Lallys Lost Wand, Page 3

floor of the barn and into Mr. Feathers little room. They found some spent matches on the floor and some little wood whittlings, all of which would look like Lallys wand with some paint applied.

   

  “Only thing is; I don’t have that kind of paint.” Mr. Feathers said looking down at the fake wands.

   

  “Yes, but we know where to get the paint!” Lally cried happily.

   

  “Yeah, we need to find Ariel; she is a genius with paint. She’s our flower painter.

   

  The two fairies flew off to the flower garden to find Ariel.

   

  “No, absolutely not, I will not paint little wooden sticks just to fool some human girls that’s not nice. I only do nice things. You are always losing your wand, and everyone is always flying around trying to help you; well I won’t.” Ariel said with an imperial shrug.

   

  “That is so mean!” Miggie hollered at Ariel. “Who helped you find your blue paint when you lost it? Lally that’s who.”

   

  “Lally was using it to paint her hair!” Ariel reminded them.

   

  “Oh, you’re right Ariel; I don’t deserve to be helped. I really don’t, never mind, Queen Serika will send me to the barren trees. That’s where I belong anyway.” Lally said, a tear trickling down her little face.

   

  Ariel’s eyes grew big.

   

  “No, not the barren trees, there’s no color there at all, that would be horrible.”

   

  “Yes, I’m afraid that’s where she’ll send her if she can’t get her wand back.”

  Miggie said with her head down.

   

  “Okay, what color was your wand?” Ariel sighed.

   

  The three fairies flew to the barn with Ariel carrying her little paint box with every color she owned.

   

  “Ariel, this is our Mr. Feathers.” Lally announced as Mr. Feathers looked up when the fairies flew into the barn.

   

  “Yikes!” Ariel yelled when she saw Mr. Feathers.

   

  She quickly hid in back of some wood planks and peaked out between them.

   

  “Oh for Pete’s sake Ariel, it’s just Mr. Feathers; he’s our friend and wouldn’t hurt a fly. Now come out.” Lally insisted.

   

  “No, I don’t talk to humans, he must leave or I won’t help.” Ariel cried.

   

  “It’s okay girls, I’ll leave if she’s afraid of me.” Mr. Feathers offered.

   

  “Oh my, he called you girls.” Ariel said astonished.

   

  “He is a very sweet human.” Miggie said proudly.

   

  “Yes, he is a very nice human man and he’s our friend and wants to help us.” Lally agreed.

   

  “Okay, show me the sticks then and I’ll paint them.” Ariel carefully flew out of her hiding place and hovered over the little sticks on the table in front of Mr. Feathers.

   

  “Mr. Feathers, this is our friend and artist Ariel.” Lally said introducing them.

   

  “How do you do Miss Ariel?”

   

  “I’m fine.” Ariel said in her sweet little voice.

   

  “I can’t see you very well; you see my eyesight is failing just a little.” Mr. Feathers replied.

   

  “Well, Ariel is not as beautiful as we are.” Lally said with an impish grin.

   

  “I most certainly am. I’m even more beautiful than they are. Now let’s get to work.”

   

  Ariel’s hair was like Lally and Miggie’s it also had the texture of cotton candy and stood straight up coming to a point. Ariel’s hair was many different streaks of color. Blues, pinks, yellows, greens. She was an expert at hues.

   

  Quickly Ariel opened her paint box and started painting the little sticks and whittlings before her.

   

  “Oh they’re perfect Ariel; I would never be able to tell the difference between mine and the fake wands.” Lally said excitedly.

   

  “There’s only one thing wrong.” Miggie remarked looking at all the pretty little sticks.

   

  “What?” Ariel and Lally both asked at once.

   

  “They don’t twinkle.” Miggie said sadly.

   

  “Oh my gosh, she’s right.” Lally said. “How do we get them to twinkle?

   

  “Well…. maybe I can make them look like they twinkle.” Ariel said.

   

  She looked through her paints and finding just the right colors; painted the tips of the fake wands in stripes of gold and yellow with a tap of sparkles from her sack.

   

  “It might work.” Lally said.

   

  “Well, there’s no time to waste, let’s take them out to the garden around the pond. I’ve just got to get my wand back before the sun sets.”

   

  The three fairies headed to the flower garden to hide the fake wands in the flowers.

   

  “Good Luck girls!” Mr. Feathers called after them.

   

  “But don’t hide them too well or the girls won’t be able to see them.” Miggie suggested.

   

  After helping Fiona’s mother gather clothes from the clothesline the girls headed back to the garden to search for the other wand.

   

  The fairies were busy tossing the fake wands into various flowers when they heard the sound of two giggling human girls coming towards the garden.

   

  “Okay, I’ve done the best I can, it’s up to you two; I’m out of here.” And with that Ariel flew away.

   

  “Here they come, let’s hide and see what happens.” Lally whispered.

   

  “Hey look; there’s another one.” Elizabeth yelled.

   

  “I found another one too; we should have looked some more before we left.” Fiona said.

   

  The girls found the fake wands, but none of them matched the real wand Fiona still carried in her pocket.

   

  “That’s strange; none of these match the one I found. There are no two alike. What are these things? They’re certainly not like mine at all.” Fiona said.

   

  “They don’t even twinkle like yours.” Elizabeth said. “Let’s see it again.”

   

  Fiona took the real wand out of her pocket and examined it. She turned it over and over and it twinkled.

   

  Elizabeth held up the one she found, it was pink with a yellow tip, but the colors still didn’t match the one Fiona had originally found.

   

  Then all of a sudden Fiona dropped the wand in the grass.

   

  Quiver scurried out from under a bush and scared the two girls, both falling into the tall grass around the pond.

   

  “Where on earth did he come from?” Fiona said startled.

   

  “Never mind, where’s the pink stick?” Elizabeth said her hands brushing throw the grass.

   

  “Oh, here it is. Thank goodness you didn’t lose it.”

   

  “Yes, that was a close call.” Fiona breathed a sigh of relief.

   

  “Wait, I think I’ve found a match!” Elizabeth held up a pink painted stick that almost matched the one Fiona was holding.

   

  “Almost, but not quite.” Fiona said.

   

  “We’re gonna have to go home now, it’s getting late, we’ll search again tomorrow.” Fiona popped the w
and back in her pocket and the two girls started back to the farmhouse.

   

  Lally watched the sun as it slowly melted behind Mr. Feathers Barn.

   

  “It’s the barren trees for me Miggie.” Lally whimpered.

   

  Miggie watched the little girls skipping through the grass on their way back.

   

  She flew down and settled in Fiona’s blond curls.

   

  “Fiona?” A small voice whispered in her ear.

   

  “Did you say something Elizabeth?” Fiona asked.

   

  They both stopped when they heard the wee voice again.

   

  Lally was hypnotized by what she was watching. She could not believe Miggie’s bravery. She was the one who was always brave, not Miggie.

   

  “Fiona?” For the third time Miggie leaned down and whispered in Fiona’s ear.

   

  “What?” Fiona asked frightened.

   

  “You have my best friend’s wand and she needs it back or she will be sent away to the barren trees.” Miggie pleaded.

   

  “Elizabeth, I want to run, but I can’t.” Fiona said stiff with fright.

   

  “It’s in your pocket, she really needs it back.” Miggie continued.

   

  “Who…what are you?” Fiona asked.

   

  “I’m a fairy.” Miggie said proudly.

   

  “There’s no such thing.” Elizabeth said nervously.

   

  “Your Uncle Dan knows us.” Miggie said perfectly calm.

   

  “Let’s go to the barn and talk to him, he’ll tell you.” Miggie said.

   

  Lally flew down and landed on Elizabeth’s head, her hair full of dark brown curls.

   

  The girls took off on a run through the tall grass and flowers; Lally and Miggie hanging on the best they could with their tiny hands. Luckily Elizabeth had ribbons in her hair so Lally twisted one around her hand and had quite a ride.

   

  Both girls entered the barn yelling for Uncle Dan. There was still light left to see where they were going and when they came to his room they threw open the door and ran to him sitting in his chair.

   

  “What on earth?” He said waking abruptly.

   

  “Uncle Dan! There is something whispering in my ear. Please tell it to stop. Fiona said breathlessly.

   

  Miggie flew to one of Mr. Feather’s ears and Lally flew to the other one.

   

  “Mr. Feather’s time is running out and we can’t get the wand back. The colors don’t match Lally’s real wand. You’ve got to help us, please?”

  Miggie begged.

   

  The girls stood back,