Three Lost Kids & the Death of the Sugar Fairy, The Read Free Page A

candy from your plastic pumpkins. Maybe that will help."
    We scattered our candy and they scrambled to it, but they consumed it so fast that we couldn't even recover before they latched back onto us again. The bites burned and itched and I felt the blood seeping out.
    Blood. It wanted our blood. And we were right next to a pond. "I know it hurts, and it's hard to move, but we have to get them to the pond. Follow me."
    Moving hurt. Every step made me feel like my limbs would fall off as the little bloodsuckers clung to my exposed skin. I made it to the pond, not very big, and hopefully small enough for what I needed to do.
    I waved my sisters in. "Walk into the pond and let your sores bleed into it."
    I went first, and used my sword to add an extra cut to make the water sweet with our sugary blood. One by one the bugs fell off of us and sucked up the water that had started turning pink. I brushed the others off, while my sisters did the same.
    "Okay," I said. "Now run!"
    We jumped out of the water and ran as fast as we could, without any thought to where we were going.
    Until we ran straight into a cave.
    Cavity Cave.

Chapter 4 – Bitter Nightmare of Cavity Cave
     
    The moment we stepped into the cave, I was suddenly—completely—alone. Not even TayTay was by my side. We'd made a huge mistake.
    M y wet clothes clung to me and I shook from the cold. My sores ached and tears leaked out of my eyes. Ten-year-olds should probably be braver than this, and while I'd learned a lot about being brave when I helped end a Fairy war on Maddie World, in that moment I just wanted to curl up in my mom's lap and sob, and let her hold me and tell me it would all be okay. If she were here, she'd know what to do.
    The cave glowed an eerie blue and large crystals stuck out from the top and sides of the cave. If I hadn 't been alone and scared and in the dark, I might have thought it looked really pretty.
    E verything was too spooky to be pretty, at that moment.
    " Bella! Lexie! TayTay! Where are you?" My voice bounced off the walls and echoed back to me, making my voice sound empty, like a dead person.
    What had the Fairy said about the caves? That our nightmares would trap us in here forever? I so did not want to spend forever trapped in my nightmares.
    I tried to remember my last bad dream, but couldn't. Was it the one where everyone died and I was all alone? Even as I thought it, my sisters and parents and dogs and cats all appeared.
    " Mom! Dad! Help me."
    They laughed and smiled and hugged me . The scent of lavender on my mom comforted me as I clung to her.
    T hen a giant snake grew from behind them.
    " No! Go away. Don't hurt them."
    It opened its huge mouth and first plucked TayTay from the ground, gobbling him up. I sobbed and fell to my knees on the floor. It ate my pets one by one. Then it started on Lexie –little Lexie, so cute and smart and sweet. She screamed as it ate her, its belly getting bigger as it shoved my whole family down its mouth. My mom looked sad as it ate her last, leaving me alone with the vision of my whole family killed.
    I shook and cried and tried to remind myself it wasn 't real. My parents weren't even on this world. I rocked on my knees. "It's just a dream. It's just a dream. It's not real."
    In the next moment I looked down and discovered I was naked, and not in the cave anymore. I stood in front of my class, and every single student pointed at me and laughed. "Maddie's naked, Maddie's naked." Even my normally kind teacher snickered and pointed, and then made me turn around so everyone could see my whole body.
    I covered my body and cried more. "No! I'm not here. This isn't real."
    What other horrors would this cave pull out of me? I didn 't want to relive all these terrible things.
    Just when I thought I 'd go crazy, Lexie's rainbow light slashed through the darkness and made a trail to me. A whisper of her voice moved on the beams. "Follow this, Maddie. Follow the light."
    I loved my sister so much in