Prilla, however, kept searching.
Vidia reached for another crown from an unsorted pile. By now, the task was automatic. Reach for crown, place on head, say words, toss. Reach for crown, place on head, say words, toss.
So when it happened, Vidia almost missed it.
Reach for crown, place on head, say words, t—
But this time, as Vidia reached up to take off the crown, she froze.
Was it her imagination? Or had this crown just…shrunk?
When she put this one on, it had slipped down and covered her eyes like all the others. But now, as she reached up to touch it, it sat perfectly on the top of her head.
Slowly, Vidia took the crown off. She held it in front of her and stared at it. So this was it. This was Queen Ree’s crown. The real thing. Vidia couldn’t help giving a sigh of relief. Now she knew for sure that she couldn’t be banished from Pixie Hollow. Not only could she prove, beyond a doubt, that she hadn’t taken the crown. But she had also figured out exactly how the crown had gone missing—and she had tracked it down, too. Yes, Vidia had cleared her name.
She opened her mouth to tell Prilla—then closed it again. A thought was forming in her mind. Her relief had been so strong at first that it had blocked out other very different feelings. But now those other feelings were coming back: anger, bitterness. And something else, too. What was it? A desire for…revenge!
Almost everyone in Pixie Hollow had believed Vidia had taken the crown. Now here it was in her hands. She could do whatever she wanted with it. So why shouldn’t she go ahead and prove everyone right? Why shouldn’t she steal it? She could probably steal it and get away with it! She could hide it from Prilla, Nora, and Dupe. She could show up at her hearing and tell the queen about their investigation—leaving out the part about how she found the real crown in the storeroom. Everyone else’s story would cast enough doubt for Vidia to be found not guilty. And yet, she would have the real crown!
Vidia hadn’t said a word since she had made her discovery. She also had not taken her eyes off the crown.
Now, finally, she looked up and across the room at Prilla.
To Vidia’s surprise, Prilla was staring right at her. In fact, it felt as though Prilla were staring right through her.
Prilla knew exactly what was going on in Vidia’s head.
In the courtyard of the Home Tree, Queen Ree tried to start the hearing.
“Everyone, please!” she shouted over the noise. “Please, quiet down!”
Slowly but surely, the chitchatting fairies and sparrow men settled down. They had all come to hear what Vidia would say. Just as on the night of the emergency meeting, every spot that was comfortable for sitting—every toadstool and mossy mound—was taken.
Right in front of the Home Tree stood Queen Ree. A ray of midmorning sun shone down through the leaves and fell on her like a spotlight. At the queen’s left, Vidia stood with her hands clasped behind her back.
About ten inches from Vidia, Prilla sat on a toadstool in the front row of the crowd and looked on uneasily.
“Vidia?” Queen Ree said. “This hearing is your chance to speak to the charge against you. You have been charged with the theft of the royal crown.” The queen waved Vidia over, letting her take center stage. “Let us all listen with open hearts and open minds to whatever Vidia says.”
Queen Ree took several steps back. Vidia came forward, her hands still clasped behind her back.
“Well,” Vidia said in a loud, clear voice, “I really don’t have anything to say.” She took one hand from behind her back and held it out toward the queen. In her hand was the crown. “I think this should speak for itself,” Vidia added with a wry smile.
A cry of surprise rippled through the crowd.
“So she did take it!”Tinker Bell shouted.
“She admits it!” came another cry from somewhere in the crowd.
“Banish her!” someone else shouted.
Queen Ree stepped forward to speak to the crowd. She held her hands up. “Please!” she cried. “You must stay quiet during the hearing. Otherwise, I will have to hold it in private.”
Silence settled over the crowd once more. Queen Ree turned to Vidia. She took the crown from Vidia’s hand.
“I don’t understand,” the queen said. “Don’t you want to say anything about where you got this, or why you have it?”
Vidia shook her head. “No,” she replied. “But, if it is all right with you, my dear queen”—Vidia smiled sweetly and bowed low before Queen Ree—“I would like to call some others up to say a few words.”
The queen nodded. Vidia looked out into the crowd. “I would like to ask Rhia, Aidan, Twire, Lympia, Nora, and Dupe to come up here,” she announced.
One by one, the four fairies and two sparrow men flew out of the crowd. Each of them looked somewhat embarrassed as he or she stood next to Vidia.
When all six of them stood facing the crowd, Vidia nodded at Rhia. “Rhia,” she said, “be a dear and tell everyone what you did with the crown on the morning of the Arrival Day party.”
And so, Rhia began. It was the tale of how the queen’s crown went on a long and eventful journey all over the Home Tree. Timidly, Rhia told her part of the story. She had brought the crown to be fixed, and had misunderstood Aidan’s wave.
“If only I hadn’t been in such a rush,” Rhia moaned.
Aidan picked up the story next. He told everyone that his earplugs had kept him from hearing Rhia. He described how Twire must have picked up the crown along with the scrap metal.
And so on and so on…The tale was passed from one storyteller to the next—from Aidan to Twire to Lympia to Nora to Dupe. Each one explained his or her role in the disappearance of the crown.
“So once I explained how to tell the difference between the fake crowns and the real one,” Dupe said, wrapping up his part of the story, “we all started trying them on.” He shrugged and turned to Vidia. “And eventually, Vidia found it. The queen’s crown.”
And that, it seemed, was the end of the story.
Only Vidia and Prilla knew that one part, toward the end, had been left out. It was the part where Vidia had almost become the evil fairy that many in Pixie Hollow already thought she was. It was also the part where she had made a better choice.
Vidia sneaked a sideways glance at Prilla. Prilla smiled at her—and a strange thing happened. Vidia smiled back at Prilla. It wasn’t one of Vidia’s fake, sickly sweet smiles, either. It was a real, true sign of Vidia’s gratitude for Prilla’s help. Prilla knew there would be no thank-you. She knew that, from this moment on, she and Vidia would probably never speak of the matter again. She knew that the smile was all she would get.
But it was enough.
Queen Ree stepped forward to speak to everyone. “Well,” she said, “I think that clears the matter up for me. I have no doubt that everyone here feels the same.” She glanced around at the crowd. Everyone nodded in agreement.
“There’s just one other thing,” the queen went on. She stepped over to Vidia’s side and laid a hand on her shoulder. “Vidia, I owe you an apology,” she said. “We all owe you an apology. We accused you of something you did not do. We also owe you our thanks. You worked hard to find the crown and return it safely.” Queen Ree turned to face the crowd. “To celebrate, I’d like to reschedule the party.”
The crowd cheered.
“Only, this party will not be an Arrival Day celebration for me,” the queen went on. “It will be a party for Vidia, too.” She looked questioningly at Vidia. “Will you be our guest of honor?” the queen asked.
Vidia smiled. “Really, Ree, you flatter me,” she said. Her voice dripped with sarcasm. “But, frankly, I’d rather go on another wild-goose chase around the Home Tree, searching for one of your missing baubles, than come to any party of yours.” She smiled and took off into the air.
Almost as one, the crowd gasped in shock at Vidia’s rudeness. To say such a thing—when the queen had been trying to make ever
ything better!
But then again, Vidia had never been one to mince words.
Vidia and the Fairy Crown Page 4
