“Marjorie and Jack are headed this way,” said Blue. “They have Stella with them.”
Cory turned around. “Oh, good! We haven’t seen any of them since we had dinner at Jack’s house.”
“How are you?” Stella cried as she took Cory’s hand in hers. They had met when Cory was doing odd jobs for people, and had helped Stella can beans. After spending most of a day together they had become friends. One of Cory’s first matches had been between Stella’s son, Jack B. Nimble, and another friend, Marjorie Muffet.
“I’m well, thank you,” Cory replied.
“I was so worried when I heard that the fairies were still pestering you,” said Stella. “I’ve moved in with Jack, and his security is excellent. Even fairies don’t trespass there.”
“I installed a no-fly zone over my house,” said Jack. “Actually,” he added in a quieter voice, “I’ve hired goblins armed with peashooters to go after anyone who tries to fly over my walls. It’s a lot more effective than you might think.”
“We have ogre security,” Blue replied. “It’s very effective, too.”
“I can imagine it would be!” said Marjorie.
“Did you see that Prince Rupert is here with his new bride?” Stella asked Cory. “I didn’t know you knew them.”
“Zephyr was playing at the castle the weekend they met,” Cory told her. “I know the princess fairly well.”
“Really?” Stella said, looking impressed.
“I didn’t know that Rupert and Goldilocks were here,” Cory said to Blue. “We should go greet them.”
“They’re in the middle of that group of people,” Stella said, pointing.
“If you’ll excuse us …?” Cory said to her friends.
They all nodded and waved good-bye as Cory and Blue turned away. On their way to speak to the royal couple, Cory greeted Mary Lambkin and her new husband, Jasper, and waved to Gladys and six of her children. Reaching the edge of the group surrounding Rupert and Goldilocks, they found that they could do little more than catch a glimpse of the couple through the crowd of well-wishers and gawkers. Cory waved to Goldilocks, who waved back before turning away.
“Are you hungry?” Blue asked, steering Cory toward the tables of food.
“I am,” Cory began. “I just don’t—”
“There you are!” cried Cory’s grandmother, Deidre. “Your grandfather and I have been looking all over for you. This is quite a crowd! And all the ogres! Did you see how hairy that one is? I thought it was an invasion when we first walked in. You do know how rowdy they can be? It never would have occurred to me to invite ogres to my house.”
“Actually, they visit all the time,” Cory told her grandmother. “Most of those ogres are friends of mine.”
Deidre shook her head. “In my day, a young lady would never consort with people like that,” she said, glancing from the ogres to Blue.
“Now Deidre,” said Cory’s grandfather.
“Is your mother coming?” Cory’s grandmother interrupted. “I don’t see her yet.”
Cory turned to Blue. “No, she’s not,” he said. “She wasn’t invited.”
“Good!” declared Deidre. “My daughter is a real party pooper. And can you believe she’s marrying a goblin? When she told me, I thought she was just being outrageous to make me mad, but she really is serious about it. I always thought your mother was crazy, but now she’s certifiable. Who in their right mind marries a goblin?”
“Another goblin?” said Cory.
Blue nudged Cory toward the line of people at the food tables. “Excuse us, please,” he said. “We were just about to get something to eat.”
“Oh, you should!” said Cory’s grandfather. “Everything is delicious! I especially liked the asparagus salad.”
“But I was still talking to them!” Deidre complained.
“You can talk to them later,” said her husband. “Let the birthday girl get something to eat!”
Mouthing the words “thank you” to her grandfather, Cory let Blue hustle her to the vegetarian table before anyone else could stop them. “Go get in the other line,” Cory told him. “I know how much you like meat. I’ll see you after you get your food.”
While Cory slowly advanced through the line, Blue headed to the other serving table. A few minutes later, Cory saw that Blue was talking to Macks, but there was no sign of Estel. When Cory looked around, she finally spotted the ogress deep in conversation with another ogre. After serving herself, Cory joined Blue on the hunt for seats at one of the many tables.
“Let’s look over there,” Blue said, indicating some tables closer to the river.
“I saw Estel talking to an ogre I’ve never met,” Cory told him as they started to walk. “Do you know who he is?”
“That’s Grog,” said Blue. “He just moved here from the Deep Woods. Be careful around him. The ogres who live there are still mostly wild.”
“Why isn’t Estel with Macks?”
Blue leaned over to whisper in her ear. “They’ve had a big fight. Estel isn’t speaking to Macks right now.”
“Isn’t this the kind of thing that can make an ogre go on a rampage?” asked Cory.
“It used to be, and sometimes still is,” said Blue. “Macks is handling it really well.”
They were only a few yards from the river when they found two seats at a table. To Cory’s delight, Serelia Quirt was there, along with her water-nymph protégé Rina, Rina’s parents, and her new baby brother.
“Hello!” Serelia said when she saw Cory and Blue. “Please, sit with us.”
“Happy birthday!” said Minerva, Rina’s mother. “This is a lovely party. The food is marvelous and the weather is perfect. To top it off, we even found a table by the water.”
“It can’t get any better than this,” Rina’s father agreed.
“I’m glad you could come,” said Cory.
The baby squealed and flailed his pudgy arms.
“I haven’t seen your new baby yet,” Cory told them when Minerva started to rock him. “He’s adorable!”
The baby found his fist. He sucked on it for a moment, then pulled it out and began to wail. “Pardon me,” Minerva said over the crying baby. “I’m going to walk around a bit.”
When she got up, her husband did, too, running after her with the diaper bag.
“How are your lessons going?” Cory asked Rina.
“Great!” the girl replied. “Serelia has taught me a lot!”
“She’s a very quick learner,” said Serelia, gazing fondly at Rina. “And a pleasure to teach.”
“Whatever happened with your investigation into the kraken attack?” Blue asked.
Serelia sighed. “I still don’t have a clue as to who was behind it. I hoped that the Water Nymph Guild would help, but they’re dragging their feet.”
“Serelia is going to run for president of the guild again,” said Rina. “She was president a long time ago, but she thinks they need her even more now. The man who’s running the guild is as useful as a leaky bucket.”
Serelia laughed and patted the girl’s hand. “We know where your loyalties lie! But it is true. I’m going to run for president and I—”
There was a loud splash and people seated beside the river started to talk in excited voices. “Did you see that? A leopard just caught a fish.”
“There’s another leopard over there!”
“I want to go see!” cried Rina.
As more people hurried to the water’s edge, Serelia got to her feet. “Then let’s go investigate,” she said, taking the girl’s hand.
Cory had just taken her first bite of food when Daisy arrived with a young man wearing a bowl-shaped haircut and a silver lip ring. Daisy had been Cory’s friend since they were little girls. They were both members of Zephyr.
“Happy birthday, Cory!” Daisy exclaimed. “Imagine, your very first birthday party. I wanted to give you one when we were in Junior Fey School, but your mother wouldn’t let me. She said there’s no reason to celebrate getting older. We all have to do it, but we shouldn’t pretend to be happy about it.”
Taking a seat across from Cory, she pointed at the young man and said, “This is my new boyfriend.”
The young man reached out to shake Blue’s hand. “I’m Ptolomy Ptuttle,” he said, pronouncing the Ps in his name.
“Ptolomy is a chef,” said Daisy.
“I specialize in soups,” he said. “I’m planning to open my own restaurant as soon as I can get the funds. I’m going to name it ‘Soups On.’ I don’t suppose you’d like to be one of my backers? I have a great idea for Summer Soup. I’m going to include freshly mown grass and dandelions. They’re the most summery things I know.”
“What about strawberries?” suggested Cory.
“Great idea!” said Ptolomy. “Grass, dandelions, and strawberries! If I include strawberries, will you give me money? My restaurant is going to be a hit. My friends have been telling me so for years. I’m going to give Jack Horner and his Shady Nook their first real competition.”
Cory had opened her mouth to reply, when Blue said, “Uh-oh. We’re in for it now!”
When Cory turned around, she saw Grog kissing Estel. Macks was standing among a group of other ogres, his face turning redder and redder when he saw what Grog was doing.
Suddenly, all of Macks’s self-control was gone. He went berserk, roaring at the top of his lungs, “Get your filthy paws off my girl!” A moment later he was on top of Grog, pounding him with both fists, while Estel stood to the side, watching open-mouthed. And then Grog started to fight back, pummeling Macks as they rolled around on the ground.
While most of the crowd tried to get out of the way, the other ogres ran toward Macks and Grog. Two ogres tried to separate them, but went flying back when Macks punched them.
“I didn’t know that Macks was that strong,” Cory said to Blue.
“Ogres are exceptionally strong when they go on a rampage,” Blue told her.
Melter and another ogre tried to pull Macks off Grog. Macks threw them both off his back. Melter crashed onto the table, and Blue and Ptolomy Ptuttle fell out of their chairs. When Ptolomy got up, he ran off, leaving Daisy to follow him.
Cory shook her head. Daisy never had been able to pick very good boyfriends or want to stay with them for long. Cory wondered what had happened with Jonas McDonald. She had introduced him to Daisy herself. Even though she knew they weren’t a perfect match, he was far better than anyone Daisy ever chose. So far, Cory had been unable to see Daisy in a vision with anyone. When she tried again, she still couldn’t see her friend’s match. Even so, she wasn’t going to give up.
“You sure throw a great party!” the Bigfoot told Cory as he stood and shook himself.
Cory looked back at Macks, who had pulled up a twenty-foot tree and was using it to club Grog. Rina screamed when Grog landed at her feet.
“That’s enough of that!” Serelia said. Pointing at the river, she brought up a column of water, arcing it over the heads of the people in the crowd and dumping it full force on Macks. The ogre howled and sputtered as the water smashed him to the ground.
When the water finally let up and Macks got to his feet, dripping with water and blood, Estel ran to him, crying, “You really do love me!” and threw her arms around him.
A cheer went up from the crowd, and people began to applaud. Hearing this, Grog growled and looked as if he wanted to continue the fight, but five ogres and Melter picked him up and tossed him into the river.
Cory was helping Blue pick up pieces of the smashed table when she felt a tap on her shoulder. “I told you ogres were rowdy,” said her grandmother. “Maybe next time you’ll think twice about inviting them.”
Deidre was walking away with a smug look on her face when Cory had a vision. This time she saw Macks and Estel, and knew that for once she might not need to do anything.
“Macks and Estel really are meant for each other,” she told Blue.
Blue glanced at the two ogres, who were still kissing despite Macks’s injuries. “I know. And I think they’ve finally figured it out, too.”
“Yes, but I mean they’re really meant for each other,” said Cory.
“Did you see them in a vision?” Blue asked.
Cory nodded. “Just now. But I think this time I can leave it up to them. It looks as if they’re doing fine on their own.”
A familiar song began to play. Cory glanced at the house and saw that Zephyr had set up their instruments on the terrace. They had started with “Fairy Spring,” a song that didn’t require drums, but Cory knew that they would need her soon.
Alecks, Twark, and Skweely walked up and stopped in front of Cory. “We’ll take care of the broken furniture,” said Alecks, Macks’s brother. “This is your birthday. You have better things to do.”
The three ogres shooed Cory and Blue away, but they hadn’t gone far when Cory spotted someone she didn’t want to see. “Oh, no,” she told Blue. “My mother just showed up.”
“I was afraid she’d come even if we didn’t send her an invitation,” said Blue. “I know it’s virtually impossible, but try not to let her upset you.”
“I suppose there isn’t time to hide in the crowd,” Cory said, looking around.
“It’s too late,” Blue replied. “She’s already headed this way. She brought Officer Deeds with her, too.”
“I can’t believe you had a party like this and didn’t invite your own mother,” Delphinium said in a voice meant to carry.
“Cory didn’t send out the invitations,” said Blue. “It was a surprise birthday party.”
“I’ve been telling Delphinium that the invitation must have arrived in her message basket, but she threw it out by accident. That is what happened, isn’t it?” said Officer Deeds, the goblin FLEA officer whom Cory had recently matched with her mother. Although he was shorter than Cory, the goblin’s bulging forehead, long, crooked nose and bristling eyebrows made him appear formidable. The stern look he gave Blue was as strong as a command.
“Yes, of course, sir,” said Blue.
“Humph!” said Delphinium. “I had to come see you sooner or later, Cory. Wilburton and I are going to have a traditional goblin wedding, so you’ll have to be involved.”
“I really don’t think—” Cory began.
“I don’t care what you think!” Delphinium declared. “All my female relatives have to take part. Now, I assume my mother is here. I have to tell her, too, and I might as well do it now.”
“She never listens to me, does she?” Cory said to Blue as her mother walked away.
“Not since I’ve known her,” Blue replied, shaking his head.