Seedling Exams (2 page)

‘Your practicals will be term-long projects,' explained Miss Sparkle. ‘They'll be announced tomorrow. Are there any other questions?'

No one spoke, and Miss Sparkle nodded. ‘You may return to your branches, then. And girls, try not to worry too much. Those of you who have been working hard all along will be at an advantage this term, but it's not too late for the rest of you. Just buckle down and study, and you'll be fine!'

After glow-worms out that night, Twink lay awake for ages in her mossy bed, gazing at the drawing of her family. Her parents' faces smiled at her in the moonlight.

.

.

For as long as she could remember, Twink had wanted to be a Fairy Medic, so she could help injured wild creatures just like her parents did. Brownie, the Flutterby family's mouse, had spent many long-suffering hours wrapped up in leafy bandages and sneezing clouds of fake fairy dust as Twink pretended to heal him.

Then, when she was older, her parents had sometimes let her come along to visit their patients: injured birds or badgers recuperating under their care, who were always smiling and happy to see them. No wonder! Everyone who knew Twink's parents knew they were the wisest, kindest fairies in the world.

I won't let them down,
thought Twink firmly, closing her eyes and pulling her petal duvet around her.
I'll do well in my exams . . . no matter what!

.

Chapter Two

At breakfast the next morning, the Great Branch seemed a different place from the quiet, tense room of the night before. Hundreds of fairies sat chattering at their tables, all of them resplendent in fresh flower uniforms. Sitting at the Peony Branch table with the others, Twink smoothed the pink skirt of her new dress.

‘We've got Flower Power first today,' she said to Bimi. Mrs Hover, the matron, had handed out their timetables earlier that morning, when she made their peony dresses.

Bimi nodded worriedly. ‘I wonder what our practical will be like?'

‘I hope it's nothing to do with changing the colours of leaves,' said a lilac-haired fairy called Kiki, who had only been in their branch since the previous term. ‘I'm
awful
at that!'

‘Ooh, me too!' shuddered Sili. ‘Maybe it'll be something easy, like making the flowers open.'

‘In the wintertime?' hooted her friend Zena. ‘You'd better get studying before the exam, Sili!'

Though Twink laughed with the others, she wasn't really bothered what they did in Flower Power. It was Creature Kindness
she
was dying to find out about! But to her surprise, their Flower Power practical turned out to be much more interesting than she'd expected.

‘As you know, most trees have dryads: magical spirits that live within them,' explained Miss Petal later that morning. ‘Flower Power specialists often work with dryads if we're healing a poorly tree. It's important that you learn how to contact them, and that's what you'll be doing for your practical.'

Twink and Bimi looked at each other in surprise. Contacting a dryad sounded like a lot more fun than perking up drooping daisies or making the grass greener!

‘But Miss Petal, how do we do
that?'
breathed Sili, wide-eyed.

The attractive young teacher smiled. ‘The best way is to sit beside a tree and try talking to its dryad in your mind. If the dryad likes the look of you, he or she will respond.'

‘Hurrah, an easy practical!' whispered Sooze, her violet eyes dancing.

Miss Petal raised an amused eyebrow. ‘It's not as easy as it sounds, Sooze – that's why you've got a whole term! You have to make yourself seem likeable to the dryads, or else they'll just ignore you.'

‘Likeable? What do you mean?' asked Mariella, wrinkling up her forehead.

Twink glanced at Sooze. Normally her Opposite wouldn't have been able to resist a joke at the haughty fairy's expense, but now she just sat anxiously with the others, waiting for the answer.

Miss Petal considered, cocking her head to one side. ‘It's difficult to explain,' she said finally. ‘I suppose it's all to do with having the right mindset. You have to imagine what it's like to be part of a tree, and go on from there.'

The fairies stared at each other. This was sounding harder and harder! Twink stifled a nervous giggle as she pictured herself with roots growing out of her pixie boots, and leafy branches sprouting from her head.

.

.

Pix raised her hand. ‘Miss Petal, is it true that the older a dryad gets, the harder they are to contact?'

‘You've been reading up as usual, haven't you, Pix?' smiled Miss Petal. ‘Yes, that's right. After a few centuries, dryads almost go to sleep and can be very difficult to rouse. So the best bet for your practical is to choose a young tree to talk to.'

Opening her petal pad, Twink wrote
Choose a young tree
with her snail-trail pen. Excitement tickled her wings. Contacting a dryad sounded like glimmery fun – if she was able to do it!

‘You'll want to start trying to make contact with a dryad very soon, so you can show me on the day that you're able to speak to one,' concluded Miss Petal. ‘Try the wood; there are lots of likely trees there. And good luck!' She raised her voice as the magpie's screech echoed through the school, signalling the end of the lesson.

Their other practicals sounded interesting as well, though not terribly easy. In Weather Magic they had to create a flurry of snowflakes, while in Dance they were to learn a complicated dance that sent pleasant dreams to hibernating creatures. Even trickier was Fairy Dust, where they had to master the spell that changed a flower into a petal dress.

When it was finally time for Creature Kindness, Twink was in a daze. There was so much to do! How was she ever going to manage it all? The others looked just as worried. Even Pix had a concerned frown on her face.

‘Creature Kindness is in the animal infirmary this afternoon,' said Zena as they left the Fairy Dust branch. ‘I saw a notice on Mr Woodleaf's door.'

The infirmary! All at once Twink's spirits soared. Working with poorly animals was just what she had hoped for.

‘Come on, let's hurry!' She plunged into a dive down the trunk.

‘Oh, don't look so keen,' grumbled Sooze as she followed. ‘You know he'll give us
minus
fifty points if we do anything to upset his precious animals!'

The Peony Branch fairies swooped through the great double doors and out into the winter sunshine. Twink could see her breath as they flew to the animal infirmary: a large hollow log near the school pond, with cheerful windows down its side. Mr Woodleaf met them at the door.

‘Ah . . . hello, girls,' he muttered. ‘Come this way, please.'

Twink stared around her as they followed him. The infirmary was filled with different-sized chambers, each with a comfy nest or bed. A poorly-looking rat blinked at her from one, and a chaffinch with a bandaged foot slept in another.

Mr Woodleaf stopped in the centre of the log. As always, he seemed much more relaxed in the presence of animals, and even managed to smile at them. ‘Now then – you know that fairy magic can be used to heal injured creatures. However, some creatures take longer to recover than others.'

Twink nodded. She had always felt terribly sorry for those animals that couldn't be cured quickly.

‘All the patients in this infirmary are what we call
slow healers
,' continued Mr Woodleaf.
‘Magic has been performed to help them get better, but it will still take a long time for them to recover fully – and to do so, they need good nursing!'

He motioned to the injured creatures. ‘I'm going to assign each of you to a patient. Your practical will be to take care of it – feed and water it, change its bandages, and keep its spirits up. To pass the practical at the end of term, you'll need to show me that you can work well with your animal.'

Twink caught her breath. Oh, how glimmery! She glanced eagerly around her, wondering which animal would be hers – the mouse with the broken tail, maybe, or the glum-looking blue tit.

‘Now, Bimi, I'd like you to take care of this dormouse,' said Mr Woodleaf, indicating a young dormouse with a splint on one leg. He flew to its nest and beckoned Bimi forward. With an excited glance at Twink, Bimi followed him.

‘Just wait here until I've assigned everyone, please. Sooze, I'd like you to take care of this cricket . . .'

Twink stood fidgeting as the other fairies were assigned their animals one by one. Mariella got the rat; Sili, the chaffinch; Pix, the blue and yellow tit.

Oh, I hope I get the mouse!
thought Twink. He had such gentle brown eyes and sleek whiskers. And the poor thing looked so sad! She'd love to be his friend and cheer him up.

‘Kiki, you're to take care of this mouse,' instructed Mr Woodleaf. ‘And Zena, I'd like you to be with the mole . . .'

Oh. Twink bit her lip. But . . . what was left, in that case?

‘Now, Twink.' Mr Woodleaf flitted back to her. ‘I'd like you to take care of this animal over here – he's a bit apart from the others.'

Puzzled, Twink followed Mr Woodleaf to the end of the log, where there was a slight alcove. She stopped short, her eyes widening.

In the alcove was a nest with a starling in it: a great, hulking bird with untidy speckled brown feathers and a sharp black beak. One of its wings was bound up in a leafy bandage; the other flapped restlessly. Its dark, beady eyes narrowed when it saw her.

Mr Woodleaf smiled. ‘Since you nursed that wasp last year, I thought you'd like something a bit more challenging,' he explained. ‘Starlings can be a bit bad-tempered, but I'm sure it's nothing you can't handle.'

.

.

‘Oh,' said Twink faintly. It was true that she'd taken care of a wasp called Stripe when she was a first-year student – but
he
had been friendly! This bird was scowling at her as though he hated her already.

Swallowing hard, Twink put what she hoped was a keen look on her face. ‘Thank you, sir. I'd love to take care of him.'

‘Excellent!' beamed Mr Woodleaf. ‘I'm sure you'll do a splendid job.'

He flew back to the centre of the log. ‘Now then!' he called, clapping his hands. ‘I'd like you all to spend a bit of time getting to know your animals. Why not give them a drink of water and say hello?'

Twink slowly picked up a walnut-shell bucket full of water that sat on the floor. She could hear the others murmuring friendly greetings to their animals, and the sound of responding squeaks and chirrups.

‘Um . . . would you like some water?' she asked the starling.

The bird glared at her.

Twink took a deep breath and flew forward. ‘Nice starling,' she soothed. ‘That's right, you're a nice starling.'

The bird looked as if he knew she was lying. ‘
Squuaawwk,'
he cawed.

Twink stopped in front of his nest, her pulse thudding as she hovered. She held out the bucket. ‘Here you are,' she said nervously. ‘Nice water for the nice starling!'

Without warning, the bird's beak dived into the bucket. He drank greedily, with loud slurping noises. Twink winced as drops of water flew everywhere, splattering her arms.

Finally the starling raised his head, smacking his beak.

Twink tried to smile. ‘Hello!' she said. ‘I'm Twink. I'm going to be taking care of you.'

The bird rustled his feathers grumpily and turned away.

Twink bit her lip. Glancing over her shoulder, she could see Bimi sitting beside her dormouse, and Sili stroking her chaffinch's head. They all looked like they were getting on really well already!

Shifting the bucket to one hand, Twink flitted a bit closer. ‘I'm sure we'll be good friends,' she said hopefully. Very softly, she reached out and stroked the starling's good wing.

‘SQUAAWWKK!'

The bird exploded into a series of outraged shrieks and wing-flappings that sent Twink and the bucket flying. Suddenly she found herself sprawled on the floor several wingspans away, with her pink hair drenched and the bucket lying upside-down beside her.

Mr Woodleaf hurried over. ‘Twink! What happened?'

Water dripped off Twink's dress as he helped her up. Behind her, the bird was still screeching indignantly. Twink's cheeks felt on fire. She could see the others all staring at her in concern – except for Mariella, who had an amused smirk on her face!