Wishes and Wings by Kathleen Duey Read Free Book Online Page B

grateful,” she said.
    Alida smiled. “Why? I didn’t do any of the cooking or—”
    â€œNot that,” Terra interrupted. “I don’t know where you’re going at night or what you are doing. But I know it is something I wouldn’t be brave enough to do.”
    Alida almost pretended that she didn’t know what Terra was talking about.
    Then she hugged her instead.
    By the night before the first full moon of harvest, Alida was ready.
    She knew where all of the haystacks and carefullybuilt piles of squash were on each of the thirty-six farms in Ash Grove. She knew where the farmers had stored their onions and piled their sheaves of barley, wheat, and oats. She knew the exact order in which she would visit each farm.
    At the first one she used the lifting magic she had been practicing to move half the farm’s harvest to a far corner of the field.
    It took almost no time at all.
    Then she wove her fingers in the air and used the names of the crops the way her mother had used the names of the faeries.
    And it worked, just like it had with her shawl. In the moonlight she watched everything she had moved disappear.
    She used simple lifting magic to make the visible piles rounded and neat again so that the guards wouldn’t suspect anything.
    Then she flew to the next farm.
    And the next.
    And then the next, getting farther and farther from home.
    She was so quick and so silent that the farm dogs didn’t even wake up.
    But by the time she was almost finished, she was very tired.
    She ran toward a huge pile of squash without seeing the human girl sitting beside it.
    Alida stopped, scared, then realized the girl was asleep.
    Alida recognized her. She was the one who had been crying in the woods. Alida tiptoed past. She moved everything but the squash and made it all invisible.
    Then she decided she had to move at least some of the squash.
    None of the other farms had piles this big now. The guards might wonder if the other farmers were hiding some of their harvest.
    But if she woke the girl …

    Silently, slowly, Alida moved almost half of the squash to the other end of the field.
    When she was finished, she flew in a quick circle to see if she had forgotten anything.
    Then she flew home.
    Jittery, excited, and scared, she slid under her blankets. She couldn’t sleep. She was hoping, with all her heart, that she had done the right thing.
    The farmers would be furious when they woke up and saw half their harvest was missing.
    They wouldn’t suspect magic. No one in Ash Grove besides Gavin, his grandmother, and Ruth knew the faeries had come home. People might think some of Lord Dunraven’s guards had robbed them. But no one would accuse the guards. They wouldn’t dare.
    By early evening the wagons and the guards would be on their way back to Lord Dunraven’s castle.
    The piles of food Alida had hidden would be safe.
    As soon as it was dark, she would fly from farm to farm again, this time ending the magic.
    So when the farmers and their families woke up, they would find a wonderful surprise.
    Instead of less food for the winter, they would have more than usual.
    Looking up at the stars, Alida imagined their faces.
    Maybe they would dance and sing this year after all.
    And they would figure out magic had been used.
    They would figure out that their faerie neighbors had come home and were helping them.
    Alida closed her eyes. It would be wonderful to stop hiding from the people of Ash Grove.
    It would change everything.
    Maybe she wouldn’t have to hide her friendship with Gavin.
    She closed her eyes and tried to sleep.
    The next day passed slowly—too slowly.
    Terra kept glancing at her, but she didn’t say anything.
    Alida helped pick the last of the berries, wishing she could go see what was happening in Ash Grove. That night she waited until everyone was asleep.
    Then she slid out of her covers and glided to the ground.
    She walked a ways before she