by Kiki Thorpe
Fawn was about to say no. But when she saw the fierce look in Tink’s eyes, she nodded. She would need all the help she could get.
“Somebody do something!” Mia said.
Kate took off her sneaker and hurled it at the flamingo. The shoe sailed through the air, missing the bird by a mile. It landed in the rain gutter.
The flamingo looked at it curiously. It stepped over to the sneaker and began to peck at the laces.
“That’s just great,” Kate groaned. She threw herself down on the grass. “Now a flamingo is eating my shoe.”
“And I still don’t know where Bingo is,” Mia said, sinking down next to her. “This has got to be the worst day ever.”
Lainey and Gabby sat down, too. Lainey took Milkweed from her pocket and stroked his furry head. I wish I could talk to you, she thought. You could tell me what’s going on.
Suddenly, Milkweed twisted in her hands and leaped onto the grass. Before Lainey could grab him, he dashed across the lawn, wriggled through a narrow gap in the fence, and disappeared.
“Oh no!” Lainey jumped up and ran to the fence. She tried to peer between the slats. “Where did he go?”
Gabby put her eye right up to the fence slats. “I see him!” she cried.
“Quick! Kate, Mia, give me a boost!” Lainey cried. Kate and Mia ran over and lifted Lainey so she could see over the top of the fence. Lainey scanned the neighbor’s yard on the other side, but there was no sign of the mouse. “He’s gone!”
“But I saw him. I did!” Gabby insisted.
“Well, he’s gone now,” Lainey said sadly as Mia and Kate helped her down.
Lainey imagined Milkweed loose in the alley. What if he meets up with a cat or a dog or a mousetrap? she thought. Even if he escaped those dangers, how would he find food or a safe place to sleep? Their city street was nothing like the mossy hummocks and flower-filled meadows of Pixie Hollow.
Why had he run away like that? All Lainey wanted to do was take care of him, but it seemed she’d failed even in that. She felt a lump in her throat. She couldn’t even look after a mouse! How disappointed Fawn would be if she knew.
“Look, he’s coming back!” Gabby said.
For one hopeful moment, Lainey thought she meant Milkweed. But Gabby was pointing at the house. The girls watched as the flamingo lifted off from the roof. He glided down and landed on the grass a few feet away from Lainey.
“Awnk!” The flamingo turned his head to one side. His beady eye stared at Lainey.
He looks like he wants to tell me something, Lainey thought.
“It’s no use,” Lainey told the bird bitterly. “I don’t understand.”
“Awnk!” The flamingo took a few steps toward the fence, then twisted his neck to look back at Lainey. He reminded Lainey of the Never doe. Whenever she’d wanted to go for a run in the forest, she’d given Lainey a look like that, and Lainey had always understood.
But that was in Never Land, Lainey reminded herself. Here she didn’t have animal talent. Still, she couldn’t shake the idea that the flamingo was trying to tell her something.
“What is it?” Lainey whispered. She took a step toward the bird. Tentatively, she reached out and touched the flamingo’s wing. His feathers felt silky beneath her fingers.
Suddenly, a net swooped down over the flamingo’s head. Lainey looked up, startled, and saw Kate gripping the handle of the butterfly net.
“I got him!” Kate cried. “Now he can’t get away!”
“Kate, stop! You’re scaring him!” Lainey cried as the flamingo began to flail and whip his head.
“Awnk! Awnk! Awnk!” Lainey didn’t need to have animal talent to know that the bird was upset. She grabbed the net from Kate’s hands to set him free.
But at that moment, the flamingo began to run. For such a spindly bird, he was surprisingly strong. Still holding the butterfly net, Lainey was pulled along with it.
“Lainey, let go!” her friends yelled as the bird circled, dragging Lainey behind him.
“I can’t!” Lainey cried. The butterfly net seemed to be attached to her arm. She looked and saw a tiny wire loop on the handle. It had gotten hooked on her lasso bracelet.
The flamingo swung around and headed right for the fence. “Stop! Stop!” Lainey screamed. But the bird charged toward the fence at full speed. They were going to crash!
“Ready?” asked Fawn.
Tinker Bell checked the slingshot on her belt, then nodded. “Ready.”
That afternoon, Tink and Fawn had carefully made their plan to lure the cat back through the hole to the mainland. Fawn would go first, taunting the cat and leading him toward the hollow tree. Tink would follow her and act as lookout. Queen Clarion had given them both extra fairy dust to help them fly faster.
At the last moment, Tink had tucked the slingshot and a pouch full of peppercorns into her belt. “Just in case,” she’d told Fawn.
Fawn eased open the knothole door of the Home Tree and peeked outside. She could see the cat prowling around the roots of the tree.
Fawn took a deep breath. “Hey, fish breath!” she called out in Cat. The cat turned to look. Its eyes lit up at the sight of the fairy.
“Catch me if you can!” cried Fawn, and dove into the air.
The cat leaped after her. To make sure she had him hooked, Fawn led him on a winding chase through Pixie Hollow. First she flew toward the dairy barn. The cat followed closely, as she’d hoped he would.
Just before she reached the barn, Fawn made a hairpin turn and flew in the opposite direction, toward the fairy circle. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw the cat right behind her. His golden eyes were bright with pleasure, as if he was enjoying every moment of the chase.
“Nasty beast,” Fawn muttered under her breath. “Only a monster wants to play with his lunch before he eats it.”
She flew two loops around a hawthorn tree, making sure the cat stayed with her.
“You’ve got him!” Tink cried from somewhere to her left. “Now go!”
Fawn looped back around and headed toward Havendish Stream and the fairy dust mill. She knew that just beyond, on the far side of the stream, was the hollow fig tree.
“Almost there,” Fawn told herself. Soon this whole nightmare would be over. She put on a burst of speed.
But as the tree came into view, Fawn saw something sitting at the mouth of the hollow. As she drew closer, she realized who it was. “Milkweed!”
Hearing his name, the mouse looked up. He wiggled his whiskers in greeting.
Oh no! thought Fawn. If she led the cat to the hollow now, he might go after Milkweed instead. Fawn didn’t want to put the mouse in danger. But she couldn’t keep up the chase much longer. For a second, Fawn paused in the air, unsure what to do.
The moment’s hesitation was all it took. The cat saw its chance and pounced.
“Fawn!” Tink screamed. “Look out!”
Fawn tried to lurch out of the way, but she was a second too late. The cat’s paw struck her. It sent her spinning through the air.
Fawn plummeted toward the ground. She landed in Havendish Stream.
Right away, Fawn knew she was in deep trouble. Like all Never fairies, Fawn couldn’t swim. The second she hit the stream, her wings began to soak up water. They started to drag her down.
Just as Fawn’s head was about to go under, she felt someone grasp her hand. Tink was trying to pull her out! Tink fluttered her wings with all her might. As she did, her slingshot came loose from her belt. It landed with a splash next to Fawn’s head and sank below the waves.
With her soaked wings, Fawn was too heavy to lift out of the stream. Still gripping Fawn’s hand, Tink started to tow her through the water toward shore. At last, she managed to pull her onto the bank.
A shadow fell over them. The fairies looked up and saw the cat closing in.
“Fly!” screamed Tink. Fawn tried to flap her wings, but they felt like sandbags on her back.
The cat loomed over them. The last thing Fawn
saw was the cat’s lips peeling back from its needle-like teeth.
Fawn closed her eyes. As she braced herself, she heard a booming “Awnk!”
Her eyes flew open just in time to see a flamingo burst from the hollow tree. And dragging along behind it was—
“Lainey!” Fawn cried.
If Lainey heard her, Fawn couldn’t tell. The girl’s eyes were squeezed tightly shut. Her hair was flying in every direction and her glasses hung from one ear. She clutched the handle of a large net, clinging to it as if for dear life.
“Help!” Lainey cried.
The cat caught one glimpse of the flamingo and turned tail. It sprinted away, yowling in terror.
Suddenly, Lainey felt the flamingo come to a stop beneath her. She slowly peeled open one eye, then the other. She was back in Pixie Hollow!
“Awnk! Awnk!” Lainey heard the voice of another flamingo. She looked around but couldn’t see it. Then she spotted Fawn. The fairy was calling to the bird in its own language, calming it down.
But how did I get here? Lainey wondered. She looked behind her and spotted Kate, Mia, and Gabby climbing out of a hollow tree.
“It’s you!” Tinker Bell cried when she saw the girls. “What are you doing here?”
“I don’t know!” said Kate, looking equally surprised. “We were in Mia’s backyard a second ago. We saw the flamingo pull Lainey through the fence, so we ran to help her—”
“And we ended up here!” Mia broke in. “How did we do that?”
It took a few moments for Fawn, Tink, and the four girls to piece together what had happened. When the flamingo had dragged Lainey toward the fence, the girls had all thought they were going to crash.
“But instead, when they hit the fence, the slat swung sideways and they went right through,” said Mia. “So we all followed Lainey, and here we are!”
“There’s a loose board,” Kate explained.
“And when you go through, you get to Never Land!” Gabby chimed in, not wanting to be left out of the story.
“I still don’t understand,” said Fawn. “How did you go from the broken fence to the hollow tree?”
Tink tugged her bangs, deep in thought. “The pinprick hole,” she said at last.
“The what?” asked Lainey.
Tink explained her theory about the hole between Never Land and the mainland.
“So you mean there’s a passage that goes from Pixie Hollow right to Mia and Gabby’s backyard?” Kate exclaimed. “That’s perfect! Now we can come back whenever we want!”
“It’s not perfect,” Tink said, her face serious. “In fact, it’s very dangerous. We’ve already had problems. A cat has been on the loose in Pixie Hollow—”
“Did you say a cat?” Mia asked.
At that moment, they heard a bell jingling. The sound made Fawn’s blood run cold. With a gasp, she turned and saw the cat running toward them.
“Fly, Tink!” Fawn cried. “Don’t worry about me! Save yourself!”
But this time the cat barely seemed to notice the fairies. It ran right past Fawn—and straight into Mia’s open arms.
“Oh, Bingo! I was so worried about you!” Mia said, rubbing her face in the cat’s fluffy fur.
“You … know this cat?” Fawn asked.
“He’s my Bingo,” Mia replied, squeezing the cat tightly. “I’ve been looking all over for him. I was afraid he’d gotten into trouble.”
“Causing trouble is more like it,” Tink said. “He’s frightened every fairy in Pixie Hollow. They’re all cowering in the Home Tree at this very moment.”
Mia lifted Bingo up so they were nose to nose. “Bingo! Bad boy!” she scolded.
Bingo only yawned in reply. “Don’t let him fool you,” Mia told the fairies. “He may pretend to be tough, but he wouldn’t hurt a fly. He just wants to play.”
“To play?” Fawn echoed faintly. “You mean, the cat has only been trying to play with us this whole time?”
Mia nodded. “I know he can be a bit rough, but it’s not his fault. He’s still just a baby—not much older than a kitten. He loves to have fun.”
Tink rolled her eyes. “Some kind of fun.”
The sound of another bell made everyone turn. A little gray mouse was making his way toward them.
“Milkweed!” Lainey cried in relief. She picked him up. Lainey watched the mouse sniff the palm of her hand. She knew she needed to tell Fawn the truth—that she didn’t really have animal talent. She wondered if Fawn would still want to be her friend.
“I lost Milkweed on the mainland,” Lainey confessed to Fawn. “I thought I’d lost him for good. I couldn’t communicate with him at all—or with the dog or any other animals. I don’t really have animal talent,” she added. “At home, I’m not really good at anything. I’m just a regular old Clumsy.”
“Oh, Lainey,” Fawn said. “Animal talent doesn’t come and go. It’s something in your heart. And you have a very big heart. That’s even more important than being able to speak to animals. Speaking isn’t everything—even I sometimes misunderstand,” she added with a glance at Bingo.
“So you still want to be my friend?” Lainey asked.
“Of course,” said Fawn. She was too tiny to hug Lainey, so she hugged her thumb.
Lainey felt better. “And now I can come visit you any time!” she said. “All we have to do is go through the fence.”
“What are you going to do about the hole?” Kate asked Tinker Bell. “You’re not going to close it up, I hope?”
“I wouldn’t even begin to know how,” Tink replied. She tugged her bangs, thinking. “Still, the hole is a danger. We have to do something. We’ll start with telling Queen Clarion.”
“Why don’t you come with us?” Fawn said to the girls. “All the fairies are in the Home Tree right now. They’ll be so glad to see you. Lainey, my wings are too wet to fly. Will you carry me?”
Together the girls and the fairies set off for the Home Tree. Lainey was filled with pride carrying Fawn on her shoulder. There were so many questions still to be answered—about the hole in the fence that led to Never Land and whether she had animal talent. But one thing no longer bothered her. Lainey was certain now that she was special. For, she thought, there was nothing more special in the world than being a fairy’s friend.
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Excerpt copyright © 2013 Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Published by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York.
Mia Vasquez awoke Saturday morning with a fluttery feeling in her chest. A feeling that something great awaited her that day.
She rubbed her eyes, trying to recall what it was. Then she remembered: Never Land.
The two words sent her leaping from her bed. She ran to the window and looked out at the backyard. White clouds chased each other across the blue sky. The grass was tall and the flowers bloomed in their beds. But it was the high wooden fence that held Mia’s attention.
The day before, Mia, her little sister, Gabby, and her friends Kate and Lainey had discovered that by crawling through a loose board in the fence, they could reach the magical island of Never Land. No one knew how the passage between the two worlds had come to be—not even the fairies whose magic had brought the girls to Never Land in the first place. But to Mia it was a dream come true. To think she could visit the fairy world anytime she wanted, just by going through the fence in her own backyard!
Mia dressed quickly in a polka-dotted skirt and her favorite pink T-shirt. Her long, curly black hair fell over her shoulders. She considered a pretty pair of sandals, then pulled on her sneakers instead. Sneakers were better for adventures—and there were always adventures to be had in Never Land.
When she was dressed, Mia hurried downstairs to the kitchen. She poured herself a bowl of cereal and slid into a chair next to her little sister. Gabby was wearing a pink tutu and a pair of costume fairy wings—her everyday outfit. She was drawing a picture of a fairy with crayons
.
The girls’ mother was standing at the kitchen counter, drinking a cup of coffee. “That’s a nice drawing, Gabby,” she said. “What’s the fairy’s name?”
“That’s Tinker Bell,” Gabby said. “She lives in Pixie Hollow.”
Mrs. Vasquez smiled. “Where is that?”
“It’s on the other side of the— Ow! Mia!” Gabby exclaimed as Mia kicked her under the table. When she caught Gabby’s eye, Mia frowned and shook her head. Their parents didn’t know about Never Land, and Mia didn’t want them to find out. She had a feeling that if they did, the girls’ adventuring would be over.
Out the kitchen window, Mia could see her father working in the yard. She hoped he would be done soon. Otherwise, they couldn’t sneak through the fence.
“Is Papi going to be doing yard work for long?” Mia asked her mother casually. “Kate and Lainey are coming over. We were going to, um … play outside.”
“Your friends can’t come over today, Mia,” her mother said. “I’m going out to do some errands, and I need you to look after Gabby.”
“What? But I already told them they could come!” Mia cried.
“You’ll have to call them and tell them they can’t,” her mother replied.
And not go to Never Land? Mia couldn’t bear the thought. “Can’t they come over anyway?” she asked. “We can all watch Gabby together.”
“No, Mia,” said her mom. “If you get busy playing with your friends, you’ll forget to keep an eye on Gabby.”
“I wouldn’t!” Mia said. She thought of the first time they’d found themselves in Never Land, pulled there on a fairy’s blink. Hadn’t she and her friends taken good care of Gabby then? But, of course, she couldn’t point this out to her mother.
“Kate and Lainey can come over another time,” Mrs. Vasquez said.
“It’s not fair!” Mia complained. “Papi’s here. Why can’t he watch Gabby?”
