Written by Axelle Pigny

Skye drifted out of her house, wincing at the bitter, overly-fresh breeze of winter. She sat down on a drifting cloud bus and gave the driver a couple moon gem coins, their currency. She sighed. Such a normal day... I wish things could be different. Maybe I could open my delivery express... although my parents don't even let me...

In the middle of her dreams and thoughts, the bus stopped and flushed out some air, making a fooshhh sound. She looked out the window to see if it was her stop, but it turns out the bus was just welcoming a few new passengers.

Suddenly, as a passenger climbed in, the bus shook. Skye turned her head and looked at the passenger, he was a big, chestnut brown grizzly bear with a huge backpack and a cream-colored shawl hanging around his neck. It was really rare to see a grizzly bear around Cloudville, especially in winter. Usually, the polar bears from the Arctic Kingdom visit or travel to Cloudville, but never a grizzly bear.

The big creature lumbered in and squeezed next to Skye, taking his backpack off and pulling out a large plum. He began chomping on it, some of his fur weirdly glowing, making his fur appear slightly golden.

As Skye arrived at her stop and drifted out of the bus, the bear lumbered behind her, as if following her, and tapped her shoulder.

“Oh... uh, hi?” she asked, confused.

The bear growled, “Plum?” and held one of his plums in his huge paw.

“Umm... no thanks... I’ve got to go drift to school.”

The bear tilted his head and said, “School. Raindrop?”

“Um... yes... I go to Raindrop School. Do you?” she asked, confused by what exactly the bear was saying.

The bear nodded, but suddenly, Skye was toppled out of her perch and fell to the ground square on her face.

“Ow... What was that...”

Suddenly, a voice mewed, “Oh! I’m so, so sorry! Didn’t see you two there! Are you guys students of Raindrop School too?”

“O-Oh, um, it’s okay. And yes, we’re Raindrop students,” Skye said, detangling her now messy cloudy braids and tidying up her bag and tufts of fluffy cloud on her.

As the three walked and chatted on their way to class, something was watching them. Skye felt it, it was like an eerie sound whispering in her ears. She winced at it and shook it off, thinking she just drank too much milk that morning, it does that to her sometimes.

But Muru, the oddly glowing grizzly bear, also felt it. He began to cautiously follow Skye, looking back every few minutes.

Meanwhile, their new ghost (yes, ghost) feline friend Pebble didn’t feel a thing and kept on chattering about her opinions and rivalries with dogs she’d met.

Although the eerie presence only lasted for a moment, Muru and Skye still had the creepy feeling that something was watching them from the shadows in class. Skye looked behind her and saw a pair of indigo-purple eyes, like little galaxies, staring at her from the shadows of a cabinet. There was too much shadow to really see what exactly was staring at her, but it gave her the creeps.

She would have told her new friends Pebble and Muru, but she decided not to scare them over something that might just be her imagination. Eventually, the eyes vanished. Skye shook off the thought of it.

Little did the three know, the pair of creepy eyes weren’t just there to scare them... but to warn them. It was a sign... for what the future has in store for them is much, much more than just a pair of creepy galaxies following them...

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Find out more about the mysterious eyes and dive further into the story of the three and how they managed to create a delivery express on their own... Next week/next two weeks! (*)

- Axelle out :P

Axelle Pigny is a young storyteller and illustrator with a wild imagination and a big dream, to become a bestselling author-illustrator and help animals around the world. Every week, she fills a page with new adventures, magical moments, and heartfelt art. When she’s not creating, Axelle loves reading, doodling, and dreaming up ideas to make the world a kinder, more colorful place, one story at a time. She hopes her stories inspire kids all over the world to dream big, create anything using their superpower-imagination, draw wildly, and never give up. She challenges you to embark on a journey of storytelling, doodles and magic! Come and find her on Instagram @axelle.pigny