Opening and Closing Night
I grab my tree costume and head down to the gym where everyone is already in performance mode. There are hundreds of chairs set up by the makeshift stage, and a huge curtain separates the performers from the audience. Behind the curtain, I can hear people warming up, a piano being tuned, and shouts of “Has anyone seen my script?” Next to the stage, the mermaids are practicing their synchronized swim moves in a giant tank.
Madame Cleo is directing the students—both inside the tank and out—on where she wants things to go.
“The flowers should be at the entrance, darlings,” Madame Cleo tells Blackbeard and a group of pirates. “If anyone wants one to throw at the stage—or a starfish to give to a mermaid—those buckets should be at the door where we’ll be collecting tickets. I’m also thinking some flowers along the walkways would be a lovely touch.”
“No, no, no, stop right there.” Darlene swoops down the aisle. “I don’t want any of my performers tripping when they come down the aisles singing, ‘How Do You Solve a Problem like Enchantasia?’ That is an accident waiting to happen.”
Madame Cleo’s tail turns a fiery red. “What are you holding in your hand, darling?”
Darlene puts the scrolls behind her back. “Nothing.”
“More autograph-signing scrolls?” sniffs Madame Cleo. “Aren’t you a little busy to be signing autographs?”
“Yes, well, I am, but when the students beg…” Darlene says.
A crack of lightning lights up Madame Cleo’s tank with an eerie glow. Her face is anything but happy, which is interesting. Can a wish’s power fade? But she quickly smiles again. “That’s lovely, darling, but save it till after the performance! Our guests will be coming soon.” Madame Cleo notices me. “Gillian, dear, why are you not in costume yet? We’re doing the run-through in ten minutes!”
“I just need to find Maxine,” I protest and turn to the genie. “And you too. I—”
Darlene ushers me to the dressing rooms—a.k.a. gym locker rooms. “Dress first, talk after! Bye!” I go flying through the doors.
Inside, it’s mayhem.
“Has anyone seen my halo?” Kayla yells as she flies through the room.
“Sparkles! We’ve run out of sparkles!” shouts a pixie, who is doing hair. A group of girls are lined up waiting for their turn.
“I think this one needs some blush. She looks quite pale,” I hear Miri say about a small elfin girl wearing a sunburst costume. “Either that or she’s about to…”
Oops. I turn away as the girl throws up into a trash basket. Thankfully, someone from the elf cleaning crew appears with the ELF Cleaning Spray, and one quick spritz later it disappears before it starts to smell.
Everywhere I look, girls are applying stage makeup and getting into elaborate costumes designed as trees, sunbursts, and teakettles. Mermaids in their gym locker tanks are adorning their shell tops with pearls while pixies drape themselves with flowers. AG is dressed like the princess she is.
“Gilly!” She runs toward me in a sparkly beige ball gown with a tulle skirt. “I’m so nervous. This is my first show, and I’ve never spoken to this many people before. What if I start to turn beastly?” She looks worried, but then a smile pops back on her face. “But it will be fine either way, because I am happy! Always happy!”
This wish is so strange.
A boom of thunder rattles the windows.
AG frowns again. “I hope this weather doesn’t delay the visitors coming to see the show.”
Darlene whisks into the room. “Places everyone! We are going to do a run-through and then it will be showtime!” There is a flurry of excitement as everyone stampedes to the door.
I strain my neck trying to find Maxine, but she’s nowhere to be seen. I slip into my tree costume and rush to the door. Poof! A cloud of sparkle dust makes me start to cough.
“There!” says a tiny pixie. “Your hair has that cool purple stripe, but you didn’t style it so it needed some pizazz. What do you think?”
I glance in the mirror. My brown hair is almost entirely pink and covered in sparkles. I look like a giant cupcake dressed as a tree. “Er…”
“Let’s go, Gilly!” Darlene says. “Everyone is already on stage!”
“Gilly?” Miri yells for me from a nearby mirror. “The Dwarf Police Squad called. The storm has washed out the bridge to FTRS, and they won’t be able to send any backup for the musical tonight. They want to know if you’re okay on your own.”
“Umm,” I say as a group of students dressed as cows pushes past me.
“Has anyone seen the glass slippers?” AG shouts.
“I think my beanstalk costume needs more green paint on it,” Jack yells to anyone who will listen.
“Someone took the wrong pink dress!” Jocelyn almost barrels me over. “I’m sure it was a mistake, but I really need the pink dress with the diamond collar!”
“I…” I try to come up with a response, but I’m so distracted by all the shouting and the sparkles flying through the air, I can’t concentrate. “It’s fine!” I yell over the chaos. “With the weather, I’m sure we’ll have a smaller crowd than usual.” Rain is pelting the window harder now, and the wind has picked up.
“I’ll let them know,” Miri says. “They also said to tell you there have been a few disturbances this evening. The first one was—”
“She has to take the stage! It’s time!” Darlene pushes me out of the locker room and toward the stage, making me miss the end of Miri’s message. Maybe it’s about more farmer crop issues? Or more issues caused by the weather? I glance outside. The sky is almost black. Funny, but that shopkeeper was right: I don’t remember there being any rain in the forecast.
“Gilly!” Darlene snaps. “Get in position!”
I run to my mark and look around for Maxine. Where is she?
“Our star has arrived!” Tessa points to the audience. Maxine is walking up the aisle flanked by two dozen ogres. They’re so large, they knock over a bunch of chairs.
“Mother, Father, this is everyone,” Maxine says proudly. “Everyone, this is my ma and pa!” They’re both wearing WE LOVE MAXINE T-shirts with an abstract painting of what I think is Maxine on the front.
Everyone yells hello or waves. Darlene coughs loudly, and Maxine makes her way to the stage.
“Psst! Maxine!” I hiss.
“Shh!” the ogre sunflowers around me shush.
Maxine doesn’t turn. She’s obviously avoiding me. She knows what I’m going to say. I’m sure of it.
“I want to see smiles!” Darlene floats around the stage. “Show off your macting skills! Practice your breathing. In and out. In and out. Exhale slowly.”
Everyone does as they’re told, jumping at the sound of another clap of thunder.
“Showtime!” Darlene magically opens the giant curtain.
AG steps forward. “An Ode to Enchantasia, directed by the brilliant Darlene the Genie, with an assist by writers Madame Cleo and Professor Harlow.”
“Cut!” Harlow rushes up the aisle in a pink gown and cape. I’m so shocked at her princess-like outfit, I almost pass out. “An assist? Cleo and I wrote that script. Our names should come first. You’re the assistant.”
Cleo’s tail is green with envy. “Darlene, we talked about this. Our names should come before yours. We wrote the script.”
They start to bicker, and I wonder if maybe someone has overridden this wish, but then Darlene snaps her fingers and their smiles return.
“But if you want your name first, it can stay that way.” Harlow air-kisses Darlene. “Sorry for the interruption.”
“Thank you!” Darlene says. “Continue, AG.”
“This fair kingdom has been known throughout the land for not only its struggles, but its triumphs.”
Jax steps forward, wearing a gold lamé jacket and shiny black pants. Normally, he’d never be caught in a number like that. “With the help of fairy godmother Olivina, the royal court rose to power as a united front, ruling the kingdom of Enchantasia with a kind, but firm hand.”
The mermaids in the tank start to dance, and the chorus made up of RLWs starts to sing as Maxine walks to center stage.
“Oh, Enchantasia!” Maxine croons, in her beautiful—fake—voice. A pixie next to me sighs with happiness. “The land we call our own…”
The thunder booms and a flash of lightning illuminates Maxine’s face.
“Gilly!” Miri appears in the handheld mirror of the girl next to me. “Gilly! There’s been a break-in!”
Did she just say break-in? It’s hard to hear over the oohs and aahs…and screaming? Is that Miri?
“Gilly! Help!” Miri cries.
“Stop!” I shout, interrupting Maxine’s song.
“Gilly, whatever it is can wait,” Darlene tells me.
I grab the mirror and rush forward, banging people with my tree limbs as I race to reach Maxine. “I think Miri is in trouble! We have to stop the show and help her!”
“Gilly!” Jocelyn snaps. “You’re being rude and sound jealous! It’s not polite to interrupt the show’s star.”
“I know you only have one line and it makes you sad, but it’s not good to lie,” says Ollie.
I hear more thunder. The claps come one after another, and the ground starts to shake. Are we under attack? Is it Rumpelstiltskin? I look for someone who appears as alarmed as I am, but the other students are either yelling at me about interrupting the show or humming the musical’s melody. Harlow and Cleo look blissful, and Flora is nowhere to be seen. Miri and I are the only ones worried.
“Gilly!” Miri’s little mirror turns red. “Get the students to safety! They’re here!”
Boom! Seconds later, the doors to the gym blow open.
The strangest creature I’ve ever seen comes scurrying into the room. With big, pointy ears, and a long, white body that he walks on with all four paws, he reminds me of a dog. He sniffs the ground around him, appearing not to see us.
“Aww, how cute!” says Tessa. “It’s a dog. Gilly, you’re worried about a dog?” Everyone laughs.
At the sound of so many schoolchildren, the creature looks up and opens its mouth. A lightning bolt shoots out of it, hitting the row of chairs behind Maxine’s extended family, setting it ablaze. The ogres begin to run in different directions.
“It’s a typhira!” Maxine’s father shouts. “Maxine, run!”
For the love of Grimm, those things are real! Maxine was right! Legend says they hate schoolchildren and are mischievous. And we’re in a fairy tale reform school. Excellent.
“Aww, they’re so cute!” Maxine says as the creature begins to squeak in a high-pitched voice. Maxine looks at me. “Told you they were real! I always wished I could see one in person and now here they are.”
Wished. That’s right! “Maxine.” I grab her by the shoulders. “You were talking about these little devils when you were polishing your lamp!” Her eyes widen, and one begins rolling madly in its socket. “Them being here must have something to do with your wish!”
More typhiras scurry in, fanning out to sniff the ground, climb the walls, and search the room. Spotting the food on the side of the stage, they squeak louder and head right toward it. They knock over anything in their path—overturning tables and chairs to get to the food, and tearing through the platters in a matter of minutes. Plates fly and tablecloths are shredded as the pack fights over every last morsel. When it’s all gone, they spot the school kids cowering on stage, and their eyes narrow.
“Everybody, run!” I shout as the group of tiny beasts bare mouths with three rows of pointy teeth. They start to growl and rush toward the stage.
“What’s wrong with them?” AG asks pleasantly as one bounds toward her.
I knock her down just in time, and the creature lands behind us, opening its mouth.
“Roll!” I shout as a shot of lightning hits the stage and burns a hole in the gym floor. Students start to scream.
“It’s okay!” Jocelyn tells everyone. “It doesn’t understand us. Little guy, we’re putting on a show. Please don’t ruin it.” The typhira shoots fire at Jocelyn’s feet, and she jumps out of the way.
Fairy be! No one is moving. They don’t realize these little things can’t be reasoned with. They’re going to tear the entire student body and the school apart. I look for Harlow. She’s in the audience looking dazed, Cleo is swimming around in circles, and the other students are glued to their marks, watching everything unfold. It’s as if the wish has made it impossible for them to worry about anything. And right now, they really should. I can try to save some, but I’m one person. I need help.
I look for Darlene, but she’s nowhere to be seen. Then I spy her lamp wobbling on the stage floor. She saved herself…or so she thinks. A typhira spots the lamp and chucks it clear across the room. I need to go get that, but first I need to talk to Maxine. I physically might not be able to stop an army of mischievous, weather-changing creatures, but Wolfington and Professor Sebastian are right: Maxine can.
“Maxine!” I yell as I push AG out of the line of fire. I push other students in the same direction. “You have to stop the typhiras from destroying the school. Make your last wish!” I duck as a table comes flying at me.
“But…” Maxine hesitates, looking out at her family huddling together in a corner. “I haven’t had a chance to perform yet.” A table goes flying across the room and hits the front of the mermaid tank. A small fissure starts to spread. We cannot let that tank burst.
I start crawling toward Maxine as things fly around her. The typhiras are everywhere now. Hanging from the curtains, chewing through the rafters, and forming a hole in the ceiling. Rain is dripping down onto AG and Jax’s heads. They stare up at it in wonder.
“The rain is so pretty,” I hear Jocelyn say as she and Kayla sway back and forth singing their Enchantasia musical number. I dive at them and push them into the corner with the others.
“I know you want to be a star, but you already are one,” I reason. “You gave everyone a chance to forget about the real world for a bit, but now it’s time to bring them back, before someone gets hurt. If that doesn’t make you a star—the hero of this story—I don’t know what does.”
“But the musical will still go on,” Maxine sniffs. “And I’ll sound terrible.”
“You’ll sound like you,” I rationalize. “And you’ll still do a great job. You won’t be alone!” I yell over the thunder. “I’ll stand by your side the whole time.” A bolt of lightning shoots above our head and lights the curtain on fire. “If there’s still a gym left to have the show in.”
A chandelier crashes into the tank. The mermaids passively watch it float to the bottom.
“Okay,” Maxine says, taking a deep breath. “Let’s make my last wish.”
“You’ve got this.” I grab her hand and walk her down the stage steps to retrieve the lamp. Only it’s no longer there. “Where’s the lamp?” I panic.
“For the love of Grimm, it’s up there!” Maxine points to the ceiling where a typhira is carrying the lamp in its teeth as it climbs toward the hole in the ceiling.
If it slips through there with the lamp, we could lose Darlene for good and never get to make that wish. “We have to get that…Maxine?” I look around. Where did she go?
I see her ascending one of the wall ladders that was used to hang the scenery. She never climbs ladders because her hands are too big for the rungs.
“What are you doing?” I yell.
“I have to save the lamp!” she shouts, as her family watches.
“You can do it, Maxine!” her mother encourages her.
That’s all the motivation she needs because Maxine climbs higher. I hear Maxine’s mother gasp as a typhira shoots a lightning bolt that hits inches from Maxine’s feet. Another bolt blasts the ladder next to Maxine’s hand engulfing it in flames. I hold my breath as several typhiras see what’s going on and begin crawling in Maxine’s direction. I have to help her.
“Too bad Maxine can’t fly like me,” Kayla says, and I do a double take.
A fairy with wings is standing next to me. “Kayla!” I shake her. “Can you carry me up to Maxine to help her?” Kayla looks at me strangely. “So that we can play a game and be happy?” “A game? Sure!” Her wings pop out of her bag and enlarge in size, and she offers me her hands.
I grab hold of them, and we lift off the ground, dodging lightning bolts from other typhiras as we fly. A typhira reaches out to knock Maxine off the ladder, and she loses her hold, hanging from one arm.
“Maxine!” her mother cries.
“Hang on!” I shout, and Maxine grabs hold just in time to see me and Kayla flying at her. I swing my legs with all my might and knock the typhira off the rung. “Take that, you little beastie!” I look at Maxine. “Keep going. You’re almost there. I’ll back you up.”
Maxine nods, her tongue sticking out of her mouth as she concentrates on the climb. The typhira sits a few feet above her. It’s holding the lamp, and from what I can tell, it’s actually snickering. Don’t get so cocky, buddy. Maxine is about to steal that lamp back from you!
She reaches up with her meaty hand, but the typhira knocks it away. She tries again, and the same thing happens. It’s never going to let her get that lamp.
Swoosh! A lightning bolt comes way too close for comfort and almost sends Kayla and me spiraling to the ground. The smoke from the fires that started from the lightning is getting thicker and making it hard to see. I’m losing sight of Maxine.
“Fly up to that typhira,” I instruct Kayla. “I have an idea.” I look at Maxine. “Get ready to catch!” When we’re eye-to-eye with the beast, I swing my legs, using as much momentum as I can muster.
“Gilly, watch out!” Maxine cries as the beast opens its mouth. I don’t give it a chance to fire. I swing my leg around and catch its claw. The lamp gets knocked from its grasp. Yes! Maxine reaches out to grab it and misses. The lamp is falling! I look down and see a group of typhiras waiting to catch it before Kayla and I can get down there.
Whoosh! Blue flies in out of nowhere, and Maxine jumps on the carpet before I can even react. The carpet is flying down, down, down. Finally, Blue catches up and slides under the lamp in time for Maxine to grab it.
“Yes!” I shout as typhiras start climbing toward me and Kayla in strikingly fast fashion. “Uh, Kayla, you should go!” She begins to fly toward Maxine as lightning strikes hit in quick succession. When we reach the ground, I run to Maxine, who is uncorking the lamp. “Good job, Blue,” I tell the rug, petting it.
Darlene doesn’t appear like she usually does, but finally, Maxine rubs the lamp, and she has no choice but to show up.
When Darlene fizzes out of the lamp, she looks miserable. “I know. You want your last wish.”
“It doesn’t mean you have to go,” Maxine says. “You can stay here with me. Or I can give you to someone else at school. They can make wishes.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” I say, moving as an umbrella goes flying by us.
“It’s not,” Darlene agrees, looking around. “I’ve made a mess of things here.”
“You were a great wish-giver,” Maxine counters. “And the musical is the most fun this school has had in forever. Maybe you should direct musicals in the genie world. I’m sure they’d love a musical as much as we do.”
“That’s true, dear,” Darlene says, perking up. “Think of the genie story lines I could do.” She stares into the smoky distance. “I see a boy, finding a lamp in a cave. He doesn’t know it’s magic, but he gets trapped and…”
“Darlene, write the musical later,” I say as more chairs go up in flames. “Wish first!”
“Right,” Darlene agrees. “Go for it, Maxine.”
Maxine closes her eyes, hugs the lamp to her chest, and wishes. “I wish things at Fairy Tale Reform School could go back to the way they were before I made my first wish.”
Darlene closes her eyes and mutters a few words. There’s a gust of wind, a blast of sound, and boom! “Final wish granted,” Darlene says.
We look around. The typhiras have vanished, but students everywhere are waking up, looking around as if they’ve been asleep for a thousand years.
“Hans Christian Anderson, why am I wearing pink?” I hear someone shout.
I smile. I never thought I’d say this, but thank the fairies, Professor Harlow is back!