Treasure Hunt (4 page)

Then Twink came to the next entry in the journal, and her heart chilled:

I can't believe it. This is so awful that I can hardly even write it down. I've lost my ring! My special silver ring that I've had practically all my life. I thought it might be somewhere in the tuck shop, because I was helping Miss Nectar put some of the sweets away when I noticed it was missing – but it's not, I've looked everywhere!!

I feel so numb. I can't believe it's lost. Everyone's been helping me to search for it, but it's just GONE. I can't stop crying. That ring meant so much to me!

And to make matters worse, now Aurora's cricket is missing too. Poor Aurora! How can we both be so unlucky?

Oh, I'd give ANYTHING to have my ring back again!

Twink swallowed hard as she took in the tear-stained words. Oh, poor Gran! But surely she'd found her ring again, with everyone looking for it? Twink flipped ahead in the journal, scanning through the entries.

Aurora's cricket had returned to Foxglove Branch the next day, much to Gran's best friend's delight. But Gran hadn't been so fortunate. Though she and her friends had searched Glitterwings for days, looking in every place they could think of, her ring was never found.

Slowly, Twink shut the book. She felt as forlorn as if it were her own ring that had been lost.
I wish
I
could find it for her
, she thought, tracing the letters on the journal's cover.

Suddenly Twink's eyes widened. She knew it was a mad idea – it had all happened so long ago – but what if she
could
find the lost ring, somehow? Would that be enough to snap Gran out of the Doldrums?

Twink's heart thudded so loudly that she was sure it would wake the other fairies. ‘A shock of joy,' Pix had said. Well, finding Gran's ring would certainly be that. It had obviously meant the world to Gran; she'd be thrilled to have it back again after all this time!

How could
she possibly find it, though? It sounded as if Gran and her friends had looked everywhere in the school! Twink bit her lip. Still, the ring had to be
somewhere
,
didn't it – even after so many years? So maybe she could think of something that Gran hadn't.

‘I have to try, anyway,' whispered Twink, tickling the glow-worm's belly. His light faded, leaving Twink alone in the darkness. ‘That's all there is to it – I have to try!'

.

Chapter Five

‘What will you have?' asked Miss Honey impatiently. ‘Candied nuts, sweet seeds? Come along, girl, there's a queue behind you!'

Hovering at the tuck shop counter, Twink glanced over her shoulder at the queue of first-year students. ‘Well – I don't want to buy anything,' she confessed. ‘I just wondered if you need any help.'

‘
Help?
' Miss Honey stared at her in amazement. ‘Why should I need help selling sweets to
you
lot?'

‘You just . . . look really busy,' faltered Twink. She was certain that Miss Honey – a thin, bad-tempered fairy with drooping gold wings – would tell her to flap off if she started talking about decades-old lost rings. But she had to get into that tuck shop – it was where Gran had first noticed that her ring was missing!

‘I
am
busy,' snapped Miss Honey. ‘Which is why you need to move along, if you're not buying anything! Next!'

A First Year with purple hair sped up to the counter. ‘I'll have –'

‘No, wait!' burst out Twink, thinking fast. ‘I mean – you look really busy, but – but it's also a project I'm doing! We're meant to help one of the teachers for a few hours, and see what life is like for them.'

Twink held her breath, praying that Miss Honey would believe her. Peering into the tuck shop she could see teetering wooden shelves and dark corners. Oh, there were
loads
of places a lost ring could be!

Miss Honey snorted. ‘See what my life is like, eh? Which teacher thought
that
one up? All right, then – you can sort all the sweet seeds according to size, if you're so keen.'

She lifted the counter up, and Twink shot into the shop. ‘Thank you!' she said fervently.

‘No chit-chat,' retorted Miss Honey as she banged the counter closed again. ‘My life's not about chit-chat; you can write
that
in your report! Now, there are the seeds.' She turned back to the queue. ‘Next!'

Twink stared in dismay at the overflowing walnut-shell bucket of seeds. This would take ages! When would she get a chance to search? Slowly, she started sorting.

Half an hour later Twink's fingers were aching, but the seed level in the bucket hardly seemed any lower. Even worse, her free hour would soon be over, and the tuck shop manager showed no sign of leaving.

Miss Honey appeared beside her, glowering. ‘Is that all you've sorted?' she scoffed. ‘Huh! In my day, fairies knew how to work!'

All at once an idea came to Twink. She nodded, trying to look downcast. ‘I'm sorry, Miss Honey,' she said. ‘I suppose you could have done it much better.'

Miss Honey frowned. ‘Well, of course I've had more practice,' she admitted. ‘Work, work, work, that's all I ever do!' Grabbing a broom made of dried twigs, she attacked the floor with it, stirring up great clouds of dust.

‘I know,' said Twink, holding back a cough. ‘All the other girls chose a teacher for their project, but I wanted to see what life was like for
you.
You work so hard, and no one really appreciates you.'

‘True,' sighed Miss Honey sadly. ‘Minding this shop, year in, year out – sweet seeds and candied nuts! Bah!'

‘In fact,' continued Twink, ‘I bet you'd like to take a break for a change! Why don't you go to the teachers' branch right now, and have a cup of warm nectar?' She clapped her wings together anxiously as she waited for Miss Honey's response.

The tuck shop manager couldn't have looked more astonished if Twink had suggested she fly upside-down. ‘The teachers' branch?' she gasped. ‘Me?'

‘Of course!' said Twink. ‘I'll mind the shop.'

‘Why . . .' Miss Honey hesitated, clearly tempted by the idea. Twink stood very still, not trusting herself to speak.

‘I'll do it!' decided Miss Honey suddenly. Grabbing a battered daisy-petal hat from the wall, she plopped it on to her head. With her chin lifted high in the air, she sped from the shop.

‘We're closed!' Twink announced to a startled second-year fairy who had just skimmed up to the counter. She banged the bark shutters together, hiding the shop from the rest of the school.

At last! But she had to hurry; she didn't have much time to search. In a frenzy, Twink looked in every place she could think of – behind boxes, in dusty corners, under the counter.

There was no ring anywhere.

Twink bit her lip. Where else could she check? The tuck shop was only small; there just weren't that many places a ring could be! She gazed glumly at the floor . . . and then suddenly she caught her breath.

Could the ring have dropped under the floorboards somehow?

Twink's heartbeat quickened.
Of course!
That was one place Gran hadn't mentioned looking – and the tuck shop floor was made from old planks of wood, full of knotholes. A ring could easily tumble down one!

The bark shutters rattled. ‘Knock, knock!' cried a merry voice.

Twink started. ‘Miss – Miss Honey?' she gasped. She flew to undo the shutters and lifted open the counter.

The tuck shop manager swept back into the little room. ‘Ooh, that was lovely!' she cooed, taking off her hat. ‘I don't know why I've never gone before. They even gave me a slice of nectar cake!'

‘That's great,' said Twink as the magpie's call signalled the end of her free hour. She rubbed her wings together. ‘Er – I'm sorry that I shut the shop. I – um –'

Miss Honey waved this away with her hand. ‘Not to worry, my dear! I expect you needed a break, too. There's a lot to be said for breaks! I plan to take plenty of them from now on.'

‘Oh good,' said Twink weakly. Wasps! The rest of the school wouldn't thank her for that! Still, at least Miss Honey looked happy.

Twink flew from the shop to her next lesson. Maybe Miss Honey was in a better mood now, but Twink still didn't think she'd agree to tear up her shop's floorboards! How on earth was she going to check under them?

Swooping into the Fairy Dust branch, Twink stopped short, blinking in surprise. The room was completely empty, apart from Miss Sparkle standing at the front of it.

The teacher shook her head. ‘This always happens at this time of year! Well, I'm glad I've got at least
one
student who still takes my class seriously, treasure hunt or no treasure hunt!'

As the magpie's call sounded again, the missing fairies all arrived in a rush, talking eagerly as they flurried into the room. Pix took a seat, her face pink-cheeked with excitement.

Sooze flitted close to Twink. ‘Pix has done it!' she hissed. ‘She's on the fourth clue now – ahead of Jade!'

‘Not for long,' laughed Ivy, overhearing her. ‘You wait and see – Jade's cleverer than anyone!' As usual when she was in a class without her twin, Ivy sat beside Kiki. The two artistic fairies got on very well, and spent a lot of time together.

Bimi took the mushroom seat next to Twink, tucking her bright silver and gold wings behind her back. ‘Where were you?' she whispered. ‘I looked everywhere!'

‘I'll tell you later,' Twink muttered back.

At the front of the branch, Miss Sparkle clapped her hands together sharply. ‘All right, that's enough! Petal pads out, please. You'll be taking notes today.'

Twink sighed. She enjoyed Miss Sparkle's lessons when they got to use fairy dust, but her lectures were often long and dull. She uncapped her favourite snail-trail pen as Miss Sparkle began to speak.

‘Now then, you all know that you can use fairy dust to transform objects, but it has other purposes as well. You can use it to locate lost fairies, you can leave a trail with it, you –'

Twink didn't hear anything after ‘locate lost fairies'. Her hand shot up in the air. ‘Can you use fairy dust to find lost
things
?'
she asked.

Miss Sparkle regarded her drily. ‘What sort of things?'

Suddenly aware that everyone was watching her, Twink lifted her wings in a shrug. ‘I don't know. Like . . . a lost piece of jewellery, maybe?'

‘Misplaced your diamond tiara again, have you?' sniggered Mariella. Twink made a face at her as the class giggled.

Miss Sparkle shook her head. ‘No, if an item like that is lost, then the fairy dust has nothing to work with. You see, you need to have something belonging to the missing fairy before the fairy dust can locate him or her – it's similar to when humans give a scent to a dog, to help them sniff something out. Now, as I was saying – '

‘Is there
any
magic that can find a lost item, though?' Twink blurted out.

Miss Sparkle almost smiled. ‘Have you lost something, Twink?'

‘Not really,' mumbled Twink. ‘I just wondered.'

‘Well, unfortunately, the answer is no,' said Miss Sparkle. ‘Magic is much easier to use on living beings than on things like jewellery. But I hope you find whatever it is,' she added kindly.

Twink's cheeks were blazing. She took notes automatically as Miss Sparkle continued with her lecture, hardly even noticing what she was writing.

When Miss Sparkle wasn't watching, Bimi slipped a scrap of petal across to Twink.
What have you lost? Can I help?
was written on it in Bimi's neat, curly handwriting.

Something of Gran's
,
Twink wrote in reply.
I'll show you in her journal later.

Maybe Bimi
could
help somehow, thought Twink as she passed the note on to Bimi's mushroom desk. Her father always said that four wings were better then two when it came to solving a problem!

At the end of the lesson, Miss Sparkle took a sheaf of petal pages from her desk. ‘I've marked the essays that you wrote over the holidays. You've done very well, most of you. One of my third-year students even got a hundred per cent.'

A few fairies turned to grin at Pix – but when Miss Sparkle handed their essays back, Pix stared down at hers with a dazed expression. Craning to see, Twink could just make out a large red
97
on Pix's petal.

‘Miss Sparkle – was it Jade in your other class who got the hundred per cent?' asked Pix in a strangled voice.

Miss Sparkle turned to her in surprise. ‘Pix, that's none of your business. But yes, since you ask, it was. She's an excellent student.'

‘Oh,' mumbled Pix. She shoved the petal away in her bag. When the magpie's call rang through the school, she was the first one from the branch, jetting away before anyone could speak to her.

Twink stared after her in surprise. How could Pix be so upset over only three points? She always did so well in school – and it wasn't as if she had anything else to worry about.

Unlike Twink. Her heart felt heavy as she slowly packed up her books. Her parents had been at Gran's for several days now, yet she hadn't heard anything from them. Gran must still be very poorly, lost in her Doldrums.