Summer's Friendship Games Read online

  This book is dedicated to all of the Sparkles and Weeds who fill our lives every day with their magic: Max, Theo, Maddie, Wilder, Owen, Jade, Kira, Charlie, Cate, and Beatrice. And, to Courtney Bowman, our Summer Sparkle who saved the day.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Epilogue

  About the Authors

  Also Available in the Series

  Chapter 1

  “Shade! Come on! Let’s race!”

  Summer pushed on her jaguar friend’s thick, furry side. She itched to stretch her legs and sprint across the new trail she and Shade had discovered in her Sparkledom beyond the Rainbow River.

  Shade opened her green eyes and yawned, showing off a mouth of impossibly sharp teeth before falling back asleep.

  “Are you kidding me?” Summer cried. “You’re a fierce jungle jaguar! Show some competitive spirit!”

  Summer and Shade had taken a little siesta under their favorite Brazilian pepper tree after a morning romp of vine swinging and branch jumping in the Resplendent Rainforest. Now that she was up, Summer didn’t want to waste another moment of sunshine. She turned her back to Shade, dug into the ground with her feet, and leaned against the jaguar’s flank with all her might. “C’mo-o-o-n, ya bi-i-g kiiiiiitty!” But she couldn’t move her. “You’re hopeless,” she said affectionately. The jaguar’s whiskers twitched before she rolled over to bake in the sun.

  “Okay, Sleepy!” she told Shade. “Take your catnap, but make sure to meet me in an hour at Sparkle Shores. I need help setting up for my Summer Blastoff Beach Party tonight!”

  Summer felt as buzzy as a hummingbird. Every year, in the middle of her season, she hosted a beach party for her sisters that celebrated everything fun and sunny in her Sparkledom!

  Summer loved planning ways for her sisters to get together, relax, and play. The four sisters were Seasonal Sparkles, charged with changing the seasons in the Outworld. It was a big job but, thanks to the joining of their Sparkle Powers, scepters, headbands, and the help of Mother Nature, they were always able to keep nature in balance. They all took their duties seriously, so Summer felt it was her duty to remind them to also have FUN! She needed to be the one to prompt Autumn to be silly, or urge Spring to focus all of her bubbly energy, or—most important—challenge Winter to a new game.

  Looking up at the sun, Summer realized she still had time before she really needed to race over to Sparkle Shores and string up the paper lanterns, set up the beach torches, and decorate the picnic tables. She reached to the small of her back and pulled her scepter from its holster. The orb was still bright yellow. When it was time for her and her sisters to perform the Sparkle Ceremony and turn summer to autumn for the Outworlders, the orb would turn silver. The sisters had never been to the Outworlders’ realm, but Mother Nature had told them stories. Most of the Outworlders spent the summer taking vacations, relaxing, and enjoying the outdoors—all the things Summer relished. Mother Nature said schoolchildren especially looked forward to summer all year long, and Summer had beamed with pride, knowing her season was their favorite.

  Summer put her scepter back into its holster and turned around to view her Sparkledom. Every Sparkle had her own Sparkledom that perfectly reflected each sister’s season and personality. Summer’s was a mirror of her sunny spirit. As always, it was beautiful and had all her favorite things: huge fields of brown-tipped grass; shimmering ponds and Rainbow River for swimming, boating, and waterskiing; and a forest filled with paths promising adventure and shady trees. Towering above the canopy of the Resplendent Rainforest, her multitiered wooden lodge nestled between two giant ceiba trees crowned with ever-blossoming hot-pink flowers. Hanging from the lodge and tree branches were vine ladders, hammocks, and climbing nets. A colorful tunnel slide and a spiral staircase encircled one of the green trunks. Both ran up to the tip of a crow’s nest that overlooked all of Summer’s Sparkledom.

  “CAW!”

  Summer looked up. A red-and-yellow macaw peered down at her from a palm tree. She didn’t have Spring’s power to talk to animals, but by the way the macaw looked at Shade and then turned back to Summer with his head cocked, she could tell he was saying, “That gal won’t do you any good. Try me!”

  Grinning, she stood and kicked off her shoes so she could feel the ground beneath her feet.

  “You’re on,” she said. “To Rainbow River. Ready. Set. GO!”

  Summer sprinted down the hill as the macaw took off from the branch. He flew low, teasing her with his black tail feathers just in front of her head. Summer ran faster, leaning into the steep descent, her long brown hair whipping around her. She didn’t even look down, leaping nimbly over each obstacle.

  Pouring on the speed, Summer twisted past thick tree trunks and darted under sinewy branches until she couldn’t see the bird at all—not even a flash of red. She allowed herself a quick glance back to check the size of her lead, and …

  CRACK!

  Summer whipped her head around just in time to see the branch collapse in front of her. She was running too fast to stop! She slammed into it and tumbled over, landing flat on her back.

  “OW!”

  She immediately rolled over and reached for her scepter, studying the orb. Unbroken. Thank goodness. She would hate to ask Mother to fix her mess. The scepter was Summer’s responsibility and it was vital for her to do her job one hundred percent!

  Suddenly, Summer heard cackling laughter just like the whining hum of electricity above her head. She sprang to her feet. “Thunderbolt!”

  Thunderbolt was one of the Weeds, rowdy boys who could magically control natural disasters. They were the Sparkles’ worst enemies and worked for the dreaded Bluster Tempest. Bluster and the Weeds lived to cause chaos and stop the seasons from changing. Thunderbolt was rolling around on a low black storm cloud, giggling so hard he couldn’t even sit upright. His ratty pants and jacket blended in with the cloud so well that if it weren’t for his purple spiked hair and the lightning bolt on his T-shirt, Summer would never have been able to spot him.

  “Stop it!” Summer snapped. “That wasn’t funny!”

  “Sure it was,” Thunderbolt snorted. “You should have seen the look on your face.” He sat up and widened his eyes in panic, pinwheeling his arms. “Whoooooaaaa!!!!”

  He collapsed backward onto the cloud, chortling.

  Summer glared at him, her hands on her hips. She clenched her jaw, concentrated her powers, and chanted:

  A beam of pure heat energy shot out of her scepter and into Thunderbolt’s storm cloud, evaporating it at once. Thunderbolt stopped laughing, his face falling as he thumped to the ground.

  “OW!”

  With a flip of her hair, Summer turned and marched away from Thunderbolt. Was there anything in the world more annoying than the Weeds?

  “That’s it?” Thunderbolt called after her. “You’re just gonna walk away and not say you’re sorry?”

  Summer gasped and wheeled to face him. He had pulled himself off the ground and was rubbing his rear end. His mouth was twisted in a sulky frown.

  “Me, say I’m sorry?” Summer cried. “You came to my Sparkledom and ruined my race! What else did you plan to do? Steal my scepter?!”

  “Aw, come on,” Thunderbolt said. “Just admit it. You’re a little sore because you weren’t gonna outrun the macaw. You’re not that fast.”

  “Bet I’m faster than you.”

  “Bet you’re not.”

  “Race you to the giant boulder.” Summer pointed to a rock beside the river.
It was only about fifty yards away—the perfect distance to measure speed.

  “You’re closer. That’s cheating.”

  Summer rolled her eyes. She was only a few feet closer to the boulder than Thunderbolt. She dug her toe into the ground, drawing a straight line.

  “We’ll start here,” she said. “Same distance.”

  Thunderbolt trudged over, still rubbing his bruised bottom. Summer’s lips twitched—she fell way harder than he did, and she wasn’t moping around. “You count it off,” she said.

  “Okay. One … two-three-go!”

  He sprinted off, grabbing a head start, the pain in his rear end apparently gone.

  Leave it to a Weed to cheat.

  Summer leaped into action, sprinting harder than she thought she could. Everything else faded away; she concentrated on closing in on the single jagged violet streak in Thunderbolt’s hair …

  “Ha-ha,” Thunderbolt sang a few feet from the boulder. “You lo—”

  Summer lunged ahead and smacked the boulder before him.

  “I lo—ve to win?” she offered.

  They were so close her hair whipped his face as she turned around. Thunderbolt wiped his face, looking genuinely confused.

  “How did you … ? What did you … ?” Thunderbolt spluttered.

  “What did I what?” Summer teased. She pointed her finger at his chest. “I beat you!” She laughed and Thunderbolt flashed a crooked grin.

  “Rematch!” he shouted playfully.

  “No way!” she said coolly, pulling her hair behind her ears. “I won. Fair and square. Admit it—I’m faster than you.”

  But Thunderbolt wasn’t looking at Summer anymore. His gaze had drifted up and his jaw dropped. Summer put her hand to her head.

  Her headband was gone. It had fallen off during the race.

  Summer gasped. She and Thunderbolt zoomed back across the grass, retracing their steps. Summer kept her eyes on the ground. The band was the same leafy green as her eyes, dress, and scepter, and she knew it could blend in with the deep grass. She was counting on Thunderbolt to miss it.

  Then she heard him scream, “YES!”

  Summer felt her heart drop. The headband had rolled under a log; next to the dark brown of the bark, its green practically shouted its location. Thunderbolt was going to get it and take it away, and it was all Summer’s fault.

  Chapter 2

  “Noooo!” Summer roared. As she bounded forward at full speed, she hoisted her scepter and drove it into a hump in the ground ahead of her. Although it was only a little longer than the length of her arm, she was still able to use the momentum to vault herself into the air feetfirst, toward Thunderbolt.

  “Look out!” she warned him.

  Thunderbolt glanced over his shoulder. His mouth and eyes swelled to giant Os, and he was too surprised to even move … until Summer’s feet smacked into his chest and knocked him down. Summer thudded to the ground right next to him and grabbed the headband. She stood up and placed it back on her head, smoothing her wild hair beneath it.

  “Sorry I kicked you,” Summer told Thunderbolt. “I tried to warn you so you could get out of the way. I just couldn’t let you get the headband.”

  “Yeah, thanks,” Thunderbolt said, rubbing his chest. “I was just trying to help. I didn’t want your stupid head—hey! Did you really just vault over that thing?”

  The second he said “that thing,” Summer wanted to smack herself. Her scepter, just as precious as her headband, was still lodged in the ground. They both looked at it, and Summer prepared to race off again … when Thunderbolt bowed his head and extended his arms toward it. “Your scepter, milady.”

  Was this some kind of trick?

  Summer kept her eyes on him as she walked to the scepter, yanked it out of the dirt, and tucked it back into its holster. Thunderbolt had a weird look on his face.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Nothing. I just thought, maybe … you think you could teach me to do that? That vaulting thing?” he added, dropping his eyes and studying his scuffed shoe.

  He raised his beady black eyes to meet Summer’s and smiled. A genuine smile, not his usual sneer.

  Summer scrunched her eyebrows. She considered asking what Bluster would do if he found out one of his Weeds was being nice to a Sparkle, but she already knew the answer. He’d be furious. Thunderbolt had to know it too, but if he was still willing to be nice, why mess it up by reminding him?

  Summer returned his smile. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll teach you. But what are you going to do for me? Can you teach me how to make lightning?”

  Thunderbolt scratched the back of his purple spiked hair. “I can’t. I don’t even know how I make lightning. I just use this stick here to help me channel it.” Thunderbolt reached into his dirty sock, pulled out his stick, and casually flicked his wrist. The sky CRACKED and a bolt of lightning struck the ground two feet from Summer.

  “Whoops,” said Thunderbolt.

  Summer gave him her best reproachful glare. “So, lightning’s out …” There was something Summer wanted to ask, but it was a little embarrassing.

  “The last time I saw you in the Barrens, you were diving into a pool from the top of your thundercloud,” she began.

  “Oh, yeah,” Thunderbolt sneered. “You and Winter wrapped us up in mud and froze us together for hours.”

  Summer stifled a giggle. “Anyway,” she continued, “do you think you could teach me to dive into the Rainbow River from the top of your thundercloud?”

  Thunderbolt snorted. “You don’t know how to high-dive into a pool?”

  Summer felt her cheeks go red and turned away. “Forget I said anything. Maybe you should just go home.”

  She started walking back to where Shade was sleeping, but Thunderbolt grabbed her arm. She wheeled around and he dropped his hand like her arm was on fire.

  “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean … I just thought, you know, that you’d be really good at it.”

  Summer considered sending him home anyway, but he seemed sincere, and maybe he could help.

  “I get how to dive. I just …” She lowered her voice. “I’ve never jumped from high up before. It always seemed a little too scary to me.”

  “You’re just scared ’cause you haven’t been up there a lot. I’ll help you. You’ll like it.”

  He sounded so sure about it, like it wasn’t a big deal at all that she was afraid. “You think so?” she asked.

  “Oh, yeah! And you’ll show me the vault thing, right?”

  “Yeah, definitely! It’s easy—you’ll get it right away.”

  “Great! So … deal.”

  “Deal.”

  When their hands touched, they created a hot white spark. Summer and Thunderbolt yelped and burst out laughing.

  “What a shockingly good deal!” Thunderbolt said. He pointed his stick at the ground and shouted, “Clooouuuddeerrrvaaattor!”

  A small thundercloud formed at their feet. Thunderbolt confidently hopped onto the cloud. Summer followed with a front handspring.

  “Girls,” Thunderbolt groaned.

  Summer smiled as the thundercloud lifted into the air and headed toward Rainbow River. Soaring on a thundercloud was almost like riding a surfboard in slow motion, except the cloud undulated beneath her instead of waves. This was A BLAST!

  The thundercloud settled above the part of Rainbow River that rushed in a huge waterfall from Spring’s Sparkledom into Summer’s realm. The river flowed through all of the Sparkledoms, earning its name. But Summer thought it also deserved to be called Rainbow River because the surface of the water shimmered with a million rainbow prisms.

  “This looks like a good spot to learn,” Thunderbolt proclaimed.

  Summer felt her mouth go dry.

  “Listen, Sparkle, it’s a long way down, so ya gotta go feetfirst. Once, Quake went down a dive headfirst and his head was ringing for days.”

  “I don’t think it ever stopped ringing,” Summer said.

&
nbsp; Thunderbolt snickered before growing serious again. “All you have to do is imitate the waterfall and keep your eye on it,” he advised, pointing at the rush of the water. “It’s a straight shot down. I’ll go first and show you.”

  It might be weird, but Summer thought he genuinely wanted to teach her.

  Like a friend.

  “Okay, start with your arms above your head like this,” Thunderbolt instructed. He held his arms over his head with his hands creating a point. “Then, take a deep breath and spit.” He spit over the edge of the thundercloud.

  Ewww, thought Summer.

  “And then … follow the waterfall!” he shouted, and jumped off of the thundercloud, facing the waterfall. Summer’s stomach dropped. When Thunderbolt hit the river, his body disappeared under the shimmer of rainbows. Summer held her breath until he resurfaced and shouted, “WOO-HOO!”

  Summer smiled and gave Thunderbolt a thumbs-up. He pointed up at her and shouted, “Your turn, Summer!”

  Summer closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The sound of the surging waterfall in front of her was surprisingly soothing. She opened her eyes and spit over the thundercloud.

  Then she looked down.

  It was a very long way.

  Thunderbolt shouted, “Nice spit!”

  “Thunderbolt?” she cried, her voice quavering. She wasn’t sure she could actually jump. The height, the roar of the waterfall, and her shaking knees started to overwhelm her.

  Thunderbolt swam so he was right under the thundercloud and called up, “You got this, Summer! Just pretend your body is the waterfall! You’ll be down here so fast you won’t even be able to escape from my super splashing.” He splashed some water up in her direction.

  Summer didn’t want to back down. But she wasn’t sure she could do it. If Winter were here, she would already be gloating at Summer’s hesitation. Autumn would tell her she could try when she was ready. Spring would encourage her to come and float down Rainbow River on one of her flower-shaped inner tubes.

  Thunderbolt’s voice cut through her fear … like lightning. “You can do it, Summer! Be the waterfall. Be the waterfall!”