That afternoon the sky was the color of a ripe peach. The air was warm and smelled of freshly cut grass. In the garden Skye, Ziggy, Lily, and Dash were blowing soap bubbles. Ziggy dipped his wand in the little bucket and blew with all his might, and the bubbles floated up high like light little balloons.

"Look at mine, it's as big as a melon!" laughed Dash, running after a huge bubble.

"Mine goes all the way up to the roof!" said Lily, so stubborn, with her cheeks all puffed out.

Skye, though, blew softly. Her bubbles were small and trembly, but inside them shone all the colors of the rainbow. She watched them float up and smiled sweetly.

Then, all at once, the wind carried a familiar sound.

"CHOO-CHOO! CHOO-CHOO!"

From behind the hedge popped Toby the Magic Train, all shiny, with smoke that smelled of sugar. He puffed happily and said:

"Dear little friends, hop aboard, ride with me,
a castle is waiting — one, two, and three!
High on the mountain, up stone after stone,
the evening lights up with a glow all its own!"

The children clapped their hands, so happy. Climbing aboard the magic train was always the start of something wonderful. They all climbed up, and Toby set off with a joyful whistle, while the peach-colored sky turned pink, and then purple.

The little train stopped at the foot of a mountain. It was called Bright Mountain, because in the evening its top seemed to be made of light. Up there, high above, stood a castle of pale stone, with a single round window.

"That's the Castle of Stars," whispered Ziggy, his eyes wide open. "But how do we get up there?"

In front of them a narrow path began. The children named it right away the Path of the Whispering Stones, because the wind, passing through the pine trees, made a soft sound: "shhh, shhh." The little stones under their hands were warm, and the air smelled of moss and honey.

They began to climb. One step, then another, then another still. The higher they climbed, the closer the sky came, as if the stars wanted to say hello.

"Ugh, I'm tired," grumbled Dash after a while. "My legs want to go back home!" And to be silly he started walking sideways like a crab, making everyone laugh.

"Come on, we're almost there," said Lily, who never gave up. "Look how high we've climbed!"

They turned around. Below them the world had become tiny: the houses looked like little bricks, and the river like a ribbon of silver. Above them, the very first star had already lit up.

Skye, who was the calmest, climbed without hurrying. And it was she, halfway up the path, who heard a tiny sound. A rustle, under a wide leaf near the moss.

"Shh, stop," she said softly. "There's someone here."

She tiptoed closer and lifted the leaf. Underneath, trembling, was a little salamander. But she was all grey, grey as ash, grey as a rainy day. She moved in little hops and smelled of wet moss and honey.

"Hello," said Skye in a whisper. "Don't be afraid."

The salamander trembled and hid even more under the leaf.

"We won't hurt you," said Ziggy, sitting down beside her.

Then the little creature poked out her nose and said, in a shy little voice:

"I'm Grisù. I'm the keeper of this castle."

The children looked at each other. That word was new.

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

"A keeper," Grisù explained, "is someone who watches over a place and takes care of it, like a mommy with her home. I look after the Castle of Stars."

"Ah, what a lovely job!" said Lily.

But Grisù lowered her eyes, and her little voice turned sad.

"It's not a good day, though. The castle door has closed, and the key has vanished. I can't find it anymore. And I've been left out here, all alone, for such a long time. You see, I change color when I'm happy. But ever since I've been alone, my colors have gone away. I've turned all grey."

Skye felt her heart squeeze with tenderness.

"We'll help you find the key," said Ziggy, firmly. "Let's go to the door!"

They climbed the last bit of the path. And there it was, the great castle door: dark wood, tall, with a round lock right in the middle. But it was closed, and the key was not there.

Dash tried first. He pushed with his hands, he pushed with his shoulder, he even pushed with his bottom.

"It won't open!" he huffed, and flopped down on the ground. "It's too hard. I give up."

Then it was Lily's turn. She was the most stubborn of all. She grabbed the handle and pulled with all her might. She pulled and pulled, with her feet planted and her cheeks red.

"Come... on... open... up!" she panted. But the door didn't budge one bit. Lily fell backward, huffing.

Then Ziggy, who always had a head full of ideas, studied the lock up close. He looked inside the hole, tried a little twig, tried a pebble, tried turning a rolled-up leaf like a pretend key.

"There must be a way," he said, thoughtfully. But nothing. The door stayed closed.

The three children were tired and a little cross. They had pushed, pulled, and puzzled, but the door would not give in.

Skye, though, was no longer looking at the door. She was looking at Grisù.

The little salamander sat in a corner, grey and trembling, with shiny eyes. She looked so alone.

Skye sat down beside her, on the cold stone, and gently took her in her hands. Her hands were warm.

"Are you cold?" she asked quietly. "I'll warm you up."

Grisù said nothing. But for a moment, she stopped trembling.

"You know," Skye went on softly, "once I got lost at the park too. I was little and I was so scared. But then my daddy came, he scooped me up in his arms and made a silly joke, and the fear flew away like a soap bubble."

Grisù listened. Her little eyes were watching closely.

"You're not alone anymore now," Skye added. "You have us. And friends are like a warm blanket: they're enough to chase the cold away."

Skye rocked her in her hands and began to hum a lullaby under her breath, the one her mommy sang to her at bedtime. A sweet melody, warm as a blanket.

And as she sang, something magical happened in the sky. Above the castle a shooting star went by, with its golden trail. Then another. Then many, like a rain of light.

"Look!" whispered Lily. "The stars are falling!"

Grisù lifted her eyes toward that wonder. And for the first time in a long, long while, she smiled.

And it happened. On the tip of her tail a tiny dot of color appeared. A warm, glowing yellow, like a ray of sunshine.

"Oh!" went the children all together.

Skye kept warming her and cuddling her. And the kinder she was, the more the colors came back. The yellow ran up along her back. Then came a bright green, a red, a blue, an orange. Grisù lit up like a little rainbow in the night, and her light filled the dark with joy.

"I feel... happy," said Grisù, her voice trembling with joy. "I haven't felt happy in such a long time."

And in that moment, all lit up by her new colors, she remembered something.

"The key!" she cried. "Now I remember! I hadn't lost it! I was the one who hid it. One day I was so afraid of thieves, so I put it somewhere safe. I slipped it inside the stone flower, the one above the door! Then, all alone and sad, I forgot all about it."

Grisù scrambled with her little hops up to a small flower carved in the stone, high above the door. Her colorful light lit up a tiny hole hidden among the petals. And there, sparkling, was the key.

Ziggy caught it in the air as it came down.

"You were the one who found it, Grisù," said Skye with a smile. "With your happy heart."

Grisù slipped the key into the lock and turned it. And the door, which had not opened with pushing, with tugging, or with tricks, now opened all by itself, with a soft "click."

Inside was Grisù's little home: small, cozy, all full of golden lights that looked like stars. There was a soft little bed of moss and a lantern glowing.

"It's beautiful!" said Dash, who wasn't tired at all anymore.

Grisù, all colorful and beaming, hugged them one by one with her little paws.

"Thank you, friends. And thank you, Skye. You pushed hard, you pulled, and you thought so much. But the door only opened when my heart grew warm again. The real strength wasn't in your arms. It was in kindness."

Skye blushed and smiled, her eyes a little shiny with happiness.

It was time to go home. Outside the sky was full of stars twinkling like a thousand little lights all aglow. At the foot of the mountain, Toby the Magic Train was waiting, puffing softly.

The children waved goodbye to Grisù, until her colorful little light stayed shining above the Castle of Stars, like a small, friendly lighthouse.

They climbed aboard the train. Toby whistled softly and said:

"Whoever can warm up a heart with their love,
opens more doors than a hard, heavy shove!
No need to push, or to shout, or to pull:
the loveliest magic is a heart that's full!"

And as the little train went down among the pines that whispered "shhh," Skye rested her head and closed her eyes, with a smile printed on her face. She dreamed of a little salamander who, at last, had found all her colors again.