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Hello and welcome to your exclusive bonus episode of Koala Moon. Koko's with me and we want to thank you for continuing to support the show. You're making a huge difference in helping us improve the podcast and make many, many more bedtimes a dream. Welcome especially to our newest Coco clubbers, Lucien, who listens with his sister Dahlia, and Cheshire. To August and Sophia, who love dinosaurs, and to our young Aussie Canadian twins, Kai and Isla in Toronto. If you like the Jupiter twins, and who doesn't, you're in for a brilliant, cute and funny adventure tonight. Now, you're premium subscribers, so you have plenty over 400 stories to choose from, but don't let that stop you sending in your new story ideas. We read everything you send and we love making your ideas come to life for others to listen to too. Right, As I promised, we're back in Leeds, UK tonight and the Liora Academy. Who lives there? You got it. The Jupiter twins, Jake and Lily. And also some incredibly cute mouse plants. What's that? You haven't heard of a mouse plant before? Then you better listen in. I'm certainly going to be paying attention as it is that time of year when my own houseplants are springing into life and I have to be really careful not to over water, underwater, overheat or cool my plants too much. It's a lot. I think Lily and I have something in common in that we love plants, but caring for them doesn't come easily and isn't always successful. Maybe I'll learn a thing or two before we begin. A quick message for the Grown Ups if you'd like to support our podcast, enjoy ad free listening unlock four bonus stories per month and much, much more. You can join Coco Club. Subscribe in just two taps via the link in the show notes, but now here's a quick word from our sponsors. Grown Ups. If you're looking for a fun new way to bring a little bluey magic into your children's playtime, here's something I think you'll love. It's the Bluey Supermarket playset. Made for kids who love imagining and playing. Just like Bluey. Just like in the show, this three level supermarket is full of imaginative fun with a real working escalator, rooftop cafe and shelves to explore. It includes exclusive figures, supermarket Bluey and Bingo with her lollipop. Plus 50, 15 plus play pieces and 24 sound effects. Even including a working supermarket intercom. Little ones can decorate the store, ride the escalator and make their own bluey inspired adventures and the best part? It works with all their other Bluey figures too. Bluey Supermarket playset is available at all major retailers. Hey Koala Moon listeners, We've got something special for you this month. From September 8th to September 22nd, you can enjoy a 14 day free trial of Koala Moon Premium, our subscriber only world of extra bedtime adventures ad free listening and magical compilations to celebrate our new subscribers this back to school season, we've gathered some of our most heartwarming school adventures into one cosy collection. Join Isla Prickles, Cuddle, the Puggle, the Jupiter Twins, Coco, and more for gentle tales of first days, new friends, exciting trips, and everyday school magic. We'll be releasing this collection in September, so it's the perfect time to join and make bedtime calm after busy school days. Tap to subscribe on Apple Podcasts or use the Supercast link in our show Notes for Spotify, Yoto and other players to start your free trial and snuggle up with all the stories. Okay, rest back into your bed now and close your eyes, taking some steady, regular breaths. In and out, in and out. Just relax. Maybe place your hands on your belly as you breathe. It's time to begin. Jupiter Twins the Mischievous Mouse Plants By Luke Prendergast Lily Jupiter absolutely loved going to school. Every morning when she woke up in her purple upholstered bed in her dorm at the Liora Academy of Magical Arts, a big, sunny smile would spread across her face at the prospect of all the learning the day had in store. She loved spellcraft, where they learned how to cast enchantments on the most mundane of objects and make them come to life. She loved Pure of Magical Maladies, where they learned how to put magic to all kinds of medical uses. And she loved climbing the narrow, winding stairs to the rooftop to gaze at the stars with her astrology teacher and learn about the mysterious effects each of the constellations had on the humans going about their daily business below, utterly unaware. There was, however, a one subject that Lily wasn't so fond of. Plant magic. Or rather, it wasn't that she wasn't fond of it. It was more like she just wasn't very good at it. She enjoyed walking down to the greenhouses in the afternoon, standing in their warm, damp chambers where droplets of water trickled down the glass and the air was drenched in the sweet aroma of flowers. Her magical plants, she granted, could do a great many unbelievable and wondrous things and were beautiful to look at too. But try as she might, she couldn't make them grow. She supposed she just didn't have that special touch, the knack for coaxing little seedlings into full bloom. Any plant she touched quickly began to look rather unhappy and wilty, so that their teacher, Professor Greenfingers, a very small, very ancient man whose floor length grey beard was always littered with stray petals and bits of soil and fragments of leaf, would have to come and give her a quick helping hand. Sometimes her brother Jake would peer at the measly little shoot in Lily's plant pot, and then he would look around at the other pots, including his own, whose plants had grown big and green and leafy or had beautiful sharp toothed flowers in the shape of lions heads growing on them. Oh, Lily, he would chuckle. I wonder what's gone wrong there. She would be wondering the same thing. I guess it's no bad thing, jake would continue, that there's one subject where you aren't like light years ahead of me. Well, Lily couldn't argue with that, and she would chuckle too, and give her brother a hug. But still, she did often wish she could develop the knack for plant magic. One afternoon after lunch in the banquet hall, Lily and Jake made their way down to the greenhouses for a plant magic lesson. It was high summer, the sun hot in the sky, which meant that they were in the middle of imp season. The little flying creatures with their cheeky faces kept flying overhead and dropping grass bombs on them so that Lily and Jake had to cover their heads and run. Not that it particularly helped. Grass still got all in their clothes and in their hair and right up their noses. Ill be glad to get to the greenhouses, jake called out, where the wildlife isn't so mischievous. They opened the great glass door and stepped into a warm wet world where all plants turned the sunlight a hazy green. Magical butterflies fluttered around their heads, sparkling gold dust falling from their wings, landing in a fine dust on Jake and Lily's shoulders. Welcome, Jupiter twins, professor Greenfingers said, pulling a little twig from his beard and tossing it away. You're just in time. I was just about to tell the class about today's new assignment. Lily and Jake took up their normal places behind a long wooden workbench. Professor Greenfingers hopped up on his tree stump at the front, which he stood on so that he could see the whole class. Now then, all righty, he said, surveying the rows of blinking faces. Today we're going to start getting to know an entirely new species of magical plant. And a very. What's the word? Cute one at that. I suppose all of you have heard of house plants? The students continued blinking at him. A few of them nodded. Yes, yes, houseplants, professor Greenfingers insisted. Just the thought your parents have in their living rooms. You know, the ones they water with their watering cans and spritz and spray. Yeah, sure, you've all heard of houseplants, but. And now Professor Greenfingers reached for a small terracotta pot that he had waiting ready beside him. The pot was filled with soil and had a few sprouts of longish grass poking out of it. I bet you've never heard of mouse plants. The professor's eyes skittered around the room, seeming satisfied with the expressions of confusion and curiosity on the faces of all the students. He grasped the sprouts of grass firmly with one hand and gave it a tug. The whole plant, roots and all, was pulled from the soil. Professor Greenfingers held it dangling in the air so that everyone could see that at the plant's end, where there should have been a nice round bulb, there was instead an adorable fluffy mouse. The mouse gave a squeak. It looked around the greenhouse, blinking its little button eyes at everyone. It didn't look scared, more like it had been unceremoniously disturbed from a rather peaceful sleep. Sighs of ha and coos of affection filled the greenhouse. One girl even exclaimed, so cute. The mouse looked at her and nodded as though he quite agreed. This, said Professor Greenfingers, is a Mabs plant. They're no common kind of vegetable. They are, as you can see, the floofiest, acutesiest, most itsy bitsy creatures you'll find in the whole wide world. The professor seemed overcome with just how adorable the mouse plant was and had to take a few seconds to collect himself. Now, he said when he had recovered, you'll each of you in your pairs, find a mouse plant in the pot in front of you. And for the next few weeks, our plant magic lessons will be focusing purely on the raising of your mouse plants. First off, repotting. Each of the mouse plants needs a bigger spot to call home. Off you go. The sound of shuffling feet and squeals of excitement sprung around the greenhouse as the students began to investigate the pots on their workbenches. Jake slid their pot along the bench until it stood between them and looked at Lily. You do it, she said. So Jake, copying what the professor had done before, gripped the shoots of grass in his hand and pulled their mouse plant clean out of its soily bed. Ah, nice, said Jake. Ours is a particularly cute one. Lily had to agree, the little creature blinking blearily around at the world had a pink button nose and a fuzzy white coat with big splodges of black, as though someone had accidentally tipped an inkwell over it. He gave a quiet kind of squeak before appearing to fall right back to sleep, dangling there in the midair. Right, said Jake. Let me go and get a bigger pot and some fresh soil. Here, Lily, you hold our mouse plant for a minute. I won't be long. And before Lily could say a word, he had handed the mouse plant over to her and disappeared across to the other side of the greenhouse. Lily eyed the mouse plant a little nervously. It certainly was cute, its tummy rising and falling in time with its breath, its ear twitching as though it were on some dream adventure. And surprisingly enough, it seemed content to stay sleeping peacefully while Lily held it. In fact, Lily was just beginning to think that she was beginning to develop this knack for looking after magical plants when, quite abruptly, the mouse plant opened its eyes and gave an almighty loud squeak. Then, suddenly, the little thing was scribbling and scrabbling as though it wanted nothing more than to get itself out of Lily's grip. She had to hold on tight to stop it jumping right out of her hands. What have you done? Jake asked, reappearing beside her with a pot full of soil. Me? Lily replied. I haven't done anything. I've barely moved a muscle. The mouse plant was perfectly happy sleeping for a while, and then it woke up and started kicking up this fuss. Here, said Jake. Let me take it. And of course, when Jake took it back, the mouse plant stopped its struggling and looked happily around the greenhouse again. Jake raised an eyebrow at her, as if to say, are you sure you didn't do anything? But he didn't say anything out loud, just plunged the mouse plant into its roomy new pot of soil. Lily shrugged. I think it's fair to say, she sighed, that as far as plant magic goes, I'm cursed. And things didn't get much better over the next few weeks. Whenever Jake was in charge of looking after the mouse plant, everything was as peaceful as peaceful could be. The mouse plant often dozed or curled up in the palm of his hand, or even snuggled down into the folds of his robes and fell asleep. Jake planted little kisses on the mouse plant's pink button nose, and the mouse plant would squeak merrily and nuzzle up to Jake's cheek. But whenever Lily was in charge, it was a different story. Then the mouse plant was full of energy. It scribbled and scrabbled and tried to leap from its pot or from Lily's cupped hands, it would scurry off across the greenhouse, hopping around the stems of plants and hiding behind bursts of leaves. Lily would have to crawl after it, calling, come back mousey, mousey, mousie. But the mouse wouldn't come back to her. Eventually the whole class would have to get involved, crawling around and calling out, mousie, mousie, mousie. Professor Greenfingers, meanwhile, would stand there scratching his head. How curious, he'd say. I do wonder what is going on in that mouse plant's mind. On the way back up to the main buildings of the Leora Academy, Lily would almost be glad of the cheeky imps flying about throwing their grass bombs. They, as far as she was concerned, were easier to deal with than a mouse plant. Then one afternoon in Plant Magic, the mouse plant hopped right out of Lily's hands and scurried straight out through the greenhouse door, which had been left open just an inch or two. Lily and Jake exchanged a wide eyed look. Oh, oh, they said. Well, off you go. Professor Greenfingers told them. Go and catch it. We can't have a mouse plant running around the great outdoors willy nilly. Off you go. Jake and Lily headed out of the greenhouse and spotted the mouse plant, or at least its tufts of leaves, which poked out above the grass, scampering across the wandering woods. Come on, Jake said. If the mouse plant goes far into those woods, we'll never find him. And so the Jupiter twins hurried across the grass and dove through the winding tree trunks and into the wandering woods. When Lily had first heard about the wandering woods on the day she arrived at the Liora Academy, she thought they sounded pretty scary. But in fact, they weren't scary at all. They were a dense thicket of trees that grew next to the school. But like most things at the Liora Academy, they were no average set of woods. They were magical woods. Of course, venturing into them, you never discovered the same thing twice. Once, Lily had gone in and found a glade full of strange animals who had rabbits bodies but the heads of sheep. Another time she'd met a unicorn who let her pet it and feed it from a sack of oats. And another time she'd found a perfectly still pond which showed you the future when you looked into it. The wandering woods were a really fun place. Actually. The only problem was that it was easy to lose track of space and time in there. And right now they needed to concentrate on finding that mouse plant. Lily and Jake crept through the undergrowth, making their way through the Wandering woods. Little spears of light came in through the leaves and lanced down onto the forest floor. Twigs and leaves snapped beneath their feet, and every now and then they heard the chirrup of birds or the sound of Centaur's feet galloping in the distance. They reached a fork in the path and looked this way and that. Jake asked, which way do you reckon? Lily weighed up the options. She pointed that way. They followed the way she'd chosen and soon enough came to another fork in the path. You can choose this time, she told Jake. Which way do you think a mouse plant would have gone? Jake stroked his chin as though stroking a little beard, then pointed. This way, he said, and began to march up the path through the close knit of tree trunks. Lily was just following him when she heard a sound from nearby. Psst. Pssst. It was the sound of a tiny voice. Lily looked around her and saw a little creature hovering in the air next to a particularly spindly nearby tree. The creature hung in the shade so she couldn't see it properly. She squinted her eyes and said, oh, dear. Are you an imp? Are you going to throw another grass bomb at me? Well, go ahead if you must. I'm no. Impossible. The creature replied in a voice as clear and true as a tiny bell. Look. And she flew out of the shade and stopped in the air right before Lily's eyes. I'm a fairy. Oh, I see, Lily replied. Well, I'm sorry for calling you an imp. I couldn't see you properly there, and it really is imp season at the moment. The fairy gave her bright pink hair a shake and smiled at Lily. That's no problem, she said. I only gave you a psst because I heard you talking about mouse plants. Lily nodded and explained the predicament they'd found themselves in. How the mouse plant had escaped from the greenhouse and scampered off into the wandering woods. And then, as she'd started telling the story, she found herself telling the fairy the rest of the details, too. How the mouse plant seemed to be perfectly at ease with Jake, but not one bit with her. The fairy listened attentively, nodding and shaking her head at all the right moments. When Lily had finished, she said, well, that's just why I stopped you, because I happen to be something of an expert when it comes to mouse plants. Lily's eyes glinted brightly. You are? Oh, yes, the fairy said. In fact, I'm rather a dab hand at everything to do with flowers and vegetables. I've got the plant magic, you see. And then the fairy told Lily that the best way to make a mouse plant friendly and obedient was to stroke its belly with the feather plucked from a lullaby water bird. There was nothing a mouse plant loved more than that it made them so restful and happy. Plus, the feather of the lullaby water bird had many nutritious properties, too, so that being stroked by it made the mouse plant grow big and strong. Oh, said Lily delightedly, That's exactly what I need. Except I don't know where to find a lullaby water bird, let alone one of its feathers. That's where you're in luck, the fairy told her, and from behind her back, she pulled out a beautiful pale blue feather. I have one right here, and you are welcome to it. I am? Whispered Lily, and she watched as the fairy dropped the feather and let it flutter down to land in her outstretched hands. Of course, she said. Us fairies are only here to help. See ya. And with that, the fairy disappeared in a puff of green smoke. How strange, Lily thought to herself, the things you stumble upon in the wandering woods. Strange, but undeniably helpful. Jake called from up ahead. Lily slipped the feather into the pocket of her robes and hurried to meet him. He was standing by the edge of a small clearing, half crouched, as if careful not to move even an inch, and pointing. Look, he whispered. There it was, the mouse plant scratching its back on the root of a tree. It hadn't had any idea that either of them were there, but then it looked around dreamily and caught sight of them. Its ears pricked up and its pink button nose twitched. It looked as though it was about to scarper once more. But then Lily slipped the lullaby water bird feather out of her robe pocket. The mouse plant looked curiously at her for a few moments, then it scurried straight over to her and lay on its back, baring its belly to the sky. Lily knelt down and stroked its belly with the feather, and the mouse plant gave a few appreciative squeaks. It suddenly looked very sleepy indeed. It rolled back onto its feet, climbed up Lily's robe, and fell promptly to sleep on her shoulder. Jake's mouth was hanging open. What have you done? What do you mean? Lily asked, keeping her face arranged in the perfect expression of innocence. I haven't done anything. But the mouse plant seems to love you, jake said. Lily looked at her shoulder, where the mouse plant was emitting little mouse snores. Huh? She said. So it does. Jake pointed at the feather. What's that? Oh, this, she said. Just a feather I found on the floor. And she slipped it back into her pocket. Jake gave her a curious look, as though he could tell that something was afoot, but he nodded and the three of them walked back the way they had come, out of the wandering woods, across the grass, and back into the greenhouse, where Professor Greenfingers was once again standing on his tree stump block. Ah, Jupiter twins, you're back, he said, giving them a twinkly smile. And I'm glad to see you found your mouse plant. And Lily, your mouse plant seems to have finally taken a shine to you. It looks like you might have the plant magic knack after all. Lily and Jake stood back behind their workbench. Professor Greenfingers told the class that it was time for the mouse plants to settle down. They needed their sleep if they were to grow big and strong. The class would have to coax their mouse plants into a dreamy sleep, and then, very carefully indeed, so as not to disturb them in their slumber, bury them back in their pots of soil. For Lily and Jake, that was easy. Their mouse plant was already fast asleep. Lily was feeling a little bad that she hadn't told Jake the truth about the feather. The Jupiters were twins, and there was almost nothing they kept from one another. So while the others were trying to send their mouse plants off into the Land of Nod, Lily told him all about the fairy she had met in the wandering woods and how she gave her the lullaby waterbird feather and how it helped to soothe the mouse plant. Do you think we should help the others out? Lily asked Jake. Jake nodded. Yes. And so Lily and Jake went around the classroom, helping all of their classmates to send their mouse plants off to sleep with the pale blue magical feather. Soon enough, all the mouse plants were tucked into their pots of soil, and the sky visible through the top of the greenhouse had turned dark purple. Even little stars could be seen twinkling up above. And now, murmured Professor Greenfingers, it is time for all of you to be off to bed too. Good night and see you tomorrow. Lily and Jake walked slowly back up to the Leora Academy. They yawned sleepily, for it had been a long day. Seems that the imps have all gone to bed too, jake said. He was right. The nighttime walk was peaceful, no grass bombs raining down on them from above. Lily and Jake climbed up to their dorms and got ready for bed. They whispered good night to each other and tucked themselves down beneath their duvets. Through the window, the soft light of the moon shone through as though she were watching over them. And just as Lily was drifting off into a deep and peaceful sleep. She thought to herself that she was rather looking forward to plant magic tomorrow, Sam.