CHAPTER ONE
Camp Sunshine
It was dawn in Misty Wood. The sun was just starting to rise, painting the sky with beautiful stripes of rosy pink and purple. Kylie the Kitten lay on her mossy bed, listening to birds chirping in the fir tree overhead. Their sweet songs usually woke Kylie up, but today she was awake long before the birds started to sing.
Kylie jumped out of bed and arched her back, stretching her glittering blue-and-golden wings. She glanced at her reflection in a little pool of dew. Then she licked her velvety paws and smoothed down her fluffy white-and-ginger fur. Kylie wanted to look her very best today.
“Good morning,” Mom purred from the other side of their home in the roots of the fir tree. “Would you like a honey-and-berry muffin?”
Honey-and-berry muffins were Kylie’s favorite breakfast, but this morning she was too excited to eat. It felt like she had a family of butterflies inside her tummy! Kylie nibbled a few bites, and then brushed the crumbs off her whiskers. Padding over to a toadstool, she picked up a little basket resting on top. It was made from woven flower stems.
Most mornings, Kylie used her basket to collect water from Dewdrop Spring. Like all the fairy animals of Misty Wood, Kylie had a very special job to do. Cobweb Kittens like Kylie decorated the cobwebs of Misty Wood with dewdrops so they sparkled in the morning light. But today Kylie was using her basket for something else. She was packing for summer camp!
Every year, the older fairy animal children were invited to spend a weekend at Camp Sunshine. It was the first time Kylie was old enough to go! She’d heard lots about camp from the other Cobweb Kittens. There were teams and challenges and prizes to win. It sounded like so much fun—and best of all, her friends Connie and Chloe were going, too!
Kylie had never spent the night away from home before. She suddenly worried that she might feel homesick at bedtime. Then she had an idea. She went outside and fluttered her wings, heading from tree to tree until she spotted what she was looking for. Stretched between two branches of a tree was a lacy spiderweb. Kylie carefully took the web down and folded it neatly. Now she had something to remind her of home.
“It’s almost time to go!” Kylie’s mom called up to her.
Kylie fluttered back to where her mother was waiting.
“Do you have any space left in your basket?” Mom asked.
Kylie nodded, holding it up.
Mom popped a few muffins into the basket and twitched her tail playfully. “I know you’re too excited to eat now, but you might get hungry later on.”
It was finally time to head out. Kylie and her mom fluttered their wings and rose into the air.
Below them, Misty Wood stretched out like a glorious paint palette, its colors shining in the morning light. Everywhere they passed, fairy animals were busy working to make the wood a beautiful place to live.
In Honeydew Meadow, Bud Bunnies were hopping into the sunlight, ready to nudge open the buds of the yellow buttercups. Nearby in the Heart of Misty Wood, Bark Badgers were carving beautiful designs on the tree trunks. Holly Hamsters were nibbling patterns into holly leaves, and Moss Mice were shaping mossy cushions with their paws.
As they flew over Dewdrop Spring, Kylie could see the Cobweb Kittens filling their baskets. They laughed as they dived in and out of the glittering fountain, catching dewdrops that twinkled like diamonds.
The grown-up Cobweb Kittens waved to Kylie and called, “Have fun at camp!”
Kylie waved back, but she flew higher in the air to avoid the dazzling jets of water. Although Kylie loved making cobwebs sparkle, she wasn’t very fond of getting splashed. You see, Kylie had a secret. It was such a big secret that not even her very best friends knew about it. She was scared of water!
Kylie and her mom flew a bit farther, past a little waterfall and over a glade of trees, and then Kylie’s mom said, “Here we are!”
Just ahead of them was Moonshine Pond, shimmering with pearly light. Lily pads dappled the water’s surface, and long, fuzzy cattails and pretty blue irises grew all around the pond.
“But this is Moonshine Pond,” Kylie said, confused. From the name, she’d guessed that Camp Sunshine was in a sunny meadow. Oh, dear—this wasn’t very good at all.
“The camp is just there, by the bank,” said Mom. She pointed toward a row of colorful tents tucked back from the water’s edge.
As Kylie got closer, she saw that the tents were woven from reeds, and each one was decorated with a different flower. Glossy red poppies, bright yellow daffodils, pretty bluebells, and snowy-white lilies all sweetly perfumed the air.
The camp looked lovely, but Kylie felt scared. What if water from the pond splashed her? Or even worse—what if the campers had to go swimming?
“Actually, I think I’d rather stay home,” she fretted.
“Don’t be silly,” her mom said. “You’ll have a brilliant time.”
As Kylie and her mom landed on the banks of the pond, young fairy animals were playing everywhere. Two Pollen Puppies were wrestling on the ground, while a fluffy Bud Bunny played tag with a group of tiny Moss Mice. A small cluster of Dream Deer and Hedgerow Hedgehogs stood giggling together.
Kylie looked around nervously, but she couldn’t see her Cobweb Kitten friends anywhere. Everyone else seemed to have made new friends already.
She gulped. First there was the pond, and now Kylie was on her own. The butterflies in her tummy returned, but this time they were flying loop-the-loops!
Text copyright © 2014 by Houthouse Fiction Ltd.
Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Kirsteen Harris Jones