The girls glanced at each other.
How can we leave when Grizelda is threatening to ruin the forest again? Jess thought worriedly.
“We’d like to stay,” said Lily, “so we can help if anything bad happens.”
Jess nodded. “Back home, time stands still while we’re in Friendship Forest,” she said, “so our parents won’t be worried.”
Goldie hugged them. “You’re such good friends,” she said. “We’ll have a sleepover in my grotto—and then we’ll all be ready to help Olivia, no matter what!”
“Squeeeeaaaak! Squeeeeaaaak!”
Lily woke with a start. “What’s that noise?” she muttered, rubbing her eyes. She was snuggled in a nest of quilts and cushions on the floor of Goldie’s grotto. It was lit by the soft glow of a night-light, but she could see through the window in the door that it was dark outside.
Jess and Goldie had woken up, too, and were blinking sleepily.
“Squeeeeaaaak! Squeeeeaaaak!”
The noise came from just outside Goldie’s grotto.
“What’s happening?” Jess asked sleepily.
They went outside and found lots of animals in their pajamas, looking worried. The whole Twinkletail mouse family was huddled together, wearing tiny pajamas. Lying all over the ground were torn leaves and petals.
Mr. Muddlepup the dog came over. His nightcap drooped over one eye. “What’s going on?” he yawned.
“It started outside our cottage,” said Molly Twinkletail. “We followed the noise and it led us here to all these leaves. It’s scary!”
Lily scooped her up. Molly was so small that Lily could hold her with just one hand. “Don’t be afraid,” she said. “We’ll find out what’s happening.”
“Look!” said Jess. “There! Beneath that pine tree—two shadows!”
They crept closer.
“Squeeeeeeak!”
Just then, the shadows moved out into the moonlight.
“It’s Peep... and Olivia!” cried Jess.
The bat ripped some leaves from a dandyrose bush and tossed them over his shoulder, while Olivia ripped the petals from a patch of buttercups. She threw them up into the air.
Goldie gasped. “So they’re the ones who made this mess!”
“Squeeeeeeak!” went Peep.
“Squeeeeeeak!” went Olivia. Then Peep flew to another bush and little Olivia followed on the ground, flapping her paws.
“She’s trying to fly like Peep!” cried Lily in dismay. “And she sounds like him, too!”
Peep reached out with his claws, picked up the little hamster, and flew onto a branch. Olivia flapped her paws, still trying to fly.
Molly covered her tiny ears as the horrible squeaking grew louder.
Lily cuddled her close and said to Jess and Goldie, “So that’s what the purple spark spell does! Peep made Olivia act like a messy bat, just like him!”
Goldie gasped. “Oh, no!”
Jess stood beneath the tree. “Olivia!” she called. “Come down!”
“Won’t!” squeaked Olivia.
Peep giggled. “This is fun!” he squeaked. “Soon Olivia will really turn into a bat, and then she’ll be able to make another animal change, too. Then all the Friendship Forest animals will be messy and fun like me and my friends!”
The girls were horrified. “Imagine,” said Jess, “a forest full of messy creatures.”
Goldie nodded gloomily. “The whole forest will end up like the Witchy Waste,” she said miserably.
“And Grizelda will have Friendship Forest all for herself,” Lily finished.
Just then, the rest of the Nibblesqueak family arrived, looking upset.
“Where’s our Olivia?” cried Mrs. Nibblesqueak. “Is—”
She stopped and gasped when she saw her daughter flapping in the tree like a bat.
Jess put her arm around the shocked hamster comfortingly. “Don’t worry,” she said, patting her gently. “I promise we’ll find a way to change Olivia back to her normal self.”
She glanced anxiously at Lily, wondering how they could keep that promise.
But Lily had been thinking. “If we find out more about Peep’s purple spark spell,” she said, “we might find a way to undo it. Let’s visit Mrs. Taptree!”
Chapter Five
Mrs. Taptree’s Library
As the sun rose, Jess, Lily, and Goldie all headed for Mrs. Taptree’s home.
“Here we are,” said Goldie, stopping by a door in the broad trunk of a chestnut tree. As she knocked, the door flew open and a woodpecker popped out.
“Goodness, Goldie,” she said, “you’ve brought Jess and Lily back to my library!”
“Hello, Mrs. Taptree,” said the girls.
“Come in,” said the woodpecker. “Quick! Quick!”
Jess and Lily had visited Mrs. Taptree’s library before, but they still couldn’t believe how much bigger it was on the inside than it looked on the outside!
Jess peered around for Mrs. Taptree’s chicks. “Where are Dig and Tipper?”
The woodpecker pulled back a curtain of ivy leaves. There were her two chicks, fast asleep!
“They’re tired out,” said Mrs. Taptree. “That dreadful squeaking kept them up all night. Did you hear it?”
“That’s why we’re here,” said Lily. She explained what had happened to Olivia. “We’d like to search your books for a way to break Peep’s spell,” she finished.
“Of course!” said Mrs. Taptree.
Jess went to the corner where three magical ladders stood and climbed on the first one. “Hamsters!” she said.
Jess felt a thrill of excitement as her ladder magically moved on its own, sliding sideways into the “animal” section. On the shelves, she spotted several books all about hamsters.
Goldie told her ladder, “Witches!”
Lily stood on the third one and said, “Bats!”
But as their ladders slid along, a loud “squeeeaaak!” came from above. It was Peep and Olivia, sitting up on a shelf!
“They must have snuck in after us!” cried Lily.
Peep flung a book to the ground. “Squeeeaaak!” he said happily.
“Please don’t do that!” Mrs. Taptree begged, flapping her wings anxiously.
Olivia threw a book, too. “Making a mess is fun!” she giggled, and pushed a whole row of books to the ground.
Mrs. Taptree grabbed a broom and took off, chasing Peep around the library. “Get out!” she squawked. “Leave my books alone! Quick! Quick!”
At last, Peep picked up Olivia and flapped out through the doorway. Jess, Lily, and Goldie started searching again.
“There’s nothing about a bat spell,” sighed Goldie.
“Wait!” Lily said, reaching for the last book on the shelf. “I’ve found it!” she cried. “Purple spark transforming spell!”
She jumped off the ladder and flicked to the right page.
“And here’s how to undo it! A spell to turn you back to your normal self.” She read it out loud: