“Sorry Jaylah, not this year. You aren’t old enough to attend the gathering yet. Something could happen to you.” Amari reminded her. Jaylah watched as the older fairies packed up their supply bags. It was time for the yearly trip from Oahu to the Kauai Gardens, and 6-year-old Jaylah was still too little. She couldn’t fly yet which was extremely frustrating for her. Jaylah was upset that she couldn’t go, and decided, maybe, she could tag along secretly.
	As night fell, Jaylah crept back to the room where the other fairies had left their packed bags. Entering the room with a hidden bag, she disappeared into it. In the morning, she listened and waited. Soon it would be time for them to take flight. Jaylah found it a bit ironic that one of her sisters, Brylie, was helping her stow away without even knowing it. Jaylah dug around in the little sparkling pink supply satchel she had recently been given, and using her tiny knife, she cut a hole in the bag, and watched the ground slip away as Brylie rose higher and higher.
	At last, they were almost there, but why was the bag slipping? “Aaaaaaaaah!” Jaylah screamed as her bag plunged into the forest below. Brylie hadn’t even noticed that one of the sacks was gone. Luckily, Jaylah’s bag had gotten stuck on a high twig. She was safe. She climbed out of the bag and cut off a large piece of it. Walking out on the branch proved to be quite difficult. She jumped holding the sliver of her bag over her head like a parachute.
	A sudden breeze shot her up higher. Jaylah was terrified. She was above even the highest flowers, and her wings still didn’t work! Fortunately, she began to drift slowly down on a current of wind. At last her tiny feet reached the ground. Toes first, then the balls of her feet, followed by her heels. Although Jaylah was back on her feet, she was still lost, and still alone. She unhooked her supply satchel from her belt, and opened it. Jaylah placed her pocketknife back into the satchel, and pulled out a pouch she had filled with nuts, and berries before she left. Jaylah climbed inside a large bush, and leaning against a small stump, ate her snack, and fell asleep. Sleeping in tight, grassy camouflage was NOT very comfortable as she soon found out.
	Jaylah had a big day ahead of her; she had a long way to go. She had no idea where the gardens were, and when you’re only as big as a human pinkie, that can be a problem. Dawn shone over the beach, and chiding herself about being too young to fly, Jaylah began walking through the sand in the direction she thought Brylie and the others might have gone. As she trotted along, she heard laughter. Jaylah stopped dead in her tracks; it was becoming louder. She darted over to a tree like bush and tried to climb it. It didn’t have any low branches, and she continually slipped. Suddenly, a shadow loomed over her. Jaylah turned around as slowly as a snail. A hand came crashing down through the twigs, and grabbed her. 
	She struggled to free herself, but she was stuck. Jaylah finally understood the phrase, “Something could happen to you.” She was slowly lifted higher; until she was face to face with the biggest living thing she had ever been warned of… a human child. Jaylah began thrashing about wildly, and screaming. However the little girl held her firmly, and defeated, she knew she was caught. She was pulled closer to the girl, and now a golden curl rested on her head.
	Jaylah was trembling in terror. What would happen to her now? She was trapped, and no one could help her. She turned her head, and looked down at the ground, which was now a good 4 feet below her. Although that doesn’t seem so high, when you’re only about an inch tall, it’s a very different story.
      Suddenly the ground looked closer than it had. Jaylah screamed as she was dropped into a glass bottle. It was capped with a cork, and she was carried away from the beach. She bounced around in the bottle as the child bounded across the sand running towards her home. “Mommy! Look what I found!” the girl yelled excitedly at an even bigger human. “Look! Look!”
	The older human had something up to her ear, and she was talking into it. Peculiar… Jaylah thought as she watched with intense curiosity. At last the girl gave up, and took her captive prize back outside. She stared at tiny Jaylah through the glass, and then, leaving the bottle behind, she trotted off to do something more interesting. Jaylah rested in her clear prison, until she finally had an idea. She ran back and forth, shoving the bottle harder each time. The force of her attempts to free herself paid off, and the bottle fell onto its side. “Now for the cork.” She said aloud.
	Jaylah rummaged around in her supply satchel until she found what she was looking for… a miniscule corkscrew. Taking her time, she worked slowly, until she finally pulled the cork through, and tossed it to the other end of the bottle. Then she grabbed the biggest leaf she could find, and held it over her head, hoping she didn’t look like a fairy pretending to be a leaf… but rather looked like a leaf blowing in the wind.  At last, her work paid off, and she clambered into the nearest bush, exhausted. She collapsed in the shade, and panting, laid there, wishing someone would find her soon.
	With her eyes closed, Jaylah looked almost dead, but she could hear just fine, and at that moment, footsteps were approaching. She froze to her spot, hoping that whatever it was was just passing by. However, when two Jaylah sized feet were standing in front of her eyes, she had to admit that it had been pretty silly to play dead. It was a fairy…. One of the few scouts that patrolled this area had heard about her going missing from home, and when he saw her collapse in the bush, he knew it was time to reveal that he was there. “Get up, you need to get home Jaylah.” He said directly. She rose to her feet, and looked up. A larger fairy wearing similar camouflage to hers was standing in front of her.  “Who are you? How do I know that I can trust you to actually take me HOME? Not just somewhere else.” She questioned him. He just stared at her with a look that said sarcastically, “Where else would I take you?” She agreed with him, and followed him out of the bush. When he began to take a running start to pick up speed for flying, she frantically ran behind him loudly expressing that she couldn’t fly yet.
	Although he could hear her, he wanted to see how high she could get. So he continued running, and flapping his wings until he lifted himself off the ground, with little Jaylah just staring up at him. Then she began to try. She backed up far enough, and began running and flapping just as he had done. At last, she realized that she was in the air fluttering beside him, and amazed that she had actually done it, swooped down, and picked up her supply satchel before soaring higher. Now she could see everything, the beaches were covered in shells, and shiny rocks, and Jaylah decided she would grab one of them for a souvenir. She dove downward in the air, her silky sparkling wings pulled in close, and nearing the sand, grasped one of the shining crystals before she opened her wings, and was lifted into the air. Jaylah flew in circles, taking it all in, not even thinking about getting home, until she saw the little girl heading for where she had left the bottle. 
	That’s when she knew she had to get home; Jaylah took off after the scout, who was leading her in the direction of home. As she soared, she looked down at all the humans, most who would never know that her kind really existed. She felt sorry for them for a moment, before she realized that it was probably for the better. Soon, she landed at her home, toes first, then the balls of her feet, followed by her tiny heels. She was greeted excitedly by her mother, and brought inside, and after a well deserved scolding, she was released to her room where she could sleep away her adventure, dreaming of it over and over, until she would be allowed to go for real.


Jaylah’s Adventure
6-8
pg 1