CHAPTER 19

The Knight

Let me tell you the tale of a brave knight. There once was a girl named Isabella Inglebel. Her father suggested she be a princess for Halloween, but Isabella said, “I want to be a knight.”

“But you’re a girl! Girls can’t be knights!” her father said.

Isabella and her mother yelled at Mr. Inglebel for several days until he begged forgiveness for his mistake. Then he drove Isabella to the store and bought her the most expensive knight costume they had.

On Halloween, she arrived in Classroom 13 wearing a stunning suit of shining armor, complete with a beautiful silver (plastic) sword.

After eating a cursed chocolate peanut butter cup, Isabella believed that she was a real knight. In fact, she didn’t realize she was in a classroom at all. She believed she was roaming the countryside of the enchanted 13th Kingdom—a cursed place of monstrous monsters and distressed damsels and kooky kings.

Isabella the Knight knelt before Mason. “My lord, it sounds as if you and your squire are in need of a noble knight to help you in your quest. I offer my service to thee,” Isabella said in a British accent, offering Mason her sword.

Mason was confused. “Was that even English?”

“Yes, it’s British,” Olivia told him.

“Aha! So it’s not English!” Mason said.

Olivia slapped her palm to her forehead.

“How may I help you, my king?” Isabella asked.

“King Mason—I like the sound of that!” Mason said. “All right, Knight, you’re hired!”

Isabella the Knight stood. “I shall ride into battle for you, my lord. But first, I require a steed.”

“What’s a steed?” Mason asked.

Olivia explained, “She needs a horse.”

“I’ve got just the one!” Mason said. He walked her over to Mya & Madison. “It has two heads. So maybe it’ll be twice as fast. So, uhhh… I guess, I now pronounce you knight and horse! You may ride the horse!”

Isabella climbed onto the double-necked stallion. It did not go well. Both heads wanted to run away from the knight. At the same time. In opposite directions.

Since they were connected at the waist, the horse just spun around in the same spot. Over and over and over again. It was like a two-headed horse tornado. Isabella the Knight hung on to the two manes for dear life and tried not to barf in her helmet.

I wish I could tell you she didn’t. But she did.

“I am sorry, my king. This dizzy knight has failed you,” Isabella said, retching into her helmet again.

“How can a night be dizzy,” Mason asked, “especially when it’s daytime?”

Olivia slapped her palm to her forehead again. She wondered if they would ever figure this out.