Leona''s Unlucky Mission (15 page)

Leona tightly squeezed her eyes closed, trying to unscramble her tangled thoughts.

Aha.
She knew what she needed.

“I'll be right back,” she told Lily, dashing off to find some privacy.

“Wait! Don't leave me!” Lily said. She followed Leona to a quiet corner backstage.

Leona closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and let everything else melt away. “You are a star. Light up the world,” she murmured three times purposefully.

“What did you say?” asked Lily.

Leona turned to Lily. “It's just something I say sometimes that helps me…you know…find myself.”

“How does it go exactly?” asked Lily.

“Like this: ‘You are a star. Light up the world.'” She touched Lily's arm. “Try it. Go on. It really works.”

Lily did.

“How do you feel?”

“I feel…better.” Lily's chin rose a little higher. Her shoulders seemed to relax. “I can do this!” she said, smiling at herself.

Leona also felt better, though not quite the way she'd planned.

“Lily! Leona!” Ms. Frasier motioned from the edge of the stage. By that time, half a dozen more acts had gone on and come off. “Places, please. Charlotte is almost done, and you two are on next.”

“Ready?” said Leona. She linked her arm with Lily's in the Starling way.

“Ready!”

“Then let's get out there and sing! I—I mean we—I mean
you
, most of all, are so winning first place! Get ready for your dream to come true!”

That brought a smile from Lily. “Oh I don't care if we win. Do you? I'm just happy to be doing this at all. When we met, I was just wishing to have the courage not to chicken out the way I did last year. I'd love to show my sister that I can do it, you know, and maybe make her a little proud of me for once.”

Leona stared at Lily. Now everything made perfect sense. She knew what she had to do.

The shiny-shoed dancer
tap-a-tap
ped off, waving her top hat and cane. Ms. Frasier returned to the stage with two microphone stands.

“Thank you, Charlotte! Now, please welcome your next performers, Lily and Leona!”

Leona stepped in front of one mic while Lily took the other one. Leona drank in the round of applause like it was a tall, cold glass of lemonade.

She smiled down at Vega and even waved, hoping to get her to smile back. At the same time, she tried to ignore Talia and her friends. Unfortunately, they were working way too hard at making themselves impossible to miss. Rather than clapping, they were giggling and whispering loud enough for everyone to hear. It was all Leona could do not to use her energy and shut them up with a flick of her wrist. They were lucky she kept her hands clenched around the microphone instead.

“Thank you! Thank you, everyone! Really, you're too kind! Hey, how about a round of applause for our real star of the night, Ms. Frasier. After all, without her, none of us would even be here. Am I right?”

Leona led the crowd in another round of applause, to the teacher's delight. Then she took a deep breath and leaned back over the mic to add one more thing.

“Now, I know the program lists our next act as a duet…but the truth is I'm not out here to perform. I'm just here to introduce my friend Lily, who'll be singing a solo for you all.”

A collective gasp rose from the crowd as Leona stepped away. The loudest gasp by far, though, came from Lily, who spun toward Leona in disbelief.

“I can't!” she mouthed.

“Yes, you can,” Leona mouthed back. And she had to, Leona knew. Vega was right. For Lily's true wish to be granted, she had to prove to herself that she had the courage to get up there and sing alone. Leona had gotten much too carried away with the idea of singing along with her. But there would be plenty of time for performing back on Starland. This was the time for Lily, and Lily alone, to shine in the starlight.

Leona gazed deep into Lily's eyes. “You are a star. Light up the world,” she murmured, pointing to her own heart.

Lily bit down on her lip and slowly nodded. She stepped closer to the mic. At that moment, something happened. Lily changed, like the sky when the sun breaks through the clouds. And it took place so quickly that Leona wasn't even ready for the fountain of wish energy that gushed out.

It poured out at her in a blindingly brilliant arc—blindingly brilliant, that is, to Leona and Vega. The roomful of Wishlings had no idea. All they were aware of was Lily standing in the spotlight, getting ready to sing for them.

“So sing already!” someone hollered in a shrill voice.

“We're waiting!” someone else howled.

Leona tore her eyes from the flow of wish energy to scan the audience for the source. She knew, of course, who it was before she found them: Talia and her cohorts.

Leona turned back to Lily, whose face had frozen. Her wish energy flow had all but stopped. Leona knew she should be worried about her mission's success then, but all she could think about was her Wisher and her Wisher's feelings, and how she could make those bullies stop. She was just about to raise her hands and use energy to dump water on them when someone else jumped up.

“Hey! That's my sister! And she'll sing when she's ready. Show a little respect. You can do it, Lily!” called her sister. “Take all the time you like.”

“Yeah!” others yelled, and a chorus of agreement rose around her, followed by a round of supportive applause. Lily's eyes, meanwhile, filled with clear, happy Wishling tears as she and her sister shared a smile.

ZOOWWWWWHOOOSHHHHH!

If Leona had been slow to capture the first surge of wish energy, she nearly missed the next as it burst toward her like a tidal wave in a whole new, even more spectacular rainbow. It was simply startacular.

“Moon and stars!
That was starmendous, Leona! Truly!” Vega gushed. She punctuated her compliment with a warm, impulsive hug.

“Star salutations,” said Leona. “Especially for opening my eyes.”

They stood in a corner of the lobby, where everyone had gathered after the show. Everyone, that is, but Make-a-Move, whose members had stormed off as soon as the judges' votes were tallied and Ms. Frasier announced the results. Talia and her friends had not won first place, which surprised nobody but them. That award had gone to Lily, whose performance had earned the sole standing ovation of the night. Nor had they won second. That had gone to the pianist. Dolly and Hannah had come away with third. Make-a-Move had earned something else, however; they had been disqualified—“for behavior unbecoming to students of Havisham Academy, or anywhere else,” Ms. Frasier had announced.

“Oh, you would have figured out what to do on your own, I bet,” Vega told Leona. “But I'm glad that I could help.”

“I don't know if I would have.” Leona sighed. “I got pretty excited about singing up there. Even when I realized what helping Lily's wish come true really meant, it was hard to step out of the starlight and let her shine, alone. It would have been so startastic to sing with her, up onstage on Wishworld….It would have been the chance of a lifetime.”

“Well, clearly you're meant to be a Star Darling, thinking about others and not yourself. I just hope that when it's my turn, I do half as well. Literally!” said Vega. “You captured two wishes' worth of energy!”

Leona rubbed her Wish Pendant proudly while Vega pulled her Star-Zap out. “So, should we head back?”

Leona held back. “Now?”

Her eyes skimmed past Vega to Lily, who stood at the other end of the room. She looked thrilled but overwhelmed by the throng of classmates surrounding her.

Their eyes met and Lily's hand shot up in a swift “I need you” wave.

“We
can't
go yet,” Leona told Vega. “I haven't even said good-bye.”

Good-bye…
The word hung in front of Leona like a dark, unexpected cloud. Somehow, this part of a mission had never occurred to her before. She'd been too busy, she supposed. And now that the time had come, she wasn't ready. Not at all.

“Of course,” Vega told her. “Star apologies. You're absolutely right. But you should hurry.”

“I will!” said Leona. “Wait here. I won't be long.”

Leona reached Lily and threw her arms around her. “Congratulations! You were so great!”

“Thanks! Ooh!” Lily giggled and shuddered. “Wow, there's a lot of static in the air these days.”

“Oh, sorry.” Leona let her go. “I knew you could do it!” she went on.

“Well, that makes one of us.” Lily laughed. “When you said I was singing a solo, I honestly thought I was going to faint!”

“Yes…but then you did it! You found the power in yourself to make your dreams come true! And I bet you can't wait to do it again! Tell me singing up there onstage wasn't the best feeling you ever had!”

“Actually…” Lily started, but just then, her sister appeared.

The older girl smiled at both Lily and Leona. “You're new, aren't you?” she said.

Leona nodded.

“Well, I'm glad you're here. Thanks for being such a good friend to Lily. There aren't a lot of girls at this school who would have helped her the way you did. Honestly, I didn't think I'd ever see her get up onstage.”

“Well, it won't be the last time!” said Leona. “Especially when she knows you have her back.”

“I know, but I'm not always going to be there. I graduate this year. That's why I keep trying to make Lily stand up for herself. If you don't,” she told Lily, “who will?”

“I know.” Lily nodded. Then, suddenly, she stood straighter, as if an idea had sparked in her mind. “In fact, I'm going to stand up for myself right now….You owe me a duet!” she declared, turning to Leona. “We can't let all that rehearsing go to waste. Hey, what if we formed a band!”

“A band? That's the best idea ev—” Leona started when a tug on her elbow made her stop. She looked down to see Vega staring up at her with wide “are you out of your mind?” eyes.

“What I mean is,
you
should form a band,” Leona clarified. “You'd be a great lead singer! And every school needs at least one band! But…I don't think I can start it with you. In fact, it's impossible.”

“Why?”

“Uh…because…well, because…I didn't want to seem like a show-off, so I didn't tell you this before…but I actually just signed a recording deal, and I have to go cut an album…tonight.”

“Really?” Lily's jaw fell open. Her sister's did the same.

Leona nodded matter-of-factly. “Would I lie about something like that?”

“Tonight?”

“I'm afraid so. At least, that's what my agent tells me?” She smiled at Vega. “Right…agent? Isn't that really why you came?”

“Uh…sure,” Vega said slowly.

“You're her
agent
?” Lily asked.

Vega shrugged. “I know…it's crazy, isn't it?”

“I think it's awesome!” said Lily. “Wow…Now it's really too bad we didn't sing together,” she joked. “I almost sang with a real star.”

Lily's sister spoke up. “I'd love to hear you. In fact, I bet everyone would.”

Leona felt herself blush, Wishling style, as Vega hooked her arm.

“Too bad we have a
flight
to catch,” Vega said meaningfully.

“Wait.” Leona held her ground. “Okay. I'll do it.” She slipped her arm from Vega's and took hold of Lily's hands. “Let's go sing that duet. You talked me into it. But let's do it out under the stars!” she said. “Have you ever sung there before? Oh, you'll love it! It's the best!”

Leona had realized
her Wishworld good-bye would be hard, but it was even worse than she had feared. She probably would never get to see Lily again. Not in person, at least. There was always the chance, Leona supposed, of catching a glimpse of her from the Wishworld Observatory. But with seven billion Wishlings on Wishworld, the odds were atom-slim. Still, Leona swore to herself she would try and try and try until she did. Lily was sure to do something great with her talent on Wishworld, and Leona was
not
going to miss it.