A Star Is Born
“Attention, everyone! Attention!” Madame Cleo’s voice is piped into the room for all land-based students while several mermaid students float around her, reading scripts from waterproof paper Professor Harlow conjured up. I watch as Cleo’s tail swishes back and forth turning green, then red, then yellow. “Would everyone please get into position?”
People move every which way at once, and I find myself and my tree costume getting spun around as a troll wearing a red wig runs by me carrying a giant sunburst. Jack is dressed like an actual beanstalk, and AG looks like her everyday self in a peach ball gown that has an overlay of lace on the skirt. Jax takes her arm, and I notice he too is wearing peach and a white wig. The two of them won the parts of the musical’s narrators.
“Isn’t this so much fun?” Jax asks me. “I love your…er, tree costume.” He touches one of the papier-mâché leaves that someone has glued to one of my twigs. “What is your line again?”
“He’s over yonder!” I repeat. The rest of the time I stand in the background perfectly still. Or I sneak offstage to eat a patty-cake, which is always waiting for me since this musical business makes me really cranky. I begged to be part of the stage crew, or even paint backdrops, but Headmistress Flora and Professor Harlow said: “Your face shines too bright to be hidden in the background.” Whatever that means.
“Brilliant,” says Jax, sounding way too serious for my liking. “This musical is the best thing that ever happened to Fairy Tale Reform School.”
“Isn’t it?” AG asks.
They both have a dreamy, far-off look on their faces. If only I could snap them out of this wish-fulfilled daze. That’s not a bad idea… Maybe a good knock will wake them up. I find myself swinging my tree branches and “accidentally” hitting them both in the stomach.
“Ouf!” cries Jax. “Gilly, what are you…?” I swing around again. “Ow!”
“Ouch!” AG clutches the beads on her corseted waist. “That hurt! I feel…”
“Yes?” I say hopefully, leaning my entire tree trunk and branches forward to listen. Say something feels off! Say you’re mad at me! Say you want to know why I just did that! Just say something. After one week of Maxine’s dreamy “We’re all happy at Fairy Tale Reform School” world, I’ve gotten sick of morning sing-alongs on the way to class, smiles on everyone’s faces, and a devil-may-care attitude about the little trickster and the wicked fairy who are plotting our demise while we rehearse An Ode to Enchantasia.
But instead of reacting the way I’d hoped, both AG and Jax smile again.
“Accidents happen,” AG says.
“No one was hurt,” Jax agrees. “We should get to our positions though. We’re running the whole show today. Break a leg, Gilly!”
Kayla appears out of nowhere. “You’re not supposed to say that, remember?” she whispers. “It offends the mermaids since they don’t have legs.”
“Oh.” Jax’s frown lasts a mere moment. “May magic be with you, Gilly!”
Kayla beams. “This show is going to be wonderful, don’t you think? Well, I better get backstage.” She’s the unofficial backstage director. Kayla likes giving orders. She consults her clipboard. “Harlow said we were doing the pirate scene first… Ollie, where are you?”
“Argh!” Ollie runs at me with a sword aimed at my tree trunk. He stops short in front of us and grins. “How was that? I’m a pretty convincing nasty pirate king, if I do say so myself.” He’s got an eye patch, a red bandanna, a leather pirate vest, and leather boots, all of which came from his own closet.
“Let’s go over your backstory again,” Kayla says. “You are Pirate King Loran, the greatest pirate Enchantasia has ever seen.” She’s reading from an official playbook that has Harlow and Madame Cleo’s notes all over it. Apparently, they wrote the entire script over dinner the day Maxine made her wish. “You have defeated all the villains there ever were, and you are afraid of nothing because you are happy! Living in Enchantasia means never fearing what comes next.”
Ollie salutes her. “Got it! I am a happy pirate king! How can I not be?” He looks at me. “Enchantasia is the best place ever!”
I’m going to be ill.
“Yes, but maybe we should tweak the dialogue just a bit.” I struggle to move my tree limbs to reach Kayla’s script. I point at the lines in question with one of my leafy hands. “Defeated all the villains ever… That’s not true, is it? Rumpelstiltskin and Alva are still out there, and we should be preparing for their attack.” They look at me.
“That’s your job,” Kayla says simply, and Ollie nods. “You’re police chief. Besides, we’re safe here!”
“Yes, but I’m just one person,” I try again. “I’m not saying we should live in fear, but FTRS has always tried to be prepared for any situation. We can’t pretend there isn’t a villain after us when there is, can we?”
“Oh, Gillian!” Headmistress Flora says as she walks by with a bouquet of flowers. “We’re fine! We’re safe here! No use worrying about what won’t happen, now is there?”
“Yes, but what if…” I start to say.
Harlow approaches, laughing. “Oh, such a worrier, you are, Ms. Cobbler. With myself and the other professors here, there’s nothing to fear. Relax! Be happy!” She holds up a megaphone and shouts to Madame Cleo, who is choreographing a mermaid dance number. “Ready to run the show?”
Flora cranes her neck. “Yes. I’m not sure where our assistant director is though.”
Kayla consults her clipboard. “She had a manicure scheduled this morning followed by a deep-tissue massage that ran long, but she should be here soon.” She looks at me. “Planning a musical can be so stressful.”
“She’ll be proud we started without her. Let’s begin!” Madame Cleo claps her hands with delight. “Places! For real this time.” The cramped room, which was never meant to be used for a theater production, is quiet except for the drip, drip, dripping of water overflowing from Cleo’s tank. “And we’re on!”
The mermaids in the tank begin their dance, doing synchronized swim moves alongside some eager puffer fish. Blackbeard stares at Madame Cleo with pride as he hums along to the tune the Pied Piper is performing as our introduction.
“You’re on!” Kayla whispers, and Jax and AG come out arm in arm to stand center tank. Er, I mean, stage. A group of pixies rush to the stage and fly around them.
I reluctantly go and stand in the corner next to a team of ogre sunbursts and a group of fairies playing, well, fairies. Wilson pops his little head out from a hole in my tree trunk and begins chittering loudly. He’s as annoyed as I am about this whole musical business, but I shush him before we get in trouble.
“Enchantasia has always been a fair kingdom, known for its beloved royal court and its kind and gentle citizens,” Jax begins. A group of students “ooh” in harmony on Madame Cleo’s command.
“So beloved are they, that others flocked to this land to make it their own, much like my family,” AG adds, smiling. I glance at Harlow and Cleo who are mouthing all the lines alongside Jax and AG.
“Villains may darken our doorstep, but they cannot dampen our day,” adds Jax, as Jack, dressed as a beanstalk, twirls by. “We are too strong for them! Sunshine always bursts through the clouds on a rainy day, just like we do!”
“Um, that’s not necessarily true,” I say to those around me. Wilson chitters in agreement.
“Shh!” says the ogre dressed as a sunflower standing next to me.
“For Enchantasia has never turned its back on any creature, big or small, winged, or one-eyed. All who dare to dream are welcome—even ogres,” AG says, and motions to the sides of the stage.
Everyone turns and stares at Maxine as she walks stoically onto the stage in a sparkly blue gown that makes her look like a giant cupcake. She begins to sing. “Oh, Enchantasia, the land we call our own. Enchantasia! We adore thee! We wouldn’t be anything without thee!”
The sunflower next to me sniffs. “She has the voice of an angel.”
“A flock of angels,” argues the sunflower next to her.
I hear sobbing and turn around. Tessa and Raza are openly crying.
“Could there be a better star of this show?” Tessa wonders aloud, dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief. “She acts, she sings, she can dance like a true star. She’s unbelievable.”
“How have we not known how talented she was?” Raza asks, blowing her nose loudly.
Both girls are understudies, which is funny because Tessa has a great voice, and I was sure she would get the lead, but…then Maxine cast her second wish. Now her voice is like that of a canary’s—high and melodic…and not real. I bite my lip and try not to say anything. If I do, patty-cakes will appear.
When Maxine finishes singing, the entire room breaks into a round of applause.
“Encore! Encore!” Raza shouts, and Maxine curtsies.
“That was lovely, Maxine,” Harlow says. “But Cleo and I were thinking that maybe during the second stanza you could—”
The doors to the room fly open, and Darlene floats in wearing a spa robe. Her hair is wrapped in a towel. “The assistant director has arrived.” Everyone stops what they’re doing and bursts into wild applause. Darlene makes the moment even bigger by shooting a few indoor fireworks, which make the mermaids in Cleo’s tank swim away in panic.
I notice Harlow’s right eye twitch, and I feel a flutter of hope. Maybe, just maybe, she’s starting to break out of the wish spell!
“What’s this? Did you start without me?” Darlene casts a critical eye on the stage setup. “We need bigger lighting! A grander stage, maybe a bigger tank for the mermaids.”
“That would be lovely!” Cleo begins, and Harlow frowns. “And Darlene, darling, we need better lighting for Maxine. I want everyone’s eyes in the room on her, especially on opening night when the royal court and the entire village is invited to attend.”
“The entire village?” I repeat. “And the royal court? That doesn’t seem safe, plus I feel like it might be a fire hazard in these cramped quarters.”
Darlene scratches her head. “True. We need a bigger venue.” Her eyes widen. “Maybe the air? I’m thinking magic carpets for seating. Pegasi flying around and offering drinks and snacks.”
“Everyone likes snacks,” Blackbeard agrees as he munches on a turkey leg.
“Outside?” I cry. My heart is pounding harder. I think of Ella’s warning. I have to get people to see reason. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Anyone could attack.” I look at Maxine, who is suddenly staring at the rafters.
“Oh, Gillian,” Headmistress Flora dismisses me. “You’re such a worrywart. We’ll be fine! We have you, don’t we?”
Now I see why Pete was always harried and lost all his hair. People don’t listen to the facts! When people get complacent, disaster—a.k.a villainy—happens.
I stomp over to Maxine. “You need to put a stop to this,” I growl.
Maxine nods up and down, drool spilling out of her mouth. “I know. And I will! Soon!”
“How soon?” I ask as a patty-cake platter floats between us.
She bites her lip and pulls on her gown. “Like in another two weeks? After the run of the musical is over?”
“Maxine!” I scold.
“I can’t give up this chance to perform, Gilly!” Maxine cries. “My whole family is coming! Mother and Father are so proud. So are my grandparents. They didn’t know I could sing.”
“Because you can’t!” I hiss. “We can’t afford to go another few weeks like this. What if Stiltskin is ready to strike again?”
She scoffs. “No one has even heard from him or seen him. You’ve said so yourself. We have more to worry about with this year’s crops and the typhiras. I really hope one shows up here. They’re so cute!”
“They’re not real!” I run a hand through my hair, and it gets stuck on a tree branch. I yank and pull out a few strands. Ouch. “I need to focus on the real creature doing this. Some creature is eating crops and attacking farms, and I need to figure out what it is. Plus, I got an alert about a freak storm near the edge of the Hollow Woods. One lightning strike could burn down the forest, and then the giants would have nowhere to camp out and could run out of the woods and trample the school…” I sigh. My head hurts thinking about every possible thing that could go wrong. “Look, we have to be more careful. We can’t just hope no one will attack us.”
Maxine sets her jaw. “And we can’t live our whole lives in fear either! We deserve to have some fun! And sing! And perform!”
“You have to fix this wish!” I insist.
“After the musical opens!” Maxine shouts back.
“Before!” I thunder.
“Ladies?” Darlene floats between us. “This is not the time nor the place for a conversation like this. Maxine is our star, and trees do not upset our star.”
“Darlene,” I beg. “Don’t you want your job here to be done? Aren’t you ready to get back to your newly renovated lamp?” Her expression falters. “Convince Maxine to make her third wish and you can be home! Forget the musical.”
“But I like the musical,” Darlene admits, pulling the towel off her head and revealing super-bouncy pink curls. She’s had her hair dyed! “I’m enjoying directing. Who knew I could have so much say in things? I never get a say in wish granting. I think Maxine should make her third wish after the musical run is over.”
I growl angrily. Pop! Pop! Pop! Suddenly two trays of patty-cakes appear, and the pile of snacks on top of them continues to multiply till the tray almost reaches the top of Cleo’s tank.
“Ooh! Snacks!” Ollie shouts, and people come running. I get separated from Darlene and Maxine in the chaos and feel something pulling on my arm.
“Gilly! Gilly!” a girl shouts. “There’s been an attack! Someone’s at the castle doorsteps looking for the police chief.”
“So?” I start to say, then remember. That’s me.