Fairy in Danger (8 page)

‘Twink, go on!' shouted Midnight. ‘It's not us he wants – just go, get away!'

‘Aaarrgghh!' yelled Twink as the jar whistled towards her once more. Then she was hurtling through the air in a confused rush, flattened against its glass floor. She had been captured again!

‘Ha! Thought you'd escaped, didn't you?' crowed Timmy.

.

Chapter Eight

Twink stared in dismay as Timmy screwed the lid on tightly.
No!
This couldn't be happening!

She could just make out the tooth fairies. Drawn by the commotion, they had flown back again, and were now watching the scene with horror on their pale faces.

Timmy turned away again, heading back towards the house with Twink. ‘We're going to have
lots
of fun, Pinky,' he said. ‘Now that I know you can do magic, I can get you to do all sorts!'

‘No!' shouted a voice behind them. Suddenly Twink could see a fairy fluttering in front of Timmy, beating her wings in his face. It was Midnight!

‘Let her go!' she screamed, kicking his nose with her pixie boot. ‘You've no right! Come on, you lot – are you going to let him take her after she helped us to escape?'

Twink saw the tooth fairies glance fearfully at each other. ‘She's right!' cried Moonbeam, clutching her sore wing. ‘Help her, everyone, help her!'

The fairies hesitated – and then seemed to decide all at once. As one, they started flying at Timmy, darting in his face as Midnight had done. He took a step back, looking alarmed. ‘Hey! Stop that!'

‘Let her go!' ordered Midnight. She yanked hard at a lock of his blond hair.

‘Ow! Get off!' Swatting at his head, Timmy started to run. Twink shrieked, jolted about in her jar like a twig in a stream.

‘Stop!' called a different voice. ‘Grab his trouser legs, everyone – hurry!'

There was a confused blur as several new fairies darted on to the scene, zooming past Twink as they joined the tooth fairies. ‘Yes, there!' shouted the voice. ‘One, two, three – PULL!'

‘OOF!' shouted Timmy.

The world lurched crazily as he fell. The jar catapulted out of his hand, and Twink watched helplessly as she hurtled towards the ground. Suddenly, with a mad beating of wings, three fairies appeared beneath her, stopping the jar's fall.

‘Bimi! Sooze!
Miss Shimmery!
' gasped Twink as they lowered her to the earth. A moment later they had unscrewed her lid, and Twink flew shakily out.

‘Are you all right, my dear?' asked Miss Shimmery gently.

Twink nodded. All at once her throat felt choked with tears, and she couldn't speak.

‘Good,' said Miss Shimmery, patting her shoulder. ‘In that case I'd better go and see if the tooth fairies need any help. Take care of her, you two.'

She flitted off, and Bimi flung herself at Twink, hugging her hard. ‘Oh, we were so worried!' she burst out. ‘Shadow said that Timmy didn't hurt the fairies he caught, but –'

‘
Shadow?
' repeated Twink in surprise. ‘Is
she
here?'

Sooze nodded. ‘It was her idea to trip up that horrible boy. You should have seen her – she flew at him like a whole army of wasps!' Suddenly she embraced Twink tightly. ‘I'm really glad you're OK, Opposite. And next time, don't listen to me when I try to talk you into something!'

‘But what happened?' asked Twink in wonder.

Quickly, Bimi and Sooze filled her in on all that had taken place while she had been captured. ‘Miss Shimmery was brilliant,' said Sooze. ‘She didn't scold us once; she just took care of Shadow.'

Bimi nodded. ‘And then as soon as it was evening again and Shadow was well, she let Sooze and me come along to help rescue you.'

‘Well, she couldn't have stopped us, really,' said Sooze with a grin.

‘Leave me alone!' cried a voice.

Turning, Twink could see Timmy lying on the ground a short distance away, struggling to get up. The tooth fairies kept buzzing about his face, flapping and fluttering. ‘Stop it!' he cried tearfully. ‘Just go away!'

Shadow put her hands on her hips. ‘No, we won't,' she said firmly. ‘Not unless you promise to leave us alone from now on!'

Timmy nodded, his mouth trembling with fright.

Miss Shimmery was hovering to one side, her expression grave. ‘I'm afraid that you've brought this on yourself, young human,' she told him. ‘It's an evil thing to keep fairies captive, you know.'

Shadow swooped closer, looking fierce. ‘Yes, and just to make sure you keep your promise, whenever you have a tooth that needs collecting from now on, at least a dozen of us will come for it – and if you ever try to catch any of us again, you'll be sorry! Is that clear?'

Timmy gulped. ‘Y-yes,' he whispered. Though Twink knew that the awful little boy deserved this, she couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for him. He looked completely terrified!

‘Good,' snapped Shadow. ‘All right, everyone – let him get up.'

The tooth fairies retreated. Timmy didn't wait to be told again – he scrambled to his feet and ran into the house as fast as he could, banging the door shut behind him.

Sooze burst out laughing. ‘Somehow I don't think he'll be collecting fairies any more!' she said. ‘Maybe he should try something safer, like flowers.'

‘Oh, I can't believe I did that!' Shadow gasped, pressing her hands to her cheeks. ‘I – I actually stood up to him!'

The other tooth fairies looked at her in surprise. ‘What do you mean?' asked Moonbeam. ‘Of course you stood up to him. You're the Brave –'

‘
Don't call me that!
' burst out Shadow. She looked close to tears. The other tooth fairies stared at her, their faces stricken.

Shadow gave a humourless laugh. ‘The Brave One – ha, that's a joke! I'm anything
but
brave. In fact, I – I tricked Twink into coming here to collect the tooth for me, just because I was too scared to come myself.'

‘You did?' echoed Moonbeam. ‘But we thought . . .' She trailed off. Twink felt a pang of pity, remembering how much it had meant to the tooth fairies to hear about ‘The Brave One' in their captivity.

‘It's true,' said Shadow heavily. ‘And even before this happened I was never brave. That's why I went to live in that empty branch at Glitterwings. Because I
hate
being called the Brave One, when I'm really such a coward!'

‘But, Shadow, you have much more courage than you realise,' pointed out Miss Shimmery. ‘You brought us straight here, and, despite your fear, you led the attack against the Terrible Timmy. Bravery doesn't mean not being frightened – it's the actions you take, whether you're frightened or not.'

Shadow hesitated. ‘I suppose so, but . . . well, my actions towards Twink were still pretty cowardly, weren't they?' She turned to face Twink, her cheeks pink with shame. ‘I'm sorry,' she said. ‘No matter how scared I was, it was awful of me to ask you to come here without telling you about the danger. I wouldn't blame you if you hated me for it.'

Twink managed a smile. ‘No, I don't hate you,' she said. ‘And at least you came back and helped fight off Timmy. But, Shadow . . . what will you do now?'

‘I don't know,' said Shadow, looking at the ground. ‘I've been pretty lonely at Glitterwings. What I'd like most is to go back with the other tooth fairies . . . if they don't mind that I'm not really all that brave.'

There was a startled silence.

‘I – I suppose being the Brave One would be a lot for
any
of us to live up to,' said Moonbeam finally. ‘I'm sorry if we made you feel uncomfortable, Shadow. We'd like very much to have you back.'

‘Yes, we've really missed you!' burst out Midnight. ‘And I'd love to hear more about your carvings. Whatever gave you the idea to do such a thing?'

Shadow ducked her head shyly. ‘I don't know,' she said. ‘I started carving things because I was lonely, but . . . then it just seemed to me as though the teeth
should
have things carved in them.' She made a face. ‘I know that sounds mad.'

‘Not at all,' said Miss Shimmery in her low voice. ‘I did some reading about tooth fairies today, and that's how the pact between humans and tooth fairies first began. The tooth fairies have always been artists – and their favourite things to make art with have always been teeth.'

The tooth fairies looked stunned. ‘
Really?
'
said Moonbeam. ‘But – but if that's true, then it's been forgotten for years and years! None of
us
have ever made art. We just collect teeth because . . . well, because we always have.'

Miss Shimmery lifted her rainbow wings. ‘It's a shame that your love of art has been lost,' she said. ‘But it seems to me that you should be able to find it again . . . with Shadow's help.'

The tooth fairies stared at each other, and then slowly turned and looked at Shadow. ‘Carving things,' mused Moonbeam. ‘I've never thought of it before, but it sounds really interesting.'

‘Yes, Shadow, would you teach us how?' asked Midnight. The other tooth fairies crowded about, echoing agreement.

Shadow's face was flushed with pleasure. ‘Of course, if you want me to!' she said.

‘Yes, please,' said Moonbeam firmly. ‘I can see now that we tooth fairies have become very gloomy and set in our ways over the years. Something new to think about is exactly what we need.' Then she grinned. ‘And just imagine, now we'll have a
reason
to collect teeth. It'll make it so much more fun!'

The tooth fairies talked excitedly to each other, their eyes shining. Looking at them, Twink could scarcely believe that these were the same fairies who, just a few hours ago, had been too downhearted to even
think
about escaping!

Midnight gave Twink a warm smile. ‘And I think we could learn something from Twink, too, about being more positive,' she pointed out. ‘Why, if it wasn't for her, we'd still be stuck in that wardrobe.'

‘Yes, three cheers for Twink!' said Moonbeam.

Twink's face grew hot as the tooth fairies
hip-hip-hooray
ed
her, fluttering their silvery wings. ‘That's OK,' she said awkwardly. ‘I was happy to help.'

And all at once it was true. Though it had been horrible being a captive, she was delighted that the tooth fairies were free now, and so much happier. Perhaps it was lucky that Shadow had tricked her, after all.

The two groups of fairies said goodbye to each other. ‘Thanks for everything, Twink,' said Midnight, hugging her tightly.

Twink nodded, too emotional to speak. The tooth fairies were like old friends now, and suddenly she realised that she was going to miss them very much.

Then she remembered something, and pulled the bag from her shoulder. ‘Here,' she said, wiping her eyes as she handed it to Shadow. ‘This is yours.'

Shadow grinned. Opening the bag, she took out Timmy's tooth and turned it this way and that. ‘Thanks – I'll have to carve something extra-special in this one! Goodbye, Twink.' She clasped Twink's hand. ‘I hope I'll see you again sometime.'

She and the other tooth fairies flew away then, waving over their shoulders. Twink stood waving back until she couldn't see them any longer. Finally she dropped her arm with a sigh.