The clear water of the stream sparkled where it met the edge of the Mermaid Lagoon. Iridessa was happy that there were no mermaids in sight.
Iridessa’s muscles ached, and she was more tired than she had ever been in her life. But they were close now! The bottle-raft bucked as they reached the breaking waves at the shore.
“We’re almost there!” Iridessa shouted. She darted to the top of the sail. “Just a little to the left!”
Iridessa was about to rejoin Tink at the back, when a large wave crashed over the bottle. Instantly, Tink was soaked. She let out a choked cry as her wet wings dragged her into the sea.
“Tink!” Iridessa dove toward her friend. She grabbed Tink’s outstretched hand and pulled her from the water. Even though Iridessa was worn out, she found the energy to haul her friend onto the sand. The next wave pushed the bottle onto the beach a few feet away from them. Tink and Iridessa lay back, breathing hard. Finally, Tink spoke.
“Dessa,” she said, “I can’t fly.”
Iridessa swallowed to clear the lump in her throat. How could she make it all the way to Pixie Hollow alone? The bottle was too much for one fairy!
“Iridessa!” shouted a voice.
Looking up, Iridessa saw something flying toward her at top speed. She blinked. Was she sun-dazzled from too many hours at sea?
“Beck?” Iridessa croaked.
“I’ve been looking for you for two days!” Beck said. “You flew off so suddenly! And then when you and Tink didn’t come home last night…” She turned to Tink. “You’re all wet!” she cried.
“How did you find us?” Iridessa asked.
“A seagull spotted you. He said that Tink was with you, too, and that you had some crazy boat bottle—” That was when Beck spotted the bottle-raft. She let out a whistle. “What have you been up to?”
Iridessa explained about the owl, the bottle, and the pirates. She left out the parts about the mermaids, the turtle, the deserted island, and the crocodile. I can tell Beck about that later, she thought. When I have more time.
“So we have to get this bottle back to Pixie Hollow,” Iridessa finished up.
“Maybe you two can push it,” Tink said. “With a little fairy dust to make it lighter.”
“Push?” Beck shook her head. “That bottle is huge. I think we’ll need help.” She put her fingers in her mouth and whistled. In a moment, the air was full of dragonflies. There were small purple ones, large golden ones, dragonflies with red and orange specks, and a few with golden stripes.
Beck spoke to them in a language Iridessa couldn’t understand. They landed on the bottle in a swarm of silvery wings and pulled it out of the sand. They settled it gently on Havendish Stream.
Beck and Iridessa helped Tink on board, then climbed onto the bottle’s neck. With a loud buzzing of dragonfly wings, they began speeding through the water.
IRIDESSA WATCHED THE scenery streak by as the dragonflies pulled the bottle upstream. Tink opened her wings, drying them in the breeze.
All at once, Iridessa realized that the banks of the stream were crowded with fairies and sparrow men. “There they are!” shouted a voice. Everyone bubbled with questions as the dragonflies slowed and brought the bottle to a stop by the side of the stream.
“What is that thing?”
“Does it have anything to do with the owl?”
“Iridessa! We thought the owl got you! It was back again last night!”
“Tink! Where have you been?”
“I’ll explain everything,” Iridessa promised. “But right now, I need your help.” She pointed toward the bottle. “We’re going to use this to scare the owl away.” Her heart fluttered and she added, “I hope,” under her breath.
In a flash, thirty fairies darted toward the bottle. It took only a moment for them to unfasten it from the floats and mast. “We need to pull out the cork!” Iridessa cried.
Beck called a woodchuck over. With a quick yank of the woodchuck’s large teeth, the cork came free.
Raising her hands, Iridessa caught a brilliant beam of light from the setting sun. She placed it inside the bottle. Then she reached for another sunbeam. Fira saw what she was doing and came to help. Then Luna joined them. Soon all the light talents were collecting sunbeams and placing them inside the bottle as quickly as they could.
At last, the bottle was full. Beck pushed the cork into place.
The fairies had seen parties lit with fireflies and glowworms. They had seen moonlit nights full of stars. They had even seen bottled sunbeams. But they had never before seen a light as bright as this one. It seemed even brighter a few minutes later, when the sun dipped below the horizon. Around them, the forest began to grow dark.
Iridessa’s eyes were just getting used to the twilight when a sparrow landed on a branch near Beck. She twittered, and Beck twittered back at her in Bird. “The owl has left its nest,” Beck told the other fairies.
“We’ve got to get this light into the owl’s tree,” Iridessa said. “Before it comes back!”
Iridessa flew into the air. “This way!” she called. Behind her, fairies lifted the light-filled bottle and carried it to the owl’s nesting tree.
They placed the bottle of sunbeams right beside the owl’s nest. Then they bound it in place with strong spiderweb rope. The light shone in the tree as if someone had pulled the sun down to Never Land.
“Let’s just hope it works,” Iridessa whispered. She felt breathless.
“It has to,” Tink said. Iridessa could see that her friend’s lips were set in a firm line.
Just then, a fruit bat flew past, screeching a warning.
“The owl is coming back!” Beck warned. “Everyone, hide!”
The fairies vanished behind leaves and into flowers that had closed up for the night. Tink and Iridessa ducked into a small knothole in a nearby tree branch.
The owl fluttered to the tree and sat there, blinking in the bright light. It settled in its nest and tucked its head beneath its wing. But almost right away it poked it out again.
The owl hooted unhappily. It tried to turn its back on the sunbeam bottle, but it was no use. The owl simply couldn’t relax. It blinked at the light again in confusion. Then, with a mighty down-sweep of its large wings, the owl flew off.
For a moment, the forest was silent. Then a great cheer went up. All around, the fairies came out of their hiding places.
“We did it!” Iridessa cried.
Tink beamed. “Thanks to my great idea,” she said.
“What?” Iridessa frowned. She planted her hands on her hips. “Don’t you mean thanks to my great idea?”
Tink shrugged. “You helped,” she said. She gave Iridessa an impish grin. “A little.”
“Tinker Bell, you never would have gotten off the pirate ship if I hadn’t come to rescue you!” Iridessa shot back.
“Sure—you rescued me,” Tink said, rolling her eyes. “Right into the mouth of a crocodile!”
Iridessa giggled. “We got out again, didn’t we?” she pointed out. “And I got the mermaids to let us go.”
“That’s true,” Tink admitted. She smiled. “It sure was an adventure, wasn’t it?” she said.
Iridessa shook her head. “Yes,” she said at last. “It sure was an adventure.”
Lisa Papademetriou, Disney Fairies: Iridessa, Lost at Sea
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