Daisy Meadows - Rosie Gigglepip’s Lucky Escape

Lily Hart cradled a guinea pig in her arms as she waited at the barn door for her best friend. The tiny animal peeped happily as Lily gently pet its chocolate-brown fur.

“You’re almost asleep, Coco!” Lily said as the guinea pig’s eyes began to close.

The barn was hidden behind a group of trees in Lily’s yard. Mr. and Mrs. Hart had converted it into the Helping Paw Wildlife Hospital, and all kinds of animals were taken care of there. Both Lily and her friend Jess adored animals and loved to help out whenever they could!

Suddenly Lily saw a girl with blond curly hair and a big grin running toward her. Jess! In moments, Jess was petting the guinea pig delightedly.

“Coco’s leg healed quickly, didn’t it?” Jess said happily.

Lily nodded. “But she still seems not quite herself. She’s always so sleepy.”

They went into the barn, which was filled with hutches of all shapes and sizes. Jess opened the door of an empty hutch, and Lily gently put Coco inside.

The guinea pig squeaked noisily as she crept into a corner and settled into the fresh sawdust.

Lily sighed. “I’m sure there’s something else wrong with her. I wish I knew what. Mom and Dad don’t know, either.”

“And they know everything there is to know about animals,” said Jess. Mr. and Mrs. Hart were both vets. “Maybe she’s missing her owner,” she suggested.

The girls had spent yesterday putting up notices around town and knocking on doors to ask if anyone had lost their guinea pig. But no one had. So the girls had named her Coco and Lily’s parents agreed that she could live at the hospital until they found her owner.

Lily closed the hutch, then listened. “Did you hear that?” She looked at Jess in excitement. “It sounded like a meow ...”

Jess ran to open the barn door. A beautiful golden cat bounded inside.

“Goldie!” Lily cried.

Goldie was a magical cat and their special friend. She lived in Friendship Forest, a secret world where all the animals could talk!

Lily and Jess bent to pet her. But Goldie didn’t seem as happy to see them as she usually was. She wasn’t purring and her tail was flicking from side to side.

“My kitten Pixie does that when she’s upset,” said Jess anxiously. “I wonder what Grizelda’s done this time!”

Grizelda was a wicked witch who wanted to make all the animals leave Friendship Forest so she could have it for herself. She had some helpers in her mischief-making—dragons! So far, Lily and Jess had stopped three of the dragons from ruining the forest, but they knew Grizelda still had one more dragon left.

Lily crouched down. “Whatever’s happening, we’re ready to help,” she told the cat. “Take us back to Friendship Forest, Goldie, and then you can tell us what’s wrong!”

Goldie mewed up at them. Then she ran out of the barn and across the lawn. Lily and Jess dashed after her, and followed her over the stepping stones that crossed Brightley Stream and led up to the Friendship Tree. Its branches were bare, but as the cat reached it, buds appeared on every twig and burst into leaves as green as Goldie’s eyes. A bumblebee buzzed around the yellow flowers that had sprung up under the tree, and birds chased each other through the branches, singing happily.

Goldie pawed at some words carved into the tree’s bark. Together, the girls read them aloud: “Friendship Forest!”

A door appeared in the trunk. Jess grasped the leaf-shaped handle and opened it. Golden light shone out, dancing over them like sunbeams.

Goldie stepped through the door. With a thrill, Lily and Jess stooped to follow her. Their skin tingled like lemonade bubbles as they shrank so they were a little smaller than usual.

But when the golden light faded, the girls gave gasps of horror. Friendship Forest was usually filled with warmth and sunshine, but today it looked completely different. The tree branches thrashed around wildly in a fierce wind and leaves and petals swirled through the air. Rain poured down, splashing in puddles everywhere.

“What’s happening?” Lily cried, her dark hair whipping around her face.

“It’s a storm!” cried Goldie over the howling wind. “I’ve never seen one this bad!”

Now that they were in the forest, Goldie could talk to them at last. She stood upright beside the girls, almost up to their shoulders, one paw holding her glittery scarf so it couldn’t be snatched away by the wind.

As they huddled against the tree trunk, Jess turned to their friend. “Goldie,” she cried in alarm, “what’s wrong with Friendship Forest?”

A flash of lightning streaked across the sky. Immediately, a thunderclap boomed around them, making Lily and Jess jump.

“All the animals must be so scared!” cried Lily. “The storm could blow away their houses!”

Goldie nodded, her whiskers quivering with worry. She reached behind them into a hollow in the tree’s roots and pulled out three hooded capes, made of laurel leaves and magnolia petals stitched together.

“I left them here when I went through the tree to fetch you,” Goldie shouted over the storm’s roar. “They’ll protect us from the wind and rain!”

The girls wrapped themselves in the capes thankfully.

“Did Grizelda cause this storm, Goldie?” asked Jess.

“I think so,” the cat said. “Remember what she made the other dragons do?”

The girls could hardly forget. Grizelda had made Chilly the ice dragon stop the Flufftail squirrel family from looking after the Shining House, which made the forest sunny. It had quickly become cold and gloomy. Then the Prickleback hedgehog family were turned to stone by Dusty, the sand dragon, so they couldn’t keep the river flowing properly with their waterwheel. Next, Smudge the shadow dragon had turned the Fuzzybrush fox family into shadows, so they couldn’t dance to make the stars come out.

“Grizelda’s still got one dragon left,” Jess said with a groan. “Breezy the storm dragon!”

“I think Grizelda’s sent her to the Whirligig,” said Goldie.

“What’s the Whirligig?” asked Lily.

“It’s a magical windmill,” Goldie explained. “The Gigglepip guinea pig family live there. They turn the sails of the windmill at exactly the right speed to send a lovely, gentle breeze through Friendship Forest.”