Treasure Hunt by Titania Woods Read Free Book Online Page A

Chirpy?’ Twink asked the cricket.
    He nodded morosely, and Bimi patted his dusty head. ‘Never mind, you tried,’ she soothed. ‘You’ll still get your candied nuts.’
    â€˜Well, that’s that, I suppose,’ said Twink as the two friends replaced the floorboard. She managed a smile, though she felt more like crying. ‘And it seemed like such a good idea, too!’
    â€˜It was a good idea,’ insisted Bimi. As they turned to leave, she laid the gold ring gently on the counter, so that Miss Honey would see it when she arrived the next morning. ‘And we’ll think of another one, Twink. We’ll find your gran’s ring somehow, I promise!’

    But in the days that passed, this began to seem more and more impossible. Twink and Bimi looked everywhere in the school they could think of – the Great Branch, the library, all of Gran’s old classrooms. They even managed to search her old branch, with the help of some of the Foxglove fairies.
    There was no ring anywhere.
    â€˜Oh, this is hopeless!’ moaned Twink several weeks later, flopping on to her bed. ‘Why did I ever think I could find it? It’s been lost for years . It could be anywhere!’ It was the half hour before glow-worms out, and the two girls were getting ready for bed.
    Down below, the other Violet Branch fairies were talking eagerly about the treasure hunt. The solstice was now the very next day, and Pix and Jade were wing and wing, with nine clues each. Only one clue remained to be found – but by which fairy?
    â€˜Pix, of course!’ laughed Sooze, flipping back her lavender hair. ‘But either way, tomorrow we get to dance the night away at our disco – I can hardly wait!’ She wiggled and twirled down the length of the branch.
    â€˜ And we get the day off, too,’ said Mariella with great satisfaction.
    â€˜Anyway, are we having a vote, or not?’ teased Ivy with a mischievous expression. ‘Because Jade will win, you know, not Pix!’
    Rolling over on to her stomach, Twink peered down to the main floor. Though she knew Ivy was only joking, Pix wasn’t laughing. In fact, she looked rather quiet and tense.
    I can’t believe she’s so worked up about a stupid contest! thought Twink. It seemed very unfair when Twink herself had such real things to worry about.
    She had finally received a letter from her mum a few days earlier, and it hadn’t contained good news. Gran hadn’t improved. The doctor was worried, and was talking about sending Gran to a special fairy hospital many miles away.
    After receiving this letter, Twink had crept away to the old caretaker’s stump behind the school to have a good cry. She had told only Bimi about its contents. Thank goodness the other fairies were too involved with the treasure hunt to notice anything was wrong!
    It’s hopeless , Twink thought again, struggling against tears. I wanted so much to help Gran . . . but I can’t do anything after all.
    Bimi had been combing her long blue hair in thoughtful silence. ‘I don’t know, Twink,’ she said suddenly. ‘I’ve been thinking . . . it really is very odd that you found your gran’s journal, isn’t it?’
    Twink nodded, remembering the wing-tingling moment when she’d first spotted it. ‘Yes, but I don’t see what that has to do with it.’
    Bimi put her comb down. ‘Well, maybe – maybe the ring has some sort of magic to it, and it wants to be found. I don’t see why else you would have discovered that journal, just when you were looking for drawings of your gran! It’s too strange.’
    Twink sat up, turning the idea over in her mind. ‘Maybe,’ she said slowly. ‘Or maybe it’s just a coincidence.’
    Bimi pulled a face. ‘Coincidence is what humans say when they don’t understand magic! No, I reckon you came across that journal for a reason: to