

The True Stories of Dream Fairies: Bloom

By Heather Lynne Shida

Published by Heather Lynne Shida at Smashwords

Copyright 2012 Heather Lynne Shida

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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Chapter One: Bea Blooms

What was that annoying itch, Bea thought as she rolled over in her sleep? It was right square between her shoulders. She tried to bend her arm back right to get to it without any luck. Stupid itch had pulled her out of a perfectly good dream. She rolled over again, now on her back, and tried to shift her body to get to that spot. She was awake now and she was staring at the ceiling. The morning sun was sending sparkles all across the room, but that itch on her back would not leave her alone. It didn't just itch anymore, it burned a little like she had scratched it too hard and broken the skin a bit. But that couldn't be the case since she hadn't been able to reach it at all. What could it be? She wiggled slightly as she thought.

Suddenly, Bea sat up right in her bed. She wanted to scream out and beat her head a few times. Why did it take her so long to figure out what was going on? She had been waiting for this moment for years. She had been imagining what it would be like for days. She had lain in bed for what seemed like hours last night, unable to sleep, thinking about this. And now she had spent the first crucial minutes of this great moment lying in bed annoyed!

Bea jumped out of bed and ran across her room. Tearing off her shirt she stood in front of her full mirror. Bending it down a little she tried to peer over her shoulder to see her back. She stared, and waited. Since the itching had started a few minutes ago it had to be soon. Bea's neck was starting to hurt from the strain of peering over her shoulder. But she didn't want to move an inch from this awkward position. They're coming, she thought. She was so excited she couldn't stand it any longer. This was definitely going to be the best part of her birthday. Presents would be great too, but this; this could not be compared to anything else. Bea's focus left her back for a second as she thought about everything she would be able to do now that she was turning eight today. The things she could reach, the speed in her movement, her friends would be so jealous.

"Ouch!" The itchy spot on her back seared in pain. Bea twisted her head around again but her long, straight, sky-blue hair was in her face this time. Anxiously she tucked her hair behind her ears and stared at the reflection of her back in the mirror. There they were! They were small and had just broke through the skin, but there was no doubt that Beatrice Featherstone's wings had started to bloom.

She was so excited she could barely stay still to watch them grow. She wanted to run and tell her mother and father but she was glued to that spot in her room, staring over her shoulder. If she left this spot she would miss something. Bea had talked with her mother about this last night. She had a million questions for her mother. Would it hurt? When would it happen? How long would it take? How big would they be? What color would they be? Her mother had reassured her that the pain only lasted a second, that it usually happened in the morning and that it took just a few minutes for them to bloom completely.

"Do you want someone to be there with you?" her mother had asked her last night as she tucked her into bed.

Bea thought. Half of her really wanted her mother there holding her hand the entire night and into the morning. The other half was excited to show off that she was growing up and that she could do this by herself; after all, she was turning eight. Mrs. Featherstone could tell that Bea was thinking hard about her answer.

"I could be here if you wanted. But if you wanted to just have a moment with them alone, right as they bloom, then that is OK too honey." Mrs. Featherstone always knew the right words to reassure her and make her feel brave.

"What did you do when it happened?" Bea asked her mother, trying to sound casual and grown-up about it all.

"Well, I had actually insisted that I be alone. I was so excited and I wanted to see them all by myself first. But it is OK if you want me to be there with you." Mrs. Featherstone smiled at her daughter.

Bea thought again. She knew what she wanted to do. Her mind was made up. But she was a little nervous to walk away from the invitation to have someone there just in case.

"You need mommy there to hold your hand loser?" Bea's brother, Steven, had peered around her bedroom door. He was four years older than her and was constantly saying something mean or annoying to her. She hated him almost all the time. His comment gave her the determination she needed.

"I'd like to be alone, mom!" She declared in a voice that was maybe a little louder than necessary.

Mrs. Featherstone glared at Steven, but turned quickly to smile at her. "You'll be fine. It is the most exciting moment in your life. Just come out and join us for breakfast when you are ready. Try to sleep too, OK?"

Bea had snuggled under the covers and tried to fall asleep, but her mind was just racing with thoughts of how wonderful it would be to have wings. Now that she thought about it, she had no recollection of having fallen asleep. Her conversation with her mother seemed so far away now as she watched as her wings grew even greater in size.

And grow they did. They were stretching now over her shoulders, over her head, and the lowest tips of her hindwings were nearly touching the floor. Bea was a dream fairy and dream fairies had wings that were very similar to the wings of different kinds of butterflies. It was always luck that would lead to the size and color of one's wings. The Ancients would say that the kind of wings that bloomed would tell about who you would be when you were older. Bea's wings were like those of the monarch. They were not nearly as brightly colored though. Dream fairy wings were very pale and look almost like layers of iridescent tissue had covered the normally brilliant colors found on true butterflies. Bea's wings had veins that were a silvery gray and there were large areas of a faint buttery orange. All around the edge of both the forewings and hindwings were small, sparkling white spots that look like pearls. She instinctively gave them a shake and her room was splattered with fairy dust and dew. The sensation sent shivers down her spine as she stretched them out to their fullest. Bea now had huge wings. She thought about her friends at school and how they would all want to see them on Monday. She knew though that she wasn't allowed to fly to school or during class time. But she would still be able to show off how pretty and big her wings were. She would be the first one, in her entire grade at school to bloom. She was most excited to show them to her best friend, Cathy. Cathy would be so happy for her.

Bea was done now staring in awe and pride at her wings and wanted to share her excitement with her mother and father. She was ready to rush out of her room when she remembered she didn't have a shirt on. She grabbed one from her drawer and pulled it over her head and arms but got stuck when she tried to pull them over her wings. Of course, she couldn't wear her normal clothes anymore. Bea panicked. She didn't want to leave her room without a shirt on because she knew that her stupid brother would make fun of her forever. She started pacing her room. Maybe she could just hold a shirt to her chest? No, she wanted to walk out of her room in pride and dignity, not clenching some stupid shirt to her. If she opened her door and called for her mother, Steven would hear and come running. He might even beat her mother to Bea's room. It was always a battle to figure out how to avoid Steven's taunts. She carefully went to her door and slowly pried it open just a sliver. No one could be seen. She tried to listen carefully. She could just make out sounds of her brother and father in the kitchen. Steven was probably already eating since he was such a pig, Bea thought to herself. Just then she saw her mother flit across the hall.

"Mom!" Bea screamed a whisper through the crack in her door.

Mrs. Featherstone looked very much like Bea. She was a flier and that meant that her hair had been cut short. But it was a style that suited her. She always seemed to have extra energy and this led to her being a little clumsy; a trait that Bea had inherited. Her wings were small against her back now, as was proper etiquette for indoors, but when her wings were extended to their full size they were a little bit smaller than Bea's were. Mrs. Featherstone's wings were that of the Great Spangled Fritillary. They were milky yellow, covered in creamy coffee brown spots and had cute little scalloped edges along the bottom of the hindwings. Mrs. Featherstone turned her head toward the sound and saw her daughter hiding behind her bedroom door. She flew over quickly and slipped through the crack, softly shutting the door behind her.

"Bea, they are beautiful!" Mrs. Featherstone's voice rang through the room. She tried to pull her daughter to her for a hug but found that Bea was resisting.

"Mom, I need a shirt!" Bea didn't have time for hugs. She needed a shirt and fast before her brother came rushing through the door. "Steven might come in!" Bea's normally pale white cheeks flushed red as she pleaded with her mother.

Mrs. Featherstone's face broke into a smile as she flicked her finger and a small shot of dust dashed across the room and hit the door knob with a crack. Mrs. Featherstone was not very good with magic. Male fairies naturally had very large amounts of fairy dust rushing through them, but for females they had to study and train a great deal to learn how to coax what little they had out of their fingertips. Mrs. Featherstone's poor use of dust had left the door unchanged and so Mrs. Featherstone leapt across the room and started pushing on the side of Bea's dresser until it had come just in front of the door.

"There, he won't be able to bother us now!" Mrs. Featherstone declared in a satisfied tone.

Bea laughed.

"Now, about your shirt predicament, I have your new clothes for you in the laundry room. I had just forgotten to bring them in here last night. Besides you won't be wearing those today. You need your special blooming robe." And with that Mrs. Featherstone took a small flask from her pocket. It was yellow and no bigger than her hand. Bea could see it sparkle and knew immediately what it was. It was fairy dust. The kind you could buy at the store. Families could use their own fairy dust to make things like furniture, food, or clothes, but it was impossible to be able to have enough fairy dust naturally for all the things a family might need day-to-day. That was where the fairy dust shops came in handy. There were three kinds of fairy dust. There was high grade fairy dust that had to be donated by those male fairies of the highest caliber. This level of dust was usually reserved for important government or community work, but there were some male fairies who had chosen to market their amazing skills and sold this high grade dust at a high price. Because it was of such a high level, this kind of fairy dust could practically be used by anyone to great effect. The second kind of dust, regular grade, was the basic fairy dust that was found in all fairies, though in greater quantity and higher grade, in male fairies. It was one of the civic duties of all male fairies in a community that were over the age of 16, to donate dust every month. This dust was used for the community at large and excess was sold by the government to make basic quality goods. A small amount of skill was required to successfully use this dust. The final kind of dust was manufactured fairy dust. Thomas Everwell had been the founder of a method that used the smallest amount of high grade fairy dust and it was then manipulated into large amounts of fake dust. This dust was available for a very low price. But even those with great magic ability might find themselves with a bad batch that wouldn't quite work right. The government didn't really approve of this fake dust and the Ancients had even declared that use of such magic should be considered illegal. Since Mrs. Featherstone was one of the top fliers with the government the Featherstones had made it a point to never allow fake fairy dust in their home. Conversely, high grade dust had not been bought very often either. Bea knew that her father did not have high grade dust running through his body. Bea had wished that her mother had splurged and bought the more expensive high grade dust at least sometimes. She had especially wanted her to get some to make new clothes for her like the ones she had seen at the store last weekend. Her mother had stuck to the regular grade dust she always bought. Bea tried not to let her disappointment take over her again because she was really happy to get the new clothes no matter what the fairy dust grade.

She had sat by her mother's side last night and had watched as her mother opened each small white flask, and with a flick of the wrist, had coerced the fairy dust out. Immediately the sparkling dust had shot out of the flasks and, with a rather loud snap, had left behind new shirts and dresses that had space for wings to come through. Bea always liked watching anyone use these flasks of fairy dust to make things. Everyone had different techniques and results. Mrs. Featherstone didn't really have the skill or grace and her items always came out just like the store promised they would. But Bea had been over at Cathy's house and had watched on numerous occasions as Mrs. Royce would use the same white flasks to make things and the results were shockingly different. Bea was certain that some of Mrs. Royce's own fairy dust was mingling with the regular grade fairy dust, since what should have been a simple white dress had come out with beautiful lace trim and embroidered floral accents. Mrs. Royce was a perfect example of a female fairy that had been so skilled and smart that she had trained to use her fairy dust at a level that was greater than the average male fairy. Mrs. Royce was so graceful as she would twist and turn her delicate wrists to gently coax the fairy dust from the flask. It would dance and jump along the air and then spiral round and round. It would finish off with a beautiful bell-like chime, a sparkle of dust, and something a little better than normal would be created from those simple white flasks. Today though, Bea couldn't believe her eyes. She caught her breath when she looked at the little yellow flask in her mother's hand and saw the words: High Grade Fairy Dust - Blooming Robe - Brilliant Yellow, etched in gold along its edge.

"What's that mom?" She asked nervously.

"Well, after a lot of discussion with you dad, we decided that we could honor this incredibly special occasion with something a little extraordinary." Mrs. Featherstone smiled at her as she took the cork out of the flask.

Without even giving the flask a little shake the fairy dust darted out. It started spiraling in the middle of the room and in a second a sweet bell-like chime sounded and the dust was gone. In its place was a beautiful yellow robe with shiny satin ribbon along the hem and to serve as a belt around the waist. And to say that it was yellow was an understatement. It looked like sunshine it was so radiant.

"Put it on silly, don't just stare." Mrs. Featherstone held open the robe for her to slide her arms through the bell-shaped sleeves, leaving the robe open in the back.

"I picked this color knowing how much you had liked it when you were looking at that dress the other day in the store. Who would have known that it would look so perfect with your wings!" declared Mrs. Featherstone as she lovingly stroked her daughter's new wings and finished off the satin belt in a fat bow.

Bea did really look beautiful. The bright robe made Bea's nearly white skin shine with a delightful warmth. She let her mother nudge her onto her chair at her desk. Her mother grabbed a brush from Bea's dresser and started brushing her daughter's long blue hair. Dream fairy's hair was the same color as the sky. That meant that there were lots of different shades of blue hair. Bea's was the same color of blue that you would see on the morning of a summer day. Her hair was shiny and straight, like everyone else's. That was unless someone had invested in some high grade dust to change their hair. Mrs. Featherstone was against that. Bea had asked her before if she might change her hair color or add some curls, when she was older, but her mother had always told her no. Bea didn't really bother thinking about that now as she enjoyed her mother slowly brushing her hair as they talked to each other's reflection in the mirror.

"So, how was it? How was your blooming?" Mrs. Featherstone asked with a smile.

Bea shrugged her shoulders trying to act tough, but her excitement was given away in the twinkle in her eyes. "It was cool."

"Your wings are really beautiful, Bea." Mrs. Featherstone was looking over each wing carefully. Like butterflies, dream fairies had four wings, two hindwings and two forewings. They were made up of millions of tiny scales that were just visible if you looked up close. Unlike butterflies, the scales were quite a bit sturdier and only broke off after some extreme incident. Certainly, having such large wings like Bea's made it difficult to walk around. To help reduce the chance of accident and the wear and tear of scraping wings against hallways and doorways, dream fairies' wings could reduce in size so that they did not extend beyond their backs. It was considered quite rude to strut around with your wings fully bloomed when not necessary. This manner Bea was well aware of and not at all interested in abiding by. She wanted to show everyone her wings in their full glory.

"Can I go show dad now?" Bea was so excited she could hardly stand it. She was particularly excited to show off in front of her brother.

"And could I maybe fly just a little? Maybe just out to the kitchen?" Bea asked shyly. She had a feeling her mother would say no, since flying inside was generally frowned upon.

Mrs. Featherstone smiled. She was always the first one to let the rules bend. Bea loved that about her mother. If her father had said no, then there was a small chance that her mother would say yes.

"Sure, show us what you got. You are the birthday girl. But you know that normally you . . ."

". . . Aren't allowed to fly inside," Bea continued for her mother. "I know mom, I know."

Mrs. Featherstone laughed. "Let me get out there and get the men together for your grand entrance then."

With a smile, Mrs. Featherstone heaved the dresser aside and stepped out the door and left Bea to get herself together for her first moments of flying.

Bea turned to her reflection in the mirror. Wings! How wonderful they were. And they seemed to share a mind with her as she gave them a little shake and flutter. "Maybe I should give them a little test run in here," Bea mumbled to herself and she straightened the shining fabric of her robe. Bea closed her eyes and thought about being weightless, flying. She concentrated and was surprised as she felt her feet leave the floor. Her wings were moving slowly, softly by her ears. She was hovering just a fraction above the floor. This was going to be too easy. She brought herself back to the floor and ran over to the door. Without any hesitation she flew it open with perhaps just a bit too much force as it slammed against the wall behind it. The hallway was not very long and it led straight to the kitchen at the other end of the house. Bea had her wings held tight together as she started off on a run down the hallway. Her intention was to let the wings free the minute she broke free of the narrow hallway. Just as she plunged forward in a slight leap and let her wings out into their full span she realized she had misjudged the length of the hallway. Her wings grazed the edges of the walls for just a second as she had leapt into the air. This forced her into a sort of tumble through the air as her feet kicked up at a strange angel. She was airborne for a moment or two. Her wings moved slightly, trying to gain momentum again, but her feet found the floor again and her toe was caught and she was pulled down into a terrible crash. Her wings, her hair and the beautiful robe were all twisted as she caught herself on all fours just at the kitchen table.

"Way to make an entrance, sis!" laughed Bea's brother, Steven. Steven took after his father more than his mother. He had a stocky build and Steven's hair was shaved down to a buzz cut and Bea always thought it made it look like his head was glowing a little since his hair was a light shade of blue.

Bea stood up and her face felt hot with anger and embarrassment as she glared at her brother. The tears were burning in her eyes as she screamed, "Shut up!"

Mr. Featherstone, who had been sitting at the breakfast table, knew to leap up and intervene before things got out of control. He had strong broad shoulders. He scooped Bea up into his arms and twirled her around until he set her on his chair.

"Happy Birthday, princess! And Happy Blooming! Wow, your wings are huge!" Mr. Featherstone was a great referee when it came to the battles between Bea and her brother. He knew that it was often the best tactic to try to distract everyone with a new topic. He was satisfied to see that his plan was working as Bea wiped the tears forming in her eyes. She gave a quick glare at her brother before turning her attention to her father. She smoothed her robe down and tried to straighten her hair a bit as she fluttered her wings to make sure they were all right. She was relieved to discover that they were unharmed. She decided to give a little twirl to show off the wings and the robe and to try to erase the embarrassment of her tumble.

"Ah, and this must be the blooming robe you got the other day," Mr. Featherstone turned his smile to Mrs. Featherstone.

"Yes." Mrs. Featherstone replied in a tone that Bea recognized. Her mother was giving her father a hint to not talk about the subject anymore.

"Huh, you know, it really is pretty. I think it was worth it. I know at least you certainly are worth it, princess!" Mr. Featherstone pulled her into a hug and Bea could feel the tension surrounding her mother's face disappear into a smile.

"I knew you would agree once you saw it on her. Doesn't she look pretty?"

Steven was sitting in the corner of the kitchen stuffing toast into his mouth. He had a terrible look of disgust as he stared at Bea's yellow robe. Steven's birthday had been last month. He had turned twelve. When male dream fairies turned twelve they were allowed to use the fairy dust that was naturally inside of them. Their dust was also tested to see what level it was. Steven's was medium-regular grade, just like his father's. Bea had secretly hoped that on that day they would discover that her mean brother had no fairy dust at all, or at least an incredibly low grade. But that kind of result was very rare and in the end Bea didn't really want to wish bad things on her brother, maybe just small bad things. Steven had been studying at school and working on using his fairy dust. Just the other day he had been able to make things move around his room. Bea had watched him enviously all afternoon, wondering when she would finally get to use fairy dust. Female dream fairies began their magic studies at twelve as well, but no female was ever tested since they always had low-regular grade fairy dust. Not only was this dust the lowest grade of the regular grade, female fairies had much smaller quantities than males. It was sufficient though to do some basic magic and when Bea turned twelve she would finally be allowed to use her fairy dust and take the practical magic course at school. On Steven's birthday his parents had planned a great celebration. He received so many presents and they had an amazing meal. Then they had all gone to visit the Ancients to have him tested. It had been a very exciting day and Bea had enjoyed everything in spite of herself. Today, on her day, she was beaming with excitement and loving every moment as she saw her brother's face turn green with envy with every flutter of her wings.

"Stupid looking wings . . ." Steven muttered as he stuffed more toast in his mouth. Food for fairies was very unique. Everything around the fairies was made with dust, and that included food. The fairies worked hard to mimic what they saw on earth and manipulated the dust to create everything from BBQ chicken to salads to ice cream sundaes. The flavor; however, was always the same; a light, airy sweetness that swept through every corner of one's mouth when they ate. The flavors from earth were completely unknown to them since they had not been able to spend much time on earth for the past three hundred years. Bea loved eating this food created with dust and always felt a little bit happier and lively afterwards. She couldn't understand how Steven ate so quickly, simply stuffing food in his mouth.

"Shut up, loser! You're just sad because you don't have any wings and you can't fly!" Bea laughed at her brother.

Steven forced a laugh of his own. "Why would I want wings? Why would I want to look all girly and dainty? And who cares about flying, especially when someone looks at how great you proved to be at it this morning?"

Bea's face flushed bright red. Bea shot out of her chair and, without even thinking, found herself right in front of her brother. She had intended to run over to punch him in the stomach as she usually would do, but apparently her wings had decided to help her in getting to her destination a little faster and she had flown over so that she was hovering right in front of his face with both of her hands tightly clenched into fists.

Mr. Featherstone reached over the table and grabbed Bea by the waist and pulled her back to his side.

"Stop it you two!" He glared particularly at Steven.

"Could the two of you try to hold off on the fighting, for just one day?" Mrs. Featherstone pleaded with both of them. "Besides you both need to be on your best behavior for our visit to the Ancients after breakfast."

"Why do we have to go see them?" Bea asked her mother. She didn't really like going to see the Ancients. They made her feel weird, like they were always staring at her no matter where she was. She had only seen them that one time, when she had gone with Steven on his birthday, but dream fairies were sort of taught from birth to revere the Ancients.

"Today they will look at your wings. You know that Bea," Mrs. Featherstone smiled at her to try to reassure her it would be OK. Bea had a feeling that maybe her mother didn't really like going to see the Ancients either.

Chapter Two: The Ancients

Not many actually enjoyed visiting the Ancients. Having to speak to them generally made most fairies very nervous. But getting to the Great Hall was something that Bea had really enjoyed when the family had gone for her brother's birthday, so she tried to focus on the fun of the trip, rather than the destination.

The Ancients resided in the Great Hall. The Great Hall was not on the same island as the Featherstone's home. Dream fairies lived on cloud-like islands in the sky. An island was circular with a diameter about the length of a football field. It rested upon some cirrus clouds and hovered around in the troposphere with other actual clouds. Most islands remained high enough at the uppermost part of the troposphere to avoid any interference with airplanes below. Being so high in the troposphere meant that the temperatures were incredibly cold and that was why the islands were surrounded by protective bubble-like domes. The cirrus cloud base made the island undetectable from below and the bubble surrounding the island was made from the highest grade fairy dust that reflected light in just the right way so as to make the island appear invisible. The islands were very temperate with perfect weather every day. The only exception was on Christmas when a fake, warm snow fell to help the fairies understand the feeling of excitement that comes with a Christmas snow on earth. A bright sun and a beautiful moon and stars were recreated to mimic the passing of the days below.

Each island could contain no more than 888 fairy inhabitants. The entire community of dream fairies was very well organized. Since making the decision to abandon their lives and homes on earth in 1700 the Ancients had worked hard to recreate life on these islands. A community of islands was composed of 26 islands. This community served a population on earth of about 300,000. The islands separated the population of fairies into groups. There were four government islands, two industry, one training island, 11 islands to house the elder fairies until they passed on at the age of 88, and finally eight family islands. The Featherstone's lived on one of these family islands, along with all of Bea's classmates and their families. Only families with children under 16 could live there. The family island was almost entirely populated by families. Not quite 200 families generally lived there, while the remaining population was made up of the staff at the basic and prep schools and some small shops in town.

There were a few ways to get around. Female fairies can choose to fly at a reasonable speed, as long as the destination was accessible outdoors; it was very rude to fly while inside. But usually female fairies were also traveling with male fairies and, in the interest of keeping a group together, the dream fairies had created an elaborate system of pods that traveled around like a cable car throughout the enclosed island. The system of pods was really something to see and Bea loved it every time she rode in one. There were two lines of wire that created a beautiful spiral just over the community. One line, the gold line, wound around clockwise. The other, the silver line, wound around counter clockwise. The lines of wire hovered above the community high enough so that they did not interfere with the buildings below. No building in the community had more than two stories and the pods just skimmed the rooftops of some of these higher buildings. One could simply choose which line best served their destination. Then one could employ a pod. These pods were bought in town and buying them meant buying the pod and paying your fare. The pods looked like a small bubble that fit in the palm of your hand. However, with a bit more magic fairy dust, when the small pod bubble was tossed into the air, it could expand and grown until it was bigger than a fairy. Two fairies could fit into a pod. Male fairies stepped inside the pod and let it rise and attach itself to the thin wires above. Female fairies could let the pod rise to the line first and then fly up into the pod if they wish.

The Featherstones stepped outside their home and began the short walk to the pod pickup location. Their home was right next to the SW3 station. Bea was so excited; she wanted to use her wings to give her that push up into the pod when it floated up to the line.

"Mom, can I fly into the pod today?" Bea already had her wings out in their full glory.

Her mother smiled as she said, "I hadn't thought of that, but sure, why not. Just be careful not to give yourself too much push. I'll be right behind you."

They would be riding the silver line to the Hall. The pods moved nearly twice as fast as an average dream fairy could fly, which meant that even the longest trip on the island didn't quite take six minutes. Their trip to the Hall would take them past 12 other stops before arriving; the trip would only take three and a half minutes.

"You two take this one," Mr. Featherstone offered as he gently tossed the small bubble into the air. A moment later it had expanded and softly hovered just above the ground. The pod was like a perfect pearl. A nearly invisible door suddenly opened and the pod seemed to patiently wait for passengers to board. Mr. Featherstone reached in and pressed a small button on a panel by the door for the Hall. When no one entered it slowly floated upwards and attached itself to the silver-line. Bea clenched her fists as she concentrated on flying directly into the pod. Just a little push, she thought to herself as she gently willed her wings to move. Bea had closed her eyes in concentration and was surprised when she bumped softly into the other side of the pod. Her mother followed right after her and the door slid down.

"I did it!" Bea exclaimed. She now found herself inside the pod. Though the pods looked solid and white from the outside, once inside you could see out in all directions. It was like riding around in a giant bubble. Bea loved staring down onto things below them. She was tempted to press her body flat onto the floor of the pod so that she could follow the scene below and pretend that she was flying like she had done when she was a small child. But her mother had stopped her from doing that a few years ago and Bea knew that she was not a little kid anymore and needed to behave more adult-like. She smoothed out her brilliant yellow blooming robe and smiled at her mother as they zipped round and round. They flew over houses and more houses and then the small shops that formed a neat circle around the Hall. They approached the stop and Bea readied her wings.

"Don't move them at all, just let your wings help you glide down," her mother advised as the pod door slid open and Bea took a tiny leap out of it and found herself falling much slower than she did before she had wings. Without even trying to be graceful, she fluttered down from the pod with her feet gently touching the ground. Bea turned to look at the pod she had just exited; it had followed her and her mother down to the ground. It gently landed on the grass and waited with the door opened for a brief moment before it popped and disappeared leaving a sprinkling of fairy dust.

Bea and her mother only had to wait a few seconds until the pod carrying her father and her brother arrived. The pod door opened and then the pod snapped off the silver-line and started floating down. As the pod got closer to the ground Steve leapt out and landed with a crash just inches from Bea. He glared at her triumphantly and started walking towards the Hall. Bea wanted to be angry at him but found that her excitement for today was too much for her. She held her mother's hand as they headed off towards the Hall. The pods had been fun to ride, but the next part of today's journey was what Bea had really been waiting for. The Hall was at the center of the island and served many purposes, but today the Featherstones were going to use a stone to get to the Main Island. Today would only be the second time that Bea had used a stone. A stone was a beautiful rock that was created using fairy dust. It was a fairly large stone that was then sliced in half along its outer edge. One half was placed on the ground with the smooth flat surface facing up in the Hall. The other half was then placed on another island in that island's Hall. The two sister pieces of stone create a connection between space, no matter how far apart they were. When a dream fairy stood on one of the two halves of stone, he/she was transported to the other half through the magic of the stone and the fairy dust used to make it. The Hall where the Featherstones lived only had two stones; one for the Main Island and one for the Training/Mission Island. Bea and her family walked up the steps to enter the Hall. As they entered she was greeted by cheers from the fairies that worked at the Hall.

"Beatrice Featherstone! Happy Blooming! What beautiful wings!" squealed the fairy working at the welcome desk. She was an older fairy and her hair was starting to look like fluffy clouds were taking over the blue sky it used to be.

"Mrs. Lindstrom! How nice to see you," Mr. Featherstone waved. Mr. Featherstone and mother knew everyone on the island it seemed. Of course it wasn't hard to know nearly everyone, the island was so small. Suddenly a very important looking male fairy entered the greeting area of the Hall from a grand door in the back. It was the governor. He was a round, stout fairy with very short hair that was a deep shade of blue. His face showed some wrinkles that prematurely aged him, especially across his forehead. He walked straight up to Bea and took her hand and started shaking it violently.

"Congratulations Beatrice! Well, looks like we have another great flier here don't we? Those wings look to be bigger than your mother's. Keep up your studies now Beatrice. We would hate to see such wonderful wings go to waste when it comes time to be certified. It is never too early to get ready for your exams!" The governor smiled a forced smile and shook Bea's hand with more gusto with each sentence he finished.

Mr. Featherstone stepped beside her and saved her from the governor's incessant handshaking. "Thank you governor, for your well-wishes. We are on our way to see the Ancients for Bea's wing examination."

"Ah, yes of course, the Ancients . . ." the governor's face twisted up for a moment as he spoke." I imagine they will have good things to predict for you, Beatrice. Please send them my best, Robert. "

"Will do, governor," Mr. Featherstone replied as he slowly guided the family away and across the atrium of the Hall to an arched doorway.

As they stepped through they entered a beautiful garden. There was a short rock wall that encircled the area. There amongst the neatly trimmed grass were two large stones. Their surfaces were smooth, almost marble looking. One was a dark, almost black slate. The other was a pale gray, so pale that it almost looked white. It was flecked with glittering shards of what looked like quartz. In the middle some symbols were etched in an elegant gold writing. Bea couldn't read what it said completely, but she was learning more of the ancient language of the dream fairies at school with each new year. She recognized the symbol for "great" and knew that this was the same stone they had used to get to the Great Hall on her brother's birthday. Bea raced towards the stone and had almost set foot on the edge, when her father took hold of her wrist pulling her back.

"Wait! We all need to step on it together, remember?" Mr. Featherstone's voice was stern but kind.

"Yeah, loser, don't be so impatient!" Steven sneered at Bea and she instinctively hit him hard in the stomach with her free arm. The minute she had done so she regretted it. She could tell from the way her father's posture suddenly stiffened that he was angry.

"Beatrice," her father pulled her closer to him as he knelt down to eye level with her, "you must behave. This is no time to act so childish. You are eight today. You bloomed. We are traveling to see the Ancients and they expect to see you well behaved. Do you understand me?" As he finished this last sentence he stared at Bea and then Steven. The two of them knew better than to argue and instead nodded their heads solemnly.

"OK, then let's do this. Everyone ready?" Mr. Featherstone asked as he led them closer to the stone.

Bea's heart started racing. She didn't care about being mad at her brother or being embarrassed for being reprimanded by her father. All she cared about now was stepping on that stone. Her father stepped first, pulling Bea with him by the hand. Her brother followed shortly after, standing next to his father. Mrs. Featherstone took a little leap onto the stone and stood behind Bea with her hand on her shoulder. Bea stared down at the beautiful gold lettering. It was melting away, slowly disappearing. As the symbols erased Bea readied herself for what would come next. She closed her eyes as her breath was suddenly taken from her with the sensation of falling down. It wasn't a quick feeling either, it continued for what felt like forever. She felt like she was falling, down towards something and yet there was complete stillness all around her. She tried to calm herself and catch her breath. Why had she closed her eyes? She had told herself that she would try to keep them open this time to see what was happening as she felt this strange sensation of falling through nothing. But fear had taken over her at the very last moment and now, no matter how loud the voice inside her head was screaming for her to open her eyes, they remained tightly shut. Then, without warning the sensation was gone. Bea was so disappointed that the ride was over. Despite being scared she had been excited more than anything. Bea knew they must have arrived as she felt herself being pulled forward by her father's hand. She slowly opened her eyes and was nearly blinded by the intense and brilliant light around her.

Bea found herself standing in another garden. But, unlike the Hall with its two stones, this garden had hundreds. Each was a unique and beautiful color. They all had the same ancient symbols engraved across them. Some were smaller and seemed suited for just one fairy to use, while others were large like the one they had just used to get here. The garden that they lay amongst was meticulously kept. Not a bit of grass or debris was allowed to rest on any of the stones. There were a number of other fairies around them going about their business. A couple of very serious looking male fairies had just stepped upon a burnt-orange looking stone and Bea waited anxiously to see what it would look like from the where they were standing. She was positive that the stone must open up and swallow them as they would fall down. But to Bea's surprise after the symbols melted away beneath them they simply disappeared.

"Wow! That was cool!" Bea's brother exclaimed. "Where do all these stones go dad?"

"Well, they go to other islands. Most of our business takes us to those islands that are fairly close. Those two that just left, they headed for a community of islands much like ours but that is further down south," Mr. Featherstone explained as they all slowly left the stone garden and walked out into the atrium of the Great Hall.

The Great Hall was very different from the hall on the Featherstone's island. Dream fairies had, for many years now, enjoyed mimicking the things that they saw on earth. Everything from fashion to language to architecture was borrowed from below. This was all done as part of the study and preparation that was needed to understand those on Earth and to help create the dreams that the fairies would deliver. Dream fairies had this job of delivering dreams for as long as anyone could remember. It was more than a job though; it was what gave the fairies purpose. Because of this, it was taken very seriously. The dreams that were delivered were ones of hope. Understanding what gave humans hope was essential to the creation of dreams and so many things were copied from below. It was always understood that all of this, the entire existence of the fairies, came down to these dreams and their delivery. It had been this way for so long that Bea often forgot that dream fairies had their own ways of life, their own architecture. Bea had been studying the ancient language, like that which was written on the stones. In Bea's history class at school she had also seen images of the ancient style of buildings. On the family island everything was made to look as though it was made from brick and stone, wood and marble. Fairy dust could be employed to create practically anything. However, fairy dust used naturally created a building structure very unique. The Great Hall was the first example of this natural design that Bea had ever seen in person. The images at school had certainly not done this style justice. The building of the Great Hall was made out of pure high grade fairy dust. It was a beautiful iridescent creamy white. The walls were round and smooth and almost amorphous. In fact, at times Bea was positive she had seen the walls shift and move. They seemed to breathe. There were window-like openings here and there, but no glass sealed them off. There was no roof either. Numerous lines of ivy had twisted their way up some of the walls and traversed the open space to an adjoining mass to create an interlaced kind of canopy over some parts of the building. Other areas were completely open to the sky. Plants and flowers were everywhere. Inside the Great Hall they were used in place of walls to separate sections. Numerous floral scents mingled and as Bea inhaled she felt incredibly relaxed despite her anticipation for the meeting with the Ancients. She loved the Great Hall.

"When the Ancients stare at you they burn a whole into your brain with their eyes!" Bea's silent reverie was interrupted by her brother hissing into her ear as the family walked through the atrium to a giant archway in the back.

"Shut up!" Bea whispered back. She didn't dare raise her voice, knowing that her father had already scolded both of them. She knew that her brother was just trying to tease her before her meeting with the Ancients and that he was telling her lies to make her scared, but with his taunts a tiny bit of doubt had crept into her mind. Was the examination going to hurt? What kind of questions would they ask? Would Bea know the answers? She had watched in awe when her brother had stood before the Ancients on his birthday. She had been rather impressed by his stoic face as he answered the Ancients' inquiries. Bea and her mother and father had stood a bit off from the meeting between Steven and the Ancients and they hadn't been able to really hear the exchange. Bea did see when one of the Ancients had ran his finger down Steven's chest and a small, glistening line of fairy dust had shot out and floated towards a flask in the Ancients' other hand. Her brother's face hadn't changed at all and she was pretty positive that this had not hurt. With the sample of Steven's fairy dust collected, the Ancients had then turned their backs to Steven as they circled together and did something to examine the dust. After a few moments the Ancients had turned around again and asked the family to come forward. They then had announced that Steven's fairy dust was medium-regular grade, just like their father's, and the family had left to celebrate. How was Bea's visit going to go?

The Featherstone's had just crossed under the archway and walked up to a beautiful female fairy who smiled at them as they approached.

"Looks like someone bloomed today," the female fairy gently tugged on Bea's wings as she said this.

Bea wanted to smile, but the moment had suddenly become very real to her as she waited to enter the Ancients' room.

The female fairy bent down and whispered in Bea's ear, "Don't worry, you'll do just fine."

Bea looked anxiously at her mother and father. They both smiled softly and her mother took her by the hand and led her into the room. As they walked forward they passed Bea's brother who said in a barely audible voice, "Yeah, it's not so bad sis."

Bea did a double take. Her brother was never nice to her! This proved to be the encouragement she needed, because with Steven's words she found herself standing a little taller as she walked with her mother towards the Ancients.

The room that the Ancients were in was breathtaking. The same fairy dust used for the rest of the Great Hall was also used here, but the dust grade used was clearly that of the highest possible. The walls were very high but were pocketed with small bubbles. Each bubble seemed to be all the colors of the rainbow, all at once and gave off a shimmering light. The light from these bubbles was so bright, yet the room felt warm and inviting, with just a soft glow. There were many flowers and plants weaving amongst the walls and short pillars. Right in the middle was a slightly raised surface on which stood three chairs. But these chairs were not normal chairs at all. They actually looked like cloud, soft, fluffy, hovering clouds. On each of these clouds sat an Ancient.

The Ancients were three old fairies. Dream fairies can live eternally. Very long ago, when the mission of delivering these dreams of hope to the humans was started, dream fairies had lived to a very old age and very few babies were born. When the fairies began making the dreams they realized that a huge part that they did not understand about human life was that humans were mortal. A decision was made that the dream fairies would commit themselves to a complete cycle of life ending in death. Dream fairies were allowed to live to the age of 88. When they reached this age they gave themselves freely. The dream fairies thought that this would help them better understand humans, having an end to their life waiting for them. It was decided by the three Ancients that they alone would be left to live eternally. There was some argument why those three were to live, but the case had been made that having someone whose knowledge was so plentiful, accurate and firsthand would be key to the success of the dream fairies.

So these three Ancients were truly ancient. There was one female fairy who stood to the left. She had big beautiful wings that seemed to be fading away into nothingness, their colors were so pale. They seemed so old and worn, like fading paper that would just crumble in one's hands. Her wings were like those of a Mangrove Buckeye. The largest eye spots seemed to stare out from behind the fairy. It made Bea feel very uneasy, like some wild animal was watching her all the time. The female fairy's hair was long and there was not even the faintest hint of blue color remaining. It looked more like spider silk, white and wispy. She did not wear normal clothes, but rather a robe that was very similar to the blooming robe that Bea wore. The Ancient's was of the deepest, richest purple she had ever seen. Just like the velvety purple that was at the very center of a pansy. Her face was creased with wrinkle after wrinkle making it hard to find her smile and her eyes, which were hiding behind glasses that sat at the tip of her nose. To the right stood a very round, short male fairy, and he too was very old. His hair had gone completely white and was long and thick. Bea thought it reminded her of the salt-water taffy that she had heard about from earth. It had that same shimmer when the light caught it just right. He had a very long, thick beard. His face was glowing with a smile and his eyes seemed to speak words of reassurance with each glance. His robe was a very deep shade of green, so deep that it appeared black at times. In the middle stood another male fairy and this Ancient was tall and very thin. He had a short haircut that made his hair stand on end. His roots were still blue, but the ends were so pale and white that they seemed to disappear. The fading hair added to the feeling that this fairy was being stretched up until he disappeared. His face was sharp and accented by a very short, neatly trimmed goatee. His eyes were clear and Bea felt very aware when their eyes met that she would not be able to lie to him even if her life depended on it. She tried not to keep eye contact with him any longer than necessary. He wore a dark blue robe that was covered in layers of shimmery silver.

Mrs. Featherstone let go of her hand as she stood next to her in front of the Ancients. Mr. Featherstone had just come forward to stand at Bea's other side. Mrs. Featherstone spoke first breaking the silence.

"Ancients, we praise you and ask that you spare your time to look at our beloved daughter who has bloomed today."

With that both Mr. and Mrs. Featherstone stepped back leaving her exposed to the three Ancients who all stood simultaneously. The round male Ancient addressed Bea in a kind voice that seemed to sing, "Please tell us your name child."

"Beatrice Featherstone, sir," Bea replied with her voice cracking slightly.

"And today you have turned eight?" This time the female Ancient had spoken. Her voice was clear and seemed to ring throughout the room.

Bea nodded and then found her voice to say, "Yes, ma'am."

"We have a child reaching the age of eight years on this, the eighth day of the eighth month?" The thin male Ancient's comment sounded accusatory.

"So, we do. So, we do," smiled the round fairy.

Bea had never thought of this. Her birthday was indeed August eighth. She smiled a little to think of how cool it was to turn eight today. There must be some good luck that would come from that.

The female Ancient now stepped down and without any movement seemed to float effortlessly over to Bea's side. "She is the monarch," the Ancient declared as she began to examine Bea's wings.

"Hmm, yes, and they are of a great size too." To Bea's surprise this comment came from the round Ancient who had snuck down to her side while she was watching the female Ancient softly touch her wings.

The thin Ancient remained where he stood as he mumbled under his breath, "Today, turning eight, and with the monarch, such a sign."

"Begin the test!" The taller Ancient's voice, so suddenly loud and clear, took Bea by surprise.

"Stand still now my dear and keep your wings out fully. This won't hurt a bit, but we do need you to not move," the female Ancient instructed.

Bea made sure that her wings were out completely as she gave them a small shake. She then put her hands at her side and straightened up as best she could. She stared forward and tried to remain still. The round Ancient had moved directly behind Bea and suddenly Bea felt something very cold being poured over her wings. The sensation started at the very top and trickled down slowly. The round Ancient had directed fairy dust from his extended fingertips down Bea's wings. The fairy dust was very dense and seemed to be made of diamonds, it sparkled so. Bea wanted desperately to be able to see what was going on, but she remembered the warning to stay still and focused her attention on the floor in front of her. The fairy dust was slowly seeping down every bit of her wings, sending shivers down her spine as the cold sensation took over her entire body. The round Ancient held a shallow golden basin beneath the lowest part of her hindwings. Slowly the thick fairy dust dripped off the edges of her wings and into the basin. This was going to drive her insane, having to sit so still while she got drenched in freezing dust. Just as she thought she could not take it a moment longer, the tips of her wings felt warm again and the cold dust dripped down off of her wings. All signs of the cold fairy dust were gone and Bea was almost certain that it would be OK for her to move. She gave her body and wings a little shake that was met with a cold glare from the female Ancient.

"Yes, I suppose you can move now," she said accordingly.

She and the round Ancient now went back to their clouds; however this time they all three turned their backs to the Featherstones as they peered over the basin of fairy dust.

Bea didn't know if it was OK for her to speak or not so she turned around and walked the few paces back to her parents. She grabbed her mother's hands in hers and her mother replied with a gentle squeeze.

"That was so cool! You should have seen it Bea. The dust, it was just dripping down. It was the thickest dust I have ever seen. That dude must be super old," Steven gave a loud whisper as he leaned towards Bea. Both Mr. and Mrs. Featherstone smiled, but then her father's hand firmly grabbed Steven's shoulder and Steven knew it wasn't the time to talk.

It felt like an eternity while the three Ancients mumbled to one another in their huddled mass. Finally, each one of them slowly turned. The female Ancient sat first and the round Ancient followed. But the thin Ancient remained standing and gave a look at Bea that seemed to pull her away from her parents and back to the place she had previously stood. She stared forward, trying to be polite by keeping eye contact with the Ancient as he spoke.

"Those children who are born on the eighth day of the eighth month are said to be blessed with good fortune. It is even more so when the child is a female and she blooms on her eighth birthday. We believe that you, Beatrice Featherstone, will see levels of fortune and prosperity that cannot be compared."

"Your wings are those of the monarch. This is said to be a sign of great travels in your future. After completing our test of your wings we can confirm that you will use your wings more than the average female fairy. They are very strong, and as you know, of a great size. They will give you courage and support in your journeys."

"The monarch is often ignored by predators in its natural habitat because these creatures know that the monarch is poisonous. You may find that confrontation with your enemies will be easier than you expect as they may abandon attack before battle begins. Take this as a gift."

The thin Ancient seemed to be done speaking. He turned to Mr. and Mrs. Featherstone and Bea found that they had stepped forward to be by her side.

"Thank you Ancients for your time, we shall take your words and use them to guide us as our child grows," Mr. Featherstone said. With that the Featherstones turned and left the Ancients.

Chapter Three: Basic School for Dream Fairies

Bea was so excited to go to the school on Monday morning she felt she couldn't possibly eat breakfast. But after a lot of encouragement from her mother she got something in her system before heading out the door. Her father followed her to help her get into the pod that would take her to school. She had argued with him and her mother all night before going to sleep about getting on the pod this morning.

"I can use my wings, just like I did with mom on the way to see the Ancients," pleaded Bea.

"I know you can do it, I just think you are still too young to do it every day all by yourself," Mr. Featherstone stated.

Mrs. Featherstone smiled, "What if you miss the pod? We don't want you to be late to school you know."

Mr. Featherstone could see the disappointment in Bea's eyes and so he offered, "Maybe next year, when your classmates have wings too. You don't want to make them all more jealous than they already are going to be."

Bea didn't particularly like this decision and went to bed that night feeling very angry. Now, with a new day ahead of her, she gave up on being angry, and focused instead on how wonderful it would be to show everyone her wings. Her mother had spent all morning warning her about not showing off too much and keeping them smaller in class and to definitely not try to fly, even during recess. Bea was in her fourth year of basic school and students were not allowed to fly at all until they were in their fifth year. Bea nodded repeatedly without really listening. She knew the rules, but she had been imagining this moment for a long time and she had it perfectly planned out. When she got out of the pod, just in front of the school, she was going to use her wings to float down and out of the pod. It would be the best opportunity to show everyone her beautiful wings. Her father gave her a gentle push as they left the house and started to walk to the pod stop. They had just arrived at the SW3 stop when a pod floated down off the silver line and two young fairies stepped out. It was Catherine and Curtis Royce.

Cathy was Bea's best friend. They spent every moment of free time together. Cathy's brother, Curtis, was also Bea's friend. She often wondered why she got stuck with such a terrible brother when she could have had an awesome one like Cathy's. Cathy and Curtis were twins and so they looked very similar. They both had the same hazy shade of blue hair. Cathy's was long, down her back, while Curtis' was short and spiky. Cathy's face was round and small and her tiny button nose finished off the effect, making her always seem to have a kind expression. She had beautiful big eyes that had very long lashes. Meanwhile, Curtis was almost too pretty to be a boy. Curtis never seemed to have a problem with that and would bat his long lashes just like Cathy. They had jumped out of the pod just before it touched down and were now walking hand-in-hand down to meet up with Bea and her father.

"Good morning, you two!" Mr. Featherstone greeted them.

"Good morning, Mr. Featherstone," they replied in unison.

"You guys shouldn't keep wasting pods on meeting up with Bea," Mr. Featherstone said. He knew that the Royces lived on the northern part of the island and Curtis and Cathy had traveled in the opposite direction of the school and wasted an extra couple of minutes to meet up with Bea.

"Our parents don't mind. Besides, we wanted to be the first ones to see Bea's wings!" Cathy said as her eyes turned to her best friend.

"Let's see your wings! Let's see your wings!" Curtis squealed.

Bea didn't need an excuse and brought her wings out to their full size. She watched with excitement and satisfaction as Cathy and Curtis's eyes bulged in surprise.

"Wow!" Cathy breathed.

"Those are beautiful!" Curtis cried. "They are huge too! Thank goodness you will grow into them because they are almost too big now."

"Yeah, a little," Bea laughed.

"Wow!" Cathy repeated. Her expression hadn't changed at all and Bea laughed even more as she watched her friend stare.

Mr. Featherstone put his hands on Bea's shoulders and Bea disappointedly shrank her wings until they were just the size of her back and readied herself to enter the pod. It was just the children going today and so all three of them planned to squeeze in one pod as they had done every morning.

"You three ready?" Mr. Featherstone had his hand outstretched, ready to toss the bubble for the pod in the air. The three children readied themselves and with a gentle flick of his wrist the pod leapt out of Mr. Featherstone's hand. A line of dust left his fingertips and immediately the bubble grew into full size. He reached inside and pressed the SE4 stop's button that would leave the children right in front of the basic school. Cathy, Curtis and Bea all filed into the pod and it slowly floated up to the gold line. Once inside the pod Cathy and Curtis leaned in on Bea and started bombarding her with questions.

"Did it hurt?" Cathy questioned. She had been the first to speak and Bea had been surprised to hear her voice. Of the two of them, Curtis was the talkative one and Cathy was more quiet and reserved. Bea was sure she knew why Cathy wanted to ask her question first. Cathy would be turning eight in January and she was worried about how things would go.

"No, not really. I mean maybe for just a tiny moment, but then it was just cool feeling. "

Curtis couldn't take his eyes off of Bea's back. Even though her wings were smaller now he stared and stared until it seemed like he would be able to stare a hole right through them.

"When did it happen?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the wings.

"Just a little after I woke up," Bea explained.

"Man I wish I could have wings," Curtis sighed.

Bea laughed at Curtis. He was always wishing something funny like that. She had heard him complain many times about how unfair it was that only girls got wings. Sometimes the other kids at school would make fun of him if he made his opinion too clear. But Bea could completely understand why Curtis wanted wings. They were amazing and you could fly!

With this thought Curtis seemed to be thinking the exact same thing as he blurted out, "Can you fly?"

Bea went on and explained how her mother had let her break the no-fly inside rule before breakfast on her birthday. When Bea told the story though it was decidedly different from how things had actually happened. Bea left out the part when she crashed and rolled on the floor to the delight of her brother. This time around she had floated gracefully down the hallway and landed beautifully right in front of her brother, leaving him angry and also a little impressed.

"I bet you will be a flier, like your mother," Cathy said in a quiet voice. Bea almost didn't hear her and she was just ready to say something back to her friend when she realized that they had reached the school. It didn't take even a minute to get to school from Bea's house.

"You guys mind letting me get out first?" Bea asked.

"Sure, be our guest," Curtis replied.

Bea readied herself by the door and had already let her wings expand twice the size they had been before. The pod had come to a halt and the door slowly rose up. At school there were teachers waiting by the pods to make sure that the children didn't jump out too soon and to help avoid accidents as many pods were all arriving at the same time. Bea wanted to leap out of the pod before the teacher noticed what she was doing. She worried that if she had her wings at their full size they might catch on the pod on her way out so she kept them a little closer to her body. She took a big jump and the minute she hit the air she willed her wings to grow out. Below, her magic teacher, Mrs. Golden, was waiting. She was so surprised when Bea had leapt out of the pod that she had stumbled just a bit. It took her a moment to catch her bearings and in that moment Bea had fluttered up higher than she was expecting. Just then a line of fairy dust raced up to her and caught her midair, plastering her against the sky for all to see. Bea was surprised and embarrassed as the other students all stopped to stare at the strange sight. Mrs. Golden had finally gotten up and dusted off her clothes and slowly brought the line of dust holding Bea down to the ground. Even though it only took a moment it felt like an eternity to Bea as all of her classmates stares made her face bright red and hot. So much for a graceful entrance she thought as the teacher let her free on the ground.

"Nice wings," Mrs. Golden whispered as Bea walked past. "No more silly flying tricks though, OK?"

Bea nodded in embarrassment and tried to ignore the students that had all formed around her trying to touch her wings and ask her questions. Her wings were now back to their smaller size, but the younger kids were still in awe. The older students were talking amongst themselves, laughing and making rude comments on how silly Bea had looked stuck midair. Bea just wanted to hurry and get into the classroom to avoid everyone when she literally ran into a fellow fourth-year student, Veronica Iverson. Veronica was a very pretty fairy. She had hair the color of the sky before the sun sets, a deep rich blue. It was shiny and smooth and seemed to ripple like waves when she moved. Her eyes were sharp and made her look like she was always angry, or at least thinking about something very serious. Her features only added to her presence, which was very commanding. Although she was just a young girl, she walked with pride and confidence.

Veronica was always seen with her two best friends, Natalie Copper and Christina Meadows. They were also fourth-year students. Bea never understood why Veronica hung out with the two girls. Christina was particularly unpleasant.

"Beautiful entrance today Beatrice," Christina sneered.

"Yeah," Bea gave a small laugh as she tried not to make eye contact with them. She wasn't in the mood to fight.

"Too bad those wings are being wasted on someone like you," Christina gave a little flick to Bea's wings. These girls were part of a gang of sorts. Behind them stood about four or five younger girl fairies, a couple of which Bea was sure were sisters of the fellow fourth-year girls. They were all laughing, some of them were laughing too hard and deliberately and it made Bea's face even redder than before. She hated being caught by this group of fairies and wanted desperately to get around them and into the classroom. But it seemed that they had blocked the doorway completely and Bea was forced to give up and listen to their teasing laughs and taunts.

"What a dumb move, Beatrice!" heckled a small girl with freckles.

"Yeah, what a show off too, you must think you are cooler than all of us just because you already bloomed!" This comment came from Natalie who was smiling at Christina as she made her comment as though she was expecting praise for her jibe.

Just then Bea felt a friendly hand on her shoulder. She turned and saw that Curtis and Cathy had caught up with her.

"Why don't you all just leave her alone? You're just jealous," Curtis said in a clear voice. He was good at coming to Bea's rescue like this when the gang was bugging her.

Christina's face broke out into an even bigger sneer as she said, "Jealous? Curtis, we aren't the ones that are jealous. You are! I bet you go to sleep every night wishing and wishing that you would wake up like a girl with wings, don't you?"

Curtis' face turned bright red and his hand clenched into a fist as it withdrew from Bea's shoulder. The moment was tense and Bea was wondering if there was any way to escape when she heard someone coming down the hall.

"What are you all standing out in the hall for? Class is in the classroom, not out here. Go, sit down!" The teacher's voice was sharp but kind. It was their nature teacher, Mr. Cedarland.

Basic school for dream fairies was very similar to the schools on earth. The building mirrored those that the fairies had seen below. It was made of a warm red brick and the classrooms had a large chalkboard at one end and rows of desks with chairs connected to them. The teacher had a wood-like desk at the front where he/she would sit or stand during the class lesson. Dream fairies attended basic school for six years. They began when they were five and completed basic studies when they were ten. There were generally 24 students in each grade. Great care was taken to try to keep balance when fairies had children on the family island, so there were 12 boys and 12 girls in each class. (Expectant families make a special trip to the Ancients to have the three wise elder fairies use their powerful magic to help choose if the baby will be a boy or a girl.) Students had six classes a day. The teacher for each subject taught all grade levels throughout the day. For Bea and the fourth graders they started their mornings off with nature, followed by sports calls, then history and finally life class. They then took a break for lunch and finished the day off with music and magic classes.

Their first class of the day, nature, was one of Bea's favorites. Mr. Cedarland, the teacher, was funny and engaging and always knew how to explain things in a way that his class would understand and appreciate.

The students had all filed into the classroom and sat down. Bea caught Christina's stare across the room and quickly turned away. Bea liked Mr. Cedarland even more because in his class he always allowed the students to pick where they wanted to sit. This meant that Bea was surrounded by Curtis and Cathy and the gang was on the other side of the room. The hour went quickly as Bea listened to Mr. Cedarland explain what kinds of trees could be found on earth below. Much of the dream fairies studies revolved around earth. Nature class was very similar to the kind of classes taught on earth, examining atmosphere, weather, plant life, animals, and insects. Even the past creatures of earth were studied as a way to understand life there and those who inhabit it. This information was incredibly important to the dream fairies as they carried out their missions every night. At times though Bea wondered why she needed to know all of this information if she was going to be a flier. Fliers didn't really need to know about what they were delivering, they just had to deliver it.

Bea wished that nature class lasted the entire day, but the bell rang and she gathered her books and got ready to leave Mr. Cedarland's classroom. Fourth year students had sports class next. Their teacher, Mr. Underwood, was waiting for them outside at the large field that sat next to the school. Sports class was always outside since the weather was the same beautiful day every day on the island. Bea really liked running around outside and learning all the strange games that were played below. Her favorite so far had been badminton. She also thought it would be something to see a game of soccer played in the large stadiums that they had on earth. They had learned that sometimes the number of spectators for these games was more than all the fairies on their family island and Bea just couldn't imagine that many people all together in one place at one time. There was one time that Bea knew of when a large number of fairies gathered together. It was for the flying competition for the older kids to get into training school. A few of the top flyers for that year were chosen to participate in the competition from each island in the community. Bea hadn't had a chance to see the competition but she begged her mother each and every year to take her. Now that she had wings she started having dreams of herself racing around an unknown track to huge applause from the massive crowd gathered and being awarded an excessively large gold medal.

The fourth years were running today and as they ran, Bea, Cathy and Curtis spoke briefly to one another. It was a great chance to catch up with her friends since Mr. Underwood didn't seem to mind if the students talked as long as they kept running.

"Sorry stupid Christina was bugging you today," Cathy offered as she kept pace with Bea's running.

Bea smiled at her friend. Cathy was always so sympathetic. "Don't worry about it. Curtis came and saved me," she said as she nudged Curtis in the arm.

"I really don't understand why she is so mean, she must just have no . . . ," Curtis was interrupted though as Christina ran past the three of them and flicked Bea's wings on her way. Bea was ready to sling some insult at her, but she was stopped again by someone else, this time tugging on her wing tip. It was Natalie. She had grabbed just a bit as she ran past and gave a little pull. It hadn't hurt so much as it had caused Bea to stumble a little as she ran. Bea would have been able to steady herself had Christina not just planted a good push on Bea's back and wings as she had run past causing Bea to suddenly fall down and roll to a stop. Christina, Natalie and Veronica all met up and started running together as they circled around Bea who was sprawled out in the middle of the circle of runners with her legs twisted up under her. The three laughed and sneered as they kept constant eye contact with Bea as they continued their jog. Cathy and Curtis had both stopped running and ran over to Bea to make sure she was OK. Mr. Underwood didn't seem bothered by the events and simply shouted out, "Get up and keep running! No time to stop and rest now!"

As Bea's class finished running one more time around the field Bea knew that sports class was almost over and a small tiny knot started forming in her stomach. Bea knew this knot well. It appeared every day before her third class, history with Mr. Black. It wasn't the subject that bothered Bea. In fact, if Bea could look past Mr. Black, she knew that she really liked history. Mr. Black was a terribly strict teacher. His lecture style was clear and direct. It might have normally brought some to daydream or sleep, but he was so scary that no one dared even doze off for a moment. The other thing that Bea always hated about history class was the seating. Mr. Black insisted that they always sit in some alphabetical order. That meant that she never got a chance to sit near Cathy and Curtis. This time around she had Natalie, sitting in front of her, and Christina sitting a seat behind her to the right. The two of them would occasionally whisper rude comments straight through Bea and between the talk and the fear of all three of them getting caught by Mr. Black; Bea was tense the entire class time.

The subject of history was fun though. Bea didn't really care so much for the history of those on earth so much as she loved the history of the dream fairies. When they would spend time looking at the old architecture and learning the old language, Bea actually found herself having a really good time. Today they were looking at some of the samples of old architecture by examining some of the Great Halls from different islands. Bea smiled as she remembered the trip to the Great Hall just two days before. It made such a difference having seen it in person. She could feel the light dancing off the photos of the interiors. Bea wondered if she could choose, when she was older, to have a house that was just like the Great Hall. Maybe if she had enough money to buy the right dust or maybe if her husband had a really high grade, then maybe they would be able to.

Bea was caught off guard when the bell rang. She gathered her things and ran up to Curtis and Cathy as they all three made their way through the door and started to head to their next class. As they were trying to exit along with all their other classmates Bea ran square into one of the boys, Johnathan Woodsburough. Bea didn't really pay much attention to the boys in her class. They were OK, most of them, but the other boys always seemed to remind Bea of her brother and made her angry when they said and did stupid things. Johnathan reached his arm around and gently touched the tip of Bea's wings.

"Your wings are cool, Bea," he said as he drew his hand back quickly with a smile.

Bea lost her breath and without really having a second to know what had happened her cheeks flushed red. The moment was over so quickly that Bea was sure maybe she had just imagined it. It was one of the few times that a boy, other than Curtis, had said anything decent to her. It was kind of nice.

Suddenly Bea found herself standing in front of the room for her next class. Life class was taught by Mrs. Palm. Life class was about dream fairy life. The students learned about the different parts of fairy life and what skills were needed for each. Since the dream fairies lived a very contained existence it was important for everyone to do their part. Mrs. Palm believed very strongly in the philosophy that all dream fairies should get along. It was almost as though she could sense the tension in her small class of 24 students and would deliberately set up groups by putting those students that were not getting along together. She did not fail to do this today as she asked Bea and Christina to be partners in today's lesson. Their assignment was to interview one another to determine what skills they possessed to decide which job they might hold in the future. Christina was not necessarily fat, but she was thick and had a lot of power for just a child. Her hair was a sort of stormy blue gray and it didn't have that healthy shine like most of the other fairies. She had a small nose that turned up and Curtis would always say she looked like a pig.

Reluctantly, the two pulled their desks together to begin today's assignment. They both glared down at the blank sheet of paper.

"Start by asking each other questions. What are your hobbies? What do you enjoy? What classes are you good at in school?" Mrs. Palm suggested as she began to circle around the room.

Christina seemed take note of Mrs. Palm's position across the room as she leaned in a sneered," Maybe you can work in entertainment. That display this morning really made me laugh."

Bea's face grew red in an instant. She hated how clumsy she was and she hated it even more when stupid people like Christina had something to say about it. "Shut up!" Bea spat under her breath. She was trying to think of something clever and hurtful to say to Christina when Mrs. Palm made her way to their desks.

"Having trouble girls? Don't make it harder than it is. Well, look here," Mrs. Palm paused as she looked at Bea's wings. She smiled as she continued, "Bea, you bloomed on Saturday, I forgot. These are beautiful. Would you mind showing them to me?"

Bea suddenly felt an inner strength flow throughout her entire body. She slowly stood up from her desk to make sure that everyone in class had brought their attention to her. She was so proud of her wings and really wanted another chance to show them to everyone without it being part of some silly accident like that morning.

"Go on," Mrs. Palm encouraged. She had mistaken Bea's slow movements as a sign of hesitation.

Bea willed her wings out to their full size and was not disappointed as sighs and exclamations of surprise were heard from every student in the classroom. She even heard Christina catch her breath and Bea had never felt happier than at that very moment.

"My dear! Those are huge! The monarch, well, you will be an excellent flier I am sure. Just like your mother. See Christina, an easy answer to your assignment for today. Simply ask Beatrice if she has wings and if they are suitable for long flights. The answer to that is clearly yes, so I think we can be sure that Bea will fly for the missions," Mrs. Palm said with a smile. She rested her hands on Bea's shoulders as she finished and Bea slowly brought her wings back down to the proper size. "Now all you need to do is figure out what Christina will be good at in the future." Bea was almost positive that she had seen Mrs. Palm wink at her as she left the girls to finish their assignment.

Bea felt like she could breathe so much easier when she walked out of Mrs. Palm's life class and met up with Cathy and Curtis for lunch. The three went into the lounge and grabbed their school prepared lunch bags and headed for their favorite spot outside in the courtyard.

"That must have been terrible to be paired with Christina today, Bea," Cathy said sympathetically as the trio started into their lunches.

Curtis snorted and it caused him to choke. There was a pause as he got his throat cleared before he was finally able to add, "Yeah, but it doesn't even matter does it? Did you see the look on Christina's face when Bea had her wings out? It was perfect!"

"It was pretty cool, wasn't it?" Bea smiled at her friends as she felt that despite some rough spots in the morning, maybe her first day at school with wings was going to end on a high note.

After lunch the fourth-year students had music and art class. This was taught by Miss Weed. Class was fun now since they were focusing on music more than art. They had been practicing some old fairy songs that had to be sung in the old language. This was one of the few times that the dream fairies used the old language. Bea loved learning it and loved the way it sounded. Of course, the class wasn't very good at making the words really ring the way they were supposed to, but when Miss Weed would show them by first singing a bit it was mesmerizing. Bea couldn't explain it if she try, the sound was so insanely beautiful and yet sad at the same time.

Bea was so happy to get to her last class of the day. Their last class was magic. Mrs. Golden, the teacher who had plastered Bea to the sky that morning, was their teacher. Bea loved Mrs. Golden. She was simply the best teacher. She could teach anything and Bea wouldn't care. Mrs. Golden was a petit fairy. She had short hair and it was the perfect shade of sky blue. She had smaller wings, but she more than made up for it with incredible magic ability. It was rare for a female fairy to teach magic since it was usually the male fairies that had higher grade dust. Mrs. Golden was very unique in that she had studied and practiced until her abilities were easily in competition with most advanced male fairies, despite her lower dust grade. In basic school, magic theory was the only kind of magic that could be taught. None of the students had any magic ability at this age, save the small bit of magic it took to make ones wings expand and contract. Bea didn't even think of this as magic since she didn't really think about it when it happened. Magic class was sometimes hard for Bea to get her head wrapped around. She had a hard time memorizing theory and incantations. Cathy on the other hand was naturally good at any part of magic class and was obviously one of Mrs. Golden's favorites in class. As much as Bea tried to stop herself, she would get a little jealous each day as she watched Mrs. Golden's approving smile as she listen to Cathy answer another question or ace another test.

Today's class was over much too quickly and Bea was reluctant to gather together her books to get ready to leave for the day. She met up with Curtis and Cathy and the three of them headed out the front door of the school. Bea looked up into the clear blue sky above them and imagined the spot where she had been caught and held up for everyone's entertainment that morning. Her cheeks grew red as she tried to shake the embarrassment once more. As she stood glued to the spot in reflection she hadn't realized that she had stopped the flow of students leaving the school for the day. A couple of students ran into her, not noticing that someone had stopped in front of them. Bea felt a hand gently grab her arm and pull her aside.

It was Johnathan. He smiled at Bea as he let go of her arm, "You should be careful. Don't want another scene do you?"

Bea couldn't find her voice in time to say anything to Johnathan as he had already turned and walked away to meet up with his friends. She did know that she had an unusually big smile on her face, a smile that would not go away as she watched Johnathan get into a pod to head home.

Chapter Four: Another Blooming

Cathy lay awake in bed. She was staring at the sky. She had watched it change from the star-speckled velvety night into the deep blue of dawn. She could see the shots of sunlight creeping over the horizon. In just a few moments more the sun would completely take over the sky and everything would just be the boring shade of daytime blue. But for now, there were these moments of black, and heavy blue and then orange. Cathy loved dawn, but not today. She was watching the colors and the sky but not really taking notice of the changes. Her head was full; full with her thoughts racing around so fast that she didn't even know what she was thinking anymore. Her whole body had gone numb with tiredness. She hadn't slept last night. She had been waiting for morning. At first she was so fidgety with nervousness and excitement for this day that she was going crazy laying still. Cathy found that despite her desperate attempts at telling her heart to stop beating out of her chest, she had been unable to relax. Her nerves had kept her awake past that moment when one naturally falls asleep. After the hours slowly passed by, her body just gave up and lay still in bed. Now the day was here and she wanted to get up and get out of bed, but it took a moment to get her body to move after all those hours of numbness.

She pulled her legs off her bed and stumbled over to her dresser. A large, round mirror sat on top. She wasn't tall enough to see so she dragged the chair by her desk over and stood on top of it. She could just see her face in the mirror now.

"Well, this is it," she said to herself. Today was her eighth birthday. Today was the day that her wings would bloom. Cathy didn't really know at what time her wings would bloom. Everyone always said it was on your eighth birthday, but when?

"Not midnight I guess," mumbled Cathy gloomily. She had talked to her friend, Bea, about this. Bea's birthday was last summer and she had told Cathy all the details. She had said that when it happened it hurt a little and that it had happened in the morning. But what time? Cathy had failed to ask that detail.

Just then she heard footsteps on the stairs. It was her mother! The last thing she needed today was her mother bugging her about all of this. Her mother was the one who had put all that anxiety in her brain last night. She stumbled off the chair and raced to the door.

"I wish this stupid thing had a lock on it," she thought to herself. Maybe if she leaned on it just right her mother wouldn't be able to open the door. But then she would know that she was awake and that wouldn't do her any good. Cathy leapt to her bed and crawled under the covers, trying to trap her body tight under the sheets.

"Calm down, breath slowly." Cathy willed herself to what she thought looked like a peaceful sleeping position. The door flew open and before her mother even set foot in her room Cathy saw it; tons of fairy dust flying through the air, different shades and densities, sparkling now with the morning sun. Cathy's room quickly transformed. The walls melted away into the breeze. Beautiful tall white pillars reached up to the sky. Bright green dust flitted across the floor and wound itself around the pillars like a snake. With a soft bell sound, little leaves finished off the dust as ivy was being formed. The single line of green dust was soon replaced by five more lines of fairy dust. One in particular stood out. It was the most beautiful shade of purple that she had ever seen. The underside of the dust was pink so that it just glittered and danced along in varying hues. The colors were not the only thing making this one line of dust stand out. It had the most blinding sparkle to it. Cathy didn't know how she could even tell what color the dust was when it kept sparkling so. Cathy watched it in wonder. What was it going to make? She had unknowingly pulled herself out of bed and was staring in wonder with her mouth slightly open. The other dust trails had finished off their work leaving behind grand, white chairs with gold etching on the arm rests, small tables with unique flowers in glass bubble vases, and a handful of butterflies that she had never seen before. Just then her mother finally entered the room. That final, beautiful line of fairy dust originated not from her mother's fingertips like usual. This was coming from a slender iridescent bottle. Mrs. Royce shook it gently and rhythmically enticed the dust out of the bottle. The bottle was empty now and the line of dust was moving fast as it went round and round creating a giant circle in the middle of what used to be Cathy's room. With a gentle flash the dust was gone and in its place was the most amazing cake Cathy had ever seen. It was at least as tall as she was, with layer after layer. It was decorated with flowers and butterflies that looked so real, but Cathy had seen a cake like this before and she knew that each of those little decorations was actually a delicate sweet candy that would just melt into deliciousness the minute she popped them into her mouth. She could almost taste them as her stomach growled with hunger.

Sadly though, that slight pain of hunger was replaced with a giant thump as she felt her stomach become heavy with anxiety. Cathy had been lifted by her mother's fairy dust and gently placed on a small stool near the cake. Her pajamas were gone and she was now wearing a strange robe that was on backwards. The robe was the same color as opals and it caught the morning sunlight and changed colors. It had delicate lace trim and a wide satin ribbon that served as a belt. But she could tell that the back of the robe was open.

"What are you doing mother?" Cathy's voice broke the silence that had taken over her room as the last bits of fairy dust finished up their tasks.

But Cathy soon realized that her mother was not alone. Her aunt, her mother's sister, and her grandmother had joined them in what was now an elaborate gazebo of sorts. Sheepishly her father followed behind them as he tried to share a small smile with Cathy from across the room. Lastly, her twin brother, Curtis, appeared. He did not look happy. His eyes jetted from object to object in the new space and landed on the beautiful cake, where they stayed and turned green with envy.

"Happy Blooming, Catherine!" her mother said.

"Why is everyone here?" Cathy asked as she tried to smile at her grandmother. Not one of them was making eye contact with her and instead were staring at her exposed back. Cathy suddenly felt very self-conscious and the weight in her stomach had been replaced with a thousand butterflies.

"You must have your family with you when you bloom, dear. I wouldn't think of leaving you all alone when it happens. This is the single most important moment of your life and we all want to share it with you."

Cathy had known all along that this was going to happen. Her mother always liked to make everything into some giant production. Cathy didn't mind that her mother had gone a little crazy with the fairy dust this morning. She liked the attention and was happy to see that it was directed only at her, and not her brother, whose eighth birthday was also today. Boy fairies don't bloom and have wings and even though Curtis was turning eight today, and that was cause for some celebration, it was certainly not worthy of the kind of celebration from a blooming. Being twins they had always celebrated their birthday together. Right now was just about Cathy and she loved feeling special. But that excitement was nothing compared to her fear and embarrassment. Cathy was so worried about her wings blooming and she was pretty sure that she did not want to share this moment with anyone, not even her mother. Her fear seemed justified as she looked at her aunt and grandmother again, who were staring at her like some strange animal in the zoos that she had heard about below.

Cathy sat frozen on the stool. Her aunt and grandmother stared. Her mother flitted around the room tossing bits of fairy dust here and there, trying to make everything just right. Cathy also knew that her mother needed something to keep her occupied because she might have been even more nervous about Cathy's blooming than Cathy was.

"How do you feel sweetie?" Mr. Royce finally broke the silence.

"OK. Didn't sleep much last night though. "

"Don't worry about things . . ." but Mr. Royce was interrupted by Curtis.

"I hope it hurts! I hope it hurts real bad!" Curtis screamed. He seemed surprised by his own outburst and hid behind his father, red in the face. Curtis almost never got angry like that. He and Cathy got along insanely well. Cathy felt a little hurt. She imagined that this was all making him jealous, but she figured he would still be happy for her. Besides, it wasn't all fun and games sitting on this puffy stool waiting.

And wait they did. It felt like hours as everyone in the room sat quiet and stared around at the gazebo. It had probably only been about twenty minutes though when Cathy suddenly felt like she had been bit square between her shoulders by something and had left her back tingling with an itching sensation. Was this it? Her face must have given her away in an instant because her mother rushed over and pried open the back of the robe.

"I want to see too, mother," Cathy's voice cracked in anticipation. She was excited, this was the moment. She would finally have wings. She would be able to enjoy all these beautiful decorations and that cake! Despite all of those happy thoughts rushing around in Cathy's mind, one dark thought kept growing stronger and stronger. What if her wings were small? She had thought about this a lot in the months and days approaching her birthday. She knew that wing size had nothing to do with your family's wing sizes. But that hadn't stopped her from staring at her mother's wings or gazing at the photos that lined the walls of all of her relatives past and present. Her mother's wings were, as her mother would say, slightly smaller than average. They were beautiful, the Yellow Common Butterfly, but apparently they weren't big enough for her mother to fly in missions. This seemed fine to Cathy since she couldn't really see her mother doing that kind of work anyway. Cathy thought about her friends at school. None of the girls in her class had bloomed yet though. Well, except for Cathy's best friend, Bea. Bea's wings were huge! They were almost too big for her body. Cathy knew looking at some of the top fliers that Bea could easily join them on missions when she grew up. But what would Cathy's wings be like? The anxiety was eating away at her and became all she could think about. Even that delicious looking cake had disappeared from her mind completely.

Mrs. Royce jumped back and laughed. "Of, course you want to see dear. What was I thinking?"

A little fairy dust sparkled from her fingertips and soon revealed a small hand mirror. Cathy had her own mirror on her dresser, but this never stopped her mother from using fairy dust to make something else, or something better. Besides, her dresser was nowhere to be seen as it had disappeared when the walls came down to make the gazebo.

Mrs. Royce positioned the mirror so that Cathy had a perfect view of her back. That spot that had itched before now burned and was turning red. Suddenly a small sharp pain seared down her spine. It only lasted an instant and then she saw them. It was like watching tiny crocuses coming out from under the snow. Something bright was poking, sticking its way through her skin. Her aunt and her grandmother gasped together as they peered even closer. Cathy looked away from the mirror just a moment to see her father holding Curtis up in his arms for a better look. Curtis looked at Cathy and they shared a smile that made Cathy feel just a tiny bit braver than she did before. The sensation was strange. It didn't hurt at all now. She just felt as though something more had grown from her body. She could sense the wings now. They had completely broken through the skin and were increasing in size. Without thinking she shook them and little droplets of dew and fairy dust scattered around her. Curtis laughed. It was so natural to have wings. They were a part of her just as much as her own two feet. Cathy first noticed that her wings were a little unique in that they were different colors on the inside than they were on the outside. The outside, that was visible when one looked at Cathy straight on was a creamy, pale brown. It reminded her of her father's coffee. Fairy food is always sweet because it is made with fairy dust. Not really knowing what coffee tasted like, the fairies had instead focused on making it look the same as below. So choices of adding sugar and cream to change the color of the drink were very popular. This pale brown color was far prettier than Cathy thought brown could be. It had a subtle gold-like glitter to it and the faintest traces of lines of blue here and there. Those hints of blue seemed to lead towards the center of her wings where the brown disappeared and only the most beautiful shade of blue congregated near her body. There were also spots that ran along the edge of the forewings. These spots were more like small drops of iridescent dew. There were also a couple more a little closer to her body. These spots could be found on the hindwings, two rows; one of four spots, the other three. Cathy could also see in the reflection of the mirror the back side of her wings. She wanted to see more but her mother kept moving the mirror. The blue, that mesmerizing blue was all over the back of her wings. The blue was still hazy and misty, but brilliant just the same. It mixed so subtly with a fading lavender and gray. Cathy was sure she hadn't seen this kind of wing color before. She couldn't wait until later, when she was alone and could spend more time staring at her wings, getting to know every inch of this new part of her being.

Cathy had let out a huge sigh of relief to know that the pain was nothing to worry about at all. But that relief was gone sooner than she wanted as she was reminded of the other thing that had been weighing so heavily on her mind. The wings were growing. They had started out so small. But it was clear that the rate of expansion had slowed considerably.

"Do you think that's it?" asked Cathy's aunt.

Cathy's grandmother looked closer." Yup, I think so. They might get a bit bigger, but not much. \"

"Oh dear," signed her aunt.

Cathy could tell that everyone's gaze had now turned to her mother. Cathy was nervous too, wondering what her mother's reaction was going to be. Her wings had grown until they were just about the same height as she was and the lower parts of the wings stuck out from her waist and hips. She reached her arms behind her and softly touched the tips to just prove that they were real. She looked in the mirror again and saw her mother's face reflected back at her. Her mother looked sad; just for a moment, but when her eyes looked up and met Cathy's in the mirror's reflection her expression changed immediately. Mrs. Royce turned her daughter around to face her and she smiled the most loving, sweetest smile and gave Cathy the biggest hug as she whispered in her ear," They are beautiful dear."

The world exploded with that hug. The darkness that had been taking over her heart all morning disappeared in an instant. Her aunt and grandmother seemed to give up on their disappointment and softly smiled at Cathy. Mr. Royce scooped her up into his arms and said in a loud voice, "Happy Birthday Cathy!"

Curtis was doing a strange dance of joy around his father's feet as he shouted out, "My sister has wings!"

"Well, let's enjoy our party," declared Mrs. Royce.

"Cake! Cake! Cake!" screamed Curtis. His father held him back in a lock hold and told Cathy to move forward to get the first piece. Now that Cathy could look at the cake without any worries she remembered the one she had seen before. It had been on display in one of the windows of the shops in town. The display had been a magic display of the creation of the cake she had just witnessed. The magic used to show the cake had not really done it justice now that Cathy had the real thing sitting before her.

"This cake is beautiful mother."

"We should hurry and enjoy it. I have heard that the butterflies get restless and start to fly away if you wait too long to cut the cake," advised Mr. Royce.

The candy butterflies would actually start flying? Now that was something that Cathy really wanted to see, but she had a feeling that her mother wouldn't allow them to wait that long and risk losing them to morning air in the gazebo. Her mother gently shook her wrist and the cake separated into perfect sized pieces of cake, each on its own delicate plate. Cathy's had extra butterflies and flowers. Cathy thought Curtis would show his jealousy once again, but saw instead that he had jammed a fairly large butterfly into his mouth and was laughing as their father tried to control him from eating more.

"Go on and take a bite before Curtis takes my hand off," Mr. Royce pleaded.

Cathy took a small lilac that sat to the side of her cake slice and put it on her tongue. She closed her mouth and shut her eyes and was amazed at how quickly the candy flower had melted away into sweet deliciousness. The cake was sweet, like other fairy food, but it had an extra richness to the flavor and a way of dancing around one's mouth. Without thinking she popped two more into her mouth and savored each candy explosion. Everyone was silent as they enjoyed the cake in the morning sun. Cathy tried eating one of the beautiful butterflies. They were so gorgeous and real looking that Cathy felt like she would rather keep them in a box under her bed. But she changed her mind the minute one was in her mouth. The butterfly seemed to come to life when it touched her tongue and it flitted around inside her mouth in a funny way. It felt like it was gently sparkling, sending little zaps to the sides of her mouth. It was the most delicious thing she had ever eaten. Cathy's stomach had gone through so many summersaults that morning that she stopped herself with just one slice of the amazing cake. Curtis, on the other hand, had three helpings and was now bouncing around like crazy.

"So, can you fly?" Curtis asked as he started dancing around his sister again.

This thought had actually failed to enter her mind until now. She had been so worried about the blooming, and if it would hurt, and how big her wings would be, that she had seriously not thought for a moment about being able to fly. She looked at her mother anxiously.

"Yes, dear, you can fly now. Just be careful and don't fly above our heads." Mrs. Royce's words of approval set her running. Curtis was right by her side when she suddenly stopped in the middle of the floor.

"What do I do?" Cathy asked sheepishly.

Mr. Royce came over and took her by the hand. "Just give a little jump and your wings will know what to do."

Was it really going to be that easy? Cathy squeezed her father's hand trying to get courage from him grasp. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Then she jumped softly with her toes barely leaving the floor. But she didn't come back down to the floor. It was like that moment had frozen in time, leaving her suspended in the middle of the gazebo. Cathy could feel her wings beating gently and rhythmically. Then she willed her wings to beat with just the slightest bit of force and she jumped forward. It took very little effort to shoot across the room. Cathy glanced at her mother and her aunt and her grandmother as she started to circle the gazebo. She was careful to stay low and not to go too fast. Curtis ran alongside her cheering her on.

The rest of the morning was spent playing in what used to be Cathy's room. Cathy and Curtis had fun playing games with their father. Cathy tried not to fly too many times because she could see the look of jealousy in Curtis' eyes. After the morning hours had dwindled away, Mr. Royce suggested that they all wrap things up so that they could head off to the Hall to see the Ancients.

The Ancients! Cathy had completely forgotten about this part to the blooming celebration. She needed to go and see the Ancients just as Bea had done.

"But aren't we going to celebrate Curtis' birthday too today?" Cathy asked.

"Of course! Later, this evening, when we are done with the Ancients we will come home for our . . ." but Mr. Royce was interrupted by Curtis.

"So, I have to wait until this evening for presents? That's not fair. Why do I have to wait all day long?"

"Don't worry Curtis. The day will go faster than you think. It will be present time in no time," Mr. Royce tried his best to reassure his son. He leaned in further to speak only to Curtis as he said," I know today is hard for you buddy. You are doing great, really. It is just this year you know, since Cathy bloomed, just this year that is special and different. And besides, when you turn twelve the tables will be turned you know."

Curtis smiled at these words. He couldn't wait for that day. He didn't so much want the chance to get back at Cathy for today. He didn't really mind that she was getting all this attention. He actually thought she deserved it a little. But the fact that he didn't get wings today was hard to deal with. He wanted nothing more in the world than to have wings and he knew he would spend the next four years waiting to turn twelve and be able to use his magic to see what he might do to fill the emptiness of not having them.

Suddenly the gazebo around them started to melt and sparkle as it morphed back into Cathy's room. Mrs. Royce was straightening things up with her fairy dust as she gently tried to push Cathy's grandmother and aunt out the door.

"Well, I think we have had quite an exciting morning. You two have a safe trip home. Get mother home safely, OK?" Mrs. Royce's voice rang in the hallway as she used her most polite voice to usher the ladies out the door. Cathy's grandmother and her aunt all lived on other islands. When a dream fairy had reached the age of 60 he/she is asked to move to a series of special islands that were specifically for the elderly. There the fairies work to gather information about humans and to donate dust as frequently as possible. These islands were all part of the organized and balanced life of the dream fairies. Cathy's grandfather had already reached the age of 88 and had passed on as was to be expected of all dream fairies, with the exception of the Ancients, who were immortal. Cathy's grandmother lived in a community on the island for older fairies. Cathy's aunt had not yet chosen to marry and lived on the island where she worked.

Cathy's grandmother spoke as she reached the door, "We are all going to the same place anyway, we should leave together."

"But you know the Ancients only wish to have immediate family come to the meeting with Cathy," explained Mrs. Royce patiently.

Cathy's grandmother smiled as she suggested, "That's all right. We all can wait at the park by the Main Hall until you are finished. We would love to hear what they have to say about our dear Catherine."

Mrs. Royce gave in and directed the entire family together to get ready to head to the Hall. She opened a large jar on the counter and started counting out the small bubbles used to make the pods to take them to the Hall. "Now, let's see here. Sis, you and Mother can take this one. You can take Curtis, dear. And I will take Catherine. Let's be off then. Don't want to make the Ancients wait."

The Royce's home was in the northern section of island. It was in the last row of houses along the outermost ring and these homes tended to be a bit bigger and more elaborate than those closer to the center of the island. They were close to the edge of the island. The Edge was hard to discern. The dome surrounding the island was designed to appear as though it went on forever, creating the image of a forever horizon just like below. But Cathy knew that you could actually walk up the Edge and touch it, if you were brave enough. Some of the older kids had all taken adventures to the Edge and Cathy had heard crazy tales about what it was like. Some had said that when you touched the Edge your hand would turn into ice. Others said that a strange sucking sensation would take over you like you were going to be pulled into the darkness on the other side. Some had even said that if you pressed your face against the surface and opened your eyes you could see through the filmy dome and to the endless sky. Curtis had constantly begged Cathy to go the Edge with him since they started basic school when they were five. Cathy never really wanted to go. She liked the idea that it was an unknown and she was scared. But she had reluctantly made a deal with her brother to go and see the Edge after she had bloomed. She wondered if Curtis was thinking about finally getting to see the Edge with his sister now that they had reached their eighth birthday.

The Royces had finally made it out the front door and moved together towards the pod stop nearest their home. They were heading towards NW4 which was the stop right in front of the prep school. Each pairing of fairies tossed their pod bubbles into the air and entered their respective pods. One by one the pods floated up to the silver-line. Mrs. Royce pressed the button on the panel inside for the Hall. The trip would only take them four minutes but still that seemed like a long time to be alone with her mother. Mrs. Royce was always so proper and seemed to be examining and judging Cathy with each glance. She wasn't sure who she was more nervous about discussing the subject of her wings with, her mother or the Ancients. She couldn't erase that brief moment when Cathy caught her mother's eye after her wings had finished blooming. That look was, without a doubt, a look of disappointment. She gave her wings another little shake and felt a trickle of excitement run down her spine. At the moment she didn't care if her wings were perhaps just a little smaller than some others, she was just so happy to have them.

"Catherine, what are you thinking about?" Mrs. Royce asked her suddenly.

Cathy looked at her mother. Behind the usual strict facade was a faint smile of a loving mother and Cathy felt a warmth in her heart that she hadn't felt before. It seemed as though her mother was looking at her for the first time.

Mrs. Royce looked down at her hands as she said quietly, "Are you nervous about seeing the Ancients?"

"Yes," Cathy answered quickly.

"Don't worry. They aren't scary; not so personable, but not scary or bad in any way. The examination won't hurt at all. The sensation, as I remember it, is quite strange. They pour a sort of cold liquefied dust down your wings and that is how they get their information. They will tell you what kind of butterfly wings you have. I'm afraid I don't recognize your wings. They look similar to some I have seen before, but they are different and rare. You should be proud," Mrs. Royce reached out and gently stroked the tips of the wings as she said this. Cathy didn't realize it at the time, but on this day, the day of Cathy's blooming, her mother felt such a strong connection to her daughter. That day when Cathy's wings bloomed reminded her mother of her own eighth birthday and how she had felt and had made her see her daughter in a way she hadn't seen her before. She had always loved Cathy, of course, but she had often found it hard to relate to her two children, until that day.

Cathy was smiling ear to ear when her and her mother finally got out of the pod that had slowly floated to the ground in front of the Hall. Without even thinking Cathy found her hand in her mother's as the two of them walked towards the Hall and the stones that would take them to see the Ancients.

Chapter Five: Xerces Blue and the Edge

Bea and her father waited anxiously by the SW3 stop. She had rushed through her breakfast so quickly that morning that she found she had gotten out the door a little sooner than she needed to. She knew that Cathy and Curtis would be arriving at any moment and she couldn't hold back her excitement. She had her wings out to their full size and was giving them a little shake now and again. She always tried to keep her wings down to their smallest size when she was around her friends since she knew that Cathy hadn't bloomed yet and Curtis, no matter how hard he wished, would never have wings of his own. She liked to have them out like this though to feel them behind her. Sometimes, when no one was looking, she would take little small trips of flight here and there. Luckily for her, her father didn't mind letting her have some moments to play around and test them out. Today was going to change things though. Today she was going to see Cathy's wings for the first time. Cathy had bloomed yesterday on her eighth birthday and Bea was going crazy waiting to see her friend's wings and to finally have someone to share her feelings with.

Bea peered down the Silver Line anxiously. She could see other pods on their way down the line to the school as well as the Hall. Two pods raced past her at the stop and then finally one pod snapped free of the line and gently floated down near Bea. Bea's anticipation was nearly making her sick as she stood on her tiptoes waiting for the pod door to open. Curtis took a little leap out first and Bea was ready to strangle him for not being his sister. Finally, Cathy took a small jump out of the pod with her wings out. She floated gently down the very short distance to the ground. She had a huge smile on her face as she stared at her friend.

"You have to have them out completely to really get a good float," suggested Bea as she ran towards her friend to get a better look at her wings. Cathy's wings just almost reached the top of her head and peaked out just below her hips. Bea shrank her own wings down to mimic the size of her friends' and then let them out again to their very large size, demonstrating to her as she spoke.

Cathy's smile faded and she mumbled under her breath, "This is as big as they get, Bea."

Bea hated it when her friend spoke so quietly. "What?" Bea shouted in aggravation. But she stopped short when she saw the expression on Curtis' face. He looked sad and was giving a knowing glance at Cathy's wings as if trying to warn Bea. Bea turned to her father to see if he could provide some insight into the situation but he was busy looking over the morning paper.

Bea was really getting annoyed. "What? What is wrong with you two? Come on Cathy, let me see your wings. Get them out, real big, you know?"

Curtis stomped over to his sister and grabbed her hand in his. He turned his face to Bea and gave his best defiant stare. Cathy had been staring at her feet the entire time and Bea was really beginning to feel that she had done something wrong, but what? It took Bea a moment of staring at her best friend, with her face down, her eyes filling with tears, for her to finally realize what was going on. Maybe this was as big as Cathy's wings got. Maybe Cathy's wings were considerably smaller than her own. Bea knew that everyone had different kinds of wings, different colors, and different sizes. But it never occurred to her that there could be as much difference as there was between her own and her friends'. Bea's had to be twice the size of Cathy's. Bea's were so colorful and from what Bea could see Cathy's were just brown. Bea's expression of excitement melted away into a genuine face of concern as she walked up to her friend and gave her a hug while Curtis kept hold of his sister's hand.

She then whispered, "Sorry," in her friend's ear as she circled around to get a good look at her friend's wings.

"Wow! Cathy! These things are beautiful!" Bea couldn't believe what she saw. Cathy's wings were the most gorgeous shade of blue she had ever seen, blue and purple and gray, like a sky she had seen in her dreams.

Cathy's face broke into a smile as she tried to wipe the tears from her eyes. The tension lifted and Curtis let his sister's hand go as he joined Bea in her excitement, "I know! It's so awesome how they trick you. I mean you have no idea that is what she is hiding back there, you know? I love them!"

Curtis' declaration had torn Mr. Featherstone away from his paper. He smiled at Cathy and said," Congratulations Cathy. They look beautiful. You two better not get into too much trouble now. Keep them in check for me, Curtis, OK?"

Cathy looked at her brother and her friend and smiled even more. "Listen, we should get going to school, you know." She took a small pod bubble from her pocket and handed it over to Mr. Featherstone.

"You guys ready to go?" Mr. Featherstone asked and gently tossed the bubble, shot a line of fairy dust and allowed the bubble to expand into the pod that would carry the three of them to school. "You all have a good day!"

Cathy, Curtis and Bea all got into the pod. Bea turned at once to her friend. She was worried how upset Cathy might be about Bea's incredibly tactless comment but was pleased to see that any signs of sadness had completely disappeared.

Bea jumped right into the million questions she had prepared in her mind all morning. "How was it for you?"

Cathy explained how the blooming had gone the previous morning and how elaborate her mother's decorations had been. Bea was in awe and incredibly jealous with each description. Mrs. Royce was so talented and clearly the Royces didn't have any problems with getting high-grade dust unlike Bea's family who opposed its use in the home. The conversation couldn't get very far because Curtis would not stop talking about the cake.

"It was so delicious. And pretty. The butterflies actually moved when you put them in your mouth. I wanted to wait to see if they would really fly away like they say they do, but we ate them all instead." Curtis was still talking about the cake and the different kinds of flowers that were on it when the pod arrived at school. They were all laughing and talking about the cake when they got off the pod just as they had done so many times before and it was only when they were heading towards their first class, nature class, that Bea realized that maybe Cathy had wanted to try floating out the pod when they arrived at school.

"No, I'm good Bea. I don't really like all the attention," Cathy smiled shyly as she looked over her shoulder. She made her wings smaller like Bea had done when they walked into school and Bea had a feeling her friend was happier being in a place where they had to all be the same size.

Curtis leaned in on the two girls' conversation and added with a mischievous grin, "Well, you don't want the same kind of attention that Bea had."

Bea forced a laugh, but the reminder stung. Curtis usually didn't make rude remarks like that; it was more like something her brother did. But when he did make a comment it just reinforced Bea's thinking that all boys had something in them that made them mean.

The three of them finally sat down in nature class. Bea still had so many questions for Cathy. She kept trying to whisper quick questions when Mr. Cedarland wasn't looking. It was finally lunch time, and then a short break after, when Bea had a real solid moment to talk to her friend about her visit to the Ancients. The three of them had found a quiet place in the garden outside to talk, away from the other fairies.

"So, what did the Ancients say? Your wings look so unusual to me. What kind are they?" Bea looked at her friend anxiously.

Curtis lit up with excitement as he gently nudged his sister, "Tell her, Cathy. Bea, this part is the coolest part. You won't believe what they told her. "

Cathy took a deep breath and began to tell Bea all about what had happened at the Great Hall. "Well, we arrived and went in to see them. The one male fairy in the green robe asked me my name. . . "

"Wasn't he nice? He just seemed so nice to me. Really helped me not feel so nervous," Bea interjected.

Cathy smiled, "Yeah, he was really nice. After I told them my name, he and the female fairy came next to me to look at my wings. The female fairy seemed really surprised. . . "

This time it was Curtis who interrupted, "Surprised! Yeah they were all surprised. You should have heard their reaction, Bea. They both kind of jumped back. The one guy, the fatter one, he practically fell onto his back he was so surprised. "

Cathy sighed. "Can I tell the story or are you two going to keep butting in?"

Both Curtis and Bea promised to keep their comments to themselves and so Cathy continued, "Well, the female fairy told me that my wings belong to the Xerces Blue butterfly."

"The what?" Bea asked.

Cathy didn't seem to be surprised that her friend had already broken her promise to let her continue, so she went on," The Xerces Blue butterfly. The taller ancient in the middle, he broke in right away when he heard that name. He said that the Xerces Blue had been extinct for nearly seventy years. It was the first butterfly to be made extinct by the humans. It was pretty obvious that they all thought it was pretty strange to see these wings again. So then the female Ancient and the nice one did the test on my wings."

Bea couldn't take it anymore. She had been waiting, in what she thought was, a very patient manner. But she wanted to talk to her friend about this experience that they both now shared. "The test, wasn't it weird?"

"Yeah, it was really weird, so cold. I couldn't handle it. I bet it was really hard for you since your wings are so much bigger than mine. I bet the test took longer for you."

This was the first time that Cathy had spoken so plainly about the difference in size between Bea's wings and Cathy's. Bea was a little surprised that she had been OK to make such an observation. Bea didn't want to make her friend feel bad so she just smiled and said, "Not so long really."

"Well, after the cold fairy dust reading," Cathy continued, "they all spent some time talking just the three of them. It took them a really long time but finally they separated and the middle Ancient in the dark blue robe told me about my wings. He said that since they were from such a unique and extinct butterfly it meant that I was going to do great things, things that would change life for the dream fairies."

Cathy tried to finish her last sentence strongly, but her voice had trailed just a little as her eyes jumped back and forth between her friend and her brother. Bea laughed to herself as she thought that this reaction was just perfect for Cathy. She was always so modest and shy, never wanting to admit to anyone that she was really good at something. Bea knew though that Cathy was not just good, but great and wasn't so surprised that the Ancients had seen this too.

Cathy's face seemed to darken as she looked up again and continued, "Yeah, and so, they said too that I won't be able to fly in missions. My wings are too small and won't handle those long trips. I mean I don't think I really wanted to ever fly the missions anyway, so it's no big deal." She forced a smile and Bea knew that her friend was not telling the truth.

"Flying missions isn't that cool. You will probably be like your mom, with super magic ability. I can't wait until we can start learning practical magic at school. Of course, I am pretty sure I will be terrible, like MY mom," Bea laughed as she said this and hoped that her comment had brought a bit of happiness to her friend's expression. She was pleased to see it had as Cathy's face broke into a smile.

Curtis was looking at both Bea and Cathy with a strange look of excitement as he said, "Well, you guys know what this means right?"

"What are you talking about Curtis?" Bea asked. She hadn't the slightest idea what he was hinting at.

"Cathy has wings now. She promised me when she turned eight that . . ." But Curtis didn't get a chance to finish as Bea had jumped up from her seat and started doing a small dance of joy.

"The Edge! We can go to the Edge now! Oh, you guys, it is going to be so cool! We have to go today. After school. It is perfect," Bea was already planning the event in her mind. Curtis had told Bea of his plan to go to the Edge when they all were eight when she first met him; each year that they got another year older he smiled more and more with the idea of finally getting to go to the Edge of the island. Bea knew that Cathy wasn't that excited and had only promised her brother to be nice. But Bea didn't let these thoughts interfere with her excitement at getting to go and see the Edge. Her brother, Steven, had of course already gone with some of his friends. They had gone when they had just started their second year. At the time Bea was only two and she had a vague recollection of how scared she was when he had returned home that day to tell the tales of his adventure. He seemed to slowly change, and add to, the story with each retelling. Bea knew he was lying, but she wasn't sure how much he was making up. Steven had always used this knowledge to point out how young and stupid his sister was in comparison to himself. Bea couldn't wait to know what he knew and be able to make him shut up the next time he tried to show off.

"After school, let's meet up and take the pod towards your guys' house. Then we can just make the short trip from there to the Edge," suggested Bea.

"Which stop would be better? The one behind the prep school or NE5?" Curtis had a point. The NE5 stop was out of the way. There would probably be no one around. Going to the Edge was always something that the grown-ups would tell kids not to do. Bea thought they never had a very good reason for saying this. Besides, all kids wound up going there eventually. She had never heard of anyone getting in trouble for going or of anyone being stopped. But it would be nice to have the entire Edge to themselves without anyone watching. Or would it? Bea thought about the pod stop behind the prep school. Steven went to the prep school. The basic school kids got out before the students at the prep school. They would probably have time to go to that stop, go to the Edge and be done with their experience just as the prep school was letting out. Bea saw a beautiful scene forming in her mind: Her brother coming out of school with his friends, Bea and her friends just coming from their visit to the Edge, Bea confronting her brother in front of his friends about all the lies he had always told her. Bea had made up her mind.

"Behind the prep school should be good," Bea said firmly.

Cathy's face was twisted up with anxiety. "What if someone sees us?"

Bea thought quickly, she knew her friend didn't really want to go at all, but having her on board for this would make everything go much smoother. "We may want someone to see us. You know, just in case we need help. If might be safer to be around other people. Don't you think?"

"Hmm, yeah, I guess that might be true," Cathy mumbled quietly.

"Then it's decided!" declared Bea.

"What's decided losers?" Bea, Cathy and Curtis all turned around suddenly to see who had just interrupted their discussion. It was Veronica. Veronica had changed a great deal in the last few months. Right after she bloomed she came to school with a completely different attitude. She still had her usual confidence, but she seemed determined to be mean to people and had taken control of the gang that she had always been a follower of before. Christina had melted away into the background and seemed only too willing to follow Veronica. Why did she have to show up now? She was getting really good at being around when Bea really didn't want her to be. It was almost as though she had a strange radar that sensed when to show up and make Bea and her friends most miserable. Bea wasn't about to let her ruin their plans to the Edge.

"None of your business, Veronica!" spat Bea and did her best to glare directly at Veronica in defiance.

"Like it matters with this group. None of you are really capable of doing anything." Veronica was ready to continue when her eyes caught sight of Cathy's wings. Bea and Curtis looked at each and shared a glance that confirmed that they had seen Veronica's intentions. They both immediately stepped closer to Cathy, flanking her on either side poised and ready for the attack that was sure to come.

"Well, looks like you finally bloomed, Cathy." Veronica had an amazing talent for making anyone's' name sound terrible as she added a strange singsongy ring to it when she spoke. Veronica circled around the three of them and started flicking the tips of Cathy wings. "Why don't you let them out so we can see them?"

Cathy's face was bright red. Bea looked at her friend wondering what she was going to do next. "We can't have our wings out at school," Cathy said clearly, but quietly as she stared at the ground.

Veronica laughed through her nose as she circled the three and turned to face them again. With a gentle rustle, Veronica's wings were fully out. Bea had forgotten how beautiful they were. Veronica's birthday had been in October and when she showed up at school after she had bloomed everyone was insanely jealous of her wings as she had made a graceful floating leap from the pod when it arrived at school that morning. Veronica's wings were not quite as big as Bea's. In some ways this was better, because the wings looked the perfect size for Veronica's body. Bea's, on the other hand, sometimes looked awkward and strange as they almost made Bea disappear. Veronica's wings were from the swallowtail, Spicebush Swallowtail. All the girls had wanted to have swallowtail wings; they had delicate tails on the hindwings and some even had scalloped edges. Veronica's were the envy of every classmate. They were a silvery gray with sparkling diamond-like spots along the scalloped edges. The hindwings had streaks of a misty blue that led to another row of spots; these were a brilliant yellow, like the sun. Right at the end of the trail of diamond spots on the inside of the hindwing was a single yellow spot. This yellow spot was more beautiful than the others above it and it sent out trails of sparkling fairy dust when Veronica would move her wings. Bea always had a strange sensation of awe and insane jealousy when she saw Veronica with her wings out. Even from a distance, when Bea had seen her out shopping, Bea could see their beauty.

Veronica cleared her throat and challenged Cathy, "Come on, Cathy. Let's see yours."

There were mumblings and voices of agreement pouring from Veronica's small gang. Bea definitely didn't like where this was going and she could tell that Cathy didn't either. Her face had changed from bright red to a strange pale green, like she was about to be sick. Curtis squeezed Cathy's hand and whispered something in her ear. His words must have worked because Cathy closed her eyes, wrinkled her forehead and let her wings out to their full size.

There was a brief moment of silence as Veronica's gang waited for her cue. Veronica let out a shrill, cackling laugh. It sent chills down Bea's spine and Bea could only imagine how much that laugh had hurt her friend.

"Is that all?" Veronica sneered. She moved again to see the back of Cathy's wings. A small, crooked smile spread across her face, "Well, at least you have something decent going on here. It makes up for the dirty mud we have to look at when we see the backs of your wings. I am assuming that the Ancients told you that you won't be able to even fly to get groceries with these things."

Curtis looked like he was ready to explode. "Shut up Veronica! Just leave us alone. We don't care what you have to say. Why don't you, and your stupid followers go somewhere else?" Curtis had screamed and Bea could tell that the fairies that were in that vicinity, just inside the school, had all stopped what they were doing when they had heard his voice.

Mr. Black poked his head around the archway that lead to the garden. "What's going on out here?" he asked as he stepped towards them. The moment Mr. Black's voice had rung out, Veronica and Cathy had shrunk their wings down to the proper size for school. Bea even wondered if he had seen the girls with their wings out at all, they had made them smaller so quickly. Mr. Black shook his head as if he was seeing things and made his way closer to the group. "Everything OK over here? Cathy, you look terrible. Are you feeling well?" He took Cathy by the shoulder and guided her away from the group. "Let's take you to the nurse."

The group of fairies stood frozen to the spot as they waited for Mr. Black and Cathy to be back inside school and on their way to the nurse. Bea tried counting to five in her mind to give herself enough time to make sure that they wouldn't be heard again. Then she stepped closer to Veronica and said in the most menacing voice she could muster, "Leave us alone Veronica."

"Huh, whatever. Have a nice day losers!" With that Veronica turned on her heels and marched out of the garden, back into school, with her small group of followers trailing behind her. As she walked away she looked over her should and gave an icy glare that froze Bea in her tracks. Something about Veronica's look made Bea confused. Veronica's eyes weren't dancing with the usual joy that she had seen in Christina's eyes when she had been at her peek of bullying. There was something else there, something almost like sadness. Bea shook her head and looked away. Certainly she was imagining things; Veronica couldn't really be feeling sad about hurting Cathy's feelings.

The rest of the day slowly passed. Cathy didn't come back from the nurse's for music class, but she was already sitting down in her seat waiting for class to begin for the last class of the day. Bea shot as many friendly smiles her way as she could without getting Mrs. Golden, their magic teacher, too upset. The moment class was dismissed at the end of the day Curtis and Bea rushed to Cathy's side and asked her if she was OK.

"Yeah, I'm fine now. Sorry I had to be taken to the nurse like that." Cathy always found a way to apologize for everything, Bea thought. Who apologizes for being sick after being harassed like Cathy had been?

The three of them headed out the door towards the pod stations. The school had a beautiful fountain in front and all along its' outermost edge was a narrow strip of shallow water that contained small pod bubbles floating and bobbing along. The students grabbed one on their way out of school and then handed one over to one of the teachers that were waiting at the stations. The teachers would toss the bubbles into the air for the students, shooting dust at them, and then see the students off for the day. Curtis grabbed a pod for them and they lined up behind some other students and waited for their turn to leave.

Curtis looked at Cathy and said, "Listen. Let's just forget about the whole plan for today, yeah?"

Bea hadn't thought about the Edge. She was a little angry with Curtis for suggesting that they abandon their plan. But she knew that it was the nice thing to suggest after the terrible day that Cathy had just had.

"No," Cathy said softly. Bea and Curtis both looked at her in surprise. "No, I want to go."

Bea couldn't believe her ears. Cathy hadn't wanted to go to the Edge this whole time. For years she had made it pretty clear that she was against the idea every time Curtis brought it up. Now, here she was, stating in a clear and determined voice, that she wanted to go?

"No, really, sis. Don't worry about it. You don't have to be all tough just for us. Let's re-schedule, OK?" Curtis suggested.

Cathy smiled at Curtis and Bea. "No. I want to go today."

Hearing it again seemed to make Curtis know that his sister's mind had been made up. A huge smile spread over his face and he started to do a little dance as they waited in line to leave in their pod. Bea was so excited she couldn't stand still and started hopping up and down. Cathy looked at the two of them and started to laugh, "You two are crazy, you know that don't you?"

It was finally their turn to leave and Curtis handed the bubble to Mrs. Golden. She tossed it into the air and the pod appeared. The three of them piled into the pod and Bea turned around to press the button on the panel inside for NW5, the stop directly behind the prep school. The pod doors closed and they were soon off.

The pod had only to circle halfway around the island before it stopped at NW5. The trip took less than 30 seconds and Bea was somewhat wishing that they had more time to ready themselves for their adventure. The pod snapped off the gold-line and as the doors opened it was Cathy that had her wings out as she gracefully leapt from the pod and floated down to the grass below. Bea wasn't even ready to do the same and instead left the pod with Curtis after it had landed. The large prep school was behind them. To Bea's relief there was no one around. She looked to her right and left and saw no one. The three of them turned to face the Edge of the island.

The Edge was hard to fathom. They were standing staring out into what looked like an endless horizon. The grassy lawn of the school yard extended out into the distance. Bea had looked at this horizon many times. It seemed to go on forever. Just pretty, green, well-trimmed grass meeting up with a perfect weather-less blue sky. The island never had any weather. Every day was like those rare spring days that happened on earth below. Those days that had a warm sun shining down to make you feel content and happy. Those days that made humans stop in their crazy lives and smile briefly and think, "Today is really a nice day." That was what every day was like on the island. The sky did change sometimes. The magic used to keep the dome temperate allowed for different kinds of clouds to be sprinkled across the blue. Some days were cloudless, some days had wispy clouds, others had fluffy, billowy clouds. Today was a day with no clouds at all and that made the horizon even harder to take in. The three of them stared out into what they thought looked like forever.

The trick to walking to the Edge was ignoring what you saw. You had to persevere and keep walking into what your eyes were telling you was forever. The three friends looked at each and, without saying a word, turned to face this horizon, hand-in-hand. Cathy was in the middle, holding her brother's hand to her left and Bea's hand to her right. Bea's mind was racing. They were really going to do this. Maybe they should talk about it though first? Maybe they should make a plan? Bea wondered what her friends were thinking right now. Curtis had a ridiculous smile on his face. He was certainly ready for this. He was born ready. Curtis never had any fear it seemed. Bea secretly wished she had half of his courage at times. Cathy's face was oddly poised and calm. She obviously had made up her mind about this adventure. When Cathy reached a decision, like she had reached somewhere between lunch and now, she was impossible to stop. Bea seemed to always stop herself when she set out to do something. Or sometimes, things would get in her way. Bea wished she had half of Cathy's determination. Bea knew that it was too late to speak out and stop her friends now. They were ready. But was she? She knew she was excited. But she was also scared. Bea forced herself to stand up straight as she felt a gentle squeeze from Cathy's hand. With a subtle nod Bea's choice was made. The three friends took steady steps towards the horizon. One foot in front of the other, they marched towards nothing. They kept marching and marching still. The friends had kept their faces forward, but Bea found herself looking anxiously at the other two as they found themselves leaving the prep school behind them, the building getting smaller and smaller. How long were they going to walk? Bea was trying to be brave and cool, but she couldn't take it anymore. She broke their self-imposed silence and asked in a low whisper, "How long is this going to take?"

Curtis and Cathy both laughed in unison. "It does seem to go on forever, doesn't it?" Cathy said.

But as they took their next few steps the three felt something change. The best way to describe it was that they felt like they had suddenly stepped inside a tunnel, even though their surroundings had not changed. Bea looked around to see if her eyes would give her any clues.

"Do you guys feel like there is almost like a ceiling now above us?" asked Curtis as he let go of his sister's hand. All three of them tentatively held their hands out in front of them.

Cathy laughed. "I imagine we look pretty stupid, like we are walking around in the dark or something."

"Yeah, but if we are close I want to be ready for it. I don't want to just walk head first into it, you know?" Bea explained as she reached her fingertips out in front of her searching in the air for some sign of anything.

The air was slowly starting to grow cold around them as they kept walking, though their pace had slowed greatly. Bea really felt as though it had to be any second now. She didn't really know why she felt this way, but it seem that they were almost there. But perhaps they had slowed down too soon. Now they were just creeping along and not seeming to get anywhere.

Cathy, who was a fraction in the lead, suddenly jumped back. "Oh!" she cried softly as she drew back her hands. "You guys, I think we are there."

Bea looked at Curtis and Cathy. "You two ready for this?"

"Yes," they said together. Bea thought of mentioning some kind of plan in case someone got hurt or sucked into the Edge. Her mind was racing with all the stories she had heard from Steven and his friends. But each one of those stories seemed to melt away as she raised her hands in front of her to reach out and touch what was the Edge of the island. She closed her eyes thinking it might make the process easier. She stepped forward slowly and then she felt it. It was soft and warm. Her fingertips got stuck in it. It was like pushing through warm, fresh-baked bread. Bea opened her eyes and saw where her fingers had pierced the sky. The horizon was interrupted by a brilliant sparkle of fairy dust that surrounded her fingers and Bea pushed harder until her entire hand disappeared into the Edge. She couldn't see past the horizon at all. She turned to her friends and the three of them stared in awe at each other, just the sparkling of fairy dust around their wrists to mark where each of their hands had entered the sky.

"It feels so cool," Bea broke their silence as she turned her hands around inside the Edge.

"I wonder how far this goes," Curtis asked as he gently pushed his entire arm into the warm fluffiness.

Cathy looked at Bea and smiled before she suddenly pressed her face against the Edge. Cathy was quite a sight. Just her shoulders and body could be seen on the other side. Curtis quickly followed and Bea had no choice but to put any fear aside and dive her head into the Edge as well. She closed her eyes and pressed and felt the warmth take over her face. She willed herself to open her eyes and was surprised to find that she could see her friends, just their heads, next to her. All around Bea was the same kind of beautiful amorphous material that was used to make the Great Hall and the room where the Ancients were. There were the same pockets of brilliant sparkling rainbow-colored light all around them. The Edge was obviously made out of very high-grade dust and the effect was strange being that the walls and ceiling and floor, if they were even there, were everywhere and continuous. On this side of the Edge, the air felt thick, thick, but not heavy. Bea wondered to herself if she could breathe here, inside this strange atmosphere. She took a deep breath and was not only relieved to find that she could breathe, but that the air here was somehow more refreshing than on the island. Her heart was racing. She watched her friends' reactions for some kind of clue of what to do next.

"Should we try stepping all the way in?" Curtis suggested.

Bea thought. What if they couldn't get out though, what if you did get sucked in? But before she could vocalize her apprehension Cathy had taken a small hop and her entire body was in the Edge.

"Let's make sure we can still get out, you know? Try to pull out real quick. I will be waiting for you," Bea said as she pulled her head out of the Edge and back to the island. Bea was surprised by how cold the air was near the Edge when she pulled her head out. She stared at what she could guess was the Edge from where her own two hands were still stuck and waited impatiently for any signs of her friend's return. She wanted to get back in the Edge, but she wanted to make sure they were safe. Finally Cathy's head poked through the Edge and stood hovering against the endless sky. Bea laughed at the sight and was ready to jump back in when her friend stopped her.

"Wait!" Cathy screamed. "We need something to let us know where we got in at. Something that can mark where we came in at. If you weren't halfway in and halfway out I wouldn't have known where you were. "

Bea couldn't express how relieved she was to know that they had taken care to find out this part of their adventure. Imagine if they had all just ran like crazy into the Edge? They would have had a hard time finding their way out and would have wasted time wandering around until someone may have found them. Bea stepped all the way back inside the Edge and without even moving her feet a bit she placed her bag down on the creamy, fluffy ground. She gathered Curtis and Cathy's bags as well and was confident that they would know where to go back out again after their adventure.

"I wonder how wide this strip of the Edge is," Curtis asked as he started taking careful steps in a direction that he felt was directly straight from where he had just entered. Cathy and Bea mimicked his movements and the three of them found that it only took eight steps before they were definitely at the end of this part of the inner Edge. They had met another wall the fairy dust.

Cathy looked at her brother and friend. "So, do you think everyone else always came this far in?"

"I don't know. Steven never said anything about it being like this. Of course, what he did say was always some crazy lie made up to scare me." Bea didn't think anyone had made it this far. She herself thought that Cathy and Curtis had been a little crazy when they had decided to just stick their heads inside the Edge, not knowing what was on other side. It was one thing to play around with your fingers and hands wriggling inside the warmth. It was quite another thing to take a little leap, bringing your entire body inside.

"Well, we've made it this far. Let's see what the real Edge is like." Cathy sounded so confident and brave. Bea was surprised at this new person standing where her shy and reserved friend used to be.

"OK, but don't go jumping through to the other side of this one. I have a feeling this one might really be the Edge of the island," Bea cautioned.

The three moved forward slowly with their hands outstretched once more. They immediately met with the wall of creamy, fluffy dust. They pushed their hands through and had just gotten their wrists in deep when Bea felt it. There was definitely something hard and cold impeding any further movement. It was so cold, like ice. Bea pressed the whole of her palm against the smooth surface. She wanted to see what it looked like, but she couldn't push aside the wall. She leaned in with her face, tentatively pushing through the shallow wall. It was nearly impossible to get her face pressed against this Edge without the fluffy dust interfering.

"Try cupping your hands on both sides of your face like this," Curtis suggested as he pressed both hands to either side like blinders.

Bea tried this, and to her delight it worked. She pressed in on the Edge, her face stinging from the cold. Her breath was taken from her as she was met with the most amazing view. All around her, up, down, to all sides was nothing but sky. Bea had always known that the dream fairies lived on islands that floated in the higher level of the atmosphere above the earth. But this was the first time she really got what that meant. She tried to stare down, thinking she might see the earth below, but was disappointed to find that only clouds could be seen.

Bea pulled back from her view and stared at her friends. The three of them were all red in the face from the cold Edge being pressed against their foreheads and noses. The adventure seemed to suddenly take its toll on them, as they collapsed onto the warm fluffy ground to rest and take in everything they had seen.

"This place is really cool," Cathy said as she looked around.

"It is pretty amazing," Curtis agreed.

"What made you change your mind about coming out here today, Cathy?" Bea asked her friend.

Cathy smiled as she straightened out the edge of her dress. "I think I have decided to be stronger. I don't need people like Veronica making me feel bad. I have wings now and I need to stop acting like a little child."

Bea looked at her friend and thought about what she had just said. Even though Bea was a little older than her, Cathy seemed to be years ahead of her, especially today.

"Sounds good to me. I'll try that too," Bea said as she smiled to herself. She really didn't like Veronica though and had a feeling that it might be easier said than done to ignore her evil behavior.

"And another thing, I don't think I really like the name, Cathy," Cathy said in her more usual sheepish tone.

Curtis gave a little laugh as he looked at his sister. "What do you want to be called then, Tinkerbell?"

"Ha ha, very funny. No, I was just thinking I like Catherine better. Do you guys mind calling me that from now on?" Cathy asked.

"Of course! You guys are all cool with not calling me Beatrice." Bea hated her name and only her parents would call her by her real name, especially when she was in trouble. "We can do the opposite for you and use your real name and not the shortened version, right Curtis?"

"Sure thing. Catherine. Sounds very grown up," Curtis said with a smile.

"Exactly." Catherine smiled in satisfaction.

Curtis looked at his watch and suddenly jumped up. "You guys, we probably should go home."

"Oh no! We have to leave now. What if mother finds out?" Cathy's calm demeanor immediately shifted as she walked quickly to the other side of the inner Edge. But before stepping out, back through the wall of fluff and to the island she stopped her brother and friend by the arms and said, "You guys, let's make this our secret, OK? You know, I mean we can say we came to Edge today, but we don't need to tell anyone about coming all the way in here, don't you think?"

Curtis started nodding his head in agreement and Bea replied, "Yeah, that will be cool. No one will know." The three of them placed their bags on their shoulders and stepped through the wall the Edge and back out into the island. The air was really cold here compared to the delightful warmth of the inner Edge. They started walking briskly back up towards the prep school. As they were walking up the grassy field, Bea saw, down along where the Edge would be, a boy walking the same way as they were back up to the prep school. He seemed to have just left the Edge as they had. It seemed rather odd since she hadn't seen him when they had set out on their adventure. He was a strange looking boy too. His clothes were weird. He wore a robe much like those worn by the workers at the Great Hall.

"Hey, who is that boy?" Bea asked her friends.

Curtis and Catherine both peered in the boy's direction. "Have no idea. He seems kind of strange though," Curtis said.

But they all lost their train of thought as they noticed that the prep school students had just finished their day and were slowly coming out of the school. The three of them ran up to the school and Bea started searching for her brother. Fairies started prep school when they were eleven. By age twelve they had enough magic ability to be able to use the bubbles for the pods on their own. There were a few teachers helping the students in their seventh year with their bubbles, but the other students were pairing off and setting their bubbles off one by one. Bea caught sight of her brother talking with a couple of his friends as they waited their turn to leave.

"Hey Steven!" Bea called out in a loud voice at her brother. She knew he hated being seen with his little sister and her surprise visit to him at school was going to drive him crazy. Sure enough Bea's brother's face turned red when he saw her waving at him.

"What do you want?" Steven asked as he spoke quietly to Bea when she was finally close enough to hear his strained whisper.

"Just wanted to let you know that we just got back from our visit to the Edge," Bea said in a clear voice that was loud enough for Steven's friends to hear but not so loud as to draw the attention of the few teachers standing nearby.

There was a small rumble of reaction from his friends at this news. Bea felt a little braver. "Yeah, it was so not a big deal. You are a big fat liar!" Bea said as she turned on her heel and grabbed Catherine and Curtis by the arm and led them away from the crowd of students surrounding Steven. Bea turned to smile at her friends. Today was definitely one of the best days of Bea's life so far.

Chapter Six: Catherine's Hiding Place

"Beatrice!" Mrs. Featherstone's voice rang down the hallway. Bea was in her room, trying to settle into some homework when her mother interrupted her. She hadn't done anything wrong, that she knew of, so why was her mother yelling so loud?

She stuck her head through her door and yelled back, "What?"

She was surprised to see her mother coming towards her down the hallway, the phone in her hands. "Sorry to shout, but it's Curtis. He says he can't find Catherine," Mrs. Featherstone offered as she handed the phone over to her daughter.

Bea's mind was racing. What did her mother mean, Curtis couldn't find Catherine? She pressed the phone to her ears, "Curtis, what's up?"

Curtis' voice immediately poured through the phone with so much urgency Bea had a hard time keeping up. "Catherine. She's not home. It's weird. She almost always comes home by now. She didn't say anything to you about going anywhere or doing anything, did she?"

"No, she didn't say anything," was all Bea could reply with before Curtis started in again.

"I knew it! Listen, we need to talk. Can we meet up now? Take a pod to school. I'll meet you behind it," Curtis said decidedly.

Bea was confused. What did Curtis know? Her curiosity was killing her. "What do you know, Curtis?"

"I will tell you when I see you. Just get to the school, OK?" Curtis said in an exasperated tone.

Bea confirmed her immediate departure with Curtis and hung up the phone. She walked out to the kitchen where her mother was preparing dinner. She reached into the small glass bowl by the door and grabbed a bubble for a pod.

"What's going on, Beatrice," her mother asked anxiously.

"I'm not sure. Curtis said Catherine was not home yet. But I guess he seems to know where she is. I am going to go meet up with him so we can go get her." Bea could see the concern in her mother's face as she said this. Her explanation was certainly not going to set her mother's mind at ease, but she had to let Bea go. Bea decided to try to smooth things over a bit more by adding, "Don't worry about it. I am sure it is nothing. Curtis didn't sound so worried when I talked with him. She probably just decided to go window-shopping or something." Bea knew that the last bit was incredibly lame and would not be enough to make her mother calm.

Mrs. Featherstone raised an eyebrow as she looked at Bea and contemplated what she was saying. "OK," she said slowly, "But find her quickly and come home so you aren't late for dinner."

Bea walked out the Featherstone's front door and headed towards the SW3 stop. She tossed the bubble into the air and whispered a small incantation under her breath. A small line of fairy dust left her fingertips of her outstretched hand that had just let go of the bubble. The line of dust met up with the bubble and immediately it expanded into a large pod. Bea waited for it to make its ascent to the gold-line. Just as it snapped onto the line Bea had floated into the pod and landed with a soft thud. She tapped the button for the NW5 stop on the panel and braced herself for the short, thirty second trip to the prep school.

Bea had grown a lot since the first time she had floated up into a pod using her freshly bloomed wings. That time she had been on her way to the Ancients to learn about her wings. It was over six years ago and since then Bea had changed. Most significantly, she had grown quite a bit taller so that now she did not seem too small and over-whelmed by her huge wings. Her hair was still long and straight, much to Bea's disappointment. She had begged her mother time and time again to let her curl her hair, as Catherine had done. But Mrs. Featherstone was adamantly against using fairy dust for silly vanity things like curling one's hair. Bea's face had become more defined as she lost some of the roundness of being a child. Her eyes were still large and round and brought a wonderful playful brightness to her expressions.

The pod was pulling to the stop and the moment the pod doors slid open Bea had taken a small leap out of the pod and had landed safely on the ground. She looked around to find Curtis and was starting to worry as she had not seen any sign of him near the stop. His house was so much closer than Bea's, all he had to do was walk over, and he should have been there already. Bea blinked a few times to see if what she was seeing on the horizon was real. It was almost as though, out of nowhere, someone had emerged. Bea started towards the horizon trying to see who it was that had just clearly stepped out from the Edge just as she and her friends had done all those years ago. Without a doubt, it was Curtis that was walking briskly in Bea's direction. Bea didn't want to wait for her legs to bring her to him and so she brought her wings out and flew, quite quickly, to meet up with him.

"What's going on Curtis? Tell me!" Bea was dying to know what was going on and why he was coming from the Edge. Bea and Curtis and Catherine had all gone to the Edge just after Catherine had bloomed, but Bea had never thought of going back there after that day of adventure.

Curtis had changed quite a bit in the last six years as well. When he was younger he had looked strikingly similar to his sister. Now his features had hardened giving him a very sharp chin and jaw line. He kept his hair short and spiky like he had when he was younger. His eyes where the same as when he was younger too. Just like his sister's, they were big with beautiful long lashes. On Curtis they were a very surprising contradiction. He was tall and broad shouldered and there was no mistaking him for Catherine anymore.

Curtis gave a funny smile as he looked at Bea and replied, "I think she is in there."

"What do you mean, in there? Are you talking about the Edge. Were you just in there?" Bea's mind was racing.

"Yeah. Catherine thinks I don't know, but I followed her the first time she went," Curtis said, clearly satisfied with himself for being so clever.

Bea wasn't sure she was getting all the pieces of the back story. "When? When was the first time she went back to the Edge? How long has she been doing this? Why didn't she ever tell us?"

Curtis looked like he was ready to laugh at Bea for asking so many questions. "Take a breath Bea." Curtis paused a moment for effect but could tell from the worried look in Bea's eyes that he shouldn't make her wait any longer for some explanation.

"You know how we went to the Edge that first time, after Catherine bloomed? Well, the very next day, after we got home from school, Catherine said she needed some time alone. She had never really told me that before but I figured it was because she had just bloomed and she was getting older and wanted her space, so I left her alone . . ."

"You're such a good brother, Curtis. Steven never leaves me alone, no matter how many times I scream." Bea couldn't resist the opportunity to make the comparison as she interjected.

"Well, you may think otherwise when I finish my story," Curtis continued. "Catherine went into her room and I thought she was just doing her homework or something, but then I heard something fall outside my window. I looked and I saw that Catherine had floated out of her room and fallen to the ground and was now running toward the horizon. Well, not really running, more like flying low."

Bea shook her head in disbelief as she heard Curtis recount the events of the day. This was so completely not like Catherine. Sneaking off. Flying. Going to the Edge, alone.

"So, I followed her. She was quite a ways ahead of me being able to fly, but I kept an eye on her. I saw her disappear into the horizon and I knew right away that she had gone into the Edge. I ran back home and got back into my room by climbing up that tree at the side of the house and a bit of dust. I waited for Catherine to come home and I asked her directly how her time alone was and she said it was good. And that was it! She didn't offer to tell me anything else. It drove me crazy," Curtis' face started to turn red as he remembered his sister's offense.

Bea still couldn't believe this was her friend that Curtis was talking about as she asked, "So, did she go again?"

Curtis laughed out loud suddenly. "Oh, yeah. Every day! I got tired of following her. That first few weeks, it really was every day. Then it tapered off a bit. I knew she going though because I could see her flying off after falling to the ground. It's been going on all these years, Bea. She goes once, maybe twice a week. She only stays for about 30 minutes though and that is what worried me about today. She hasn't come out yet. " Curtis ran his gaze over the horizon as though his stare could will Catherine to step out from the vast line of nothingness.

Bea grew concerned too as she looked for any signs of her friend along the skyline. "What did you see when you went in?"

"Nothing. I have no idea really at what point she goes in at, you know? I mean I could run up and down the inner Edge to see if I could find her, but I wanted to meet up with. . . you. . . first," Curtis' voice had dropped into a whisper as he finished. Bea looked sharply at him to see what was wrong. She followed Curtis' stare to the source of his sudden change in speaking volume. They were being watched. A young man, about the same age as themselves, had been watching and listening intently to their conversation as he slowly approached them.

Bea felt an odd sensation in the pit of her stomach as she tried to understand what it was about this guy. She knew him, from somewhere, but where? She had seen him before and it was giving her this strange feeling of déjà vu. It was déjà vu! She had seen him as they had exited from the Edge when the three of them had gone on their adventure when they were eight-years-old. He had seemed to have emerged from the Edge then too. He was wearing the same odd clothes he had at that time, the simple robes like the Ancients wear. He was just a few inches taller than herself, fairly broad-shouldered. His body seemed lost under his robes and all that could be seen were his thin wrists and delicate hands sticking out awkwardly. He had thick hair that was a startling dark blue. It was the same shade as the sky just as the sun had disappeared, that dark black blue. Bea hadn't seen many fairies with hair so dark, naturally. His eyes were dark too and it added to the strange sense of mystery about him. What was he doing around here listening to their conversation?

Bea and Curtis started as the stranger suddenly spoke, "Hey you guys. Didn't mean to scare you or anything but I wanted to tell you about your friend, Catherine." He brought his stare to Bea as he said these last words and his gaze was unnerving.

"What do you know? Where is she?" Bea's words couldn't come out fast enough.

The young man looked suddenly scared and it was obvious that he didn't normally make it a habit of talking to people he didn't know. His need to share information with them was quickly being overshadowed by the fact that he was incredibly shy. His gaze dropped to the ground and didn't come up again as he spoke, in a much less confident voice, "She's in the Edge. But she is lost. "

"What do you mean, lost?" Curtis demanded.

"She usually left a bag to mark her exit from the inner Edge," his voice trailed off. He saw Curtis and Bea's faces, creased with lines of worry as they waited for his explanation. He continued, trying to use a louder voice, "At least, I think that is what she did. That is what I always do. The bag was sticking out on this side so that you could see it, you know?"

Bea was growing incredibly impatient with this strange boy and wanted answers quickly. "Well, go on. What happened? Why is she lost?"

"That girl, Veronica, she saw the strap of your friend's bag sticking out and she grabbed it and pulled the bag out. I saw her toss the bag over there in those bushes as she got into a pod to leave." The strange fairy was pointing towards the bushes as he spoke, trying to offer some good news. Neither Bea nor Curtis was interested in Catherine's bag now. They wanted her out.

"She must be freaking out in there without her bag to mark her exit. We have to go in there to get her out," Curtis was already running towards the Edge and, in an instant, was gone.

Bea turned her face to the strange boy once more before stepping into the Edge herself.

"I'll help you guys, if you want." His voice was so quiet this time that she barely heard him.

"Yeah, sure, that'll be helpful. I guess we can all split up and see if we can find her. I'll leave my jacket and make sure it isn't poking out on the other side." Bea was trying to think logically. She knew that Catherine was fine in the Edge. It wasn't dangerous in there. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Being in the inner Edge was one of the most surreal and relaxing moments of Bea's memory. No, she was more worried about how stressed and scared Catherine was. But more than worry for her friend was an intense hot anger creeping up inside Bea's chest. Veronica. That strange boy had said her name. Why did she do this to Catherine? Why would she be this mean? Why would she be following her friend? Why did Bea not know that Catherine went to the Edge like this? So many things to be angry about, Bea had to shake her head to focus on the task at hand.

She nodded at the stranger, who was waiting patiently for Bea to take the lead and step into the inner Edge. In an instant they were on the other side of the Edge, in the narrow passage of the inner Edge. Bea could hear Curtis screaming out Catherine's name as he ran up and around. Bea realized at this point that there were really only two directions to check in their search and that maybe having that strange boy with her was a little pointless. Was he going to run after Curtis, or follow her? She didn't really want him following her. Then she had an idea.

"Listen, I was just going to fly along to cover more space going down this way. Maybe you could follow Curtis to make sure he isn't missing anything in his crazy screaming."

The young man simply nodded his head and without giving him a chance to really reply Bea had spread her wings and was off down the inner Edge calling out for Catherine. She could have sworn that she heard a faint voice from behind her telling her, "Good luck. "

The inner Edge was so beautiful and Bea wondered to herself why she hadn't thought of coming back here for more adventures with her friends. The three of them could have made this spot their secret hiding place where they could talk and plan and play. After that day when they were all eight-years-old, Bea had felt she had cleared a challenge and had triumphantly put it behind her. Catherine had obviously thought of going back though. As she thought of Catherine's deception that anger started to take over her entire body. She had assumed before that her anger came from the stupid thing Veronica had done by taking Catherine's bag out of the Edge. But now Bea realized that Veronica's actions were almost pathetic and childlike, laughable really. The real reason Bea was filled with anger was because Catherine, her best friend, had hidden something like this from her. Bea kept flying along and as her mind raced with all these thoughts she found herself flying much faster than she had meant to. A couple of times she lost track of the space and where the walls were as she rounded too quickly and felt her wings bump into the fluffy wall. The dazzling warmth of the inner Edge was briefly interrupted suddenly by a flash of something as Bea sped by. It brought her back to her purpose and she turned around sharply and came back to find Catherine, curled into a ball right in the middle of the inner Edge with her head between her knees.

Bea was trying to push down her anger as she said to her friend, "There you are!"

Catherine's pulled her head up to look at Bea, who was still hovering above her. Her face was streaked with tears and her eyes were red and puffy. Bea's heart melted in an instant and she dropped to the fluffy floor of the Edge with her usual thud and pulled herself close to Catherine, wrapping her arm around her shoulder.

"It's OK. We found you now. We know the way out too. Are you OK?" Bea spoke softly as she tucked some stray hairs that had been stuck to Catherine's face from crying.

Catherine gave a weak smile as she spoke, "I'm so stupid. How did I get lost? I have never gotten lost, ever. And when I did I freaked out. I just ran and then I just curled up here and cried. I'm such a baby!"

"You're not stupid. You left your bag as a marker, right? Well, you left just a bit of it sticking out of the Edge on the other side and I guess for some reason, Veronica thought it would be funny to take your bag away, leaving you with no marker." Bea thought the explanation would help make her friend feel better, maybe redirect her sadness to anger at Veronica.

"No! How could I be so careless to leave it visible like that? Of course Veronica took it. I deserve that for being stupid enough to leave it out like that in the first place. My mother is going to find out. She is going to find out, you know, since you came to find me. She is going to find out and then I won't be able to come here anymore. Bea, this was my only place. You know, the only place where I could just be me and relax and dream and think whatever I wanted without any. . . anything . . ." Catherine's voice trailed off as she looked around her at the beautiful iridescent rainbow bubbles dotting the surround walls and ceilings.

Bea could see in her friend's stare that she had really loved this place. Suddenly that hot anger that she had done such a good a job of repressing until now burst out of her in an uncontrollable tirade. "Yeah, this place is great. Would have been nice if you could have told me about it. It was Curtis and I that wanted to come here in the first place. You know? We wanted to come here and we had to convince you to come and then you all of a sudden decide that it is YOUR place to come to secretly all these years without telling us? Being around us so stressful, Catherine? Didn't know that best friends were the source of stress and anxiety and all. Usually they share secrets and come to places like this together. Dream together, you know? We should have just left you here to see how long it would take you to get out all by yourself!" Bea turned around sharply, leaving her back to her friend as she tried to get her head around her anger.

Bea couldn't quite decide how mad she really was at her friend. She jumped to feel Catherine's hand on her shoulder. Bea made a point of not turning to face her when Catherine began to plead softly with her. "I am so sorry Bea. I know you are mad. I knew you would be mad when you found out. I was being so selfish. I just started making these trips all by myself when I was younger and I thought after the first few trips I would tell you and Curtis, but a part of me was fighting me and telling me to keep this all to myself. So much time passed and I just really grew into the idea that this was all mine. I feel so stupid even saying it now. It sounds so terrible. Please don't be mad anymore. I didn't do any of this to hurt you."

Bea's mind had been made up the moment she had found her friend. She knew that she was going to forgive her. Part of her just felt like every little moment that she hesitated in relenting to her friend was a sweet little moment of justice to show Catherine just how much she had hurt her feelings by keeping this secret. But the time to give in had arrived and Bea turned around and smiled at her friend and pulled her into a hug. She could tell that Catherine was really sorry in the way that she squeezed Bea a little longer than usual.

"Listen. I still have tons of questions and we have lots to talk about, but Curtis is looking for you the other way and probably going crazy not finding you so let's get heading back so that we can let him know that you are OK." Bea guided her friend along and pulled her up with her as she let her wings out to fly down the inner Edge. Catherine let her wings out too and the two friends flew very quickly back along the Edge until they suddenly met up with Curtis and the strange boy waiting by their bags.

"Catherine!" Curtis screamed as he leapt forward and pulled Catherine down from flight into a huge bear hug. Without letting go of Catherine from his tight-hold, Curtis started in on his sister. "Why didn't you ever tell us you were coming here? I knew you were coming here. I knew from the very first time. I followed you that day. You should have told us. You should have been more careful!"

Bea was smiling as her eyes met with those of the unknown boy. He looked embarrassed at witnessing a scene of such familiarity between the brother and sister and quickly turned his head from Bea as well.

"OK, OK, OK! God Curtis, you're worse than mother. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys. I am sorry I got lost today. And, hey, hold on a minute, you knew Curtis? Why didn't YOU talk to ME about it then?" Bea was enjoying listening to her two dear friends as they went back and forth in playful accusations when she realized that the strange boy was no longer with them.

Bea decided it was time to get her friends focused, so she grabbed each by the hand as they continued to shout at one another and said in a loud voice, "Enough you two. I think it is time to get going home."

The two stopped immediately and they all grabbed their bags by the wall the inner Edge and stepped back out onto the fresh green grass of the island. Bea looked in all directions trying to catch any sign of the boy that had disappeared a moment before, but there was no trace of him anywhere.

Chapter Seven: Catherine's House

Bea had just finished stuffing her breakfast into her mouth and was running towards the door when her mother stopped her. It was Saturday and Bea was eager to get out and over to Catherine's house so that they could finish the conversation that they couldn't even start yesterday after finding Catherine in the Edge. Catherine had panicked after coming out of the Edge when she realized the time and had made a final decision that nothing more was to be discussed and the three of them were to head home immediately. Bea begged and pleaded with her friend to at least talk for just five minutes, trying desperately to convince her that such a small amount of time would mean nothing, but nothing could change Catherine's mind and she was already flying low towards home, dragging Curtis behind her. Bea had reluctantly used the pod that Curtis had given her to return home herself. When she had gotten home that night she was faced with lots of questions and strange looks from her mother and father. Her mother had only asked her once what had happened and if Catherine was OK. Bea had given her some pitiful explanation that Catherine had been mesmerized by some new store display and had lost track of time. Anyone who knew Catherine would know that this was the greatest of lies since she hated shopping and was never late. Mrs. Featherstone knew Catherine and Bea knew that her story wasn't going to convince her mother. But Mrs. Featherstone was never one to push or pry and she usually only asked questions once, which always made Bea feel relieved. But this morning, as she was trying to head out the door, Mrs. Featherstone stopped her and brought up the subject again.

"You going over to Catherine's?" Mrs. Featherstone asked as she grabbed Bea's arm on its way to the small bowl on the counter containing the bubbles for the pods.

"Yeah, I told you that last night. It's OK, isn't it?" Bea asked annoyed. Why was her mother harassing her this morning?

"Yeah, it's OK. I'm glad she is OK. It will be nice for you guys to hang out. You sure you told me everything you wanted to about yesterday?" Mrs. Featherstone asked without letting go of Bea's arm.

Bea looked into her mother's eyes and saw some wrinkles of concern around her usually kind expression. Bea was angry at herself for not telling her mother more about what had happened yesterday, but she didn't know if it was really her story to tell. She'd have to talk to Catherine about it today and see what she thought. For the time being, Mrs. Featherstone would have to be satisfied with the silly story about a bad day of shopping.

Bea patted her mother's hand and said with a smile, "Yeah mom. That's really all that happened. Can I go now?"

Mrs. Featherstone finally moved her hand away from Bea's arm and said quickly, "Sure. Go ahead and have fun."

Bea was so relieved to finally get out of the house and away from her mother's accusing stare. She tossed the bubble into the air and lazily shot a line of fairy dust at it. She missed and the bubble landed on the ground. Bea, angry at herself for having missed, snatched the bubble from the ground and tried again. Her aim was right this time but her line of fairy dust shot out too hard and smashed into the bubble causing it to expand on only one side. Bea looked up and around her to see if anyone was watching her as she fought with the silly pod bubble. She would have to really concentrate to remedy the deformed pod hovering in front of her. Bea was never very good at magic and was so careless that this had not been the first time she had failed to properly expand the pod bubble. Bea pointed at the strange misshapen pod and tried her best to focus her attention and energy on that one spot as a line of fairy dust shot from her fingertips once again. The magic was fairly on mark as the pod inflated on the other side. The pod was still a little off, with the one side being a little bit bigger than it was supposed to be, but Bea had successfully expanded it for use as the pod began to slowly rise to the line waiting doors open for a passenger to board. Bea shot into the pod and pushed the button for the NW5 stop.

The ride was the same 30 second ride she had taken when she rushed to meet up with Curtis just yesterday. Bea was trying to get her thoughts in order before seeing her friend. She had so many questions and things she wanted to talk to her about that it was hard to decide where to start. Catherine was waiting for her when she drifted down from the pod. Catherine looked much more herself this morning. Her face was tear-stain free and her hair was its usual beautiful ringlets of curls. She still had a pretty round face like she did when she was eight and if anything her eyes seemed to have gotten even bigger as she got older. Her hair was still hazy blue, but her mother had allowed her to use the higher-grade fairy dust to curl it and it looked so voluminous that it made Bea subconsciously try to hide her own straight hair behind her ears. Catherine had grown a little taller, but she was a bit shorter than Bea. When they both had their wings out it made Catherine look that much more like a small child in comparison. Catherine hated having her wings out. She would find any excuse to keep them tucked down in the smaller size appropriate for indoors. Bea would try to get her to fly with her at times, when it was just the two of them, but Catherine always found some excuse. And Curtis was almost always with them which gave Catherine the perfect reason to stay grounded. Bea didn't realize how much pain it caused Catherine to see her friend and her beautiful wings. Nothing was to be compared to Catherine's envy, not even Bea's desire to have curly hair like her friend. Catherine never let her face betray this envy to Bea, and she was ready with a beaming smile as her friend had floated down out of the pod with her gorgeous wings gliding her down. Bea landed with a thud.

Catherine laughed as she tugged on her friend's arm, "You never seem to get that landing down, do you?"

"No. It's terrible. I really need to try harder. It was cute when I was a kid, now it just makes me look stupid." Bea looked around her and then asked, "Where's Curtis?"

"Oh, he is at home. He was finishing up something and said he would meet up with us for our chat."

Bea was ready to suggest to Catherine that they make a race of it then to her house, flying, but she stopped herself. This was the perfect chance to have a few moments to chat with her best friend, alone.

"Well, then, let's take a slow and easy stroll back to your place and talk," Bea said as she started off in the direction of the Royce's home.

Bea smiled at her friend as she decided to leap into some of her questions that were pounding in her head. She started off by asking her friend, "How are you doing?"

Catherine looked at the ground and then brought her head up with a small smile at her lips. "I'm good. I mean, yeah, I'm good. My mother freaked out. I'll tell you everything when we get to my place. But, other than that, I'm good. I feel stupid. I'm really sorry I caused you guys so much trouble."

"It wasn't any trouble. Just glad we found you. I guess it was just a matter of time before we did though. You can only just go round and round the island in the Edge, there's no place to go but that," Bea said this with as much expression and laughter in her voice as she could pull off without sounding crazy. She was trying to cheer her friend up. It seemed to be working a little.

Catherine's smile grew as she said, "Yeah, that's true. No place to go really. Thank you though for finding me."

Bea felt that anger from yesterday creeping in again and pushed it back as she said to Catherine, "No problem. That's what friends do."

Catherine cringed a little at these last words and seemed to have felt their double meaning as she stopped and turned to face Bea and say, "I was really terrible for not telling you Bea. I know it has been years that I have lied to you and you have every right to hate me, but I really didn't mean to hurt you in any way. Please forgive me!"

Bea knew it was the right thing to do, to forgive her friend. She wanted to, if anything to just get it over with and move on to other things. She forced a huge smile on her face as she drew her friend into a hug. "Don't worry about it. I forgive you." Bea wondered how long it would take for her heart to agree with the words she was now speaking.

The houses on the family island followed a pattern of sorts. The pattern was easy to decode as it was a representation of what little class structure existed on the small island. The houses that were closer to the Hall, at the center of the island, were a little smaller. Their design was simpler. The houses that were further out on the island had big yards, and lots of space between them. They were also larger and it was apparent that some owners had used some higher-grade dust to make some changes and upgrades. All homes were styles that were clearly copied from the homes below on earth. As Bea and Catherine walked from the NW5 stop towards Catherine's house, they passed four other homes. They were each separated by a fair amount of grassy land and there were no fences that drew lines to delineate properties. Catherine's house was on the outermost ring and sat with some of the more magnificent homes on the island. The Royce's two-story home had a beautiful redbrick exterior that was accented with long windows. Bea had always loved those windows because they had the quaintest shutters and half-circular fanlights over each. Inside it made the light that fell through the windows into the house so pretty. Bea had told herself many times that when she had a home of her own she was going to make sure to have those fanlights just so that she could watch the shadows dance across her walls as the sun traveled across the sky.

Inside Mrs. Royce had decorated everything beautifully. The furniture was a deep cherry wood. The upholstery was Bea's favorite because it was always changing. Sometimes it would even change day-to-day. This was a perk of having a mother who had such amazing magic ability.

Catherine and Bea had just sat themselves down on Catherine's floor when Curtis stuck his head in with a smile. "Hey you guys. Thought I heard you come in."

"Come in. You must have been stalking out my room waiting for us to get back," Catherine teased her brother as she turned to Bea. "He has been bugging me nonstop since we got back last night. I told him I didn't want to have to repeat myself to you and him, so you would all have to wait until now to talk."

Curtis looked so excited it was a wonder he could find the words to reply. "Well, I knew after the chat you and mother had last night that there was going to be something big to talk about today." He shot a quick glance at Bea and said in a joking tone, "Wish you didn't exist, then she would have told me everything last night."

Bea laughed, but she was eager to hear from her friend too and leaned forward. Catherine saw that she had a very attentive audience so she began.

"First of all, I want to say again how thankful I am that you guys came to get me. I feel stupid for having gotten stuck like that. I really am grateful and apologize a million times over to both of you for not having shared my secret. It was really just me being incredibly selfish and wanting something that was just mine. I would just go there to clear my head, relax and feel better about myself."

Curtis grabbed his sister's hand as he interjected, "You always keep things to yourself. You should try a little more to gab to us. I know I always seem to be talking, but if you started saying anything to Bea and I, I know we would shut up and listen."

Bea saw the opportunity to try to push that anger that was still humming around her head a little further back by joining Curtis in this display of friendship. "Yeah, we will listen. It may seem hard to believe, but we will."

"Thanks you guys. And I will try a little more to calm my stress levels with you two rather than hanging out at the Edge. I will have to since I am not allowed to go there anymore. I guess that kind of brings us to the next thing, what my mother said to me."

Bea was a little disappointed since she thought the next topic would be Veronica or that strange boy. But as she saw Curtis light up at the mention of his mother, Bea realized that there was more to this part of the story than she was anticipating. With her interest now piqued, she leaned further in towards her friend.

Catherine took a deep breath and continued. "So, when we got back that night I didn't really know what to expect. Curtis had said that he had told mother that I had gone shopping and wasn't back yet so he was going to go meet up with me."

"Really?" Bea had to interrupt with her surprise at the coincidence of similar stories. "I told my mom the same thing, that you had gone shopping and lost track of time. Which my mom totally did not believe so you'll have to let me know if it is OK to tell her truth, but we can talk about that later. Go on."

Catherine didn't laugh very much after Bea's comment, which just made it clearer how serious this part of the story was. Catherine went on. "We got back and my mother didn't really say much, just that we were late for dinner and to hurry up and be seated. Dinner was a normal affair and I was starting to think maybe, miraculously, I was in the clear. That night I was in my room getting ready for bed and my mother came to my room. She shut the door behind her and that totally freaked me out. She sat down in the chair at my desk and asked me to have a seat too. And then she just started to talk to me, real calm like. It was weird."

Curtis was nearly standing up in excitement at this point as he spurted out, "What did she say?"

"Well, she told me that she had known all along where I was going, when I went, where I went, how long I stayed. I guess all the kids on the island are being tracked." Catherine paused here for emphasis at what was clearly some shocking news.

Bea couldn't believe what she was hearing. Tracked? What did that mean? "You mean like followed? But how?"

Catherine continued with her story. As Bea and Curtis knew, on each island there were patrol fairies. These patrol fairies were like policemen in that it was there job to keep everyone safe. There were not many things to protect from though on the island. Their main jobs were to watch the pod lines for accidents and to watch to make sure no one hurt themselves while flying or using magic. Everything was so organized on the island that very few incidents occurred. Bea had often thought that being a patrol fairy as a career choice could either be very relaxing or boring depending on how one looked at things. But apparently there was more to their jobs than the average inhabitant of the island knew about. Mrs. Royce had told her that what she was sharing with her daughter was not information that was usually shared with anyone on the island, let alone a child.

"Does she know you are telling Curtis and me?" Bea asked quickly.

Catherine nodded her head and continued, "Yeah, she actually told me she knew I would tell you two anyway so it was OK. I guess she just doesn't want us really talking about it with everyone at school though."

Catherine explained how her mother had told her that the patrol fairies used a special magic tracking system to follow where the kids on the island go. It was very similar to the system that was used by the fliers when they are on their missions and was a very accurate way of knowing where a fairy was at any given time. Each fairy's magic left a different trace trail that could be mapped. The tracking only provided location and condition since the stronger the signal the healthier the fairy was. Mrs. Royce had received a call that day after Catherine's birthday, when the three of them had visited the Edge. Bea's mind was racing and she realized that this must mean that her mother also received that same phone call.

Catherine took a moment to smile at her friends now as she continued, "Mother sounded a little impressed when she commented that over the years not many young fairies had actually gone inside the Edge like we had. Not only did we go all the way in, but we also hung out a bit. She said it was very unusual, and you know mother, she never really gives compliments, but she did sort of stop to say that we were all very 'brave.' She also said that she was really surprised that I went back there, alone. "

"So were we sis." Curtis' comment, though said in his usual joking manner, gave Bea the chance she was hoping for to share a slightly angered laugh. Why was she still so upset at Catherine? Bea wanted this anger out of her thoughts so she could focus on what clearly needed her attention now.

Catherine continued by telling Bea and Curtis how Mrs. Royce had gotten the call yesterday that there seemed to be some problem since the trace for Catherine had gotten aggravated and was acting strangely.

"It must have been funny watching my little mark on the map running around all crazy in circles and then just stopping in the middle of the Edge," Catherine said, though it was clearly not funny to her at all as she sighed. "Then mother asked me if I had a problem with Veronica."

Bea laughed out loud at the obviousness of this question. "Yeah, I think it is safe to say that we do have a problem with her." Bea loved talking about how much she didn't like Veronica. It seemed she could safely redirect any anger about anything else into why she didn't like Veronica.

"Yeah, that's just the thing Bea; mother first asked me if I had a problem with Veronica. I told her that she liked to pick on us at school and had caused us some stress. Then she asked me if YOU had a problem with Veronica. It was so weird, because she actually specifically asked about you Bea. I told her that you two just never seemed to get along and that since Curtis and I were your friends we seemed to be targeted too," Catherine explained excitedly.

"I never really thought about it that way, but I think you are right, she does seem to hate Bea more than you or I," Curtis said in a quieter tone to Catherine.

Bea felt as though she was stuck in an incredibly awkward situation as she looked at her two friends staring at her now. "Sorry you guys get harassed since you're friends with me."

Curtis laughed. "Bea, I will stand by your side as your friend no matter how many losers like Veronica come along and try to attack us."

"Yeah, Bea, don't worry about it. I consider it a small side effect to an awesome friendship. Kind of like your brother too," Catherine added with a funny little smile.

Bea let out a genuine laugh at this comment. It was nice to find something so funny at a moment of such intense discussion. Bea's brother, Steven, had been a terror for her almost her entire life and she couldn't agree with Catherine more that he was a liability for her. Words could not express how happy she was that he was off at dust management training, as he had been for the past few years. To be honest she didn't miss her brother at all.

Catherine's eyes lit up again as she leaned in towards Bea and nudged, "So, don't you think it is strange that my mother asked why you and Veronica don't get along?"

"No. I mean, I think she just wanted to know where the real source of the conflict was, that's all. Don't you think, Curtis?" Bea looked at Catherine's brother for affirmation.

Curtis nodded his head and looked briefly at his sister who's smiled faded as she found no one on her side on the matter. "Sorry sis, I just don't see the conspiracy. I mean, Veronica and Bea have been fighting since we all started basic. Plus, you know Veronica is mean to everyone."

"I guess so, but she wasn't always the leader. Remember how she took over the gang after she bloomed?" insisted Catherine.

"But I always thought that was just the thing, that after Veronica bloomed she started in on Bea and took over the gang of losers at school; I just assumed it was out of jealousy of Bea's wings," explained Curtis.

"Yeah, I guess maybe that is why . . ." Catherine's voice trailed off as she glanced to the ground.

Bea didn't even notice her friend's disappointment in the change of topic as she nearly shouted out, "So, we were some of the few to go all the way inside the Edge? I knew Steven hadn't ever done it!"

Curtis joined in with Bea as the two congratulated themselves once again for the brave feat they had achieved all those years ago and slowly their excited cheers brought a smile from Catherine as well.

Then it was Bea's turn to make a suggestion that was not meant with much interest as she mentioned the strange boy that helped them find Catherine.

"Had you seen him before when you went to the Edge ever?" Bea asked inquisitively.

"No. Can't say that I did. I don't even know who you are talking about." Catherine said rather casually.

Of course, Catherine didn't see him yesterday, he had just slipped away right when she and Catherine had met up with him and Curtis. Everyone was too excited to take any notice of him as he left. But that day, when they had all gone to the Edge, hadn't she see him then? Catherine still didn't know who they were talking about, but finally Curtis jumped into the conversation.

"I was with him while we searched for you up the other way along the Edge. He is real, even though you haven't had a chance to see him sis. He's super weird. He doesn't wear clothes like us; he wears robes. He doesn't go to school with us, that I know of at least. I would swear he is about the same age as us, but I have only seen him yesterday. He didn't speak a word to me though. Did you talk to him Bea?" Curtis turned to Bea with attentiveness.

Bea tried to recall all the details of the conversation to share with her friends. "Yeah, we spoke. I was looking for you," Bea motioned to Curtis, "And as I was waiting for any sign of you the boy just sorta appeared out of nowhere. He walked up to me and just said that Veronica had taken your bag out of the Edge as a marker and tossed it in the bushes."

The mention of Veronica taking Catherine's bag out of the Edge drew Catherine's interest. "Did he know Veronica's name?" Catherine's question seemed a little out of place.

"Yeah, I guess he did. Yeah, now that I think about it, he knew Veronica's name, he knew your name too. Strange, right? He was weird. Then the minute he asked and told me you would be in the Edge freaking out a bit, he got all scared and shy and quiet again and didn't speak to me again. We met up with Curtis and I didn't want to have to walk when I went down the Edge searching for you so I sent him after Curtis. So you didn't talk to him at all Curtis?" Bea asked.

Curtis laughed to himself as he replied, "Didn't even give him a thought really. I was so focused on finding you and he kind of kept a few paces behind me anyway."

"So, who is he? Does he live on this island, or was he just visiting?" Bea had so many more questions she wanted to ask, but she stopped herself.

Catherine shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know Bea. I always thought all kids on the island had to attend school. You think he is in a different grade than us and dresses normal when he goes to school?"

"Nah, he has that weird, dark hair too. I would have noticed him," Bea just didn't feel right about this strange boy with so many questions. "Maybe I'll ask my mom about him. While I am at it, is it OK to tell her the truth about yesterday? She probably knows anyway."

"Yeah, you might as well. I know you talk a lot with her, it would be better to keep things normal between you two." Catherine looked around her room at the chair that her mother had occupied just last night and sighed softly to herself.

Curtis suddenly broke the momentary silence that had filled the room as he said, "So, what should we do about Veronica?"

"Ooh, yeah, we have to be ready on Monday," Bea's eyes were filling with anger as she spoke and a strange smile had curled her lips.

"You guys need to stop planning and scheming. You know that she only bugs us because we let her get to us. We should really just ignore her as much as . . ." Catherine's sensible advice was interrupted as Bea and Curtis turned to each other and starting talking to one another about what they might say when they saw Veronica at school. Catherine turned to include herself in their newly formed circle and mechanically nodded her head at their suggestions while clearly her mind was somewhere else.

Chapter Eight: The Time Curtis Could Fly

Bea had wound up staying the night with Catherine that Saturday and they spent the following Sunday talking and walking around the shops by the Hall. Sunday night came and Bea reluctantly headed home. When she arrived she was met by her mother who had been clearly waiting for her daughter to return.

"Did you have fun at the Royce's?" she asked as she helped take Bea's bag that probably had clothes that needed to be cleaned. "Come and talk with me while I wash the clothes," she suggested as she headed towards the kitchen table. The table was nearly spilling over with clothes from a couple of weeks at least. Mrs. Featherstone didn't really like cleaning the clothes and she would often wait until there was no more room on the kitchen table. When Steven had been at home she had to do it more frequently, but lately she was able to hold off even longer. Bea smiled with pride at the proof of her mother's procrastination as her mother stuffed Bea's clothes from the day before into the pile leaving one side to lean precariously.

Mrs. Featherstone started separating the clothes by color and gestured to Bea to lend a hand as she started, "Bea, I know you have always been really good about telling me things. I know it is hard being young and having a mom who is always looking over your shoulder but . . ."

Bea laughed as she interrupted her mother, "Mom, you are so funny. Listen, I wanted to tell you what was really going on Friday, but it was about Catherine, you know? I had to talk to her first to make sure it was OK with her that I tell you. I meant to tell you though."

Mrs. Featherstone's face lit up as she listened to her daughter. "So you were going to tell me? Of course you were going to tell me. Did you talk with Catherine? Is she OK? What happened?"

"Which question do you want answered first, mom?" Bea joked as she moved on from the reds that she had heaped into a small pile on the table and began work on the oranges. Bea began telling her mother everything that had happened, everything she knew, and everything that Mrs. Royce had talked to her about. Mrs. Featherstone had obviously been a little surprised to hear that Mrs. Royce had been so upfront with Catherine about the tracking of kids by the patrol fairies.

"Not all the fairies know that much about that system. All the parents know that the children are being tracked for their safety and our peace-of-mind, but only a few know exactly how that all works. I only know because I am a flier and we use the same system during missions. Catherine's mom must really trust her and you as well to share that much information with you guys. Don't go telling everyone OK? Catherine's mom might even get called in by the Ancients because sharing that much information with any fairy that has not been certified yet is frowned upon." Mrs. Featherstone clearly thought Mrs. Royce had done something that while not usually allowed, was still very admirable.

Bea was surprised to hear that Mrs. Royce had done something she was not supposed to do. Mrs. Royce was always perfect and the first to follow directions to the T. Bea had not been completely blind to the fact that Catherine didn't seem to get along with her mother the way Bea got along with her own. Bea would definitely tell Catherine what her mother had just shared with her. She had a feeling it would make Catherine feel pretty good to know that her mother was risking so much for her.

Mrs. Featherstone was gathering together the greens as she leaned in a little. She didn't bother to look up as she quickly asked, "So, Veronica's the one who took Catherine's bag out leaving her with no marker?"

"Yeah!" Bea was ready to share some of her anger at Veronica with her mother. "She is always doing something stupid like this. She is really terrible mom, just a monster. "

Mrs. Featherstone still didn't look up as she quietly suggested, "Don't let it get to you. Just ignore her."

Bea was surprised at this low impact response. Usually Mrs. Featherstone was very lively in their discussions and quick to be very understanding of Bea's stress and frustration. Was she imagining things, or did it seem like Mrs. Featherstone thought that Veronica's actions weren't bad at all? Bea was confused and upset that she couldn't vent a little with her mother about things. She was determined though to get something out of their conversation so she decided to ask her about the strange boy. She was equally surprised to find how quick her mother was in now casually sharing information about him.

"That would be James, James Zephyr. His whole family is a strange bunch. Its him and his older brother, John and his mom and dad of course. Mr. Zephyr used to work with your dad. They both kind of bonded when John and Steven were born since they had similar stories to share. Steven is a year older than John so Mr. Zephyr would often talk to your dad about how things were and what to expect since your dad was the one with the experience. Things were great until John started basic. Mr. Zephyr kept telling your dad how frustrated he was with the way things were at the school and on the island."

"What do you mean frustrated?" Bea interrupted her mother.

Mrs. Featherstone shrugged and continued, "Well, he thought the way things were taught was wrong and that the things the kids were studying was wrong. I'm not sure I completely understood what it was that he didn't like about things. I think James maybe just attended the first few weeks of basic with you before his mom and dad decided that they had put up with things long enough. They had gone to talk with the Ancients many times and the teachers and staff at the school. It was a real big deal at the time because not many fairies had ever really had a problem with anything like this before. But, the Zephyrs got permission from the Ancients to take the boys out of school and teach them at home."

Bea couldn't believe her ears. What was it that the Zephyrs didn't like about the school? How could it have been enough to make them want to remove their children from classes and teach them at home?

"But they still live on the island?" Bea was eager to learn more.

Mrs. Featherstone had given up on sorting the laundry as she turned towards Bea to share what little she knew. "Yes. They asked about moving to the Main Island since that is where Mr. and Mrs. Zephyr work, but the Ancients made it clear that they were already breaking enough rules by not having their children attend school. It is incredibly rare to ever find any children on the other islands, except for visits to the Ancients. They like to keep the younger fairies, you know, those who haven't been certified yet, on family islands. The ancients wouldn't hear of letting the Zephyrs move their children to the Main Island. So they were asked to stay here and stay out of everyone's way."

Bea suddenly felt sorry for James and his brother. "It must have been hard for James and his brother to live here and not see anyone. Were they not allowed to play with anyone?"

Mrs. Featherstone shook her head. "Nope. It was very strange, but I suppose it was for the best. They stay at their house most of the time and take care to not let the children out much while you guys are all out. I have seen them a few times running around and playing while you guys were all in school. At least they have each other, I guess."

"So, why do they dress in robes?" Bea asked.

Mrs. Featherstone took a deep breath and continued, "Well, that is part of what they believe. I don't know if I really remember all of what Mr. Zephyr would always tell your dad. The Zephyrs think that the dream fairies should go back more to the way they were long ago. So part of that is in wearing the more traditional clothing, like the Ancients do."

Just then Mr. Featherstone entered the kitchen and casually asked, "What are you two talking about?"

"The Zephyrs," Bea blurted out. She immediately regretted her quick reply when she saw the look on her mother's face. Mrs. Featherstone had been trying to flash Bea an expression begging to not tell her father what they were talking about, but it was too late and Mrs. Featherstone's face now looked like one of a child about to be yelled at.

"The Zephyrs!" Mr. Featherstone's voice changed so fast Bea literally fell back in her chair. A few pieces of laundry tumbled to the floor as he began to pace back and forth in front of the table. His heavy repetitive steps creating a miniature earth quake in the kitchen. Bea hadn't really ever seen her father this angry before. He had gotten angry when she and Steven would fight and at the time she thought that was the scariest thing she had ever seen. Her father's expression now brought new meaning to the word angry, as he tried to check himself. He took a deep breath through his nose and leaned towards Mrs. Featherstone as he hissed, "Why were you talking to her about the Zephyrs when we had agreed to never mention them in this house?"

Mrs. Featherstone had usually found a way to always bring a little light to her face even when she and Mr. Featherstone would occasionally argue. This moment was very serious and it showed in Mrs. Featherstone's face as she softly answered, "I'm so sorry. I know, I know how you feel about them and I know we had agreed to not talk about them after everything. I'm sorry." Mrs. Featherstone searched Mr. Featherstone's eyes waiting for signs of the passing storm. Slowly his body relaxed and he pulled out a chair at the table, causing more laundry to tumble to the floor. Mrs. Featherstone took his hand in hers and whispered, "I'm sorry."

Finally Mr. Featherstone brought his gaze to her as well as he said, "Sorry I lost my temper. I just, oh, I really don't like talking about them. But, how was it that they were even brought into your guys' conversation here?"

The tension in the room had completely dissipated and Bea felt it was safe to answer her father. "James helped me find Catherine on Friday."

Mr. Featherstone grunted in surprise. "Figures he was out. Just can never follow any of the rules," Mr. Featherstone said to himself before continuing, "So, did you talk to him?"

"Yeah, just a bit. I mean, he talked to me. All he said was that he had seen Veronica take Catherine's bag out of the Edge as her marker and that we should go and find Catherine because she was probably freaking out." Bea was curious to see what her father's reaction to the whole Edge thing might be as she waited for his response.

Instead, there was no reaction at all as Mr. Featherstone's eyes ran back and forth along the floor in thought. "Hmmm, OK. So, Veronica. Veronica Iverson?"

Bea noticed just at that moment the gentle squeeze her father had given her mother's hand as he had asked about Veronica. She was ready with a question on her tongue when her mother interrupted her by answering for her, "Yes, Veronica Iverson. Bea just has to try to ignore her, not let her get to her too much."

Mrs. Featherstone suddenly stood up. She started picking up the pieces of laundry that had fallen to the floor. She started with the pile of whites and began the process of cleaning each of the garments. With one hand outstretched holding a dirty balled-up sock she set aim with her other hand. A line of fairy dust shot out and hit the sock. The sock quickly unraveled itself and then a rather thick line of dust hit it square causing it the sock to sparkle. The sock gave itself a little shake and in a moment it was clean. Well, pretty clean. That thick line of dust had hit a little too strong just in one spot causing that area to be blaring white while some of the edges still had a small trace of dirt. Mr. Featherstone stood up too and offered to lend a hand and the two of them started working through the laundry. Mr. Featherstone was very good with magic and, without even suggesting it, the job of unraveling the clothes was left to Mrs. Featherstone while the actual cleaning was taken care of by her father. Bea hadn't seen her father help with house chores like this very often and took it as a sign of peace between her parents for any earlier ucomfortableness. Bea tried to lend a hand as well and finished what little sorting was left.

They had gotten a good system going before Mrs. Featherstone finally broke the silence, "So, Bea, why don't you tell your dad and I about what it was like when you went all the way inside the Edge?"

"Does she finally know we know about that day?" Mr. Featherstone asked with relief. "I've been wanting to talk to you about that for years. Your mother always said we had to wait until you shared your secret with us or we would seem like the meddling parents. How was it?"

Bea spent the rest of the evening talking with her parents about that day when she and her friends were eight-years-old and had gone on the biggest adventure of their lives. It was a wonderful end to the evening and all the fun discussion had caused Bea to temporarily forget half of what had been brought up. But that night, as she lay in her bed staring at the ceiling, all the things that had been said by her mother and her father came flooding back into her mind. She had strange dreams with James Zephyr washing socks in front of her house and Veronica and Mrs. Featherstone drinking tea in the kitchen.

The next morning, Bea awoke from a very restless night. She was not looking forward to going to school. She was most not looking forward to seeing Veronica. But she tried not to think about it as she got out of bed and picked something simple and easy to wear to match her lazy mood. She grabbed her brush and started tearing at the tangles that had taken over her blue hair. She couldn't help but feel a little frustrated every time she looked in the mirror as she would recall the numerous times that she had tried to ask her mother if she could curl her hair like Catherine did. The answer was always in the negative, yet Bea kept trying hoping against hope that her mother would someday change her mind. So far, Bea had had no such luck and was left with her straight silky hair that fell down her back right over her wings. Bea felt her mood worsen with each brush stroke.

Since the prep school was so close to Catherine's house, Bea would always take a pod to the school and meet up with her friend there. They would usually try to meet up a few minutes before the first class to have some time to chat. Bea, despite seeming to move through mud all morning, was at the school surprisingly early. As she drifted down from the pod she was wondering how long she would have to wait for her friend.

As she landed with a thud she caught a glimpse of blazing color flash behind the red brick school building. She knew those colors and quickly ran around toward the back of the school. No one was there, not even the teachers, and the school seemed eerily quiet. She found what she was expecting when she turned the corner. There, huddled next to his sister, was Curtis. Curtis with wings!

"Don't say anything," Curtis pleaded. He motioned to be quiet as he gently rose into the air and whispered, "They are about to go away."

Catherine and Bea were left below to watch in wonder as Curtis fluttered around above their heads. The two girls could have easily joined him in his morning flight but it was an unspoken understanding that these last few moments of flying were for Curtis alone. Curtis brought himself lower to the ground, learning from his mistakes in the past, and with nearly perfect timing the wings sparkled and flashed and disappeared just as he brought his feet to the cement.

Bea remembered the first time she had seen Curtis with wings. That day was certainly one that the three of them would remember forever, just like their trip to the Edge. It was a few years ago, when Curtis had turned twelve. Turning twelve for male fairies was just as big a deal as when female fairies turned eight. On this day Curtis had made the same trip to see the Ancients as had Bea's brother. It had been a Saturday and he went and had some of his fairy dust drawn and examined. Bea had heard all about the adventures the following day when Catherine and Bea had gotten together. Catherine had told her excitedly how Curtis had tested with high high-grade dust. Bea couldn't believe her ears when she heard the news. She had never met anyone with such a high level of dust before. Both Mr. Featherstone and brother were only medium regular-grade. Regular-grade was common. To be even in the high-grade was incredibly impressive. Catherine had laughed over how surprised her father had looked, since he was low high-grade. Apparently it was rare for a child to have a higher dust grade than his father. Bea was so excited and happy for Curtis and had pleaded with Catherine to see him that day after his birthday, but she was told that even Catherine wasn't allowed to see him. Curtis had locked himself in his room since the day before and had only appeared for brief moments to grab food from the kitchen. Catherine had explained that her mother assumed he was enjoying the freedom of being able to finally do magic now that he was of the legal age and to just give him some time. Bea couldn't understand why he wouldn't want to do magic in front of them and have fun together. Her own brother, Steven, had paraded around the house incessantly teasing Bea and doing little magic here and there. Bea reveled in the moments when his skill didn't match the magic and he would accidentally break something or disfigure it. It drove Bea crazy wondering why she couldn't see Curtis that day and she was jumping off the walls the next morning as she rode the pod to the prep school to meet up with her friends. Her heart sank when she saw only Catherine waiting in the school yard for her that morning. She rushed towards Catherine and asked her why Curtis wasn't with her this morning. Catherine hadn't said a word in reply but simply nudged her friend in the other direction as more and more students were taking notice of something brilliant flying in the sky. It was getting closer and closer and as the object neared it was obvious that it was not an object at all, but a fairy. Most of the other students didn't give the fairy a second glance. Everyone assumed it was a female fairy flying into school to show off. But attention was soon drawn because it was obvious that the wings were not normal dream fairy wings. This fairy had brilliant, rainbow colored wings that sparkled and glistened. Students started buzzing in excitement to see who the fairy was and how she had made her wings so pretty. An explosion of realization hit Bea as she saw that the fairy was Curtis. Catherine had clutched Bea's hand in her own and Bea could tell that Catherine was not only excited but worried about her brother. Bea wanted to shout out at him. He drew closer and it became clear to all the fairies gathered below who it was and the excitement and cheerful mood changed dramatically. Bea felt like she was standing by watching just as an accident was about to happen. It was like when she had ran through the house too fast and knocked the glass bowl full of pod bubbles off the counter when she younger. She had stood there, frozen to the floor, staring in awe as in slow-motion the glass shattered to the ground and the bubbles rolled in every direction. Even if there was something that Bea could have done to stop those bubbles, she was unable to move, just stuck in immobility and amazement at the scene before her. The same feeling came over Bea that morning watching Curtis fly over his classmates with his magic crafted wings. Bea wanted to help, wanted to do something to stop what was coming next, but she just couldn't move. Bea knew her friend felt the same, as Catherine's grip on Bea's hand had gotten harder with each second that had passed. Curtis had come to flutter just over the school and was eager to find a place to land. Most students had cleared the way for him and a small circle had formed by the fountains. Curtis was ready to come down when all of a sudden Veronica and her gang rushed into the empty space. Veronica waved her hands in a ridiculously large circle and started chanting, "Can't land here freak! Whatcha gonna do now? Can't land here freak! Whatcha gonna do now?" Quickly her minions mimicked her motions. Bea had simply stared at how terribly mean Veronica was. But she was more surprised as the flood of students that had been watching in amazement slowly began to join Veronica in her chant. The mass of young fairies grew until nearly everyone had gathered into a collection of bodies so thick that there was no place to land. Curtis had found himself fluttering over the fountain and he had flashed his sister and Bea a look of pure agony as a snap and sparkle left Curtis, for only a fraction of a second, midair with no wings. Bea couldn't breathe. Curtis fell. He fell harder and faster than anyone was expecting him too as a giant splash of fountain water showered the gathered crowd. Guilt spread over the students, knowing they were all partly to blame for the accident and everyone scattered into the school without a second glance at the scene. Bea could hear one thing clearly amongst the chattering voices of her classmates as they fled,Veronica's laugh. Bea was sure she could pick it out anytime anywhere. And while she had felt compelled to rush towards that sound and rip Veronica's hair out, she was instead drawn towards her friend who now lay limp in the fountain in front of the school. Catherine leapt into the fountain and put her arm around her brother. Bea hopped in too and waded towards them.

"Are you hurt?" Catherine had whispered into her brother's ear.

"Just bruised I think," Bea could hear Curtis mumble in reply.

Suddenly Mr. Butterfield, the fifth-year class' nature teacher, came out of the building. Bea's heart jumped as she saw Mr. Butterfield's face. Of all the teachers that could catch them this morning, he was not nearly as annoying as some others.

"Mr. Butterfield . . ." Bea began to speak. She was interrupted though as Mr. Butterfield had raised his hand, silencing her. He stepped into the fountain and put an arm around Curtis on the other side of him.

"Curtis, are you all right?" Mr. Butterfield asked as he and Catherine helped Curtis to his feet and out of the fountain.

It was obvious that Curtis was not all right. He winced in pain and all of his weight fell onto Mr. Butterfield and Catherine. Mr. Butterfield was a short, thin, elderly fairy and it was clear that he and Catherine would not be able to hold Curtis up much longer. Bea jumped over to lend a hand and the three of them were able to gently drag Curtis out of the fountain and had him rest on the short wall surrounding the shallow pool.

"I know I should take you to Miss White. Did you know that I too am certified in first aid? I couldn't make up my mind when I was young, like you kids, and so I certified in, now, let's see here, almost ten different careers, no, to be exact nine. I tell you, the exam time was terrible. But now, when I get tired of something I can switch my path with just a snap. Let me fix you up Curtis. Try to straighten your leg as much as you can. You two," Mr. Butterfield gestured to Bea and Catherine. "You two, on either side of his leg now. He has broken it, in a couple of places at least so I will need you to help keep it straight as I run the magic over it."

Bea and Catherine did as they were instructed and watched in awe as a thick line of dust came from Mr. Butterfield's fingertips and hovered over Curtis' exposed leg. In a flash the dust seeped down into his leg leaving a slight glowing trace before it disappeared completely. Curtis' face had been winced up ready for the pain, but relaxed quickly when there was none. He slowly bent his knee and was relieved to find that it moved normally and with just the slightest ache.

"That might be a little sore for the next few days. Try to walk on it as normally as you can. Now, Veronica informed me that you were trying to fly to school with magic wings and that your magic had failed you, causing you to plummet into the school fountain," Mr. Butterfield said with a knowing glance and small smirk covering his lips.

Curtis hadn't taken notice of Mr. Butterfield's expression and jumped into an apology, "I'm so sorry Mr. Butterflied, I . . ."

"Curtis! It is OK. I won't make a big deal out of this. I dare say that some others will say things and so word will get out anyway, but it won't be heard from me. How did you do it young man? In all my years I have seen a few male fairies try to fly. Usually they hover awkwardly for brief moments before tripping to the ground face first. Wings. I would have never thought. I wish I could have seen them." Mr. Butterfield sat down right next to Curtis and leaned in and continued, "Any chance you could whip up some more to show me? Oh, no! What am I saying? Of course that won't do." Mr. Butterfield then cleared his throat and sat up a little straighter as he declared, "Now, Mr. Royce, you understand that playing with such magic is not allowed, especially on school grounds. I hope that we can trust to never find you committing such tomfoolery again in the future."

Curtis gingerly stood up and replied in a clear voice, "Yes, sir. It was foolish and I will not do it again."

"Good, now, let's get into class you three. I imagine the rest of your classmates are going crazy. Be strong, they WILL be relentless," Mr. Butterfield advised with a firm pat on Curtis' shoulder. Mr. Butterfield then turned and waited for the three to go in front of him as he guided them to his classroom for the first class of the day.

That day had been terrible for Curtis. Bea could still see it all in her mind as though it had just happened yesterday. Veronica and her gang of followers had seen to it to taunt and tease Curtis all day. She spoke loudly of the mornings events in each class so that the teacher's attention was always drawn to the story. If a teacher had not yet heard the details it was made known to them through Veronica's retelling. Each teacher then seemed to take it upon himself/herself to have a little talk with Curtis about what he had done. By the end of the day Curtis looked more tired and frazzled than Bea had ever seen him. Bea knew that his day was not nearly finished as he still had to deal with his mother and father when he got home.

It turned out that Mr. and Mrs. Royce took the events fairly well. They had both received phone calls while at work from the principal, Mr. Attwell. He had told them of the events as he understood them and advised them to keep a keen eye on Curtis and his actions from now on. Mr. and Mrs. Royce had a long talk with him that night and had just told him to focus his amazing magic abilities on something more useful and less dangerous. In fact, Mr. Royce had somewhat begrudgingly given him one of his old spell books from training school as something to keep him busy. Bea remembered that Catherine seemed almost angry with Curtis for getting away with no punishment as she was sure that if she had tried to pull off something like that she would have been locked in a dungeon under their home.

Since that day, despite being told to stop making wings and flying, Curtis had successfully recreated his wings on three other occasions. Three other occasions that Bea knew of at least. She always imagined that he must make them more often than that, but he had reassured her and his sister that it took difficult magic and time to bring everything together just right and so he had few opportunities to make them. Clearly today was one of the times when everything had come together as Curtis had just finished flying with his magic wings behind the school.

"Wow, Curtis. Those were beautiful. Did you do something different this time? The colors seemed even more brilliant." Bea asked after Curtis had made his gentle landing.

"No, I didn't really do anything different. They just seem to appear different with each go. Maybe my dust changes," suggested Curtis with a shrug.

Some pods started to arrive and the three took that as their cue to get around to the front of the school and head in to class. Two pods had arrived together and almost simultaneously two patrol fairies came out and marched towards them. Before Bea or Catherine could even register what was going on, Curtis had been taken by the two patrol fairies back towards the pod line.

Two new pods bubbles were tossed into the air as one patrol fairy spoke, "Mr. Curtis Royce, we have been instructed by the Ancients to bring you in for questioning. Please cooperate."

Chapter Nine: Prep School

Bea turned to Catherine and the two shared the same look of confusion and concern as the pods dashed off down the line. What had just happened? Why had the patrol fairies taken Curtis? The answer was obvious and yet frustrating, it was because of his wings.

Bea's mind was racing as she finally found her voice and said to her friend in an urgent tone, "They have been watching him."

"You think?" Catherine spurted out. Her face was flushed and her eyes seemed to be on fire. Catherine rarely got angry, but when it was about her brother she had shown some extreme emotions over the years. Bea grabbed her friend's hand to try to bring her back down to a calmer place.

"It's going to be OK. You know? They probably just want to tell him to stop. Don't worry," Bea pleaded.

Catherine's eyes softened a little from pure anger to frenzied concern. "Why do they watch us? It just all seems so wrong, don't you think?" Catherine kept looking around her anxiously, hoping that Curtis would appear on the next pod as the last students arrived for school.

Bea hadn't really talked with her friend so much about what some of the recent events had really meant to them. When Catherine had been stuck in the Edge and they had all learned of the patrol fairies tracking kids Bea had simply thought that it was unfair that they had been told on. But later at night, as she had sat in bed after the exhaustion set in from finding Catherine, she had thought about what it had all really meant. The injustice. The strange feeling that your privacy was constantly being invaded. The fact that the patrol fairies were about ten times worse than having an annoying brother like Steven who would occasionally barge into your room without asking. It was all so unfair, and wrong, and disturbing. And the worst of it all was that Bea had a feeling that nothing could be done about it. Bea could tell from the look on Catherine's face this morning that she had the same thoughts running through her mind.

Bea didn't even try to hide her feeling of hopelessness as she replied, "Yeah, but what can you do?"

"I don't know . . ." Catherine was interrupted by the sound of the first bell. She and Bea exchanged looks of desperation as they plodded into school and their first class of the day.

The prep school was a fairly large building for such a small number of students. The exterior was made up a dark, burnt-red brick. Scattered across it were small circular windows. At the entrance of the school the floor was tiled with marble and the walls were lined with wood paneling. It felt rich and stuffy. Bea knew that the idea was to make everyone feel special and smarter in some way, but Bea always thought that the school was too big and that the students wound up feeling even smaller when they crossed through the doors every morning.

They were in their fifth and final year of prep school. Their courses had steadily gotten more difficult and all students were facing the challenge of deciding their career so that they could be given the proper entrance exam for training school. Bea seemed to have known for a long time that she was going to try to be a flier like her mother. She had sat back and watched as some of her classmates struggled with the decision. Catherine had been back and forth on a few choices. She was so smart and skilled at so many things, she could really choose to be anything. Bea had laughed a few times over this point; how simple her own future seemed with only one choice, while her friend struggled with so many.

The fifth-year students started their day off with nature class. This was taught by Mr. Butterfield, the same teacher who had helped Curtis the first time he had flown and crashed into the school fountain. Mr. Butterfield was a very old fairy. He had insisted that he be allowed to continue teaching, when most other fairies his age were moved to the island for the elderly to relax and live out their days until they reached the age to die. He was small and thin, but not frail. He seemed to have more strength in his small frame than some of the larger young students in his classroom. He had a sharp goatee that was snow white. His hair was trimmed neatly and was matched by perfectly angled white eyebrows. His eyes were brown; a soft, glowing brown that helped soften his otherwise harsh features. He almost always had a slight smirk on his face, and some students had been known to make fun of this suggesting that his mind might have been somewhere else as he would laugh and mumble under his breath. In Bea's mind, he was easily one of the best teachers she had ever known. He seemed to know literally everything, and was only too happy to share with anyone willing to listen. He did have a strictness to him. He had no patience for those who did not study or participate in class.

Bea and Catherine stumbled into class shortly after the bell hand rung and Mr. Butterfield turned his eyes to them to reprimand them for their tardiness. He had always liked Bea, and Catherine and her brother and so his gaze softened as he said in a clear voice, "Watch the time, ladies."

Bea and Catherine found their seats. Mr. Butterfield was nice, but he always insisted that students sit in order. This meant that Catherine and Curtis could sit next to each other, but Bea was left with Natalie Cooper always hovering around her. Natalie was one of Veronica's gang and had proven over the years to be quite as frustrating as Veronica, if not more so. She seemed desperate to shine for Veronica and would put a great deal of effort into harassing Bea. Today was no exception as she turned around to snarl at Bea as she got her books out.

"Where's your boyfriend?"

"What do you mean?" Bea was not in the mood to listen to Natalie this morning. Her mind was still filled with thoughts of Curtis.

"You know, your boyfriend, Curtis? I mean he does follow you and Catherine around like a pitiful dog. I always assumed you and him were together. You know, since no one else would ever take either of you." Natalie twisted around to see if Veronica was watching her and was pleased to see that Veronica was watching and had just passed Natalie a slip of paper. Bea tried to prepare herself for whatever craziness Veronica had thought to share with Natalie but was not expecting to hear the news that came from Natalie's lips.

"Guess he's being held by the Ancients. Wonder what our little moth-boy did to get taken in to see them?" Natalie's voice had grown louder with each word as she seemed to glow with happiness over the gossip she had been shown by Veronica. Bea's eyes turned to meet Catherine's. How did Veronica know? Had she been there that morning to see what happened? Bea was almost positive that they had been alone. She shifted in her chair and found Veronica staring at her. Natalie's announcement had reached everyone's ears. The early morning buzz of conversation had completely stopped as everyone tried to take in what they thought they had heard Natalie just report. After a moment of silence a frenzied murmur took over the class. Bea's anger was nearly too much to contain. She was ready with a retort when Mr. Butterfield cleared his throat and demanded the attention of the class.

The lecture for that day went surprisingly fast and Bea found herself at the end of class putting away her pencil and looking at a blank page in her notebook where she usually did her best to take notes. She hadn't been able to stop her mind from thinking and worrying about Curtis. The bell rang and the class filed out. Bea hadn't meant to be slow, but she found herself, Catherine and Veronica as the last three to leave. Bea had a feeling that this was no accident. Veronica swung her bag over her shoulder and sneered at Bea and Catherine.

"I saw you guys this morning behind the school. Moth-boy just doesn't seem to learn that it is a gross misuse of magic to let someone like him fly. I hope the Ancients don't take away his magic . . ." Veronica's speech had been made in a harsh whisper. She faked a smile to Mr. Butterfield and left the room with a strange little bounce in her step.

Bea and Catherine waited a moment to not follow Veronica too closely and then finally made their way out the door. Mr. Butterfield stopped them.

"Did Curtis do it again?" Mr. Butterfield's asked in excitement, his eager eyes sparkling.

Catherine seemed annoyed, "Yes, he did, but the Ancients took him."

Mr. Butterfield laughed. "Don't worry. They do that sometimes, especially with someone as talented as Curtis. He will be fine. I remember when they took me in. Scared me half to death of course, but I found out it was all in my best interests. I sure wish I could have seen him this morning. I have yet to catch him at it you know. Tell him, for me, to kindly alert me the next time he thinks he might try again." He finished his last sentence with a gentle pat on Catherine's shoulder and he turned to prepare for his next class. Bea and Catherine left the classroom.

"I guess Curtis getting taken in is normal then?" Bea said with a smile.

Catherine nodded but Bea was sure her friend was not quite yet ready to let go of her worry over her brother.

"Don't worry. Mr. Butterfield said it was normal. I'm sure he's fine." Bea, on the other hand, was ready to move on with her day. Their next class was sports class and Bea was so excited she practically skipped down the hall. Right now in class they were separated into boys and girls and the girls were working on their flying skills. Some days the lessons were more focused on sports that were from below. Bea didn't particularly like some of these activities, not so much because they were not fun, but more because they took away from what she wanted to do, fly.

But today it was all about flying, and not just casual flying, but racing. Bea couldn't contain her excitement for class as she and Catherine got changed and ready. Catherine on the other hand had further wrinkled up her brow as she prepared for the class. She was clearly still worried about Curtis. She also hated flying, especially racing. Over the years she had gotten used to having her wings out in front of everyone, but she still had to deal with Veronica. Catherine easily had the smallest wings out of everyone in her class and when Veronica was in a mood, and wasn't already trying to harass Bea, she put all her energy into teasing Catherine about her wings.

Catherine was not to be the target today though. Veronica had just finished whispering to the last group of girls that Curtis had been apprehended by the Patrol Fairies and taken to the Ancients. All eyes were on Catherine as a low buzz took over the class. The class had congregated out in the field behind the school. Bea felt her body tense as she waited for the first verbal assault to be thrown. Just then Ms. Hill came flying overhead. Ms. Hill was the sports teacher as well as the flying instructor for the school. She was a very tall fairy. She was muscular and had extremely short hair. If she did not have wings one might easily mistake her for a male fairy. In fact, students had been known to toss around rumors that Ms. Hill was actually a male fairy in disguise. Ms. Hill didn't seem to mind all the unfounded gossip and just went about her job with great intensity. To be honest, Bea did not really like Ms. Hill. Her approach to teaching was a little too harsh and Bea always felt like she might be yelled at for no apparent reason. Luckily for Bea, she had always excelled at flying and the other sports that they did in class. But Bea had watched as Ms. Hill tortured some of the less talented girls in class, like Catherine. Oddly enough, Veronica, though so similar to Ms. Hill in her love of bullying, was always reprimanded for teasing the other girls in class. This one point had redeemed Ms. Hill in Bea's eyes.

The girls were to fly around the field as fast they could while Ms. Hill timed them. They had been working on making a quicker start and Ms. Hill had shown them a special technique of leaping forward, rather than up. Dashing straight out meant flying lower from the start, but also meant getting to your goal faster. This method of flying was only to be used in an open area and so in the field practicing was one of the few times Bea could really give it her all. She was so excited to get her turn around the field that for a moment the rest of the class melted away. She watched as her classmate, Holly, went ahead of her. She stepped up to the start line and readied herself for her moment.

Ms. Hill looked at Bea approvingly and gave her a sharp slap on the back. "Give it your best Featherstone! Let's beat your score from last week."

Bea bent her knees and crouched down. She placed all her weight on her heels, getting ready to thrust her body forward into the wind. Holly was just clearing the halfway point when Ms. Hill sliced her hand through the air and ordered Bea to go. Bea was like a spring and made a fierce leap out into the air. Her wings waited until the entire force of the start was used and then they began to beat methodically pushing her forward. Bea couldn't keep the smile off her face if she tried. She loved to fly, especially fast like this. She strained her eyes to see the scenery as it flashed by her. Her eyes watered up as the air pressed against her face. She saw Holly for a moment as she easily overtook her and came in to finish her lap.

Bea stumbled a little as she landed, having wanted to put as much strength and speed down to the end. She stood up and looked around, waiting for Ms. Hill's triumphant cheers bringing the news of her new record. No one was there. The entire class had moved to the back by the line of trees that surrounded the field. Bea's heart sank as she saw Veronica and Catherine at the heart of the group. Bea's feelings of disappointment for having no one to see her great flying skills were immediately replaced by a searing anger. She lunged herself into a flash of flight that brought her right to the center of the group. Bea mumbled some apologies to her classmates that she had just knocked over as she had plowed through. She was stopped short though by Ms. Hill's outstretch arm.

"Step back Featherstone," Ms. Hill barely looked back at her as she moved to place herself between Veronica and Catherine.

Catherine looked like she wanted to run and hide. Veronica looked ready to physically attack. What had Bea missed during her lap around the field? Bea tried to listen to the girls around her as they were all mumbling amongst themselves.

"I missed it, what happened you guys?" Bea asked a girl named Jennifer.

She replied with a strange smile on her face, "Catherine was getting up to the line, to race after you. Veronica played her usual card, you know, teasing Catherine about her wings."

If Bea wasn't mistaken, Jennifer seemed to find Veronica's usual verbal assaults entertaining. But then her friend, April, interjected. "Yeah, but this time she went too far. She said that. . ."

". . . maybe she needed to ask her clearly superior brother to make her some wings since the ones she has are so small," snorted Jennifer, as she repeated word for word Veronica's attack.

April stared at her friend with a small look of disbelief, "She was really relentless about it. I think she went too far Jen."

"Whatever . . ."

Bea dashed forward again trying to get as close to Catherine as she could. Ms. Hill had grabbed hold of Veronica's wrist trying to get her to stay back from Catherine. She turned her head to Veronica and asked her, "What nonsense are you yapping about Iverson? You can't make wings. Male fairies can't fly, you know that. What strange stories are you making up here about Curtis Royce?"

Veronica's smile curled into a menace as she gladly shared her story with yet another teacher, "Curtis makes wings with magic. Wings that are far superior to his silly sister's. It must be so hard to know that despite being twins, you are so much less than he is, Catherine. What little skill exists in your family obviously just went to him. Too bad it is being wasted on such a freak! And now the Ancients have him."

"Veronica, that's enough! Now, I have told you before to watch your mouth with your taunts and harassments. Get out of here and cool down inside for a bit." Ms. Hill barked.

Veronica's face turned red as she turned and flew to the building at the end of the field. Bea had an indescribable feeling of joy take over her entire being. It was so wonderful when Veronica got in trouble, sweet justice. Her eyes finally met Catherine's and she was expecting to share their usual triumphant smile as they had always done when Veronica had finally been reprimanded for her bad behavior. This time though Catherine did not look up. Tears were streaking her face as Ms. Hill gave a small push to her back.

"Come on, Royce! You're up next!"

Bea shook her head at Ms. Hill's strange attempt at bringing the class back to normal. She never did have much tact, Bea thought to herself as she watched Catherine leap into the air and begin her lap. The class bell rang and most of the girls started hustling in to change. Bea waited back a bit to meet up with Catherine who was walking towards Bea after just having crossed the finish line. Catherine's face was stained with dried tracks of tears. It was obvious she had been crying while flying. Bea never knew exactly what to say at times like this so she put her arm around her friend, gave her a squeeze, and walked with her towards the school.

When they made it into their next class a surprise awaited them.

"Curtis!" Catherine hugged him and started bombarding him with questions.

"Calm down, calm down, OK? I'm OK. Really, I am. Embarrassed, but OK." Curtis was literally holding his sister down with his hands gently pressed against her shoulders.

Bea was so happy to see her friend and she had tons of questions as well, but unfortunately for all three of them, the bell rang for the start of their next class.

Magic class was easily one of Bea's least favorite, only to be eclipsed by her complete hate of practical magic, fourth period. It did not help that Mr. Wahlstrom4 was one of the worst teachers to ever be allowed into a school. It was oddly an accepted fact amongst all students and even parents that Mr. Wahlstrom lacked the skills needed to be a teacher. He knew his subject; however, he had no command of the classroom and no power in his voice that would normally draw the students to listen. He wasn't exactly boring. In fact he was very talkative. His favorite subject to talk about was himself and he would start his lectures with fact that then quickly slipped into a side story about some greatness he had achieved in his not so recent past. He took great pleasure is proving his superiority to all those in his classroom. The theory of magic was taught in his classroom and then Mrs. Ironwood brought everything together with the application of these theories in the practical magic class. One would assume that being a teacher of magic, that Mr. Wahlstrom himself would possess some fairly decent abilities. Hearing his stories one would think he had superior high-grade dust pulsing through his veins. There was a rumor that many believed to be true that Mr. Wahlstrom had in fact barely cleared into the regular grade of dust and that his test results had been tampered with or a bribe had passed to bring him a higher level for his certificate. Mr. Wahlstrom was careful to not let it be known that he was not very gifted in magic. Very little magic was ever preformed in his classroom and he would often suggest that anyone who wished to try out the magic they were learning in class were to wait until the next class to do so. His vanity was so self-consuming that he had made it a hobby of his to ridicule and torment any student that showed true abilities in magic. His favorite target was then, of course, Curtis. Mr. Wahlstrom actually paid little attention to Catherine. He, like so many other fairies, didn't think much of female fairies and magic.

Mr. Wahlstrom walked into the class and scanned the room. Bea sat down dejectedly wishing she had just a small moment to talk with Curtis. When Mr. Wahlstrom's eyes fell on Curtis, his entire face lit up. He rushed over and grabbed Curtis by the arm before Curtis had time to sit down. He then pulled Curtis next to him in front of the classroom, released Curtis' arm, and took a couple of steps to the side to distance himself from Curtis. Mr. Wahlstrom cleared his throat.

"Class! Please be seated."

Normally, this call to attention was ignored the first few times it was uttered, but with Curtis standing next to him, Mr. Wahlstrom found he had the focus of the classroom on him from the start.

He continued, "Now, today we have a chance to learn a very important lesson. Have I not spoken on numerous occasions about the risk of performing magic too soon or challenging oneself to magic that is clearly beyond one's abilities? Have I not told you of the great care that I took when I was your age, bursting at the seams with intense magic ability. I held back to ensure that no mistakes were made, I held back to make sure that my light did not shine too brightly and bring those around me into shadowed darkness?"

Bea was half listening to Mr. Wahlstrom's ramblings when Catherine, who was seated directly behind Bea, tugged on her shirt and whispered, "This is not going to be good."

Bea wasn't really sure what Catherine was hinting at, but then she started really listening to Mr. Wahlstrom and saw the way that his words caused lines of panic to take over Curtis' face.

Mr. Wahlstrom began his interrogation. "Now, Curtis, please tell the class where you have been this morning."

Curtis looked at Mr. Wahlstrom with pleading eyes, but being met with no compassion he was left to reply. Curtis' voice was small and barely audible to the students sitting in the back of the room.

"Again, Curtis! In a clearer voice, please."

Curtis straightened up his shoulders with a look of determination and Bea couldn't help but smile. "Sir, I was taken to the see the Ancients at the Great Hall."

Mr. Wahlstrom nodded his head in a sadly disappointed manner. "Can you tell us what terrible thing you did to need to be apprehended by the patrol fairies and taken in to be interrogated by the Ancients." Mr. Wahlstrom's loaded question had its effect as the class bristled with anticipation of Curtis' confession of wrong doing.

This time Curtis seemed ready to reply and said clearly, "I was using magic to make wings . . ." Curtis paused for effect before adding, ". . . for the thirteenth time."

Everyone in the classroom gasped, Bea included. She had no idea that Curtis had been successful in making wings that many times. She had only seen him a few times and to think that he had been successful on thirteen different occasions was awe inspiring. Bea wanted to share a smile with Curtis, but she found that he had chosen a spot on the wall to stare at, rather than losing his nerve by making eye contact with his classmates. But Mr. Wahlstrom was not going to give up so easily. He shook his head and walked around Curtis and found his new position to his left. He turned to the class and tried to unnerve Curtis with further questions. "So, this is nothing new to you? You must be so proud to have such a general lack of concern for your well-being as well as those around you. You clearly do not care that your egotistical act has selfishly left behind your hard working sister to be the subject of taunts and harassment as she is dragged into your spotlight of bad behavior. "

With the mention of Catherine, Curtis' shoulders fell and his general attitude seemed to shrink. Bea was screaming cheers of encouragement from inside her head.

Mr. Wahlstrom continued. "Do you care that what you have been doing, not just once for fun, but repeatedly for thirteen times, is illegal?"

"I. . . "

"Do you care that your selfish use of your magic abilities is being wasted on such a vain endeavor as making your own wings?"

"Now. . . "

"Do you care that while you are flitting along outside having fun flying like some sort of freak of nature, your sister, your family, are left behind to try to endure the shame of knowing that they are unfortunately stuck with you as a member of their family?" Mr. Wahlstrom finished this final statement by bringing his gaze to Curtis'. They stared at one another for what felt like an eternity. Bea's head was heavy as she felt ready to burst out in defense of her friend. Curtis did his best to hold the stare.

"I'm sorry." Curtis said in a determined voice. Curtis' gaze had shifted slightly to Catherine and his apology was in no way meant for Mr. Wahlstrom. Mr. Wahlstrom didn't even pay any attention to the fact that Curtis' apology was spoken to Catherine.

Mr. Wahlstrom practically succumbed to a little dance of joy as Curtis voiced his confession. "Thank you Curtis, I am glad to hear that you are taking some responsibility . . ."

"I was apologizing to my sister . . ." Curtis interrupted Mr. Wahlstrom as he finished, ". . . not you, sir."

Curtis still stood tall and actually flashed a true smile in his sister's direction as he sat down and got his books out for class. Mr. Wahlstrom was watching Curtis carefully and his satisfied grin had melted into a sneer. The entire class could feel the tension run through the room like static. Mr. Wahlstrom turned around to face the class and declared, "Surprise, class! I have a secret test waiting for you all today! Put your books away and get out a pencil."

Bea tried her best to plough through the surprise test that had been forced on the class. Bea had no doubt in her mind that this test was the only weapon Mr. Wahlstrom still held in his battle against Curtis. Mr. Wahlstrom's desired effect could be seen on some students' faces as they stared in anger at Curtis, hissing threats. But Bea was surprised to see that some students had clearly experienced a change in opinion. Curtis, for as long as Bea could remember, was always the target of teasing. Without the help of Veronica and her gang, other students, especially boys, had all taken a shot at Curtis at one time or another. The most obvious display of this had been when Curtis had fallen into the school fountain. Bea had been shocked to find literally all the students joining in on the chanting and teasing. Bea searched the classroom and saw a couple of faces sharing a smile with Curtis. One boy nodded his head in approval, and then tried to catch Curtis' attention as well. A small silent victory rippled through the classroom and Bea knew that something monumental had just happened for Curtis.

Chapter Ten: Flying Practice

A whole month had passed since the day that Curtis had been taken to see the Ancients. Though Curtis had been proud and triumphant upon his return to school that day, Bea and Catherine had noticed a major change. Curtis had become more withdrawn and had even been shutting out his sister and friend. The two had started by asking him to share with them the details of his new private lessons at the Great Hall. After his return from the Ancients the Royce family had been informed that Curtis would now be attending private lessons every day after school, as a way of helping him handle his magic. This news had made Bea happy and also a little envious. But no matter how much they pestered him, he had disappointed them on numerous occasions by simply replying that it was nothing special. After a couple of weeks of pestering him they had given up on talking to him about his lessons and instead tried to keep things light and fun. This had been failing them too as Curtis barely laughed or even smiled these days. His once energetic build had faded away to leave slumped shoulders and a slight tinge of darkness under his eyes. Everyone at school assumed Curtis was working so hard doing magic, magic that they could only dream of, that the general reaction had been one of jealousy and silent awe. No one dared tease Curtis anymore. Even Veronica had completely laid off. Bea and Catherine had racked their brains trying to figure out what was going on. Catherine had been so bothered by the patrol fairies watching the kids that she added the situation with Curtis to her list of reasons to hate the Ancients. Bea had often found herself nodding in agreement with Catherine as she would rant, but inside she felt wrong. Bea had been taught for so long to believe that the Ancients were right. She had always seen them as a force to follow and respect. She hadn't ever really given much thought to the way things were. These days she found herself thinking more about what everything really meant.

One thing she knew that she really believed in was what her mother and the other fliers did. Dream fairies' purpose, if you could call it that, was to give dreams to the humans that lived on earth below. Not just normal dreams though. Humans made their own kind of dreams while they slept. But dream fairies gave them special dreams. These special dreams were dreams of hope. It sometimes sounded silly when Bea tried to voice these ideas aloud, but when she thought about what her mother did, and what eventually Bea herself wanted to do, she would swell with pride. Giving the humans hope seemed to be the most noble thing a fairy could do and the fact that the Ancients were obviously the ones that had guided the dream fairies in their missions over their many years of existence made Bea feel that the Ancients had to be right. So if they were behind the fliers and dreams how could they also be doing things that were wrong?

Bea never voiced her thoughts to Catherine. She joined in with Catherine's angry discussions, and it wasn't as though she herself wasn't feeling the same frustration. Many nights she had been going to bed feeling very confused.

Catherine and Bea had just spent another afternoon after school together, talking in Bea's room about Curtis. They had packed up Catherine's homework, having barely even touched it, and headed down the hall. Bea was going to walk her friend to the pod station when they ran into Mr. Featherstone who had just returned from work. Mr. Featherstone was a bird partner. The fliers, when going on missions, did not simply fly out on their own to give dreams to humans. They worked together as a team with a hummingbird. The bird and flier would meet up after the flier took a stone to earth. From there the flier would mount the bird and they would fly towards their destination. The hummingbirds had gone through a special training and would be given a fairy partner that would work with the bird and a flier on missions. Even though Mr. Featherstone had met Mrs. Featherstone while at training, and the two of them worked on the missions, he was not partnered with the bird that flew with Mrs. Featherstone. That was generally not allowed. His job was something he enjoyed and he generally returned from his days at work tired, but with a feeling of satisfaction. Today he looked tired and his skin was taunt across his face, clearly showing the dark circles under his eyes.

"Hey, dad!" Bea greeted her father as she grabbed a pod bubble from the bowl on the counter. "You don't look good, you feeling OK?"

Mr. Featherstone smiled at her and said, "Yeah. Just had to donate today. It always leaves me feeling a little worn out you know. I need some cookies, we have any?"

Bea's hand shot to Catherine's arm as she squeezed it tightly. They stared at each other for a moment with expressions of enlightenment and then Bea started pushing her friend out the door.

"Yeah, dad, I think there is something in the cupboard. Gotta go. Catherine needs to get home." Bea waved to her father as she had Catherine slid through the door and outside. The minute the door shut behind them they had turned to each other in excitement.

"Are you thinking what I am thinking?" Catherine hurriedly asked.

Bea was scared. She was so happy what they had discovered, but also confused by what it all meant. "Yeah! I think we know now why Curtis looks the way he does."

"Yeah!" Catherine's teeth were gritting together, but her eyes were dancing with enlightenment. "The Ancients have been sucking the life out of my brother every time he goes in for his private lessons."

Bea laughed. She hadn't had a chance to stop herself or think before she did. Catherine was talking nonsense and Bea just couldn't help but laugh. But Bea felt the world change around her the moment she had nonchalantly allowed herself this gut reaction. Catherine's entire body stiffened. She took a few steps away from Bea and a wall went up. Catherine's expression crashed into one of pure disgust and pain, not to mention sadness. Bea had never seen anyone look as Catherine did now and the fact that her expression was meant for Bea cut her like a knife. Bea felt like she was falling as she tried to gather her thoughts and adjust her face to match her intense regret. She tried to touch Catherine's arm as she struggled to find her voice. But Catherine had immediately pulled it away.

"I'm sorry."

Why couldn't she speak louder? She needed to make Catherine understand. The seconds seemed to be ticking away loudly in her ears when Bea finally found herself and her pleas spewed forth from her mouth nonstop. She searched Catherine's eyes to find any success as she apologized in as many different ways as she could. Slowly Catherine's stature softened. She allowed Bea's arm to rest on her own. Once the anger had left her face Catherine's eyes were filled with burning tears as Bea tried desperately to get her friend back. Bea felt satisfied to find that things were almost normal again after her sincere attempt. There was no doubt though that the wall that had gone up was still there. Bea tried to accept that for now as she did her best to plough forward.

Bea chose her words carefully as she said, "Curtis definitely looks as though he has been giving dust."

Catherine nodded. Bea went on. "He must be giving while he is at his lessons."

Catherine nodded again, took a deep breath and added, "I am sure they wouldn't want to pass up a chance to get such good dust."

Bea paused a moment. When she really did think about it, it did seem odd. Her father only looked bad today. He only had to give once a month. Only certified male fairies gave dust. Curtis looked terrible all the time. Was he really giving dust at every lesson after school?

"It seems pretty weird that they are making him give dust so much though. My dad doesn't do it that much. Maybe that's it! My dad has lower grade dust than Curtis. How often does your dad donate?" Bea asked.

Catherine shook her head. "Same as your father, once a month." Catherine's mind was set on only seeing the bad in this situation.

Bea tried to offer other options in as gentle a tone as possible. "Well, Curtis has a higher grade than your dad though, right?"

Catherine's lips curled into a smile. She was pretty proud of her brother and couldn't deny at this moment that what Bea had suggested was true. Her brother did have a higher grade of dust than Mr. Featherstone did.

Bea saw a chance to smooth things over with Catherine a bit more by trying to sidestep into a topic that Catherine enjoyed. "How is that possible anyway, that Curtis has better dust than your dad? I always thought the dust level was the same from father and son."

"Yeah, Curtis has asked my father about it so much that it has made him crazy. It makes my mother so angry when they talk about it. It is kind of funny," Catherine paused as she let her smile fade. Then she continued, "Do you really think the Ancients just take his dust because he is high high-grade?"

"Maybe. It still seems a little extreme though. Maybe we should ask Curtis. We know now what is going on. He won't be able to dodge us, you know?"

Catherine straightened up with reserve as she started towards the pod station. She spoke as she walked ahead of Bea, "Yeah. Let's go ask Curtis. I'm tired of him ignoring me. "

Bea stumbled to keep up. She couldn't stop her smile from spreading as she followed her frenzied friend. She always enjoyed watching Catherine confront her brother on things and she felt sure that Curtis would finally break and tell them more of what was going on. Bea hoped that this would mean the end of Catherine's speculation and that maybe things could sort of return to normal.

Bea tossed the pod bubble to her friend and let her do the magic, knowing that the result would be a perfect pod. They flew in and settled for the quick ride around the island. Catherine was mumbling to herself the entire way about all the things that she wanted answers to from Curtis. Bea didn't dare interrupt and instead let her mind wander as they sped along. When they arrived Bea was surprised to find that Catherine flew from the pod and kept flying toward her home. Catherine didn't fly often so this was just another sign that Bea was about to witness a huge explosion from her friend. Bea had no trouble keeping up as they flew and was careful to not overtake Catherine. Catherine nearly flew through the front door, she was so determined to reach her brother. Bea stepped into the Royce's home and watched as her friend dashed up the stairs to Curtis' room. Bea thought she knew what to expect next. She anticipated that Catherine would knock and pound on Curtis' door and he would mumble that he was busy. Catherine would pound louder and then her mother would ask her to stop. Catherine was clearly not going to waste any time today. She deftly raised her hand to the doorknob and a sharp line of dust left her fingertip and pushed the door open like a strong wind. Bea was dragged into the room by the wrist as Catherine used the same bit of magic to shut the door swiftly but quietly behind them. Curtis had clearly just arrived home from his special lessons with the Ancients. He was setting down his school bags and barely had time to turn around and realize what was going on when Catherine had used magic again to force him into a chair and it seemed she had even done something to keep his voice silent. Bea had never seen magic like this. Bea stared enviously at her friend as she approached her brother and said in a very low and calm voice, "We are going to talk. No screaming. No yelling. Mother will NOT interrupt us. Do you understand?"

Curtis' mouth couldn't move but Bea couldn't ignore that his eyes were dancing in laughter. It was such a wonderful sight to see him laugh. Bea nudged her friend and said, "Come on. Let him talk."

A gentle flick of her wrist and Curtis' entire face lit up into a smile. "What are we going to talk about Catherine?"

"We know that you have been giving dust at the Ancients. Why? Why every day? That doesn't seem fair. Father only goes once a month. What are they doing to you? You look terrible. You look so tired and you never smile. You don't talk to me anymore. I ask you questions and you never answer me. You have no idea how worried I have been. I have no idea what is going on and then you never say anything and I just keep thinking that the Ancients are doing terrible things to you to make you like this and I just want to go the Great Hall and . . . and . . . " Catherine's entire body was shaking with anger. She couldn't find the words anymore and instead tears just poured down her face. Bea was sure that Curtis' was going to break into a laugh to match the smile on his face, but saw that he had chosen to be more tactful than Bea had been earlier and dragged his sister into a hug.

Curtis looked up at Bea as he said, "I'm sorry you two."

He didn't let go of Catherine and so she mumbled from over his shoulder, "What has been going on? Will you tell us now?"

Bea was watching Curtis' face carefully and she was positive that she saw some of the smile fade from his eyes as he said, "Sure. What do you want to know?"

Curtis told Catherine and Bea that it was true that he had been giving dust at nearly every lesson. He had been told that this was normal, especially for someone with a high dust grade. He added that he had spoken with his father and his father had mentioned that he knew some classmates with high dust grades that had to donate more often, just for a few months as they worked out what their careers would be. It was almost a kind of training to really understand the quality of the dust and then know what career would be best suited for him. Curtis tried to calm his sister by adding that it was only supposed to be draining in the beginning and that soon he would get stronger and be able to better handle the frequency of donation. "Don't worry. I'll be my normal, loud, obnoxious self in no time. " He squeezed Catherine into another hug and watched as Catherine's entire being relaxed.

Curtis, taking notice of the less tense environment, gave a gentle punch to his sister's arm as he said, "You know, you are worse than mom. What kind of crazy things were you thinking about?"

Catherine gave a sheepish smile as she shared with Curtis some of her crazier theories. Curtis laughed and Bea laughed and then Catherine laughed and they all felt much better than they had in weeks. Bea leaned in as she asked in a secretive whisper, "So, what are the Ancients teaching you anyway?"

Curtis leaned in as well and replied in a deliberately hushed voice, "Now, Bea, I can't tell you that. It is top secret." He paused for a moment to let them all laugh again and then he went on, "No, really, it's nothing. I am just doing more advanced magic. It is kind of cool. It's like an advanced practical magic class. It's fun, but challenging. I'm not bored, like I am at school, so that's a good thing."

Bea watched as Catherine took in everything little detail her brother shared. She was obviously feeling much better as all of her suspicion left her. Bea watched the two from the side a little and couldn't help noticing that Curtis was still not being himself. There was no doubt that he was trying, trying really hard to make his sister happy. But he was still keeping secrets and Bea was angry at him and herself for noticing. She was so confident on the pod ride there that after Catherine's outburst things would go back to normal. But as she watched her two best friends talk and laugh together Bea really felt for the first time that something had changed that could never be ignored. She had lost herself in this thought when Catherine's voice called her back to reality.

"Hey! Did you hear what Curtis said? He asked you if you were going to fly in the competition in March?"

Bea was confused, "What?"

Curtis smiled at Bea as he said eagerly, "I heard Ms. Hill talking at the Great Hall today with some other fairies. You know, the annual flying competition for prep school fifth year girls to compete in. One of the other fairies was asking Ms. Hill if she thought she had good competitors this year. She had a huge smile on her face when she answered and I couldn't help but think she must have been thinking about you."

This was something Bea had looked forward to ever since she bloomed. She had spoken to her mother a few times about it, since her mother had participated when she was in prep school. Bea had been waiting for news of the competition when she started her fifth year but was surprised that the topic had come up so quickly. Of course she wanted to race. The three of them spent the rest of the afternoon talking about the competition and flying. Bea felt a kind of contentment as she went home that she hadn't felt in months.

The next day, after school, Bea said goodbye to Catherine. She wanted to stay behind and try to talk with Ms. Hill and so Catherine went ahead and set off for home while Bea wandered over to the field behind the school. She discovered Ms. Hill using magic to put all the tennis balls back into the baskets in the shed from the second year's class earlier that day.

Bea walked with purpose towards Ms. Hill and her teacher turned to see her and exclaim, "Featherstone! Figured I'd see you here sooner or later."

Bea came to a halt right in front of Ms. Hill as she asked, "Ms. Hill, I uh, you know, the flying competition for fifth-years . . ."

"Yes. I was just gearing up to tell you and a couple of other girls . . ."

"Well, don't you think we are wasting time? Why haven't we been practicing? Why didn't you tell me? I mean, it is in March and that doesn't leave me a whole lot of time. I really think my landing needs improving. Does that matter, my landing? Or is it just about how fast you can go?" Bea couldn't stop the flood of questions and she felt her face flush.

Ms. Hill laughed. Bea was ready for her to say something that might be cutting and rude, or at least disappointing, but instead she was surprised to hear Ms. Hill agree. "Right you are, Featherstone! Precious time being wasted, should have thought of your position. We should get the other girls together as soon as possible so that we can start working on things. "

"Really?"

"Yes! Now, I need to explain this competition to you but why don't I save my breath and tell you and the other two girls. I'll call them tonight and we can meet tomorrow here at the school. How does 6:00 a.m. sound Featherstone?" Ms. Hill was smiling approvingly at Bea.

Bea stared at Ms. Hill. "6:00 a.m. Ms. Hill? Isn't that kind of early for a Saturday?"

"Preparation, Featherstone! Never too early. Thought you wanted to get going here," growled Ms. Hill.

"No, I mean yes. I do want to get started. Sorry. 6:00 a.m., no problem," Bea eagerly replied.

Ms. Hill's nostrils relaxed as she turned back to the shed, "Good, tomorrow then."

Bea turned and started running away from the school grounds. She knew that she couldn't really fly while there, but once she was a few paces away from the entrance and the pod stations she let her wings out. She wondered how ridiculous she looked, because she was positive that her smile had taken over her entire face. She settled her weight into her heels and let the natural spring force her forward into the air. Then Bea flew. She flew as fast as she could. She turned all of her mental strength into willing her wings to move through the air to carry her around the island and towards home. Bea had never flown home like this before. She had always taken a pod home. When she did fly she had always flown around smaller fields to play and then at school in Ms. Hill's class around the track. Bea expected to find herself tiring as she did after running for a while, but it was different with her wings. They seemed almost happy to be used so much. Perhaps Bea was imagining things, but it felt as though she were going faster the farther she went. Time and the island sped by as Bea's focus was completely narrowed in on gaining more speed. Bea had flown around the outermost edge of the island toward her home. There was really nothing to see but endless sky to her right and rows of houses to her left. Her eyes were barely open as she flew and she had to remind herself that she would need to stop when she saw pod station SW5, which was up from her house. Something else made her slow suddenly though as she saw the station up ahead. A figure had just emerged from the distance, from that never ending expanse of sky to the right. Bea strained her eyes to make out who had just come out of the Edge. It didn't take long for Bea to realize who she was staring at. His robes made him easy to spot. James Zephyr had just left the Edge and was clearly walking towards Bea. He didn't seem to have seen her though as he kept his head down staring with purpose at his feet as he walked, his long thick hair covering his face and slightly swaying as he moved closer.

"Hey!" Bea shouted without thinking. James' face jerked up suddenly at the sound of Bea's voice. An expression of fear took over his face. Bea watched him carefully, waiting anxiously to see if he would speak to her.

"You know, you aren't supposed to be back there," she said in a bossy tone. Bea didn't normally bully people like this, unless it was Veronica or someone in her gang. She felt a strange surge of frustration when she saw James though, something she couldn't quite explain. He never speaks to me, or anyone, Bea thought. He's always breaking the rules too. Bea straightened up her back and puffed out her chest. Come on, look at me, she thought as her gaze didn't leave James' hunched figure.

James lifted his head and for a brief moment their eyes met. "Show off!" James voice was clear and his words seemed to smack Bea in her chest, knocking the wind out of her. But, just as quickly as James had made his searing comment, his shoulders hunched even further. Bea caught sight of the pod bubble as it left his fingertips and James deftly fired a straight thin line of dust at the bubble. Bea was left, struggling to find her voice, as James and the pod zipped away from her on the silver line.

Bea couldn't believe what had just happened. Perhaps because she had been so excited while she was flying, she felt as though James' verbal assault had literally knocked her out. She hadn't even realized that at some point her wings had shrunk down against her back again as she had floated down to the ground. Bea mindlessly walked towards her home, watching its outline get larger as her feet automatically brought her closer. By the time she reached her front door her mind was sharp and focused again and she paused with her hand on the doorknob. What did he mean calling her a show off? Who was he to talk to her in the first place? Why did he think he was so brave to look her in the eye and say something so mean and cruel and untrue? Bea's once clear mind was now flooded with angry thoughts that kept swimming round and round at a dizzying pace.

"Hey there! Forget how to open the door?" Mr. Featherstone had just come towards the house and seemed to have been waiting for Bea to enter.

Bea's anger spilled forth as she snapped back, "Leave me alone!" She turned the knob in her hands and ripped the door open and stormed off to her room, giving her bedroom door a little more push than necessary as it slammed into its frame. Bea slumped down onto her bed. Get a grip, she thought as she jumped up and started pacing her room. I should be used to this, Veronica is terrible to me all the time, she thought. James was nothing more than a freak. Bea thought about James again and a whole new rush of anger took over her.

By the time Bea was called to the table for dinner, she had gotten a hold of her anger and was trying to push the event out of her mind. She had made the decision that she was not going to let someone like James get to her. Bea saw her mother and father looking at her from the corner of their eyes and knew that her father must have warned her mother of her bad mood. Mr. Featherstone tentatively leaned towards Bea after he sat down. "You OK?"

Bea couldn't help but smile, her father's expression was laughable. "Yeah, I'm OK, sorry about earlier."

"What happened?" Mrs. Featherstone asked as she too sat down to eat.

Bea remembered the last time James Zephyr had been brought up in conversation and thought it best to leave him out of things this time. "Just someone said something that made me a little upset. It's all good now."

"Veronica again?" Mr. Featherstone asked as he shot a glance at Mrs. Featherstone.

"Yeah, you know, no big deal really. Sorry I was so upset."

Mrs. Featherstone placed her hand on Bea's as she said, "I know Veronica is mean to you. But you know, sometimes people that are bullies like that have some . . . well maybe you know . . . someone was mean to her today too."

Bea laughed through her nose. "Yeah, sure mom, I don't know anyone who would dare be mean to Veronica."

Bea sat upright as she suddenly remembered her wonderful news. "Hey, mom, you know about the flying competition for the fifth-years in March?"

"Of course! I totally forgot about that. Did Ms. Hill ask you to participate?" Mrs. Featherstone's voice had changed from the tense motherly tone when talking about Veronica to one now with girlish excitement.

"Yeah, well, I mean I asked her about it. Curtis had heard Ms. Hill talking about it at the Great Hall and so he brought it up yesterday. I made sure to ask Ms. Hill about it today after school. Turns out she wants to start practicing tomorrow at 6:00 a.m.!"

"Ooh, that's early," Mr. Featherstone said more to himself than anyone in particular. It was no secret in the Featherstone household that Mr. Featherstone hated mornings.

"No, not early at all, perfect! Oh, you are going to have so much fun!" Mrs. Featherstone reached her hand across the table to squeeze Bea's.

"So, tell me again about when you competed." Bea asked eagerly.

"Oh yeah, well it's been around for centuries. Well, probably almost as long as dream fairies have lived on the islands. The competition is so fun. I raced for my school and that was one of the first times I got to really fly as fast as I could. You are really going to love it," Mrs. Featherstone smiled.

Bea thought for a moment about telling her mother how she had decided to fly home as fast as she could today. But then James' face flashed before her eyes and she saw the afternoon's events a little differently. Maybe she wasn't supposed to be flying around as fast as she could in front of everyone. "Mom, do you fly around the island sometimes?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean, you know we can't fly at school, but do other fairies like you fly from place to place?" Bea had a feeling she knew what her mother's answer was going to be.

"I fly back and forth here and there. Outdoors only, of course. Usually just when it is myself or other female fairies. You know how it goes." Mrs. Featherstone replied.

"Do you ever fly really fast?" Bea asked sheepishly.

Mr. Featherstone laughed. "You know your mom flies fast. She's a flier!"

Mrs. Featherstone laughed too and then turned to Bea. "Do you mean, do I fly fast when I am just going from one place to another?"

"Yeah."

"Bea, did you fly home from school today?"

Bea's faced flushed. "Yes."

"Did you fly home fast?" Mrs. Featherstone's voice was kind, but clear.

"Yes."

Mr. Featherstone cleared his throat. "I thought we raised you to have better manners. You know that it is rude to fly fast around the island."

Mrs. Featherstone's face melted in an expression of concern. "Bea, it's OK. We all want to try once. I'm surprised you haven't done it before now. I tried to speed around as fast as I could practically the day after I bloomed." Mrs. Featherstone turned to her father as she continued. "I'm sure she was just excited about the idea of flying fast for the competition . . ." But Mrs. Featherstone couldn't finish as she was interrupted by the phone.

Mr. Featherstone got up to answer it and Bea watched her father as he nodded his head.

"We just finished speaking to her about it now. It won't happen again. Thank you for your concern." Mr. Featherstone placed the phone down and came back to the table.

"That was the patrol fairies. They had taken notice of your flying home from school today. They mentioned it was at a speed that was far too fast to be considered normal . . ."

"Did they say how fast she was going?" Mrs. Featherstone had interrupted Mr. Featherstone with such a huge smile on her face that he had trouble keeping a straight face himself.

Bea's eyes darted back and forth from her mother and her father. Was she going to be in trouble? What were the patrol fairies going to do?

Mr. Featherstone seemed to be waiting to answer. Was it out of anger? Bea couldn't deny the way his face was glowing. Her heart stopped racing in fear as she leaned forward on her seat.

Mr. Featherstone's mouth split into a huge smile as he said, "Seems our daughter here was going nearly as fast as a pod."

"What?" Mrs. Featherstone had leapt up in excitement and in the process had knocked over her drink. She pulled Bea up out of her chair into a hug. Bea watched from the corner of her eye as her father shot some dust at the table and the drink and glass returned themselves. Mrs. Featherstone let go of her and instead cupped Bea's face in her hands as she whispered, "I always knew you would be fast. Just like the Ancients told you."

Mr. Featherstone cleared his throat and Mrs. Featherstone quickly sat down again and did her best to make her face look severe.

"Now Bea, your mother and I are not happy about getting a call like that from the patrol fairies. Right, Mae?" Mr. Featherstone patted Mrs. Featherstone's hand.

"Yes, right, no, we are not happy. You are not supposed to fly like that around the island. It is considered rude to fly that fast . . . wow, you were going fast . . . but no, please don't do that again, OK dear?" Mrs. Featherstone pleaded.

Mr. Featherstone was a little more successful in making his face and voice match the more serious mood as he added, "The patrol fairies did mention that this is your second offense. After the third you are asked to go speak to them in person. You don't want to do that, so try to not get into any more trouble."

Bea did not realize that the patrol fairies were keeping record of her offenses. She laughed to herself as she thought of Catherine's reaction to this news. She enjoyed the rest of the meal with her parents as they listened to Mrs. Featherstone recount the times that the patrol fairies had caught her flying too fast. It made Bea feel almost as though it was to be expected that she had broken the rules. If her mother had done the same thing, then surely she wasn't really doing anything that bad. But as she lay down in her bed to sleep that night the cold, sneering face of James Zephyr kept popping into her mind. She couldn't deny that she knew, deep down, that she had done something wrong, and that she had in fact been showing off.

Bea woke up surprisingly alert the next morning after such troubled sleep. She ran into the kitchen to find that her mother had been up as well and had breakfast ready for her.

"Dad still asleep?" she asked as she ate quickly.

"Yup, you know how much he loves sleeping in on a day off. You all ready for today?" Mrs. Featherstone asked as she poured her some drink.

"Yeah, I can't wait."

She finished up her breakfast and left her dishes in the sink as she grabbed a pod bubble and headed for the door.

"Hey mom, I might just go over to Catherine's after, is that OK?"

"Sure hon, just come home for dinner and try to do some homework at Catherine's. You keep leaving things last minute." Mrs. Featherstone pushed Bea's school bag into her hands.

Bea took her bag and left out the door. Her excitement for the coming practice was filling her mind with nothing else as she floated off the pod in front of the school. She practically skipped to the field behind the school as she imagined herself flying faster and faster around the track. She almost tripped when she saw the field and the outlines of three fairies. It took Bea's mind a second to comprehend what she was looking at. Of course, she wasn't the only one that would participate in the race. Ms. Hill had said that there were others. Bea had let her thoughts erase anyone else from her visions of practice. Bea knew one of those figures across the field had to be Ms. Hill. She could tell it was her from even this distance since her build was bigger and taller. Who were the other two though? She picked up her pace and started into a slight jog as she got closer to the field. Something made her catch her breath as she saw one fairy let her wings out. Bea knew those wings anywhere. It was Veronica! Of course it was Veronica. Bea was almost mad at herself for not thinking of this before. In her class the only person she could think of who had speed to match her own was Veronica. Bea stopped her jog and tried her best to walk calmly now toward to field. She didn't want to show Veronica her excitement as she approached them.

"Featherstone! Right on time. Alder and Iverson just got here a few minutes ago. " Bea moved quickly to meet up with the other two as Ms. Hill spoke. Bea of course recognized Laura Alder from her class, with only 23 classmates everyone knew everyone. Laura was a nice girl and Bea smiled at her as she dropped her bag to the side with the others. Bea's heart relaxed to know that she wouldn't be alone with Veronica in all of this. Laura flashed her a smile as well. Bea didn't even bother to make eye contact with Veronica as she turned to face Ms. Hill who had brought out a board and had drawn on it an elaborate field.

Ms. Hill rapt the board as she spoke, "The Northwest Community Annual Flying Competition will be taking place this year on March 17, the Friday before you all graduate. This competition includes participants from all eight schools in the Northwest Community. It is a kind of obstacle course, if you will. You can see from the map for this year's course, you are to fly around as fast as you can, but also as adeptly. You all three thinking of being fliers?"

Bea glanced at Veronica and Laura. She hadn't really given any thought to who else in her class might want to follow the same career that she had known for so long would be her future.

Veronica stole a quick sneer at Bea as she said in a clear voice, "Yes ma'am. That has been my only plan from the start."

Bea felt her hands clench as she blurted out, "Yes! I want to be a flier!"

"Alder?"

Laura looked a little less certain as she said, "Yeah, I'm thinking about it."

"OK. Well, this competition is watched closely by the Academy as they choose who will be allowed to enter their training program each year. The space available is limited and so it is often suggested that all those who are thinking of being a flier participate in this competition. I just picked you three girls because you are the best fliers in your class. Do you know of anyone else who wanted to be a flier?" Ms. Hill asked.

Veronica cleared her voice as she said, "I think I heard Christina mention it as a possibility."

Ms. Hill laughed a short laugh as she replied, "Meadows? A flier? No way. You have to have flying skills, maybe not necessarily be the fastest, but you do have to show potential. Meadows has neither speed nor potential. I've watched you three carefully over the years and I am positive that you are the only ones in your class that have even a chance of getting into the Academy."

Veronica smiled and Bea almost wondered if Christina had really even ever said she wanted to be a flier, or if Veronica had just wanted to hear Ms. Hill declare her own greatness over her fellow classmate.

Ms. Hill now turned directly to Laura. "Alder! You say you are thinking about being a flier?"

"Yes, ma'am," Laura's voice was quiet and a little uncertain.

Bea cringed as she watched Ms. Hill glare down on Laura as she spoke. "Now listen here Alder. This is serious business, this competition. If you just think you want to be a flier then you will be wasting your time and my time. I need commitment. You may not be quite as fast as these two here but you are nimble and that can mean a lot. I'm going to ask you again, do you want to be a flier?"

Bea couldn't help herself from staring at Laura in anticipation. Veronica's stare was set as well and Bea was sure that Laura was going to explode from the pressure. Surprisingly Laura straightened and squared her shoulders as she replied, "Yes, ma'am!"

Ms. Hill's face broke into a smile as she slapped Laura on the back. "Good, good to hear. All right then. Let's get focused here. Like I said, this competition is about speed and skill. We will meet every day for practice. After school for two hours and then from six to noon on the weekends. Tough schedule but it will be necessary to get you girls ready for the course. We will alternate between speed practice and agility. Today, speed!"

The rest of the morning was spent in a blur, literally. Bea flew and flew and flew, round and round the track. They took complete laps around and timed their results. They then took to dashing from one end of the field to the other. Ms. Hill focused simply on form, ways that the girls could improve their posture while flying, and advice on where to place one's arms, the angle to keep one's head. Bea kept getting yelled at for letting her feet flap behind her. Ms. Hill threatened to tape her ankles together if she didn't try harder to fly with them snapped tightly together. Bea started to feel the fatigue that had escaped her on her brief flight home. As the hours passed the three girls started to get sloppy and Ms. Hill was losing her temper even quicker than usual. Bea could tell, as her shadow got smaller that it had to be getting closer to noon.

"All right! Stop! Get over here!" Ms. Hill blew her whistle and waved her arms at the girls as they came to a halt at the other end of the field.

Bea turned to look at Laura who was clearly beat, but was also smiling.

"Pretty tough stuff, don't you think?" Bea asked Laura as they walked briskly towards Ms. Hill.

"Yeah, but it's fun. I've never flown like this before. Didn't really know I could, you know?" Laura added with a laugh.

Suddenly Veronica appeared at Laura's other side. She gave a gentle nudge as she said, "Thank goodness you are here Laura. It would have been so boring if it was just me."

Laura gave a confused grin as she looked deliberately at Bea. Veronica didn't seem to notice or even care that Bea was walking right there alongside Laura. Luckily Laura was spared any further awkwardness as they approached Ms. Hill.

"All right girls! I have to say, not impressed. First day I know, but you all need LOTS of work. Tomorrow we will be working on agility. See you all here 6:00 a.m. sharp!" Ms. Hill quickly turned from the girls as she grabbed the board with the course map and walked towards to school.

Chapter Eleven: Getting Ready

What was left of May sped by so quickly, that by the time Bea realized it half of June had passed too. Bea had been continuing with her strict flying practice schedule. She had mixed feelings about the practice. On the days when they were working on speed Bea felt amazing. She had actually gotten faster as she had worked hard on her form. It had become almost a little embarrassing how much faster she was than either Veronica or Laura. Sometimes, if Bea wasn't focused Veronica would get close to her in time or be right on her heels as they dashed by Ms. Hill. But so far there had yet to be a day when Bea did not have the time to beat. Bea would have relished the moments as Veronica's face twisted up in anger after losing again to Bea, but Bea was absolutely terrible at the agility drills. The other days of practice where a nightmare that just didn't seem to be getting any better. Ms. Hill had them flying through various types of obstacle courses and Bea couldn't maneuver herself and maintain speed. Laura was almost always first. Bea was happy though to see her doing well. She didn't mind losing the first spot to her. The annoying thing was that she was never second. Veronica had a fair amount of agility and it killed Bea to watch her beat her every single day on obstacles. Bea tried hard not to let it get to her though and instead did her best to channel that energy into focusing even more. Besides, she knew that Veronica was doing the exact same thing on the speed runs. Ms. Hill had mentioned that by January the official field would be completed and open for them to practice on occasionally and that until then they would keep working on the separate skills of speed and agility on alternating practice days. Bea got incredibly nervous when she thought about the course. Would she be able to get herself together enough to beat Veronica? She knew that no matter how else the competition went down that she had to beat Veronica. They could be the final two as long as Bea was not last. Bea was positive that Ms. Hill had used the hatred that brewed between Bea and Veronica to push the two girls. Nearly every practice she had barked at one of them to goad them into trying harder to beat the other. Laura was happily left out of all of this.

With all of her focus on flying practice Bea had barely even noticed the passing school days. She did her best in class to keep up, but some days she was exceptionally tired and found her mind wandering more than it used to. Luckily she had Curtis to help her out. She had learned long ago that it did her no good to ask Catherine for extra help on school work. Catherine was willing to study together and to enter into discussions with Bea about topics at school, but Catherine had flat out refused to ever let Bea copy her notes. Bea had sometimes caught Catherine glaring at her in class when Bea's pencil had slipped from her hands during a daydream. But Curtis was in a similar boat, having lessons with the Ancients every day after school. Bea was so grateful that Curtis seemed to be handling his busy schedule better than she was. He passed her his notebooks every now and then, to let her copy down notes, and caught her up on readings that she had failed to complete.

Bea needed the help as the days sped by and everyone was suddenly faced with exams at the end of the term before summer break. Somehow, by a sheer miracle it felt to Bea, she had completed her exams and actually felt somewhat confident that she had done OK.

With the summer break, Ms. Hill had insisted that the girls have the weekend schedule of long morning practice every single day. Bea was eager to ask Ms. Hill what was going to happen on the solstice. She wanted to believe that Ms. Hill wouldn't dream of making them practice on that day, but Bea tried to ready herself for anything as she headed to practice that Saturday morning. Bea didn't get a chance to ask Ms. Hill at the start of practice, but at the end she made a point of catching Ms. Hill before she left the field.

"Ms. Hill?"

"Featherstone?" Ms. Hill didn't pause as she gathered her things and started towards the school. Clearly, if Bea wanted a word, it would have to be while running alongside Ms. Hill.

Bea did her best to keep up as she blurted out, "Do we have practice on Tuesday?"

"What? Tuesday? Of course! What's wrong with your head Featherstone?" Ms. Hill looked at Bea with an expression of confusion and pity that annoyed Bea to no end.

"Tuesday is the solstice," Bea said in a clear voice, determined to not let Ms. Hill's brusque behavior get her down.

Ms. Hill stopped. It was so sudden that Bea continued walking a few paces before she caught herself and turned to face Ms. Hill in anticipation.

"The solstice . . ." Ms. Hill was mumbling under her breath. Bea waited.

"Yes, Featherstone!"

"What?" Bea was confused.

Ms. Hill looked at Bea's expectant face and said loudly to Veronica and Laura as well, "Tuesday practice will be the same as every other day. The solstice celebrations are at night. Our practice won't interfere."

Laura looked taken aback. "Wait, but what about the morning after? We stay up all night on the solstice. You can't make us fly the following morning."

Ms. Hill nodded. Bea's heart leapt. Maybe they would get a day off after all.

"Good point, Alder. Wednesday's practice is rescheduled for noon to six in the evening. That should give you three enough time to sleep in and be ready for the day."

Ms. Hill didn't even give the girls a chance to reply. She continued her brisk walk back to the school and left Laura and Veronica and Bea in silence.

"Tough luck, huh?" Laura said with a small smile as she started heading to the pod station to return home.

Bea just shook her head.

Veronica had been a few paces in front of them and she turned to both and said, "The solstice is a waste of time anyway. It's for kids. This race is much more important. At least it is to me." With a toss of her hair, Veronica had hopped into her pod and was off for home.

Laura looked at Bea and asked, "Do you think the solstice is just for kids?"

"No!" Bea replied indignantly. "It's important isn't it? I bet Veronica will be there having fun just like the rest of us that night, you know?"

Laura laughed in agreement and they said their goodbyes as they went on their separate ways home.

Bea woke up the following morning to get ready for her long practice when she heard something that made her heart sink.

"Bea! Get in here, mom says you're going to be late!"

It was Steven, Bea's insanely annoying brother. He had mercifully been away from home for most of the past three years or so as he attended training school to enter into dust management. He was in his last year and was preparing to enter into his career after his graduation. Bea dreaded his brief returns to home during breaks. He seemed to get more annoying with every year. When he was younger, he would just pick on Bea and tease her, now that he was older he always spoke to her in such a superior way that it made her want to punch him in the stomach.

Bea jumped, and quickly finished buttoning her shirt when she heard Steven plodding down the hallway. She readied herself for his usual disregard for manners as he would always tear open her door and barge in like he owned the entire house. But instead he made a quick rapping on the door.

"Bea!"

He rapped the door again and said in a pompous voice, "Beatrice! You really shouldn't keep mom waiting like this. It shows a complete lack of respect."

He started rapping the door again and Bea ripped the door open mid knock. She stared at her brother as she stomped to the breakfast table. Her father was obviously still asleep. Mrs. Featherstone was finishing placing toast on Bea's plate.

"Mom, when did HE get here?"

Mrs. Featherstone gave a little laugh that she always shared for Bea and Steven when they were fighting. "Last night, honey. After you had gone to bed."

Steven sat himself down at the table and said, "Really Bea, you'd think you could get over all this childlike behavior. You are going off to training soon."

"But why did you have to come back again? I wanted some peace and quiet."

Steven sat his juice down, shared a smile with his mother that made Bea want to vomit and declared, "I just wanted to see you guys, that's all."

Sunday and Monday seemed to drag on far too slowly with practice not going well and being at home with Steven always being somewhere to share words of wisdom. Tuesday morning, Bea robotically forced herself to practice. She was sure that her excitement for the evening was going to mess with her focus, but she just kept thinking that if she flew faster she could somehow fly forward through time into the evenings' celebrations. Bea had already told her mother that she would be heading to Catherine's after practice. They were going to spend the afternoon playing around and getting ready for the evening. Catherine's house was the best place to get ready for anything. When they were younger, the two girls would beg Mrs. Royce to help them with their dresses and to put curls and pretty hair pins in their hair. Mrs. Featherstone always said no to any sort of waste of dust but, luckily, hadn't objected to Bea using dust at Catherine's. Bea was grateful for her mother's opinions because they meant that the girls never got ready for anything at Bea's house. This saved her the embarrassments of letting Catherine see her own mother's poor magic. Bea didn't like feeling this way about her mother. She usually felt quite proud to think of her job as a flier. But there was no denying that when it came to magic, Mrs. Featherstone was not very talented.

Bea arrived at Catherine's house and found herself inside Catherine's room. Bea lost her breath when she saw all the beautiful dresses tossed onto the bed. Catherine had her wings out and was wearing a shimmering silver dress that made her wings sparkle. Her rich curly hair had been twisted up onto of her head, leaving random curls to fall down across her shoulders. Bea stared enviously at her friend for a moment before Catherine took notice of her and laughed.

"Bea, don't stare. You look ridiculous like that."

Bea laughed too and plopped herself on the one corner of Catherine's bed that was not covered in abandoned dresses.

"How long have you been trying things on?" she asked as her fingers ran over the floral accents on a delicate green dress.

Catherine's face wrinkled up as she sighed at herself in the mirror. "All morning. I just can't seem to find the right one. Will you help me?"

"Yeah, but you usually never have this much trouble. I mean you try on a few each year, but this is crazy." Bea laughed and turned to survey the bed once more and missed Catherine's look of distress. Catherine shook her head of pretty curls and straightened her face into a casual smile as she turned her attention to her friend.

"What do you want to wear? Pick any of them. I have been teaching myself some great magic for making and fitting clothes and I am sure I can make any of them look beautiful on you."

Bea thought for a moment. The summer solstice was one of her favorite celebrations. It was one of the few that remained from the days long ago before the fairies moved to the islands. The fairies would celebrate the long night of summer by staying up all night, playing games, eating, dancing and singing. The fairies would bring out their most beautiful attire for the occasion and the female fairies would leave their wings out during the celebrations that took place outside at the park by the Main Hall. Bea had always loved gazing at the all the beautiful things and went crazy eating special solstice treats. Lately, she had really enjoyed getting dressed up herself and had relied on her good friend Catherine to find her the perfect dress. Though Mrs. Royce had usually helped the girls in the past, Catherine had told Bea that she wanted to do everything herself this year. Catherine reached across Bea and tugged a dress out from the bottom of a particularly precarious pile on the bed.

The dress was yellow. But not just yellow, it was the color of pale sunlight, golden and warm. Catherine smiled as she held it up in front of her and imagined it on Bea. "You have to try this one on. When I made it I kind of had you in mind."

Bea's eyes lit up as she gazed at the dress. Catherine had to be the best friend in the world to have known to make this dress. It was like she had been able to crawl into Bea's mind and steal her dreams. Bea tried it on and felt Catherine's dust shoot out and gently tug and gather the dress here and there.

"Not much to fix really. Guess I guessed you right," Catherine said with a satisfied grin and she turned Bea toward the long mirror in her room.

Bea couldn't stop smiling. The dress was perfect. It felt like she was wearing sunshine. It had a way of making Bea's wings more beautiful than she imagined they could be. She felt a pang of shame as she stared proudly at her wings. She had lately only thought of them in terms of how much faster they could make her fly. She hadn't given herself moments to stare at them. Seeing them in Catherine's room with the light shining through the walls, Bea was reminded of the day she bloomed and how she just couldn't stop staring at her reflection.

Bea tore herself back to Catherine as she said enviously, "You made this?"

"Yeah, and those on the bed too. I mean, my mother told me I could use a bit of my dust to make some. I started a few days ago so that I could make more and not be too drained."

Bea laughed. "You sure you didn't start a few months ago, not days? Looks like you have enough dresses here for all the fairies on the island."

Catherine's face wrinkled again. "I know. It does look kind of bad doesn't it? There's a way to make the dress go back to dust, you know, to sort of recycle things. I don't know how to work it yet though. Curtis does, I'll ask him to help me hide the evidence of my craziness. I don't think my mother had this in mind when she said I could make a few."

Bea gave a nervous laugh with Catherine. She knew too well how angry Mrs. Royce could get at times and thought it best for Catherine to avoid a confrontation if she could.

"Thanks for this dress. I really mean that. It is breathtaking." Bea squeezed her friends hands in hers and she tried to convey how sincerely thankful she was as she gazed into her friends' face. But it was clear that Catherine's mind was somewhere else as she gave a modest smile and returned the squeeze. Bea took the chance to try to help her by turning her friend around to face her reflection in the mirror.

"This silver one is the one for you. You look amazing!" Bea pulled a springy lock of curl to lay across Catherine's shoulder as she smiled approvingly at her.

Catherine's face wrinkled again. But then she caught Bea's smile in the reflection and relaxed. "Do you think it really does look good?"

"YES! It is beautiful! And with your gorgeous hair and pretty little face, you really are a vision." Bea had plopped herself down into the chair that sat in front of the little vanity across the room and was tugging at her own straight, boring hair.

Catherine left her reflection to see to her friend. "Don't worry. We'll make your hair pretty too."

Bea felt just as she had as a small kid sitting in this very room. Her legs would kick around excitedly as Mrs. Royce would work her magic to make Bea's hair full of curls, and one year even made her hair a crazy bight shade of pink. Catherine saw Bea's silly behavior and laughed as she prepared herself to fix Bea's hair.

"I think you should keep your natural color this year. It is such a pretty shade of blue and looks really nice with the dress."

Bea nodded and replied, "Yeah, that's probably a good idea. But I get curls right?"

"Yes, yes, you get curls." Catherine had taken a small step back and had gently directed her fingertips towards Bea's hair. She had started on the left side and sections of Bea's long, straight, blue hair wrapped themselves around nothing to create delicate, bouncy curls. Bea's smile was ridiculously huge as she watched the process in action. But Bea's smile faded as she saw that Catherine's expression had frozen.

"What's wrong?" Bea asked.

Catherine shook her hand a little and dust sprinkled feebly from her fingertips. "I think I'm out."

Bea stood up, not meaning to knock over the delicate chair she had been sitting on, and grabbed her friend's wrists. "What do you mean, you're out?"

"Bea, don't freak out on me. It was bound to happen, right? I mean, I overdid it with all those dresses. I think I just need some down time. This has happened to you before too, hasn't it?" Catherine said with half a smile

"NO!" Bea was pacing the room as she spoke. She found herself in front of the long mirror and she saw her hair, half beautiful curls, and half limp nothingness. She couldn't go to the solstice looking like this. She turned to her friend, but then realized she couldn't really be mad at Catherine. Catherine hadn't done anything wrong. If anything she had done everything right, so right that she could do nothing more. Of course Bea had never run out of dust. She had never done any complicated magic and had never been taxed to do lots of work either. She felt embarrassment wash over her and she thought how selfish she was being. She slowly walked back to the vanity, picked up the overturned chair, and searched for her friend's gaze in the mirror.

"I'm sorry. I freaked out. I know you have done so much. I have never done even half as much magic as you have done, just today. It would take a miracle for me to ever run out of dust. It never even crossed my mind as being a possibility. I'm sorry for being silly. Maybe we can ask your mom to fix my hair." Bea suggested imploringly.

Catherine's gaze froze. "No, we can't let her know that I ran out. I told her I would take care of everything this year. If she knew I had run out, she would be suspicious and she would probably find out about all these dresses."

"Oh, that would not be good. OK, it's no big deal. I'll just go to the solstice like this. Maybe I can twist up the straight side and pin it in the back so you can't tell." Bea offered, as she tugged at her hair and tried in a feeble attempt to style it with her own fumbling fingers.

Bea was surprised to hear Catherine laugh at her. "Don't be silly! We'll ask Curtis."

"Curtis! Are you sure?" Bea wasn't sure about letting a boy fix her hair, even if it was Curtis.

Catherine seemed to read Bea's mind as she said, "Curtis is amazing. Better than me. You don't know this, but he actually has taught me a lot of what I know how to do. He has this amazing knack for making things beautiful, I just don't get it. I really do sometimes think he was supposed to be a girl."

"He does have crazy magic skills. Are you sure?" Bea asked.

"To be honest, I think his heart broke a little bit every year that you, me and mother locked ourselves in here to get ready for the solstice. Let me go get him " Catherine left the room for a second and Bea could hear muffled voices through the walls. Then a door burst open and before Bea had a chance to focus, Curtis was standing behind Bea smiling at her reflection.

Catherine had followed him into the room and quietly shut the door behind her. Bea smiled at Curtis and asked, "Are you sure you are OK to do this though, after your lessons with the Ancients, do they leave you with much dust? I don't want both of you to be out."

Curtis couldn't wipe the huge smile off his face if he tried as he casually ran his fingers through Bea's hair.

Catherine grabbed her brother's arm and pulled his attention away from Bea and towards the bed piled high with dresses. "I also really need your help getting those back to dust. Will you be able to do both things before mother gets home? Please."

"Yeah, I'm good. Don't worry sis. Let's get Bea ready first though so she can relax and then we will get rid of the evidence of your vanity." Curtis turned again to Bea's reflection. He took a moment to assess the work Catherine had done on the left side. He kept checking how much curl the hair had and where the locks fell along her back.

"OK. I think we are good to go. You ready?" Bea gave a nervous nod and stiffened her shoulders as she prepared for Curtis' magic. Curtis too took a small step back and held his hand up. Dust shot delicately from his fingertips as he swept across Bea's hair. Any apprehension Bea may have shown on her face disappeared in an instant as Curtis recreated the same curls that Catherine had made before. Now, Bea had a beautiful head of bouncy playful curls. Bea was about to jump up and hug Curtis and Catherine in thanks when she found Curtis had gently placed his hands on her shoulders, keeping her in her seat.

"Now, I think you need to do something with these curls, because you look like you did when you were eight."

Bea shook her head and felt her hair gently bounce. "What do you mean? I love it like this!"

Curtis laughed through his nose, "I know you love it. But you look like a kid."

"Ooh, can you put pretty pins in it too, like your mom always does?"

"Pretty pins? Really, Bea?" Curtis shook his head and shared a knowing glance with his sister before he focused on Bea again.

"You are going to be going into training later this year. It is time for a new look, something a little more grown up, don't you think?" And without really waiting for Bea's response, sparkling, dancing dust had left Curtis' fingertips and wove themselves around Bea's hair. Sections on either side twisted back, leaving her face free of stray curls. Bea felt little pulls at her hair here and there and before she could even find her voice, Curtis had turned her around and given her a hand mirror so that she see the back of her hair. The curls were all delicately arranged and were cascading down her back between her wings. There were small sparkling pearls here and there that brought out the same pearls in her wings. Bea had to catch her breath as she stared at what Curtis had done. As she turned her head she could feel that there were no more bouncy curls for her toss around and enjoy. But instead, the formal look made her hold her head high and in a way that made Bea feel more mature and more beautiful than she had ever felt before.

"Thanks, Curtis," Bea mumbled as she continued to stare at his handiwork.

Curtis looked satisfied as he turned on his heel to look at Catherine's dresses. "You look really pretty sis," he said as he gave an approving nod.

Catherine found herself stuck in front of the mirror once more with her face wrinkled up again. Curtis grabbed her shoulders and lowered himself to whisper into her ear, "I still don't approve of why you are going to all of this trouble though."

Bea had just pulled herself from staring at her own reflection when she caught the end of Curtis' hushed words. "What are you two talking about? What do you mean you don't approve?"

Curtis made to speak, but Catherine cut him off, "Oh, you know, just that I wasted so much time and dust on all these silly dresses just because I wanted to do everything myself this year."

"Yea, that's it," Curtis said as he rolled his eyes. Bea wanted to press them further, but was soon distracted by Curtis as he had started working the complex magic of reversing the process of making all the dresses on Catherine's bed. As he pointed his fingers at each dress they were drawn up to hover over the floor. Slowly each dress seemed to erase itself in stages. The delicate accents disappeared first until simple dress forms remained and then those too faded and faded until, with a light snap, only dust remained. Curtis then directed the dust into small containers he had made appear out of nowhere. In a matter of minutes all of Catherine's incredibly hard work had been destroyed and forced into the little bottles that shone feebly in the sunlit room.

Bea grabbed one of the bottles and held it between her fingers. "So this is what recycled dust looks like. It is kind of dull, compared to other dust."

Curtis had gathered the remaining bottles into a bag and put his hand out for the last one Bea held. "Yeah, I know that the Ancients are trying to figure out a way to keep the grade when we recycle from things that used higher-grade dust. Right now, if you do that magic to get things back to dust, you just wind up with medium regular-grade."

"Thanks Curtis, for getting those cleared away for me. You really are a lifesaver. " Catherine said as she took inventory of her room, checking that everything looked normal again.

"Thank you Curtis for fixing my hair too!" Bea added cheerfully.

Curtis smiled his thanks and added, "Yeah, but if anyone asks, that was all Catherine, OK?"

"No problem. So, are we leaving soon?" Bea was nearly bouncing up and down with excitement.

Curtis laughed and headed back to his room. "Give me one second to get ready myself, if you don't mind."

Soon the three of them were headed out the door. They took a pod that brought them right in front of the Main Hall. It was still early evening, but the park that encircled the Main Hall, at the center of island, seemed to be glowing and sparkling. There were beautiful flowers and streamers running all around the park and there were iridescent bubbles at intervals, each containing what Bea knew would later shine and sparkle like stars. The decorations wove all the way up to the streets of shops that curved around in front and behind the Main Hall. Here was where people set up stalls and carts to sell treats for the festivities. Just like other dream fairy food, everything was made with dust and had a delicate sweet taste too it. The flavor was not what was so enjoyable about these treats, however. There were little butterflies that were like the ones that were on Catherine's birthday cake when she turned eight. If you gave them a chance they would flutter in your mouth for a few moments. Little brightly colored flowers had a buttery quality to them as they would slowly melt and then take over your entire mouth with a divine sweetness. There were also sparkling stars that were the main treat of the festivities. These too had the same sweetness, but were rather like hard candies that stayed in your mouth setting off small sparkles that always made Bea's stomach jump in excitement.

Bea had already run off to get some treats, leaving Curtis and Catherine to try to catch up to her. Many of the fairies from the island had begun to arrive at the festivities. Younger fairies were all running up and down in front of the stalls and carts begging their parents to get them something. Bea's face flushed as she realized that she was soon completely surrounded by young fairies that had not even bloomed yet. She took a step away and let them rush forward to get their treats. Bea had just popped another sparkling star in her mouth when she spotted her parents. Her mother had a ridiculous grin on her face as she moved a little ahead of Mr. Featherstone.

"Wow, you look beautiful!" Mrs. Featherstone gushed.

Bea turned to Catherine with a smile. "All her, mom."

Mrs. Featherstone looked surprised and then smiled at Catherine. "Of course. I imagined you would take over the yearly rituals of getting ready. You are amazingly talented Catherine. I think even better than your mom." Mrs. Featherstone ended her praise with a gentle squeeze of Catherine's arm that made Catherine's face turn pink. The sun had started to go down and the little bubbles were making small popping noises as they each lit up into sparkling, brilliant balls of stars. The new lighting seemed to make the dresses that Catherine made sparkle and dance more than before. Bea felt silly and giddy and wanted to run around like she did as a kid. She looked enviously at the small group of kids that she had let pass in front of her to get treats earlier. Then Bea caught her mother whispering something to her father. Her father's faced seemed to change from his usual smile to one of concern. Mrs. Featherstone walked over and took Bea by the hand, away from the group. Bea could hear her father speaking with Curtis and Catherine behind her.

"You really do look so pretty. I know we don't let you do things like that with your hair usually and this dress, well, this dress is certainly nothing I could have made. But you know, it really is worth it to see you shine like this tonight."

Bea felt oddly embarrassed by her mother's words. "Whatever, mom."

Mrs. Featherstone's smile spoke so much. Bea always loved how her mother always seemed to really get what she was thinking.

"Listen. I wanted to talk to you about something." Mrs. Featherstone's voice had dropped a little as she leaned in to speak to Bea. "It's about the fire."

Chapter Twelve: Summer Solstice

Realization dawned on Bea as she heard her mother mention the fire. That was why her mother was acting so strange and her father was so concerned. The main attraction at the solstice was the fire. Long ago, dream fairies would go to even greater lengths to celebrate the solstice. Back then a large bonfire would be set and the fairies would dance and sing. Then fairies would pair off and they would run towards the fire and jump over it. With the help of the female fairy's wings and a bit a magic from the male, the two would work together to make a safe leap over the flames. If a couple did a good job of this leap, it was considered good luck for their future. This ritual was still somewhat followed today. The fire was a magic fire that shifted colors as it sent tickling flames into the sky. It wasn't even really hot. Bea knew because as a kid she had played around and even in the fire. As the night wore on couples could be seen making the leap across the completely innocent flames. The crowd would gather and watch and cheer. When Bea was younger she remembered thinking the couples were funny for trying so hard not to touch the flames, when it was actually kind of fun to run straight through them. The last few years, Bea had watched some of the older kids at school pair off and make the leap. Bea had to admit that she hadn't really given much thought to ever making the leap with one of the male fairies on the island. It seemed almost silly to think about. But, here was her mother, wanting to talk to her about just that. Bea tried to brace herself for the awkwardness that was sure to follow.

"So, you know, do you think, is there anyone you were thinking about, to you know, do the leap with?" Mrs. Featherstone's face had flushed and Bea tried not to laugh at her.

"To be honest mom, no," Bea hoped this kind of response would make her mother relax, but it seemed to have the opposite effect.

Her mother's forehead wrinkled up as she said, "What about Curtis?"

Bea laughed through her nose, loudly. She hadn't meant to be so rude, but the idea of Curtis and her pairing off and leaping across the summer solstice fire was enough to send her into fits of uncontrollable laughter. She tried to stop herself from doing just that as she looked at her mother's confused expression.

"No, mom. Don't get me wrong, I love Curtis. But he's my friend. That's all."

Mrs. Featherstone gave a knowing smile and pressed further, "I know. Your dad and I just always assumed you two would figure out sooner or later that a good friend makes a great partner. You sure you both haven't ever given it a thought?"

"No mom. I'm really positive that we are just friends. I don't know how to explain it, but I don't think. . . I really know for sure that Curtis doesn't see me in any other way. You know?" Bea wanted her mother to really understand what she was saying, but Bea didn't even think she herself understood what it was that she was thinking.

"OK, well, that's fine. You are still young. I am sure you will find someone later during training who will be a good match for you. I just wanted to talk to you in case there was someone and you were thinking of leaping the fire this year. Your dad and I wanted to, you know, say it was all good." Mrs. Featherstone was so hopelessly awful at these kinds of talks it actually made Bea feel a little sorry for her.

"Don't worry mom. Thanks for thinking of it." Bea could tell her mother still felt a little uncomfortable and so Bea tried to steer the conversation into something more fun. "So, did you and dad leap the fire?"

Mrs. Featherstone smiled. "Yes, in fact we did. He's older than me, by a few years. You know, your aunt? Well, she and I were classmates. We weren't really close friends, just classmates. But your dad had come back to see his family during his years in training and one summer he just sort of grabbed my hand and had taken me to the flames. We didn't quite make a good leap. I was taken off guard and our timing was off. He used his magic before I had made full use of my wings and, well you know how clumsy I am, and we sort of did a dive into the fire. Everyone had a good laugh. But some of those silly older fairies kept whispering that our union would be doomed. Pretty ridiculous if you ask me."

Mrs. Featherstone had slowly brought the two of them back to Curtis, Catherine and her father. Bea was relieved to be back with them and watched as her mother and father left them to enjoy the festivities.

"What did your mom want?" Curtis asked as the three of them started walking around the park.

Bea laughed. "Wanted to know if I was going to be leaping the fire this year."

Curtis gripped Bea's wrist in an overly dramatic way as he said playfully, "Are you going to Bea? Are you going to leap the fire?"

Bea laughed again and said very clearly, "No."

"Well, that's good to know, because I know I won't be and I would hate to be the only one," Curtis gave Bea a gentle squeeze as they continued walking slowly amongst the crowds. Bea's and Curtis' eyes met for a moment and Bea knew that she was right when she had told her mother that she and Curtis were nothing more than very best friends.

Curtis took his sister's hand in his free one and the three of them set off amongst the stalls. Bea saw Laura and the four of them huddled under a large decoration of glowing stars and glittering flowers. Bea passed around some of the treats she had bought earlier.

"Wow, I haven't had one of these in years," Laura said with a smile as she popped one of the buttery butterflies into her mouth.

Bea was ready to add her reply when she saw in the distance three fairies get out of a pod that had just arrived. Bea could recognize Veronica's wings from any distance, she was sure of it. Bea assumed that Veronica must have arrived with her little sister and her father. Bea didn't really know much about Veronica's family. Her little sister went to prep school with them. She was easily a few years younger and Bea had never really even seen Veronica speak to her at school. Of course, Bea had never made it known that her and Steven were related while at school either. Bea took notice that, again, Mrs. Iverson had not come to the festivities. Nearly everyone knew though that Mrs. Iverson was a flier and that she either had the misfortune or had actually volunteered to be on duty during major events like this. Now, as Bea gave it a little thought, she realized that she had never seen Mrs. Iverson. Bea was a little surprised to find that she was feeling something similar to pity for Veronica as she had such a busy mother who could not attend the solstice with her family. Bea shook her head to rid herself of such a thought and turned back to her friends.

"Looks like Veronica came for the solstice after all," Bea said as she gestured her head in Veronica's direction.

Curtis and Catherine did nothing to hide their complete dislike of Veronica. However, Laura paid little attention to them as she laughed and said, "Yeah, Veronica is full of it. She is always talking big and not really living up to it, you know?"

Bea nodded her head, but felt like Laura was really talking to wrong group of people. Did Laura not know that Veronica had made it her daily mission to torture and harass Bea, Catherine and Curtis? Whatever slights Veronica had made to Laura; they had to be minuscule in comparison to their lives.

Suddenly a great deal of commotion erupted in the center of the park. A small circle had been cleared and the fire had been started. Everyone cheered as the magical fire danced to life. Bea watched as the younger fairies stuffed their sweets into their pockets and ran at the fire.

"So, um, Bea, your parents are here, but is Steven back?" Catherine had asked as magical flames reflected in her big round eyes.

"Yeah! I hate it when he comes home," Bea said with a sneer. She imagined her brother was somewhere in the crowd since her parents had already arrived. Bea's mind was filled with all the solstices of the past when her brother had caused her trouble. It was almost a ritual that he had caused her to trip and stumble through the fire and Bea was happy that she had grown up enough to no longer run through the flames just to avoid the embarrassment of Steven making her fall.

The crowd around her cheered and Bea's focus was brought back to the fire. A couple had just made the leap and were smiling and holding hands on the other side. Bea turned and found that more of her classmates had gathered near them. Suddenly she felt someone standing behind her. She turned and looked up to see Johnathan Woodsburough smiling down at her. He was taller than she remembered, or maybe it was because she hadn't ever really been that close to him, but now that he was right behind her she found herself feeling very small as she returned a smile. More cheers from the crowd as another couple made the leap and Bea was finding it hard to hear the conversation around her. Bea was certain that nearly everyone on the island had to be here now, the crowd was so thick. They still had a good view of the fire though and laughed as some young male fairies did some somersaults through the flames as they changed from blue to red. Bea was just about to grab Catherine and Curtis and suggest that get away from the noise, when she felt an unfamiliar hand in hers. She turned and was surprised to find that it was Johnathan's. His hand was big and warm and Bea was confused why he was there. She wanted to ask him but found the noise of the crowd making it impossible to talk. Johnathan leaned down and brought his head and mouth to her ear.

"You look pretty," he said in a barely audible whisper. He didn't move away and the crowd cheered again as an older couple landed deftly after their spectacular leap. Bea felt Johnathan's grip tighten as he whispered again, "Sorry."

Before Bea could really register what was going on she had been pulled forward by Johnathan. They stood in front of the flames and Bea's heart leapt up into her throat. He wasn't really making her do this, was he? Why?

The flames were so much brighter than Bea remembered them as they flashed every which way. Bea couldn't really make out the crowd around her. The two seemed to be standing there for what felt like forever and the crowd was clearly getting restless wondering if they would indeed leap. The cheering got louder and rhythmical as people chanted and clapped to encourage the young couple to make the leap across the flames. Johnathan didn't bother leaning down this time to whisper as he chose to use his full voice as he screamed over the crowd, "On three? One, two, three!"

Bea squeezed her eyes tight shut and gave a lurch forward hoping her wings would help her and Johnathan over the flames, Johnathan, who was so tall and big. Would she be able to help him make the jump? How much magic ability did he have? Would he be able to get them safely across to avoid embarrassment? But before she could even think about it further she found that her feet had met gently with the earth again. The crowd's cheers rang in her ears and she felt Johnathan's hand leave hers. She turned to look up at him but found that he was already being dragged away by his friends. They slapped him on the back and punched his arm as one of them said, "Good one! I did not think you would do it. You proved me wrong! You win the bet, I owe you a bag of those sparkling star things!"

Bea felt her face flush. She looked around her, trying to find Catherine or Curtis in the crowd. No one was paying any attention to her anymore as another couple had already approached the flame and seemed ready to make the leap. Bea hurried out of the way and ran to the row of stalls to hide amongst the trees. The minute she was away from the crowd and noise her mind seemed to fill up so suddenly with thoughts and feelings that she felt like she might explode. The surprise of what had just happened had completely worn off and Bea felt a red hot anger burning her throat.

Had she heard right? Johnathan had dragged Bea over the fire as a bet? She had seen other boys do this in the past. She had watched as girls turned pink with embarrassment to find themselves being pulled suddenly from the crowd. She remembered thinking at the time that the boys were being silly, like Steven, and she had felt sorry for them. She had never even thought that something like this would happen to her. And Johnathan! Johnathan, who she thought was better than all of his stupid friends. He had been the first one to be nice to Curtis. She couldn't help but find herself incredibly angry with him for what he had done. But then Bea remembered his whisper. He had said sorry before dragging her forward. He had also told her that she looked pretty. Bea felt so angry and confused that she felt like literally pulling at her hair. Unknowingly she found herself pacing back and forth in front of one stall in the very back when a familiar voice broke the silence.

"You know that doesn't count."

Bea stopped in her tracks and focused her eyes on the voice she had just heard. Bea hadn't realized that she was over by the stall that her father had religiously dragged her away from year after year. Mr. Featherstone had always sneered and pulled on Bea's hand a little harder than necessary when she had begged to see the stall more closely. He had told her that there was nothing there to see, and that he would be very disappointed in her if he ever found out that she had come here on her own. Bea had done as her father had told her. As a younger fairy she had been tempted a few years to see what was at their stall, but after being forced to ignore the existence of the stall, every single year, Bea found herself not even taking it in as part of the surroundings of the solstice. Now she found herself standing before it, facing James. Was this stall his family's?

Bea blinked a few times and tried to get her brain to focus. "What?"

"The leap, it doesn't count. It's such a joke, an embarrassment really. It should be a real fire, not this fake, stupid magic display . . ." James voice trailed off. He was mumbling and seemed to be having a hard time finding the words to express his ideas. As usual he had started off defiantly, with determination and then succumbed to his own shyness. For a brief moment he had stared right at Bea, but now he could do nothing but stare at his feet while his hair fell forward to cover his face.

Though Bea had been plenty angry before thinking how wrong it was that Johnathan had dragged her to the leap the fire, she found herself feeling suddenly protective of Johnathan as well as the fire.

"What are you mumbling about?" Bea glared at James, daring him to look up at her, hoping to get a chance to be challenged so that she could let go of some of her anger. But she was completely caught off guard when three more fairies came out of the darkness behind the stall that James was sitting at. They too had robes like his and they all came to stand behind James. Bea realized that this must be his family. She tried to remembered what her father had told her about the Zephyrs and realized that the male fairy that had moved right behind James, must be his brother who was a little younger than Steven. He didn't look anything like James. He was stocky and muscular and his hair was a very pale blue. He had it cut short in a funny way that made it all stand up.

"No one is going to listen to what you have to say, bro, if you don't enunciate," and James' brother finished off his last words with a hearty slap on his brother's back. Bea tried to find James' face beneath his hair to catch his reaction, but never saw it.

The fairy who was clearly James' father stepped from behind the stalls and approached Bea. Bea didn't know what to do. Part of her was telling her to run away like child, but a much bigger part of her was insanely curious about this family. Mr. Zephyr was James' brother only older. The two looked so alike they could be twins. But while James' brother's hair was a pale blue, his father's hair was slowly fading away to white all around his face. As he spoke, Bea noticed how the two of them had a very similar voice. Deep and clear, he spoke with so much force that Bea felt her body jump. "Who do we have here, James?"

James didn't look up as he said quietly, "Beatrice. Beatrice Featherstone. "

"Oh my! Really? Well, that's wonderful!" Mr. Zephyr had moved forward and grabbed Bea's hand into both of his as he shook it enthusiastically.

"Look at her Emma! She is a vision. You've grown up so fast it seems. Ah, I knew your father, Beatrice. Well, now it seems so long ago, but still like yesterday." As he spoke he continued to grip her hand and shake it with his words. Mrs. Zephyr had stepped out from behind the stall as well and she gently placed her small, thin hands on her husband's. James clearly took after his mother. They were both tall and thin and she had that strange, dark hair like his. Hers was so long and straight and it had a way of sparkling and dancing even though there was no light shining on her in this secluded part of the festivities.

"Now Jack, let's leave the poor girl alone. We don't want to frighten her." Slowly Mr. Zephyr let Bea's hand drop as he took Mrs. Zephyr's hand in his instead. Bea's eyes darted back and forth between the Zephyr's. She shifted the weight in her feet and was ready to walk away when James lifted his head and stared directly at her. He had been slumped down in the corner, hiding his face from her while his parents spoke. His stare was so alarming; it caught Bea and gave Mrs. Zephyr the chance she needed.

She gently pulled on Bea's hand and continued, "Now Beatrice, I wonder have you bought any of the sweets from the stalls?"

"Yeah, I did. Like I do every year. Why?" Bea felt her face flush slightly as she admitted her childlike love of the treats of the solstice.

Mrs. Zephyr had reached behind her and grabbed a small glass jar. Inside it where small, round balls. They all looked like the color of sunlight, such a rich deep golden hue. Mrs. Zephyr took one out gently and held it out in her palm.

"This is a true solstice treat, Beatrice. Please take it."

Bea looked down at the treat. It seemed so completely not extraordinary. The color was brilliant, but that was all. Bea took a moment to stare at it and as she did she thought of her father and his warnings all these years to not come to this stall. Was this really all he was trying to keep her from?

Mrs. Zephyr seemed to be reading her thoughts as she spoke in a slightly angry tone, "I imagine your father has told you not to come here. He would have done that. They all would have done that. But don't worry, this won't hurt you. This is what dream fairies are meant to eat, the natural food of the fairies from long ago. Please, take it."

Bea looked at Mrs. Zephyr's face, which had replaced her stern look with a gentle smile as she pushed her hand towards Bea. Bea reached out and grabbed the sweet. "Thank you," she said rather awkwardly. She held the small golden ball in between her forefinger and her thumb. She stared at the rich golden color shift as she turned the ball around.

"Go on then, it won't hurt you," Mrs. Zephyr said with another smile.

Bea looked to James for some kind of reaction or sign, but he had turned his head down and was staring at his feet again. Bea was ready to pop the sweet into her mouth when she heard her name being shouted over the noises of the celebration. Just then Catherine and Curtis rounded the corner that led to the secluded area where the Zephyr's stall stood alone. Without thinking, Bea stuffed the golden ball into her pocket and ran towards them. As she left the Zephyrs behind her she turned and saw James staring at her across the distance.

"There you are!" Curtis screamed as he grabbed Bea by the wrists and the three of them found themselves back in the noisy festivities of the solstice.

Catherine's face was lined with worry as she looked at Bea and asked, "Are you OK? We looked everywhere for you after you and Johnathan made the leap."

"Yeah, I don't even really know how I wound up over there. Sorry for freaking you guys out. I'm fine." Bea forced a smile as she tried to calm her friends who were both staring at her with great concern. Then she realized that it was not because she had been found speaking to the Zephyrs that her friends were both looking at her in such a strange way. It was obvious that they were both going crazy wanting to talk to her about Johnathan and the leap.

"I thought you said you weren't going to leap!" Curtis said in an accusatory tone. But his smile gave him away as he continued, "How was it? When did you two decide to do that? I had no idea. I mean, Johnathan though, he is nice . . ."

"No!" Bea had to cut Curtis off before he got any further. "No, you have it wrong. I had no plans to do that at all. He just showed up out of nowhere and made me do it. I guess it was all part of a bet or something."

"No way!" Curtis shouted out indignantly. "I don't believe it!"

Bea felt herself cringe as she thought how strange the events of the past few minutes had been. She felt her embarrassment from the leap take over her again and her hands grew sweaty as she thought about how angry she had been when she had watched Johnathan rejoin his friends triumphant in his bet.

Catherine's expression had changed slowly. She had approached Bea with a look of what Bea had mistaken for concern. She now realized as she looked from Curtis to Catherine, that what she was really feeling was anger. Why was Catherine angry at Bea for leaping the fire with Johnathan? And now, as Bea watched her friend's features soften into her usual smile, Bea knew that for whatever reason Catherine had been mad at her, that reason must have been gone now. Bea's mind was racing as she tried to focus her thoughts. Was Catherine jealous of Bea? Did she like Johnathan?

Curtis continued to press Bea for details of the leap, but it was obvious that Catherine's mind was elsewhere as her eyes kept scanning the festivities as though she were looking for someone. Just then Bea saw her brother approaching them across the grassy park.

"Hey there, Bea!" Steven was being awfully friendly, and that always made Bea nervous. Bea was positive that her brother had seen her leap with Johnathan and was about to overwhelm her with rude comments. She tried to ready herself with some witty retorts but she didn't get her chance to speak as Catherine had suddenly spoken.

"Steven! When did you get home?" Catherine's face was flushed and her voice had been a little louder than normal. Bea felt her thoughts stumble.

"Ah, a few days ago. Pretty excited to come home. Might be the last time, you know." Steven was speaking in such a casual tone that if Bea hadn't been staring right at him as he spoke she might not have thought it was him.

"What are you talking about? The last time?" Bea declared.

Steven turned to his sister with that familiar, annoying look in his eyes that in some strange way set Bea's mind at ease. "You know what I mean, sis. I'll be going on to my job and not to mention that you will be done with school this year, so mom and dad have to leave the island." Bea thought for a second. She hadn't even given herself a chance to think about this, but she couldn't deny that her brother was right. This most definitely would be the last solstice on this island. And though she really didn't care to lose the time with her brother, she couldn't help the nostalgic feeling that crept through her as she looked around her with different eyes. If this was going to be last solstice here on this island then she would definitely have to take it all in. Her thoughts were interrupted as Steven spoke again, in his strangely casual tone.

"Your family will be leaving as well, right Catherine?"

Catherine gave a nod as she replied shyly, "Yes. They will be moving back to the Main Island."

Steven nodded his head approvingly and continued, "Just as my parents will be doing. Good to know we will still be seeing each other after all. Well, I am going to walk around. Would you care to join me?"

"No!" Bea replied incredulously. But then she looked at the scene again. She saw Curtis shaking his head sympathetically at her. She saw that it was clear that the invitation made by her brother was for Catherine and Catherine alone.

Steven had held out his arm and was pleased to find that Catherine had taken it and the two of them slowly strolled away from a startled Bea and a slightly angry looking Curtis.

"OK, what just happened there?" Bea said as she turned on Curtis.

"Don't blame me! I don't approve. Catherine has liked your brother for some time now it seems."

Bea felt her stomach turn. How was it that she did not know this? "What? Seriously?" Bea couldn't find the words to express how completely shocked she felt at this moment. Curtis put an arm around her shoulder and said, "It's cool. She didn't even tell me until a few days ago. I imagine she felt really awkward knowing that you and your brother don't really get along so well. She and I talked about it. I told her she should tell you soon since you are her best friend, but I think she thought you would not be so happy to hear the news."

"Well, she was right about that! This is ridiculous! Steven! He is an idiot! Catherine could do so much better!"

"I spent hours telling her the exact same thing the other night. She doesn't care," Curtis sighed in a resigned sort of way that made Bea bristle with anger.

"You can't give up that fast! We seriously have to do something. I mean, Steven, you know, he's just so . . ." Bea's emotion was blocking her sense of speech as her hands curled into fists.

Curtis gave a sympathetic laugh and grabbed one of Bea's hands. He pressed it into hers in a friendly way and said, "I know you don't like your brother. To be honest, I don't like him either. But, Catherine explained it all to me and it is almost like she has had these feelings for Steven for years now. I guess she got up the nerve to talk to him way back when he graduated, you know that summer before he left for training? Well, they have been writing to each other ever since."

Bea's mind was spinning with the news. Catherine and her brother had been writing letters to each other for years without Bea knowing? And all of a sudden Bea felt as she had that day a few years ago when Catherine had been stuck in the Edge and Bea had just found out that it had not been the first time for her to go to the Edge alone, but rather part of a ritual that Catherine had for years. Why was Catherine always keeping secrets from her?

Bea found her voice and pressed Curtis for more details. "So, why didn't they meet up at the solstice last year?"

"I guess in the beginning Steven was just being friendly, writing to Catherine. He had always thought that it was just a friend thing and nothing more. Catherine had never really let on otherwise. Then right after the New Year something Steven wrote made Catherine think his feelings had changed and so she took a risk and wrote something too and that started it all." Curtis looked as though he had a bad taste in his mouth.

Bea stared out in front of her at the beautiful decorations and the fairies celebrating the solstice into the night. She tried her best to stare through the crowd and find her friend. She looked for Catherine's silver dress. Bea dared her to be there and to turn around and to make eye contact with her. She was certain that she would be able to let Catherine know how angry she was just by sharing a glance with her. But then Bea got nervous and stopped her search amongst the gathering fairies. What would she say when she saw Catherine again? She couldn't get her thoughts straight. Was she angry at Catherine? Yes, without a doubt. But about what really? The fact that it was Steven that Catherine liked was probably not really what Bea was angry about. No, it was the fact that Catherine had held this secret for so long, just as before. Bea knew that her face was flushed. Everything around her seemed too loud and garish and she wanted nothing more than to rush home and cry alone in her room. Then she felt Curtis' hand squeeze hers again. He turned Bea to face him and he said in a voice that Bea knew he had always saved just for her, "Listen. Don't give it any more thought. Like Steven said, this is our last time to celebrate the solstice here, on this island. Let's have fun. You look beautiful. And I have a little something for myself that I want to do, but I need you to be with me, OK?"

Bea felt her anger slowly melt away as she saw Curtis' pleading expression. Her interest piqued, she shook her head to rid herself of her negative thoughts and made herself smile in return. "Of course, what's up Curtis?"

Curtis pulled Bea behind one of the sweet stalls and he let go of Bea's hand. Bea stared at her friend's face, lit up with excitement and realized that it had been a really long time since she had seen Curtis smile as he was smiling tonight.

"OK, here's the thing," Curtis' voice was dropped to a whisper and Bea could feel her face cool with the night breeze as her anger slipped farther away, ". . . I made wings again."

"What!"

Bea hadn't really meant to be so loud, but her voice had easily carried over the immediate crowd and caused a few groups of fairies to turn and stare at them. Curtis dragged her further into the shadow behind the stall. He tried to give her a stern look to reprimand her for her outburst but there was no disguising his excitement.

"Yeah, I just finished things up the other day. It's been a while and I really wanted to try again. I think this is the best pair I have ever made."

Bea's face wrinkled up in concern. "But, won't you get in trouble again? I mean, what will they do to you? Will you be gone long like last time?"

"Oh, yeah. I am pretty sure that they will send someone out within a few minutes of me flying. But . . ."

Bea didn't give Curtis time to speak she grabbed both of his hands and stared at him, hard and said, "No, don't do it. They'll take you away again!"

"Yeah, but it won't be bad. I mean, it will be worth it. I really think this will be my last chance to ever . . . and I have always wanted wings . . . to be able to fly, like you do . . ." Curtis didn't finish his thought. He just stared into Bea's face with a pleading expression that made Bea's heart melt.

Who was she to stop Curtis if this was clearly something he really wanted to do? Was it so easy to forget the risks involved and support this crazy idea because Bea herself was not to be reprimanded? Bea felt her excitement return as she pushed aside her worry for her friend and focused instead on the thought of getting to see Curtis' wings and to watch him fly over everyone here at the solstice. Curtis knew he had won Bea over and his smile returned.

"I'm glad it is just you and me, you know?"

Catherine! Bea had completely forgotten about her. "Do you want me to go find Catherine though? I could you know." Bea asked eagerly.

"No! If she was here she would just try to stop me and I don't need people getting in my way right now. I've thought about this a lot. This is something I want to do, something I have to do." He stared at Bea in a defiant sort of way as though asking her to challenge him again. Bea had no desire to change his mind. She thought again and could imagine Catherine being there and all the warnings she would have assaulted her brother with. Bea's anger at Catherine returned to help her feel confident that it was in fact better that Catherine was not there to share in this moment with Curtis. She had, after all, made her choice and that choice had not been Bea and Curtis. Bea's shoulders stiffened as she shared a smile with Curtis. "Right. We don't need her here."

Curtis turned. He pulled a small flask out of his pocket. It was clear and the dust inside was the most brilliant Bea had ever seen. She had seen higher grade dust before in shop windows and the dust for her dress that her mother had got on the special occasion of her eighth birthday. But this dust was clearly superior to those. It seemed to pulse and breathe as it sparkled and shimmered. As the light danced across it, the dust changed color and shade at an almost dizzying pace.

"Is that it?" Bea gasped as she stared transfixed at the flask in Curtis' hands.

"Yep. Are you ready?" Curtis shot some nervous glances around him, but those fairies who had turned to stare at Bea's outburst had all gone back to their lively conversations with family and friends as they mingled with the ever growing crowd. Curtis popped the top off the flask and the dust started spinning together into a beautiful braided cord of light. It circled Curtis and then hit square between his shoulders. It seemed to shoot deep into Curtis' spine and Bea lost her breath as fear took over her. Curtis' face was twisted up into an expression of undeniable pain. But in an instant, as the last tail of the brilliant cord of dust had disappeared into Curtis' back, Curtis' face softened and returned to the delighted smile of excitement from before. It happened slowly, just as Bea's wings had bloomed. The dust had left a signed hole in Curtis' shirt and small wings were unfolding and growing ever bigger. The wings were inexpressibly beautiful. No fairy Bea had ever seen in her life had wings like the ones expanding before her eyes. They were almost a spastic mixture of all the things that were beautiful about various butterfly wings. There were eyes spots that had golden eyes that seemed to stare right through Bea. The wings had delicate scalloping that made them seem to dance and ripple with the wind. The colors were brilliant and glowing, with an almost neon effect. Accents of pearls and gems made them glisten and sparkle. They seemed to have reached their full size as the tips reached out over Curtis' shoulders. Curtis gave a little shake and his smile was so infectious that Bea hadn't realized that her own look of surprise at the blooming was now replaced by a mirrored grin. Curtis didn't need words to express how incredibly happy he was. He gave Bea's hands a final squeeze and then took a leap into the air.

Bea's voice got stuck in her throat. She wanted to call out to Curtis, to say something. But what? Good luck? Be careful? They are beautiful? You are amazing? No, Bea knew in the back of her mind what she was thinking; she knew what she should have said at that moment, goodbye.

Chapter Thirteen: Curtis is Taken

The time, the actual minutes that followed, went insanely slow. Bea was able to remember every single second it seemed, in obscene detail. Curtis had leapt into the sky. He was a natural at flying and his beautiful magic-crafted wings carried him high above the trees and the lights with the stars sparkling in their bubble cages. He had found Bea's face below and shared one more smile with her. That smile, he looked so alive and so happy. That smile would be what would help her get through the days to come, although Bea didn't realize yet what was really going to happen. Curtis then flew away. He flew out over the crowd that had gathered for the solstice. Old and young all slowly took notice of the strange sight and began to point and stare. The buzz of conversation had reached a feverish pitch and Curtis continued his flight. He flew in circles; he hovered and then dashed away at top speed. He shot straight up into the sky and flew as far as he could and the crowd grew nervous imagining that he had disappeared, when suddenly his figure grew larger and larger as he descended. Then Bea felt the atmosphere change. The jovial conversation continued to her left, but something was wrong towards her right. She knew it before she turned around. They had come. Just as Curtis had said, they had come. Bea turned to see two fairly large male fairies from the patrol. They pierced the crowd as they walked towards the center of the park. The two did not keep their eyes off of Curtis as he flew straight down to where they waited.

Curtis did not reduce his speed at all. He seemed to be crashing downwards and everyone that had been watching with excitement now shared gasps of concern. No one seemed able to gather words. Curtis was just able to brush the tips of the higher trees when he came to a sudden halt midair. His beautiful wings fluttered softly as he stared down amongst the crowd. He was looking around him, and Bea understood why. He was looking for Catherine. Bea watched him as he found her. Catherine had moved forward through the crowd, Steven following anxiously at her side. She stared up at her brother, tears running down her face. Bea hadn't realized, but she herself and moved slowly through the crowd, until she stood on the other side of the cleared circle from where Catherine stood. Bea couldn't see Curtis' face, but she was sure that he was still smiling. The patrol fairies seemed to have reached a decision. They both shot sharp lines of dust from their fingertips, straight at Curtis. The glow of the dust lit up the faces of the crowd, casting harsh shadows. In this moment, Bea and Catherine found each other's stares. Catherine's eyes met Bea's and Bea felt all of her excitement and happiness that she had just shared with Curtis shatter inside her. Catherine's glare sucked everything out. Catherine's eyes burned with tears and anger and Bea felt her friend's hate for the first time. Suddenly time seemed to return to its natural pace. Bea wasn't even sure of what she was seeing, things seemed to be going so fast, so quickly now. The patrol fairies dust had hit Curtis in the chest. His wings broke like glass into hundreds of shards of glittering beauty before they turned to dust and were carried away into the night. Curtis' body fell far too fast. He wasn't very far up, but it was shocking to see him slam down to earth. Before he could bring himself up to his feet, the patrol fairies had grabbed hold of either side of him and taken him away. They dragged him to the Hall, which stood behind the crowd, and Bea knew that they were going to use a stone to get to the Great Hall. The minute that they were out of sight the crowd seemed to suck in on itself, filling the gap that had existed seconds earlier. Everyone was mumbling amongst themselves. Bea's feet felt glued to the grass beneath her. She had lost Catherine in the rush of people. Groups of fairies around her spoke in hurried tones of concern. But slowly the frenzy of worry shifted to one of surprise and excitement. Bea caught words here and there, but her mind was fuzzy.

"You!" A strained voice rang through the crowd and Bea looked up to see Catherine breaking her way through the fairies until she was standing unreasonably close to Bea. Bea felt herself feeling protective of her own body as Catherine's manic energy vibrated off of her. Catherine clearly thought it best to take a step back, and just to make sure she took two.

"How could you let him do that? You were with him the whole time!" Catherine's voice was oddly steady. Bea had heard her friend get angry before. Catherine had usually been lost for words as her anger took over her. This strange, controlled accusation was very unsettling.

"What do you mean?" Bea asked, trying to keep her own voice calm.

Catherine took a deep breath through her nose and her face seemed contorted with anger. "Why did you let him do that stupid thing again? Why? Why tonight, of all nights?"

Bea felt her own anger rise in her chest giving her strength as she replied defiantly, "I'm not his keeper. He wanted to do this. He had been planning it for a long time. He's my friend, so I made sure I didn't get in the way of what he really wanted to do."

Catherine laughed a strange short laugh as she continued, "You got out of his way? You think that is your job as a friend? Your job as a friend is to get in his way, keep him safe, to make sure he doesn't get hurt." Steven, who had been standing behind Catherine, gently placed his hand around her clenched fist.

Bea saw this and took it as fuel for her anger. All Bea could think of was ways that she could hurt Catherine to teach her a lesson for hiding so many secrets from her and then blaming her for something when Bea had done nothing wrong. "Oh yea? Well, if you are such a great friend and sister, where were you tonight while Curtis prepared his wings? Weren't you supposed to be around to help him and make sure he didn't get hurt? Or did you have more important things to do?" Bea finished her accusation with a long stare at Steven. She was surprised though to see that he did not stare back, but had chosen to look down at his feet. When she looked up at Catherine, Bea felt a sudden leap of happiness as she saw fresh tears run down the tracks already drawn down her face. But her odd sense of satisfaction left quickly and embarrassment flooded her. How could she be so happy to see her friend so sad? What kind of a person did that make Bea? She wanted to move closer to her friend, to make a bridge and reach out her hands to show her that she really was sorry, but her feet would not move. Instead she stared dumbly down into her hands wondering how much longer this was going to last.

It did feel like an eternity as the two best friends stood facing each other, both staring down at the ground. The crowd around her had moved on from their excitement of the flight of Curtis. Conversation returned to other topics and some people actually moved through the space between Catherine and Bea. Bea needed to say something. She could feel the urgency of it all. She knew that if she didn't do something soon she would regret it, forever maybe? But her mind seemed trapped, her voice unreasonably dry. Could she even speak anymore? Steven leaned down and whispered into Catherine's ear. Catherine seemed frozen, her eyes glazed. She showed no change as Steven spoke to her. Bea watched. Catherine gave a slight nod and the two of them walked away.

Bea didn't even remember going home. She found herself in her house, arriving before her own parents who would still be enjoying the festivities until the early morning. She had walked numbly to her room and fell face forward onto her bed. Her beautiful dress made strange suffocating crinkly noises beneath her and the thought of Catherine rushed into her mind and suddenly she couldn't stop crying. She cried until she just didn't have the strength to force the tears from her sore eyes. Bea sat up on her bed and caught her reflection in her mirror. She looked terrible. The beautiful arrangement Curtis had done with her hair had fallen in awkward places and her dress was wrinkled and twisted in an odd sort of way. Her face was pale, but her eyes were red and puffy. Determined to take control of the situation in some way, she pointed at her hair and little lines of dust shot out of her fingertips and in a rather unspectacular way her hair had returned to the way it was naturally. Then she gently took the beautiful dress off and did her best to smooth out the creases and hung it up on a hanger. She placed it in the very farthest part of her closet. Bea looked at it once again and was caressing the delicate floral accents along the small pocket on the side when she felt something protruding from inside. She reached in and found the small, golden hued sweet from the Zephyr's stall. Even in her dark room the little ball seemed to glow on its own. Bea didn't know why, but she had a strong feeling that this had nothing to do with magic. Something about this little ball felt so foreign and unreal to her. All the things in the fairy world were made with fairy dust. Bea had never given much thought to this really, but when she picked up a dish at breakfast or her brush to comb her hair, all these items had felt connected to her somehow. They had felt alive in some way. This little ball of gold felt much heavier than it was as it rolled in her hand. There was no familiar tingle of the dust within the object before her. What was this? Bea's thoughts brought her back to memories of her father insisting that they not go near the stall, that stall that actually belonged to the Zephyrs. Bea felt an odd laugh rise in her throat. She didn't really feel like laughing and yet it had come. The fact that her father had tried so desperately to keep her from this insignificant thing rolling around in her hand felt so absurd that the laugh came again. Bea didn't even give thought to her father's warnings as she took one more look at the ball and then popped it into her mouth. The outer casing of the treat felt strange. There was no flavor at all and the ball had a rubbery feel to it. Bea waited, wondering if something might happen, but nothing did. Perhaps it didn't melt in your mouth like the buttery flowers at the solstice. Maybe she needed to bite into it to get what was inside. She let the ball settle on her back teeth and gave a gentle bite. The ball was not hard, but smushed down. Bea was starting to feel embarrassed. Had they tricked her to put something that wasn't even food in her mouth? Was this something else entirely? But then suddenly, a small crack must have broken in the rubbery wall the ball, because sweetness was pouring out of it and into Bea's mouth. The substance was a little thick and Bea was so surprised by the flavor she had to sit down. It wasn't sweet like fairy food was. Fairy food had a distinctive, bright, clear sweetness to it. This was sweet, but thick and dark. Before Bea could have more time to think though the delicious insides of the ball had all disappeared down her throat. She was now left with the ball. Not really knowing what to do, she gave it another chew and found that ball's walls had all collapsed and with each chew she seemed to be reforming the empty shell into something else. Bea took it out of her mouth and saw that it was a pale white color and that she could bend it a little with her finger tips to change its shape. Bea put it back into her mouth but was only reminded that it had absolutely no flavor and so Bea took out the strange substance and tossed it into her trash. Bea didn't know how to feel. She was disappointed that the delicious golden insides of the ball had melted away in her mouth so fast. She was also disappointed that, though the treat was really surprisingly delicious, it was nothing to be as excited about as her father had led her to believe all these years.

Bea lay down on her bed and felt her mind stay with thoughts of the sweet and she was grateful that this gave her a chance to fall asleep without being disturbed by the other thoughts of all that had happened that night. Bea woke feeling rested, but her mind was heavy as she sat down for breakfast that morning. It took her a moment to process why she sat all alone at the table. Her parents had probably come home very late and would be sleeping until lunch. Bea saw Steven's shoes at the door and remembered that he was home again and that he and Catherine. . . Bea wanted to see Catherine, or at least she thought she did. She knew she wanted to hear news of Curtis. She had flying practice after lunch and Bea was looking forward to the time to not think about things and just fly. She could try to go and visit Catherine before her practice, but she knew that it would be bad manners to disturb her family so early on the morning after the solstice. Bea felt lost. She looked at the clock and saw that she had so much time, hours, and with nothing to do. She just really wanted to fly. So she made up her mind to go to the school and practice early on her own. She left her quiet house and got on a pod. The island was oddly deserted. As Bea sped by houses she noted the absence of any activity. She arrived at the school and made her way to the field. She looked at the track and, without much thought, leapt into the air. Bea just started to fly. She flew steadily round and round. She felt the way the air swept over her body as she slowly and deliberately increased her speed. She stretched herself out and felt her speed increase. She straightened her arms and locked them at her sides. She pointed her toes and lengthened her legs. Her speed increased again. Bea was flying as fast as she had ever flown before and it was bliss. No thoughts, nothing but flying. Bea felt each moment, forcing more attentiveness to her own body than she had done before. She had to focus or some thought might creep into her head and she did not want those thoughts to interrupt her now. Bea had heard Ms. Hill scream about focus so many times and now she finally understood. Now that she had thoughts that she did not want to think about, and now that she was trying so desperately to push them back away, she understood how to master them and focus on the flight. Bea knew that all of this focus had made her body weak and that the time that she would be able to sustain her speed was going to be less than normal. But perhaps it had been for the best that she felt her stamina drain and she slowed down to a stop after a couple hours of flying. Bea flew casually over to the wall the school and over the entrance on the side by the field was a clock. It was nearly noon and that meant that Ms. Hill and Laura and Veronica would be here any second. Bea dashed behind the school and started walking. She thought she might come around from the other side a little after the others arrived.

Sure enough, Ms. Hill arrived and had gone to the field to set up for practice. Laura arrived next and was soon followed by Veronica. The two were huddled together talking excitedly and Bea felt a strong urge to run the other way and skip practice completely. She was drained from her morning of flying and she knew she would not perform well today. She also dreaded facing Veronica and even Laura for that matter because she knew that they would want to talk to her about Curtis. But just as she was walking slowly away from the school she heard Ms. Hill's voice scream, "Featherstone!" Ms. Hill had seen Bea and there was no turning back now. She turned on her heel and set off towards the field.

"You sure took your sweet time getting here today. Up too late? Well, playtime is over. You all need to focus and put your full effort into today's practice." Ms. Hill spoke directly to Bea. Veronica's face had a twisted smile spread across it that made Bea want to throw something at her. Why did she have to always be so mean? Why did she have to bug her today?

Ms. Hill turned her back to the girls and pulled up the board that had the course drawn out on it. She was preparing to explain the goals of that day's practice when Veronica and Laura both turned to look at Bea.

"Can you believe what Curtis did last night?" Laura had spoken first and Bea was somewhat relieved to find that she was mostly curious and not ready to harass Bea over the night's events.

But before Bea could respond Veronica spoke out in a clear voice, "He is such an idiot, a total showoff. I heard that he won't be coming back from the Ancients any time soon."

Laura's forehead wrinkled in concern as she asked Veronica, "I know you said that before, but are you sure they will hold him for so long? I mean it was all in good fun, don't you think?"

Veronica laughed. She had no time to respond however since Ms. Hill had turned to face the girls and practice truly began. Bea was right when she had assumed that she would perform poorly. She was last in every practice run. She was making stupid mistakes. It didn't help that every time Veronica had a moment she kept hissing rude comments about Curtis. Bea found she had no energy to be mad at Veronica and instead just felt numb by the time their long day of practice was done. Bea barely mumbled a goodbye in Laura's direction when they were done with practice. She started walking away for the school, towards Catherine's house. She knew she needed to go there, she had to try to speak to her friend, to find out more about what happened to Curtis, but her feet were dragging in the grass as she cut across yards to get to her destination.

She found herself in front of Catherine's house and stared up at the familiar windows. It didn't seem as though anyone was home. Bea couldn't bring herself to step up to the door. She just stood there, staring at the house and trying to work out what she was going to say to Catherine when she saw her. Every time she got close to finding the words to apologize her mind would race back to all the reasons for her to be angry with Catherine instead. The minutes ticked by as Bea stood outside the Royce's home and finally it grew dark as the summer night fell. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she did not hear Mr. Royce call to her the first time.

"Beatrice! Is that you? What you are doing here? Have you been waiting long?" Bea turned her head and was surprised to see both Mr. and Mrs. Royce followed by Catherine in the shadows.

Bea shook her head to try to focus. "Mr. Royce. Hi. Umm, yeah, I haven't been here long," Bea lied.

Mr. Royce smiled at Bea, but then Mrs. Royce came forward and gave a gentle push to Bea's shoulders as she guided Bea toward the house. "Let's go inside. You are just the person we were wanting to talk to." Mrs. Royce's voice sounded calm and kind, but Bea had known her too long to not be able to notice the slight undertone of anger in her words.

Bea allowed herself to be lead into the house that she had not been able to bring herself to approach for the past few hours. The house was dark as they entered and Mr. Royce flicked on the lights when suddenly the phone rang. Mrs. Royce ran to answer it as Mr. Royce asked Bea to have a seat. Bea didn't know what to do. She didn't know where to look. Catherine apparently felt the same as she continued to stare at her feet. Then Mr. and Mrs. Royce came back into the room.

"That was your mother, Beatrice," Mrs. Royce said as she brought in some drinks on a tray and placed them on the small table in front of the couch. "She was wondering why you hadn't come home yet, but she had assumed you were here. I told her we wouldn't keep you too much longer."

Bea cleared her throat. "Thanks. Um, Mrs. Royce, how is Curtis?"

Mr. Royce had sat down in his chair and Mrs. Royce had sat down and motioned for Catherine to sit on the couch with Bea.

"Well, he is with the Ancients. This is his second time being taken to them. They are also aware of the numerous other offenses that he was not taken in for. This most recent one has certainly upset them. We just got back from seeing them. It was our hope that we could plead our case and get them to understand that Curtis meant no harm in his magic, that it was just the result of a very talented boy having too much time and not being challenged enough to give him a healthy outlet for his skill. But the Ancients did not see it this way and that is why he will be with them indefinitely." Mrs. Royce's voice was calm but she marked certain words with such emphasis that Bea was sure she was incredibly angry.

Mr. Royce looked from his wife to Bea and said with a small smile to ease the tension, "Beatrice, maybe you can tell us a little about what happened last night. You were with Curtis, weren't you?"

Bea felt better when she saw Mr. Royce's smile and tried to relax a little as she spoke. "Yes, I was with him. He told me he had been working on the wings for a long time and that this was his last chance to use them."

"Did you know that what he was doing was going to get him in trouble?" Mrs. Royce asked, staring directly at Bea.

Bea looked at her hands. "Yes. I told him not to do it, that he would be taken away. He said he knew, and he didn't care and he needed me to be there for him. So I was. " Bea finished off with a bit more strength in voice as she told herself once more that she had nothing to feel bad about in helping her friend. But she could have sworn she heard a small snigger come from Catherine next to her.

"Well, I understand why you chose to help him then. It is really Curtis that is to blame for all of this. He should have known better . . ." Mrs. Royce's voice trailed away.

Bea smiled as she recalled how Curtis had looked happier than he had in a long time that night. "Curtis was so very happy. I hadn't seen him smile like that in a while Mrs. Royce. That was why it was so hard to interfere. I could tell this was something he really wanted to do. I am so sorry that it got him trouble." Bea found herself speaking to Mrs. Royce but her body had turned to Catherine as though she was trying to speak her apologies to her friend as well.

Mr. Royce stood up. "Well, that tells us everything we needed to know. Don't you two think so? Curtis was happy. He was doing what he wanted to do. We just need to deal with the consequences now. Thank you Beatrice for taking some time to talk with us."

"Yes, thank you Beatrice. I am sure your mother is eager to see you. You should go home now." Mrs. Royce had stood as well and they had started for the door. Bea did the same and saw that Catherine had chosen to not get up from the couch.

Mrs. Royce spoke again, "Catherine, why don't you walk Beatrice to the pod stop?"

Catherine mechanically rose from her seat and headed out the door in front of Bea.

"Goodbye Mr. And Mrs. Royce," Bea said as she stepped across the doorway and out into the night to follow her friend.

Bea heard the Royce's door close behind her and she sped up into a slight jog to catch up with Catherine who had already started walking towards the pod station. Soon they were walking side by side, though neither of them was speaking. Bea couldn't find the words again and her mind was racing with what would be the best thing to say at this moment. Catherine was walking faster than she usually did and Bea kept trying to steal glances at her friend as they walked in silence. They had reached the station before Bea knew it. Catherine stuck her hand out to give Bea the pod bubble. Bea took it without a word and the minute it left Catherine's palm she had turned and started walking back to her home.

"Wait!" Bea's voice was there, finally.

Catherine stopped and turned, but did not bother to return to where Bea was standing.

"Catherine, I'm sorry, you know, about Curtis. I'm worried about him too." Bea stared at Catherine as she spoke.

Catherine nodded her head. "I know. I know. It's not your fault. It's just, a mess, that's all." Then Catherine turned around again and continued her walk back home.

Chapter Fourteen: Declaration of Career

Bea didn't see or hear from her friend for the few days that remained in the summer break from school. Her brother, Steven, was home for meals and Bea could tell that he was really trying to talk more to her. It was strange to see him act so nice and rather than improving her mood, it made Bea more upset. Bea kept busy with flying practice and often found herself glancing in the direction of Catherine's house when it wasn't her turn to fly. She wondered if Curtis had returned yet and was tempted to walk over and ask to see Catherine, but Bea knew that she wasn't welcome and decided it best to wait things out.

Bea's parents had spoken to her when she had returned that evening from being at the Royce's. Her father hadn't said much, but her mother had asked what had happened and then told her that there was nothing to worry about. She tried to assure Bea that Curtis would be back soon and that it was just routine and Curtis had broken the rules after all so it was to be expected. Bea didn't know how to explain to herself, let alone her mother, that the thing that was really bothering her was not Curtis, but Catherine. She couldn't explain it, but she knew that Curtis would be OK. He knew before he made the wings what he was getting himself into.

Things with Catherine were different. Bea was angry. She couldn't stop thinking about how angry she was. Catherine had kept secrets from her, again. She had never even hinted that she liked Steven and then to have spent their last solstice on the island with her brother made her feel betrayed. The fact that Bea wound up alone with Curtis that evening stung. Bea couldn't help but feel that things kept breaking between her and her friend, and in Bea's mind it was all because Catherine continued keeping things from her. Bea's mind was full of so many thoughts that she found herself walking around in a daze of sorts. When she lay down to sleep at night her mind wondered to some other things that she hadn't allowed herself the time to think of, things like the solstice and Johnathan, and the sweet from the Zephyrs. The minute she would think of these things she would feel that familiar urge to call her friend or rush to her house and she would remember the icy way that Catherine had spoken to her last and Bea would find reason to be angry with her all over again.

It was the last evening of the break and Bea had just collapsed onto her bed. Her mind began to wonder and flit back and forth between thoughts of anger and misuse. She would have to face Catherine tomorrow and Bea couldn't decide if she was hopeful to see her friend or ready to attack. Bea's mind was so busy that she hadn't heard the faint knock on her door. Only when the knock became louder did she shake herself from her thoughts and go to open the door. To her great surprise it was her brother, Steven.

"Hey, there Bea," he said as he stood with his hands in his pockets. "Mind if I come in?"

"Sure . . ." Bea didn't know what to make of this. Steven had never asked to come into her room.

Steven turned to face his sister and said, "So, um, yeah, I'm leaving tonight."

"Oh, yeah, right, I suppose you are," Bea hadn't even thought about the fact that with the end of the break Steven would be returning to training.

"Yeah, so, listen, I know we don't talk much, and I was probably pretty mean to you when we were kids, but I was hoping we could, you know, be friends now that we are older." Steven had spoken so clearly and directly to Bea that it had caught her off guard. She just stared back at him trying to take in what he was saying.

Bea's stare seemed to make Steven falter a little in his determination and he shifted his weight as he continued. "You see, I know Catherine is your best friend. I am very serious about her . . ."

Bea's face wrinkled as he said this. Why was he sharing his feeling with her? Bea wanted the awkwardness to end as quickly as possible so she felt it best to simply nod along with what Steven said.

". . . And I know it would mean a lot to her if we got along a little better. So, yeah, let's try that OK?"

Bea nodded again and rather than Steven taking this as a confirmation he must have taken it as sign of something else because he continued, "You know, I don't really think it is cool for you to be mad at Catherine like this for so long just because of us."

Bea couldn't help herself. Steven's words forced a laugh out of her that she couldn't deny. "You think that is why things aren't good with her and I?" Bea asked incredulously.

"Well, yeah, I mean, isn't it?" Steven face was turning red. It made Bea laugh even more. "OK, fine, I get it, you're not mad about me and Catherine. Sorry I misjudged that one. You don't need to laugh so much."

Steven made to leave the room but without really thinking Bea grabbed his arm to keep him there. She wanted to make sure that at least one person fully understood what she was thinking so she focused her eyes on Steven as she spoke. "Listen. I was surprised. Catherine never told me anything. I'm mad at her for not telling me. And, yeah, I was a little disgusted at first, but hey if it makes you two happy that's cool. OK? I don't want you to get the wrong idea. There are other things going on here with her and I and you guys are just a small part of it."

Steven relaxed a little and said, "OK. I got it. Thanks for letting me know. I really think you guys will work things out. She talks about you a lot."

Hearing this from her brother was hard to process, but she was happy just the same to know that Catherine wasn't spending all of her free time complaining about Bea to Steven. The two of them stood staring around the room and not each other, not really knowing what to do with themselves, when Mrs. Featherstone walked down the hallway and into Bea's room. Steven seemed so relieved to have an excuse to leave that he just nodded goodbye and left. Bea was happy to be rid of him too. Talking to him was so incredibly awkward. Her mother looked at Bea and then the silhouette of Steven as he walked back to the kitchen.

"You guys OK?" she asked.

"Yeah, he just wanted to say he was leaving," Bea said as she sat down on her bed. She didn't know if she was supposed to talk to her mother about Steven and Catherine or not. But, luckily for her, her mother brought up the subject on her own.

"So, Steven and Catherine, huh? That must be weird," Mrs. Featherstone said with a smile. It was always so nice to talk with her mother. It made all the gloom and confusion of the past few days disappear just a bit.

"Well, you know, your dad and I are pretty happy. We really like Catherine and if things work out between them that would be pretty cool. Of course that is years and years from now, if it even comes to that, but you know they might be good for each other." Mrs. Featherstone was searching Bea for her reaction.

Bea knew that if she wanted to she could have a real talk with her mother about things, but she wasn't sure she was up to it. So many moments of the past few days had been consumed with her thinking about stuff that she wanted to move forward a bit and her mother was good for making her laugh so she said, "Yeah, but I can't help but think that Catherine got the short end of the deal."

Mrs. Featherstone laughed and she sat down next to Bea on her bed. She put her arm around her shoulder and gave a little squeeze and said, "Yeah, me too. But don't tell Steven I said that."

Mrs. Featherstone dropped her arm and looked at Bea and said, "You know what? We forgot something this break."

Bea was confused. What did she mean, they had forgotten something?

"We were supposed to talk to you about your 'declaration of career' thing. Do you have that paper you brought home from school?"

Bea had completely forgotten and it took her a few moments to find it hidden in one of her textbooks from school. She had folded it randomly and she tried to smooth it out as she sat back down next to her mother.

Since this was Bea's last year in prep school she would need to decide on her career choice. The summer break was meant to be a time to discuss possible options with your family so that you could return to school and spend the rest of the year preparing for your exams that would earn you entrance to the proper training school. Most of the kids at school had all been buzzing about this for most of the year and Bea had usually turned a deaf ear to their conversations. Bea already knew what she was going to do. She had known since she was a little kid and after she bloomed when she was eight her plan had been set in stone. She wanted to be a flier like her mother. She smiled as she looked at the paper before her and was very relieved to know that this was not going to be a long and complicated process.

"Well, I guess I just check this box here, right? And then, what, we all need to sign down here I think," Bea pointed at the three spots at the bottom of the page for the signatures of her mother and father and herself.

Bea got up to grab a pen and sat down again but her mother stopped her. "Are you sure this is what you want to do? I am very happy to hear you want to be a flier like myself. I think you will do wonderfully. But there are other options and I wanted to make sure you have thought this through. "

Bea laughed a little at her mother and then said with a smile, "Yes mom, this is what I want to do." Bea got up and went over to her desk and checked the box next to flier and then signed her name below. Her mother signed as well and then Mrs. Featherstone called her husband into the room. Mr. Featherstone took the paper and pen and signed.

"Well, then you are all set for going into flier training at the Academy next year," Mrs. Featherstone said with a smile.

Mr. Featherstone nodded, laid the pen on the desk and smiled. "Of course the competition will be a big event for you. You need to perform well there to get the final acceptance from training. You make sure to keep up with your practice . . ." But Mr. Featherstone was interrupted by the sound of the pen rolling across her desk and then plopping into her trash can below. Mr. Featherstone gave a little laugh and mumbled something about the desk being at a funny angle as he bent down to retrieve the pen. But his laughter and speech stopped suddenly as he rose and Bea and her mother both looked to see what was wrong. Bea looked from his face to his hands and saw that the left over shell from the Zephyr's sweet sat awkwardly in his open palm. Bea caught her breath as she looked back up into her father's face.

Bea's eyes shifted nervously from the clump of chewed sweet to her father's face and then her mother's. All The happiness that had been present in the room disappeared and Bea felt her brain racing to put together words to speak.

Apparently Mrs. Featherstone didn't quite get what her husband was holding because she innocently asked, "What's that dear?"

Bea saw the anger rising in her father's face and her body flinched as she waited for what she knew would come.

"This? This is one of the sweets from the Zephyrs. Eaten! Empty!"

A look of understanding crossed Mrs. Featherstone's face and her father turned to Bea as he held the empty shell under Bea's nose and declared, "You ate it, didn't you?"

Bea couldn't bring herself to look her father directly in the eye. She just stared down at her feet, incapable of speech.

"Didn't you?" Mr. Featherstone asked again, this time clearly trying to gain control of his temper.

A small "yes" fell from Bea's lips.

Mr. Featherstone started pacing the room. It was clear that he didn't quite know what to do with himself and Bea was somewhat relieved to hear her mother take up the discussion, though she spoke only to Mr. Featherstone.

"It is going to be OK. I know you worry about this, but it is not that big of a deal."

"Not that big of a deal? This is always how it starts though. This stupid little thing and then the questions and then the rebellion and sometimes they stay . . ." Mr. Featherstone let his words trail off into mumbling and Bea felt any fear she had be completely displaced by confusion. What were her parents talking about?

Mrs. Featherstone got up and walked tentatively over to her husband. She drew out the chair at Bea's desk and gently pressed him into it. "It doesn't always work out that way and you know it. Think about it. This is Beatrice. You are just letting your anger at John get to you and make you more upset than you should be. "

Bea still felt confused and wanted to ask her mother what it was that they were talking about, but her mother had turned to her and said, "Now, that doesn't mean though that what she did is OK. You specifically told her many times, year after year, not to go to the Zephyr's stall. Why did you go Beatrice?"

Bea swallowed hard and then tried to force her voice out.

"I wound up there by accident after Johnathan had pulled me over the fire. Mrs. Zephyr just kind of forced it into my hand and then Catherine and Curtis found me and I stuck it in my pocket."

Mr. Featherstone had stood up again as he looked at Bea with an expression that Bea was surprised to see was one of pleading. Bea could hear her father trying to control his voice as he spoke, "But why did you eat it?"

"Yea, why did you eat it?" Mrs. Featherstone demanded.

Bea starred at her feet. It was incredibly nerve racking to have both of her parents interrogating her. They didn't usually gang up on her like this.

"I was worried about Curtis," Bea mumbled. She felt a pang of guilt at bringing up Curtis like this to try to get her parents to forgive her. But she was pleased to see that it had at least softened her mother's expression.

"I know you have had a rough couple of days . . ."

"But that does not mean it is OK to break our rules," Mr. Featherstone finished his wife's sentence for her and seemed to be speaking more to Mrs. Featherstone than her.

Mrs. Featherstone nodded and squeezed her husband's hand and spoke in a quiet voice, "It is probably a good time to just explain some things to her."

Mr. Featherstone gave such a pitiful defeated shrug in response that Bea could barely contain herself.

"What is going on? You act like I committed some terrible crime. All I did was eat some dumb sweet that wasn't all that amazing anyway." Bea's voice rang through the room and she shot glances back and forth between her mother and father, waiting for one of them to finally speak.

Mrs. Featherstone sat down next to Bea on the bed, cleared her throat and began. "We were going to save this speech for when you headed off to training in the big world because you will run into it more out there, but now is as good a time as any I suppose. You see there are more people that have the same beliefs as the Zephyrs. There are fairies that don't like the way we have changed our old ways to live up here on these islands. They want things to be like they were very long ago. And they think that in order to get back to the old ways we need to put all our energy into making our life like it was before and abandon the missions."

Bea heard her father whisper "idiots" under his breath as her mother took a moment to share a glance with him across the room. Even Bea felt a statement of disbelief rise in her throat. How could any fairy not want to do the missions?

Mrs. Featherstone continued, "They call themselves the Truth movement. They have been around for hundreds and hundreds of years. There are small groups of them all over the world on other islands. Their numbers change a lot. There is a base group of people that remain, but many of those who believe do not believe forever."

"Why? What do you mean?" Bea was trying to follow everything that her mother was telling her but there seemed to be lots of pieces missing.

Mrs. Featherstone smiled at her and went on. "Well, you see, the Truth movement tends to focus their energies on younger fairies, you know the ones that have just left school and are in training. They can be pretty impressive with their ideas and then all of this old food and dress. A lot of young fairies abandon their training and join the movement."

Now Mr. Featherstone joined in, "But, once a fairy leaves training, you don't get a second chance. And sooner or later the young fairies who left training to join, figure out how ridiculous it all is and they leave and try to go back to things, but the Ancients do not forgive so easily. The future for those who have joined the movement and then left is not, well, it's not as good as if those kids had just left the stupid movement alone."

Mrs. Featherstone nodded with her husband and then added, "So, that is why we don't want you to be persuaded to join the movement. . . "

Bea finally understood what her parents were getting at and it stung. She jumped to her feet and stared hard at her mother and her father as she spoke, "How could you even think I would follow something so stupid? I have always wanted to be a flier. I really believe in what the missions do, and I would never go against that. "

Mrs. Featherstone stood up a little straighter and Bea recognized her expression of approval as she turned her gaze back to her husband. "I told you. You have nothing to worry about with Bea."

Bea heard her father mumble an apology as he shared a weak smile with her across the room. Bea couldn't help think that her father was being silly and felt a little sorry for him. She ran over and gave him a huge hug to let him know that everything was OK.

Chapter Fifteen: Curtis Returns

Bea had barely slept at all the last night of break. She kept going back and forth in her head trying to make up her mind about what to do the following morning. All The drama about the Zephyrs was so far removed from her mind that it almost didn't even exist anymore. Curtis, and his fate, rested a little back in her thoughts. At the forefront was Catherine. Bea was trying desperately to decide if she should just do as she had done every other morning since they started prep school. Should she hop on the gold line and take the exit by the school and then walk over to meet up with Catherine at her house so that the two could share a few moments walking back to school together in conversation? Or should she assume that the cold reception she had received the last time she had seen her friend was to continue until Catherine decided to let things be and talk with her again? Bea got angry every time she thought it through. Why did she have to wait for Catherine to decide how things were going to be? Bea hadn't done anything wrong. Catherine was the one who had kept things from her. But no matter how angry she got she knew that more than anything else she just wanted to talk with her so she was willing to let some of her anger be stuffed out of the way until they could be around each other like before. Bea decided to let her desire to right things with her friend despite Catherine's mood drive her actions that morning. She left a little earlier than usual. A strange series of dreams that night having shown her that this was the right way to handle things. In her dreams she had chosen to meet up with her friend at her house only to find that her friend had gone on before her, leaving her to walk back to school alone. Bea was determined to not let that happen and so she surprised her mother when she grabbed a bubble for the pod and said her goodbyes.

Bea was hoping to use the time in the pod to get her thoughts together, but the ride was nowhere near long enough and Bea found herself facing the school as she exited the pod. She turned to her right and started the quick walk to Catherine's. Even though the Royce's home was close, Bea felt that she had literally taken two steps and arrived at the front door. Bea was surprised to see the front door open so quickly, as though someone had been waiting for her appearance. Catherine walked out and practically ran to Bea. She grabbed Bea's hands as she caught her breath and started speaking so fast that it was all Bea could do to follow.

"I am so sorry. I was an idiot. Oh, Bea can you ever forgive me? I know I should have told you about Steven. I was just so nervous and well I wasn't really sure how things were going to work out, if they were even going to work out, you know? And I didn't want to make you mad all for nothing if things didn't work out. But now I know I should have just talked to you about it from the start because I did really miss talking to you about it. I'm so happy Curtis is Curtis, you know, because he was wonderful during all of that. But, oh, Curtis, I'm sorry about that too. I was really mad at him and instead I just sort dumped it all on you and that was wrong, but I was so scared and I am still so worried. He's not home yet and we haven't heard anything. They just said when we went in to see the Ancients that they would need to make a major evaluation since he had been taken in before. And my mother cried, and that freaked me out, because she never cries . . ." And slowly Catherine's own tears took over and she stood there still clutching at Bea's hands, crying.

Bea stared at her friend for a moment. She felt every single bit of anger that she had been holding in little pockets of her mind slowly disappear. It just didn't matter and Bea felt a little ashamed for spending so much time planning how she was going to yell at her friend for all the wrongs of the past week. Seeing Catherine's frame shake as she sobbed and tears fell to her feet standing in the grass in front of her house seemed to wash it all away. Bea gave her friend's hands a big squeeze and then pulled her into a hug.

"It's OK. I'm sorry too."

The two girls walked side-by-side to school and found time between classes and over lunch to catch each other up on things. It wasn't until the girls were sitting down for lunch that Catherine turned to Bea and asked, "Well, tell me about Johnathan."

Bea hadn't even really been thinking of him at all. At that moment she happened to catch a glimpse of him as he was heading off with his friends to eat lunch on their favorite bench and was surprised to catch him staring in her direction. Bea felt her face go red as she smiled at her friend, "Yeah, that's nothing."

"What do you mean, Bea? You're blushing, that's not nothing," insisted Catherine.

Bea sighed. She didn't know what to think about Johnathan. She had liked him well enough before the solstice. She had thought he was a nice guy, better than most at least. But then she found out that he had pulled her over the fire on a dare and any nice thoughts for him seemed to have popped like a balloon. Bea had told Catherine about the solstice and how she had heard Johnathan talking with his friends about the dare. But for some reason Catherine kept holding on to the fact that he had whispered to her before pulling her over the fire that she looked pretty. Bea almost regretted sharing that bit of the story with her friend.

"I don't know. I really don't think it is anything. Beside there are so many more important things to be thinking about now." Bea said with much finality in her voice.

This was true, the teachers were being unnecessarily strict with everyone, trying to force the reality of school upon them after the nice summer vacation. Now that students had made their declarations the only topic that teachers chose to focus on was how incredibly important it would be now for everyone to do their very best. Classes remained the same, but an extra class was added at the end of the day. Students would break off into groups of similar declarations and were assigned a teacher who would be helping them prepare for their exams. Bea was sad to hear that the teacher assigned to the group of fliers was Ms. Hill. She felt as though she had really been seeing enough of Ms. Hill as it was, what with flying practice. But apparently she was the best one for the job of helping out those fairies who wanted to be fliers. Bea didn't necessarily envy Catherine though. Catherine had finally made the decision to work in the magic preparation department that worked with the fliers. A team of highly trained specialist was responsible for putting together the fairy dust that was used to make the special dreams that the dream fairies gave to the humans. Catherine could have really chosen to do anything after prep school, but Bea was so happy when she had made the choice that would mean that the two girls could be together during training. Catherine was not happy though about her extra class as she was stuck with Mr. Wahlstrom and Mrs. Ironwood, who would alternate day-to-day helping those students who would be pursuing magic-based careers. Bea wished she had Mr. Butterfield, but he was helping those students who would become bird partners.

Bea still had flying practice every day as well as this extra class with Ms. Hill. Bea had expected to find that Veronica would be relentless with her snide remarks; however, Veronica seemed to be incredibly focused on everything that Ms. Hill said in their extra class. Bea felt almost guilty for not having the same passion and tried to focus herself as well. On the field during practice was a slightly different story. Veronica seemed to believe that taunting and harassing her fellow fliers was a part of being better and it didn't help when Laura or herself would have a terrible run of the course and Veronica would yell out how pitiful they were and Ms. Hill would simply agree. Though Veronica's bullying was annoying, Bea found it easier to block her out on the field. When she was flying there was nothing but the air and how it felt different when she adjusted her form.

With their busy schedule the days and weeks slipped by so quickly that the seasons had changed and passed before Bea realized. While the summer solstice seemed like a distant memory it also felt like it all just happened yesterday and she was surprised to find that it was suddenly the end of the year. The winter solstice also passed in a blur as Bea had been so busy with extra work during the break. The only way Bea really knew that it was a break was by the presence of her brother in her house again. Steven had normally not come home for the winter break before. He had seemed proud to be on his own and didn't want to come back. But now, apparently Catherine was excuse enough to return. Bea found him still annoying, but had to admit that she did see him in a new light now that she knew how much he meant to her best friend. When he had headed back to training, Bea had done her best to sooth her sad friend and get them back on track for all the studying they had ahead of them. This seemed to get Catherine's attention, though with a slightly sad aura about her. But then Monday, after their first day back to school, with only a few days left in December, Bea and Catherine were both given a huge surprise. They were leaving from school and Bea was getting ready to say goodbye and turn towards the field for flying practice, when they saw him. It was Curtis! He was far away, standing in the field of nothingness that led to the Edge. He waved at them and Catherine gave a huge squeal. Bea hadn't even processed what she had seen before Catherine had leapt into the air and was flying as fast as she could towards her brother. Bea let her wings out as well and started flying too. She caught up with her friend in no time and put her arm through her friend's to help her along a little faster.

"Curtis!" Catherine screamed as she dropped down to the ground and pulled him into a huge hug.

Curtis smiled and tried to pull his sister off of him. "Let's get out of here, talk somewhere private."

He started walking towards the Edge when suddenly Catherine stopped.

"Where are you going?" Catherine asked with a definite trace of fear in her voice.

Curtis gave a weak smile. "To the Edge, silly. I want to talk to you guys privately."

"But that's not private. They're watching us." Catherine's face had turned red with anger.

Curtis shook his head as though trying to gather patience. He took his sister's hands in his own and said, "They might know we are there, but they can't hear us. I want some time to talk with just you two, without people staring. Someone from school is going to see us soon, so let's get a move on."

With that Curtis had dragged his sister behind him and rushed them towards the Edge. Without even taking a pause he had pulled Catherine through the Edge into the warm, brilliant space. Bea had no choice but to follow, but made a point of placing her bag down where they had entered, checking to make sure that no straps were stuck on the other side. It had been just a few months really since the last time Bea had been inside the Edge; at that time though she had taken no time to enjoy the beauty of the place as she raced around trying to find her friend. It felt more nostalgic this time as she took a deep breath and remembered the excitement she felt when she had come here when she was eight. Catherine had obviously not come since her ordeal in late-April. She looked scared and kept shooting glancing in all directions around her. Curtis pulled both of them together and gave them each a gentle push on their heads to get them to sit down on the fluffy warmth of the Edge.

Bea was so excited to see Curtis and wanted so badly to say so many things to him, but one look at him told her that now was not the time. He had a strange kind of urgency in his features that told her that he needed to be the one to speak first.

"Listen. I am back, obviously. You two, you guys always get so worked up over stuff, Catherine, especially you. I need you to be cool. OK? Don't freak out about stuff. Don't get mad at me for being, for being a little different . . ."

"What do you mean? What did they do to you? What do you mean, different? How did they change you?" Catherine's voice filled the Edge as she rose to her feet.

Bea watched her friends carefully. Curtis's expression was strained as he pushed his sister down and sat in front of her. His eyes were so kind as he looked at the tears streaking down her face. But then suddenly he changed. His eyes hardened and Bea watched as he used all of his strength to clearly put on this act.

"Stop it! You're being silly. THEY didn't do anything, OK? You can't keep talking about the Ancients like that. It's wrong. They were simply doing their job, and they have always been right. I was acting foolishly, selfishly, like a child. That's the thing, Catherine, I was being a kid, and now it is time to grow up. Wasting my time and my magic powers to make those silly wings, it is a bit embarrassing. And I can't have you reacting the way you do when I rightly get punished for what I have done. OK? I need you to stop with the stupid conspiracy theories. I need you to trust me. I need you to let me grow up."

Catherine was staring at her brother. Tears flowed from her eyes as she tried to take in everything Curtis was saying. Bea understood. She could see what Curtis was doing. She could see how he was trying to move on. She was proud of him for taking responsibility for things. But she also saw that he was clearly hiding something, that it was taking all of his resolve to stay strong and say what he was trying to say. And while when she was younger she may have been angered by this secrecy, she saw now that Curtis was only doing it to save her and Catherine pain and confusion.

Catherine clearly saw things differently. A look of disgust took over her expression and she tore her hands away from Curtis' and stood up again. "Grow up, huh?" she spat. "I've told you all along to be careful, and you weren't. They were watching you. I told you they would get you again . . ."

Curtis forced a laugh, rose to his feet and spoke in a voice that Bea felt was a little too cold, "Of course they caught me. That is their job Catherine! Don't you get it? This isn't about the Ancients being evil; it is about me, being stupid. "

Catherine took a step back from Curtis. The two stared at each other and Bea realized that she was maybe really not meant to be present for this entire conversation. The brilliant dancing rainbow lights seemed to be mocking the siblings as they continued their silence. It was becoming unbearable, and Bea was silently counting in her head, counting down to when she would just break the silence and say something, anything.

But she didn't need to, Curtis spoke instead. "Catherine, you understand what I am saying, right? I need you to understand. We are going to leave this place here, and I am going to need to change. I am going to need to grow up and focus on what is important. I need you to not overreact and stop worrying about silly things."

Curtis adjusted his posture just a bit, and as he spoke his words returned to the more soothing, caring voice he saved for his sister. "Will you help me? Besides, I have been gone so long, I am going to need some serious help getting ready for exams," he pleaded.

Bea felt sure that Catherine would soften, seeing the joking side of her brother return. But Catherine was being incredibly stubborn and simply answered, "Yeah, sure, of course."

She turned and went to leave the Edge where Bea had left her bag. In the seconds of her absence, Bea turned to Curtis and gave him a big squeeze. "I am so glad you are back."

Curtis stared at Bea, and she was surprised to see tears sliding down his face. "Yeah, I'm glad to be back too, Bea." He returned her squeeze, but his eyes went back to the spot that his sister had just disappeared into.

Chapter Sixteen: The Course

That fact that Curtis had returned was big news for the first week back at school at the very end of the year. But it seemed that with the New Year came a new focus of getting prepared for exams and no one had time for gossip. Catherine and Curtis seemed to be getting along fine. For an outsider, the two appeared to be as they always were, joking and laughing and doing almost everything together. But Bea knew them both very well and she could feel the icy edge to everything Catherine said and felt a huge distance grow between them with each day despite sitting right next to each other. While Bea didn't want to take sides, she couldn't help but think that Catherine was being silly.

When Bea would feel sorry for siding with Curtis, she would reassure herself that this was the best way to do things since Catherine already had someone in her corner. Steven wasn't there on the island, but the two communicated all the time. Most nights Bea had gone over to the Royce's to study. Bea felt a little leap of joy in her heart when she would go over and find that they were working in Curtis' room that night. That meant that Catherine was on the phone again. Bea loved having Curtis to herself and having Catherine gone. When Catherine was in the room, that icy feeling would return and everything seemed so strained. Bea knew that Curtis felt stressed when his sister was both present and gone. But after a little prodding from Bea he would let his guard down a bit and have a good time with her.

There really was very little time for anything but classes and then studying for their exams that would be upon them in two months' time.

To add to all of this studying, a new stage of flying practice began. Until that time, Ms. Hill had the girls practicing at school and had created pieces of the actual obstacle course that they would come across in the race. But Ms. Hill had promised them that with the new year would come a new practice schedule. The girls were going to be continuing their usual after school practice of two hours and Sunday was still six hours in the morning. However, Saturday's practice was going to be held at the actual field where the competition would take place. Bea could barely contain her excitement when she discovered that they she would be traveling by stone to the field every week. It didn't matter that she had to share this experience with Veronica; she was set on enjoying it no matter what.

The first Saturday in January the girls all met, not at school, but at the Hall at 6:00 a. m. The three of them followed Ms. Hall as she walked swiftly through the Hall to the garden and waited only a moment for the girls to catch up before stepping on the stone that would take them to the Great Hall. Bea wanted to kick herself because she had made a promise to herself that she would keep her eyes open this time. This kept proving to be more difficult than Bea imagined it would be. The first time she had taken a stone was when she traveled to the Ancients with her brother. She had readied herself for the trip but was so scared that she had her father pull her up into his arms just in time as the stone melted away. On the return trip Steven had made so much fun of her that they fought and he was stepping on her toes as they took a stone home. When she had visited the Ancients when she was eight she had been too scared on the way to the Great Hall and had closed her eyes tight. The return trip she was so excited about the results from the visit that she only thought about opening her eyes as she was nearing the end of the trip between stones and couldn't force her eyes open. This time, Ms. Hall was in such a hurry that she barely found her feet on the stone in time before the sensation had left and they had arrived at the Great Hall.

Ms. Hall guided the girls to the side of the large stone garden at the Great Hall. The field was located on the same island as the Academy for fliers. This was the first time that Bea had ever gone to another island and she was nearly shaking with excitement. Ms. Hill led them over to a fairly large pale blue stone and they all stepped onto it gingerly. Bea's voice inside her head was screaming at her and this time she got it right. She willed her eyes open and was so surprised at what she saw that she wanted to grab someone's arm. The same sensation of falling had come and yet the air around her was still. The scenery, if that is what it could be called, was blurred beyond recognition. Brilliant colors and flashes of light dashed by and then suddenly things would twist this way and that. There seemed to be a sort of protective barrier surrounding them as Bea saw light catch along its surface and shimmer. She drew her eyes from the view and turned to see what Veronica and Laura thought of everything only to find both of them standing stiff with their eyes tightly shut. Bea's eyes found Ms. Hall's though and they shared a brief smile before the falling sensation stopped and the blurred scene drew itself together to present Bea with another stone garden rather similar to that at the Great Hall, but a little smaller. Ms. Hall led them briskly out of the garden and Bea's eyes darted every which way, trying to take in her surroundings. The three girls and Ms. Hall had stepped out into the center of the island. All the islands were set up similarly. The Hall was found at the center of an island that was the size that was meant to occupy the ideal number of inhabitants, 888 fairies. On Bea's family island, the occupants were families and children attending the two schools on the island. There were some small shops branching from either side of the Hall at the center and the Gold and Silver lines ran in opposite directions for the pods. This new island was very similar and yet Bea couldn't help but smile at the differences. This island was specifically for training. When Bea graduated from prep this is the island she would be moving to with her friends. The children from her family island would be joining the children from seven other family islands to come here and train in their various fields. Studies were separated into two categories: government and industry. Although being a flyer was considered a part of the government branch, there was a separate building dedicated to flyer training on this island. There was also a building each for industry and government careers. There were small houses scattered throughout the island that served as housing for the students. Most students would live four fairies to a house. There was also a stadium where flying competitions (like the one that they were all training for) were held. Bea's eyes couldn't even take in all the details as she whipped her head around in every direction. Ms. Hall had already tossed Bea a pod bubble and ordered her to take the gold line to NE4, which was a stop directly in front of the stadium. Bea watched as Ms. Hall and Laura leapt into their pod and set off towards to stop. A feeling of dread hit her that slowly doused her excitement of being on the new island. She was left to take a pod with Veronica.

Veronica snatched the pod bubble from Bea's hand and sneered, "Stop staring around like an idiot. We're going to be left behind." Veronica tossed the pod bubble into the air and deftly shot a line of dust to it. She was already in the pod when Bea got herself together enough to fly up inside. Bea was secretly relieved to find that Veronica had already pressed the button for the NE4 stop since Bea had realized that she hadn't heard Ms. Hall properly at all. The stop by the stadium was nearly the last and so the two girls faced a long four-minute ride. Bea imagined that Veronica was so excited about seeing the stadium and the course that it had made her silent for the trip as she failed to utter a single rude comment the entire time. When they arrived she did push Bea a little harder than necessary when they jumped from the pod. Bea landed all right and stared up at the huge stadium before her. It was breath taking. It was made of the same dust as the halls were and it seemed even more amorphous than the other buildings had been. It was shaped like a sort of large bowl with uneven sides. The walls seemed to ripple with light. The girls tripped along after Ms. Hall, all three of them staring in awe. Once they had entered the stadium and gone through the entrance, they stepped out into the center field. It was massive, at least four times larger than the field at the prep school that they were used to. The entire field was littered with the pieces that made up the obstacle course. There were two long stretches of straight course that ran the lengths of the field. Then along the sides there were some obstacles that Ms. Hall had recreated for the girls during their practices. But there were also some parts that were new. Bea's eyes ran along the track and she tried to imagine herself flying through those obstacles. Then Bea looked beyond the course and saw the thousands upon thousands of seats that filled the stadium. It was amazing for Bea to even think that the stadium could ever be filled with that many fairies. She had of course known that there were other islands with other fairies all around the world, but she had yet to be around that many of them. Families stay on the family islands. The only chance to leave for the younger fairies was when they bloomed or turned twelve, or if they want to be a flier and then came to participate in the competition like today.

Ms. Hall turned to them abruptly and said, "So, this is it! We have had a chance to go through a few parts of the course at school, but you will notice that there are also a few parts that are new and the straight track will take some getting used to. We have been flying just as far, but that had been as we circled around our track. This is a straightaway and you will all need to adjust to that accordingly. I notice that there are a couple of new obstacles that I have not seen put into the competition in years past. They are obstacles that you meet with later in training. So, it is clear to me that they have raised the bar a bit on this competition. Because there are so many obstacles we are going to be spending the bulk of our time here working on those. Go through the course now slowly to see how things go. We will warm up and cool down with runs on the straightaway. Got that?"

The girls mumbled a yes and continued to stare at all the strange and somewhat familiar areas of the course.

"Well, go on then! Take a look!" barked Ms. Hall.

The three girls each set off at different points. Bea purposefully lagged behind so that she could leisurely look at the course. Right from the straightaway there was a barrier that led to the first set of obstacles. Bea knew that she would have to shoot that down with some magic dust. This was something she had yet to master and seeing it here at the real course serving as the first obstacle made Bea's heart beat faster than necessary. Bea shot a feeble line at the barrier and was pleased to see it drop out of the way. She went on past the barrier to the next obstacle, a series of smooth cloud shaped objects that Bea had to fly up and down through to the other side. Bea was not very good at these either. She always seemed to misjudge where her wings were and would often catch them on the objects above as she tried to come up inbetween. Bea was wondering if she would find any part of the course that she could feel confident about when she saw the next obstacle waiting for her after the clouds. It was a long, narrow tube. Bea had so far had success with this. The trick was to make ones wings small enough to allow your body into the tube and shoot through it as fast as your smaller wings could take you. Bea made it through fine and she felt a little bit of hope rise in her chest. The next obstacle was new. Bea found herself actually stopping to observe. Out of nowhere, large shimmering balls were falling down through the course and then disappearing just before reaching the ground below. They fell at a fairly alarming rate and Bea realized that she was supposed to get through the area by ducking, turning and dodging the balls. She waited and waited and watched ball after ball drop but couldn't get the nerve to jump in. It's just a practice run, she thought to herself as she closed her eyes tight and leapt into the area. Her eyes open again her instincts kicked in and she made it through to the other side. Here was another obstacle they had already practiced at school. Tall, smooth, treelike structures shot up out of the ground and Bea deftly wove in and out of them. She was feeling excited to get passed these last obstacles on the left side of the course when she saw another barrier waiting for her. She shot dust at it, but this time her focus was off and it didn't work right. She tried again and finally got it to disappear and saw the long straightaway before her. Bea flew. She flew as fast as she could and it was heaven. But it was also over sooner than she wanted and she had to clumsily drop her speed as the next set of obstacles loomed before her. This set didn't seem to have any barriers, which made Bea much happier. But then she saw that they were so much more difficult. The cloud obstacle on the other side of the course was repeated here but with a rocklike substance that had long shards of pointy rock jutting out in all directions. The space for a fairy to get through was much tighter than on the other side and Bea slowed considerably to get through without running into anything. The sinking feeling in Bea's stomach returned as she looked ahead of her at the new obstacle. Again she had to stop as she tried to assess what it was she was looking at. There was nothing there for a stretch of course and Bea could see beyond that the rotating obstacle that was familiar from practice at school. She hesitated a moment and then head off at full speed. But suddenly something was making her fly much slower. Air was rushing at her, tossing her hair back behind her and making it much harder to get her wings moving the way she was used to. It was wind, something that the fairies on the island had never experienced due to their controlled environment. Bea tried various positions and angles and finally, after much struggle, stumbled out of the wind obstacle. Bea took a deep breath and readied herself for the next obstacle that she had seen beyond the wind area. There stood a large fan with blades that turned round and round. A moment to adjust her timing was all it took for Bea to make it safely through to the other side. If Bea wasn't mistaken the obstacle now facing her was the last. Just like the smooth, treelike obstacle from before she now faced another area to zigzag through. This time though the trees were full of long sharp branches that made the space very tight and uncomfortable. At one point Bea felt a little stuck but then she let her wings shrink a bit and she was able to make it out of the course and meet up with Veronica and Laura who were waiting with Ms. Hall.

Ms. Hall looked over the three girls and said, "Well, what did you think? You'll notice that there are two versions of the up-down obstacle and the zigzag obstacle. The more difficult parts are on the right side of the course. These will take some getting used to. You will also have noticed the two new areas that are usually saved for later when you are in training. We have the falling ball obstacle and the wind obstacle. You all three seemed to struggle in some spots so we will work to find your weaknesses and improve them before the competition. There is not much time so let's get started. Let's just practice on the straightaway and try to get used to that!"

The girls had an incredibly fun time flying on the straightaway. It was a real chance to see how fast one could go without needing to worry about turning corners. But they were ordered back down to reality when Ms. Hall told them all that they were acting like idiots flying as fast as they could.

"Speed is important, but control is essential! If you three just go out like that at top speed what do you intend to do when you do have to corner to get to that first obstacle? Any ideas? Beatrice! Veronica! You both, especially, need to get a grip. I want to see optimum speed at the center of that straightaway, but then adjusted speed for the end to lead up to that obstacle, OK?" Ms. Hall's voice was getting horse from all of her screaming and they had just started practicing. Bea tried to focus and do as Ms. Hall asked because she wasn't particularly looking forward to an entire day of screaming. Veronica and Bea must have improved because Ms. Hall simply grunted an approval and told the two girls and Laura to go again. After about 10 runs of the straightaway the girls were ordered back down to where Ms. Hill was waiting. Ms. Hill wanted the girls to focus on the parts that they were familiar with from school before moving on to the new ones. Bea felt her heart sink as she looked longingly at some of the new challenges. Her lack of enthusiasm showed as she ran through the familiar obstacle. Bea's mind was going numb with all the screaming from Ms. Hill and all the shock of seeing so many new things. The day seemed to have gone by so quickly and yet it felt as though they had been there for days practicing. Bea unknowingly glared at both Veronica and Laura. Laura had continued to be a consistent flyer. It was almost as though nothing could cause her to falter. She had allowed herself some moments of awe when they had arrived, just like Veronica and Bea. But even from that first run on the straightaway, Laura had cleared her mind and performed equal to her standard at school. Veronica had taken her shock at seeing the course and that stadium, and the island for that matter, and pushed it all into a new intense focus that was a little unnerving. Bea told herself angrily that she was not going to let either of them out-fly her next week.

Ms. Hill told the girls that she had some work to finish up there at the training island and so they headed back to the hall on their own. Ms. Hill had given the three girls two pod bubbles and sent them on their way. Bea hadn't been able to shake her anger at how poorly she had performed at practice and she kept silently wishing for the other two to just offer to ride a pod together and leave Bea to her thoughts. Unfortunately Bea was slow to speak her wish and Veronica beat her to it. She snatched a pod bubble from Laura's hand and made a barely audible goodbye as she tossed the pod bubble into the air and flew up into it. Her pod dashed away back around and around the island to return to the Hall. Laura gave a little sigh and turned to look at Bea with a smile.

"So glad I didn't have to get stuck riding back with her."

Bea couldn't help but smile and she quickly found her frustration from practice leave her as she found a new place to focus her energy, complaining about Veronica.

Laura returned her smile and said as she tossed the pod bubble into the air with a high arch, "I don't get why she is always so mean to you though. I mean I know she is mean. She is mean to everyone at school, but you really get it a lot you know?"

Bea shrugged her shoulders, "Yeah, but you know, I am a little used to it. Today was weird; she didn't bug me much at all."

"Yeah, she seemed really focused," Laura agreed as the two girls settled into the pod. Laura then turned herself towards Bea more and dove into a much different topic. "So, your mom is a flier right Bea?"

"Yeah, why?" Bea asked in surprise.

"Well, I don't have any fliers in my family and I was just curious, you know what it is like. I mean, I guess I am going to do this. It's just sorta new to me. I mean I know about the missions and all that, but does your mom like what she does?" Laura asked timidly.

Bea laughed. "Does she like what she does? Yeah, she loves it. She is the entire reason I wanted to become a flier. She comes home every day having had so much fun on the missions."

"That's cool to hear. I was a little worried you know. I wanted to ask someone too, but I feel like I can't really talk to Veronica, you know? Her mom is a flier too, right?" Laura asked as the island's landscape dashed all around them.

Bea nodded in agreement and Laura continued, "Isn't she always on some special missions. I mean, I don't think I have ever seen her."

"Yeah, my mom always says that Mrs. Iverson is called upon for special tasks and at random times and that is why she isn't around much."

Laura's face wrinkled up in concern. "It must be hard for Veronica, not having her mom around much, you know?"

Bea found herself laughing suddenly. "Yeah, I guess. Still don't think that gives her an excuse for being a jerk though. If it was my mom I would be proud to know that she was doing something important."

Laura nodded and the two girls found their pod slowing down at the Hall. They flew out and walked together to the Hall to take the stone back to their own Hall. Bea hated to admit it to herself, but despite her anger at Veronica for always harassing her, Bea couldn't imagine what it would be like if she never got a chance to see her own mother.

She was determined to find out a little more about things when she got home so the first words out of her mouth when she came home were, "Hey mom, have you ever had to do special missions?"

Mrs. Featherstone was in the middle of making lunch and didn't seem to have heard Bea at all.

"What? Oh, hi Bea. How was the first day of practice at the training field? Was it huge?" Mrs. Featherstone gave an awkward little twist of her wrist and some misshapen sandwiches formed from the dust that had shot from her fingertips. They fell one on top of another making a rather precarious tower in the middle of the table.

Bea sighed. "Yes, hi mom. Yes, the place was cool. But what I wanted to ask you was about special missions, have you ever been on one?" Bea sat down at the table and realized how exhausted and hungry she felt. But she did her best to wait until her father came into the room to join them for lunch. The minute he sat in his chair Bea grabbed a sandwich and stuffed into her mouth. The usual sweetness spread to the corners of her mouth and she felt suddenly much better.

Mrs. Featherstone shared a quick look with her husband and then smiled at Bea. "What do you mean, special missions?"

Bea rolled her eyes. Her mother was always so slow to talk about these kinds of things.

"You know mom, the missions that Veronica's mom goes on all the time." Bea made sure to add a little venom to Veronica's name as she grabbed another sandwich.

"No, I have never gone on a special mission. Veronica's mom is one of the few . . ."

Mr. Featherstone suddenly cut in. "That's why they are special missions. If everyone was doing them they would just be normal missions." He gave a small laugh as he smiled at Bea.

"Dad, don't be silly. I'm serious. I mean, I guess I was just wondering, you know? I have to spend so much time with Veronica lately and she is always such a loser. I don't know. I guess maybe I thought she was being mean to me because she is jealous or something." Bea's focus was on the leaning tower of sandwiches. She didn't like admitting that she was worried about Veronica, but what Laura had said made sense. When she looked up her mother had suddenly risen from the table and gone to the kitchen to get glasses for juice. Mr. Featherstone gave her hand a little pat from across the table.

"You know, I am sure it is just that, jealousy. I know Veronica is mean to you sometimes, but you have to just ignore it. And try not to be mean back. That never solves anything."

Bea nodded. Mr. Featherstone cleared his throat and said in an excited voice, "So, tell us all about practice today. What was the course like?"

Bea felt relieved to have something to talk about after the awkward silence that had fallen when discussing Veronica. She couldn't stop talking as she described the course, even getting some paper and pen to sketch out some of the areas.

Chapter Seventeen: The Competition

This new practice schedule continued for the following weeks that led up to the time of the competition. But along with her practices Bea also had to worry about studying for her exams. Classes at school were devoted entirely to review. For the first weeks of January, Bea had studied with Curtis as Catherine spoke with Steven nearly every afternoon. But as January turned to February it seemed that the reality of the exams finally hit Catherine. Curtis and Bea had just settled down to review their notes from nature class when Catherine burst into the room.

"OK, so I told Steven I can't talk to him anymore . . ."

Really?" Bea couldn't believe her ears. She rose up onto her knees in anticipation of the overdo news that her friend had perhaps ended things with Steven. Curtis pushed her down gently on the shoulder and said in a very audible whisper, "No, now calm down. She isn't saying she broke up with Steven, she is just saying . . ."

But Catherine finished Curtis' sentence for him and said with a little frown that creased her forehead, "I am just saying that I told him he needs to give me some time to focus on school and exams right now and he was completely understanding. I thought you were cool with us Bea."

Bea laughed at her own overreaction and smiled at her friend. "Of course I am cool with you guys. Sorry I freaked out. So are you going to join us for studying again? We missed you." It was true that Bea had been missing her friend. They saw each other at school and talked inbetween classes, but with Bea's flying practice the only time to really spend with her friend would have been during their study time, which usually found Catherine in the next room talking with Steven.

Catherine smiled too, and it was a truly genuine smile and not the strangely false one that she had been wearing for Curtis lately. "Yeah, I missed you guys too."

They settled down to study and Bea was so happy to find that the frost that had existed between her two friends had thawed out a bit. Bea was sure it was still there, deep down, but the two seemed to have figured out how to hide it better and not make things feel strained anymore. To have her friend back was a relief, but even more so it was what Bea desperately needed. Catherine had always done so well in school and she was also very good at explaining things. Curtis was just as smart, but he had a tendency to brush some of Bea's questions about things aside saying that it was unlikely that those areas would come up on the test, or that it wasn't really that big of a deal. Catherine was the opposite and thought that the tests were a big deal. They were the only deal, and while Bea didn't share her friend's frenzy she did appreciate the focus Catherine brought to their study times. Bea suddenly felt like she was actually getting somewhere and that while some things she didn't know well enough, other things she began to feel more confident about.

February melted away into nothingness and out of nowhere everyone was facing March. There was only one week to review before the actual exam week began on the sixth. Bea had been meeting up with Catherine and Curtis after flying practice every day. Mrs. Royce had silently slid food into the room for them and they would grab whatever sat on the plate that day and stuffed into their mouths between review questions. Bea would go home late each night and collapse on her bed only to find that morning had come a lot earlier than she had been expecting it to. The weekends were just as busy. She had the mornings with practice, but then she would grab Catherine and Curtis on her way home and they would spend the weekends studying at Bea's place.

Exam week was held from the sixth through the tenth. There was to be an exam a day. The exams would be held in the same order as their class schedule. That meant that Monday was their nature exam. Bea felt fairly confident about this exam. Her teacher, Mr. Butterfield, had done such a wonderful job of always making things sound interesting that Bea's mind was focused and much of what they studied seemed to make sense the first time around. There were a lot of things to remember. The test was going to include what they had learned about the biology of dream fairies. This meant that they had studied the extensive structure of dust that was present in both male and female fairies and how males always had higher level dust. They had also studied wings, their structure, and the process of flight. Catherine had been rather excited about this topic and kept insisting that learning this would aid Bea in her flying. Bea got tired of rolling her eyes and trying to protest and decided to just nod along. The rest of the nature exam was to cover the nature found below. There was a lot to cover. Plants and animals, so many names and life cycles and habitats. But Bea really wanted to try to focus because she knew that it was important.

Even though the exam was going to cover so much information Bea walked into class Monday morning feeling confident that she had done the most she could to be prepared. They were done with the exam before lunch and they had all decided to try to study before Bea had to go to practice, and then let the evening be a time to review on their own and rest. Right after the exam Bea met up with Catherine and Curtis and they hurried to the Royce's home to study. Sports class was their second class of the day, but there was no exam and so that meant that Tuesday was their magic exam. Bea's feeling of accomplishment after the nature exam barely lasted a few minutes before the familiar loathing of magic class and her teacher Mr. Wahlstrom took over. The three of them sat down on the floor, with their books open, just staring at the words. Everyone disliked Mr. Wahlstrom but Bea really actually felt as though she hated him. His treatment of Curtis earlier in the year had made it hard for her to listen to anything he had to say. Luckily he had always made it a point of filling up the entire lesson time with his arrogant ramblings and so no one was ever really put on the spot to answer questions. Bea was so relieved to see that Curtis and Catherine had both made it through the textbook fairly easily and Catherine was busy trying to explain certain philosophies and theories of magic to Bea whose own mind seemed to be impenetrable when it came to this subject. Curtis seemed to be rather bored by it all and Bea imagined it had to with the fact that he had spent so much time with the Ancients taking special magic classes that what they had covered at school probably felt pointless. As it was, the boys and girls had already been separated when it came to their study of magic. Since January, during sports class, the girls had continued with their flying lessons. Meanwhile the boys had stopped studying other sports and had returned to the school to face extra magic lesson taught by Mr. Wahlstrom and Mrs. Ironwood alternatively. Bea would often watch Catherine's eyes wander to the school, knowing that she was wishing that she could also join the boys rather than fly. The exam; however, was the same for everyone, but with some questions that were clearly meant to only be answered by the boys. Bea found this approach to the test very frustrating. Every time she read one of the more difficult questions that Curtis was reviewing Bea felt panic take over her mind. Catherine kept trying to calm Bea down but it didn't help that Catherine seemed to know the answer to all these more difficult questions too. Bea got home that night after flying practice and didn't even bother looking at her notes again. She knew it was not going to make any difference and decided to follow the advice of her mother and sleep early. The extra sleep didn't wind up helping at all during the test. Bea struggled to remember things and the harder questions made her brain freeze. Bea shook her head a few times, trying to rearrange her thoughts. The time seemed to pass so quickly and Bea halfheartedly submitted her exam at the end of the three-hour class.

Wednesday was the practical magic exam and if anything, Bea should have felt more nervous for this exam than any other. But it was almost as though Bea had known from so long ago that she not going to be good at this stuff that she didn't have any expectations. She watched as Curtis and Catherine both fretted over their notes because this exam was going to be particularly important for their futures. Bea willingly helped them study and tried to sooth their nerves by telling each of them that they were both so good it was almost silly to be worried. The exam on Wednesday was done individually. Bea went in first and gave it her best. She had tried and felt rather pleased with herself for doing as well as she had done. She waited outside the classroom for Catherine to exit. She came out with a big smile on her face and Bea gave her friend a knowing hug as they both watched Curtis enter the classroom. The two whispered to each other about the exam. Bea had just finished retelling one slightly embarrassing result of some magic she had tried and it had left Catherine covering her face as she laughed quietly. The door opened and Curtis came out and flashed a huge smile at his sister. Curtis wouldn't stop talking about the exam and Bea knew it was to avoid her questions. Catherine was so happy to have this part of their exams finished that she looked like she was ready to skip around the school.

Things weren't over though. History was on Thursday and Bea's brain felt tired from the first three days and was positive that there was no more room in her mind for more information. Bea liked history though and did pretty well after getting her thoughts in order with her friends. Friday's exam was music. It involved singing a fairy song in the ancient language. Catherine wouldn't stop voicing her opinion that this kind of exam was a waste of time. Curtis just laughed along with her. Bea actually liked it and enjoyed the feeling she got when she sang these old songs. Bea's voice wasn't that much better than anyone else's, but she did have a way with the ancient language that helped her get closer to reproducing the beautiful sounds that their teacher, Mrs. Sterling, always shared with them.

With exams finally out of the way the only thing Bea had any time to think about was the competition. The girls had been given use of the school field and the replicas of parts of the course to run through all day long. Bea spent most of the day with Veronica and Laura running through the obstacles. It didn't quite feel the same as the actual course though and the girls were getting nervous. They had only been allowed access to the course on Saturdays since the other fairies from the other islands needed time to practice as well. That meant that the Saturday after exams had been the last time that they would practice on the actual course. Bea almost didn't want to have to leave that day and she could sense that Veronica and Laura were feeling the same. The three girls barely spoke to one another at the school course as they took turns running through obstacles and then flying laps. Bea was often tempted to simply fly the laps and not even look at the obstacles. She knew these were her weak areas, but she would try to cover her dislike of practicing on them by saying that they weren't the same as the real obstacles on the actual course. The truth was that she still felt that luck had a lot to do with how well she performed. Laura was easily the best at the obstacles. She had such focus and precision that she made easy work of all them. Perhaps the only one part that posed any real threat to her was the wind obstacle. Laura didn't have anywhere near the wing strength to get through this one like Veronica and Bea did. This also meant that she was quite a bit slower than the two girls were. Veronica had been like Bea and had shown a lack of focus on the obstacles for most of their practice time. But when the new year came and they started practicing on the course Veronica's mind zeroed in on everything and she was performing very well. It left Bea unnerved to watch her zip through things with ease and then set off at top speed at the straightaways. Still, Bea was the fastest of the three and she held on to those moments when she could use her strength to help make up for how clumsily she had gotten through the obstacles.

Curtis and Catherine and taken to meeting up with Bea after her practices each day to cheer her up and show their support. Bea could see how anxious her friends felt when she saw the lines creasing Catherine's forehead get deeper and deeper with each passing day. The fairies didn't know the results of their exams yet. Bea knew that to get into training she would need good results on all of her exams and she would have to perform well in the competition. Bea had a strange feeling of confidence that with the help of Catherine and Curtis she had scraped by well enough on her exams. The competition was what scared her. Her mother had tried to reassure her numerous times that she had nothing to worry about, that even with her flying casually through the course she was skilled enough to earn a position in training. Bea tried to remember these words but the competitive side of her would always take over her thoughts and remind her that the most important thing was to beat Veronica. Bea's dreams at twilight often found her standing at the center of the large course at the field accepting the trophy for first place while all the thousands of fairies cheered her victory. Bea would wake feeling flushed and silly that she had allowed her thoughts to go to such an extreme, but part of her would remind herself that she was a really good flyer and extremely fast. Maybe it wasn't such a ridiculous thing to imagine, her winning

The night before the competition she tried her best to sleep. Her mind kept dashing around and her body felt restless. She knew she was exhausted but she found herself sitting up in bed with an insane amount of energy coursing through every inch of her body. After many hours of staring at dark walls she fell into a strange sleep that was full of random images only to wake too soon to her alarm. She walked out to the kitchen for breakfast without even really thinking. She was surprised to see her brother there.

"Hey sis!" Steven greeted her sister with much more friendliness than Bea had ever experienced and it unnerved her more than she wanted to admit.

"Hi," she mumbled back as she pulled up a chair and started manually putting toast in her mouth.

Steven was holding a cup of coffee, something he had decided was the next step in proving that he was an adult. Coffee for the dream fairies was still made with dust, but this was a far less sweet version that in Bea's mind tasted horrible. Bea sneered at him.

"So, I thought it would be good to come out and cheer you on today."

"Yeah, thanks for that." Bea drank some juice and felt a little better.

Mrs. Featherstone sat down next to her and put her hand on Bea's. "You are going to do so well today. Don't even think about things. You are so naturally good at this that you will have no problem getting into training."

Bea had heard her mother tell her these same words nearly every day and she nodded along with her this time as well. She wasn't sure anything was going to help her get rid of the giant knot in her stomach.

Her father walked into the kitchen stuffed some toast in his mouth and looked at the time. "You guys ready to go here in a few minutes? I imagine they want the competitors to arrive a little early."

Bea got up and walked back to her room because she had nothing else to do with the few minutes before their departure. She didn't feel much like hanging out with Steven and her parents. But she was surprised to see that her mother had followed her back to her room. She walked in behind Bea and closed the door behind her. She turned Bea to face her, grabbed both of her hands in her own and fixed her eyes on Bea in a way that she had never done before.

"You seem too nervous. I thought you would be so confident. This is really no big deal Bea." Mrs. Featherstone squeezed Bea's hands with each word in a pleading sort of way.

Bea didn't really know what to say. She tried to give a weak smile, but knew she had failed when her mother's expression grew even more concerned.

"Are you hoping to win?" Mrs. Featherstone asked in a near whisper.

Bea shrugged her shoulders. How could she explain to her mother what was going on in her head when she didn't quite understand it all herself? "I don't know. I just wanted to do better than some people . . ."

"Oh, yeah, OK." Mrs. Featherstone's expression shifted a little as she continued. "Is this is about Veronica?" she asked tentatively.

"Yeah. She's always talking and being so mean. I just thought . . ."

Bea was expecting her mother's usual supportive smile but was surprised to see that her mother seemed even more concerned. "Listen. I know you and Veronica don't get along. But I have always told you that I thought it would be best for you to just try to be nice or at least ignore her, rather than try to start something with her. Maybe there are things in her life that are making her be mean. Maybe she doesn't . . ."

Bea felt anger rise in her throat. Why was her mother trying to figure out Veronica? "You don't know what she is like mom. She says terrible things to everyone, especially me and Catherine and Curtis. She hates me. And she does everything in her power to make my life miserable at school. It would feel so good to beat her today."

Frustration coursed through Bea as her mother continued to look at Bea in a reproachful way. "I know Bea. But, it is never good to pick a fight with someone. You don't know a person's whole story . . ."

"What is there to know? How could she be so sad to explain her stupid way of treating people? What, is she so lonely when her mom is at work that it is OK for her to be mean? Is that it?" Bea pulled her hands away from her mother's and turned away. In doing so she missed the darkness that fell across her mother's face.

Mrs. Featherstone sighed and seemed to pull herself together as she walked towards Bea again. This time her face showed that smile that Bea had come to rely on when she was worried about things.

"Listen, I know you want to do well. We are all rooting for you to do well. And I know you will. Don't worry about beating anyone. OK? Just think about flying. Just think about flying as fast as you can. OK? And have fun! You are so good at this. Remember what the Ancients told you when you were eight-years-old? They said that you had these amazing wings that would take you places, farther than normal fairies ever went. You are supposed to be a flier. You are going to do so well today." And with that Mrs. Featherstone pulled her into a hug and all the worry for the day and the anger from before just melted away. She smiled at her mother. She felt a little embarrassed for having yelled just a moment earlier. The strange knot in her stomach was still there, but she also felt excited and knew that when she got to the stadium and actually started flying it was going to feel amazing.

A few pod trips and a stone later they had arrived in front of the giant stadium. All this time Bea had only been there when it was empty. Now there was a strange buzz taking over the entire place as it filled with fairies. Bea couldn't make up her mind if it was annoying or soothing. She saw Ms. Hill waiting for her with the other girls.

"This way," she barked and led them through a small door to the side of the entrance.

They found themselves in the inner structure of the stadium where the offices, changing rooms, and training areas were. It felt tunnel-like and the walls, floor and ceiling all were made to look like cement. Bea felt her footsteps echo loudly as she stumbled after Ms. Hill. Ms. Hill stopped in front of a door that had a piece of paper stuck to it with her name on it and nodded the girls in first. Bea looked at Laura and Veronica and saw that they too seemed very nervous.

"OK girls! This is it! No more waiting, no more training, this was the real thing. I know you all have it in you to do well today. I wouldn't waste my time on you if I didn't. Don't let nerves or thinking crazy mess you up today, got it? Fly!" And with that uplifting peptalk Ms. Hill slapped each girl across the back and pushed them back out through the door. They crawled up some stairs that led them out into the bright sunlight. They were at the field. Bea couldn't help but feel excited. The seats were full of fairies and it was now that Bea got her first glance at her competition. She was pleased to see that everyone seemed to be sharing her feelings of anticipation and nerves.

A whistle blew somewhere on the other side of the field. Everyone's attention was drawn to the center of the field where some important looking fairies sat on a raised platform. Bea knew somewhere in the back of her mind that there was someone talking, but her ears didn't seem to be working. All she could hear was her heart beat. She was aware of everyone clapping after some time had passed and then it was time for all the competing fairies to line up at the start line. Bea's heart leapt as she felt that knot in her stomach melt away and Bea was left with pure excitement. She didn't even bother looking at anyone else; she was so focused on the course. The referee for the race stood on the ground with a watch in her hand. The announcer called everyone's attention to the start of the race. The ref gave a clear sharp blow on her whistle and Bea was off.

She was off flying as fast as she could and she found that without much trouble she was in the lead from the start. She had not flown with this many fairies at the same time. Even at school they had taken turns around the track. It felt strange to hear the wings of the other fairies moving behind her. They were to make three laps of the course. Bea rushed through the first straightaway feeling confidence spread through every limb. But she knew she needed to focus because the first obstacle was zooming towards her. She stretched her arm out and shot down the obstacle with such ease that Bea practically stopped in midair. She definitely slowed a little and it scared her. She couldn't slow down. She needed to keep going. She flew deftly through the next area. The clouds floated at different heights and Bea wove up and down between them with an ease that was alarming. Her confidence was being bolstered so much that she felt invincible. She barely checked her speed as she approached the long tube and waited perhaps a little longer than might have been advisable to shrink her wings down to size and zip through the tube. Bea heard a collective gasp from the stands as she entered the tube and thought to herself that perhaps all the fairies had chosen to focus on her race through the course. The attention was like a drug and added to the exhilaration of flying. She saw the silver balls falling down in front of the course that lay in front of her as she neared the end of the tube. During all the practices she had yet to be able to exit the tube without stopping before facing the falling balls. But to think that she couldn't do it today was laughable. She felt the rhythm of the balls as they fell, creating silver streaks and saw the way just as she popped out of the tube. Without a single adjustment to her speed she dashed into the obstacle and let her wings grow out a bit slowly. There was no doubt now that the crowd was watching her. They cheered as she dashed out of the area of the silver balls and went the short distance to the smooth trees that jutted towards the sky. Bea had always done well on this part of the course and she approached it like an old friend, swaying a bit as she flitted from left to right again. She ducked around the last tree and saw the obstacle ahead that need to be shot down. She raised her hand and the dust shot from her fingertips and Bea raced out into the straightaway. This part of the course felt so much brighter, the crowd louder, as nothing stood between Bea and flying as fast as she could.

Bea understood now what her mother kept telling her, that she was a natural and had nothing to worry about. This was what she was born to do. Flying through the course and especially the straightaway made her the happiest she had ever been. She knew the obstacles on the approaching side of the course were harder and had always posed a threat to Bea in the past, but she readied herself with a new confidence. She forced herself to slow a little as she approached the shards of rock that she had to fly up and down through. Things were going better than ever. But then she sensed things change. Someone was getting closer to her. Bea had only felt the presence of the other fairies at the start. But now there was definitely someone behind her. It felt as though a small pellet of anxiety had exploded inside her stomach and allowed a dark poison to seep into her entire being. Her distraction cost her as she felt the fairy right behind her as she lobbed up and over the last rock obstacle and out into the free area that faced the wind. Bea knew what was coming. She made her wings smaller so that they would not get caught in the blast, but she was still thrown back a moment as the initial gust of wind threw her hair back and pressed against her face. She tried to smooth her body out into a sharp straight line as Ms. Hill had trained them to do. Bea felt the pressure of the wind lessen as her body became more taunt and she was able to push her way through. The other fairy was directly behind her. Bea realized just as she left the wind area that the other fairy had been using Bea to her advantage. She had been able to ride along in the pocket of air behind Bea and escape the wind obstacle with very little exertion. This gave the other fairy the advantage of not being exhausted from fighting the wind and she jutted past Bea and dashed towards the rotating obstacle. Bea's breath caught painfully in her throat. It was Veronica. She had flown deftly through the rotating obstacle and had flashed a glare over her should from the other side. Bea tried not to worry and focused on finding the right moment to dash through the rotating blades. Bea counted: one, two, three, one, two . . . and then she shot through to the other side feeling relief for only a fraction of a second. Bea watched as Veronica shot off towards the jagged, spike filled zigzag obstacle. Bea used all of her strength to catch up to her and surprised herself by dashing through the first part of the obstacle without much thought.

Veronica seemed to have slowed down. Perhaps the obstacle had caused her to falter? Bea's heart leapt with the thought that she would be able to dash past Veronica and out into the straightaway. The jagged trees that jutted up high into the sky had created pockets of space that very few spectators could see. There, in one of these hidden spaces, in a perfectly planned moment, Bea saw Veronica; waiting, with an undeniable smile on her face, and a crazed look in her eye. Bea felt her heart leap into her throat in that moment and tried to instinctively brace herself for what she knew she could not stop. Veronica dashed ahead of her, and so briefly, and so subtly, and so quickly pushed Bea to the side that no one would have ever seen or known. Bea's velocity caused her to be shot off towards one of the many jagged obstacles. Bea thought to try to shrink her wings and close her arms around her head to protect her as she forced herself into a roll out of the course towards the center of the stadium. Bea felt a moment pass as she was sure she had succeeded in safely avoiding a catastrophe. But then something had stopped her right wing on its way to her body as it grew smaller and smaller. An edge of the obstacle had pierced the very tip of her wing and had actually driven itself straight through. Bea's progress to the center of the field was sharply halted and all Bea could do was try to curl herself up into a ball, pulling her arms tighter around her face as she felt herself being snatched back towards the obstacle. She hung there, her movement finally halted. Relief spread through every limb as she saw that she had not been hurt more. Time sped up so quickly around her. She saw Veronica dash off along the straightaway without a second glance behind her. She was obviously going to pretend that nothing had happened and any fear or worry that Bea had felt before, or even the relief that she OK, was immediately erased. All that Bea felt now was rage. Bubbling anger that caused her brain to fog as she tried to get off the stupid edge of the obstacle. She watched as other fairies raced by and realized that she was in a part of the course that no one would probably see. She felt so stupid, hanging there, watching as fairy after fairy raced past her and a terrible sinking feeling seeped into her mind. What if the fairies made a whole run around the course? What if she was left here until the end? Suddenly, she felt gentle hands on her arms and heard someone ask, "Are you OK?" Three fairies, all wearing white, had appeared behind her and were looking her over with great concern in their eyes. These fairies were cure fairies. They were part of a small number of fairies whose job it was to take care of everyone. So very little ever went wrong on the islands though that there was not much need and some people made fun of them for acting so important when they barely did anything. But Bea knew better. She knew how important they were for the fliers on the missions and felt relieved to see that they were here for the competition too.

"Can you move?" asked one of the fairies as she hovered in front of Bea. Bea tried to will her wings to lift her up and off the shard piercing through her wing. Things were not working like they were supposed to though and Bea panicked.

"No! What's going on? Why can't I fly? I want to finish the race! Get me off here so I can finish the race! Veronica . . ."

Another, older fairy now flew out from behind Bea and smiled in a gentle sort of way at Bea. It was annoying to watch her smile like that at Bea and it made her wiggle in desperate attempts to free herself.

"Calm down. You aren't flying anywhere. We need to take you to the care room and you need to rest and recover. Your wings won't work right for you until you can get them repaired." The older fairy saw that her attempts to soothe Bea were not helping. She grabbed Bea's hands and forced Bea to look her in the eye as she said clearly, "You are going to be fine. Your wings will be fine. Don't move anymore or you will cause more damage. Let's get you off of here and into the care room so we can get you fixed up, OK?"

Bea reluctantly allowed the other two fairies to help pull Bea up and out off of the jagged edge of the course. They held her between the two of them with her arms draped over their shoulders. She heard the crowd notice for the first time what had happened to her as the care fairies flew with her along the inside edge of the course towards the finish line. Bea could hear a small ripple of commotion amongst the spectators as they slowly took notice of the injured fairy being led off the field. Once they reached the finish line, the fairies brought Bea down to the field and Bea watched as the care fairies paused a moment to be sure of no one coming on the course as they slowly walked across to the stands.

Inside the stadium were a number of small offices. Bea was led to one that had a door ajar and the two fairies who had been holding Bea now let go and started to ready a bed for her. Bea swayed a little and realized that she was shaking uncontrollably. The older fairy caught her around the arm and steadied her.

"It's ok. You went through a rough time just now. Let's get you to lay down here and relax." There was a large window-sized mirror on one of the walls and Bea stared at herself reflected in the glass. On her right upper wing was a large, angry hole that had been torn through by the course. A large number of small tiles that overlapped to make the dream fairies' wings were missing and Bea saw a couple more that had been holding on fall down to the ground behind her. This damage to her wing did not necessarily cause Bea pain. It was not like the pain of falling down on one's knee or a scratch. But it did make Bea feel broken and empty. Her breath kept drawing in a strange uneven way and Bea couldn't think how to calm herself. Dust was steadily falling from her wing as well. At first Bea hadn't taken notice, but as she tried to shake her wings a little she saw the sparkly cloud poof out from her wings in a feeble way.

The older Care fairy had been watching Bea with that same motherly smile and she gently guided Bea towards the bed. "Sit down dear. You are going to be fine. We will need to fix your wing. In the meantime we are going to give you this to help replenish the dust you are losing so that you don't feel too tired. Can you drink this please?"

She had handed Bea a clear glass that held a beautiful golden mixture she had never seen before. She brought it to her lips and drank the potion in one gulp. The potion was not really liquid. It was dusty and light and felt like drinking sunshine. There was a hint of sweetness and if Bea wasn't mistaken, that sweetness reminded her of the sweet she had been given by Mrs. Zephyr at the solstice. With that strange thought floating in her mind Bea found herself falling into a deep, incredibly comfortable sleep.

Chapter Eighteen: Graduation

Bea woke up after what felt like days, but was most likely only half an hour. She looked around the small office and saw someone she was not expecting smiling down at her. It was Johnathan Woodsburough. He had a towel in his hand and he handed it to Bea and said in a voice that sounded as though he was trying to sound soothing, "Want this? You look like you have been crying."

Bea shook her head a little and tried to figure out what was going on. He was the only one in the room. "What are you doing here?" She hadn't meant the words to sound so rude as she had spoken them, but she really didn't understand why he was here.

Johnathan gave a small laugh and said shyly, "I have been in denial. My dad was bugging me for years to go into high security like him after school. So I was trying to decide if I really wanted to, or maybe I was trying to piss him off. Yeah, so for the last few weeks of school here I have been doing some stuff with the care fairies to see what things are like with them. But to be honest, it really isn't my thing. This was my last day with them and then I was going to tell them I am through."

"What do you mean? Have you changed your mind?" Bea asked as she tried to sit up a little. She had been unable to make her wings smaller after the accident; an unfortunate result of the damage to her wing. It was quite uncomfortable to be lying down in bed with huge wings on your back. She sat up and swung her legs over the bed, facing Johnathan.

He shrugged his shoulders and smiled at her. "To be honest the care fairies work is insanely boring. But then today happened and it was really cool."

"Well, nice to know that my injury has given you some excitement for the day."

"No, no, I'm not trying to say I am glad you got hurt, just saying it was something different. Still don't think I want to do this kind of thing forever though." Johnathan had stood up and held his hand out to Bea. "You done with that towel? I'll put it away and get you some more potion."

Bea hastily wiped her face clean and felt so much better. Her forehead scrunched up in concern as she asked, "Is that potion what made me sleep?"

"Nah. One of the Care fairies did a little magic to make you sleep. They thought you needed the rest and the time to calm down too." Johnathan turned back around from the filling up a similar cup with the same sweet tasting, airy potion and placed it in Bea's hands. "Drink up!"

Bea swallowed it again and felt that same sweetness spread to every corner of her mouth. As she handed the glass back to Johnathan her fingers touched his and Bea shivered a little. She had forgotten how wonderful his smile was. She was prepared to smile back when she remembered that she was supposed to be angry at him after everything that had happened at the solstice. Even though tons of time had passed since then and they had seen each other at school, Bea had not yet had a single conversation with Johnathan. She had seen him try. He had edged closer to her in the hallways or made to say something between classes, but Bea made it a point to always be busy or moving in a totally different direction. She wasn't really sure why she wanted to avoid him so much, but she did know she was mad and she didn't like the thought of losing that feeling over time. So she made sure to relive that evening every time she saw him to get the same bad feelings to return. She was a little frustrated to discover that today, despite seeing that evening crystal clear in her mind as she stared at the floor, the anger that she had felt before had gotten so small and feeble that it got shot down and destroyed with that shiver from his touch.

Johnathan had been watching Bea stare at the floor. He turned to return the glass and with his back to Bea he mumbled feebly, "Hey, you know, I'm sorry about that night. You know, at the solstice. I'm sorry about that. I've been trying to tell you that for a long time now, but I could never get you at school."

Silence filled the room as Bea tried to think of what to say to Johnathan. His apology had been sweet and she believed him, but she just couldn't think of any words.

Just then the door opened a little and the older care fairy's round face peered around the door. "Is she up?"

With the door opened Bea could hear faint sounds from the stadium. The crowds were clearly cheering and Bea strained to hear what was going on.

"Competition just finished. They are awarding prizes. Your parents and brother have been waiting outside. I told them not to disturb you, but since you are awake now we can let them in."

And it seemed that her parents took those last words to mean an invitation to the room. Mrs. Featherstone was already standing by Bea, holding her shoulders and turning her face to her own.

"Are you OK? How are you feeling? Tell us what happened?" Mrs. Featherstone's words just spilled out and Mr. Featherstone laughed a little.

"Calm down, Mae. She's fine. The care fairies know what they're doing." His words seemed to have worked, as Mrs. Featherstone's frame relaxed a little. But Mrs. Featherstone kept hold of Bea's hands.

"I'm fine, really. So what happened? Who won?" Bea felt a lump forming in her throat and she tried to swallow it. She didn't want to cry.

"Some girl, from one of the other islands got first and then Veronica got second, and a couple of other girls did well to, didn't they?" Mr. Featherstone asked his wife.

Mrs. Featherstone nodded and smiled at Bea before she spoke. "Yes, they all did really well. No one noticed at first that you were out of the race. I am so glad that the care fairies got to you quickly though. What happened? Tell us what happened Bea?"

Bea was waiting for this. She had been trying to think about it before the sleep took over her earlier. She had been ready to tell everyone and anyone that would listen that it had been Veronica, that she had pushed her and made her tumble towards the obstacle and get stuck. She had even been making random attempts to tell the Care fairies as they had taken her from the field that it was Veronica's fault. No one had listened to her and she hadn't been able to string together a cohesive statement anyway. Now that time had passed, Bea was happy that no one knew. She had decided that she would not tell anyone, not even Curtis and Catherine. In her mind Veronica had crossed a line that day. She had taken her dislike of Bea to a new level and if she wanted to play that way then Bea was going to raise her game too. She wasn't going to cry and complain because she was sure that was what Veronica wanted.

So with a little adjustment of her thoughts she gave a weak smile to her mother and said, "I messed up. I had been doing pretty good and I dashed into that obstacle and I had always had trouble with that one part. I misjudged and just grazed one of the trees. It freaked me out and caused me to sort of roll into the other one where one of the spikes broke through my wing. I was just sorta stuck then, hanging there." Then to try to make the entire story stick even more, Bea added, "I'm sorry you guys."

This seemed to have worked wonders. Tears fell from her mother's eyes and she pulled Bea towards her and said, "Don't say you're sorry. You did so well! You were really so amazing. The entire crowd thought so too. We were all watching you and then you just sort of disappeared and I was so worried. Thank goodness you didn't get hurt too much."

Mr. Featherstone was next to her now too, patting her on the back and saying, "We are so proud of you. You did wonderful." Bea was surprised how easy it was to lie. It was almost like all of her anger at Veronica had been so sharply focused into this new telling of her story. She almost gave herself up though when she saw her brother's face twisted up in lines of honest concern. A little tiny moment of pride entered her mind and made her wish that she could burst out and tell him to get rid of that stupid look on his face. She wanted to tell him, tell all them what happened and that she was such a good flyer that she would not make that mistake. But she pushed the pride aside and focused on her new telling of the truth.

A small knock on the door brought Bea out of her thoughts. It was a couple of important looking fairies following behind an even more important fairy that Bea remembered being the one who had spoken before the start of the race. She hadn't remembered a word of what was said as she had been nervous and trying to focus and she imagined now that they were probably here to tell her that she had been disqualified. Before Bea's thoughts ran away with her down a dark road of gloom and lost hopes for her future the one fairy spoke.

"So sorry to disturb you all. Miss Featherstone, are you all right?" The fairy was old and his voice sounded like sandpaper.

"I'm fine, thanks," Bea mumbled back.

"Myself and the trainers and the referee were all talking and well we all decided to bestow upon you an honorary flying award for having performed so outstanding prior to your little accident. I know that the trainers are all very excited to see you become a flyer and they all extend their invitation to you. The announcement was just made with the other awards. We had hoped you would have been well enough to come and join us at the awards' ceremony a few moments ago, but the care fairies seemed to have thought otherwise. Congratulations, Miss Featherstone." The fairy had extended a withered hand to Bea and she took it delicately in her own and gave a huge smile.

This meant that everything was going to be OK, that it wasn't the end of the world that she had not been able to finish the race. Bea wondered to herself if this is what Veronica had wanted. She wondered how far her hatred of Bea went and how much pain she had wanted to cause. Was she just hoping to make Bea look stupid? Did she just want to win as much as Bea did? Or was she thinking bigger? Was she hoping to have prevented Bea from going into training?

A great deal of commotion spread through the room as Mr. and Mrs. Featherstone and brother all stepped closer to hug her and congratulate her. Johnathan was smiling at her too and it felt like the room got smaller and for a moment it was hard to breathe. The older fairy and his entourage slipped out of the room, leaving the family to celebrate. The care fairies stood by, smiling as well, until the older one finally cleared her throat to get everyone's attention.

"Well, you seem all patched up for now. Now about your wing." The older fairy had pulled up a chair and everyone else took it as a sign that they too should be seated. Random chairs were gathered from against the wall on the other side of the room and everyone was giving their upmost attention to the care fairy.

"So, can I still fly? Since I'm going to training I must be all right, right?" Bea asked the fairy nervously.

She nodded. "Yes, you will fly again. But you first need to get your wing repaired."

Bea didn't understand. "What do you mean? Didn't you guys fix it while I was asleep? Can't fairy dust mend it?"

"No, dear, I'm afraid not. The wings of a dream fairy are very strong and don't often get damaged. When they do they do not mend on their own, and there is no known magic that can be used to fix them."

Bea found her mother's hand resting on the bed next to Bea and she took it and asked, "So, then how am I going to fly?"

The care fairy had grabbed a pamphlet from the desk against the wall and passed it over to Mr. Featherstone. "There has been some great advancement with this panel replacement system. There are different grades of panels made by fairy dust that you can choose from. They are then attached to the wing to replace those that are missing. Look this over and then decide the course you want to go with. Bea, here will just need to go in for the attachment. A hole this size will probably take a few hours. And then she should be as good as new."

Bea didn't get it. She thought for sure that all it would take was a flick of someone's wrist and her wing would be good as new. But her mother and father were both nodding and looking over the pamphlet like they knew this was coming.

"We'll have to choose which one we can . . ." her father whispered to her mother.

Bea watched as her mother's eyes narrowed, "I think we already know that we will do whatever it takes to get her the best replacements available."

The care fairy seemed to sense what was coming and tried to save the Featherstones the embarrassment of an argument. She smiled and said, "Well, if that is all you are free to go home."

"Really? I can leave?"

"Yes, we have done all we can and you probably have many anxious friends that want to see how you are doing, so you are free to leave. We wish you a quick and strong recovery." The older fairy suddenly drew Bea into a hug and gave a quick whisper, "You are an amazing flyer, regardless of pushy Miss Iverson." She quickly let Bea go and turned to gather Bea's things that were sitting in a chair.

Bea realized that her profoundly confused face was giving her away when her eyes met Johnathan's and his eyes slanted in concern. Bea quickly tried to erase everything with a smile and it seemed to have done the trick, because Johnathan smiled back at her in a way that she had never seen before.

The very next day was graduation and so the euphoria of the competition just seemed to melt into the following day of celebration. The only snag to the day was the Bea's wings were still huge no matter how much she tried to make them shrink back. The ceremony was held at the school in the field that Bea had spent so many days practicing for the flying competition. Bea felt a strange sense of loss when she arrived and saw that the usual obstacles and Ms. Hill's whiteboard were missing. School was over and she was moving on to training and then actual missions. She proudly accepted her diploma from the principal, Mr. Attwell, gave an extra loud cheer when Catherine and Curtis' names were called and found herself making eye contact with Johnathan when he descended from the platform after receiving his. She saw Veronica get hers and searched the group of parents and family and found her father and little sister, but no sign of her mother. Bea felt extremely annoyed by this. She knew that it would be normal to feel a little sorry for Veronica that her own mother couldn't find the time to be there for her daughter's graduation and Bea did not want any reason to feel sorry for her.

After the ceremony parents met with their children and everyone took some time to mingle and wish everyone well. Bea's family found the Royces and she gave Catherine and Curtis a big hug each. She tried to communicate something special to each of them in that hug, to let them know how much she really did appreciate all that they had done for her, how much they meant to her. She felt like she was saying goodbye, which was ridiculous since they were all moving to the training island and she knew that she would probably be living with Catherine and Curtis in the student housing. Maybe it was because they were all leaving their kid-self behind on this family island that they had called home that she felt like it was a farewell of sorts. The Royces were just inviting the Featherstones over for a small lunch celebration when Bea and Veronica made eye contact. Veronica sneered. Bea smiled.

"Come on Bea let's head over to my place," Catherine said as she made to grab Bea's hand. But Bea had drawn it away and had not stopped staring at Veronica.

"Bea?" Catherine asked nervously. She shared a quick glance with Curtis. Bea straightened up and started walked briskly towards Veronica.

"Uh-oh," mumbled Curtis.

"What is she doing?" hissed Catherine. The two of them stared after Bea with fear rising in their hearts. Now was certainly not the time to make a scene.

Bea found herself standing right in front of Veronica. Mrs. Iverson gave a funny glance at Bea and moved a little to the side. Veronica's little sister slid behind her father. Bea thrust out her hand.

"Congratulations, on winning second. I didn't get a chance to say anything yesterday since I was down with the care fairies. But you did a great job and it will be fun going to training with you." Bea had to fight every instinct to not give herself away by saying something mean or laughing at herself for sounding so ridiculous. But to watch the effect of her words as Veronica's expression shifted from sneer, to annoyance, and finally to confusion was worth every ounce of self-control. Before even giving Veronica the chance to speak, Bea turned on her heel and returned to her friends and family. She knew that she was going to be spending a lot more time with Veronica in the future and that her mission over the next year or so would be to figure out why it was that she hated Bea so much.

Chapter Nineteen: Veronica Blooms

Veronica rolled over in her bed. She was in a deep sleep the moment before when a sharp pain had caused her to open her eyes. She closed them again as the pain passed. Her eyes still hurt. She had been crying again last night. She wasn't even sure when she had fallen asleep. It must have been fairly late though. She didn't normally sleep this late into the morning. She could tell how late it was by the shadows that she saw on her floor when her eyes where open briefly. Veronica tried to roll over again. Her eyes burned and felt dry. They hurt more to keep them closed so she decided she may as well finally wake up, but she had found something in her way when she had tried to roll over. Something was stuck to her back. She got up and looked at her bed to find what it was that had been poking her. She couldn't find anything.

"Veronica!" Her little sister's voice pierced the silence. Jean was quite a bit younger than her, five years younger. The two didn't normally share a room, but Jean had spent the night last night curled up next to her sister. It had been that way for the last week. Every night Jean would try to be brave and sleep in her room, but around midnight she would tiptoe into Veronica's room and snuggle under the covers with her big sister. Veronica was trying to think what would make her sister call out so loudly.

"What is it Jaybird?" Veronica asked trying to clear her throat.

Jean's eyes were wide and stuck in a strange stare. They were glued to Veronica's back and she slowly raised her hand to point too. What was it that she was staring at? Then it slowly dawned on her. She put the pieces together one by one. Today was her birthday. Today she was turning eight.

She had really lost track of time and had only recently been reminded of the days of the week when she had finally shown up for school on Monday. She had missed the first week after break. Mrs. Iverson had run into complications while on a mission, they had been told by the fairies. There was nothing that could be done, they had said. Veronica never liked it when grown-ups didn't just say things clearly? Why couldn't they just say what they wanted to say? Why couldn't they just say that her mother was dead? Veronica had tried to put together an idea of what happened that night her mother had died. She hadn't been told everything though since the grown-ups thought that details were not good for little kids. She had tried asking her father what had happened. The first few times she had asked she hadn't thought about what it might have meant for him. But after seeing his eyes so red and the tears starting again and having him reply by simply hugging her tight, she knew that she wouldn't get any answers from him and had stopped asking. Jean was so young that she didn't really get it. She knew that everyone was sad and that mom wasn't coming home. But she didn't really understand that mom was never coming home. Jean was worried more as she watched her father and sister cry those first few days. No one spoke very much then either. Finally, Veronica had noticed Jean staring at her from the open doorway one night when she was crying. Jean looked so sad and confused. Veronica asked her sister to come sleep with her. She tried to hide her tears while the two of them fell asleep. And that was the start of their new evening ritual. Mrs. Iverson would see each of the girls to bed each night. Rather robotically he would tuck them in, kissing their cheeks goodnight. The minute he would leave and bring the door closed Veronica's tears would start again. Sometimes without even thinking they would start. Veronica would cry for a while, just thinking about things. Then, just like clockwork, Jean would crack open the door around midnight and ask in a small voice, "Can I sleep with you tonight Veronica?" The minute Jean would appear Veronica's tears would lessen and she would find new strength to get her through the night. She would occasionally cry a little, but it had gotten a lot better with each evening.

She had stayed home from school the first week after. There were things to take care of and she did what she was told. But as each day passed she longed to be somewhere else. She wanted to see her friends. She wanted to go somewhere and do something, anything. Monday finally came and she was so happy to be able to go back to school. It was during the first lessons of the day that she had been reminded of what day it was. She had to ask her friend, Natalie, what the date was as she filled out the top of the worksheet that had just been handed to her. It was the fifth of October. That Thursday she would turn eight.

Last night, after letting her sister in under the covers, she had had one brief fleeting thought about tomorrow's events. Her birthday, that was a fun thing to think about. It was nice to have some fun thoughts for once after all these days of sadness. Eight, that was a big one too. Eight was when you would get your wings. Wings! That was what Jean was staring at in awe. Wings! That was what she had felt as she lay in bed. Wings!

Veronica lifted up her shirt and looked over her shoulder in the mirror. There they were! They were expanding in size as she watched, reaching up over her shoulders and down to her waist. She smiled at Jean as she turned around to give her a chance to see what was happening. Jean's smile lit up the room.

"You have wings!" she screamed.

"Yes, silly, today is my birthday, remember?" She tried to hide her emotion, but it was obvious in her smile that she was incredibly excited.

The longest tips stopped just around the backs of her knees and the highest point reached over her head. It felt so natural to have them now and Veronica couldn't help but stare at them in her mirror with pride. Her wings were a misty, silvery shade of gray. The forewings were just this gray color but with a series of iridescent opals of white spotting along the edge of the wing on each side. The hindwings had delicate scalloping. They were gray as well and there were similar opal spots along the edge; however, these spots were a little larger and not perfectly circle in shape. Then there were long thick lines of blue that rose up from where the opal spots were to about the middle of her hindwings. The blue was the exact same color as Veronica's hair, but it had a jewel-like glisten to it that made it look like topaz. Finally, at the end of each of these blue lines of color were round balls of gold. As Veronica turned to try to see the wings from the other side she saw that the golden balls were not visible from that view. Jean looked at them cautiously from the side.

"Can I touch them?" she asked in a timid voice.

"Sure!"

Jean reached out and touched the edge of one of the wings. She was surprised to find how strong they felt.

"Can you fly?" Jean asked. The smile on her face was a welcome sight to Veronica.

She hadn't thought about the flying part. She knew a few of the girls at school had already gotten their wings and that they had huddled together in groups talking about flying.

She straightened up and tried to think about what it was that she was supposed to do to fly. Anger crept into her mind as she found herself thinking that she should ask her mother what to do and then realizing that she couldn't do that anymore. Her mother was gone. Why hadn't she thought to ask her mother questions about flying before? Veronica opened her eyes, forcing herself out of this negative place and saw her sister waiting anxiously. She smiled at her and thought about flying, how she imagined it would be and a few moments later she found herself hovering over the small flower carpet on her bedroom floor. Jean started screaming and laughing and running circles around her sister. Her sister's laughter was like a drug and it gave Veronica the push she needed. She was flying low around the room, just letting the very tips of her toes skim the floor.

"Hold me! I want to fly too!" Jean squealed. Veronica scooped her sister into her arms in a big hug. Jean wrapped her legs around her sister's back, just under her wings and gripped her arms around her neck so tight that Veronica thought she wouldn't be able to breath. Veronica flew with her sister clung to her in a scrunching bear hug and the two of them laughed and for the first time in a long time the sadness that was the loss of their mother was pushed aside.

The door suddenly burst open and Mrs. Iverson was standing there staring at the two girls. His face was creased with worry that was slowly changing. Was he angry? Or was he sad? No, to Veronica's immense relief her father smiled. It was a small smile, and it seemed so delicate that at any moment it would go away. But Jean had leapt from her grip hold around Veronica's stomach and grabbed her father's hands into her own and pulled him into the room.

"Look dad! Veronica bloomed! She has wings!" Jean was jumping up and down with each word. His smile seemed to choose to stay and he pulled Veronica into a huge hug.

"Happy Birthday," he whispered into her hair. "They are beautiful wings."

It was pretty common to take off from work and school when there was a blooming. The three of them took the journey to see the Ancients and Veronica tried to be as brave as possible to show her sister that there was nothing to worry about. She knew that if her mother was there it would have been OK for Veronica to be scared, maybe even cry a little, but Veronica didn't want to make her father or sister worry, so she fought back her tears and stood up straight and heard what the Ancients had to say. They told her that she had the wings of a Spicebush Swallowtail. They told her that her wings would help her move quickly and smartly through the times facing her. That like the Spicebush, she would be best suited for working in secret and shadow, drawing as little attention to herself as possible. Veronica didn't know what to think of it all as she shared this information with her father and sister. Jean had asked her if this meant she might be some kind of spy, which had caused them all to laugh. Now that they had found a way to laugh again, it felt so natural and soothing.

The three of them were making their way out of the Great Hall when they ran into a fairy that Veronica remembered only too well. He had been one of the fairies who had come that night to bring them the news about her mother. Seeing him made Veronica remember that moment as if it had just happened the night before.

It was late, perhaps the early hours of morning, Veronica had heard the door and had leapt out of bed. She peered around the wall to watch her father open the door. She couldn't hear very well and so she tiptoed silently and crouched behind the sofa and listened as her father spoke to the fairies.

"Mr. Iverson, I am so terribly sorry to bother at such an hour," started one fairy.

"Is this about Cassandra?" Veronica could hear her father's voice tremble.

"We are so sorry to have to bring you this news. There has been an accident. While on a mission, there were some extreme conditions. They followed procedure and flew towards the stone to return. It was such a very difficult and unique situation that Cassandra tried to reach the stone . . ." The fairy stopped for a moment. Veronica heard a soft muffled thud. She took a chance and peered around the sofa to see what was happening and saw her father on his knees, crumpled with his face in his hands.

The fairy knelt down as well and placed his hand on Mrs. Iverson's back. "I am so sorry. It must be so hard. The thing to remember is that your wife was doing the noble work of the flyers, she was doing what she loved, and it is such an unfortunate and rare event. Our sincerest condolences."

Mrs. Iverson did not move, but shook slightly. Veronica's mind was racing. What did this mean? Her mother, could she possibly be dead?

Then the other fairy stepped through the door and around the two fairies kneeling. He placed a strong hand on Mrs. Iverson's shoulder and said in a clear, yet kind voice, "It is time to be strong Philip. You know what we must do. Though these instances have been so rare over the many years, when they do occur it has been decided by the Ancients that it is to be a secret. You have two small daughters, correct?"

Mrs. Iverson stood up on shaking legs and said in a feeble voice, "Yes." But then his voice grew stronger and surer as he continued. "But, I will tell them. They will know the truth. I will not lie to them."

The fairy searched Mrs. Iverson's face and must have seen something there to tell him that he was dealing with a man who had obviously made up his mind.

"That is your choice. But it is the more difficult way to do things. You must tell your daughters that the truth is to never leave this house. That the three of you are the only ones to know. That they must live a normal life and share with you the burden of pretending that your wife has simply been upgraded to higher-grade special missions. Are you prepared to ensure that your daughters and yourself follow these rules?"

"Yes." Mrs. Iverson spoke so clearly that it surprised Veronica.

"Then I ask you to begin this story immediately. The earlier your daughters learn to practice speaking about this new reality the better. We must ask you to come to see the Ancients tomorrow. They will need to tell you things, and make sure you understand. There are other options. Magic can be used with the girls . . ."

"NO!" Mrs. Iverson had cut across the fairy. "NO, there will be no magic or covering up of memories."

"They are young though. The youngest, Jean? She could benefit . . ."

"NO! They will know the truth. They will be proud of their mother. They will hide the truth alongside me."

The two fairies stared at Mrs. Iverson and nodded solemnly in agreement.

"So you are to meet with the Ancients tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. Mae Featherstone will meet you there." The fairy spoke clearly, searching Mrs. Iverson's expression.

"Is Mae all right?" Mrs. Iverson asked.

"Yes, she is fine. She is obviously shocked by the evening's events."

Mrs. Iverson took a deep breath and then stared at the two fairies before him. "Was there nothing she could do?"

The fairies eyes searched the floor, hoping to find an answer that would sooth this man's broken world. "She did everything, everything she could, you must know."

Mrs. Iverson nodded and said in an ashamed voice, "Yes, of course. I am sure she did . . ."

Veronica was suddenly aware that she had heard her sister's door open. She reacted instinctively. She knew that this was not the time or the way for Jean to find out what happened and so she quietly and quickly returned to the hallway and caught her sister at her door.

"What's up Jaybird? Need to go to the bathroom?" Veronica tried to sound like herself as she scooted her sister into the bathroom, helped her get a quick drink of water and tucked her back into bed before returning to her own.

As she lay down in the darkness around her she felt the tears streaking her face, hot and burning. She knew that she would not sleep that night. She would lay awake letting these tears flood from her eyes as she tried to grasp what it meant to not have her mother around anymore. She wept silently for the last remaining hours of the morning. She tried to prepare herself for hearing this news from her father. And as the sadness of the news moved aside to numbness she thought of what she had heard. Mae Featherstone, Mae was her mother's flying partner. They had flown missions together for as long as she could remember. From what the fairies had said, she had been there. She had been responsible. She had NOT done enough. Veronica made her mind up at that moment, as the first streaks of the morning sun pierced through her room and her sadness. Mae Featherstone was the reason that she no longer had a mother and she would never, ever forgive her.

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About the Author

Heather Lynne Shida was born and raised in Aurora, Colorado. She met her husband through AOL. They married and moved to Japan in 1997. They have lived in a small town in Nagasaki for over 15 years. They have two girls and an awesome dog named Bear.

Heather's love of writing began in elementary school. Her fifth grade teacher encouraged her to write her own books and publish them for the school library. The idea of the dream fairies came to her as she was washing her daughter's face in the morning. Heather told her daughter how the fairies had come and sprinkled dust in her eyes and the birds had made nests in her hair. While walking her dog later in the day she recalled the story and looked at the beautiful countryside around her. She was inspired to tell the stories of these dream fairies and the birds they ride. She hopes to complete this series of stories as a gift to her two daughters, Audrey and Kate.

Heather is also the person behind happypuppytruffles Daily Origami, a YouTube channel that features a different origami tutorial every day. She has made over 750 origami so far and hopes to continue for years to come.

Dream Fairies Website: http://www.heatherlynneshida.com

Smashwords: <http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/heatherlynneshida>

