CHAPTER 1

  “Race you to the big oak tree!” Lily called to her friends, flapping her shiny wings and soaring into the air.

  “No fair! I wasn’t ready!” protested Sky.

  “Oh, Sky, you always say that,” giggled Jasmine.

  It was a beautiful spring day in Fairy Forest. The perfect spring day for Lily and her fairy friends to practice flying. First, they did wing spins, then they did rocket twirls, and now they were zipping as fast as they could toward the gnarled old oak tree at the edge of the clearing.

  Lily loved the old oak tree. When she stood on certain branches, she could see the whole forest and beyond. She could see the pond with the croaking frogs. She could see the bluebirds in their nests. And she could even see her human friend Willow’s house with its cheery red chimney.

    “I won!’ shrieked Sky when she reached the tree, grabbing onto a branch where Lily was already perched.

  “How do you figure that?” Lily asked. “I’m already here.”

  “Well, then it’s a tie because you had a head start,” Sky insisted.

    Lily was about to protest when she spotted something strange off in the distance. It looked like a supersized butterfly with arms and legs. And it was coming their way!

  The three fairies huddled together to watch the odd creature move closer and closer until it stopped directly under the oak tree.

  In a soft voice the creature began to sing.

  “We are butterflies,

  we bloom in spring,

  we flap, we flutter

  our colored wings!”

  Then it began to run in circles around the base of the tree.

  Suddenly Lily began to laugh. She knew that voice. It wasn’t a creature after all. It was her good friend Willow! Lily floated down to the ground, followed closely by the other two fairies.

       “Willow!” she called. “What are you doing? And why are you dressed up in that outfit?”

  Startled, Willow came to an abrupt stop. “I didn’t know anyone was watching me! I’m so embarrassed. I’m practicing for Spring Day at our school,” she told the fairies. “Tomorrow we’re putting on a show in the courtyard. I’m one of the butterflies. I’ll be singing a song while I pretend to fly.”

  “That sounds like fun,” said Sky.

  Willow bit her lip. “But what if I forget the words? And what if I don’t look like I’m swooping or soaring?” she said, worried.

  Lily landed on Willow’s shoulder and gave her a comforting pat with her wing. “It’s okay,” she said. “We can help!”

  For the rest of the afternoon the fairies helped Willow memorize her song. Lily even called one of her butterfly friends to show Willow how to flutter and flap her wings gracefully.

       Finally, it was time for Willow to go home. “I wish I could bring you all with me tomorrow,” she said. “You are my lucky charms!”

  That night Lily remembered the golden anklet her mother had given her for luck. That gave her an idea. What if the fairies went to school with Willow the next day?

  “She did say we are her lucky charms,” Jasmine agreed.

  “And I’m a super fast flyer, remember,” Sky told her friends.

  “We can call it Operation Surprise Willow!” Lily shouted.

  The plan was set.