Chapter 30

Artemis was met with a shock when she went to Hallow's Grove the next day. Alfonse had walked up to her and suddenly told her if there were more people like Dash she can trust, then she could let them know the truth of the Hawk Riders. Looking at him with an 'who are you?' expression, he merely shrugged and then suddenly walked away. There was no training as she had found out she completed it the day she found out about the source of the barrier, and so she was left with nothing to do.

She spent some time to think about what he told her, and eventually smiled at the thought of finally sharing her secret. Getting up, she flew up to Strider, who was napping in his nest, and softly stroked his feathers. The large hawk slowly opened his eyes and turned his head away. When the stroking became firmer and more persistent he seemed to give her an annoyed expression, but finally woke up. Ruffling his feathers, Strider stood up in his nest and let the young fairy use the Hawk Sight to let him know where he was supposed to go.

With the message received, Artemis flew away from him and off to find her friends. She wished she had Dash's ability to get to everyone's house quickly, but she didn't and had to catch her breath before knocking on their doors. Groggy eyes met hers, which soon turned to confusion, as she began telling them where to meet her. Then she was off to the spot she took care of Strider when he was injured and waited for everyone's arrival. Luckily she didn't have to wait long.

"Alright Artemis this had better be important." Vidia muttered, slightly irritated.

"Yeah hun, I want to know why I was woken up from my beauty sleep at this hour." Rosetta agreed as she rubbed her tired eyes.

Iridessa, Fawn and Tinkerbell seemed to be in an agreement with the other two, while Terrence, Dash, and Silvermist looked at her with patience.

Deciding not to waste any more time, she began. "Okay guys, you know how I've been disappearing at weird times?" She received nods from most of them, except for Dash who began looking at her in shock, which made her continue. "Well the first reason is because I was tending to Strider."

"Who's Strider?" Iridessa and Tinkerbell questions.

Taking a deep breath as she felt her brand flare up, indicating Strider was close by, the animal fairy answered "My hawk." and the large hawk swooped down and landed behind her.

Everyone stared at the large hawk, Dash a little more on the wary side as Strider still seemed to look at him in a menacing way. Fawn then changed her expression to a mixture of fear and recognition as she realized who the red-tail hawk was.

"Don't worry he's not going to hurt anyone, I've made sure of that." Was all Artemis could say.

"How did you do it?" Fawn questioned, bewildered at the fact that Strider wasn't going to try to eat them.

"It was difficult, but all it took was some faith, trust, and not so much of pixie dust. He was injured when I made him go away after he tried eating everyone and so, I took a leap of faith and began healing him. Over time, he came to accept me and this is what lead to my second reason for my disappearances."

Terrence suddenly began walking forward, nervous on what he was doing. However, whether it was because Strider could tell he was Artemis's brother or if it was because he was a kind soul, the hawk let him get close and stroke his feathers. He looked at the others and laughed, which seemed to be all it took for them all to come up to the calm carnivorous bird and stroke his feathers as well.

"So what was your second reason?" Terrence questions between strokes.

"Over my time of healing him, Strider had chosen me to become what's known as a Hawk Rider. Hawk Rider's are a group of chosen fairies, who protect not only Pixie Hollow, but all of Neverland from a dark being known as Morpheus. Morpheus wants to invade Pixie Hollow and feed on the heart of the Pixie Dust Tree, and when he does that, he becomes stronger."

"But how do you know all of this?" Was Silvermist's turn to question.

So Artemis explained everything from the beginning. How she had spent months taking care of Strider, him choosing her as his rider, her discovery of the Hawk Riders, Dash's help, and finding Alfonse who later trained her. Noticing the reaction Rosetta had when she talked about Dash, caused Artemis to blush, as Terrence's suspicion of the garden fairy playing matchmaker was confirmed. When Terrence caught the animal fairy's eye, he gave her slightly sympathetic look with a mix of his usual humor, which caused her to roll her eyes at her brother.

Unbeknownst to them, Alfonse was watching this whole exchange from afar. He was on the highest branch in the tallest tree in that part of the forest, wondering if it really was a good idea for him to let his student share about the Hawk Rider's existence. However, he had to put this aside when he noticed something in the distance. It looked like a cloud, but he knew clouds don't move the way this one did. Flying closer to it, while staying out of sight, he was immediately shocked at what he saw. In the distance, to his horror, was the pirate ship known as the Queen Anne's Revenge.

Author's Note: Duh, duh, duh! Ah yes I left it on a cliffhanger, but that's because I don't have time to add another chapter today. As I have work and possibly will be seeing the new Star Wars movie so no spoilers! Anyways I can't wait for the upcoming chapter as we'll be seeing the two Hawk Rider's in action as well as Strider, which I hope you guys are excited for. Alas, with every new chapter done, means I'm very close to finishing this story and I have had a lot of fun with it and I hope you guys have too. Well I want to thank you all again for taking the time to read this story of mine and for those of you who don't know or simply haven't done it yet, please check out my poll as with each vote gets me the idea of what story you all want me to do next! So until next time!