The front hall of Feather Palace looked just the way Clara remembered it from her first visit. Gauzy curtains fluttered in the breeze over feather-shaped windows. Portraits of the eight pegasus princesses and Lucinda hung on magenta walls. Light danced and glittered on the shiny black marble floors. On stone pedestals, pegasus statues reared up, wings outstretched. Pegasus fountains spouted rainbow water. Eight empty thrones—each with a color and design that matched one of the pegasus princesses—were arranged in a horseshoe shape in the center of the room. Clara grinned when she saw that Lucinda’s small silver sofa, with its back shaped like a cat head, was pushed right next to Aqua’s teal throne.
At first Clara thought she was alone in the front hall. But then she heard a voice above her call out, “At the count of three, start kicking.” Clara looked up. Just below the front hall’s vaulted ceiling, all eight pegasus princesses were flying in a giant circle. They were all wearing large teal flippers strapped to their hooves. And they were so immersed in their swimming lesson they didn’t notice Clara had arrived.
Aqua swished her tail and said, “One. Two. Three. Kick!”
The pegasus princesses began to kick their front and back legs as they flew.
“Those kicks look great,” Aqua said. “Now, start paddling with your wings like this.” She swept her wings from front to back.
Mist, Stitch, Rosie, Star, and Dash all began to paddle their wings as they kicked. But Snow jabbed a flipper into her wing, stopped kicking, and then flew sideways as she tried to paddle. Flip swept her wings from back to front and bolted backward, flailing her legs in every direction. After a few seconds, Flip and Snow crashed into each other.
“Oops! Sorry!” Flip said to Snow.
“That was at least half my fault,” Snow said, sighing. “I’m sorry too.”
Flip groaned in frustration. “Every time I try to paddle, it’s a disaster,” she said.
Snow shook her head and snorted. “I feel so frustrated,” she said. “I need to take a break from this swimming lesson.”
“Wait!” Aqua called out, hurrying over to Flip and Snow. “You can’t give up now. I know you can learn to swim. You just need to keep trying.”
Flip and Snow glared at Aqua.
“I’m trying my hardest,” Snow said. “Right now, it’s just not working.”
“I’m trying my hardest too,” Flip said. “And I’m getting so frustrated that I need to do something else for a little while. Otherwise, I feel like I might explode!”
Aqua’s face looked panicked. “I know you’re both trying your hardest. And I really appreciate it. But you can’t quit now. The Merthday Splash is this afternoon. If you can’t swim by the time the celebration begins, the whole thing will be ruined,” she said. “Could you please try again? I really think you’ve almost got it.”
Flip groaned and flared her nostrils. “I promise I will keep trying,” she said. “But not right now.”
Snow nodded. “I’m willing to try swimming one more time before the Merthday Splash,” she said. “But first I’m taking a break with Flip.”
Aqua bit her lip and flattened her ears with worry as Flip and Snow dived down to their thrones. They snorted and frowned as they pushed off their flippers and shoved them onto the floor. And then, as they looked back up at each other, they both noticed Clara sitting in the green armchair opposite them. Flip and Snow’s eyes widened in surprise. Their frowns turned into enormous grins. And then they both leaped off their thrones and galloped over to Clara.
“Clara is here!” Flip called out.
“We’re so happy to see you,” Snow said, trotting in an excited circle around Clara’s chair. “Welcome back to Feather Palace.”
“I’m very happy to see you too,” Clara said, laughing.
Mist, Aqua, Stitch, Rosie, Star, and Dash all looked down from just below the ceiling. They grinned and whinnied with delight. And then they swooped down, landed in a circle around Clara, and pushed off their flippers.
“I’m thrilled you’re here,” Aqua said, flapping her wings with excitement. “You’ve arrived just in time.”
“We were hoping you would be able to come,” Star gushed.
“I was crossing my hooves you’d be able to join us,” Stitch said.
“Welcome back, human friend,” Mist said with twinkling eyes.
Dash and Rosie swished their tales and reared up.
“I’m so glad to be here,” Clara said. “Thank you for inviting me back to the Wing Realm.”
“I can’t wait to tell you what we’re doing today,” Aqua gushed, twirling in a circle on one of her rear hooves. “It’s going to be amazing and perfect! I’ve helped to organize the first ever Merthday Splash. It will be a special celebration for the baby merfairies, who will hatch this afternoon. I’ve spent weeks making plans with the merfairies and teaching my sisters to swim so we can all dive into the merfairies’ new hatching pond together. Will you join us?”
“I would love to,” Clara said, standing up and jumping with excitement. “But I do have one question. What is a merfairy?”
Aqua’s eyes widened in disbelief. “You don’t have merfairies in Gardenview, New Jersey?” Gardenview, New Jersey, was the name of the town where Clara’s family lived.
“We have pet canaries and libraries in Gardenview. But we definitely don’t have merfairies,” she said.
The pegasus princesses’ eyes widened in surprise. “The human world must be such a strange place,” Rosie whispered.
“I can’t even imagine it,” Dash whispered back.
“Well,” Aqua said, “a merfairy is a magical creature that’s half fairy and half fish. They’re kind of like mermaids, but they’re smaller and have wings. Every year, the baby merfairies hatch inside the merfairies’ underwater castle, and we have never been able to watch. But this year will be different and extra special. The merfairies dug a special hatching pool on Heart Island in the Sky Sea so my sisters and I can watch the eggs hatch and hold the first ever Merthday Splash.”
“That sounds amazing,” Clara said.
“I’m so glad you can join us,” Aqua said. “I was thinking I’d leave for the Sky Sea in just a few minutes. I spent all morning painting decorations for the Merthday Splash, and I want to make sure they’re perfectly arranged around the hatching pool. Would you like to come help me?”
“I’d love to,” Clara said.
Just then a voice purred, “Wait! Don’t go quite yet!”
Clara smiled and turned around to see Lucinda flying into the front hall. She flapped her silver-feathered wings as she soared in a circle around a chandelier. She did two somersaults in the air. And she then landed right on Clara’s head. Clara giggled as the cat swished her soft silver tail across Clara’s face and batted Clara’s ponytail with her front paws.
“Will you please, please, please play a guessing game with me before you go to Heart Island with Aqua?” Lucinda asked.
“Of course,” Clara said.
“How about if I guess how old you are in three guesses?” Lucinda asked.
“Okay,” Clara said.
Lucinda jumped off Clara’s head and hovered right in front of Clara’s face. The cat touched her cool, wet nose to Clara’s, and Clara smiled as Lucinda’s whiskers tickled her cheeks. “My first guess,” Lucinda said slowly, “is 119.”
Clara shook her head.
“Rats!” Lucinda said. “Am I close?”
“Well,” Clara said. “Not really.”
“Hmm,” Lucinda said. She fluttered her wings and turned upside down in the air. “In that case, my next guess is 643.”
Clara shook her head.
“Double rats!” Lucinda said, righting herself and landing on the floor. “This time I’ll get it. I’m absolutely sure of it.” She squeezed her eyes closed and purred loudly for a few seconds. “It just came to me,” she said, opening her eyes. “You are 3,742 years old.”
Clara shook her head. “I’m eight,” she said.
“Triple rats!” Lucinda said. She flicked her tail back and forth. “Well, I don’t want to be a sore loser. Thank you so much for playing.”
Clara reached down and scratched Lucinda behind the ears. The cat purred and twitched her tail.
Aqua smiled at Clara and Lucinda. “I think it’s about time to go to the Sky Sea,” Aqua said. “Are you ready?”
“I sure am,” Clara said, standing.
“In that case, climb on up,” Aqua said as she kneeled. Clara swung her leg over Aqua’s back and gripped the pegasus’ curly teal mane.
Aqua stood up and turned to her sisters. “I’ll meet you at Heart Island in an hour. Stitch, would you be willing to bring the flippers?”
“Of course,” Stitch said.
Then Aqua looked at Flip and Snow. “Why don’t you two meet me by the hatching pool just a little early for one final swimming lesson?”
Flip sighed. “Fine,” she said.
Snow nodded. “I know how much the Merthday Splash means to you,” she said. “I’ll try one more time.”
“Fantastic,” Aqua said. “I’m sure you’ll be able to learn to swim. I just know you will. Especially because we absolutely cannot let anything ruin the Merthday Splash.”
When Aqua wasn’t looking, Clara saw Flip and Snow both sigh, roll their eyes, and flare their nostrils.
Aqua turned to Lucinda. “Do you want to come to the Sky Sea with Clara and me?”
Lucinda blinked her large, emerald eyes. She looked at Aqua. And then she looked at Flip and Snow, who were both frowning. “I’ll come with Flip and Snow,” Lucinda said. “They seem like they could use some cheering up. Plus, I want to play a guessing game with Rosie right now. She promised I could try to guess her favorite flower. I’m still deciding whether to start by guessing violets or buttercups.”
Clara giggled. “Are you going to guess roses?” she asked.
“Definitely not,” Lucinda said. “There is no way that’s the answer.”
Clara and Rosie looked at each other and smiled. Rosie winked, and Clara winked back.
“I’ll see you all soon,” Aqua called out as she turned and galloped toward the front double doors of Feather Palace. The doors magically flung open to reveal a clear blue sky and a sea of green treetops below. Aqua leaped out of the palace and soared into the air.
