Goodie Dreamer's Arc

Chapter 4 of 13

The chipped cup clinked, and Goodie heard a deeper sound underneath — a soft groan from the floorboards of her cottage. More guests kept arriving. The cottage tilted. Squashed marshmallows oozed around the foundation, a sad sticky pile where her stilts had failed. Below the cloud, a glowing jellyfish drifted into place. Its long ribbons curled up and cradled the cottage steady. Goodie exhaled. The cottage was safe. But guests were still spilling out the door, standing on the cloud edge with empty hands. She grabbed every spare cloud-tuft she could reach. She pressed them together into walls. She stretched a shimmering dome overhead and pinned it with ribbon. Slowly, a wide, makeshift ballroom rose beside the cottage — lopsided, glittering, big enough for everyone. Guests poured inside, laughing at the wobbly grandeur. Goodie stood in the doorway, breathing hard. The space was finally big enough. But she had no tables inside, no cloths, no cake stands — just a beautiful empty room, and dozens of waiting eyes turning toward her.