I opened my eyes in time to see an enormous pair of fingernails coming at me. I shrieked and struggled, but my shirt was caught on the letter S. The fingernails pinched my shirt and I shrieked again.
“Hold still.” Tess’s face hovered over me. “I’ll get you out.”
“Wait.” I worked my hand underneath the S, found the caught material and released it. “Pull, Tess.”
Tess lifted me from between letters A and S and placed me on table. “Are you okay? I thought Daddy squashed you.”
“I’m fine. What happened?” I asked.
“My dad closed his laptop on you. He didn’t mean to. He just didn’t see you there.”
I rubbed my forehead where it had struck a letter. Evan’s head appeared next to his daughter’s and he grabbed Tess around the middle. She laughed and tried to get away, but he tickled her until she shrieked.
“Talking to your fairy?” he asked when he tired of the game.
“Yes,” said Tess.
“Say hello for me.” He returned to the stove where he poured something in a skillet.
Tess waited until he’d turned his back, and then leaned over me. “That’s my dad. He says hi.”
“I heard.”
“Last night you said you needed help. What’s wrong? What can I do?”
“Pull up a chair,” I said.
Tess sat in her father’s chair and held out her finger. I stretched my wings and, finding nothing amiss, I flew onto Tess’s finger. “I do have a problem and a story. Do you want to hear it?”
“I do,” said Tess, her cheeks turning even brighter pink.
I sat on Tess’s finger and told her everything about the humans taking our mantel. I told her about Gerald running away, Soren Maple, and the spriggans. I explained about being a kindler, keeping Horc, and meeting the commander. I told her all of it and Tess listened with her entire being. She gasped when the spriggans attacked and got teary-eyed about Easy’s lost mother. When I finished she leaned back in her chair and let out a tensely held breath.
“So your parents could be anywhere,” said Tess.
“We have to get back and see if anyone’s left at Whipplethorn. Will you help us?”
Tess sat up straight. “I will.”
Before I could say more, Judd came up to Tess and shoved her shoulder hard. “What are you doing, dufus?”
“Ow, Judd. That hurt,” said Tess as I flew off her finger.
Evan walked over with a plate stacked high with flat cakes. “What are you doing, Judd?”
“Tess is talking to her finger.”
He shot Judd a warning look. “So what’s it to you? She can talk to her foot for all I care. Leave your sister alone.”
Judd bent over his sister’s ear. “Weirdo.”
“Daddy, Judd called me a weirdo.”
“What’s wrong with being a weirdo? It’s a sight better than being average.” Tess’s father put down the plate. “Eat your pancakes. I have to call Grandpa about the mantel. Judd, go wake your mother for breakfast.”
Rebecca walked in the kitchen, slinging a traveling bag over her shoulder. “No need.”
“Where are you going?” asked Evan.
“To that tea at the botanical garden,” Rebecca said.
“You’re really going to that?”
“I said I would, Evan. I’ll be back after four.”
Evan shrugged and went back to the stove. Tess eyed her mother as she rummaged around in her traveling bag and then smeared some red stuff on her lips.
Judd sat down and piled his plate with cakes. He cut them into large chunks and poured a sweet-smelling liquid over them. My mouth watered and I was about to fly down and swipe a crumb when I saw Tess tug on her mother’s sleeve.
“Mom, can I talk to you in private?” Tess asked.
Judd looked up, his mouth half full. “She wants you to talk to her finger.”
“Shut up, Judd,” said Tess.
“Don’t say that, Tess,” said Rebecca. “I don’t have time right now. I have to go. I’ll see you tonight.”
“Mom, please. It’s really important.”
“Yeah,” said Judd. “Fingers are really important. I’ve got ten, but I don’t talk to them.”
“You’ve got eight fingers and two thumbs,” said Tess. “Thumbs aren’t fingers.”
“Says who?” asked Judd.
“Everybody.” Tess stuck her tongue out at him and then turned to her mother. “Mom, please.”
Rebecca kissed Tess on the forehead. “Tell, Dad. I have to go. Be good.”
Rebecca left and the remaining humans sat at the table eating. I sat with them, nibbling on a pancake crumb and considering my options. There weren’t many. Evan refused to see me. Tess was eight. Rebecca didn’t have time and Judd was obnoxious. I could probably get Sarah to see me with Tess’s help, but it needed it to happen quickly. It’d been days since we’d been taken from Whipplethorn. Anything could’ve happened in that time.
Evan stood up and cleared his place. Then he went upstairs, leaving Tess and Judd at the table alone. Judd continued to stuff his face and Tess picked at her pancake. Her forehead puckered and she kept stealing glances at her brother. Judd ignored her and took the last cake.
I flew up and hovered over Tess’s plate. “Don’t bother with him. We’ll think of something. When will you see Sarah again?”
Tess shrugged. That wasn’t good news. We needed to see Sarah soon.
“Judd?” Tess set down her fork.
“Yeah.”
“Do you still want that new video game you’ve been talking about?” asked Tess.
Judd looked up, his eyes narrowed. “Yeah.”
“How much money do you need?”
“Twenty bucks. Why?”
“I have twenty bucks.”
“So what? Are you going to like give it to me or something?”
“I might.” Tess smiled. She put her elbows on the table and steepled her fingers.
“What do I have to do?”
“Believe,” said Tess. “Just believe.”
Judd stuffed a huge bite in his mouth. “I believe you’re a weirdo.” Crumbs sprayed out of his mouth, raining down on the table. I suddenly lost my appetite and dropped my crumb.
“You have to believe in fairies,” said Tess.
I flew in front of Tess’s face. “Don’t do it. He’ll just take your money.”
“No, he won’t.” Tess smiled at her brother. “Mom says Judd is a lot of things, but he’s not a liar. Besides, he won’t be able to lie.”
“I can lie my head off,” he said. “I believe in fairies. See?”
“Nope. You have to describe her. Then I’ll give you the money.”
“Describe who?”
Tess gestured to the candles on the table. “Light one, Matilda. Make him see.”
I darted to the candle nearest Judd and formed white hot flames. They snapped and jumped into the air. “Now?”
“Just a second,” said Tess.
“What exactly am I supposed to be seeing?” asked Judd.
“Remember when I told you I saw Jason Applegate stealing your model plane?”
“Yeah.”
“After you found it at his house, you said you should’ve believed me.”
Judd’s cynical expression softened. “Okay.”
“Believe me now,” said Tess. “Light it, Matilda.”
I put my hands together around the wick. The cotton material sizzled to life and threw up a flame as tall as Gerald. Judd sat bolt upright, his eyes fixed on the candle.
“Whoa. Did you see that?” He stood with his hands on the table and leaned forward, his nose very close to me.
“Yes,” said Tess. “And so did you.”
“I don’t see any fairy.”
“Look harder.”
Judd glanced at his sister. When his gaze came back to the flame, he sucked in a breath, hard enough to make the flame flicker in his direction. His eyes fixed above the candle on me and m
y flaming palms. I waved, letting the fire dance along my fingertips. Judd ran his fingers through his hair, lifting the heavy bangs off his forehead. And it was my turn to be surprised. Judd’s face with its pale freckles, square chin, and mischievous eyes was captivating. I blushed at having his eyes being trained on me and I wished I’d bothered to comb my hair.
Tess moved in close to Judd, putting her cheek up close to his. “You see her, don’t you?”
“Uh, huh.”
“For twenty bucks, describe her for me.”
“I don’t want the money,” said Judd.
Tess raised one of her eyebrows and dropped it as the edges of her mouth curled up.
“He sees me. I can tell,” I said as hot tingles raced up and down my body.
“Describe her, Judd,” said Tess.
“She’s really tiny. Maybe a half an inch tall with long black hair to her waist. And she’s holding white fire. Good enough?”
“Is she pretty?”
Judd dropped his hands. His hair flopped down over his face and he fell back into his chair. A pink tinge crept up his neck from his collar.
“Tell me if she’s pretty,” said Tess. “That’s how I’ll know for sure.”
“Yes, she’s pretty. Happy?”
Tess flung her arms around her brother and squeezed. “I’m so happy.”
Judd pushed her off and crossed his arms as I doused my flames and landed on the table. I walked to the edge and sat next to one of his juicy crumbs.
“What are you exactly?” he asked.
“I’m a wood fairy,” I said, trying not to show how flustered I felt about being called pretty by a human.
Judd frowned. “A wood fairy that makes fire. Isn’t that kind of a problem?”
“It’s a paradox, I admit.”
“What’s a paradox?”
“A contradiction.”
“Like how I don’t believe in fairies, but I’m seeing you?”
“Exactly.”
Tess pulled her chair over next to Judd’s and perched on the edge. “Matilda needs our help.”
“What kind of help?”
“Go ahead, Matilda,” said Tess.
I tried to tell Judd the story of the mantel, but Tess cut me off so many times, I gave up and let Tess tell it. Tess was a better storyteller anyway. Everything sounded more fantastic, more amazing, when it came from her lips. When Tess finished, Judd looked willing to do just about anything.
“So you want to get out to Whipplethorn today?” he asked.
“Can you do it?” I asked, absolutely certain that he’d find a way.
Judd threw back his shoulders. “Sure. No problem.”
CHAPTER 22