Hello, Invisible Minions.  Queen Bitty here.

I know most of you think I’m a cruel, iron-pawed dictator….

But I’m really just a big old softie.

Who will still throw you in the dungeon shall you displease me.

And I’ll prove it.  Tomorrow.

Until then, check out the newest Miss Pickles.  You can read the old editions here…

And about the first book in the series here.

You’ll love it.

Trust me.

Until tommorow, my secret shall wait…so read away!

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“Are we anywhere near civilization?”

“How much longer?”  An Ordinary Elementary student peered up through the jungle leaves, sweat pouring down his red cheeks.

“We’ve been walking for hours.  When can we take a break?”  Another girl collapsed against a tree, her frazzled pigtails sticking out of either side of her head like wayward Martian antennae.

“I think we’re lost,” a smaller girl piped up, looking alarmingly at a bright yellow frog hopping by her feet.

“Do you know how dangerous it’ll be out here at night?” Don griped, scowling at whoever would look his direction.  “We could be eaten by tigers, slurped up by giant snakes, attacked by rhinoceros, drowned by hippopotamuses…”

“You can’t get eaten by a hippopotamus,” Ralph dismissed.  He paused, a look of fear crossing his face.  “Can you?

“No,” Mason assured him.  “They eat plants.”

“Oh good.”  Ralph exhaled slowly.  “I’m so hungry I’d even eat a salad right now.”

“Will wonders of the world ever cease?” Don muttered, rolling his eyes.  “You at least go to eat at the Seabreeze’s cottage!”

“That was hours ago!” Ralph protested, his chubby cheeks scarlet from heat and anger.  “And all it was is fruit.  How filling is fruit?”

“Much more so than air,” Don shot back.

“I think we’re lost,” the Ladybug informed Miss Pickles under her breath.  Unfortunately, several students heard and burst into tears, whining and shouts of anguish.  Mason covered his ears, glancing around the thick foliage.  All he could see was green.  Green leaves, green trees and tall green grass.  There was no sign of water, much less the Forlorn Falls, anywhere.

“I really think we’re lost,” the Ladybug repeated, turning the map over and over in her hands.  She stared at the bright blue and white pathways sparkling in the sunlight.

“I think we’re found.”  A boy snickered and nudged his friends, who giggled automatically.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” a girl with red hair sneered.  “You can’t be lost and found.  You can only be one or the other.”

“That’s not true at all, duckie!” Miss Pickles cried cheerfully.  Pulling out the golden compass, she skipped over the students.  The parrot on her shoulder, who had returned from the depths of her handbag, squawked in protest.  Raising the compass to the map, she and the Ladybug peered at the glittering lines.

“Suppose if we go east….no west….maybe north?”

“Is the blue line us or the white line us?” the Ladybug wondered, scratching her black head.  “What do the lines mean?”

“We’re doomed.”  Don flopped to the ground, burying his face in his hands.  “We’re going to get eaten alive or starve to death.”

“Starve to death?”  Ralph’s fair skin flushed.  “That’s the worst thing I’ve ever heard of.”

Chewing on his lower lip, Mason ignored the whining of his classmates as he looked around.  “There’s got to be a sign or something that would show us”–  He froze.  “Do you hear that?”

Don stiffened, shaking his head.  “No.  No.  Not again.  Not again.  I thought it had gone away…”  He cried out, covering his ears.  “Not again!”

Mason winced as the high pitched giggles drilled into his brain.  Poking his fingers in his ears, he whirled around.  “Miss Pickles!”  he shouted, trying to hear himself over the cackles bouncing around his eardrum.  “Miss Pickles, the Giggler is back!”

“What do we do?” Ralph cried.  He wrung his thick hands together, glancing around.  “What happens if we hear him?  Are we going to…”

“Die?” a girl shrieked, finishing his thought.  “Are we all going to die?”

“We’re all going to die!” the red-headed boy shouted, more thrilled than dismayed by the prospect.  “We’ll be giggled to death!”  He and his friends snickered.

Don glared at him, his hands clasped firmly over his ears.  “I hope the Giggler gets you worse than any one of us,” he muttered, smacking the side of his head with one hand.

Trying to ignore the bubbly laughter burbling between his ears, Mason bounced impatiently by Miss Pickles’ elbow.  “Miss Pickles, we’ve got to go!” he urged.  “All the others are in danger…”

“I know, duckie,” Miss Pickles mumbled, staring at the map and compass alternately.  “But if we don’t know the right way….”

“Did you and the Seabreeze tell me what is lost must be found?” Mason countered, wincing as a particularly high pitched squeal pierced his ear.  “Maybe you can only find the Forlorn Falls on the Lost Path if you’re lost yourself.  Maybe the falls have to find you.”

The Ladybug and Miss Pickles stared at each other.  “What’s lost is found and what’s found is lost…” the Ladybug repeated, her eyes glimmering.

Miss Pickles beamed.  “Good job, Mason!”  Rolling up the map and dropping the compass in her purse, she pulled a bugle out of her sleeve and pressed her lips to the brass end.  An unpleasant honk poured out of the rusty instrument, scattering all sorts of birds and creatures deeper into the leaves.

“How did she get a bugle up there?” Ralph asked, his eyes wide.

“I quit asking a long time ago,” Mason replied.  He rubbed at the side of his head, wincing as the giggles grew louder.  Don curled up into a ball, his head pressed between his knees and his lips sealed together in a grimace.

Miss Pickles blew the bugle again.  “Forlorn Falls, we have lost our way!” she cried, trumpeting on the rusty horn.  “Where shall we go?  What shall we do?  We leave it all up to you!”

“What does she think that’s going to do?” Don muttered, glaring up at her from his vice-like grip between his knees.  “Does she think that she’s a magician or a witch now or something?”

The Ladybug nudged him, her lips curled in displeasure.  “Don’t be sarcastic,” she warned, her black eyes flickering.  “This is a magic jungle, you know that.  And the Seabreeze whispered a bunch of tricks and secrets to her before we left.  This could be one of them.”

“As long as she stops blowing that infernal horn”–  The bugle bellowed again.  Don closed his eyes and winced.

As Miss Pickles blew the bugle a third time, Mason caught a faint whisper.  “Miss Pickles, stop!” he cried.  “I hear something.”  He cocked his head, listening harder.  It was very faint, no louder than a slight murmur.  But it was there.

“Do you hear that?” he cried.

“I don’t hear anything,” Ralph replied, looking confused.  Several other children agreed, glancing around the clearing.

“I can’t hear anything over this racket,” Don muttered, pounding his knees into the side of his head.

Miss Pickles pursed her lips, ready to blow the bugle again.

“Wait!” the Ladybug cried, holding up her hand.  “I hear it to.  It sounds like…water.  Like running water!”

“Like a stream or brook,” Mason added.  He glanced around, his eyes roaming the area.  “There!” he cried, pointing.  “That log wasn’t there before.  Let’s go this way!”

Racing ahead, he burst down a thin path through the tall brush.  His feet pounded against the soft ground as he ducked around trees and wove past thick bushes crawling with creatures he had never even imagined.  Pushing past a large cluster of green leaves, he leaped in the air with a yell of triumph.  “We did it!  Look!  The Falls found us!”  He pointed as Ladybug and Miss Pickles rushed up to his side. In front of them lay a glittering blue lagoon, a streaming waterfall covering a dark cave in front of them.

“That wasn’t so bad,” the Ladybug grinned, patting him on the shoulder.

“Good job, duckie!” Miss Pickles cried, dropping the bugle back into her sleeve.  “I’m glad you figured that out.”

Mason grinned as his classmates came running up behind him.  “What are you waiting for?” he shouted.  “Let’s go to the Forlourn Falls!”  He bounced ahead, leaping into the cool water of the lagoon.

“Wait!”  Miss Pickles cried, reaching for him.  “Wait, Mason!  There’s something you have to know….”

Stay tuned, Invisible Friends!  Tomorrow we reveal a secret of Queen Bitty and Wednesday, a new pet shop story! Thursday a delicious recipe and Friday, more Dallas Jean!  Stay tuned!