Christmas Fairy Magic (2 page)

three

O
h, I just
knew
you would! You won't be sorry!

four

“W
hat is all this?” said Rosy.

“Did Christmas come early?” asked Sylva.

Clara pushed open the window against the snow. The beam of light grew brighter and the bell sound was even higher and more clear. The great room was bathed in a brilliant light, which dissolved into a constellation of tiny crystals. The crystals gathered in front of the roaring fire. They didn't melt like snowflakes; instead, they swirled together in midair.

“What is it?” asked Sylva. She had never seen such a thing before in her life.

But Goldie had. She remembered a message like this on her ninth birthday, a very special message indeed. “It's from Tinker Bell!” she cried.

The moment Goldie Bell said the words “Tinker Bell,” the crystals swirled into shapes. And the shapes turned into words. And the words chimed.
From Tinker Bell,
they said.

“Tink!” cried Clara. “Is that really you?”

Of course it's me,
the words rang.
Only Tinker Bell can do things like this!

“It's not Tink herself,” Rosy whispered. “But it's Tink's magic!”

“Let's listen to what she's saying,” said Goldie. “Quick! Before the crystals disappear!”

The words sparkled and glowed as they chimed aloud.

Christmas is only ten days away,
they said
. I know you are working hard to make it the best Christmas ever. . . .

“We are!” cried Sylva.

But now I want you to stop working and not do another thing. Because I will do everything for you this Christmas.

“Does that mean you'll come home, Tink?” asked Sylva.

“Hush, Sylva,” said Clara. “It's magic.” The words continued to appear.

I want to treat you to the very best Christmas you could ever have,
they said.
I'll bring every single present from Neverland, and a tree too—with special decorations from Peter and the Lost Boys.

“Ahhma!” said Squeak.

Mind you don't lift a finger. Leave it all to me. I'm in charge this year. See you early on the morning of December 24, if not before!
Love, Tink.

The Fairy Bell sisters watched the words
Love, Tink
till they faded from sight.

Sylva was the first to speak. “Do you really think—”

But her words were interrupted by another flash.

PS. I will be very cross if you spoil my surprise by decorating for Christmas and making presents for one another, so PLEASE DO NOT. That means you too, Rosy. xoxo T.

Just to be on the safe side, the sisters didn't speak for quite a long time.

“Do you think she means it?” asked Clara at last. Clara knew from experience that sometimes Tinker Bell had trouble keeping her promises.

“Oh, she'll come! She'll come for sure. And she'll bring Christmas with her!” said Sylva. Sylva had been so young when Tink left for Neverland that she barely remembered her oldest sister. Sometimes she even forgot what Tink looked like. “I want to see her so much.”

“Squeakie, aren't you happy?” asked Rosy. But Squeakie, usually the cheeriest baby on Sheepskerry Island (or anywhere else), only gave a tiny smile.

“Squeakie's too young to know much about Christmas,” said Goldie, giving her baby sister a cuddle. “But oh my! I can only imagine what Tink will bring me from Neverland. She knows I have exquisite taste.”

Sylva was so thrilled that she flew around the great room in circles at the thought of Tinker Bell being here on Sheepskerry Island. “Now I really can't wait till Christmas,” she said. “It's going to be the best Christmas of my entire life!”

five

T
here's nowhere quite so beautiful as Sheepskerry Island after a snowfall. The land is silent. The trees are laden down with heavy white powder that sparkles with tiny prisms of color. Fairies have wings, of course, but they all love to make the first tracks in new-fallen snow. And that's exactly what the Fairy Bell sisters were hoping to do one week before Christmas.

“The snow's stopped. Can we go outside, Clara?” asked Sylva.

“If you wrap up warmly, including a hat, Goldie,” said Clara.

“I finally found a hat that makes me look adorable
and
keeps me warm,” said Goldie. “Thank goodness.”

“Let's go make snow fairies. Oh, but not you, Ginger,” said Sylva. “The snow is too deep for a kitten. You stay here where it's warm.” Ginger scampered over to the hearth rug and licked her fur by the fire.

“Mind you put your wings carefully on the wing table before you go out in the snow,” said Clara. “I don't want them to get wet. You know it's not good for them.” Clara remembered how wet her own wings had been during the Valentine's Games last year. “And frozen wings break right off!”

“It would have to get a lot colder before our wings broke off,” said Sylva, laughing. “But we'll be careful!”

Sylva helped Goldie take off her wings, and Goldie helped with Sylva's. “Are you coming, Rosy?” Goldie asked.

“I'm just bundling up Squeakie,” said Rosy. “Your wings are too little to worry about, aren't they, Squeak?”

“
Humph
,” said Squeak.

“
Humph?
” said Rosy, and she laughed. “I thought that was Goldie's favorite word.”

“
Humph
,” said Goldie. “That's not my favorite word. And besides, Squeak could be saying anything.”

Rosy wasn't so sure that was true. She was the closest to Squeak, looking after her every day and watching her grow and change. She had never heard a word from Squeak that she could not understand.

“Come on,” said Goldie. “Let's get outside before the winds kick up again.”

The Fairy Bell sisters tromped out the front door of their fairy house—but they didn't get far before they all sank into the fresh snow. “It's all the way over my knees!” said Sylva. “Watch this!”

She stood up straight as a board, and then fell backward. “Keep your legs together!” shouted Goldie. “That's the way to make a perfect snow fairy.”

“I already know that!” said Sylva. She spread her arms wide and fluttered them up and down. “Come on, Goldie. You make one too. And you too, Rosy. And Squeak! Tink will see them in our fairy garden when she flies overhead. One week exactly from today!”

The four Fairy Bell sisters made dozens of snow fairies on their white-blanketed lawn. “Look at Squeakie's!” said Rosy. She went over to where Squeak's snow fairy was. “How did you make those wings so big, Squeak, with those tiny arms you have? Your snow fairy looks as if she's going to get up and fly away.”

“Sylva! Goldie! Is that you? Everything's so white I can barely see!”

“That's Poppy!” said Sylva. “And Avery is right behind her.”

The Fairy Bell sisters were friends with everyone on the island, but Poppy and Avery were special. Poppy was Sylva's best friend—through thick and thin—and Avery was Goldie's. The two fairies landed with a soft thud just next to the Bell sisters' snow fairies. “These are beautiful,” said Poppy. “Oh, and look at Squeakie's! Want to come with us? We're going to pick out our Christmas trees at the Christmas Tree Forest.”

Avery brandished a rather fierce-looking hatchet. “I know how to chop wood from when I worked on the mainland. Caraway Cooke sent me this so I could chop down the biggest tree on the island.”

“Well, keep it away from me!” said Goldie.

“The biggest tree on the island is as tall as a mountain,” said Rosy. “But that will be good for cutting down the kind of trees we need.”

“Come on, let's go!” said Sylva.

“Wait!”

Clara's voice rang out from the front door of the fairy house. “Rosy, Sylva, Goldie—we promised Tink we would let her do everything.” Even as Clara said the words, she wanted to take them back. She loved choosing their Christmas tree each year and wanted to go with the other fairies to do just that. But she didn't want to disappoint Tinker Bell—not when Tink hadn't been home for Christmas in so long. “That includes choosing the tree.”

Sylva's face fell. Goldie's mouth turned down at the corners. Even Rosy looked disappointed.

“That's right,” said Sylva at last. “We promised Tink.”

All five Fairy Bell sisters sighed a big sigh. It was Rosy who turned the moment bright again. “We didn't promise we wouldn't help our friends!” she said. “Come on, everybody, let's go pick out some Christmas trees! You too, Clara. Come on!”