Lara Bergen: Disney Fairies : Art Lessons by Bess

“Oh — my begonias—” Lily put one hand to her mouth. Then she said, “They’ll grow back.”

Scarlett looked even sadder.

Quickly, Bess said, “Wait until you see what we’ve made for you!”

They took her hands and flew with her to the pumpkin-shell studio. “Isn’t it wonderful?” Bess cried as she led Scarlett inside. “Look, you can try paints. Varnishes. Engraving. Anything you want!”

“I can try all by myself,” Scarlett said sadly. “Nobody wants to work with me anymore.”

Bess and Lily looked at each other, embarrassed. They hadn’t realized Scarlett would know why they had built her a studio.

Scarlett quickly added, “But it was so kind of you. Of all of you. And it’s the most beautiful studio ever!”

As Bess and Lily left, Bess tried to tell herself that Scarlett would be all right now. Surely she would find her specialty now.

But Bess couldn’t shake the feeling that Scarlett was even sadder than before.

THE NEXT MORNING, Bess stood outside her tangerine-crate studio, waiting hopefully. “Is it ready?” she asked.

“One more wash should do it,” Rani answered.

With a wave of Rani’s hand, a fountain sprang up inside the studio. Water splashed everywhere! The mist made little rainbows in each window.

Then Rani waved her hand again, and all the water was gone. “Finished!” Rani called. “Now your studio is as good as new.”

Bess walked inside, took a deep breath, and smiled. No skunk-stink remained. Her studio smelled fresh and sweet. And it had never been so clean!

I’ll mess it up soon enough, Bess thought happily. She was thinking of the brushes and paints she would leave lying around when she got back to work on her pictures.

“You’ve done a wonderful job, Rani,” she said. “It feels good to have everything back to normal.”

“I was happy to help,” Rani said.

“I’ll be going now. I bet you can’t wait to start a new painting after taking two whole days off!”

It was tempting to dive back into her work, but there was something else Bess wanted to do. “Actually, I’m going to check on Scarlett first.”

Bess waved goodbye to Rani and flew across the glen to Scarlett’s pumpkin-shell studio. The orange shell glittered in the midday sun.

“Hello?” Bess called. “Scarlett, are you there?”

“Here I am.” Scarlett opened the door of her studio.

“I wanted to see how you were this morning,” Bess said. “What have you tried out in your new studio so far?”

“Nothing,” Scarlett said.

“Nothing? But — you can try anything here! We brought tons of supplies and books.”

“I simply can’t stand making another mess right now.” Scarlett’s glow had dimmed to a flicker, and her wings drooped. Her confidence had been badly hurt during the past few days. “I want to do something I can do well, but I can’t imagine what that would be.”

Bess thought hard. Scarlett needs to do something right — so I shouldn’t push her toward another talent yet — but it should be something creative.

She snapped her fingers. “We could use more paint.”

Confused, Scarlett asked, “More paint?”

“All art-talent fairies have to learn to make paints and plasters. You know, art materials. That’s not a talent; that’s something we teach each other.” Bess smiled.

Scarlett brightened too. “That must be very important.”

“It is! None of us could ever create if the others didn’t help make our supplies.”

Already, Scarlett was flapping her wings in anticipation. “How do we do that?”

“I’ll show you.” Bess took Scarlett’s hand. “Come on!”

They flew quickly over Pixie Hollow, laughing in the sunshine. Bess knew precisely what to look for, but not where to find it. She dipped down, and up, then down again, searching through the forest.

“Leo needs some dark green paint,” Bess called to Scarlett. “That means we need to find some Boing-Boing Ivy.”

“Boing-Boing Ivy?” Scarlett asked. “Why do they call it that?”

“You’ll see.”

Scarlett pointed to a few ivy leaves dangling from a nearby branch. “That’s ivy, isn’t it?”

“Don’t touch it!” Bess swiftly darted between Scarlett and the dangling leaves. “Yes, it’s ivy — but it’s Scritch-Scratch Ivy. If you get it on your skin, you’ll be itchy for a week!”

“I’ll remember that,” Scarlett said. She pointed to a nearby vine. “What about that? Is that Boing-Boing Ivy?”

“That’s a Cuddle Vine,” Bess corrected her. “Boing-Boing Ivy usually grows a little closer to the ground. Let’s fly lower.”

Sure enough, as soon as they got within a few feet of the ground, Bess spotted what they sought. There, creeping up the trunk of a large birch, grew a thick patch of Boing-Boing.

“Oh, it’s beautiful!” Scarlett said as they landed on the shady forest floor. She took one of the broad, soft leaves in her hand. “This is what we use for dark green? Do we pick the leaves?”

“The green dye comes out better if we don’t,” Bess explained. “We should pull the ivy off the tree, so that the vine and leaves are both attached. The vine is the most important part.”

“I understand,” Scarlett said. “Let’s get started!”

When Scarlett grabbed vines in both hands, Bess quickly said, “Be careful!” But she was a little too late. Scarlett pulled hard, until—

BOING!

The vines snapped back to the tree trunk. Scarlett tumbled backward onto the ground.

“Wow,” Scarlett said. “They’re very—”

“Stretchy,” Bess said.

“And slippery!” Scarlett’s hands were shiny with the slick Boing-Boing Ivy sap.

“We need to pull even harder,” Bess explained. “But the vines are so elastic that they’re hard to tug free. And of course, they’re slippery, so it’s easy to lose your grip—”

“Which is when the vines go boing!” With determination, Scarlett grabbed a twig that had fallen from her hair and twirled it back into place. “I see how they got the name. Is there any trick to it?”

Bess sighed. “We just have to keep trying until the vine finally pulls free. We’ll both fall down a dozen times while we’re doing this. It happens to everybody.”

That was the part that Bess found most comforting. She didn’t mind looking a little silly while collected Boing-Boing Ivy because everyone looked silly doing it. Surely Scarlett would be reassured too.

But Scarlett didn’t need anyone to make her feel better. “Pulling Boing-Boing vines sounds like fun! Let’s get started!”

They both grabbed handfuls of ivy. “Just pull slowly,” Bess said, tugging the ivy carefully away from the tree.

“I’m trying,” Scarlett said, grimacing as she pulled.

Maybe we’d make more progress if I pushed while she pulled, Bess thought. Quickly she slipped beneath the vine so she was on the other side, pushing outward. “Here we go. Take it easy, and — Oh!”

The ivy slipped from their hands with a BOING! The vine smacked into Bess’ tummy and pulled her backward with it. Bess felt herself zooming toward the tree, until—

CRASH.

“Bess?” Scarlett ran to the tree trunk. “Bess, are you okay?”