Daisy Meadows - Poppy Muddlepup’s Daring Rescue

“Left!” said Lily, and slid to the plant section.

“Magic books, please,” Jess called, grinning as her ladder whizzed along.

Suddenly, two young woodpeckers burst in, wings flapping. “Mom! Quick! Quick! Can we have chestnut cake, please, can we?” said one. Then he saw Jess and Lily. “Ooh, what are those?”

“They’re girls,” said Mrs. Taptree. “Lily and Jess, these are my chicks, Dig and Tipper. If you two go out to play while I help the girls find a book, I’ll give you some cake when we’ve finished. Off you go, chicks—quick, quick!”

“All right, Mom,” said Dig, running out. But Tipper knocked over a pile of books as she flapped past.

Lily stepped over to pick them up. “Hey, Jess!” she said, opening one. “This is about magic potions.” She flicked through it, then yelled, “I think I’ve found something! A recipe for Rise and Shine potion. It says, ‘Guaranteed to wake sleepers from even the deepest slumber.’ ”

“Fantastic!” said Jess.

Poppy’s soft brown eyes looked anxiously at the girls. “Can we use it to wake Patch?”

Lily hugged her. “Of course. All we have to do is find the right ingredients!”

“Now, what ingredients do we need?” asked Jess eagerly.

Lily read the recipe. “A tiny feather the color of sunlit leaves, some jewel water, and... oh, no, I can’t read the last thing. It’s smudged.” She looked up. “Now what? We don’t know the third ingredient!”

Jess shrugged. “Let’s find the first two,” she said. “Maybe someone can help us work out what the missing one is.”

“A tiny feather...” murmured Lily.

“The color of sunlit leaves,” said Jess.

Poppy’s ears perked up. “Like a hummingbird’s!” she cried. “They have teeny-tiny feathers, all the colors of the rainbow.”

Lily dropped a kiss on the puppy’s head. “Clever Poppy!” she said. “But where will we find a hummingbird?”

Mrs. Taptree flapped her wings. “Look for crimson bell flowers and you’ll find a hummingbird,” she said. “They can’t smell the marshmallow scent, but they adore the color—and the nectar.”

Poppy darted to the door. “I’ll soon sniff out that marshmallow scent!” she cried.

The girls thanked Mrs. Taptree, then hurried out of the library and after the puppy as she bounded through the forest, sniffing loudly.

“Here!” Poppy cried, snuffling beneath a holly tree. “Oh, no, it’s only jellyberries.”

“Jellyberries?” said Lily.

“Mmm,” said Poppy. “You drop them in water and in seconds you have a bowl of yummy pink jelly.” She picked a few and put them in her bag. “Patch loves jelly,” she explained. She looked sad for a moment. “I’ll make it for him when he wakes up.” Then she sniffed again and dashed past a clump of nettles. She slid to a stop before a curtain of vines.

“Yap! They’re here!” she called. “And they smell delicious!”

Jess parted the vines, revealing a cluster of brilliant red flowers, nodding their bell-like heads. She put a finger to her lips. A tiny green-and-blue bird, scarcely longer than her little finger, darted in and out of the flower bells. Its wings flapped so fast they were a colorful blur.

“Beautiful,” breathed Lily. “Um, hello? Miss Hummingbird?” she called softly.

The bird dived beneath the flowers’ broad leaves anxiously.

“We won’t hurt you,” said Jess. “Mrs. Taptree the woodpecker said you might be able to help us.”

The leaves quivered.

“Oh, dear, she’s nervous,” said Jess. “We’ll have to coax her out.” She looked at the red twisting twirl in Lily’s hair. “Mrs. Taptree said hummingbirds like red—maybe we can tempt her out with the flowers Poppy gave us?”

Lily nodded. The girls held out their twisting twirls, while Poppy talked quietly. “Please come out,” she said. “Jess and Lily are girls. They’re good and kind.”

A long pointed beak appeared, followed by bright little eyes. “Are you sure?” said the hummingbird in a high, sweet voice.

“I’m sure,” said Poppy.

The hummingbird darted out. “Hello. I’m Honey Needlenose,” she said shyly.

“Hello, Honey,” said Lily. “We need your help to save Poppy’s brother.” She explained about the potion and the first ingredient. “So you see, if we don’t manage to wake him up ourselves, the Muddlepups will have to give up Garden Grove to that horrible witch.”

“I’ll gladly give you a feather,” said Honey. “I just dropped one. There!” She dived down, picked up a shimmering green feather in her thin beak, and let it fall onto Lily’s hand.

“Wow!” said Lily. “It’s so tiny! And it’s definitely the color of sunlit leaves.”

“Thank you, Honey,” said Jess.

“Thank you for the twisting twirls,” the hummingbird replied, and went back to gathering nectar.

Lily gave the feather to Jess, who tucked it safely between the pages of the notebook she always kept in her pocket.

“We’ve found the first ingredient!” said Lily, grinning.

Poppy yapped happily and bounded around at the girls’ feet. “Hooray, hooray!” she cried. “We’re going to save Patch!”

Jess picked up the little puppy and swung her into the air. “Yes, we will,” she said. “Thanks to your clever nose, we’re off to a fantastic start. Well done, Poppy! Now we just have to find the rest of the ingredients for the Rise and Shine potion.”

“With Poppy’s nose on the case, I’m sure we’ll be waking Patch up in no time,” said Lily. “Come on, you two, let’s get searching!”

The three friends set off back through the forest, determined to save Patch and Garden Grove.

It was midafternoon in Friendship Forest. Lily Hart and Jess Forester were sitting on a fallen tree trunk, deep in thought. Poppy Muddlepup the puppy was flopped beside them on a heap of crisp, dry beech leaves. The three friends had already collected the tiny feather they needed for the Rise and Shine potion that would wake Poppy’s twin brother Patch from his magical sleep. But they still needed to find some jewel water—and they didn’t even know what the third ingredient was.

They only had until sunset to succeed. Otherwise, Grizelda the witch would take over Garden Grove from the Muddlepup family, and use the magical flowers there to make nasty potions.

“We’ve been hunting for jewel water forever,” said Jess, “but it’s no use. I don’t even know what it’s supposed to be!”

Poppy’s ears drooped sadly.

Lily frowned. “Come on. It’s got to be here somewhere. We’ve seen jewels once before in Friendship Forest, haven’t we? I think we saw some during our adventure with Bella Tabbypaw.”

Poppy’s ears pricked up. “Where? What happened?” she asked.