Star galloped over to her shiny, black rocket and kneeled. Clara slid off Star’s back.

  Star lifted her front hoof and tapped the side of the rocket three times. A door appeared. Star tapped the rocket twice. The door swung open to reveal a black velvet armchair and a console with blinking black and purple buttons, yellow and blue levers, flashing maps, and green dials.

  “Wow,” Clara whispered. “That’s amazing.”

  “I had a feeling you’d like it,” Star said with a wink. “Now we need to see if we can both fit inside.”

  Star leaped into the rocket and onto the armchair. She scooted all the way to one side and said, “Come on in.”

  Clara climbed into the rocket and squeezed into the space next to Star, so the pegasus’s wing brushed against Clara’s shoulder.

  “We fit perfectly,” Star said, smiling. “Pull that blue lever next to your knee to close the door. Then push the purple button to start the rocket.”

  Clara wrapped her fingers around the lever and pulled it toward her. The door swung closed. She pressed the purple button. The rocket made a soft, humming noise.

  “Now, press the black button five times and pull on the yellow lever,” Star said. “That tells the rocket to take us to the Catmoon.”

  Clara counted out loud as she pushed the black button five times. Then she pulled on the yellow lever.

  The rocket swayed back and forth. It hopped up and down. It spun in a circle. And then it shot upward. Clara and Star stared out a small, oval window. Clara watched as the rocket zoomed through clouds, pink and yellow stars, and then a stretch of outer space that glowed a deep shade of lavender. After a few minutes, Clara spotted the Catmoon in the distance. When the rocket reached the Catmoon’s twin mountain peaks, it slowed down and cruised above a jungle of teal and pink trees. Then it landed on a sandy silver beach.

  “We’re here,” Star said excitedly. “Press the purple button and then pull the blue lever.”

  Clara pressed the button, and the rocket turned off. She pulled on the lever, and the door swung open. Clara turned to jump out of the rocket, but before she could, Star said, “Let me go first so I can check for invisilulls.”

  “What are invisilulls?” Clara asked.

  “Invisible moon creatures,” Star explained. “I can only see them if I use my magic. They spend a lot of their time sleeping in the sand, and I want to make sure we don’t accidentally trip over one. Want to know why?”

  Clara nodded.

  “If you trip over one and wake it up, it will start singing a lullaby that will put any creature who can hear it immediately to sleep. They only sing for about twenty minutes. But I’m not really in the mood for a nap right now.”

  “Neither am I,” Clara said.

  Star climbed over Clara, accidentally brushing her feathered wing and her tail across Clara’s face.

  “Sorry about that,” Star said. She stepped into the rocket’s doorway. The moon, star, and planet design on her tiara sparkled. And then she looked from her left to her right.

  “I see just one invisilull,” she said. “And it happens to be sleeping right next to the rocket.” Star leaped out onto the sand and turned to face Clara. “Do you think you can jump this far?”

  Clara stepped over to the rocket door. “Definitely,” Clara said. She took a deep breath. She bent her knees. And then she leaped out of the rocket and landed in the silver sand next to Star.

  Clara looked all around her. The sky, strewn with wispy orange clouds, glowed lavender. To her left were two green lakes—the same lakes, Clara figured, that had looked like cat eyes when she gazed through the octogoloctoscope. To her right was the jungle of pink and teal trees.

  “This place is amazing,” Clara said.

  “It’s my favorite place in the Wing Realm,” Star said. “We have a minute to look around before we need to head to the mooncats’ castle to set up the party. Would you like me to show you Lake Limpogim and Lake Mogglewop?”

  “Definitely,” Clara said.

  Star looked toward the closest lake. Her tiara sparkled. “The coast is clear of invisilulls,” she said. “Follow me!” Star galloped across the sand, and Clara sprinted after her. They stopped at the edge of a lake that looked like it was full of thick, shiny, green slime. As Clara watched, the slime bubbled and lapped the shore in slow, gentle waves.

  “This is Lake Limpogim,” Star said. “It’s full of imagiputty.”

  “What’s imagiputty?” Clara asked.

  “I’ll show you,” Star said with a wink. “Grab a handful and roll it into a ball.”

  Clara kneeled, reached her hand into the lake, and grabbed a glob of imagiputty. She had expected it to feel cold and sticky, but instead it felt warm and soft.

  “Perfect,” Star said. “Now hold it in both hands, close your eyes, and imagine a small present you’d like to give Lucinda for her birthday.”

  Clara shut her eyes. She thought for a moment. And then she imagined a soft, silver, star-shaped pillow for Lucinda’s cat sofa in Feather Palace. The imagiputty grew warmer and warmer in Clara’s hands. And then she felt it disappear and something soft take its place.

  “Now you can look,” Star said.

  Clara opened her eyes and saw in her hands exactly the same pillow she had imagined.

  “That’s a perfect gift for Lucinda,” Star said. “She’ll love it.”

  “Can you make anything with imagiputty?” Clara asked.

  “Anything that isn’t alive,” Star said.

  Clara was thinking about all the things she would like to make out of imagiputty—a pegasus costume, shoes with springs on the soles, her very own monogoloctoscope, buttons for the inside of the rocket she and Miranda made—when she heard a shuffling noise. Clara looked down and noticed a blue, crab-like creature. But instead of a shell, the creature’s body looked like broom bristles. It had two eyes on light blue stalks, two filmy blue wings, and two dark blue arms with small brooms on the ends instead of pinchers.

  “What is that?” Clara asked as the creature began to sweep silver sand into a small hill.

  “That’s a bristleblonk,” Star said. “They’re all over the beaches on the Catmoon. They’re completely harmless.”

  For a few seconds, Clara and Star watched the bristleblonk as it swept more and more sand into a bigger and bigger pile. When the pile was as tall as Clara’s knees, the bristleblonk grunted with delight. It hopped up to the top of the hill, grunted happily, and rolled down the hill. As soon as the bristleblonk reached the bottom of the hill, it climbed back up to the top and rolled down again. The bristleblonk did it again. And again. And again.

  “Want to see another creature?” Star asked.

  “Absolutely,” Clara said.

  Star turned toward the other lake. “Let me just look for invisilulls before we head over to Lake Mogglewop.” Her tiara sparkled. “There’s one that’s about to hop right in front of us,” she said. “Let’s wait just a moment.”

  Clara nodded. “What does an invisilull look like?” she asked.

  “They look like bright orange rabbits with purple antlers, purple wings, and purple hooves,” Star said.

  Clara smiled as she imagined the invisilull in her mind.

  “Okay,” Star said, her tiara sparkling again. “All clear. Now I’ll show you the snogglesnurps.”

  Clara skipped in the sand alongside Star until they came to the shore of Lake Mogglewop, which was full of small green marbles. The marbles churned and swirled. And then, to Clara’s surprise, a fountain of marbles spurted up into the air. Clara opened her mouth to ask a question, but before she could speak, a purple creature with a long, tube-shaped snout and a tiny, ball-shaped head appeared. Its body looked to Clara like a plum-colored, deflated beach ball with small, clear wings. Two yellow duck feet poked out from its belly.

  “Is that a snogglesnurp?” Clara whispered in amazement.

  “It sure is,” Star said. “Watch what it does now.”

  Clara and Star stared at the snogglesnurp. It waddled around for a few seconds on top of the lake. Then it dipped its snout into the marbles. It made a loud slurping noise as its body grew bigger and bigger. It was sucking in the marbles! When the snugglesnurp’s belly was full, it grinned, rolled onto its back, made a happy snorting noise, and pointed its snout straight upward. A stream of marbles shot out of its snout into the air until its body was tiny again.

  “That was amazing,” Clara said.

  “I thought you’d like it,” Star said. “Lake Mogglewop is full of snogglesnurps. I wish we could keep watching them. But I think we’d better hike to the mooncats’ castle to get ready for Lucinda’s party. I have a feeling Lucinda’s cousins might need a little help cleaning and decorating.”

  Clara giggled and nodded. If Lucinda’s cousins were anything like Lucinda, Clara suspected that she and Star might end up doing all the work.

  Star’s tiara sparkled as she looked toward the jungle. “No invisilulls! Let’s go!”

  Clara and Star walked together across the sand and into the jungle. They found a narrow path that wove through a grove of trees. The path made a sharp right turn into a clearing. And there Clara saw a silver castle shaped like a cat head. It had two triangular towers shaped like cat ears, two green glass windows that looked like cat eyes, and a giant pink cat nose where Clara would have expected a door.

  “Let’s go in,” Star said, rearing up with excitement. She galloped up to the pink cat nose, crouched down, and pushed with her head against it. To Clara’s surprise, it swung open like a giant cat flap. For a moment, Clara giggled with delight. Then she dropped to her hands and knees and crawled through the cat flap into the castle.

  Clara found herself in a front hall that was almost as messy as her bedroom. Twisted, shredded streamers draped over silver cat-head sofas, crisscrossed the white tile floors, and littered the floor in tangled clumps. Strewn across a cat-shaped shag rug were party hats and balloons that had yet to be blown up. A white banner lay on the floor with the letters H-A-P-P painted in purple. Next to the banner was an overturned glass jar, a puddle of purple paint, and many purple paw prints. Standing next to the rug was what looked to Clara like a giant gumball machine. On its top was a clear glass globe full of bouncing, bean-sized, black balls. Encased in the tower below the globe was a spiral chute. At its base was a silver button and a small opening. The front hall was such a mess that it took Clara a few seconds to notice that in a patch of sunlight below an open window, six cats, all silver and winged, slept curled up together.

  “I’m glad we got here early,” Star whispered to Clara. “I thought it would be messy. But this is an even bigger mess than I expected. At least the cats remembered to get the gromplesnocker.” Star nodded to the thing that looked to Clara like a gumball machine.

  “How does it work?” Clara asked.

  “I think I’d better show you before we wake up the mooncats. Gromps tend to make Wing Realm cats a little . . .” Star’s voice trailed off and she flashed a smile at Clara. “Well, let’s just say the cats find the gromps exciting.”

  Clara giggled.

  Star trotted over to the gromplesnocker and gazed down at the button. “Push that once,” she said. “And make sure you don’t hold it down for more than half a second.”

  Clara skipped over to the gromplesnocker. She kneeled, pushed the silver button, and released it quickly. One gromp rolled down the spiral chute and flew out the opening. As soon as it landed on the floor, it began to bounce and jump, higher and higher, faster and faster. As it bounced off the floor, the ceiling, and the walls, it yelled, “Guess my favorite flower! Guess my favorite flower! Guess my favorite flower!”

  Clara blinked in surprise.

  “Margleclops?” Star guessed. “Proglets?”

  The gromp kept bouncing and yelling.

  “Um,” Clara said, trying to remember flowers she had encountered in the Wing Realm. “Ear-flowers?”

  The gromp kept bouncing and yelling.

  “Largostopples?” Star tried.

  “Two-lips?” Clara suggested.

  The gromp still kept bouncing and yelling.

  “Lusterflops?” Star suggested.

  As soon as the word came out of Star’s mouth, the gromp vanished. In an instant, vases full of shiny gold flowers that looked like big, floppy roses appeared on all the window sills and along the walls.

  “Wow,” Clara said. “That was amazing!”

  “We can use the gromplesnocker more during Lucinda’s party,” Star said. “But I think we’d better wake up the mooncats and see if we can get them to help us clean and decorate. Maybe now that they’ve had a nap, they’ll be able to focus on getting ready.”

  Star looked at the sleeping cats and smiled. “We’re here!” she called out in a loud voice.

  The cats rolled over. They swished their tails. They opened one eye and then the other. When they saw Star and Clara they purred with excitement, flipped onto all fours, and rushed over to Clara.

  “You must be Clara,” a cat exclaimed, fluttering her wings and doing a flip in the air.

  “You’re finally here,” another cat purred, rubbing Clara’s ankles.

  “Cousin Lucinda has told us all about you,” another cat said, flapping his wings and landing on Clara’s head.

  “We’ve been so excited to finally meet you,” two cats said at the same time. They flew up to Clara’s face and sniffed her nose.

  “I’m glad to be here,” Clara said. “It sounds like you already know my name is Clara. Will you tell me your names?”

  The cats proudly took turns meowing their names:

  “Letitia.”

  “Langston.”

  “Loretta.”

  “Leander.”

  “Lizbeth.”

  “Ludwig.”

  When they finished, Clara said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  Ludwig looked over at Star and sighed. “We started getting ready for the party,” he said.

  “We meant to finish cleaning up and decorating,” Lizbeth explained.

  “I even worked on the happy birthday banner for a full two minutes,” Loretta said.

  “But we got a little—” Langston said.

  “Distracted,” all six cats said at once.

  “Streamers are just really fun to unroll,” Letitia confessed.

  “And shred,” Langston said.

  “And twist,” Leander said.

  “And bat around the room,” Lizbeth said.

  Loretta and Ludwig nodded in agreement.

  “I’m glad you had fun with the streamers,” Star said, laughing. “They look a little too shredded to hang on the walls. But we can still have a party without streamers. Right now we really do need to work together to get ready.”

  The cats nodded.

  Star looked around the room and thought for a moment. “Leander and Loretta, why don’t you finish the banner?” she suggested. “Langston and Lizbeth, could you get all the streamers and put them in another room? Ludwig and Letitia, how about if you work on cleaning up all those paw prints? And Clara, since you have hands, why don’t you blow up the balloons and tidy up the party hats?”

  “We’ll get right to work,” Loretta said as she and Leander strutted over to the banner.

  “Nothing will come between us and getting ready for the party,” Leander said in a confident voice.

  “We absolutely will not get distracted,” Langston said as he and Lizbeth used their paws to gather the streamers.

  “Focus is my new middle name,” Lizbeth said.

  “We’ll be ready for the party in no time,” Ludwig said as he and Letitia rubbed the tips of their tails against the paw prints to clean them up.

  Clara set down Lucinda’s pillow on a window sill and skipped over to the rug. She sat down and stacked up all the party hats. Next, she picked up a pink balloon, held the opening to her mouth, and blew. She tied a knot in the bottom, and began to blow up a blue one.

  “Excellent work, everyone,” Star said. “I’ll start dusting.” She galloped over to a window sill and swept her tail back and forth.

  As Clara tied a knot in a blue balloon, she heard a shuffling noise behind her. She turned around to see that Leander, Langston, Letitia, Lizbeth, Loretta, and Ludwig were gathered in a tight circle around a tangle of streamers. Their tails swished back and forth as they batted the streamers with their paws.

  “Um, mooncats?” Clara said.

  The cats did not turn around. Instead, Lizbeth lunged forward, picked up the tangled clump of streamers in her mouth, and bolted across the room. For a moment, Leander, Langston, Letitia, Loretta, and Ludwig watched Lizbeth. Their green cat eyes widened in excitement. And then they bounded after her. In the blink of an eye, all six cats were sprinting in faster and faster circles around the room.

  “Mooncats!” Star called out. “Stop! Stop right now!”

  But the mooncats didn’t stop. Instead, Lizbeth leaped into the center of the room and pounced on the gromplesnocker’s silver button. A split second later, Leander, Langston, Letitia, Loretta, and Ludwig landed right on top of Lizbeth. Clara gasped as all the gromps came pouring down the spiral chute and shot out the opening into the room.

  Gromps bounced off the floors, the walls, and the ceiling. At first, Clara could hear what they were yelling: “Guess my favorite kind of cupcake!” “Guess my favorite color streamer!” “Guess my favorite birthday music!” “Guess my favorite party drink!” “Guess my favorite party snack!” “Guess my favorite party game!” “Guess my favorite birthday present!” and “Guess my favorite color disco light!” Soon there were so many gromps yelling what to guess, and the sound of them bouncing was so loud, that it all sounded like noisy chaos. Clara didn’t think the room could get any louder. But then the cats began to chase after the gromps, meowing loudly the whole time.

 

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