‘Hello, Pinky,’ he said. ‘Have you been having fun?’
.
Chapter Seven
Twink held back a squawk as Timmy picked up her jar and carried her over to his desk. Anger sizzled through her as she saw that he was eating some sort of chocolate biscuit. He could at least offer her a bite – she’d only had a bit of bread all day!
But he popped the last morsel into his mouth without seeming to give it a thought. ‘You’re different from the other fairies,’ he announced, brushing chocolate crumbs from his chin. ‘Are you the same sort as them?’
Twink shrugged, her thoughts racing. Somehow, she had to get him to unscrew the lid and let her out – but how? She held back a shriek as he picked up her jar again, turning it this way and that.
‘The others look really drab compared with you,’ said Timmy. He looked wistful. ‘I wish I had more fairies like you in my collection.’
An idea started to form in Twink’s mind. She swallowed hard, wondering if it could possibly work. But she had no other choice than to try.
She raised an eyebrow as if she were surprised. ‘More fairies like me?’ she echoed. ‘But what for? I’m nothing special. There are loads of other fairies who are much more interesting.’
Timmy stared at her. ‘Really?’
‘Of course,’ said Twink. ‘I’m just a boring old nature fairy – you can get one of us anywhere. And as for those tooth fairies up in your wardrobe . . .’ She tsked, shaking her head. ‘Really, Timmy! I don’t know what you’re bothering with that lot for.’
‘What do you mean?’ demanded Timmy, looking hurt. ‘I’ve got a great fairy collection.’
‘Well . . .’ Twink pulled a face.
‘I have!’ insisted Timmy. He shook her jar slightly, scowling.
‘Oh, it’s all right, I suppose,’ yawned Twink. ‘But if you want a really good collection, you should get some sparkle fairies. They’re the rarest fairies in the world. Nobody else has a sparkle fairy collection!’
An almost hungry look crossed Timmy’s face. He lifted up her jar, peering in at her. ‘What are sparkle fairies?’
Twink had no idea, since no such thing existed! She thought fast. ‘They come in all different colours,’ she said. ‘And they sparkle when they fly. In fact, they – they glow in the dark, like little stars!’
Timmy’s jaw dropped. ‘Glow in the dark? Wow! How can I get some?’
‘It wouldn’t be easy,’ said Twink thoughtfully. ‘They’re very shy. But if you like, I could summon some for you. Only you’d have to let me out of the jar first.’ She held her breath, hardly daring to move while Timmy thought it over.
‘You couldn’t summon them from inside the jar?’ he said finally.
Twink shook her head so hard that her pink hair tumbled about her face. ‘No, I need room to move about,’ she told him firmly.
‘All right,’ decided Timmy. ‘Only I’d better shut the window first.’ He put her jar down, and Twink watched in dismay as he went across and swung the bedroom window closed. Never mind, she told herself. If her plan succeeded, then they’d work out how to open the window once they got to it!
There was a whoosh of air as the Terrible Timmy unscrewed Twink’s lid. ‘Come on, then,’ he said eagerly, tipping her out on to the desk.
Twink fluttered from the jar, breathing deeply. She had never dreamed that fresh air could taste so good!
‘All right, I just need to – to prepare myself,’ she said.
Her thoughts were racing. Though Mariella was very good at glamours and could cast them practically from thin air, she herself needed to have some sort of object in place, which she could then disguise as something else. What, though? She looked around the room, trying desperately to find something.
‘What are you waiting for?’ demanded Timmy.
He moved the lamp on his desk, adjusting it so that its beam shone right on her. All at once Twink could see hundreds of tiny dust motes floating past. She grinned. Suddenly she knew exactly what she was going to do!
‘All right, I’m ready,’ she said.
Closing her eyes, Twink began to move her hands in the complicated patterns of the spell, carefully imagining what the sparkle fairies would look like. She made them just her size, and in all different colours, glimmering like tiny rainbows.
‘WHOA!’ shouted Timmy. He sprang up from his chair with a clatter.
Twink opened her eyes and saw him leaping about the room, trying fruitlessly to grab dust motes. Though Twink couldn’t be fooled by her own spell, she knew that to Timmy, the bedroom was now filled with dancing, swirling sparkle fairies – which would be very difficult to catch!
She jetted to the wardrobe. Thankfully, its door still stood open. Hurrying to Midnight’s jar, she landed on the rim and started pushing at the lid. But it was too smooth for her hands to get a grip on.
‘Twink, what are you doing?’ hissed Midnight. ‘Just fly away! If Timmy catches you –’
Twink ignored her. She needed something to grasp it with, somehow! Remembering an object she’d seen on the desk, she swooped back to grab it, and a moment later was back at Midnight’s jar again, pulling a rubber band around the lid.
‘Stay still!’ bellowed Timmy, snatching at the air. ‘I almost had you that time!’
The rubber band gave Twink a firm grip that hadn’t been possible on the slippery metal. This time when she pushed at the lid, she thought it moved a tiny bit. Beating her wings as hard as she could, she shoved and strained. The lid seemed to hesitate – and then suddenly came loose in a rush.
Hurrah! Twink pushed it off the jar. Midnight stood inside, blinking up at her. ‘You did it,’ she gasped. ‘Oh, Twink, you’re brilliant!’
‘Hurry,’ whispered Twink. ‘You have to help me with the others!’
She returned to the desk for another rubber band, dodging past Timmy’s flailing hands. He hardly seemed to notice her – he was too busy grabbing at the ‘sparkle fairies’!
When she returned to the wardrobe, Midnight had already set another of the fairies free. Working together, they flitted from jar to jar, unscrewing the lids. The tooth fairies flew out of their prisons in a daze.
When Twink reached Moonbeam’s jar, the prickly fairy bit her lip in fright. ‘Oh, Twink – what will he do if he sees us –’
Twink pushed off her lid. ‘Let’s not stay and find out!’ she said. ‘The spell will last for a few minutes yet – come on!’
Peering out from the wardrobe, Twink waited until the Terrible Timmy had his back to them, and then she motioned for the others to follow. They flew towards the window in a straggling line.
To Twink’s alarm, some of the tooth fairies weren’t flying very well – it was obvious that they hadn’t stretched their wings properly in ages. She had to get them out of here before Timmy spotted them!
Reaching the window, Twink saw with relief that it was worked by a simple latch. ‘Midnight, help me!’ she cried. Fluttering madly, the two of them pulled down on the latch until it opened with a click, and then flew forward, pushing with all their might. The window swung open.
‘Hurry, hurry!’ cried Twink.
The tooth fairies flew past her out of the open window. ‘Oh! It’s so lovely!’ breathed one of them.
Timmy’s face was red with frustration. ‘Stay STILL!’ he shouted at the air, stamping his foot on the carpet. ‘This isn’t fair! I only want a few of you!’
Twink darted out of the window last of all. Suddenly she was hovering above the long garden that she remembered. It was twilight, with the first few stars just beginning to appear in the darkening sky.
‘NO!’ came an agonised shout. Twink turned and looked, her heart thudding. In the bedroom behind her, she could see Timmy gaping around him in dismay. ‘They’ve gone!’ he cried
.
The spell had ended! Twink whirled about. ‘Fly!’ she shouted. ‘Fly as fast as you can!’
‘Oh, Twink – I can’t, my wing –’ gasped Moonbeam. She was grimacing with pain, her left wing faltering as she tried to flutter.
Twink darted to her side, putting an arm around her. ‘Come on, I’ll fly with you. The rest of you – go, go!’
‘MY FAIRIES HAVE ESCAPED!’ howled Timmy from the bedroom.
Glancing back, Twink saw him hanging out of the window, glaring right at her. ‘You tricked me!’ he bellowed, shaking his fist. He vanished abruptly, and Twink heard his bedroom door bang shut.
Moonbeam let out a little moan of terror, clenching her eyes shut. ‘Oh, I knew this would happen – I just knew it –’
Twink gave her a shake. ‘Stop that! Come on and fly, or neither of us has a chance!’
Midnight appeared, putting her arm around Moonbeam’s other side. ‘Come on, I’ll help,’ she said. ‘Fly, Moonbeam! We can’t let Timmy capture us again, after all the time we spent in that wardrobe!’
Feebly, Moonbeam began to fly, with Twink and Midnight helping her along. Most of the other fairies were already far ahead of them, barely visible now in the twilight.
‘Mum! I’m just going out in the garden for a bit!’ yelled Timmy’s voice. He shot out of the back door, shining a torch and looking wildly about him. Twink’s blood ran cold as she saw that he had a jam jar in his hand.
‘Keep high, so that he can’t reach us!’ she hissed.
But Moonbeam’s wing strokes were becoming weaker and weaker – and though she wasn’t very large, it was difficult to fly while supporting her. To Twink’s dismay, they were losing height by the second.
An explosion of light burst around them, and Twink winced. Timmy had found them with his torch!
‘It’s you I want,’ said Timmy, scowling at Twink. ‘You’re the one who can do magic and summon the sparkle fairies!’
He jumped up in the air, trying to scoop Twink into the jam jar. She shrieked and jerked backwards, fluttering as hard as she could to hold on to Moonbeam.
‘Twink, go on!’ shouted Midnight. ‘It’s not us he wants – just go, get away!’
‘Aaarrgghh!’ yelled Twink as the jar whistled towards her once more. Then she was hurtling through the air in a confused rush, flattened against its glass floor. She had been captured again!
‘Ha! Thought you’d escaped, didn’t you?’ crowed Timmy.
.
Chapter Eight
Twink stared in dismay as Timmy screwed the lid on tightly. No! This couldn’t be happening!
She could just make out the tooth fairies. Drawn by the commotion, they had flown back again, and were now watching the scene with horror on their pale faces.
Timmy turned away again, heading back towards the house with Twink. ‘We’re going to have lots of fun, Pinky,’ he said. ‘Now that I know you can do magic, I can get you to do all sorts!’
‘No!’ shouted a voice behind them. Suddenly Twink could see a fairy fluttering in front of Timmy, beating her wings in his face. It was Midnight!
‘Let her go!’ she screamed, kicking his nose with her pixie boot. ‘You’ve no right! Come on, you lot – are you going to let him take her after she helped us to escape?’
Twink saw the tooth fairies glance fearfully at each other. ‘She’s right!’ cried Moonbeam, clutching her sore wing. ‘Help her, everyone, help her!’
The fairies hesitated – and then seemed to decide all at once. As one, they started flying at Timmy, darting in his face as Midnight had done. He took a step back, looking alarmed. ‘Hey! Stop that!’
‘Let her go!’ ordered Midnight. She yanked hard at a lock of his blond hair.
‘Ow! Get off!’ Swatting at his head, Timmy started to run. Twink shrieked, jolted about in her jar like a twig in a stream.
‘Stop!’ called a different voice. ‘Grab his trouser legs, everyone – hurry!’
There was a confused blur as several new fairies darted on to the scene, zooming past Twink as they joined the tooth fairies. ‘Yes, there!’ shouted the voice. ‘One, two, three – PULL!’
‘OOF!’ shouted Timmy.
The world lurched crazily as he fell. The jar catapulted out of his hand, and Twink watched helplessly as she hurtled towards the ground. Suddenly, with a mad beating of wings, three fairies appeared beneath her, stopping the jar’s fall.
‘Bimi! Sooze! Miss Shimmery!’ gasped Twink as they lowered her to the earth. A moment later they had unscrewed her lid, and Twink flew shakily out.
‘Are you all right, my dear?’ asked Miss Shimmery gently.
Twink nodded. All at once her throat felt choked with tears, and she couldn’t speak.
‘Good,’ said Miss Shimmery, patting her shoulder. ‘In that case I’d better go and see if the tooth fairies need any help. Take care of her, you two.’
She flitted off, and Bimi flung herself at Twink, hugging her hard. ‘Oh, we were so worried!’ she burst out. ‘Shadow said that Timmy didn’t hurt the fairies he caught, but –’
‘Shadow?’ repeated Twink in surprise. ‘Is she here?’
Sooze nodded. ‘It was her idea to trip up that horrible boy. You should have seen her – she flew at him like a whole army of wasps!’ Suddenly she embraced Twink tightly. ‘I’m really glad you’re OK, Opposite. And next time, don’t listen to me when I try to talk you into something!’
‘But what happened?’ asked Twink in wonder.
Quickly, Bimi and Sooze filled her in on all that had taken place while she had been captured. ‘Miss Shimmery was brilliant,’ said Sooze. ‘She didn’t scold us once; she just took care of Shadow.’
Bimi nodded. ‘And then as soon as it was evening again and Shadow was well, she let Sooze and me come along to help rescue you.’
‘Well, she couldn’t have stopped us, really,’ said Sooze with a grin.
‘Leave me alone!’ cried a voice.
Turning, Twink could see Timmy lying on the ground a short distance away, struggling to get up. The tooth fairies kept buzzing about his face, flapping and fluttering. ‘Stop it!’ he cried tearfully. ‘Just go away!’
Shadow put her hands on her hips. ‘No, we won’t,’ she said firmly. ‘Not unless you promise to leave us alone from now on!’
Timmy nodded, his mouth trembling with fright.
Miss Shimmery was hovering to one side, her expression grave. ‘I’m afraid that you’ve brought this on yourself, young human,’ she told him. ‘It’s an evil thing to keep fairies captive, you know.’
Shadow swooped closer, looking fierce. ‘Yes, and just to make sure you keep your promise, whenever you have a tooth that needs collecting from now on, at least a dozen of us will come for it – and if you ever try to catch any of us again, you’ll be sorry! Is that clear?’
Timmy gulped. ‘Y-yes,’ he whispered. Though Twink knew that the awful little boy deserved this, she couldn’t help feeling a bit sorry for him. He looked completely terrified!
‘Good,’ snapped Shadow. ‘All right, everyone – let him get up.’
The tooth fairies retreated. Timmy didn’t wait to be told again – he scrambled to his feet and ran into the house as fast as he could, banging the door shut behind him.
Sooze burst out laughing. ‘Somehow I don’t think he’ll be collecting fairies any more!’ she said. ‘Maybe he should try something safer, like flowers.’
‘Oh, I can’t believe I did that!’ Shadow gasped, pressing her hands to her cheeks. ‘I – I actually stood up to him!’
The other tooth fairies looked at her in surprise. ‘What do you mean?’ asked Moonbeam. ‘Of course you stood up to him. You’re the Brave –’
‘Don’t call me that!’ burst out Shadow. She looked close to te
ars. The other tooth fairies stared at her, their faces stricken.
Shadow gave a humourless laugh. ‘The Brave One – ha, that’s a joke! I’m anything but brave. In fact, I – I tricked Twink into coming here to collect the tooth for me, just because I was too scared to come myself.’
‘You did?’ echoed Moonbeam. ‘But we thought . . .’ She trailed off. Twink felt a pang of pity, remembering how much it had meant to the tooth fairies to hear about ‘The Brave One’ in their captivity.
‘It’s true,’ said Shadow heavily. ‘And even before this happened I was never brave. That’s why I went to live in that empty branch at Glitterwings. Because I hate being called the Brave One, when I’m really such a coward!’
‘But, Shadow, you have much more courage than you realise,’ pointed out Miss Shimmery. ‘You brought us straight here, and, despite your fear, you led the attack against the Terrible Timmy. Bravery doesn’t mean not being frightened – it’s the actions you take, whether you’re frightened or not.’
Shadow hesitated. ‘I suppose so, but . . . well, my actions towards Twink were still pretty cowardly, weren’t they?’ She turned to face Twink, her cheeks pink with shame. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘No matter how scared I was, it was awful of me to ask you to come here without telling you about the danger. I wouldn’t blame you if you hated me for it.’
Twink managed a smile. ‘No, I don’t hate you,’ she said. ‘And at least you came back and helped fight off Timmy. But, Shadow . . . what will you do now?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Shadow, looking at the ground. ‘I’ve been pretty lonely at Glitterwings. What I’d like most is to go back with the other tooth fairies . . . if they don’t mind that I’m not really all that brave.’
There was a startled silence.
‘I – I suppose being the Brave One would be a lot for any of us to live up to,’ said Moonbeam finally. ‘I’m sorry if we made you feel uncomfortable, Shadow. We’d like very much to have you back.’
Fairy in Danger Page 5
