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Back Featherlight Save as PDF
Chapters (20)
  1. Dedication
  2. Chapter 1
  3. Chapter 2
  4. Chapter 3
  5. Chapter 4
  6. Chapter 5
  7. Chapter 6
  8. Chapter 7
  9. Chapter 8
  10. Chapter 9
  11. Chapter 10
  12. Chapter 11
  13. Chapter 12
  14. Chapter 13
  15. Chapter 14
  16. Chapter 15
  17. Chapter 16
  18. Firebird Lighthouse
  19. Author's Note
  20. Lighting the Way

“It’s no use,” I say. “They’re going to drown.”

“Then we must row out and save them,” Grandma tells me as we climb back inside.

“We don’t have a lantern to guide us,” I say.

“We’ll take your firebird,” Grandma replies.

I shake my head. “What about the lighthouse?” I ask. “If we take Tan, then the light will go dark again. Other boats might need it!”

“My goodness!” Grandma wrings her hands together. “I didn’t think of that, but we must take Tan anyway. She’s the best thing to keep us safe.”

“Wait,” I say. “I have an idea.”

I shield my eyes from the light and open the door to the lantern. “Tan, you must come with us. There’s a boat in trouble. But I need to ask a favour of you. I need to take a feather. Will that be all right?”

Tan nods as if to say yes. She turns and plucks a feather from her tail carefully and gives it to me.

I take the feather by its stem. It is aflame but not hot. I place it in the centre of the lantern.

Tan flaps from her perch and circles my head, her feathers all ablaze. She gives a loud cry that sounds like an alarm call and swoops down the spiral staircase. We follow her, leaving the single burning feather behind in the lighthouse lantern to take Tan’s place.

Chapter 14

14

A RESCUE

The rain outside is falling like a waterfall. It hisses against Tan’s bright flaming feathers as she hangs in the air, riding the air currents and lighting up the land. The raindrops batter down on my head and Grandma’s, and onto our raincoats, which we struggled into as we left the house. But we can’t stop. We have to get to the sinking boat and save the two fishermen and the boy.

Tan circles above us, lighting our way as we cross the island.

At the jetty, Grandma’s boat is bouncing on the wild sea, thrown this way and that by the storm.

We climb down into the boat as high waves break over the side. I pull out the telescope and once again search for the fishermen. Tan soars up high, throwing her light out to sea. It joins the weaker beam of light from the feather in the lighthouse tower.

Finally, I see the remains of the boat. The two fishermen and the boy are clinging to its broken hull as angry waves smash against them.

“Fly ahead, Tan!” I cry, while Grandma releases our boat from its mooring. “We’re counting on you to light the way!”

Tan swoops up into the sky, cutting a path through the rain and gusts of wind.