Sparkfang

Chapter One: The Boy Who Sneezed Out His Wings

Nobody knew that Milo Moon had wings until the day he sneezed in the school library.

ACHOO!

Two purple wings burst out of the back of his raincoat, knocked over a whole shelf of dinosaur books, and folded themselves away again like they were embarrassed.

Milo had wings and arms — four things sticking out of one small back, which made putting on a jumper very complicated. He had a long stripey tail too, which he kept curled up inside his left welly boot, where it thumped whenever he got excited. And when he smiled his very biggest smile, two little pointy teeth peeked out over his bottom lip — and a tiny gold spark popped out and floated away.

Pop.

“You’re not a monster,” his grandmother said that night, brushing his blond hair back behind his small round ears. “You’re a Sparkfang. There’s been one in our family every hundred years.”

“What does a Sparkfang do?”

His grandmother pointed out the window, toward the hill where the old cemetery sat under the moon. “Sometimes people fall asleep up there before they’ve finished being alive. A Sparkfang flies over, finds the sleepy ones, gives them one spark, and brings them home to their families.”

Milo’s tail thumped so hard his welly boot fell off.

That very night, Milo climbed out of his window in his raincoat and both his wellies, and he flew.

The cemetery was not scary at all. It was quiet, and full of fireflies, and every little stone had a lantern glowing beside it. Milo landed on the grass and listened hard with his small round ears.

Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

Somewhere under the old oak tree, something was still going.

Milo dug with all four of his hands until he found a girl about his size, curled up asleep in the roots, still holding her lunchbox. He smiled his very biggest smile, and one gold spark popped out and landed on her nose.

Her eyes flew open.

“Am I late for school?” she said.

“About four days late,” said Milo.

The girl looked at his wings. Then his tail. Then his two little pointy teeth.

“Are you a monster?”

Milo thought about it very carefully. Then he grinned, picked her up, and lifted them both into the sky.

“Nope,” he said. “I’m your ride home.”

End of Chapter One