Sparkle Fairies and the Imaginaries Read online

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1: Believe Me

  Chapter 2: Showtime!

  Chapter 3: Trouble Ahead

  Chapter 4: I’m a Believer

  Chapter 5: KitCat

  Chapter 6: Estrella

  Chapter 7: The Same Old Story

  Chapter 8: A Friend

  Chapter 9: Special Delivery!

  Chapter 10: Connecting the Dots

  ‘The Not-So-Pretty Pixies’ Excerpt

  About the Author and Illustrator

  To my Lolas

  —G. S.

  Believe Me

  Scritch-scratch!

  Scritch-scratch!

  I crawl through the starry-smooth tunnel to the Hideout—our secret meeting place under the slides at school. Jasmine and Lily scuff along behind me. Then we sit crisscross applesauce on the ground. I swish pebbles out from under me.

  “The meeting of the Secret Journal Club is now called to order!” I say as I open my secret journal. It was a gift from my grandmother Upsy.

  “What’s on the agenda?” Lily asks, tossing her long dark hair over one shoulder.

  I lean closer to my friends. “You’ll never believe it,” I begin.

  Their eyes widen. “What?” they both say at the same time.

  I check the tunnel to make sure no one’s there.

  “Remember my imaginary friend, Posey?” I ask.

  Their heads bob up and down. Of course they remember Posey. It’s not every day that an imaginary friend appears out of thin air right in front of you.

  “Well, he drew a magic door on my bedroom wall, and then we went to the WOM!” I say, sounding out each letter. Double-U. Oh. Em.

  Lily and Jasmine make funny faces, because they have no idea about the WOM.

  “WOM stands for the World of Make-Believe!” I say. Obviously.

  This makes their eyebrows go way, way, way up.

  “Are you saying the World of Make-Believe is a real place?” Jasmine asks.

  I nod like crazy. “And it’s beautiful! I got to bounce along a Rainbow Road and pick a raspberry-flavored flower. I also saw all kinds of magical creatures, like Moonsturs and Pretty Pixies! Posey and I even helped a Cloud Critter unicorn named Andever find her melody!”

  I can see I said a little too much, because Jasmine’s and Lily’s mouths are hanging open.

  “Do you believe me?” I ask.

  Then Lily swallows uncomfortably. “Sure, we believe you, Daisy. Don’t we, Jasmine?”

  But Lily can’t fool me. I see her secretly poking Jasmine. I sigh loudly. “Okay, okay. I know it sounds a little far-fetched, but I promise it’s all true. I even have proof.”

  I reach inside the hidden pocket of my journal and pull out a letter. “Wa-la! This is the letter Posey wrote to me after I visited the WOM!”

  Jasmine and Lily read the letter.

  “You pinkie swear you didn’t write this?” Lily says.

  I hold out my pinkie finger. Lily hooks her pinkie onto mine. “Total pinkie swear!”

  Then somebody giggles inside the tunnel. I whip my head around and peer down the passageway.

  It’s Gabby Gaburp and Carol Rattinger—my two worst enemies! As soon I look up, they do a mean chant, “What’s up Daisy Dreamer’s sleeve? All she says is make-believe! Daisy Dreamer has no friends—so bluppity blup! She makes them up!”

  Then my friends and I scramble to our knees and chase those stinky girls right out of the tunnel.

  Showtime!

  After school I invite Jasmine and Lily over to my house. I have to prove to both of them that the World of Make-Believe is real. I mean, they are my best friends, and best friends share everything.

  We bounce up the stairs like three springy springs. Then I tell them to sit on my bed and watch because it’s showtime.

  First I yank open my desk drawer, grab my purple marker, and pop off the cap. I walk to the wall and draw a door in three squeaks!

  Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeak!

  Squeeeeak!

  Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeak!

  “STOP!” Jasmine and Lily yell.

  My friends are worried because I just drew on my wall. But I know there’s nothing to worry about. Obviously. So I add a doorknob.

  “It’s erasable,” I say, like no big whoop. Then I toss my marker back in the drawer.

  “Now we’re going to walk through this door on my wall and into the World of Make-Believe,” I say. “I’ll go first. Watch closely and do what I do.”

  My friends nod.

  I walk to the drawing, reach for the doorknob, and whomp! I bang right into the wall.

  “Owie,” I say, rubbing my forehead.

  Jasmine and Lily giggle.

  To say I’m slightly embarrassed would be slightly right. (Okay, totally right!)

  “Why won’t you work?” I ask the door. Then I grab at the knob again, but I can’t get ahold of it because it’s flat—like a drawing of a doorknob should be. I step back and scratch my head. Then there’s a click, and the door swings open.

  “Did somebody knock?” says a voice. It’s Posey!

  Now I’m a little annoyed. “No, I did not knock. I walked smack-dab into this drawing of a door I drew on my wall.”

  “Hmm. In the WOM we use our hands to knock on doors, not our faces!” Posey says with a chuckle. That’s because he’s a big chucklehead.

  I roll my eyes and growl, “I was trying to walk through the door. Obviously!”

  “Oh. There’s a trick to that,” he says. “But I’ll show you later because you and your friends are needed in the WOM right away!”

  When I turn around, Jasmine and Lily are sitting on my bed with their mouths hanging open—again.

  “You heard him!” I say. “Let’s go!”

  Trouble Ahead

  Boing! Boing! Boing!

  Jasmine, Lily, and I bounce along the Rainbow Road.

  “So do you believe in the WOM now?” I ask. And, of course, they do. Obviously. Then I double-bounce Lily, and she flies up in the air and squeals.

  Jasmine discovers a field of wild lollipop flowers. “May we pick them?”

  “Um, okay,” says Posey as he tries to keep inching us forward, “but we kind of need to keep moving!”

  Why is Posey so antsy? I wonder. Then I shrug it off. I’m having too much fun looking at flowers with my friends to ask him why.

  Jasmine picks a swirly orange marigold, and Lily chooses a cotton-candy tulip. I pick a daisy. Obviously. It has a bright lemon center and vanilla petals. Then we bounce onto the soft blue grass, flop onto our backs, and lick our lollipops.

  “What are you doing now?” Posey asks. He claps his hands sharply. “We need to get going! Chippity-chop!”

  “Look! Are those the Cloud Critters?” asks Lily.

  Suddenly we’re too busy watching clouds float by to pay attention to poor Posey. We spy a rabbit, a panda, a giraffe, and a kangaroo. Then I see my favorite Cloud Critter of all!

  “Andever!” I shout to the unicorn cloud. I wave like crazy. Andever gives me a horn bob.

  My friends both say, “Wowie wow,” because now they actually believe me. Seeing is most definitely believing.

  Then Posey yanks my arm.

  “OW!” I yelp.

  “Please, we have to go!” Posey says. “We’ve got trouble.”

  This makes the others sit up. “Trouble? What kind of trouble?”

  Posey sighs heavily. “The trouble is between the Sparkle Fairies and the Imaginaries. They won’t speak to each other.”

  Hmm, it sounds like there is a much longer story here. “Why not?” I ask.

  And then Posey gives us our first World of Make-Believe history lesson. And, wowee-
zowee, it’s a doozy!

  I’m a Believer

  “Do you know how an imaginary friend comes to life?” Posey asks as we continue down the Rainbow Road.

  We shake our heads because not even I’m totally sure how that all works.

  “An imaginary friend comes to life when someone really needs or really wants them,” Posey says. “It’s magical.”

  Well, that makes sense because when I met Posey, it was magical. It happened right after I drew a picture of him in my journal.

  Then I stop—right in the middle of Rainbow Road. “Wait, did my drawing somehow bring you to life?”

  Posey has a twinkle in his eye. “Exactly. I’ve always existed in the WOM, but I was invisible until you drew a picture of me. Now here I am.”

  That. Is. So. Cool, I think as we start walking again. “So my drawing actually brought us together?”

  Posey puts his arm around my shoulders. “That, plus you can believe in imaginary things.”

  I whistle in amazement, because I am definitely a believer in imaginary things. Obviously.

  “What about me?” Jasmine asks. “Do I have an imaginary friend?”

  Posey removes his arm from my shoulder. “Of course you do!”

  Jasmine grabs the air with her fist and pulls it back. “Yes!”

  “Does that mean I have one too?” Lily asks.

  This time Posey doesn’t answer as quickly. “Well, yes, but that’s exactly why we need your help. Your imaginary friend is a Sparkle Fairy.”

  Lily clasps her hands together. “I love fairies. I doodle them all the time!”

  Posey nods. “That’s why your imaginary friend is a Sparkle Fairy, but that is the problem. You see, the Imaginaries and the Sparkle Fairies are . . . hmm, what’s the word . . . ah, yes—enemies.”

  “Enemies!” I gasp. How can they be enemies? This is the WOM, after all, where even the Golly Ghosts are friendly!

  “It all goes back to the very first imaginary friend,” he explains as we walk. “Her name was Sweetheart, and she was a Sparkle Fairy.”

  “Aw,” Lily says sweetly. “That’s such a cute name.”

  “It is,” says Posey. “She was named by a little girl who drew a fairy and brought Sweetheart into the Real World. But when Sweetheart appeared, the girl was frightened. She told Sweetheart that the fairy wasn’t real. The girl didn’t believe in her own imaginary friend!”

  We each whimper because that is as sad as sad gets.

  “Now I see why believing is so important,” I say.

  Posey nods. “The little girl didn’t mean to, but she broke Sweetheart’s heart. Then other imaginary friends began to find homes, and Sweetheart felt all alone.”

  “So what happened?” I ask.

  Posey’s face falls as he answers me. “Sweetheart came back here to look for other fairies like her. She could not find any, so she decided to create her own imaginary friends . . . the Sparkle Fairies.”

  Lily sighs dreamily. “That sounds so magical.”

  Then Posey stops next to a large sign. “Not really,” he says sadly. “Sweetheart was so angry at the happy Imaginaries that she turned the Sparkle Fairies against them. The two groups have never gotten along. Lily, since your imaginary friend is an Imaginary, the other fairies won’t play with her. And the Imaginaries are scared to be her friend because she’s also a Sparkle Fairy.”

  Lily suddenly claps her cheeks in alarm. “Oh no! Where is she now?”

  Posey points to the sign above us. It points to the Kingdom of the Imaginaries.

  Lily takes off running.

  “Hey, what are you doing?” Posey asks.

  “We have to find my fairy and help her!” Lily cheers.

  And we know she’s right, so we all chase after her.

  KitCat

  We come to an arch made of shimmering rainbow bricks. Across the front it says KINGDOM OF THE IMAGINARIES. And below it, A FRIEND FOR EVERYONE. A wall stretches around the entire kingdom. Posey pushes a button, and the double doors open wide.

  Jasmine, Lily, and I stare in wonder at the kingdom within.

  “Magnificent!” I declare.

  “Magical!” chimes in Jasmine.

  In the middle of the kingdom stands a gingerbread castle—just like in a fairy tale. The top of each turret looks like a swirl of strawberry ice cream.

  “Delicious!” Lily chimes in.

  “Don’t try to eat the buildings,” Posey warns us. “The castle isn’t really made of sweets—it just looks that way.”

  Inside, the city looks like a giant playground with swings, slides, zip lines, and hammocks. There are paths everywhere, and instead of buses or cars, they have amusement park rides to get around. And the rides look like desserts! Twirling cupcakes, swinging banana splits, and spinning coconut-cream pies zip around the streets.

  Imaginaries are everywhere, busy at work and play. They each look different. Some have horns, and some have pom-poms—others have antlers like Posey. They come in all patterns, too. I see polka dots, stripes, solids, checks, plaids, and even paisleys.

  Lots of Imaginaries look like stuffed animals—puppy dogs, bunnies, lions, koalas, and bears—anything you can imagine! Obviously.

  As we skip across a peppermint-striped bridge, Jasmine bumps into a lion by accident. Then Jasmine squeals, “KitCat?”

  I. Cannot. Believe it. Because, oh, I have seen this beautiful lion with the fluffy mane, pom-pom tail, and round green eyes before. “That’s your old stuffed animal, Jasmine!”

  She touches the lion and says, “You’re real! But how is it possible? I thought I lost you.”

  “Nothing’s ever lost in the World of Make-Believe,” KitCat tells Jasmine. “It’s just waiting to be found.”

  “Jasmine used to take KitCat everywhere,” I tell Posey.

  KitCat swishes his pom-pom tail. “Until I fell out of the car at the gas station.”

  Jasmine gives KitCat the biggest person and stuffed-animal lion hug maybe ever. “You poor thing!” she cries. “I looked and looked and looked for you. I missed you so much!”

  KitCat gasps for air, and Jasmine loosens her grip. “I missed you too,” he says, catching his breath. “Now we’re together again! Hey, remember when you hurled me onto the roof and I got stuck?”

  Jasmine bursts out laughing. “I had to knock you down with a Frisbee! And that Frisbee is still on the roof!”

  KitCat shakes his head. “Why did you throw me up there in the first place?”

  Jasmine shrugs. “I wanted to see if you could fly.”

  Then KitCat leaps into the air and flies in a circle. “How’s this for flying?” he says, and he whisks Jasmine upward as they fly in a loop way over our heads.

  Lily taps Posey’s shoulder like a woodpecker. “When can I meet my imaginary friend?”

  Posey gently grabs hold of Lily’s finger-pecking hand. “That’s right. I almost forgot. Is now a good time?”

  Estrella

  Our shoes rumble over the open drawbridge and into the colorful castle hall. The queen of the Imaginaries sits high on a heart-shaped throne. Swirling staircases lead to the floor from either side of her throne. Above the queen are stained glass windows with pictures of all the creatures from the WOM.

  The queen stands when we enter. She wears a pink fairy-tale dress, and a crown of jewels sits between her pointy, catlike ears. She holds a bejeweled scepter in her hand. Then—tap, tap, tap—she walks down a set of curvy stairs.

  As she rounds the fountain in the middle of the hall, we see a young fairy girl leaning against the fountain’s edge. The fairy is crying. The queen glances at the fairy as she continues in our direction. Then the queen stops right in front of Posey.

  “Is this the child?” the queen asks, looking at Lily.

  Posey bows. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

  Lily steps awkwardly before the queen and bows, because that’s how you say hello to queens. Obviously.

  “Does this fairy belong with you?” the queen asks.


  Then Lily does another super-quick curtsy, because she’s not sure what else to do. “I hope so, Your Majesty!”

  The queen lifts her staff toward the fairy. “Then go to her.”

  Lily nods and walks carefully to the fairy’s side. We gather round.

  “My name is Lily,” she whisper-tells the Sparkle Fairy Imaginary. “And I’ve been looking for you my whole life.”

  The fairy sits up and wipes the tears from her eyes. Then Lily opens her arms wide, and they hug. Happy sighs fill the hall.

  “What’s your name?” Lily asks.

  The fairy gently brushes a lock of dark hair from her eyes. “I do not have one,” she says. “The Sparkle Fairies won’t give me a name.”

  Lily throws her head back in surprise. “Then I will!” she declares. “Your name will be . . . Estrella. That is Spanish for ‘star,’ and you are a star come to life!”

  Posey and I share a look.

  I give Lily a thumbs-up because she has given Estrella the perfect name.

  Lily smiles back at me. Then she turns to the queen and asks, “Can we visit the Sparkle Fairies? We have to end this rotten feud once and for all.”

  I raise my hand as high as I can because I have a question that’s been on my mind for a while. “Also, do you think we can fly this time? Or is KitCat the only one who flies?”

  “All Imaginaries can fly,” Posey says with a laugh. “All you had to do was ask!”