8

Pearl and Ben had heard a little about the missing apprentice. She’d held the job before they did, but she had apparently forgotten to punch her time card one day, and no one knew where she’d gone, or whether she was in the Known World or the Imaginary one. Both Ben and Pearl had thought this odd. A missing kid was a very big deal. But Mr. Tabby and Dr. Woo hadn’t seemed worried.

Now it made sense. The apprentice wasn’t a missing human.

“The missing apprentice is a fairy,” Pearl said with awe.

“That’s right.” Dr. Woo grabbed a pair of reading glasses from her desk, slid them onto her face, then peered through the saltshaker at Twanabeth. “And from the looks of that crown on her head, I’d guess she’s recently become the queen. Is that true?” The fairy nodded. “Did the old queen die?” The fairy hung her head. “I’m sorry to hear of your loss.”

“How come you didn’t know the queen had died?” Ben asked the doctor. “Don’t you talk to the fairies?”

“Rarely,” Dr. Woo said. “We’re not allowed into their realm in the Tangled Forest. They don’t like trespassers, and they use magic to protect themselves. If they need care, they come here. We’ve created a special room for them on the fifth floor.” Neither Pearl nor Ben had been to the fifth floor. Pearl instantly wanted to run up there and check it out.

“Set me free! Set me free! Out of this bottle, I want to be!” Twanabeth pounded on the glass.

Dr. Woo set the shaker on her desk. Then she folded her arms and spoke sternly. “I will let you out, but you must promise to stop biting.” The fairy nodded.

“This should help.” Mr. Tabby pulled a packet from his pocket. It was labeled: KIWI-FLAVORED JELLY BEANS. He set one of the little green beans on the desk.

“Excellent idea,” Dr. Woo said. She opened the shaker. Pearl grimaced and covered both earlobes, expecting to be attacked at any moment. But when Twanabeth flew out, she ignored Pearl and landed next to the bean. As she bit into the sugary green candy shell, her wings folded and a happy humming noise filled the room.

“Sugar fairies love sugar,” Dr. Woo explained. “Best we let her finish. It might help her mood.”

While the fairy munched, Ben settled onto a crate, then rested his elbows on the desk. Pearl sat next to him. Twanabeth ate quickly, consuming the entire bean, which was as big as her torso, in a matter of seconds. Mr. Tabby set a second bean on the desk, and she ate that one, too.

“Whoa,” Ben said. “She should enter one of those eating contests. Does she like pies? Or hot dogs?”

The fairy burped. Having finished her snack, she looked around, then pointed at Pearl. “It is very mean to capture the fairy queen,” she said.

“I’m sorry,” Pearl told her. “I was just trying to help.”

Mr. Tabby glanced at his pocket watch. “The hour is late. Perhaps our guest could tell us why she is here.”

Twanabeth began jumping up and down. “He’s bad. He’s bad. He makes me mad!” Her little crown toppled off her head.

“Who’s bad?” Ben asked. “She’s not talking about me, is she? I didn’t do anything to her.”

Dr. Woo removed her reading glasses and sighed. “I’m afraid she’s speaking of Maximus Steele.”

At the mention of that horrid man, Pearl’s entire body stiffened. Oh, how she hated him! Maximus Steele was a poacher who had sneaked into the Imaginary World. He’d taken one of the rain dragon’s horns, he’d tried to trap a unicorn foal, and he’d fooled the griffin king into believing he was trustworthy. Unfortunately, he was still there, and no one knew which creature he’d target next.

Dr. Woo and Mr. Tabby shared a long, concerned look. “Twanabeth, has Maximus invaded your realm?” the doctor asked.

Twanabeth grabbed her crown and plunked it back on her green hair. “Maximus is bad for us. He wants our dust! He wants our dust!”

Dr. Woo sank into her chair. “I thought there’d be more time to prepare. If he’s entered their realm, then that means he needs fairy dust.”

Pearl frowned. Fairy dust, a substance that looked like yellow glitter, was used for travel between the Known World and the Imaginary World. Dr. Woo needed a constant supply so she could help the creatures. But if Maximus Steele got a supply, he could bring Imaginary creatures, or their horns and tusks, into the Known World and sell them. Then he’d surely reach his goal of becoming the richest man ever.

As Dr. Woo slumped in her chair, she suddenly looked very tired. Her shoulders deflated, and the scars on her face and neck seemed darker. Pearl had never seen her look so worried.

Mr. Tabby strode to the window. With his hands clasped behind his back, he gazed at the night sky. “This is very bad news,” he said. “If Maximus has invaded the fairy realm, he will do whatever it takes to force the fairies to surrender their dust.”

Twanabeth flew across the desk, the tips of her feet skimming the wood, and stopped in front of the doctor. “I am the queen, this be true, and I no longer work for you. But your help I need! Your help I need! To hide my people until our world is freed.”

“You want the fairies to come here and hide?” Ben asked.

“Oh, that’s a great idea,” Pearl said excitedly. Even though her earlobe still ached, she was pretty sure not all the fairies would dislike her. She’d make certain not to put any of them into saltshakers. “How many are there?”

“Of the sugar variety, there are hundreds,” Mr. Tabby said.

“There are other kinds of fairies?” Ben asked.

“Certainly. Burrowing fairies, they live underground. Bat fairies, they hang upside down when they sleep. And worker fairies, the Portal captain is one of those. And there are wingless fairies, too, such as the leprechauns.”

Pearl looked at her slippers, remembering Cobblestone. “Do they all make dust?” she asked.

“We are dust! Dust is us!” Twanabeth chanted.

“Only sugar fairies make the yellow dust that powers the Portal,” Mr. Tabby explained. “They shed it, the way we shed skin cells.”

Ben tapped his fingers on the desk. “So if Maximus got hold of a sugar fairy, he could collect the dust and ride the Portal whenever he wanted.”

“Correction, he could summon the Portal whenever he wanted,” Mr. Tabby said. “He would still require a pilot. Or he would have to fly it himself.”

“I saw him flying a giant moth,” Pearl said. “Is that anything like flying the Portal?”

Mr. Tabby didn’t answer. Everyone looked at Dr. Woo. She’d been sitting quietly, deep in thought. “Doctor?” Mr. Tabby said.

“Max is fully capable of flying the Portal,” she said quietly. “He can do anything.” Then she straightened her shoulders and narrowed her eyes. “But we are equally capable. There is an ancient Chinese warfare strategy that goes something like this—lure your enemy onto the roof, then take away the ladder.”

Pearl didn’t know anything about ancient Chinese warfare, but what Dr. Woo had said made sense. “If the sugar fairies came here, then Maximus couldn’t get any dust,” Pearl said. “And that would mean he’d be stuck in the Imaginary World, like someone on a roof with no ladder.”

“That’s a great idea,” Ben said. “If Maximus can’t travel to the Known World, then he can’t sell anything. Then there’s no reason for him to take any horns or hurt any creatures.”

Twanabeth rose into the air, her wings beating frantically. “Dr. Woo, is it true? The fairies will be safe with you?”

“Yes, they will be safe,” Dr. Woo said. “But it will be a temporary visit. Ultimately, we must figure out how to get Max out of the Imaginary World once and for all.”

Mr. Tabby opened the office door. “It seems we will be having houseguests,” he said. “I shall prepare the fifth floor. When will they be arriving?”

At that moment, a gruff voice shot out of a speaker that was set into the wall. “Emergency code red, emergency code reeeeed.” The voice belonged to Vinny, the satyr who worked the night shift on the tenth floor. “We got an unauthorized Portal arrival, folks.” The office trembled and items on the shelves rattled as the Portal touched down on the tenth floor. “Uh-oh,” Vinny said. “What are you doing here? Hey, you can’t do that! You can’t go outside! Come baaaaack!”

“What’s going on up there?” Pearl asked.

“Look!” Ben cried, pointing out the window.

It was well past midnight. Outside, the sky was still dark and cloudless. But as Pearl gazed out Dr. Woo’s window, a little cloud appeared. A cloud made, not of water molecules, but of tiny flying creatures.

“They’re here! They’re here!” Twanabeth sang. Then she flew through a crack in the window and joined her swarm.