The next day, Mia, Kate, Lainey, and Gabby sat on the floor of the Vasquezes’ living room. They were trying to play a game of Go Fish, but no one could concentrate. Mia and Gabby’s aunt and uncle and their favorite cousin, Angie, were arriving for the holidays that afternoon. Every time a car went by, Gabby interrupted the game by running to the window.

“It couldn’t be them,” Mia said when Gabby had jumped up a fourth time. “Mami said they’ll be late because of the weather.” But she got up and joined her sister at the window anyway. Fat snowflakes drifted down, covering the street in a soft white blanket. Mia watched another car slowly approach. It rolled past their house without stopping. She sighed and sat back down.

“When was the last time you saw Angie?” Lainey asked. She was shuffling the cards for another game.

“Almost two years ago,” Mia said. Angie and her parents came for a week at Christmas. Mia looked forward to it every year. She’d been crushed when they’d canceled their trip the year before because they’d all come down with the flu.

“It’s going to be so much fun to see her again,” Kate said. “Remember when we built the snow fort?”

“How could I forget?” Mia said, laughing. “We couldn’t figure out how to make a roof, so we used the blankets from our beds. Mami was so mad when she found them in the snow.”

Kate and Lainey laughed, too. “We should have told her it was a snow-pillow fort!” Lainey said.

“How come I don’t remember that?” Gabby asked.

“Mami kept you inside because you had an earache,” Mia said. “Also, it was two years ago. Maybe you were too little to remember.”

“Was that the time Angie saw the fairy?” Gabby said.

“What fairy?” Kate and Lainey asked in unison.

“Oh my gosh!” Mia exclaimed. “I forgot about that!”

“Angie saw a fairy right here in this room,” Mia explained. “She said it flew around and knocked an ornament off the Christmas tree. When my aunt came in, it flew out the window—that’s what Angie said. But Aunt Lara thought she made it up so she wouldn’t get in trouble for breaking the ornament.”

“How come you never told us that before?” Kate asked.

Mia shrugged. “It happened so long ago, I guess I forgot. Anyway, I never saw the fairy. I only heard about her from Angie.”

“Angie said she had a pretty smile and a yellow glow,” Gabby added.

Mia looked at her in amazement. “I can’t believe you remember that. You must have been only two or three.”

“Angie told me that if I always believed in fairies and kept my eyes open, I would see them,” Gabby said. “And she was right!”

“Do you think the fairy could have been Prilla?” Lainey asked.

“I wonder,” Mia said thoughtfully. There was something she’d been wondering about, but she’d been afraid to bring it up until now. “You guys, do you think maybe we could bring Angie with us? To Pixie Hollow, I mean?”

The other girls stared at her. They’d never taken anyone else to Never Land with them. It had always been their secret.

“Angie loves fairies,” Mia went on quickly, before her friends could say no. “And she’d never tell anyone. She’s good at keeping secrets.”

“I think it’s a great idea,” Kate said.

“So do I,” agreed Lainey.

“Yay!” Gabby clapped her hands. “The fairies are going to love her!”

“I knew you’d think so.” Mia grinned. “This is going to be the best Christmas ever!”

Outside, a car door slammed. Gabby leaped up and ran to the window again. “They’re here!” she shouted.

The girls scrambled to their feet. Mia ran for the front door, but Gabby got there first. She threw it open, shouting, “Merry Christmas!”

“Ho, ho, ho!” Uncle Jack boomed, scooping Gabby into a bear hug. “Merry Christmas yourself!”

Aunt Lara came through the door behind him, smiling her big smile. And finally…was that Angie? Mia stared. The girl who stood in the doorway stamping the snow from her boots looked nothing like the cousin she remembered. Angie had always been small, with short, messy hair. But now she was almost as tall as Aunt Lara. Snowflakes were melting into her shiny black hair, which fell past her shoulders. She wore a trim wool coat and leather boots and…was that lip gloss?

She looks so sophisticated, Mia thought. Suddenly, she felt self-conscious standing there in her old rainbow socks with the hole in one toe.

But then Angie grinned, and her smile looked exactly the same as it always had. She threw her arms around Mia, exclaiming, “I missed you!” and Mia’s self-consciousness vanished.

Angie hugged Gabby, too, admiring her costume fairy wings. “They’re perfect,” she said. “They look just right on you.” Gabby turned pink with delight.

When Mia and Gabby’s parents came into the room, there was another round of hugs.

“My gosh. Look at you, Angie. You’re all grown up!” Mia’s mother said.

Angie smiled and tucked a strand of long hair behind her ear. “I go by Angelica now,” she replied.

Angelica! Mia thought. Even her name sounded sophisticated.

“Well, Angelica is a beautiful name. I can see why you want to use it,” Mrs. Vasquez replied.

Gabby grabbed her cousin’s hand and began to pull her toward the stairs. “You have to come to my room right now!” she exclaimed. “We have something to show you.”

Their parents laughed. “She just got here, Gabby,” her father said. “At least give her a chance to take off her coat.”

Gabby danced impatiently as Angelica removed her coat. “Now can she come to my room?” she asked as soon as the coat was hanging in the closet.

“All right, all right,” Mr. Vasquez said. “You girls go have fun.”

“Come on!” Gabby yanked Angelica upstairs. Mia, Kate, and Lainey followed on their heels.

“What do you want to show me, Gabby?” Angelica asked as they entered her room. “Is it a new toy?”

“You’ll see.” Gabby hurried over to the closet. But as she was about to open the door, Mia stopped her.

“Wait! Angie—I mean, Angelica should go first,” Mia said. It would be even better that way.

“Into the closet?” Angelica asked with a little laugh.

“You have to,” Gabby told her. “It’s the only way to get to the fairies.”

Angelica sighed. “Oh, Gabby. I’m not really in the mood to play make-believe right now.”

The other girls looked at each other. Who said anything about make-believe? Mia thought. “Just trust us,” she said.

Angelica glanced from one girl to the other. “All right.” She shrugged, and stepped into the closet. The others crowded in behind her—first Gabby, then Kate, followed by Lainey. Mia went in last, pulling the door closed behind her.

In the darkness, Mia smiled to herself. Any second now she’d hear her cousin’s cry of surprise as she stepped out into—

“What now?” Angelica’s voice was close in the dark. “What’s the big surprise?”

“Ow! Gabby, you’re standing on my feet!” Kate exclaimed.

“Someone’s pushing!” Gabby cried back. Mia heard scuffling. The closet seemed stuffy and crowded. Where’s the breeze? she wondered.

“Go forward!” Mia cried.

“There’s nowhere to go,” Angelica said. “I’m right up against the wall.”

“The wall?” Mia said, confused. What was going on? Where was Never Land? She opened the closet door and they all spilled out, back into Gabby’s room.

“Phew!” Angelica said as she exited, smoothing her hair. “I don’t get it. Was that the game?”

Mia didn’t answer. Through the open door of the closet, she could see beyond Gabby’s hanging clothes to the smooth blank wall. There was no warm breeze, no window of light. The hole to Pixie Hollow was gone.