NIGHTTIME
VISITOR
Sassafras chattered and ran to my bedroom door and back. I clasped my hands together and gave Mom my sweetest smile. “Pleeeease, can I go?”
Mom looked at her watch and sighed. “OK, but take a flashlight and come back right away. If it’s something serious, I can take over for you. It’s late and you need your sleep.”
I leaped out of bed and ran for the door, calling out over my shoulder, “Thank you, thank you, thank you! I promise we’ll be right back!”
I grabbed a flashlight out of the kitchen drawer and slipped on my shoes, and then Sassafras and I bolted across the yard to the barn. My heart was pounding not just from running, but also from the excitement of meeting a new magical creature.
“Who do you think it will be this time, Sassafras?” I panted.
Sassafras stopped running and leaped into the air. Then he chewed and swallowed.
“Ew, Sass! Did you just eat a bug?”
“Meow!” he answered triumphantly.
I shook my head disapprovingly as I opened the door. “Remember, Sassafras. No trying to eat our magical friends. Even if they are very buglike. It’s just not polite.”
We ran through the barn to the back door. The moment of truth! I took a steadying breath and opened the door.
Just above the ground was a large glowing rainbow … stone? “Wowww!” I knelt down and reached out a finger. It was like a merhorse stone, but the size of a soccer ball. That familiar shimmering rainbow light meant one thing: whatever this was, it was definitely magical. Sassafras stood frozen next to me. His eyes were like big saucers.
“Ahem! A little help, please? This thing is really heavy!” called a small voice. A small voice I knew.
“PIP!!!!” I shrieked. Perhaps a little too loudly. Pip stumbled backward, and I managed to grab the rainbow stone just before it hit the ground. Pip was the magical talking frog who had started it all. My mom found him hurt badly in the forest when she was my age and nursed him back to health. He was one of my favorite magical creatures—he always managed to make me laugh.
“Sheesh, Zoey! You scared me! Your giant human voice can be quite startling, you know.” Pip brushed himself off just in time to have a giant furry Sassafras head crash into him. This time he did fall over, and we both laughed.
“I guess you both have missed me, yes?”
“Absolutely!” I grinned as I helped Pip back to his feet.
I held out the glowing stone. “What is it? Where did you find it? And is something wrong with this, um, rainbow stone?”
“Ah, great questions! I would expect nothing less from you. Let’s start at the beginning. That is most definitely not a stone. It is a seed pod from some kind of magical plant.”
I slowly rolled it between my hands. “A magical seed pod? That is so cool.”
Pip nodded in agreement. “I was just getting ready for bed and was all cozy when I heard an enormous THUD outside my home. Of course I had to go see what it was! When I got outside, this was lying there on the ground. My best guess is that some sort of flying magical creature was trying to steal it for food and accidentally dropped it.”
Sassafras watched as I poked and fiddled with the pod. “See, Sassafras? It’s kind of like our pea plant. Only instead of a long seed pod, this one is round and a lot bigger. I wonder if the seeds inside look like peas. What color do you think the seeds are? Argh, this thing is impossible to open!”
“Should we be trying to get it open? I wasn’t sure what to do, but I figured I shouldn’t just leave it at my house,” Pip explained.
“Oh, good point! Hmmm, let’s see … it’s from some sort of magical plant, so should we try to figure out which one first? Have you seen pods like this before, Pip?”
“That’s the thing. I haven’t ever seen one like this. Do you think it’s a really rare kind of plant? What if it’s endangered?”
I put my hand to my mouth. “What if it’s the last of its kind? We’ve got to get it back to where it belongs! And we need to keep it super safe until then.”
“That sounds like a good plan. Since I’ve never seen it, I think it must be from pretty far …” Pip stopped and stretched and gave a big yawn. “Um, pretty far away.” And then he yawned again.
And then Sassafras yawned.
And then I heard my mom calling me from the house.
I rubbed my eyes a little. “OK, I think we are all pretty tired. This should be safe in the barn tonight. Can we meet first thing tomorrow to get started on a plan?”
Pip nodded sleepily. I made a little blanket nest on a chair in the barn and carefully placed the glowing seed pod in the middle.
Mom called again.
“Good night, Pip!” I kissed him on the head, and Sassafras licked him on the cheek.
“Blech.” Pip wiped off our kisses. But he was smiling. “I’ll see you two tomorrow!”