by Kiki Thorpe
Suddenly, Tink’s heart leaped. A long, silver-blue shape slid through the wave below her. Something was under the boat!
With a splash, a fish shot out of the water. It sailed over the Treasure and kept on flying, its pink fins spread out like wings. The tip of its tail traced graceful arcs on the water.
Tink had barely recovered from the surprise when a second fish leaped out. It spread its fins and soared after its friend. In a moment, fish were leaping all around the boat. She was caught in a school of flying fish!
The fish were almost as big as the boat. But Tink wasn’t afraid. With a whoop, she let out the sail again. As the wind caught it, the Treasure lifted, helped by the fairy dust. In seconds, she was soaring along next to the fish.
The fish dove back into the water. But a moment later they leaped up and flew alongside her. They seemed to want to play, too!
The school of fish banked right, and she followed them. She was flying so close, she could feel spray flying off their fins. Tink waved at one of them from the deck. It was hard to say for sure, but she thought the fish waved back.
Tink didn’t know how long she followed the fish. They’d been flying for some time, when all of a sudden, as if led by some hidden cue, the fish dove back into the water and disappeared.
Tink steered the boat downward and landed with a splash. She looked for Skull Rock to get her bearings.
She couldn’t see the skull-shaped cave anywhere. Had she passed it without even noticing?
The wind had grown stronger. The Treasure rose and plunged on the choppy waves.
Tink knew she needed to get to calmer waters. But Never Land was well behind her now. Did she dare sail on?
She studied the map. If she was where she thought she was, Shadow Island should be close. Tink looked in every direction, but all she could see was water and sky.
As Tink scanned the horizon, she noticed a single dark cloud ahead. It looked out of place in the bright blue sky.
Strange. I didn’t notice it before, Tink thought.
But she didn’t have time to dwell on it. Suddenly, a wave caught the boat and nearly turned it over. By the time she righted it, Tink knew she couldn’t risk sailing on. She needed to head back to Never Land before it was too late.
She turned the Treasure around, but she was fighting against the wind now. She crossed wave after wave, but land didn’t seem to be getting any closer. Her only choice was to get off the water and try to fly the boat back through the air.
Tink had just started to tack, angling the sail, when she noticed the cloud right above her. Was it her imagination, or was the cloud following her?
“That’s silly,” Tink said aloud. The cloud would go where the wind went, of course, and the wind was against her. At any rate, she didn’t have to worry about a storm. There was only the one small cloud—all around it, the sky was blue.
No sooner did she have that thought than she felt the air turn cold. A raindrop splashed down on the Treasure’s deck. Another followed.
For a fairy, a rainstorm is no small thing. Each drop is enough to soak her. What to a human would be a light sprinkle felt to Tink like standing under a waterfall.
Tink dodged raindrops as they spattered down. She ran for the cabin but slipped on the wet deck, and one of her pompom slippers fell off. She tried to grab it, but the boat pitched and it rolled away. She gave up chasing after it and ran for cover.
Inside the cabin, Tink peered out at the rain. Great drops battered the deck. But strangely, she could see that just beyond the curtain of rain, the ocean was calm. Sunlight sparkled on its surface. The Treasure seemed to be caught in a miniature storm. If she could just sail through it, she’d be safe.
Just then, a blast of wind hit the boat so hard the sail broke loose. The sheet flapped uncontrollably, like a hand waving for help. Tink ran to catch it but was too late.
With a shuddering jerk, the boat rose into the air. She heard the howl of a gale. The wind seemed alive, like a creature that had caught the boat and was tossing it around like a plaything.
The ship’s bell clanged wildly as the boat began to spin faster and faster. Tink grabbed the railing and held on tight. Light flashed around her as she was pulled up, up, up…into the dark cloud.
Gabby stood on the beach near Pixie Hollow, looking out to sea. The glare on the water hurt her eyes, but she couldn’t stop staring. She pointed to something out on the waves.
“There! See that? Is it Tink?”
Mia, Lainey, and Kate squinted at the far-off dot. “I think it’s just a pelican,” Kate said.
Gabby’s shoulders slumped. They’d been waiting for ages on the beach. But there was still no sign of Tink or Tino’s Treasure.
Mia gave her shoulder a squeeze. “Don’t worry. I’m sure Tink won’t let anything happen to the boat.”
“But when will she be back?” Gabby cried. “We’ve been waiting all day!”
“Let’s check with Fawn,” Lainey suggested. “Maybe one of the seagulls has spotted her.”
When Gabby had explained to Fawn that Tink had taken her boat and she needed it back, Fawn had gone to the shorebirds. She asked them to keep an eye out for a fairy in a boat. With luck, they could get a message to Tink to sail back as soon as possible.
The girls found Fawn farther down the beach, talking to a big gray seagull. The four friends knelt beside her. “Any news?” Kate asked.
Fawn shook her head. “He just came back from Skull Rock, but he didn’t see any sign of Tink or the boat. Don’t worry,” she added, when she saw Gabby’s face. “Tink can take care of herself. Back in the days when she’d go off with Peter Pan, she’d sometimes disappear for a dozen full moons. But she always came back.”
A dozen full moons! Gabby couldn’t wait that long. “But I need the boat back now,” she insisted.
“Maybe we should go home for a little while,” Lainey suggested. “The next time we come to Pixie Hollow, Tink will be back. Anyway, I have to get home to help with dinner. My mom asked me to shell the peas.”
Peas? Gabby thought. Who cares about peas? Tink had taken her great-grandfather’s one-of-a-kind boat and sailed off to who knows where, and all Lainey could talk about was peas!
Gabby folded her arms across her chest. “I promised Papi I wouldn’t come back without Great-Grandpa’s boat,” she told them. “I’m not going home until I have it.”
The three older girls stared at her. Gabby narrowed her eyes and glared back until Lainey held up her hands in surrender.
“All right, Gabby,” she said with a sigh. “Have it your way. We’ll wait.”
“There’s no use just sitting around on the beach.” Kate stood and brushed the sand off her pants. “Why don’t we find something else to do? When Tink gets back, I’m sure we’ll hear about it.”
Gabby wouldn’t have minded waiting on the beach. But she followed the other girls back up the trail to Pixie Hollow.
As they passed the Home Tree, Gabby noticed Tink’s teakettle workshop. Maybe it was just the way the sunlight came slanting through the tree branches. But for a second, Gabby imagined she saw a wisp of smoke rise from the chimney spout.
A sudden hope seized her. Maybe Tink wasn’t really out at sea. Maybe she’d hidden the Treasure as a joke. She imagined Tink inside her teakettle, waiting for someone to find her so they could laugh about her trick together.
As the other girls walked ahead, Gabby stopped. She knelt down and tapped on the door with her finger. When there was no answer, she gave it a little push. The door opened easily.
The doorway was so small Gabby had to lie flat on the ground to see inside. It was a bit like looking into a sugar egg, the kind where you peep through a hole onto a miniature scene.
The teakettle’s rounded walls were lined with shelves that held Tink’s tools—tiny pliers, bitty pots of paint and glue, and scraps of steel wool no bigger than Gabby’s pinkie fingernail. A rocking chair made from a human-sized spoon sat in one corner, next to a lamp with a
tea-strainer shade. A potholder rug covered the floor. The fire poker was made from an old silver toothpick.
But the fire was cold. Tink wasn’t there.
The lump returned to Gabby’s throat. Where had Tink gone? And what was Gabby going to tell her dad?
She was about to get up when she spied something on Tink’s worktable that looked like a note. Gabby’s hand was too big to fit through the doorway, so she used a twig to fish it out.
It wasn’t a note—it was a map! Right away, Gabby knew it was important.
The map fit into the palm of her hand. She could see writing on it, but it was too small for her to read. But she knew who could!
Folding the map gently into her fist, Gabby raced after her sister and their friends.
“Look!” she shouted. “Look what I found!”
The other girls turned. Gabby held up the map.
Kate took it from her. “What’s this?”
“A clue!” Gabby said excitedly. “I found it in Tink’s workshop. It’s a mop.”
Mia gave her a disapproving look. “Tink wouldn’t like it if she knew you were snooping in her workshop.”
Gabby ignored her. “Do you still have Great-Grandpa’s magnifying glass?” she asked.
Mia took the magnifying glass from her pocket and peered at the map. “What’s Shadow Island?” she asked after a moment.
“I’ve never heard of it,” said Lainey. “Let me see.” She took the magnifying glass and studied the map. “It’s weird. It says Shadow Island right here, but I only see Never Land on the map.”
“I bet that’s where Tink went!” Gabby exclaimed.
“I don’t know, Gabby,” Mia said. “It’s just a drawing. It might not mean anything.”
A bird screamed above them. Gabby looked up. A seagull was flying toward them, carrying Fawn on its back. The water-talent fairy Silvermist was with her.
The seagull descended and landed at the girls’ feet. Fawn fluttered off.
“What happened? Did you find Tink?” Gabby asked.
“Not exactly.” Fawn had a strange look on her face. She glanced at Silvermist. “A plover found this tangled in some seaweed.”
Fawn held out her hand. She was holding Tink’s pompom slipper!
The girls stared at the tiny green shoe. The little ball of fluff was wet and bedraggled. It barely looked like a shoe at all. But Gabby knew it was Tink’s slipper. She had never seen her without them.
“So what? It’s just her shoe,” Kate said after a moment. “Maybe it fell off.”
“Maybe she got tired of wearing shoes and kicked them overboard,” Mia added.
“Sure,” said Silvermist uncertainly.
Gabby was only half listening. I was the one who brought the boat to Pixie Hollow, she thought. Tink’s in trouble because of me. The lump in her throat was back. It felt as big as a hard-boiled egg.
“Fawn sent out more seagulls to look for her,” Silvermist told the girls. “Fawn and I will go, too.”
“Tink’s probably fine,” Fawn added quickly. “But…we want to be sure.”
Gabby swallowed hard around the lump. “I’m coming with you,” she said.
The fairies looked at each other. Gabby could tell they didn’t like the idea.
“It’s cold out at sea,” Fawn replied. “We may have to fly far, and there won’t be anywhere to rest. Maybe it’s better if you stay here.”
Gabby folded her arms across her chest again. This time, she wasn’t going to let anyone tell her what to do.
“It’s my boat—well, I’m the one who lost it, anyway. Besides, I’m the one who found the clue.”
“What clue?” asked Fawn.
Lainey held out the map. “Gabby found this in Tink’s workshop. What is Shadow Island?”
“Never heard of it,” said Fawn.
“I have.” Silvermist looked over Fawn’s shoulder. “It’s a mysterious island where nothing is as it should be. But it’s just a story. It’s not a real place.”
“See, I told you, Gabby,” Mia said.
“We didn’t know Never Land was real either until we found it,” Gabby replied.
Kate raised her eyebrows. “She has a point.”
Mia sighed. “Well, if Gabby’s going with you, then we all are.”
Fawn nodded. “All right. It will be a search party. Go to the mill and ask the dust-keepers for extra fairy dust, and something to carry it in. You’ll need a lot. We don’t know how far we’ll have to fly.”
“We’ll round up other fairies and meet back here,” Silvermist said.
As the other girls set off for the mill, where the fairy dust was stored, Gabby studied the map. Shadow Island didn’t look like an island at all, only a vague smudge out in the sea. It was hard to tell anything about it, even exactly where it was.
Then Gabby had a brainstorm so good that she stood right up. She could ask Spinner!
Spinner was a story-talent sparrow man who traveled far and wide, searching for stories that he spun into magical tales. Once, he’d even traveled home with Gabby, hiding in her backpack so he could learn more stories at her school.
If anyone could tell her about Shadow Island, it was him.
Finding Spinner was the problem. He came and went from Pixie Hollow, and no one ever seemed to know where he was or how long he’d be gone. When he was home, he liked to relax in the oddest places. He’d once told Gabby that he found it impossible to sleep indoors, since he’d spent so much time under the stars.
Gabby looked all over Pixie Hollow. She had almost given up, when she found him, dozing inside a water lily in the watering hole where the cart mice drank.
When Gabby woke him, Spinner sat up and yawned. His patched cap sat crookedly on his head, and the toes sticking out of his shoes looked cold. But he grinned when he saw her. “Well, if it isn’t my favorite honorary fairy. Fly with you, Gabby.”
“Hi, Spinner,” Gabby said. “I’ve been looking all over for you. I was afraid you were gone.”
“I just got back from Torth Mountain last night,” Spinner told her. “Long journey. Wore me out. Luckily, I found this nice water bed.” He patted the lily.
“It’s pretty,” Gabby said.
“And very comfortable,” Spinner said. “I was having the most marvelous dream about a flying pink tiger. Would you like to hear it?”
“Not now,” Gabby said quickly. Spinner’s stories were extraordinary—they transported the listener and made you feel as if you were there. But Gabby didn’t have time to listen to a story. “I have a question.”
When she showed him the map, Spinner nodded. “Oh, Shadow Island. Now, there’s a strange place.”
“So it’s real!” Gabby said.
“I didn’t say that,” Spinner replied. “Never been there myself. But I’ve heard stories about it.”
“What kind of stories?” Gabby asked.
“Spooky tales—stories about creatures who live their whole lives in darkness. Giants who touch the sky. Talking deserts. That sort of thing.”
Gabby shivered. Shadow Island didn’t sound like a place she wanted to go.
“Do you know how to get there?” she asked Spinner.
Spinner shook his head. “No one does. I’ve been looking for it my whole life, but I’ve never found it. They say you can only reach the island if it wants to be found.”
“Like Never Land,” Gabby said.
“Aye.” Spinner took a bit of straw from his cap and chewed the end. “Can I ask why you’re so interested in it?”
“Tink’s gone, and she took my boat,” Gabby told him. “I need it back. I think maybe she was going to Shadow Island.”
“Oh.” Spinner frowned.
“What?” asked Gabby.
“Well,” Spinner said. “There’s one thing I do know. Anyone who has ever reached Shadow Island has never made it home to tell about it.”
“Never?” repeated Gabby.
Spinner shook his head.
Now Gabby was no longe
r just worried about her boat—she was worried about her friend.
Weak sunlight shone through the windows of the Treasure and made yellow patches on the walls and floor.
Inside the cabin, Tinker Bell slowly got to her feet. The boat had finally stopped spinning and tossing. She could still hear the ocean outside, but now the waves made a quiet shush-shush noise.
Cautiously, Tink opened the cabin door and peeked out. The wind had died down. The storm was over. There was no sign of the cloud that had carried her off.
She stepped all the way out and saw that the Treasure had run aground on a beach. The tide had gone out, and the boat was stuck in the wet sand.
Tink’s foot felt cold. She looked down and remembered she had lost a shoe. She searched the entire boat, but she couldn’t find it.
“It must have blown away in the storm,” Tink said. It was her favorite shoe, too—her pompom slipper.
Tink kicked off her other shoe—there was no point in wearing just one—and turned her attention to the boat. The paint was worn away where the wind and rain had battered it. The sail was ripped, but that didn’t worry her. She would enjoy patching it.
When Tink turned to the mast, she stared. A crack ran right across it. Unless it was fixed, she wouldn’t be able to fly the boat, much less sail it home.
A smile spread slowly across Tink’s face. She loved to fix things. And this was a problem worthy of her skills!
Tink’s stomach rumbled. She realized she hadn’t eaten since she’d left Pixie Hollow earlier that day—or had it been the day before? The sun was low on the horizon, but Tink couldn’t say for sure whether it was morning or evening.
She decided she’d have a good meal, then get started on fixing the boat.
Not knowing how long she’d be gone, Tink had brought plenty of food—fresh bread, wheels of cheese, thimble buckets of honey, and dried cherries. She took a cherry and ate on the deck while she thought about what to do.
