Spring's Sparkle Sleepover

by Elise Allen

  GURGLE!

  A loud rumbling filled the underground cavern, and Spring laughed a tinkle-bell giggle when she realized it was her own tummy. She’d been so worried about the Snowflake Slumber Party, she hadn’t eaten since last night.

  Mother laughed too. “That is the sound of a very hungry Sparkle, and I certainly can’t send you to your first sleepover on an empty stomach. Come join Bluster and me for a snack.”

  A snack with Mother sounded wonderful, but with Bluster Tempest? “Do I have to?”

  “Oh, Spring,” Mother cooed. “You don’t have to be afraid of Bluster. Remember what I taught you about him and his Weeds?”

  “They help keep the Outworld in balance, just like us,” Spring answered reluctantly. “Thunderbolts, twisters, and quakes are as much a part of nature as flowers and waterfalls.”

  “Exactly,” Mother said. “Bluster can be naughty at times, but he’s actually quite amusing once you get to know him. He is also quite good at cyclone checkers. Just not as good as me.”

  “Do you blow him away?” Spring asked playfully.

  “Indeed I do,” said Mother Nature. “But it’s Bluster’s own fault. He’s too impatient. If you take your time to plan your moves, he gets so frustrated that he reacts too quickly and makes mistakes. Then he grows as irritated as a hornet trapped under glass.”

  Spring laughed out loud imagining a tiny Bluster buzzing around inside a glass. Suddenly a snack with him was much less scary.

  “Remember this, Spring,” Mother said. “Laughing is another good way to face your fears.”

  Spring giggled. “Then between Bluster and the sleepover, I’m going to need to tell a whole lot of jokes today!”

  Chapter 5

  After they left the caves, Spring walked hand in hand with Mother along the seashore until they stood facing a sandy island in the shape of a sea turtle. Resting on the turtle’s back was an enchanting white stone villa topped with sky-blue domes and golden weather vanes. This was Mother Nature’s home.

  As Mother stepped out into the water, a pathway of shells rose to the surface to guide her and Spring’s way to the villa, which was filled with tiled stairways that led to multiple levels, numerous balconies, and verandas to the east and west. Normally Spring would skip her way to Mother’s sitting room, but her feet disliked Bluster as much as the rest of her. She stuck close by Mother Nature, half-hidden by Mother’s skirts.

  “Good day, everyone!” Mother declared as she entered the room. “I see my guest of honor hasn’t arrived.”

  At that happy news, Spring leaped out to romp around the room and gaze at everything. There was always something new and exciting in Mother’s sitting room. Today, six meerkats sat at an antique card table playing a lively game of Go Fish. Near them, a group of geese cornered a fox in a game of Fox & Geese on a life-size checkerboard. At the other end of the room, a pack of Pekingese pups challenged several ferns in bowling, while four small, spiny brown hedgehogs rolled themselves as shooters in a game of marbles. Overseeing it all sat Serenity, perched on one of the hanging globes that mapped out the Sparkledoms and the Outworld.

  GURGLE!

  Spring’s tummy roared so loudly, she thought every animal would stop and stare.

  “My!” Mother exclaimed. “That belly cannot wait another second to be filled.” She waved her scepter at a spot on the dark wood-paneled floor. A smattering of blue sparkles glittered down and grew into a bush that flowered with Spring’s favorite snacks: petite carrot muffins, mini pea pies, and giant golden raspberries. The Sparkle ate as fast as her little fingers could pluck. Everything tasted so fresh that she wished she could savor every bite, but she desperately wanted to finish and run before Bluster Tempest arrived.

  Yet just as she popped a final raspberry into her mouth, a massive black tornado swirled toward Mother’s villa. The wind rattled the clocks and musical instruments on the wall. Everyone turned to stare except Spring, who quickly scampered under a billiard table. She closed her eyes, but there was no escaping the terrible racket as the storm bullied its way into the sitting room. She heard playing cards whisked off tables, hanging globes banging into one another, books slamming off their shelves, and vases smashing onto the floor. One crashed so close to her hiding spot that Spring had to open her eyes and scurry away from the broken glass. When she did, she saw a black funnel cloud unwind itself to reveal the man at its core: Bluster Tempest.

  “Salivations and salutations!” shouted Bluster, his arms flung up like the wings of a landing vulture. He paced the room as he twisted his waxed black mustache with spindly fingers. To Spring, his dark cape, top hat, and hair made him look like a patch of black fungus.

  “Mistress Mother Nature, may a thousand antelopes fertilize your humble home,” said Bluster in a voice that dripped like greasy corn oil. “You are even more bountiful and beautiful than last I laid my stunning eyes upon you.”

  “Bluster, I just saw you yesterday for our weekly walk,” said Mother Nature.

  “Was it only yesterday? Ah, handsome me. What is time to a gentleman like myself, who would delight in seeing every timepiece in the world smashed to smithereens?”

  “Always the charmer, Bluster,” said Mother Nature. “Please, allow me to take your cape. Now that you’re here, Game Night can officially begin. After one little task, of course.”

  Mother Nature waved her hands and every toppled, tumbled, and shattered item repaired itself and returned to its proper place. Then Bluster’s cape rose off of his shoulders and onto a tree-shaped coatrack by the door.

  “I preferred it the other way,” Bluster mused, “but I suppose this will do.” He reached into his double-breasted vest and pulled out a large heart-shaped box. “A hostess gift.” He offered it to Mother Nature. “May it entice your taste buds like the nectar of a Venus flytrap does a small, unsuspecting insect.”

  “Bluster, how thoughtful!” Mother Nature opened the box to reveal several cream-filled chocolates. “My favorite. You always remember.”

  “Manners matter,” said Bluster Tempest through smiling teeth.

  “That’s what I always say,” Mother noted. “And I’d be quite unmannerly if I didn’t offer one of these to my daughter. Spring, would you like a chocolate?”

  Mother bent over to offer the box, as if there were nothing unusual about a Sparkle crouching beneath the billiard table during Game Night.

  “Spring?” Bluster lilted. “Under the table?”

  He popped his head down to take a peek. His black eyes lit up like a lightning storm and he curled his mustache above his toothy grin. Spring tried not to scream.

  “Indeed it is!” exclaimed Bluster. “The youngest Sparkle in the flesh! Why, you look as darling as a little worm cowering in a pile of dirt. Surely you’re not down there hiding from me.”

  Frightened as Spring was, she didn’t like Bluster’s tone. It sounded like he was making fun of her, and she did not want to give him the satisfaction of being correct. She climbed out from under the table and stood with her hands on her hips. She remembered what Mother had said about laughter helping when you were scared.

  “What do you call it when worms take over the Outworld?” she blurted.

  Bluster looked as confused as a wolf who received a salad for lunch.

  “I don’t know,” he said. “What do you call it when worms take over the Outworld?”

  “Global worming!” exclaimed Spring.

  Bluster Tempest stared wide-eyed at Spring for an icy moment and then burst out laughing. “Two of my favorite things in one joke!” he guffawed. “Worms and global warming. Well done, Spring. I must say, I always found your season to be so sickly sweet with its baby birds and daffodils. But there is more to you than meets the eye.”

  “Much more,” Mother agreed.

  Spring felt a warm rush of pride. Two adults were saying they were impressed by her. Maybe she was growing up.

  “One more thing,” Spring told Bluster bravely. “You said I looked like a worm
cowering in a pile of dirt, but that’s not possible. Worms don’t cower in dirt. It’s their home and where they go to stay warm.”

  “I stand corrected,” Bluster said. “Tell me, Spring, would you like to stay and join your mother and me for a game of cyclone checkers? Be warned—I do cheat.”

  “I’m afraid Spring has other things on her agenda today,” Mother jumped in. “She’s going to a Snowflake Slumber Party.”

  “How chilling!” Bluster enthused. “Do have a good time. And if you ever do wish to join a Game Night, I believe I would be most entertained by your company.”

  Spring wasn’t sure whether that was a compliment or not, but she thanked him just in case. As she gave Mother a hug and turned to leave, Bluster cleared his throat.

  “Speaking of worms, Spring, tell me—how can you tell which end of a worm is which?”

  “How?” she asked.

  “Tickle it in the middle and see which end laughs!” said Bluster Tempest. He let out a series of loud guffaws. He sounded like a crazy donkey, and soon Spring was giggling too. She couldn’t believe it. All she did was stand up to him, and now they were laughing together and he’d invited her to play games! If she could handle Bluster this well, a simple Snowflake Slumber Party with the sisters she adored would be nothing!

  As Spring skipped out to the sunset-lit terrace and summoned the rainbow, she heard one last bellow from Bluster.

  “Serenity,” he summoned, “do be a turtledove and bring me a cup of tea. Extra bitter.”

  Chapter 6

  “Brownie Pops!”

  The four Sparkle Sisters were in Winter’s kitchen, still chilled from their dash back from Hullabaloo Hot Springs. They sat in a cozy booth and marveled over the treats laid out on the table: brownie Pops, colorful bowls of frosting, snowflake-shaped sprinkles, crumbled peppermints, and roasted nuts for dipping.

  “I’m going to coat mine in pink frosting and all the toppings!” Spring cried.

  “Me too!” Summer agreed.

  “I’m going to keep mine simple, just as it is,” said Autumn.

  “Nothing simple!” Winter shot back. “Not at a Snowflake Slumber Party. You have to try at least three different toppings.”

  “Maybe two,” Autumn relented. She smeared vanilla frosting on her Brownie Pop and coated it with the littlest bit of peppermint.

  “So tell me, Spring, on a scale of cold to hot, cold of course being the best, how would you rate your first sleepover?” asked Winter.

  “Icy cold!” said Spring. She smiled a huge grin, and all her sisters hooted and guffawed. “What?” she asked.

  “You have something in your teeth!” Summer laughed. Her smile was also coated in chocolate and frosting.

  “So do you!” Spring tittered.

  “What about me?” asked Winter. She smiled wide to show the chocolate brownie she’d purposely smeared all over her teeth. “Do my teeth look like the Weeds’?”

  “YES!” Summer and Spring said with a laugh.

  “No,” countered Autumn. “They look worse. They look like Bluster’s!”

  All the sisters howled with laughter until their breath hiccuped out in gasps.

  “Okay,” Winter said when she could speak again. “Spring, you said this sleepover so far is icy cold—which is pretty cool—but I bet my next plan will make it fabulously frigid! We’ll get ready for bed and have a pajama dance party!”

  “I’d love that!” Spring cried. She’d always heard about her sisters’ pajama dance parties and couldn’t wait to have one herself.

  “Let’s go up to my bedroom and change,” Winter said. “I call the hard way!”

  She skated across her icy floor to the sledding hill that rolled down from the second story. As she started to scramble up, Summer raced after her, crying, “I call the hard way too!”

  “I call the easy way,” Autumn told Spring. “Want to join me?”

  Spring very much did, and followed Autumn to the long pole that ran the entire height of the chalet, from the bottom floor all the way up to Winter’s bedroom. Winter liked to jump on it and slide down, but how could they ride it up?

  “Are you sure this is the easy way?” Spring asked.

  “Hold tight to my waist,” instructed Autumn. She pulled out her scepter and commanded:

  A breeze swirling with Sparkle magic lifted the girls off of their feet and rocketed them up the pole. Whip-poor-wills and waterspouts! Spring thought. Now I know what a geyser feels like!

  Once they reached Winter’s bedroom, Autumn jumped back from the pole, and she and Spring landed in a pile of giant, fluffy white pillows. Spring barely had a second to catch her breath when one of the pillows licked her! Startled, she squealed and sputtered, then realized she was nose-to-nose with the world’s largest polar bear.

  “Flurry!” she exclaimed. She threw her arms around Winter’s pet polar bear and kissed his wet black nose, but Flurry wanted to play. He toppled Spring over and licked her face with his sloppy blue tongue.

  “Ew-ew-ew!” giggled Spring.

  She rolled away from Flurry’s tongue bath and instead found the snowflake-shaped spot on his belly where he loved to be scratched.

  “Hey, Flurrball!” shouted Winter as she and Summer raced into the room. “Get over here and let’s wrestle!”

  Flurry roared and bounded to Winter. On the way, he dented one of the stilts holding up Winter’s skybed, knocked over a fuzzy couch, and toppled a Hula-Hoop rack. The room shimmered with Sparkle magic as everything fixed and righted itself. Spring couldn’t even imagine what Winter’s chalet would look like without its magic power to put itself back together.

  As Spring watched Flurry and Winter gleefully roughhouse, she couldn’t help but think about Dewdrop. She missed her unicorn. He didn’t roughhouse, he cuddled. He was probably nestled in his warm bed of hay, listening to the sounds of the crickets by the river. Spring wondered if he missed her too.

  “Oh, Winter, are these tents for us?” Autumn sounded entranced, and when Spring followed her gaze, she saw four white tents in the shape of igloos, each one glowing from the inside. They looked like magical paper lanterns, fragile and beautiful.

  Winter peeked out from under Flurry’s fuzzy arms. “Better believe it,” she said. “One silky sleepover tent for each of us! What do you think, Spring?”

  “Winter, they’re … enchanting,” Spring cooed. “Can we go inside?”

  “Yes!” Winter enthused. “I want to know if you love it!”

  Spring crawled over the pink butterfly welcome mat in front of her igloo. The gossamer interior was lit up with glass snowballs glowing with an array of colors, like the northern lights that she knew their season-changing Ceremony created for the Outworlders. Her finch-feather tote bag sat right next to a downy pile of white fuzzy blankets, and her unicorn pillow lay on top, exactly where it belonged. Spring lay down on it and again thought about Dewdrop. He would love this wondrous tent. She wished he was with her and they could spend the night in it together.

  “Let’s all get dressed in our pajamas for the dance party!” Summer’s voice rang out.

  “Okay!” Spring called.

  Getting ready for the dance party took Spring’s mind off bedtime, and how sad it would be to sleep so far from Dewdrop and home. She pulled on her satiny nightgown with the purple butterflies, tucked her seed pouch and moonstone necklace under the collar, and put on her candy-pink slippers.

  “Is everyone dressed?” called Winter.

  A chorus of yeses rang out, then Winter shouted, “Hit it, Flurry!”

  The bear tapped a drumroll on the floor with his paws, and followed that with a percussive dance rhythm drummed on the floor and walls. He tapped his claws on the light fixture to make the sound of a cymbal.

  “Now!” Winter called, and all four Sparkles burst out of their igloos, striking dramatic poses to show off their outfits. Summer wore her favorite green tiger-striped pajamas. Autumn’s red robe flapped dramatically around a long yellow nightgo
wn laced with fan-shaped gingko tree leaves. Her bare feet were adorned with golden toe rings, and her unbraided hair flowed down her back in an ebony waterfall. Winter wore white cashmere long johns, a hoodie with pom-pom ties, and teal-blue boots. Jingle bells jangled whenever she moved.

  Flurry kicked up the tempo of his drumming and all the Sparkles danced around the room. Autumn swayed slowly and sinuously, Summer turned somersaults and headstands, Winter flailed with wild abandon, and Spring twirled in dizzying circles. They danced until they were completely out of breath, then dissolved into an exhausted pile of giggles. Spring was elated. If this was what a sleepover was all about, she couldn’t wait for the next one!

  “And now,” Winter said when she caught her breath, “for the next event of the evening: we’ll put our hair in rag curls. Then by morning we’ll all have hairdos like Spring’s.”

  “Like mine?” Spring echoed. She touched her hair, flattered and amazed that her sisters would want to imitate her simple loose curls.

  “Of course,” Autumn said. “It’s a perfect way to ring in your season.”

  “And then,” Winter said, “it’ll be time for my biggest surprise of the night. We’ll go outside, tell super-spooky stories, and curl up to sleep inside my insanely ice-tacular snow fort!”

  Summer’s and Autumn’s eyes grew wide with excitement, but all Spring’s happiness squeezed out of her like she was a juiced lemon. She’d been doing so well, but the thought of telling spooky stories outside … of sleeping outside …

  Cobwebs and cockleshells! What was she going to do?!

  Chapter 7

  “Is everyone ready for spoooooky stories?” Winter asked. She leaned close to the crackling fire so the light danced eerily over her face. All four Sparkles had their hair in rag curlers. Spring had hoped that doing their hair would be so fun her sisters might forget about going out to the snow fort, but now here they were, huddled around a campfire as eerie shadows climbed the icy walls.

  Spring didn’t like spooky stories anywhere. Out here, she wanted no part of them at all.