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  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER 1: SPRING SNOW

  CHAPTER 2: SNOWSHOES

  CHAPTER 3: HELP!

  CHAPTER 4: PLEASE?

  CHAPTER 5: MEET THE CATERFLIES

  CHAPTER 6: ICE!

  CHAPTER 7: JUST IN TIME

  CHAPTER 8: NOT MORE!

  CHAPTER 9: A DEMONSTRATION

  CHAPTER 10: RUBBERY POTATOES

  CHAPTER 11: FINALLY!

  CHAPTER 12: MAGIC?

  CHAPTER 13: IT’S TIME

  CHAPTER 14: A KNOCK?

  GLOSSARY

  FOR SYLVIE AND GRAHAM – ML

  FOR GOOSE AND BUBS – AC

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.

  Audience: Grades K-5.

  LCCN 2017906949

  ISBN 9781943147366

  Text copyright 2017 by Asia Citro

  Illustrations copyright 2017 by Marion Lindsay

  Journal entries handwritten by S. Citro

  Published by The Innovation Press

  1001 4th Avenue, Suite 3200 Seattle, WA 98154

  www.theinnovationpress.com

  Production Date: September 2017 | Plant Location: Stevens Point, Wisconsin

  Cover design by Nicole LaRue | Book layout by Kerry Ellis

  PROLOGUE

  These days my cat Sassafras and I are always desperately hoping we’ll hear our barn doorbell.

  I know most people are excited to hear their doorbell ring. It might mean a present or package delivery, or a friend showing up to play. But our doorbell is even more exciting than that. Because it’s a magic doorbell. When it rings, it means there’s a magical animal waiting outside our barn. A magical animal who needs our help.

  My mom’s been helping them basically her whole life. And now I get to help too . . .

  SPRING SNOW

  CHAPTER 1

  A shower of powdery crystals glittered in the air and fell on my face.

  Brrrr. I grinned.

  Snow. Is. Awesome. And this snow was especially awesome because it was a surprise spring snow. I thought it would be almost a year before I saw snow again.

  As I bent down to grab another armful of the powdery white fluff blanketing the lawn, I heard a thump behind me.

  I turned to see a little orange face smooshed against the window.

  Mrrrfff.

  Poor Sassafras. He hates water. And because snow melts into water when his warm kitty paw touches it? Yeah. He pretty much hates snow as much as I love it.

  Mrrrfff. Thump.

  I trudged over and put my hand against the windowpane. Inside, Sassafras raised his paw to the same spot. Hmmmm . . .

  “Wait a minute, Sassafras. Let me find my Thinking Goggles. There’s gotta be a way for you to play outside and not get wet!”

  I ran off to our barn and peeked inside. There they were—next to some of my mom’s old science journals.

  I grabbed my Thinking Goggles, pausing for a moment to run my hand over a photo in one of the journals. My mom’s notes said the creature in the photo was a fweep (which is very fun to say), and I could feel its soft-as-silk fur through the photo. I smiled. The photos of magical animals always amazed me. Mom gave me my own camera, and I’m allowed to take one photo of each magical creature I help. I like to add them to my science journal with my notes. Because every photo saves a bit of magic with it, it’s a great way to remember the sweet magical friends I’ve made.

  I popped the Thinking Goggles on my head, made sure they were close to my brain (to give me awesome ideas quickly), and ran back to my poor sad cat in the window.

  SNOWSHOES

  CHARTER 2

  Sassafras saw the Thinking Goggles on my head and perked up.

  Now I just needed to think. Hmmm. Maybe making a snow angel would help! The cold snow tickled the back of my head as I swooshed my arms and legs back and forth. The first idea that popped into my head cracked me up. I could put Sassafras inside a giant plastic ball. As he walked, the ball would roll and his little paws would never get wet! OK, maybe he wouldn’t go for that. But it did sound pretty fun. “Good one, Thinking Goggles.” I giggled as I finished making a snow angel.

  I stood up and brushed myself off, and a tiny bit of snow dust sneaked its way into my boot. I shivered. A second solution popped into my head. “Oooh! I like it!” I exclaimed and then ran for the kitchen door.

  I left my boots by the door and ran to scoop up my cat. “Sassafras, I have a plan!” I told him. He purred and bumped his head against mine. “We just need to ask Mom for some help and I think we’ll be all set!”

  “Ask me what?” my mom said as she entered the room, leafing through the mail.

  “I have a great idea. You know how Sassafras hates the snow?”

  “Mmm-hmm.”

  “I’ll make him little tiny snowshoes! That way he can play in the snow, but his paws will stay dry. I put my Thinking Goggles on, and after the first idea, I remembered that Xander’s dog wears little Velcro snowshoes when his family hikes in the snow.”

  “Hmmm.” Mom wrinkled her nose a little. “Do you think he’d wear them?”

  I looked deep into Sassafras’ eyes. “Sassafras. If I make you snowshoes so your paws won’t get wet, will you wear them?”

  Sassafras looked deep into my eyes. Then he licked my nose.

  Mom and I both laughed.

  “Can we try making them, Mom? Pleeease?”

  “OK, let’s give it a try. But don’t be upset if he won’t wear them.”

  “I promise! Do you have any waterproof fabric? And can you help me with the sewing machine, pleeeease?” I smiled sweetly at my mom.

  She grinned back and waved for me to follow her. “Let’s see what I’ve got in the hall closet. Thankfully, we won’t need much material—Sassafras has such little paws!”

  I set Sassafras down and we both followed Mom.

  “Huh,” Mom said as she rummaged through the fabric scraps. “I’m not seeing any waterproof fabric in here. And I only have a little bit of Velcro left.” She held up a tiny square.

  “Oooh, Velcro would be perfect, but that’s only enough for one shoe. I don’t think he’d enjoy having to balance on one foot!”

  “I have to go to the grocery store anyway. Why don’t we make a list of supplies you need, and I’ll make a quick stop at the fabric store while I’m out?”

  “Thanks, Mom!” I gave her a big hug.

  We made the list, and Mom left. Sassafras curled up in my lap and I sketched a few different cat snowshoe designs while we waited for her to get back. Then we heard it.

  The magic doorbell!

  HELP!

  CHAPTER 3

  Sassafras and I looked at each other, and then we launched off the couch and ran for the kitchen door. I tossed on my boots and hollered, “I’ll be right back, Dad! Just going out to the barn to play!”

  My dad called back an OK as I opened the door and plunged into the sparkling snow.

  Right on my heels, Sassafras took two big steps into the snow. Then he froze. And hissed. And then bolted back into the house, wiggling and bouncing and shaking each paw in disgust.

  “Oh, Sassafras!” I sighed. “Why don’t you sit this one out? I’ll be right back.”

 
I gave him a quick hug and dashed to the barn. I was buzzing with excitement. What kind of magical animal would be here this time? Maybe a fweep? Or another baby dragon? I ran through the barn and quickly opened the back door.

  Nothing. Could it have been a false alarm? Sometimes magical animals are really small. Maybe I could see it if I got closer?

  I bent down, but all I saw was white snow. Except that some of the snow had something on it. What were those pink dots?

  I reached out and poked them with my finger.

  “Whoa!” I yelped as I jumped backward. Umm, did that pile of snow just hiss at me?

  The little hill of snow bloomed right before my eyes. At the center were two tiny, fuzzy green bodies with white wings—and their little faces were looking up at me.

  I rubbed my eyes. Whoooooaa. They looked like miniature six-legged green cats, with big butterfly wings as white as snow . . . and with tiny pink dots!

  “Are you . . . butterflies?” I whispered.

  The two winged creatures looked at each other and then up at me. “No. Do we look like butterflies?” one asked, and then uncurled a long tongue and cleaned one of its furry paws.

  “We are caterflies, obviously,” added the second creature as it shook its furry body, “and we are very wet and very c-c-c-cold! Do you have someplace warm and dry for us?”

  I nodded and carefully moved the tiny, furry caterflies to a desk in the barn. I brought back a little space heater and turned it on. The caterflies closed their eyes and looked as if they were smiling. They even started . . . purring? Then one caterfly popped up and bopped the other caterfly on the head with its paw.

  “Heyyyy!” growled the bopped caterfly.

  The first caterfly put four of its six paws on its hips. “We can’t forget why we are here!”

  At this, both caterflies stood and faced me. “This is the barn where we come for help, yes? And you are the human that helps us?” one of them asked.

  I nodded. I thought they’d just needed my help getting warm. But apparently they had a bigger problem! “My name is Zoey, and I’m happy to help you. Why don’t you start by telling me what’s wrong?”

  “It’s this awful cold.” The first caterfly paced back and forth on the desk. “We laid our eggs on our host plants like we do every spring. We busied ourselves tending to the plants and getting ready for our eggs to hatch. And then instead of getting warmer like it always does, it got colder!

  And this horrid snow started falling!”

  The second caterfly jumped in. “Our eggs aren’t supposed to be in snow. We panicked. Our host plants grow by the entrance to a small cave not far from here. We decided to move the eggs into the cave to keep them warm.”

  A small cave not far from here? Ohhhh. I was pretty sure I knew what cave they were talking about. I looked more closely at the colors of their bodies and the patterns on their wings and realized something.

  “Is your host plant catnip?” I asked.

  “But of course,” replied the second caterfly.

  The caterflies looked like the catnip plants and flowers so they could easily hide from predators! What great camouflage. They really did look like the catnip that grew by that cave. Every time we walked past there, Sassafras became a purring, drooling mess from all the wild catnip. We hadn’t been since summer because it can get a bit muddy, and mud is slippery! I’d often wished the cave was big enough for me to go inside, but it was small . . . about the size of Sassafras. I worried that if I poked my arm inside, I’d scare something that might bite me!

  The first caterfly cleared its throat to get my attention. “After we moved the eggs into the cave, I pointed out that predators might look for caves to keep warm. And they’d eat our eggs if they found them!”

  “And then I had the idea to hide the eggs behind a little waterfall,” the second caterfly whispered as it hung its head sadly.

  The first caterfly lovingly bumped its head against the second, who clearly felt bad about whatever had happened with the waterfall. “It wasn’t your fault,” it said to its friend.

  Here I interrupted both of them. “Wait—there’s a waterfall inside the cave? And what happened?”

  Looking back at me, the first caterfly continued, “At the back of the cave, a small waterfall runs out to the plants. It’s probably why our host plants grow so well there. We found a little nook in the rocks behind the falling water and hid the eggs there. We figured no predator would look behind the waterfall. But we didn’t realize it would get colder. We didn’t realize the water would freeze!”

  I put a hand to my mouth. “Oh no! Are your eggs trapped behind the frozen waterfall?”

  The caterflies nodded sadly.

  The first caterfly said, “We are so worried about our eggs. They might get too cold.”

  This was a real emergency! We couldn’t let those eggs freeze. I needed an idea. And fast. I needed my Thinking Goggles!

  I turned to look for them and then realized they were still on my head from earlier. Hah!

  “Don’t worry, caterflies. We’ll figure out a way to save your babies! Let me think for a minute. We need to melt the ice. Ice, ice, ice . . .” I muttered as I tapped my Thinking Goggles.

  Hot water would work, but how could I take enough hot water through the forest to the cave? I could bring a thermos, I guess, but I didn’t know how much ice there was. There must be another way to melt ice. Come on, Thinking Goggles!

  I started to feel warm. Almost like summer warm. Huh? Ohhhh! I get it! One of my favorite summer activities is an ice excavation. My mom takes a bunch of little trinkets and toys and adds them to a container. Then she fills the entire container with water and freezes it. The next day she pops out the chunk of ice and all the toys are frozen inside. I get the treasures out one by one using a paintbrush, pipette, water, and—

  SALT. Of course! And even better, salt would be super easy to take to the forest.

  “Yes!” I exclaimed out loud. The caterflies jumped. “Oh, I didn’t mean to scare you! I have a plan. But first I need to grab some supplies and ask my dad if I can go.”

  The caterflies started to come with me.

  “Ummm, he can’t see you guys. It’ll freak him out if I’m talking to invisible things. So maybe I’ll just leave you here by the heater for a minute. Is that OK?”

  The caterflies looked at each other and nodded. “We love the heater.” They both purred loudly.

  I giggled and then dashed back home. Hopefully Dad would let me go to the forest—I had some caterfly eggs to rescue!

  PLEASE?

  CHAPTER 4

  The door banged as I came back in the house.

  “Back already, Zoey? Did you get too cold?” Dad called out.

  I tossed my boots by the kitchen door. “No, not too cold. Ummm, can I go out into the forest?”

  Dad looked out the window and frowned. “I don’t know . . . it’s pretty cold out. And it’s getting late in the afternoon. Maybe in a few days? I think it’s supposed to warm up later in the week.”

  Oh no. The eggs weren’t supposed to be cold, and they were already behind ice. I didn’t know how many more hours they could stand the cold. There was no way they could make it a few days.

  “Pleeeease? I don’t think it’s supposed to snow anymore today, right? I’ll bundle up. I’ll even wear gloves! I just need to check on something in the forest. It’s not that far. I could be super quick?” I gave him my sweetest and most desperate smile.

  Dad looked out the window again and checked his watch and sighed.

  “OK. But I want you back in twenty minutes.”

  I nodded.

  “Twenty minutes and no more,” he repeated, raising an eyebrow at me.

  “I promise! I just need to grab a few things. I’ll be super-duper fast. Thank you, Dad!” I said as I hugged him.

  I went straight to the kitchen and dug through our cabinet until I found our only thermos. I filled it with hot water and grabbed the salt from the pantry. I got my
backpack from the living room, dumped my school stuff on the floor, and packed the thermos and salt into the bag. I just needed one more thing . . .

  I knelt down to Sassafras. “Hey buddy, I have a job for you! There are some really sweet and really cold little caterflies in the barn that need our help. Can you be their heater for our trip into the forest? I can carry you in the backpack so you don’t get wet.” I scratched under his chin to sweeten the deal.

  Sassafras looked from the door to the backpack and back again. Then he walked over to the backpack and let out a big sigh.

  Backpack ride it is! I shoved one of my sweaters into the backpack to make a cushion for Sassafras and then squeezed him in. I left the top part unzipped so he could see and then slowly put on my backpack full of cat, salt, and water. Oof. That was heavy. Good thing I was strong.

  “Now all we need are the caterflies!” I whispered over my shoulder and tromped through the snow to the barn.

  MEET THE CAIERFLIES

  CHAPTER 5

  I opened the barn door and smiled at the loud rumbles of happy caterflies purring.

  When I got to the desk, Sassafras hopped out of my backpack. The loud thump he made as he landed startled the caterflies.

  Their eyes got huge and they fluttered over with their six furry legs stretched out to hug Sassafras.

  “Ohhhhhhhh, what is this?!” both caterflies asked as they hovered around him.

  “This is my cat, Sassafras,” I replied proudly.

  Sassafras looked from me to the caterflies and back again and took a small step backward.

  I ruffled Sassafras’ fur. “It’s OK. These are the caterflies I was telling you about. They won’t hurt you.”

  One of the caterflies landed by Sassafras’ front paw and leaned its little cheek against his fur and sighed. “You have brought us a cat!”