Nixie’s Bat-Path Game — Under the chalky cliffs, Nixie rolled three pebble stars into a circle and whispered, “Secret rule: only bats may fly the path.” She wanted the quarry bats to play her new game before the moon climbed over the rocks. Read the full story →
Under the chalky cliffs, Nixie rolled three pebble stars into a circle and whispered, “Secret rule: only bats may fly the path.” She wanted the quarry bats to play her new game before the moon climbed over the rocks. But the wind came whoo-whoo through the cracks, smelling of dust and cold moss, and it blew every bat loop crooked. Wings bumped. Pebbles skittered. Even Nixie’s own vine curls shivered like tickled springs.
So Nixie opened her purple night-cape wide and hooked the wind with her twisty stem. The gust spun around her instead of through the bats, making a soft, round lane in the air. “This way,” she said, and the bats followed the warm grin at her middle, swoop by swoop, exactly where they belonged. Ever since, quarry bats fly in circles around smiling pumpkins on windy nights. Next time you see those curls above Nixie, I dare you to find the secret bat path.
