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The Quill's Secret (Gold Feather Gardeners series, Book 2)

By Erin Greneaux

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Chapter One
The Missing Gems

“Isn’t it gorgeous?” Maya asked her younger sister, Everly, holding up a colorful painting of the Enchanted Garden. The sisters were sitting at the kitchen table working on art projects with the morning sun streaming in the window.
“It looks just like the real thing. I can’t stop staring at it,” Maya said with a pleased smile. Maya glanced at her sister’s drawing and sighed, shaking her head. “Yours is looking pretty terrible. You should add some shading.”
Everly frowned and dropped her colored pencil on the table. “Well, your words are pretty terrible. You should add some kindness.”
“They’re just words. Besides, I’m trying to help you out by being honest.” Maya folded her arms.
“Your honesty isn’t being helpful.” Everly shoved her paper away and leaned on one elbow, gazing out the window.
Maya stared at the azalea bush at the back of the yard and a slow smile spread across her face. “Do you want to go you-know-where?” she asked Everly.
A week before, the sisters had slipped through a loose fence board in their backyard and discovered a beautiful garden in the forest beyond. In the Enchanted Garden, the sisters met Clara, the garden fairy, and the Gardener, a great golden eagle, who cared for the plants with his powerful golden feathers.
“Great idea!” Everly said, jumping up from her seat. Everly looked down at the gold feather pendant on a chain around her neck. The Gardener had given each of the girls matching necklaces to wear as Gold Feather Gardeners, keepers of the beautiful garden in the woods.
The girls ran out the back door and crawled under the azalea bush. Pushing the loose fence board aside, they slipped through the hole into the forest beyond. They followed the familiar route to the Enchanted Garden. The girls sprinted until they burst through the
gate in the stone wall that bordered the garden.
“Clara!” Everly called, “Are you here?”
The fairy zipped over and hovered in front of them. Her wings looked like a butterfly’s, shining in a brilliant purple that matched her dress. She had a tiny body with dark purple skin and bright yellow hair. While she usually wore a beaming smile, Clara looked worried.
“Oh, girls, I’m so glad you’re here. It’s terrible, just terrible!” she cried in her tiny fairy voice.
“What is?” Maya asked.
“The fountain!” she said. “Come this way!”
The girls rushed after Clara, who left a trail of purple sparkles behind her. Maya and Everly followed the fairy to the middle of the garden, where the enormous fountain with five tiers stood. The girls remembered how the fountain had streamed with sparkling water, flowing over the sides into the pool at the bottom, which had seven colorful gemstones decorating the edge of the base. Today, the fountain looked very different. Instead of cascading down, the water in the five tiers sat still and quiet, unmoving pools without even a ripple on the surface. Something else was wrong, too. The seven gemstones were missing!
“Where are the gems?” Maya asked.
Clara landed on the side of the fountain and her wings drooped. “They’re gone! This is a tragedy!”
Everly rubbed the hollow place in the stone where one gem had been. “It’s not as pretty without the gems, but won’t the fountain still work?” she asked.
Clara shook her head. “Those gems aren’t just in the garden to look pretty. They are the seven Virtue Gems. Each one gives the Garden and the Gold Feathers Gardeners energy to grow. When they are all together, they give life to the Garden.”
“So, without the Virtue Gems, the Enchanted Garden will lose its ability to grow?” Maya asked.
Clara nodded as she wrung her hands. “All the plants that live here will die without the water from this fountain, and the fountain only works with the gems. Everything that makes this garden special will be gone. If we don’t get them back in time, even the stone wall around the garden will crumble. The Enchanted Garden will become part of the forest and disappear.”
The girls glanced at each other and back at Clara. “We won’t let that happen,” Everly said with determination. “We’ll help you find the missing Virtue Gems.”
“What happened to them?” Maya asked, “Did they fall out?”
“No,” Clara lowered her voice. “They were stolen.”
“Stolen? Who would ever steal from the Enchanted Garden?” Everly gasped, “Was it those forest animals we saw with the feathers?” Her face fell, and her voice came out slow and heavy. “This is all my fault, isn’t it?”
The week before, Everly had eaten a poisonous berry in the woods, even after Clara had warned the girls not to eat anything in the forest. When purple spots appeared all over Everly’s skin, the Gardener pulled out all of his healing feathers to save her life. Now her mistake put the entire garden at risk.

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