CHAPTER SIX

Duck!” yelled Addie. She jumped down behind the boulder, pulling Clara with her.

The wasps raced past like fighter jets, making almost as much noise. Addie could hear one of them laugh wickedly as it went over their heads.

Why did it have to be wasps? When Addie was five, she’d stepped on a small one and it stung her foot. She still remembered how much that hurt and couldn’t imagine what a sting from these much bigger bugs would feel like.

“Are they gone?” asked Clara after the buzzing faded, but as soon as she did, the buzzing grew louder again. Both girls stuck their heads up. The wasps were circling back! The girls crouched down again, and Addie grabbed a nearby stick to fight them off. But the wasps didn’t attack. They landed on a rock, both of them laughing hard.

“That was great!” shouted one, who sounded female. “We haven’t had the chance to scare a human kid in a long time!”

“Look at them down there,” said the other. This one sounded like a boy. “They’re curled up like little snails! They won’t get in our way.”

“Hey, humans!” taunted the first wasp. “Thanks for helping us find the New Bloom!”

Addie winced. It had never occurred to her that the wasps might be watching them search for Shimmer Leaf.

“So, Poke,” said the boy wasp. “What next?”

Addie could see the wasps through a gap between two rocks. She watched the girl wasp fly down to the spot where they’d heard Shimmer Leaf’s sobs.

“You were right, Striker. She’s definitely in some kind of crevice, where these two rocks come together,” Poke said. “But it’s a really small opening. We can’t squeeze in there to get her.”

“Ha!” laughed Striker. “I never thought being big would be a problem!” He flew down to land next to Poke. “Can’t we just keep her here until sunset, when her magic disappears?”

“Don’t be dumb,” sneered Poke. “We have specific orders to chase her back to the Wasp Realm.”

Addie and Clara looked at each other with alarm.

“We can’t let that happen,” whispered Clara.

“But if we run to get help, they’ll come after us . . .” Addie whispered back, but then she realized something important. “Wait a minute! I don’t have to run! I can think!”

Addie had forgotten to send Sky Dance a message that they’d found Shimmer Leaf. She knew she just had to think the words WE FOUND HER! PLEASE HELP US! COME QUICK! as hard as she could, and Sky Dance would hear her.

“If only we could distract the wasps,” said Addie.

“Or maybe we could trick them somehow,” added Clara.

Clara’s suggestion set off an idea in Addie’s head. For a minute or so, everything was eerily quiet and tense as the wasps paced in front of the crevice and Addie focused on her idea. Then she heard a flit-flut near her ear and turned to see Sky Dance sitting on her shoulder.

Addie opened her mouth to say something, but Sky Dance whispered, “Shhh! We don’t want them to know she’s here.”

“Who?” asked Addie softly.

“My mom. The queen.” Sky Dance pointed an antenna at Addie’s knee, where Queen Rose Glow was now landing, looking very sad.

“Oh,” sighed Queen Rose Glow. “I can hear Shimmer Leaf crying. My poor baby!”

“I think I have a plan,” said Addie. She then leaned close to Sky Dance’s antennae to tell her. When she was done, Sky Dance’s eyes lit up.

“Is that even possible?” asked Addie.

“I think so!” replied Sky Dance. She flew over to her mother and murmured to her. The queen looked at Addie, then nodded excitedly.

Addie turned to Clara. “Something’s going to happen. Don’t freak out.”

Before Clara could say a word, Sky Dance and Rose Glow took flight, touching their wings together to spout the rainbow of their combined colors. As they circled Addie three times, strands of pink, turquoise, white, red, green, and silver filled the air with sparkles.

Clara watched, her jaw hanging open.

When all the glitter faded before Addie’s eyes, she didn’t bother to examine herself. She knew there was no time for that. Instead, she flapped her newly formed butterfly wings and took off as fast as she could. The ground fell away below her, and the air rushing past felt natural and familiar. It was like she’d always been flying!

She knew that to the stunned Clara, it looked like her sister was gone and in her place was a Wishing Wing butterfly.

She also knew that to the wasps, she looked like Shimmer Leaf. Sky Dance and Rose Glow had used their magic to turn Addie’s butterfly wings the same colors as Shimmer Leaf’s. The leaf patterns were not there—she understood that patterns were special to each Wishing Wing and couldn’t be copied—but she hoped the wasps wouldn’t notice.

“Poke!” Addie heard Striker yell. “She’s making a break for it!”

“Let’s get her!” shouted Poke. “Nice try, butterfly! We’re too fast for you!”

Addie felt Sky Dance sending her a thought message. Head for the two tall pine trees to the south, it said. Fly until you turn human again, and we’ll take care of the rest.

As she flew toward the pine trees, Addie could hear the wasps buzzing behind her, but her head start kept them at a distance. This was just like the time she raced a girl named Jillian in gym class at her old school. Jillian usually beat her at everything, but on that day, Addie had sprinted from the word “Go!” and didn’t look back until she crossed the finish line first. Addie remembered how proud she’d been to realize she was a faster runner than she’d thought, and that powered her butterfly wings now.

Addie kept flapping as hard as she could and found a breeze, which gave her an extra push. The pine trees were getting closer and closer . . . while the wasps’ buzzing grew louder and louder . . .

She’d made it! Addie flew right through the space between the two pine trees.

Then, with a thump, she fell backward on the ground. In an instant, she had all of her usual parts and was Addie-size again.

The wasps sped by. The branches of the pine trees had blocked their view and they hadn’t seen Addie change into a human. She caught her breath and watched as two bright Wishing Wings, then four, then ten, flew into the gap between the trees. Still more butterflies came, flying so close to one another she couldn’t tell where one butterfly’s wings ended and another’s began. The flickering colors looked like a giant kaleidoscope.

They were filling the gap between the pine trees. A net! Addie realized.

Suddenly, Queen Rose Glow flew up to her.

“Are you all right, my dear?” she asked.

“Yes, I’m fine!”

“Run back to Sky Dance and your sister! We’ll hold the wasps back with some group magic.”

Addie nodded, jumped up, dusted herself off, and raced back to the rocks.

When she got there, she found Clara kneeling on the ground in front of Shimmer Leaf’s hiding place. Sky Dance perched on a rock nearby, staring nervously in the direction of the sun. The bottom tip of it had dropped behind the treetops, and the sky was tinted pink. It wouldn’t be long before it was completely gone.

Clara put her face as close as she could to the crevice’s opening. Addie could still hear Shimmer Leaf’s sobs coming from inside.

“Shimmer Leaf,” Clara said softly to the butterfly. “I understand that you’re scared. I understand that you’re lonely. I know exactly how that feels, because I just found myself in a brand-new place, too.”

Clara paused, and they listened. It was quiet. The sobs had stopped.

“But now I see that I’m not alone at all,” continued Clara. “There are friends around me everywhere. Some, I just haven’t met yet.”

Clara glanced quickly at Addie. Addie smiled back.

Clara took a deep breath and put her face to the crevice once more. “Can I be your first new friend, Shimmer Leaf?”

A tiny, shaking voice said, “Okay.”

“Here,” said Clara, reaching as much of her hand into the opening as would fit. “Climb on. I’ll help you out of there.”

Addie held her breath, and she knew Sky Dance was doing the same. They waited for a long moment. Addie glanced up to see that even more of the sun had disappeared, and her heart thudded harder.

Clara pulled her hand out of the crevice and clapped the other one on top. She smiled big. Shimmer Leaf must be inside!

“I’ve got you,” whispered Clara to her hands. “You’re safe with me.”

“Are you sure?” asked the tiny voice.

Clara opened her palms.

A burst of color shot into the air and fluttered away.