A Fairy's Guide to Disaster Read Online Free Page B

him in the wardrobe. He may have been smarter, but he definitely wasn’t stronger.
    I slammed the wardrobe door in his face, turned the key in the lock, and handed the key to Iris.
    “Wow,” said Iris.
    “Yeah. I’m going to pay for that, but I couldn’t trust him not to leave.”
    “Wow.” Iris looked at the key in her hand and then back at me.
    “Don’t let him out unless… unless I, you know, don’t come back or something.” I went to the window and tried to ignore Gerald hollering and banging in the wardrobe. It was hard to concentrate with all the fuss. I pushed at the window, but the wood didn’t give. It would be a tight squeeze.
    “What do I do while you’re gone?” asked Iris. A worry line appeared between her eyes, just like the one our mom had.
    “Nothing. Just wait with Gerald.”
    I pushed all the air I could out of my lungs and pulled myself through the window. I scraped my nose and tore my jumper on a nail, but I managed to squeeze out onto a huge hump of cream-colored metal next to the mantel. My eyes smarted from the bright sunshine after the dimness inside the mantel.
    After my eyes adjusted, I saw that we were in the back of a pickup truck. I’d seen a few in the national park, but never so close. The mantel fit neatly into the truck’s bed between the two humps where the truck’s wheels were. There was a big rope over it and thick blankets underneath.
    I stretched my wings and flew up onto the side of the truck. Whipplethorn Manor was yards away and teemed with humans. I’d never seen so many in one place before. I hoped to see Mom’s silver streak weaving through their numbers or Dad’s glowing purple wings fluttering in the garden. My ears might’ve been bad, but there was nothing wrong with my eyesight. I searched among the humans measuring the front porch and shouting at each other. Others pointed at the mansard roof and the grey slate tiles that decorated it. But my parents weren’t there. None of the Whipplethorn fairies were. If I could’ve heard what the humans were saying, I could’ve at least figured out what was happening.
    Iris stuck her head around the edge of the window and waved at me. “Matilda, did you get him?”
    “I’m going right now.”
    I flew up over the mantel and hovered for a moment above the shelf. From my position, the mantel looked like a U. The legs, that usually framed the fire box, extended away from me and I saw them in a different light. Upside down the curves and carvings looked more beautiful and refined. I’d never truly appreciated the mantel’s beauty before. Whipplethorn Manor was always bathed in dusty darkness and I was used to it that way. The sunshine revealed the magnificent detail of the carvings and the shine of the mahogany to me for the first time. I thought I knew my home, but now I was seeing it for the first time as a stranger might and it was glorious.
    I fluttered over to the right leg of the mantel. The sight of the Zamoras’ front door jerked me back to my task. I flew down and landed on part of the pillar on the right leg. The pillar had a curvy section in the middle that resembled a bunch of long columns meshed together. The door was hidden among the pillar’s many lines and bumps. I’d rarely used that particular door when I visited Grandma Vi. She was usually in her sitting room at the top of the mantel near the shelf, so she could get the most sunlight.
    I felt around the door until I found the carved button that unlocked it. I pushed and heard a faint click, and then wedged my fingers under the edge. I pulled, but I couldn’t budge it. I imagined Ezekiel’s cries and my heart rate rose with every imagined shriek.
    “I’m coming!” I yelled through the door, knowing he probably couldn’t hear me. And even if he could, it wouldn’t make him stop crying.
    I flew back up into the air and looked for a window on the side that might be open. I found it near the bottom. One of the windows for a storage room lay