Scarlet Discovers True Strength (14 page)

After a quick
explanation of what butterflies were (“They're basically like flutterfocuses, only they don't change color or light up.”), Scarlet told Ophelia her plan.

“It's easy. We learned about these kinds of fear wishes in Wish Fulfillment, remember? No? Right. Of course you don't. Never mind. Basically, we have to get her to talk more about her fear and where it comes from. Then we have to reassure her that butterflies mean her no harm. Then we need to introduce her to butterflies. It's supposed to be little by little…but of course we don't have a lot of time. Luckily, there's that butterfly attraction she talked about—which is perfect! We just take her there!
Zap!
Done!”

“Talk, reassure, introduce,” said Ophelia. She nodded so her pigtails bounced like springs. “Star salutations, Scarlet. I'll try. I really will.” Ophelia's chin was trembling, but she managed a smile. And somehow, before Scarlet could help herself, she was returning a grin.

Scarlet could feel it inside her….
Ew!
Something was warming up and softening, like stars melting into thick molten glass. Scarlet tried to will it all back into sharp jagged crystals, but no—it was too late.

It was easy to be mad at Ophelia for taking her place, and even easier to scold her for making so many mistakes. And yet this whole situation wasn't Ophelia's fault any more than it was Scarlet's. The most important thing, whether Scarlet liked it or not, was to help Ophelia as much as she could to make Arden's wish come true.

“No,” Scarlet told Ophelia sternly. “You're a Star Darling. You need to do more than try. You need to grant this wish. So go!” She pointed to Arden, who was walking away. “What are you waiting for?”

They caught up to Arden at the corner. She grinned at them warily. “So now you know my secret. You probably think I'm super weird.”

“What are you talking about?” said Scarlet. “Everyone's scared of something. Take Ophelia here.” She shot a quick nod at her partner.

“Me? Oh, yes!
Me!
I'm afraid of everything!” Ophelia said. “Black holes…asteroids…gamma radiation…and even those energy bunnies that collect under the bed.”

Scarlet and Arden both stared at her, speechless.

“Anyway,” Scarlet said. “Being scared is nothing to be ashamed of. But it is something you can try to change.”

“How?”

“Why don't we go to that park you were talking about,” said Scarlet, “and talk about it there?”

The park was a short walk from the school, away from downtown. A dark metal arch marked the entrance at a corner where two roads crossed.

“Wait!” Arden grabbed Scarlet's and Ophelia's arms as they reached the corner across from it, just before they stepped off the curb. She pointed to the palm scanner across the street and the big bright red hand that was flashing at them.

“Right. The palm scanners,” said Ophelia. “But I couldn't reach it. Can you?”

She started to jump as she'd done before in town, to reach the box above them. Scarlet almost joined her. But then she saw Arden laughing—not meanly, just as if they were all in on a joke. Clearly, Ophelia was way off. That wasn't a palm scanner at all. But if Ophelia was helping lift Arden's mood, why not play along?

“
Very
funny,” said Scarlet. She chuckled and grabbed for Ophelia's arm. Just then, the hand stopped blinking and began to glow a steady red. As it did, a car whizzed past them, followed by another and more after that.

Scarlet watched Arden press a button on the side of the post on their corner, then read the small sign next to it:
PUSH BUTTON TO WALK
. A moogle later, the hand disappeared and was replaced by a white symbol of a walking man.

“Are you coming?” said Arden as she stepped off the sidewalk and into the street. “The light's going to change back if we don't hurry up.”

“So…it's not a palm scanner?” Ophelia whispered to Scarlet as they followed. “I'm sorry. I messed up again.”

“Hey, she's smiling,” said Scarlet, nodding ahead. “I think you might actually have done something right.”

“So this is our park,” Arden said as they walked through the arch. She lifted her arms and stretched them out to her sides, turning slightly left and right. “It's small, but it's pretty nice.”

It
was
nice, Scarlet had to agree, in an overly green Wishworld way. It was strange, and almost refreshing, to see grass so singular in color—and such straight paths that refused to move. It was actually nice to get away from all the glitter and sparkle of Starland and appreciate not just how colorful and brilliant things were but other qualities, as well. Like how the little brown creature on the branch high above them sounded, whistling its curious tune.

And the way the grass smelled. Scarlet took a deep whiff, which Arden noticed. She nodded as if she understood.

“They must have just mowed.”

Ah,
thought Scarlet. So that was what that sharp tangy scent was. Scarlet didn't even know how the grass on Starland smelled, she realized, or if it smelled at all. Starland grass always stayed the perfect length, so it never had to be cut.

Ophelia, meanwhile, was pointing at a large dull but colorful, oddly shaped structure behind a green metal fence. At the center was an elevated platform sheltered by a yellow roof. Along with a ladder, there appeared to be several other means by which to reach the platform: a winding blue ramp; a slick yellow pole; a thick knotted rope; and, last but not least, a long sloping red tube, out of which a small Wishling boy abruptly popped.

“What's that?” Ophelia asked.

“What's what?” Arden replied. Her eyes darted from pole to ramp to tube, not quite sure what Ophelia could mean.

Scarlet pulled Ophelia close. “It's a playground. A
Wishling
playground,” she clarified. She had seen them before from the Wishworld Surveillance Deck, but Ophelia obviously had not. If she had, she would have known that Wishling playgrounds were nothing like those on Starland, with their gyro-seesaws and antigravity slides and energy trampolines. There was one apparatus Starland and Wishworld shared, however, and Scarlet pointed it out to Ophelia. “See?”

Ophelia's eyes followed Scarlet's away from the platform, along a track of evenly spaced metal bars to a triangular frame from which hung three rubber slings on chunky black chains.

“Lucky stars!
Swings!
” Ophelia exclaimed. “Can we?” She turned to Arden first, then Scarlet. “I love swings so much!”

“Now?”
Scarlet said. “
Really?
We came here to
talk
, Ophelia, remember?
Not
play.”

“Star a—So sorry. Yes. Of course.”

“We could do both,” Arden said, shrugging. “I mean, why not? I haven't been on a swing in years.” She grinned, suddenly looking happier than she had since they had met. “No one else is using them. It'll be fun. C'mon! Let's go!” She left Ophelia and Scarlet to follow as she headed toward the playground gate.

“Star apologies. Truly,” Ophelia murmured to Scarlet. She scrunched her freckled nose. “I didn't mean to delay the mission further. Don't worry. I won't do it again.”

Ophelia dropped her backpack next to Arden's just inside the fence.

“Oh, no…” said Scarlet, eyeing it.

“What now?” Ophelia moaned. “What did I do?”

“You lost your key chain. I don't know what it's for. But I'm sure we'll find out now.” Each Star Darling had received a glittery stuffed star attached to her backpack. Wishers called them “key chains.”

“What key chain?” said Ophelia. “I don't know what you mean.”

“Didn't you get one right before takeoff?”

“Nooo…” Ophelia said slowly. “No,” she repeated, more surely.

“Oh…” said Scarlet. “Good,” she declared. One less thing to worry about, at least.

They turned to watch Arden skip up to the middle swing and fall into the hard rubber seat with a smile.

“Well,” Scarlet whispered to Ophelia with the barest of smiles, “what are you waiting for? Let's go.”

By the time they joined Arden, the Wishling was flying back and forth, her feet nearly extending past the bar overhead.

Excited, Ophelia took the swing on Arden's right, gripping the chains extra tight in each hand.
“Wheeee!”
she cried as she leaned her head back and eagerly kicked out her feet. After a moogle, however, she sat back up. “Aw…mine's broken,” she said.

“Mine, too,” said Scarlet. It hadn't moved a shortsnip since she'd sat down. She raised her feet once more, just to be extra sure…but no, it did not want to move.

Between them, Arden slowed until her own swing was barely swaying. “What do you mean they're broken?” She gave Scarlet's chain a little tug, then peered behind her at the seat. “It looks okay to me.”

“Oh, that part's fine, yes. It's the swinger,” explained Scarlet. “It's not working.” She lifted her feet again. “See? It doesn't fly like yours. It just sits here. Whatever.” She shrugged. “It's no big…what do they say…deal?”

“You know, you have to
pump
to swing,” said Arden. “You know…like this….”

Scarlet watched Arden lean back and kick her legs out, exactly as Ophelia had done. But unlike Ophelia, Arden didn't stop there. That was only the first step, it seemed. Arden next swung her body forward and sharply bent her knees. Scarlet watched the swing respond by gliding backward, at which point Arden leaned back again. As she kept going like that, whipping herself back and forth, she made her swing fly higher…and higher…and higher still!

Who would have ever thought that Wishlings had to power their own swings?
thought Scarlet.

Fortunately, this “pumping” wasn't half as difficult as it looked. Even Ophelia was successful almost immediately, much to her delight. Scarlet could have used a push to start, but after a few rough kicks and bends, she quickly began to catch up.

They all stopped at just about the same time but for different reasons: Ophelia because her Star-Zap fell out of her pocket when she practically flew upside down; Arden because she saw it fall and wanted to stop and help; Scarlet because as soon as she saw Arden reach for the Star-Zap, she knew she had to grab it—fast!

“Cool phone!” said Arden, who was already out of her swing and running her finger along the Star-Zap. Instantly, the top flipped up.

Scarlet's heart nearly stopped as she stared at it, terrified that a holo-something would suddenly appear. Only after a moogle did she remember that it had no energy.
Lucky stars!
she thought with a sigh of relief.

“It's actually a Star-Z—” Ophelia started to correct her.

“A Star-Zee?” Scarlet cut in, laughing. “Honestly, Ophelia. You make up the funniest names.” She took the Star-Zap from Arden and handed it to Ophelia with a tight, open-eyed smile. “Here you go. Maybe put that in your backpack, why don't you. And keep it there. You'd hate for your
phone
here to break.”

“Right…” said Ophelia. “Right! My
phone
!” She ran over to her backpack and dropped it in. She returned to the swing set, out of breath. “Better?” she asked with a grin.

Scarlet nodded. “Much better. Now.” She sighed. “I think it's time we
talked
, don't you?” She turned to Arden and put her hands on her shoulders. “Here,” she said. “Have a seat.” Gently, she guided her back into her swing, then sank into her own. She didn't have to look at the Countdown Clock on her Star-Zap to know that there wasn't much time left in their mission. She could see the sun drifting steadily down toward the treetops. That meant there wasn't a moogle to waste.

“We're going to help you get over this fear of yours,” she told Arden. “But first you need to talk.”

“Talk about what?”

“Your fear,” said Scarlet. “When it started. Where it came from. All that good stuff. So go ahead. Fire away.”

Arden's face, which had been so warm and open, seemed all of a sudden to hang a
CLOSED
sign. “My fear of butterflies…oh, no…I don't want to. It's too hard to talk about. I just can't.”

“But…” Scarlet paused to check the sun again. “But you
have
to talk about it,” she blurted.

Scarlet could feel her own face getting hot and probably red—especially when Ophelia spoke up from the next swing: “That's okay. We understand.”

“Thanks.” Arden twisted her swing toward Ophelia.

“I know what it's like not to want to talk about something,” Ophelia continued. “You probably do, too, Scarlet. Right?”

“No.” Scarlet frowned impatiently. “Well…okay…yes, maybe. Sometimes.”

“It's just so embarrassing,” said Arden.