Jelly Bean Jumble

by Helen Perelman

  In a swift gallop and then a powerful leap, Lyra took flight. Her large pink wings flapped in a slow rhythm.

  “This is a smooth ride,” Dash said, smiling. “Not superfast, but enjoyable.”

  “A styling ride, for sure,” Cocoa added.

  As Lyra flew over Sugar Valley and they left the familiar surroundings of Candy Kingdom, Berry couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. None of her fairy friends had ever been to Cake Kingdom . . . or even seen the Forest of Lost Flavors. She knew all her friends were being very brave.

  “Let’s sing a song,” Melli suggested. “You know Lyra loves to sing.”

  “Sweet idea, Melli,” Berry said. She was happy to think of something besides the freezing jelly beans.

  The five fairies began to sing as they sailed along the blue sky, away from Candy Kingdom. The sun moved across the sky as time went by. Berry tossed out a blanket for the fairies to wrap themselves up in. The winds had died down, but it was still chilly. After many songs and a few sweet snacks, Raina reached for Berry’s sugarcoated binoculars. Only Berry would have such high-fashion travel gear!

  “Sweet sugars!” Raina gasped. She was pointing straight ahead. “That must be the Forest of Lost Flavors!”

  Berry straightened up. Ahead of them were tall white branches sticking up in the distance. She shuddered. Thinking about her jelly beans at home, she grew quiet. If they stayed white from the frost, they could be like this forest: flavorless.

  “So mint!” Dash exclaimed as they flew over the forest. “It’s creepy cool.”

  “Just like it said in all my books,” Raina agreed.

  Lyra dipped down a little lower to the ground so the fairies could see the forest. By now the sun was almost gone from the sky, which was a pale grape color.

  “Good thing there is a full moon tonight,” Melli said, pointing to the large moon above.

  “And that I have some handy, dandy light-up-the-night mints!” Dash called. She cracked open a few mint candies as Lyra swooped above the forest.

  “Does anyone live here?” Cocoa asked.

  Raina put the binoculars back to her eyes. “The book said some trolls live here, but no one has ever seen them. Mogu was spotted here a few times. He has a soft spot for Cupcake Lake.”

  “Let’s hope we don’t see any trolls,” Melli whispered.

  Just beyond the forest was Cookie Crumble Beach, where the fairies had planned to spend the night. Lyra glided down to the rocky beach, and the fairies set up camp. Raina and Melli pitched the tents while Cocoa, Dash, and Berry prepared dinner.

  “You must be tired from the flight,” Berry said to Lyra. “Let me mix you up a warm, sweet dinner.”

  The fairies and Lyra finished up their meal. The long shadows from the Forest of Lost Flavors cast an eerie glow, and Melli huddled close to Cocoa. “This place is creepy,” she said, looking around. She hugged her shawl around her waist. “I feel as if there are trolls around here,” she said, her eyes wide.

  “There might be,” Raina said honestly. “But I think we’re safe for the night.”

  Berry started to hum a lullaby she had once heard Lyra sing. Lyra joined in. Her soothing voice put everyone at ease and lulled the fairies to sleep. When Lyra stopped singing and lay her head down for the night, only Berry was awake. She kept thinking about how worried Princess Lolli had looked, and about the other Fruit Fairies. She peeked out of her tent and saw the white forest. Her heart sank as she thought of her own white candy.

  Will Fruit Chew Meadow soon be like the Forest of Lost Flavors? she wondered. She couldn’t bear the thought. What if Princess Sprinkle couldn’t help them, and this was a big flop of a trip?

  Berry slipped outside the tent. She flew up to a branch in a tall tree and looked out at Cupcake Lake in the distance. She hoped that tomorrow’s visit with Princess Sprinkle would be as sweet as icing on a cake.

  You can’t sleep either?” Raina asked. She had joined Berry on a branch in the moonlight. “Are you thinking about tomorrow?”

  “Yes,” Berry said. She looked out in the distance. The moon above glowed. “I can’t wait to talk to Princess Sprinkle. I remember when we met her the last time she was in Candy Kingdom. She was so kind and wise.”

  “Just like Princess Lolli,” Raina noted. “I am sure she will help us if she can.”

  Berry turned to face her friend. “Oh, Raina,” she sighed. “What will Fruit Chew Meadow be like with no colorful jelly beans?” She gazed out into the white trees of the forest.

  “It took years and years for the Forest of Lost Flavors to become this way,” Raina said. She reached out and gave Berry’s hand a gentle squeeze. “You should be prepared that Princess Sprinkle may not be able to help us.”

  “I know,” Berry said softly. Her words left a bitter taste in her mouth, and she shuddered. She looked down at her bag lying on the ground with her jelly bean vine. A wave of courage came over her. “Princess Sprinkle will have the answer,” she said, trying to be brave. “Sure as sugar, she’ll be able to help me.”

  “Help you or us?” Raina asked, raising her eyebrows.

  In the stillness of the night, Berry took in a deep breath. Instead of snapping at her friend, she took a moment to let Raina’s words sink in. “I’ve been thinking of my jelly beans, but not of others,” she said quietly.

  “We all know how you feel about your jelly beans, Berry,” Raina said. “But there were other crops affected by the weather. It didn’t just happen to you.”

  “Yes, you’re right,” Berry admitted. “It feels as if the storm happened to just my crops, but I know that wasn’t the only candy damaged by the storm.” She sighed. “I guess I didn’t take the time to ask other fairies about their candy.” Berry looked down at her sparkling fingernails. “I guess I am just as sour as Razz.”

  “No,” Raina said. “You brought us all here to find a way to fix the jelly bean jumble. And I am sure that whatever we learn from Princess Sprinkle we can use to help other fairies with their crops.”

  Berry reached out to hug her good friend. “Thank you,” she said. “I promise I will help other Fruit Fairies. I don’t want anyone to feel as helpless as I do now.”

  Raina stretched her arms up as she gave a wide yawn. “We should try to get some sleep. Tomorrow is a big day.”

  Berry drew her breath in sharply. “Don’t move!” she said. She pointed down below to her bag at the bottom of the tree. Two small trolls were sniffing around her bag—her bag with the jelly bean vine!

  “Sweet sugar,” Raina said with a gasp. She hugged her legs to her chest. “Do you think they saw us?”

  “They definitely spotted the jelly beans,” Berry said. Her heart was pounding. She had to get those trolls away from her bag!

  Quietly, Berry slipped down to the end of the branch. She stuck her hand in her pocket and threw some fruit chews down, away from her bag. As Berry expected, the brightly colored candies amazed the forest trolls. She flew off the branch, sprinkling more candies down on the ground, and the trolls followed the trail away from the tree. Raina flew down and grabbed Berry’s bag.

  A few minutes later Berry flew back to the tree with a large grin on her face. “I still had some lemon sours in my pocket from a visit with Lemona the Sour Orchard Fairy,” she said. “You should have seen those trolls pucker up when they ate one of those!”

  “Serves them right for snooping around here,” Raina said. She handed Berry her bag. “Maybe you should keep this in your tent tonight.”

  “Sure as sugar!” Berry told her. “I don’t want anything to happen to these. Good night, Raina,” she said, flying down to her tent.

  “Sweet dreams,” Raina replied before they both slipped inside warm shelter for some sleep.

  “And thank you, Raina,” Berry called to her. “Not just for tonight, but for everything.” She flew over to give her friend a tight squeeze. “And I am sorry that I made a mess of all your books. I promise to clean that all up when we get back.”

&nbs
p; “I’ll hold you to that,” Raina said with a grin.

  Berry felt lucky to have such a solid, sugar-hearted friend like Raina. It can be hard to point out the truth to a friend, and she was thankful that Raina had done that for her.

  The next morning Berry was the first fairy up, the calls of the batter birds the first sounds she heard. Soon their loud cooing woke up all the fairies. Usually, Berry did not enjoy sleeping out. She loved all the comforts of home—including her large wardrobe and all her sparkly accessories. But she had to admit that the early morning sunrise above Cupcake Lake was stunning. The colors were so bright and created a beautiful pattern in the sky.

  As she packed up her tent she thought about the trolls last night. While the fairies ate breakfast, Melli, Cocoa, and Dash heard all about the troublesome trolls.

  “You tricked them,” Dash said proudly.

  “Well done,” Cocoa told her.

  Berry patted her bag. “The jelly beans are safe,” she said. “Now let’s see what Princess Sprinkle says about them.”

  Lyra sang out for the fairies to gather around her. Once again they climbed on her back, and Lyra continued the flight toward Frosted Castle. The rising sun glistened on Cupcake Lake and Frosted Castle, which jutted out from behind a wide hill. Berry noticed that the land below them looked different from Candy Kingdom. There were not as many colors dotting the landscape, and there were more hills. The castle itself was bigger than Candy Castle. It looked older and had many more rooms and towers.

  “Holy peppermint!” Dash exclaimed. Her blue eyes were wide as she took in the sight below. “This is an amazing place.” She rubbed her stomach. “I am getting hungry just looking around.”

  “I was wondering when you were going to say that,” Cocoa joked. “All that frosting does look quite choc-o-licious!”

  “With extra sprinkles,” Melli added. “Just look at all those colors on the castle. This place is amazing.”

  “First stop, Frosted Castle,” Berry said.

  Lyra flew into the castle courtyard. The tall silver gates were covered with a glittering powdered sugar on top of a thick pink frosting. The five fairies climbed off the unicorn’s back and looked up at the castle gates and the tall towers.

  “Sweet sugar,” Melli whispered.

  “This place is much bigger than Candy Castle,” Cocoa said, taking in the sight.

  “It’s much older, too,” Raina stated. “This area is the oldest part of Sugar Valley.”

  Berry reached for the handle on the gate. “Come on,” she said.

  Behind the gate was a tall fairy. “Welcome to Frosted Castle,” he said. He wore a round cap that looked like a cupcake and had a large welcoming smile on his face.

  “I am Berry, and these are my friends,” Berry said boldly. “We have traveled from Candy Kingdom, and we’ve come to see Princess Sprinkle.”

  “Welcome to Cake Kingdom,” the guard replied. “I believe the princess is in the throne room.” He blew a long, thin whistle, and another guard appeared. “Please take these Candy Fairies to the throne room. They are here to see Princess Sprinkle.”

  “Are you nervous?” Melli whispered to Berry. “I am!”

  “I was more nervous about the trolls,” Berry said. She reached up to fix the sugarcoated clips in her hair. “I am just hoping that Princess Sprinkle will be as sweet as her sister.”

  The guard flew ahead and pushed open a door at the end of a wide hallway. “There are five Candy Fairies here to see you, Princess Sprinkle,” the guard announced. He opened the door a little more and then turned back to the fairies. “She will see you now,” he said.

  Berry led her friends into the room. She took a deep breath. She wasn’t sure what to expect from the fairy princess of Cake Kingdom.

  Princess Sprinkle was sitting on a large throne. Unlike Princess Lolli’s throne, it was built up in layers and looked like a cake, with steps to reach the cushioned seat. Berry thought it looked like the drawings of wedding cakes she had seen in some of Raina’s picture books. Along the top of the chair were rows of fancy sugar flowers that Berry couldn’t take her eyes off of. . . . How did those Cake Fairies get the frosted flowers so colorful and perfect?

  “Hello,” greeted Princess Sprinkle. Her face was similar to Princess Lolli’s. The sisters looked alike except that Princess Sprinkle had long, straight brown hair instead of wavy strawberry-blond hair like her sister.

  The Candy Fairies bowed their heads and said hello. Berry once again took the first step forward. “We are here because there has been a terrible storm in Sugar Valley,” she told the princess.

  Princess Sprinkle nodded. “Yes, I heard,” she said sadly. “The news has been reported. Of course my sister was unable to make the trip to visit.” She looked at each of the fairies. “How is my sister? Is everything all right? With the storm, it has been difficult to get messages to her.”

  Berry assured the princess that her sister was fine. “We have come to see you because we heard you recently had a storm and recovered many of your crops.” She reached into her bag and pulled out her jelly bean vine. “Here is what the jelly bean crop looks like now,” she said.

  “Oh my,” Princess Sprinkle said. She took the vine and inspected the candy. “This looks familiar. Our spring storm was not kind to our Brownie Bramble either. We had all the fairies in our kingdom working to help.”

  “We read about it in the Daily Scoop,” Raina added. “I guess the story is too recent for the Fairy Code Book.”

  Princess Sprinkle smiled. “This was a very recent occurrence,” she said. “The storm was just a few days ago. We tried something new this time, and we seem to have saved the crops.” She stepped down from her throne and motioned for the fairies to move closer to her. “You see Brownie Bramble?” She pointed out a big window to a large area to the north of the castle. “The fields were covered in ice, which freezes out the flavor,” she explained.

  “Bittersweet,” Cocoa mumbled.

  “Exactly,” Princess Sprinkle said. “We had to act quickly to warm up the brownies. We placed foil on top of the crops to keep the heat in and warm the soil.”

  “And this foiling worked?” Berry asked, full of hope.

  “Deliciously,” Princess Sprinkle said. She eyed the fairies. “Wait, does Lolli know you are here?”

  Berry looked down at the ground. “Um, well, we didn’t get a chance to . . . ” She was searching for the right words.

  “We wanted to surprise her,” Raina jumped in. She looked over at Berry and winked. “We thought since she couldn’t come to you, perhaps we could bring you to her and offer some help.”

  Princess Sprinkle grinned. “That is super-sweet of you all,” she gushed. “I would love to see my sister. I was planning to send some Cake Fairies to help out with the frozen candies. The foil wrapping worked for us. I am sure it will work for the candy crops. I’d be happy to go back with you.”

  Berry clapped her hands. “I knew you’d be able to help us!” she cheered.

  “First, we have work to do,” Princess Sprinkle told them. “We had great success when we steamed up the soil. We filled large vats at Hot Cocoa Springs. The steam from the hot cocoa will keep the inside of the foil tent warm and will hopefully warm up all the candy plants in need of help.”

  Berry’s spirits were lifting. She couldn’t help herself and rushed over to Princess Sprinkle to give her a hug. The princess gave her a loving squeeze back. “What sweet fairies you are to come all this way and to care so much about your jelly beans.”

  Berry looked over at Raina. “This is not just about the jelly beans,” she said. “This is for many of the fruit-chew crops.”

  “Let’s take one crop at a time,” the princess said wisely. “Jelly beans and other fruit candy are much more delicate than brownies and cookies.”

  Berry knew the weather played a big part in fruit candy flavoring. She hoped the foil would be the right cure.

  Princess Sprinkle took the Candy Fairies to Hot Cocoa S
prings. Berry had heard of the hot spot before in magazines and had always wanted to check it out. The springs were a popular destination for fairies to relax and soak in the warmth of the steaming hot cocoa.

  “Now, this is choc-o-rific!” Cocoa exclaimed as they landed.

  The smell of melted chocolate was heavy in the air. There were steaming springs in the ground, all bubbling with hot cocoa.

  “What a sweet sight,” Berry said. She saw some fancy fairies sitting by the springs, lounging on chairs. They were all wearing very stylish clothes. Berry’s mouth hung open. This was a super-sweet spot. She had to admit that some of the stress of the day was melting away.

  “This is a real treasure in Cake Kingdom,” Princess Sprinkle said. “Many fairies come from far and wide to rest here. The springs are one of the most popular attractions here in Cake Kingdom.” She looked around. “But the springs are also healing to the crops. Come, let’s hurry and fill the barrels with cocoa.”

  “I wish we could stay here longer,” Cocoa whispered to Melli. “I’d love to soak up all this chocolate.”

  “Maybe we’ll come back one day,” Melli said, watching Berry’s face.

  Berry smiled. “Sure as sugar, I want to come back.” She glanced over at the large barrels the palace guards were rolling toward the springs. “How will we get these barrels of hot cocoa back to Candy Kingdom?”

  Princess Sprinkle blew a whistle and summoned four royal Cake Kingdom unicorns. “This is Red Velvet, Marble, Pound, and Vanilla,” she said. The unicorns formed a semicircle and all bowed their heads.

  Berry peered up at the glorious unicorns standing before her. Like Butterscotch, they were twice the size of Lyra.

  “Their names match their coats,” Dash whispered, checking out the unicorns.