Jim Henson's Enchanted Sisters Read online

  We wish to personally thank Mike Moon for his

  inspiration for this book, and acknowledge the

  contributions of Fonda Snyder, Lisa Henson, Melissa

  Segal, Jill Peterson, and Meghan Sheridan.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Is there anything better than riding on an elephant with your three best friends in the world?

  No, Autumn thought, there is not.

  She and her Sparkle Sisters, Spring, Winter, and Summer, rode together in a padded carriage that rested on the elephant’s back. The elephant was named Whisper, and he was Autumn’s pet. The carriage was covered with a canopy, but the sides were open to let in the crisp fall breeze. The air smelled like fresh apples and falling leaves. Autumn and her sisters sipped from mugs of cider and nibbled at the pumpkin muffins they balanced on their laps.

  Perfection.

  Autumn glanced at her long glittering scepter, propped next to her against the seat. Each of the Sparkles had a scepter, and each wore a glistening headband with a gem right in the center. The gems sparkled with the same colors as the orbs on top of their scepters. At least, most of the time they were the same colors. Right now Autumn noticed that each of their orbs was almost covered in a silver mist. Only a thin crescent of color peeked through, yet even as she watched, that bright part grew smaller, swallowed by the silver.

  Very soon she and her sisters would have to leave and perform the Sparkle Ceremony that would turn summer to autumn for the Outworlders, or “humans,” as Mother Nature called them. The Outworlders were from a realm just a step outside their own, and they had no idea the Sparkles even existed. Winter said she didn’t think that was fair at all. She said the Sparkles worked so hard to change the seasons, there should be Sparkle Sister statues in every Outworlder city!

  Autumn understood how Winter felt, but she didn’t agree. She didn’t need statues to help others. In fact, she thought it was even more special that the Sparkles’ season-changing powers were a beautiful secret. Besides, changing the seasons wasn’t just their Sparkle Sister duty, it was their joy. The Sparkle Ceremony wasn’t always easy, but working together to accomplish it was the best feeling in the world.

  At the moment, though, Autumn was perfectly happy just to sit back and relax with her sisters. “In two hundred years,” she said with a sigh, “I’m going to remember this as one of the happiest days of my life.”

  Winter laughed so hard she snorted her cider, which made Summer burst out laughing too.

  “Why are you laughing?” Autumn asked. “It’s true!”

  “We know.” Spring giggled. “But you always say that!”

  “Every day!” Winter agreed now that she’d caught her breath. “So in two hundred years, you’re going to have two hundred years’ worth of happiest days of your life. It will take you another two hundred years just to remember them all!”

  “Then I have four hundred very happy years ahead of me,” Autumn said. She reached out to hold hands with her sisters so they formed a circle. Winter lasted exactly one minute before she leaped to her feet, swaying a little to keep her balance on Whisper’s rocking back. “Let’s play a game!” she cried.

  “You’ll give us three guesses, and the first two don’t count?” Summer asked.

  “I’ll give you three guesses, and the first two don’t—” Winter scrunched her face as she realized what Summer had said. “Okay, so you already know: Sparkle-Dare.”

  Winter fixed her eyes on Autumn, but it was Spring who responded. Her tinkle-bell giggle danced on the breeze as she said, “Autumn doesn’t play Sparkle-Dare. You know that.”

  “I do, though,” Summer said, getting to her feet. It was tough to say who was more adventurous, Summer or Winter, but the two always had fun trying to win the title. “What do you think? Sparkle-Dare me to jump onto that apple tree?”

  She pointed up ahead. Whisper had brought them into Autumn’s apple orchard, which burst with fruit trees and giant oval bales of fresh hay. The tree Summer chose was one of the largest. It would take a huge leap to vault onto one of its branches. Spring’s always-wide violet eyes grew even larger.

  “Don’t do it!” she cried, clutching at Summer’s gauzy green dress.

  “Spring, it’s fine,” Summer assured her. “I’ve done it a million times.”

  “Which is why I want Autumn to do something,” Winter said. “It can even be something easy, like … slide down Whisper’s back and into a hay pile.”

  “I love it!” exclaimed Summer. “I go after Autumn!”

  “But I’m not going,” Autumn said. “Why would I jump out of a perfectly good carriage?”

  “Because it’s fun!” Winter insisted.

  Autumn took a long sip of her cider, closing her eyes so she could better taste its cinnamony sweetness. When she opened them again, Winter had moved so close that her face was mere inches away. The fur on her hood tickled Autumn’s cheeks.

  “Pleeeeeeease?” Winter begged.

  “Another day,” Autumn promised. “When I know in advance. Then I’ll be ready.”

  “But that’s the point!” Winter said. “You always think and plan everything out. Just once, I want to see you do something completely out of the blue. Just once!”

  “I do things out of the blue.” Autumn was ready to shoot back an example … but she couldn’t. Not one thing came to mind. Was that really possible? Had she never done anything without planning it first?

  “Oh!” Spring squealed, holding up her scepter. “We have to go!”

  All the sisters turned to look. The orb on Spring’s purple scepter now showed only a thin line of color uncovered by silver mist.

  It was time. They each pulled out their scepters and touched the four orbs together as they recited:

  Each Sparkle touched her scepter orb to the gem on her headband. Glittering rainbow light soared upward, making a pathway to the sky. The Sparkles raised their scepters into the middle of the rainbow and were pulled off their feet and right through the top of Whisper’s carriage. They didn’t even feel it; when they rode the rainbow, they were part of its magical light, not held back by anything.

  Spring giggled. She always giggled when she traveled by rainbow, no matter how often she did it. She’d told Autumn she loved the feathery feeling in the pit of her stomach, as if she’d swallowed a baby bird and it was dancing around inside her.

  Summer whooped with delight and turned somersaults. She always said that if she had her way she’d fly all the time, not just when she was traveling to Mother Nature or one of her sisters’ realms.

  Autumn didn’t make a sound. She took the rainbow ride very seriously. To her it was majestic and special. She closed her eyes and felt the ripples of warmth wash over her face. If she concentrated hard enough, she was sure she could feel seven slightly different textures of warmth, one for each bar of glittering color.

  Next to her, Autumn heard Winter shout, “Summer, try this!” and felt the rush of air that meant her daredevil sisters were playing with new tricks as they soared through the sky. They screamed and laughed so hard that Autumn couldn’t help smiling too. Maybe one day she’d try to play in the rainbow like them. She’d just have to plan it first. That way she’d be sure nothing would go wrong.

  Plan it first … Isn’t that what Winter said she always did?

  An uncomfortable prickle ran over her skin, but she shook it off. So she liked to plan. What was wrong with that?

  Autumn’s
head went swimmy with the weightless feeling that meant they’d reached the very top of the rainbow arc. As always, she snapped open her eyes, eager to see this incredible view of their world. It was laid out in a circle, divided into four Seasonal Sparkledoms. You could tell just by the colors which Sparkledom was which. Spring’s bloomed with flowering pinks, purples, and greens. Winter’s world glistened with icy white and blue. Summer’s realm radiated sandy yellows and fields of green. Autumn’s own land glowed with dappled oranges and reds.

  In the center of everything was Mother Nature’s realm, the perfect blend of all the seasonal colors. Just looking at it, Autumn felt warm all over, as if Mother were giving her a huge hug.

  Autumn let her eyes stray to the outskirts of the Sparkledoms. She shuddered. Beyond the four sisters’ realms was a sprawling wilderness of dry, lifeless thorns, crags, and brush. There was no sparkle in that place. Dark clouds hid much of the land, but flashes of angry lightning showed skeletal tree limbs and charred earth. Autumn could see the spirals of ten tornadoes, and gasped as an earthquake split the ground into a wide canyon.

  This terrible land was the Barrens. It belonged to Bluster Tempest and his Weeds: Sleet, Thunderbolt, Twister, and Quake. The Barrens was an awful place, but it was separated from the Sparkledoms by an invisible barrier. If they wanted to, the Sparkles could easily walk through the barrier, but they never did. There was no reason to visit Bluster and the Weeds, who loved chaos and disorder, and always tried to interfere with the Sparkle Ceremony. The sisters had to be careful all the time. If anything got in the way of the Ceremony and the girls couldn’t complete it properly, it would mean disaster for the Outworlders.

  Sometimes Autumn wished Mother Nature would use her powers to send Bluster and the Weeds away forever, but then she remembered Mother’s words. Sleet, thunderbolts, twisters, and quakes were part of nature, she had said. Bluster and the Weeds balanced Mother and the Sparkles in an important way. The world needed them all.

  Autumn closed her eyes again for the ride down the rainbow. The wind whipped her long black braid behind her, and she reached out with all her senses to feel when she was close to the ground. At just the right moment she stepped gently out of the glowing rainbow light. Her slippered feet crunched onto the grass.

  This was always her favorite moment—that first second after she arrived in Mother Nature’s Sparkledom. She kept her eyes closed and breathed in as deeply as she could to take in its unique aroma. It was the smell of every season mixed together, combinations found nowhere else. Autumn smelled the ocean and newly mown grass, an orange grove and a crackling bonfire, snowy pine trees and sunflowers.

  She drank it all in until she felt something tickle her chin. She gasped and her eyes snapped open, bringing her face-to- … well … sort-of-face with a very startled vine. The vine stood as tall as Autumn, its tip crooked forward like a pointed bird head.

  That alone didn’t shock Autumn. In Mother Nature’s Sparkledom, every living thing had a mind of its own and could move freely, even the plants. The problem wasn’t that the vine was alive, but that it snuck up on her.

  “You startled me!” she scolded.

  The plant reared back and quickly darted behind Mother Nature, who laughed kindly.

  “It’s okay, little one,” she comforted the still-shaking vine.

  Mother’s voice was a cozy blanket bundling Autumn tight. Mother had that effect on all the girls. On the plants too, judging from the way the frightened vine relaxed onto Mother’s shoulder. None of the Sparkles knew how old Mother was, though they guessed she was at least a bazill-atill-ajillion. She didn’t look it. She stood tall and strong, with a huge burst of dark curls crowning her ebony skin. Mother Nature could outrun a cheetah, arm wrestle a gorilla, and then cradle the most delicate baby bird. The whole world adored her. Plants and animals were drawn to her like she was a sun, and she spoke the language of every living thing.

  If you asked the Sparkles, they’d tell you everything good in the universe was wrapped up in Mother Nature. They would do anything to please her, and even though she would never do more than say she was disappointed if they messed up, none of the girls could think of anything worse.

  “I’m sorry, Autumn,” Mother said, still cuddling the vine. “This little plant forgot how much you dislike being surprised. He says he’d like to make it up to you.”

  The vine nodded its tip, then leaped off Mother’s shoulder and stood perfectly straight … before twirling and flailing in the most ridiculous dance Autumn had ever seen. Everyone laughed and applauded.

  Winter leaned in close to Autumn. “See?” she said. “Even Mother knows you need everything all planned out.”

  Autumn was hurt. Her face must have shown it, because Winter quickly added, “I’m just saying, it’s okay to let go and have fun.”

  Before Autumn could respond, a loud coo trilled through the air. She looked up and saw a large sparkling blue dove. It soared down from the sky and landed on Mother’s shoulder. This was Serenity, whose always-peaceful nature perfectly matched her name. She was Mother’s top advisor, and Mother listened carefully as the dove cocked her head toward Mother’s ear and cooed again. Mother nodded, then held out her scepter, as silver as Autumn’s own.

  “It’s time to go to Evergrass Circle!” Mother called. “The Sparkle Ceremony is about to begin!”

  Autumn snaked her body to the beat, each step practiced and perfect. Hip-swing, arm-swing, deep squat and twirl—

  “Ow!”

  She winced as her ankle turned. Summer looked over midleap to raise a concerned eyebrow, but Autumn kept dancing, barely missing a beat.

  This wasn’t like Autumn. She rarely let her emotions run away with her, and she certainly wouldn’t lose control during a Sparkle Ceremony. And not just any Sparkle Ceremony. Today would bring her season to the Outworlders. It was her most important day of the year. She could not make any more mistakes.

  She thudded down on Winter’s foot.

  Oops.

  Okay, maybe just that one more.

  “Ouch!” Winter cried. “You okay?”

  “I’m fine,” Autumn whispered back. “Sorry.”

  She twirled away, determined to pull it together.

  This was all Winter’s fault. Why did she say that about Mother? It was one thing if Winter didn’t like Autumn planning so much, but if Mother felt the same way … Autumn felt sick just thinking about it.

  That was silly though. Mother didn’t say she had a problem with Autumn. She just pointed out that Autumn didn’t like to be surprised … which she didn’t! It was only Winter who made it sound like that was a bad thing.

  Autumn stumbled over a pivot step and landed flat on her bottom. Mother didn’t see. Spring did, though, and her jaw dropped lower than her plié. Autumn scrambled back to her feet.

  This was bad. Any more mistakes and she risked wrecking the whole Sparkle Ceremony, plunging the Outworlders into an endless summer. Without the relief of autumn, their world would grow so blazingly hot that everything would burn to a crisp.

  Autumn only knew one way to bring back her focus. Keeping the beat of the dance, she touched her middle fingers to her thumbs, and took a deep breath. While her body moved, she forced her mind to concentrate on every detail she could see. She marveled at the perfectly round patch of shimmering green lawn at her feet. She thrilled to Evergrass Circle’s border of lush trees, so tall they blocked all but the beautiful blue disk of sky above them. Autumn knew the Outworlders shared this bit of sky, and that connection made the area buzz with powerful energy. That energy grew as the Sparkles danced around Mother Nature, and the power of the Sparkle Ceremony rushed between them.

  Autumn wasn’t distracted anymore. She only felt this moment, as every bit of joy inside her flowed into her dance. A huge grin spread across her face as the trees, flowers, and grass began to sing in voiceless rhythms: rustling leaves, branches rat-a-tatting together, wind whistling through tall grasses. It all grew louder and faster,
and Autumn didn’t know if she was moving to the plants’ beat or they were moving to hers. She leaped, clapped, and twirled until everything in her body told her this was the moment. With a mighty cry, she lunged forward, both hands holding her scepter high.

  “We make the call, turn summer to fall!” she shouted.

  Her sisters echoed her call and her motion as Mother Nature raised her own scepter into the air. A bolt of colored light leaped from each Sparkle’s headband gem to the orbs on their scepters, which shuddered with growing power until Autumn was afraid she couldn’t hold on a second longer. Suddenly, the sparkling whirls of light in her and her sisters’ scepters bolted across the lawn and into Mother Nature’s own orb. The four beams converged in a glow so bright that Autumn shut her eyes. When she looked again, the dazzling lights were swirling into a tumble of orange, yellow, blue, and violet that shrank into smaller and smaller circles until they disappeared.

  To a stranger, this might look like the end. Autumn and her sisters knew better. While Mother Nature stood absolutely still, the four of them exchanged glances and tried to contain their smiles until Winter counted down in a low whisper, “… three, two, one …”

  A volcano erupted from the gem on Mother Nature’s headband. Brilliant shooting-star sparkles streamed upward in a column that stretched as far as the eye could see, though the sisters knew it went even farther. This was their supercharged Sparkle Power, and it pulsed against the very point where the girls’ world met the Outworlders’. From there, the power shimmered across the Outworlders’ entire realm, turning the season and keeping nature in balance.

  When the last bit of sparkle-geyser left Mother’s gem and hit the sky, it burst into red, yellow, and orange leaf-shaped fireworks. The display was always in shapes and colors to honor the brand-new season, and marked the end of a successful Sparkle Ceremony. Autumn heard her sisters cheer, but she was too happy to shout. She just smiled and held her feelings close.