فصل 38

CHAPTER 38

TINK’S IDEA

HOW LONG DO YOU THINK we should stay up here?” said George.

“The starstuff will wear off in time,” said Molly.

“I know,” said George, looking down a bit nervously at the desert far below. “I’m just wondering what will happen if it wears off too quickly, with us all the way up here. We’ve left those men far behind; perhaps we should descend.” To the camel, he said, “Down! Down, camel!”

The camel paid no attention. Tink, sitting between the camel’s ears, turned, and with an annoyed look, said something to George which he did not understand, but which definitely did not sound complimentary.

“I think Tink is guiding the camel someplace,” said Molly.

“I wish she’d tell us where,” said George.

Tink made an exasperated face, then looked forward again. They flew in silence for ten more minutes, then Molly, looking down, said, “I think it’s wearing off.”

George looked; she was right. The camel was descending—not too rapidly, but rapidly enough to make both George and Molly a bit nervous. The camel’s stomach was also making unhappy sounds. Tink began chiming into the camel’s ear. In response, it turned its head a bit to the right, putting them into a gentle turn. More chimes, and the camel straightened; Molly and George could see that they were going to come down near the top of an exceptionally large dune. From beyond the dune, Molly saw a glow in the sky—a light even brighter than the fast-rising desert sun. At the same time she saw it, she felt it.

“Starstuff,” she said.

“What?” said George. “Where?”

“Ahead, there, that glow,” she said. “It’s starstuff. A lot of it.”

“How do you know?”

“Believe me: I know.”

The camel, making odd noises, descended quite rapidly now. As it neared the dune, Tink urgently chimed something to it, and it leaned its head back hard, groaning with the effort. The descent slowed just enough, and the camel landed on the sand, stumbling a bit but maintaining its balance. As soon as it stopped, it went down on its knees and emitted a sigh that suggested it did not intend to rise anytime soon. That suited George and Molly; they quickly extricated themselves from the saddle and climbed down to the sand.

Molly immediately set off up the dune, Tink alongside her. When they reached the crest, Molly gasped and shielded her eyes from the brilliant glow. She turned around, waving George away.

“It’s here, in this valley,” she said. “There must be a massive quantity of it. We can’t get any closer.”

“Do you suppose that’s why we saw those lights in the sky?” said George.

“Must be,” said Molly. “It must have just fallen. All these years I’ve heard of starstuff Falls, and how much effort the Starcatchers have gone to, trying to find it. And now here it happens just a few miles from me.”

“And from the capital of Rundoon,” said George.

“Yes,” agreed Molly. “Quite a coincidence, this happening here.”

“You don’t really think it’s a coincidence, do you?”

“No,” said Molly. “Of course I don’t. I think the Others made it happen somehow.” She frowned. “Which means soon they’ll be along to collect it.”

“Can we collect it first?” said George.

“No,” said Molly. “We’d need special suits, gold ones, like the one Father had at Stonehenge. Nobody can get anywhere near that much starstuff. Except Peter, of course. He has survived it. But nobody else could.”

Tink was in Molly’s face now, chiming something.

“I’m sorry, Tinker Bell,” said Molly. “I don’t understand you.”

Tink, rolling her eyes, did a slow pantomime. She pointed at herself, then she pointed over the crest of the dune toward the glow. Then she pointed at the empty locket around Molly’s neck.

“I’m sorry, Tink, I don’t…”

Tink impatiently repeated the pantomime; this time, at the end, she took hold of the locket and tugged on the chain.

“She wants your locket,” said George.

“Yes,” said Molly, “but wh…Ah, I see. She’s saying she can fly to the starstuff. It won’t hurt her.”

Tink nodded encouragingly and tugged on the locket again.

“Ah!” said Molly. “She wants to refill my locket with starstuff.”

Tink beamed.

“All right,” said Molly, unclasping the locket and handing it to Tink. “I suppose it can’t hurt. But I’m not sure what good it will do us. You can take only a tiny amount; there will still be…”

But Tink, clutching the locket in her tiny hands, was already gone.