The Wisps Leave a Message

The morning after Lila and Reed’s return from Whirygrove Swamp, Lila woke with a strange feeling. It was kind of like you feel when you wake up on the morning of your birthday, but also mixed with a little bit of worry so not exactly like a birthday morning (or maybe it is depending on your perspective!). She lay still for a moment, sunlight coming through her curtains in a way that made the dust glisten as it came down.

As the dust sparkled in the sunlight, the shine made her remember.

The wisps.

She bolted upright so quickly that her pillow tumbled to the floor. Her palm tingled. She turned it over and gasped.

Where the tiniest wisp had touched her, there was a faint smudge of pale blue. It was just a tiny dab of color, the slightest glow that was hard to see in the light of her bedroom. She ran to the bathroom, which had no window, and closed the door. There in the darkness the blue glowed bright enough so that now she could clearly see it. It sparkled in a speckled pattern as if a paint brush had swept, ever so gently, across her palm.

She opened the door a crack.

“Reed!” she half-shouted across the hallway. “Reeeeed!”

Reed stumbled in a moment later, still in his favorite octopus pajamas, the ones that were blue with green octopuses scatted about. The legs of the octopuses were flung in every direction just like Reed’s hair in the morning. “What? What’s wrong? I was just having the craziest dream about a giant pancake. I was about to it but then is started to come to life. Like a giant pancake monster made out of a pile of pancakes!”

“Oh Reed enough about your weird food dreams again. Look!” Lila thrust her hand at him.

He squinted. “Is that dirt? Wash your hands!” He fixed his glasses to get a better look.

“No!” She shook her head. “It’s from the wisp!”

Reed’s mouth fell open. “What?”

Lila traced the mark with her thumb. It didn’t smear. It didn’t rub away. She wasn’t upset it wouldn’t go away, instead she just kept looking at with complete wonder. She knew deep down it wasn’t going to hurt her; it was like the wisp was visiting her. She clenched her hand and held it up to her cheek. Did she feel a bit of warmth?

All day, the smudge stayed the same. Lila checked it between math and reading, at lunch, and during art class. It was there. Faint in the daylight, but still there. What was going on? Lila would open and close her palm so she could see if the glow stayed around. It did.

Reed stood in Lila’s bedroom. He really didn’t want to be there. He was tired and getting grumpy. But Lila was obsessing about the blue mark on her hand. And it was cool and all.

Maybe he even felt a little jealous he didn’t get the mark.

“It’s probably just some kind of…” he started.

“Let’s see what happens when it is dark.” The moment Lila turned off her bedroom light, the smudge flickered. The blue light began to pulse, like a heartbeat. Both kids held their breath and forgot to breathe for several seconds.

Blink… blink‑blink… blink.

“Reed,” Lila said, “I think it’s trying to talk.”

Reed leaned in, his face lit pale blue. He tapped his fingers together in thought.

“It’s a pattern. Like a code. Something repeating.”

The smudge blinked again.

Blink… blink‑blink… blink.

Lila shivered. “Do you think they need us?”

“Yes.” Reed swallowed hard. “And I think we need to go back.”

The mystery of the blue pulse has only just begun. What does the code mean, and what is waiting for them back at Whirygrove?

Stay tuned for Part 2: The Return to the Swamp—coming soon!

While you wait for part 2, visit our coloring pages where you can draw and color in your own wisps in a swamp. Have fun!

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