Golden at the Fancy-Dress Party Read online

  Goldie had hardly slept a wink all night. Queen Mab had given her instructions about what to do on the mainland, and her head was swimming. Goldie would stay in a big house with the other fairies who were going to the fancy-dress party. We’ll be best friends! Goldie thought. She’d be allowed to choose seven items from Queen Titania’s Magical Costume Trunk, and from those she would put together her costume. And the costume was to be based on a theme chosen by the queen. Please let Queen Titania choose a good theme for the costumes! Goldie thought. I don’t want to dress as a piece of fruit! That idea alone kept her up for an hour. Then she spent a long time picturing herself on a mainland boulevard, lightly flying next to two or three mainland fairies who had become her fast friends. She imagined the cheers as she entered the fancy-dress party in her gorgeous attire.

  Goldie regarded her sweet little suit in her full-length mirror. She tied a navy-blue ribbon in her hair. Nice! she thought. Unfortunately, the ferry ride would be cold and wet, so she’d also have to wear a hefty oilskin coat to keep warm and dry.

  “My yellow coat?” Goldie asked her reflection in the mirror. “Or the green one?”

  Clara called from downstairs. “Goldie! The tide is turning! You’ll miss the ferry!”

  “Coming, Clara!” said Goldie. “Green, I think. To show off my hair. I just wish it wouldn’t frizz so in this weather!” She leaned down to pick up her luggage—three carpetbags full to bursting. (One was only for shoes.) She could barely carry them all.

  “Sylva! Rosy! Can you help me with my bags?”

  Rosy flew up the stairs. “Oh my goodness, Goldie!” she said. “Do you really need to take that much? It’s just for the weekend.”

  “I’m sure most fairies could get along without very many clothing choices,” said Goldie. “But I cannot. Not to mention shoes. Oh, where are those little dancing slippers I like so much? Can I fit them in?”

  “There won’t be dancing at the party, I don’t think,” said Rosy. “So you could leave your slippers at home. And isn’t that my green coat?”

  “I thought you’d want me to have it for the weekend, Rosy. It looks so good on me on a rainy day like this.”

  Goldie hoped Rosy would say yes, and she did, with her smile.

  “Come on, Golden,” said Sylva. “The ferry won’t wait.”

  And in a moment the bags were gathered, and all five Fairy Bell sisters were out the door. They flew down the boardwalk to the dock, Goldie collecting cobwebs and shells from the path and stuffing them in her pockets. “I may need these for my costume,” she said. Clara carried Squeak in her arms as she hurried Goldie along. Just before they got to the dock, Squeak looked at Goldie with her big brown eyes. “Doh-ca!” she said.

  “There, there, little Squeak,” said Goldie. “I can’t possibly take you to the mainland. You’ll go when you’re a grown-up fairy, like I am.”

  “Don’t you wish, just a little bit, that we were all going together?” asked Sylva. “I don’t much care about the mainland, but we’re always—”

  “I know. We are always together,” said Goldie. “But I can’t just be on this tiny little island all my life. I need to get out and spread my wings.”

  “Of course you do, Goldie,” said Clara. “We all want to grow up.” Goldie thought she noticed a catch in Clara’s voice. “This is your turn to shine.”

  They heard a splashing in the water.

  “There’s Merryweather!” cried Sylva.

  Merryweather was an unusual ferry. She wasn’t a boat at all; she was a gray seal who stopped by Sheepskerry once a month to take fairies on the long trip to the mainland. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen seals swimming, but they look rather like dogs when they’re paddling. They can swim for a long time with their sleek heads above the water and their noses pointed exactly where they want to go.

  Merryweather gave three hoarse barks.

  “That’s the signal,” said Clara. “Time for you to get on, Golden.”

  Goldie turned to say her good-byes. “Bye-bye, little Squeakie,” she said. She held Squeak close. “I wonder how much you’ll change while I’m gone.”

  “Good-bye, Goldie!” cried Rosy. “I know you’ll do beautifully. Take good care of yourself! And say hello to Lulu if you see her on the mainland!”

  “I will!” said Goldie. Lulu was Rosy’s friend—a human child. Human people made Goldie a little nervous, but how lovely it would be to see Lulu again!

  “We’ll be here on the dock waiting when you come back,” said Clara.

  Goldie flew over to Merryweather’s jet-black head and settled comfortably in the seal’s sleek fur. Her luggage just fit, even if it might get a little wet. Merryweather gave one more bark and paddled away.

  And as if they had planned it, Clara, Rosy, and Sylva took a silent breath together and sang in harmony:

  The water is wide;

  You will soon pass o’er.

  And then you’ll find

  A land a-new.

  Sheepskerry’s strength

  Will give you hope,

  Till you return,

  Our sister true.

  Goldie looked out to the distant horizon. Then she turned and waved once more to her sisters on the dock. “At last,” Goldie said to herself. “I’m Golden Crystal Bell. And I’m on my own.”

  seven

  “There she is! There she is!” Goldie heard the calls even before Merryweather was at the mainland ferry station.

  Three very beautiful and very elegantly dressed fairies were waving a greeting. Goldie started to wave back—but then she realized they weren’t waving at her. She lowered her hand.

  “I don’t mind,” said Goldie to Merryweather. “I’m going to do fine here.”

  But as Goldie looked around at the unfamiliar setting, her courage failed her for a moment.

  The mainland was a lot different from Sheepskerry.

  There were no human people in sight, which was a relief, but Golden had never seen so many fairies. Not at the Fairy Ball; not at Queen Mab’s island meetings; not even in her dreams. How could there be so many fairies in one place? She gave Merryweather a quick kiss (that was her payment!) and unsteadily flew down the gangplank to the fairy town.

  Goldie saw fairies of every age and shape and size. They were all in a terrible hurry. And if they noticed Golden Bell at all, it was only to tell her to get out of the way.

  But oh, what an extraordinary place this was!

  Buildings crowded the streets—not just fairy houses for one family, but gigantic fairy houses that must have fit a dozen or a score or a hundred fairies all together. The fairy houses were so high they seemed to reach almost to the sky. Instead of trees and flowers, there were long roads and pigeon buses. And looming up above the town were two enormous buildings. Goldie could read their big signs—one was the Museum of Fairy History; the other, the Gallery of Fairy Art.

  Goldie was dazzled.

  “Don’t stand there gawking,” said an elderly fairy to Goldie. “Or if you do, at least move out of the way, so an old fairy like me can get by.”

  “Oh, of course,” said Golden. “May I ask, do you know the way to—”

  But before Goldie could finish her question, the elderly fairy had flown away.

  How does anyone find her way here? Goldie thought. But then she remembered the instructions Queen Mab had given her. A fairy named Avery would greet her at the ferry dock, and then take her to stay with two mainland fairies, Claudine and Amanda Townley. One thing at a time, Goldie thought.

  “Avery, Avery. Where is she?” said Goldie. She half wished she could squeeze Rosy’s hand right now, or that Clara would take charge. She was even feeling that sometimes she was a little too harsh with Sylva—

  “Golden? Golden Bell of Sheepskerry?”

  “Yes, that’s me.”

  “I’m Avery Pastel, Claudine and Amanda’s serving fairy.” Avery was neat and pretty, and she smiled at Golden shyly. “Welcome to the mainland.”

  “I
’m very pleased to meet you, Avery,” said Golden.

  “Let me take those,” said Avery. She picked up two of Golden’s bags.

  “Oh, thank you so much,” said Golden. “They’re very heavy.”

  Avery looked startled. “You don’t have to thank me,” she said. “I’m a serving fairy.” She led Goldie to an elegant carriage. “You sit here,” she said, settling Goldie into a comfortable seat. Then Avery took a seat on a bench at the back of the carriage. “To the town house!” she said to the carriage driver, a bright-eyed sparrow. And off they flew.

  As the two fairies made their way over the tall buildings in the afternoon sun, Goldie and Avery chatted about the mainland and what life was like there. “We don’t have serving fairies on Sheepskerry,” Goldie said.

  Avery was so startled she almost bounced right off her bench. “No serving fairies?” she said. “How do you manage?”

  “We do a lot of things for ourselves,” said Golden. “The cooking and cleaning, the laundry, the baby-fairy minding. Even the wood chopping, though I’m not much good at that.”

  “The serving fairies take care of that kind of thing here. Fairies like you—they don’t have to lift a wing.”

  “Oh, how marvelous!” sang Goldie. If she had been paying attention, she might have seen that Avery’s face fell a little. “I could get used to this!”

  eight

  When Avery and Golden arrived at the Townley sisters’ house, Goldie was exhausted from her journey, but not exhausted enough to miss out on any detail. “A crystal chandelier!” she cried. “And look at this staircase! It curves!” Golden imagined herself floating slowly down the staircase with her fancy-dress costume on. She imagined the other fairies looking at her with wonder and disbelief. Could a Sheepskerry fairy really be so stylish? “You bet!” said Goldie.

  “I’m sorry?” A cool voice interrupted Goldie’s dream.

  Goldie spun around to find two very pretty and very fashionable fairies staring at her. “Oh, no, I’m sorry!” Goldie said. “I was thinking out loud!” Her face turned pink. “I’m Golden Bell, from—”

  “Oh yes, we know where you’re from,” said one of the fairies. “You’re from”—and she paused; Goldie thought she heard a little sniff—“Sheepskerry Island. I suppose you’re a shepherdess?”

  The other pretty fairy giggled.

  “No, there aren’t sheep there anymore,” said Goldie. She thought the fairies were teasing her, but she couldn’t tell.

  “Um . . . are you Amanda and Claudine?” Goldie asked.

  The two fairies looked down their pert little noses. “Who else would we be?” said the taller one. “I’m Claudine. I and Amanda own this house. Queen Titania has made us host all twelve fairies for the fancy-dress party. From the mainland and the islands.”

  “Avery, take her coat, please,” said Claudine. “How quaint it is, too,” she added quietly, but not so quietly that Goldie did not hear. Goldie was glad she had worn her little blue suit as her arrival outfit. They can’t make fun of this, she thought.

  “It’s very kind of you to have invited us all to stay with you,” said Goldie, using her best manners, even though the Townley sisters were being not so polite themselves. “I adore your house,” she said. “It is so elegant! And so huge! You must love living here.”

  “Humph!” said Amanda. “I suppose you haven’t seen many real fairy houses before.”

  “I’ve seen almost all the houses on Sheepskerry, plus the summer cottages,” said Goldie. “So I think I do know pretty well what a fairy house looks like.”

  Amanda and Claudine smiled. “Not a mainland fairy house,” said Amanda.

  Then they turned to go. “We will see you at supper,” said Claudine. “That will give you time to change”—she paused, and arched an eyebrow—“into something suitable.”

  Goldie felt her cheeks turn pink.

  “Move these bags, will you?”

  Goldie reached for her carpetbags. “I’m sorry. Are they in your—”

  “Please, Golden. Avery carries bags here,” said Amanda.

  “I’ll just take these upstairs,” said Avery to Goldie. Then she whispered, “Never mind them. Not all mainland fairies are so snobby. Come on up with me. I’ll get you settled in.”

  nine

  The sting of Claudine and Amanda’s unfriendly greeting felt less keen as Goldie looked in wonder at the bedroom where she was to stay. Instead of curtains made of oak leaves, there were delicate water-silk panels of shell pink. A sweet gold-and-white vanity—with a three-way mirror!—was nestled in a corner. A plush rose carpet was on the floor. And the bed! Goldie flew over and fell onto the pillowy down comforter. “There’s nothing like this on Sheepskerry!” she said.

  “It’s nice, isn’t it?” said Avery without even looking around. “I’ll leave you now so you can have a moment’s peace before supper.”

  “That sounds good,” said Goldie. “Will you sit next to me at the dinner table, Avery? I have to admit I’m a little nervous around those Townley sisters.”

  Avery shook her head. “Oh, no!” she said. “I never sit at the table, especially not on a grand occasion like this! Why, there must be a dozen fairies staying here at least! I’ll eat with Caraway Cooke in the kitchen, after you’ve had your meal.”

  Goldie’s face fell. The mainland kept surprising her.

  “Will there be anything else, miss?” asked Avery.

  “Please, call me Goldie!”

  Avery smiled a cautious smile. “Will there be anything else, Goldie?” she asked.

  “There is one thing.” Goldie wanted to ask why the Townley sisters seemed so . . . unfriendly. But she didn’t want Avery to think she couldn’t handle herself on the mainland.

  “If you’re wondering why Amanda and Claudine are so unfriendly,” said Avery, “the reason is that the Townley sisters win the fancy-dress prize every single year. All the mainland fairies seem to think that’s the way it has to be.” Avery busied herself by unpacking Goldie’s bags. “But now the island fairies have been invited, and Amanda and Claudine have heard that island fairies are very good at creating things out of bits and pieces. Especially you.”

  “Oh my!” said Goldie.

  “And that’s why they are not on their best behavior.” The little porcelain clock on the mantelpiece struck five. “Now I must fly,” said Avery. She slipped out the door, and Golden was on her own.

  “I’d better change into a different dress,” said Goldie to herself. “Which means I’ll have to redo my nails, too. I hope I’ll be fancy enough for dinner!”

  As she got ready, Goldie thought a lot about what Avery had told her. How nice that people are saying I’m good at creating things! she thought. But how sorry I am that Claudine and Amanda are cross about it.

  When she was dressed and her nails were drying, Goldie flew over to the window to get a breath of fresh fall air. She looked out on the cityscape below her. “What a lot of lights!” she said. Goldie gazed up at the stars, but she couldn’t make them out for the bright city glow. Then she strained her eyes toward the harbor to see if she could glimpse the ocean, or the islands beyond. She could not. “Oh well,” said Goldie, with a small sigh. “I know they’re home and safe on Sheepskerry.”

  I’m sure you can guess who was on Goldie’s mind!

  ten

  Dinner that night was not so bad. The food was delicious, and the conversation was lively. All the other fairies—even the ones from the mainland—were perfectly nice. Fawn Deere, from Doe Isle, seemed almost like a friend. Avery was so busy serving that Golden hardly caught a glimpse of her, but when she did, they exchanged smiles. If Claudine and Amanda hadn’t made their guests feel so nervous, Goldie and the visiting fairies might have had a lovely time.

  After dinner, when she went up to her bedroom, Goldie was so exhausted from her long day that she fell asleep the moment she sank down into her pillows. She didn’t hear the din of carriages and the murmur of voices and the whir of fairy
wings passing her windows all night long. She slept soundly, and dreamt of seals, spruce trees, and a carpetbag with wings.

  In the morning she woke early. On Sheepskerry she always rose with the sun, and she could not change her habits in one day. Not to mention that the fancy-dress party was this very evening! How could anyone sleep!

  Goldie dressed quickly—for her—in a floaty little high-waisted dress with a lovely print of crimson poppies. And red boots. She swept her hair into a high ponytail, hastily made up her bed, and decided to go downstairs to explore. “I’ll fix myself some breakfast before they wake up,” she said to herself.

  The big, long hallway was silent and still. Goldie crept past the closed doors of bedroom after bedroom and found her way down the stairs. The Townley dining room was empty. Nor was there anyone in the parlor, though a fire was burning brightly. “Aha!” said Goldie to herself. “Someone’s been up and about.”

  She hadn’t noticed it last night at supper, but there was a little doorway off to the side of the dining room. She opened it carefully. It led to a wide stairway, and Goldie heard the clatter of the kitchen at the base of it. So that’s where the food comes from, she said to herself. I thought it was magic!

  The kitchen was a hive of activity. There was a fairy cook with an open, cheerful face. She must be Caraway, thought Goldie. Next to her flitted another fairy, but she was working so quickly Goldie could hardly tell who it was. Then she realized—

  “Avery!” she said.

  “Oh my goodness, miss! What are you doing here? All the fairies are asleep.”

  “No, they’re not,” said Goldie. “You’re a fairy, and you’re up and working away. What can I do to help?”

  “I’m Caraway Cooke,” said the older fairy. “And since you’re here, keep yourself out of the way. You modern fairies don’t know how to do much of anything, anyway. Not like my dear sister, Saffron, though of course there’s no room for her in this house.” Avery waggled her eyebrows at Golden at that remark. “Avery, tend that fire. It’s not hot enough for me to put the scones in.”