Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue (6 page)

“Argh!”
Rosetta echoed, lifting her head and glowering at Fawn.

Fawn let go of the foot, realizing it was Rosetta’s and not hers. “Sorry.”

The group slowly pulled themselves together, standing up and brushing debris and mud from their clothes. They shook their heads and stared at what was left of their boat.

“Looks like we’re walking from here,” Vidia said.

“But walking where?” asked Fawn.

“We could be anywhere,” Iridessa pointed out.

The fairies looked around. They were in some kind of valley, with grass towering over them on all sides.

Bobble grabbed a leaf and held it over his head like an umbrella. “Everything looks the same from down here.”

Clank was equally flummoxed. “And there’s no way of knowing which way to go.” He picked something up off the ground and sheltered himself with it. Whatever it was, it wasn’t much larger in diameter than his own head.

Vidia stared at Clank, unable to believe what she was seeing. She pointed at his makeshift rain hat. “Clank! Where did you find that?” she demanded.

“Here on the ground. Is it yours?” He held it out to her, but Vidia walked past him with her eyes glued to the ground.

The makeshift rain hat was a button!
And Vidia was looking for more of them. There they were! There … there … and there.

Vidia turned to the others, her face triumphant. “I know where we are!” She lowered her head and beckoned to the rest of the fairies to follow. She hoped she was going the right way and not betraying their trust—the way she’d betrayed Tinker Bell.

“Tinker Bell, this is so fascinating.” Tinker Bell and Lizzy were hard at work, putting the finishing touches on Lizzy’s fairy field journal.

Tink handed Lizzy the scissors. “Thank you,” Lizzy said as she began cutting out more fairies while Tinker Bell used a crayon to draw a snowflake.

Lizzy brushed a bit of paste on a page, placed a cutout fairy over it, and pressed. “Well, I think we’ve covered everything. I hope Father’s impressed.”

She held up the journal and admired it. “Types of fairies. Their talents. And now, for the finale.” Lizzy opened a page, and up popped a three-dimensional display of Pixie Hollow. “It worked!” she said happily.

Tinker Bell floated around the journal, applauding.

“Oh, Tinker Bell. I can’t wait to show Father.”

Tinker Bell gestured to Lizzy and pointed toward the door. “Then go now!”

Lizzy smiled brightly. “It’s time. Let me just do one more thing.” She picked up a crayon and wrote in big, neat letters on the front of the journal:
ELIZABETH GRIFFITHS AND
… Lizzy handed the crayon to Tinker Bell.

Touched and happy, Tinker Bell took the crayon and wrote her name on the cover, too.
TINKER BELL
.

Tinker Bell was proud of the book they had created. It had been fun, but she still missed her friends.

Lizzy saw the expression on Tink’s face and knew what she should do. She walked over to the window. “It looks like the rain has let up some,” she said. “You might be able to make it home to your friends now.”

In her heart, Lizzy wanted Tinker Bell to stay, but she also understood how important the other fairies were to Tink. Lizzy wanted to help out her new friend.

It was still drizzling, so Lizzy handed Tinker Bell one of the paper hats they had made. “Maybe this could help you.” Tinker Bell looked at the hat and smiled. She flew over to the table, where she picked up a paintbrush and brought it back to Lizzy. Always the inventive tinker fairy, Tink poked the paintbrush through the paper hat, making a fairy-sized umbrella.

Lizzy was sad to see Tink go. “Take care of yourself,” she said, sniffling to hold back her tears. “I’ll never forget you, Tinker Bell.”

Tink headed out the window, but she turned back for a last look just as Lizzy was picking up the fairy journal to take it to her father. “I’ll never forget you, Lizzy,” Tinker Bell said softly.

The rain had let up a bit, but everything was still wet. In the distance, Tink could see the oak tree where the fairy camp was. She knew it was time to leave.

Tinker Bell’s heart sank as she realized that on her very first day, she had gotten herself captured, and had probably caused a lot of worry back at fairy camp.

She flew down from the window, keeping a sharp eye out for the cat. When she flew past Dr. Griffiths’s study, she paused to look in, hoping to see father and daughter united over Lizzy’s project.

But as she hovered, she heard voices through the partly opened window.

“Father, look!”

“Not just now, Lizzy.”

Tinker Bell fluttered to the window to investigate. It was quite a scene. The ceiling was leaking in several places, and strewn around the room were buckets, pots, and pans to catch the water. Dr. Griffiths was busy trying to stop one of the leaks in the ceiling.

Lizzy held out her journal. “I made it especially for you, Father. It’s just like your field journal. It’s filled with lots of facts.”

Dr. Griffiths climbed up on his desk and mopped at the wet ceiling with a cloth. He was clearly flustered and frustrated.

“Yes, yes, Lizzy. That sounds wonderful. But I’m in the middle of a potential catastrophe here. I can’t look at it now.”

“But, Father. It’s a field journal, and I—”

“I don’t have time,” Dr. Griffiths insisted in an exasperated voice, trying to stuff a little piece of cloth into a crack in the ceiling. “I have to stop these leaks before it starts pouring.”

The cloth seemed to stop the flow of drips for a moment. “There we go,” Dr. Griffiths said with a sigh.

“That’s not how you fix it,” Tinker Bell muttered under her breath.

A drop of water came through the cloth and fell on Dr. Griffiths.

“Told you,” Tink muttered again.

Dr. Griffiths jumped off the desk and began to move his paperwork away from the dripping water.

“When will you be able to look at it?” Lizzy asked him.

“I don’t know,” her father sighed. “Maybe later.”

Lizzy turned away and hugged the journal against her chest. “You always say that,” she said in a glum tone. Tinker Bell watched her leave the room, unnoticed by Dr. Griffiths.

Torn, Tinker Bell looked back toward the tall oak tree.

Her friends would be worried about her. She wanted to go back. She
needed
to go back. But she also knew Lizzy would be feeling pretty lonely. Tink had a big choice to make.

Tinker Bell flew back into Lizzy’s room, approaching slowly so she wouldn’t startle her.

Lizzy gasped.
“Tinker Bell!”
she cried in a joyous voice. “You came back!”

Tinker Bell floated down onto her hand. “I couldn’t leave my friend,” she said.

Lizzy smiled. She might not have understood Tink’s words, but she heard the warm offer of friendship, clear as a bell. “I’m so glad to see you,” she said. “Father has no time for the field journal.”

Tink flew up and lifted Lizzy’s chin, wiping the tears away. “I think I can fix that,” she jingled.

“Vidia,” Rosetta said, “are you sure you know where you’re going?”

“Yes. Tinker Bell and I walked by here. I just have to find the road.”

Fawn fell into step on the other side of Vidia. “Road? What road?”

Vidia reached forward and parted some tall grass. “That road.”

“That’s not a road anymore,” Iridessa protested. “That’s a muddy river.”

“So I guess we need to find a bridge,” Rosetta suggested.

But Vidia didn’t want to risk taking a detour and getting lost. Tink needed them right away. She drew a deep breath and jumped, landing in the muddy water up to her knees.

“Or,” Rosetta added, “we could be spontaneous and jump right in.”

“It’s not deep,” Vidia pointed out. “We could walk across.”

Fawn jumped in, and then Iridessa and Silvermist. Bobble and Clank plowed in, making major splashes. Only Rosetta hesitated on the bank. “I don’t really do mud,” she explained.

“But … you’re a
garden fairy,
” Vidia pointed out.

Rosetta gave her an embarrassed smile. “Ironic, isn’t it?”

“Rosetta!”
the fairies all shouted.

“Okay. All right. I’m coming.” Rosetta took off her sandals and stepped daintily into the water. “
Ewwww!
Ooooh. What was that?”

Vidia rolled her eyes and waved her arms like a crossing guard, urging Rosetta across. One by one, Vidia watched all the fairies cross safely and climb up the bank. Once everyone was on the other side, Vidia followed. She took a step and … sank waist deep into a sucking pool of mud. Vidia gritted her teeth and struggled, trying to wrench herself loose.

“She’s stuck,” Clank said, pointing out the obvious.

Vidia gave it one last try, but it was no use. “All right, all right. Someone just get me something to grab on to.”

“Got it!” Bobble said. “Clanky: rescue device!” Clank and Bobble hurried into the weeds in search of something to pull Vidia out with.

Rosetta, Iridessa, and Fawn climbed back into the mud and waded to Vidia’s side. Each one of them grabbed an arm. “Okay,” Fawn said, “let’s give this a try. Pull!”

The girls gave Vidia a tremendous yank. Vidia felt a definite tremble in the mud.

“Do you feel that?” Iridessa. “She’s starting to break free.”

“I don’t think so,” Silvermist said in a wary tone.

Then they heard it. A noise. Loud and angry. The sound of an engine.

The girls looked up and saw a flash of light.

“It’s an angry human machine!” cried Silvermist as they all noticed the oncoming car.

The girls began to tug and tug, desperate to free Vidia before the machine ran them over. Only Iridessa did nothing. She stood perfectly still.

“Light!” whispered Iridessa, as if mesmerized.

The car came around the bend. The full glare of the headlights played over the road. Iridessa began walking straight toward the oncoming machine. The headlights illuminated her in a blaze. At that very moment, she lifted her hand.

Vidia and the others gasped. Using all her strength and her light-fairy magic, Iridessa cupped her hand and bent the beam of light backward, sending it straight at the oncoming driver. From his perspective, it looked as if a motorcycle’s headlight had suddenly appeared in the road.

The driver slammed on his brakes. The automobile careened toward Vidia and her protectors. They huddled together, watching with huge frightened eyes.

The automobile veered wildly to the side and skidded to a stop at the last possible second.

The door opened and they saw a huge boot step out.

Vidia’s heart thundered in her chest. The automobile hadn’t run over them, but they were still far from safe. She was still stuck, and a human with very large feet was stomping around in the dark.

“Hello!” the human shouted. “Is somebody out there? Anybody? Hello?”

The big boots came closer.

Vidia felt Fawn poking her. Why? What was she trying to tell her?

Fawn pointed to the human’s untied bootlace. It lay on the ground inches away. Fawn picked it up. “Grab this!” she hissed. “Hurry!”

“Are you kidding me?” Vidia asked.

“Trust me,” Fawn urged. “And hold on tight.”