by Kiki Thorpe
They all nodded. Dewdrop’s thin legs were trembling. Lainey put a hand on his neck to try to calm him.
Rosetta climbed out of Gabby’s pocket, where she’d hidden when they started to run, and asked, “Where’s Iridessa?”
They found the light fairy just outside the woods. She was crouched on a patch of moss, where she’d fallen.
Kate gently picked up the exhausted fairy. “I’ll carry you from here,” she whispered.
No one asked Iridessa what had happened. They all knew.
The light fairy had used up the last of her magic.
Lainey stood on a ledge, high up the mountainside. She twisted her fingers through Dewdrop’s mane as she gazed upward.
They’d come to the end of the trail. Above her was a sheer rock face, too steep and slippery to climb.
“What’s the matter?” Kate asked from behind. She tried to peer around to see why they had stopped.
“We can’t go any farther,” Lainey said. “There’s no way up.”
“Now what?” asked Mia.
Lainey didn’t know. She had been so sure the herd of mist horses would be here when they got to the top of the mountain. Although a strong wind was blowing, there was no storm in sight. Fluffy white clouds dotted the bright blue sky like islands in a sea.
“Where’s your mama?” Lainey whispered to Dewdrop.
The little horse whinnied, as if he was wondering the same thing.
Then, from high above, they heard an answering whinny!
A cloud in the near distance started to churn. The soft, wispy shapes at the top darkened and became solid. The mist horses emerged from the cloud.
A great silver mare with a silky white mane came to the edge of the cloud and looked out at Lainey and her friends.
When Kate saw her, she gasped and pushed forward. “That’s my Cloud! Cloud!” She waved her arms.
Lainey recognized her, too. “That’s Dewdrop’s mama!”
The mare whinnied. But she wasn’t talking to Kate. She was calling to her baby. Come here!
Dewdrop answered her. I can’t!
Cloud paced the edge of her cloud base. But she didn’t come.
Dewdrop called more and more desperately. But the mare seemed unable to step off the cloud.
“He’s crying! Why doesn’t she come?” Gabby asked.
“I don’t know,” Lainey said. What was keeping the mare away?
In fact, the mare seemed to be moving farther from them. Lainey suddenly remembered what Fawn had told her in the meadow. The wind must have blown them this way.
“It’s the wind!” Lainey said. “It’s moving in the wrong direction. She can’t fly against it.”
Lainey nudged Dewdrop, trying to urge him toward his mother. The wind was in his favor. But he wouldn’t budge.
“He wants to fly,” Kate said. “But he’s afraid to step off the cliff.”
The cloud base with the herd was drifting farther away. How could they bridge the gap before it was gone?
Lainey suddenly recalled Dewdrop trying to climb the rainbow. She turned to Silvermist. She was the only fairy who could still fly.
“Could you make another rainbow?” Lainey asked. “One big enough to reach that cloud?” This time, Iridessa couldn’t help—her magic was gone. But the sun was shining, and Silvermist still had magic left. Maybe it was enough.
“A rainbow can’t hold him,” Silvermist told her. “Not even a magic one.”
“I know that,” Lainey replied. “But he doesn’t. Dewdrop can fly—he’s a mist horse. We just need to help him believe that he can.”
“I’ll try.” Silvermist rose into the air. She began to wind back and forth, like a spider spinning a web. Lainey knew that she was collecting threads of mist, trying to weave them into the rainbow’s fabric.
A faint rainbow appeared. This one was pale and watery, barely visible against the sky.
Cloud had stopped calling, but she hadn’t moved. She stood at the edge of the cloud base, looking out at them as the wind pushed her away.
The rainbow only reached halfway to the cloud when Silvermist fluttered back to them. She fell to the ground, exhausted. “I can’t do anymore,” she said. Her glow had faded out.
Tears filled Lainey’s eyes. They’d come all this way. They were so close!
A hot tear rolled down her cheek. It landed on the ground at her feet.
As Lainey stared at it, a dot appeared next to it. Then another. Lainey looked up. Drops splashed against her cheeks. “Rain!” she cried.
“Where is it coming from?” Mia gazed up in wonder. There was no cloud above them. The sun still shone brightly, yet rain was falling.
“The sun is crying for us,” Silvermist said. “Just like in the myth.”
This time, Iridessa didn’t correct her.
As the sun shone through the rain, a beautiful rainbow appeared. It stretched across the chasm to the cloud where Dewdrop’s mother stood.
Lainey whispered in Dewdrop’s ear. “There’s your bridge, little guy. Go on. Go home to your mother.”
Dewdrop took a tentative step off the cliff and into the air. He scrambled for a moment, as if his hooves were trying to find purchase on something slippery.
Then he climbed into the air, following the curve of the rainbow.
His mother met him at the edge of the cloud. She sniffed Dewdrop, then snorted as if to say, Don’t you go running off like that again.
Then Cloud and Dewdrop turned to join the rest of the herd.
Lainey felt as if her heart were being squeezed. Joy and sadness were all mixed together—just like the sun and the rain. “Bye, little Dewdrop. I won’t forget you,” she whispered.
Although he couldn’t have heard, Dewdrop stopped and looked back at her. She had the feeling he was saying good-bye, too.
“She didn’t even see me,” Kate whispered.
Lainey glanced over at her friend. Kate was still staring after Cloud. Her face looked stricken. “She didn’t recognize me at all.”
Lainey opened her mouth, then closed it. What could she say? Nothing had gone the way they’d hoped. They hadn’t found Fawn. They hadn’t ridden back to Never Land to get more fairy dust. They’d returned Dewdrop to his family—that was all.
At least it’s something, Lainey thought. Fawn, wherever she was, would be proud.
A scream sounded above them.
Lainey looked up to see a hawk barreling down from the sky. Its wings were spread wide, and its claws were extended.
The girls shrieked and ducked. The fairies scattered.
The hawk soared down and landed right in their midst. Lainey spied a familiar figure sitting on its back. “Fawn!” she cried.
Fawn leaped off the goshawk’s back. She fluttered joyfully between her friends. She pinched the girls’ cheeks and hugged the other fairies.
“We didn’t know how to find you. I thought you’d be with the mist horses,” Lainey tried to explain. “But then you weren’t—and we were so worried.”
“Worried about me? Now, why would you do that?” Fawn winked. Her freckled face looked radiant.
Not just her face. Lainey realized that all of Fawn was aglow. “Wait a second. Fawn, you’re glowing! And you can fly!” Fawn was flitting through the air like a lark, as if she’d never lost her magic.
What was going on? Had the miracle Lainey hoped for somehow come true?
“It’s a very long story,” Fawn said. “And I can’t wait to tell it. But we’ve flown all over looking for you. The important thing now is that we get down this mountain.”
The thought of walking back down the mountain, through the frightening forest, made Lainey’s legs go weak. She sat down abruptly. “I don’t think I can.”
“Me either,” said Mia. The other girls and fairies shook their heads. They were too tired fro
m their long journey.
“Silly me. I almost forgot. I brought you something.” Fawn flew over to the hawk. For the first time, Lainey noticed a miniature wooden barrel balanced between its wings. Fawn lifted it down easily. She placed it on the ground between Silvermist, Iridessa, and Rosetta.
“Go on.” Fawn said, her eyes twinkling. “Open it.”
Iridessa pried off the lid and gasped. “Fairy dust!”
The girls and fairies crowded around to see. The sparkling dust filled the barrel to the brim. When the light caught it, it shimmered with the colors of the rainbow.
“I don’t understand,” Iridessa said. “Where did you get this? Fairy dust only comes from—”
“Pixie Hollow.” Fawn nodded. “You might say it was a gift from our friend Tink.”
The girls and fairies gasped.
“Tinker Bell!”
“You found her!”
“Where is she?”
Everyone looked around, as if Tink might suddenly appear.
Fawn shook her head. “I haven’t seen Tink. But I found her boat. The cargo hold is full of fairy dust. I know she won’t mind if we borrow some.” Fawn leaned forward. “I wanted to wait for Tink, but I knew it was more important to get the fairy dust to all of you. But if we go back to the boat, we might find her there!”
“Let’s hurry,” Iridessa said.
The fairies helped each other with the fairy dust, using their hands to sprinkle it over one another. As the dust settled over them, the fairies began to glow a bright lemon-yellow.
“I can fly again!” Rosetta rose into the air and flew a loop the loop.
Then it was the girls’ turn. When Mia sprinkled a pinch of fairy dust over Lainey, her feet started to rise off the ground. She couldn’t wait to fly!
They had just floated into the air when she heard a whinny.
A silver mare was galloping toward them across the sky. Her foal ran along beside her, lifting his knees high.
Kate’s face lit up. “It’s Cloud and Dewdrop! They came back!”
“How can they?” Mia asked.
“The wind died down,” Lainey realized. “Look, they’re coming to us!”
Cloud cantered right up to the ledge where Kate was standing. The great silver horse raised her nose. She snorted at Kate, as if to say, Is that really you?
“Oh, Cloud!” Kate threw her arms around the mare’s neck. She buried her face in Cloud’s mane. “You didn’t forget me, after all.”
Dewdrop danced around them, his little tail raised high. See who I brought? he seemed to be saying. Didn’t I do good?
Lainey watched them with a lump in her throat. This time she wasn’t jealous. She saw that she’d been wrong about her friend. Kate wasn’t being bossy or showing off. She was only happy to see Cloud.
Kate lifted her head and whispered something in Cloud’s ear. Then, with a move she must have practiced a hundred times in her dreams, Kate grabbed hold of Cloud’s mane and swung herself onto the horse’s back.
Sitting astride Cloud, Kate smiled at her friends. “If it’s okay with you guys, I’m going to take another way down.”
She held out her hand to Lainey. “Want to ride with me? I know you like mist horses, too.”
Lainey grinned. She grasped her friend’s hand. Kate pulled her up onto Cloud’s back.
“Ready?” Kate said.
Lainey wrapped her arms around her friend’s waist. “Ready!”
Kate leaned forward. “Let’s go, Cloud!”
Riding a mist horse was nothing like Lainey had imagined—it was better. Cloud was strong as thunder, graceful as the wind. As she galloped down the sky, with Dewdrop running after her, Kate and Lainey whooped with joy.
All too soon, the ride was over. Cloud landed next to the waterfall and the pool where they had waded earlier that day.
Kate said good-bye to Cloud, squeezing her tight again. Lainey stroked Dewdrop’s fuzzy mane one last time. “Be good,” she told the little horse. “Don’t run away from your mama.”
Dewdrop nickered and nuzzled her hand.
They watched the horses take to the air, climbing higher and higher until they were just two gray dots. Then they vanished into the bright blue sky.
Kate and Lainey’s friends soon joined them by the pool.
“When you think about it,” Fawn was saying as she flew up, “if I hadn’t lost my magic, I wouldn’t have been carried away by the mist horses. And if they hadn’t dropped me on the mountain, Striker never would have caught me. And if he hadn’t caught me, I wouldn’t have found Tinker Bell’s boat. And if I hadn’t found Tink’s boat, I never would have found the fairy dust we needed.” Fawn spread her arms. “In a way, losing my magic was the best thing that could have happened.”
Rosetta made a face. “I don’t know if I’d go that far. But I’m glad to be able to do this again.”
She reached over and touched a drooping flower, making it bloom.
“And I’m glad to be able to do this again.” Silvermist scooped up a drop of water from the pool. She tossed it back and forth in her hands like a snowball.
“You wouldn’t dare!” Rosetta grinned and ducked as Silvermist threw the ball of water at her.
Fawn frowned, watching them.
Usually, she liked to play. But now she felt edgy and impatient. She wanted to get to the boat to see if Tink had returned or at least left behind another clue.
“Come on,” she told her friends. “The boat is this way.”
Fawn led the fairies behind the waterfall. Lainey, Kate, Mia, and Gabby waited on the other side—the cave was too small for them to enter.
Inside the cave, Fawn looked around. She was sure this was the right place. It was the same waterfall, the same dark cavern. But one thing was missing.
Tinker Bell’s boat was gone.
Mercedes McAndrew
KIKI THORPE spent much of her childhood reading, daydreaming, and searching for fairies in the forests of Idaho—pastimes that were good training for writing children’s books. She is the author of several books for young readers, including the New York Times bestselling Never Girls series. She lives with her husband and their two children in Denver.
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