5

Pearl Petal had a fairy in her room.

Her dream had come true. “Woo-hoo!” Pearl was so excited she jumped on her bed for ten whole minutes. “This… is… so… amazing!” The fairy sat at the bottom of the saltshaker, on the dresser, watching Pearl go up and down. After a few more jumps, Pearl sprang off the end of the mattress and landed on the carpet. Then she grabbed a magnifying glass.

Luckily, the Dollar Store carried the plastic lenses. After saying good-bye to Ben, who was off to help his grandfather at the senior center, Pearl had snatched one from aisle three. And she’d managed to hide the saltshaker from her parents, sneaking it upstairs into her bedroom. “I’ll be down soon to do my chores,” she’d called to her mom and dad.

“Okay,” Mr. Petal had called from the front picture window, where he and Mrs. Petal were creating a new window display of plastic picnic supplies.

Because she didn’t have to worry about being interrupted, Pearl could finally take a longer look at the little creature. Holding the magnifying glass next to the shaker, she examined her catch. The fairy sat cross-legged with her wings folded and a big frown on her face. “Can you understand me?” Pearl asked. The fairy nodded. “Please don’t be mad,” Pearl said. “I need to keep you safe until Dr. Woo gets back. Everyone at the diner wanted to squish you. And Ms. Bee wanted to pin you to a board in her classroom.” The fairy stuck out her tongue. Yeesh. There was just no pleasing some people.

The fairy was almost exactly like the drawings Pearl had seen in storybooks. Her dress was made of tiny yellow flowers. Her shoes had been cut from shiny green leaves, and her crown had been woven from silver sticks and red berries.

“I like your green hair,” Pearl told her. “Mine turned green last summer ’cause there was a lot of chlorine in the public pool. It’s closed now. If you want to go swimming around here, you have to use the plastic pool at the senior center.” The fairy strummed her fingers, as if bored. Pearl decided to change the subject. “Why were you flying around the diner?”

The fairy opened her mouth, and a stream of squeaks rose from the saltshaker’s holes. “I’m sorry,” Pearl told her. “I can’t understand you. Maybe I should just ask you yes-or-no questions. Did you come to Buttonville to see Dr. Woo?” The fairy nodded. “Are you sick?” The fairy shook her head. Pearl let out a big sigh of relief. That was excellent news. “But why would you come to see the doctor if you aren’t sick? Oops, that’s not a yes-or-no question.” Pearl fidgeted. “Are you hungry?”

The fairy jumped to her tiny feet.

Pearl knew that the fairy liked pancakes with syrup. So, saltshaker in hand, she opened her bedroom door and crept to the kitchen. The coast was clear. Her parents were still working downstairs. Pearl grabbed a frozen waffle and popped it into the toaster. The fairy watched. When the waffle was golden brown, Pearl poured syrup on it and cut off a tiny piece. Carefully, she began to unscrew the saltshaker’s lid, intending to quickly slip the morsel inside. But as soon as the lid was loose, the fairy’s wings unfurled. She zipped to the top of the shaker and began pushing. “Hey!” Pearl said. “Stop that!” Pearl quickly screwed the lid back into place. Phew! Close call.

The fairy hovered inside the shaker, pointing at the syrup bottle. “You want syrup?” The fairy nodded. Pearl tipped the bottle over the saltshaker. A droplet oozed through a hole and landed on the saltshaker’s floor. The fairy knelt and lapped it up like a cat. When she was finished, Pearl squeezed another droplet, which was also quickly eaten. Wow, she sure likes sugar, Pearl realized.

“You thirsty?” The fairy nodded again. In went a couple drops of orange soda, followed by a drop of honey. Pearl wondered if the glass bottom would get sticky, but the fairy ate every last bit. The glass was so clean it sparkled. Then the fairy curled into a ball and closed her eyes.

Pearl put her ear to the saltshaker’s holes. She could barely hear the soft snoring sounds. Perfect timing, she thought. I’ve got chores to do. Even though the fairy was deep asleep, maybe in a sugar-induced stupor, Pearl wondered if she was comfortable. Cold glass was not the best material for a bed. So Pearl got two squares of double-ply toilet paper, carefully opened the lid, and dropped them in. Those should make nice blankets. After replacing the lid, she hid the shaker in her bedroom closet, then hurried downstairs to help her parents with the window display.

Before, during, and after dinner, Pearl made sure to check on the fairy, who had rolled herself up in the toilet paper like a caterpillar in a cocoon. “As soon as Mom and Dad go to sleep, I’ll feed you again,” Pearl whispered. Pearl’s bedtime was 9:00 PM. She took her shower, brushed her teeth, and put on her blue pajamas. Then she slipped under her quilt. “I’m ready!” she hollered.

“But it’s only eight thirty,” Mrs. Petal said. “Are you sick?”

“No. I’m just tired.” In an attempt to be convincing, Pearl forced a yawn. “Maybe we should all go to bed early. What do you think?” The sooner her parents went to bed, the sooner she could talk to the fairy. While Pearl couldn’t understand the fairy’s squeaks, she could at least ask questions that required a nod or a shake of the fairy’s head. And Pearl, being a girl who loved to ask questions, had a lot of them stacking up. She yawned again. “Good night.”

“Come to think of it, you did work hard on our window display,” Mr. Petal said. “It makes sense that you’d be extra tired.”

Mr. and Mrs. Petal tucked Pearl in and kissed her good night. But they didn’t go to bed. Instead, they cleaned the kitchen, watched TV, and sat at the table, paying bills. Pearl stared at the closet door. She didn’t dare bring out the fairy. Her mom often checked throughout the night to make sure Pearl wasn’t reading by flashlight or leaning out the window, counting stars. It wasn’t until ten thirty that she heard their bedroom door shut and their light click off. Finally!

Pearl threw the quilt aside. To avoid squeaky floorboards, she reached under her bed and grabbed her special pink slippers. A gift from Cobblestone, a leprechaun she’d met at Dr. Woo’s, they gave her the ability to walk in silence. She put them on, then made her way across her bedroom as quiet as a ghost.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Pearl stopped dead in her tracks. A huge face was peering through her bedroom window. Red eyes glowed like fire pits. Steamy breath fogged up the glass pane. Pearl slid the window open. “Metalmouth?” she whispered. “What are you doing here?”

“Hiya, Pearl,” Metalmouth said in his rumbly dragon voice. He was standing on the roof of her building, but he’d stretched his long neck to reach her window.