"Well, someone is feeling extra studious this morning," Fawn chuckled, setting her tray of food down across from him and pulling out a mushroom to join the gathering table of fairies. Iridessa was close behind and Tink was near enough to overhear the animal-talent and give her guildmate a knowing smirk.
"Whatcha got there, Bobble?" Vidia teased, fluttering up behind him and dropping her plate beside Fawn's. "Deciding to become a reading-talent on your off-time, are you?"
He didn't look up to dignify her remark, pulling the book closer to his face and sinking further in his seat. A tray of muffins and eggs lay untouched in front of him but he didn't seem to have any intent to eat them.
"Hey," Tink greeted, plopping herself down beside him and pushing his plate closer. "Good morning! I take it you had a nice trip to the library?"
"Way too early this morning," Clank put in, popping up behind them, causing Rosetta and Sil to jump and scatter away from him as they too came to join the others. "Out the door like Fairy Mary was chasing 'im fo' something. Hasn't spoken a word since we got 'ere and won't touch 'is food either."
"Is he sick?" Silvermist whispered loudly into Rosetta's ear. The garden-talent leaned back and sighed. "He's acting like he might be sick."
"No, sweetpea," Rosetta explained patiently. "He's just readin' and doesn't want to be disturbed. Come on. Let's give him some space." She took the water-talent's arm and steered her to an open seat nearby.
"Oh, okay! Coming!"
Tink leaned over her guildmate's shoulder to peer at the cover of his book. "Fascinating topic?"
He didn't look up.
"Yoo-hoo." She waved a hand in front of his face. "Hey, you going to eat that muffin or just stare at it all day?"
He broke his concentration for just long enough to wave her hand away and mutter a nearly inaudible, "I'm not hungry. Ye can have it."
"Well, don't mind if I do!" Clank announced, reaching across and swiping the pastry from his tray before Tink even had a chance to blink. Bobble didn't protest, which she found very unusual. Typically he would be half a thought from strangling the sparrowman for so much as breathing near his food.
"Clank!" Rosetta scolded.
"What?" he exclaimed. "'e said 'e didn't want it! Besides, I've had to put up with 'im being like this all morning!"
"Oh for the Hollow's sake," the garden-talent groaned, snatching one of his muffins and sliding it onto Bobble's plate. "He needs to eat somethin' or he's gonna be nothing but skin and bone!"
Vidia snorted. "I think it's already too late for that, darling."
Rosetta looked like she wanted to retort, but a firm look from Tink discouraged her. She sighed and crossed her arms as her eyes, radiating with pity, drifted back to her friend once more.
"Hey," Tink tried again to distract him, reaching out and tugging the book down from his face, even as the tinker began to wilt at the girls' bickering. "Bobble, could you...look at us for a minute?"
He clung to the book more tightly, refusing to let her move it away from eye level.
Vidia frowned at him. "So, what's got you so in a huff today? Did Clank keep you up with his snoring again or are you just not a morning fairy in general?"
"Hey!" Clank protested indignantly. "I do not snore!"
"Ehhh, no, you really do," Fawn argued.
"Remember that time you fell asleep on the fireworks?" Iridessa added. "The ones that went off like a minute later, when we had to dump a whole bucket of water on your face to wake you up?"
"Oh...right...yeah..."
"Uh, guys?" Vidia sighed, gesturing pointedly to the two tinkers sitting across the table as Bobble brought a shaky hand to his head and Tink watched him worriedly. "I think we're getting a little off topic here again."
"No..." the redhead mumbled under his breath, abruptly pushing himself away from the table and scrambling to his feet, dropping the volume and backing away so quickly that his feet caught the edge of the stool and he nearly fell over. "No, I'm fine. Really. I...I'm okay. I just need...air...fresh air. Away from...from everythin'. Need to think...alone...sort this...out."
His friends all shared the same look of confusion.
"Uh...is he talking to us?" Vidia scoffed.
"Well, yeah, I think so, unless he has some imaginary friend up there in his noggin," Rosetta remarked.
"Oh, I love imaginary friends!" Silvermist put in, clapping her hands. "I have one! Her name's Lily and she's super nice! She's also a good baker!"
Rosetta ignored the hyperactive female, already fluttering forward to grab the sparrowman before he continued his dazed retreat and fell backward off the side of the ledge. The cafeteria was on one of the higher branches in the Pixie dust tree and in his state, there was no way to be certain that he would realize he was in danger in time to catch himself.
"Bobble?" she tried, reaching out to take his quivering hands in an effort to calm him down. Tink attempted to assist from his left but he drew back from them both, wings falling against his shoulders as he took another teetering step toward the edge.
The others saw the danger as well and leaped up to help, but there was nothing they could do from where they stood. Any sudden movements could prove too risky.
"Bobble," Tink tried, waving a hand in front of his face, hoping to gain his attention. He didn't even blink, his eyes transfixed on something over Rosetta's shoulder. It took everything she had not to stop and glance back at whatever it was he was seeing. "Hey," Tink went on again, extending her hand for him to take. "Come on. It's just us, okay? It's me and Rosetta. Look, I don't know what's going on inside that big brain of yours but we would really like our friend to come back to the table and talk to us. We're supposed to be a team, remember? You and me? We're supposed to help each other. So, tell me what's going on up here," She tapped her head pointedly and took a step closer.
He didn't move away, but he didn't come any closer either.
"No," he repeated, his voice sounding even more disoriented than before. "I can't...somethin' is wrong, I can't...I can hear...I need to get out of here. Please. Let me go. It's...it's everywhere. I can't...hear myself...it's too loud."
"What?" the blond asked, already searching around for the source of his distress. "What's everywhere?"
He only whimpered and recoiled further, pulling away from Rosetta's attempts to advance from the front. Tink hesitated, unsure whether to proceed or wait.
The two girls shared a glance.
"Phineas," Rosetta tried, receiving a nod of assurance from the blond and trying once more to draw his attention to her. "What do ya see? What are you looking at?"
"Ohh," Silvermist hissed, leaning over to whisper into Iridessa's ear. "She said his real name. This is really serious!"
The light-talent didn't even dignify that with a response.
"The...the noise," Bobble hissed. "There's...too many voices. I can't...no, I don't want to talk about it right now! Please, stop talkin'! You're scarin' them!"
"Who is he talking to?" Tink mouthed.
"Phin," Rosetta repeated, locking her focus back on the sparrowman. Thankfully, he was no longer inching toward the edge of the branch, but he didn't look as though he was in a hurry to come running back to finish his breakfast either. "What are you hearing? Who is talking to you?"
"'e's doing it again," Clank moaned.
"He's done this before?" Vidia questioned, raising a curious eyebrow.
Clank nodded. "All morning! Ever since 'e 'ad that nightmare and woke up thinking someone was in the house. I tried to talk to 'im, but 'e kept insisting that 'e was fine and that 'e needed to go to the library fo' something. Just up and out the door before you could say 'dancing daffodils.'"
"No one would say that," the fast-flyer commented dryly. "It sounds stupid."
"It doesn't matter!" Fawn interjected, jabbing the dark-haired girl in the side and ignoring the dirty glare she received in return. "Look at him! Can't you see something's really wrong?"
"At this point, I'd be more concerned if there wasn't something wrong with him."
"Doesn't this remind you of something?" Iridessa put in. "Or...maybe sometime?"
"Are you referring to when he first arrived in the Hollow?" Rosetta inquired. By this point, Tink had managed to successfully inch her way forward enough that she could move to grab Bobble should he accidentally take a misstep. She tentatively reached out to take his arm and pull him back away from the edge. His eyes remained transfixed on whatever it was he was seeing behind Rosetta but he reluctantly allowed his guildmate to usher him away from danger to everyone's relief.
"The night with the fireflies!" Silvermist realized. "That was quite an experience, wasn't it? It was the first time he'd ever met you, right, Iridessa?"
"And Vidia scared him away," Iridessa confirmed, frowning up at the taller female.
Vidia merely raised her shoulders and spread her hands in a mock shrug.
"Yeah, we never did figure out what he was doing out all by himself that late," the water-talent went on, "but you're right. He was acting just as squirrely then about something as he is now!"
"It's those nightmares!" Clank decided. "That has to be what's been bothering 'im!"
Vidia frowned. "Nightmares?"
"Oh no!" Sil exclaimed, lacing her fingers together worriedly and watching as Rosetta fluttered over to glide behind the two tinkers while Tink did everything in her power to steer Bobble back to his seat. "That's awful!"
"I wish there was something we could do to help," Fawn added. "He did save our lives after all, and if these nightmares are anyway the result ofthat, then it's our responsibility to help in any way we can, right?"
"Even if they weren't, you know we would if we could," Iridessa jumped back in.
"But how do we help if he won't let us in at all to try?" Silvermist asked, voicing the fears of the entire group.
"And that is the million-dollar question, as the humans say."
The awkwardness seemed to linger as the group slowly made their way back to the table once again and settled back in, the immediate threat of catastrophe averted as Tink pushed the voluminous book aside and herded her guildmate back to his food. The others gathered around expectantly as Vidia took the book away from the blond, peaked briefly at the title, and scoffed before setting it on an empty chair at another table.
"So, care to share what that was all about?" Rosetta demanded, delicately brushing the petals of her dress before carefully sitting down across from the two, wincing as Fawn plopped herself down next to her. "You're looking as if you've just seen a ghost!"
"Or a zombie!" Sil added.
"It was really scary," Iridessa agreed.
He swallowed hard and it was difficult to tell if he even breathing as he tentatively lifted his eyes to meet the gazes of his worried companions. "I...I saw somethin'," he began nervously, his voice barely audible over the bustle of the cafeteria. "Last night. And again, just now. I...I don't know what it is, but I've begun to hear this...this voice...inside my head...tellin' me...that my powers aren't gone and that...he knows about Shade and Scarab. He's warnin' me that we might still be in danger."
"'He'?" Tink repeated, leaning in closer. "Who's 'he'?"
"Scorpion," Bobble went on, his eyes drifting toward the book. Tink, recognizing the subtle clue, hastily snatched it up and began flipping through the pages as he continued. "He said he was a Protector too, that he knew Shade and Scarab, and that he was there when Shade...turned."
"But how could that be true?" Vidia asked. "Didn't Shade live almost five hundred years ago?"
"Aye, and that's what confuses me as well," he confessed, "which is why I have been tryin' to find out more from the history books. Apparently, the Kings and Queens before Queen Clarion kept a very detailed list of all of their subjects and their various talents, no doubt scouting for a possible source to...let's say, certain unexplained phenomenons."
"And?" Fawn asked. "Did you find him? Tell us you found him."
"I found him. Page two hundred and ten, Miss Bell."
"Okay, I'm following you now. So you think whoever this Scorpion guy is, he somehow knows more than he's letting on to?"
"He has to be. He told me that he didn't fight against Shade before because he didn't know what he could do as a Protector at the time. And why does he keep mentionin' something about some kind of bracelets with mysterious powers and whatnot?"
"The Bracelets of Destiny?" Tink inquired as she continued reading.
He paused there. "Aye, that's the ones. But where did ye..."
"Page two hundred and ten," she replied, flipping the book around so they all could see. "Underneath the list of the known...Multitalented. It looks like the ruler of the time, Queen Starlight, documented them as a possible source for all the abnormalities she had witnessed. Of course, we know now that a Protector's power actually comes from the moon during a solar or lunar eclipse, but back then, it seems she kept a pretty tight list of everything she witnessed. And she wasn't the only one. Look here."
She pointed to a portion on the lower half of the page where the ink was darker, and the patterns were much less loopy and pretty and regal looking. Smudges and thick pen strokes signified a second author; along with dozens of hastily scribbled words and five rough circular sketches lining the border.
"Wait...who did this?" Silvermist inquired, leaning in to get a better look.
"I'm guessing the same one who drew these," Tink answered. "I think they are supposed to represent the five bracelets, right? Here we have spring, summer, autumn, and winter." She pointed them out as she spoke.
"But Tink," Vidia said as patiently as she could muster. "Aren't there only four seasons? Why are there five bracelets?"
"One Rin' to rule them all, One Rin' to find them, One Rin' to brin' them all and in the darkness bind them," Bobble mumbled. Everyone turned to look at him in surprise and he blinked back at them tiredly. "It's a poem I noticed the last summer when we went to visit the mainland," he explained. "Haven't the foggiest idea what it means, but it seemed to fit the moment well."
"It's from one of Lizzie's dad's books," Tink explained. "I remember seeing him reading it one evening. But I don't think it explains what the bracelets are or why they are so important. I read about them once and I know Scarab helped create them or discover them or whatever, but I don't see a purpose to write them into this."
"That's not Scarab's handwritin'," Bobble informed her. "Hers is more...together, one might say. This looks more like somethin' Clank might create."
The larger sparrowman frowned. "Was that an insult?" he whispered to Silvermist.
"Really?" Tink said, squinting at the wording. "I actually think it looks worse."
"Okay, now that was definitely an insult."
"Okay, so someone other than Scarab clearly knows about the bracelets also," Tink reasoned, ignoring Clank's protests entirely. "You and I can agree that that's a sparrowman's handwriting, right?"
"Aye, it certainly seems to be," Bobble agreed.
"All right, now that we've gotten that settled, did this Scorpion say anything else that might give us a clue to what world-ending disastrous event he is referring to?"
"He...mentioned somethin' about the...duality spell. Ye know, the one the queen and prince spoke of before? He said he didn't know much about it himself, but that Scarab might know somethin' that could help us."
"Have you noticed how everything always seems to come full circle with that fairy?" Vidia commented. "First the bracelets and how the spell that will supposedly magically whisk away all of our problems and permanently rid you of your title of Protector. If this spell is so powerful, why is it just being brought up now? Wouldn't it have been more useful back before you attempted to use the fairy dust?"
"Which is working just fine, thank you," Tink interjected.
Bobble looked down at his hands, his knuckles already clenching in his lap. "It's too dangerous," he mumbled. "Somethin' I learned early on, even before I met ye all, is that magic often comes with a price. Sometimes, that price can be too great for anyone to bear. Aye, the duality spell could provide me with a permanent...cure...but at what cost to the Hollow? What's to say the damage inflicted in return would end with me? And if anyone else were to get hurt fer my own selfish gain..." He trailed off there, but he didn't really need to go on. Everyone understood what he had left unsaid.
"And that is why you don't need some magical cure," Rosetta told him firmly. "You are fine just the way you are. And besides, Tink's right. The dust is working. Leave it at that because there's no need to go off chasin' shadows when there's nothin' to be chasing in the first place."
"I agree," Silvermist said quietly.
Tink shifted closer, laying a comforting hand on top of his. "I'll look more into the bracelets," she told him. "But I don't think the duality spell is what we need to be focusing on. The next time you hear from Scorpion, you ask him directly what the danger is and then you tell us and we will help you defend the Hollow. We're a team now. You don't have to do this alone anymore."
He looked up at her, hope glistening in his eyes. "Ye mean it?"
"Of course we mean it, you airhead!" Vidia snapped. "Haven't you gotten it through your absent-minded skull yet? We want to protect Pixie Hollow as much as you do. And I don't think any one of us is going to sit idly by and let you have all the fun."
"I'm...not sure I would call this 'fun'."
Tink laughed at that and the smallest trace of a smile began to form across his otherwise terrified expression.
Seconds later, something sharp and painful zinged through her hand and she yelped, yanking herself away from him and nearly leaping into the air. "Ouch! Jingles!" she cried, rubbing her palm with her good hand and blinking back hot tears. "What was that?"
Bobble shot into the air, fear once again overtaking his common sense. "Oh no! Miss Bell, are ye..." he trailed off again, even as the girls hurried to check on his guildmate, and his eyes drifted momentarily to a small, unused portion of the tablecloth.
Tink glanced up just in time to see him sidle toward the end of the table and gently brush the cloth with his fingers.
Instantly, the entire thing exploded into flames.
Everyone screamed and dove away from the roaring fire as it engulfed the table and everything on it in a matter of moments. Fawn, being the closest, grabbed Tink and Rosetta and dragged them away from the raging beast and Clank did the same for Vidia and Iridessa.
Silvermist reacted almost immediately, calling on a number of water-talents from a nearby table. Together, they managed to siphon enough water from the kitchen and the nearby rivulets to combat the force of the blaze. Sil took instant command, sending her guildmates, Dew and Ryver, to battle the consumed table from either side while she got any fairy in near proximity away.
Tink coughed, inhaling the smoke as she was led away from the center of the room. All around her, fairies were fleeing past her and taking off into the seasons, desperate to get away from the fire as quickly as possible. Through streaming eyes gifted by the ashes, she managed to find the others waiting for her at one of the windows, most of them looking ready to take flight just like the others.
But there were only six of them.
"Everybody stand back!" Silvermist called, summoning a large ball of water to her hands and dropping it squarely into the heart of the fire.
The room dissolved into grayish-black smoke and when everything cleared, the flames were out and what remained of the table lay in a charred heap against the floor.
Cheers filled the halls from the fairies watching from the safety of the air as Ryver and Dew landed softly behind Silvermist, letting the rest of their water fall back into the streams. Then, after a moment or two, both offered to go help the other talents clean up the mess, leaving Silvermist to wander back over to her friends.
"Nice going, Sil!" Fawn whooped, slinging an arm around the girl's shoulders and pulling her in for a hug.
"That was some quick thinking for sure!" Rosetta agreed. "I'm glad you were there to help us or I don't know what we would have done!"
"Oh, I'm sure you would have been fine," Silvermist replied bashfully. "I'm not the only one who could control water."
"No, but you are the one who stuck around," Vidia scoffed. "Speaking of which, does anyone see that dumb tinker anywhere? It seems he has some more explaining to do."
At this, Tink let her gaze sweep the room once again. The smoke had begun to disapparate, revealing the frightened faces peering back at her, faces she knew, fairies she had grown accustomed to seeing from time to time, but not the face of the one who was responsible.
In the heat of the moment, amid the reign of chaos, Bobble had disappeared.