Olivia Nibblesqueak's Messy Mischief

by Daisy Meadows

  Lily cuddled her close and said to Jess and Goldie, “So that’s what the purple spark spell does! Peep made Olivia act like a messy bat, just like him!”

  Goldie gasped. “Oh, no!”

  Jess stood beneath the tree. “Olivia!” she called. “Come down!”

  “Won’t!” squeaked Olivia.

  Peep giggled. “This is fun!” he squeaked. “Soon Olivia will really turn into a bat, and then she’ll be able to make another animal change, too. Then all the Friendship Forest animals will be messy and fun like me and my friends!”

  The girls were horrified. “Imagine,” said Jess, “a forest full of messy creatures.”

  Goldie nodded gloomily. “The whole forest will end up like the Witchy Waste,” she said miserably.

  “And Grizelda will have Friendship Forest all for herself,” Lily finished.

  Just then, the rest of the Nibblesqueak family arrived, looking upset.

  “Where’s our Olivia?” cried Mrs. Nibblesqueak. “Is—”

  She stopped and gasped when she saw her daughter flapping in the tree like a bat.

  Jess put her arm around the shocked hamster comfortingly. “Don’t worry,” she said, patting her gently. “I promise we’ll find a way to change Olivia back to her normal self.”

  She glanced anxiously at Lily, wondering how they could keep that promise.

  But Lily had been thinking. “If we find out more about Peep’s purple spark spell,” she said, “we might find a way to undo it. Let’s visit Mrs. Taptree!”

  As the sun rose, Jess, Lily, and Goldie all headed for Mrs. Taptree’s home.

  “Here we are,” said Goldie, stopping by a door in the broad trunk of a chestnut tree. As she knocked, the door flew open and a woodpecker popped out.

  “Goodness, Goldie,” she said, “you’ve brought Jess and Lily back to my library!”

  “Hello, Mrs. Taptree,” said the girls.

  “Come in,” said the woodpecker. “Quick! Quick!”

  Jess and Lily had visited Mrs. Taptree’s library before, but they still couldn’t believe how much bigger it was on the inside than it looked on the outside!

  Jess peered around for Mrs. Taptree’s chicks. “Where are Dig and Tipper?”

  The woodpecker pulled back a curtain of ivy leaves. There were her two chicks, fast asleep!

  “They’re tired out,” said Mrs. Taptree. “That dreadful squeaking kept them up all night. Did you hear it?”

  “That’s why we’re here,” said Lily. She explained what had happened to Olivia. “We’d like to search your books for a way to break Peep’s spell,” she finished.

  “Of course!” said Mrs. Taptree.

  Jess went to the corner where three magical ladders stood and climbed on the first one. “Hamsters!” she said.

  Jess felt a thrill of excitement as her ladder magically moved on its own, sliding sideways into the “animal” section. On the shelves, she spotted several books all about hamsters.

  Goldie told her ladder, “Witches!”

  Lily stood on the third one and said, “Bats!”

  But as their ladders slid along, a loud “squeeeaaak!” came from above. It was Peep and Olivia, sitting up on a shelf!

  “They must have snuck in after us!” cried Lily.

  Peep flung a book to the ground. “Squeeeaaak!” he said happily.

  “Please don’t do that!” Mrs. Taptree begged, flapping her wings anxiously.

  Olivia threw a book, too. “Making a mess is fun!” she giggled, and pushed a whole row of books to the ground.

  Mrs. Taptree grabbed a broom and took off, chasing Peep around the library. “Get out!” she squawked. “Leave my books alone! Quick! Quick!”

  At last, Peep picked up Olivia and flapped out through the doorway. Jess, Lily, and Goldie started searching again.

  “There’s nothing about a bat spell,” sighed Goldie.

  “Wait!” Lily said, reaching for the last book on the shelf. “I’ve found it!” she cried. “Purple spark transforming spell!”

  She jumped off the ladder and flicked to the right page.

  “And here’s how to undo it! A spell to turn you back to your normal self.” She read it out loud:

  “You want to be yourself again?

  Then here’s what you must do.

  Gather up those favorite things

  That mean the most to you.

  What do you like to do the most?

  What food do you love the best?

  And what is your biggest secret?

  Now here’s a little test.

  Put them in your favorite place,

  The place you love to be.

  If someone names those things aloud,

  Yourself once more you’ll be.”

  “Hooray!” said Jess. She hugged Lily. “You’ve found the way to break the spell!”

  She copied the spell into the little sketchbook she always kept in her pocket. “Now let’s stop Grizelda’s plan!”

  When the three friends got back to the bakery, the Nibblesqueaks came scurrying outside to meet them.

  “Have you seen Olivia?” asked Jenny Nibblesqueak.

  Lily nodded. “Don’t worry, she seems fine. And we know how to help her!” She explained about the spell.

  When she’d finished, Jess asked, “So what are Olivia’s favorite things?”

  Mr. Nibblesqueak said, “Her favorite hobby is easy. It’s drawing!” He turned to Penny Nibblesqueak. “Could you fetch Olivia’s art things?”

  The young hamster scampered indoors and returned moments later with a sketchbook. She gave it to Jess, who flicked through it. It was just like the notebook she always kept in her pocket and was filled with colorful pictures.

  “And what’s Olivia’s favorite food?” Lily asked next.

  “Pink cherries!” chorused the entire family.

  “She loves decorating cakes with them,” said Mrs. Nibblesqueak, “but we don’t have any at the moment.”

  “We’ll find some,” said Goldie. “Now, we need to discover Olivia’s biggest secret. But as it’s a secret, I guess you probably don’t know what it is.”

  The hamsters shook their fluffy heads.

  “Never mind,” said Goldie. “We’ll find out somehow. We know her favorite hobby and we have her sketchbook, so let’s get some pink cherries.”

  “Off to the Treasure Tree!” said Jess, smiling at the thought of the huge tree that grew enough delicious fruit and nuts to feed everybody in the forest.

  But Goldie shook her head. “Cherries don’t grow on the Treasure Tree,” she explained. “They grow in Cherry Tree Corner.”

  They said good-bye to the Nibblesqueaks, and Goldie led the girls through the forest to a huge sunny clearing filled with neat rows of cherry trees. Some were covered with clouds of pale pink blossoms, filling the air with their sweet scent. Others were drooping with bunches of fat, ripe cherries.

  “It’s so pretty,” said Lily, breathing in the blossoms’ scent.

  “But there aren’t any pink cherries!” Jess cried. “They’re all red.”

  “All of these cherries are magic,” Goldie explained, “so maybe they’re called ‘pink cherries’ because of what happens when you eat them.” She looked around, puzzled. “Each tree usually has a label made of bark stuck into the ground beside it—but they’re all gone.”

  Just then, there was a loud squeak from the far side of the orchard.

  “Look!” cried Lily. “The creatures from the Witchy Waste!”

  “And that’s where the labels went,” said Jess with a groan.

  Beside Peep and the others was a pile of labels. Snippit the crow ripped one up with his beak and threw the pieces at Hopper the toad and Masha the rat, who shrieked with delight. Olivia giggled and flapped her paws around, squeaking like a naughty bat.

  Hopper spotted the girls and Goldie. “There they are!” she croaked. The four Witchy Waste creatures and Olivia each grabbed some cherries and flung them at Goldie and the girl
s.

  “Hey!” yelled Jess, as a cherry bounced off her head.

  “Oh, no!” Lily cried, as a cherry splatted on her cheek.

  “Hee!” laughed the rat. “You’re messy!”

  Jess ducked as more fruit flew past, then whispered to the others, “Keep them busy while I ask Olivia about pink cherries.”

  Lily grabbed a big handful of cherries and tossed them at the Witchy Waste creatures. “Catch!” she yelled.

  As they yelled happily, throwing more cherries back, Jess ducked down and ran to the trees at the edge of the clearing.

  “Olivia!” Jess called. “Which tree do pink cherries grow on?”

  “Don’t know,” Olivia giggled. “Bats don’t like cherries.”

  Jess groaned. She really thinks she’s a bat, she thought.

  She dodged the fruit and ran back to the others. They’d hidden behind a tree trunk, leaving the Witchy Waste creatures happily cherry-fighting among themselves. Splattered cherries lay everywhere.

  “Now what?” Lily asked.

  “I’ll eat some,” Jess said, “and see if we can tell which are pink ones.”

  She popped a cherry in her mouth. “Delicious!” she said. “And guess what? These cherries don’t have stones. That’s—” She stopped.

  Goldie and Lily were almost helpless with laughter.

  “What’s funny?” Jess demanded.

  “Your nose,” Lily gasped. “It’s covered with blue spots!”

  “That must be the blue-spot cherry tree,” Goldie said, giggling. “At least we know it’s not those ones. Let’s try another.”

  Lily popped a cherry in her mouth. Soon it was Jess’s turn to laugh as Lily’s cherry turned her cheeks bright green!

  The first one Goldie tried made her whiskers curl, and Jess’s next one gave her pointy ears!

  When Lily ate a particularly large cherry, she noticed Jess and Goldie grinning.

  “What?” she asked.

  “You’ve found Olivia’s favorite food,” said Jess with a laugh, “and now we know what it does. Lily, your hair has turned pink!”

  Jess’s cheeks and ears returned to normal. Lily’s nose and hair took a little longer, and Goldie gave a sigh of relief when her whiskers straightened out.

  Lily put some pink cherries in her pocket. “We know Olivia’s favorite hobby and her favorite food,” she said, “but we still haven’t discovered her biggest secret …”

  Jess thought for a moment. “Maybe Percy Littlepaw the vole would know,” she said. “He’s her best friend.”

  “Of course!” said Goldie. “Let’s ask him—he lives next door to the bakery.”

  They hurried back and went straight to the Littlepaws’ burrow in a grassy bank covered with climbing dandyroses.

  Jess bent down to knock at the blue front door.

  Percy opened it. “Have you found Olivia?” he asked anxiously.

  “No, we haven’t,” said Lily.

  Percy’s whiskers drooped sadly.

  “You’re Olivia’s best friend,” Jess said. “We need your help.”

  “Do you know what Olivia’s secret is?” Lily asked.

  “That’s easy!” cried the little vole. “It’s—” He stopped. “Oh! But it’s not nice to tell someone’s secret,” he said.

  Lily stroked his other paw. “Percy, it’s okay to tell someone’s secret if they’re in trouble. We really need to know so we can save Olivia from Grizelda’s magic.”

  Percy nodded. “All right,” he said. “Her secret is her baby hamster doll, Nutmeg. Olivia thinks she’s too old for Nutmeg now, so she plays with her in secret.”

  Goldie and the girls were delighted.

  “Thanks, Percy!” said Lily. She blew him a kiss.

  They hurried next door to the bakery. Mrs. Nibblesqueak rushed to answer their knock.

  “We just need one more thing to save Olivia,” Goldie explained. “It’s Nutmeg!”

  But Mrs. Nibblesqueak wrung her paws with worry. “Oh dear,” she said, “I haven’t seen Olivia play with Nutmeg for months. I wonder where she is?”

  Penny appeared in the doorway, too. “I’ll search Olivia’s room!” she said. But when she came back, she was shaking her head.

  “I can’t find Nutmeg anywhere,” she said sadly. “Now what?” said Jess.

  Mrs. Nibblesqueak’s eyes filled with tears. “Will Olivia turn into a messy bat?” she asked with a sob.

  Lily hugged her. “We’re not going to let that happen,” she promised. “We won’t give up.”

  Mr. Nibblesqueak passed around cups of raspberry soda, and Goldie and the girls sat down to think about what to do next.

  As she sipped her drink, Jess flicked through Olivia’s sketchbook. “Here’s a picture of you, Mrs. Nibblesqueak,” she said. “And here’s the Toadstool Café.” She turned the page and found a drawing of a stream with bluebells growing along its banks. In tiny, hamster-size handwriting, Olivia had written Bluebell Brook.

  Jess examined it closely, then gave a cry.

  “That’s lovely,” Lily said.

  “But look!” said Jess. “In the picture, something’s tucked among the bluebells.”

  “It’s a tiny hamster!” said Lily.

  “Exactly,” said Jess. “But maybe it’s not a real hamster. Maybe it’s Nutmeg the hamster doll! If Olivia doesn’t want anyone to see her playing with it, maybe she keeps it there—Bluebell Brook!” She kept flipping through the sketchbook, and they saw that Olivia had filled lots of other pages with drawings of Bluebell Brook.

  Lily was thrilled. “It must be her favorite place!” She turned to Goldie and the Nibblesqueaks. “Where is Bluebell Brook?”

  The Nibblesqueaks shook their heads.

  “We don’t know,” said Olivia’s dad, his whiskers quivering with worry.

  “There are lots of streams in the forest,” said Goldie. “I’ve never heard of Bluebell Brook, but it’s okay—I know someone who might have seen it. Captain Ace!”

  A little later, Lily, Jess, and Goldie gazed down on the forest treetops. They were riding in a basket beneath a brightly colored patchwork hot air balloon!

  Captain Ace flew alongside, towing the balloon with a rope in his beak. Whenever he squawked, “pull,” Goldie tugged another rope that hung down inside the balloon. Whoosh! A stream of bubbles shot up into the hot air balloon, keeping it floating high up in the sky.

  “Watch out for bluebells growing beside a brook,” said Jess.

  As they drifted along, Lily noticed a dark, forbidding building in the distance. “There’s Grizelda’s tower,” she said, shivering.

  “And see that gray area next to it?” said Goldie. “That’s the Witchy Waste.”

  Now Jess shivered. “I’m glad we’re not going there.”

  A few minutes later, Lily spotted a ribbon of sparkling water flowing lazily through a field of buttercups. All along its banks were drifts of blue flowers.

  “Bluebell Brook!” she cried, pointing. “It must be!”

  “Take us down, please, Captain Ace,” Jess asked.

  The balloon flew lower and lower, landing with a gentle bump among the pretty yellow buttercups.

  “It looks just like Olivia’s pictures!” Lily exclaimed.

  The girls and Goldie climbed out and called, “Thanks, Captain!”

  “Good luck!” he replied, and took off again.

  The three friends headed toward the brook, where the water bubbled and gurgled over moss-covered stones.

  Goldie’s ears pricked up. “Listen!”

  They heard shrill squeaking.

  “It’s Peep and Olivia!” she said. “They’re coming this way.”

  They all crouched down, peering between the bluebells.

  They could hear Olivia giggling. “I can’t wait to make all these flowers messy, too,” she said. “Making a mess is so much fun! I want to keep being messy forever and ever!”

  Peep flapped around her happily. “Not long to wait, Olivia,” he said. “Gri
zelda said that it takes a day for the magic to work, so you’ll turn into a bat really soon! Then we can be the messiest friends in the forest!”

  Olivia gave a delighted squeak. “Hooray!” she cheered.

  The girls and Goldie turned to each other in horror. “If our spell doesn’t work,” whispered Jess, “then Olivia really will turn into a bat—and there’ll be nothing we can do to save her!”

  Jess, Lily, and Goldie watched in horror as Olivia and Peep tore up the bluebells by Bluebell Brook. “Lovely mess!” squeaked Olivia, tossing the flowers into the bubbling water. Peep giggled and splashed the water with his wings.

  Lily spotted a tiny figure among the bluebells. “There’s Nutmeg, Olivia’s toy hamster!” she whispered. “The spell says that we need to gather all Olivia’s favorite things together. Come on!”

  They wriggled on their stomachs through the bluebells until they reached Nutmeg.

  Jess put the sketchbook beside the doll, and Lily added the pink cherries. Then Jess opened her notebook and read the end of the spell:

  “Put them in your favorite place,

  The place you love to be.

  If someone names those things aloud,

  Yourself once more you’ll be.”

  “Look out,” Lily whispered. “They’re almost here!”

  As Peep and Olivia came toward them, Goldie and the girls stood up.

  “Olivia,” Goldie said gently. “Look! All your favorite things, here in your favorite place.”

  The hamster came closer, flapping her paws, and sniffed the cherries and the sketchbook. Her whiskers quivered. When she saw Nutmeg, she gave a faint squeak.

  “Now!” cried Lily.

  “Olivia’s favorite hobby …” Jess chanted, “is drawing!”

  “Olivia’s favorite food …” added Goldie, “… is pink cherries!”

  “Olivia’s biggest secret …” Lily shouted, “… is Nutmeg!”

  They joined hands and said together: “Olivia’s favorite place—Bluebell Brook!”