Took you long enough,” Clotilda said.

Isabelle flopped onto her sister’s perfectly made bed. “She won’t make her wish! I don’t know what to do.”

As Clotilda paced around the room, Isabelle shook out her wand and counted her sparkles. She was down to eight. (This wasn’t a lot.)

Clotilda wasn’t really in the mood to hear her sister’s complaints. “You gave her a deadline?”

“I did.”

“Do you know what she might want?”

“I do, but she won’t wish for that. She’s too focused on the play.”

This was the problem. Even though it seemed that Samantha had everything, she’d never be happy until she was friends with Nora again.

“Have you heard from Grandmomma?” Isabelle asked.

“Just to check in. Nothing big,” Clotilda said, walking around her room, not making eye contact.

Clotilda might be the fourth best fairy godmother, but she was a terrible liar.

“You know, I know what Grandmomma’s doing,” Isabelle said.

“Then you should also know that there’s more mayhem going on than ever!”

Now Isabelle was concerned. “What do you mean?” she asked.

Clotilda looked unusually eager to get this off her chest. “Angelica’s new princess wished to win the annual regatta that her first princess was sailing.” Isabelle was pretty sure this didn’t seem like that big a deal for a godmother with Angelica’s skills, but apparently she was wrong. Clotilda said, “Just as her first princess was approaching the coast of Greece, the water turned choppy. She couldn’t control her sail. Her boat nearly capsized.”

Isabelle had to agree that must have been terrifying. “But it didn’t capsize. And the right princess won? Everyone got to shore safely?”

“That’s not the point.” Clotilda stamped her foot and paced around the room. “It was supposed to be a little race between rivals. Instead, it felt like someone or something was making mischief.”

Isabelle had never heard Clotilda doubt anything in the fairy godmother world. “What about Fawn?”

“Her new practice princess wanted desperately to ski—for whatever reason—please don’t ask me. So Fawn made another snowstorm. That should have been easy peasy, but then just like Angelica’s, her wish went rogue! In this case, the snow kept coming. And coming. And her poor princess skied, but she didn’t wish for the whole eastern half of the globe to get snowed in. Luckily, her first practice princess had the determination of ten princesses. She helped dig everyone out. Before she was done, she saved three puppies and a cat and even a goldfish.”

Isabelle made a mental note not to do anything that depended on weather. “And Minerva?” she asked.

“Minerva is in the wind.” (In other words, Clotilda wasn’t sure.) “She used her sparkles to help her first princess.” Clotilda shook her head. “Zahara is taking it personally. I doubt either one of them will be at the Extravaganza.”

“Why do you think this is happening?” Isabelle asked.

Clotilda shut her door, even though no one else was in the castle to snoop. “Things are so bad that Luciana won’t even let me visit Melody. Did you hear about her spill?” She wrung her hands with worry. “Grandmomma and the Bests are convinced that someone’s up to no good.”

A feeling of dread came over Isabelle. “You don’t think it’s Mom, do you?”

Clotilda paced around her room. “I hope not,” she said. “But who knows? Maybe her heart turned dark? Maybe being away for this long changes you.”

“Clotilda,” Isabelle said, “bad things happen. It can’t be her.”

Clotilda sighed. “Listen. Whatever you do, be on the lookout for anything or anyone that looks odd. But most of all, make Samantha happily ever after, and do it quickly. Tomorrow’s the play, right? Well, let’s hope she gets some stage fright and wants to use her wish on something straightforward like that. Or maybe some nice boy will come to watch her. Be ready for anything, and then come back home.”

With a warning like that, Isabelle had to go straight to the girlgoyles. (There was no better place to think.) She felt like everything was off-balance, especially her. If Grandmomma thought that Mom was sabotaging wishes, it meant Isabelle’s mom had turned bad. But it also meant that she was actually out there in the regular world. Isabelle held up her wand and catapulted one tiny sparkle into the sky. (It was all she could spare.) She hoped that maybe tonight, Nora and Samantha could figure things out. More than that, she hoped that Mom was out there, and that she was looking up at the sky. Maybe she could even see Isabelle’s sparkle. And wish her back some luck.