wings,â the winter fairy whispered. âTheyâre sparkling.â
âLike yours,â Tinker Bell replied.
Then, as suddenly as it had started, the sparkling faded.
âKeeper?â the winter fairy asked.
â Iâve only heard of this,â the Keeper said in amazement. âBut Iâve never seen it right here in front of my own eyes.â Then he chuckled excitedly. âOoh hoo hoo!â His expression said that he knew more than either of the young fairies did about the sparkling. He rubbed his hands together, delighted. âFollow me!â
Q uickly, the Keeper ushered Tinker Bell and the winter fairy through the vast hall. He pointed his cane toward a great room with a giant snowflake pattern on the floor.
The Keeper motioned for both fairies to stand in the center of the snowflake. âYour wings are safe in here,â he assured Tinker Bell.
Tink placed her coat on top of his cane and flew with the winter fairy to the middle of the snowflake. The Keeper tapped his cane on the floor, and the room went dark. Instantly, the snowflake Tink and the winter fairy were standing on lit up and rose off the ground. Amazed, the two fairies held perfectly still.
âJust put your wings into the light,â the Keeper instructed.
Together, the fairies lifted their wings into the sunlight streaming down from an opening in the ceiling. The rays shone through their wings. Then an incredible thing happened. The light began projecting images from their pasts on the icy chamber walls. The first picture was of Big Ben, the clock tower in London.
âThe mainland,â Tinker Bell whispered, recognizing the landmark.
The scene switched to a baby laughing for the first time. The fairies watched as the laugh split in two and landed on a dandelion. Two wisps from the flower took flight and danced across a night sky. They floated past the Second Star to the Right and headed straight toward Never Land! But before they could reach the Pixie Dust Tree, one got caught on a branch. The other traveled on. A strong gust of wind came and blew the tangled wisp in the opposite direction, toward the Winter Woods.
âOh, no,â Tink whispered.
Images of both fairies arriving in Pixie Hollow appearedâTinker Bell in the warm seasons at the base of the Pixie Dust Tree, and the other fairy in the center of the Winter Woods.
âTwo fairies born of the same laugh,â Tinker Bell said slowly. âSo that meansâ¦â
âYouâre myâ¦â the winter fairy began.
âSister,â they said at the same time.
The Keeper nodded and gestured to the fairiesâ wings. âYes, your wings are identical,â he said. âThatâs why they sparkle.â
Turning their backs to each other, Tink and the winter fairy lined up their wings. The Keeper was rightâthe patterns matched perfectly! A bright spark of light suddenly burst forth when their wings touched. It created a beam that shone all the way up to the ceiling.
The two fairies jumped back. âJingles!â they both cried. What was that?
âAh,â the Keeper said. âMaybe you shouldnât do that.â
Tink smiled. âIâm Tinker Bell,â she said happily.
âIâm Periwinkle,â her sister replied.
Tink thought back to how her wings had sparkled the first time she jumped into winter. âSo, you must have been at the border?â she asked slowly.
Periwinkle nodded. âYeah, I was hoping to see the animals cross.â
âI guess I didnât see you,â Tink replied.
âMe either,â Periwinkle said, smiling. Then she looked down at the pom-poms on Tinkâs boots. With an excited squeal, she reached into her pocket and pulled out two identical pom-poms. âI usually just wear them at home.â She grinned.
At that moment, a deep voice bellowed through the chamber. âHello, Keeper. Are you in?â
âYumpinâ