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 a
nd 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 f
ighting 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.