Running on Starlight

Emma hated taking her vitamin every morning. It was orange and chalky and made her tongue feel fuzzy. But her mother insisted.

"It gives you strong bones and bright ideas," Mom said, handing Emma the small orange tablet.

Emma swallowed it with a grimace, then grabbed her backpack and headed for the bus stop. But something strange happened. Her feet felt light, almost weightless. When she started walking, she couldn't stop—she was running, faster and faster, the world blurring into streaks of color.

Suddenly, she wasn't on her street anymore. She stood in a meadow where the grass shimmered like emeralds and the flowers glowed with inner light. A small creature sat on a toadstool, crying softly. It looked like a tiny hedgehog, but its spines were made of stardust.

"What's wrong?" Emma asked, forgetting to be afraid.

"I'm Comet," the hedgehog sniffled. "And I've lost my spark. Without it, I can't leave trails of magic across the night sky. Children won't have wishes to make tonight."

Emma's heart squeezed. She knew what it was like to lose something important—like when she'd lost her grandmother's locket at the park last summer.

"Maybe I can help," she said.

Comet looked at Emma's backpack, which still glowed faintly from the vitamin's magic. "Your breakfast vitamin is made of crushed morning stars! That's why you can run between worlds!"

Emma reached into her pocket and found the vitamin bottle Mom had packed for lunch. "Take this," she said, placing a glowing orange tablet in Comet's paw.

Comet swallowed it, and suddenly stardust exploded from its spines in magnificent ribbons of silver and gold. "Thank you, Emma! You're my best friend!"

Emma ran all the way home, her feet barely touching the ground. That night, she looked out her window and saw a brilliant streak crossing the sky—Comet, leaving magic for every child to wish upon.

The next morning, Emma swallowed her vitamin without complaining. Some things, she learned, are more powerful than they taste—especially friendship and a little bit of stardust.