The Show Must Go On
“Good morning, Fairy Tale Reform School!” Miri the Magic Mirror’s voice radiates in our room. “Please note all classes are canceled today so students can concentrate on what’s most important: our first ever musical!”
Cheers can be heard throughout the dorm tower. I bite my lip and look at Wilson. We seem to be the only two not excited about this. Maxine has been up since before the sun, fixing her few locks of hair with curlers, which Peaches keeps eating. Darlene has been meditating in her lamp after being up late last night for a pre-opening night party she threw. This is not to be confused with the opening night party that Darlene’s throwing after the first performance, or the closing night party, which will take place in two days’ time. I’ve even heard talk of a musical reunion party that she’s supposedly throwing a few months from now, but that’s impossible because Darlene and her lamp will be long gone by then, right? Right?
Whenever I ask Darlene or Maxine that question, neither answers me.
“Due to low enrollment, the school-wide assembly taught by Professor Wolfington, ‘Evil Throughout the Ages: How to Identify and Take Down a Villain,’ has been replaced by Madame Cleo’s ‘Don’t Worry, Swim Happy’ lecture. Madame Cleo’s enrollment, on the other hand, is almost full! It will take place next Tuesday.”
“Ooh, Peaches, I need to find a good bathing suit to wear to Madame Cleo’s lecture,” Maxine tells her duck, who quacks. “I know you don’t need one, but I do.”
“Professor Harlow has announced a cooking tutorial in her dungeon to help students de-stress. She says, and I quote, ‘Making food that feeds the soul can help us all be calmer.’ Bring an apron and join Harlow for a ‘Ways to Cook with Apples’ seminar next Saturday afternoon.”
Wilson pokes his head out of my pocket and looks at me. “Ways to cook with apples? With the Evil Queen?” I ask my mouse, and we both laugh. I laugh so hard, I fall on my bed, which is covered with scrolls sent over from police headquarters. They send scrolls for everything. If a single spoon goes missing at Three Little Pigs restaurant, there is a scroll about it.
“I don’t think it’s funny,” Maxine sniffs. “I think it’s great that Harlow is putting her, er, talents to good use.”
“She’s tried to poison people with fruit before,” I remind Maxine. “I’m not sure she should be teaching apple recipes. She should be using her magic to track down Stiltskin!”
Darlene’s lamp uncorks, and she emerges from the smoke wearing a sparkling pink face mask. Her hair is in curlers, and she’s currently painting her see-through genie nails a bright purple. “Did someone mention that heinous villain’s name again? Why are we talking about him? No one has seen him, have they?”
“No!” I start getting worked up again. “But that’s just because everyone is bewitched!” I hold up a stack of scrolls. “I’m the only one scouring the news for mentions of that angry little troll! You guys are too busy putting on a school musical!”
“To make people happy,” Maxine reminds me.
“They’re not really happy!” I shout. “That’s an illusion you created with your wish!”
Pop! A sterling silver tray full of patty-cakes appears on my bed. Maxine immediately takes one and starts chewing.
“I love these,” she says. “They calm my nerves. Darlene, have one.”
“No.” She waves them away. “I ate too much at last night’s party.”
“The roasted chestnuts were really good.”
“Weren’t they?”
“Enough!” I cry and another patty-cake tray appears. “When are you two going to get your head out of the clouds and cast that final wish? It’s time Fairy Tale Reform School gets back to normal.”
Maxine and Darlene look at each other in a way I don’t like—a way that says they’ve been talking without me. “What did you two do?”
“It’s more like what we haven’t done,” Maxine says sheepishly.
“And what we don’t plan on doing,” Darlene says, removing the curlers from her hair. She shakes out her red locks, and they fluff up to twice their normal size.
“You’re not fixing your wish?” I screech.
Maxine tries to shush me. “We’ve talked about this a lot, and we sort of don’t think it’s necessary anymore.”
“Everyone is so happy working on the musical,” Darlene adds. “Who says they can’t continue to be happy? Why do they need to worry about a villain who hasn’t made a peep since you last saw him? They have lives to lead.”
“Lives that should be happy,” Maxine adds.
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “But, you’re tricking them into thinking everything is fine when it’s not.”
“As opposed to them spending every waking minute thinking about a villain who isn’t here?” Darlene counters. “Who’s to say what’s better? Besides, this is the first place I’ve visited outside my lamp that I actually like. You kids get me, and I love directing.” She gets a far-off look in her almost-transparent brown eyes. “I’m already thinking of our next musical: A Summer in Enchantasia. We could have singing flowers and fairies flying over the audience dropping snacks.”
“Great idea!” Maxine agrees, and Peaches quacks.
“Stay? But you need three wishes! That’s the rule! You said so yourself! You wanted Maxine to be done!” I remind her.
Darlene shrugs her nonexistent shoulders. “That was before I got to know you all. And if that Stiltskin is really out there, don’t you think my lamp should be with Maxine rather than just waiting to be found? What if it falls into one of his squad member’s hands?”
I open my mouth to argue, but it’s kind of a good point.
“It could be a total catastrophe,” she presses. “Which is why Maxine and I decided she won’t cast a final wish. I’ll stay with the two of you.” She grins. “My new roomies!” My jaw drops. “I hardly take up any room with my lamp, and the staff seems to really like my musical direction. I’m sure they’ll love having me full time.”
“Aren’t you breaking a genie oath or something?” I’m starting to full-blown panic. Fairy Tale Reform School cannot live in a permanent bubble! Professor Harlow is at her best when she’s conniving and plotting revenge against people. Madame Cleo loves detention! And none of the students are reforming the way they need to, because they’re all living a false version of their lives! I feel like the walls are closing in on me. “What would your fellow genies say?”
Darlene’s face clouds over slightly. “Well, they don’t have to know, do they?” Maxine and Darlene look at me.
Before I can say anything, Miri is back with another announcement.
“Madame Cleo and Professor Harlow would like all students to come down to the gym for a dress rehearsal this morning, to be followed by a celebratory lunch before it’s time for everyone to get ready for tonight’s show,” Miri announces.
“Lunch?” Darlene cries. “I didn’t know anything about a lunch! How can they throw a lunch when I’m throwing a dinner? That’s too much food before a performance. I must speak with them.” She goes flying through our dorm room door in a panic.
“Guess we should get ready to go.” Maxine gathers all her supplies. “Father and Mother sent a Pegasus Post that they’ll be here by three. They’re bringing all our neighbors and my grandparents too. I’m so excited!”
“Maxine,” I say kindly. “I’m happy for you, but doesn’t any of this feel…untrue to you? Don’t you want them to come see you perform, not as some wished-up version of you?”
Maxine bites her lip, drool dripping off her chin. She doesn’t answer me. “Are you coming along?”
“Maxine, please think about this final wish,” I beg. “It’s dangerous to have it just hanging out there! What if someone tries to force you to make a wish you don’t want? Then everyone here will be stuck in this wish-state forever! Fix things before it’s too late!” Pop! Pop! Pop! More patty-cakes appear on my bed. “Please.”
“Gillian?” Miri is back again. Grrr… “The village shopkeeper association would like to talk to you about some vandalism to their shops. You know, you really should hire a secretary. I don’t have time to handle your affairs as well as the school’s.”
“Thank you, Miri,” I say sweetly, but by the time I turn around, Maxine is gone.
I don’t make it to the dress rehearsal. No one comes looking for me. I guess when you have one line and play a tree, no one notices. The shopkeepers keep me tied up forever.
“Someone is setting fire to our boots and teakettles,” one shopkeeper says again. “How else do you explain a burn mark on my teakettle top? It’s not like it was a lightning strike. It was a starry night!”
“I did hear a few rumbles of thunder,” admits one shopkeeper.
“I’m telling you, it’s the typhira!” cries one.
“There’s no such thing!” says another.
I hand them all a scroll. “If you would just write down exactly what happened to each of your shops, I can send someone out to see what’s going on.”
“Why can’t you do it yourself?” asks the shopkeeper.
“I am in a musical tonight,” I try, my cheeks coloring. “And I’m late for rehearsal.” It’s a lame excuse for a police chief to use, but I’m desperate.
The shopkeepers start complaining, but get distracted by a bolt of lightning and the sudden pounding of rain against the castle roof.
“But it was supposed to be a clear night!” laments one shopkeeper as he pulls up his hood and heads to the door.
“Better get home before it gets worse,” I say, pleased by the sudden weather making them exit. “The Dwarf Police Squad will check on your shops soon.” I get them outside to their Pegasus coach then lock the doors behind me. I breathe a sigh of relief.
“It’s harder than it looks, isn’t it?” someone asks.
I look up and see Professor Wolfington and Professor Sebastian standing together at the end of the hall.
“What is?” I ask, wiping the rain off my face.
“Being a leader,” Professor Wolfington says. “Pete may have screwed up sometimes, but he made his job look easy.”
“Which, as you now know, it’s not,” adds Professor Sebastian.
“Are you saying I can’t do the job?” I bristle.
“No,” Professor Wolfington cuts me off. “We’re just pointing out that even with years of training and a lot of patience, this job is difficult.” He looks at me kindly.
“But Rumpelstiltskin could be out there right now!” I argue.
“But he’s not,” Wolfington says gently. “It takes time and resources to plot revenge. He’s too busy to come after us. For the moment.”
I look at him strangely. “Wait. You’re not acting happy. Are you not under the enchantment?”
He chuckles and looks at Professor Sebastian. “Those of us with an inner beast aren’t usually affected by wishes.”
“And yet somehow, AG has fallen for it wholeheartedly,” Professor Sebastian says with a sigh. “She’s more human than I realized.” He scratches his head. “If I have to hear her sing, ‘Oh, Enchantasia,’ one more time…”
“Right now, Gillian, the best thing you can do is help Maxine make the right decision about her final wish,” Wolfington reminds me. “And to help her make it soon.”
“Stiltskin may be plotting, but he won’t be plotting forever,” Professor Sebastian adds. “Angelina says he’s gathering the ingredients he needs for his curse as we speak. And once he has them and Alva returns to full strength…”
“But Maxine won’t listen to me,” I tell them, feeling sort of hopeless.
“Then try harder,” Professor Sebastian says. “A student who wants to be the first reformed-thief police chief should be good at negotiating.” He raises his hairy right eyebrow. “Shouldn’t she?”
The task is daunting, but then again, I’ve always liked challenges. I can’t help but start to smile. “Yes, she should.”