That afternoon Dash, Ziggy, Lily, and Skye were playing in the garden with soap bubbles. Dash blew as hard as he could, and the bubbles came out huge and wobbly, and then POP! they burst right on his nose. "Look at my giant bubble!" shouted Dash, and he chased the bubbles, hopping like a frog, tripping in the grass and rolling around laughing.

"You're so silly!" laughed Lily, while Skye blew tiny light bubbles and Ziggy tried to make one bubble inside another.

All at once they heard a familiar sound. "CHOO CHOO!"

From behind the bush came Toby the Magic Train, with shiny wheels and colorful smoke. The children ran toward him, shouting with joy. Toby whistled happily and said:

"CHOO CHOO, dear friends, come hop aboard with me,
today we ride to where the water's free!
So bring your smiles, your giggles and your cheer,
a bubble full of magic's waiting here!"

The four friends climbed on laughing, the little train puffed and set off among the trees. Outside the sky was clear, but as the train raced along the sun went down and everything turned orange, pink, and purple, like a picture painted by a giant painter.

Toby stopped beside a big pond hidden in the woods. In the middle of the water spun a beautiful carousel, with cars shaped like little boats and lights that sparkled on the waves. It was the Floating Carousel.

But something was wrong. The carousel spun crooked, the little boats bobbed as if they had the hiccups, and all the leaves around the pond had turned grey. Not orange, not green, not red: grey and sad, like a day without any colors.

"What happened here?" whispered Skye.

Just then, ZIP ZIP ZIP, a tiny speck started zooming back and forth in front of their noses. It was a teeny-tiny hummingbird, with a little gold whistle at its neck that jingled like a bell. And it smelled like fruity candy.

"HihihiI'mFrulloandwelcomeeveryonewehavetodosomethingrightawaybecauseallthisgreyshouldn'tbehereandthefisharesoupsetandIcan'tevenunderstandwhattheysay!" it said all in one breath, without ever stopping.

The children stood with their mouths wide open.

"Slow down, little one!" laughed Dash. "Who can't you understand?"

"The fish!" repeated Frullo, flying backward from all the fuss. "They swim crooked, they flap their fins, they look sad, and I flit around and listen but nothing, I don't understand a single bubble of what they say! We need a synchronized dart, that's what we need!"

Lily frowned. "A... dart? What's a dart?"

Frullo stopped in midair, ever so proud. "A dart is a quick dash, a fast little leap, like when a fish goes ZIP and vanishes underwater in a flash. There: that's a dart!"

"Dart," Ziggy repeated quietly, so he wouldn't forget it. "What a lovely word."

Right then, from the shore, came a lady with white hair and a big smile. She walked with a towel over her shoulders and swim goggles on her forehead.

"I'm Grandma Pina," she said. "When I was young I was a swimming champion, you know? And I know a secret about the fish in this lake." She came closer and lowered her voice, as if telling something precious. "The fish speak the language of bubbles. My grandma taught me, when I was as little as you."

"The language of bubbles?" asked Dash, his eyes going wide.

"That's right," nodded Grandma Pina. "But to understand them, listening isn't enough. You have to get in the water and play their favorite game: bubble-ball. Only by playing like them will you understand them."

Dash gave a jump. "A game?! I LOVE games!"

And without waiting, he dove in. Or rather, he tried: he slipped on the wet edge, flapped his arms like a windmill, and fell into the water with a giant SPLASH that soaked everyone.

"DAAASH!" shouted his friends, laughing and wiping off their faces.

But Ziggy, Lily, and Skye got into the water too, and the game began. The bubble-ball was a light sphere of water that bounced on the waves. The fish swam around curiously, doing somersaults.

What a funny game! Dash was the most bumbling champion in the whole world. He jumped to catch the ball and did cannonball dives, he kicked and missed the sphere by a mile, and every time he "scored" the bubble-ball landed smack on poor Frullo, who rolled through the air shouting: "Pleh! Pleh!" At one point Dash decided to do the most spectacular dive of all time. He climbed onto one of the carousel's little boats, spread his arms like an eagle, and shouted: "Watch the champion!" Then he jumped, but the little boat slipped and he flew head-first into a clump of water lilies, with only his feet poking out of the water and two little frogs hopping on his tummy. Ziggy laughed so hard that bubbles came out of his nose, and even the fish seemed to be splitting their sides laughing.

"What are you saying, Frullo?" asked Lily amid the laughter.

"It means help!" explained the hummingbird, all ruffled. "When I get flustered my words come out backwards! Help becomes pleh!"

The children laughed so hard they almost drank the lake water. But as they played and moved like the fish, diving and darting here and there, something magical began to happen: the sounds of the fish were turning into words.

"Wait," said Skye, still in the water. "Now... now I can hear them. They're sad."

Everyone went quiet. The fish swam in a circle, and their little bubbles told a story. Deep at the bottom of the lake there was a glowing sphere, a ball of golden light that gave color to all the water, the leaves, and the whole woods. But the sphere had gotten stuck under a pile of grey leaves, and its light couldn't get out anymore. That's why the leaves had turned grey. That's why the carousel spun crooked.

"We have to free the sphere!" said Dash, serious for the first time. "And push it into the middle of the lake, where everyone can see it!"

"But you must hurry," warned Grandma Pina, looking at the sky. "When the sun sets all the way, the sphere will go dark for the night, and tomorrow it will be even harder."

Just then a gentle breeze passed through the grey leaves and seemed to whisper: "Hurry... hurry..."

Everyone dove toward the bottom. Dash led the way, puffing out his cheeks like a balloon. They pushed the grey leaves, they pulled, they huffed... but there were so many leaves, all stuck together, and the more they took away the more seemed to come back. Dash pulled too hard, a leaf slipped out of his hands, and he ended up upside down, with his feet out of the water and his head under. "Blub blub blub blub!" he went, spitting out a fountain of water.

The first try had failed. The sun kept sinking lower and lower. The wind whispered: "Hurry... hurry..." And the grey leaves wouldn't move.

"We'll never do it this way," said Lily, panting. "We all move at once and we bonk our heads together!"

Frullo fluttered above them, all worked up. "We need a synchronized dart! I told you so! One dart all together, at the very same moment!"

Dash stopped. He wiped his eyes. And an idea lit up inside him. "Of course! We shouldn't pull just any old way. We have to be like a real team! We all dive at the very same instant, with one single dash, one synchronized dart! On my go!"

The four friends held hands and took a big breath. Grandma Pina smiled. Frullo held his breath. Even the fish stopped to watch.

"One... two... THREE... GO!" shouted Dash.

And they did the most beautiful dart in the world: four dives at the very same moment, quick as fish, straight as an arrow. Their hands gripped the pile of grey leaves all together and gave one single push. The leaves broke away all at once and flew off, and the glowing sphere came free with a flash of gold.

But it wasn't over. The sphere started rolling along the bottom, and Dash launched after it like an Olympic diver, with a very funny acrobatic leap, arms wide and tongue sticking out from concentrating so hard. He grabbed it just in time and, with one last dart, pushed it upward, all the way to the center of the lake, right as the sky burst into orange, pink, and purple.

The sphere floated in the middle of the water and lit up like a little sun. Its light spread everywhere. And then, one by one, the leaves turned colorful again: green, yellow, red, orange. The grey vanished as if by magic. The fish did a thousand happy somersaults and started singing again with their little bubbles. And the Floating Carousel stopped bobbing and began to spin straight and bright again, with its happy little boats.

"WE DID IT!" shouted Dash, and he did yet another cannonball dive to celebrate, soaking everyone all over again.

Grandma Pina laughed and opened her arms. She hugged the four soaked, ruffled, giggling children, and she squeezed little Frullo too, who still smelled of fruity candy.

"You listened to a grandma," she said sweetly, "and you saved the woods. Grandparents have lived a long time, and they keep old secrets. Those with white hair always know one more thing."

The sun hid behind the trees, but the woods now glowed with a thousand colors. It was time to go back. Toby the Magic Train was waiting for them on the shore, with his colorful smoke. Everyone climbed on, tired and happy, and Toby whistled sweetly:

"CHOO CHOO, go home all soaking wet and bright,
you listened to a grandma's words tonight!
The old and wise have secrets they can share,
and now each leaf wears colors bright and fair!"

The little train set off among the colorful trees, and the four friends fell asleep smiling, dreaming of bubbles, singing fish, and a sphere of golden light in the middle of the lake.