CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Adie and Elsie

imagedie and Elsie watched the meadow from their spot by the beech tree, where their guards had brought them. The attention of the whole fairy court, including their guards, was on a tubby little man who approached the queen with Ruth and Grace in tow.

They were still some distance away, but so far, other than being covered in bees, the twins didn’t seem to be hurt. As Adie and Elsie watched, the entire swarm of bees coating their sisters rose up and flew to the queen. They hovered for a moment, then disappeared into the folds of her gown, patterning it as though they were woven into the fabric.

Adie turned her attention to Elsie’s knapsack. The fairies had left it on her back, either because they didn’t know what it was, or they didn’t care. After all, what could a couple of girls do, hands bound and with such a host to stand against them?

“What do you use to sharpen those pencils of yours?” Adie asked.

“Just this old jackknife that George gave me,” Elsie said.

“Is it sharp?”

“Well, sure it is. It has to be to shave the wood properly.…” Her voice trailed off and she gave Adie a quick look. “What are you planning to do with it?”

“Whatever it takes to rescue the twins and get us all out of here.”

Adie looked again at the scene in the meadow. All the bee fairies remained fascinated with what was going on. If she was ever going to have a chance, this was it.

“Turn around so I can get at your knapsack,” she said.

“Oh, I don’t like this,” Elsie said, but she turned as asked, whispering, “There’s too many of them, Adie.”

“I only need to get to the queen,” Adie replied.

With bound hands, Adie had trouble getting the knapsack’s drawstring undone, but she finally got it loose and was able to reach in. She dug awkwardly among Elsie’s sketchbooks and the various roots, twigs, and whatnots until she felt the handle of the jackknife and pulled it out. Laying it on the ground, she took a moment to close up the knapsack again before trying to open the knife. After much fussing and one broken nail, she managed to pry the blade out of the handle and began the awkward process of sawing through the grass rope binding Elsie’s hands. Luckily, Elsie hadn’t been exaggerating. The blade was sharp and sliced easily through.

“Here. Now do mine,” Adie said.

Elsie hesitated. “This is only asking for more trouble,” she said.

“Come on, Elsie. They brought it on.”

Elsie checked again to make sure that they were still unobserved, then sliced through the ropes binding her sister’s wrists and passed the knife back to Adie.

“So you’re just going to stab her?” Elsie asked, a horrified look on her face.

“Look,” Adie said. “They’re not even people, okay? They’re like bugs. And when bugs start annoying you, you squash them.”

“But—”

“Look what they’ve done to our Ruthie and Grace,” Adie said. “No one threatens my sisters, Elsie. That’s the bottom line. Now put your hands back together.”

Adie arranged the cut ropes back on top of Elsie’s wrists. “Make sure you keep your hands in your lap, like they’re still tied.”

Elsie nodded, her nervous glance returning to where the twins were being brought up to the bee fairy queen.

“Let me try to put the ropes back on yours,” she said to Adie.

“No need. I’m going to slip off into the woods. What I want you to do is create a diversion in about, say, five minutes.”

Elsie stared at her in horror. “I’d rather try the disbelieving business first.”

Adie shook her head. “It’s way too late for that. I mean, we know they’re here, right?”

“I suppose.”

“Trust me on this,” Adie said.

Before Elsie could think of something else to try to get her to stay, Adie slipped off behind the beech tree and into the woods.