by RH Disney
“Kate,” Mia said, “why were you sticking up for Necia back there?”
Kate shook her head and kicked a pinecone. It tumbled end over end before slamming into the tree trunk. “I can’t tell you.”
Mia’s forehead furrowed. “Why not?”
“I promised Necia I wouldn’t say. But now I don’t know what to do,” Kate said.
“You can tell us, Kate. We’re your friends,” Lainey said.
Kate looked from one to the other. They were her friends, and she knew they would understand. Maybe they could even help.
Necia had trusted her with her secret. But it was clear to Kate that she needed help. Was it okay to break her promise if it might actually do some good?
Kate decided to risk it. Taking a deep breath, she told her friends about meeting Necia in the forest. She explained how Necia had saved her from the bees and shown Kate her amazing talent. “That’s how I know she didn’t start the fire in the orchard,” Kate said. “She couldn’t have, because she was in the woods with me.”
“But why didn’t you say all that?” Lainey asked. “Just tell Queen Clarion what happened. Then she’ll let Necia do her magic again.”
“I wanted to,” Kate said. “But I was afraid I’d get Necia in even more trouble. She was already breaking the rules. She wasn’t supposed to be making fire on her own, especially not in the woods.”
“It’s the orchard fire everyone’s upset about,” Mia said. “Why wouldn’t Necia want to tell everyone what she was doing if it could prove the fire wasn’t her fault?”
Kate had been puzzled about that, too. “I think,” she said slowly, working it out in her mind, “I think maybe she’s afraid. She thinks the other fairies are already scared of her. If they see what she can really do, maybe things will be even worse.”
“It’s not fair,” Gabby said. “The queen took away her talent and she didn’t do anything wrong.”
“It’s not fair,” Kate agreed. “But it’s up to Necia whether she wants to share her talent with other fairies.”
“I still think we should tell,” Mia said. “Necia shouldn’t have to take the blame for something that isn’t her fault.”
“What if we did, and we only got Necia into more trouble?” Kate pointed out, looking from Mia to Lainey to Gabby. “Tomorrow we’ll go to the orchard and look for clues to what started that fire. Maybe we can find a way to prove she’s innocent. Until then, we can’t say anything. Do you guys promise?”
Mia sighed. “Okay, I promise.”
“Me too,” Lainey said.
“Promise.” Gabby pretended to twist a key over her lips and toss the key away.
Kate stepped inside the hollow tree and began feeling her way through the dark. For the first time ever, she was actually looking forward to going home.
The following afternoon, Kate, Mia, Gabby, and Lainey sat in Kate’s living room, finishing their homework. Kate was supposed to be writing a report on pioneers, but she couldn’t get past the first sentence. It was hard to think about settlers and covered wagons when her mind was stuck in Never Land. She couldn’t stop thinking about Necia. If the fire fairy hadn’t caused the blaze in the orchard, what had?
At last, she threw down her pencil and stood up. “I need a break. Who wants lemonade?”
“Me,” said Lainey, without looking up from her worksheet.
“Me too,” said Mia. Her pencil darted across the page as she worked on her report.
“And me,” said Gabby as she finished a math problem.
Kate watched them enviously. Their homework would be done before hers was even started. If only there were a wand she could wave to finish it.
As she started for the kitchen, something outside the window caught her eye. There were people in the Johnsons’ house! A woman sat on the front porch, holding a baby in her lap. The woman was blowing bubbles with a little wand. Every time she blew another bunch of bubbles, the baby laughed and tried to catch them in her plump fist.
Kate stared. When had they moved in? How could she not have noticed?
Kate wanted to dislike the new family, she really did. It was their fault that the Johnsons had moved away. But watching the mother and baby laughing together, she had to admit they seemed sort of…nice.
Kate thought of the ruined azalea, and shame suddenly washed over her.
“What are you looking at?” Mia asked, glancing up from her paper.
“Nothing.” Kate turned away from the window, but Mia got up to look anyway.
“Oh!” she exclaimed. “You have new neighbors. Have you met them yet?”
“No, Mia,” Kate snapped. “I’ve had way more important things to think about, like Necia and Kyto and finishing this dumb report about pioneers. Okay?”
Mia looked taken aback. “Okay. Sorry.”
“Who cares about the new neighbors anyway?” Kate grumbled. With a huff, she stomped off to the kitchen in search of the lemonade.
Silvermist sat at the edge of Havendish Stream, dreamily watching the water flow past. Now that Necia had been forbidden to make fires, Silvermist no longer had to keep an eye on her. She could finally hang out again with the other water fairies.
“It’s good to be back to normal,” she said to Rani, who was sitting with her. She waved to a group of other water fairies sailing past in their leaf-boats. They waved back and called to her to join them.
“Want to?” asked Rani.
“Yes!” Silvermist hadn’t been out sailing since the day of Necia’s arrival. How nice it would be to get back on the water!
As she stood, she noticed Kate, Mia, Lainey, and Gabby in the orchard on the opposite bank. They were poking around the burned trees as if they were looking for something.
“What are they doing?” Rani asked.
“I don’t know,” Silvermist replied. “Did you notice how Kate jumped to defend Necia yesterday?”
“I did,” Rani said. “It was strange.”
“She sounded so certain,” Silvermist said. “Do you suppose Necia somehow talked Kate into taking her side? And why would Kate go along with her?”
“Who knows? We’ll never understand the ways of Clumsies,” Rani said with a shrug. “Come on.”
Together they made their way to the dock where the sailboats were tied. Silvermist’s was a fine skiff made of birch bark with a red sea-grape leaf for a sail. She had designed it herself with help from a shipbuilding fairy.
Silvermist began to undo the knot. “We should talk to the carpenter fairies about making a new boat launch. Don’t you think?…Rani, what’s wrong?”
Rani was looking up at the sky. She sniffed the air, frowning. “Do you smell that?”
The wind shifted, and then Silvermist smelled it, too. “Oh no! It couldn’t be.”
She looked over her shoulder. In the distance, beyond the meadow and the fairy circle, she saw clouds of black smoke rising from the trees.
Rani gasped. “Another fire!”
“But the queen forbid her to make fires!” Silvermist wailed.
“You think Necia caused it?” Rani asked.
“Who else?” Silvermist couldn’t believe the fire fairy had done this again. She didn’t think she had the energy to fight another fire. “You call in the water fairies. I’ll fly to the Home Tree and send out a warning. Hopefully, it’s not too close to Pixie Hollow this time.” Silvermist started for the Home Tree at top speed.
But as she got close, she stopped short in surprise. Necia was sitting alone in the courtyard. The fire fairy’s chin was cupped in her hand. She stared into space with a dull expression.
“But if she’s here…,” Silvermist murmured. Was it possible this fire wasn’t Necia’s fault after all?
Other fairies had spotted the smoke, too. They came flying in from the meadow. A few were fluttering out of their rooms in the Home Tree. Kate and the other girls came running up from the orchard.
“We smelled smoke!” Kate said.
“What’s going on?” Tin
ker Bell asked as she and Prilla flew up to Silvermist.
“Another fire. Somewhere beyond the fairy circle,” Silvermist replied.
“Where’s Necia?” Tink asked.
Silvermist gestured to the courtyard. “She’s there. I…I actually don’t think she could have started this one.”
She saw Kate glance at Mia and raise her eyebrows. Mia nodded ever so slightly. What’s that about? Silvermist wondered. She had the feeling they knew something she didn’t.
But there wasn’t time to think about it now. “Are the other water fairies on their way to help?” Tink was asking.
Silvermist’s attention snapped back to her. “Rani’s gathering them now. We need to know how big the fire is. Prilla, can you find one of the scouts?…Prilla?”
Prilla was looking past them up at the sky. Her mouth hung open in astonishment.
“Look!” Gabby squealed.
Something was coming toward them through the sky. Its long neck undulated like a sea serpent as it flew. Its great wings cast a shadow over the forest as it passed.
“Is that what I think it is?” Mia whispered.
“Kyto wasn’t lying!” Tink said with a gasp. “There is another dragon!”
With two flaps of its great wings, the dragon reached Pixie Hollow. The fairies screamed and scattered. The dragon opened its jaws. A white-hot blast shot from the dragon’s mouth, and the top of the Home Tree burst into flame.
It was a scene from a nightmare. Panicked fairies spilled from the Home Tree as flames spread across the topmost branches. Silvermist looked around for something to help.
Her eyes fell on a nearby puddle. Darting down, she threw a pinch of fairy dust on it. Then she took the edge of the muddy water in her hands, as one might grasp a blanket, and pulled with all her might. The puddle peeled away from the ground with a loud sucking sound.
Silvermist struggled back up into the air, dragging it behind her. She beat her wings with all her might, but she couldn’t fly fast enough. The muddy water was too heavy.
Other fairies moved out of her way, but they couldn’t help. Only a water fairy could grasp water without spilling it.
“Marina!” Silvermist cried, spying another water fairy at last. “Help me!”
Marina flew over and took the other side of the puddle. Together they flew up and dropped it over the fire. A few branches sizzled. But the fire was still spreading.
“Silvermist! We’re coming!” voices cried.
The other water fairies, summoned by Rani, were flying in from the stream. They carried leaves filled with water. The fairies dipped their hands into the leaves and lobbed balls of water at the fire. Silvermist joined them, grabbing handfuls of water from their makeshift buckets.
“Look out below!” a voice cried.
Silvermist looked up and saw Fawn on the back of a pelican. She darted out of the way as the bird emptied a mouthful of water onto the fire.
“It’s coming back!” someone screamed.
The dragon was turning around, its long body drawing a half circle in the air. It came toward them again, flying so low that the tip of its tail knocked leaves from the tops of trees.
As it came over Pixie Hollow, the fairies all dove for cover again. But it didn’t fire another blast. The dragon kept going, turning north toward Torth Mountain.
Silvermist watched it soar into the distance. We’re safe, she thought. But for how long?
They kept fighting the fire, and slowly it began to die. When the last flames were extinguished, Silvermist and the other exhausted firefighters made their way to the fairy circle. The magical ring of toadstools was where they held their most important meetings.
Every fairy in Pixie Hollow had crowded into the circle. Some were crying. Others looked dazed. No one had been hurt in the fire, but more than a dozen fairies had lost their rooms in the Home Tree.
Queen Clarion moved through the crowd, speaking gently to the fairies who were most upset. Silvermist knew soon she would call a meeting. But the queen’s first instinct was to calm everyone down. She was a good ruler that way.
Silvermist saw some of her friends standing together. She pushed her way over to them, looking pale and tense. The fairies frantically discussed what to do.
“I knew something was wrong,” Fawn was saying. “I was sure those tracks couldn’t belong to anything but a dragon.”
“Do you think we can trap this one like we trapped Kyto?” Rosetta asked.
“We’d have to make another chain, an even bigger one this time,” Tink said. She sounded pleased at the idea. As a tinkering fairy, Tink loved to make things.
“Don’t forget what it was like catching Kyto,” Fawn warned. “This new dragon could be even more dangerous.”
“Never fairies.” Queen Clarion’s bell-like voice rang out to the crowd. Everyone quieted to hear what she would say.
“Today has been terrible,” the queen said. “But don’t despair. We can overcome this as we have before.”
“How?” someone cried out.
“Will we make another trap?” someone else exclaimed.
“What if we took Kyto’s advice?” Prilla asked. “We could set him free and let him fight off the new dragon.”
The crowd murmured in outrage. The idea was insane!
The queen held up her hands for quiet. “I have decided we will go to Kyto for help.” This shocked the fairies into silence for a moment.
The crowd erupted in cries of outrage. Finally, Tink spoke up. “But, Queen Clarion,” Tink said, raising her voice, “if we let him go, we might never be free of him again….It’s too dangerous. The last thing we need is two dragons on the loose.”
“I didn’t say let him go, Tink,” the queen replied. “I said we’ll go to him for help. He may be able to give us advice. If there’s one creature on Never Land who might know how to defeat a dragon, it’s Kyto.”
The crowd broke into murmurs again. “Why would Kyto help us?” someone shouted.
“How can we possibly trust a dragon?” said another voice.
The queen waited until they had quieted down. “I think there could be something we can do for him,” she said. “We may be able to arrange a trade. If Kyto helps us defeat this new dragon, we’ll offer to bring him a new item for his hoard. The most important thing in the world to a dragon is his treasure, after all.”
“What kind of item?” Tink asked.
The queen shook her head and sighed. “We’ll have to ask Kyto what he wants. But you can be sure that he’ll ask for something extremely rare.”
Silvermist knew the queen was right. But what could they possibly have that Kyto would want?
“Now, we’ll need volunteers,” the queen continued. “We have a lot of work to do.”
Tinker Bell was the first to flutter forward. “I’ll go.”
Brave Tink, Silvermist thought. She could always be counted on.
Silvermist raised her hand. “I will, too.” She didn’t like the idea of visiting Kyto. But she knew her talent would be needed. The queen nodded, looking relieved.
“You’ll need a scout,” said Myka.
“And a messenger,” said Spring.
Other fairies volunteered—Rosetta, Prilla, Iridessa the light fairy, and even Vidia. One by one, more fairies came forward. Fruit pickers, stonemasons, butterfly herders—no one knew which talents might be needed.
But one fairy fell back. As others came forward, Silvermist saw Necia turn and fly away. Of course, without a talent, the fire fairy couldn’t be any use on the mission. It’s just as well, Silvermist thought. We’ll have one less thing to worry about without her around.
Standing at the edge of the fairy circle, Kate saw Necia slinking away, alone. Poor Necia! she thought. Kate wondered if she should go after her. She knew Necia didn’t have anyone else to talk to.
Mia tapped Kate on the arm. “I think we should volunteer to go see Kyto,” she said.
“What? Why?” Kate asked in astonishment. After their la
st trip to Torth Mountain, she was sure Mia would want to stay as far away from dragons as possible.
“The fairies have always helped us,” Mia said. “Now they need our help. We can’t just sit by and do nothing. After all, Pixie Hollow is our home in a way, too.”
“Mia’s right,” Lainey chimed in. “We have to help however we can.”
Kate looked at Gabby. “What do you think? Are you up for this?”
Gabby nodded.
“Even if we have to fight a dragon?” Kate asked.
Gabby nodded again.
“Okay,” Kate said. This would be their biggest Never Land adventure yet, but she didn’t feel excited. She felt scared.
Kate glanced once more toward the Home Tree. Necia had vanished. Into her room, Kate guessed. Necia hadn’t started all those fires—the dragon had. If they could defeat the dragon, maybe Necia really could feel at home in Pixie Hollow. Didn’t she owe it to her friend to try?
Kate stepped forward and spoke up. “Queen Clarion? We’d like to come, too.”
Kate knelt at the edge of the Wough River. She dipped her hand into the cold, rushing water, then patted her forehead to cool herself off. The journey to Torth Mountain seemed longer than it had the first time. But maybe, Kate thought, that was only because she knew what lay ahead.
Mia, Gabby, and Lainey rested nearby in the grass. Gabby lay stretched out on the ground with her head in Mia’s lap. Mia was stroking her hair. The little girl’s face looked pale and exhausted, and Kate wondered if they’d been wrong to bring her along. She was only six years old, after all. Gabby’s words about Kyto echoed in Kate’s head: I don’t want to see another dragon ever again.
But they had seen another dragon. And they’d see one again before the day was through.
Kate glanced over to where Queen Clarion, Silvermist, Tink, Myka, and a few other fairies huddled together, discussing strategy. All together, nineteen fairies of different talents had come on the mission to ask for Kyto’s help. Back in Pixie Hollow, it had seemed like a strong group. But out here in the open, with Torth Mountain looming ahead, the fairies looked pitifully small. Every time Kate thought of Kyto’s evil eyes and fiery breath, she tried not to shake. Were they on a fool’s errand?
