CHAPTER 12

A Spell to Remember

Another Grand Ball was quickly scheduled. This time Prudence did not make up any silly chores for Cupid. She was too busy asking for her help getting ready! Then she and Cupid practiced dancing for a little while before they left for the ball.

This time there was no hiding in the shadows for Prudence! She was front and center on the dance floor, twirling happily with Hopper the frog, each dancing to the beat of their own drum. Prudence was jumping and spinning and bopping. Everyone in the kingdom was asking who the wonderful dancer with the long dark hair was. Prudence was a hit!

And nobody had realized that Hopper the frog was actually Prince Charming. They found the frog delightful and charming, and all the girls lined up to take selfies with him with their MirrorPhones. It was one of the best nights of Hopper’s life.

Meanwhile, Charlotte was nowhere to be found—at the royal ball, that is. She was outside playing a heated game of bookball with her team while her suddenly not-so-wicked mom cheered her on. Charlotte was laughing and high-fiving her teammates. She spotted her mom in the stands and gave her a huge, happy smile and a wave.

“Woo-hoo! Go Charlotte!” her mom cheered from the bleachers. She nudged the person next to her. “Did you see that? That’s my daughter playing out there!” she said proudly.

Cupid and Maddie observed everything going on and then they high-fived, too.

“Prudence is really dancing like there’s no tomorrow, and Charlotte is playing bookball with her friends,” Maddie said. “That’s a Happily Ever After if I ever saw one!”

“It’s wonderful and also fairy interesting, too,” Cupid said. “This is my first Happily Ever After where love wasn’t involved.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Maddie said. “You taught Prudence and Charlotte to love themselves, and that’s way more important than falling in love with some boy! And anyway, there is plenty of time for that!”

“You’re right,” Cupid said. “I think my work here is done.”

Maddie agreed as she started to dance. “It’s time for us to spellebrate!” she cried, and, just like that, Cupid, Maddie, and Hopper were all on their way back to school.

Back at Ever After High, Cupid’s classmates huddled around her, eager to hear all the details of her adventure. Cupid gave her friends and a royally disappointed Faybelle a recap of everything that had happened in her Cinderella story—from the little doves to bookball practice. “It was a bit of a topsy-turvy ending…” she said. “But I can definitely say that we all lived Happily Ever After!”