It was a few weeks before Wassalia, and everyone in the castle was happily getting ready. They also had another reason to be joyful this season. James was singing in public again, and singing with his door open. This was going to be the first Wassalia in three years that they heard James singing around the castle instead of in his room with his door closed.

As they heard him singing as he helped them decorate, several people, Violet, Dorrie, Candice, Marcy, and Suzette included, paused in their work to give him a hug. Violet even slipped a bag of peppermints into his pocket like she used to when he and Amber were younger and they helped out around the castle. Even Baileywick patted him on the shoulder as he passed, smiling as he heard James sing around the castle again.

As he finished his song and thanked Violet for the treat, James looked up to see Sofia. "Great song, James, but come on! Mom said she found him!"

"Who?" James asked as Sofia pulled him away with her, but not before taking a piece of candy that James offered.

"What's going on?" Lucinda asked as she came down from her and Sofia's workshop and taking her own peppermint.

Suddenly, they saw Amber running up to them, wearing the same excited grin she wore whenever she was in the Jewel Room. "James! She's back! She's been gone for so long I almost forgot about her, but we never stopped looking for her!"

"Who?" Sofia asked.

"Follow me!" Amber took a peppermint for herself, then grabbed their hands and led them to the castle sitting room.

"Hey, save some for Mom and Dad, Amber!" James joked as he hurried to keep up with her.

"Again I say, what's going on?" Lucinda asked as she followed them.

The four of them entered the sitting room, and found Miranda there. Miranda smiled as they came in, put a finger to her lips, and pointed at one of the chairs. Seated on it was a little cloth sprite doll wearing a red outfit and a red hat.

Lucinda looked puzzled. "All this excitement over a sprite doll?"

Amber looked confused. "Wait a minute. Who's that?"

"Yeah, Amber, I thought you said she was back," James added.

Sofia grinned. "It's Sparks!"

"Sparks?" Amber asked.

"Sparks Billingham, our Scout Sprite," Miranda replied, "He lived with Sofia and I when we lived in the village. I guess he found his way here to the castle after Roland and I got married."

"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" Lucinda asked. "What's a Scout Sprite?"

"The Scout Sprite is a Wassalia tradition for families in the village," Miranda explained. "The Scout Sprites watch to see that children behave, and they can listen to their wishes. Every night they disappear, and in the morning, they re-appear in a different area of the house. I adopted Sparks for Sofia two years before Roland and I got married."

"Ah, the Scout Sprite," Roland smiled as he entered, hearing the conversation, and he and Miranda helped themselves to the peppermints that James offered. "I see that you have one as well."

"What do you mean, Rollie?" Miranda asked.

"Didn't James or Amber tell you?" Roland asked, "We also have one…or I should say we had one."

"That's right. Jazzy!" James smiled. "I can't believe I almost forgot about her!"

"Jazzy?" Miranda asked.

"Jazzy Gingerberg," Amber clarified.

"Oh," Sofia paused, then she brightened. "That's great! Sparks can have a friend to play with!"

"That would be nice, if we could find her," Roland started. "We haven't seen Jazzy since Melinda died."

"That's right," Amber paused, "That was the last Wassalia she was with us." She looked like she was about to cry, but she took a deep breath, composed herself, and continued her story. "I still remember when we got her. I was sick, and James went with Mother into the village. They said that one of the shops had a whole display of Scout Sprites that people could adopt. James thought it would be fun to adopt one of them to cheer me up, so they picked out a little girl."

"That's right," James added, "When we got back, Dad read us the book that came with her, and I came up with her name from the list of ideas the shopkeeper gave us: Jazzy Gingerberg."

"Yes, and I recall that after Amber was feeling better, she went with James and Melinda to where they adopted Jazzy," Roland added, "The shop also had a variety of clothes the Scout Sprite could be dressed in, and some other clothes went along with other holidays. If I remember correctly, Amber picked out a black and white cloth skirt with a reindeer, and black and white cloth shoes."

"That's so cute!" Sofia squealed. "I would have loved to see that!"

"Yes, and now it appears that we'll have to get Sparks an outfit too!" Miranda joked.

"Mom, don't you remember? I bought him some clothes before we came to the castle," Sofia reminded her. "We just never had the chance to see him in them."

"And I never had the chance to have a Scout Sprite of my own," Lucinda murmured. She was about to take Sparks off the chair he was sitting on, but Miranda stopped her.

"Don't touch the Scout Sprite! He'll lose his magic if you do that. But if you really need to hold him, use this," she handed Lucinda a handkerchief and told her to wrap Sparks in it or cover her hand with it. "The handkerchief is like a protective barrier between your hand and the Scout Sprite so he won't lose his magic."

"Sorry," Lucinda apologized as she covered her hand and patted Sparks on the head. "I guess I also could have levitated him with my wand."

Roland smiled. "That's all right. And while it's nice to see a Scout Sprite in the castle again, we haven't seen Jazzy for a few years. Don't get me wrong; she's probably still around somewhere, and she'll most likely reveal herself when she wants to be found."

"But in the meantime, Sparks can fill in for her," Miranda agreed, putting an arm around Sofia. "He did a wonderful job of keeping watch over us in the village, and now he can watch all of us here."

"But how come we're only seeing Sparks now? I've never seen him any other time during the holidays," Amber asked.

"That's because until recently, Sparks lived in my room," Sofia admitted. "Mom knew he was hiding there, and she told me that when I was ready, I could let him introduce himself to you."

"That's all right. And it's wonderful that Sparks is here again," Miranda smiled at the little Scout Sprite.

"Yeah…and maybe when Jazzy's found, she and Sparks can play together and be friends!" Sofia smiled. Her smile widened as she added, "Mom, do you remember how Sparks would sometimes find his way into the shop?"

"Oh yes," Miranda smiled. "Families with young children would see him, and they'd throw in a few extra coins for Sparks, since he was listening to the kids as their parents did business with us."

"If you think that's amusing, listen to this," Roland grinned. "I remember one time when Jazzy was seen sitting on my throne! I couldn't use it for the whole day, and I had six people who had to speak with me. Miranda, I had to sit on your throne instead to do business with them!"

"Oh, no!" Miranda couldn't help laughing.

"Oh, yes!" Roland chuckled, "As I recall, Baileywick was furious when he was told that he couldn't move her and put her someplace else, but the people I had to speak with were more than understanding, as they had Scout Sprites themselves!" He gave James and Amber, who were snickering at the memory, a mock glare. "You two wouldn't know how she got there, would you?"

"He saw her there first!" Amber grinned, pointing at James.

"Jazzy was there when I came in the room!" James countered.

"Don't pull the 'it was like that when I got here' routine, James; I know you saw her before I came down to breakfast!"

As he playfully argued with Amber, James tried to smile at the idea of the Scout Sprites playing in the castle as everyone slept, working in the village shoe shop, and sitting on Roland's throne. However, his smile faded as he got a look of remembrance on his face, and he became lost in thought.

"Are you okay, James?" Lucinda asked.

"What?" James jumped, but he straightened up. "Oh, sure, Lucy; I'm fine. I was just thinking about Jazzy."

"Do you know where Jazzy is?" Amber asked.

"I haven't seen her since we found her in my closet, but that was a long time ago," James shrugged, and walked away.

Amber frowned, but Roland, Lucinda, Miranda and Sofia looked puzzled, if not a little concerned. They felt that James was trying to hide something, and they decided to keep an eye on him. However, they knew he'd tell them if something was wrong.

Author's Notes

Thanks to Niagara14301 for helping with some details in this chapter. Dorrie and Candice are their characters, and are used with permission.

A Scout Sprite is a variation on the classic Christmas toy Elf on the Shelf. The Scout Sprite works the same way as the Elf, but while the Elf can't be touched no matter what when it's first discovered, a Scout Sprite can be wrapped in a handkerchief or someone can wrap their hand in a handkerchief unless someone tells a person not to touch it. The only physical contact allowed for this is a pat on the head or shoulder.

'It was like that when I got here' is one of three phrases squires should know. (see chapter 6 of my story The Rise and Fall of Eze Grey).

The title of this story is based on the movie What Ever Happened to Baby Jane.