Snap!
Pebbles, nuts, and seeds suddenly rained down on them from above.
“Oh, no!” cried Chloe, looking up into the branches of Agatha’s shop. “One of the necklaces must have broken!”
“What happened?” squawked Agatha.
Snap!
More nuts fell, bouncing off Violet’s shell. “Eek!” she squealed in surprise.
“Caw! Caw!”
Everyone looked up to see a scruffy crow perched on a branch above their heads. Jess let out a gasp. “It’s Snippit!”
Snippit was one of Grizelda’s messy helpers from the Witchy Waste. He wore a waistcoat with a missing button. As the girls watched, he closed his beak around the string of another beautiful necklace. Snap! The nuts tumbled to the ground.
“Stop breaking Agatha’s jewelry, Snippit!” cried Lily.
“Won’t,” he cawed. “It’s fun!”
Goldie shook the nuts and seeds from her fur. “He’s going to make poor Agatha’s shop as messy as the Witchy Waste!” she said.
A moment later, the other Witchy Waste creatures came out from the trees. “What a lovely mess you’ve made, Snippit!” cried Peep the bat, while Masha the rat and Hopper the toad laughed with glee.
Snippit giggled as he pecked at another necklace. “Heeheehee! I love shiny things, and shiny messes are even better!”
Agatha flapped her wings furiously as more seeds came tumbling down.
“Go on,” Masha the rat called to Snippit. “Do it!”
Jess glanced at Lily. “Oh, no,” she said, “Masha’s telling Snippit to use his spell!”
Grizelda had given each of the Witchy Waste creatures a magic spell which would make one of the forest animals as messy as they were. If the spell wasn’t lifted, the poor animal would completely transform into a Witchy Waste creature just like them! Then it would be able to change another animal, too, until the whole forest was filled with messy creatures.
“Run!” Goldie yelled to the animals. “Quick, before Snippit casts his spell on you!”
The crow was already ruffling his scruffy feathers, and purple sparks were flying around him. The animals fled in panic, rushing to hide in the trees and bushes. But when Lily looked back, she was horrified to see that Chloe hadn’t moved.
“Chloe! Run!” Lily cried.
But Chloe just crouched with her paws over her eyes and her long tail quivering.
“She’s too scared to move,” cried Jess. “I’ll get her!”
But before she could reach Chloe, purple sparks splattered over the frightened little otter.
Lily gasped. “Oh, no! Snippit’s put a spell on Chloe!”
Chapter Three
The Wicked Spell
Snippit flew around in circles, cawing with delight as Jess, Lily, and Goldie rushed to Chloe. The purple sparks died away, and the little otter blinked up at them, her eyes wide with worry.
“It’s okay,” Lily said, picking Chloe up and cuddling her. “We’ll stop the spell.”
Then Jess spotted an orb of yellow-green light floating toward Agatha’s shop. “Oh, no!” she said with a groan. “Look! Grizelda’s coming!”
With a flash of smelly sparks, the orb transformed into the witch. She wore a purple tunic over tight black pants and high-heeled boots, and her green hair swirled wildly around her bony face. Snippit landed on her shoulder.
Grizelda stroked Snippit’s scruffy head. “Well done,” she told him. “That otter will soon start being messy, too. Then you can spoil the forest together—and the meddling cat and the interfering girls won’t be able to stop you! Ha-ha!”
“Yes we will, Grizelda!” Jess shouted. “We stopped Peep’s spell, and Masha’s, and we’ll stop Snippit’s, too!”
“Snippit’s much smarter than those two.” Grizelda sneered. “You won’t win this time!” She threw back her head and laughed, her locks of green hair twisting and swirling about her head. Then she snapped her fingers and vanished in a splatter of stinky sparks. Snippit landed next to the other three Witchy Waste creatures.
Lily turned and called to the animals, “Grizelda’s gone!”
They all crept out slowly from their hiding places. Lily glanced at Chloe, who was still in her arms. The tiny otter had a dazed look in her eyes.
“Will she be okay?” Violet Flippershell asked tearfully.
Goldie knelt down next to her. But before she could answer Violet, Snippit swooped over and pecked at a ribbon.
“Leave that alone!” squawked Agatha the magpie. “You’ve made enough of a mess already!”
“I’m just getting started,” Snippit told her, gleefully turning over a basket of ribbons. Then he picked up a little pair of scissors in his beak and stuffed them into his waistcoat pocket!
Agatha’s feathers all stood up on end. “That’s stealing!” she told him furiously.
Chloe suddenly wriggled out from Lily’s arms. She ran to Sophie Flufftail and snatched the seed bracelet the squirrel had been making. Then she flapped her front legs and hopped away into the trees as if she was trying to fly.
“Oh, no!” said Goldie. “The magic’s starting to work. Chloe’s already behaving just like Snippit!”
“Poor Chloe!” Violet wailed, her head and legs disappearing into her shell.
“We have to do something!” squawked Agatha, her wings flapping madly.
Jess pulled her little sketchbook from her pocket. “Don’t worry,” she said. “We know exactly what to do! We need the spell we found in Mrs. Taptree’s library.”
Lily nodded. “It worked for Olivia Nibblesqueak and Evie Scruffypup. Let’s hope it works for Chloe!”
Jess flipped to a page in her sketchbook and read aloud. “A spell to turn you back into yourself again:
You want to be yourself again?
Then here’s what you must do.
Gather up those favorite things
That mean the most to you.
What do you like to do the most?
What food do you love the best?
And what’s your biggest secret?
Now here’s a little test.
Put them in your favorite place,
The place you love to be.
If someone names those things aloud,
Yourself once more you’ll be.”
“Right,” said Lily, “we have to find out Chloe’s favorite hobby, her favorite food, and her secret.”
“Then put them in her favorite place to break the spell!” Jess added. She turned to Goldie. “Let’s go and talk to Chloe’s family. They’ll know what her favorite things are.”
“Good idea,” said Goldie, “but I’m not sure where they live.”
“Should we ask Violet?” suggested Lily. “She’s friends with Chloe.”
Poor Violet was so upset about Chloe that she was still in her shell. Jess knelt down and whispered to the little turtle. “We need to find the Slipperslides so we can help Chloe. Can you tell us where they live?”