Jelly Bean Jumble

by Helen Perelman

  Contents

  CHAPTER 1 Sweet Surprise Lunch

  CHAPTER 2 Sour Face

  CHAPTER 3 Bitter Cold

  CHAPTER 4 The Right Spot

  CHAPTER 5 Sprinkle of Hope

  CHAPTER 6 A Magic Ride

  CHAPTER 7 Flavorless

  CHAPTER 8 A Sugar-Hearted Friend

  CHAPTER 9 The Hot Spot

  CHAPTER 10 Sweet Endings

  ‘The Chocolate Rose’ Excerpt

  About Helen Perelman

  For Karen Nagel,

  who makes my books extra sweet!

  The sun shone down on the Royal Gardens at Candy Castle. Berry the Fruit Fairy sat under a lollipop tree with her friend Raina, a Gummy Fairy. “It feels like everyone in Candy Kingdom is outside today,” Berry said.

  “On a day like this, it’s hard to stay inside,” Raina replied. She tilted her face up toward the sun’s rays.

  Berry smiled. It was the first warm day of spring, and all the fairies in Sugar Valley were buzzing around. After the chilly winter, the warm sunshine was a welcome feeling.

  “Thanks for meeting me for lunch today,” Berry told her. “I’m sorry I missed Sun Dip last night.”

  Sun Dip was a time when Candy Fairies gathered to talk about their day. During the last moments of daylight, Candy Fairies shared stories and sweet treats. Yesterday Berry had missed out on seeing her group of friends.

  “Did you finish planting the jelly bean seedlings?” Raina asked.

  Berry’s wings fluttered. “Yes,” she said. “I needed the extra time last night. The seedlings are getting so tall. I planted them all.”

  “Princess Lolli is going to love the new crop of jelly beans,” Raina said, smiling. “Our basket is going to be sugar-tastic!”

  Berry and her friends were making a special basket for Princess Lolli’s upcoming journey to see her sister, Princess Sprinkle. Princess Sprinkle lived on Cupcake Lake and ruled over Cake Kingdom to the north. Each sister brought the other the best of her kingdom’s crops to share when she visited.

  On her last visit, Princess Sprinkle had brought beautiful cupcakes, cakes, cookies, and brownies. The Cake Fairies were known for their tasty treats. The Candy Fairies always had a feast during those visits. For Princess Lolli’s trip, Berry had wanted to give the fairies in Cake Kingdom a special sweet treat of her own.

  “Cocoa and Melli showed us the basket last night,” Raina said. “They worked very hard and it is beautiful.”

  “And did Dash find the nighttime mints?” Berry asked. “I know she was worried about getting the right size mint for Princess Lolli to see near the Forest of Lost Flavors.”

  Raina shivered. “Oh, I don’t like thinking of that place,” she said. “All those white, flavorless trees . . . ” Her voice trailed off.

  Berry had heard many stories about the creepy forest from Raina. The Gummy Fairy loved books and owned the largest collection in Sugar Valley. There was plenty written about the Forest of Lost Flavors. The wide forest divided the land between Candy Kingdom and Cake Kingdom. Most Candy Fairies stayed far away from the eerie forest. Nothing grew there anymore—no candy crops at all. Now there were just tall white trees without any flavor. That forest was not somewhere a fairy would want to be without any light, and it was scariest at night.

  “I am sure Princess Lolli is going to love our basket,” Berry said. “It is an honor to make her one for her trip. I don’t remember the last time she went to see her sister.”

  “Princess Sprinkle has come here for the last few visits,” Raina remarked. “Princess Lolli must be excited.” She looked over at Candy Castle. “I wonder if she gets nervous about traveling such a far distance. I would!”

  Berry reached for her fruit nectar drink. “I saw Butterscotch yesterday. She was looking forward to the flight. If I could ride Butterscotch there, I wouldn’t be afraid.”

  Butterscotch was a royal unicorn. She was a beautiful caramel color with a deep-pink mane. She often took Princess Lolli on long voyages.

  “Maybe,” Raina said thoughtfully. “I’m not sure that’s a trip I would want to make with Butterscotch, or any unicorn.”

  “I would take a unicorn ride any day!” Dash said, landing next to Berry.

  “Dash!” Berry exclaimed. “Lickin’ lollipops, you scared the sugar out of me.”

  Dash giggled. “Sorry,” the small Mint Fairy said. “When Raina told me she was meeting you for lunch, I had to join in the fun.”

  “And so did we!” Melli said, flying in with Cocoa.

  Berry looked at the Caramel and Chocolate Fairies in front of her. “You came to see me?”

  “Sure as sugar!” Cocoa said. “We missed you last night.”

  “Were you talking about Princess Lolli’s trip?” Melli asked. She sat down next to Berry. “I know Berry wishes she could go. Besides Meringue Island, Cake Kingdom is the leading place for fashion, right, Berry?”

  Berry shrugged. “Well, Cake Kingdom does have some sweet styles,” she said, thinking. “But I’ve never been there. I’ve only read about it in Sugar Beat magazine.”

  The five fairy friends settled down to eat their lunch. It wasn’t often that they got to see one another during the day. Usually, each of the fairies worked in a different part of the kingdom on her own candies. This was a sweet surprise lunch.

  They had just finished eating when a burst of chilly air lifted Melli up off the ground. “Brrrr,” she said, shivering. “What is going on? It was such a beautiful morning!”

  “I think there’s a storm coming,” Cocoa said. She looked up to the sky and saw the dark clouds rushing overhead. “Bittersweet, I was so hoping for another warm night.”

  “That isn’t going to happen,” Dash said, slipping on her vest. She carefully wiggled her silver wings through the slots in the back. “Nothing like a brisk spring evening to get the mint flowing,” she added. “And I have got some mighty mints to tend to. See you fairies later!” In a flash, Dash was gone. She wasn’t known as the fastest fairy in Sugar Valley for nothing!

  Melli wrapped her shawl tighter around her waist. “What about your seedlings, Berry?” she asked. “They are not going to like this blast of cold.”

  “Oh, it’s not so bad,” Berry told her. She looked up at the sky. “Winter has passed. Sure as sugar, the sun will warm us all tomorrow with another sunny day. I can’t wait!”

  Berry’s friends shared a worried look. But they all agreed that by Sun Dip the next day they’d put their candies and finishing touches on the basket. They knew Princess Lolli was counting on them. And none of them wanted to disappoint the sweet fairy princess.

  During the night a bitter storm traveled through Sugar Valley. The strong winds blew cold blasts, leaving a layer of frost all over the northern part of Candy Kingdom. Berry slept soundly through the night, not hearing the storm at all. Her work in Fruit Chew Meadow over the last few days had made her very tired.

  When the Fruit Fairy woke up, she looked out her window. What happened? she thought. At first she thought she was still dreaming. She rubbed her eyes. But there, on the fruit slices outside her window, was frost! Thick frost. Cocoa had been right about a storm coming. And what a storm it had been!

  “Oh no! The jelly bean plants!” Berry exclaimed. Her heart was racing as she looked out on the white, frosted gardens. She had to get to Fruit Chew Meadow! She wasn’t sure what she would find when she arrived.

  As Berry flew over the meadow, her heart was pounding. She had been so proud of those plants! She had tried new flavors and had carefully selected the seeds to create bold, bright oranges, reds, yellows, purples, and even pinks for this new crop. She had hoped these beans would be some of her finest work. But Berry’s eyes widened when she saw her plants. H
eavy ice weighed down the large leaves. Her once-tall seedlings were hunched over. The bright colors of her new spring candy were buried beneath the ice.

  “Oh, sour sticks,” Berry sighed. She leaned over for a closer look. As she carefully brushed the ice off the leaves, her fingers tingled from the cold.

  “Are you the fairy who planted those?” a voice behind her called.

  Berry turned to see Razz, a know-it-all Fruit Fairy. She had the same name as Berry’s grandmother, but was not nearly as sweet. Razz was standing right behind Berry with a mean look on her face. Her blond hair was in a high ponytail clasped with a lemon sparkle clip. “Those poor seedlings,” Razz muttered. She crossed her arms tightly across her chest. “Planted by a Fruit Fairy who didn’t know any better.”

  Razz had no business saying such bitter words. She was a little older than Berry and often tried to tell her what to do. She might have been a Fruit Fairy, but she always had on a sour-candy face.

  “If these are your plants,” Razz went on, “you should tend to them right away.” She flapped her large orange wings. “A fairy with more experience would have known to wait until after the first spring frost to plant.”

  “The weather was perfect for planting,” Berry burst out. She glared at Razz. Any other Fruit Fairy would have offered to help instead of pointing out the problem. Razz’s bitter attitude was making everything worse.

  Razz shook her head. “Aren’t you friends with Raina? Isn’t she that Gummy Fairy always quoting the Fairy Code Book?” Her blue eyes shot an icy stare, and Berry shivered. Then Razz chuckled. “I read in the Fairy Code Book . . . ,” she taunted, trying to sound like Raina.

  Berry took a deep breath. It was true that Raina always had the Fairy Code Book with her and was quick to quote from it. But there was such helpful information in the fairy history book. Berry didn’t like the way Razz was talking about one of her best friends. Hot feelings were bubbling up inside of her, and she wanted to lash back.

  “They’ll be fine,” Berry snapped. She glared back at Razz. She wasn’t about to let Razz make her feel worse.

  “Well, good luck with that,” Razz said, tossing her ponytail. And then she flew off.

  Alone in the meadow, Berry thought about what to do next. She was still bubbling inside. Razz just made her so red-cherry mad! Maybe she had jumped a little too quickly to plant the seedlings, but she had so desperately wanted Princess Lolli to take a fresh, new crop with her to Cake Kingdom.

  “Not this time,” she said with a heavy sigh. Her jelly beans didn’t look as if they stood a chance.

  Berry sat down on the cold, frozen ground. This was not her first crop of jelly beans. She had planted plenty before. She should have known better. Berry gripped her hands into fists. “Oh,” she muttered. “I should have said that to Razz! This is not my first crop of jelly beans!”

  For a long time Berry sat looking at the plants. She wondered what would happen to the crop. She looked up at the blue sky. The storm had passed, but would there be another? Or would the sun come out and warm up the meadow? She knew that cold weather at this stage of growing jelly beans could change their flavor. There was nothing Berry liked less than a tasteless jelly bean. She slumped down and put her head in her hands.

  Then Berry realized something. “Sweet strawberries!” she exclaimed. “Maybe Razz did say something helpful.”

  If there was any fairy who might know what to do, it was Raina. With that huge library of hers, maybe there’d be some information about how to tend to frozen seedlings. For a moment Berry’s wings dipped down low to the ground. She didn’t want to be entered in the Fairy Code Book as the Fruit Fairy who had ruined the first spring jelly bean crop.

  But maybe there was still time to save them. In a flash, Berry headed to Gummy Forest.

  Berry shivered as a cold gust pushed her wings back. She fought against the wind and headed down to Gummy Forest. Thinking back to yesterday, she remembered how proud and happy she had been. The warm sunshine had made the ground perfect for planting, and she had finished her work in the Fruit Chew Meadow. Now her tasty, prize-winning jelly beans were freezing. If only she could turn back time and hold off on planting.

  The wind made her wings feel heavy, but Berry traveled on. She had to get to Gummy Forest and talk to Raina.

  As she arrived Berry noticed the land wasn’t as frosted as in Fruit Chew Meadow. Maybe the tall trees in the forest protected the gummy plants. In Fruit Chew Meadow there were no trees, and the field was more open.

  Raina fed the gummy fish at Gummy Lake every morning. Berry checked there first and felt a wave of relief when she saw Raina standing on the shoreline.

  “Raina!” Berry called out. She flew over to her friend. “I am so happy you’re here!”

  Raina nearly dropped her basket of flavor flakes. When she saw Berry, she rushed over to her. “Berry, did you hear that storm last night?” she asked. “The winds were whipping around here. Many of the animals are still in hiding.”

  Berry shook her head. “I slept through the whole storm,” she admitted. “This morning was a surprise. When I woke up, I saw there was an icy frost all over the meadow. And on the jelly bean seedlings!”

  “Oh, sweet sugar,” Raina replied, shaking her head. “I was afraid you were going to tell me that. This is more than a spring frost.” She looked worried.

  “I was hoping we could do some research,” Berry said. “Maybe there is a story in the Fairy Code Book about a spring storm that could help us figure out how to save the frozen crops.”

  “Maybe,” Raina said. “Tell me, how are the seedlings? How are the leaves?”

  “They are very weak,” Berry told her. Her fingers still tingled from brushing the ice off the jelly bean leaves. “I removed all the ice this morning. But I am afraid the damage has been done. If I don’t help them now . . . ” Berry stopped talking. She couldn’t finish her sentence. She looked into Raina’s kind eyes. She knew her friend understood how hard it was for her to talk about the damaged crops.

  “Why don’t you head back to my house,” Raina said. She threw more of the flavor flakes in the lake. “While I finish up the gummy feedings, you can start doing some research.”

  “Thanks, Raina,” Berry said, flying off. Raina had the best library in all of Candy Kingdom. If there was a book that could help her, she would find it in Raina’s library. “I’ll see you soon.”

  Inside Raina’s house Berry was overwhelmed by the selection of books. She started pulling down books from the shelves. Flipping through the pages, she searched for anything about a spring frost. She flew from one end of the room to the other. Not one book she looked at helped her at all.

  “What happened in here?” Raina exclaimed. She stood at the door with her mouth gaping open.

  Berry looked up from the book in her hand. She saw the mess she had made of Raina’s home. There were open books tossed around the room. Berry could tell from Raina’s expression that she was not happy. Raina was all about order and kept her books neatly organized and lined up on her shelves.

  “Sorry,” Berry said softly. She gently closed the book she was holding and put it carefully back on a shelf.

  Before Raina could say anything, a sugar fly appeared with a message. Raina took the note from the sugar fly and read it out loud. “Princess Lolli has canceled her trip!” Raina exclaimed. She looked over at Berry. “The storm must have caused more damage in the kingdom than we thought if she is not going to Cake Kingdom.”

  “We should send messages to our friends to meet up now,” Berry said. She wrote quick notes and handed the letters to the sugar fly. “Please take these to Dash, Melli, and Cocoa,” she said. “Thank you!”

  Berry watched the sugar fly soar out into the gray sky. A few of the ice patches on the ground were beginning to melt. But now that Princess Lolli had postponed her trip, Berry had to wonder what the rest of Sugar Valley looked like.

  “It’s a bitterly cold happening . . . ,” Berry muttered as she f
lopped down in a chair. She glanced around at all the books. “One of those books must have the answer,” she said.

  “Maybe,” Raina said. “The trick is to know where to look.” She blew her long bangs off her forehead. “What a mess, Berry.”

  “I’m sorry,” Berry mumbled.

  The fairies continued to do research as they waited for their friends to arrive. Berry tried not to think about what her seedlings were looking like now. Maybe the morning sun would warm up the ground and keep the seedlings safe. She hoped that her friends would get to Gummy Forest as soon as possible. This was an emergency!

  Not long after the sugar fly left Gummy Forest, Berry found herself surrounded by her good friends. Melli, Cocoa, and Dash had come as soon as they had heard the news. Now all five fairies were huddled up in Raina’s library.

  “Hot caramel,” Melli said, shaking her head. “It looks as if there was a storm in here. Who blew through here?”

  “Um, that would be me,” Berry confessed. “I’m desperate to find information about a spring frost.” She flew up to a high shelf. “We can clean up later.”

  Dash picked up a pile of books from the center table. “Maybe we can search faster if we put away the books that you looked through already.”

  Raina gave Dash a sweet smile of thanks. “We should have a system here,” she said.

  “We don’t have time for a system,” Berry snapped. “Everyone start looking!”

  Cocoa looked from Berry to Raina. She shuddered when she caught the icy stare they shared. “And I thought the patches of frozen chocolate in Chocolate Woods were bad,” she mumbled.

  “You know how Raina likes to keep her library,” Melli whispered.

  Berry saw that Raina was upset, but she couldn’t stop her search now.

  “This is not typical of a spring storm in Sugar Valley,” Berry declared. “There have been storms to start the spring, but none like this.” She flew to a shelf across the room for another book. “Maybe this book will help shed some light.” She took Shades of Spring in her hands and flipped through the thick book.