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Treasure Hunt - Chapter 4 - The Mark Chills

Once again, Fawn had beaten the gang to the next location. She fluttered into the cave to meet with animal friends, and wait for fairy friends.


After touring the eastern Misty Mountains in search of the cave, the Tinker Bell gang finally found it and cautiously glided in. The daylight & forest noises faded as they fluttered deeper inside, and the air became cooler.

"It sure is dark in here." Iridessa commented nervously. She turned up her fairy glow a bit.

They continued fluttering into the dark, lit only by their glows. Suddenly the cave silence was filled with strings of high-pitched chirps. They quickly looked around for the source, and spotted a large colony of bats hanging from the ceiling.

"Bats..." squeaked Iridessa, and she began breathing rapidly.

"It's too bad Fawn isn't here," Silvermist fretted, "This is just her cauldron of bats."

"Everybody land," whispered Tink, "And turn off your glows." Tink landed and picked up a walking stick from the cave floor. Each glow went out as the others landed, except Iridessa.

"Dess, turn off your glow. We don't want to disturb the bats." whispered Tink. The bats continued to chirp at them.

"I-I... I can't."

"Dess, what's wrong?"

"I..." she gulped, "I'm afraid of the dark."

Vidia gasped. "A light-talent fairy who's afraid of the dark?"

"Well, that's ironic." commented Rosetta.

"But we've seen you out at night, plenty of times." Silvermist stated, for encouragement.

"That's different." Iridessa whimpered. "There's always the moon, and the stars, and the Pixie Dust Tree... but this is really dark."

"It'll be alright, Dessa," Tink consoled her. "...just until we get past these bats. Everyone join hands." When they were all linked up, Tink coaxed Iridessa, "Now close your eyes - we're right here with you - and turn off your glow." The cave went completely dark.

Waving her walking stick, Tinker Bell led the group followed by Silvermist, Iridessa, Rosetta and Vidia. The bats above them settled down.

"What am I walking in?" whispered Rosetta, "It feels like mud."

"You don't want to know." answered Tink.

"And it stinks!"

"Just hold your breath." added Vidia.

After a short while of stumbling in the dark, something occurred to Tinker Bell. "Dess, you can see infra-red can't you?"

"Yeah."

"Well, what can you see around us?" After a pause, came the answer.

"Not much." Iridessa whispered. "I can see your body heats, I can see the bats behind us, but there are no IR light sources to..." she gasped, "There's warm air up ahead!"

"I think it might be safe to turn our glows on." Tink suggested. The cave lit with pale gold light again, and they fluttered after the scent of warm, moist air.

Rosetta remarked kindly to Iridessa, "For someone who normally has their life so together, you sure have a lot of phobias."

Light in the cave increased, until they entered a dead-end chamber lit by an X-shaped crack in the rock, high on the south wall.

"Aww, why couldn't we have come in that way?" cried Iridessa in frustration. She stared up at daylight through the cracks.

"Look, sunlight from the crack makes an X on the cave floor!" Vidia noticed.

They all flew over to the sunlight X and dug through the litter on the cave floor, making themselves dirty. With no results, they expanded their search around the chamber. But something didn't seem right for Iridessa, who stopped to think. Tinker Bell found a small, dusty, wooden chest against the wall, when Dessa figured out what was wrong.

"Guys, what time is it?" Iridessa asked.

"About mid-afternoon, why?" responded Tink.

"Well, if it was 'high noon', the sunlight X would be over here." she glided several yards to the right. They all converged on the spot and quickly found another bottle. When the cork was removed, Tink spread out another map for them.

"This X is at crossed paths in the Tiki Forest." Tink stated. "But before we go anywhere, I'd like to see what's in that chest against the wall." They all glided over to it and tried to lift the lid.

"It's locked." declared Vidia.

Tinker Bell reached into the keyhole and felt around. "If it's anything like other human locks I've seen, the tab on the key turns against a slot in a bar, which should release the catch." She gave a push. "It hasn't been moved in a while." Tink used her hands to collect some pixie dust from her wings, then blew the dust into the keyhole. When she tried the lock a second time, it moved with a small crunch and the chest lid popped up. She raised the lid and peered inside.

"Don't tell me." Vidia folded her arms, "It's another map."

"Uh, yeah." Tink sighed with mild disappointment. This one was tied with twine, and looked older than the others they had collected. When Tink rolled it out, they saw it was more crudely drawn, and signed 'Captain H. Barbossa'.

"This one shows an X at the caves in Mermaid Lagoon." Iridessa noted. "Which one do we follow?"

"Uh... let's go outside where we can get a better look at these maps." decided Tink. The gang followed Tinker Bell out through the large cracks in the south wall. Tink continued up & away until they were 100 feet from the rock wall, where they stopped & hovered.

"I wanted to make sure no one is listening." Tink winked at them. "Everyone gather 'round like we're studying the map." She unrolled a map, while the others frowned and flashed looks between themselves. "Guys, there's something twitchy going on here." Tink told them. "What pirate would go to the trouble of hiding all these maps? They'd be tromping around Neverland for days!"

"So, who did hide all those maps, then?" Rosetta frowned.

"Who's not here?" Tink smirked, "Who'd never miss out on adventures with us?"

"Fawn?" suggested Silvermist, with surprise.

"That little stinkbug." muttered Vidia.

"She sent us on a wild butterfly chase." frowned Iridessa.

"Take it easy." Tink cautioned, "She might be watching."

"So..." Rosetta sizzled with restraint, "What do we do with Fawn?"

Tink gave them a wicked smile. "I have a plan."


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