by Elise Allen
The monster clapped his fins together.
“I told him he could come live in my lagoon,” Spring said. “He’ll be much happier there.”
“That’s very kind of you,” Autumn said, “but how will we get him to the lagoon?”
“Show them how we’ll get you to my Sparkledom, Sammy!” Spring said.
Sammy rolled back onto his feet and squeezed his fishy eyes in concentration. Two huge patches of scaly snake skin burst into thick, fluffy violet feathers.
“They’re beautiful.” Autumn gasped.
“Mm-hm.” Spring rubbed her cheek against the feathers. “Soft, too. And look. Go ahead, Sammy.”
Sammy unfolded the feathered layers to reveal giant wings. They looked so plush that Winter almost wanted to run to Sammy and cuddle in. Almost.
“I don’t understand this at all,” Summer said. “If he has wings, why hasn’t he left the Barrens already?”
“Look closely,” Spring said. “The Weeds clip him.”
The Sparkles moved closer. Sammy’s wings were so full and beautiful, it was hard to tell at first, but now Winter saw it. The feathers at the ends were ragged and tattered. Some looked so jagged they seemed more torn than clipped. Winter’s stomach turned, and not just for Sammy. If this was how the Weeds treated animals, what would they do to Flurry?
“But, Spring, if his wings are too clipped to fly …” Suddenly, Autumn smiled as she realized what Spring was going to do.
“Just like the bridge!” Spring said. She took out her scepter and waved it at the thorny vines on the shore.
Purple sparkles streamed out from her scepter and coated the vines. Again, they wove together, but this time they shaped themselves into what looked like giant finger-gloves. Winter lost count of how many fingers were on each glove, and it was strange to her that all the fingers were different sizes. Yet when the vine snaked the gloves into place on Sammy’s wings, the effect was magical. Spring’s Sparkle Powers had filled in every spot the Weeds had shorn away. His new wing tips weren’t the same fluffy violet as his natural feathers, but in their own way they were just as beautiful. Sammy’s fishy face glowed with pride as he spread them wide.
Autumn wrapped Spring in a huge hug. “I am so proud to be your sister,” she said.
“Really?” Spring’s smile spread across her face. “Thank you, Autumn!”
“The patches are pretty amazing,” Summer agreed, “but will they work?”
Sammy gurgled and groaned.
“They feel as good as his real ones,” Spring translated. “So now we can all get on his back and he’ll fly us to his new home!”
“Or,” Winter suggested, “he could fly us around the Barrens to find Flurry.”
The other Sparkles looked sadly at one another.
“What?” Winter asked. “That’s a great plan.”
Autumn took Winter’s hand. “If you really want to go after him, we will.”
“Great, let’s go then,” Winter said. She walked toward Sammy, but Autumn still held her hand, so Winter didn’t get very far. “Autumn, you have a strong grip.”
“I’d just like you to think about it first,” Autumn said. “Flurry chose to go with the Weeds. When we found him, he left us.”
“So what are you saying?” Winter asked. “We just give up on him?”
“No, not at all,” Autumn assured her. “I’m only saying maybe the best thing is to go home and wait. When he wants to come back to you, he will.”
Winter thought about it. She hated the idea of leaving the Barrens without Flurry, but she also knew she couldn’t force him home if he’d rather be here. Still, what if he did want to come home? What if all he needed was another apology?
As if sensing her worry, her sisters moved closer. Summer took Winter’s other hand. Spring moved behind Winter and rested her head on Winter’s shoulder. Snowball scurried out of Winter’s hood and curled up on her head. Even Sammy looked sad for Winter.
Flurry wouldn’t find this kind of love in the Barrens. He was upset, but he must want to come home. How could he not? When they were in Winter’s Sparkledom, they had everything a Sparkle and a bear needed to be perfectly happy. Most of all, they had each other.
Suddenly, Winter knew. “Flurry’s going to come home,” she said. “I can feel it. He’ll come home, and if I’m not there to see him and hug him and talk to him, he might not stay. I know it sounds crazy, and there’s no way I can know that, but I do.”
“It doesn’t sound crazy,” Autumn said. “It sounds like intuition. It’s your heart telling you what it knows is true.”
“And if your heart says you should get home, we should listen,” Spring said.
Winter grinned and turned to Summer. “And if my heart says that I can get onto Sammy’s back faster than you?”
“It’s lying,” Summer retorted.
The two raced to Sammy and leaped onto him at the exact same moment. Spring and Autumn took a bit longer to clamber up his scales, but soon all four Sparkles were looking at the world from Sammy’s high snaky back.
“Take us to Winter’s Sparkledom, please, Sammy!” Spring cried. “And hurry!”
Flurry had a headache. It wasn’t awful, but running through a wall was hard on a bear’s skull, and he’d been racing around with the two Weeds on his back ever since. He needed a nap. He slowed down and looked for a tree to curl up against, but the Weeds screamed and pressed their heels into his side. They said, “Go, Butchie!” and “Keep running, Butchie!”
Flurry didn’t really understand. He always understood Winter, but anyone else’s speech was a jumbled mystery mixed with a few recognizable words. Still, he could tell “Butchie” was what these boys called him. He also figured the heel-nudging meant they wanted him to go faster.
So he did. It was better, actually. It got him farther from Winter, and that’s what Flurry wanted. Winter might have acted like she loved him, but it was pretty clear to Flurry that she loved the little fox more. Why else would she feed the fox his candy canes? So if Winter didn’t love Flurry anymore, he wouldn’t love her anymore either. Besides, he had these boys now. He didn’t need anyone else.
Flurry ran for what seemed like hours, but then he slowed down again. It was definitely naptime. The boys still nudged and yelled, but Flurry figured they didn’t understand how tired he was. He’d just have to show them. He stood on his hind legs so the boys slid off his back. He yawned and stretched.
“Hey!” the boy called Thunderbolt yelled. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I guess he’s tired,” said the boy named Quake.
“I’m not tired,” Thunderbolt complained. “I wanna keep playing.”
While Quake and Thunderbolt said words back and forth, Flurry looked for a napping spot. At home he’d curl up by the fire or in a cozy snowbank. Here the ground was hard-packed dirt with thorny roots sticking up in all directions. Every time he tried to lie down, he got poked. Finally, he saw tall grass. That would be comfortable. He lumbered toward the grass and curled up, but yelped immediately and jumped to his feet. The ground felt wet and muddy! He looked down at his side and saw he was streaked with thick stripes of muck.
“Hey, look!” Quake laughed. “He’s a zebra!”
“Not yet, he’s not,” said Thunderbolt. He took a handful of mud and striped Flurry’s other side, crowing, “That’s a zebra.”
The boys laughed. Now both of Flurry’s sides felt dirty and wet.
“Come on, Butchie,” Quake said. “You had a rest. Let’s go play some more!”
The two boys climbed back onto Flurry and pressed their heels into his sides, but Flurry was still tired. Plus his belly hurt. All the pies and muffins had been delicious, but it was just too much.
Winter never would have let him eat that much.
She wouldn’t have put mud on him.
She always let him nap when he needed to rest.
He missed her. He wanted to go back home. But how could he? Winter had a new best fri
end now. She didn’t want him around.
Then again … she had followed him to the Barrens. Maybe she did still love him?
Flurry winced as he remembered shooting mashed potatoes at her. That wasn’t nice. It also wasn’t nice to growl and run away. Even if Winter had loved him when she came to the Barrens, she wouldn’t love him anymore.
The Weeds were his only friends now, so Flurry had to do what they wanted. He ran them around for a while. Then they hopped down and shouted words, but they also demonstrated things with their hands and bodies so Flurry understood. They wanted to play games. They had Flurry hop over branches that Thunderbolt shot down from the trees. Then Quake shook the earth and opened big holes in the ground for Flurry to leap. Next they goaded Flurry up a tree, then made him dance for candy.
The games weren’t bad. At another time Flurry would have liked them all. But right now he was so tired and grumbly bellied that he couldn’t even enjoy the candy. Flurry and Winter played hard all the time, but they also cuddled. She scratched behind his ears and lay on him and told him stories she made up just for him. He and Winter had fun, but they also loved each other. He didn’t feel that from these boys at all. Still, this was his life now, so he supposed he had to get used to it.
Finally the Weeds ran out of games to play. Flurry immediately curled up and closed his eyes, but he couldn’t sleep with so many rocks poking into his fur. Yet it felt good to rest. While he did, he listened to the sound of Quake’s and Thunderbolt’s voices and imagined they were telling him a bedtime story, just like Winter used to do.
“So what do we do with the bear now?” Quake asked.
“I don’t know,” Thunderbolt replied. “Do we keep him? I’m kind of getting bored.”
“Me too,” Quake agreed. “Wish we could use him to get the Sparkles all upset again. That was fun.”
“Yeah,” Thunderbolt said. “Wait—yeah! We’re forgetting the best part of this bear!”
“His tail?” Quake asked.
“What? No, not his tail!”
“But it’s all small and puffy and cute,” Quake said. “What do you think is the best part of the bear—his little snout?”
“Just don’t talk anymore, okay, Quake?” Thunderbolt said. “The best part of the bear is, he hates the Sparkles just like us. I bet he’d love to help us make the Sparkles miserable. And I got an idea just how to do it. Come here, Butch! Come on, ya big ol’ bear!”
Flurry got up when he heard the name they liked to call him. He had imagined their conversation was about a present for him—a thick cozy rug to sleep on. He hoped he was right and they’d give him that present right now.
Instead they climbed onto his back again. Thunderbolt pointed a twisted stick at the sky and cried, “Zzzptzzpsslzzt!”
A storm cloud floated down until it hovered right in front of Flurry. He sniffed it curiously. He didn’t like the smell at all.
“Hop on, Butch,” Thunderbolt urged.
The Weed pressed in his heels, so Flurry knew he was supposed to move, but the cloud was in his way. When he tried to step around it, Thunderbolt yelled angrily. He slid off Flurry’s back and stood in front of the bear.
“It’s real simple, Butchie. I want you”—he pointed to Flurry’s legs—“up on that cloud.” Thunderbolt pointed to the wicked-smelling storm cloud. “Just hop on up.” The boy leaped forward to show what he meant.
Flurry got it, but he didn’t like it. Stepping on a cloud seemed like a very bad idea. Thunderbolt returned to Flurry’s back and pressed his heels again, but Flurry needed some more time to think about this.
“Zzpssszllttss!” Thunderbolt shouted. Instantly, Flurry felt a shock on his rear end. The electric bolt didn’t hurt, but it startled him so badly he jumped, and the storm cloud slipped under him while he was in the air. It whisked Flurry and the Weeds high into the sky.
Flurry shut his eyes and whimpered. He didn’t mind heights when he was at the top of a mountain, but standing on a cloud that felt like nothing under his feet? That didn’t feel good at all.
The cloud zoomed through the sky so quickly that Flurry’s cheeks flapped in the wind. He heard Thunderbolt and Quake laugh and holler. They sounded happy. If they liked the ride so much it couldn’t really be dangerous, but Flurry still didn’t like it. He wanted it to end.
Suddenly it did. The cloud was gone, and he felt solid ground under his paws. Cold solid ground. It reminded him of …
Home!
Flurry opened his eyes. He was back in Winter’s Sparkledom! Back with soft snow, beautiful pine trees, and all the smells he loved best. He was so happy he slid the boys off his back and scooped them up into his arms. He hugged them tight and danced with joy.
Quake’s face was red from Flurry’s tight embrace. “You were right,” he squeaked to Thunderbolt. “The bear’s as excited to cause trouble as we are.”
“A little too excited,” Thunderbolt croaked. “Zzzzbzztttbbbzt!”
Another shock tweaked Flurry in the belly. This one didn’t hurt either, but it really surprised him. He dropped the boys. His belly tickled a little from the shock, so he threw himself onto a snowbank and writhed around to rub it out. That felt so good that he rolled his whole body around in the snow. He let the fresh coldness erase all traces of the Barrens from his fur.
“Enough of that,” Thunderbolt said. “You know where Winter lives, right, Butch? Take us there.”
Flurry understood Winter’s name, and it made him sad. He was so thrilled to be home, he had forgotten for just a minute that he and Winter weren’t friends anymore.
Then he smelled gingerbread. Winter’s kitchen was baking! His stomach rolled and rumbled. Even if Winter didn’t love him anymore, Flurry could still go by and grab a cookie, right? He could even share the cookies with the boys. Maybe then they wouldn’t startle him with those crackly bolts.
Flurry crouched down to let the boys know he wanted to take them for a ride. They understood and climbed aboard, then Flurry raced off for home.
“Should we bring some kind of hostess gift?” Quake yelled to Thunderbolt as they zoomed across the snow.
“For what?” Thunderbolt yelled back.
“For Winter. Since we’re visiting.”
“We’re not visiting, you fool!” Thunderbolt retorted. “We’re going to Winter’s home to destroy it!”
Flurry had heard the whole conversation, but all he understood was “Winter.” Flurry wouldn’t let her name make him sad, though. There was gingerbread waiting for him, and he couldn’t wait to bite into it.
None of the Sparkles had ever flown on the back of a winged sea monster before, but Summer and Winter quickly decided it should be a regular event. They soared as high as when they rode the rainbow, but the journey on Sammy was much bumpier. As his long body snaked up and down like a roller coaster, the wind whipped their faces, clouds coated them in mist, and when they swooped low enough, they could lean down and brush treetops with their fingers.
Summer threw up her arms. “Look! No hands!”
“Big deal!” Winter called from behind her. “I’ve been no-hands since we started!”
Just then a rush of blissfully familiar cold air hit Winter’s face. “We’re home!” she cried. “Everyone, look out for Flurry!”
Even though she spoke to all her sisters, she really meant only Summer. Spring was concentrating on Sammy, while Autumn’s eyes were shut tight as she tried to cope with the wild ride.
Summer spotted him first. “I see him!” she shouted. “He’s running toward your house—and he still has the Weeds!”
“I knew he’d come home!” Winter shouted. “Spring, tell Sammy to bring us down!”
Spring relayed the message and Sammy circled lower. He must have made a lot of noise flapping through the air, because the Weeds looked up when he was still very high. They shouted something none of the Sparkles could hear, then pulled out their wands and aimed them right at Sammy. The sea monster screamed, bucking and twisting until even Winter
worried she might be sick.
“What happened?” she cried. “Did they hit him?”
“No!” Spring cried back. “He’s afraid they will!”
She leaned close to the sea monster’s ear and screeched a series of gurgles and squeals. They hurt Winter’s head, but she guessed the sounds must be comforting in Sammy’s language.
“It’s not helping!” Spring wailed. “He’s too scared.”
“Then we can’t make him stay!” Autumn cried. “Spring, tell him how to get to your lagoon. We’ll jump down into the snow.”
“We’ll … what?” Winter asked.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to jump. She was just shocked Autumn suggested it.
“Believe me, I’m not happy about it,” Autumn said to Winter, “but it’s cruel to keep Sammy anywhere near the Weeds.”
Spring was already croaking, wheezing, and squealing instructions to the sea monster.
“It’s your Sparkledom,” Summer told Winter. “Where’s the best place to jump?”
Winter focused on the ground until she saw a snowbank large enough to catch their fall. “Now!” she shouted.
All four Sparkles leaped off Sammy’s back and tumbled through the air.
FOOMF! FOOMF! FOOMF! FOOMF!
They landed with such force that their bodies sank deep in the snow. Winter crawled out easily, then reached back to check the baby fox in her hood.
“You okay back there?” she asked.
Snowball’s body shook, but he nuzzled Winter’s hand. She didn’t need Spring to translate. He was scared, but he was okay.
“You stay cuddled up then,” she told him. “I’m going to get my sisters.”
The other Sparkles weren’t as agile in the snow as Winter. They were still deep in the snowbank. Winter helped them out one by one. “Everybody all right?” she asked.
They nodded.
“Sammy is too,” Spring said. “You were all so nice to let him get away, even though it meant we had to jump.” Her eyes teared up as she added, “It was the nicest thing I’ve ever seen anyone do for a sea monster.”
