Daisy Meadows - Bella Tabbypaw in Trouble

When Goldie and the girls reached the spot in the forest where the ducklings were playing, they found four sets of large footprints and one set of tiny paw prints.

They stared at one another in horror.

“There’s only one kind of creature that could have made those big prints,” said Goldie grimly. “Boggits!”

“Four Boggits and Bella,” said Lily in dismay. “Do you think they’ve kidnapped her, like they did to Lucy Longwhiskers?”

“I’m afraid it looks like it,” said Goldie.

“Come on,” said Jess. “We’ve got to get Bella back!”

They thanked the Featherbill ducklings for their help and set off to follow the prints through the forest. They were soon deep among the trees.

“Let’s hurry,” said Goldie, glancing up at the sky. “It looks like it’s going to rain again.”

Sure enough, moments later, fat raindrops began to fall.

“We’ll be soaking wet soon,” said Lily, shaking water from her bangs.

Jess stopped and pointed. “Oh, no—the rain’s washing the footprints away!”

To their dismay, the prints were disappearing before their eyes. They hurried on, now unsure if they were going the right way.

“Where can Bella be?” Lily wondered aloud. “She must be so scared.” She stopped to peer through the falling rain. “There aren’t so many trees here, are there? It’s almost as if we’re coming to—”

“The edge of Friendship Forest!” said Goldie in alarm. “I’ve never been this far before. Oh, girls, I’m so sorry. I don’t know where Bella is, and I don’t know where we are, either! This place smells horrible.”

Jess comforted the tearful cat while Lily took a look around. She pushed through straggly bushes and gasped as her foot sank into something squishy.

Before her was a vast, oozing pool of runny, yellow-brown mud. Bubbles rose to the surface and popped, sending up stinking greenish clouds of gas. It smelled like old drains.

“Help!” she cried. “My foot’s stuck in a swamp!”

“Lily! Hold on!” Jess cried.

Goldie grasped Jess around the waist to stop her from slipping into the swamp, too, and Jess reached out a hand to Lily. Lily clutched it. Together, Jess and Goldie pulled her free of the swamp.

Lily pushed back her dripping hair and wiped mud off her pants with wet leaves. “Thank you!” she said. “But now we’re filthy, as well as soaked!”

Jess used a stick to scrape her sneaker clean, and Goldie shook glistening water droplets from her fur.

“Now what?” Lily said. “We can’t go any farther, because of the swamp.”

“The Boggits and Bella can’t have come this way, either. Let’s go back to where we last saw footprints,” Jess suggested.

It had stopped raining, but they had to splash through lots of puddles on their way back to where the prints had been.

“I definitely saw a print here,” said Jess, stopping.

The path split into three directions. One led to the swamp and another went back to the Toadstool Glade.

Goldie pointed down the third path. “They must have gone down there. Come on!”

The three friends ran along the path. It took them past thick, stumpy trees, across a leafy glade, and alongside a bubbling stream. They skittered down a slope between prickly berry bushes, but found their way blocked by a huge heap of large gray boulders.

“It’s a dead end,” groaned Lily. “They’re not here.”

“All this way for nothing,” Jess said sadly. She went to sit on the nearest boulder.

“Stop!” Lily cried, pulling her back.

“What’s wrong?” asked Goldie.

“Look carefully at that boulder,” said Lily.

Goldie and Jess peered at it.

“It’s shimmering,” said Goldie. “The boulder’s magic!”

Lily reached out to feel it, but her hand passed right through! “It’s all right,” she said. “It doesn’t hurt.”

Goldie looked closer and gasped. “Girls, remember the legend I was telling you last night?” she said excitedly. “I think we’ve found the entrance to the Friendship Forest tunnels!”

Lily stared. “So it’s true!”

“Why would the Boggits go in there?” Jess asked.

Lily frowned thoughtfully. “Remember the strange noises we heard right before the Longwhiskers’ pans were knocked over? And then outside Goldie’s grotto? Well, what if it was the Boggits snooping around, looking for mischief?” she said. “They would have heard Goldie talking about the jewels in the tunnels.”

Jess nodded. “I think you’re right—they might have decided to find the jewels! But why would they have taken Bella?”

“I don’t know,” said Goldie, “but we’ve got to go into the tunnel if we’re going to get her back!”

They passed through the boulder with a shivery feeling and into the dark tunnel.

“I’ll go first,” said Goldie. “My cat eyes give me excellent night vision, remember?”

She held one end of her scarf, told Lily to hold the middle, and gave the other end to Jess. “Now we won’t get separated in the dark,” she explained.

They crept along the tunnel. Jess and Lily felt unsteady on the rough, uneven ground. It was strange not being able to see their feet very well.

A loud noise rang out from up ahead, echoing through the tunnels.

The three friends clung together.

“Boggits?” Lily whispered.

The sound came again, closer this time.

Goldie’s ears twitched. “It’s someone laughing!” she said.

There was the pounding of running feet, coming closer.

Goldie and the girls pressed themselves against the cold tunnel wall.

Lily clutched Jess’s hand. “What is it?” she whispered.

“I don’t know,” Jess replied in a shaky voice.

The laughter grew louder, and shadowy shapes seemed to be moving toward them.

“Hello!” said two high little voices.

Lily and Jess sighed in relief as they peered through the gloom.

The loud, echoing noise had been made by a pair of sassy-looking fox cubs!

“Girls,” exclaimed Goldie, “meet Ruby and Rusty Fuzzybrush! But what are you two doing here?”

“We use the tunnels as our secret hiding place,” said Ruby. “Mom and Dad don’t know about them, so please don’t tell.” She put down two unlit lanterns she’d been holding.

“How did you get in?” asked Jess. Maybe the fox cubs found the magical entrance, too, she thought to herself.

“We know lots of ways,” said Rusty, “but they’re all hidden. That’s why nobody else comes here.”

“Somebody else has found a way in, I’m afraid,” said Goldie. She explained about Bella and the Boggits. “If you know the tunnels well,” she added, “will you help us find Bella?”

The fox cubs agreed immediately. “What an adventure!” said Rusty excitedly, picking up the lanterns. “These might be useful. Mr. Cleverfeather invented them.”

Jess and Lily took one each and looked for a way to turn them on.

“Where’s the switch?” Jess asked.