A boy was making a face as he licked a lollipop. And one little girl started to cry. “This candy tastes funny!” she wailed. Kirsty and Rachel went into the shop, wondering what was going on. The tiny store looked very festive. Colorful balloons hung from the ceiling, and party streamers were twisted around the big jars of candy that lined the shelves. Mrs. Twist stood behind the counter as usual — but Kirsty noticed immediately that she didn’t look as cheerful as she usually did.

“Hello, Mrs. Twist,” Kirsty called. “Is everything all right?”

Mrs. Twist shook her head sadly. “Not really,” she replied. “It’s my last day. I was hoping to have a wonderful party, but all my candy is spoiled!”

A Sweet Surprise

As Kirsty and Rachel looked around, they could see what Mrs. Twist meant. The saltwater taffy that she was trying to shake from its jar had become one big, sticky lump. The chocolate bars were soft and soggy as if they’d been left out in the sun. And the sour balls were so sour that no one would eat them!

Rachel nudged Kirsty. “Look!” she said in a low voice, pointing at one of the shelves.

Kirsty looked and saw a box of chocolate mice. They all had their paws over their eyes as if they were scared of something. The gingerbread men looked worried, too — they were all holding hands. And, to Kirsty’s surprise, a group of gummy worms in a jar were slithering around and actually hissing like snakes!

She quickly pushed the jar of worms to the back of the shelf before anyone else noticed.

“Something very weird is going on,” Rachel whispered. Just then, the two friends heard a chorus of high-pitched squeaks come from a package of chocolate bunnies.

Kirsty nodded. “It’s got to be a goblin!” she whispered back.

Mrs. Twist put down the jar of taffy, and pulled out a tray of chocolates instead. Then she sighed. “Oh, no! What happened to these?”

Rachel and Kirsty went over to look. The chocolates had all melted on the tray, and right in the middle was a big hollow spot where something had pressed into the soft chocolate. Rachel nudged Kirsty. She recognized the shape in the melted chocolate immediately—it was a goblin footprint!

The girls exchanged glances. Kirsty looked at the floor. “If the goblin has chocolate all over one foot …” she muttered to Rachel.

“… he’ll have left footprints everywhere,” Rachel added in a low voice. Then she pointed down at the floor. “Just like those!”

The girls quietly slipped away from the store counter to follow the chocolate-footprint trail. It seemed to lead to a door at the back of the store.

“This is the door to Mrs. Twist’s stockroom,” Kirsty whispered to her friend. “We can’t just sneak in there without asking.”