Wishes and Wings (3 page)

And suddenly she disappeared.

Alida was amazed. She had never even
heard
of magic like this.

“It's something I learned to do on my own,” her
mother said. Alida stared. Her mother was
gone
. It was like the air itself was talking.

After a heartbeat or two Alida heard her mother whispering again, and among the other words she heard her own name.

And suddenly she could see her mother again, except she looked different—silvery.

“Am I invisible now too?”

Her mother nodded. “That's why you can see me.”

Alida looked down at her hands. They had the same odd, luminous color as her mother's.

“I have been working on this for a long time,” her mother told her. “It's not perfect yet. But it's close. It's one of the reasons I think we can go home now.”

Alida's mother spoke two odd words and the silvery color winked out. “Are we still invisible?” Alida asked her.

“No,” her mother said.

And then she began to teach Alida the words she had whispered.

3

T
he next day's travel was a little harder for the faeries.

The path was narrow and it curved around boulders.

As they walked, Alida's mother asked her questions. For the first time Alida explained exactly how she had set Gavin free.

“I am so proud of you,” her mother said, “figuring out the magic on your own. When I was your age, I could do only very small magic, the kind we would trade for honey candy at the Ash Grove market.”

Alida smiled. “I remember the shoemaker.”

Her mother sighed. “Maybe one day we can go there again.”

“Will we be all right?” Alida asked. “Will Lord Dunraven's guards—”

“I don't expect it to be easy, Alida,” her mother interrupted gently. “But we must find a way to stay where we belong.”

She looked so determined, so fierce, that Alida could only nod.

Her mother glanced at the carts.

Alida turned to look too. The younger faeries were trudging along quietly.

But two elders were arguing about whose turn it was to ride in the cart.

Alida's mother asked her to lead the way again and went to settle the disagreement.

The next morning the path narrowed and began to slope upward. By midmorning most of the elders were riding in the carts. By the time the sun was
almost overhead, everyone's pace had slowed. By noon they were halfway up a high ridge, following a zigzagging path that was still so steep the goats had trouble pulling the carts.

All the faeries had to help. Even the eldest.

The strongest pushed the carts from behind. Others carried bags of cheese over their shoulders to lighten the load.

But even with all the help, the goats finally stopped, too tired to go on.

“We shouldn't have come this way,” Alida heard her aunt Lily saying.

Several of Alida's cousins started talking all at once.

The voices rose.

One of the faerie girls got so angry that she started to walk off into the trees.

“Cinder!” Alida's mother said, just loudly enough for her to hear. “The last thing we need is to have to look for you!”

The girl stopped, blushing.

She walked to the end of the line, her head down.

For a moment all the arguments stopped.

Then Alida could hear voices, low, grumbling, coming from the elders again.

“Listen to me! Going up and over this ridge will save us two days, and keep us far from the paths that connect the villages,” her mother shouted so loudly that it startled everyone.

Then she walked downhill, talking to everyone she passed. Alida heard her asking if anyone was hungry, who needed a drink of water.

As she made her way to the end of the line, she stopped and patted the goats and cows too, rubbing their foreheads.

Alida watched, amazed.

As her mother walked on, the grumbling got quieter, then stopped.

When she got to Alida's father and Gavin, she whispered something to them.

Alida saw them nod.

While her mother walked back up the line, her father and Gavin leaned over the last wagon, pulling out one of the boxes.

They carried it up the hill and stopped near her mother.

Everyone was watching them.

“Can you all hear me?” Alida's mother asked, raising her voice again.

Everyone nodded, some called out, then it was quiet again.

“Many of us need to rest,” her mother said. “We might not make it over the ridge today.”

There was a little chorus of sighing and groaning.

“But remember, it will save us two days to go this way,” Alida's mother added. “And humans almost never come up here.”

A few whispery discussions started, then stopped, when Alida's mother pointed at the box.

“I asked our best cooks to make honey-baked
lilies,” she announced. “Find a shady place to sit. We will bring them to you.”

Alida and Terra ran to help their father and Gavin.

Before long the faeries were smiling, enjoying the lilies. And when they finally started uphill again, there was no grumbling.

Everyone kept an eye on the elders, helping when someone needed help.

They made good progress.

By the time the sun was close to setting, they had gotten the last of the carts over the top of the ridge.

They hurried downward, hoping to get to the bottom before dark, but they couldn't.

So they slept on the sloping ground.

Alida's mother and father both made sure everyone was as comfortable as possible.

Then, once everyone else had gone to sleep, Alida's mother led her a little ways from the
others, and they sat close together, whispering.

“Have you learned the words yet?” her mother asked.

Alida tried to recite the strange words her mother had taught her. It was very hard. She made lots of mistakes.

Her mother repeated the words three times. “Practice when you can,” she said, then kissed Alida good night.

Alida arranged her blankets and got settled down, then lay awake thinking.

She knew it was good for her to learn the magic her mother had worked on for so long.

The faeries might need it.

But she wasn't like all the other faerie children.

She hadn't grown up learning small, simple magic like they had. She wasn't used to it.

And this magic wasn't small or simple.

It scared her to be trusted with it.

* * *

In the morning everyone was grumpy, at least a little—no one had slept well.

Alida looked at Gavin. He closed his eyes and pretended to be sleeping, standing up.

She had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

“I felt like I was going to roll down the hill all night long,” Aunt Lily complained.

“So did I,” Alida agreed.

Her aunt turned to look at her.

Alida smiled. “And I kept thinking that if I did, at least I would be the first one to make it to the bottom.”

Aunt Lily didn't laugh, but a few of Alida's cousins did.

They started making jokes.

When Alida turned to shake out her blanket and fold it, she saw her mother watching her.

4

T
he faeries kept walking.

Once, they heard hoofbeats, and about half of them leapt into flight.

They hovered in wobbly circles, shouting at one another to get out of the way, then realized it was only a herd of deer, startled by the wagons.

The faeries glided back to earth, looking embarrassed.

Alida's mother was shaking her head. She waited for everyone to quiet down before she spoke.

“If we ever do have to fly,” she said, “the guards will have their swords and bows ready. If we do what all of you just did, flying won't save us.”

Alida listened, along with everyone else, as her mother divided everyone into four groups.

If anything happened that forced them to flee, the first group would fly straight up, then angle a little way toward the west.

The second group would veer toward the east.

The third group would fly northward, and the fourth group would go south, just a little.

Once they were all up in the air, she would lead the way.

They practiced a few times, staying low.

Then they went on.

Alida could tell that everyone felt a little less afraid, knowing what to do if they had to fly.

A few times every day Alida walked off to the side far enough so that she could practice the words her mother wanted her to learn, without anyone noticing.

Then her mother showed her the finger-weaving movements, and the new magic seemed impossible to learn.

The finger-weaving was incredibly complicated. The words were long and strange and had an intricate rhythm.

Alida couldn't imagine ever being able to do both at the same time.

As they walked on, she practiced whenever she could. And she watched her mother walking up and down the line trying to think of things that needed fixing
before
something went wrong.

It made Alida wonder about the Dunraven family.

Their guards scared
everyone
: people, faeries, dragons, unicorns.

Had any of them ever been like her mother? Did they ever think about anyone besides themselves?

Two days later Alida's mother told her they were getting close to the village they would have to tiptoe past. That afternoon she asked Alida and Gavin to walk ahead and find a clearing hidden from the path.

Alida was glad to have a chance to spend time with Gavin.

In low voices, watchful and wary, they talked about everything as they walked through the quiet woods.

Alida convinced him to try dewberry blossoms.

He liked them!

Late that afternoon they found a meadow just off the road, hidden by big trees.

While everyone was settling in for the night, Alida's parents walked in circles, reminding the faeries to be very quiet and not to make faerie lights for any reason.

After the moon was up and everyone else was asleep, Alida still lay awake, listening to an owl, worrying. How would they manage to pass close to a human village without being noticed? It was going to be hard to quiet the elders and the babies and the goats and the cows all at once.