Fira and the Full Moon Read Online Free Page A

away, with Fira close behind. “This has nothing to do with the triplets.” Fira tried to convince herself. “They wouldn’t hurt a flower!”
    But then she saw the three young fairies by Lily’s new blue poppy. They were glowing their brightest.
    “We’re having a contest,” Helios said, “to see whose glow the flower likes best.”
    His glow grew brighter. The poppy stretched toward his light, as it would toward the sun.

    “Ha!” said Sparkle. “My glow is stronger.” She blazed with light. The poppy leaned away from Helios and toward her.
    “No fair!” said Glory. “You two are bigger!” She frowned in concentration. She began to glitter and shimmer. The flower twisted in her direction.
    “Stop!” Lily cried. “The poppy is exhausted! Please leave it alone.”
    “Dim your glows,” Fira commanded.
    The daylight seemed to darken as the triplets obeyed. Lily hovered by the poppy. “There, there,” she said soothingly. “It’s all over. You’ll be right as rain in a few minutes.”
    “Did we do something wrong?” Glory asked, confused.
    “We? Maybe it was just you!” said Sparkle. “You went last!”
    Glory began to cry.
    “I’d fly backward, Lily,” Fira apologized. “I should have been watching them more carefully.”
    “It will be all right.” Lily spoke in that same cooing voice. But this time, she was looking at Fira.
    “Come on. Let’s go,” Fira told the triplets, “before we do any more harm.”
    They left Lily still tending her poppy. Fira fluttered her wings, unsure of what to do next. She really needed to check on the fireflies. But what about the triplets?
    The three fairies looked at Fira hopefully. Fira sighed. The Pixie Hollow tour wasn’t working out anyway. She should take the triplets back to their room. And while she was at the Home Tree, she could stop and see Elixa in her potions workshop. Maybe Elixa had some good news.
    “All right,” said Fira. “I’m taking you home.”
    “Why? What are you doing now?” Sparkle asked. “Are you going to your room, too?”
    “Uh, no. I have some business.”
    “Light-talent business?”
    “Can we go, too?”
    “Can we? Can we?”
    The sun was beginning to set. The mining expedition would be leaving in just a little while. It would take too long to argue with the triplets. It would be faster to let them tag along.
    “Okay,” Fira said. “But this time, stay out of trouble!”

T HE POTIONS WORKSHOP was on the third floor of the Home Tree. The door was wide open.
    Fira knocked. Then she flew in, followed by the triplets.
    The young fairies gazed around the room. Rows of birch-bark shelves filled the workshop from ceiling to floor. Each shelf was crammed with potions, medicines, and plant extracts. Each jar was clearly labeled.
    “‘Ground-up pine nuts,’” Sparkle read. “‘Laurel-leaf bits.’ ‘Sesame oil.’”
    “Elixa?” Fira called. She flew up and down the rows.
    “Let’s open the jars and smell what’s inside,” Sparkle whispered to the others. She twisted off a top. “Ugh! Peat moss.”
    Glory and Helios started to open jars, too.
    “Don’t do that,” Fira warned, flying back.
    “‘Right-on-thyme powder. Very fine,’” Helios read, flying to a top shelf.
    Sparkle picked up the jar. “Glory, you should try this!” she called. “You’re always last. You’re never on time.” She pretended to toss it to the younger fairy.
    “Stop!” Fira hissed. She took the jar out of Sparkle’s hands and put it back on the shelf.
    “Is there any skin cream here, I wonder?” Helios said as he sorted through more potions in a corner.
    “This is a workshop,” Fira said. “We really have to be careful.”
    “Okay,” Glory agreed. She spun around clumsily, knocking over a jug marked MUSHROOM POISON ! STAY AWAY !
    Fira caught the bottle just before it hit the ground.
    “Elixa?” she called loudly, and a bit desperately. “Are you here?”
    “Yes!”

    Fira jumped. Elixa had stepped out from