Leona''s Unlucky Mission (6 page)

“Maybe we should call Clover,” Vega said.

“Why?” Leona snapped. “So she can write us a new song that doesn't need a beat?”

Clover had been writing songs for staryears and had immediately offered to share them with Leona's brand-new band. She'd even volunteered to be their manager. Anything, really, she was happy to do, except join them on the stage. Even though she had grown up in a huge family of famous circus performers and was very comfortable onstage, she now wished to stay as far from the starlight as possible.

“We need a drummer! Now!” Leona roared. “Or wait…where's my Star-Zap? Maybe it can play a beat for us? It doesn't quite have the same ‘stage presence,' but at least it won't sit there sulking like Scarlet,” she muttered. “Or get all galactical at the littlest critique…”

“Clover plays the drums,” said Vega.

Sage knit her lilac eyebrows, confused. “I thought she played the guitar.”

“Correct,” said Vega, “and the drums, and the keyboard, and the gammahorn…You name it.” She paused to pluck her instrument. “Including, I'm sure, the bass.”

“Are you serious?” Leona said. “Why didn't you say so?”

Had Clover really been letting them play her songs and never once showed off all the musical talent she herself had?
Huh…
There were so many things about so many Starlings that Leona would never understand.

“Gotcha!” At last, Leona's hand found her Star-Zap in the bottom of her bag. “Clover!” she yelled before the device was even out. “I—make that we—need you in the Lightning Lounge. Now!”

“I'll sit in
today
,” said Clover stiffly when she arrived. “But that's it. I'm not performing in public. Ever. Do you understand? When you guys have an actual gig, you'll have to get someone else to play with you. Just so we're perfectly clear.” She perched on the stool behind Scarlet's hot-pink drum kit, drumsticks in her hands. She played a tight lick to punctuate her point, then reached up to catch her hat before it tumbled off her head.

“Hey! That was good!” Leona said.

Clover lowered her chin warningly. “Just today,” she said, pointing a stick.

“Got it. And star salutations,” said Leona, who couldn't have meant it more.

With Clover there, the band's practice went much better. She didn't hit as hard as Scarlet, by any means, but her timing was spot-on. Of course, they were playing songs she'd written, so that helped quite a bit.

“Zow! That was stellar!” Sage gushed as their song “White Dwarf” ended. She strummed a joyful extra chord.

“That did sound pretty good,” agreed Clover, giving each drumstick a fancy twirl.

Even Libby had to nod appreciatively, though Scarlet's absence still stung her the most.

“I wish we had an audience to hear us!” said Leona.

“Oh, no you don't,” Clover said. “Because then I wouldn't be here. I'm serious. Practice only. Period.”
Bam!
She slapped her snare to emphasize her point.

Just then, Sage's pocket began to glow. She let go of her guitar, and while it hovered, twinkling, in front of her body, she pulled out her Star-Zap. Leona stared enviously. Sage was seriously good at wish energy manipulation. And she was only a first year.

“It's a holo-text,” she said, “from Cassie.”

“What's up?” Leona asked.

Sage's violet eyes grew wider as she read it.

“What?”
said Leona, straight into the microphone this time.

Cringing, but smiling, too, Sage raised her head. “So, apparently, Cassie was walking by Lady Stella's office, on the way to get her request for a transfer to Advanced Wishworld Lighterature signed by the headmistress. Long story, but apparently, her transcript from her old school somehow, somewhere, got misplaced. Anyway—”

“Yes,
anyway
,” said Leona, “get on with this story!”

“Okay, so Cassie says she saw Lady Cordial going into Lady Stella's office…”

“Yes?”

“With a
Starling
! A new
Star Darling
, she thinks!”

“Really? Just now?”

“Mm-hmm.”

The bandmates looked at each other.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Leona said.

Outside the
headmistress's office the five musicians found Cassie, propped like a silver statue against the rainbow-grained starmarble wall.

“That was fast!” said Cassie, springing toward them.

“We didn't want to miss anything,” Leona said. “So? Are they still in there?”

Cassie nodded. Then, all of a sudden, she craned her neck to peer around Leona's back. “What was that?”

“What?” Leona spun around.

“Did the others come with you?”

“No.” The bandmates shook their heads.

“Did you text them also?” asked Sage.

Cassie adjusted her star-shaped glasses. “No…I only texted you. But I thought I saw someone…” She shrugged. “I'm just nervous, I guess.”

“Well, I'm excited!” said Leona. “I wonder who it is. And if she'll be my new roommate, too. Do you have any idea of who it might be?”

“No.” Cassie shook her head. “Lady Cordial was in the way, so I couldn't see anything.”

Leona thought about who she wouldn't want it to be. “You don't think it's Vivica!” she said as the image of the lead singer of Star Academy's
other
Starling band came to her mind.

There weren't many Starlings at the school who Leona actively tried to avoid. Truth be told, Vivica and now Scarlet were the only ones. Was it because Leona was so competitive? She was, without a doubt. Was it because she and Vivica were rivals, no matter how much the school discouraged that? No. Leona had thought about it. A lot, in fact. She, like so many Starlings, avoided Vivica for one good reason: because Vivica was no fun to be around.

“Oh, starf, I hope not,” said Libby.

Just then, a soft
swoosh
made them all turn their heads toward the headmistress's door. As if blown by the wind, it slid open, and Lady Stella's tall, regal form appeared. She wore a silver pantsuit that coordinated beautifully with her perfectly coifed platinum hair. She smiled at them, and Leona was relieved to see that she didn't seem upset anymore. “Why, Sage, Libby, Vega, Leona, Cassie, Clover…” Her mouth curved up ever so slightly at the corners. “How surprising to find you here.”

“Oh…we're just passing through!” said Leona casually. At least, she hoped it came off that way.

Next to her, Sage nodded. “Just hanging around!” she agreed. “We had no idea you'd be in your office on a starweekend. Is there any…special reason…if it's okay to ask?”

Lady Stella's smile warmly spread. Her eyes crinkled at the edges. “As a matter of fact, there is a special reason. A very special one.”

Leona and the others waited for her to go on, but instead Lady Stella turned away. They followed her gaze down the hall, where, to their surprise, they saw all five other Star Darlings riding the Cosmic Transporter toward them anxiously.

“You called us, Lady Stella?” panted Tessa. She held up her Star-Zap and pointed to the summons on the screen.

“I did indeed.” The headmistress nodded. “I have important news to share.”

“Wait…did our Star-Zaps go off, too?” Leona pulled hers out to check. The screen was blank except for the waning moon in the corner reminding her how much startime until her Advanced Wish Theory project was due.

Sage and the others checked theirs, too. They all looked up, confused.

“I didn't see a need to call you,” explained Lady Stella, “since you were already…‘passing through.'”

With that and a wink, she ushered the Star Darlings into her grand office. Sitting at the table was a small wide-eyed Starling with a galaxy of star-shaped freckles and springy yellow pigtails. Behind her was Lady Cordial, who stood behind the new Starling, her hands grasping the top of the chair the girl sat in.

Leona did not recognize the girl, so she assumed, correctly, that she was a first year. The girl looked like a Starling who was easy to forget—quiet and timid.

“Star Darlings, please, do take your seats,” Lady Stella said. She strode to the head of the table and motioned for all to sit. Once they had, and the chairs had adjusted to each Starling's height and weight, the headmistress held her hand out gracefully toward the small Starling, sprinkling sparkles from her fingers as she did. “It is my great pleasure to introduce Ophelia, your
true
twelfth Star Darling, to the group.”

A flurry of gasps and glances swept around the table. Leona's mouth fell ajar.

“Her?”
blurted Gemma.

“Shhh!”
Tessa hissed, and rolled her eyes.

“Lady Cordial,” said the headmistress, “perhaps you could explain to them.”

“Why, yes…of course. Ahem.” The Star Darlings felt for the administrator, whose glow dimmed a humble watt. “It, er, seems, er, that there was a glitch, er, s-s-s-somewhere in our identification program.” Lady Cordial paused to swallow her stutter, then dutifully went on. “And as you all know, there was a, er, mix-up, in the student list. The
good
news”—she forced a smile; or at least it looked like a smile that was forced—“is that I corrected all the data and was able to get the
right
name.”

Lady Cordial moved her hands from the back of Ophelia's chair to Ophelia's shoulders, causing the Starling to jump in her seat. “Ahem. Allow me to introduce your new and true Star Darling, Ophelia. Ophelia…your Star Darlings team.”

Tessa led a round of welcomes while their brand-new member looked from one girl to the next.

“Star greetings,” she mumbled back so softly that Leona had to guess that was what she had said.

Lady Stella turned her gaze on her. “Lady Cordial has been making arrangements for Ophelia to be your new roommate, in Scarlet's place.”

“Really.” Leona's eyes shifted to Ophelia, who raised her hand in a timid wave. “Great.” She wasn't exactly the roommate Leona had hoped for, but at least she looked sweet and quiet, which was more than she could say for Scarlet. Actually, she looked like she would be the anti-Scarlet.

“Still no sign of Scarlet?” Lady Stella asked. The Star Darlings shook their heads.

“Well, in any event, our Wish-Watcher is watching a Star Darling Wish Orb at this very moment, which she feels quite sure will be ready to grant soon…and,” she added, “speaking of Wish Orbs, that brings me to the
second
reason I called you all here to my office.” She let her eyes orbit the table until they met Libby's rosy ones.

Leona watched Libby's cheeks flush excitedly.

“Well, it's about time!” Libby's roommate, Gemma, declared.

“Gemma! Honestly!” Gemma's sister, Tessa, groaned. “Can you just keep that big orange mouth of yours closed and say nothing for once?”

“No, she's right,” Lady Stella said with a gentle nod toward both Gemma and Tessa. “This moment is long overdue.” She turned to the others. “In all the…
confusion
of the other day, I'm afraid, something very important—for Libby especially—was left undone.”

“My Wish Blossom,” said Libby softly, almost as if it was a secret.

“Indeed.” Lady Stella bowed deeply, then gracefully straightened, turned to her desk, and, with a tilt of her head, slid open a drawer. Leona could see the light of the Wish Orb pour out of the drawer the moment it opened, before the orb even came into view.

Carefully, Lady Stella lifted the sparkling orb with both hands and let it rest in her cupped palms like an egg inside a nest. A shadow appeared on the wall behind her, so much light did the orb emit. Its glow lit the headmistress's face like a spotlight, especially her regal cheekbones and her long, slightly upturned nose.