by Rosie Banks
“We’ve got to do something,” said Jasmine, looking at the wide gulf of blue sky between the two halves of the island.
“I’ve got an idea,” said Summer. She rushed over to the raindrop workshop and scooped up some of the cotton candy from the heap. “Yum!” she cried loudly. “This cotton candy looks really delicious! Do you want some, Ellie?”
“I don’t think we have time….” Ellie stopped as Summer nodded her head over to the Storm Sprites, who had stopped flapping and were looking hungrily at the big pile of cotton candy.
“Oh, thanks, Summer!” she said loudly, taking a bite. “Mmmmm, this is tasty cotton candy. Jasmine, come and have some!”
The Storm Sprites were licking their lips now. One tugged on another’s wing. “They’ve got cotton candy,” he said longingly. “Queen Malice never lets us eat cotton candy!”
“Good idea, Summer!” Ellie whispered.
“Food always distracts my brothers, too!” Summer giggled.
“We’ll just leave this big pile of delicious cotton candy here while we go over there,” Jasmine said, winking at Ellie and Summer.
The three girls walked away, and Ellie peeked over her shoulder. The sprites had all rushed over to the cotton candy and were stuffing it into their mouths.
While they were busy eating, Summer spoke to the doves using the unicorn horn. “Quick! Start blowing the island back together again!” she cooed.
The doves circled the broken piece and beat their wings with all their might. Slowly it started to drift back toward the rest of Cloud Island.
“They’ve almost got it,” whispered Jasmine.
But then the head Storm Sprite turned around. “We’ve been tricked!” he screeched. “We can’t let them fix the island!” he shouted to the other sprites. “We’ll be in big trouble if those girls best us again. The queen will lock us in the dungeons!”
The sprites rushed toward the gap, but Ellie, Summer, and Jasmine were quicker. The girls grabbed handfuls of cotton candy and started throwing it at the sprites!
“Take that!” Ellie yelled, throwing a sticky missile at one of the sprites. The candy hit him with a squelchy thud.
“Yuck!” he complained.
The girls took no notice. “Serves you right for being so horrible!” Summer yelled, throwing more cotton candy.
“I’m covered in pink stuff,” one sprite whined.
“So am I!” shrieked another.
They tried to pull the cotton candy off one another, but then their hands started sticking together!
The girls, King Merry, Trixi, and the weather imps all giggled at the sticky sprites. They looked so funny covered in pink goo!
“Flap your wings!” the sprite leader shouted to the others from his cloud.
The sprites tried to make some wind to blow the pieces of the island apart, but their wings were so covered with cotton candy that they stuck together and wouldn’t flap.
“Retreat!” shouted the leader.
The Storm Sprites jumped on their clouds and zoomed down to the kingdom below.
“We did it!” Ellie cried. The three girls hugged one another in delight. Now that the Storm Sprites were out of the way, the doves were able to blow the broken pieces of the island together. With a jolt, Cloud Island was finally joined up again, the sticky cotton candy holding it fast.
“Hooray!” the imps all cheered, clapping.
Ellie and Jasmine waved. “Thank you!” they called to the doves.
“Thank you so much for helping us,” Summer cooed to her dove friend.
“My pleasure,” cooed the dove. Then he waved his wings and flew off with the others.
Lolo and the other imps rushed over. Lolo handed the cloud bunny to Summer, and he snuggled up to her again gladly.
“I’m glad you’re safe, Cotton,” Summer told him as she stroked his fluffy ears.
She put him down and he hopped happily back to his bunny friends. One of them jumped toward him and they rubbed noses.
“Now to mend this crack once and for all,” Lolo said firmly. “Quick — start making as much cloud as you can,” she told the other weather imps.
The imps rushed about, busily collecting fluff flowers and feeding them into the cloud factory.
Summer had an armful of fluff flowers and was bending over to pick more when a dark shadow fell across the ground. She looked up and gasped.
There was a thundercloud heading right for them … and on top of it stood a figure who looked horribly familiar!
A tall, thin woman with wild, frizzy hair was leaning over the edge of the cloud. She was wearing a black cloak and a spiky silver crown, and she held a long, sharp staff in her hand.
“It’s Queen Malice!” Summer cried.
Queen Malice’s cloud floated over them and the girls raced after it. It stopped right over the line of cotton candy and a shower of rain began to gush from it.
“Oh no!” gasped Summer as a trickle of pink water oozed out of the crack. “She’s trying to wash the cotton candy away! It needs to be sticky, not soggy!”
“So you girls have found another one of my thunderbolts,” Queen Malice called down from her thundercloud. “Well, you won’t destroy this one! I will break Cloud Island apart and the Secret Kingdom will turn into a dry desert. My useless brother won’t know what to do and then you’ll all be begging me to rule!”
“That won’t happen!” Jasmine called back, looking at Queen Malice fiercely as the rain poured down on her. “We won’t let you get away with it!”
“Silly girl!” Queen Malice cackled. “I’m far more powerful than you. I’m going to destroy Cloud Island, and there’s nothing you can do about it!”
There was a fierce crack of lightning and a loud rumble of thunder, and even more rain poured onto the pink cotton candy that was holding the two parts of the cloud together.
“We’ve got to do something!” cried Ellie.
Queen Malice laughed as everyone on Cloud Island ran about frantically.
Jasmine looked around desperately. “We need to stop the water from falling,” she told the others. “Trixi, can you magic something up to catch it? An umbrella or a blanket or something?”
Trixi pointed her ring and suddenly a stripy bucket floated down from the sky. Jasmine jumped up to catch it, and rushed to put it under the raincloud. More and more buckets appeared, and Ellie, King Merry, Summer, and Lolo all rushed to put them on the crack to protect it from the falling rain. Soon there were hundreds of buckets of all sizes and colors keeping the cotton candy nice and dry. Raindrops plopped noisily into them and the buckets started filling up.
“We need somewhere to empty them out,” said Summer, pointing at a small bucket next to her that was almost completely full.
Ellie was standing closest to the edge of Cloud Island. She peered over and saw a pretty forest of tall flowers below. The Storm Sprites were sitting in the center of one of the gigantic flowers, picking cotton candy off of their wings and squabbling loudly.
“Those giant flowers look like they could use a drink,” Ellie said.
“And the Storm Sprites could use a bath!” Summer giggled.
As the buckets filled up, Summer, Ellie, Jasmine, King Merry, and all the weather imps started emptying them over the side.
“What are you doing down there?” Queen Malice called, leaning farther over the edge of her cloud to watch them struggling to empty out all the buckets. As soon as they poured one out they had to come back and take another full bucket. The buckets were filling up faster than everyone could empty them!
“You won’t be able to keep that up forever!” Queen Malice yelled nastily, laughing as Jasmine wobbled around with a heavy bucket in her hands.
“Oh dear,” said King Merry as he carried another one to the side of Cloud Island. “My arms are getting very tired!”
“We have to keep going,” Lolo said as she rushed over to help him empty the bucket over the edge of the cloud. “If the cotton candy gets any wetter, the
island will break apart again and Queen Malice will have won.”
Just then Jasmine peered up at Queen Malice’s cloud and noticed something — it was moving upward. “Look!” she called. As the girls watched, the cloud rose higher and higher.
Queen Malice came back into view as her thundercloud headed even higher. “Stop moving me!’ she shrieked.
“It’s not us!” Jasmine yelled up to her. “Your cloud’s much lighter without all that rain, so it’s floating away!”
As the thundercloud drifted farther, the rain slowed to a drizzle and then stopped.
“Nooooo!” Queen Malice wailed from far above.
“The new cloud’s ready,” called an imp from the cloud factory.
“Quick, empty the rest of the buckets,” Lolo shouted. The girls rushed to pour the water onto the flowers below. Jasmine was going so fast that she accidentally let go of the bucket, and it fell over the side as well.
“Oops!” she said, peering over the edge. The bucket had landed upside down on the head of one of the Storm Sprites!
“Who turned out the lights?” he squawked, sticking his arms out and accidentally pushing another sprite off the flower and into a puddle of mud on the ground.
“Nice hat,” Ellie called down to him.
“At least that washed the cotton candy off!” Jasmine laughed.
With the rain emptied, the girls went to help the imps, who were bringing basket after basket of new cloud over to the crack. Everyone helped smooth the cloud over the gap so that the cotton candy didn’t show at all. Soon you couldn’t even see where the rift had been.
Suddenly there was a loud cracking sound. Ellie looked over at the violet pool just in time to see the ugly black thunderbolt shattering into hundreds of pieces.
“We’ve broken the spell!” she said delightedly.
Suddenly a screechy voice called from high above. “Nooooo!” Queen Malice yelled. “My beautiful thunderbolt!”
Her cloud was so high they could hardly see it anymore, but they could still hear Queen Malice’s voice as she shouted nastily. “There are still three more of my thunderbolts in the kingdom and you’ll never find them! I’ll make sure that everyone is miserable! I’ll make the fairies cry! I’ll spoil the mermaids’ fun! I will not be defeated….”
Queen Malice’s voice finally faded into the distance, and she and her gloomy cloud were gone.
“She’s so mean!” Summer said, shivering a bit. She couldn’t help feeling a little bit afraid of Queen Malice. She was so nasty. You never knew what she was going to do next, or when she would turn up.
Lolo came over, smiling happily.
?“Thanks to you, Cloud Island is back together again!”
“Hooray!” the girls all cheered.
“I guess that means it’s time for us to go home,” Ellie sighed.
“Oh, but you’ll come and visit us again, won’t you?” asked Lolo as all the weather imps gathered around to say good-bye. “We could never have fixed Cloud Island without you.”
“We’d love to,” said Jasmine.
“I think Cotton’s saying good-bye as well,” Summer said as the cloud bunny hopped over to her feet. She picked him up and stroked his tiny ears, trying not to feel sad.
All the girls gave the little rabbit a hug, and then Summer passed him to Lolo.
“Look up into the sky from your homes in the Other Realm,” Lolo told them, “and you’ll see animal shapes in the clouds. That’s how you’ll know that we’re thinking of you.”
“I’m sure you’ll be back here soon,” Trixi said grimly. “We know that Queen Malice hid six thunderbolts, and so far we’ve only found three of them.”
“Wait a second!” Lolo cried. “We can’t let you go without giving you a thank-you gift.” She held up a beautiful, sparkling jewel. “This is a weather crystal,” she said, handing it to Jasmine. “It gives you the power to change the weather for a little while.”
Jasmine took the gleaming crystal. It had a golden glow and shimmered in the sunlight.
“Concentrate on the weather you want,” Lolo told her.
Jasmine gazed at the crystal and thought hard. Suddenly glorious sunshine filled the sky!
“Oh, thank you!” Jasmine said, holding up the crystal for Summer and Ellie to see.
“Thank you so much,” Ellie told Lolo.
“It’s so beautiful!” said Summer, laughing as she danced in and out of the sunbeams.
“Ready to go, girls?” asked Trixi.
“Ready,” they all said, holding hands and waiting for the whirlwind to carry them back home.
Trixi said the magic spell and tapped her ring. Silver stars shimmered all over them as the whirlwind started to form. It grew bigger and bigger, scooping them up and carrying them with it. Then there was a flash and they were back in Jasmine’s bedroom again.
Ellie looked at the clock, but no time had passed. Somehow, time always stood still when they went to the Secret Kingdom.
“We’d better put these magical gifts away safely,” said Summer, taking the unicorn horn out of her pocket and walking over to the Magic Box. The mirror started glowing and the lid magically opened. Summer placed the horn in one of the compartments, next to the magic map. Jasmine held up the weather crystal and they all looked at it one more time before she carefully placed it in the Magic Box. Three of the little wooden compartments were filled now — and Jasmine could only imagine what exciting adventures they’d have before the little box was full.
“I guess we’d better get started with our homework,” Ellie sighed.
“That’s it!” Summer cried. “I know what you can write your story about — Cloud Island and the weather imps!”
“No one would believe me,” said Ellie.
“Well, at least we know it’s true!” Jasmine laughed.
Ellie grinned and opened her book happily. She couldn’t wait to describe all the magical things she’d seen on Cloud Island — and imagine all the wonderful things they’d do on their next visit to the Secret Kingdom!
In the next Secret Kingdom adventure, Ellie, Summer, and Jasmine visit
Mermaid Reef
Read on for a sneak peek….
“I’m starving!” Jasmine Smith cried as she joined her friends Ellie Macdonald and Summer Hammond at their usual table in the busy school cafeteria.
“We saved your space.” Summer smiled. “Where have you been?”
“I left my headband in the classroom,” Jasmine told her. Everyone had to wear the same navy-blue sweater, white top, and boring gray pants or skirt at school, but that didn’t stop Jasmine from trying to brighten her uniform up a bit. She usually wore colorful barrettes or a pretty clip in her long dark hair. Today she was wearing a bright pink headband that matched her backpack.
As Jasmine pulled her lunchbox out of her bag, she noticed something else. Deep at the bottom of her backpack there was a familiar sparkly glow….
“The Magic Box!” Jasmine whispered.
“What?” Ellie gasped, almost knocking her drink over in excitement. The Magic Box had never sent them a message at school before!
The box looked just like a beautiful wooden jewelry box. It had a curved lid and a mirror surrounded by six shiny jewels. Its sides were covered with carvings of fairies and other magical creatures. The three friends took turns looking after it, but it really belonged to King Merry, the ruler of a wonderful place called the Secret Kingdom.
The Secret Kingdom was a magical land full of unicorns, mermaids, pixies, and elves — but it had a terrible problem. When King Merry had been chosen by his subjects to rule the kingdom instead of his nasty sister, Queen Malice, the horrid queen had been so annoyed that she had thrown six enchanted thunderbolts into the most wonderful places in the land to ruin them and make everyone as miserable as she was.
King Merry had sent the Magic Box to find the only people who could help save the kingdom — Jasmine, Summer, and Ellie! The girls had already helped the king and his pixie assi
stant, Trixibelle, destroy three of the horrible thunderbolts. Now it looked like they were needed to find another one.
“We’ll have to finish lunch when we come back,” said Ellie as they rushed into the girls room. Time always stood still while they were in the Secret Kingdom, so no one would realize they were gone. But people might notice if they suddenly vanished in the middle of the cafeteria!
They closed the door of a stall and crowded around the box.
“The riddle’s appearing!” Summer whispered.
They all watched eagerly as words started to form in the mirrored lid:
“Another thunderbolt is near,
Way down deep in water clear.
Look on the bed that’s in the sea,
Where more than fish swim happily!”
Ellie slowly read out the rhyme. “What do you think that means?”
Jasmine frowned. “Well, the bottom of the sea is called the seabed …”
Suddenly the Magic Box glowed again and the lid magically opened, revealing the six little wooden compartments inside. Three of the spaces were already filled with the wonderful gifts they’d been given by the people of the Secret Kingdom. There was a magical moving map that showed them all the places in the kingdom, a tiny silver unicorn horn that let them talk to animals, and a shimmering crystal that had the power to change the weather.
“Maybe the map will give us a clue,” said Jasmine. She carefully took it out of the Magic Box and smoothed it flat. It showed the whole of the Secret Kingdom spread out beneath them, as if the girls were looking down at it from high above.
“Look,” Jasmine said, pointing to the aquamarine sea. Waves were gently spilling onto the shore, colorful fish were playing in the water, and a beautiful girl was sitting on a rock, combing her hair.
As Ellie, Summer, and Jasmine watched, the girl dived off the rock into the sparkling water. Jasmine gasped as she saw that, instead of legs, the girl had a glittering tail!