A drop of pink liquid fell onto the flower.
Lily, Jess, and the other animals watched hopefully. The snapdragon opened a tiny bit. Everyone held their breath. But then it snapped shut again.
“Oh, no!” cried Timmy Sparklepaw. “It didn’t work!”
Hermia fluttered away from the snapdragons. “We’ve got more sugarsap in Butterfly Bowery,” she said. “If we bring back lots of it, maybe it’ll be enough to open the snapdragon.”
“We’ve got to try it,” agreed Jess. “It’s the only plan we’ve got to rescue Amelia!”
Chapter Four
The Butterfly Bowery
Lily, Jess, and Goldie hurried through the forest, following the rainbow cloud of fluttering butterflies. At last, Hermia pointed her wing up into the branches of a willow tree. “There’s the Butterfly Bowery,” she said. “It’s where all the forest butterflies sleep.”
Lily, Jess, and Goldie peered up at a little hollow high in the trunk.
“Thanks, Hermia,” said Jess. “We’ll climb up and get some sugarsap.”
“Wait,” said Lily. “Even though we’re smaller in Friendship Forest, we’ll still never fit in that hollow.”
Hermia gave a tinkly laugh. “You will,” she said. “Just you wait and see!”
She fluttered alongside them as Goldie led the way up, bounding lightly from branch to branch.
The girls followed carefully, and soon sat beside the cat outside the Butterfly Bowery. When Lily peered inside, she gasped at the sight of so many dazzling, shimmering butterfly wings.
A yellow butterfly with polka dots on her wings and an orange butterfly with white hearts on hers flew out of the Bowery, carrying tiny purple flowers. They gave them to Goldie and the girls.
“They smell delicious!” said Jess.
“These are shrinking violets,” Hermia explained. “If you eat some you’ll be able to come inside!”
Lily, Jess, and Goldie each nibbled on a violet. Suddenly, they tingled all over.
“It’s like the feeling we get when we enter the Friendship Tree,” cried Lily. “We’re shrinking again!”
“Wow!” gasped Jess. Soon the girls and Goldie were kitten-sized, and still they kept shrinking. “I don’t think we need any more!” Jess said, putting the last few flowers in her pocket. At last, the tingling stopped.
“We’re as small as Hermia!” said Lily—then laughed. Her voice was as tinkly as the butterfly’s, too.
“Come in!” said Hermia. Now that they were tiny they could see her clearly. Her wings were like sails and covered in swirling patterns of pink, purple, and lilac.
They followed Hermia inside. The bowery seemed huge, with a high ceiling as tall as a cathedral, soft rose petals on the floor, and a sweet smell in the air. And everywhere the girls looked there were fluttering butterflies of every color of the rainbow! Sunlight glittered through windows covered with lacy spiderwebs and glinted off the butterflies’ shimmering wings as they flew around.
“Amazing!” breathed Jess.
“Hello, girls! Hello, Goldie!” said the butterflies, as Hermia led them to a pink pool in the ground.
“This is where we keep our sugarsap,” Hermia said. She showed them how to dip an empty seed pod into the pool, fill it with sugarsap, then pour it onto a large leaf and fold it into a parcel. Soon Goldie and the girls had made a huge pile of sugarsap parcels.
“I hope we’ve collected enough to free Amelia,” said Jess.
“Me, too,” said Hermia. She gave them a handful of sunshine-yellow flowers.
“These are growberry blossoms,” the butterfly said. “If you eat them when you get outside, you’ll return back to your normal size.”
“Thank you, Hermia!” said Lily and Jess together. The butterflies fluttered their wings in farewell as the girls and Goldie left. On the branch outside, they ate the growberry blossoms. Instantly, they quivered all over and, in no time, they were back to the size they’d been when they arrived in the forest.
“Let’s get back to the grotto,” said Goldie. “I just hope the sugarsap opens that horrible flower this time!”
At the grotto, the worried animals stood around the snapdragons. The one that held Amelia drooped heavily toward the ground.
“It’s all right, Amelia!” Jess called. “We’re going to save you!”
The kitten’s voice was muffled. “Please hurry,” they heard her say. “It’s really dark in here!”
Lily, Jess, and Goldie unwrapped the leaf parcels. Then the girls darted around the flowers, sprinkling the liquid over them as they dodged their snapping petals. When they’d finished, everyone waited. The girls held their breath.
Then the bouquet gave itself a great shake. The sugarsap droplets flew off.
There was a wail from inside the flower. “I’m dizzy!” mewed Amelia.
Finally, the bouquet was still—but the flower holding the kitten was still snapped firmly shut.
Lily and Jess groaned with dismay.
“The sugarsap didn’t work!” cried Mrs. Sparklepaw with a sob.
“We’re so sorry,” Lily said.
She glanced at Jess and Goldie. Their worried faces showed they were all thinking the same thing.
Would they ever be able to free Amelia?
Chapter Five
An Unwelcome Guest
Nobody knew what to do. The Sparklepaws huddled together, looking upset. Mr. Cleverfeather flapped his wings anxiously and the Twinkletail mouse family was in tears.
Then Jess gave a shout. She took the leftover shrinking violets from her pocket and held them up. “Hey, I know! We can use these!”
Lily was confused. “How will it help Amelia if we shrink?”
“We won’t eat them,” explained Jess. “We’ll feed them to the snapdragons. They’ll shrink until they’re too small to hold Amelia—and then they’ll have to drop her.”
“Let’s try it!” Lily cried.
Jess crept toward the bouquet, clutching the violets. As soon as she was within reach, the flowers snapped at her. She dodged them, not wanting to get trapped in a flower, too.
Lily shrieked as a flower lunged with its parrot-beak wide open, but Jess was too quick. She tossed the shrinking violets deep inside the flower’s mouth.
The flower clamped shut.
Everyone waited.
“Nothing’s happening!” Mrs. Sparklepaw wailed.
“Wait!” Goldie grabbed the girls’ hands. They watched anxiously as the flowers started to shudder and shake—and then shrink!
“It’s working!” Lily cried as the bouquet got smaller and smaller.
With a slurp, the flower opened, and out tumbled Amelia!
Lily darted forward to catch her, then Mrs. Sparklepaw rushed over to give Amelia a big squeeze.
Everyone cheered. “Hooray!”
The Sparklepaws hugged and kissed Amelia, then she wriggled free and bounded over to Goldie and the girls.
“Thanks for rescuing me!” she said. As she hugged them, the girls could feel her purring.
“You were a very brave kitten,” said Lily, stroking Amelia’s soft white fur.
“Everything’s all right now,” Jess said happily. “The party can begin!”
But Lily gave a shout, pointing to a gap in the trees.