The Sugar Ball (4 page)

“Hot caramel,” Melli muttered. “This is really a sticky situation.” Then she realized why Cocoa was so upset. “Do you think Mogu could have picked up the wand?”

“Mogu can't make chocolate,” Berry argued. “He's a troll.”

“No, but if he is holding a magic wand that was made by a chocolate fairy,” Raina said, thinking out loud, “then it might be possible.”

Cocoa jumped up from the ground. “What do you mean,
might be possible
?” She grabbed Raina's hand. “You mean in all the stories you've ever read, you've never come across this?” She hung her head. “Oh, this is really bad.”

Raina paced back and forth on the red sugar sand. “I don't know,” she said. “I'm thinking.”

The fairies all watched Raina. They weren't used to seeing her flustered. Raina was always so sure and logical. And usually she could quote a line from the Fairy Code Book that would solve their problem.

“But Raina always knows the answer!” Dash blurted out.

Berry and Melli shot her a look, but Dash just shrugged.

“Raina said it
might
be possible,” Berry said. “Maybe there's hope that Mogu couldn't make this chocolate mess.”

“That's a chance we can't take,” Cocoa said. She stood up. “We need to follow the chocolate trail. Tracking the clues is the only way to find the wand.”

Raina nodded. “Cocoa's right. Let's try to figure out where the wand is …”

“And who has it,” Berry finished for her.

“What if Mogu did take the wand?” Melli asked. She shivered as she thought of the old troll having chocolate power. “What a gooey mess we're in! And right before the Sugar Ball.”

“It's my mess,” Cocoa said. “I'm going to fly
north toward Candy Castle. From your reports, the chocolate seems to be spreading in that direction.”

“You are not going alone,” Melli said, standing next to her.

“Sure as sugar, we're all going with you,” Raina added.

Dash and Berry nodded. And they all leaned in to hug Cocoa.

“Thank you,” Cocoa managed to say. “This means so much to me. I can't bear the thought of facing Princess Lolli with another chocolate mess.”

“Don't get your wings stuck in syrup yet,” Berry teased. “We can solve this mystery.”

Together, the fairies flew to Candy Castle. The pink-and-white sugarcoated castle glistened
in the moonlight. The frosted towers and iced tips of the castle looked the same as always. She sighed, relieved that there wasn't a blanket of chocolate covering the castle or the Royal Gardens.

“Doesn't look like there is any chocolate out of place here,” Cocoa said.

“Look over there,” Raina whispered, pointing. “It's Tula, Princess Lolli's adviser. I wonder what she's doing in the gardens so late at night.”

“She's talking to a bunch of Sour Orchard Fairies,” Berry said. Berry had once been scared to go to Sour Orchard. She had to find Lemona the Sour Orchard Fairy, who had created the heart-shaped candies Berry found by Chocolate River. After Berry met her, she found out that those fairies weren't so different from Berry
and her friends. Berry squinted her eyes. “I think that might even be Lemona!”

Just then Tula flew into the castle, and Lemona was left standing in the gardens.

“I'm going to ask her what's going on,” Berry said. Before Cocoa or the others could react, Berry was at Lemona's side. And then in a flash, Berry was back with news.

“Lemona said that the Sour Orchard was covered in chocolate syrup. Princess Lolli is very concerned about the chocolate mess. She said she'll cancel the Sugar Ball! There can't be a royal celebration when so many parts of the kingdom are under a chocolate spell.”

“Oh, this means we're in hot chocolate,” Cocoa mumbled. She twisted a strand of her long, dark hair around her finger.

“We need to break this spell immediately!” Berry shouted.

“But first we need to find out who has the wand,” Cocoa added quietly.

T
he place Cocoa wanted to check first was Gummy Forest. Raina hadn't seen any chocolate in the forest before she got Cocoa's message, so maybe that was the next place for a chocolate attack. If Cocoa and her friends followed the chocolate, they'd find the wand. And right now Cocoa knew they had to find that wand before
all of Sugar Valley was put under a thick, gooey spell!

The moonlight made Gummy Forest look different. Even though Cocoa had been there many times, in the dark the gummy trees and bushes took on spooky shapes. There were chocolate puddles along the ground, and random flowers and berries were chocolate-covered.

Whoever had the wand didn't really know how to handle it—or the magic. The syrupy chocolate was aimed all over the place, and not with a real purpose, the way a Chocolate Fairy would use the wand. Cocoa sighed as she flew through the trees hoping to find her next
clue. She had never seen Gummy Forest in such a state. Looking over at Raina, she saw her Gummy Fairy friend was trying to be brave.

“Once we find the wand, I promise to help clean up this mess,” Cocoa told Raina. “I am so sorry.”

Raina glanced over at Cocoa as they flew. “It's not your fault,” Raina said. “The wand falling out of your bag was an accident.”

Cocoa lowered her head. She still felt responsible for the chocolate mess.

And then she saw something that made her heart stop.

In a hammock between two large gummy trees, Cocoa spotted Mogu. She froze and put her hand up to alert her friends. The five fairies huddled in the air just above the troll. Mogu
was just as Cocoa had remembered him: lying down stuffing his mouth full of chocolate. His hands and face were stained with dark splotches of chocolate, and his large nose was sniffing a chocolate-covered gummy flower. He was making loud slurping sounds as he ate all the chocolate around him.

Cocoa took a deep breath. She tried to summon all the courage that she could. After watching Princess Lolli in Black Licorice Swamp, she knew she had to be brave as well as clever to trick this hungry old troll. She motioned for her friends to stay where they were, and she got ready to fly down to face Mogu.

Melli grabbed her hand. “Do you want me to go with you?” she asked.

Cocoa shook her head. “No, I need to do this
alone. It's my chocolate wand, and I'm going to get it back.”

Her friends all exchanged looks, but they knew that when Cocoa got stuck on an idea, that was the end of the discussion.

“I'll be fine,” she said. “I've talked to Mogu before. This time, I know what I need to do. Besides, I know you are right behind me.”

“Sure as sugar,” Melli said, smiling.

Cocoa flew down to the hammock and took a deep breath.

“Mogu,” Cocoa said as she landed next to him. She was surprised at how calm and sure she sounded.

“Ah, the little Chocolate Fairy!” Mogu said.
“Bah-haaaaa,”
he laughed. “I see you have been busy. I love what you've added to this place. I
always thought this forest needed a little more chocolate.”

Mogu's ring of white hair around his head was sticking up. And his dark, beady eyes were wide with greed. Cocoa tried to steady her breath. She felt as if there was a fire in her belly, heating her up.

Be calm
, she thought.

“What are you doing here?” Cocoa asked.

“I'm having an old chocolate bash,” Mogu laughed. “What does it look like I'm doing? These chocolate-covered gummy berries are pretty, pretty good.” He licked his fingers.
“Bahha-ha-haaaaaaa!”

Cocoa stared at Mogu. He seemed to be on the verge of eating too much chocolate. He didn't look scary. His stomach looked too full
of chocolate to allow him to get up. And he had that crazed chocolate gaze in his eyes that she remembered from when she and Princess Lolli had gone to Black Licorice Swamp. He was close to going into a chocolate slumber. Cocoa hoped that wasn't too far off. Then she could search for the wand without his noticing.

“I never would have thought to cover these candies in chocolate!” Mogu said with a loud burp. He reached his hand down and scooped up a bunch more berries.

Cocoa shot her friends a look. Maybe Mogu was
eating
the chocolate, not
making
the chocolate. She scanned the area and didn't see the wand anywhere. Suddenly Cocoa was encouraged. A lost wand was one thing, but it was another thing if a sour troll had it. And the only thing Mogu
seemed to have was a chocolate appetite!

“Maybe you'd like some more chocolate?” Cocoa asked.

She could tell her friends were confused by her offer, but Cocoa suddenly felt very confident.

“Bah-ha-haaaaaaaa!”
Mogu laughed. “I would love that!”

“Well, if you had a magic wand, you could make your own chocolate,” Cocoa said. She watched Mogu's face carefully. “You wouldn't need a fairy to make the candy for you.”

Mogu stopped eating and stared at Cocoa. “What a big idea from such a small fairy,” Mogu muttered. “I want one of those!”

“I bet you would,” Cocoa said, smiling. She was so relieved that Mogu didn't have the wand that she touched a gummy flower and gave the
candy a rich, dark chocolate shell with chocolate sprinkles. “Here,” she said. She handed the greedy troll the special treat. “Try this.”

Mogu ate the candy as Cocoa flew up to her friends. “Mogu doesn't have the wand!” she exclaimed.

“Why'd you give him more candy?” Dash blurted out.

“Because the faster Mogu falls asleep, the sooner he'll stop eating all of Gummy Forest!” Cocoa said, winking at Dash.

“And we've got work to do. We can't spend all day troll-sitting!” Raina said.

Cocoa was thankful to have her friends around her. Together, they would find a way to stop this chocolate spell from spreading all over Sugar Valley.