Gooey Goblins

by Helen Perelman

“Bats?” Dash asked. “What can we do about that?”

  Reaching down for the royal candy basket, Berry stuck her hand in and took out the heart-shaped fruit chew. “I guess it’s my turn to work some candy magic,” she said with a smile. “There’s nothing a black licorice bat likes more than a fruit chew. I’ll make more, and I bet it will quiet them down. Then we can get some rest.”

  “Good thinking,” Raina said. “But be careful. I don’t really trust those bats. They are sneaky creatures.”

  “I’ll be all right,” Berry said bravely. “I know they’ll be happy to see these treats. And maybe I can get some information from them.”

  “Not likely,” Dash said. “Bats are kind of flippy.”

  Berry took the fruit chews outside the tent and put the candy down on a nearby rock. In seconds the whole family of bats flew down to eat.

  Dash stuck her head out of the tent. “How’s it going?” she asked nervously.

  “Come on out,” Berry said. “You have to check out the sky. The stars are incredible here. I can see the Milky Way!”

  The four fairies slowly crept out of the safety of their tent. The cool breeze blew their wings, but there was a stillness now that the bats were eating. Raina looked up at the black sky.

  “Sweet,” she gasped. “I have never seen so many stars.”

  “Don’t they look like jewels?” Berry said.

  “Now that I am out here, I am not scared anymore.”

  Cocoa sighed. “Maybe this place isn’t so scary after all.” She spun around. “I don’t see a goblin or anything.”

  “Me neither,” Melli said. She pointed up to the sky. “Hot caramel!” she cried. “I just saw a shooting star!”

  “If I were a goblin,” Dash said thoughtfully, “I would hang out here too. This place is amazing. I never knew there were that many stars in the night sky.”

  Berry leaned down and tried to get the bats to tell her about any goblins in the cove. Each bat shook its head. Though black licorice bats can’t always be trusted, this time Berry believed them.

  The five friends stargazed until their eyes were too heavy to stay open. At that moment the bats were peaceful and there was silence in the cove. With no goblins in sight, the fairies decided to go to sleep. They would have to continue their hunt tomorrow when they weren’t so tired. Snuggled safely in their tent, the fairies drifted off to sleep, hoping that in the morning they would find the answer to this goblin story.

  CHAPTER

  10

  Candy Clue

  The next morning Melli stretched her arms and wings in the bright sunlight. Her friends were still asleep inside the tent, so she had slipped outside. She took a deep breath and enjoyed the sweet, cool air of Sugar Cove. The Candy Cliffs were glistening in the morning light, and a few vanilla seagulls were cawing in a nearby tree.

  Melli smiled. She loved all the different sweet sounds and scents of the cove . . . especially now that the bright sun was out!

  She flew up and looked down at the bright blue sea below. She could see the caramel turtles crawling around the beach. When they weren’t rocking the sailboat, the creatures were not scary at all. Melli took a quick dive and floated down to the beach.

  No wonder this is called Sprinkle Sand Beach, she thought as she landed. In the evening when they had arrived, she hadn’t noticed that the sand was actually made of rainbow sprinkles. She put her hand down on the sand and cupped the sprinkles in her palm. Opening her fist, she let the tiny, colorful grains fall through her fingers. Then she looked up to see a small turtle coming up to her.

  Slowly reaching out her hand, Melli offered the turtle a caramel in the center of her palm. His shell had a beautiful mosaic, and he had the sweetest brown eyes.

  “Hi there,” Melli said. “I thought you’d like a little caramel for breakfast.” She laughed as the turtle’s soft tongue lapped up the candy. “Don’t worry,” she said to the others. “I made more. I have plenty more for all of you.”

  Soon the caramel turtles surrounded Melli. They waited patiently as she gave each of them a sweet morning treat.

  “You weren’t so nice to us in the sailboat last night,” she scolded playfully. “I know you were probably scared.” She leaned in closer to tell her secret. “I was scared too. Have you ever seen Nillie? I bet she is pretty salty.”

  Behind a rock Melli noticed a dark caramel turtle. He had his head and legs pulled deep inside his shell.

  “Oh, I didn’t mean to frighten you again,” Melli said gently. She got up and walked over to him. “Come on out and try some more of this candy.”

  The turtle didn’t budge from his shell.

  Melli placed the caramel in front of the turtle. “I’ll leave the caramel right here for you,” she said. “When you are ready, you can come out and eat.”

  Melli saw the turtle’s head slowly jut out of his shell. He sniffed at the candy and snapped a bite.

  “Sure as sugar,” Melli said, smiling, “we are going to be friends.”

  “Sweet sugar!” Cocoa cried from above. “There you are.”

  Looking up, Melli spotted her four friends.

  “We’ve been looking all over for you!” Berry said.

  Raina landed next to Melli. “I knew you’d come back to see the turtles,” she said, smiling. “They are supersweet.”

  “You’ve made a few new friends,” Dash commented. She nodded to the many happy turtles surrounding Melli.

  Melli pet the shy turtle next to her. “I’ve never seen anything like them,” she said. “And to think that we were scared of them yesterday!”

  “They are cute,” Cocoa said, leaning down to pet one on the head. “And I bet they are loving the attention from a Caramel Fairy.”

  “You’ve been feeding them, haven’t you?” Dash asked.

  Melli grinned. “I couldn’t help but give them more caramel,” she confessed. “They were hungry.” She grinned at the shy turtle. “And they are so cute!”

  Dash flew around the turtles, and they playfully snapped at her. “They are so funny,” she said, laughing. “They are so mint!”

  For the first time since they’d arrived, the friends all laughed.

  “Look over there,” Cocoa said. Her laughter stopped and her face had a serious, worried expression. “Hot chocolate, do you see that?”

  The fairies stared at a trail of melted candy that circled around a piece of red rock candy. The sprinkle sand looked as if it had been torched with fire.

  “Oh, what a gooey mess,” Dash gasped.

  “Just like in Gummy Forest,” Raina added. “This is a clue. We have to follow the trail. This trail has to take us closer to the goblins.” She glanced at her friends. “Or whatever is melting the candy.”

  The fairies all nodded at the same time. While they were having fun, they knew that this was not just a camping vacation. They had a responsibility to find the goblins of Sugar Cove.

  “I think we have to follow the clue,” Cocoa finally said.

  “Where there’s melted candy, there has to be fire,” Berry said bravely.

  “Or angry goblins?” Dash mumbled.

  Raina led the way. “Let’s stick together,” she said. “We’re on the right track. We have to get to the bottom of this mystery.”

  CHAPTER

  11

  Red Hot Idea

  In a single line the fairies flew over the gooey trail. The melted sugar path snaked around the mountain and up into the Candy Cliffs. The path seemed to wrap around and around . . . endlessly.

  Where is this trail taking us? Raina wondered. She wasn’t scared. She was curious. And the more curious she became, the braver she felt. They were so close to finding the answer to this melted mess mystery. Finally she would know what had caused the damage in Gummy Forest. She flew a little faster up the cliffs.

  Squinting, she looked up. Then she glanced behind her to Berry. “Do you have your binoculars with you?” she asked.

  Berry flew closer to Raina and reache
d into her bag. She handed the jeweled binoculars to Raina. “Here you go,” she told her.

  Raina fluttered to a stop and hovered in the air. She peered through the lenses to see up the cliffs.

  “How far do you think this trail goes?” Berry asked. Her wings were getting tired. Flying up the side of the cliffs with the sea wind blowing was very difficult.

  “My guess is that this goes to that cave over there,” Raina said, pointing to a cave high up on a cliff. She handed the binoculars back to Berry. “What do you think?”

  “I think you’re right,” Berry said, looking through the binoculars.

  “I hope so,” Cocoa said, coming up behind Berry. “This is hard work.”

  “And I’m getting hungry,” Dash grumbled as she stopped next to her friends.

  Melli was at the end of the line and slowed down to float in the air with her friends. “Anyone else a little nervous?” she asked. Even though the sun was out and there was nothing to make her afraid, she wasn’t sure what would happen when they got to the cave.

  The five fairies knew this was the big moment in their journey. No one said anything for a minute.

  “We’ll be okay,” Raina finally said. “Come on, let’s go see what’s up there. We’ve come this far—now let’s find out if there are goblins or not.”

  The fairies continued to follow the trail of melted candies and ended up at one of the high caves nestled in a cliff.

  Suddenly Raina put her hand out, and the fairies all stopped.

  “What?” Cocoa asked, flapping her wings. “What did you see?”

  “I just heard something,” Raina whispered.

  “I heard that too,” Berry said, looking at Raina.

  Floating in the air, the fairies listened. The cool sea air carried a soft, faint moaning.

  With wide eyes, Dash shook her head. “Oh, I heard that,” she whispered.

  The moaning sound came again. It was more sad than scary, but the noise still made Melli shiver.

  “That must be the goblins!” Melli cried.

  Raina put her hand on her friend’s arm. “We don’t know anything for sure,” she said. “We need to take a look.” She gazed at her friends. “Everyone ready?”

  “Let’s go,” Cocoa said. “The suspense is making me crazy.”

  “Candy crazy,” Dash agreed. “Let’s go.”

  The fairies continued to fly to the highest cave. This time they flew a little closer together.

  There was a large pink chunk of rock candy jutting out of the mountain a little above the cave. Raina landed on it first, and the others followed. They took a moment to rest their wings and catch their breath.

  “Did you see that?” Raina asked in a hushed tone.

  “See what?” Dash asked, looking around.

  “Coming out from the cave,” Raina whispered. “I saw a long tail . . .”

  “A dragon’s tail,” Berry finished for her. “I saw it too! The tail sticking out of the cave was lime green with blue spots.”

  Cocoa’s eyes bulged open. “Hot chocolate!” she shouted.

  “Shhhh,” her friends all shushed her.

  Cocoa’s hand flew up to her mouth. “Sorry,” she whispered.

  “You mean the trail leads to a dragon’s lair?”

  Melli asked. Her wings began to flutter as she grew more nervous.

  “I hope it’s not a dragon that likes to eat Candy Fairies,” Dash said, feeling a little more worried than scared at the news.

  Raina threw off her backpack and took out the Fairy Code Book. “I know that I’ve heard of a dragon with those colors,” she mumbled to herself.

  “You actually brought the Fairy Code Book?” Berry said, rolling her eyes.

  Opening the book, Raina turned to a page with a picture of a dragon. She nodded. “And aren’t you glad I did?” she said quietly. She pointed to an illustration of a green-and-purple dragon with blue spots.

  Her friends gathered closely around as they looked at the picture and information about a green-and-purple dragon with blue spots. “The dragon’s name is Carobee,” Raina read out loud. “He is known for blowing hot air.”

  “That would explain the melted candy!” Cocoa exclaimed.

  Berry pointed to the Fairy Code Book. “That’s no gooey goblin,” she stated. “He’s a dragon from Meringue Island!”

  “Maybe he’s lost?” Raina said sadly.

  “Or maybe he’s just hungry,” Dash said, shuddering.

  “I liked this better when we thought there were little, pesky goblins,” Melli mumbled. “Dragons are dangerous!”

  “What should we do?” Cocoa said. “I thought you’re never supposed to wake a sleeping dragon.”

  “Not unless you have some food,” Berry said, smiling. She held up the royal basket of candy. “This basket hasn’t failed us yet.”

  “Let’s hope he likes candy better than fairies,” Dash replied.

  “Sure as sugar, this is one of the craziest things we’ve done,” Melli said.

  “Think of Gummy Forest and that trail of gooey candy,” Raina said to her. “We have to find the reason this is happening.”

  “We’ll all stick together,” Cocoa said. “We can do this!”

  They held hands and jumped down to the rock below to get a better look inside the cave.

  Even asleep, the dragon’s breath was hot and fiery.

  “He could roast a marshmallow with that breath!” Dash whispered.

  “He doesn’t look so scary,” Berry noted. The cave was dark, but the dragon was curled up like a sleeping baby. He had long eyelashes that hung down from his closed eyelids as he slept peacefully.

  “He actually looks kinda . . . sweet,” Raina replied.

  “He’s sleeping,” Dash reminded her friends. “Everyone looks calm and sweet when sleeping.”

  “What candy do we have left?” Melli asked, looking in the basket. If Carobee suddenly woke up, she wanted to have the treat ready.

  “There’s some chocolate,” Cocoa said. “I could make some chocolate for our toasty friend.”

  “I think that would be a red-hot idea,” Raina said. “We’ll wait until Carobee wakes up, then give him the treat.”

  “After some of my chocolate, we’ll be fast friends,” Cocoa assured her friends. “I can make the best chocolate.”

  “Can you make it extra sweet?” Melli asked. “Maybe that will help sweeten him up?”

  Cocoa smiled. “I’ll try,” she said.

  Now all they had to do was wait for the sleeping dragon to wake up.

  CHAPTER

  12

  Goblin Chase

  So this is goblin hunting?” Melli said, staring up at the bright blue sky. “I kind of imagined a goblin chase a little differently.”

  Berry laughed. “Something darker, with a little more hiding?” she said, giggling.

  The fairies were lying down on the pink rock above Carobee’s cave. They were all on their stomachs leaning over the edge, watching the sleeping dragon below. Carobee had not moved once all day. He was still sound asleep. His steamy hot breath was making a puddle of liquid sugar out of the rock-candy pillow he was sleeping on.

  “At least we’re waiting in the daylight,” Cocoa added. “The views here are choc-o-rific!” she exclaimed. She gazed out into the vast Vanilla Sea. “I like Sugar Cove much better in the daytime.”

  “Can you imagine if there was snow here?” Dash said, checking out the steep incline of the cliffs. “If there were trails here like on the Frosted Mountains, I would sled so fast . . . so mint!”

  “Well, things might change once Carobee wakes up,” Melli said, peering down at the dragon’s long tail.

  “Why would he ever want to leave Meringue Island?” Berry wondered out loud. She looked out toward Meringue Island. The small island had many meringue peaks, and the majestic Meringue Mountains looked delicious. “If I lived there,” Berry said wistfully, “I would never leave.” Berry had only met one fairy from the island. Her name
was Fruli. At first Berry had been very jealous of her because of her beautiful clothing, but they had become fast friends.

  “Maybe Carobee isn’t really into clothes,” Dash said, tossing a small candy rock in the air and catching it in her mouth. “I don’t really see him as having the greatest sense of fashion. I think his passion is fire—and sleeping.”

  “I guess if you are out breathing fire all night, it makes you sleep all day,” Cocoa said, lying down. “Licking lollipops,” she sighed. “All this waiting is exhausting.”

  “Does the Fairy Code Book say anything more about Carobee?” Melli asked Raina.

  Raina shook her head. “There are fairy tales about the dragon, but no real, helpful information,” she said. “He doesn’t seem to be salty, though.” She paused and sat up on her knees. “I just wonder why he would go around melting candy. That is the real mystery.”

  “I think you might have a chance to ask him,” Melli said. She pointed down below. The large, long dragon tail was lashing around.

  “He’s awake!” Dash exclaimed. “Is the chocolate ready?”

  “Best chocolate ever created,” Cocoa boasted. She held up the chocolate bar.

  The fairies all looked at one another. This was the moment they had been waiting for all day.

  “On the count of three,” Raina instructed. “One . . . two . . . three.”

  The fairies all held hands and flew down below to hover just slightly above the dragon’s lair. Cocoa held the special chocolate in her hand, ready to offer the treat to the dragon.

  Carobee’s large eyes were open, and opened even wider when the fairies came into his view. The dragon’s nose twitched. One of his dark eyes locked on the chocolate. A roar came from the dragon’s wide, long mouth. The fairies quaked and quivered when they saw all of Carobee’s sharp teeth and felt the hot breath bursting forward. Luckily, the fairies were fast and sped out of the way of danger.

  Cocoa dropped the chocolate on the ground before flying away and watched as the dragon lapped up the candy.

  “Mmmm,” the dragon moaned. “Thank you.”