Blind Fairy: Zahra of the Uwharries

By Micki Bare

Zahra, a scraebin about as tall as a wild dandelion, is summoned by her mentor fairy after cicadas emerge to lull her colony into a deep sleep. Zahra soon learns she is The Convener, a responsibility she doesn't want. After accepting her destiny, a turtle with amethyst eyes leads her to a lone, blind s

• Language: English
• Publisher: Level Elevate
• Release date: May 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9781685123321

Micki Bare

Micki Bare is a graduate of NC State University. Her career in education spans three decades, with service as a teacher, administrator, and marketing director. She is the author of three early reader children's books, and featured in two anthologies. She has articles published in regional and state magazines, and wrote a human interest column for 18 years. Her first middle grade novel, Society of the Sentinelia, won the 2022 AAUW NC Young People's Literature Award. Blind Fairy follows Society of the Sentinelia as the second of five in the Zahra of the Uwharries series. She loves to write, garden, cook, and hike. She and her husband reside in Asheboro, NC.

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Micki Bare

BLIND FAIRY

Zahra of the Uwharries

First published by Level Elevate 2023

Copyright © 2023 by Micki Bare

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

Micki Bare asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

ISBN Hardcover: 978-1-68512-333-8

First edition

ISBN: 978-1-68512-332-1

Cover art by Level Best Designs

This book was professionally typeset on Reedsy

Find out more at reedsy.com

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For all those who refuse to accept defeat despite crushing obstacles along the way.

Contents

Praise for the Zahra of the Uwharries Series

1. Captive Turtle

2. Visit with Clara

3. Cold Snap

4. Before Snow

5. Sheltered

6. The Party

7. Fall Cicadas

8. Missing Mentor

9. The Search

10. The Convener

11. Despair

12. Mrs. Leaves and Petals

13. Skills

14. School

15. Time with Danni

16. Turtle Tracking

17. The Squirrel

18. Injured Scraebin

19. Aiofe’s Light

20. Weaving and Gathering

21. Back to School

22. Captured

23. Regroup

24. New Skill

25. Danni’s Visit

26. Hope

27. Four Heart Animals

28. Mr. Jack Mustache

29. Daegel and the Creator

30. Perkit’s Heart Animals

31. The Problem-Solver

32. Three for Tea

33. The Warren

34. Doors

35. Aiofa’s Plan

36. Family Door

37. New Home

38. Father’s Fairy Story

39. One Last Day

40. Gathering Others

41. Signs and Tomes

42. Rude Visitor

43. Close Enemies

44. Aiofe’s Return

45. Society Meeting

A Note from the Author

Book Club Questions

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Also by Micki Bare

Praise for the Zahra of the Uwharries Series

"I loved Society Of The Sentinelia where we first meet Zahra, a sprite-like tween no bigger than a loblolly pinecone. The adventure continues in Blind Fairy. Author Micki Bare has woven magical fantasy into a contemporary natural world, and the result is an enchanting tale that will captivate both young readers and adults. I’m eager to read more of the Uwharries series."—Melanie Sue Bowles, author of Liberty Biscuit

1

Captive Turtle

My sister Astrael and I perch on a fat branch between Danni’s yard and the new neighbors’ yard. Danni and her new neighbors are humans. My sister and I are scraebins. We’re about as tall as wild dandelion stalks, and we live in a tree in Danni’s backyard, not too far from a stream.

Next to my sister, Danni is my best friend. She’s much bigger than me, but we’re the same age. She helped me find my family when the tree we used to live in was destroyed.

Astrael points to a turtle walking away from the stream and across the grass. Its shell is deep gray, like a cloud just before a terrible thunderstorm. The gray is splashed with orange markings, which are shaped like flowers in bloom. There’s also an orange splotch at each curve of the edge of its shell. Its legs, head, and tail have darker orange spots that look like drops of honey.

I think it has purple eyes, Zahra, Astrael whispers. Its eyes should be orange like its spots. She leans over the branch, stretching out her neck. Yes, that’s purple! She swings around and looks at me. Does that mean it’s one of your heart animals? Like Gigesdi, the cat?

Gigesdi, who’s curled up at the base of the tree where our family lives, is my heart animal. Some scraebins, like me, are fairies. According to Miss Jellisia Levion, my mentor fairy, all fairies have heart animals. Someday I’ll have seven. Right now, it’s just the one. A cat. As a scraebin, I still get prickles on my neck when I think of having a cat as a friend. Scraebins are not much bigger than green anoles—if an anole could balance straight up on its tail. My heart cat protects and helps me. But she’s still a cat.

Astrael thinks the turtle could be another heart animal because mine are all supposed to have purple eyes, just like me. And the cat.

Astrael stares at my face and then at the turtle again. It definitely has purple eyes. Exactly like yours.

Cool! I have a big glass tank in my room. That’s the perfect place for you!

We jerk our heads around to see who’d say such a horrible thing. It’s the new kid next door. A breeze flips clumps of his short black hair as he walks over to the turtle. And us!

Our wings, which are a color humans can’t really see, shoot out and cover our bodies. I peek past my wing. He stops in front of the turtle. My heart pounds.

Please, don’t take the turtle. Please don’t put it in a glass tank.

The kid grabs the turtle and holds it up, inspecting its underside. The turtle’s eyes lock with mine.

They are purple! Astrael’s right. It must be one of my heart animals.

My throat dries up faster than dew on a hot summer day. The turtle’s legs keep moving as if it’s trying to walk out of the kid’s grip.

Yeah, you’ll do. My mom said I need a pet, and you’re way better than a stupid dog.

The kid pulls a puffy orange piece of human food the size of a black swallowtail caterpillar out of his pocket. It turns the kid’s fingers bright yellow-orange.

Here, try this, he says as he shoves the puff at the turtle’s face.

The turtle turns its head away from the food and pumps its legs faster.

Cheetos are much better with honey, anyway. C’mon. Let’s go see your new home.

The kid turns. Then he walks into the ugly white house built where a log cabin used to stand.

He has my heart animal.

Hot tears sting my cheeks.

Astrael’s arms wrap around me as my wings slide back. I pull away and stand up. My fists ball up. My legs move like—

Astrael yanks me back before I make it to the end of the branch. My head jerks around, followed by my body. We stand face to face. My shoulders are bouncing up and down with each angry breath.

Is that the kid you’re going to spy on during Danni’s party? she asks.

I nod. Danni asked me to come to her birthday party. The plan is for me to hide on a shelf and spy on her school friends, including the boy who moved in next door who is not her friend. Danni’s mother made her invite him.

You should go see Mrs. Clara Festmire. She’ll be able to help us free your heart turtle. She’ll also have ideas on how to stay out-of-sight and safe during that party.

Mrs. Clara Festmire lives at the edge of the neighborhood next to the Birkhead Wilderness. She’s a Sentinelian, which are humans who secretly know about and protect scraebins, like me.

Astrael wraps a hand around my arm, I suppose just in case I try to follow the turtle again. She pulls me into a hug. My fists uncurl. Once I’m calm, we scramble across a branch to our tree just in time for supper.

What’s wrong, Zahra? Father asks.

Oh, Father, she found another one of her heart animals, Astrael answers for me. Just in time to see it captured by that boy human in that big new white house next door.

Father looks at me. Are you sure it’s your heart animal?

Mother and Astrael look at me, too. I’m sure it had purple eyes. I nod. My jaw is clenched shut. The turtle is probably in a glass tank sweating and gasping for water—a glass tank filled with sticky orange puffs.

Sit and have some supper, Mother says. She nudges me to my seat.

Father fills our plates—smooth curved rocks—with acorn and silver leaf stew. Mother puts out acorn caps filled with chrysanthemum sun tea, as Danni calls it, since scraebins don’t use hot water.

After a few bites, Father says, You know, if that turtle is, indeed, another of your heart animals, it will make its way back to you. And if it’s not, it won’t. That’s all there is to it. Now, let’s enjoy this delicious stew. I added pecans this time.

He could’ve added blackberries, strawberries, and rosewater. I still would’ve left it on my plate. A glass tank is no place for a turtle. It’s no place for any creature.

Especially one of my heart animals.

After pushing the stew around, I go to bed and fall asleep with my stomach grumbling.

There are flowers and rippling water. Puffy clouds float around me.

Darkness pushes away the light. Dark blues and greens. Like the middle of a forest at midnight.

The rippling water roars and booms like thunder. Lights flash. But there’s no storm.

I squint my eyes, trying to see through the dark blue-green between flashes. I can’t. Everything goes black. The flashes slow down, but the water-thunder clangs louder and louder.

Or is that my heart pounding?

I can’t see? Why can’t I see?

Panic grows like a wave headed for the bank. My feelings swirl and spin.

Shrill bleeps cut through the rumbles.

BLEEP!

BLEEP!

BLEEP!

THUD!

Zahra! Are you okay? You fell out of bed! Astrael’s hand strokes my hair as the horrifying dream falls away.

I can see.

It’s quiet.

I’m fine. It was a … bad dream. I think I had a … nightmare? My legs feel like pond mud as I stumble back into bed.

A nightmare? Astrael squishes her face.

What’s going on in here? Father asks from the door to our room.

Zahra said she had a nightmare.

Father shakes his head. A fairy thing, I suppose?

It’s a good question. Scraebins don’t have nightmares. Ever since we discovered I’m not just a scraebin, but also a fairy—not something we want other scraebins to know—the odd things that happen to me are blamed on being a fairy. That’s always my first thought, too. But this time, I don’t know.

Maybe. I shrug my shoulders.

Miss Jellisia Levion, my mentor, never told me fairies could have nightmares. I’ll have to ask her about it next time I see her. Or I can ask Mrs. Clara Festmire. Every human who’s a member of the Society of the Sentinelia knows all about scraebins and scraebins who are fairies.

Maybe the bad dream has to do with my heart turtle being trapped in a glass tank in that boy’s house. My heart pounds. Maybe the nightmare means if the turtle doesn’t escape so it can join me and Gigesdi, I’ll go blind!

Do you need some tea? A bite to eat? You should’ve eaten your supper, young lady. Father leaves. He returns with leftover stew. I eat a few bites.

I bet Father’s right, Astrael says. Maybe fairies who go to sleep on an empty stomach have nightmares.

I nod, but don’t agree. I’ve fallen asleep on an empty stomach lots of times and never once had a nightmare.

2

Visit with Clara

The day after the nightmare, I flew to Danni’s bedroom window. I told her all about the bad dream and the turtle that’s probably my heart turtle, which is now trapped in the neighbor’s house. She agreed with my sister about going to see Mrs. Clara Festmire. That’s exactly what Danni and I are doing today.

While Danni is at school, I fly down to the garage at her house and slip through the window. She left it open enough for me to get inside, but closed enough for her parents not to notice.

In the garage, a backpack with a box is in the basket attached to the handlebars on her bike. This box is even better than the one we used last spring when we were looking for my family. It has little lights hanging along the walls. There’s a seat attached to the floor with a strap. Now I won’t tumble forward when she stops. When Danni told me about it, she said it was like the seatbelt in her mother’s car.

My nose notices another little box. It’s a snack box with Snickerdoodles—my favorite—and acorn cakes!

During the summer season, when Danni didn’t have to go to school, Astrael and I taught her how to make acorn cakes. Danni’s really good at rolling them thin enough to cut into scraebin-size pieces. She lets them dry in the dollhouse in her bedroom. Danni’s cakes are almost as good as Mother’s.

Next to the snack box is a container of water. Danni thought of everything.

I take a closer look at the box of batteries that makes the lights work. It has writing on it.

On. Flash. Off. Made in China.

Wait … I can read?

Wow! I can read!

Understanding the writing symbols of humans must be a fairy skill.

Zahra, are you here? Danni asks in a loud whisper.

Until I hear her voice, I don’t realize my hands are clapping with excitement. Moving to the tube she set up so we could talk to each other, I answer, Yes. Thank you so much for the snacks. I’m all ready to go!

I strap myself in and feel Danni’s bike lean as she gets on. Let’s go, she says as she pedals out of the garage.

When we arrive, Mrs. Clara Festmire already has tea set out. What’s bothering you, Zahra?

It’s that kid next door. He … I hang my head. I can’t say it aloud again.

Danni tells her the rest. He took a turtle that was walking between our yards and brought it into his house. He’s keeping it as a pet in a glass tank.

I see, says Mrs. Clara Festmire.

It’s one of my heart animals! I jump from my seat. I’m sure of it! My tea slips out of my hand. The acorn cap she served it in bounces off the side of my chair, hits the coffee table, spins into the air, and drops to the floor. Oh, no! I’m so sorry, I cry out. I drop to my knees and use my sleeve to clean my mess.

Leave it, Zahra. You’ll ruin your top, Mrs. Clara Festmire says.

She hands me a cloth to dry my skirt. Then she cleans the spray of tea on the coffee table with a bigger cloth.

What can we do, Mrs. Festmire? Danni asks when she returns with another cup of tea. We need to do something. Zahra had a nightmare!

After a pause and deep breath, she answers, Right now, nothing.

Nothing? Danni and I say at the same time. We’re both staring at Mrs. Clara Festmire.

You’re upset. It’s never good to do things when you’re upset.

But my heart animal … it will die in that glass tank! This time I put the acorn cap down on the scraebin-size table next to my chair. I can’t let that happen. I won’t. My ears burn hot.

Zahra, you know better. If this turtle is one of your heart animals, it will find a way out. And if it’s not, I’m sure Danni will find a way to convince the boy to release the turtle back into the woods.

Me? Danni questions. Then she puts her tea down. I don’t even think I want him at my birthday party. The only reason he’s invited is because my mom insisted.

Your mother is wise,