Lily's Pesky Plant Read Online Free Page A

up their wings. And, of course, it made everyone sneeze.
    Iris made tsk-tsk noises from her spot on the toadstool. “I told you not to plant that seed without knowing anything about it,” she said. She sneezed twice and blew her nose, then looked thoughtfully at the plant. “Still,” she added, “it is a most extraordinary plant.”
    Lily frowned at her, but Iris didn’t notice. She had already gone back to scribbling in her book.
    Just then, a fairy bolted into the garden. She screeched to a stop right in front of Lily. It was Vidia. And she looked furious.
    “You should have uprooted that…that thing when it was a sprout,” Vidia snarled. As she spoke, she tried to shake the sticky pollen from her wings. Vidia despised anything that kept her from flying fast. She was so angry, she hadn’t even bothered to call Lily dear or darling.
    “Here, let me wash your wings, Vidia,” Lily said. It was a special kindness to offer to wash another fairy’s wings. Lily felt sorry that Vidia was so upset, and it was her way of saying so.
    “ I’m the only fairy who touches my wings,” Vidia snapped. She turned and pointed at the tree. “If you won’t cut it down, I will . I’m sure one of the carpenter-talent fairies would be happy to loan me an axe.”
    And for what might have been the first time in the history of Pixie Hollow, many of the fairies agreed with Vidia. All afternoon, fairies came to Lily to complain about the plant.
    “ Ah-choo! I’ve had to throw out three acorn puffs,” Dulcie told Lily. “Every time I…I…I— ah-choo! —sneeze, the puffs collapse! If there’s nothing to eat at dinner tonight, you can blame that plant of yours.”
    Even Terence, a normally cheerful dust-talent sparrow man, was troubled. “That pink stuff has gotten mixed in with the fairy dust,” he told Lily. “It’s messing up everyone’s magic. The music-talent fairies’ instruments will only play in the key of B minor. And the laundry fairies haven’t been able to do the wash. Their soap went haywire and the washroom is eight inches deep in bubbles! Before you know it,” he added grimly, “we won’t even be able to fly.”
    Later, Lily found a quiet patch of clover and sat down alone. All day, not a single fairy had come to smell the roses or walk among the flowers of her garden. They had come only to complain.
    Bumble saw Lily’s slumped shoulders and sad expression. He flew over to her and gently bumped her arm.
    When Lily didn’t respond, Bumble flew in crazy loops and zigzags. He was pretending he’d had too much pollen. Usually that made Lily laugh.
    But Lily didn’t even smile. “Not now, Bumble,” she said with a sigh.
    Lily saw Iris flying toward her. Lily wished she would go away. She didn’t need to hear another “I told you so.”

    “What a day, huh?” Iris said as she landed in front of Lily.
    Lily shrugged.
    “Look on the bright side, Lily,” Iris said. She sat down beside her in the clover. “Everyone’s nose is so stuffed up, no one can smell those stinky flowers anymore.”
    Lily laughed. But a second later her smile faded.
    “All the other fairies want me to fix the plant,” she told Iris. “But what can I do? Can you stop the clouds from raining? Can you stop the wind from blowing? The plant is just doing what it normally does.”
    She glanced over at the plant. Despite its ugliness, awful smell, and itchy pollen, there was something special about it.
    “The thing is,” Lily added, “I think there’s more to it than just what we’ve seen.”
    Iris nodded. “I feel the same way.” A look of alarm crossed her face as another thought occurred to her. “Do you think it could be something bad?” she asked. “After all, it’s already caused so much trouble.…”
    Lily shook her head. “I don’t think so. I always know when there’s real trouble, because the plants in my garden tell me,” she explained. “When they’re tense, I know a big storm is coming. If there’s a