Three Lost Kids & the Death of the Sugar Fairy, The (4 page)

We all raced to the flower and helped the Sugar Fairy Baby climb out.

She curtsied and giggled.
"Thank you for saving me. I'm so tired and weak. Where is my mother?"

Lexie tilted her head and stared at the glittery
Fairy. "On our world, babies don't talk."

We laughed at her as Bella peeled a petal from the giant flower
, to carry with her as we left.

I used my wings to fly just above the ground with the
Fairy. "Do you have a name?"

She shook her head.
"My mother will give me one, once I am with her. She should have come for me long ago. Where is she?"

I frowned.
"She's very sick, but don't worry, we're going to save her. She needs the flower and you and she'll be better."

I was glad I could fly as we passed the goopy Gummy Bear mess, but my heart tightened when we neared the Cavity Cave.
"Do we have to go back in there?"

Bella shimmied up another tree, then dropped down so fast I almost missed it.
"Nope, there's a way around. Follow me."

We did, and she led us through the woods, around the caves
—I could still feel the horrible nightmares trying to chase me—and back down the path where we were attacked by Sugar Bugs.

She shrugged when I gaped at her.
"Sorry. We have to come this way to get back home."

We
feared being attacked again, still suffering from the bites all over our bodies, but as we passed the pond, they didn't attack. They ran to us like excited puppies, and licked the Sugar Fairy Baby while she giggled. My sisters and I backed away, still scared of being bit.

The
Fairy looked at us and smiled. "They didn't mean to hurt you. They've just been hungry for a long time. They're normally very sweet."

"
Um, okay." I avoided the bugs anyway. "If you say so. We should probably hurry though, to get to your mom."

She nodded.
"Of course, you're right."

She patted their heads and we started walking again, until finally we saw the big haunted house in the distance.

Then I remembered the living skeleton and creepy furniture. I really just wanted Halloween to be over, but we still had to make the Fairies better.

Still, I didn
't go out of my way to run to the house. I wasn't
that
brave.

W
e reached the back door, and my hand shook as I opened it, but nothing scary jumped out at us. That gave us confidence, and we crept into the living room and up the stairs into the Sugar Fairy's room.

She lay so still
, I thought we were too late. My heart lurched around in my chest.

T
hen she lifted her head and smiled. "You brought my daughter home. Thank you."

"
Mom!" The Sugar Fairy Baby—who really needed a name because she clearly wasn't a baby—ran to her mother and they hugged.

O
h my gosh, that made me miss my mom so bad I almost started crying right there.

Bella laid the flower petal on the bed.
"We brought this too. I hope it's enough to heal you."

The Sugar
Fairy smiled and nodded. "It is. Bella, would you mind using your fire power to heat it up until it's like a paste?"

Bella put it on a dresser
, and sent a sliver of flame to the petal until it looked like a gooey candy. Both the mother and daughter Fairies scooped up the mess and stuck it in their mouths, and made
ooh
and
aah
sounds.

Once the sugar was in them, they both brightened up so much that they lit up the whole room. And it didn
't stop. The light swirled through the house, swiping at dust bunnies and burning through spider webs until the room and the halls looked shiny and new.

The
Fairy got out of bed and embraced her daughter. "I name you Violet, my child and heir."

W
e had just witnessed something special, and I smiled and hugged them both when the short ceremony was over.

Lexie looked like she was ready to fall over from exhaustion.
"I hate to be rude, but if everything is okay here, can we go home? I miss my parents."

Violet smiled.
"Of course. Mother, may I show them out?"

"
Yes, dear, but first, I need to tell you all something. We are not entirely safe yet, and I need your help for one more task."

She whispered instructions to us and we all nodded, eager to help.

There was much hugging and laughing and a little bit of crying as Violet led us through the now beautiful house and to the front door, which had reappeared in the place it was supposed to be.

"
Thank you again for saving me and my mother," Violet said. "We will be forever in your debt."

W
e walked through the front door and outside to our own world, and I felt the magic stripping away our powers.

I whispered to TayTay,
"I'll miss your voice."

He licked my hand.
"Me too." Then he barked, a normal dog again.

I only stayed sad for a minute, because Mom and Dad walked up to the front door and the three of us threw ourselves at them. "You're never going to guess what just happened!"

Mom hugged me and then my sisters.
"Were you girls in that house? You know you're not allowed to go anywhere without one of us with you."

"
We're sorry! And you were so right. It was a real haunted house and we saved a Sugar Fairy and—"

W
e told them the whole story practically without taking a breath. Fortunately, our parents always believed us, and they were just happy to have us back safe and well.

Unfortunately, our trip to Sugar Land had left us without any candy or plastic pumpkins.
"We need something to collect our candy in. It's important!"

Mom frowned.
"Lexie looks ready to pass out. You three had a long night. Are you sure you don't want to just go home and get some rest."

Lexie yawned.
"No, I'm fine. Besides, we have something important to do before we go to bed. Right Maddie and Bella?"

"
Right," we said in unison.

Dad managed to borrow a few plastic trash bags from a neighbor
, and we used those to collect candy door-to-door through the rest of the neighborhood. We were surprised at how many people answered the door, and at how many carved pumpkins and Halloween decorations seemed to magically appear at people's houses.

Dad scratched his head.
"Looks like people are finally getting into the spirit, though a bit late."

I laughed.
"Yes! I'm so glad."

Each time we stopped at a house
, we pulled the kids aside that we met at the door to tell them our plan.

Mom raised her eyebrow but didn
't ask me about it until we got home. "You going to tell us what you three have been sneaking around doing all night?"

I showed her my candy, proud that none of us had touched a single piece since we got back from the Haunted House.
"All of this is being donated to the Sugar Fairy. We'll leave it on our back porch, and in the middle of the night she comes to collect, like the Tooth Fairy. The more sugar she gets each year for her and her babies, the healthier they stay and the better Halloween is. We got all of our friends to agree to do the same. Besides, I'm really sure I don't want any cavities ever again, so I'm being extra careful about how much sugar I eat."

Lexie nodded.
"Me too!"

Bella smiled.
"Me three!"

Mom patted our heads as we walked into the house.
"Well, I'm not going to argue with that. Do you want a snack before you get ready for bed?"

The three of us looked at each other and said at the same time.
"An apple, please!" We laughed until tears came down our cheeks, and Mom and Dad just shook their heads.

That night we put out all of our candy and went to bed. I couldn
't wait to check our spot in the morning to make sure the Sugar Fairy had gotten her candy.

The next day
, Lexie woke us up first, which was a shock because she usually slept in the latest. "Come on, let's go see!"

The back porch didn
't have any candy on it at all, but it wasn't as empty as we'd expected. In the place where we'd left the candy stood a small pot, with a flower growing out of it that looked a lot like the Sugar Flower. It had a note attached.

Lexie picked it up and read it.
"To the Three Lost Kids, thank you for saving us and saving Halloween. Here's a little something to remember us by. Make sure to feed it sugar water. Oh, and Happy Birthday, Maddie. We hope you had a great day despite the difficulties."

I grinned and brought our new flower in the house to show Mom and Dad. We found a nice spot by the window and fed it sugar water
, and then got ready for school.

I was relieved to see that all of my cuts and bites had healed without any trace of a scar.
Even still, the scariest part of it all had been the nightmares, and those didn't go away so easily. I checked and rechecked myself in the mirror at least twenty times to make sure I didn't actually go to school naked.

After all, you can never be too careful
... when the veil between the worlds is so thin.

Halloween is Maddie's birthday. Do you think that would be a fun birthday, or a bad birthday because you'd have to share it with a holiday?

At the start of the book, Maddie and her sisters argue a lot. At what point in the story do they start to work together to help each other?

The girls have a lot of Halloween candy, and they sneak pieces while they're trick-or-treating. Have you ever done that? Did it give you a tummy ache to eat too much junk food?

The Sugar Bugs go after the Three Lost Kids because they are full of sugar. While that wouldn
't happen in real life, have your parents or dentist talked to you about how 'sugar bugs' can eat your teeth if you don't keep them healthy and clean? What do you do everyday to care for your teeth?

Each girl has to face her worst fears in Cavity Cave. What are your worst fears, and how do you deal with them?

At the end of the book, Lexie has to solve a riddle to save the Sugar Baby. Did you guess the answer to the riddle? Do you enjoy eating apples?

This Halloween, what are
you
going to do with all of your extra candy?

Thank you to my friends and family who support my insane need to write constantly.

To my husband, Dmytry Karpov, for everything!

And most importantly, to my own Three Lost Kids, Maddie, Bella and Lexie, without whom these books would not be possible. A special thanks to Lexie, for helping me outline this one while we had Mommy-Lexie time at the park one lovely afternoon.

Kimberly Kinrade was born with ink in her veins and magic in her heart. (True story, her parents were very confused!) She
's been writing since she was little, and started selling her stories when she ran out of teeth to sell to the Tooth Fairy. She has always believed in magical worlds, and hopes to one day find one of her very own. In the meantime, she writes about the ones her kids find.

She lives with the real Three Lost Kids, TayTay the magnificent, River, the ever-patient Chihuahua, two of the cutest kittens ever, and her very own Russian Prince, Dmytry Karpov (he also believes in magic and writes about it.)

You can learn more about her and the wonderful worlds she creates by visiting
http://kimberlykinrade.com
(with parental permission.) Also keep an eye out for
http://ThreeLostKids.com
for fun games, quizzes and more online. Remember, kids, always get your parents permission before visiting any website or interacting with anyone online.