The night went by with another storm, but this storm was stronger. Quite a few of the windows had shattered due to strong wind and the roof of the Grand Hall had collapsed. This made the queen put a strengthening charm on the door so that it didn't break down from the flood rising in the hall.
"Why do you think this storm is stronger than the other?" Chloe shouted at Michaela over the brash sound of rain on the roof "ah, get off me!" The goblin that was mending their bedroom window had grabbed hold of Chloe's tail curiously. He let go and continued fixing the window.
"I dunno," said Michaela calmly, as she was pulling up her blankets, "Um, I think you should get into bed. You're turning blue." "Ng-kay." Chloe got into her pajamas that she had wished for and climbed into the bed next to Michaela. They both fell asleep as soon as the goblin left.
Rhys was the only Grade Five child awake. The rain had turned into a slight drizzle and the storm had passed. He had been reading for two hours and put his book down at exactly twelve o' clock. Just before he went to sleep, he saw it, a bright, fiery wire flying past outside. He got out of bed and opened the window. The wire flew into one of the rooms on the South-West Tower and came out wrapping tightly around a screaming witch. "Carmin?" muttered Rhys. Then he gasped and ran towards Giovanni. "Gio! Giovanni! Wake up! WAKE UP!" Giovanni woke up and stared at Rhys. "Wha' wrog?" he mumbled tiredly.
"Look outside!" Rhys squeaked. Giovanni got up, and looked outside to see Carmin screaming while flying past. He gasped and then hit a bracelet that he was wearing. At once, he was wearing his Choconin Army uniform. Gio slid out the room and flew towards Carmin, his bow and arrow at ready – but he was too late. Carmin was already over a forest, in which the trees were jumping up and down and large hands were trying to grab at her through the clouds. Giovanni hovered in mid-air for about twenty long seconds then turned back to the palace.
"What was that?" Rhys squeaked, frightened. "It looked like a snatcher," said Giovanni, dripping with rainwater.
"Snatcher?" asked Rhys. "Oh, it's a charm that only flamies can produce. Its s'posed to grab anyone the flamy, who produces it, wants and one of the only things that can fly over the gums. Luckily, Carmin wasn't caught by the trees!" "Where are you going?" asked Rhys. "To report this to Queen Crystalia. I knew the flamies would think of using a snatcher eventually." "Can I come?" "Sure." "But where would she be right now?" "Trying to fix the Grand Hall. When we first came here, the roof collapsed like now. Queen Crystalia was up all night with the builder-gnomes."
Rhys and Giovanni walked down the West-Tower. "What are you two doing?" a tired voice came from behind them. They turned to see Tisah poking her head out of one of the nearby doors, rubbing her eyes. "Carmin's just bin' kidnapped by the flamies.' explained Giovanni. "We're going to go tell the queen." "How do you know?" asked Tisah. "We just saw a flamy spell fly into her room and snatch her." said Rhys.
"Oh dear, OK, do you mind if I come with you? I need to tell the queen that there is a monkey in my bathroom." "Fire-Monkey!" Giovanni sighed, almost soundless. Sarah, who was in the same room as Carmin, had appeared at the bottom of her tower and told them exactly what had happened. Then she accompanied them.
Rhys, Giovanni, Sarah and Tisah were now in the hall outside the Grand Hall. There were tiny, soaking gnomes running around all over the place, clutching tightly onto wooden tools. "Yes," said a sickening, stern voice. "Now try not to…" Queen Crystalia stopped in front of the four children and stared at them. She was soaked in water and shivering with cold. "What do you want?" she asked calmly. "There's a monkey in my bath…" "The flamies have used a snatcher on a girl up in the South-West Tower!" interrupted Giovanni, urgently. "What?" Queen Crystalia picked up the nearest gnome and gave it some orders. "I want you to go find Tyla Weatherbury and tell her… I mean him, to get here this instant." The gnome slipped out of her hands and ran towards the door. "On whom was the snatcher used?" asked the queen. "Carmin! The witch!" Giovanni answered quickly. "OK, thanks. What did you want to tell me, Tisah?" "There's a monkey in my bathroom," groaned Tisah. "Oh, that's Fire-Monkey – Tyla's pet. Gio, please go tell him to stop sneaking into rooms at night." The kids left up the stairs to the Towers and fell asleep as soon as they hit their beds.
The news of the snatcher attack on Carmin spread like the Corona Virus by the morning. Apparently, one of the Sparklimmarians saw Carmin flying out of the castle window. He told another Sparklimmarian, who told another, who told another, and it soon got all over the place. The Grade Fives were all worried that they would be next.
"Where do you think Carmin has gone?" asked Dominic. "I have my suspicions," replied Queen Crystalia. They were all sitting in the library by the veil covered crystal orb. Queen Crystalia had called them there to tell them what they were going to do. "What I am thinking, is that the flamies didn't just want Carmin for devouring. They want to lure me to their fortress so they can destroy me and take over Sparklimmar."
"OK," said Zangi, "but why do the flamies want to take over Sparklimmar World? I've been asking you since we appeared here." "You see, they don't actually have a kingdom or even proper shelter. They live in a cold cave up on the Romanian Mountain, past the Forest of Living Gums. The flamies are too lazy to build their own homes, so they are trying to devour all Sparklimmarians and take over. We've offered to build for them, but they say it will be boring to wait for twelve months to have a home." "So, if we can't get to Carmin, how do we get her back?" asked Josh. "There's only one way," the queen said, "and yes, we can go to Carmin, because we have to go through the Forest of Living Gums!"