CHAPTER 2

The Goat Plan

Bam!

Xanthos slammed down the lid.

The vines disappeared. Collie fell back onto the leaf. She rested her head in her tiny hands.

“That was mean,” Sasha told Xanthos.

“Plant pixies are dangerous. I wanted to show you that,” said Xanthos. “When they’re scared or upset, they grow vines.”

“What’s so bad about vines?” asked Sasha.

“They use the vines to travel and to trap us,” he explained.

Sasha peered through the glass. Collie was the size of a horsefly. Sasha was the size of a horse.

“She’s too little to trap me.”

“Pixies don’t work alone. They travel in large groups,” he said. “They surround a flying horse and tangle her up with thick vines. Then they pluck out two feathers.”

Sapphire stepped closer to explain. “Plant pixies don’t have wings of their own. See that harness they wear?”

Sasha spotted a tiny silver harness on Collie. It wrapped around her waist and strapped over her shoulders.

“If she puts two horse feathers into the harness, she can fly,” said Sapphire.

“Is that so bad? It’s only two feathers,” Sasha pointed out.

“Only two? CLEMENTINE!” roared Xanthos.

A horse limped into the cave. Her orange coat was dull. Her eyes were cloudy. She wheezed and coughed.

“Oh, dear. What’s wrong with her?” Sasha moved away.

“Clementine was healthy yesterday. Then the plant pixies used their vines to take two of her feathers. Today, she is weak and sick,” said Xanthos. “Now the pixie can fly, but she can’t.”

Suddenly, Sasha understood how serious a pixie attack was. She didn’t want to get sick. “What do we do?”

“Call Bill,” Xanthos instructed the hummingbirds.

“Who’s Bill?” Sasha looked around.

“I am Major Bill, your highness.” A billy goat entered the cave. Military medals hung from ribbons around his neck. He saluted Sasha. “I lead the goat brigade.”

How wonderfully strange Crystal Cove is, thought Sasha. Winged horses lived in caves. Beavers paddled a ferry boat. Flamingoes played jump rope, spider monkeys rode scooters—and a billy goat was in charge of the guards.

Sasha waved her tail in his direction. “Nice to meet you.”

“Major Bill, it’s time to send the goats to the meadow,” Xanthos said, tapping an area on the map.

“The goats are ready and hungry, sir.” Major Bill saluted again.

Why do we need a bunch of hungry goats? Sasha tried to puzzle it out.

She looked back at Collie inside the jar. The pixie wrapped the leaf around her tiny body, curling up inside it.

Then Sasha understood.

Pixies slept inside plants. Goats ate plants. The goats would destroy the pixies as they were resting. Sasha’s stomach began to turn. “Wait! I don’t want to hurt the little pixies.”

“Plant pixies are enchanted. They live forever and ever. You can’t really hurt them,” said Xanthos.

“Then why send in hungry goats?”

“The goats’ nibbling slows the vines from growing,” said Xanthos. “The pixies use the vines to travel. This will keep the pixies from reaching our beach quickly.”

“What do you say, Lost Princess?” asked Major Bill. “You wear the crown now. It’s up to you.”

Sasha watched Collie sleep. She remembered the climbing vines that shot from her wrists. She pictured hundreds of plant pixies, all with vines reaching for her wing feathers.

“I say . . . nibble away.”