Lily nodded. “I wish we could make him smaller, like we did with the snapdragons.”
Amelia tugged on Lily’s hand, quivering with excitement. “We can! Let’s give him shrinking violets!”
“There aren’t any,” said Jess. “We used the last ones on the snapdragons.”
“I know where we can get some more!” cried Amelia, her blue eyes shining. “Garland Green, where I got the flowers to make Goldie’s birthday perfume! We can ask my mom and my brothers to help... This way!”
They left Gobbler munching on the workshop and followed Amelia to a buttercup-yellow cottage. Outside the front door was a slender plant with a golden flower at its tip. As the group hurried up the path, Amelia jangled one of the plant’s leaves and the flower tinkled like a doorbell.
The door opened and there stood Amelia’s mom with Tommy and Timmy. Amelia quickly explained what they were doing.
“Goodness, you’ll need lots of violets to shrink a creature that size,” said Mrs. Sparklepaw, wringing her paws. “Of course we’ll come and help!”
The girls and Goldie ran after the Sparklepaws to Garland Green. It was covered in grass and dotted all over with colorful flowers. On one side was a huge patch of shrinking violets, their purple petals quivering in the breeze.
“There they are!” cried Jess. She and Lily ran to pick some. But as they reached down to pick the flowers, the petals shut tight and the flowers disappeared into the ground.
The girls gave cries of dismay.
“Oh, no!” said Lily. “If we can’t pick them, then we can’t stop Gobbler!”
Chapter Five
Not the Treasure Tree!
“I don’t understand,” said Jess, shaking her head. “Hermia managed to pick lots of shrinking violets.”
“That’s because butterflies are small enough to creep up on them,” Amelia explained. “Shrinking violets are really shy. So we’ll all need hiding hollyhocks!”
Tommy darted across Garland Green, and came back with a pawful of blue flowers, exactly like the hollyhocks the kittens were wearing. He handed them to his mom, Goldie, and the girls.
“Now jangle them!” said Amelia.
They giggled as they watched one another disappear. When the tip of Goldie’s tail had vanished, they tiptoed toward the shrinking violets.
“Sorry, Mom! Sorry, Amelia!” whispered Timmy. “I keep bumping into everyone!”
This time, the flowers stayed up so they could pick them. They worked quickly, and the sight of handfuls of flowers floating in the air made Jess smile. “I think we’ve got enough,” she said after a while. “Now let’s just hope they work as well on Gobbler as they did on the snapdragons!”
Gobbler had just finished eating the thorny workshop when they got back.
“Wow!” said Jess. “He’s almost as big as the Treasure Tree now!”
Amelia tiptoed as near as she dared, calling, “Gobbler! Yummy treat! Come and get it!”
He thudded toward her.
“Hold out the violets!” said Goldie.
Gobbler sniffed the flowers. But then he jerked away. “YUCK!” he spluttered.
He looked over the girls’ shoulders, and his eyes widened.
“EEP,” he boomed, his tail thudding on the ground, “EEP, EEP...”
Everyone turned to see what he was looking at. In the distance was a tall tree laden with fruit of all kinds.
“The Treasure Tree!” cried Lily. “We have to stop him from eating it. If only he’d eat the shrinking violets...”
As Gobbler set off for the Treasure Tree, Jess yelled, “I’ve got an idea! I just need one of the butterflies to deliver a note...”
She pulled out her sketchbook and pencil and scribbled a message. Then she made a butterfly shape with her hands, just as Goldie had once shown them, and fluttered them like wings.
Moments later, Hermia fluttered down.
Jess gave her the note. “Please take this to Mr. Cleverfeather, as quickly as possible,” she said.
“On my way!” Hermia said in her tinkling voice, and flew off.
The four friends followed Gobbler, trying to slow him down with snacks of cones and leaves.
As they neared the Treasure Tree, Jess froze. “Oh, no! Look!”
A familiar yellow-green orb was floating toward them. It burst into sparks, revealing Grizelda with a wide grin on her bony face.
“My plan’s working,” she cackled. “Eat up, Gobbler!”
Goldie and Amelia began frantically searching for tasty things to tempt Gobbler away from the Treasure Tree. Jess whispered to Lily, “Gather up leaves and twigs for when Mr. Cleverfeather arrives.”
Just then, they heard a soft hoot, and Mr. Cleverfeather appeared overhead, wearing a harness with whirring blades fixed to the back.
“He’s turned himself into a helicopter!” said Jess.
Lily nodded. “And he’s brought the blender with him!”
“I asked him to get it from Goldie’s grotto,” explained Jess. “I just hope my idea works...”
Mr. Cleverfeather dropped the blender into her arms. Then he flew around Gobbler’s head, hooting. “Treave our lee alone!” he cried. “I mean, leave... Oh, you know what I mean!”
Jess stuffed the violets into the blender, and Lily added twigs and leaves. They blended them into a purple liquid, which trickled into the mug on the side of the blender.
Lily glanced over. Grizelda wasn’t watching Gobbler—she was meanly picking fruit off the tree and squashing it under her high-heeled shoes. “Now!” Lily whispered.
“Here, Gobbler!” Jess called. “I’ve got a delicious drink for you!”
The great furry creature bent his massive head down toward them and sniffed. “EEEEEEEEP,” he thundered, so loudly the girls flinched, and opened his mouth.
Jess poured the drink inside.
“SLUUURP,” went Gobbler. “SLUUUUUUUUURP!”
Instantly Gobbler started to change. He looked surprised as he shrank as quickly as a popped balloon. “EEEEEEP!” he squeaked.
The witch turned, staring in disbelief. “Nooooo!” she screeched, stamping her feet angrily.
Gobbler got smaller and smaller, until he was his normal size—even tinier than little Amelia. He sat under a fir tree, crunching cones and squeaking happily.
“He’ll never eat the forest now, Grizelda!” said Jess.
The witch loomed over the girls. “You’ve won this time!” she shrieked, “but mark my words. Friendship Forest will be mine. One day!” she screamed, shaking her fists. With a snap of her fingers she disappeared in a shower of sparks.
“Eeeeep!” Gobbler said, rolling over to show off his fluffy, round tummy.
“I think he’s full at last,” said Amelia with a laugh.
The girls and their friends joined hands and paws in a dance of joy.
Chapter Six
One Last Surprise
When Lily, Jess, Goldie, Amelia, and Gobbler reached Toadstool Glade, it was eerily silent. Usually animals were bustling around, or sitting outside the café, but today there was no one in sight.
“What’s wrong?” said Goldie.
Suddenly, animals everywhere burst out of hiding, shouting, “Surprise!”
Lucy Longwhiskers ran over. “Mr. Cleverfeather told us what you all did. There’s a birthday tea waiting at the Toadstool Café, to make up for Goldie’s party being ruined!”