And if he’s not there, we can see if they’re interested in joining us for our big run-in with the pirates. All right?”
The fairy pouted and looked suspicious, as if she thought Wendy were trying to trick her somehow. But she couldn’t find anything obviously wrong with what had been suggested, so she nodded. Reluctantly.
“All right then, let’s—”
And the fairy took off like a shot, a golden bauble that zipped high into the air and disappeared.
“All right,” Wendy repeated, uncertainly, watching it go.
“I can’t fly,” she added after another moment.
The clearing was silent except for the chirping of a single insect. It regarded Wendy through what looked like a very tiny pair of spectacles.
“I’ll just walk then, I guess.” She adjusted her dress and looked at Luna. “Shall we? I think…I think the Hangman’s Tree is due north of us, and a bit east. We may need to bushwhack. A pity I don’t have a machete or some such…”
Just as Wendy set foot into the shady, vaguely threatening undergrowth, there came a distant tinkling sound. The bauble of golden light tore back through the sky and stopped suddenly in front of her like a confused meteor. It hovered up and down angrily. Within the glow, the fairy tapped her foot and pointed to the sky.
“I can’t fly,” Wendy said politely. “I will have to meet you there. It will take me rather longer than you, I should expect.”
The fairy looked like she was going to explode in frustration. Her face turned red and her tiny hands became grasping, strained claws. Her shoulders rose up around her neck.
“Ah…sorry?”
With a strangled cry, the fairy flew at her. Wendy threw her hands up over her face for protection.
Nothing happened.
When no pinches or bites occurred, she hesitantly lowered her arms.
The fairy was flying in loops and swirls around her, shedding fairy dust as she went. Throwing it at Wendy.
Delighted, the human girl raised her arms up to fully experience what was happening. Delicate golden sparkles floated down and kissed her skin. Where they touched, Wendy felt lighter. Tiny pains she hadn’t even realized she felt entirely disappeared, and any weariness vanished. She felt rested, energetic, eager, and—airy.
“Oh! Fairy dust! Will this help me fly?”
The little fairy crossed her arms and nodded. She looked over Wendy with an appraising eye, perhaps seeing if she had done a good enough job. Then she nodded again, satisfied, and buzzed off into the sky.
Wendy raised her arms. She felt like the wind itself!
Nothing happened.
“All right,” she said. “Here I go!”
Did the ends of her hair lift a little, or was that just the breeze?
Sparkles continued to twinkle on her arms for a bit before settling into her skin. She worried: Was there a time limit? Did the magic fade if not used properly?
And with that worry, she felt the earth solidly under her heels again, her full weight bearing down on the soil.
“Oh, oh oh oh,” she cried, panicking. “Don’t do that, don’t think bad thoughts. I don’t think the fairy dust likes that. It won’t work if I think bad thoughts.”
She then had to stop herself from worrying about not flying because of worrying and bad thoughts. It made her head a little crazy.
The fairy hovered a good twenty feet up with her arms crossed and an impatient, bored look on her face.
“Sorry,” Wendy called as brightly as she could. “Never done this before! Doing my best here!”
The fairy rolled her eyes. Wendy winced. Nothing she did or said seemed to endear her to the pretty little thing at all. She wished she could do something right, immediately, the first time.
The fairy dove down and grabbed Wendy’s left thumb with both her hands and pulled. Wendy caught her breath, delighted by the tiny, warm touch.
Luna barked. She didn’t at all like the unfriendly creature coming too close to her mistress.
Wendy was torn, not wanting to upset the fairy—but not wanting to upset her wolf, either.
“Oh, it’s all right, girl,” Wendy said, putting her other hand out for Luna. “She’s just trying to help.”
The wolf pushed her nose into Wendy’s palm, licking it and forcing the hand up over her head to encourage scratching behind her ears. Wendy felt a rush of warmth and affection for this friend she only knew from dreams, who loved her so fiercely and unconditionally.
She felt herself lighten.
The fairy also must have felt it somehow, because at that exact same moment she tugged, beating her little wings, trying to fly backward and drag