“It’s the woman I saw!” Goldie whispered.
Jess felt her tummy tighten into a knot. She glanced at Lily. She could tell from her friend’s wide eyes that she’d had exactly the same thought …
“Goldie,” Jess said, “I think that woman is a witch!”
Goldie frowned. “A witch? What are witches?”
“Bad people who do magic,” Lily said. She felt an icy shiver ripple down her spine. “They’re usually just in stories, but this one’s real …”
Lucy squealed and ran to hide behind Goldie’s bed.
Goldie swallowed. “Stay here.”
She opened the door and stood in front of the witch. “You must leave Friendship Forest at once!” she cried.
The witch’s thin lips curled into a smile, but her eyes glittered coldly. “I don’t think so,” she said with a sneer. “I’ve built a wonderful tower across the Wide Lake, full of darkness and cobwebs. When I climbed to the top, I saw this forest—and now I want it for myself!” She rubbed her hands together. “Of course, I’ll have to get rid of all the animals first.”
“No!” said Goldie bravely. “Friendship Forest is our home!”
Jess could see that the tip of Goldie’s tail was trembling with fear. “We said we’d help Goldie,” she told Lily. “Come on!”
Jess pushed open the door and the girls went and stood next to their friend.
“Goldie’s right,” Jess said, her fists clenched. “Witches don’t belong here! Get out!”
The witch peered down her thin nose at the girls. “Well, what have we here?” she said. “Two silly little human girls. You must be pretty stupid to think you can get the better of Grizelda!”
The witch laughed. The sound echoed around the clearing like terrible crashes of thunder. Lily felt a cold wind whip around her.
“Friendship Forest will be mine, and I know how to get it,” the witch snapped. “I heard what you said about the Blossom Briar, cat. Green is for hair, not leaves! I’ll destroy it—then all the flowers in the forest will die. It will turn gray and miserable, and all the animals will leave!”
Lily shuddered. She couldn’t imagine Friendship Forest without its beautiful flowers. “We won’t let you, Grizelda!” she said, trying to keep her voice steady.
The witch gave another dreadful cackle. “You’re too late. My helpers are already here to start work!”
At that moment, four hideous, lumpy creatures the same size as Lily and Jess crashed through the trees. They wore filthy, ragged clothes, and their fur was a patchwork of dingy green, washed-out blue, and sickly yellow. They smelled like rotting cauliflower.
Grizelda clapped her hands as the creatures gathered around her. “Welcome, Boggits—my messiest and most loyal helpers. If you tear down the silly Blossom Briar, you can have that cave as your new home!” She turned to Goldie. “You’d better find somewhere else to live, cat. You and your humans can’t stop me!”
And with that, Grizelda snapped her fingers and vanished in another shower of sparks.
The girls stared at each other in dismay. Then Goldie bravely walked up to the Boggits.
“I live in this grotto,” she said politely. “But I’m sure we can find you a new home somewhere else.”
The first Boggit shook his grubby head. “Boggits been living in a mud pool by Grizelda’s tower. This grotto be much better once Boggits make it good and messy!”
“But you can’t steal Goldie’s home!” Jess protested.
“Or hurt the Blossom Briar!” added Lily.
The second Boggit snorted. “Boggits not listen to nosy humans. I be starting with nasty flowers now.”
“Ladies first, Pongo,” growled a girl Boggit, elbowing him out of the way.
“Ow, Whiffy, that hurt!” yelled Pongo.
Whiffy took no notice. She jumped up at the Blossom Briar, ripping off a flower.
“Stop!” shouted Lily.
The Boggits just laughed. “Haargh! Haargh!”
“Now rip down them other flowers,” shouted Pongo. “Come on, Sniff! Over here, Reek!”
“No!” shouted a little voice.
Lucy had come out of Goldie’s grotto. The tiny rabbit’s whiskers were quivering with fear, but she hopped up to the Boggits.
“Leave the Blossom Briar alone!” cried the little rabbit.
“Lucy, go back inside!” called Goldie.
But before Lucy could move, Pongo scooped the rabbit up in his big, smelly paw. Lucy squirmed, her ears shaking with fright.
“Help!” she squeaked.
Jess clenched her fists. “Put her down!”
Goldie sprang at Pongo, reaching out for Lucy. But the Boggit dodged aside.
“Go, Pongo!” Whiffy yelled. “We show rabbit what happens when you mess with Boggits.”
Clutching Lucy, Pongo ran off.
“After him!” yelled Jess.
The girls and Goldie followed as Pongo crashed through the forest. But the Boggit had gotten a head start, and soon he was far ahead of them.
“This way!” called Lily, leading her friends around a bush with white flowers that were shaped like stars. But when they reached the other side, Pongo had vanished among the trees.
Jess felt as if her heart had sunk into her sneakers. “He could have taken Lucy anywhere. How will we know where to look?”
“There must be a clue somewhere,” said Lily.
She peered around a tree while Goldie sniffed the air for his horrible, rotting smell.
“Nothing,” the cat said.
Jess wriggled right under the bush, but there was no sign of Pongo or the little rabbit.
“Do you think he might have taken Lucy into our world?” Jess asked, rubbing mud from her leggings.
Goldie shook her head. “I can visit the human world because I was born there, but the other animals can’t—and you’re the only humans who can visit Friendship Forest.” For a moment, her worried frown faded and she smiled up at the girls. “Your love of animals makes you special, you see.”
“So Lucy’s somewhere in the forest,” Jess said. “But where?”
Lily sat on a patch of moss, trying to think. Beside her, the star-shaped blooms nodded in the soft breeze. Most of them were as white as milk, but one was gray, just like the flower Grizelda had turned to dust. Then another of the white blooms turned as dull as stone.
“Look!” Lily cried. “The flowers are dying because the Boggits are hurting the Blossom Briar.”
With a gasp, Jess pointed to a patch of yellow flowers. Lots of them were gray, too.
“This is terrible,” said Goldie. “The sooner we find Lucy, the sooner we can stop the Boggits! If we don’t hurry, all the flowers in Friendship Forest could die.”
Almost all of the star flowers were gray now. But Lily noticed that one of them still had a purple, silky center …
Her heart racing, Lily picked out a scrap of material from the flower. “Look!” she cried. “This comes from Lucy’s bow, doesn’t it? The ribbon must be unraveling. Everybody look for scraps of purple fabric. The trail will lead us to Lucy!”
The girls and Goldie darted through the forest. Lily spotted a second piece of material.
“This way!” she called.
Soon, Jess found a third strand, then Goldie saw another, beneath a tall tree.
“This must be the right way,” she panted.
But that was the last scrap they found.
Jess groaned. “I can’t believe it! We were so close.”
They were all wondering what to do when a loud buzzing sound from above made them jump.
Jess looked up. “Watch out!” she cried, as hundreds of dead leaves showered down from the tree.
“Do you think it’s Grizelda?” Lily asked, looking up anxiously. The thought of the witch lurking nearby made her shiver.
Buzzzz!
More leaves tumbled down. Jess darted away and leaned against a tree. Beneath her fingers, she felt the trunk move …
Jess spun aro
und. The surface of the trunk was rippling and twisting!
“Hey, look at this!” she called.
Lily and Goldie hurried over. A staircase appeared on the tree, winding around the trunk up into the branches.
“More magic!” Lily breathed.
“Maybe Lucy’s up there,” Jess suggested. “Let’s find out!”
She put one foot on the bottom step and began to climb, with Goldie and Lily close behind.
At the top, Jess called down, “There’s some sort of shed up here!”
“Did you say a shed?” asked Lily, amazed.
“Yes,” said Jess. “The door’s open. Maybe Lucy’s inside!”
Goldie and Lily followed Jess into the ramshackle tree house. The girls had to stoop slightly because their heads touched the ceiling. It was gloomy, with leaves everywhere, and no sign of Lucy …
But there was an owl. He wore a striped vest with lots of little pockets, and a monocle fixed in front of one eye, like half a pair of eyeglasses.
“Yeeeek!” the owl screeched. He pressed a button on the long tube he held.
Buzzzz! It blew the leaves into a spin, making the girls and Goldie squeal.
“Yeeeek!” the owl screeched again. He dropped the tube and his monocle flew off.
“Don’t be scared!” cried Goldie. “It’s me, Goldie, and my friends, Lily and Jess!”
The owl felt around the floor with his wing tips. “Where’s my monocle?” he wailed. “I can’t see properly without it.”
Lily found it and gave it to him.
“Thank you,” he said. “I do jolly pies.”
“Jolly pies?” Jess wondered aloud.
“I think he means ‘apologize’!” said Lily.
“Girls, this is Mr. Cleverfeather,” Goldie explained. “I think we’ve found his secret inventing shed!”
The girls gazed around. Half-finished gadgets, drawings, and tools covered every surface. A diagram labeled FOR TWINKLETAIL FAMILY showed plans for a double-decker stroller that held five baby mice on each level. Another was a machine for catching baby birds that fell out of their nests.
“What’s the long tube for?” asked Lily, pointing to the contraption that Mr. Cleverfeather was holding.
“It’s my latest invention,” Mr. Cleverfeather said. “A beef lower. Er, I mean a leaf blower. Leaves get everywhere, you see, and mess up my inventions.” He squinted at Jess and Lily. “What sort of creatures are you?”
“Jess and Lily are young humans,” Goldie explained. “They’re clever and brave.”
“Most interesting,” said Mr. Cleverfeather. “But why are you here?”
Goldie told him about Lucy, the Boggits, and the Blossom Briar.
“Have you seen Lucy?” Lily asked.
“I’m afraid not,” said Mr. Cleverfeather.
Lily wasn’t surprised. He didn’t seem to have very good eyesight.
“You could try my telescope,” Mr. Cleverfeather suggested. “Maybe you can spot the runny babbit—er, bunny rabbit.” He opened the back door and led them onto a balcony.
Mr. Cleverfeather lifted a cover made of leaves stitched together, revealing a wooden telescope. Lily crouched down to look through it, scanning the forest in all directions. Suddenly, she caught sight of something moving at the top of a chestnut tree.
“It’s Lucy!” she yelled. “But she’s in a cage. Her ears are droopy and she looks so sad.”
Jess and Goldie gasped as they took turns looking through the telescope at the little rabbit.
Faintly, Lucy’s voice floated toward them. “Help! Please, someone help me!”
“She’s really scared!” Goldie cried.
Jess clenched her fists. “Let’s get her out of there, right now!”
“But she’s so high up in that tree,” Lily said despairingly. “We’ll never reach her!”
“Ahem. There is a way,” said a voice.
“Mr. Cleverfeather!” said Jess, turning to see the owl standing behind them.
“You can use my pea-shoot laugh,” Mr. Cleverfeather explained. “I mean, my secret path. Ta-da!” He swished back a curtain of willow fronds, revealing a wooden path covered in vines that snaked through the treetops.
“A walkway!” cried Lily.
“It helps me get around,” said Mr. Cleverfeather. “My old wings aren’t what they used to be.”
Thanking Mr. Cleverfeather, Goldie, Jess, and Lily ran off along the walkway, grabbing the wooden railings to keep their balance. Soon they were close enough to see Lucy huddled in a cage made from sticks and rope.
“Help!” Lucy whimpered.
“We’re here, Lucy!” Goldie called. “We’ll get you out!”
When she saw them, Lucy’s ears perked up. “Goldie and the girls! Hooray!” she shouted, hopping around on her tiny paws.
When they reached the cage, Jess tugged at the ropes that held the bars together—but they wouldn’t budge. Lily and Goldie tried, too, but the ropes remained firmly tied.
Lucy’s ears drooped back down. In a trembling voice, she asked, “Will I have to stay here forever?”
“Of course not!” said Lily. “We’re going to save you.” But she gave Jess and Goldie a worried look. How could they free the little bunny?
Goldie was examining the knots that held the ropes in place. “Pongo tied these really tightly. We need something to loosen them …”
Jess felt a fizz of excitement as an idea came to her. She took her pencil out of her shorts pocket and worked the tip into the bunched-up knot.
Goldie’s green eyes gleamed as the knot fell apart. “Great job, Jess!”
Jess took one end of the rope, Lily the other, and together they undid the cage. The sticks came apart and Lucy bounded out onto the walkway.
“You rescued me!” she cried, her white tail bobbing as she hopped around their feet. “Thank you, Goldie! Thank you, girls!”
Lily kneeled down to pick Lucy up. She curled up in the crook of Lily’s arm, her whiskers twitching happily.
They hurried back to Mr. Cleverfeather’s tree, where the owl gave a delighted squawk. “Young Lucy! I’m so happy to see you wit and fell—er, fit and well.”
Goldie’s tail drooped. “We’ve rescued Lucy,” she said, “but how can we stop the Boggits before they completely destroy the Blossom Briar?”
Jess gave a cry of excitement. “I have an idea! Mr. Cleverfeather, can we borrow your leaf blower?”
Hiding behind a bush next to Goldie’s grotto, Jess got the leaf blower ready. A horrible smell filled the air, like filthy pond water mixed with stinky sneakers and moldy cheese. Through the bush’s leaves, they could see the Boggits stomping around the Blossom Briar. Many of its flowers had been ripped down and lay trampled around the clearing.
Lucy trembled in Lily’s lap and folded her ears over her eyes.
“Don’t worry,” Lily whispered. “We’ll keep you safe.”
Sniff’s dirty, multicolored fur bounced as she clambered onto Whiffy’s back so she could reach more flowers. She tore down a red one, yelling, “This be good Boggit fun!”
Reek jumped up and gripped a branch of the Blossom Briar that was covered in yellow flowers. With a creak, it snapped under his weight. “Haargh! Haargh!” Reek laughed. He threw the branch into the clearing, where Pongo jumped up and down on it, crushing the petals.
Goldie’s eyes flashed. “I think we’ve seen enough,” she whispered. “Hurry, Jess!”
Jess pressed the leaf blower’s button.
Buzzzz!
SWOOOSH!
A gust of air blew, sending trampled petals into a rainbow-colored whirlwind spinning around the Boggits.
“Uggy! Uggy!” Pongo cried.
“Nasty flowers in my fur!” shrieked Sniff. “Get them off!”
Reek yelled in panic. “Beastly petals in my pants!”
“Pooh! I smell like flowers!” Whiffy roared, brushing off blossoms. “Disgusting! Boggits must get out of here!”
Lily, Jess, and Gold
ie giggled. Even Lucy peeped out when Jess gave another quick blast, making the Boggits shriek.
“What’s happening?” Lucy asked.
“The Boggits like dirt and nasty smells,” Lily whispered, “so if we smother them with pretty flowers, they’ll go away.”
Buzzzz!
The shrieks and yells grew louder.
“Boggits, back to Grizelda’s tower!” Pongo bellowed. “Bath in mud pool will take nasty flower smells away.”
The horrible creatures thundered off into the trees.
“Hooray!” yelled Jess and Lily. Goldie reached up and grabbed their hands, spinning them around in delight, while Lucy hopped beside them, her tiny white tail bouncing.
Then Jess noticed that a familiar orb of yellow-green light was zipping through the trees toward them …
Goldie’s fur stood on end. “Grizelda!”
The orb of light burst into a storm of angry yellow sparks that faded to reveal Grizelda. Her green hair flicked and twisted like snakes.
Lucy dived back beneath the bush, but Jess, Lily, and Goldie stood their ground.
“Don’t think that you’ve defeated me!” the witch screeched. “You’ve stopped the Boggits this time, but I’ll find a way to take Friendship Forest for myself!”
Jess’s legs were trembling, but she stepped forward. “It won’t work, Grizelda,” she said. “Whatever you try, we’ll stop you!”
Grizelda stooped down low and narrowed her eyes. When she spoke, Jess could feel her cold breath. “Two girls and a cat are no match for me,” she hissed. “You better watch out!”
She snapped her fingers and disappeared in another flash of sparks.
After a moment’s silence, Lily spoke. “Actually, it’s Grizelda who better watch out.”
Jess nodded. “We’ll help keep Friendship Forest safe, Goldie.”
The cat slipped a paw into each of their hands. “I knew I was right about you two,” she said, smiling. “Come on, let’s take Lucy home.”
Lucy Longwhiskers Gets Lost Page 2
