Kerka's Book by Jan Bozarth Page A

of the dancing fairies’ sticks. I peeked around the other side of the boulder. Here, older fairies danced in pairs amid crystals and gigantic ferns.
    These fairies were dressed similarly to the younger ones, except their wings were held tight against their backs with two strips of fabric that crossed over their chests and around their backs. Leaping from jagged rock to pointed stalagmite, they twisted and turned with a fury I had never associated with fairies. The swirling designs on their foreheads and arms were far more complex than those on the younger fairies. Many had the patterns on their calves and ankles as well. Their Kalis sticks werelonger, some measuring over four feet, and I didn’t recognize a single move as I watched.
    I was sure that the young dancers and Kalis masters had to be the Kalistonia Fairies Queen Patchouli mentioned, but I needed to be sure. Squaring my shoulders, I stepped out of hiding. I held my small orange Kalis stick pointing down lest my intentions be mistaken as unfriendly. As I raised my empty hand to get someone’s attention, all the fairies in the cavern stopped moving.
    â€œOh, please, don’t stop,” I cried, without even meaning to.
    All the fairies lowered their Kalis sticks and bowed, their gazes turned upward.
    I stared, speechless.
    A beautiful, statuesque fairy looked down from a crystal tower thirty feet above. Stepping off, she floated down to the floor without using the small wings on her back at all. The scallops of her pale tunic fell below the tops of soft brown high boots tied with crisscrossed thongs. Holding a five-foot golden-white Kalis stick, she glided across the floor and stopped a few feet away from me. Her heart-shaped face reminded me of Aunt Tuula’s, with laugh lines at the corners of her eyes and mouth and a nose that crinkled when she smiled. Her long braids weretwined around her head in a crown style similar to Aunt Tuula’s as well.
    Before I could ask the question poised on my tongue, the fairy flicked her Kalis stick. The stick sparkled as it telescoped down to eighteen inches. Then, bowing in a sweeping gesture of honorable welcome, she said: “I am Mangi, Queen of the Kalistonia Fairies. We have been waiting for you.”
    â€œWaiting for me?” I asked, stunned.
    â€œThe Kalistonia Fairies teach all fairy-godmothers-in-the-making from the Pax Lineage,” Queen Mangi said. “I’ve been expecting you for some time now, Kerka.”
    I shouldn’t have been surprised that Queen Mangi knew I had come to Aventurine. One of my mother’s daughters had to begin fairy godmother training or our family’s branch of the Pax Lineage would be banished from the fairy world.
    The fairy queen looked past me. “You can come out now, Ardee,” she said, raising an eyebrow when the reindeer made no move to obey.
    â€œIt’s okay, Ardee,” I said, talking over my shoulder and making a come-here gesture behind my back.
    â€œShe’s a bit shy,” the queen observed.
    â€œA bit,” I agreed. Something else puzzled me, though. “How did you know the reindeer’s name?”
    â€œI heard it through the grapevine,” the queen answered with a twinkle in her eye.
    â€œDo grapevines grow underground through the whole mountain?” I asked.
    â€œThey grow wherever we need them,” Queen Mangi said.
    I wanted to know more, but I didn’t want to be nosy. I glanced back and caught Ardee peeking around the boulder. She quickly ducked back, but I could see the tips of her antlers. So could the curious young dancers who had come closer. They pointed and giggled.
    â€œYou must be hungry after your long journey,” Queen Mangi said, smiling ever so slightly when the reindeer peeked out again.
    â€œI have food.” I touched the pouch. “The Willowood Fairies were very generous, but they didn’t give me anything for a reindeer.”
    Ardee walked up and