Rosie Gigglepip's Lucky Escape Read online

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Map of Friendship Forest

  Epigraph

  CHAPTER ONE: A Visit from Goldie

  CHAPTER TWO: The Terrible Storm

  CHAPTER THREE: Gigglepips in Trouble

  CHAPTER FOUR: The Toadstool Café

  CHAPTER FIVE: Searching for Spells

  CHAPTER SIX: Gathering Dragons

  CHAPTER SEVEN: Smoke Signals

  CHAPTER EIGHT: Surprises

  Sneak Peek

  Puzzle Fun!

  Lily and Jess’s Animal Facts

  Copyright

  Lily Hart cradled a guinea pig in her arms as she waited at the barn door for her best friend. The tiny animal peeped happily as Lily gently pet its chocolate-brown fur.

  “You’re almost asleep, Coco!” Lily said as the guinea pig’s eyes began to close.

  The barn was hidden behind a group of trees in Lily’s yard. Mr. and Mrs. Hart had converted it into the Helping Paw Wildlife Hospital, and all kinds of animals were taken care of there. Both Lily and her friend Jess adored animals and loved to help out whenever they could!

  Suddenly Lily saw a girl with blond curly hair and a big grin running toward her. Jess! In moments, Jess was petting the guinea pig delightedly.

  “Coco’s leg healed quickly, didn’t it?” Jess said happily.

  Lily nodded. “But she still seems not quite herself. She’s always so sleepy.”

  They went into the barn, which was filled with hutches of all shapes and sizes. Jess opened the door of an empty hutch, and Lily gently put Coco inside.

  The guinea pig squeaked noisily as she crept into a corner and settled into the fresh sawdust.

  Lily sighed. “I’m sure there’s something else wrong with her. I wish I knew what. Mom and Dad don’t know, either.”

  “And they know everything there is to know about animals,” said Jess. Mr. and Mrs. Hart were both vets. “Maybe she’s missing her owner,” she suggested.

  The girls had spent yesterday putting up notices around town and knocking on doors to ask if anyone had lost their guinea pig. But no one had. So the girls had named her Coco and Lily’s parents agreed that she could live at the hospital until they found her owner.

  Lily closed the hutch, then listened. “Did you hear that?” She looked at Jess in excitement. “It sounded like a meow . . .”

  Jess ran to open the barn door. A beautiful golden cat bounded inside.

  “Goldie!” Lily cried.

  Goldie was a magical cat and their special friend. She lived in Friendship Forest, a secret world where all the animals could talk!

  Lily and Jess bent to pet her. But Goldie didn’t seem as happy to see them as she usually was. She wasn’t purring and her tail was flicking from side to side.

  “My kitten Pixie does that when she’s upset,” said Jess anxiously. “I wonder what Grizelda’s done this time!”

  Grizelda was a wicked witch who wanted to make all the animals leave Friendship Forest so she could have it for herself. She had some helpers in her mischief-making—dragons! So far, Lily and Jess had stopped three of the dragons from ruining the forest, but they knew Grizelda still had one more dragon left.

  Lily crouched down. “Whatever’s happening, we’re ready to help,” she told the cat. “Take us back to Friendship Forest, Goldie, and then you can tell us what’s wrong!”

  Goldie mewed up at them. Then she ran out of the barn and across the lawn. Lily and Jess dashed after her, and followed her over the stepping stones that crossed Brightley Stream and led up to the Friendship Tree. Its branches were bare, but as the cat reached it, buds appeared on every twig and burst into leaves as green as Goldie’s eyes. A bumblebee buzzed around the yellow flowers that had sprung up under the tree, and birds chased each other through the branches, singing happily.

  Goldie pawed at some words carved into the tree’s bark. Together, the girls read them aloud: “Friendship Forest!”

  A door appeared in the trunk. Jess grasped the leaf-shaped handle and opened it. Golden light shone out, dancing over them like sunbeams.

  Goldie stepped through the door. With a thrill, Lily and Jess stooped to follow her. Their skin tingled like lemonade bubbles as they shrank so they were a little smaller than usual.

  But when the golden light faded, the girls gave gasps of horror. Friendship Forest was usually filled with warmth and sunshine, but today it looked completely different. The tree branches thrashed around wildly in a fierce wind and leaves and petals swirled through the air. Rain poured down, splashing in puddles everywhere.

  “What’s happening?” Lily cried, her dark hair whipping around her face.

  “It’s a storm!” cried Goldie over the howling wind. “I’ve never seen one this bad!”

  Now that they were in the forest, Goldie could talk to them at last. She stood upright beside the girls, almost up to their shoulders, one paw holding her glittery scarf so it couldn’t be snatched away by the wind.

  As they huddled against the tree trunk, Jess turned to their friend. “Goldie,” she cried in alarm, “what’s wrong with Friendship Forest?”

  A flash of lightning streaked across the sky. Immediately, a thunderclap boomed around them, making Lily and Jess jump.

  “All the animals must be so scared!” cried Lily. “The storm could blow away their houses!”

  Goldie nodded, her whiskers quivering with worry. She reached behind them into a hollow in the tree’s roots and pulled out three hooded capes, made of laurel leaves and magnolia petals stitched together.

  “I left them here when I went through the tree to fetch you,” Goldie shouted over the storm’s roar. “They’ll protect us from the wind and rain!”

  The girls wrapped themselves in the capes thankfully.

  “Did Grizelda cause this storm, Goldie?” asked Jess.

  “I think so,” the cat said. “Remember what she made the other dragons do?”

  The girls could hardly forget. Grizelda had made Chilly the ice dragon stop the Flufftail squirrel family from looking after the Shining House, which made the forest sunny. It had quickly become cold and gloomy. Then the Prickleback hedgehog family were turned to stone by Dusty, the sand dragon, so they couldn’t keep the river flowing properly with their waterwheel. Next, Smudge the shadow dragon had turned the Fuzzybrush fox family into shadows, so they couldn’t dance to make the stars come out.

  “Grizelda’s still got one dragon left,” Jess said with a groan. “Breezy the storm dragon!”

  “I think Grizelda’s sent her to the Whirligig,” said Goldie.

  “What’s the Whirligig?” asked Lily.

  “It’s a magical windmill,” Goldie explained. “The Gigglepip guinea pig family live there. They turn the sails of the windmill at exactly the right speed to send a lovely, gentle breeze through Friendship Forest.”

  A gust of wind howled as it swept around them, tugging at their capes.

  “That wasn’t a gentle breeze!” Lily cried. “Something must have happened to the Gigglepips!”

  “Let’s go and find out!” yelled Jess.

  They hurried through the forest. The little cottages in Toadstool Glade had their doors and windows tightly shut. Chestnuts were stuffed into chimney tops to stop the rain getting in.

  The Longwhiskers rabbit family, who ran the Toadstool Café, were getting soaked as they moved tables, chairs, and sunshades indoors. Through the windows, the girls spotted their friends Emily Prickleback the hedgehog and Lola Velvetnose the mole sheltering inside.

  A mouse ran across the glade, clutching a tiny umbrella made of ivy leaves.

  “Look! There’s little Molly Twinkletail!” cried Lily.

 
; Suddenly, the wind caught the umbrella and whisked the tiny mouse into the air.

  “Help!” Molly squealed.

  Jess darted across Toadstool Glade. She caught Molly gently. The little mouse sat quivering in her hand. Jess kissed her tiny damp head and lifted her to the front door of the Twinkletails’ cottage, high up on a tree branch.

  “You’re safe now, Molly,” she said. “Make sure your family stays inside until this awful storm is over.”

  “Thank you, Jess! I will!” cried Molly, as her dad opened the door. She ran inside to a chorus of squeaks and squeals.

  “Poor Molly,” said Goldie, when Jess ran back to her and Lily. Her tail twitched anxiously. “We’d better hurry. If the storm keeps going, the littlest animals will be swept away, just like Molly was!”

  As the girls struggled through a big cloud of leaves being swirled around by the wind, Goldie gasped.

  Ahead was a horribly familiar sight. A yellow-green orb was floating through the storm toward them!

  “Oh, no!” cried Jess and Lily together.

  With a cra-ack, the orb burst in a shower of smelly yellow sparks that hissed as raindrops hit them. In its place stood Grizelda the witch!

  The witch’s cloak flapped in the wind, whipping around her purple tunic and tight black pants. Her green hair waved wildly in the wind, like a nest of snakes.

  Grizelda fixed the girls and Goldie with a cold smile. “You interfering girls are too late to stop my plan this time,” she said, looking at them down her long nose. “And so is your silly pet cat.”

  Jess bravely stepped toward her. “Goldie’s not our pet, and she’s not silly, either!” she cried.

  Grizelda just cackled. “I’ve saved my most powerful dragon for last,” she told them. “Ha ha haaa! Thanks to Breezy, this storm will rip every leaf from every tree. All the food growing on the Treasure Tree will be blown to the ground and ruined!”

  Jess and Lily looked at each other in dismay. This was awful news. The magical Treasure Tree was where all the forest animals got their food.

  Grizelda pranced in delight. “All the animals will have to leave,” she screeched, “and the forest will be mine!”

  Lily clenched her fists. “We’ll stop you, Grizelda!” she yelled.

  “You’re too late,” Grizelda sneered.

  “It’s never too late!” Jess shouted over the wind’s howl.

  “We’ll stop the storm somehow,” Goldie told the witch. “Lily and Jess are clever and brave, and they won’t let you win!”

  But Grizelda wasn’t even listening. She rubbed her bony hands together. “Kidnapping those dragons was the best thing I ever did!” she crowed. Then she snapped her fingers and disappeared in a burst of smelly sparks.

  The girls and Goldie stood for a moment, staring at each other miserably.

  Goldie said, “Come on. Let’s get to the Whirligig. If there’s a way to stop the storm, I know you two will find it.”

  The three friends raced through the forest. They dodged chestnuts, acorns, and twigs as the wind blew them through the air, and skidded over the wet leaves that blew around the ground.

  Goldie led them out of the trees to a little hill. On top of it stood a purple-and-yellow-striped windmill with four yellow wooden sails. They were spinning wildly, so fast they were almost a blur.

  Goldie gave a gasp. “No wonder the wind is so strong, the sails normally turn slowly and steadily!” she said. “Only the Gigglepips can work the Whirligig and make the storm stop, but I can’t see them anywhere!”

  But she had barely finished speaking when faint squeaks reached them through the wind and rain.

  “Look!” cried Jess, pointing at a nearby tree. “What is that?”

  They peered up into the treetop.

  A small column of wind was whirling around on a branch. Through it, they could just see four tiny, frightened faces.

  “It’s a tornado,” Goldie cried, “with the Gigglepip family trapped inside! How can we get them down?”

  “Shh,” said Lily. She listened hard, straining to hear over the storm. “Did you hear that squeak? It sounds closer.”

  “Help!” a small voice squeaked sadly. “Help me!”

  “Over here!” Lily led them to a low, thin branch. Clinging to it was a tiny guinea pig. She looked very wobbly and frightened. Her wet fur was the color of vanilla ice cream, with caramel patches, and she was wearing a pretty pink rose on a ribbon around her neck.

  Lily gently lifted her down.

  “You poor thing,” Lily said, cradling the trembling creature in her arms.

  “It’s Rosie Gigglepip,” Goldie said. “It’s okay, Rosie. These girls are Jess and Lily, and they’ve come to help.”

  Lily wrapped her cape around the shivering guinea pig.

  “Thank you,” said Rosie, snuggling in.

  “Can you tell us what happened?” asked Jess gently.

  “It was so scary,” Rosie said. “A red dragon flew down and blew at the Whirligig so hard that the sails started turning too fast. Way too fast! My family tried to slow it down again, but then she blew at us and we went flying up into the air! The wind won’t stop until me and my family slow the Whirligig down again.” Rosie’s tiny chin wobbled. “I managed to grab that branch,” she said, “but my mom and dad, and my sisters, Posie and Josie, were swept up in that swirly wind. I was so frightened!”

  Rosie looked at the girls and Goldie with tear-filled brown eyes. “Please help them!” she begged.

  “We can’t climb up to the Gigglepip family,” said Goldie. “There aren’t any branches low enough.”

  “Even if we could reach them,” said Lily, “I don’t know how we’d get them out of that tornado. It’s spinning so fast!”

  “We have to do something,” said Jess. “Let’s go to the Toadstool Café and try to think of a plan. Maybe some of the animals there will know what we can do.”

  “Good idea!” said Goldie.

  Goldie put her paws to her mouth and shouted up to where the Gigglepip family were trapped inside the tornado. “It’s all right! Rosie’s safe and warm, and we’ll find a way to save you soon!”

  “Thank you!” A squeaky voice called down through the wind and the rain.

  “Don’t worry about us,” squeaked another Gigglepip, “we’re okay, we’re just a little dizzy!”

  Lily tucked Rosie inside her cape and they hurried back to Toadstool Glade, dodging swaying branches and the swirls of leaves being tossed around. Just as the Toadstool Café’s spotty roof came into sight, there was a roar that bellowed over the sound of the wind.

  Lily spun around and gave a cry. “Oh, no! Breezy’s here!”

  The dragon flew overhead, right toward them. She was almost as big as the girls and her red scales glittered in the rain. She playfully swiped some leaves that were being blown around, then opened her mouth.

  “Run!” cried Goldie.

  They dodged behind a tree trunk just as Breezy blew.

  Whooooooooooooooooooooooh!

  “Hold on!” cried Goldie.

  They hid behind the tree as Breezy’s powerful blast of wind shot past them. It was so strong that it lifted poor Rosie up into the air. She gave a terrified squeak. Lily reached and caught hold of her paw just in time, but then she felt her own feet being lifted off the ground, too!

  “We’re being blown away!” Lily cried.

  “I’ll catch you!” yelled Jess. “Goldie, hold on to me!”

  Jess wrapped her arms around the tree trunk and Goldie grabbed on to her. Lily reached out her hand and held on to Goldie. Her other hand was still tightly holding on to Rosie’s tiny paw. The four friends held each other tight. If they let go, they would be swept away!

  At last, the blast of wind died down. Lily’s feet touched back onto the ground and she cuddled Rosie.

  “Thank you!” squeaked the little guinea pig in a shaky voice.

  “Thank goodness we’re all okay,” panted Jess.

  But Goldie’s eyes were
wide with horror. Lily and Jess turned around and looked at the Toadstool Café in amazement. Breezy’s blast of air had blown the café’s roof right off!

  Lily, Jess, and Goldie peered inside the café. Emily Prickleback was staring in shocked surprise as rain sloshed into her honey milk shake. Mrs. Longwhiskers tried to protect a tray of cakes from the storm with her apron. Puddles were already gathering on the wooden floor.

  Mr. Longwhiskers looked sadly at his ruined café. “Those dragons are ruining everything in our forest,” he said. “What can we do?”

  Jess groaned as Breezy swooped over Toadstool Glade again. She put her hands on her hips. “Look what you’ve done, Breezy!” she shouted up at her.

  Breezy just giggled and aimed another blast of wind at a tree. All the leaves flew off and swirled around them.

  Rosie gave a sob. “I … I … I want my mommy!”

  The wind seemed to carry her words up to Breezy. The dragon suddenly looked upset and landed with a thump beside them. “I miss my mommy, too,” she said miserably.

  Lily, Jess, and Goldie stared at her in surprise. “Breezy, are you a grown-up dragon?” Lily asked.

  Breezy shook her head. “Of course not!” she said. “I’m only little, so my storms aren’t big enough for Grizelda. She wants me to make storms as big as my mommy’s.”

  The girls and Goldie looked at each other in amazement. The dragons were only babies!

  “There are dragons bigger than Breezy?” said Rosie, her eyes very wide.

  “It sounds like it,” said Jess. “Breezy’s mom must be huge!”

  An idea was starting to come to Lily. “What about Chilly, Dusty, and Smudge?” she asked. “Are they babies, too?”

  “They’re my brothers and my sister,” explained Breezy. “We all miss Mommy.” She sighed, letting out a puff of air that made the girls’ hair blow back and ruffled Goldie’s and Rosie’s fur.