Scarlet Discovers True Strength (12 page)

“Wish!”

“Wish…tonight.”

Scarlet watched with more irritation than relief as the sparkle finally drained from Ophelia's skin and hair like sand through an hourglass.

She noticed a bit of loose glitter clinging to her arms and the frizzy ends of her dull orange pigtails.

“Shake,” Scarlet told Ophelia.

She did.

“How do I look?” Ophelia asked, rubbing her newly green eyes and inspecting her pale pink fingernails.

“Dull,” Scarlet replied approvingly. “Now dial up the Wishworld Outfit Selector and let's get out of here. See that?” She pointed to the steadily counting-down timer in the Star-Zap's upper left corner. “That's how much time we have left to grant this wish. One moogle longer and the mission fails.”

Ophelia gasped. “But…isn't that less than a Wishworld week?”

Scarlet shook her head. “More like less than a Wishworld day.”

“Oh, I hope we can grant it,” said Ophelia. “It will be so hard to go back if we don't….”

Scarlet laughed. She couldn't help it. Ophelia had so much still to learn.

“What's so funny?”

“Don't be silly,” said Scarlet. “You'll just use your star.” Scarlet sighed. This was way worse than she had imagined.

“My star?” Before, Ophelia had looked anxious. Now she simply looked confused.

“Your star,” said Scarlet. “The one that you came on. The one you have folded up in your backpack…Wait. What? No! Don't tell me you don't!”

Ophelia shook her head slowly—once in each direction. Her mouth trembled, but no sound came out.

“Well, where is it? What did you do with it?” asked Scarlet. She groaned. “Oh, don't tell me you let it fizzle out!”

“I didn't mean to…” said Ophelia, sniffling back tears. “Nobody told me about folding it up….”

No working Star-Zap
…No shooting star…Was it even possible for Ophelia to get back to Starland, Scarlet wondered, even if they found Ophelia's Wisher and somehow she granted her wish in time? They could use Scarlet's Star-Zap to lead them in the right direction, at least, which Scarlet quickly had them do. But how, if every other Star Darling so far had collected less energy than she'd hoped to on her mission, could an incompetent Starling like Ophelia ever collect enough to enable Scarlet's star and Star-Zap to take them both home?

The answer, Scarlet realized, was that it wasn't her problem! And she couldn't help smiling as she thought about it more. Sure, it would be too bad if a wish didn't get granted. Scarlet valued the energy wishes produced as much as anyone else. And yet…if it meant Ophelia was stuck on Wishworld and out of the cosmos at least for a little while, that would also mean Scarlet's Star Darling status would return and her reputation would undoubtedly be redeemed. And Scarlet would just make up for the energy loss on her own mission, when the next Wish Orb chose her!

The thought burned so brightly in Scarlet's mind she couldn't think about anything else, including the quaint, quiet Wishworld town she and Ophelia soon found themselves in.

“Moon and stars…” Ophelia murmured as she hung close by Scarlet's side. She'd tried to link arms with Scarlet but had instantly sensed her mistake. “Wishworld is so much different than Starland City. Somehow, I thought they'd be more alike.”

“This
town
is different,” Scarlet agreed as she, too, took in the scene. Unlike the gleaming high-rise-filled Starland capital that went on for floozels—not including the suburbs, which stretched beyond that for floozels more—the Wishworld town appeared to be built around a single two-way street lined with tidy little stores. Scarlet read some of the signs in the windows and above the rectangular glass doors:
LEE'S HARDWARE, GRANNY'S TOYS AND GAMES, MARVIN'S LUNCHEONETTE, ANNIE'S FUDGE AND ICE CREAM SHOPPE
. She wasn't sure what every word meant, but she felt like she got the idea.

A few dull yet cheerful adult Wishlings strolled along the sidewalks, greeting one another as they passed. “Hey, there,” a man said warmly to Scarlet and Ophelia. He was pushing a cart full of folded papers and rectangular packages. Those were covered with paper, too. He stopped at the corner by a large blue boxy container with a slightly dented rounded lid. The Starlings watched him reach into the pocket of his short blue pants and pull out a key on a cord. He used it to open a door in the side of the box, where he found
more
paper.

“He's one of the Wishlings who asked me about the circus,” whispered Ophelia. But he didn't seem too curious about her anymore. If he or any of the Wishlings in the town thought Ophelia or Scarlet looked out of place, they were not letting on.

“This seems like a small town,” Scarlet told Ophelia. “I don't think all cities on Wishworld are this size. Just like on Starland, there are all different kinds. Have you ever been to Solar Springs?”

“Solar Springs?”

“You know, where Gemma and Tessa are from?”

Ophelia shook her head.

Scarlet shrugged. “You're not missing much. It's a lot like this place. So where
have
you been?” she asked.

Ophelia tapped her fingers together. “Nowhere,” she replied. “I've never been outside of Starland City before. I mean, until now.”

“Not even Old Prism?” Old Prism was the original Starland settlement and the most popular tourist destination on Starland. Nearly every family took at least one vacation there.

But not Ophelia's family, evidently. She looked down and shook her head in reply.

“I didn't mean to make you feel bad,” Scarlet assured her. “Star apologies. I'm just starprised. You know, you're lucky you don't have parents like mine who dragged you all over Starland with them.”

“Do you really think? I think you're lucky to
have
parents,” said Ophelia. She added, “I never actually got to know mine.”

Scarlet caught a breath and swallowed it. Those were not words she'd expected to hear. She instantly wished she could take her own words back. But it was too late.
Now what?
she thought. How was she supposed to respond to something like that?
So you're an orphan? You need parents? Feel free to take mine!
Scarlet had never been good at finding the right thing to say. That kind of stuff was hard.

Luckily, she didn't have to say anything, because Ophelia said something first.

“Stars! Look! Palm scanners!” Ophelia pointed across the street at a square yellow box set on top of a pole. Inside, a big red hand flashed on and off. There was another one, they noticed, on their own corner, high above their heads. And they did resemble palm scanners—in some ways, Scarlet thought—but something about them wasn't quite right. First of all, yes, they were much, much too high for a Wishling palm to reach. Plus, there were no doors to be opened that Scarlet could see.

“I wonder how you reach them,” said Ophelia. She stood on her toes and stretched her hand as far up to the one on their corner as it would go. Still, there was more than an arm's length between her hand and the red one, even when she jumped.

“Let's figure that out later,” said Scarlet, “when we have to.”

“Right,” said Ophelia. “Of course.”

Just then, a large yellow Wishling vehicle rolled past them on those round black things that Wishlings called…whorls? Wools? Whirls?

“That's a school bus!” said Scarlet. “And look! Here come some more.”

“What's a school bus?” asked Ophelia.

“Are you serious?” said Scarlet.

She was.

“They're like starbuses, but they roll along on the ground instead of hovering above it. They take Wishling students to school when they don't already live there.”

“Oh! So we're getting close to a school?”

“Very close,” said Scarlet. She looked down the street at a large tan building with a tall gray pole planted in front of it.

“Look, Scarlet! Stars!” said Ophelia, pointing to the flag up at the top.

There wasn't enough breeze to keep the tricolored banner flying, but now and then it caught a gust. Scarlet saw the stars and instantly counted half a hydrong.

“So is that a school?” Ophelia asked as they watched the first yellow bus and several more exactly like it turn in and pull to a stop in front of the building.

Scarlet nodded and checked her Star-Zap. It was precisely where their directions led.

“It's so quiet. Where are all the Wishlings?” said Ophelia.

That was when they heard the bell. It came from inside the school, but even from that far away the ringing hurt their ears.

“What was that?” Ophelia asked Scarlet just as the doors to the school burst open and a flood of young Wishlings came pouring out.

Scarlet and Ophelia stood and watched lines form beside each school bus while other Wishlings simply walked away….

“Oh, stars! Did we miss the school day?” Ophelia said with a gasp. “Is everyone going home? What are we going to do? I'll never find my Wishling now!”

“Not if you stand here like that, you won't,” muttered Scarlet, grabbing her by the arm. She dragged Ophelia toward the school and pointed to her bracelet. “Keep an eye on your Wish Pendant!” she reminded her, sure that she'd forget. “We'll know we've found your Wishling as soon as it starts to glow.”

Scarlet eyed Ophelia's bracelet, too, as they hurried past each bus. The lines outside the vehicles had all but disappeared. Engines were revving and drivers were calling, “All right! Find a seat and sit in it back there!”

“Superstar! There it goes!” said Scarlet as the bracelet blinked. “Your Wisher must be on this bus!” A moogle later she sighed. “Oh…no…The sun just caught a facet. It isn't glowing. Never mind.”

She turned as a group of girls brushed past them, then paused by the closest bus. One girl was quite tall by Wishling standards, with laser-straight rows of tight black braids. The others were of average Wishling height. One had straight fair hair that hung smoothly down her back. The other's hair was dark and thick and curly and seemed to defy the basic rules of Wishworld gravity that Scarlet had learned in school.

“So you're sure you can't come home with us?” that girl was saying.

“Sorry. I really am,” the tall girl said. “I have…all these chores to do today.”

The fair-haired girl sighed heavily.

“You know this project is due on Friday,” the first girl said. “And we're
all
supposed to contribute. This is a big part of our grade.”

“Yeah. A
big
part.” The other girl flipped her pale hair back with a toss of her head. “And we're doing
all
the work. I mean, I wish you'd said something about all these doctors' appointments and your piano recital—and today's chores—when we started on this.”

“I…I…”

“If it's just chores, can't you do them later?” said the curly-haired girl. “Won't your mom understand if you just explain?”

The tall girl chewed on either side of her bottom lip. “Well, you see…it's my
step
mom…and, well, she's, like,
soooo
mean.”

“Oh…”

“Sorry…”

The two girls nodded sympathetically.

The tall girl heaved a heavy sigh, as if that was the story of her life.

“So what about
tomorrow
?” The girl with the fair hair asked more gently. “Can you at least come home with us then? If the chrysalises start hatching today, like I think they will, we'll have our butterflies and that'll be it.”

“Oh, I hope they hatch today!” said the curly-haired girl.

“I know, right? I can't
wait
!” Her blond friend clapped quickly, as if beating a snare drum. “
Ooh!
You know what we should do? We should have a big butterfly party and celebrate!”

“Yes!”

The two traded
aha
grins while the third girl looked down at her shoes.

“Your stepmom would let you do that, wouldn't she?” the blond girl asked.

The tall girl shrugged. “I don't know….She's so mean, like I said….”

“All aboard!” the bus driver called down through the door just then. Both girls looked up and waved.

“Coming.” The curly-haired girl turned back to the tall girl. “See you tomorrow, I guess, Arden.”

“See you tomorrow, Chloe. Bye, Sydney.”

“If the butterflies hatch, we'll text you.”

“Great. Yes, definitely do.”

“Um…sorry…about your stepmom and all….”

“Thanks…” the girl murmured. “It's kind of hard.”

“It's her!” Scarlet leaned over and hissed to Ophelia, more into her pigtail than her ear.

“Do you really think so? How do you know?” Ophelia turned to her. “Are you sure?”

Scarlet twisted her mouth in irritation. “Check your Wish Pendant and you'll see. I'll bet my stars it's that
stepmother
.” Her eyes narrowed at the thought. “It's a classic Wishworld wish! She's probably been wishing to get rid of her…once and for all. But that's an impossible wish.
Well?
” She nodded toward Ophelia's wrist. “What are you waiting for? Check your bracelet!” Why she was so eager for Ophelia to find her Wisher, Scarlet didn't know. Just a few moogles earlier, she had wanted desperately for Ophelia to fail—but now, oddly, not so much.