Chapter 2

Chapter TWO Annoyance zinged through me, and I stood up and brushed the crumbs from my skirt. I knew what Wilbur was up to! He wanted to be the first to find a dragongrass flower! Leaving Mum and Dad snoozing, I ran away from the rug and over to my brother.

'Wilbur!!' I exclaimed. 'Oh hi, Mirabelle,' said Wilbur, a little sheepishly. 'I just thought I'd get started on the dragongrass hunt.' 'You should have waited for me!' I said. 'Sorry,' shrugged Wilbur. But he didn't look sorry at all. He looked sneaky!

It made me feel cross. 'Come here, Violet!' I said, beckoning to her. 'Come with me! Let's go and hunt for dragongrass on our own! We'll find some before Wilbur!' 'Stay with me, Violet!' said Wilbur. 'I've got a biscuit for you!'

He reached into his pocket and brought out a foil-wrapped chocolate biscuit. I gasped. Violet loves chocolate biscuits! She looked at me and then she looked at Wilbur. And then she flapped her little purple leathery wings and flew up to land on Wilbur's shoulder. 'WILBUR!' I shouted, stamping my foot. 'You planned this all along!' 'I can't help where Violet wants to go,' said Wilbur smugly I stomped away from them both, towards a cluster of trees nearby Angry

fireworks exploded within me. Fine! Let Wilbur and Violet look for a dragongrass flower on their own, I thought. I didn't need them! I would find one myself! Feeling a fresh burst of energy, I moved into the trees and began to look along the mossy ground for some dragongrass flowers. I saw lots of colourful toadstools and lots of crunchy leaves on the ground. But no dragongrass flower. I moved further into the cluster of trees. Everything seemed a lot darker now than it had a few minutes ago. I looked up at the sky through the leaves and was surprised to see that it had suddenly turned quite grey and cloudy. Little spots of rain

began to fall and the wind picked up, whistling through the trees. I shivered. Maybe the stormy weather that Mum had mentioned that morning was arriving earlier than expected! Still, I was determined not to let it stop me from finding a dragongrass flower. I really, really wanted to find one before Wilbur! Especially now that he had been so mean! I walked even further into the trees. Then I stopped and stared. My heart soared.