“Whoosh”

“Show off,” Pinky yelled brushing her pink streaked blond hair out of her green eyes as her older brother Alex flew past her really fast.

Laughing he flew back, shook his blue streaked blond hair, grabbed her arms and carried her out above the water.

“What are you doing? LET ME GO!” Pinky yelled.

“Whatever you say,” said Alex as he dropped her into the water, and flew away.

Spluttering, Pinky swam back to the shore, and ran home to get even with her brother. But her sister Cherry stopped her at the door, shook her red streaked brown hair and said, “Go out and get Bell and Pete so they can eat … you can beat up your brother later,” she added jokingly.

So Pinky ran out to where she knew they were - Pete at the volcano and Bell at the waterfall1 and she told them it was time to eat.

At dinner everyone was talking, as usual, but today Pinky didn’t talk as much because she was too busy thinking about the next day, her 15th birthday, when she might get her wings. Pinky had been looking forward to this day for forever because she had always been so jealous of her sibling’s ability to fly.

Bell noticed how quiet she was, her green eyes that matched perfectly with her green streaked brown hair were filled with concern. Bell said, “Don’t be nervous Pinky, you’ll do fine, fairies almost always get their wings on the first try.”

“Yeah,” Pete said, as he pushed his orange streaked blond air out of his green eyes. “All you have to do is stay calm, or you’ll end up like Alex in the first round, you remember with the rope.”

The conversation had to stop for a few minutes until they could stop laughing.

“You’ll do fine,” Cherry said, “Don’t worry.”

Later feeling a little better but still a little nervous, Pinky went to bed, and had a strange dream.

In the dream Pinky was in the challenge Ring, facing a bundle of rope. She ran for it because she knew she needed it to pass onto the next task. But as she reached for the rope, it turned into a snake that coiled around her slowly squeezing her to death. She tried to scream but her voice wouldn’t make a sound. Pinky was just there alone with no one around to help her. Pinky woke up with a start and was instantly filled with mixed feelings - relief, excitement, and nervousness were just a few of them. Pinky went to the kitchen; each of her siblings wished her a happy 15th birthday. “We’ll give you your present after your done with you’re tasks.”

All throughout breakfast her family kept giving her encouraging smiles, which she tried to return, but it just felt to fake. After breakfast the family headed outside when Pete grabbed Pinky’s arms and they flew to the waiting room outside of the Challenge Ring.

“Good luck,” Bell said as she gave Pinky a hug.

“You’ll do fine,” Cherry said, “Don’t worry.”

“We’ll be watching from the stands,” added Pete.

As they were flying away Alex adds, with a joking smile, “You better get your wings, so I can crush you at flying races.”

Pinky grinned and yelled, “In your dreams,” and turned toward the door and went in. Pinky discovered she was in a remarkably clean room. Every surface was white and it was so bright that it hurt her eyes. She walked up to the receptionist, who gave her a form and told her to fill it out. Pinky finished, the form and gave it back as she went to sit nervously on the chair. A little while later the receptionist told her to get ready, in ten minutes the competition was set to start.

What seemed like a minute later the receptionist said, “It’s your turn. Go on out and good luck.”

Pinky walked out into the ring. She could feel her heart beating twice as fast as usual in her chest. The door closed behind her and the cheering crowd was all she could see and hear except for the five fairies sitting directly across from her behind a table. The fairies were all very old and had drooped wings. She knew that they had to be the judges, because they were exactly like all her siblings had described them.

She saw lights flashing the number one, and she tuned the audience out, just like her siblings had taught her to, but not before she heard her instructions. An announcer flew into the ring and said, “You must tame the bird to let you fly on its back.” Pinky almost jumped for joy, this would be easy she thought, I have been doing this since I was three.

The bird was released. . It was robin and it flew around the ring before it landed at on an outer edge. Pinky started talking to the bird in the language that she had learned by listening to them. The bird cocked its head, hopped over, and held out its wing. Pinky climbed on and asked the bird to fly around the ring and land in front of the judges. The bird did just as she asked. Pinky looked expectantly at the judge’s faces but they gave away nothing. The judges only nodded, but the crowd showed so much support and emotion. Now that Pinky was tuned back into what the crowd was doing she could hear them clapping and cheering.

“Now it is time for the 2nd round, where Pinky will have to swim around and collect these five coins in three minutes.” said the announcer.

This won’t be so hard she thought, I go swimming all the time. Pinky climbed up onto the diving board as the ring filled with water.
“Three, two, one, go!” yelled the announcer. Pinky dove into the water, holding onto the leather collecting bag. She searched around until she had found all of the coins except one. Pinky was starting to get frantic, and she had to remind herself to be calm. She heard a beep telling her she had 15 seconds left, and just as it did she spotted the last coin. Pinky reached for it, pushed off the ground hard and shot to the surface. Five seconds before the time limit. Again she looked at the judges, but again they only nodded.

“Round three,” says the announcer, “This is where Pinky will have to charm something.” Getting nervous again Pinky looked around the ring. Then out of no where this huge snake started to slither towards her. Pinky’s body froze with fear, and her mind went blank. All she could think about was her dream. No, Pinky thought, this isn’t the same thing, there are people all around. I’ll be fine. Just be calm and like that she sprang into action. Pinky jumped out of the way until she could think of what to do. She tried to remember what the announcer had said, “…charm something.” Suddenly she realized she could try to sing the snake into a trance. So that’s what she did. Pinky sang until she had the snake curled up obediently in a corner.

It was quiet in the ring, then all of a sudden the judges stood up, and nodded again. The whole crowd burst out chanting, “Pinky, Pinky, Pinky.” But before she could find her siblings the judges formed a circle around her and in some strange language they chanted before she knew it she had a pair of magnificent, shining wings on her back.

After accepting congratulations from everyone in the ring, Pinky and her siblings went to fly home, but before they left, Alex said, “Ready for me to beat you at racing?”
Pinky replied, “You’re on!”