held Boris’s plump little hand as tightly as she could. “Let’s put our heads together,” she said. “We’ll think of something.”
Boris nodded, although he had no idea what they were going to do. His foot was throbbing now, and he felt sick to his stomach.
“Together,” he said. “We’ll figure this out together.”
3 • PANIC IN THE MUSHROOM PATCH
The sound of fluttering filled the corridor as the monitor made her way to the dormitory. She had a clipboard in one hand and a pen in the other. Her glasses hung around her neck, attached to a very fragile gold chain. Her hair was braided and placed neatly on top of her head, and her pearl gray tunic was neatly pressed. It glittered as she fluttered along the corridor, a sure sign that she had been very busy that day. It was hard to tell how much fairy dust she had actually used during her tasks, but everyone knew by the way her tunic glistened that she must have filled her pockets with dust several times to complete them.
Madame Louise was in a hurry. She was tired and looking forward to settling in for the evening. She had been assigned to dormitory duty, a task she enjoyed. Once everyone was accounted for and lights were out, she could relax, read her scrolls, and have a pleasant, peaceful evening. As she approached the dorm she heard a peculiar sound. It was very unusual indeed. Hovering in place for a moment, her ears perked up as she listened very intently.
“What on Earth is that?” she asked herself. “This chatter is odd!”
The sound became clear as she entered the dorm; it was the anxious sound of whispering. This particular whispering was unlike the chitchat that usually accompanied the fairies during their nightly routine. These whispers seemed nervous, worried, and anxious; definitely a feeling of concern was in the air.
Without question, something was not right. Madame Louise quickly glanced around the room; everything appeared to be in order, but she could tell almost immediately something was wrong. There was worry written all over the faces of the young fairlings.
Suddenly Rosie ran out of the bathing room. She had no idea that Madame Louise had already entered the building as she blurted out, “She’s not in there; I looked in every corner, behind every door, and in every tub, but there is no sign of her.”
The room quickly fell silent, as Madame Louise’s eyes grew huge. Almost instantly she appeared right in front of Rosie. Lowering herself to the ground, she bent at the waist, put her glasses on the tip of her nose, folded her arms around the clipboard, and looked Rosie straight in the eye. She hesitated for just a moment before asking, “Who, Rosie? Who isn’t in the bathing room? Is there something wrong, dear?”
Rosie’s eyes danced around the room as she searched the faces of the fairies that had gathered around them. To her dismay, everyone seemed to have the same look on their tiny, beautiful faces—fear and worry, all rolled up into one tiny twisted look of concern. Rosie stalled; she could barely breathe but finally managed to squeak.
“Well, with all due respect, Madame, could you please define ‘wrong’?” Rosie asked. Her voice quivered and her cheeks turned bright red.
Madame Louise stood up straight and looked around the room. The fairies didn’t dare move for fear that she would address them. They had no idea where Lilly was and didn’t want to be the one to say so.
Madame Louise cleared her throat and stroked Rosie’s long, golden hair. She was under the distinct impression that someone was missing, and she was very worried. A missing fairy was not good at all.
“Well, I’d be happy to dear,” Madame Louise, said softly trying very hard not to alarm the fairies. “To define wrong, that is, though I’m more than certain you know what it is.”
She took a deep breath before continuing.
“Wrong, Rosie, as in out of the ordinary, suspicious, not right.” She paused for a moment, “Or missing, as in a missing fairy, a very, very dangerous situation indeed.”
Rosie was shaking; she didn’t want anyone to be missing. Once again she searched the room for help. Thankfully Ivy spoke up.
“Madame Louise, may I speak?” she asked politely.
Madame nodded, and Ivy knew this was her cue to speak.
“Well, it seems we can’t find Lilly, Madame.”
Madame stared at Ivy. “Can’t find Lilly?” she repeated.
“Well, Madame,” Ivy continued, “Rosie noticed Lilly wasn’t in front of her bed for roll call, you see.”
Madame Louise nodded her head and waved her hand for Ivy to continue.
“So, well, we called out to her, and she didn’t answer.”
Ivy noticed that everyone was nodding their head in agreement. “We even searched the dorm, but unfortunately, we can’t seem to find her anywhere.”
She smiled nervously as she continued.
“That’s about the time you appeared, Madame.”
Ivy had nothing else to say, so she took two steps backward and stood with the other fairies.
Madame Louise looked into the faces of each fairy. “Does anybody, anybody at all have anything to add?” she asked. No one did.
Madame instructed the fairies to line up at the ends of their beds. She quickly confirmed that everyone else in the dorm, except for Lilly, was accounted for. She told the fairies that Lilly was probably in the infirmary, that she probably wasn’t feeling well, and that she would go and check on her to be sure. She hovered a few inches off the floor, excused herself, and within seconds was gone. Madame Louise’s explanation seemed to put the fairies minds at ease, except for Rosie’s.
Rosie knew Lilly well and had even been with her earlier that day. During lunch Lilly hadn’t mentioned that she wasn’t feeling well. Rosie sat on the edge of her bed and thought as hard as she possibly could.
“We ate lunch, we cleared our plates, and we went for a walk.”
Rosie tried very hard to retrace their steps, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
“We climbed the tallest mushroom in the patch and sunned ourselves for a while.”
Rosie grabbed Ivy’s hands and pulled her onto the bed.
“The last time I saw Lilly, we were sunbathing on the tall mushroom, the one in the middle of the patch.”
“Well, did you leave together?” Ivy asked. “The mushroom, did you leave together?”
Rosie shook her head.
“No. I had an assignment due and left early to go by the study.” She suddenly had a worried look on her face. “Ivy, did you see her at supper?” she asked.
“No, as a matter of fact I didn’t,” Ivy replied. “I’ll go and ask the others if they ate supper with her or saw her at all in the dining
