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Dewey pressed his lips together and eyed a cotton-candy tree.
He grabbed a wad and stuffed it into his mouth. “You’re right. How bad can it be?”
Paige shot him a grin and tugged a wad of cotton candy from a blue tree, then she stuffed it into her mouth and licked her fingers.
Dewey flitted farther into the forest, pulling gumdrops from another tree and popping them into his mouth before harvesting peppermints from a nearby bush.
Paige approached a dark-colored tree and wrinkled her nose. She poked a finger at it. “Here’s what the warning is about. Black licorice tree. Worst candy ever.”
“Don’t forget about candy corn.”
“What?” Paige asked, grabbing another handful of cotton candy and tearing it apart. “I like candy corn.”
“Eww, who likes candy corn?”
“Me. I wonder if I’ll find any in the forest.” She tugged another lollipop from a nearby tree and stuck it into her mouth.
“That’s probably what the warning’s about. Candy-corn bushes.”
Paige giggled and shot him a glance. “Black licorice is way worse than candy corn.”
“It isn’t. I bet you’re one of those weirdos who like Peeps, too.”
“The sugar-coated marshmallows?” Paige nodded. “I love those. But you gotta open the package and let them get hard for a day or so.”
“Oh, ugh. Stop, you’re making me sick.”
“That’s probably the massive amount of cotton candy you consumed,” she said with another giggle.
“Possibly. Oh,” Dewey groaned, patting his swollen belly, “I am stuffed. Wow.” His flying slowed, and he descended to the ground below, plopping in a heap under a gumdrop tree. “Maybe a little nap.”
“There’s no time to nap,” Paige argued with a yawn. “Though maybe I’ll just close my eyes for a minute. We have been up all night.”
She slouched down the trunk of a cotton-candy tree and let her head rest against it.
“Yeah, all one hour of it,” Dewey said as his eyelids slid closed.
A weak chuckle escaped Paige’s lips as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
* * *
A strange squawking awakened Paige from a restful slumber. She startled, sucking in a sharp gasp of air as her eyes opened.
Darkness surrounded her.
“Dewey?” she called, squinting into the blackness.
No response came.
Paige climbed to her feet, glancing up at the night sky above her.
“How long did we sleep?” She raised her voice and called out for her partner again.
Only the raucous hoot that woke her echoed through the forest, which no longer sparkled under the moonless sky.
Paige shoved her glasses up on her nose and glanced up. “What happened to the moon? And where did Dewey go?”
She shivered as an icy breeze rustled through the candy trees. Dread inched up her spine, and she wrapped her fingers tighter around the sword she still clutched.
