Winter Magic Read online

  “Ooh, that’s gorgeous!” said a voice that came from just behind Lily and Silver. “We call that one for us!” And with that, Judy Jellicoe and her sister, Julia, swooped down into the forest next to Lily’s tree.

  “Oh no!” said Lily.

  “Not to worry, Lily,” said Rosie. But before Rosie could even give Lily a hug, dozens of Sheepskerry fairies filled the air and started to choose their Christmas trees.

  “We call this one!” said Acorn Oak. “It’s so pretty and we’ll hang it with all our golden acorn caps.”

  “We call this one!” said the Shepherd sisters together.

  On and on it went until the Christmas tree forest was just about empty. The Fairy Bell sisters watched the trees being cut down one by one. “We’ve been robbed,” said Lily.

  “Well, not really,” said Clara. “Sheepskerry Island is pretty full of trees.”

  “Not trees that have been specially grown for Christmas,” said Lily. “Just straggly old leftovers. What if Tink forgets to bring us one?”

  “What if she gets home and finds there’s a tree already there?” asked Rosie, although to tell the truth, she had been thinking the same thing. “Tink’s been away so long. Let’s give her a chance to do something she wants to do for us.”

  “It’s only another few days until Tink comes,” said Silver. “We can wait that long, I know we can.” She gave her sisters a bright smile. “Let’s at least get our decorations out of the attic, in case she needs them to decorate,” she said.

  Silver’s enthusiasm was catching.

  “Good idea,” said Clara. “And how about a cup of peppermint tea to help us sort them all out?”

  “Race you!” said Silver. “And we’ll get home faster than any of the other fairies since we don’t have to lug home a big old Christmas tree!”

  Silver shot off with Lily right behind her. Clara and Rosie, with Squeak squirming in her baby sling, followed a little more slowly.

  “Silver’s full of Christmas spirit,” said Rosie. “I hope Tink makes it a wonderful Christmas for her.”

  “I hope so too,” said Clara. But inside she added, Mostly I hope she doesn’t disappoint us all.

  “Ooh, it is so spooky up here!”

  Silver (who had won the race, of course) pulled down the trap door to the fairy house attic and peeked into the dark. “We’ll use a jellyfish lantern so we can see, but do be careful, Silver,” said Clara. “I meant to clear this out last spring but I didn’t manage to find the time. And don’t let Ginger up here – we’ll never find her if she decides to hide.”

  Lily followed Clara up the steep steps to the attic. She didn’t get to go up into the attic nearly as much as she liked to. She immediately flew over to the musty old dressing-up box and opened its creaky lid. “This old-fashioned fairy dress is my favourite,” said Lily. “It suits me to a T.”

  “We’re not here to try on clothes, Lily,” Clara said. “We’re here to fetch the Christmas decorations.” She lifted her lantern and the light shone on a dusty corner of the room. Silver zipped up the stairs with Rosie right behind her, carrying Squeak.

  “There they are!” said Rosie.

  In a corner of the attic was a pile of boxes, all marked in different fairy handwriting:

  Decorations – special. Decorations – old.

  Fairy lights – white. Fairy lights – coloured.

  Sparkly things (that was in Lily’s writing).

  Wrapping paper. Ribbons. Boxes – used.

  BOXES – NEW.

  “Do you ever think we have too many things up here?” asked Clara.

  “Never!” said Lily and Silver together.

  “Where’s the star for the top of the tree?” asked Rosie. “Tink will want to put that on when she comes.” She moved a pile of boxes. “It’s not here with the other Christmas things. I think we put it somewhere so safe last year that we’ll never be able to find it.”

  “Do you think she’ll get here even earlier than she said? Tink, I mean,” said Silver. “Maybe she’ll come tomorrow. There’s only a week left until Christmas, you know.”

  “She said she’d be here early morning on Christmas Eve,” said Lily, wrapping herself in an old velvet cape.

  “Don’t get your heart set on seeing Tink early,” said Clara.

  “We’ll see her when we see her,” said Silver. “I know.”

  “Help me carry down these boxes, Lily,” said Rosie. “I can’t manage them all.”

  “I’ll be right there,” said Lily. She was trying on the spun-gold cloth that the Fairy Bell sisters wrapped around the base of their Christmas tree every year. “I think this could make a nice skirt for me.”

  “That’s a tree skirt, not a fairy skirt,” said Clara. “Tink brought it from Neverland when you were a baby, Lily.”

  “I’ve always loved it,” Lily said. “It really should belong to me.”

  “It really should belong to all of us, which it does,” said Clara. She held the gold cloth up to the light. “Tink said that this cloth came from Captain Hook’s pirate chest. There’s nothing else like it in the whole world.”

  “The other thing there’s nothing like in the whole world is Tink’s star,” said Rosie. “We can’t go down without it. Where can it be?”

  If any of you are wondering why the fairies celebrate Christmas with so many familiar customs – stars and trees, decorations and presents – let me tell you why. Fairies and humans once mingled much more than they do now. As the ages passed, some traditions of the season were passed down from human people to the fairies, some from the fairies to human people. On Sheepskerry Island at least, it was hard to tell which was which.

  “Doo!”

  “Squeakie! How did you get there?”

  Squeak was all the way over at the other side of the attic, where the fairies kept the wicker chairs they hoped to mend one day.

  “You’ve found the star. And it is pretty, you’re right!”

  Squeak was holding up a box marked FRAGILE! Tink’s star. “Good job, Squeak,” said Rosie, taking it from her carefully. “I love this so much. Tink made it when I was just a little wee fairy like you.”

  Tinker Bell’s star may be like the star you have on your own Christmas tree, but it may not be.

  “Stars aren’t really pointy,” she’d said when she made it, so many fairy years ago. “I’ve seen them up close. And shooting stars are the best of all.”

  The Bell sisters loved their shooting star. It was so different from the ones on any other fairy trees.

  “That’s why Tink is so … marvellous,” said Silver. “She thinks of things we would never think of.”

  “All I can think of right now is a nice hot bath,” said Lily. “This attic is so dusty.”

  “Don’t use all the bubble bath,” said Silver.

  “There would be a lot more left if you hadn’t tried to wash Ginger with it,” said Lily. “I’ll use as much as I want.”

  “Oh, no you don’t!” said Silver as she chased Lily down the attic stairs.

  “I think this may go on all night,” said Rosie. “They’re both so excited about Christmas.”

  “You know what, Rosie?” said Clara. “I’m beginning to get a good feeling about all this. Maybe Tink will even surprise us and arrive tomorrow morning.”

  “I hope she does, Clara,” said Rosie. “Oh, I hope she does.”

  But Tinker Bell did not arrive the next day. Nor the day after that. With only five days left until Christmas, every other fairy family was preparing for the big day. The Fairy Bell sisters could not help but feel left out.

  And today was the Christmas Fair. Faith Learned’s great-great-grandfairy started this Sheepskerry Island tradition long ago. The Fair was a grand celebration of all the fairies’ talents. Every fairy brought along something lovely or useful or just plain fun to sell at the tables lined up in the schoolhouse. As far back as early autumn, the Fairy Bell sisters had worked on their contribution: pretty wind chimes, made from sea
glass hung from driftwood with silver wires.

  The morning of the Fair, over a breakfast of porridge with currants and cinnamon, with their steaming cocoa in their mugs, the sisters arrived at a decision.

  “I know Tink doesn’t want us get each other presents for Christmas,” said Clara carefully, “but I don’t think she’d want us to go to the Christmas Fair just to look.”

  “I don’t either!” said Lily. “I absolutely live for the Christmas Fair!”

  “What’s your idea, Clara?” asked Rosie.

  “Tink would want us to have the best Christmas Fair we could possibly have, so let’s be each other’s Secret Christmas Fairy.”

  “Secret Christmas Fairy?” asked Silver. “How does that work?”

  “Don’t you know anything?” said Lily.

  “Lily, please,” said Clara. “I’ll write all our names on different pieces of paper,” said Clara, “like so.”

  Clara wrote her sisters’ names on separate pieces of paper in her best writing, except for Squeakie’s of course. “That’s because we’ll each get a little something for Squeakie,” she said. She put the names into a pointy gnome’s hat, left over from the Valentine’s Games.

  “Everybody choose one name,” she said to her sisters.

  “Then we each get a present for that sister?” asked Silver.

  “Exactly,” said Clara.

  “A secret present?” asked Silver.

  “Yes, you ninny,” said Lily.

  “Lily, be fair,” said Clara. She turned to Silver. “Yes, Silver, a secret present,” said Clara. “Nothing too fancy or big.”

  “It could be quite fancy,” said Lily.

  “Just a tiny little present to keep us going,” said Rosie. “Tink won’t mind that and if she does I’ll give her a piece of my mind.” Clara and Rosie looked at each other. “Or not.”

  “Silver,” said Clara, “you draw the first name, since you’re the youngest except for baby Squeak.”

  “O-deo!” said Squeak.

  “Well you are the baby of the family, Squeak, although someday I suppose you’ll be grown.”

  Silver dipped her hand into the gnome’s hat. I hope I get Rosie, she thought. She opened up the scroll and read the name.

  “Don’t say it aloud!” said Lily.

  Silver looked at her Secret Christmas Fairy name: Lily. Her face only fell a little bit.

  “I’m next!” said Lily. “I hope I get my own name. Then I can get myself exactly what I want.”

  “If you get your own name you have to throw it back,” said Clara.

  “Hmph,” said Lily.

  She scooped up a name and opened it quickly. Silver, it said. “I guess I can live with that,” said Lily, “if I have to.” Silver could be so annoying, but Lily did love her deep down.

  “Your turn, Rosie,” said Clara.

  Rosie put her hand into the gnome’s hat. Rosie’s paper said Clara. Rosie smiled.

  “That leaves me,” said Clara. And of course, as there was only one name left, Clara chose the paper that said Rosie. She could think of so many things Rosie would like.

  Just then the clock on the mantelpiece chimed twice.

  “The Christmas Fair starts in half an hour!” said Lily. “Let’s go!”

  The Fairy Bell sisters flew through the crisp winter wind to Fairy School. They were so happy to glide into the toasty classroom, decorated so cheerily for Christmas. This particular Christmas, Avery and Faith had made the school especially beautiful. They put away anything that made the place look like a classroom, scooping up all the books and maps and charts and hiding them in the cupboards. Then they pushed the desks into the centre of the room, covered them with cloths of gold, silver and deepest scarlet. The rafters they strung with lights, the windows they brightened with candles and in the corner was their Christmas tree – decorated with paper chains and a popcorn garland that the students of Fairy School had made.

  “Can we help?” asked Rosie.

  “I think we’re just about finished,” said Faith. “Avery made the wreath on the door – did you see it?”

  “I should have known,” said Lily. “It has that Avery touch!”

  At that moment, a great cloud of fairies flew through the door, bringing the cold in with them. Some of them had more items to add to the neatly organised tables. Some were swooping around to see if there were any bargains. All were full of the spirit of the season.

  “Can I put my Christmas cookies here?”

  “Is there a scarves-and-mittens table?”

  “Where do you want us to put decorations?”

  “Ooh! Look at the jewellery display!”

  Faith was so good at organising and sorting that the Fair was ready to begin. “But I think I’m forgetting something. What can it be?”

  “You’re forgetting Queen Mab!” Silver said, laughing. “But here she is.”

  Queen Mab flew in through the classroom doors. There was something more than magical about her, something serene and aglow from inside. All the fairies wanted to grow up to be just like Queen Mab.

  “I love what she’s wearing!” said Lily.

  Queen Mab was dressed in winter white – not a formal trailing gown, but a much more comfortable outfit that would have been just right for ice skating on Lupine Pond.

  “She’s really got style,” Lily added.

  “My dear fairies,” Queen Mab said in her lovely clear voice and the crowd hushed. “Welcome, all, to the Christmas Fair.” She smiled at all the fairies. “You have done a beautiful job making gifts that express your own skills.” She looked around at the jams and jellies from the Jellicoe sisters, the shawls and wraps from the Cobweb sisters, the cushions and pillows from the Stitch sisters, the dried sea lavender from the Flower sisters and the wind chimes from Clara, Rosie, Lily and Silver.

  Queen Mab flew high above them all. “Now Lady Courtney will give you each a dozen gems from my own treasure chest, which you can use to buy gifts for family and friends. Lady Courtney, are you ready?”

  Indeed she was. The fairies lined up, all of them in high spirits, laughing and chattering. It took just a few moments for Lady Courtney to distribute the beautiful polished stones to the fairies (everyone helped). Each group of twelve gemstones came in its own small purse.

  “They’re red this year!” Lily cried when Avery opened hers. “First time!”

  “Shall we begin?” asked Queen Mab.

  The fairies did not have to be asked twice. Up and down the aisles they flew, looking for the exact right gift for each fairy on their Christmas list.

  Rosie, with Squeak in her arms, was the first to spot something perfect for her sister.

  “Look at that Squeak!”

  Squeak just squirmed in her baby sling as Rosie flew over to the Cobweb sisters’ table. There before her was the most beautiful shawl, spun in an intricate pattern of hearts and flowers.

  “That’s some of my best work,” said Lacey Cobweb.

  “It’s beautiful,” said Rosie. “May I have it? For Clara?”

  “I was hoping you’d spot this for Clara Bell,” said Lacey. “I was thinking of her as I spun it. It will cost you all twelve stones. She ran her hand over the lovely shawl. “But it’s a fair price.”

  “It’s worth twice that,” said Rosie. She reached into her purse and found only three stones there. “That’s funny,” said Rosie. “I thought we had twelve stones each.”

  “We do,” said Lacey. “I’m going to buy a necklace for Blanche with my stones – and keep a little for myself so I can buy a silver charm bracelet, too.”

  “But where are the rest of my stones?” said Rosie. “Something must be wrong. I’ll fly back to Lady Courtney to see what’s up.”

  Rosie didn’t know it, but in another part of the Christmas Fair the same thing was happening.

  “I’ll take those green and silver shoelaces for Silver,” said Lily as she and Avery looked over everything on the tables.

  “She’ll love them
!” said Avery.

  “I know,” said Lily. “They’ll look so cute in her new trainers.”

  “Plus they only cost three stones,” said Avery, “which leaves you …”

  “I think it will leave me enough to buy that darling little skirt from the Stitch sisters. It’s almost as pretty as the one in the attic.”

  “Even if that one is meant for a tree,” said Avery. “Wait – you’re buying something for yourself?”

  “Of course I am!” said Lily. “Silver only likes little things anyway. And half the fun of the Christmas Fair is picking out things I’ve always wanted!”

  Lily had expected to have lots of presents under a gorgeous Christmas tree by now and since there were none she thought it was only fair to treat herself to some little gifts. It’s the least I deserve, she thought, waiting so long for Tink to come!

  “Come on, let’s see how much you have.”

  Neither Avery nor Lily was much good at doing maths in their heads, but they could add and subtract very well when they had things they could hold in their hands. So they emptied out Lily’s purse to see how many stones would be left when they took three away.

  Except there were only three stones in Lily’s purse.

  Clara was having the same trouble. She had chosen some pretty little coral earrings for Rosie, only to be turned down by the Seaside sisters when she hadn’t enough stones to pay for them.

  “You must have spent them somewhere else, Clara,” said Shelly Seaside. “Either that or you’re trying to trick us into giving you a bargain.”

  “I’m not trying to trick you!” said Clara, her face hot. “Someone has tricked me!”

  “Well, you can have the wire and the posts for three stones, and if you find coral on the beach you can make the earrings yourself. But you may have to bargain with the mermaids for pieces as fine as this – and they’re tougher than I am!” Shelly said.

  Clara bought the wire and the posts, more out of shame than anything else. She flew over to see Lady Courtney – only to find Rosie and Squeak, Lily and Silver already there.