CHAPTER ONE
A Good Little Mouse
Deep in the Heart of Misty Wood, there was an oak tree so tall its branches seemed to touch the sky. Its leaves were as green as emeralds, and they loved to dance in the breeze. The oak tree's thick, knobby roots stretched deep into the soil and held the tree steady.
If you looked carefully, in between the tree roots, behind a cluster of tall green ferns, you would see a hole leading down to a cozy burrow. And if you looked very carefully indeed, you would see a little mouse sitting on the grass next to the hole. The mouse's name was Mia, and she lived in the burrow with her mom and dad, her grandma, and her four baby brothers and sisters.
Mia was a Moss Mouse-one of the fairy animals of Misty Wood. Her beautiful fairy wings were transparent, just like a dragonfly's, and when the sunshine touched them, they twinkled violet and green. Her fur was as golden as honey-except on her tummy, where it was snow white-and she had long, silky whiskers that wiggled and twirled whenever she was excited.
Mia was making a cushion from a ball of soft green moss.
"Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake!" she sang to herself as she rolled the moss along the ground and patted it into a nice round shape with her tiny pink paws.
Just like all the fairy animals of Misty Wood, the Moss Mice had a special job to do to make the wood a wonderful place to live. The mice made soft, squishy cushions out of moss and placed them all around the wood so the other fairy animals would have somewhere comfortable to sit.
"Pat, pat, pat!" Mia sang as she shaped the cushion.
"Hello, Mia!" a voice called.
There was a scrabbling noise from inside the hole, and a face with bright beady eyes and long silvery whiskers popped out. It was Mia's dad.
"I'm afraid Grandma's come down with a nasty case of the sniffles," he said. "Will you go and keep her company? Mom's busy with the babies, and I've got to go out and collect some more moss for our cushions."
"Of course I will," Mia said.
Mia's dad gave her a twinkly-eyed smile. "You are a good little mouse! Perhaps you could tell Grandma one of your stories. I bet she would appreciate it." And with that, he jumped out of the hole, twirled his whiskers, and unfurled his wings. They glinted silver in the sun. "See you at teatime!" Mia's dad called as he flew off through the trees. He carried a big bag made from spider silk in his front paws.
Mia picked up her cushion and hurried underground. The passageway to the burrow was nice and cool and smelled of fresh earth. Mia's whiskers began to twitch. Telling stories was her favorite thing in the whole wide world. She loved it even more than making cushions.
Mia scampered into the burrow. At one end, her mom was busy feeding the babies. At the other, Grandma was tucked into her bed of soft moss.
Mia hopped over to her. Grandma was curled up in the middle of the bed with her nose peeping over the edge. Normally, Grandma's nose was pale pink, but today it was red. Mia got a little closer. Normally, Grandma's black eyes shone and there was a happy smile on her face, but today her eyes were bleary and she looked sad.
"A-a-a-a-CHOO!" Grandma sneezed when she saw Mia.
"Bless you!" said Mia. She hopped onto the cushion she'd just made and leaned her front paws on the edge of the bed. "Dad said you weren't feeling well, so I've come to keep you company."
"Ah, thank you, Mia," replied Grandma, wiping her nose on a white daisy petal. Then she sneezed again. "A-a-a-CHOO!"
"Oh, dear. You must be feeling awful," Mia said.
"Yes, I am." Grandma sighed. "My poor nose is so sore ... a-a-a-CHOO!"
Mia tilted her head to one side. "Would you like me to tell you a story?"
Grandma's eyes lit up. "Ooh, yes, please! I do love your stor-a-a-a-CHOO!"
Mia sat back on her cushion. If she could think of a really good story, Grandma might forget about her sneezes and her sore nose.
Mia's whiskers wiggled with excitement as a story began to form in her mind: "Once upon a time ... there was a caterpillar!" she started.
"A caterpillar? Well, I never," said Grandma with a loud sniff.
"And she was named Clarissa!" said Mia.
"That's a big name for a little caterpillar," said Grandma.
"Oh, but she wasn't little!" cried Mia, and her whiskers twitched and wiggled so much she had to jump down and run around Grandma's bed. "She was the biggest caterpillar you've ever seen! She was bigger than you and me and Mom and Dad and all the babies put together!"
"Goodness," said Grandma. Then she smiled. She hadn't sneezed for quite a while now. "How did she get to be so big?"
"Well...," began Mia, jumping back onto the cushion, "Clarissa was very greedy. She ate and ate and ate, all day long."
Grandma frowned. "Wherever did she get all that food from?"
Mia's whiskers quivered as she thought up the answer. "Clarissa had a best friend. His name was Archie, and he was a tiny ant. Archie brought Clarissa lots of snacks. He brought her leaves and berries and nuts and-"
"Lucky Clarissa!" said Grandma, wriggling upright. She looked much happier now.
Mia sat up on her hind legs as the next part of the story came into her head. "But one day-and this is the really scary bit of the story, Grandma-Clarissa disappeared!"
"Oh, dear!" said Grandma. "Where had she gone?"
Mia sighed. "Nobody knew. Archie searched all through Misty Wood, but he couldn't find her anywhere."
Grandma shook her head, and her whiskers began to droop. "That's a very sad story."
Mia was about to explain that she hadn't finished yet when her mom came scampering over to them.
"Thank you for looking after Grandma, Mia," she said. "The babies are asleep now, so I'll take over from you."
Mia sighed. She was just getting to the most exciting part of the story.
"It's all right, Mom, I'm looking after Grandma," she said.
Mia's mom smiled. Then she stroked the moss cushion that Mia had just made. "What a lovely soft cushion. Well done, Mia. There's just one thing-"
"Oh, Mom, I'm in the middle of telling Grandma a story!" Mia interrupted.
"I know," Mia's mom said. "But I just need you to fetch something for me."
Mia sighed. She wanted to go on with her story. She wanted to give it the best, most exciting ending ever so that Grandma would forget all about being sick.
"It's all right, Mia," Grandma said. "I'm feeling a bit tired, so I'll have a nap and you can tell me the rest later. I'll look forward to that."
Grandma yawned and curled up in her lovely warm bed, ready to fall fast asleep.
Mia thought about where Clarissa the caterpillar could have disappeared to, so she could tell her grandma later.
"I need you to bring me some bluebells," Mia's mom said. "You can do that, can't you, Mia?"
"Easy-peasy," said Mia.
But she was still thinking about the story. Where, oh, where would Archie find Clarissa?
Mia's mom looked at her. "Are you sure you won't forget? I know what you're like when you're making up one of your stories-you never have room in your head to think about anything else! Try to remember: I need you to get me some bluebells."
"Yes, yes, bluebells, I know, Mom," Mia said as she hopped down from the cushion. Maybe Clarissa could be hiding in a big, spooky cave? Maybe she got caught in a giant cobweb?
"Sleep well, Grandma," Mia called as she scampered through the burrow. Maybe Clarissa got stuck inside a rabbit hole?
Mia raced through the tunnel that led into Misty Wood. She jumped out of the little hole between the roots, opened her gauzy wings, and floated up, up, up into the sunshine.
"Clarissa the Giant Caterpillar! My best story ever!" the little Moss Mouse squeaked happily as she fluttered away.
Text copyright © 2013 by Hothouse Fiction Ltd
Illustrations copyright © 2013 by Artful Doodlers Ltd
