Jahmaika lived in a tall castle with blue roofs, round windows, and flags that danced in the wind. She was a small girl with bright boots and a little purple cape. She was kind, curious, and sometimes shy. But when someone needed help, Jahmaika tried her very best.
The castle was also a school for magic. Its Headmaster wore silver glasses and a long green coat with pockets full of chalk, keys, and peppermint sweets. He was strict about muddy shoes, but gentle about mistakes.
Every morning, he rang the golden bell. Ding! Ding! Ding!
“Good morning, young spell-makers!” he called.
One sunny morning, Jahmaika hurried into the great hall. But she stopped with a gasp.
The castle had lost its colors.
The red rugs were gray. The yellow candles were gray. Even the Headmaster’s green coat was the color of cloudy soup.
“Oh dear,” said the Headmaster. “This is a very serious muddle.”
Outside, the garden was gray too. The roses drooped. The fountain splashed gray water. Above the castle, the rainbow had become a pale, quiet line.
Jahmaika held her cape. “Where did the colors go?”
The Headmaster opened his oldest book. Its pages fluttered by themselves. At last, they stopped on a picture of a huge Giant who lived beyond the Misty Hills.
“The Giant has sneezed,” said the Headmaster.
“Sneezed?” asked Jahmaika.
“Yes. Giant sneezes are powerful. They can blow hats away, shake trees, and sometimes suck up every color nearby.”
Jahmaika looked at the gray castle. Then she looked at the picture. The Giant seemed very big. Bigger than the castle towers.
“I am little,” she whispered.
“You are little,” agreed the Headmaster. “But little people can carry big courage.”
He gave her a tiny lantern, a striped scarf, and a magic paintbrush.
“This brush does not make colors,” he explained. “It helps colors find their way home. First, you must find the Giant’s rainbow sneeze.”
Jahmaika put the brush safely in her pocket. Her knees felt wobbly, but she nodded.
“I will go,” she said.
The Headmaster smiled. “That is brave. Remember: being brave does not mean you are never scared. It means you keep going kindly, even when you are scared.”
Jahmaika crossed the castle drawbridge. Clop, clop, clop went her bright boots. Soon, she reached the Misty Hills. The mist curled around her ankles like sleepy white cats.
Then she heard a sound.
“Haaah... haaah... HAAACHOOO!”
A gust of wind whooshed over the hill. Jahmaika’s scarf flew up and landed on her head like a noodle.
“Oh!” she said, laughing. “That was a very big sneeze.”
At the top of the hill stood the Giant’s house. It was made from boulders, with a chimney as wide as a pond. Beside the door was a sign: PLEASE KNOCK SOFTLY. I HAVE A HEADACHE.
Jahmaika’s hand shook a little. She knocked. Tap. Tap. Tap.
The door creaked open.
There was the Giant. He was enormous. His hair stuck out in all directions. His nose was pink. His eyes were watery. Around him floated red bubbles, blue swirls, yellow sparkles, and green curls of light.
“Are you here to tell me off?” the Giant rumbled.
“No,” said Jahmaika. “I came from the castle. Our colors are gone.”
The Giant gave a sad sniff. “I know. I did not mean to take them. I have the biggest tickle in my nose. Every time I sneeze, the colors swirl around me. I cannot catch them.”
“Haaah...” said the Giant.
Jahmaika jumped back. “Wait! Please sneeze into this!”
She held up an empty cooking pot from beside the Giant’s fireplace.
“HAAACHOOO!”
The pot flew across the room. Boing! It bounced off a chair, spun around a lamp, and landed upside down on Jahmaika’s head.
The Giant blinked. Then Jahmaika peeked out from under the pot.
The Giant began to giggle. His giggle shook the spoons on the table.
Jahmaika giggled too. “That did not work.”
“No,” said the Giant. “But you are a very funny helper.”
Jahmaika took out the magic paintbrush. The brush gave a tiny hum. It pointed toward a high shelf.
On the shelf sat a small golden box. It had a picture of a flower on its lid.
“What is in there?” asked Jahmaika.
The Giant squinted. “My grandmother’s sneeze-pepper. I put it away because it makes my nose itch. But perhaps a little got into my porridge.”
On the table stood a giant bowl. Inside was gray porridge with tiny red pepper specks.
“Aha!” said Jahmaika. “The pepper is making you sneeze.”
“But how can we calm my nose?” asked the Giant.
Jahmaika thought hard. She was not the loudest student. She did not always have the fastest answer. But she was very good at noticing small things.
By the window, she saw a pot of mint leaves. In the corner, she saw a honey jar. And on the floor, she found a smooth blue pebble shaped like a teardrop.
“My grandmother makes warm mint and honey tea when I sniffle,” said Jahmaika. “Maybe it can help you too.”
The Giant smiled hopefully. “I have a teacup.”
He brought out a teacup as big as a bathtub.
Together, they made tea. The Giant poured warm water very carefully. Jahmaika dropped in mint leaves. Plop! Then they added honey. Glug, glug, glug.
The Giant took one tiny sip.
“Mm,” he said. “That is nice.”
He took another sip. Then he breathed in slowly. And out slowly.
No sneeze came.
The colored swirls stopped spinning. They floated in the air like sleepy butterflies.
Jahmaika lifted her magic brush. “Colors, colors, do not roam. Follow the rainbow road back home!”
The brush shone. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple light curled around Jahmaika’s boots. Then it rushed out of the Giant’s house and flew over the Misty Hills.
Jahmaika and the Giant watched from the doorway.
Far away, the castle turned bright again.
The red rugs became red. The candles glowed yellow. The fountain sparkled blue. The roses lifted their soft pink heads. Above the towers, a huge rainbow stretched across the sky.
“Hooray!” shouted the Giant.
His shout was so loud that three birds flew backward.
Then the Giant looked worried. “I made such a mess. Will the Headmaster be angry?”
Jahmaika remembered the Headmaster’s gentle eyes. “He may be serious,” she said. “But we can tell the truth. And we fixed the problem together.”
So they walked to the castle. The Giant took slow steps so Jahmaika could keep up. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp.
At the drawbridge, the Headmaster waited. His green coat was green again, and his silver glasses shone.
“I see our colors have returned,” he said.
The Giant bowed his huge head. “I am sorry. I sneezed them away.”
The Headmaster looked at Jahmaika. “And how did you solve it?”
Jahmaika felt shy with everyone watching. But she stood tall in her bright boots.
“I listened,” she said. “The Giant was not trying to be mean. His nose was tickly. We made mint and honey tea. Then my brush helped the colors go home.”
The Headmaster clapped. The castle children clapped too. Even the suits of armor clinked their metal hands together.
“Excellent magic,” said the Headmaster. “The best magic begins with a kind heart and careful listening.”
Then he opened a velvet chest. Inside were shiny little badges shaped like rainbows.
“For Jahmaika,” he announced, “the Rainbow Helper Badge.”
Jahmaika pinned it to her purple cape. It glittered in seven bright colors.
“For the Giant,” said the Headmaster, “a large box of sneeze-free peppermint tea.”
The Giant’s eyes grew wide. “For me?”
“And a very large teacup,” added the Headmaster.
The Giant smiled so broadly that the castle windows sparkled.
That afternoon, the castle held a Rainbow Picnic. The Giant sat outside so his knees would not bump the ceiling. Jahmaika showed him how to paint tiny stars with her magic brush. The Giant painted one very large star on a hill, and everyone cheered.
When the sun went down, Jahmaika looked at her new badge. She still felt small. She still felt shy sometimes. But now she knew something wonderful.
A small girl could help a giant problem.
And if a brave heart carried kindness, it could be brighter than a rainbow.