‘Tangine!’ Amelia hissed, putting her head in her hands.
Gretta’s eyes widened. ‘Oh deary dear,’ she said. ‘My eyes aren’t too great these days. I did think it was a little odd that jam jar fell over and smashed!’
Everybody laughed before the sound of hooves and rustling was heard in some nearby trees. Suddenly, two flustered looking unicorns appeared.
‘Ricky, Graham!’ said Amelia running over to them. ‘We thought you’d left!’
‘Galloping Gooseberries!’ said Ricky as Amelia threw her arms around him. ‘Thank the stars you’re safe! We’d all sailed round to the other side of the island to find you when some King corn-bum-number-eight–’
‘He’s a bum-bleeee-corn actually,’ Graham corrected him.
Ricky frowned. ‘Yes, that’s what he said. Anyway, the king-baggicorn came along with a WHOLE kingdom’s worth of bugs and surrounded us!’
‘Ricky thought they were gonna attack us,’ said Graham rolling his eyes.
‘You thought it too! And STOP interrupting my story!’ said Ricky defensively. ‘But anyway, it was only to get our attention, and he told us what had happened – that you’d fallen into the sea! We were beside ourselves! Jamie the bumbaborn guided us here to find a gnome named Gretta who’d done a curse or somefink.’
‘You said it wrong again, Ricky,’ said Graham. ‘King Jamie is a bumpy-corn!’
‘Bumblicorn,’ said a very small, but familiar voice. ‘But you can just call me King Jamie. And it’s really not worth squabbling over.’
The Nectar Carriage bobbed up and down in the air. Queen Denise was sitting in the back fanning herself. ‘Coo-eee!’ she called happily.
‘KING JAMIE!’ said Amelia and her friends in unison.
‘I’m so glad you’re okay,’ he said. ‘What happened?’
‘Don’t worry!’ said Amelia with a grin. ‘We were taken care of by a mer-pire called Nurse Bubble – there’s a whole other kingdom under the Sea of Sparkles!’
‘Really? I never knew about that!’ said the bumblicorn.
‘It’s where we found McJiggle! He’d been living under the sea all this time,’ said Amelia.
The king gasped. ‘And THAT’S why you’re big again! And you’re not the only ones. The curse has been broken! There are creatures all over the island popping up out of nowhere. They’ve all returned to their normal size!’
Frankie came running through the trees shouting ‘AMEEEEEELIA! Where are you? I’m sorry for always being such a SNOOT. Ameeeeelia?! Amelia’s frieeeeends?! Prince Booooy?!’
When she appeared and saw Amelia standing next to Ricky and Graham, she stopped in her tracks. ‘Phew!’ she smiled with relief. ‘I mean, WHERE have you been?! Skiving off so that WE have to go on a wild gooseberry chase looking for you ALL night!’ she harrumphed. Then added quietly. ‘I’m glad you’re okay though. It’s boring when there’s no one to compete with for badges and grades.’
Amelia grinned. The rest of the Rainbow Rangers gradually appeared, covered in twigs and mud and various bugs.
The last to make his way to the scene was Kevin, who looked very uncomfortable.
‘I am SO sorry,’ he said. ‘Um, I didn’t realise the thing buzzing around my face last night was you.’
‘In a weird and twisted way, you helped us,’ said Amelia kindly. ‘If it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have fallen into the water and found McJiggle, and then reunited him with Gretta Grubbikins over there.’
McJiggle gave a friendly wave. ‘Well isn’t this grand! Has anyone had breakfast yet?’ he called over the chitter chatter.
The young creatures mumbled and shook their heads. Amelia gave her rumbling tummy a rub. She hadn’t realised how hungry she was after their long night of adventuring.
‘I hear there’s some delicious fruits in these parts . . .’ said McJiggle as he picked a handful of sugarplums from the tree. ‘C’mon, there’s plenty here for everyone!’
Amelia, Florence, Grimaldi and Tangine looked a little awkward. ‘Um . . . are they safe to eat now?’ said Grimaldi.
Gretta and McJiggle laughed. ‘Why yes, of course!’ said Gretta. ‘The curse is broken!’
‘The only curse these plums are responsible for now is the curse of being FAR TOO DELICIOUS!’ said McJiggle, taking a bite.
And soon all of the Rainbow Rangers were picking plums from the tree and gobbling them down.
After a whole day of munching sugarplums and dancing around the Sugarplum Tree, Ricky and Graham took the Rainbow Rangers back to the campsite.
McJiggle and Gretta joined them to share stories around the campfire. Kevin sat furthest away from the fire. McJiggle told the tales of his time under the sea, while the Rainbow Rangers roasted Midnight Marshmallows and dipped them in Gretta’s famous sugarplum jam.
‘Ricky,’ said Graham. ‘We should ’ave made a BROKE A CURSE badge, shouldn’t we?’
‘Well, it’s not really your everyday activity, is it?’ said Ricky.
‘But they broke a whole curse,’ said Graham. ‘That’s pretty big.’
Ricky and Graham eventually decided to present Amelia and her friends with three brand new badges that they made from bits of scrap paper and leaves:
The BROKE A CURSE badge, the BE TINY AND BRAVE badge and the FIND A LOST LEPRECHAUN badge.
Amelia, Florence, Grimaldi and Tangine had all of the Rainbow Rangers listening in awe as they retold their adventures of the previous night. Tangine took it upon himself to act out the whole story.
‘I think we should raise a marshmallow to Nurse Bubble,’ said McJiggle.
‘TO NURSE BUBBLE!’ the group cheered.
‘But also to my new friends, Amelia, Florence, Grimaldi and Tangine. For bringing me home!’
‘TO AMELIA! TO FLORENCE! TO GRIMALDI! TO TANGINE!’ cheered the Rainbow Rangers.
‘And to Gretta,’ said Amelia.
‘FOR CURSING US?!’ said Florence.
‘Well, what I was going to say was . . . to Gretta,’ said Amelia. ‘For a future full of happiness, love and many, many sugarplums!’
CHAPTER 19
ONE SMALL BEACON OF LIGHT
During the rest of the half-moon holiday, Amelia’s sash filled up with badges. She earned her FOOD FORAGING badge, the HOP UP THE MOUNTAIN badge and, with King Jamie’s help, she achieved her BOMBASTIC BUGS badge.
Florence was the only one to get the FOOD THAT FARTS badge and every Rainbow Ranger got a BUILD A SUMMER HOUSE FOR RICKY AND GRAHAM badge.
By the end of the week, Amelia felt like she’d learnt so much and found she hadn’t thought about being homesick once. Whilst she still missed her mum and dad, she was having so much fun with her friends – and as long as she had them, she was home.
Frankie Steinburg ended up as the Rainbow Ranger Captain much to Tangine’s disappointment, but Amelia didn’t mind. It didn’t matter how many badges she had, because she had achieved something far bigger and better. She had played a part in bringing two creatures together who had been apart for years, and finally lifting the Curse of the Sugarplum Tree.
The gang did, however, each receive a special SEA OF SPARKLES badge, hand-painted by McJiggle himself. Creatures of the Light who had once been cursed and now returned to their normal size cheered on Amelia and her friends as McJiggle presented them with their new badges. Gretta even promised Tangine that she would build a shiny new restaurant on the island to remember them by.
‘May I request you call it The Tangenius Temple of Tantalizing Treats?’ asked Tangine. To which the crowd burst out laughing, and Gretta accepted his request followed by a great big hug.
‘I’m going to be sad to leave this place,’ said Grimaldi as the Rainbow Rangers packed their bags.
A BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ echoed through the air as King Jamie flew down to join Amelia and her friends. He and Queen Denise had visited them every day over the week and brought tiny sacks of honey especially for Squashy.
‘It was such a pleasure to me
et you all!’ said King Jamie.
‘I’ll miss your Hall of Garments,’ said Tangine sadly. He still wore his frilly outfit with pride.
‘DENISE,’ said Florence. ‘YOU’RE THE RAREST BREED OF SLUG I’VE EVA ’AD THE PLEASURE OF TALKING TO.’
‘And you are definitely NOT a beast,’ smiled Denise.
Grimaldi bowed. ‘Thank you for helping us, King Jamie,’ he said shyly.
‘You were very brave,’ said the bumblicorn. ‘If you were a bug, I’d have you as one of my loyal knights!’
Grimaldi went all silly and blushed.
‘Amelia Fang,’ said King Jamie the Eighth. ‘You and your friends will always be welcome to visit us in Buggingtonshire!’
Amelia giggled. ‘We might be a little bit big,’ she said. ‘But of course we will!’
‘Just as long as you don’t try to sit on me again,’ said Denise. ‘Especially now!’
‘What a week!’ Amelia sat happily in her little stripy boat with Squashy in her lap. This time Grimaldi joined her at the opposite end, as his swirly boat was being used to transport all the jam Gretta had given to the Rainbow Rangers as a goodbye gift. The other Rainbow Rangers were all gathered together ready to sail back to the Dazzling Docks. ‘I can’t wait to tell Mum and Dad all about it . . . Although, they probably wouldn’t believe the part where we got cursed and were the size of bugs AND then hung around in an underwater kingdom with fish tails . . . Tangine looked so funny with those tentacles, didn’t he?’
But Grimaldi was curled up at the end of the boat snoring lightly. Amelia didn’t blame him. It had been a very eventful half-moon holiday.
Amelia rowed and rowed across the Sea of Sparkles as the sun began to set in the sky marking the end of the half-moon holiday. She looked down at her sash full of badges and smiled. She would cherish it forever.
Amelia’s arms began to grow tired. She was so close to the Dazzling Docks . . . but then as she shifted the heavy oars in her hands, they slipped into the water with a PLOP PLOP.
‘Oh, pottering pumpkins!’ she said trying to reach them, but the oars were floating away.
Just as Amelia was about to shout for Ricky and Graham, she felt the boat begin to move forward faster and faster until it was almost flying along the water. Clinging on to the side of the boat, she peered over the edge and thought she saw a glimpse of squiggly white hair.
Amelia let the warm evening breeze brush over her until the boat sailed into the Dazzling Docks.
Grimaldi stirred and stretched. ‘Oh, we’re back already?!’ he said looking a little embarrassed. ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep. Thanks for rowing us all the way, Amelia.’
Amelia raised her eyebrows and smiled. ‘I didn’t do a thing.’
As she stepped out of the boat and lifted her pumpkin backpack, she looked out to the Sea of Sparkles, and whispered. ‘Thank you, Nurse Bubble.’
On the horizon was Sugarplum Island, now teaming with creatures as it had been all those years ago. The sun had almost set, casting a deep purply-red shadow upon the island, but on its peak was one small beacon of light – the glow of the Sugarplum Tree.
After the best holiday she had ever had, Amelia felt braver than ever before. She smiled as she watched the Sugarplum Tree glow in the distance, and thought of the two creatures that would be dancing around that tree every morning and every night, for as long as they lived.
Amelia Fang and the Half-Moon Holiday (The Amelia Fang Series) Page 7
