houses. But on the next block over was a row of tall brick buildings. There Kate saw something strange. A flock of pigeons filled the sky, flapping their wings and cooing. They settled down on a rooftop, only to rise into the air again a second later.

  Something is scaring them, Kate thought. And she thought she might know what.

  Sure enough, Rascal appeared, soaring through the air like super-dog. He sailed over a gap between two buildings, joyfully chasing the pigeons from their roosts.

  Kate flew down the street, leaping across rooftops and ducking behind chimneys like a spy. But when she reached the block with the tall buildings, she paused. To get to Rascal, she had to cross over a street. Out in the open, someone might see her. There would be nothing to hide behind.

  Kate waited as a few cars passed, their drivers hidden inside. On the sidewalk, a woman was pushing a baby stroller. But her back was to Kate. There was no one else on the block. It was now or never.

  Kate took a deep breath and leaped from the rooftop. As she flew across the street, her shadow passed right over the woman in the stroller.

  Kate sucked in her breath. Oh no! Her shadow! Why hadn’t she thought of that?

  The woman stopped, startled. She turned to look up at the sky just as Kate flew over the ledge of the apartment building and quickly ducked down behind it. Safe!

  On the far side of the roof, Rascal was still having the time of his life chasing pigeons. But the next time he came flying past, Kate was ready. She grabbed the end of his leash.

  Rascal didn’t want to be caught. He strained after the pigeons. He was surprisingly strong for such a small dog, even when floating in the air. But this time Kate wasn’t going to let him go.

  “You’re coming with me,” Kate said, dragging him toward the edge of the building.

  Kate pulled one way. Rascal pulled the other. High in the air, they played tug-of-war. But little by little, Kate was winning. She managed to pull him toward the alley behind the building.

  They were almost to the ground when the hairs on Kate’s neck prickled. She sensed, even before she saw, that someone else had come into the alley.

  Slowly she turned her eyes to the ground. Three astonished faces stared up at her.

  “Kate?” Lainey said. “What are you doing?”

  Kate didn’t know what to say. Her mouth opened and closed silently. She felt just like Rascal trying to bark.

  As if he sensed her hesitation, the dog gave an extra-hard lunge and jerked the leash from her hands. “No!” Kate yelled as he flew up and away.

  She was about to go after him. But Mia grabbed her foot. “Kate, get down here! Someone will see!” she hissed.

  “I just had him!” Kate groaned as she watched Rascal soar away over the top of the building. But she landed next to her friends.

  As soon as Kate was on the ground, they began asking questions all at once.

  “What is going on?”

  “Where have you been?”

  “Why do you have fairy dust?”

  “How come Rascal is flying?”

  Busted, Kate thought with a sigh. She told her friends how Rascal had accidentally gotten covered in fairy dust, and how she’d tricked Vidia into sharing some of her own so she could go after him.

  “But why did you have fairy dust in your pocket to begin with?” Lainey asked.

  Kate felt her cheeks grow warm. “For the soccer game,” she admitted.

  Gabby’s mouth fell open. “You were going to cheat?”

  “No! It wasn’t cheating. I was just…” Kate trailed off. It would be cheating, wouldn’t it? said a voice inside her. That was why it had felt so bad all along.

  That settles it, she decided. I’m not a cheater, and I never will be.

  “I’m not going to do it,” she told her friends. “It was just a big, big mistake.” As soon as she said it, Kate felt better than she had all morning. She turned to Lainey. “I’m really sorry about Rascal. But I’m going to get him back, I promise.”

  “Okay. But where did he go?” Lainey asked.

  “Well, he likes chasing birds and squirrels,” Kate said. “So I bet he’ll be wherever they are.”

  The girls looked at each other. “City Park!” they said in unison.

  It was three blocks to the park, and they ran the whole way. But when they got there, Kate’s heart sank. There were so many people. Even if they found Rascal, how would they get him down without anyone noticing?

  “What are we going to do when we find him?” Lainey asked as if reading her thoughts.

  “I don’t know,” Kate admitted. “But the good thing is, he’s been flying so much, his fairy dust shoul
d wear off soon.”

  They walked past joggers, bikers, and children playing. There were plenty of dogs in the park, too. But none of them were flying.

  As they passed a woman talking to a policeman, Kate overheard the officer say, “A bear? Are you sure, ma’am?”

  “Yes,” the woman said firmly. “It was a bear, I’m telling you. It was up in a tree.”

  Kate stopped in her tracks. Her friends stopped, too. “What?” Lainey asked.

  Kate motioned to her to be quiet. She knelt and pretended to tie her shoelace so she could listen.

  “My son saw it first,” the woman was saying. She turned to the little boy standing next to her. “Tell the policeman what you saw, Wade.”

  “He was up in a tree,” the boy said. “He had white spots.”

  The policeman frowned. “I’ve never heard of a bear with white spots. Are you sure it wasn’t something else? A raccoon, maybe?”

  “It looked like a dog,” the boy said.

  “I told you, sweetie. Dogs can’t climb way up in trees,” said his mother. “Are you going to do something about it?” she asked the policeman.

  “I’ll check it out,” he replied. “Where did you say it was?”

  “Over there, in those trees.” The woman pointed to a leafy section of the park.

  Kate straightened up. “C’mon!” she whispered to her friends. “We have to find Rascal before that policeman does!”

  They ran as fast as they could. When they got to the trees, they spread out, whistling and calling in loud whispers. “Rascal! Here, boy!”

  “I found him!” Gabby yelled suddenly.

  They turned to where she was standing. Looking up, Kate saw Rascal sitting high up in the branches of a big tree. He grinned down at her, panting.

  “Why is he just sitting there?” Mia asked.

  “It looks like his leash is wrapped around the trunk,” Lainey said. “Kate, can you get it?”

  “No problem.”

  But just as Kate was about to fly into the branches, Mia grabbed her. “Hello, Officer,” she said loudly, squeezing Kate’s arm.

  Kate turned and saw the policeman walking toward them. “You kids better go play somewhere else,” he told them. “I’ve had a report of a wild animal around here.”

  “We haven’t seen anything, and we’ve been here all, uh, morning,” Mia said, squeezing Kate’s arm even harder. Kate knew how much Mia hated to fib.

  “No?” The policeman glanced around. Please don’t look up, Kate silently begged. For the first time, she was glad that Rascal couldn’t bark.

  The policeman nodded. “Well, let me know if you do. How was the game?” he added, looking at Kate.

  “What?” Kate asked, confused.

  “How was your soccer game? Did you win?” he asked, pointing to her Fireballs jersey.

  Kate clapped a hand over her mouth. She’d almost forgotten about the game! “What time is it?” she asked the policeman.

  He looked at his watch. “Eleven on the dot.”

  “I’ve got to go!” Kate started to run toward the soccer fields.

  “Kate, wait!” Lainey called after her. “What should we do?”

  “Don’t do anything!” Kate yelled. “I’ll fix everything just as soon as I’m back.” I should still have enough fairy dust by then, she added to herself. But then her stomach dropped.

  Oh no! The game was about to start—and she was covered in fairy dust!

  Vidia blazed over the city. She flew past metal chimneys belching steam. She crossed busy roads that roared like raging streams. She passed buildings ten times taller than the Home Tree, each window as big as a cave.

  Everything in the Clumsy world was enormous, but Vidia felt far from tiny. Speed made her powerful. She might have been as small as a hummingbird, but she felt like a giant inside.

  All through the race, Vidia had been tempted to look back to see how far ahead she was. Instead, she kept her eyes fixed on the finish line. Vidia prided herself on focus. It was what made her better than other fliers.

  As the telephone pole loomed in front of her, Vidia put on an extra burst of speed. She shot past the pole, crying, “I win!”

  She turned to see Kate’s reaction. But Kate wasn’t there.

  Vidia chuckled. “I flew even faster than I thought!” Of course, she’d known all along that she would win. Still, she was surprised at how far Kate had fallen behind.

  She waited, circling the telephone pole impatiently. But as the minutes passed, Vidia realized that Kate wasn’t coming. Somewhere along the way, the girl had dropped out of the race.

  “That cheat!” Vidia fumed. “To think I gave her even a speck of my fairy dust!” She started back, plotting what she’d do to Kate when she found her.

  But Vidia had been so focused on winning, she hadn’t paid attention to what way she’d come. The city roared around her, a confusing maze of buildings and car-clogged roads. Vidia spun in the air.

  Then, below on the sidewalk, she spied a flash of long red hair. “Aha!” Vidia snarled. “There you are!”

  She made a beeline for the girl, dive-bombing so fast that the air whistled around her. When she reached Kate, Vidia pinched her just above the elbow. Hard.

  The girl yelped in surprise. But as she turned to examine her arm, Vidia saw that it wasn’t Kate after all. This girl was much older, almost a grown-up. She looked right at Vidia without seeing her.

  Vidia backed away and scanned the crowded sidewalk. Whoosh! A bicycle whizzed past, blowing her right out of the air. She landed in the street.

  As she picked herself up, the ground began to tremble. She looked up and saw a great metal monster rushing toward her.

  For the first time in her life, Vidia froze.

  The car passed over her. For a moment, the noise and rumble and fumes seemed to swallow her. Then, an instant later it was gone, and she was coughing on the other side. Vidia breathed a sigh of relief—until she saw the next car coming.

  She darted away just in time. She dodged the wheels of another passing bicycle and zipped between the moving legs of people hurrying this way and that. Vidia was nimble and fast, but the city swirled around her, big and confusing.

  As far from giant as she’d been when she was racing, now Vidia felt helpless as a bug. She had to get away from this busy street!

  When she saw trees, she flew toward them. Vidia recognized the park when she got there. She’d been there once before, with Kate and her friends. Back then it had been covered in snow. It looked different now, with leaves on the trees and the grass all green.

  And everywhere she looked she saw Clumsies. Clumsies walking, Clumsies running, Clumsies playing. To Vidia they all looked the same—big, slow, and clumsy.

  Then, to her surprise, she spied three Clumsies she actually knew. Mia, Lainey, and Gabby were standing beneath a tree, looking up at something in its branches. Vidia zoomed toward them. They would know where Kate was.

  But as she got closer, Vidia slowed, then paused. There was an animal in the tree. It was smaller than a wolf, but bigger than a fox.

  A dog, Vidia thought as the word came to her. Well, that was nothing to worry about. Dogs were dull, earthbound animals, not much better than their Clumsy masters. It was odd, though—she’d never seen one in a tree before.

  When it saw Vidia, the dog went into a silent frenzy. But it didn’t move from its branch. She looked closer and saw that it was attached to the tree by a tether.

  Feeling reassured, Vidia started toward the girls again, flying at her usual high speed. As she dove toward them, she heard a snap.

  The dog had broken free from his collar. He was running toward her.

  No, not running—flying!

  As the animal bore down on her, all she saw was its great pink tongue and sharp white teeth. “Rascal, no!” she heard Lainey cry.

  Vidia fled. But when she chanced a look back over her shoulder, she saw that the dog was right behind her. Vidia put on a burst of speed.


  Then Vidia swerved around a tree. She zigzagged left, right, and left again. But no matter what direction she went in, the dog matched her speed.

  Faster. Faster. Faster!

  Vidia’s shoulders ached. Her lungs were bursting. But the dog showed no sign of stopping. She zoomed on across the park.

  She was finally getting the race she had wanted. And it was terrifying!

  On the soccer field, Kate was having her own problems. She stood in front of the goal. Her feet were spread wide. Her hands were ready. Sweat beaded on her forehead.

  “I will not fly,” Kate whispered to herself. “I will not fly.”

  The key to flying was to think of light, happy things. Thoughts that made your insides feel like a helium-filled balloon. So Kate tried to do the opposite. She thought of heavy, dreary things—a bad head cold, a backpack full of homework, a birthday party spoiled by rain. She imagined that her shoes were full of wet sand.

  Most of all, she imagined losing the game. Unfortunately, that wasn’t so hard to do.

  “Come on, goalie! Move your feet!” someone’s dad yelled as the ball flew past Kate into the net.

  Kate’s cheeks burned. She hated it when parents yelled at the players. But one glance at Coach Christy told her the dad wasn’t too far off. The coach’s arms were folded and she was frowning.

  There was no doubt about it. Kate was playing her worst game ever. She had promised herself she wouldn’t cheat. But that was turning out to be harder than she’d thought. With fairy dust, one little leap could send her soaring. Kate was afraid to do more than shuffle her feet a little.

  The teams returned to the midfield line for the kickoff. Right away, the Thunders got control of the ball and brought it back up the field. This time the shot came high and to the right. Kate timidly stretched out her arm to block it. But she didn’t even come close. It was only luck that saved her this time—the ball bounced off the goalpost.

  The other team had started to catch on, though. Each time they shot, they tried to send the ball high, knowing Kate wouldn’t jump for it. At halftime, Kate’s team was down 0–2.