VIDIA PUSHED OPEN the door, with Tink on her heels.

“Wisp!” they both exclaimed.

Wisp looked up. She quickly hid something behind her back.

“What are you doing here?” Vidia asked.

“I just, er, wanted to see if you were all right,” Wisp said. Vidia could tell she was lying. Wisp’s normally bright glow had turned a murky yellow.

Tink narrowed her eyes. “What’s that behind your back?” she asked.

“This?” Wisp pulled her hands out. In one she held a long key with a fancy top. “Nothing. Just a key,” she said.

“A key to what?” asked Tink.

Wisp didn’t say anything. Her eyes darted toward Vidia’s bed.

Vidia gasped. She raced over to the bed and pulled out the locked box of fairy dust. “Give me the key!” she demanded.

Wisp handed it over. With unsteady hands, Vidia slid the key into one of the padlocks. There was a click, and the lock popped open. She tried it again on another lock. It worked on that one, too. One by one, Vidia opened all six padlocks.

“Where did you get a key that opens every lock?” Tink asked.

“The keyhole-design talents gave it to me,” said Wisp.

Tink frowned. “Why would they give you a key like that?”

“I won a dare,” Wisp said. “They bet I wouldn’t jump from a branch with one wing tied behind my back. I sure showed them!”

Vidia was barely listening. Slowly, she opened the top of the box. Inside lay the gleaming pile of fairy dust. She could see the mark where Wisp had scooped out a handful.

“You stole from me!” she shouted.

“So?” said Wisp. “You stole feathers from Mother Dove.”

Then Vidia thought of something else. “You cheated in our race today!”

“You cheated, too,” Wisp pointed out.

Vidia was so mad she was shaking. But she couldn’t argue. Wisp might be a thief and a cheat, but after all, so was Vidia.

Vidia was more than just angry, though. She was also hurt and disappointed. She had thought Wisp was her friend. But it turned out that Wisp had only wanted her fairy dust. All Wisp cared about was flying faster.

Just like Vidia.

“Don’t be upset, Vidia,” Wisp said. “Now that we’re both so fast, our races will be better than ever!”

Vidia drew herself up proudly. “You’re right,” she said. “We need to find out who’s the best, once and for all.”

“You’re racing again?” Tink asked in disbelief. She turned to Vidia. “You don’t have to prove that you’re faster than she is.”

“You don’t get it, Tink,” Vidia replied. “You’re not a fast flier.” The only way to get back at someone like Wisp was to beat her. No one understood that as well as Vidia.

“We’ll fly once around Pixie Hollow,” she said to Wisp. “First one back to the sour-plum tree is the fastest fairy in Pixie Hollow.”

Wisp grinned. “You’re on,” she said.

Outside, it was dark. Between the leaves of the sour-plum tree, Vidia saw stars twinkling in the night sky.

“On your mark,” said Wisp. The two fairies crouched down. “Get set…Go!”

Vidia tore into the air. She imagined herself slicing through it like a knife slicing honey bread. I’m an arrow, she thought. I’m a hawk. I’m the fastest thing in Never Land.

She would beat Wisp this time. She had to.

With the special fairy dust, Vidia and Wisp flew twice as fast as usual. Trees, rocks, and flowers were just blurs in the darkness. Something stung Vidia’s arm, and she realized she’d grazed a leaf. At this speed, even the smallest objects were dangerous.

She was glad when they made it through the orchard. The open meadows were safer at night. There weren’t any trees to hit.

Vidia and Wisp zoomed toward Spring Meadow. Even in the dark, Vidia could see the area that had burned. The air smelled of wet ashes.

Wisp reached the meadow first. As she tore over a blackened patch, Vidia heard a whoosh, then a crackle. An orange flame spurted up from the ground.

Vidia screeched to a halt. She hovered and looked closer. Now she could see what the darkness had concealed at first—the fire was still smoldering. Threads of smoke rose from the burnt ground.

If we fly over it, we’ll start the fire again! Vidia thought.

“Stop!” she yelled to Wisp. “Get out of the meadow! Your wings are fanning the fire!”

But Wisp didn’t stop. She zoomed over the meadow, and more flames sprang up behind her.

“Wisp!” Vidia screamed again, thinking she hadn’t heard. “Stop!”

This time Wisp glanced back over her shoulder. When she saw the line of fire rushing toward her, she grinned. “Come on, Vidia!” she called. “Race the flames!”

She thinks it’s a game,Vidia thought. Just like the waves. And the arrows. And the hawk. Everything is a game to her.

But this was one game Vidia wasn’t going to play. She didn’t care if Wisp won the race, or if she was the fastest fairy in Pixie Hollow.

Wisp wasn’t really fearless. She was just foolish.

As Wisp tore across the meadow, the fire chased her. The faster she flew, the higher the flames climbed. They sent sparks shooting into dry meadow grass. Where they landed, new ground began to burn.

She’ll burn the whole meadow, Vidia thought. She’ll burn down all of Pixie Hollow!

Vidia took off after her. She meant to cut Wisp off. But she didn’t get far. A blast of smoke and heat drove her back. The fire was raging now.

Vidia watched the leaping fire quickly circle the meadow. It raced ahead of Wisp, cutting her off. Wisp turned to go back the way she’d come, but another wall of flames blocked her.

Wisp was trapped.