That morning the meadow behind the house smelled of wet grass. Dash had invented a new game, and when Dash invents a game, everyone runs to play.

"Welcome to the Meadow Olympics!" shouted Dash, quick as lightning. "First race: jump over the puddle without getting your feet wet!"

Ziggy took off and jumped like a happy little frog. Lily clenched her fists, took a running start, and flew over the puddle, her blue eyes full of grit. Skye, all calm, jumped last, landed on the grass, and laughed happily.

"Well done! A big round of applause for everyone!" said Dash, clapping his hands. "Now the second race: who runs to the apple tree and back fir—!"

But he didn't have time to finish the sentence.

CHUFF CHUFF! CHUFF CHUFF!

From behind the hedge came a cheerful puff of white smoke. It was Toby the Magic Train, with shiny wheels and a smile painted on his face.

"Toby! Toby!" the children shouted, jumping for joy.

The little train opened his doors and sang:

"Chuff chuff! Good morning, my champions, one and all,
climb aboard the train, let's answer the call!
I'll take you up high where the wind loves to play,
where dewdrops are sparkling on meadows today!"

The four friends climbed aboard, laughing. The doors closed, the whistle blew, and off they went! Toby raced up a hill, then up a mountain, then up and up, all the way to a very high place where the clouds looked like pillows.

When the doors opened, the children stood there open-mouthed.

They were on the Dancing Wind Peak, the highest top of all the mountains. Up there the wind did somersaults, ruffled their hair, and laughed in their ears. And from up there you could see the whole wide world: the meadows, the woods, and the rivers that shimmered like ribbons of silver.

But the most beautiful thing was something else. All the grass was covered with tiny drops that sparkled in the sun.

"What are they?" asked Lily, touching a little drop with one finger.

"It's the dew!" Skye explained softly. "They're drops of water that are born at night and settle on the grass. In the morning they sparkle like diamonds."

"They look like a thousand little diamonds!" said Dash, and he did a somersault on the sparkling grass, laughing.

Then, all of a sudden, they heard a sound. A thin little cry. A squeak.

Near a stone there was a family of hedgehogs: mama hedgehog, papa hedgehog, and three tiny baby hedgehogs with their quills still soft. Hedgehogs are little animals all covered in spines, but they are sweet, and they don't prick you if you come close gently.

"What's wrong, friends?" asked Dash, coming closer slowly.

"We can't find the way home anymore," said mama hedgehog, her voice trembling. "There was a path that led to our den, down in the woods. But last night the dew covered everything, and the path disappeared! If we don't find it before evening, we'll be stuck outside when the dark comes."

The three tiny hedgehogs huddled together, frightened.

Ziggy looked around. Lily furrowed her brow. Skye put a hand on her heart. And Dash... Dash smiled.

"Don't be afraid!" he said. "If a path hides, we'll go and find it. And we'll do it in the most fun way in the whole world: with a RACE!"

"A race?" they all asked together.

"Yes! The Sparkling Footprint Race!" shouted Dash, jumping onto a stone like a champion on a podium. "Whoever finds the most clues wins! Ready? Set? Go!"

Right at that moment, from behind a bush, something soft and brown came rolling out. Bam! It tripped over its own paws and ended up upside down, with its little paws kicking in the air.

It was a little teddy bear.

"Oops! Sorry!" said the teddy bear, getting back on his feet all crooked. "I'm Pucci! At night I come to life to protect children's dreams. And in the daytime... well, in the daytime I trip a little."

The children burst out laughing.

"But I can help you!" said Pucci, puffing out his chest all proud. "Because I have a special nose. I'm a bloodhound!"

"A... bloodhound?" asked Dash, scratching his head. "What's a bloodhound?"

"A bloodhound is a dog that's very good at following smells with its nose," Pucci explained. "It sniffs the tracks and finds the way by smelling! And I, from watching over dreams every single night, have learned all the smells of the woods by heart."

"Fantastic!" shouted Dash. "Then you're on our team! With your nose and our curiosity, we'll find all the clues!"

And so the race began.

Dash ran fast, jumped from stone to stone, climbed on logs, looked under leaves and inside bushes. Because Dash had understood something important: to find a hidden path, you have to be curious. You have to look closely, sniff, listen, and notice the little things that others don't see.

"I found a clue!" shouted Dash. On a little leaf there was a tuft of soft fur. "This fur is from a hedgehog! They came this way!"

"Point for Dash!" cheered Ziggy, rooting with his arms up high.

Then it was Lily's turn. With her sharp eyes, she bent over the sparkling grass and saw something tiny.

"Look!" she said. "A little footprint! A little paw left its mark in the dew!"

"Point for Lily!" everyone shouted.

Ziggy wanted to search too. He ran ahead, got down on all fours like a real detective, and found three nibbled little seeds. "Someone had a snack here! Hedgehogs eat seeds! This clue is mine!"

"Point for Ziggy!" giggled Skye.

And Skye too, calm as ever, found her clue: looking up, she noticed a bent little twig. "Someone tiny passed this way," she said softly. "The twig points the way like an arrow."

Then Pucci sniffed the air. His nose began to quiver. "I smell... I smell... acorns! Hedgehogs love acorns! Their den smells of acorns! This way, this way!"

And off he dashed. But since he was running with his head down, he didn't see a stone and... kaboomph! He rolled down the slope like a ball, bouncing three times. "I'm okaaay!" he shouted from below, with a leaf stuck on his nose and his ears full of grass. The children laughed until their tummies hurt.

Clue after clue, the path began to reappear. A tuft of fur here, a little footprint there, the nibbled seeds, the smell of acorns further ahead. It was like an obstacle course, and at every clue the children jumped for joy and spun around.

But then... the hard moment came.

The sun was climbing in the sky. And, as it climbed higher, the dew began to disappear. The sparkling droplets dried up one after another. And with them, the little footprints were vanishing too!

"Oh no!" said Skye, bringing her hands to her face. "The footprints are fading! If the sun dries up all the dew, we won't find the way anymore!"

The tiny hedgehogs began to cry. Mama hedgehog hugged her babies.

For a moment, even Dash stopped. The path ended right there, in front of a big grey rock. There were no more footprints to see. There was nothing left to see.

Everyone's heart was beating fast.

"Maybe... maybe we won't make it," whispered Ziggy, in a tiny little voice.

But Dash didn't give up. He closed his eyes and thought with all his might. Then his eyes flew wide open. "Wait a minute!" he said. "We don't have to search only with our eyes. Pucci, you have your nose! The sun dries the dew, but it can't dry the SMELLS!"

Pucci's eyes went wide. "You're right, Dash! The smells stay! Leave it to my nose!"

The teddy bear sniffed to the right, sniffed to the left, went around the rock once, twice, three times... and caught the smell of acorns, strong, coming from the other side.

"Over there! The den is over there! Behind the rock there's a hidden passage!"

Everyone ran after Pucci. And, right behind the big rock, a narrow little path appeared, hidden between two bushes. It led straight toward the woods.

"We found it!" shouted Dash, jumping into the air with a fist toward the sky. "The secret path!"

The hedgehogs couldn't believe it. They ran along the passage, following the smell of acorns, and at the end... there was their den, warm and cozy, just the way they had left it!

"Thank you! Thank you!" squeaked the tiny hedgehogs, hugging Dash's legs. "You saved us!"

Mama hedgehog's eyes were shining with joy. "How did you do it?" she asked.

Dash smiled, still out of breath from running. "With curiosity! We looked closely, we sniffed, we noticed the little things that seemed invisible. Curiosity is like a superpower: it lets you discover what seemed lost."

Skye nodded gently. "Whoever is curious always learns something new."

And so, at the top of the Dancing Wind Peak, they had a little party. The wind did somersaults, the last drops of dew sparkled in the air like confetti, and everyone danced together: the children, the hedgehogs, and Pucci who, while dancing, tripped again and landed right on his bottom, making everyone laugh until they cried.

Then, with his CHUFF CHUFF, CHUFF CHUFF, Toby the Magic Train came back.

The children said goodbye to the hedgehogs and to Pucci the teddy bear with a great big hug, climbed aboard, and Toby sang:

"Chuff chuff! Well done, what a party, what a race!
The curious find treasures in every place!
The path that was lost has been found here today,
climb up, we'll head home, and the dark stays away!"

And as the train came down from the mountain, among clouds as soft as pillows, Dash looked at his friends with shining eyes. "Tomorrow, shall we invent a brand-new race?" he asked.

"Yes!" they all answered together, laughing.

And up there, at the very top, the wind kept on dancing.