by Elise Allen
“Maybe we should play a game first,” she suggested.
“But that wasn’t part of my plan.” Winter sounded disappointed.
“That’s okay,” Summer said. “Adding in a game will just stretch the sleepover longer!”
“Exactly,” Autumn agreed. “We can play Truth or Tickle—you tell the absolute truth, or you get tickled.”
“Fine,” Winter said, “then I’ll start. Truth or tickle to Autumn. What is the naughtiest thing you have ever done?”
Autumn stared into the fire, her lips pursed together. It took her so long to answer that Spring could only imagine how very naughty her answer must be.
“Once,” whispered Autumn, “I ate an entire bunch of grapes before they were ready to be harvested.”
“That’s a lie!” Winter crowed. “Everyone tickle her!”
Winter lunged for Autumn, but Autumn ducked out of her way.
“It’s true!” Autumn protested. “I mean, I did blow away Mother’s blanket for Serenity, but that was an accident. The grapes I ate on purpose.”
“Look at her face, Winter,” Summer said. “I think she’s telling the truth.”
“I am,” Autumn insisted, “which means it’s my turn. Summer, truth or tickle: if you had to kiss one of the Weeds … which one would it be?”
“Ewwww!” Winter erupted.
“Ugh!” Summer roared.
“Autumn, how could you even ask that?” squealed Spring.
“It’s the game!” Autumn answered. “The questions are supposed to be hard. Summer?”
“The truth?” Summer said. “I’d rather kiss a slug than a Weed.”
“Me too,” Spring said. “I have some very good slug friends.”
“I believe you,” Winter told Summer, “but that doesn’t answer the question. So unless you want to be tickled …”
“Fine!” exclaimed Summer. “If I had to choose … not Sleet. He’s too cold, inside and out. Twister has terrible breath, even worse than the others. Quake … ugh, he’s dirty, all the time. So I guess … I guess I’d choose Thunderbolt.”
“Thunderbolt?” her sisters all roared.
“I didn’t say I want to kiss him!” countered Summer. “Autumn said if I had to! I agree, he’s awful, but he’s better than the rest of them.”
“I bet you just want to know if his kisses zap you like lightning,” Winter taunted.
“Ew!” Spring shrieked. Autumn squealed out loud and Summer put her hands over her mouth to cover her horrified giggles.
“Enough!” Summer finally sputtered. “My turn. Spring, truth or tickle: if you could go anywhere in all the Sparkledoms at this very moment, where would it be?”
Spring answered without even thinking. “My room!”
“Your room?” Winter asked. “In the middle of my Snowflake Slumber Party?”
Winter sounded hurt. Spring hadn’t meant to hurt her feelings; she was just playing the game and telling the truth.
Autumn placed a comforting hand on Spring’s knee. “Is that true, Spring? Would you rather be in your room?”
Spring didn’t know how to answer. She’d already told so many fibs to try and get out of the party, she didn’t want to lie anymore. At the same time, she didn’t want to upset Winter. Her insides were as twisted as a snail shell and her tongue felt as thick as an elephant’s foot. For several moments there were no sounds beyond the wind whipping outside the snow fort and the crackling of the fire.
“I guess that answers the question,” Winter said petulantly. “Spring doesn’t like my slumber party.”
“I didn’t say that!” Spring finally exploded. “The game is Truth or Tickle and I was supposed to tell the truth, so I told the truth! I was having a lot of fun but you asked where in all the Sparkledoms I would go in that very moment, and the truth was my room! And it’s even more true in this very moment than that one—I would like to go to my room!”
She folded her arms and stared at the fire. She didn’t want to meet any of her sisters’ stares. Spring did not like Truth or Tickle.
“Fine,” said Winter. “Now I’ll tell the truth. I’ve done everything I can to make sure this party was super-spectacular for you, but you’d rather be in your room. You’re saying my party’s not good enough for you?”
“Winter,” Summer warned.
“What?” Winter shot back.
“That’s not true!” Spring protested. “I had fun before!”
“Before?” Winter echoed, offended.
“I have an idea,” suggested Autumn. “How about we play another game?”
“Great idea,” Summer agreed. “Or we could tell spooky stories, just like Winter planned!”
Suddenly, a strong breeze blew into the fort, extinguishing the fire. Spring yelped loudly. Everything was so dark, she couldn’t see her fingers wiggling in front of her face. What if the fort collapsed? What if the Weeds tried to sneak in and steal their scepters?
Spring couldn’t breathe. She quickly pulled out her moonstone necklace and chanted softly, “Little moon, shine bright. Give me comfort in the night.”
The moonstone transformed into a glowing ball of light that gently illuminated the entire snow fort. All of the Sparkles stared at it in wonder.
“How did you do that?” asked Summer.
“It’s from Mother,” Spring admitted. “A night-light to help me at the sleepover.”
“Wait,” Winter said. “You had to go to Mother to get help for the sleepover? Was the idea of a sleepover in my Sparkledom that horrible?”
Spring thought she might be sick. Everything was getting worse and worse, and she didn’t know how to make it better. “You don’t understand!” she wailed.
“Then help us understand,” Autumn said.
“Yeah,” Summer said. “If you needed a night-light, why didn’t you just ask us? I’m sure Winter could have given you one.”
Tears welled up in her eyes as Spring admitted the truth. “I didn’t ask because you would have told me I was a baby, and I wasn’t ready for a sleepover. And you’d have been right. I’m not ready to talk about which Weed to kiss or to sleep in a snow fort or to tell spooky stories. I’m not ready for a Snowflake Slumber Party, and I don’t think I’ll ever be ready! I miss Dewdrop. I want to sleep in my own bed and … I want to go home!”
Spring ran out of the snow fort. The glowing moonstone lit her way. Outside, giant snowflakes fell from the sky and cooled Spring’s hot tears. She could hear her sisters scrambling after her, so she quickly pulled out her scepter and conjured:
The colors of the rainbow sparkled through the dark night. They lifted her up and pulled her toward home.
“Spring, don’t go!” Autumn’s voice rang out behind her. “We’ll help you!”
Spring didn’t turn around or answer. She let the rainbow take her higher, and by the time Winter’s and Summer’s voices joined Autumn’s, Spring was too far away to even make out the words.
Chapter 8
Spring awoke tucked into her own bed. She could feel the Sparkle magic tingling through her body like tiny bubbles. Her powers were always at their strongest the day the season turned to spring. Today she could grow an entire sailboat out of seaweed or a carousel out of carnations.
Normally, she’d bounce out of bed and grab Dewdrop to play with her increased powers, but today she didn’t want to.
She only wanted to see her sisters.
She wondered what they were doing. She wondered if they’d gotten a good night’s sleep after she left. Most of all, she wondered if they were mad at her for ruining the Snowflake Slumber Party.
Spring tumbled out of bed and looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her face was puffy from crying and her hair was still in rag curlers. I definitely look like a little girl who can’t even make it through a slumber party, she thought.
She tugged a few rags out of her hair and sighed loudly. She wished she was as calm as Autumn, as adventurous as Winter, and as brave as Summer.
“
Spring! Spring! Spring!”
For a second Spring thought it was one of the animals in her Sparkledom flying by to wish her a Happy First Day of Spring, but the voice sounded far too alarmed. Spring wheeled around and smacked into Serenity, who had soared in through the window. Their collision tangled Serenity’s claws in Spring’s hair.
“Oh, my goodness, Serenity!” cried Spring. “Are you okay?”
“No!” cried Serenity, flapping her wings furiously to keep her balance. “Something terrible has happened!”
“It’s not so terrible. You’re just a little stuck.” Spring soothed the bird as she reached up and held her soft, feathered chest. The turtledove’s heart pounded like it was trying to escape her body. “Stay still and I’ll help you.”
Serenity didn’t stay still. She flapped uncontrollably, and Spring winced as the bird tugged and knotted her hair. Her fingers worked as quickly as a spider’s legs, trying to ease the tangle, but it only got worse as Serenity kept struggling.
“It’s not that, Spring! Mother Nature is under a sleeping spell! And her scepter is missing!”
Spring froze. Fear crawled up her spine like a creeping nightshade. “What did you say?”
Serenity stopped flapping and instead bent over, leaning in front of Spring’s head so she could look at the Sparkle upside-down. “It’s true,” the turtledove sobbed. “When I went to wake her this morning, I found one of Bluster’s chocolates in her hands. It was half-eaten and smelled of valerian root—a powerful sleeping potion! She’s fine, but she’s not responding to any of my remedies. Bluster must have made it so strong that Mother would stay asleep through sunset and miss the season-changing Ceremony!”
“And you said her scepter is missing?” Spring asked with dread.
“Yes! So even if we could wake her before sunset, we’d have to do it in time for her to get her scepter back from Bluster!”
“Shivers and shakes!” exclaimed Spring. “If Mother isn’t awake with her scepter and able to do the Ceremony by sundown, the season won’t turn! The Outworld will stay locked in winter! It will get colder and colder until it freezes solid!”
“I know!” Serenity flapped wildly again, getting more deeply tangled in Spring’s hair.
“Ow-ow-ow!” Spring moaned. “Please, let me help you.” As Serenity stilled and Spring untangled the dove’s feet, she asked, “Serenity, why didn’t you go to my older sisters first? Why did you come to me? I can’t even make it through a sleepover. How could I possibly know what to do?”
“I came to you, Spring,” said Serenity, finally flying free, “because you understand me. You speak turtledove.”
“Of course,” Spring said. “But I can’t handle this alone. I’ve got to tell my sisters. Will you watch over Mother?”
Serenity promised she would and wished Spring good luck, but Spring was already racing out to the balcony, her scepter drawn:
She leaped into the multicolored beam and crossed her fingers as the rainbow obeyed her spell. It zipped her at lightning speed out of her Sparkledom, across to Winter’s, and floated her effortlessly right through the roof of Winter’s chalet. The sisters were used to the rainbow’s power to soar them through solid objects, but Spring’s sisters were still startled to see her arrive in Winter’s kitchen. The three had been eating breakfast, pouring sparkling syrup on rainbow-colored stacks of pancakes. They were all dressed, and their hair was in curly ringlets.
Winter was the first to notice. “Spring!” she cried.
“Sparkles!” shouted Spring. “I have something to tell—”
Spring couldn’t get the words out before Winter vaulted over the breakfast table and pulled Spring into her arms. “I’m so glad you came back!”
That surprised Spring so much, she forgot for a second why she’d raced over there. “You are?” she asked.
“YES!” Winter exclaimed. “I shouldn’t have planned such a wild sleepover. It was your very first and I should have been more considerate.”
Spring knew Winter hated to apologize, and she was so touched she almost cried.
“It was my fault,” Spring said. “I should have been honest about how I felt. I knew I wasn’t ready, but I was too afraid to say so.”
“But not too afraid to come over with your hair in knots?” Summer teased. “It looks like your head lost a fight with a pricker bush.”
Spring’s morning came rushing back to her and her eyes grew wide. “Mother!” she gasped. “Bluster Tempest put her under a sleeping spell and stole her scepter!”
“What?” roared Winter.
“How do you know?” asked Autumn.
Spring told her sisters everything. As she shared the tale, a single tear squeezed its way out of her left eye and rolled down her cheek.
“Hey,” said Winter, “don’t cry. We’ll figure this out.”
“We sure will,” declared Summer. “Bluster Tempest won’t get away with this.”
“The season will turn today,” assured Autumn. “We’ll rescue the scepter.”
Spring was scared, but her sisters’ love and confidence made her feel brave. She wiped her wet eyes. “We will rescue the scepter,” she agreed. “But how?”
“If I were Bluster”—Autumn shivered at the idea even as she said it—“I’d take the scepter somewhere as hard to find as possible …”
“Oh!” Summer remembered. “Mother once told me he has a secret fortress even she’s never found.”
“But if Mother can’t find it, how will we?” Spring asked.
“We ask someone who knows,” Winter said, smacking her scepter into her palm. “Four someones who know. Four smelly someones who know. Four smelly, nasty, filthy—”
“In other words, the Weeds,” Summer said.
Spring shuddered. The last time they’d tangled with the Weeds, Thunderbolt had broken her scepter. It was the worst moment of her life. Still, if it meant saving Mother and her season …
“You’re right,” Spring said with a voice so strong, her sisters turned and stared. “We’ll have to talk to the Weeds, but they could be anywhere. There’s only one way to find them quickly, and I’m the one Sparkle who can make it happen.”
Chapter 9
“You’re doing great,” Spring gurgled and hissed to the giant flying snake-creature in his own language. “You’re very, very brave.”
The four Sparkles were riding on the back of Sammy, a sea monster they’d rescued from the Barrens. Sammy had the body of a serpent, the toothy jaws of a shark, and massive eyes that seemed frighteningly lifeless, but he’d proven he was actually a sweetheart. He lived in Pink Dolphin Lagoon in Spring’s Sparkledom now, and if he had his way, he’d never see the Barrens again. Spring had had to work very hard to convince Sammy to fly her and her sisters back there, and to risk running into the terrible boys who’d neglected him so badly. As far as Spring knew, he was the only creature who had lived in that awful place and left. He knew the Barrens well and could help the girls scour it quickly.
Sammy and the girls had been flying over the Barrens for a while now, staring down at the scorched land scarred by constant storms, earthquakes, and tornadoes. They’d passed the castle and moat where the Sparkles had first met Sammy, and were soaring over a new but equally cracked and bleak landscape.
“I see them!” Summer cried.
The other Sparkles followed her gaze toward what looked like a neglected amusement park. A broken-down Ferris wheel, a ramshackle roller coaster, and a creepy carousel with wooden swamp animals all stood scattered like forgotten toys. In the center of the rusted mess, a boiling, stinking mud pool spread like a brown gravy stain, and four boys splashed in the dank, murky water.
“I can’t believe they’re swimming in that,” said Autumn. “It smells like rotten eggs.”
“So do the Weeds,” Winter noted.
Sammy started to buck through the air, and all four Sparkles held in screams.
“Spring, do something!” Autumn yelped.
Spring under
stood that Sammy was frightened. The last time he’d flown over the Weeds, they’d tried to hit him with painful bolts of magic. She bent close to his ear and cooed in his screechy language, “Sammy, it’s okay. They can’t hear you. Remember … your wings.”
Thanks to the Weeds, Sammy’s wings had been in terrible shape when the Sparkles first met him, but now they had grown back so thick and full that they didn’t make a sound. The Weeds wouldn’t hear him this time.
Comforted, Sammy stopped bucking. He glided the girls in lazy circles around the mud-splashing Weeds. Unnoticed, the sisters watched the Weeds and started planning how they would get the boys to reveal the location of Bluster’s secret lair.
Below, pig-nosed Quake sat at the edge of the swamp. He wore a swim cap and an ill-fitting wetsuit, and dipped his feet into the steaming mud while licking a giant stick of candy. Sleet, the angriest-looking Weed, was sprawled belly-down on top of a giant patched inner tube. Twister and Thunderbolt stood on one of Thunderbolt’s low storm clouds and prepared to dive into the murk.
Twister went first. He leaped, waved his stick in the air, and shouted, “Spinnnerrsplattt!”
His body spun faster than a tornado as he splashed down, making a giant whirlpool that splattered mud everywhere.
“WHOA!” shouted Sleet. He fell off his inner tube and disappeared into the sludge.
Quake was also now completely coated in mud, as was his candy stick. “Twister! Look what you did! I saved that candy in my shoe for a week! I’m gonna pummel you!” He dove into the water and grabbed Twister by his swirl of orange hair.
“Me too!” Sleet yelled. “I was trying to relax!” He threw himself on top of his tussling brothers.
Thunderbolt jumped up and down and cried, “Ooh! I wanna wrestle too!” He belly-flopped off his storm cloud and landed smack on top of everyone. Now all four of the boys were mud wrestling, a tangle of filthy limbs.
“Boys,” said Summer, rolling her eyes.
“I say we just freeze them,” Winter said. Her Sparkle Power turned things to ice, and she pulled out her scepter, ready to use it. “We can tie them up, then thaw them and get them to tell us where to find Bluster’s secret fortress.”