WILDSIDE

CHAPTER 10 - Alpine Meadow

Rose and Clover were flying across Wildside at eighty beats a minute. Rose was smiling, she loved flying fast, and in the fresh air of early morning was best of all. Clover didn’t actually like it, the slower the better as far as she was concerned, but she could do it perfectly well when she put her mind to it. They turned, almost together, and headed back.
“Oh, well done!” beamed Madge. “Just a fraction slow on the turn, Clover. Tuck your head down sooner.”
“Right,” panted Clover.
“Come and perch on this branch,” said Madge, “and get your breath back. I want to talk to you.”

She waited until they were settled, then said,
“I wonder if either of you noticed anything different about Phil yesterday?”
“Now you mention it,” said Clover, “yes. He looked…happier? No, that’s not right, he was tired to death and sad for Ace, but he did look different.”
“Calmer,” said Rose.
“That’s it,” Madge agreed. “I got at Will and made him promise he’d talk to him, get him to open up and talk about what was bothering him. And he obviously has, because you can see the change in Phil. He’s happier with himself now, and ready to get on with his life.”
“Will did that!” gasped Clover. “I’d never have believed he could!”
“Neither did he,” smiled Madge. “He didn’t want to do it, not at all! The reason he managed it was because he was more upset than he realised - same reason Phil managed to talk. You’ve got to understand that elves care about their trees more than anything. It was getting to all of them, and as for Ace, well, if Will had died yesterday, Ace might be feeling worse, but not much.”
“As bad as that?” wondered Rose. “But they hardly ever talk about their trees.”
“That’s why,” said Madge. “They care too much.”
Clover shook her head. “Afraid of sounding emotional, I suppose.”
“Probably,” laughed Madge. “Now, I don’t know what Will said, or what Phil said, and I don’t want to. That’s their business. But just think - those two spent all night out in the rain, no doubt because of some kind of elf solidarity.”
“Yes, they did, didn’t they?” said Clover slowly. “They go deeper than I thought.”
Madge shot a question at them, so fast it made them jump.
“Why didn’t Dan?”

Clover frowned, thinking. Madge watched them both closely, and Rose realised that now, for some reason, it would be right to speak.
“Because she isn’t really an elf,” said Rose. “She’s a fairy.”
“I wondered if either of you knew,” said Madge. “I was sure after a couple of days, but I’ve met dandelions before.”
“Dandelion!” gasped Clover. “Dan! Well, I’ll be jiggered. Rose, why didn’t you tell me? And how did you know?”
“She doesn’t know I know,” Rose explained. “I happened to see her one day with her jacket off. I saw her wings. I didn’t tell anybody, not even you, Clover. It wasn’t my secret.”
“That was kind,” said Clover. “But yes, that jacket, he, I mean she, never takes it off. And she always seemed a bit different. Fiercer, and not as mad. But why are you telling us now?”
“Because I want you to help her. Carefully and gently. Now’s a good time, because she’ll be feeling very left out. The elves include her in everything, but they can’t in this. It isn’t possible. And she can’t live a lie forever.”
“Do the elves know?” asked Clover.
“Will and Phil do. Ace doesn’t.”
“That’s strange.”
“I know. It worries me a bit, that. Still, that’s their affair. What concerns us is showing Dan what she’s missing. Don’t let on you know, just tempt her.”
“Dan likes challenging things, difficult things,” moaned Clover. “Those are not things I’m that keen on, myself.”
“Oh, but you’ll do some to help Dan, won’t you?” coaxed Rose.
Clover agreed, gloomily. “All I ever wanted was a quiet life!”

“It’s funny you should mention quiet,” said Madge. “A very important part of the next thing I’m going to show you.”
“Oh, what’s that?” said Rose.
“Free-fall dive. Very important to do it quietly - without screaming, that is. Come back, Clover! The idea is, you dive straight down, head first, arms forward, without moving your wings. Then you do one strong downbeat as you skim the ground and go up again.”
“Skim the ground?” stammered Clover. “How close?”
“The traditional instruction was that the hem of your skirt should just touch the ground. You don’t wear skirts much nowadays, but it gives you an idea.”
“Come on, let’s try!” said Rose.
“Not too close first time, Rose. Turn about ten feet from the ground.”
“OK. Come on, Clover, what are you waiting for?”
“What time is it? I don’t want anyone to see me making a fool of myself.”
“About half past six,” Madge told her. “The children will be ages yet, and the elves will be even longer. I left them some beer in their shed, where they would find it.”
Clover’s eyes softened. “That was kind. I wish I’d thought of that. OK, I’ll try it - for you.”
Madge smiled. “Start from a couple of hundred feet.”
“What!”
“Go on!”


The elves were out earlier than Madge expected. After they’d finished playing Ace’s song, Dan had gone home to bed, and it wasn’t till then that they’d found the beer. Then they’d sat around drinking and talking for ages, until they fell asleep where they were, and woke early, stiff and cold from sleeping on floorboards. Ace’s clothes were ruined by mud and water, so Phil made him some new things, and they went for a swim in the brook. They were all feeling clean and fresh as they wandered out onto Wildside, where they saw Dan, perched on a lump of concrete and obviously watching something. They went to see what she was looking at.

Rose and Clover were enjoying themselves too much to stop. They were up to three hundred feet and turning only four feet from the ground.
“Wow,” said Will, “they’re getting good, aren’t they?”
“Fantastic,” Ace agreed. “Must be great, that.”
“Lucky things,” said Phil.
Dan didn’t say a word, but she kept watching.

After a while, the fairies noticed they were there, and flew down to join them. They said hello, and smiled sympathetically at Ace, and a rather awkward silence fell.
“Look, will you all just stop being kind to me,” said Ace. “I’m trying to be normal, so you try too, OK? Now what happened when they brought the auger on?”
“Stone the crows!” said Will. “They didn’t! It never came. I hadn’t thought of that.”
“It was supposed to, wasn’t it?” said Ace. “Madge, wasn’t that what you told me?”
“Yes, I think so. There must have been some hold-up. It’s definitely not been.”
Rose was whispering to Clover.
“I don’t know! Some sort of machine, I suppose,” said Clover quietly.
Ace nearly smiled. “It’s a drill, Rose. A huge great drill that’ll dig down into the ground - where they want the building to be, I expect.”
“They’re doing a soil survey, that’s what it’s for,” added Will. “Without it, the architect can’t be sure he’s using the right materials.”
“And it’s still not been done?” said Ace. “Right, let’s have some action round here. This is still our home. We’ve lost a battle, not the war. D’you still want me to sort it?”
“ ’Course we do,” said Will. “You should’ve seen what a hash we made of things without you.”
“Let me have a think, then.”

He put his head in his hands, to think, and the others smiled and nodded at each other. It was good to see him back in action.
Suddenly Ace looked up, with a wicked glint in his eyes.
“They already think Wildside’s haunted,” he said. “Let’s show them just how haunted it is. Remember last summer, how we scared off those boys who were trying to wreck the place?”
Madge groaned inwardly. This all sounded highly illegal.
“Clover, you and Rose go round to the children. Go to Tony’s first, see if he knows if they’re coming today. If they are, tell the others that there’s going to be something worth watching. And Rose, try to think of something scarier than jelly babies this time, OK?”
Rose tried not to look too concerned by this. It was very important to impress Dan.
“All the way to Tony’s at eighty?” she said to Clover.
“Ugh. All right, then.”
The fairies took off at a speed that left everyone gasping.
“Great,” said Ace. “Let’s go.”
Then he started frowning, and Will could see that he’d just realised he was going to have to go near where his tree had been, and was trying to steel himself to it. He stayed close by him, and Ace muttered,
“How bad is it?”
“Worst part’s as you clear the horse chestnut. It’s the gap that hits you, be ready. And there’s a lot of leaves.”
Ace managed it with no more than a deep, shuddering breath as he saw the hideous gap, and Rose and Clover joined them, doing a rather fancy landing instead of their usual tumble.
“Yes, it’s today, Tony said. There’d been some mix-up over the date, that’s all,” said Rose.
“Laura and Gemma are coming now,” Clover added. “The boys have gone to try and wake David up. Rowan can’t come, she’s going out with her mum.”
“Fast work, you two,” said Ace. “Now here’s the plan.”


“Hello, sprites,” shouted Gemma.
“Hello everyone,” panted Laura. “Ace, my mum’s got a present for you. She said, come to the kitchen, any time.”
“Oh, thanks Laura, I’ll do that.”
Ace looked surprised, but he was getting anxious about the time, so he quickly explained what he wanted them to do.
“Half of us will be in the tree, and half near the fence. Could you run about as if you were playing, ready to pass messages? And when they lift out their soil sample, take a good look. Should be very interesting!”
“Shall the boys do that too?” asked Gemma.
“No, if there’s too many they’ll just shoo you away,” said Ace. “Tell them to climb up into the tree to watch, will you?”
“Understood,” said Laura. “Come on, Gemma, we’re on duty.”
“Shall we get in position now?” asked Phil.
“Yes, it might not be long now. Shame we’re an odd number, I wanted it even, in case only one side gets eye contact.”
“If it’s any help,” said Madge, “I can do two things at once.”
“Cool,” said Will. “Will we be able to do that one day?”
“Some of you will,” smiled Madge. “But not you elves. I never met an elf who could do more than one thing at a time.”

Clover went off laughing at their indignant faces. Madge went in the tree with Ace and Will. If anything excessively wild or illegal happened, she didn’t have any doubt about who would be causing it, and she wanted to keep an eye on them. The other four hid snugly in the thick growth near the fence, and soon the three boys came over and climbed up into the tree too. Tony managed it easily with David to help him. Will noticed how patiently Ace waited.
This is nothing to him now, he thought. He’s learned to sit still.

The elves were chatting quietly to David about music when two big lorries drove onto Wildside, and two cars pulled onto the grass verge. There seemed to be men everywhere; there were two drivers, two engineers, Mr. Grisedale the surveyor, and Mr. Paterson the architect. Madge smiled as she saw Laura and Gemma rush over to Mr. Grisedale and greet him like an old friend.
Very natural, if Gemma really had been drowning. Well done, girls.
Everyone watched with interest as the auger was unloaded, together with a tripod and a heavy winch. Gemma came to stand quietly under the horse chestnut.
“I don’t know what this is about,” she said, “but Rose says, would jellied eels be all right?”
“Jellied eels?” said Ace. “She worries me, sometimes. Yes, tell her, if that’s what she fancies.”
“Nice and slimy, though,” said Will. “Should look quite good.”

The auger drilled effortlessly several metres into the ground, then reversed its way out again. Sections of steel tubing were screwed together, and lowered into the hole the auger had made, then rammed into the earth with pistons, slicing out samples from every layer. As they came into view, they swung slowly round and round, suspended from the tripod. The open side was facing the fence. Suddenly, grey, slimy jellied eels poured from the tube. Above them, the soil seemed to bubble and froth, and turned into a foul-smelling green ooze that dripped horribly. Then came a boiling of maggots.
The engineers dropped everything and stood there with their mouths open, while the drivers came running over to see what was going on. Mr. Paterson backed away, gibbering. Laura and Gemma were trying not to laugh, Tony and Dominic were laughing so much they nearly fell out of the tree, but David was just watching Ace and Will, totally focused, waiting for their turns. There was a slight pause as the tubes turned on their cable; Clover was waiting for a clear view. Suddenly, with a squelching noise, dozens of fat, juicy, purple earthworms slithered out, and the tube turned to face the tree.
“After you,” Ace said to Madge.

There was an explosion of sharp stones, forced out by the pressure of a huge quantity of liquid mud that sprayed out from the tube all over the men watching. Mr. Paterson started screaming. Then it was Ace’s turn, and the mud was followed by a shower of dead rats, already decomposing. When Will finished off with a cascade of human bones, one of the engineers fainted and Mr. Paterson was sick.
“I said this place was haunted!” stammered Mr. Grisedale, trying to get an earthworm out of his hair. “Lower it, quick, lower it!”
One of the engineers wiped mud out of his eyes and fumbled with the winch, to lower the tube back into the earth.
“Bury it, bury it!” screamed Mr. Paterson. “Just get rid of that…that thing! What happened? It was like a nightmare, like a horror film!”
“I could do with a stiff drink,” said Mr. Grisedale, helping the engineer who’d fainted to his feet. “Let’s get out of here. Unload the hardcore and let’s go.”
“What’s that for?” asked Mr. Paterson. “Can’t we just leave it?”
“It’s orders from Bill Pearce,” said the tipper truck driver. “Wants this whole section where there was a tree buried under stone, for some reason.”
“Oh no you don’t,” breathed Ace. “Laura! Tell the others to sneak round to the far side of the brown truck, will you?”

Laura ran across and gave the message. The moment they all joined up, Ace said,
“We’ve only got seconds! We’re going to stop them pouring this rubble on our land. This is a tipper truck, the end near the cab will move up into the air. Phil and Dan, take the corners near the cab, shrink stones as fast as you can. Madge and Clover, take the far corners, but inside, then they won’t see you. Fly out through the flap when it opens. The rest of us will try to stop the truck from working to give you time. Will, get in the engine and pull the plugs out. Rose, find the ex…find the pipe that sticks out of the back and stuff it with grass. Watch you’re not seen, the men are at that end, dismantling their gear. I’ll disable the hydraulic pump. Laura and Gemma, pick up anyone who gets injured or can’t get out of sight. OK? Move, everyone!”

Will was in a frantic hurry. He knew that Ace would have to wait till the lorry had started tipping before he could see the tipping gear to disable it, and by then Dan could be way too high to jump down safely. He knew she’d cope somehow, but he wanted to get back out there, just in case. In his haste he went too close to the hot pistons and burnt his arm horribly.
Throbbing with pain, he ripped out the spark plugs and jumped down again onto the grass. The driver was in his cab, trying to start the engine. Rose saw Will and ran towards him, under the truck.
“I found the pipe, but I couldn’t get near it! The men are too close, that end.”
“Don’t worry,” said Will. “The driver’s lifting the bonnet now, he’ll get the engine going in a minute. Get under cover, Rose, I’ll join you in a bit.”

As Rose ran off, the engine suddenly juddered into life, and the truck started to tip. Will ran out to the side Dan was on. He could hear the stones starting to slide. But not many. They must have shrunk most of them. Ace was right in under the box, melding the metals of the tipping gear so they’d never move up or down again.
“Will! What are you doing? Get out of sight!”
“It’s OK, no-one’s looking! Come on!”
Ace jumped down, and so did Phil. Madge and Clover flew out through the dangling flap at the back of the box. Dan found her own way. She slid down the side of the box from top to bottom, and jumped from there. But everyone else was clear, and the driver was coming round to see what had stopped the tipping. Dan couldn’t get away, but just in time, Gemma scooped her up and carried her back to the horse chestnut. The boys came swarming down to join them.
“All back safe? Excellent. Oh, we’ve won this time!” shouted Ace. “Just look at them!”
Everyone was laughing as they watched the men staring in disbelief at the jammed tipping gear, and the pile of dust where the hardcore had been. They tore about packing their equipment, and jumped into cabs and cars, and screeched away.
“Yes! We won, we won!” shouted Clover, dancing around.
“Oh, that was great,” sighed Dan. “Rats! Bones! Amazing.”
“What a team,” said Ace. “You were terrific!”
“And no casualties for once!” beamed Madge.
“Er, not exactly,” said Will apologetically. “I nearly burned my arm off.”
“Oh no, let’s have a look,” said Ace. “Ugh, that’s nasty!”
“Don’t stand there telling me how nasty it is, make it better!”
“Not sure I can. Don’t want to get your two-tone streaks wrong.”
“Stop winding him up, Ace,” said Clover. “Can’t you really do it?”
But he’d already done it, while he was talking.
Of course, thought Will. Two things at once. Nice one, Ace.


When Rowan got back, the children started telling her all about it, while Madge had a quiet word with the sprites.
“I must say, you all showed good judgement,” she said. “Scared them without using anything so extreme that you’d get us into trouble.”
“That wasn’t deliberate!” said Ace. “I wanted to do a rabid hyena with fluorescent teeth and slavering jaws, but there wasn’t enough stuff in the soil.”
“Why should that get anyone into trouble?” said Rose.
“Well, technically it’s illegal to spook humans,” said Madge, “but everyone knows it happens. You just have to watch it that you don’t spark off a scientific or paranormal investigation. You do that, and they’ll be down on you like a ton of bricks.”
“Who will?” said Clover.
“Military police.”
“But how would they know?” asked Rose.
“They pick things up. Like early this spring, for instance, they noticed a piece in a human newspaper, about cars mysteriously changing colour as they passed a certain point on the motorway.”
“Oh, no,” groaned Ace. He covered his face, and so did Will. “I should have known better. But it was such a good game.”
“One of the officers on this section is a friend of mine,” Madge told them. “Oh, not that wretched Gromwell, someone else…when he heard I was coming here, he showed me a long list of illegal activities in this area. Like to have a look?”
She pulled the list out of her pocket, and Ace and Will read it, heads together.
“Well, yes,” said Ace. “Yes, I suppose you could say that quite a lot of that was us.”
“That’s right,” Will agreed. “Probably about a hundred per cent, would you say?”
Madge tried very hard not to smile. They hadn’t done anything very bad. When she was young, such things would have been considered just playing. But things were different now.
“How many warnings are you on?” she said.
“Only one,” said Ace, seriously. He was still too upset to laugh it off as easily as he would normally have done. “Why? Is that why you came here? To keep an eye on us?”
“That’s hard to answer. When I’m sent to a place, I never know what I’ll find. Our brief is very simple - find out what needs doing, and do it - so no, I didn’t come here for that reason. But now I’m here…yes, I’d like to keep you out of trouble. Don’t think I don’t sympathise…I do. We have far too many laws, and a great many of them are unnecessary. But the fact is, they are the laws, and for the time being we have to keep them.”
“So who sent you?” asked Will. “Someone knew that things were going to happen here. But how could anyone know that?”
“I can’t tell you who, but I can tell you how. Say you and I were standing at the gap in the fence, and I told you that in a minute a white car would go past, and it did, you’d be surprised, wouldn’t you? But if David told you that, you wouldn’t be surprised, because you know he can see further down the road than you can.”
“Someone can see further down time?”
“Yes,” smiled Madge, “but don’t worry about it. When you know who, how will make sense.”


They stayed out for hours. David brought his guitar out to show the elves how he was getting on, and Rose and Clover found some bits of glass and started making some lights for the shed. Dominic and Tony were fascinated by this, watching closely as they trapped sunlight inside tiny globes of glass, and joined them together with filaments of spider’s web.
“There!” said Clover, when they’d finished. “Now all we have to do is put a panel in the shed by the door, and when you hold your palm to it, the heat from your hand activates the whole thing and makes the sunlight start shining again.”
“In theory,” said Ace sceptically, but Clover threw some grass at him.

Towards evening, Ace remembered Laura’s message and slipped away to see Sally. He walked through the quiet garden, under the picnic table, and jumped lightly up to the window sill. Sally was standing at her sink, washing up, and she let him in at once.
“Hello Ace,” she said, drying her hands. “How are you feeling?”
“OK in patches,” he said, perching on the tap. “Then it all comes flooding back. It’s horrible. I’m trying to carry on as normal, but I feel empty inside.”
“You did everything you could.”
“Yes, and everyone helped so much, everyone’s been so kind. It helps a bit.”
“I have a confession to make,” said Sally. “I didn’t know it was against your laws for you to be photographed. Obvious, really. I should have thought of that. But until the reporter came, I had no idea.”
“What are you saying?”
“That first morning, when you went up into your tree, the girls were telling me that you were transformed to human size. I came to see for myself. And I brought my camera.”
She took out a small package from a drawer.
“It’s the smallest size of print you can get. I wasn’t going to mention it, I didn’t want to get you in trouble. But now all this has happened, I wondered if you would like this?”

She handed him a tiny photograph in a leather frame, and he gasped as he saw his tree again, in its summer beauty, and himself as he was that morning, standing tall and defiant with his hair streaming in the wind.
“Oh, thank you!” he breathed. “Oh, wow. This is beautiful. See the sun on the leaves, look, you can see every colour in the bark!”
He gazed at it happily, then sighed.
“Sally, you know what, you’re wonderful.”
She smiled. “I’m so glad you like it. Have a drink, I’ve got some cups somewhere that Clover made, here we are. Orange?”
“Lovely, thanks.”
As Sally made the drink, the kitchen door was pushed open and the Elfcat bounced in. He was looking pleased about something, and started jumping around the kitchen. Ace watched him as he drank his orange.
“He looks very friendly. Not like that thug from number four. That one’d bite your head off as soon as look at you.”
“I think he knows you’re here! He’s looking for you.”
Ace put his photograph down carefully and jumped down to the floor. Very warily, he walked towards the Elfcat, and stood still. The Elfcat tottered towards him, beaming, then lowered his head so Ace could stroke him.
“Amazing,” he said to Sally. “I thought it was a joke, but I see it isn’t. This isn’t an ordinary cat at all. You really are an Elfcat, aren’t you?”
“Hmm,” said Sally. “It would explain a lot. But when you jump about the house, Ace, you don’t smash everything, do you?”
“Oh, I used to,” said Ace. “Give him time. Takes ages to get it just right, jumping.”
He gave the cat another stroke, and jumped back on the cupboard.
“Laura told me what happened this morning,” said Sally, smiling.
“Oh, it was brilliant! They were so scared. Couldn’t get away fast enough!”
“Good for you! I’m glad it worked. But listen Ace, I think we all ought to get together and have a talk about what to do next. I’ve got a bit of news, and I know that Rose and Clover have an idea, that they didn’t want to mither you with when you were upset. But I think it’s a very good one.”
“Daft pair,” said Ace. “Why didn’t they say so? Well, right, we’ll have a council of war. Tomorrow?”
“The sooner the better. You tell the sprites and the girls will tell the other children.”
“Right. What time?”
“Better give David time to wake up. Two o’clock?”
“Fine,” said Ace. “See you tomorrow, then. And thank you, for this. Thank you so much. Rowan and Laura are lucky to have you for a mum.”
Then he jumped down into the garden, and disappeared into the grey shadows.


At two o’clock next day, everyone was there except Dominic and Tony.
“What’s keeping them?” said David. “I saw them come out.”
“Joseph’s out too,” said Rowan. “Perhaps they can’t get away.”
David got up to look. With his hand on a branch just above his head, he looked across and saw his own brother coming out too.
“It’s all right, Adam’s coming. He’ll get Joseph off their backs.”
Sure enough, in a few moments, Dominic and Tony arrived.
“Go ahead, Sally,” said Ace.
“A while ago - the day after you dug the holes, David - I wrote to the Council, asking them to put a preservation order on the horse chestnut. Then, even if Mr. Pearce gets his planning permission, he won’t be allowed to harm this tree, at least.”
“Why this one?” asked Clover.
“I’m afraid they’re only interested in size, age, and beauty,” Sally explained, “not how much a tree is loved.”
“At least there’s a chance of saving this one,” said Madge. “We have to be realistic.”
“I’ve had a reply,” said Sally. “Someone’s coming to see it on Wednesday, a Mrs. Butterworth.”
“There’s a lot we could do,” said Will, jumping up onto a branch. “We’ll have to make sure it’s looking its best.”
“Hang on, I’ve just thought of something,” said Ace. “We ought to make sure no-one’s listening. Someone come and help me - thanks, Rose.”
Ace and Rose circled the tree, checking carefully that no-one was lurking hidden.
“No, it’s all right. No goblins flapping their ears. Right then, Tuesday we’ll spend making this tree look fantastic. Mend those broken branches, stuff like that.”

All the boys looked a bit guilty at this, but Ace wasn’t thinking about who’d broken them in the first place, he was hurtling on to the next thing.
“What I want to know is, what’s this idea I’ve been hearing rumours about? Come on, Clover, let’s have it.”
“How did you know?” she said, startled. “Oh well, it’s very simple. Madge taught us how to transform living things. And I realised we could transform any common plant into something rare. And it wouldn’t be a lie, either - it really would be the rare plant!”
There was an instant babble of acclaim, everyone was talking at once.
“It’s so simple, it’s brilliant,” said Ace. “Honestly, you go around making out like all you ever think about is going to sleep, when really there’s a good brain in there, somewhere.”
“How far have you got?” asked Phil excitedly. “I know you and Rose have been practising hard at transforming flowers, but we didn’t realise why.”
“I think Rose ought to explain the next bit,” said Clover, smiling. “Yes, you can, don’t be shy. Go for it!”

Rose looked nervous, but she shook her head and took a deep breath.
“We borrowed Sally’s wild flower book,” she explained, “and chose a really rare flower, that flowers at the end of the summer. No use trying to impress people with something that flowered ages ago.”
“Good point,” said Madge. “Very good thinking.”
“The one we chose is called Field Gentian, Gentianella campestris. It’s extremely rare, protected, and doesn’t stop flowering until the frost. And it’s very beautiful. Look.”
She leaned over a rather scruffy-looking buttercup that was struggling to flower in the horse chestnut’s shade, and looked tenderly at it. Everyone stared, mesmerised, as the yellow petals fused into a little trumpet shape that divided into four curving lips at the top, and darkened to a deep, vibrant blue with tiny white veins.
“There!” said Rose. “You see, the leaves are spathulate, the corolla is bearded, and the calyx lobes are unequal, with two broad lanceolate outer lobes, and two narrow lanceolate inner lobes. Isn’t it lovely?”
Clover grinned at all the stunned faces. She’d been looking forward to that bit.
“I think I need to go and lie down,” said Will. “Just run that by me again, will you? Where d’you get all this spathulate, lanceolate stuff?”
“It’s really thanks to you, Will. If you hadn’t spent so long helping me understand how plants work, I would never have realised I could do it, if that makes sense?”
“I think so,” said Will. “Well, great! Well done!” And he looked at Rose with a new respect.
Rowan came over for a closer look at the gentian.
“It’s beautiful,” she said. “Doesn’t the blue glow? And what’s the plan? Are you going to make lots of them?”
“Hundreds,” said Clover. “All over Wildside. It’s going to look like an Alpine meadow. We thought David could alter the nature survey on his computer, making the gentians the stars of the show.”
“You bet,” said David. “Consider it done.”

Will was waving his hand in front of Ace’s face to see if he’d recovered yet from the shock. In a dazed voice, he said,
“We could win. It’s possible, now. We really might do it.”
He couldn’t find the words he wanted, so he just got up and hugged Rose and Clover, then sat down again, still in a daze.
“We all ought to learn to do this,” said Madge. “Rose and Clover can’t possibly cover all of Wildside by themselves. You know what hard work it is.”
“Is there anything we can do to help?” asked Laura.
“Yes, there is, actually,” said Clover. “The most important thing is keeping an eye on the balance. We mustn’t transform every plant of any species. There’s got to be at least a clump or two left of everything, because of the other creatures that live here, they need them for food and shelter.”
“The original nature survey will help with that,” said David. “I’ll print out a copy we can work from.”
“There’s something else,” said Clover. “It’s going to be hard, as Madge said. We’re going to be too tired to think straight. It would be a comfort to know you were there, that you would, say, shoo the hodgepig away from someone who was too tired to tackle it, or pick up someone who collapsed and carry them home.”
“We’ll do it!” said Tony. “Nothing will get near you, will it, Dominic?”
“No way,” said Dominic.
“And we’ll bring you lots of nice drinks,” said Laura. “We can, can’t we, Mum?”
“Definitely,” said Sally. “We’ll run a canteen. When are you going to start? It would be brilliant if it was done before this Mrs. Butterworth arrives. She’s a professional environmental scientist, she’d soon spot the rare flowers and tell the right people.”
“Yes, it won’t be long now before Mr. Pearce sends in his planning application,” said Dominic. “He phoned Dad last night, all excited because the architect had finished. He didn’t know they hadn’t managed to do their soil survey. It sounds as if the architect just chose all the most expensive materials, to be on the safe side.”
“The application will look all wrong because of our false figures,” said Tony. “We’ve still got that to count on, too.”
“True,” said Will. “It’s looking good. How long before the letter comes asking for any objections?”
“It could be as soon as the end of next week,” said Sally.
“No question when to start then,” said Ace, suddenly coming alive. “Right now. Tell us what you want us to do, Clover and Rose.”
“This feels very strange,” said Rose. “Have a good look at the gentian first, I suppose, then have a go yourselves. It’s easier to start with something that’s a similar size. The hardest thing’s the colour, it’s a really intense blue, and it’s got to be just right.”
Will groaned. “I was afraid you’d say that. Let’s have a look at it, then.”


By dusk, when it was getting too gloomy to see the colours clearly, they’d made a good start. There were small patches of blue all along the brook from the main road to the railway embankment. Everyone was tired out, though Ace had found that the harder you work, the less grief can hurt you. Clover was so tired she let Laura pick her up and carry her, which made Laura tremble with happiness. Rowan came out with a flask of hot chocolate, and everyone gathered under the tree. Ace and Will were the last to arrive, their arms across each other’s shoulders and looking completely worn out.
“Come and see what Rowan’s brought,” said Rose.
“I don’t mind what it is so long as it’s not blue,” sighed Will, slumping to the ground. “I could drink a puddle.”
“Oh, this is nice,” said Ace. “It warms you up and sort of cheers you up too, doesn’t it?”
“Mmm,” said Will.
In five minutes they were both fast asleep on the ground, leaving the others in a quandary what to do with them.
“They can’t stay there,” said Madge, yawning herself. “They’ll catch pneumonia.”
“It’s a shame to wake them,” said Phil. “Neither of them has had much sleep for ages.”
“Can I carry them anywhere?” said David.
“That ought to work,” said Phil. “Can you get your hand through the door of their house? If not, I’ll make the door bigger. Then we all ought to go to sleep. We’ve got to do it all over again tomorrow. And the next day.”

David and the children made sure all the sprites got safely to their beds.
“We’ve got to look after them,” said Tony. “They’ll kill themselves working so hard!”
“There’s not much we can do, except what they asked us to do,” said David.
“That’s easy enough,” said Rowan. “But we all ought to be out as much as possible. Every little thing will help, so they don’t have to waste energy.”
“Energy,” said Tony. “Aren’t there some high-energy drinks, that athletes have?”
“That’s a thought,” said Dominic. “Worth a try, that. We’d have to buy some, though.”
“It wouldn’t cost much,” said David. “One can would be enough for all of them. Leave that to me, I’ll go and buy one, first thing.”
After the younger ones had all gone in, David wandered across Wildside alone. He still couldn’t take it in. There really were such things as elves and fairies, and he couldn’t think about anything else. He felt strange, cut off from his friends, and from his mum and brother, in a weird world where weird things happened.
I wouldn’t have missed it though, he thought to himself. I wouldn’t have missed this for the world.
He thought of Adam. Poor kid, he doesn’t know what he’s missing. I’ll have another try.
He went into the house, where Adam was watching television.
“Where’s Mum?”
“On her computer. Doing her assignment on gender issues in social work practice.”
“Oh. Listen Adam, why don’t you join in with the rest of us to save Wildside? Stop listening to Joseph. You don’t know what you’re missing.”
“It’s not worth saving! It’s only a bit of waste ground. I think you’re all barmy, and so does Joe.”
David shrugged his shoulders, and went up to his bedroom. He picked up his guitar, and sat on his bed, practising chord changes until his mum banged on the wall.


The sports drink was a great success, though the can barely lasted the morning. David hadn’t realised just how much elves could drink when they really got going, but when Sally heard about it she said she’d lay in a good supply. Slowly but surely, the blue tide crept across Wildside, past the horse chestnut, past the silver birches, and on towards the back gardens of the houses. While they were guarding the sprites, the children had started picking up litter, and by Monday night, when they finished, Wildside looked, as Clover had said it would, like an Alpine meadow. Everyone gathered at the bottom of Sally’s garden to admire the view.
“Well, it didn’t take much imagination after the two millionth one,” said Clover. “I was beginning to have trouble seeing anything else. I’m sorry, everyone, for thinking of an idea that would be so much work.”
“Oh, it wasn’t that bad in the end,” said Ace. “Not with that cracking drink. I think I like that stuff even better than beer.”
“Not that bad!” spluttered Clover. “Yesterday you curled up under a dock leaf and said to leave you alone to die!”
“What are you two giggling about, excuse me?” said Ace to Laura and Gemma. “I may have been a tidgy bit tired, that’s all.”
“I think you’ve all done brilliantly,” said Madge. “I don’t know if we’ll win, but you certainly deserve to. I don’t know when I’ve seen a team work so hard since the Fighter Squadron built a human-sized all-terrain vehicle in half an hour.”
“Who are they?” said Clover, interested. “Is that an army team?”
“That’s right,” said Madge. “Very good team, hard to get into. All fairies, of course. You have to be able to fly non-stop for eight hours, fight with a knife if you have to, swim, climb, and pass a test on decoy and sabotage work.”
“Are you really sure you want to join the army, Clover?” laughed Rowan. “That doesn’t sound like you.”

Clover realised who it did sound like, and why Madge had said it.
“Oh, they wouldn’t want me in a team like that,” she said. “That’ll be for fairies who like fighting and doing hard, tough things. I’ll be perfectly happy doing whatever job they think I’ll be any good at. There must be loads of things we’ve never even heard of. I just want to be part of it all.”
“What team are you in, Madge?” asked Rose.
“Guidance Squadron, it’s called. And very interesting work it is too, though we’ve seen a lot of sad things in recent years. But no-one starts off in Guidance, you need to be a bit older and more experienced. When I was young and fast, I was in the 1st Squadron.”
“When you were young and fast!…Madge, you’re faster than we are, now! How fast could you go when you were young!”
“150,” she smiled. “Don’t worry, you’ll get there. You’re nearly up to 100, now. At 100 beats a minute, you’re flying too fast for a human to see. At 150, you’re too fast for another sprite to see. Very useful that, sometimes.”
Clover stared with horror at the thought of such speed, and even Rose was speechless.

“Oh, you can all do such wonderful things,” sighed Laura. “I wish I was a sprite.”
“Oh no, don’t say that,” said Will seriously. “Just think, you can do something we can never do, something I would love to be able to do.”
“What’s that?” asked Dominic.
“Imagine something that doesn’t exist, and make it,” said Will, with a sad smile. “You see, only humans can invent things. That’s how your imaginations work. You can say, wouldn’t it be good if there was a faster way to travel than riding a horse? So you invent a railway engine. It didn’t exist until a human invented it and made it. No sprite could ever do that.”
There was a silence as they thought about that. It hadn’t occurred to any of them that there were things that humans could do and sprites couldn’t.
“So be content, Laura,” smiled Sally. “A girl is a very good thing to be. And if you want to be up in the morning to help with the tree, you’d better come in.”
“I’m going for a practice,” said Ace. “Anyone else coming?”
The other three said they would.
“Can I come and listen?” said David.
“Sure,” said Ace. “It’ll make you sleepy, but you’ll be able to fight it off. Come and tell us what you think - it’s thanks to you we know any music.”
David and the band jumped down onto Wildside.
“Mind the gentians!” called Rose.
“Rose,” said Will, “I never want to hear that word again. Just let me get to my bass. I’m not sure I like living in an Alpine meadow. I hope it works, and I think it will, but the sooner Wildside’s back to as normal as it can be, the better.”

He turned and stalked off with the others. Madge, Clover and Rose said goodnight to Sally and the children, and flew off into Madge’s rowan tree.
“I know, Rose,” said Madge. “There was no need for that. But go easy on them, they’re having a hard time.”
“If Ace had snapped at me, I could understand it. But he’s trying harder than Will is.”
“It’s worry that makes you snap. Ace hasn’t got anything to worry about now. Nothing worse can happen than already has. But Will’s worried sick. It could be his turn next.”
“Yes, and all that stuff about inventing things won’t have helped,” said Clover. “Knowing you can’t doesn’t stop you wishing.”
“Good for you, Clover,” said Madge. “Now can you go even further? What else bothered him, and Ace too, so they cleared off to play their guitars?”
Clover thought about that. “It’s the army, isn’t it?”
“That’s it. We’ve helped Dan, I’m sure - you were very quick on the uptake there, Clover - but we’ve rattled Ace and Will, and they’re not ready for that, they’ve got too much on their minds.”
“But they weren’t a bit interested!” said Rose. “They never said a word when you were talking about the army.”
“Goodness, Rose, that doesn’t mean they weren’t interested,” said Clover patiently. “If they really weren’t interested, they’d have been laughing at us and making stupid remarks, wouldn’t they, Madge?”
“Oh yes,” said Madge. “I hadn’t realised just how interested they were, until I saw how quiet they went. We’re all going to have to be a bit more tactful.”