“Run!” cried Goldie, glancing up at the gray clouds overhead. “The sky’s getting darker. It will rain soon.”
They raced on until they came to a large clearing near the parasol tree.
“Look!” Lily cried, pointing. “There’s Grizelda. And Gobbler! The Dropper Spotter’s stopped!”
“That must be where the first raindrop will land,” said Jess.
As she spoke, the sky darkened. A gray cloud loomed overhead, right above where Grizelda was standing.
Goldie, Amelia, and the girls watched in horror as a single raindrop fell from the cloud, glittering like a diamond. The drop fell lower and lower until it splashed onto the dry ground at Grizelda’s feet.
Instantly, a green shoot sprang up, glistening with the raindrop’s moisture.
The rain started falling harder and, as it did, the shoot began to grow. When it was as tall as Grizelda, a huge blue flower burst into bloom.
Lily gasped. “The shower flower!” she cried. “Quick, let’s get it!”
They raced toward the tall plant, but they were too late. Grizelda’s long, bony fingers reached out and plucked it.
Cackling with glee, she pulled a glass flask from inside her cloak. She crumpled the flower and stuffed it inside. Only then did she look at Goldie and the girls.
Grizelda smiled her cold smile and waved the flask. “You’re too late,” she said, gloating. “All the ingredients are in here. My potion is complete and there’s nothing you can do!”
She shook the flask from side to side.
“Oh, no!” Lily breathed.
Amelia buried her face in her paws. “What’s the potion going to do?”
Goldie, Amelia, and the girls watched helplessly as Grizelda’s flask bubbled and fizzed. Dingy green smoke flowed over the top, leaving a thick liquid behind.
Grizelda poured the liquid onto a handful of leaves and put them on the ground in front of Gobbler.
“Eeeeeep!” he squeaked delightedly and began chomping on them. But after a moment, he had to stretch down to reach the rest of the leaves.
Jess gave a cry of alarm. “So that’s what the potion does—he’s getting bigger!”
They watched, horrified, as the furry blue creature grew larger. He bounded to a nearby bush and quickly munched his way through it, still growing. His shell-shaped ears grew as big as saucers, and his tail was twice as long as Goldie’s.
“He’s already much bigger than Amelia,” said Goldie, her green eyes wide with worry. “How big is he going to get?”
“Big enough to eat up the entire forest!” Grizelda cackled. “That’s right, my lovely, eat up!”
Gobbler swallowed the rest of the bush, and his fluffy blue body grew so he was as tall as the girls! Amelia gripped on to Lily’s leg, trembling.
“Oh, no!” said Goldie as Gobbler chomped a whole tree branch.
Gobbler stretched up on his hind legs to start eating a holly tree. His tail waved and twirled, swishing around like a gigantic feather boa.
“There has to be a way to stop him!” cried Lily.
The witch danced in delight. “Oh, no, there isn’t!” she crowed. “Gobbler will gobble everything—trees, smelly flowers, the animals’ homes, and their awful belongings. They’ll all leave. In a few hours, Friendship Forest will be mine, all mine!”
Jess clenched her fists. “You won’t win, Grizelda!” she yelled. “We’ve beaten you before and we’ll do it again!”
Grizelda ignored her. “Eat up, Gobbler,” she screeched. “I’m going to my tower to get my things ready to move here.”
She snapped her fingers, and vanished in a smelly burst of sparks.
Gobbler gobbled on. “Eep, eep,” he squeaked, licking his lips with his long red tongue.
Jess groaned with despair. “We’ll never stop him. He loves eating too much!”
Amelia and Goldie hugged each other miserably as Gobbler ate everything around him.
“We must do something,” said Goldie. “Think hard, everyone!”
Lily had a thought. “What if we got Gobbler to eat Grizelda’s workshop?” she said. “Those tough branches would keep him busy, and it would give us time to think of a way to break the spell.”
“Perfect!” said Jess. “Amelia, Gobbler likes you. Could you persuade him to come with us?”
“I’ll try,” Amelia said nervously.
She padded forward and called, “Gobbler?”
The creature was twice the size of the girls now. He looked down at Amelia and blinked his big blue-green eyes.
“Come with me, Gobbler!” Amelia called, setting off in the direction of the workshop. “We know where there’s lots of delicious food!”
“EEP!” said Gobbler, his voice now loud and booming. “EEEEEEEP!”
He followed after Amelia, his huge paws thumping on the ground. Lily, Jess, and Goldie hurried after them.
“Are you all right, Amelia?” Lily called.
“I think so,” the kitten replied over her shoulder. “He’s actually really friendly, even though he’s so big!”
As soon as they reached the workshop, Gobbler started gnawing through the tough branches. With each mouthful, he swelled up more, and more, and more, until he towered over the workshop itself.
Goldie sighed with despair. “We’ll never be able to feed him enough to stop him from ruining Friendship Forest.”
Lily nodded. “I wish we could make him smaller, like we did with the snapdragons.”
Amelia tugged on Lily’s hand, quivering with excitement. “We can! Let’s give him shrinking violets!”
“There aren’t any,” said Jess. “We used the last ones on the snapdragons.”
“I know where we can get some more!” cried Amelia, her blue eyes shining. “Garland Green, where I got the flowers to make Goldie’s birthday perfume! We can ask my mom and my brothers to help … This way!”
They left Gobbler munching on the workshop and followed Amelia to a buttercup-yellow cottage. Outside the front door was a slender plant with a golden flower at its tip. As the group hurried up the path, Amelia jangled one of the plant’s leaves and the flower tinkled like a doorbell.
The door opened and there stood Amelia’s mom with Tommy and Timmy. Amelia quickly explained what they were doing.
“Goodness, you’ll need lots of violets to shrink a creature that size,” said Mrs. Sparklepaw, wringing her paws. “Of course we’ll come and help!”
The girls and Goldie ran after the Sparklepaws to Garland Green. It was covered in grass and dotted all over with colorful flowers. On one side was a huge patch of shrinking violets, their purple petals quivering in the breeze.
“There they are!” cried Jess. She and Lily ran to pick some. But as they reached down to pick the flowers, the petals shut tight and the flowers disappeared into the ground.
The girls gave cries of dismay.
“Oh, no!” said Lily. “If we can’t pick them, then we can’t stop Gobbler!”
“I don’t understand,” said Jess, shaking her head. “Hermia managed to pick lots of shrinking violets.”
“That’s because butterflies are small enough to creep up on them,” Amelia explained. “Shrinking violets are really shy. So we’ll all need hiding hollyhocks!”
Tommy darted across Garland Green, and came back with a pawful of blue flowers, exactly like the hollyhocks the kittens were wearing. He handed them to his mom, Goldie, and the girls.
“Now jangle them!” said Amelia.
They giggled as they watched one another disappear. When the tip of Goldie’s tail had vanished, they tiptoed toward the shrinking violets.
“Sorry, Mom! Sorry, Amelia!” whispered Timmy. “I keep bumping into everyone!”
This time, the flowers stayed up so they could pick them. They worked quickly, and the sight of handfuls of flowers floating in the air made Jess smile. “I think we’ve got enough,” she said after a while. “Now let’s just hope they work as well on Gobbler as they did on the snapdragons!
”
Gobbler had just finished eating the thorny workshop when they got back.
“Wow!” said Jess. “He’s almost as big as the Treasure Tree now!”
Amelia tiptoed as near as she dared, calling, “Gobbler! Yummy treat! Come and get it!”
He thudded toward her.
“Hold out the violets!” said Goldie.
Gobbler sniffed the flowers. But then he jerked away. “YUCK!” he spluttered.
He looked over the girls’ shoulders, and his eyes widened.
“EEP,” he boomed, his tail thudding on the ground, “EEP, EEP … ”
Everyone turned to see what he was looking at. In the distance was a tall tree laden with fruit of all kinds.
“The Treasure Tree!” cried Lily. “We have to stop him from eating it. If only he’d eat the shrinking violets … ”
As Gobbler set off for the Treasure Tree, Jess yelled, “I’ve got an idea! I just need one of the butterflies to deliver a note … ”
She pulled out her sketchbook and pencil and scribbled a message. Then she made a butterfly shape with her hands, just as Goldie had once shown them, and fluttered them like wings.
Moments later, Hermia fluttered down.
Jess gave her the note. “Please take this to Mr. Cleverfeather, as quickly as possible,” she said.
“On my way!” Hermia said in her tinkling voice, and flew off.
The four friends followed Gobbler, trying to slow him down with snacks of cones and leaves.
As they neared the Treasure Tree, Jess froze. “Oh, no! Look!”
A familiar yellow-green orb was floating toward them. It burst into sparks, revealing Grizelda with a wide grin on her bony face.
“My plan’s working,” she cackled. “Eat up, Gobbler!”
Goldie and Amelia began frantically searching for tasty things to tempt Gobbler away from the Treasure Tree. Jess whispered to Lily, “Gather up leaves and twigs for when Mr. Cleverfeather arrives.”
Just then, they heard a soft hoot, and Mr. Cleverfeather appeared overhead, wearing a harness with whirring blades fixed to the back.
“He’s turned himself into a helicopter!” said Jess.
Lily nodded. “And he’s brought the blender with him!”
“I asked him to get it from Goldie’s grotto,” explained Jess. “I just hope my idea works … ”
Mr. Cleverfeather dropped the blender into her arms. Then he flew around Gobbler’s head, hooting. “Treave our lee alone!” he cried. “I mean, leave … Oh, you know what I mean!”
Jess stuffed the violets into the blender, and Lily added twigs and leaves. They blended them into a purple liquid, which trickled into the mug on the side of the blender.
Lily glanced over. Grizelda wasn’t watching Gobbler—she was meanly picking fruit off the tree and squashing it under her high-heeled shoes. “Now!” Lily whispered.
“Here, Gobbler!” Jess called. “I’ve got a delicious drink for you!”
The great furry creature bent his massive head down toward them and sniffed. “EEEEEEEEP,” he thundered, so loudly the girls flinched, and opened his mouth.
Jess poured the drink inside.
“SLUUURP,” went Gobbler. “SLUUUUUUUUURP!”
Instantly Gobbler started to change. He looked surprised as he shrank as quickly as a popped balloon. “EEEEEEP!” he squeaked.
The witch turned, staring in disbelief. “Nooooo!” she screeched, stamping her feet angrily.
Gobbler got smaller and smaller, until he was his normal size—even tinier than little Amelia. He sat under a fir tree, crunching cones and squeaking happily.
“He’ll never eat the forest now, Grizelda!” said Jess.
The witch loomed over the girls. “You’ve won this time!” she shrieked, “but mark my words. Friendship Forest will be mine. One day!” she screamed, shaking her fists. With a snap of her fingers she disappeared in a shower of sparks.
“Eeeeep!” Gobbler said, rolling over to show off his fluffy, round tummy.
“I think he’s full at last,” said Amelia with a laugh.
The girls and their friends joined hands and paws in a dance of joy.
When Lily, Jess, Goldie, Amelia, and Gobbler reached Toadstool Glade, it was eerily silent. Usually animals were bustling around, or sitting outside the café, but today there was no one in sight.
“What’s wrong?” said Goldie.
Suddenly, animals everywhere burst out of hiding, shouting, “Surprise!”
Lucy Longwhiskers ran over. “Mr. Cleverfeather told us what you all did. There’s a birthday tea waiting at the Toadstool Café, to make up for Goldie’s party being ruined!”
“And to celebrate defeating Grizelda!” said Mr. Longwhiskers.
Everyone rushed over as quickly as they could. There were cheese-and-walnut grilled cheeses, honey biscuits, and Dreamy Creamy Ice Cream in lots of flavors.
Gobbler’s appetite was back. He waved his tail as he ate a bowl of ice cream.
“He’s sweet, isn’t he?” Jess said.
“What will happen to him?” Lily asked.
“Mom says he can live with us!” said Amelia, stroking Gobbler’s fluffy head. “His job will be to eat all the weeds in Garland Green.”
The girls felt happy that Gobbler had someone to care for him. They hugged Amelia and stroked her soft fur.
“We have to go home now,” Jess said. “But we’ll come and visit you and Gobbler as soon as we can.”
“I’ll miss you,” Amelia said. “We had a scary adventure, but it was fun, too.”
When everyone had said good-bye, Goldie took the girls to the Friendship Tree. “Thank you for rescuing me and for saving our forest,” she said. “I’ll never forget my exciting birthday!”
Goldie touched a paw to the tree trunk and the door appeared.
The girls stepped through the doorway into golden light. When the shimmering glow faded, they found themselves back in Brightley Meadow.
“What an amazing adventure,” said Lily, as they ran back to Helping Paw. “I’m glad Friendship Forest is safe.”
“Wasn’t it a great party?” said Jess.
Lily nodded. “It was,” she said, “but I didn’t have any ice cream. I wonder if Mom has some?” She giggled. “I feel like I could eat as much as Gobbler!”
The End
Grizelda beckoned to the creatures from the Witchy Waste.
“These are my new helpers,” she said. “Don’t meddle with them if you know what’s good for you.”
The bat flapped onto her shoulder.
“This is Peep,” said Grizelda, “and here comes Masha.”
Masha the rat was wearing a rumpled straw hat with a droopy flower stuck into the band. She coiled her tail around the witch’s leg, grinning.
“Snippit!” Grizelda called.
The scruffy crow, whose waistcoat had a button missing, flew to her other shoulder.
Grizelda nodded at the slimy toad, who straightened her necklace and waddled over. “I’m Hopper,” she croaked.
Grizelda laughed. “You girls won’t be able to stop my new helpers. They’re going to make the forest so messy that all the animals will have to leave. Then Friendship Forest will be mine!”
She raised her hands. Purple sparks shot from her fingers and crackled around each Witchy Waste creature.
Then, with a final cackle, Grizelda snapped her fingers and disappeared in a burst of smelly yellow sparks.
“Thank goodness she’s gone,” said Jess.
“What were those purple sparks?” wondered Lily. “Do you think they’re one of Grizelda’s nasty spells?”
Goldie nodded. Her tail was twitching anxiously.
Now that Grizelda was gone, the animals began to come out from the bakery. Olivia Nibblesqueak was shaking icing from her rose crown.
“Squeeeaak!” Peep the bat flew straight toward her. He flapped his wings over the little hamster, and the girls gasped as purple sparks reappeared and crackled around her.<
br />
“Heeheehee,” giggled Peep the bat. “This will be fun!”
Jess looked at Lily in alarm. “Oh, no! That bat did something to Olivia!” she said. “But what?”
Read
Olivia Nibblesqueak’s Messy Mischief
to find out what happens next!
ISBN 978-0-545-94080-1
Text copyright © 2015 by Working Partners Limited
Illustrations © 2015 Working Partners Limited
Series author: Daisy Meadows
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
First printing 2016
Cover design by Carol Ly
e-ISBN 978-0-545-94238-6
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Amelia Sparklepaw's Party Problem Page 4