The Golden Winged Horse

Chapter 7

Part of me really wanted to do this with Macie. We'd have such an adventure to reminisce about together forever but the rational side of me had actually kicked in for once and I knew her staying here was the right thing for everyone.

I remembered Tristan saying he wanted to be left alone until evening and I battled an internal war not to wake him and tell him of my plan. Figuring he needed the rest, I let him be. Instead, I raided the kitchen cupboards for jam, bread, and sugar.

An unopened jar of blackcurrant jam, half a bag of sugar, and a loaf of bread became my bait for tempting one of them, hopefully Calico, out in the middle of the day. I switched my phone off and dropped it inside one of my boots near the back door.

With my stack of goodies, I power walked out of the house and to the woods. Now I knew the area they were most likely to be found, I headed straight to the huge oak tree, my heart pounding harder with every step.

How would this go? Would they forgive me for breaking my word last night? Could there be a peaceful solution at all?

I approached the tree and set my offerings down on the ground. Feeling a little lost, I waited for several minutes, not sure whether to stand or sit. When I remembered how uncomfortable the ground had been before, I decided to stay standing for a little while.

After I'd been stood for several minutes, and not so much as a leaf had stirred, I figured I'd try calling him by name.

"Calico," I whispered. "Calico, I'm so sorry I couldn't release Tristan. My dad has some kind of spell on his glass dome and I can't lift the lid."

Nothing.

"Calico, I'm telling the truth. I was going to release him, just as you told me to, but my dad caught me, and we had a huge row over it. I'm on your side. Please believe me."

Still nothing.

I sighed and paced the soft ground around the tree, mulling over other things to say to draw him out. Then a lightbulb flicked on in my head.

"I need to get Tristan," I said out loud, turning to run to the house.

"Don't do that," said a familiar voice.

I whirled around to see Calico hovering at my eye level, a couple of feet away, several other similarly dressed fairies behind him, complete with spears and shields.

"I'm not here to hurt you," I said, holding my hands up in a surrender sign.

"I can hardly take you at your word," he replied, narrowing his eyes at me. "You humiliated me. Mocked me in front of my people. I told them I had found an honest human, one with the true heart of a believer. That she would return our horse to us unharmed." He pointed his spear at me. "You lied to me."

Panic swarmed inside me. "My dad—"

"I heard your excuse."

"It's not an excuse. How am I supposed to release him if I can't remove the glass?"

He pulled his small pink lips into a thin line and stood his spear back upright. "You could have at least come out here and told me of this instead of leaving me staring at the skies at twilight waiting to see our horse."

"I'm sorry, you're right, I should have at least told you what was going on. That is my bad."

"You can go," he said, his voice stern and full of authority.

I opened my mouth to respond but promptly closed it when his fairy friends disappeared back into the foliage around the tree, the jam and bread vanishing slice by slice too.