Nora looked one-third disgusted, one-third amused, and one-third in need of a shower and a stretch. The first thing she did was run to the door. “Help! Someone! Police!”

Isabelle would’ve run after her, but she had a sparkle stuck in her throat. So instead, she coughed until Nora stopped shouting and brought her a glass of water and a long list of very obvious questions.

“Who are you, really? Why are you here? How did you get here? What do you want from me?”

Isabelle was only too happy to answer. “Like I said, I’m your fairy godmother. I’m here to grant your wish and make you happily ever after! Just name it, and you’ve got it.”

Hearing this, Nora should have felt like dancing, too. But she didn’t. She crossed her arms over her chest. She looked suspicious. “But I didn’t make any wishes.”

Of course, Isabelle knew this, but she wasn’t going to admit it.

“Yes you did.”

“No I didn’t.”

“Yes you did.”

“No I didn’t.”

This was not going well at all. “Fine. You didn’t. But since I’m here, you must want something.” When Nora stayed silent, Isabelle had to think fast. “I could make you a rabbit,” she said. She pointed her wand at the stuffed animals on top of Nora’s bed. “I know for a fact that you thought that bunny outside was super cute.”

Isabelle flicked her wrist and swooshed around in a half twirl. She prayed that something would happen.

At first, nothing happened. It was a little embarrassing.

So she raised her wand higher and thought very hard about pets and how great it was to have one. She thought about that rabbit outside, and how sad Nora must be because she couldn’t go outside and pet it. And then she looked at Nora, and she wanted her to be happy. For a split second, Isabelle could feel that Nora wanted to believe.

A white bunny appeared on Nora’s bed in a small cloud of white sparkles. It was a small one. But it was real. And fluffy. And when it twitched its nose, it looked very cute.

“Ta-da!” Isabelle cried. “Aren’t you happy now?”

To Isabelle’s surprise, Nora did not clap her hands. She did not look even mildly happy. Her eyes started to water. Her skin changed from pale to pink to this blotchy red that was very unbecoming and un-princess-like. If that wasn’t bad enough, she began to scratch her arms and legs and fingers and head. Then the sneezing started.

Between sneezes, Nora managed to say, “Get that thing out of here. I’m allergic!”

“Sorry!” Isabelle raised her wand to use some magic, but then she stopped. She didn’t want to risk messing up a second time. Plus, she was already low on sparkles. Instead, she chased the bunny around the room until it was so tired it let her pick it up and take it outside.

When she came back, Nora was almost done vacuuming. Her skin looked back to normal. She only sneezed a few more times.

“So maybe you don’t want a pet,” Isabelle said. “But there must be some other kind of wish I can grant for you.”

Nora didn’t say anything at first. “Okay then, Fairy Godmother. I thought about it, and I know what I want. I would like to wish for world peace!”

Isabelle didn’t know what to say. “World peace? I can’t make that.”

Nora tried to hide her disappointment. “What about clean air, then?” When Isabelle shook her head no, Nora paced around her room. Suddenly, she snapped her fingers. “How about clean water for everyone in the world? Or no, I’ve got something better. Let’s end world hunger.”

Isabelle lowered her wand. She sat down on Nora’s bed.

Nora said, “Can you possibly make mean people nice? Or, even better—turn them into frogs?”

Although this sounded like a really excellent idea, Isabelle knew she couldn’t pull that off, either. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to. “I’m sorry,” she said, “but I can’t do any of those things.”

This was getting really awkward.

Isabelle explained one of the few things she knew for sure: that fairy godmother magic was limited and that personal happiness was the key to successful wish granting. “Do you have a piece of fruit? Maybe a peach or a nectarine? If it’s a little bit ripe, I can probably make you a bike. Do you want two wheels or three?”

“I don’t really need a bike.” Nora frowned deeply.

Isabelle wiggled her feet to keep her toes from turning numb. “What about some amazing shoes?” She pointed to her own black-and-white shoes with silver-tipped pointed toes. They were hand-me-downs from Clotilda—cute, but a little tight. “Aren’t these nice? If you want, I can make a pair just like them.” Isabelle raised her wand again.

Nora shook her head. “I like the shoes I have.” Isabelle checked them out. Sneakers. They looked worn in, and the laces were bright green.

Isabelle wouldn’t want to trade those in, either. They looked pretty much perfect, like they’d be great for twirling.

But this was beside the point, and Isabelle knew it. Now that she was here, she had no time to waste. She had to make this visit count and grant Nora some kind of wish.

She didn’t have that much time left before the deadline. But she couldn’t admit that to Nora.

Isabelle wondered if she could scare her into wishing for something. “You know,” she said in her most threatening voice, “if you can’t think of anything to wish for, I could get my sister to put you in a deep sleep for a hundred years.” Although she wasn’t sure Clotilda would agree to do that, in theory it wasn’t the worst idea ever. While Nora slept, Isabelle could go home and look in a book for suggestions on dealing with difficult princesses. But Clotilda probably wouldn’t help. No doubt, there was a rule about that.

Nora lay down on her bed. “Fine with me. Go get your sister. I’ll leave my family a note. You say a hundred years? This is going to be so amazing.”

“Are you crazy?” Isabelle cried. The deep-sleep idea was supposed to be for emergencies only, and this was not an emergency. Or maybe it was …

Isabelle didn’t know. She really didn’t know anything.

She paced around the room. “There must be something that would make you happy right now, this second.”

“As a matter of fact, there is,” Nora said, finally smiling in a sort of sneaky (and un-princess-y) way. “I’d be very happy if you would leave.”