Tinker Bell: Secret of the Wings Junior Novel (2 page)

N
estled among the roots of the Pixie Dust Tree was the fairy hospital. There were many patients inside waiting to be seen by healing talents. But some were not so patient.

“Um, how much longer?” a fairy covered in rainbow-colored stripes asked anxiously.

The receptionist at the front desk looked up. “I told you, a rainbow collision is not an emergency,” she said.

The fairy scratched his arm. “But the purple is starting to itch,” he complained.

The receptionist shook her head. “Take a seat.”

Just then, Silvermist, Iridessa, and Rosetta flew in. They had heard the news about Tinker Bell and were very concerned about their friend.

“Hurry, girls!” Rosetta called over her shoulder as she shot through the waiting room.

“Faster!” Silvermist cried.

“What if we're too late?” Iridessa asked.

“Ahem.” The receptionist cleared her throat as the fairies sailed right by her check-in desk. There was nothing that annoyed the receptionist more than fairies not following proper procedure.

The three friends stopped midflight. They hadn't even noticed the receptionist.

“Oh, sorry,” Iridessa said. “Do you know where—”

“Patient's name?” the receptionist interrupted.

“Tinker Bell,” Rosetta and Silvermist said together.

“Oh, yes.” The receptionist nodded. “The border crosser. She's…”

“Frozen solid?” Iridessa cried.

The receptionist sighed. “Room Two.”

“Thank you,” Silvermist called as she and her friends raced off. The trio zipped up and down the hallways of the fairy hospital, looking for the right room.

“Come on, girls, hurry,” Rosetta said urgently.

A moment later, they all piled into an examining room. Tinker Bell was sitting on a table with a firefly lamp shining down on her wings. A healing-talent fairy was studying her wings closely while Fawn stood off to the side.

“We got here as quick as we could,” Rosetta said.

“We did have to stop at reception,” Silvermist explained.

“Did you really cross?” Iridessa asked.

Tinker Bell was touched that her friends had dropped everything to come see her. She couldn't wait to tell them how her wings had sparkled!

But she didn't get the chance to answer, because the healing fairy cut off their chatter. “Shhhh,” the fairy scolded them.

The three friends nodded and grew quiet. Still, Iridessa couldn't stand not knowing what had happened. She leaned in close to Tinker Bell. “Well, did you?” she whispered loudly.

“Shhh!” the healing fairy snapped. She made the light brighter and moved her magnifying glass over Tinker Bell's wings.

Just then, Vidia sped into the room. When she saw Tinker Bell's wings magnified under the glass, she gasped. “Whoa,” she said.

Tink's other friends shot her a look. “Shhh!” they all hushed Vidia together.

Finally, the healing fairy took a step back. “Okay,” she said to Tinker Bell. “You're all warmed up. Let's test your wings.”

Tinker Bell sat up a little straighter.

“Open,” the healing fairy instructed. “Close.”

Tinker Bell did as she was told.

“Try a little flap,” the healing fairy said.

Tinker Bell quickly flapped her wings.

“Can you give me a flitter?”

Tinker Bell took a deep breath and flittered her wings. They felt perfectly normal.

The healing fairy looked pleased. “Well, I don't see anything unusual. Your wings appear to be fine.”

Tinker Bell's friends sighed in relief.

“But what about the sparkling?” Tink asked.

“Hmm,” the healing fairy said, gathering her things to see the next patient. “Well, it must have been the light reflecting off the snow.”

“But…” Tinker Bell protested.

The healing fairy gave her a stern look. “You should have never crossed the border,” she scolded her. “Winter is too cold for our warm fairy wings. Now, to be safe, I want you to take two sunflower seeds and come back if there is any problem.”

Together, Tink's friends led her out of the fairy hospital. They were all relieved that Tinker Bell was okay.

“We were worried,” Silvermist said.

“You are so lucky nothing happened to your wings,” Fawn added.

“Can you imagine?” Rosetta shook her head.

Tinker Bell looked around at her friends. “But something did happen,” she tried to explain. “They sparkled!”

Iridessa patted her on the shoulder. “You heard the healing fairy. It was just the light reflecting off the snow.”

“No, it wasn't!” Tinker Bell insisted. “They actually lit up! It was brighter than a thousand fireflies.” She turned to Fawn. “You saw it, didn't you?” she asked.

Fawn looked down at her feet. “No…” she said finally.

Tink's shoulders slumped. “You don't believe me?” She sighed when her friends shook their heads. “Look, you guys. It happened. It felt like…like…”

“Like what?” Silvermist asked.

Tinker Bell gazed off into the distance. “Like the Winter Woods was calling me,” she whispered.

Her friends all looked at one another anxiously. Now Tinker Bell was really acting crazy!

“Uh-huh,” Rosetta said slowly. Then she whispered to the others, “Get the doctor!”

Tink sighed. It didn't matter what the healing fairy had said. She knew her wings
had
sparkled. She wished her friends believed her. And more than anything, she wanted to know what the sparkling had meant.

L
ater that day, Tink flew off to the Book Nook. She had a feeling that she might be able to find the answer to her question there.

The library was a cozy little building tucked inside a hollow tree. As she entered, Tink passed by four fuzzy bookworms carrying stacks of books to reshelve.

Soon she found herself flittering down a long row of shelves crammed with dusty books. Under her breath, she read the titles aloud. “
101 Uses for Pixie Dust
.
Beauty and the Bees
.” She shook her head. “There's got to be a wing book here somewhere,” she mumbled. “
How to Avoid Hawks
.
Rules for Rainbow Riding
. No…not that.” Her finger trailed along the row of spines as she scanned each title, looking for the right one.

Suddenly, a tattered-looking book caught her eye. She opened it and found that the pages had been chewed through. “Hey!” she exclaimed, poking her finger through the hole in the page. “Someone's been eating the books!”

Nearby, a chubby bookworm looked up guiltily. A half-eaten page was sticking out of his mouth. He quickly gulped down the paper and inched away.

“Ugh,” Tinker Bell said, rolling her eyes.

She kept searching until, finally, she struck gold.

“
Wingology
!” she exclaimed. Tink reached for the book. It was shaped like fairy wings. But before she could grab it, the book magically took flight! Tinker Bell chased after it, causing a commotion throughout the library. The book slammed into stacks and shelves, knocking other books all over the floor. Finally, Tink pinned it down on one of the sturdy mushroom-cap tables. “Gotcha!” she cried.

A fairy wearing thick glasses at the next table cleared his throat. He seemed annoyed.

“Oh, sorry,” Tink apologized. Quietly, she began to flip through the pages. After a moment, she found just what she was looking for. “Sparkling! I knew it!” she cried.

She raised her hands triumphantly. The book took advantage of her distraction and tried to fly off once more. Tink slammed it back down.

Again, the fairy with glasses shot Tink a warning look.

“Sorry!” she whispered. Then she turned back to the book's explanation of sparkling wings. “Oh, no!” she exclaimed. The page that had the answer to Tinker Bell's question was chewed up. The bookworm must have gotten to it first. Tinker Bell glared at the chubby worm.

“Thanks a lot,” she grumbled.

The bookworm gave her another guilty look. He had just started munching on a tasty paper snack. He slid away, taking the snack with him.

Tinker Bell sighed and tried to make sense of the words that were left on the page. “‘Sparkling wings,'” she read, “‘when a…most incredible…that the sparkle…there were two.'” Tinker Bell blew her bangs out of her face as she tried to figure out what the words meant.
Two of
what
?
she thought.
Two wings? Two feet?

Frustrated, she moved over to where the fairy with glasses was reading. “Pssst,” she whispered. “Do you know anything about sparkling wings?”

The fairy looked up from his book. “No,” he replied. “The bookworm ate that page.”

“Yeah, I know.” Tinker Bell sighed.

“But the Keeper does,” the fairy said.

“The Keeper?” Tinker Bell asked. “Who's the Keeper?”

The fairy pushed his glasses up higher on his nose and pointed to the author's name on the front cover of the book. In small letters, it read,
BY THE KEEPER
.

“He writes the books,” the fairy told her. “He is the keeper of all fairy knowledge.”

“That's perfect!” Tinker Bell exclaimed. “Is he here? I have to talk to him.”

The fairy chuckled. “I would give anything to talk to him. But you can't. He's a winter fairy. In order to talk to him, you have to go to the Winter Woods.”

When Tinker Bell looked at him expectantly, the fairy continued. “And that's impossible. Your wings will freeze and…” He snapped a pencil he was holding in half. “Chapter sixteen,” he said, nodding to the book.

“The Winter Woods,” Tinker Bell whispered. She quickly thanked the fairy and started to fly home.

I have to see the Keeper!
she thought eagerly.
Somehow, there
has
to be a way to cross the border safely. He's the only one who can tell me why my wings sparkled!

A
short while later, Tinker Bell was hard at work in her teapot home. Using thorn scissors, she snipped a thick green leaf into pieces. Nearby, two bugs turned a spinning wheel to make thread. Tink carefully stitched the pieces of the leaf together to make a warm winter coat. Then she started to make snow boots. She hammered and cobbled until they were just right. She even added her signature pom-poms to the toes. When she was done, she tucked fuzzy earmuffs and woolly gloves into her satchel, along with the
Wingology
book. She looked at herself in the mirror.

Not bad!
she thought. She was ready for winter!

Smiling, she turned to fly off on her adventure…and fell flat on her face!

“Agh!” Tinker Bell grunted. She'd forgotten that with her warm coat on, she couldn't flap her wings.

Luckily, with the plan she had in mind to get to the Winter Woods, something
else
would be doing the flying for her!

Outside Tinkers' Nook, Tinker Bell cautiously peeked out from behind a bunch of leaves. She saw Fairy Mary and the other fairies hard at work in the basket depot. Slipping her hood over her head, Tinker Bell quietly tiptoed into the workshop.

“Stand by with the pulley,” Fairy Mary was instructing the tinkers in a loud voice. “It's this season's final pickup, so let's make it our best.”

Tink hid behind a large bin and spied on her friends Clank and Bobble. They were testing out the basket they had just made.

“Okay, Clanky!” Bobble shouted from inside the basket.

Clank pulled down on a large lever, and the bottom of the basket opened up. Bobble fell through it and onto the ground with a loud
thump!

“Snowflake release system working!” Clank declared. He smiled proudly

Bobble rubbed his head. “Maybe
you
should be the test snowflake for a while,” he mumbled.

Without a sound, Tink pulled a small thorn grappling hook attached to a rope out of her satchel. Quickly, she tossed the hook toward the top of the basket. It caught hold. Pleased with herself, Tink began to climb up and into the basket. She was so close to getting a ride to the Winter Woods!

“Tink?” Clank suddenly called.

Uh-oh,
Tinker Bell thought. She'd been caught!

“We already checked that basket,” Bobble called up, confused. He thought Tinker Bell was helping them prepare for the final pickup.

“R-right, uh…” Tinker Bell stammered as she slowly lowered herself back to the ground. She had to think fast.

Clank looked Tink up and down curiously. “Why are you dressed all cozy?”

Tinker Bell sighed. It was no use trying to lie to her friends. “I'm going to the Winter Woods,” she said.

Clank and Bobble gasped.

“The Winter Woods!” Bobble cried.

“Shhh!” Tinker Bell looked around for Fairy Mary. Thankfully, the head tinker fairy was busy on the other side of the factory, counting the last batch of baskets.

“The Winter Woods?” Bobble whispered.

Tinker Bell was about to explain when suddenly a loud horn sounded.

“Places, everyone!” Fairy Mary called.

“The snowy owls!” Tinker Bell gasped, her heart beating fast. “They're here!”

“Start the pulley!” Fairy Mary ordered.

The baskets that the tinker fairies had been making all day started to move along the rope up to the delivery tower. Tinker Bell didn't have time to think. It was now or never.

“Bye,” she whispered to Clank and Bobble. Before they could stop her, Tink hoisted herself into a moving basket and began rising into the air.

“Tink, wait!” Clank cried, sounding worried. He looked over at Bobble, and the two friends flew after her.

The pulley was carrying baskets up to meet the snowy owls as they swooped down. Tinker Bell's basket was nearing the top.

“You can't cross the border, Miss Bell,” Bobble whispered urgently over the rim. “Your wings—”

“Don't worry,” Tinker Bell said. “They're in my coat.”

“Does this have to do with the sparkling?” Clank asked.

“Yes,” Tink answered. “And there's somebody in winter who can tell me what it means.”

“Clank? Bobble?” Fairy Mary's voice echoed from down below. “Is there something wrong with that basket?”

“Wh-what? Oh, um…” Bobble stammered. He shot Tink a nervous glance. She looked at him pleadingly. They couldn't give her away now!

“Tink,” Bobble begged one last time.

“I just have to do this,” Tinker Bell whispered.

Bobble turned back to Fairy Mary. “Uh, no. Everything is, uh, fine,” he said.

“We're just sad to see it go,” Clank added. He patted the side of the basket. “Pretty basket.”

Fairy Mary rolled her eyes and let out a heavy sigh. “Oh, honestly!” she said. “Let it go!”

Clank and Bobble released their hold on the basket, and one by one the snowy owls swooped down to collect the deliveries. Tinker Bell peeked over the edge. Her basket was next for pickup!

Just then, the young owl from the previous day came into view. He was assigned to collect Tinker Bell's basket.

“Oh, that's the new one,” Fairy Mary said to Clank and Bobble.

Tink's friends gulped. A new owl wouldn't be as steady when picking up a heavy basket as the other, more experienced owls. They hoped the bird wouldn't drop Tinker Bell!

A moment later, the young owl flew past and grabbed the handles of Tinker Bell's basket. He wobbled a little. Then he flapped his wings hard, trying to keep up with his brothers.

Tinker Bell smiled. They were on their way…

…and heading straight for a wall! Panicking, Tinker Bell crouched against the side of the basket and braced for impact. But at the last second, the determined little owl gained enough momentum to lift the basket up and over the wall. They just missed it.

Back on the ground, Clank and Bobble let out a sigh of relief. That was close!

Tinker Bell sneaked a look back at her friends one last time, then she quickly ducked down.

“Excellent work, everyone,” Fairy Mary praised the tinkers in the depot. “They're off to the cold of winter.” She looked around. “Well, that's that until next year.”

As Fairy Mary left, Clank and Bobble continued watching Tinker Bell's basket disappear over the horizon.

“Stay warm, Miss Bell,” Bobble whispered softly.