Ginger woke because the moon was shining on her pillow. At first, she thought it was only moonlight slipping through the curtains. But when she opened her eyes, she saw something strange. A thin silver path stretched across her bedroom floor, beginning at the window and ending beside her bed.

Ginger sat up and stared at it. The path shimmered as though someone had sprinkled it with tiny stars. She slipped out from under her blankets and put one bare foot onto the silver light.

The moment her toes touched it, her bedroom disappeared.

Ginger was standing beneath an enormous moon, much larger than she had ever seen it before. It hung so low in the sky that she felt she could reach up and touch it. Ahead of her stood a little gate made of twisting silver vines. There was no fence on either side of it, only the gate.

Ginger walked over and pushed it open.

On the other side was a garden unlike any garden she had ever seen. Pale blue flowers opened as she walked past them. Tiny white blossoms floated above the ground instead of growing from it. Long grasses shimmered like strands of silver hair, and round flowers the color of moonlight turned slowly toward Ginger as though they had been waiting for her.

She bent down to smell one. It smelled like rain on warm earth. Another smelled like cinnamon toast. A tiny purple flower smelled exactly like the blanket on her bed after it had dried outside in the sun.

Ginger laughed and hurried from flower to flower, wondering what the next one would smell like. Then she noticed something moving among the plants.

A small white rabbit stepped onto the path. Its ears were so long they nearly touched its back, and instead of a fluffy tail, it had a tiny glowing light. “Are you a rabbit?” Ginger asked.

The rabbit twitched its nose, turned, and hopped away.

“I guess that means follow you.”

Ginger followed. The rabbit led her deeper into the garden, past trees with silver leaves and a pond filled with tiny stars. Ginger knelt beside the water and reached toward one. The star darted away, but another came closer and bumped gently against her fingertip.

“You’re not supposed to be down there,” Ginger whispered.

The stars twinkled as if they disagreed.

The rabbit continued along a narrow path until it stopped beside the smallest flower Ginger had seen all night. Unlike everything else in the garden, the flower was closed. Its stem drooped toward the ground.

Ginger crouched beside it. “What’s wrong with you?” The rabbit sat very still as Ginger touched one of the flower’s folded petals. It was cold.

Then she noticed that the enormous moon had moved behind a cloud. The silver light faded, and all around her the garden became quiet. The floating blossoms settled closer to the ground. The grasses stopped shimmering. Even the stars in the pond grew dim.

The little flower drooped farther.

Ginger looked up. “Come back,” she called to the moon. Nothing happened. “Come back!” she called again, louder this time, but the cloud stayed where it was.

Ginger put both hands around the little flower, trying to warm it. “I’ll stay with you until the moon comes back,” she said.

So she waited, and the rabbit waited beside her. For a long time, nothing happened.

Then a silver edge appeared behind the cloud.

Slowly, the moon came out again, and light spilled across the garden. The grasses shimmered. The floating flowers rose. The stars in the pond began darting through the water again.

Beneath Ginger’s hands, the little flower moved. One petal opened, then another, and another. At its center was a tiny golden light.

Ginger leaned closer. Inside the flower was something no bigger than a seed.

It looked like a moon.

The rabbit nudged Ginger’s knee. “Is that the secret?” she whispered.

The rabbit twitched its nose.

Ginger looked around at the enormous garden, and suddenly she noticed something she hadn’t seen before. Every flower had a tiny light hidden inside it. Thousands of them glowed throughout the garden. Some were silver, some gold, some blue, and some were so faint she could barely see them.

The whole garden was filled with little moons.

Ginger smiled. Now she understood why the garden had no fence. It wasn’t a place anyone could find by searching. It only appeared when the moon decided to show the way.

The rabbit hopped back toward the silver gate, and Ginger followed. Just before she stepped through, she turned for one last look. The little flower she had warmed was glowing brighter than all the others.

Then the garden disappeared.

Ginger opened her eyes. She was back in bed. Morning sunlight was coming through her curtains, and the silver path was gone. For a moment, Ginger wondered if she had dreamed everything.

Then she felt something beneath her hand.

She pulled back the blanket. On her pillow lay one tiny silver petal.

Ginger picked it up carefully. By breakfast, it had disappeared.

But that night, when the moon rose over the desert, Ginger looked out her window. Far away, where the moonlight touched the earth, something flashed silver.

Just once.

Ginger smiled.

She knew the garden was still there.