Chloe Slipperslide’s Secret

Chapter Seven Violet’s Secret

Mr. Cleverfeather balanced his invention on his wingtips. “Seek a green shell!” he told it.

As the Shell Seeker took off through the forest, Goldie and the girls dashed after it.

They ran through the trees. Soon, they could just make out screeches and squeals of rage from the Witchy Waste creatures, coming from the path to the river.

“They must have realized that we tricked them,” said Lily. “They sound really mad!”

The Shell Seeker led them back toward the Wide Lake. They left the trees behind and found themselves on a little beach, with soft, powdery sand and shallow pools surrounded by pearly rocks. The lake stretched out before them.

“This place is called Summer Sands,” Goldie told them.

The Shell Seeker lay still on the ground. “It’s stopped,” said Lily. “That must mean Violet’s nearby.”

“She is!” cried Jess. “Look, beneath that overhanging rock!”

The little turtle was sitting alone, staring sadly out across the lake.

“Violet!” Lily called.

The turtle turned. “Chloe?” she said excitedly. Then her face fell. “Oh, hello. I’m glad to see you all, but I really miss my friend.”

Lily lifted Violet up and hugged her. “We’ll find Chloe,” she said.

Jess picked up a pair of little yellow armbands, each marked with a C. “Are these Chloe’s?” she asked.

Violet’s head and legs disappeared into her shell. “Well...” she mumbled from inside.

Lily stroked her shell. “It’s okay. You can tell us,” she said.

Slowly, Violet came out again. “She’s the only Slipperslide who isn’t very good at swimming,” she said, “so I’ve been giving her lessons here. She’s using the armbands until she gets better at it.”

Lily grinned in delight. “And these lessons... are they a secret?”

When Violet nodded again, Jess popped a kiss on her tiny swimming cap. “Thanks to you, we have almost everything we need to break the spell!”

As they talked about what to do next, Lily noticed some little silver shells on the sand. “Look! They’re just like the ones on Chloe’s necklace,” she said.

Violet sniffed sadly. “This is where she collects shells,” she said. “Summer Sands is her favorite place.”

Jess and Lily couldn’t believe their ears.

“We have everything we need to break Snippit’s spell!” said Goldie. “The necklace for Chloe’s favorite hobby, the rainbow water lilies for her favorite food, the armbands for her secret, and Summer Sands as her favorite place. Now we can do the spell to change Chloe back to her normal self!”

Jess pulled her sketchbook out and read the end of the spell out loud:

She looked up, eyes shining. “We’re ready. All we need is Chloe.”

“Caw! Caw!”

Lily turned around. “It’s Chloe! And Snippit! They must have seen us on their way here and followed us.”

The crow was flying low to the ground alongside Chloe, who was flapping her front paws, hopping and pecking at things with her little brown nose.

“There they are,” screeched Snippit angrily. “They tricked us!”

Goldie’s tail twitched with worry. “Chloe’s really acting like a crow now,” she cried. “We’d better hurry up and do the spell!”

Jess and Lily placed the necklace, water lilies, and armbands on the sand.

“Look at these, Chloe,” Goldie called.

The little otter hopped awkwardly toward the heap. Her eyes widened.

“I think she still remembers them,” Jess whispered. “Get ready to say the names of her favorite things!”

But Snippit hopped between Chloe and the pile.

“Come on, Chloe,” he cawed. “Let’s go and find more shiny stuff to mess up.”

He hopped away. Chloe looked from the pile to Snippit, then turned to follow the naughty crow.

“Quick!” Lily cried. “Start chanting the spell now!”