Friendship Dance (7 page)

His eyes narrowed. ‘Oh, no you don't! You thought you'd sneak off and be a big hero again, didn't you? Well, I don't think
so!'

Twink stared at him. ‘What are you talking
about?'

‘It's obvious!' cried Chauncey-Oberon, his face reddening. ‘The Queen was impressed
last
time when you helped a wasp, so now you want to do it again and upstage the rest of us – get all the glory for yourself!'

Twink's mouth fell open as Stripe buzzed angrily at her side. ‘Are you mad?' she spluttered. ‘I do not! Stripe's my friend and he needs help, that's all.'

‘Well, I won't let you,' went on Chauncey-Oberon as if she hadn't spoken. His fists clenched. ‘If anyone deserves to impress the Queen, it's
me,
not you! I'm coming with you.'

‘
What?
'
shrieked Twink. She clapped her hand over her mouth, glancing back through the leaves at the party. ‘You are not!' she hissed.

Chauncey-Oberon folded his arms across his chest. ‘Try and stop me! I'll go straight to Maximus if you do – and you know
he'd
never let you leave the party now, no matter what!'

Twink gritted her teeth. Oh, how she wished she could tell this awful boy to just flap off! But she knew Chauncey-Oberon would do exactly as he said if she didn't give in.

‘Face it, Twink, I've outsmarted you,' he said smugly. ‘If
you
get to be
a hero, then I'm going to be one too – and that's all there is to it.'

‘Come on, then,' snapped Twink. ‘We have to hurry. But I'm warning you, Chauncey-Oberon – if you don't actually
help
me with this injured wasp, then – then Stripe will sting you!'

.

Chapter Seven

‘Is this the place?' whispered Twink, gazing at the hollow tree. After they had sneaked out of the palace, Stripe had led them deep into the wood. Now he nodded, motioning for them to hurry.

Twink started to fly forward, clutching the little box of fairy dust she'd brought from her room – and then squawked in surprise as Chauncey-Oberon jerked her back.

‘That's a
nest
!' he hissed.

Twink's throat went dry as she saw that he was right: the hollow tree had a steady stream of wasps flying in and out of it. She felt cold suddenly. She hadn't reckoned on actually going inside a wasps' nest!

Stripe tugged at her orchid dress again, his eyes begging her to continue. Twink took a deep breath. ‘All right, Stripe – I'm coming.'

‘
What?
'
yelped Chauncey-Oberon. ‘But we can't go in there!'

‘
I
am,' snapped Twink, shaking him off. ‘If you want to stay behind, that's fine with me – I wish you would!'

Twink sped after Stripe. Reluctantly, Chauncey-Oberon followed. His complexion had gone a bit green, Twink noticed coldly. Apparently being a hero wasn't quite what he'd expected!

But even Twink gulped as they landed on the hollow tree's rim, high over the ground. From here, the hole into the tree looked like a gaping cavern. She could hear the low drone of hundreds of wasps buzzing inside.

Suddenly a pair of the insects flew out. Twink leapt back with a startled squeak, almost dropping the fairy dust. The wasps reared back also, looking just as alarmed as she felt.

But then they caught sight of Stripe, and their expressions changed. With a respectful nod, they flew on, buzzing off into the distance.

‘What was
that
about?' asked Twink in confusion.

Stripe looked embarrassed. Pointing first at her and then himself, he mimed a very important-looking wasp – and then shrugged sheepishly.

‘You mean you're famous?' gasped Twink. ‘Because of me?'

‘That means
you're
famous too, in the wasp world,' put in Chauncey-Oberon nastily. ‘How sweet!'

Stripe frowned at his tone of voice.
Never mind that now!
his expression said.

Beckoning for them to follow, he flew into the hollow tree. The two fairies followed after him. Twink had expected utter darkness, but to her surprise there were little holes in the wood that let in light – almost like the windows at Glitterwings.

Stripe led them to a door set in a smooth paper wall that stretched across the inside of the tree. Twink gasped as they passed through the doorway. They were in a six-sided corridor, made of a sturdy white paper that seemed to gleam with a light of its own.

The passageway was too low for the fairies to fly in, and they had to walk hunched over as Stripe led them through a maze of corridors. Twink's legs and wings were soon aching from the unnatural position.

The buzzing noise roared in their ears. A constant stream of wasps flitted past, looking amazed to see them. Twink smiled weakly as she passed an elderly wasp. His eyes bulged, and he flew away in alarm.

‘I think we're in their palace!' exclaimed Chauncey-Oberon. He pointed to the walls. They were covered in murals – and for the first time, Twink noticed that they all showed a wasp wearing a crown.

‘Excellent!' said Chauncey-Oberon smugly. ‘It'll be even more impressive if we help a really
important
wasp.'

Twink glared at him – but all the same, a dreadful thought occurred to her. ‘Chauncey-Oberon, you don't think – I mean, it
can't
be the Queen who –'

Stripe darted back, buzzing anxiously. Grasping Twink's hem, he dragged them forward. They came to a low door, guarded by a pair of sentries who flew aside for them.

Entering the hexagonal chamber, Twink saw that her fears were right. The wasp that lay on the high paper bed was very poorly indeed . . . and from her regal bearing, she could be none other than the wasps' Queen.

There were several other wasps in the room tending her. Stripe buzzed something at them, and they slowly flew out.

Despite being so much larger than the insects, Twink suddenly felt very small. ‘Oh, Stripe, why have you brought me here?' she whispered. ‘If your own doctors can't cure your Queen, why do you think
I
can?'

Stripe nudged her towards the bed.
Please, just try!
said his eyes.
I told her you would!

Taking a deep breath, Twink moved to the bedside. The poor Queen looked even worse than she'd first thought. Her large, dark eyes were sunken, and her black and yellow stripes dull and faded.

‘Hello, Your Majesty,' said Twink shyly. ‘My name's Twink, and – and I'm here to try and help you.'

The Queen rolled her head towards Twink. Fairy and wasp regarded each other in silence. Twink bit her lip. The Queen looked so sad! Somehow she reminded Twink of someone – but who?

She pushed the thought aside. ‘Um . . . can you tell me what's wrong?'

Chauncey-Oberon edged up beside her. ‘She doesn't look very well, does she?'

Twink kicked him to be silent. ‘Your Majesty, can you tell me what's wrong?' she repeated.

The wasp shook her head. To Twink's alarm, a single tear rolled down her face.

‘She doesn't seem very happy, either,' said Chauncey-Oberon. ‘How are you going to help her? I mean – how are
we?
'

Twink resisted the urge to kick him again. The Queen did
seem unhappy, but Twink was certain there was something else wrong. Yet she could see no injuries, and she hadn't a clue what sort of illnesses wasps might get.

Stripe was watching her imploringly. Twink fumbled with her box of fairy dust. ‘Um . . . maybe a general perk-up spell,' she said.

Taking a pinch of the pink and gold dust, Twink clenched it in her fist and thought cheering, healing thoughts. When she could feel the magic tingling at her palm, she lightly tossed the glittering dust over the Queen.

‘Does she look any better?' she whispered to Chauncey-Oberon.

‘Not really,' he answered, making a face. ‘Can't you do any better? This is hardly going to impress Queen Mab!'

Twink's wings went stiff with fury. Grabbing Chauncey-Oberon's arm, she yanked him away from the Queen's bed. ‘You horrid, horrid boy!' she hissed. ‘Don't you even
care
that she's so ill? No wonder your parents don't want to have anything to do with you!'

All the blood seemed to leave Chauncey-Oberon's face. Twink gasped. Oh,
how
could she have said such a thing? There was no excuse for it, no matter how angry she was.

‘I'm – I'm sorry,' she said, her cheeks flaming. ‘But we're not here to impress Queen Mab. We're here to
help
.'

Chauncey-Oberon's jaw was tight. Finally he gave a stiff nod. ‘All right,' he muttered. ‘Well – let's just get on with it, then.'

‘But that's the problem, I don't know how!' burst out Twink. She glanced over her shoulder at Stripe, who was patting the Queen's arm soothingly.

‘Chauncey-Oberon, what am I going to do?' she whispered. ‘Stripe thinks I can help because I once healed a broken wing for him, but . . .' Twink trailed off helplessly. Whatever was wrong with the Queen, it was much worse than a broken wing.

Chauncey-Oberon gazed at the Queen and frowned. ‘I wonder –' he started, and then broke off, his cheeks reddening. ‘No, it's probably stupid.'

‘What?' asked Twink.

He looked embarrassed. ‘Well . . . when I was little, I had a pet ladybird. She was called, um . . . Dotty.'

His expression dared her to laugh, but Twink had never felt less like it in her life. ‘Go on,' she urged.

Chauncey-Oberon hunched a purple wing. ‘Well, Dotty got really ill once. My – my nurse said it was because she was worried about her children. She had heard that rhyme somewhere, about them all being in a fire.'

Twink nodded. They had learned all about that in Creature Kindness class, and how to cheer the poor ladybirds up if it happened. But when she said this to Chauncey-Oberon, he shook his head.

‘No, you see Dotty
didn't
get cheered up, and so it got worse and worse. My nurse said she was heartsore – that her heart was actually making her ill from worry. And . . . it's probably stupid, but I think the wasp Queen looks sort of the same.'

Twink stared at him, her pulse pounding. Suddenly it came to her who the wasp Queen reminded her of: Queen Mab, when Twink had seen her from the courtyard. The same unhappy expression rested on both monarchs' faces – and suddenly Twink was certain she knew why.

She spun towards the bed. ‘Stripe, when did your Queen start to feel poorly? Was it after the meeting with Queen Mab?'

Flitting over to them, Stripe indicated that this was the case. At first their Queen had merely been unhappy that the meeting had gone badly, but a few days ago she had become seriously ill – and nothing their doctors could do had helped.

Twink knelt beside the wasp Queen's bed. ‘Your Majesty, you feel just as awful as Queen Mab does, don't you?' she said. ‘Because she
does
feel bad about what happened, I'm sure of it! She looked so sad the other day.'

The wasp Queen gazed up at her with disbelieving eyes. Heaving a sigh, she turned her head away. Twink swallowed. It was as if the Queen longed to believe her, but just couldn't bring herself to.

‘Here, give me that fairy dust,' whispered Chauncey-Oberon. ‘I'm going to try what my nurse did for Dotty.'

Taking a pinch of the pink and gold dust, Chauncey-Oberon held it in his hand. ‘
Sore heart mend, find a friend,'
he murmured. Then, as Twink had done, he gently scattered the dust over the wasp Queen.

Twink leaned forward as the ill monarch stirred on her cushions. Was her colour slightly better? Twink thought it might be, but she couldn't tell.