Power Play (9 page)

‘Twenty-eight . . .
oh
!'

Up above, Twink saw that the Flea had escaped Zayna's grasp and was bounding from pole to pole, heading straight for Tasha. Eyes narrowed in concentration, Twink put on a burst of speed. She almost had her . . . almost . . . yes!

Twink tagged Tasha's foot just before the Sparklelight Games Fairy reached the Flea. ‘HURRAH!' screamed the crowd. They erupted into deafening cheers, waving their banners.

‘We won! We won!' shrieked Summer, tackling Twink in a mid-air hug. Zayna and the rest of the team followed, piling into Twink in a jubilant, screeching group. The fairies drifted to the ground, wings fluttering.

‘Romi!' Twink threw her arms around the purple-haired fairy. ‘Your Power Play was brilliant!'

Romi squeezed her back, bouncing up and down. ‘So was that final move of yours. Oh, Twink, we're really going to the Fairy Finals!'

‘What a sneaky manoeuvre!' laughed Tasha. Swooping over to them, she offered her wing to Twink. ‘But you'd better watch out –
we
know it now, and we'll be using it next time.'

Romi grinned as Tasha flew off after her players to the visitors' changing log. ‘Yes, that's the only problem with it – when you use it, you teach it to the other team! But don't worry, Twink – I've got a few other tricks up my wing.'

‘Good,' said Twink firmly, linking her arm through Romi's. ‘I'll be counting on you.'

‘And we'll be counting on
you
,'
retorted Romi with a smile. ‘You're a great Games Fairy, Twink – just like I knew you could be!'

‘Three cheers for Twink,' cried Vera excitedly. ‘Let's hear it for Twink!'

‘Hip, hip, hooray!' shouted the team, clapping their wings together. ‘Hip, hip, hooray!'

Twink's cheeks caught fire, but she lifted her head with a shy smile. She gazed at them all – at Summer, with her orange hair and shining eyes, and Romi looking flushed and happy, and at Vera and Zayna and all the rest of them – and her heart swelled.

‘Thank you – all of you,' she said. ‘You're the best team ever!'

‘So are you sorry now that you didn't resign?' teased Bimi as they got ready for bed that night.

Twink smiled as she combed out her long pink hair. Overhead, the bluebells that hung over her bed gleamed in the light of the glow-worm lanterns. ‘Well, at first I wasn't sure,' she admitted. ‘But Bimi, I think . . . I think maybe I might be a good Games Fairy after all.'

‘Of course you are,' said Bimi warmly. ‘I never doubted that you could be!'

With a contented sigh, Twink got up and gazed out of her window. The mist had cleared, and the Fledge field gleamed in the moonlight.

Twink thought about how excited she'd been when she was first made Games Fairy, though she hadn't really known anything about it – all she'd thought of was how important it sounded, and how exciting it would be.

Having so much responsibility had turned out to be very different from what she had thought . . . but Twink realised that she wouldn't change it for the world now, even knowing how hard it was. And that made it better, somehow – as though being Games Fairy really belonged to her, in a way that it hadn't before.

Joining her at the window, Bimi rubbed her wing against hers. ‘I'm proud of you, you know,' she said softly.

Twink leaned against her. ‘Thanks,' she said.

Further along their loft, Pix and Sili were going over their Flower Power homework together. Up above, Twink could hear Sooze's voice, arguing good-naturedly with Mariella. ‘Now, look here, Mosquito-Nose . . .'

Propping her chin on her hands, Twink breathed in the smells of the damp spring night. How lucky she was, to be a fourth-year student at Glitterwings Academy – and the school Games Fairy too!

The poles on the Fledge field rose up in the moonlight as Twink thought of all the games her team would play there over the next few years. And whether they won or lost, she would be there, doing her best to lead them.

‘You know what, Bimi?' said Twink after a pause.

‘What?' asked her best friend with a friendly nudge.

Twink smiled. ‘I'm sort of proud of me, too.'