CHAPTER 8
ZZZZ
The Winkopolis Elementary School: Home of the Badgers! banner greeted everyone in the auditorium. Kids buzzed like busy bees to their seats. Everyone seemed eager for the spelling bee to begin.
Ellie was the only one without ants in her pants. Instead, she felt like a thousand butterflies were in her stomach. Only she knew what Ms. Bumble — ahem, Queen Bee — had planned. If she didn’t foil the phony librarian, everybody was a sitting duck. Even Hannah!
Miss Little’s class shuffled into the third row. Hannah, Payton, and Dex joined the rest of the spellers onstage.
“Good luck!” Miss Little said.
Ellie watched as Hannah went behind the curtain. What evil awaited her? A toxic stinger? A honeycomb tomb? Ellie feared the worst.
But a few minutes later, Hannah walked onstage. She was safe and sound. A paper with the number seven had been attached to her shirt.
“Phew!” Ellie sighed. She settled into her seat. “That was a close one.”
Under the banner, the contestants waited nervously. Payton was fidgeting with her headband. Layla from Mr. Washington’s class was picking nail polish off her thumb.
Ellie focused on her best friend. Hannah looked like she’d swallowed a radioactive gnat. She sat on the edge of her seat, her fingers braiding nervously. She was probably worried about forgetting the second n in zinnia.
Mr. Cleveland took his place at the podium. “Welcome to the Winkopolis Elementary School Spelling Bee. Spellers, I’m sure you will B-E-E great.” He chuckled. “Here’s how it works. When I call your name, you will step up and spell the word I give you. If you make a mistake, you’ll be out. Are there any questions?”
The room stayed silent, but a question buzzed in Ellie’s brain. Where was Queen Bee? There was no sign of the super-villain anywhere!
Maybe she buzzed off, Ellie thought hopefully. Still, she kept her eyes peeled. Evildoers always struck when you least expected. They were sneaky like that.
“First up, Ian Chang,” Mr. Cleveland announced.
Ian slid off his chair. He dragged his feet into the spotlight.
Mr. Cleveland held up the word list. “Please spell zone.”
Ian thought for a quiet moment. Then he slowly leaned toward the microphone. His voice boomed across the auditorium. “Z-O-N-E. Zone.”
“Correct,” Mr. Cleveland replied. Ian punched the air proudly and sat down.
Ellie breathed a sigh of relief. No honey oozed down the aisles. No bees swarmed into the audience. So far, the spelling bee was villain-free.
“Dex Diggs.”
Ellie sighed. Well, almost villain-free.
Dex smirked as he strutted into position. He planted himself front and center.
“Spell zebrafish.”
“Zebrafish,” Dex repeated. “Z-E-B-R-A-F-I-S-H. Zebrafish.” Then he spotted Ellie in the crowd. He blew up his cheeks and made a pufferfish face.
Ellie just rolled her eyes.
Next up was Payton. She spelled the word zapper correctly. Then it was Hannah’s turn.
Ellie watched as her friend stepped forward. Please let Hannah get a super-easy word, she thought, crossing her fingers.
“Spell zesty,” Mr. Cleveland said.
Hannah closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Z-E-S-T-Y. Zesty.”
Ellie burst into applause. Hannah had spelled the word right!
Mr. Cleveland cleared his throat. “Let’s wait to applaud until the round is over,” he said.
Ellie’s cheeks turned red, and she nodded. Just then, she saw Hannah smile.
Ellie’s heart leapt. Maybe Hannah was ready to make up! Hopefully they could fix their friendship before Queen Bee turned their minds into mashed potatoes.
* * *
The round ended, and Ellie’s mind was still okay. It had not been mashed, hash-browned, or double-baked and sprinkled with bacon bits. Nobody had been hypnotized.
Had Queen Bee abandoned her evil plot? Ellie wondered. She shook her head. That was a crazy thought. Super-villains never gave up.
After Layla spelled zither, Miss Little yawned. “Ooh, I’m sleepy,” she said.
Ellie was puzzled. She didn’t think teachers ever got tired. Before she could blink, Amanda yawned too, followed by the student sitting next to her. One by one, everyone in the audience started yawning.
Ellie glanced around the room. Sure enough, as the students spelled zinc to zinger, the crowd began to fall asleep!
Owen and Joshua dozed off as Ian spelled zeroes. When Dex spelled zeal, all of the kindergarteners went nighty-night.
After Dex sat down, he curled up and let out a snore. ZZzz-hGGh-zzZZ.
Ellie sat there, dazed. Why was everyone drifting into dreamland?
“Spell zzzz,” Mr. Cleveland mumbled behind the word list, his eyes drooping closed.
Ellie gasped as the principal nodded off at the podium.
“It’s the z words on Ms. Bumble’s list!” she realized. “Hearing Zs is making everybody sleepy!”
Thankfully Ellie had turned up the Villain Volume Control dial on her Ultra Sound Stoppers. They had stopped her from zonking out. Turning down the dial, she listened for Queen Bee.
Bzzz . . . bzzz . . .
The noise was coming from the curtain!
Ellie blinked on her X-ray beams and scanned the curtain carefully. Her gaze passed over a pile of grass skirts and a guitar left over from Hawaiian Day. Floating past a blow-up palm tree, the beams stopped.
“Y-I-K-E-S,” Ellie whispered, her eyes widening.
In the glow, a bug-like figure stood. It had antennae and six legs. Two pairs of wings buzzed with delight. A crown sat on its head. It was Queen Bee, her majesty of meanness!
The queen rubbed two of her legs together. “My spelling trance worked!” she said wickedly. “Now it’zzz time to say the magic wordzzz. Then I’ll have human worker beezzz!”