Wedding Wings Read online

  “I don’t like her,” said Daniel.

  “Me either,” said Gabby. “Okay, I’ll see you later—”

  “Wait,” said Daniel. “I want to show you something.”

  He led Gabby over to a row of white chairs. Tucked beneath one of the chairs was a beautiful kite.

  “It’s nice,” said Gabby. The kite was shaped like a dragonfly, with purple wings and big green eyes.

  “Dragonflies are my favorite bugs,” he said. “My mom and dad said we can go fly the kite as soon as the wedding is over. You can come if you want.”

  “Okay,” said Gabby. She was starting to think Daniel was nice.

  Just then, she saw something over Daniel’s shoulder that made her heart pound. The veil was drifting across the lawn. It floated past like a ghost. Then it disappeared around the side of the tent.

  Gabby knew there was no time to find Bess now. She’d have to catch the veil herself!

  As she ran after it, she heard Daniel call, “Hey, where are you going?”

  Behind the tent, the veil was rolling across the grass like a big white tumbleweed. She tried to catch it, but it was always just out of reach.

  Then the veil became snagged on a bush. Gabby lunged for it. But as her fingertips brushed the fabric, a gust of wind snatched the veil away. It soared up … up … up. One end flapped, as if waving good-bye.

  Gabby collapsed onto the grass. She blinked back tears of frustration. She was never going to be fast enough to catch a magical flying veil. Unless …

  Gabby reached into her pocket and found the thimble bucket. There was still a tiny bit of fairy dust clinging to the sides. Maybe it was enough.

  Gabby had only had one flying lesson in Pixie Hollow. She tried to remember how it worked. Think happy thoughts and kick your feet—that was it, wasn’t it? Or were you not supposed to kick?

  There wasn’t time to waste. She’d have to figure it out as she went. She sprinkled the remaining dust over herself.

  Gabby felt a tingly feeling, like bubbles rising in a soda bottle. The next thing she knew, her feet were lifting off the ground.

  Not far away, on the buffet table, Bess was running for her life.

  Wham! A massive serving spoon crashed down. It missed her by a hair. Bess changed direction in time to see a fist holding a crumpled napkin swing toward her.

  With a flutter of wings, Bess dodged it. She zigzagged across the table, searching for an exit.

  If only she could fly! But the Clumsies were always just above her, blocking her way. They filled the air with their shouts and their flailing arms. Bess couldn’t find a clear space for takeoff.

  She scurried between two platters of fruit. It was becoming tougher and tougher to run. The chocolate that covered her was hardening. It formed a thick brown shell over her whole body. Her hands felt like they were inside chocolate mittens. Chocolate boots encased her feet.

  Slam! A hand swung at her, upending a bowl of fruit. Strawberries tumbled everywhere. In the space where the bowl had been, Bess saw an opening. She ran toward it, jumping over berries that rolled into her path.

  As she reached the edge of the table, a Clumsy loomed over her. He held two platter lids in his hands. He clashed the lids together like cymbals just as Bess leaped.

  She felt the lids whoosh past her—so close they grazed the tips of her wings. A second later, she tumbled into the grass below.

  Bess didn’t waste a moment. She fluttered her wings and flew away. She had to find Gabby!

  Outside the tent, Bess looked around. She spotted the small building where she’d left the little girl.

  The door was shut tight, but Bess flew up to the window. She clung to the sill, peeking in. Julia, the girls’ babysitter, was talking to another Clumsy.

  “I don’t know what could have happened to it,” Julia was saying.

  “Well, it must be around here somewhere. Veils don’t just fly away on their own,” the woman replied.

  Bess looked all around the room. There was no sign of Gabby. She started to turn from the window.

  Suddenly, two hands closed around her. “Gotcha!” someone cried.

  Bess fluttered and fought, trying to free herself. But the hands cupped her, holding tight. Through the cracks between the Clumsy’s fingers, an eyeball peeped in at her.

  “Ooh! What kind of bug are you?” said a boy’s voice.

  “I’m not a bug!” Bess cried. If the boy heard her, he gave no sign. He shoved Bess into a little paper bag and closed it.

  “Let me out!” Bess kicked at the side of the bag.

  “Are you hungry, bug? Here are some leaves to eat.” The boy opened the bag and thrust a leaf down at Bess. “When we get home you can have lots more.”

  The bag closed again. Curled in her tiny prison, Bess sighed. She thought about how she’d ended up in this spot. Why didn’t I just stay in Gabby’s basket? she asked herself.

  She thought of Gabby in her pink dress. She’d been so excited for Bess to watch her in the wedding. Surely she was wondering where Bess was.

  She probably thinks I forgot all about her, Bess thought miserably. And what’s going to happen to me now?

  Bess realized she hadn’t been completely honest with Gabby. Of course she’d wanted to see Gabby be a flower girl. But she’d been more concerned about making her painting.

  Bess’s stomach rumbled, as if it, too, were sorry to find itself in such a fix. She was hungry. She hadn’t had a thing to eat since she left Pixie Hollow.

  Bess looked down at her chocolate-covered hands, her chocolate-covered arms, and her chocolate-covered legs. There was nothing she could do about Gabby right now. But there was one thing she could do.

  She broke off a bit of chocolate and began to nibble.

  “Is it time yet?” asked Kate.

  Mia, Kate, and Lainey were lingering near the rows of white chairs. In the half hour since they’d left Gabby with Julia, they’d walked all the way around the pond—twice. They’d made bets on the flavor of wedding cake. (Kate guessed chocolate. Lainey guessed vanilla. Mia guessed lemon with raspberry cream.) They’d even hidden beneath one of the big willow trees to spy on guests as they arrived. They had run out of ideas for things to do, and still the wedding hadn’t begun.

  Lainey shifted her bundled sweater to her other arm, then checked her watch. “The wedding doesn’t start for another twenty minutes,” she said.

  “Why are you carrying your sweater around like that? Why don’t you put it on?” Kate asked irritably. Boredom always made her cranky.

  Lainey tucked the sweater more firmly under her arm. “I’m not cold,” she replied with a shrug.

  “Let’s go sit down,” Mia suggested. “Look, there are Mami and Papi. We can sit next to them.”

  “Where do you think Gabby is?” Lainey asked as they made their way over to the seats.

  “Having fun with Julia, probably,” Mia replied. Her brow furrowed. “It’s just not fair.”

  “What’s not fair?” asked Kate.

  “I always wanted to be a flower girl, but I never got the chance,” Mia said. “And now I’m too old. It doesn’t seem fair that Gabby gets to be one. Isn’t the point of being a big sister getting to do everything first?”

  “I think you would have been a great flower girl,” Lainey said.

  “I know.” Mia sighed.

  “Oh!” Lainey gasped and stood up from her chair.

  “What is it?” asked Kate.

  “I saw a fairy! There, by the bushes,” Lainey whispered.

  The other girls looked to where she was pointing. “I don’t see anything. Are you sure?” Mia asked.

  “Yes … well, no. Not completely sure,” Lainey replied. “I only saw a flash, but it looked like a fairy.”

  “What would a fairy be doing here?” Kate asked.

  Mia bit her lip. “You don’t suppose they would have followed us, do you?”

  “Nah,” said Kate. “Why would they come without telling us?”


  “I guess you’re right,” Mia said, relaxing a little. “Maybe you just imagined it, Lainey.”

  “I wouldn’t mind if it was a fairy, though,” Kate added. “It would be more exciting than all of this waiting around. In fact, I wish we were in Pixie Hollow right now!”

  “Kate! Shh! Not so loud,” Mia whispered. She glanced over at her parents to see if they’d heard. But they were busy chatting with some other wedding guests.

  At that moment, she saw a flash of pink out of the corner of her eye. Something was rising over the top of the tent.

  Mia gasped. It was Gabby! The little girl was floating through the air like a lost balloon.

  Mia opened her mouth to shout, then thought better of it. She jerked back around and stared straight ahead, trying to think what to do.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Kate.

  “Don’t look now,” Mia muttered.

  Of course, that only made Kate and Lainey want to look. They twisted around in their seats.

  “Holy guacamole!” said Kate.

  “I said not to look,” Mia hissed. But she had turned around again, too.

  Gabby paddled the air, as if she were swimming. One hand still clutched her little basket. Her legs kicked helplessly behind her.

  She drifted over a crowd of wedding guests who were standing on the grass in front of the tent. None of them noticed the little girl above their heads.

  “Don’t look up. Don’t look up,” Mia pleaded.

  Then Gabby started to sink. She was headed right for a woman’s large sunhat.

  “She’s going to crash!” Kate cried.

  Lainey put her hands over her glasses. “I can’t watch.”

  At the last second, Gabby paddled back up through the air. Mia, Kate, and Lainey watched as she sailed over the trees around the pond and disappeared from view.

  The girls exchanged glances. Mia turned to her mother. In the calmest voice she could manage, she said, “Mami, we’ll be right back.”

  “Where are you going?” her mother asked in surprise. “The ceremony is about to start.”

  “I have to go to the bathroom,” Mia told her.

  Her mother sighed. “All right. But hurry back.”

  The girls sprang from their chairs and raced in the direction Gabby had gone.

  Down by the pond, it was shady and quiet. A light breeze stirred the leaves of the willow trees.

  “I don’t see her,” Lainey whispered as they walked around the edge of the pond. The girls kept their voices low so none of the other wedding guests would hear.

  “I can’t believe Gabby was flying!” Kate said. She began to giggle.

  Lainey started to giggle, too. “And at Julia’s wedding!”

  Mia frowned. “It’s not funny, you guys. Remember the first time we flew in Pixie Hollow? We all ended up in the stream.”

  The girls looked at the lily-covered pond. “You don’t think Gabby fell in, do you?” asked Lainey.

  “No. We would have heard the splash,” said Kate.

  “Look!” Mia pointed at a nearby willow. Its leaves were trembling violently. Tipping their heads back, the girls could see Gabby high in the branches.

  “Gabby!” Mia said in her loudest whisper. “Get down from there right now!”

  Gabby didn’t respond. She was thrashing around in the leaves. The girls could see something long and white tangled in the branches.

  “What’s she doing?” Lainey asked.

  “Do you hear me, Gabby?” Mia said. “You’d better come down now, or else.”

  “I can’t,” Gabby replied. Her voice sounded small and scared.

  “Why don’t you fly down?” Mia asked.

  “I can’t let go.” Gabby peered through the leaves at them. She was clinging to a branch with one hand, as if to keep from blowing away. Her arm held tight to her flower girl basket, and her other hand clutched a piece of long white fabric. The veil fluttered as if it were being blown by a breeze.

  “I think she’s stuck,” said Kate.

  “I told her no magic at the wedding,” Mia said. “She never listens!”

  “We can’t leave her up there,” Lainey said.

  “I know.” Mia turned to Kate. “Remember what I said about no one climbing trees at the wedding?”

  “Yeah,” said Kate.

  “Well,” Mia said, “I take it back.”

  “Can you see anybody coming?” asked Kate as she scrambled up onto a low branch of the willow.

  “All clear,” said Lainey, who was standing lookout.

  “Good,” Kate said, climbing higher. “I don’t want anyone to see my underwear.”

  Mia was standing beneath the tree, holding out her arms in case someone fell. “No one is going to care about your underwear if we get caught,” she explained.

  “All the same, I wish I’d worn pants,” said Kate. She pulled herself onto another branch with ease.

  When she reached the branch where Gabby was clinging, Kate inched out as far as she could. “Give me your hand.”

  Gabby shook her head.

  “Don’t be scared,” said Kate. “Just let go of that curtain, or whatever it is.”

  Gabby shook her head again, harder this time.

  “Well, you’re going to have to fly down. Do you have any more fairy dust?” Kate asked. “Then we could both fly down together!”

  “I used it all up,” Gabby said.

  “It figures,” Kate said with a sigh. “I’ll guide you, then. I’ll need both hands to climb, so hold on to my shirt.”

  Gabby let go of the tree branch and took hold of the back of Kate’s shirt. Kate began to climb down, pulling Gabby along with her. “Stop kicking, Gabby. You’re throwing me off balance,” she complained.

  “I’m not doing anything,” Gabby said.

  “Then what’s wiggling?” Kate asked.

  It was the veil, of course. It had begun to flap again. Just as Kate reached the lowest branch, it broke free of Gabby’s grasp and sailed into the air. The force of it tugged Gabby and Kate out of the tree.

  Gabby landed on Kate, Kate landed on Mia, and Mia landed on the ground. Gabby’s basket rolled away. The rose petals scattered.

  “My petals!” Gabby wailed. All the tears she’d been holding back since losing the veil flooded her eyes.

  The other girls gathered around her. Lainey gave the little girl’s shoulder a comforting pat. “They’re only flower petals, Gabby,” she said. “At least no one got hurt.”

  “Not very hurt, anyway.” Mia rubbed her bruised backside.

  “I wish I was never a flower girl!” Gabby sobbed. “Ms. Cork is going to be mad about the petals. And Julia is going to be mad when she finds out I lost her veil—”

  Mia raised a hand. “Hold on. Did you just say you lost Julia’s veil?”

  “Maybe you’d better explain,” said Kate.

  So Gabby told them everything, from her sneaky-quick visit to Pixie Hollow to bringing Bess to the wedding in her flower basket to losing the veil out of Julia’s dressing-room window. By the time she was done explaining, Gabby’s tears had dried. In truth, it felt good to finally tell someone else about everything that had gone wrong.

  To Gabby’s relief, Kate and Lainey weren’t mad about her breaking their Pixie Hollow rule. And when she heard about Bess, Mia only rubbed her forehead and said, “Oh, Gabby.”

  “I knew I saw a fairy!” Lainey exclaimed.

  “What am I going to do?” Gabby asked. “I lost the veil and Bess.”

  “We’ll help you get the veil back,” Mia said. “As for Bess, I’m sure she’s wondering where you are right now. The wedding is going to start any minute.”

  “How are we going to get all the way up there?” Lainey asked. They could see the veil flying over the meadow, swooping among the kites in the sky.

  “Gabby could fly,” Kate suggested. “Although she’s not so great at steering.”

  “We can’t risk it. What if someone saw her?” said Mia.

  G
abby gazed toward the colorful kites. “I have an idea!” she said.

  A few minutes later, Gabby was high up in the sky. She could see the whole park stretched out below her—the ball fields, the carousel, the pond, and the big white tent.

  How much fun it was to fly! Clinging to Daniel’s kite, Gabby turned a little loop. She was using the kite to hide behind. Anyone passing by would think the other girls were just out having fun on a sunny summer day.

  The girls had found the kite in Daniel’s hiding spot. Gabby had wanted to ask if she could borrow it, but she didn’t know where Daniel was and there wasn’t a moment to lose. She hoped he wouldn’t mind that she got to fly his kite before he did.

  A sharp tug on the kite string made Gabby look down. On the ground below, she saw Mia making a “hurry up” gesture.

  The veil was just ahead of Gabby. It turned a loop-de-loop in the wind. Gabby steered the kite toward it. The veil dodged right. Gabby followed on the kite. The veil zoomed down. Gabby stayed on its tail.

  At last, it was within reach. Gabby snatched up an edge of the fabric. As soon as she had it, Kate began to reel her in. Gabby landed with the veil clasped in her arms.

  “You did it!” Mia exclaimed, giving her a hug.

  Faint music floated from the direction of the pond. Lainey checked her watch. “It’s almost noon! The wedding must be starting!”

  “If we run, we can get this to Julia just in time,” Kate said.

  Only then did they take a good look at the veil. The fabric was rumpled and torn in one place. There were grass stains from the veil’s tumble across the lawn. A few feathers clung to it, picked up from who knows where.

  “There’s no way we can give it to her like this!” Mia said.

  “But there’s no time left to fix it,” Lainey said.

  The tears welled up in Gabby’s eyes again. Everything had gone wrong. She had spoiled Julia’s perfect wedding. Worse than thinking about the trouble she’d be in was knowing how disappointed Julia would be.