Free A Fairy's Guide to Disaster by A W Hartoin Page B

on me. Soren caught me and held on while I caught my breath and forced my legs to support me.
    “You’re tired,” he said. “We must return home now.”
    “What? Home? No,” I said.
    “It will be dark soon. The humans will close the mall and turn off the lights.” Soren spoke slowly as if I were a very young child. If I hadn’t been so tired, it would’ve irritated me.
    “So?” I crossed my arms and frowned.
    “It’ll be dark.”
    “I don’t care. We haven’t found Gerald yet. I have to find Gerald.”
    “You have a water jug,” Soren said. “Do you need to bring water to your sister?”
    I fingered the jug. I’d gotten so used to it bouncing against my hip, I’d forgotten all about it. “Yes,” I said. “But I can’t stop now.”
    He clasped my hand. “It’s all right. We’ll get the water and take you back to your sister. My night forces will take over from here. If they find Gerald, they will bring him to me.”
    I looked up into his kind eyes, no longer surprised at the wood-graining surrounding them. All I saw was my friend, someone I could count on. Soren squeezed my hand and I squeezed it back.
    “How far is the water?” I asked.
    Soren pointed at a large grey box mounted on the wall ahead of us. “It’s right there.”
    “What is it?”
    “The humans call it a water fountain.” Soren gestured to several other dryads walking our way. “It will take several of us to operate it.”
    Soon I was walking in a forest of long thin stalks of wood. I let my mind turn off and walked without thinking. It was so pleasant to not be worried, to feel completely safe in that forest of friends. I closed my eyes and Soren swooped me up in his arms.
    “You don’t have to carry me,” I said.
    Soren’s warm breath was a gentle nuzzle on my cheek. “Rest awhile. Your weight is nothing to me.”
    I faded into sleep, and then jerked awake some time later. Soren held me with one arm and scaled the water fountain with the other.
    “You can really climb,” I said.
    “You can really sleep.” Soren smiled down at me. “We’re at the top.”
    He set me down and the metal’s cold seeped right through my shoes. The top had a lip around the edges, a flat portion, and then it dipped down into a basin with a big metal dome in the middle with holes. Off to one side was an odd, curvy metal stand with an enormous button behind it.
    “Where’s the water?” I asked.
    Soren pointed to the metal stand. “It’s in there. We almost went mad with thirst before we figured out how to use it.”
    The other dryads gathered on the top, talking to each other in their quiet, gentle voices.
    “We’re ready,” said Soren. “Matilda, go down there to the bottom of the faucet and get ready to catch the water in your jug. Be careful. It can sweep you away.”
    Soren and the rest of the dryads climbed up on the button one by one. I watched as more and more stood together on the button. I was about to ask what was supposed to happen when a small pool of water appeared at the base of the tall metal thing. I thrust the jug under the stream and looked up. The dryads were cheering. Water out of metal. It was like magic. Magic that took twenty dryads standing on a button to make happen.
    The dryads climbed down off the button and gathered around me, smiling. “Wonderful, isn’t it?” asked one.
    “Thank you,” I said.
    I looked at Soren and found him with an odd fixed expression on his face. He grasped my shoulders and turned me around. There on a shelf next to the water fountain was Gerald, tucked up between long, thin pieces of what looked like hard paper. He was curled up in a ball and one of his wings was draped over him. He was still, very still.
    I ran to the edge of the water fountain to see Gerald better. He was in one piece. I thought. The Dryads gathered behind and Soren put his hands on my shoulders. His warmth melted into me as the cold penetrated my feet from below. Caught in the middle was a burning knot in