They followed the stream.

At first it was only a trickle between stones. Then it slipped beneath ferns, gathered in little pools, and led them out of the trees.

The valley opened around them.

Flowers grew everywhere. White ones crowded the banks. Purple ones nodded above the grass. And among them, over them, between them, amber butterflies moved in the warm air.

Wind stopped.

Sophie bumped into his pack.

“Oh,” she said.

A whole cloud of butterflies lifted from the flowers beside the path. Sunlight shone through their wings.