Power Play

by Titania Woods

  ‘Us?’ Twink blinked in surprise. ‘But we’re Stealers!’

  ‘Yes, but it’s more of a Stealer move than a Guard one. Now, what I want you to do is . . .’

  Twink’s wings began to tingle as Romi explained the play. She exchanged an eager glance with Summer and Zayna. The Power Play was an outrageous move – but if it worked, it was going to be brilliant!

  The magpie’s call sounded, signalling the end of the time out. Twink and the other two flew out on to the field. There was a startled buzz as the crowd saw that the players had changed.

  The Flea sat on the centre post. Normally the Guards hovered loosely around him at the start of play, but now Twink and the others surrounded the little insect in a tight circle, not quite touching him.

  The Sparklelight team had got into their places as well. Tasha was frowning, obviously trying to work out what was going on. Twink grinned to herself. With any luck, she was about to find out!

  The magpie’s call sounded again, and the players fluttered into action. ‘Now!’ cried Twink.

  Quick as light, Zayna grabbed the Flea and held him tightly against her chest. With their arms linked through hers on either side, the Glitterwings Guards flew straight at the Stealers.

  Twink saw Tasha’s eyes widen as she realised what they were doing. So long as Zayna was clutching the Flea, no Stealer could grab him without getting tagged by Summer or Twink – and meanwhile, banded together, the three of them could go after whichever Stealer they liked!

  ‘One . . . two . . . three . . .’ counted Zayna as they shot across the field.

  The rules of Fledge said that the Guards could only take hold of the Flea once per match, for up to thirty seconds. This was mainly so that the Guards could catch the insect if he went out of bounds – but, as Romi had pointed out, there was nothing in the rules that said they couldn’t hold on to him for some other reason!

  The remaining Sparklelight players jetted away in a frenzy, with the Guards right behind. Summer quickly tagged two of them, and then the trio turned neatly in the air, diving downwards so that Twink could snag a third.

  ‘HURRAH!’ screamed the crowd, bobbing up and down above the grandstand like excited bumblebees. Their banners waved in the rain.

  ‘Seventeen . . . eighteen . . . nineteen . . .’ chanted Zayna. She held tight to the Flea as he struggled sulkily.

  ‘Hurry!’ cried Twink. ‘There’s only Tasha left!’

  The Sparklelight Games Fairy led them a merry chase, darting this way and that about the field. ‘Twenty-one . . . twenty-two . . . twenty-three . . .’ continued Zayna. The Flea writhed in her grasp, kicking its legs.

  Twink spotted a flash of Tasha’s silvery hair around a post, and tugged at Zayna and Summer. ‘Go left!’

  The three of them plunged sideways, hanging on to each other. With a quick somersault, Tasha shot through a hole.

  Breaking away from Zayna, Twink flew after Tasha on her own, diving through the hole in pursuit. Tasha had flown straight up and then twisted off to one side, and the wind whistled through Twink’s hair as she followed.

  ‘Twenty-eight . . . oh!’

  Up above, Twink saw that the Flea had escaped Zayna’s grasp and was bounding from pole to pole, heading straight for Tasha. Eyes narrowed in concentration, Twink put on a burst of speed. She almost had her . . . almost . . . yes!

  Twink tagged Tasha’s foot just before the Sparklelight Games Fairy reached the Flea. ‘HURRAH!’ screamed the crowd. They erupted into deafening cheers, waving their banners.

  ‘We won! We won!’ shrieked Summer, tackling Twink in a mid-air hug. Zayna and the rest of the team followed, piling into Twink in a jubilant, screeching group. The fairies drifted to the ground, wings fluttering.

  ‘Romi!’ Twink threw her arms around the purple-haired fairy. ‘Your Power Play was brilliant!’

  Romi squeezed her back, bouncing up and down. ‘So was that final move of yours. Oh, Twink, we’re really going to the Fairy Finals!’

  ‘What a sneaky manoeuvre!’ laughed Tasha. Swooping over to them, she offered her wing to Twink. ‘But you’d better watch out – we know it now, and we’ll be using it next time.’

  Romi grinned as Tasha flew off after her players to the visitors’ changing log. ‘Yes, that’s the only problem with it – when you use it, you teach it to the other team! But don’t worry, Twink – I’ve got a few other tricks up my wing.’

  ‘Good,’ said Twink firmly, linking her arm through Romi’s. ‘I’ll be counting on you.’

  ‘And we’ll be counting on you,’ retorted Romi with a smile. ‘You’re a great Games Fairy, Twink – just like I knew you could be!’

  ‘Three cheers for Twink,’ cried Vera excitedly. ‘Let’s hear it for Twink!’

  ‘Hip, hip, hooray!’ shouted the team, clapping their wings together. ‘Hip, hip, hooray!’

  Twink’s cheeks caught fire, but she lifted her head with a shy smile. She gazed at them all – at Summer, with her orange hair and shining eyes, and Romi looking flushed and happy, and at Vera and Zayna and all the rest of them – and her heart swelled.

  ‘Thank you – all of you,’ she said. ‘You’re the best team ever!’

  ‘So are you sorry now that you didn’t resign?’ teased Bimi as they got ready for bed that night.

  Twink smiled as she combed out her long pink hair. Overhead, the bluebells that hung over her bed gleamed in the light of the glow-worm lanterns. ‘Well, at first I wasn’t sure,’ she admitted. ‘But Bimi, I think . . . I think maybe I might be a good Games Fairy after all.’

  ‘Of course you are,’ said Bimi warmly. ‘I never doubted that you could be!’

  With a contented sigh, Twink got up and gazed out of her window. The mist had cleared, and the Fledge field gleamed in the moonlight.

  Twink thought about how excited she’d been when she was first made Games Fairy, though she hadn’t really known anything about it – all she’d thought of was how important it sounded, and how exciting it would be.

  Having so much responsibility had turned out to be very different from what she had thought . . . but Twink realised that she wouldn’t change it for the world now, even knowing how hard it was. And that made it better, somehow – as though being Games Fairy really belonged to her, in a way that it hadn’t before.

  Joining her at the window, Bimi rubbed her wing against hers. ‘I’m proud of you, you know,’ she said softly.

  Twink leaned against her. ‘Thanks,’ she said.

  Further along their loft, Pix and Sili were going over their Flower Power homework together. Up above, Twink could hear Sooze’s voice, arguing good-naturedly with Mariella. ‘Now, look here, Mosquito-Nose . . .’

  Propping her chin on her hands, Twink breathed in the smells of the damp spring night. How lucky she was, to be a fourth-year student at Glitterwings Academy – and the school Games Fairy too!

  The poles on the Fledge field rose up in the moonlight as Twink thought of all the games her team would play there over the next few years. And whether they won or lost, she would be there, doing her best to lead them.

  ‘You know what, Bimi?’ said Twink after a pause.

  ‘What?’ asked her best friend with a friendly nudge.

  Twink smiled. ‘I’m sort of proud of me, too.’