Free The Sugar Ball by Helen Perelman Page A

I hope the sugar fly buzz is right. I would love to see them again.” Melli clasped her hands together and put them underher chin. She looked over at Cocoa. “What’s in your bag?”
    Looking down at her bag, Cocoa smiled. There were a couple of strands of marshmallow threads sticking out of her chocolate weave bag. “I was down at Marshmallow Marsh this morning,” she explained.
    â€œWhat are you doing with marshmallow?” Melli asked. “You can’t use that for your dress. Marshmallow is too sticky to work for an outfit.”
    Cocoa laughed. “No, not for my dress,” she said. “Something else for the ball.” She sat down and took out a sheet of paper from her pocket. “Last week when Raina was reading from the Fairy Code Book, there was that story about the princess and her chocolate scepter. Do you remember?”
    Raina the Gummy Fairy was their good friend, who loved to read. She had nearly memorized the entire Fairy Code Book!
    Nodding, Melli thought back to the story. “It was a magic scepter made of the finest sugar. The picture in the book showed a beautiful chocolate wand.”
    â€œYes,” Cocoa said, “and I was thinking that I’d like to make a chocolate scepter for the ball. Wouldn’t that be so sweet, to walk in holding a royal scepter?” Cocoa sighed. “I’d be like a fairy princess!”
    Just thinking about the scepter made Cocoa’s wings flutter. Even though she was excited about her new strawberry-and-chocolate dot dress with a purple candy butterfly, she couldn’t wait to hold a royal scepter. “It will be like a magic wand!”
    â€œYou will look like a fairy princess,” Melli agreed. Then she paused. “Do you know how to make a magic wand?”

    Cocoa shook her head. “No, but I plan on learning. I made a sketch of the scepter that I’d like to make.” She held up her drawing. “Did you bring me the caramel ball mold? I wantedto have a round chocolate sphere at the top.”
    Melli pulled the round mold out of her bag and gave it to Cocoa. “I was wondering what you were going to do with this,” she said.
    â€œI’m meeting Raina later,” Cocoa told her. “She’s going to lend me a book about magic wands.” Carefully, Cocoa folded her drawing up and put the paper back in her bag. “I thought the marshmallow would add a nice touch.”
    â€œI think you’re right.” Melli nodded.
    â€œAnd I’ll need lots of this chocolate,” Cocoa added. She took out a pail and dipped it into the pool of chocolate swirling in front of her. “The waterfall chocolate is the best for making special chocolate candies. I need to hurry home so the chocolate can set. Then I’m going to carve decorations on the ball.”
    â€œI can’t wait to see that chocolate wand!” Melli cried.
    â€œThanks,” Cocoa replied. She swept up her bucket and headed back to Chocolate Woods. She had lots of work to do before Sun Dip tonight. A chocolate magic wand was no small task. And Cocoa wanted to make sure it was going to be the talk of the Sugar Ball.

The Chocolate Scepter
    W hen Cocoa returned to Chocolate Woods, she poured the fresh chocolate into Melli’s hard caramel mold. She knew that she wanted a chocolate ball at the top of her wand—just like the one she had seen in Raina’s book. Later, when the chocolate was hard, she would carefully carve the ball with her tools. Oh, shecouldn’t wait! Her magic scepter was going to be
choc-o-rific
!
    While the chocolate was hardening, Cocoa flew to Gummy Forest to find Raina. Her friend had not one, as promised, but two books on magic wands.
    â€œYou should know that it’s often sticky business to make magic wands,” Raina told her. She pushed her long hair out of her eyes as she spoke. “If wands get into the wrong hands, there can be trouble.”
    Cocoa