The Fairy Bell Sisters: Winter Magic. Margaret McNamara

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      There’s nowhere quite as beautiful as Sheepskerry Island after a snowfall. The land is silent. The trees are laden down with heavy white powder that sparkles with tiny crystals of colour. Fairies have wings, of course, but they all love to make the first tracks in new-fallen snow. And that’s exactly what the Fairy Bell sisters were doing one week before Christmas.

      “The snow’s stopped. Can we go outside, Clara?” asked Silver.

      “If you wrap up warmly, including a hat, Lily,” said Clara.

      “I finally found a hat that makes me look adorable and keeps me warm,” said Lily. “Thank goodness.”

      “Let’s go and make snow fairies. Oh, but not you, Ginger,” said Silver. “The snow is too deep for a kitten. You stay here where it’s warm.”

      Ginger scampered over to the hearth rug and licked her fur by the fire.

      “Mind you put your wings carefully on the wing table before you go out in the snow,” said Clara. “I don’t want them to get wet. You know it’s not good for them.” Clara remembered how wet her own wings had been during the Valentine’s games last year. “And frozen wings break right off!”

      “It would have to get a lot colder before our wings broke off,” said Silver, laughing. “But we’ll be careful!”

      Silver helped Lily take off her wings and Lily helped with Silver’s.

      “Are you coming, Rosie?” Lily asked.

      “I’m just bundling up little Squeakie,” said Rosie. “Your wings are too little to worry about, aren’t they, Squeak?”

      “Hmph,” said Squeak.

      “Hmph?” said Rosie and she laughed. “I thought that was Lily’s favourite word.”

      “Hmph,” said Lily. “That’s not my favourite word. And besides, Squeak could be saying anything.”

      Rosie wasn’t so sure that was true. She was the closest to Squeak, looking after her every day and watching her grow and change. She had never heard a word from Squeak that she could not understand.

      “Come on,” said Lily. “Let’s get outside before the winds pick up again.”

      The Fairy Bell sisters trudged out the front door of their fairy house – but they didn’t get far before they all sank into the fresh snow.

      “It’s all the way over my knees!” said Silver. “Watch this!”

      She stood up straight as a board and then fell backwards. “Keep your legs together!” shouted Lily. “That’s the way to make a perfect snow fairy.”

      “I already know that!” said Silver. She spread her arms wide and fluttered them up and down. “Come on, Lily. You make one too. And you too, Rosie. And Squeak! Tink will see them in our fairy garden when she flies overhead. One week exactly from today!”

      The four Fairy Bell sisters made dozens of snow fairies on their white-blanketed lawn.

      “Look at Squeakie’s!” said Rosie. She went over to where Squeak’s snow fairy was. “How did you make those wings so big, Squeak, with those tiny arms you have? Your snow fairy looks as if she’s going to get up and fly away.”

      “Silver! Lily! Is that you? Everything’s so white I can barely see!”

      “That’s Poppy!” said Silver. “And Avery is right behind her.”

      The Fairy Bell sisters were friends with everyone on the island, but Poppy and Avery were special. Poppy was Silver’s best friend – through thick and thin – and Avery was Lily’s. The two fairies landed with a soft thud just next to the Bell sisters’ snow fairies.

      “These are beautiful,” said Poppy. “Oh, and look at Squeakie’s! Want to come with us? We’re going to pick out our Christmas trees at the Christmas tree forest.”

      Avery brandished a rather СКАЧАТЬ