“It’s like a huge upside-down nest,” Lily said curiously.
“A really awful nest,” added Jess excitedly. “It’s exactly the sort of place where Grizelda would hide Goldie!”
Lily nodded. “But how will we get inside? There’s no door.”
“If there’s a way in,” said Amelia, “I’ll find it.” She jumped to the ground then crouched low, wriggling forward stealthily on her belly.
The girls tiptoed after her around the outside of the strange building. Whenever Amelia found a space between the branches, she popped her head inside, then moved on to the next gap.
“What are you doing?” whispered Jess.
“I’m checking how wide the gaps are with my whiskers,” Amelia explained. She stopped. “Look! Here’s a nice big gap!”
Amelia started to scramble through. Lily and Jess crawled on all fours after the kitten, into the thick mesh of thorny branches. Plump, fuzzy-skinned fruit hung from them.
“They look delicious,” Jess said.
“Don’t touch them,” warned Amelia. “They—”
Just then, Lily’s sleeve caught on a thorn. She jerked back, knocking one of the fuzzy fruits to the ground.
Screeeeeeech!
The girls covered their ears.
“I was just going to tell you,” Amelia said, “those are screechy peaches! Poppy and Patch Muddlepup brought them to a picnic once as a joke. Every time someone touched them, they screeched! It was really funny!”
“Grizelda must have put the screechy peaches here so she’d know if someone breaks in,” Jess realized.
The screech died away, and was replaced by another sound—the click, clack, click, clack, click of the witch’s high-heeled boots!
“Who’s there?” Grizelda’s voice bawled. Her footsteps came closer. “If someone’s in my workshop, they’ll be sorry.… ”
“Oh, no!” whispered Lily. “Grizelda’s going to see us!”
But Amelia touched the flower around her neck. “She won’t,” the kitten said. “We can use this!”
“But how can that help?” Jess whispered.
“It’s a hiding hollyhock,” Amelia explained quickly. “Tommy, Timmy, and I use them to hide whenever we play touch-a-tail. Now hold my paws!”
The frightened girls did as she said. Amelia jangled her flower. Immediately, their hands disappeared—then their arms!
Lily gasped. “We’re vanishing!”
“The hiding hollyhock makes us invisible,” Amelia whispered.
They froze as Grizelda came closer.
“Someone’s in my nice new workshop,” she muttered. “I can smell them.”
Jess and Lily gripped Amelia’s paws tightly as Grizelda’s bony nose poked through the mesh of branches. Their hearts were pounding. Would the flower’s magic work—or would the witch find them after all?
Chapter Three
Grizelda’s Gobbler
Jess and Lily held their breath as they waited. Grizelda pressed even closer against the branches—so close that the girls could have reached out and touched her! Her mean eyes darted all around as she searched.
“Humph,” Grizelda said finally. “Must have been a false alarm.”
She turned and, to Lily and Jess’s relief, her heels started click-clacking away as she walked down the hallway.
“She’s gone,” Amelia said shakily. As she spoke, Lily saw her whiskers reappearing.
“Amelia!” Lily gasped. “You’re becoming visible again.”
“‘Fast and strong, doesn’t last long,’” Amelia chanted. “That’s what Mom always says about hollyhock magic.”
Moments later, they were all completely visible. The girls and Amelia clambered the rest of the way into the workshop and emerged into a curving hallway, also made from woven branches. There were dark wooden doors lining the wall.
Amelia was clinging anxiously on to Jess’s leg. Jess knelt and pet the kitten’s fur. “Amelia,” she said gently. “Would you like to go back home?”
“No!” Amelia said firmly. “Not until we rescue Goldie!”
They went on together to the first door. Jess grasped the handle. “Goldie could be in here,” she said, opening it carefully. But the room was empty.
Lily opened the next one, but jumped back in fright when she saw big pots of snapdragons. She closed the door again quickly. Jess eased another door open just enough to allow her to peep in. She turned to the others, eyes wide, and put a finger to her lips. Silently, she mouthed, “Grizelda!”
Grizelda was crouched down with her back to them, muttering quietly. Bottles of murky-looking liquids and jars of weird objects stood on shelves, and a stack of rusty cauldrons tottered in the corner.
Jess closed the door silently and whispered to the others. “We’ve got to find out if Goldie is here. Amelia, can you make us invisible again?”
Amelia jangled her hiding hollyhock and took their hands in her paws. Once they were invisible, Lily opened the door and they crept inside. Both girls could feel their hearts racing as they stepped closer and closer to the witch.
They tiptoed around Grizelda and saw that she was muttering to the fluffy blue creature they’d seen outside Goldie’s grotto. He sat on the floor in front of Grizelda as she fed him with leaves and twigs. “There, Gobbler, you like those, don’t you?” she said. “I’m glad I found you wandering outside my tower. You’re exactly what I need to help me take over the forest!”
Gobbler swallowed and gazed up at her with his huge blue-green eyes. “Eeeep!” he squeaked. “Eep, eep, eeeeeeeep!”
“You want more to eat, don’t you?” said Grizelda as Gobbler munched greedily. Grizelda laughed. “You’ll soon have as much as you want!” She stood, holding a glass jar up to the light.
Inside it was a tuft of fur. The strands were gleaming and golden...
It was all Jess and Lily could do to stop themselves from gasping out loud.
Inside the jar was some of Goldie’s fur!
Grizelda made a mark on a piece of parchment that lay beside her. She tucked the jar into her pocket and patted Gobbler roughly on the head.
Lily noticed that his blue fur stood on end as the witch touched him. Maybe he doesn’t like Grizelda, she thought. Maybe he just likes the food she gives him.
“Ha ha, little Gobbler!” cackled Grizelda. “I just need to collect one more ingredient and I’ll be ready to make my new potion. Then Friendship Forest will be mine!”
Jess, Lily, and Amelia crept out of the room. As they became visible again, they stared at one another in horror.
“So that’s why Grizelda kidnapped Goldie,” said Jess. “She needed some of her fur to make a potion!”
“I wonder what the potion’s for?” said Lily as she cuddled the trembling Amelia.
“It can’t be anything good,” said Jess. “Whatever Grizelda has planned, we’ve got to stop her!”
Chapter Four
Tricking the Witch
“We’ve got to find Goldie,” said Jess, “and we’ve got to stop Grizelda from finding that last ingredient. Then she won’t be able to make her potion.”
“But how can we?” Lily said gloomily. “We don’t know what the ingredient is.”