Tapping the Dream Tree (52 page)

That was all that really mattered. That they were safe.

Right now the jackknife was folded up and in the pocket of her jeans. In her hands was a three-foot-long branch that she'd picked up from the debris under the trees. It hadn't been her first choice. She'd kept picking up and hefting various branches as she continued to sneak up on the bee fairy until she finally found one with some weight to it that didn't feel as though it would break the first time she used it.

It was hard to stay quiet. If this part of the wood hadn't been sprucey-pine, she probably wouldn't have gotten as far as she did. But the ground was thick with a carpet of needles, spongy and silent underfoot. Every time she did make some noise—stepped on a twig, pushed through the occasional bush—she stopped dead and crouched low, not daring to breathe, hoping the bee fairy would think it was only a squirrel or bird.

Maybe it was true that they had some Indian blood in them from their father's side, she thought, as she managed to creep almost up on the footman without his noticing her.

Okay, this was it.

She straightened up, took a long, deep breath, and stepped forward, swinging the branch. The footman grunted when the branch connected with the back of his head and toppled forward, his spear falling from his hand. The force of the blow stung the palms of Adie's hands enough so that she almost lost her grip on the branch. The footman landed on his hands, down but not out.

They're not people, Adie reminded herself. They're bugs. It's hurt them or be hurt
by
them.

She swung the branch again, just as the footman was half-rising and turning in her direction. The blow caught him in the temple and this time he went down and stayed there.

Adie dropped the branch and had to go down on one knee. She was shaking so badly she didn't think she could stand and felt she might throw up. But she made herself take a few steadying breaths until the queasiness passed and she was able to get back to her feet. Picking up her stick, she held it ready and nudged the footman with her foot. He didn't move. She tried again. When he still didn't move, she traded her branch for his spear and began to work her way back to the meadow where the fairy court held her sisters captive.

She arrived just in time to see one of the queen's footmen kill a fat little man that looked like a bumblebee, then turn his bow in Grace's direction.

As soon as the twins began to mouth off to the fairy queen, Elsie shook her head. She couldn't believe that they were being their usual incorrigible selves at a time like this. Didn't they realize that they were just making things worse?

And speaking of things getting worse, any moment the bee fairies were going to notice that Adie was gone.

Making sure that nobody was looking in her direction, she got to her feet and looked around for something she could use as a weapon. She wished her legs didn't feel like jelly, that her heartbeat wasn't drumming double-time in her chest. That she could at least take one deep breath.

Why couldn't she be as brave as Adie, just getting up and doing what needed to be done?

She glanced back at the fairy court, then stood rooted in place, watching in horror as the queen had the fat little man standing by the twins shot by one of her footmen. He notched another arrow and aimed it at Grace.

Her protective instincts sent a surge of adrenaline through her and she could move again. There was no time to worry if Adie was in position or not. Now was the time for the diversion. But while she was trying to decide between running around shrieking like a madwoman, or picking up a stick and attacking her captors, someone else provided the diversion for her.

Wide-eyed, she watched Sarah Jane, Laurel and Bess come dancing into the glade, paying no attention to the gathering of bee fairies.

I felt like a guerrilla soldier as we made our way to where the bee fairy court was holding my sisters captive. Li'l Pater led the way— something which didn't particularly thrill me, but both the Apple Tree Man and the ‘sangmen deferred to him in this, explaining that moving between the worlds could be tricky. The Apple Tree Man only went back and forth through his tree, while the ‘sangmen usually only crossed in between their ‘sang patches in either world. So without someone like Li'l Pater, we could end up miles from where we needed to be, or at a disadvantage as we all tried to sneak out of the Apple Tree Man's tree without being seen.

Li'l Pater brought us out of the fairies' world and back into our own right in the woods just above Aunt Lillian's orchard. At one point he held up a hand for us all to stop while he crept ahead. When he finally waved at us to come along, I spied one of the bee fairies unconscious behind a tree, trussed up with grass ropes. It seemed he was a little fiercer than you'd think from the little size of him. And then I saw the bee court and my sisters below and realized he'd played us fair in this as well.

“I guess I misjudged you,” I told him.

He was pretty gracious about it, except for the little smirk in one corner of his mouth.

“Oh, that's all right,” he said. “I know that's just the way you big folks are.”

“Yes, well, it's not like we—”

“You'll be careful,” Aunt Lillian said, crouching beside us.

I nodded, wondering if she'd interrupted to stop me and Li'l Pater from getting into another argument. Probably. Not much got past Aunt Lillian. And while I was trying my best not to get started again, Li'l Pater didn't make it easy and I could feel it happening all the same.

I turned from them to stare out at the bee fairies. I guess they were more like the way I'd always pictured fairies in my head—sort of special and scary, all at the same time. Instead of being all rooty and earthy like the ‘sangmen, they were bright and shining, sharp-featured and tall. Some rode horses and they had a pack of lean dogs that had Root penned up against the Apple Tree Man's tree. Root wasn't paying any attention to them. He was just staring at that tree—waiting for us to come back out again, I guess.

Looking back at the fairy court, I picked out the red heads of my sisters. Grace and Ruth were easy to spot—they looked like they'd just been brought in and were the center of everybody's attention. It took me a little longer to find Elsie, way over by a tree. I couldn't find Adie and my heart started beating too quick. I had to hope she was just lying down in the grass, out of sight.

While I was studying the fairy court, the ‘sangmen slipped away from us, taking up positions all along the edge of the woods close to where we'd arrived. They carried stout cudgels and spears, knives and short bows with arrows made of some kind of dark wood and fletched with what looked like owl feathers. The ‘sangmen were supposed to be our backup in case the Apple Tree Man's plan didn't work out. Seeing the size of the bee court, I was surely hoping it wouldn't come to a fight. There were
way
too many of the bee fairies for my liking.

Taking a steadying breath, I turned to the twins.

“Remember,” I warned them as we were about to leave our hidey-hole on the edge of the meadow. “No matter what happens, not a word.”

Bess mimed a zipper closing from one corner of her mouth to the other.

“Our lips are sealed,” she said.

Laurel grinned. “Good one. The Go-Go's, right?”

“ ‘Fraid so. I know they're completely passe.”

“Nope, they're doing a reunion tour, remember?”

“I always liked the Bangles better.”

“This is serious,” I told them.

“We know that, Janey,” Bess said, putting her hand on my arm. “But we're scared and this is the only way we know how to deal with it.”

“Hey,” Laurel asked the Apple Tree Man. “Is it okay if we hum while we're doing this?”

“I don't see why not,” he told them.

“And we could dance, too,” Bess said, “till we get up close.”

Laurel nodded. “But something slow. I vote for ‘Shenandoah.' “

“Incongruous dancing is an excellent way to get their attention,” the Apple Tree Man assured them.

“What do you think, Janey?” Laurel asked, turning to me.

“Why not?” I said.

Nothing seemed real, anyway.

I looked away from them, back out to where the bee court was holding my other sisters captive. The queen looked angry. She said something that I couldn't quite hear from where we were. But then she waved her arm and one of her footmen just up and put an arrow into the throat of this fat little man standing by the twins. My stomach did a flip as he dropped to the ground, blood pouring out of his neck. The next thing I knew he had another arrow nocked and was aiming it straight at Grace.

“Oh god,” I said. “We don't have any more time.”

I turned to Laurel and Bess. All their tomfoolery had drained away, along with the blood in their faces. We were all pale-faced and feeling a little shaky as we came dancing our way out of the trees, Laurel and Bess humming that old tune in two-part harmony, all of us with handfuls of grass in one hand, the pieces cut to lengths of six or seven inches.

Please, please, please, I was praying to whoever'd listen. Let this work. Don't let them shoot Grace like they did that little man.

A murmur rose from the bee court when they saw us coming, but I didn't dare look at them. I just concentrated on what we were doing. I wasn't nearly so nimble on my feet as the twins, but I did my best. Laurel and Bess got right into it, but then they're used to being on stage, performing in front of an audience, though I guess they'd never been in front of one this strange before. I just felt like a complete idiot. But I could take the embarrassment if it rescued my sisters.

About halfway between the trees and the bee court, we started laying down our blades of grass. We did it with deliberation, like it had meaning, just the way the Apple Tree Man had told us.

“Doesn't matter
what
it is you do,” he'd told us, “just so long as it's long past curious and you do it with conviction. And don't answer them when they ask what you're doing, just keep at it.”

“But what if they get mad at us?”

“Oh, they'll get mad all right. But so long as you keep at it, they won't be able to help themselves. They'll just have to know what you're doing. Maybe they'll threaten you, maybe they'll threaten your sisters, but you stick it out. There'll come a point when they'll start bribing you with anything and everything you might imagine.”

“I've got a pretty good imagination,” Laurel said.

Bess poked her in the side, but she smiled.

“You hold on,” the Apple Tree Man told us, “until they offer you a boon—that's the only time you stop and look straight at them.”

So that's what we did. I could feel a terrible twitch up between my shoulder blades. I guess I was just expecting that bowman to turn from Grace and shoot his arrow at one of us instead.

Anywise, like I said, halfway between them and the woods, we started making patterns with the blades of grass, laying them on the ground, carefully studying what we'd done, then laying another. Nothing that made sense, but we acted like it was the most important thing in the world and I guess, considering what all was at stake, maybe it was.

I know. It seemed crazy, but then I suppose lots of things in the stories Aunt Lillian's told me seemed that way when you first heard them, but they worked out okay in the end. I was just going to have to trust the Apple Tree Man that this would, as well.

I didn't look at the bee court, but I could hear them murmuring as I laid another blade of grass down, looked at it for a moment, changed its position, then did this slow soft-step to the side where I put two more down. Laurel and Bess were doing the same—I thought with their usual self-assurance until I noticed Bess's hand was trembling as she worked on the pattern she was building.

“What are they doing?” I heard someone ask.

It was a woman's voice—imperious and sharp. It had to be the queen.

Another voice murmured something apologetic that I couldn't make out.

“Well, then find out,” the queen said.

I saw a footman approach Laurel. He poked her in the back with the end of his bow.

“You there,” he said. “What are you doing?”

Her humming faltered, then died, leaving Bess to do a harmony on her own until she, too, stopped. Laurel turned to look at the footman and gave him a sweet smile that only me being her sister let me know she was a half-step away from blowing her top.

Don't, don't, I thought. Don't talk to them. Don't tell them what we're doing.

But she didn't give in, though I guess being Laurel, she had to ad lib some.

“Cabbages need their kings, too,” she said, then went back to what she was doing.

“What is that supposed to mean?” the queen asked.

The footman poked Laurel again, but this time she completely ignored him. He turned his attention to me.

“You heard our queen,” he said.

I thought I was ready for his poke, but I was in the middle of bending down and it made me lose my balance all the same. I went down on one shaking knee, expecting him to hit me or shoot me or I don't know what, but I made a point of laying out two more blades of grass, carefully arranging them, before getting back to my feet again.

“This is a trick of some kind,” the queen said.

Of course it was. And I guess others in the court thought the same from the glimpses I snatched of them. But I could also see that the Apple Tree Man had been right: They were mesmerized by what we were doing, trying to figure it all out.

“Just shoot one of them,” the queen ordered.

I forgot to breathe then. The twitch between my shoulder blades intensified. I knew the ‘sangmen were ready to come charging out of the woods to help us, but at least one of us would die before they could do anything.