Neeeeeiggh—OOF!
Sirocco had landed.
But instead of crashing to the earth with a splat, he’d hit a body of water with a splash.
“Where am I?” Sirocco squeaked. He thrashed around in the water in fear.
“Have I broken my nose? What about my ears? Or my tail! I bet I’ve broken my tail!”
It took a few more moments of panicked splashing about for Sirocco to realize that he was actually—fine.
He was sitting in a mud puddle.
He was wet, shivering, and embarrassed.
But he was fine.
Until, of course, he wasn’t. And that moment came when Sirocco felt something cold and slimy brush against his leg.
“Aaaah!” Sirocco neighed. “Don’t tell me I survived that fall just to be swallowed up by a swamp creature!”
Suddenly, two bulgy eyes rose out of the puddle—and looked right at Sirocco! “Peep, peep.”
“What are you?” Sirocco shrieked. “Some sort of puddle monster?”
“I’m a peeper. A spring peeper, to be exact,” said the bug-eyed creature.
The eyes rose further out of the water, revealing the slick head and body of a—
“Frog!” Sirocco cried. “You’re a frog!”
“Yup,” the peeper said. “Peep, peep.”
For the first time since the night-time adventure had begun, Sirocco stopped feeling shivery and shaky.
“I love frogs,” he told Peeper. “I even have a froggy sleep buddy. His name is Jeepers.”
“I like the name,” the frog said. “It rhymes with peepers.”
His bulgy eyes looked this way and that. “So where is this Jeepers?”
Sirocco felt suddenly sad.
“At home,” he murmured.
Just then, what seemed like a hundred pairs of bulgy eyes rose out of the puddle!
“Peep, peep, peep!” they croaked all together.
“Oh, wow!” Sirocco said, gazing at the froggy crowd. “Now I really miss Jeepers.”
Suddenly, Kona’s voice rang out from up above.
“Sirocco?” she called. “We can’t see you down there. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Sirocco called up to his friends. His voice sounded thin and raspy. “I landed in a mud puddle.”
Relieved, his filly friends answered with a chorus of laughs.
“What’s wrong with me?” he whispered to his new peeper friend. “I’m on an adventure. But I’m not acting so adventurous!”
The frog shrugged.
“Don’t ask me about adventure,” he answered. “I never leave my puddle. My idea of a good time is a nice mud-mask facial and a mouthful of flies.”
“Ooh,” Sirocco said with a shudder. “I could never stay in one place my whole life. I was born to fly!”
“Oh, really,” the frog said teasingly. “Seems to me you’re a stick-in-the-mud like me. That’s not exactly flying, is it?”
Sirocco stared at the frog. He felt his clenched mouth slowly widen into a grin.
“You know what?” Sirocco said. He stood up in the puddle and shook the mud off his wings. “You’re right! It’s time to stop moping and start adventuring!”
“Well, fly away, then,” the peeper said. “Have fun, peep, peep.”
“Thanks, Mr. Peeper,” Sirocco said. He puffed out his chest. Even if he didn’t have the real Jeepers with him, the peeper had given him a burst of bravery!
Sirocco flew up to rejoin his friends. As he arrived back at the cricket tree, Brisa joyfully turned to the toy horse dangling from one of her magic jewels.
“See, Brisina,” she said to the doll, “Sirocco’s just fine.”
Brisa looked at Sirocco with her beautiful big eyes.
“You had Brisina scared to death!” she said to the colt.
“Scared!” Sirocco scoffed. “That’s silly!”
“I know, that’s what I told her,” Brisa said. “First, being scared gives you scrunched-up lines around the eyes, which are not pretty. Second, why should you be scared just because everything’s so different at night?”
“Right!” Sirocco declared. “Anyway, I’m not scared.” He tried to ignore the fact that his shivers had suddenly returned.
He was so shivery that he didn’t see the fillies glance at each other.
“Well,” Sumatra said carefully, “I’m glad you’re not scared, Sirocco. After all, there’s nothing scary about cool, damp night air.”
“Right,” Sirocco repeated. But now, his voice sounded weak again.
“And I like the strange shapes you see in the tree branches,” Kona said happily.
“And don’t forget the night music,” Brisa added. “It’s so tuneful.”
Sirocco’s heart was again beating fast. Any happiness he’d gotten from the Jeepers-like peepers had fizzled. He was quaking!
Is it because they all brought their sleep buddies that Brisa, Sumatra, and Kona are having such fun out here in the dark? he wondered. Or is it because they’re braver than me? Am I just one big scaredy-horse!?
The thought made Sirocco shudder. He was a magical, flying colt. An adventurer. A Wind Dancer! The last thing he wanted to be was a scaredy-horse. Especially if the fillies weren’t afraid.
Jeepers would be disappointed in me if he was here, Sirocco thought sadly. Almost as disappointed as I am with myself.
He hung his head—which was why he didn’t see Kona, Sumatra, and Brisa exchange another quick glance.
“Hey, speaking of strange shapes,” Sumatra said thoughtfully, “I miss the moon shadows of the meadow. What do you say we leave the forest and go back there?”
“Ooh, yes,” Brisa agreed with a wink at Sumatra. “It’s so nice and sparkly there, with the stars overhead and all.”
“And the nice, quiet dandelions below,” Kona added.
“And absolutely no ghosts,” Sumatra added with a giggle.
Sirocco cocked his head.
“Okay, fillies, if you say so!” he said.
It was such a good idea that suddenly Sirocco felt much better.
“And you know what?” he added happily. “I’ll lead the way!”
Sirocco reared back in the air, and began to fly as fast as he could toward the dandelion meadow. Kona, Sumatra, and Brisa followed with happy whinnies.
Before Sirocco knew it, they’d emerged from the trees and were skimming over the meadow they call home. The moon had risen higher in the sky, and it seemed brighter as well. So did the twinkling stars.
“Aaaah!” Sirocco sighed to himself. “Now this is more like it!”
In the moonlight, he grew more confident than ever. He could make out the grass beneath him (though it looked silver instead of green) and the Wind Dancers’ apple tree (even if the branches looked creepy). Glancing over his shoulder at the fillies, Sirocco could even see black-as-night Kona.
Grinning hard, Sirocco faced forward again and flapped his wings powerfully, for the first time loving the feel of the cool night air rustling through his mane.
“So, what should we do now?” he called out to the horses behind him. “Maybe we should introduce ourselves to more night creatures.”
“Hey, if you don’t wait up,” Sumatra called after Sirocco, “you’ll be introducing yourself alone! Stop flying so fast!”
But Sirocco was thrilled not to be afraid anymore. And a happy Sirocco was a swift Sirocco. Without looking back, he yelled out, “Maybe you girls should start flying so fast. Try it, why don’t y—huh? Wait a minute, what’s happening?”
Sirocco blinked hard in confusion as he flew onward.
Because suddenly, he couldn’t see!
Not a thing!
Sirocco looked up. The moon, which had been smiling down upon him a moment ago, had disappeared. The grass beneath him had gone from silver to black. The apple tree had disappeared from view altogether.
And worst of all, the sudden blackness had cut Sirocco off from his friends!
“Kona? Sumatra?” Sirocco called as he flew. “Brisa? Are you still behind me?”
There was no answer.
Only silence—and the sound of the wind whistling past Sirocco’s ears. Sirocco fluttered to a stop and turned toward the fillies (or at least, he turned to where he thought the fillies ought to be).
“Hey, you guys!” he neighed. “Catch up, slowpokes.”
He laughed as he teased his friends, but it was a nervous laugh.
And nobody giggled in response.
They were gone! Sirocco realized. He was all alone.
In the pitch-black night.
“Okay, that does it!” Sirocco whinnied. He felt his tail shoot up in the air. “I’m officially scaaaaaared!” he screamed.
