Free Chloe the Kitten by Lily Small Page B

hungry,” Chloe replied.
    The Stardust Squirrel gave a gentle laugh. It sounded like the tinkle of ice crystals on a frozen lake. “I don’t mean to eat,” he said. “I mean to make a basket.”
    Chloe frowned. How could she use a walnut as a basket?
    â€œWait here,” the squirrel said.
    Chloe watched as he scampered over to a small tree stump on the bank of the lake, scattering a trail of stardust as he ran. “Ta-da!” he cried, rummaging around in the tree stump. “Just the thing!” He pulled out half a walnut shell.
    Chloe looked at the wrinkled shell. “That doesn’t look much like a basket,” she said sadly.

    â€œNot yet,” the squirrel agreed. “But just you watch.”
    Quick as a flash, the squirrel nibbled two little holes into the side of the shell. Then he picked a thick blade of grass, and with a blur of paws and a flurry of stardust, he tied the grass to the walnut shell to make a sturdy handle.

    â€œOh, I see!” Chloe exclaimed. “It’s a perfect dewdrop-collecting basket. Thank you!”
    â€œYou’re welcome,” said the squirrel. “Now, are you sure you don’t want this tasty acorn?”
    Chloe smiled and shook her head. “No, thank you. I’ve got work to do. Good-bye!” And with that, she flew up into the air and over to the spring.
    Flapping her wings hard, Chloe swooped this way and that, catching glistening dewdrops as she flew. The walnut shell was bigger than her old basket, so she was able to collect more drops than ever before.
    Just as Chloe had filled her basket, the sun finished rising above the trees. At once, Dewdrop Spring sank back into the lake.
    â€œJust in time,” Chloe said to herself as she fluttered through the valley and off to Hawthorn Hedgerows, the part of Misty Wood she was in charge of decorating.
    Hawthorn Hedgerows was right by the edge of the wood. As Chloe flew closer, she spotted the silvery strings of a delicate cobweb clinging to the first hedge. She shivered with excitement. She would soon make it look beautiful.
    â€œI have just the dewdrops for you,” Chloe said with a smile as she hovered close to the web. She chose the smallest and sparkliest dewdrops from her basket and carefully hung them one by one on the threads.
    After she had filled the cobweb with dewdrops, she flew back a bit to check her work. The cobweb now sparkled like a jewel! Eagerly, Chloe flew over to the next web and began again. As she worked, she hummed a little tune. She felt so glad to be able to decorate her cobwebs after all.
    Chloe was starting her fifth cobweb when she felt a gentle tap on the top of her head. She looked up and saw a spider dangling above her on a strand of silky web.

    â€œSorry to trouble you,” the spider said, pointing a spindly leg toward the part of the hedge Chloe had just finished. “But I was wondering why you haven’t decorated my web.”
    â€œI have!” Chloe answered in surprise. “Look, I’ll show you.” She spread her wings and flew back along the hedge. But to her dismay, she saw that the spider was right. His cobweb was empty! There were no dewdrops on it at all. And all the other cobwebs Chloe had spent so long decorating were bare, too. Her dewdrops had completely disappeared!
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    CHAPTER THREE
    The Dewdrop Thief
    Chloe flew this way and that, searching for the dewdrops. They were nowhere to be seen.
    â€œI told you,” the spider said, while solemnly blinking his tiny eyes.
    â€œBut I just don’t understand!” Chloe meowed. “I’m sure I did that hedgerow. Look, it was the same as this one.”
    Chloe turned to show the spider the hedge she had just begun to decorate with sparkly dewdrops. But much to her surprise, they were gone, too!
    â€œSomeone must have stolen them!” Chloe cried. She gulped. Someone … or something .
    â€œYou mean we have a dewdrop