enthusiasm couldn’t mask the exhaustion in their eyes.
It had been a very busy first day.
“Nature hike at six-thirty tomorrow morning, so lights out in one hour,” he announced, and no one protested, except Lucy, who whined about everything.
“If the girls can be ready for bed in a half hour, we’ll have a special treat.” Summer had been planning this surprise since she talked her parents into the job.
“Summer and Tara, don’t forget the staff meeting after we get the kids down.” Rick’s reminder caused Summer’s teeth to clench. What else had she done today that he would find fault with at the staff meeting?
But she wouldn’t let Rick Warren ruin her surprise for the girls. Thank heavens for instant heat hair appliances! She rushed to her cabin and turned on the jumbo wave iron, hastily applied some makeup and made as many waves in her hair as time would allow. Slipping into her fairy princess gown and wings and grabbing her magic wand, she entered the girls’ bunkhouse twenty minutes before lights out.
The place erupted into a giant squeal when the girls spotted her, and soon she was surrounded by ten sets of eyes shimmering with excitement. Lucy gushed instead of whining. Even Mary Margaret smiled.
“I need y’all to sit on the floor in a big circle.” Summer used her fairy princess voice, and the girls scrambled to get seated. “Now then,” she started, like she always started her appearances. “What do you think it is that makes a fairy princess so special?” She looked around the room.
“You’re pretty,” Elise answered.
“Why, thank you, Elise.” The fairy princess smiled and gave an elegant nod. “That’s kind of you, and kindness is a big part of being a fairy princess, more important even than being pretty. Everybody’s pretty in some way, you know. Some people have pretty eyes or pretty hair. Other people have pretty hearts. And the pretty heart is definitely required to be a true fairy princess.” She glanced around. “So what else do you need to be a real fairy princess?”
“A dress!”
“A crown!”
“Wings!”
“A magic wand!”
Answers flooded the room, and Summer waited until they all were finished. “The dress. The crown. The wings. Those are things that can indicate a fairy princess. But did you know that there are a lot of fairy princesses out there who don’t show themselves with dresses, or crowns or wings? They’re in hiding. Secret fairy princesses. And they’re all around us. But the one thing every one of them has—” with a dramatic sweep, she pulled the amber-tipped wand from the hidden pocket of her dress “—is a magic wand.”
Little eyes widened and mouths opened in awe. “A true fairy princess has a magic wand. Not all are sticks with star tips. A wand might be a piano...a paintbrush or a computer...ballet slippers or a spoon. Every fairy princess gets to choose the wand that wields her magic. So tonight, while you’re asleep, I want you to open your heart to your dreams. Allow your dreams to see all the way inside to your pretty heart.” She stood and motioned for everyone to do the same.
The girls rose quietly, and Summer glided around the circle, tapping each one on the head gently. “You are now a fairy-princess-in-training, and that makes you special. You need to listen to what your pretty heart tells you because it’s going to share a secret with you, maybe tonight. The secret of the special magic only you can give to the world.”
When she got back to the starting point, she swept the group with a broad smile. “The next time I visit, we’ll talk more about your special magic wand and how you would use it. Now give everybody here a big good-night hug, and it’s off to bed.”
The girls scurried like ants, bumping into one another as they giggled and hugged and jumped into bed. Summer and Tara tucked everyone in.
“Remember,” Summer reminded them, “when it’s time for the adults to go to bed, Ms. Tara will come back to sleep in that room over there.” She motioned to the private room at the back of the dorm. “She’ll be here inside with you all night, and Mr. Kenny will be on guard all night outside.”
Summer motioned for Tara to turn out the lights as the two of them slipped out the door. Before closing it, Summer used her fairy princess voice once more. “Good night, everyone.”
“Good night, fairy princess!” the little voices sounded in sweet unison, making