“But that will be good for cutting down the kind of trees we need.”
“Come on, let’s go!” said Silver.
“Wait!”
Clara’s voice rang out from the front door of the fairy house. “Rosie, Silver Lily – we promised Tink we would let her do everything.” Even as Clara said the words she wanted to take them back. She loved choosing their Christmas tree each year and wanted to go with the other fairies to do just that. But she didn’t want to disappoint Tinker Bell – not when Tink hadn’t been home for Christmas in so long. “That includes choosing the tree.”
Silver’s face fell. Lily’s mouth turned down at the corners. Even Rosie looked disappointed.
“That’s right,” said Silver at last. “We promised Tink.”
All five Fairy Bell sisters sighed a big sigh. It was Rosie who turned the moment bright again. “We didn’t promise we wouldn’t help our friends!” she said. “Come on everybody, let’s go pick out some Christmas trees! You too, Clara. Come on!”
The Fairy Bell sisters and their friends flew up to Cathedral Pines, where Ginny and Genny, the Root Sisters, planted trees every year for the Christmas tree forest. The trees above them were dizzyingly tall.
“None of those, of course,” said Poppy. “They’re way too big. Ginny and Genny will have some just our size.”
They flew over to a field of fairy-sized Christmas trees.
“They’d all be perfect for us,” whispered Silver when she saw them.
“Tink will pick a gorgeous tree for you,” said Poppy. “The trees in Neverland are probably made of emeralds!”
“With Peter Pan’s own arrowheads for decoration!” Silver said, and the two friends grinned.
“Faith told me to pick whichever tree I like best for the classroom,” said Avery. She started strolling through the rows of trees with Lily at her side. “We have to make it look jolly for the Christmas Fair.”
Avery lived with her teacher, Faith Learned, above the Fairy School. Every year the Christmas Fair was held there. “I can’t wait to do my Christmas shopping at the fair,” Avery said. “On the mainland, the shops got so crowded – and I didn’t have any way to pay for presents.”
“That’s so not fair!” said Silver.
“I still can’t believe that Queen Mab hands out sparkling stones – for free,” said Avery. She had grown up on the mainland and things were very different there.
“Of course she does,” said Lily, looking up at a Norway spruce. “We get twelve each. Wait until you see how polished they are, Avery. I hope I get all green this year. Just like my eyes!”
“I like that we each get twelve stones,” said Rosie as she ran her hand along the soft needles of a Scots pine. “It’s always more than enough to pay for what we’d like to buy—”
“I actually think fifteen stones would be better—” said Lily.
“—and anything we can’t buy, we make ourselves,” said Rosie.
“Tink did say we’re not to buy any presents for each other,” said Clara. She didn’t like always being the one to remind her sisters about what Tink had said, but in fairness, she felt she had to.
“Because we’ll get so many from her. I bet she’ll raid Captain Hook’s pirate ship for treasure!” said Silver.
“What do you think your presents from Neverland will look like, Lily?” asked Avery. “I can’t even begin to imagine.”
Lily didn’t answer right away. She was still a tiny bit peeved that Tink was going to bring their tree from Neverland. Lily had very particular ideas about what a Christmas tree should look like. Last year she told Rosie, “It should be taller than a fairy, shorter than a troll, a perfect triangle from top to bottom with soft green needles and a gorgeous sprucy smell to fill up the house.” As that thought crossed her mind, she saw the absolutely most perfect Douglas fir tree right ahead of her. “Oh, this is the most beautiful tree on Sheepskerry!” she said. “It belongs in our fairy house.”
“Except we’re getting an emerald tree, from Neverland!” said Silver.
“Silver, sometimes you are so childish,” said Lily. “They don’t have emerald trees in—”
“Ooh, that’s gorgeous!” said a voice that came from just behind Lily and Silver. “We call that one for us!” And with that, Judy Jellicoe and her sister, Julia, swooped down into the forest next to Lily’s tree.
“Oh no!” said Lily.
“Not to worry, Lily,” said Rosie. But before Rosie could even give Lily a hug, dozens of Sheepskerry fairies filled the air and started to choose their Christmas trees.
“We call this one!” said Acorn Oak. “It’s so pretty and we’ll hang it with all our golden acorn caps.”
“We call this one!” said the Shepherd sisters together.
On and on it went until the Christmas tree forest was just about empty. The Fairy Bell sisters watched the trees being cut down one by one. “We’ve been robbed,” said Lily.
“Well, not really,” said Clara. “Sheepskerry Island is pretty full of trees.”
“Not trees that have been specially grown for Christmas,” said Lily. “Just straggly old leftovers. What if Tink forgets to bring us one?”
“What if she gets home and finds there’s a tree already there?” asked Rosie, although to tell the truth, she had been thinking the same thing. “Tink’s been away so long. Let’s give her a chance to do something she wants to do for us.”
“It’s only another few days until Tink comes,” said Silver. “We can wait that long, I know we can.” She gave her sisters a bright smile. “Let’s at least get our decorations out of the attic, in case she needs them to decorate,” she said.
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