Caramel Moon

by Helen Perelman

  Together, the five fairies were flying down to the north side of Candy Corn Fields. Each of them held on to the lollipop stick that formed the body of the ghost. They zoomed quickly through the air, heading down to begin their plan to save Caramel Moon.

  “Now this really looks real,” Dash said. She glanced over her shoulder. “Doesn’t this look like a flying ghost?”

  “Shhh,” Cocoa shushed her. “We don’t want the Chuchies to hear us. We have to set up first.” She pointed to the bunch of Chuchies gathering up the candy corn. They were so focused on their task that they didn’t even look up.

  “Oh, I hope this works,” Melli whispered. She kept her eyes focused on the fields below. Her heart ached as she noticed all the dirt mounds that the Chuchies had made by digging tunnels.

  What a gooey mess, she thought.

  “Everything is going to be okay,” Cocoa said. She knew from Melli’s expression that she was worried. “We’ll get the Chuchies out of here and still save the crops in time for Caramel Moon.”

  More than anything, Melli wanted to believe her best friend. But she wasn’t one hundred percent sure the plan would work. Chuchies were known to be mischievous, but would they scare so easily? Would they listen?

  The friends landed on the soft brown sugar ground. They huddled behind a lush green stalk and found a good spot for the ghost.

  “On the count of three,” Cocoa said, “let’s lift the ghost up and stick it into the ground.”

  “One, two, three,” Berry counted.

  The fairies heaved the ghost up and secured the stick in the ground.

  Standing back, Berry grinned. “Sure as sugar, this looks like a spooky ghost to me!” she said in a hushed voice.

  “Let’s hide over here,” Raina suggested. She pointed behind a stalk. “We’ll be able to see, but we’ll be well hidden. Melli, do you have the sugar cone?”

  “I do,” Melli said. She took the cone from her bag. Then she took a deep breath. “Here I go. . . .” She held the cone with the end wrapped in fruit leather. In her loudest, deepest voice, she called, “Who is there?”

  Peeking out from their hiding places, the fairies watched the Chuchies freeze.

  “Meee, meee, meee?” a Chuchie sang out, shaking.

  A few Chuchies put down their baskets and turned around. They seemed panicked. And then they noticed the ghost.

  “Who is stealing my candy?” Melli said into the cone. She peeked around the stalk to see what the Chuchies were doing.

  “Keep talking,” Raina whispered. “You’ve got their attention!”

  “I am the Ghost of Candy Corn Fields,” Melli said. “These candies are for the Caramel Moon Festival.”

  A few more Chuchies gathered around. All the hairs on their pom-pom bodies were standing up straight!

  They are listening, Melli thought. The plan is working!

  “You are not allowed to take this candy!” Melli continued. “The candy here is for sharing, not for stealing.”

  “Meeeeeeeeeeee!” a chorus of Chuchies cried.

  Dash put her hand to her mouth to quiet her giggles. She couldn’t believe the Chuchies believed their lollipop ghost was real.

  Cocoa gave her a stern look, reminding her to be serious.

  Raina squeezed Dash’s hand. And the four of them kept careful watch.

  “They’re leaving!” Raina whispered. “Look!”

  Melli put down the cone and saw that Raina was right. The Chuchies were crawling back into their tunnels.

  “Let’s keep the ghost up here in the field,” Raina suggested, “just to be sure that the Chuchies don’t come back.”

  “I don’t think they’re coming back,” Berry said as she watched the furry little creatures scurry back into their holes.

  “Maybe Mogu didn’t put them up to this?” Cocoa asked. The Chuchies lived in the Black Licorice Swamp, where only pretzels grew along the banks of the dark, salty shores. The Chuchies craved sweet treats and often tried to get Candy Fairy candy.

  “If Mogu was behind all this, he won’t be pleased,” Raina said. “But from what I’ve read about Chuchies, they won’t be back here. They were definitely spooked.”

  “Sure as sugar,” Melli said with a grin. She hugged her friends. “We got the Chuchies to leave!” She fluttered her wings and flew up in the air.

  “I had no doubt,” Berry said, folding her arms across her chest.

  Before Cocoa could respond, Melli flew back down to her friends.

  “The fields look terrible!” Melli cried. “The tunnels the Chuchies dug have ruined the ground.”

  Dash shot up in the air and checked out the area. “Wow, those Chuchies sure were fast.”

  “And messy,” Raina said, joining Dash in the air. “They only ate the top parts of the candy corn and left the yellow-and-orange parts on the ground.” She shook her head. “We need a clean-up plan.”

  “And soon,” Berry added. She shot up in the air next to her friends. “Caramel Moon is tomorrow night!”

  Melli knew her friends were right. Scaring the Chuchies away was only the beginning. There was more work to be done to prepare for the festival.

  Gazing up at the lollipop ghost, Melli was thankful the Chuchies were gone. “Good job,” she said. “Thank you, Ghost of Candy Corn Fields.”

  Berry smiled. “Wearing my new shawl, it’s definitely the best-dressed ghost,” she said, laughing.

  “Don’t worry, Berry,” Melli told her. “I’ll make sure to get this back to you before Caramel Moon.”

  Thinking of Caramel Moon made Melli a little nervous. Could she and her friends get the fields cleaned up before the full moon?

  The first light of morning peeked through the clouds high above the Frosted Mountains. Melli squinted up at the rising sun.

  “Come on,” she called to her friends. “We must finish cleaning up the fields before daylight.”

  Even though she was tired, Melli kept on working. She reached for a few pieces of candy corn on the ground and put them in her basket. She had already collected a mound of half-eaten candy corn, but there were still yellow-and-orange pieces of candy scattered.

  Since the Chuchies had left the fields, she and her friends had been picking up all the half-eaten candies. Still, the fields were a mess. The mounds of dirt from the Chuchies’ tunnels made Candy Corn Fields a difficult maze to manage. Normally, all the fairies danced around the stalks as they picked the candy. And this year with the Sugar Pops playing, there’d be more dancing than ever before.

  Where will everyone dance? Melli wondered.

  She thought back to when her sister had told her about the Sugar Pops coming to the festival. She had been so excited and had imagined dancing all night under the Caramel Moon. Now those thoughts were buried—there’d be no dancing tonight. The Sugar Pops would probably not want to come.

  Then a terribly sour thought popped into her head.

  What if the festival is canceled?

  “Ready?” Cocoa asked, grabbing a handle of the basket. She looked over at Melli.

  When Melli didn’t answer, Cocoa snapped her fingers in front of her friend’s face. “Melli!” she said. “Are you listening?”

  Cocoa’s voice brought Melli out of her thoughts.

  “Sorry,” she said. “I’m ready now.”

  Melli threw two more pieces into the over-flowing basket. Then she lifted up her end of the basket and flapped her wings with all her might. The basket was heavy. “Those Chuchies took more of the crops than I had thought,” Melli said, sighing. “And they wasted so many of the candies. Look at all these half-eaten pieces!”

  The two fairies flew to the edge of the field and dumped the basket.

  Melli wiped her hand on her forehead. “I’m not sure those stalks on the north side are ready to harvest,” she said to Cocoa. “The tunnels dug up part of the crops there. I’m afraid this prank that the Chuchies played is going to affect the festival.”

  “You worry too much,” Berry said
, flying up behind her. “I think we all need to rest.”

  Raina and Dash dumped their basket of ruined candy corn onto the pile. “We’ve been working all night,” Raina added.

  “Rest?” Melli cried. “How can I rest? Look at this field.”

  Cocoa took out a piece of chocolate bark from her bag. “Everyone calm down,” she said. “Let’s take a break and think about our next move.”

  “You have any more chocolate bark?” Dash asked, licking her lips. She was always hungry, and seeing Cocoa with that chocolate made her even hungrier. Dash might have been tiny, but her appetite wasn’t! “I think better on a full stomach,” she added.

  “Here you go, Dash.” Cocoa smiled as she handed Dash a piece of chocolate. When Cocoa offered a piece to Melli, she shook her head. She wasn’t hungry. “What am I going to tell Princess Lolli?” she asked. Even though the gentle fairy ruled over Candy Kingdom with a sweet and truthful touch, Melli was nervous. She didn’t want to disappoint her.

  “Tell me what?” a sweet voice asked.

  The five fairies looked up and saw the beautiful fairy princess hovering above them.

  “Good morning,” Princess Lolli said as she flew down beside the fairies. Her strawberry-blond hair fell loosely around her shoulders, and her candy-jeweled crown sparkled in the morning light. “You look as if you’ve been up all night!” she exclaimed.

  “We have been,” Melli told the ruling princess. She bowed her head. “We’ve been trying to clean up the mess.”

  Princess Lolli looked around the fields. “The Chuchies have been here, haven’t they?” she said. “I can spot their messy work. Those creatures are slow to learn.” She shook her head. “Their greed always gets them into trouble.”

  “We taught them a lesson!” Dash blurted out.

  Raising her eyebrows, Princess Lolli said, “Tell me what happened.”

  As Melli told the princess the story of the Chuchies and the Ghost of Candy Corn Fields, Princess Lolli nodded.

  “I see,” the fairy princess said at the end of Melli’s tale. “While scaring someone isn’t very nice, teaching them that there are consequences to stealing is an important and valuable lesson.”

  “But what about Caramel Moon?” Melli asked. Her wings twitched. She was so nervous about what Princess Lolli would say.

  “Is it true that the Sugar Pops are coming?” Berry asked.

  Princess Lolli grinned. “Yes, the Sugar Pops are coming to play tonight,” she told the fairies. “Your clean-up crew has done good work, but I’m afraid we’ve got lots to do before the festival.” She took a small pouch from her bag. “Here is some magic sugar dust,” she said. “I think this will help the crops on the north side. After such an invasion, the crops need to feel secure to sweeten fully.”

  “How can we help?” Melli asked. “We want to make sure that the festival happens this year. And that all the Candy Fairies can enjoy the candy corn.”

  “There is something that you can do,” Princess Lolli said. Her silver wings fluttered. “Are you willing?”

  Melli and her friends all nodded. They were eager to do whatever the fairy princess told them. The thought of not having a Caramel Moon Festival was too bitter to consider.

  Do you really think this will work?” Melli asked Raina. While the others were still collecting the ruined candies, Melli pulled Raina aside. “Have you ever read anything about this magic sugar dust that Princess Lolli gave us?”

  “I haven’t,” Raina admitted. She shook her head slowly. She wished she could have told Melli a story about a time when sugar dust saved a candy corn crop, but she knew of no such tale.

  Melli’s wings drooped. “Oh.” She sighed sadly.

  “Remember all those stories about Lupa,” Raina told her. “You have to keep up hope. Lupa always saved the day.”

  “But I’m not Lupa,” Melli said, bowing her head. She turned and saw the ghost still standing in the fields. In the morning light the ghost didn’t look as real. The moonlight had helped to create a spooky glow.

  “You taught the Chuchies a lesson,” Raina reminded her. “You were very clever, and I’m sure the ghost will protect the fields.”

  The fairies all gathered around Melli. They didn’t like to see her so sad.

  Cocoa was the first to speak. “Princess Lolli gave you a task,” she said, trying to snap her friend out of her sour state.

  Knowing that Cocoa was right, Melli looked down at the pouch of sugar dust.

  “Anything Princess Lolli gives is touched with some kind of magic,” Raina said kindly. “The first thing you must do is sprinkle the crops.”

  Melli knew she was right. She hugged her friends and flew to the north side of the fields. Carefully, she spread the fine sugar dust over the crops below. She hoped the sugar dust worked quickly—there wasn’t much time!

  Just as Princess Lolli had instructed, she tried to think only good thoughts as she threw the fine sugar. She imagined all the fairies in the kingdom picking candy corn, and the sweet smells that would fill the air. She pushed any sour thoughts out of her head and started to hum “Yum Pop.” Thinking of her favorite band sweetened her thoughts and made her smile.

  When Melli had finished her task, she went back to the spy tower. Her friends had started to take it down.

  “We should build another one of these,” Dash said. She untied a licorice vine, and two lollipops fell down. “This was fun.”

  “No thanks,” Berry said. “I was freezing all night. I much prefer to sleep inside.”

  Cocoa saw that Melli was back. “How’d it go?” she asked.

  “I did what Princess Lolli told me to do,” Melli said to her friends. “I kept thinking of all the fun we’d have tonight.”

  “Choc-o-rific!” Cocoa exclaimed. “If that’s what you were thinking, then the crops will be extra sweet.”

  “That’s for sure,” Berry added. “We’re going to have a great time tonight. Especially when the Sugar Pops play!” She touched her hand to her colorful fruit-chew clips. “I made some new fruit jewels for the occasion. I want to sparkle so the Sugar Pops notice me.”

  Dash rolled her eyes. “I don’t think they care about fruit jewels,” she told her. “They are very focused on their music.”

  “It says in Sugar Beats that the band loves to entertain,” Raina said. All her friends looked at her with wide eyes. “What?” she said. “I read Sugar Beats too! There’s lots of good information in that magazine.”

  For the first time since Melli had seen the Chuchies in the fields, she laughed. It felt good to joke around and be with her friends.

  “There’s one more thing that Princess Lolli told us to do,” Melli said. “Are you all ready?”

  The four fairies stood in front of Melli, nodding. “We’re ready,” they all said together.

  They flew down to the edge of the fields to the north side, where the stalks were sunk into the ground.

  “Okay,” Melli said. “On the count of three, we’ll give these stalks a pull.”

  “Remember to think sweet thoughts!” Raina reminded them.

  A cool breeze moved their wings, but the fairies didn’t budge from their spots. With their eyes shut tight, each one thought of a sweet memory as she pulled a green stalk up. Each of their thoughts included a time when the friends were all together, and soon the stalks reached their full height.

  Melli felt a tingling in her wings and opened her eyes. “I think we might have done it,” she said. “At least, I hope so.”

  “There are a few more stalks to pull,” Cocoa said. “We better hurry.”

  The fairies worked to pull the stalks up, and they kept thinking only sweet thoughts.

  “I guess we won’t know how the candy tastes until tonight,” Dash said. “But I think the fields look much better than earlier today.”

  “Sure as sugar,” Raina said. “Don’t worry, Melli. I truly believe this will be one of the best Caramel Moon Festivals ever.”

  Melli wished with
all her heart that her friends were right. She hoped that Princess Lolli’s sugar dust and her friends’ sweet thoughts were strong enough to heal the fields. She wouldn’t know for sure until that night, when the Caramel Moon rose high in the sky. . . . And she couldn’t wait!

  Melli sat at the top of a caramel tree with Cocoa. As they waited for the first stars of the evening sky to appear, Melli bit her nails. She was so nervous!

  “I can’t believe tonight is Caramel Moon,” Cocoa said. She was swinging her legs back and forth. “I’m so excited to see the Sugar Pops—and eat all that candy corn.”

  “I know,” Melli said. “I’ve been looking forward to this for so long.” She looked down at her bitten nails. “But then the whole Chuchies thing happened.”

  “But we solved that problem,” Cocoa said. “With a little spooktacular show.”

  Melli laughed. “We did, didn’t we?” she said. “Let’s just hope the crops will be ready by midnight.”

  “You worry too much,” Cocoa told her. “Come on, let’s get going. I want a good spot. It’s not every day that we get to hear the Sugar Pops!”

  “You mean see the Sugar Pops!” Melli said, correcting her. “Do you think Char will be wearing his sprinkle hat? I’ll just melt if he is!”

  They flew over Caramel Hills toward Candy Corn Fields, and Melli held her breath as the moon came into view. The large moon looked like a golden caramel circle in the sky. Seeing the round, full moon rise made Melli fly faster. She couldn’t wait to get to the fields. The crisp air sent a shiver down her wings, and she breathed in the sweet scent of ripe candy corn.

  “Melli!” Cara called. “Wait up!” The little fairy flew up to her big sister. “I have never seen such a beautiful moonrise. And look at all those fairies!” She pointed down below to the large crowd of fairies flocking to the field. Word that the Sugar Pops were playing had spread far and wide. “Melli, thank you for getting me permission to come.”