Bobble pointed to a group of little houses. “Over there is where most of us live. That’s your house.”
“Hey! There’s your house, Tinker Bell!” Clank echoed happily.
Bobble tried to tell Clank to knock it off, but Clank was already flying toward the circular house nestled on top of a root.
“It’s mine?” Tink stared at the house. She could hardly believe how cute it was! It looked like a little teapot made out of bark—short, squat, and round, with a curly root on the side that curved like a handle. A jaunty green leaf formed the roof, and Tink caught a glimpse of a chimney peeking out the top.
She followed Clank, holding her breath.
Once inside, Tink gasped with delight.
“We were hoping the new arrival would be one of us,” Bobble explained. “So we got the place all ready.”
The inside of her little house was wonderful—round and cozy, with wood-grain walls, twig-wicker furniture, and leaf curtains. It was just perfect, as if someone had prepared it especially for her.
Tink opened the closet door and saw a row of green, leafy garments—each one larger than the last.
Uh-oh! The decor was wonderful, but the wardrobe selection was … well … She didn’t know what to say. Clank and Bobble seemed to notice her dismay.
“We rounded up some work clothes—” Bobble began.
“—but we didn’t know your size,” Clank interrupted.
“Yes, our apologies, but …”
“But they might be too big.”
“Well, that’s only—”
“—’cause you’re so tiny!” Clank finished. He stared at her between his fingers, as if he were measuring her.
Bobble elbowed Clank to let him know he was being impolite. “That’ll do, Clank.”
Tink gave them the biggest smile she could to show that she wasn’t worried. She’d figure something out. There were so many things to be pleased with, she could hardly contain her happiness.
Bobble smiled, clearly relieved that she wasn’t upset. “Please come on down to the workshop when you’re ready. Fairy Mary will want to meet you!”
Clank and Bobble bowed and left Tink to enjoy her new home. She couldn’t wait to see more of Pixie Hollow! But before she could go out and about, she was going to have to put on something besides a dandelion nightgown.
She took a humongous leaf muumuu out of the closet and pulled it over her head. It was the perfect size—for Clank.
After a moment of thought, Tink grabbed a pair of thorn-shears from a table and began to cut. With the help of a pine needle and some spider-silk thread, she solved her wardrobe problem in no time.
Her mop of blond hair fell into her eyes and she pushed it away impatiently. Now, if she could just do something with this hair …
She glanced in the mirror and twisted her hair on top of her head with one hand. Her lips curved into a broad smile.
Yep! That was the look.
Sometime later, Tink found the workshop by following the sound of hammering. The wide, bustling room was scattered with worktables and carpenters’ benches. All the work areas were piled high with woven-grass baskets, acorn buckets, and spider-silk sacks.
On the far side of the workshop, Tink spotted Clank and Bobble fixing a wagon. She hurried to join them.
Using a stone hammer, Clank was trying—and failing—to pound a wheel onto an axle.
Bobble pulled at Clank’s tunic. “Stop!” he said. He leaned in to examine the axle. “A five-gauge twig for an axle? Clank, I told you it took a seven!”
“You said five,” Clank argued.
“I said seven!” Bobble insisted. “Clank, I tell you, sometimes you can be pretty—” He broke off when he saw Tinker Bell.
Clank stared at Tink. “Who’s that, then?” he asked Bobble.
“It’s Tinker Bell, you snail brain!” Bobble said.
Clank’s mouth fell open. “Ohhhh!”
Tinker Bell couldn’t help laughing. She knew she looked different—but she hadn’t realized just how different!
Tink looked around. “Wow!” she exclaimed. “Everyone seems so busy!”
“Well, spring won’t spring itself!” said Clank.
Bobble nodded. “Indeed, my bellowing buddy—and we tinkers are a big part of it.” He turned to Tink. “Allow us to elucidate, Miss Bell!”
“We fiddle and fix!” Bobble began singing.
“We craft and create!” Clank joined in.
“We carve acorn buckets—”
“—to hold flower paint!”
“Weave saddles and satchels—”
“—for birdies, you see!”
“Make baskets and bushels—”
“—to carry the seeds!”
“When preparing for spring—”
“—we do all this and more!”
“Yes,” they finished together, “being a tinker is never a bore!”
Clank and Bobble ran out of breath and broke off, laughing.
Tinker Bell clapped with delight. “That was great!”
“So you see, Miss Bell,” Bobble explained, “we help fairies of every talent with our creations!”
“Unfortunately, all those fairies are out of luck this year,” a stern voice interrupted, “unless we can actually deliver these things to them!” Bobble and Clank snapped to attention as a stout tinker fairy flew toward them.
Her hair was pulled back in a businesslike way, and every pocket of her green leaf-tunic bulged with tools. She made a soft landing and did some quick calculations on a birdseed abacus. “The wagon repairs are finished, I trust?”
Clank and Bobble exchanged a worried look—the repairs were far from finished! They stepped in front of the broken wagon to hide the missing wheel. “Uh—yes, Fairy Mary,” Clank lied.
“Tip-top shape,” Bobble agreed.
“No wheels missing whatsoever!” Clank added unconvincingly.
Fairy Mary looked skeptical. She tried to peek around them. “Then let’s see it.”
“Um … See? Define ‘see’ … ,” Bobble said, stammering and playing for time Clank followed Bobble’s lead. “With your eyes, you mean? Uhhh …”
Suddenly, Bobble pointed to Tink. “Oh! You have to meet Tinker Bell!” he blurted out, hoping to divert Fairy Mary’s attention.
Fairy Mary’s head swiveled. “What? Who?”
Clank beamed. “She’s new, Fairy Mary!”
“Nice to meet you,” Tinker Bell said, feeling shy again.
Fairy Mary’s gaze settled on Tinker Bell, and her face lit up. “Ah, rapture!” she exclaimed. “A new charge on whom we can lavish all our tinkering wisdom and expertise! Let me see those hands.” Tink held her hands out for inspection. “Crack my kettles! So dainty!” Fairy Mary smiled at Tinker Bell. “Don’t worry, dear, we’ll build up those tinker muscles in no time.”
Tinker Bell giggled.
Fairy Mary turned back to the wagon, all business again. “Now, boys, the deliveries?”
“Aye, we’re on it!” Bobble assured her. “Uh … as a matter of fact, we’re heading out right this second!”
“But we’ve only got one wheel,” Clank reminded him in a not-very-quiet whisper.
“What was that?” Fairy Mary demanded.
Bobble threw Clank a dirty look. “Well, uh, it’s nothing, really. Clank was just asking if …” He paused, searching for inspiration.
Tinker Bell stepped between Fairy Mary and the boys. “Asking if I can go as well.”
Bobble blinked behind his goggles, clearly pleased with Tink’s quick thinking. “Good one. Very nice,” he muttered to her.
Bobble spoke more loudly now so that Fairy Mary could hear. “Yes. He wondered if Tinker Bell could go with us.”
Fairy Mary regarded them all with suspicion. “Oh, very well,” she said finally. “Get on with it, then!” she added, just to remind them who was boss. Then she bustled off to attend to the next item of business.
Clank and Bobble jumped into action. Clank
picked up the axle, and Tink stood beside him to hide the missing wheel. Bobble gave a loud whistle and a mouse came galloping over to pull the cart.
“Hah!” Bobble shouted, jumping into the wagon as it lurched forward.
Tink turned to see if Fairy Mary was watching their departure, and if she had noticed the missing wheel.
She was.
She had.
And she was laughing.
Tink rode next to Bobble in the mouse-drawn wagon as they headed to Springtime Square with their many deliveries. Clank trotted along beside them, holding up the axle where the wheel was missing. “Slow down, Cheese! I can’t keep up!” he puffed.
“The mouse’s name is Cheese?” Tink asked.
Bobble shrugged. “It must be. He always comes when we yell it!”
Tink heard a pitter-patter behind the wagon. When she turned to find out what was making the sound, all she could see was swaying grass and a worried look on Clank’s face.
A very worried look!
The pitter-patter grew louder. Tink peered through the weeds and flower stalks to see who—or what—was out there.
She glanced at Clank again. He seemed even more alarmed. His eyes were darting back and forth, searching the landscape and peering into the weeds. Tink’s heart began to pound, and she tightened her grip on the edge of her seat. She had a feeling that something bad was about to happen.
Suddenly, Clank lurched forward. “Sprinting Thistles!” he yelled.
Tall, prickly plants came running toward them at full speed. They gouged the sides of the wagon, scratching the paint and poking Clank in the backside.
“AAAUGH!” Clank screamed.
Cheese was so scared that he bolted ahead, pulling the wagon on one wobbly wheel.
The wagon careened wildly down the path with Tink and Bobble holding on for dear life.
As they barreled into Springtime Square, Tink caught a quick glimpse of fairies flitting back and forth, carrying berries, seeds, pots, and baskets. Piles of supplies were neatly stacked everywhere. Then the wagon hit a bump—and soared into the air! Tink and Bobble yelled, and fairies scattered in every direction, jumping and diving to get out of the way.
The wagon landed with a tremendous THUMP! Tink and Bobble were thrown to the ground, and Cheese squeaked in dismay.
Fawn ran toward the scene of the crash with some other fairies. She grasped Cheese’s bridle and stroked his nose. “Easy … Easy … ,” she said in a soothing voice. The frightened mouse immediately began to calm down. “Easy, boy,” she continued. “It’s all right. Fawn’s got you.”
Tink sat up, woozy and disoriented. Silvermist ran toward her. “Easy,” Silvermist said, imitating Fawn’s tone. “Easy, girl. It’s all right. Silvermist’s got you.” She earnestly stroked Tink’s nose—which really didn’t do much more than tickle.
Rosetta and Iridessa flew to join them. “Ooooh! Are you all right, sugarcane?” asked Rosetta.
Tink tried to sit up, but Iridessa pushed her back down. “Be careful, Rosetta, she may faint!” Iridessa cried anxiously. “Elevate her legs! No, wait!” She pulled Tink back up. “I mean, I mean, her head! Wait, wait, wait… .” Iridessa chewed on a nail, muttering to herself. She was obviously trying to remember what they had told her in fairy-aid training. Then she snapped her fingers.
“If she’s red, raise the head; if she’s pale, raise the tail!” Iridessa cried triumphantly. She grabbed Tink’s face and smooshed her cheeks between her hands. “Does she look pale or red?” she asked her friends.
There was an awkward silence as the other fairies examined Tink.
“She looks squished,” Rosetta finally answered.
Iridessa’s glow flickered with embarrassment as she realized she had gone a little overboard with the fairy aid. “Sorry,” she said to Tink, letting go of her face. Tink did her best to smile reassuringly at the light fairy.
“Here, let me, raindrop,” Silvermist said. She took Tink’s arm and helped her up. “What happened to you, anyway?” she asked.
“Well, I …” Tinker Bell didn’t even know where to begin. Just then, Clank and Bobble popped up from beneath a pile of berries. “Sprinting Thistles!” Clank declared in answer to Silvermist’s question.
Fawn, Rosetta, Silvermist, and Iridessa all gasped.
Rosetta angrily put her hands on her hips. “Those weeds are an absolute menace! Always trampling things, poking people in the petunia… .”
Iridessa nodded in agreement. “I always say to steer clear of Needlepoint Meadow!”
Tinker Bell looked around and gasped in dismay when she saw that the tinkers’ wagon had crushed a whole patch of blossoms. “Oh, no! Your flowers!”
Rosetta quickly waved away Tink’s concern. “Don’t get your wings in a bunch,” she said, laughing. “It’s nothing a little stem-tuck and a petal-lift can’t cure!”
Tink felt a rush of pride as she watched Bobble and Clank straighten the wagon and organize the pots and gardening supplies in the back. The garden fairies couldn’t do what they did without the help of the tinker fairies.
“Gather round, ladies,” Bobble invited. “We’ve brought some selections from the new spring line of tinker specialties!”
“What did you bring?” Iridessa’s glow flickered with anticipation.
“Show us!” Silvermist urged.
Bobble handed Iridessa several tubes made of bark. “Your rainbow tubes, Iridessa.”
Iridessa snatched the tubes gratefully. “Finally! Silvermist, could you help me?”
Silvermist smiled and sprayed a fine mist of water into the air. Iridessa flew through it, spreading her arms and creating a rainbow with her pixie dust. Then she landed, grabbed an edge of the rainbow, and rolled it into a tube.
Tinker Bell was astounded. “What are you going to do with that?” she asked.
“I’m going to take it to the mainland!”
“What’s the mainland?” asked Tink.
“It’s where we’re going to change winter into spring!” explained Silvermist. “The seasons change all the time there.”
“I’ll get to apply my artistic sensibilities,” Rosetta said with a smile. She accepted a pussy willow paintbrush from Clank, dipped it in a nearby bucket, and began painting a blossom.
Fawn took a milkweed-pod satchel from Bobble’s hands and dropped a handful of nuts into it. “And I’ll have breakfast ready for all the little fuzzies coming out of hibernation!”
Tink was just about to ask how to get to the mainland when Iridessa took her hand and pulled her into the air. Iridessa pointed toward the sky. “We just follow the Second Star… .”
“Then we ride the breeze and follow the waves … ,” Silvermist added.
“All the way across the sea … ,” Rosetta said, taking up the story.
“And there it is.” Fawn smiled, waving her hand to create a sparkling cloud of pixie dust.
The whole thing sounded so exciting and so beautiful, it took Tink’s breath away. She struggled for words. “Wow—the mainland sounds … sounds …” She couldn’t think of a word powerful enough, so she made one up. “… flitterific!”
Tink’s new friends looked at each other and shrugged modestly.
“Ah, yes, the glamourous lives of the nature fairies,” Bobble teased. “We’d love to stay and chat …”
“… but we tinkers have real work to do,” said Clank with a smile and a wink.
“Oh, hush, you!” Rosetta laughed, rolling her eyes.
Bobble and Clank motioned to Tink to follow, and the three tinkers darted back to the wagon as the fairies teased them. Tink could tell that this good-natured back-and-forth was as much a part of the routine as the deliveries were.
She took her seat on the wagon next to Bobble. Clank picked up the axle. Tink turned and waved at her new friends. “Nice to meet you all.”
“You too!” cried Fawn.
“Fly with you later,” promised Silvermist.
Bobble pulled Cheese to a stop as
the wagon rolled into Flower Meadow. Bobble consulted his leaf-scroll list. “Here we are. Pretty large order of pollen pots for the—hey!” He flinched as a purple blur zipped past them with a whoosh!
The blur slowed for a moment. It was Vidia. She twirled around and around, whipping the air into a funnel of wind. The funnel hovered over a flower, sucking up the pollen. Then it moved to another flower and repeated the trick.
Tink was mesmerized as she watched the pollen-yellow whirlwind gather more and more dust out of the flowers. Neither Clank nor Bobble seemed to pay much attention. She guessed they had seen all this before. But Tink was fascinated, and she wanted to learn more about this fairy.
Clank unloaded some pollen pots, and Bobble looked at his leaf scroll, figuring out their next stop. “The last thing is berry bushels to deliver to the glen—”
“Is it okay if I catch up with you later?” Tink interrupted.
Bobble shrugged. “I suppose.”
“Can you find your way back?” Clank asked. He put down the last of the pots and took up the axle again.
Tinker Bell’s eyes were still glued on Vidia. “Yeah, yeah,” she agreed absently. “Sure I can.”
“All right, then,” Bobble said.
“Just be careful,” Clank added, breaking into a trot.
As the wagon rumbled off, Tinker Bell flew over the flowers and followed behind Vidia, who was busy guiding the whirlwind toward the pollen pots. “Hi there!” Tink exclaimed.
Her voice startled Vidia so much that she lost control of the pollen-filled whirlwind. The stray wind spun away from the two fairies, throwing pollen everywhere and knocking over the carefully stacked pots.
“Sorry,” Tink said, wincing. Vidia glared at her; pollen was swirling in the air between them. This wasn’t going at all the way Tink had hoped. She smiled sheepishly and tried again. “Vidia, right?”
“Ah-CHOO!” Vidia sneezed violently, and her black ponytail momentarily flipped forward. Then, without a word, she flew away to continue her work.
But Tink was determined to make friends. “We didn’t officially meet,” she said. “I’m Tinker Bell.”
Vidia came to a stop and gave her a long look. “Oh, yes. The new girl.”
Tinker Bell Junior Novel Page 2
