“Are you sure this is the way to Callie’s house?” Coco asked Penny. They had wandered their way into Mochi Forest in search of Callie’s house, but a fog had settled in and now the two friends seemed to be turned around.
“Ummm…” Penny stopped in her tracks and took another look around. The fog was thicker than she realized. Penny thought she saw Callie’s house in the distance, but now she wasn’t so sure she saw what she thought she saw. “I guess not. I could have sworn it was over here, but this fog is thick!”
Coco stepped closer to Penny and shivered. Some of the branches in the tree tried to reach down to her like giant claws. The fog had long, spooky faces in the distance that wanted to scare her. Worse of all, she was worried about the mysterious giggle they kept running into this summer, would it come back and play more tricks on them? “Should we turn around and go back?” asked Coco nervously.
“Sure, let’s try that way!” Then Penny marched onward. She really wasn’t sure this was the right way, but she knew it would be best to try. She knew Coco was really scared and she was starting to feel nervous too. Mochi Forest was very close to Moonlit Mountain and it was only a matter of time before they entered the area. She really didn’t want to go to Moonlit Mountain.
The fog was so thick it looked like they could swim in it. Except they couldn’t. It was starting to be a spooky walk and not the fun kind. Everything began to look the same and they had no idea where to go. Then the mysterious giggle rang out. “It’s the giggle again!” Coco cried out and held onto Penny. “What do we do?”
Penny was so scared she didn’t say anything, she just looked around to see where the giggle could be coming from. “My mama told me I have to thank you for the candy,” the mysterious giggle said.
“Penny, did you hear that? Is that the giggle?” Coco asked, searching the forest for a face to match the voice.
Penny was still frozen in place and her eyes darted everywhere. There was still no sign of the face of the mysterious giggle. She started walking away from the voice and Coco followed. They neared a pile of leaves when a white ball popped out from the pile. Penny fell back and covered her eyes, Coco shrieked and hid behind Penny. The mysterious giggle spoke again, “Mama told me to say, ‘Thank you!’ for the candy. I love lemon drops!”
Penny was the first to open her eyes. It was a cute little ghost. It had a curious look on its face as it bobbed in the air. “Are you ok? Did I scare you?” It asked them.
“Hey, Coco, didn’t your lemon drops disappear during the hike?” Penny asked Coco.
“They did.” Coco replied, stepping away from Penny.
The ghost still stared at them, waiting for them to reply. “Do you want to play?” It said, then did a back flip in the air. “My mama said this time I see you, I have to show myself, even though I didn’t want to. We’ve been having so much fun playing together!”
Penny and Coco looked at each other and then back at the ghost, who was now dancing around. “Are you the mysterious giggle who took our marshmallows too?” Coco asked.
“I’m not a mysterious giggle, I’m a ghost!” the ghost giggled. “And it was me who moved your backpacks. It was so funny!”
Penny started to laugh and Coco became confused. “That was such a silly game you played! What’s your name?” Penny asked.
“My name is Mallow! And I already know your names! You are Penny,” Mallow said, pointing to Penny, then to Coco. “And you are Coco!”
Coco kept quiet for a little longer while Penny and Mallow continued to chat. This was the mysterious giggle who played tricks on them all summer? She was relieved it was a nice ghost, but the tricks he played weren’t so nice. She really wanted those lemon drops! “It was nice to meet you Mallow, but we are supposed to meet our friend,” Coco said as she pulled Penny away.
“Maybe he can help us, Coco,” Penny said. “I really don’t know where to go to get to Callie’s house.”
“Oo! Oo! I wanna help!” Mallow eagerly raised his hand in the air.
“I don’t know…” Coco said sheepishly. “He might play tricks on us again.”
“Tricks? I’ve never played tricks on you…” Mallow said.
“It’s just…I really wanted those lemon drops and it was really scary when you lifted the marshmallows in the air. Then I tripped over the backpack…” Coco muttered and looked over to Penny.
“We thought you were playing tricks on us while you were trying to play games. But if you help us find Callie’s house, we can come back and play more games with you!”
Mallow did another back flip in the air. “I love playing with you guys! Come on! The house is this way!”
Mallow sped off. Penny and Coco ran to catch up to him. “Mallow, you’re going too fast!” Penny shouted out to him.
Mallow came right back and went ahead much slower. It was hard for a little ghost to fly so slow, but he knew his friends needed help, so he did his best. At last, a cozy home loomed in the distance. “That’s Callie’s house!” cried Penny as they approached it. “Thanks so much, Mallow!”
Coco waved goodbye but kicked something as she turned around. It was a bag of candy. There were even some lemon drops inside. “Mama told me to give you this bag of candy.” Mallow said, rolling around sideways in the air, smiling, “I want to play with you again soon.”
Coco smiled and looked up to see Mallow fly away and thank him, but he had already gone, just as the fog was lifting.
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