Amelia Sparklepaw’s Party Problem

Chapter One A Special Day

Sunshine sparkled on the water gushing from a tap as Lily Hart filled up a yellow drinking bowl.

“Your turn,” she said to Jess Forester, her best friend. “We’ve got lots to fill!”

Jess pushed her blond curls out of her eyes and knelt to fill a purple bowl. “I can’t decide what I like best about summer vacation.” She sighed happily. “There’s sunshine, being with you all day... and spending lots of time at Helping Paw!”

Helping Paw Wildlife Hospital was run by Lily’s parents in a converted barn at the bottom of their yard. Jess lived with her dad on the other side of the road and came over as often as she could. Both girls adored animals and loved helping to take care of them.

When Lily and Jess had filled up all the drinking bowls, they put them on trays and carried them to the outdoor pens and hutches, where the animals were all playing in the sunshine.

Jess put two of the bowls inside the guinea pig hutch and rabbit pen. In one pen, a pair of tiny brown baby bunnies were hopping around happily. “Aren’t their wrinkly noses cute?” she said.

In another hutch, a tortoise with a bandaged leg was nibbling on a dandelion. Lily sprinkled the leaves with water. “You need lots to drink on sunny days,” she said. Next, she placed a shallow bowl beside an elderly hedgehog, while Jess went to a pen where a fluffy fox cub lay dozing inside a little den.

“You look a little better today,” Jess said, as the fox’s ears pricked up. “Here’s a drink to keep you nice and cool.”

Lily smiled. “This weather reminds me of Friendship Forest,” she said. “It’s almost always summer there.”

Jess grinned back at her. Friendship Forest was a secret world where something amazing happened—all the animals talked! Some of them lived in little cottages nestled among tree roots, some lived on boats, and others lived in tiny tree houses. Lily and Jess were friends with them all!

“I wonder when we’ll see Goldie again,” Jess said.

Goldie was Lily and Jess’s special friend, a beautiful cat who magically took the girls into Friendship Forest.

As Jess spoke, a flash of gold caught her eye. It was a cat, running through a patch of sunlight. A golden cat...

“There she is now! It’s Goldie!” Lily said in delight.

The cat bounded over and purred as they stroked her. Then she darted to the bottom of Lily’s yard and over the stepping stones across Brightley Stream. Goldie looked back and mewed.

Jess grinned with excitement. “She wants to take us back to Friendship Forest!” she cried. “Come on!”

The girls ran after Goldie and into a meadow where an oak tree with bare branches stood. The Friendship Tree! As Goldie darted up to the tree, it burst into life. Leaves sprang from the branches and uncurled, as green as crisp lettuce. Golden blossoms bloomed and in the grass beneath, dozens of little yellow flowers appeared. Bumblebees buzzed and butterflies fluttered as goldfinches swooped down to sing among the branches.

“Wow,” breathed Lily as familiar letters appeared in the tree trunk.

Lily squeezed Jess’s hand as together they read the words out loud. “Friendship Forest!”

Instantly, a little door with a pretty leaf-shaped handle appeared in the trunk.

With a thrill of excitement, Jess opened the door. Golden light shone out. Goldie rubbed against the girls’ legs, then bounded inside.

Jess grinned at Lily, then they ducked their heads and followed Goldie through the door. Their skin tingled all over, like tiny bubbles were bursting around them, and they knew they were shrinking.

As the light faded, Lily and Jess found themselves standing in a sunlit forest glade, surrounded by tall trees and bushes covered with pink rosebuds. Giant sunflowers bowed over a tiny cottage nestling in the roots of a nearby tree, and bluebirds fluttered in the warm breeze.

“Friendship Forest,” said Lily with a sigh of happiness. “Isn’t it wonderful to be back at last?”

“I’m so glad you are,” said a soft voice.

They turned. Goldie was now standing upright, wearing her golden scarf. She ran to them and took their hands between her paws. As the girls were smaller, she reached almost to their shoulders—and now that they were in the forest, she could talk!

A worrying thought struck Jess. “Do you need our help again, Goldie? Is Grizelda causing more trouble?”

Grizelda was a horrible witch. She wanted to make all the animals leave Friendship Forest so she could have it all for herself. So far, the girls and Goldie had managed to stop her evil plans.

“Oh, no one has seen Grizelda for a while,” Goldie said, smiling. “There’s another reason why I’ve brought you here today—and it’s very important.”

“What is it?” asked Jess.

“Today is my birthday!” said Goldie. “And I want to celebrate with you, my special friends!”

Chapter Two The Sparklepaws Arrive

“Happy birthday!” the girls cried, hugging the purring cat.

“We’d love to celebrate with you,” added Jess.

Goldie’s green eyes gleamed with happiness. “I’m so glad! You’re both invited to my party,” she said. “Lots of our animal friends will be coming.”

“That sounds great!” said Lily.

“I wish we’d known it was your birthday,” Lily said, as they set off through the forest. “We’d have brought a present.”

“Having you here is the perfect present!” Goldie said happily.

Soon they reached a cave with a red front door with a G-shaped window—Goldie’s grotto! Long strands of cherry blossom were looped in the trees, and cushions and chairs were set outside in the sunshine, ready for guests. A bunch of balloons hung above the door.

“It looks amazing!” said Jess.

Goldie grinned. “I’m glad you like it! But the best part is inside. Mr. Cleverfeather lent me one of his inventions for the party. Come and see!”

Inside, Goldie showed the girls a large machine with a funnel on top and a blue bowl beneath.

“What is it?” asked Jess.

“It’s the Dreamy Creamy Ice Machine,” Goldie explained. “You fill the top with ice crystals from the Winter Cave. Then you turn the wheel and it makes delicious ice cream!”

“Wow! What flavor?” asked Lily.

“Any flavor you like,” said Goldie with a smile. “You can add strawberries or hazelnuts or whatever you want. Here, let’s try cherry flavor.” She dropped a pawful of glossy red cherries into the funnel, then said, “Lily, pour that jugful of ice crystals in, too.”

Lily did, then Jess turned the wheel. After a few seconds, pink ice cream swirled into the bowl.

“Try it,” said Goldie.

Jess and Lily took a spoonful each. It was deliciously sweet and juicy and cold and creamy, all at once.

“Mmmm.” Lily sighed.

The three friends were tucking into another spoonful when a voice called, “Hello! Is anyone home? We’ve come to see the birthday cat!”

The girls and Goldie hurried outside. A family of fluffy white cats were coming through the trees—a mom and three kittens.

“It’s the Sparklepaws!” Goldie cried.

“Happy birthday, Goldie!” the white cats cried as they hugged her.

“This is Mrs. Sparklepaw and her children, Tommy, Timmy, and Amelia,” Goldie said, and introduced Jess and Lily.

Amelia was a pretty kitten with shining blue eyes and fur as white as soft, fresh snow. Like her brothers, she was wearing a blue flower on a ribbon around her neck. She bounced over to Goldie and gave her a present wrapped in leaf paper. “It’s for you!” she cried. “Open it! Open it!”

“Thank you, Amelia,” said Goldie, unwrapping the gift. Inside was a flower filled with perfume.

“I made it myself with flowers from Garland Green, the field behind our cottage,” said Amelia proudly. “I used rose petals, violet dew, crushed honeyberries, and a bit of mint.”

Goldie dabbed a little perfume behind her ears. “Mmm, it smells just like a summer afternoon,” she said, giving Amelia a hug. “Thank you!”

“Look,” said Jess excitedly, “all the other guests are arriving!”

Molly Twinkletail the mouse came out of the trees with her nine brothers and sisters. Among them, they were carrying a necklace made of hazelnuts for Goldie. The Muddlepup dog family arrived, all four of them carrying pots of jam made from the berries in their garden, and a cloud of butterflies, led by the girls’ friends Hermia and Flitta, holding lacy leaves shaped like parasols. They had brought birthday cards from animals who lived too far away to come to the party.

“Thank you, everyone!” said Goldie.

With a flutter of brown feathers, Mr. Cleverfeather the owl landed in front of the grotto. “I’ve brought you a present too, Goldie—my latest invention. Bappy hirthday! I mean, happy birthday!” He handed Goldie a bowl with a button on one side marked “Blitz.” “It’s a blender,” he explained. “It makes smoothies.”

“Thank you!” Goldie said happily.

“Let’s try it!” said Amelia, purring with delight.

Goldie took the blender to the bowl of fruit salad on the table outside. Lily was spooning fruit into it when a strange blue furry creature, even smaller than Amelia, scampered on all fours from beneath a starflower bush.

It wasn’t like any animal Jess and Lily had seen before. The creature climbed a table leg, grabbed a pawful of berries from Lily’s spoon, and scuttled back toward the bush.

Lily dropped the spoon, startled. “Who was that?” she said.

“I’ll ask him!” cried Amelia. She bounded after the creature, pounced at his long fluffy tail—and missed. The creature disappeared back into the starflower bush.

Jess nudged aside the leaves of the bush—then gave a gasp. “Oh! Look!”

On the other side of the bush was a large bouquet of flowers, tied with a big red ribbon.

“Someone must have left them here for Goldie!” said Lily. “I wonder why they didn’t give them to her themselves?”

“It must be a birthday surprise!” Jess said with a grin.

Chapter Three Trapped!

The bouquet was almost as tall as the girls. The gray flowers were like hooked beaks and the stems were covered in mean-looking prickles.

Lily frowned. “It’s not a very pretty bouquet, is it? There are so many gorgeous flowers in Friendship Forest—why would someone choose these?”

Amelia sniffed. “Urgh! And they smell like dirty puddle water,” she said, her whiskers quivering.

Jess reached out and touched the nearest flower, then drew her hand back sharply. The gray petals felt rough and stiff and horrible.

“Look!” cried Amelia. She pointed a paw at a small envelope tucked into the bouquet. “There’s a note!”

The kitten stretched up on her paw-tips and pulled it out. Goldie, the envelope said in scratchy writing.

“Goldie!” Amelia called. “You’ve got some flowers!”

Goldie came hurrying over. “I’ve never seen flowers like these before,” she said curiously. “I wonder who they could be from. Will you open the envelope, Amelia?”

Amelia tore it open and pulled out a card. The girls and Goldie bent over the little kitten to read it. In the same scratchy writing, it said:

Goldie gave a cry of shock.

“That’s awful!” cried Lily.

“Trust Grizelda to try to spoil your birthday,” said Jess. “She’s always so mean!”

As she spoke, the bouquet rustled. The flowers began to grow, twisting and turning in the air.

Goldie, Amelia, and the girls stepped back, staring in surprise as the beaky flowers grew bigger and bigger.

There were shocked cries from behind the girls, where the other party guests were watching.

“They’re opening,” cried Lily. The flowers gaped wide, looking like big, hungry mouths!

“Keep back!” yelled Goldie.

She and the girls stepped hurriedly away from the flowers—but Amelia was too scared to move!

“Amelia, get back!” Jess cried.

“Look out!” shouted little Tommy Sparklepaw.

But it was too late. The biggest parrot-beak flower dived toward Amelia.

The kitten gave a squeal as the beak opened even wider, then snapped shut around her.

“She’s trapped!” cried Lily.

“My little kitten!” wailed Mrs. Sparklepaw.

Bravely, Jess ran and grabbed the flower. She tried to pry it open, but another flower snapped at her hands. “Ow!” she cried, jumping out of the way just in time.

Lily went as near as she dared and called, “Amelia, are you all right?”

There was a muffled reply. “Y-y-yes! I’m OK. But I want to get out!”

“We’ll set you free,” called Lily. “And you can have lots of ice cream when we do!”

A flower snapped at Lily, and she darted back to the others.

Mrs. Muddlepup gasped in horror. “Those are snapdragons,” she said. “We’re always checking to make sure those horrible things aren’t growing in our garden. They’re impossible to open!”

Lily held Goldie’s paw. “Oh, poor Amelia!” she said.

Goldie was in tears. “It’s my fault,” she said. “I should be the one trapped inside that flower, not Amelia.”

Lily hugged her. “It’s Grizelda’s fault, not yours,” she said. “We’ll rescue Amelia somehow.”

The horrified animals huddled together.

“I’m scared!” squeaked Molly Twinkletail the mouse.

“How can we save Amelia?” cried Lucy Longwhiskers.

A purple butterfly fluttered over. “I’ve got an idea,” Hermia said in her tinkling voice. She held up a tiny parcel made from a leaf. “There’s a drop of sugarsap inside,” she explained. “We butterflies always carry some to sprinkle on flowers that won’t open. It might work with this flower, too.”

Hermia flew to the flower where Amelia was trapped. She darted from side to side, so the snapping flowers couldn’t catch her, and opened the leaf parcel.

A drop of pink liquid fell onto the flower.

Lily, Jess, and the other animals watched hopefully. The snapdragon opened a tiny bit. Everyone held their breath. But then it snapped shut again.

“Oh, no!” cried Timmy Sparklepaw. “It didn’t work!”

Hermia fluttered away from the snapdragons. “We’ve got more sugarsap in Butterfly Bowery,” she said. “If we bring back lots of it, maybe it’ll be enough to open the snapdragon.”

“We’ve got to try it,” agreed Jess. “It’s the only plan we’ve got to rescue Amelia!”

Chapter Four The Butterfly Bowery

Lily, Jess, and Goldie hurried through the forest, following the rainbow cloud of fluttering butterflies. At last, Hermia pointed her wing up into the branches of a willow tree. “There’s the Butterfly Bowery,” she said. “It’s where all the forest butterflies sleep.”

Lily, Jess, and Goldie peered up at a little hollow high in the trunk.

“Thanks, Hermia,” said Jess. “We’ll climb up and get some sugarsap.”

“Wait,” said Lily. “Even though we’re smaller in Friendship Forest, we’ll still never fit in that hollow.”

Hermia gave a tinkly laugh. “You will,” she said. “Just you wait and see!”

She fluttered alongside them as Goldie led the way up, bounding lightly from branch to branch.

The girls followed carefully, and soon sat beside the cat outside the Butterfly Bowery. When Lily peered inside, she gasped at the sight of so many dazzling, shimmering butterfly wings.

A yellow butterfly with polka dots on her wings and an orange butterfly with white hearts on hers flew out of the Bowery, carrying tiny purple flowers. They gave them to Goldie and the girls.

“They smell delicious!” said Jess.

“These are shrinking violets,” Hermia explained. “If you eat some you’ll be able to come inside!”

Lily, Jess, and Goldie each nibbled on a violet. Suddenly, they tingled all over.

“It’s like the feeling we get when we enter the Friendship Tree,” cried Lily. “We’re shrinking again!”

“Wow!” gasped Jess. Soon the girls and Goldie were kitten-sized, and still they kept shrinking. “I don’t think we need any more!” Jess said, putting the last few flowers in her pocket. At last, the tingling stopped.

“We’re as small as Hermia!” said Lily—then laughed. Her voice was as tinkly as the butterfly’s, too.

“Come in!” said Hermia. Now that they were tiny they could see her clearly. Her wings were like sails and covered in swirling patterns of pink, purple, and lilac.

They followed Hermia inside. The bowery seemed huge, with a high ceiling as tall as a cathedral, soft rose petals on the floor, and a sweet smell in the air. And everywhere the girls looked there were fluttering butterflies of every color of the rainbow! Sunlight glittered through windows covered with lacy spiderwebs and glinted off the butterflies’ shimmering wings as they flew around.

“Amazing!” breathed Jess.

“Hello, girls! Hello, Goldie!” said the butterflies, as Hermia led them to a pink pool in the ground.

“This is where we keep our sugarsap,” Hermia said. She showed them how to dip an empty seed pod into the pool, fill it with sugarsap, then pour it onto a large leaf and fold it into a parcel. Soon Goldie and the girls had made a huge pile of sugarsap parcels.

“I hope we’ve collected enough to free Amelia,” said Jess.

“Me, too,” said Hermia. She gave them a handful of sunshine-yellow flowers.

“These are growberry blossoms,” the butterfly said. “If you eat them when you get outside, you’ll return back to your normal size.”

“Thank you, Hermia!” said Lily and Jess together. The butterflies fluttered their wings in farewell as the girls and Goldie left. On the branch outside, they ate the growberry blossoms. Instantly, they quivered all over and, in no time, they were back to the size they’d been when they arrived in the forest.

“Let’s get back to the grotto,” said Goldie. “I just hope the sugarsap opens that horrible flower this time!”

At the grotto, the worried animals stood around the snapdragons. The one that held Amelia drooped heavily toward the ground.

“It’s all right, Amelia!” Jess called. “We’re going to save you!”

The kitten’s voice was muffled. “Please hurry,” they heard her say. “It’s really dark in here!”

Lily, Jess, and Goldie unwrapped the leaf parcels. Then the girls darted around the flowers, sprinkling the liquid over them as they dodged their snapping petals. When they’d finished, everyone waited. The girls held their breath.

Then the bouquet gave itself a great shake. The sugarsap droplets flew off.

There was a wail from inside the flower. “I’m dizzy!” mewed Amelia.

Finally, the bouquet was still—but the flower holding the kitten was still snapped firmly shut.

Lily and Jess groaned with dismay.

“The sugarsap didn’t work!” cried Mrs. Sparklepaw with a sob.

“We’re so sorry,” Lily said.

She glanced at Jess and Goldie. Their worried faces showed they were all thinking the same thing.

Would they ever be able to free Amelia?

Chapter Five An Unwelcome Guest

Nobody knew what to do. The Sparklepaws huddled together, looking upset. Mr. Cleverfeather flapped his wings anxiously and the Twinkletail mouse family was in tears.

Then Jess gave a shout. She took the leftover shrinking violets from her pocket and held them up. “Hey, I know! We can use these!”

Lily was confused. “How will it help Amelia if we shrink?”

“We won’t eat them,” explained Jess. “We’ll feed them to the snapdragons. They’ll shrink until they’re too small to hold Amelia—and then they’ll have to drop her.”

“Let’s try it!” Lily cried.

Jess crept toward the bouquet, clutching the violets. As soon as she was within reach, the flowers snapped at her. She dodged them, not wanting to get trapped in a flower, too.

Lily shrieked as a flower lunged with its parrot-beak wide open, but Jess was too quick. She tossed the shrinking violets deep inside the flower’s mouth.

The flower clamped shut.

Everyone waited.

“Nothing’s happening!” Mrs. Sparklepaw wailed.

“Wait!” Goldie grabbed the girls’ hands. They watched anxiously as the flowers started to shudder and shake—and then shrink!

“It’s working!” Lily cried as the bouquet got smaller and smaller.

With a slurp, the flower opened, and out tumbled Amelia!

Lily darted forward to catch her, then Mrs. Sparklepaw rushed over to give Amelia a big squeeze.

Everyone cheered. “Hooray!”

The Sparklepaws hugged and kissed Amelia, then she wriggled free and bounded over to Goldie and the girls.

“Thanks for rescuing me!” she said. As she hugged them, the girls could feel her purring.

“You were a very brave kitten,” said Lily, stroking Amelia’s soft white fur.

“Everything’s all right now,” Jess said happily. “The party can begin!”

But Lily gave a shout, pointing to a gap in the trees.

A familiar yellow-green orb of light was hurtling toward them!

“Quick, into my grotto!” Goldie shouted, but it was too late.

The orb burst in a shower of smelly green sparks. When they cleared, there stood Grizelda, wearing her usual purple tunic, skinny black pants, and high-heeled boots.

“Go away, Grizelda!” cried Jess. “We’ve had enough of your evil spells!”

The witch’s face was red with rage, and her green hair swished around like tangled snakes.

“You’ve stopped me this time, cat!” she shrieked. “But you won’t interfere with my plans again! Ever!”

She snapped her fingers and disappeared in a burst of vile-smelling green sparks.

Lily and Jess turned to Goldie.

“Don’t worry,” said Lily. “If Grizelda comes back, we’ll be ready for her.”

“Whatever happens,” said Jess. “Now, it’s your birthday, and we’re not going to let that awful witch spoil your party!”

“No way!” Amelia added bravely.

Mrs. Sparklepaw knelt to hug her kitten again. “Are you sure you don’t want to go home, Amelia?” she asked.

But Amelia shook her head. “I love parties, Mom! I want to stay!”

Goldie smiled at the little kitten. “I’ll go inside and start the Dreamy Creamy Ice Machine!”

When she’d gone in, Jess pulled out the little sketchbook and pencil she always carried in her pocket. “Lily,” she whispered. “We don’t have a present, but at least we can make Goldie a card.”

Amelia collected flower petals to decorate the card, and Lily found some tiny glossy red seeds that she stuck to the card with dabs of sticky pine sap.

They went inside to give the card to Goldie, but the ice cream machine stood silent in the empty cave. Goldie was nowhere to be seen.

“Goldie?” Jess called.

“Maybe she took ice cream out to the others,” said Amelia. “I’ll look.” She scampered away.

“Goldie?” Jess called again.

Amelia came back in, shaking her head. “She’s not outside, and no one’s seen her,” she said. Her whiskers twitched with worry. “Where could she be?”

Lily gave a cry of horror. “Oh, no,” she said. “Remember what Grizelda said—that Goldie wouldn’t stop her plans again? I think she’s taken her!”

Amelia gave a frightened mew. “Poor Goldie!”

Jess clenched her fists. “Whatever Grizelda’s done with Goldie, we’ll find out somehow. We won’t let that witch cat-nap our friend!”