When I got home, I put the Doofus Globe on my shelf, right next to where I kept my feather necklace when I wasn’t wearing it, and the mirror that we used to contact Gruffy. According to Mom and Dad, we’d only been gone for an afternoon, but they’d been worried sick. When Mom caught us sneaking in through the back door, she grounded us for another week right on the spot. She said we were in hot water, big time.
“Could we be in cold water instead?” I asked.
That turned our two-week grounding into three weeks, and I got a sock in the arm from Theron. Double “Ow!” with a bruise on top. I’d rather have another week of grounding than one Theron punch.
It didn’t turn out too badly, though. Jayla was also grounded for burning up the yard. So we couldn’t see each other for a while, anyway. At least I knew she was safe. The danger to her was sitting safely on my shelf.
We had found Jayla roaming the halls in the volcano, thankfully not in one of the tunnels that filled with lava. She’d had Jimmy on the ropes for a while, which was actually what kept him out of the Agatha fight. But once the Enterruption dropped the Jimmythugs outside the mountain, they’d turned right around rushed back in to help him again. That’s when Jayla fled the battle. She had been circling, looking for another opportunity when we’d all put a stop to Jimmy. I thought I’d have a tough time trying to convince her to come back to Earth, but she didn’t put up a fight. Jayla had had enough adventure for now.
As for the Jimmythugs, once Jimmy vanished right in front of them, they weren’t as keen to fight. We brought them back with us, too.
That left the tearful goodbye with André. It was way harder than I thought to leave him there. I already missed him. His stylish flair. His wild creativity. His unbreakable loyalty. Without him, Jimmy would have won. He’d withstood torture and imprisonment without giving up the hourglass. André was never coming back to Earth, I knew that now. The only thing that made that bearable was that I knew I could go back and visit him.
It also made my other decision so easy.
I mean, I’d fight to my last breath to keep the hourglass and the spinner from Jimmy, but that didn’t mean I wanted them. I really would make a horrible Vella, always wanting to leave the Wishing World and come home, missing my family. But you know who would make an amazing Vella? Someone who loved the Wishing World even more than I did?
Yeah, I gave the spinner and the hourglass to André. He refused at first, because, under that flamboyant façade, he’s actually the most humble guy you ever met. He just wants to live and love, and let others do the same.
That! That’s the reason he was going to make an awesome Vella. Also, André liked to start with something and work it and work it until it came to fruition. Laying down the primer. Laying down the base colors. Working in more colors. Adding flourishes. Going back, working in more colors. And on and on and urg.
Better him than me. I didn’t need to be the Queen of the Wishing World. If I could just be the queen of my little room in my happy little house with my family, that was just fine.
With, of course, a dash of adventure thrown in from time to time.
Theron opened my bedroom door and came inside.
“Um, knock ever?” I asked. He never did. Never. I so needed a lock for my door.
“Oh, sure, and wake up the whole house,” he said.
“Not everyone knocks like a buffalo, Barge-in Boy. You can knock softly.”
“Are you ready or what?” he asked.
I smiled at him. Having him by my side, with me instead of against me, this was the way it should be. “Almost,” I said.
“Your clock never has the right time,” he said, looking at my clock. “Why don’t you fix that?”
It said 12:05 a.m. It was actually two minutes to midnight because my clock was seven minutes fast, but I liked it that way.
“It makes me feel like I have more time,” I replied.
He shook his head. “You’re so weird.”
“Look in a mirror.” He didn’t laugh. But Theron doesn’t know from funny.
“Come on. Mom and Dad have been asleep for two hours. Let’s go.”
I didn’t argue the point. Not because he was right, but because if we got into an argument, we actually would wake them up.
We went outside. I brought up the hand mirror.
“No way this works,” he said, but his eyes sparkled with excitement.
“Yes, way. I know more than I used to,” I said, and I closed my eyes. With my other hand I gripped my pen. I could feel a vibration in the pen when I was looking into someone else’s story, and I looked deep in Theron’s and into mine. There was a yearning for adventure and fun and silliness. I wrote the words, then reached my hand into the mirror. It went right through like it was water. Yes, it did.
I felt talons tighten against my wrist, and I pulled. A thin, ghostly leg emerged in my grip, then a flow of sparkling white mist followed like a whip. The mist gathered at our feet, growing.
Then Gruffy stood in our yard, almost as tall as the low power line that went to our house.
“Doolivanti,” he said, bowing his head. I bowed back.
So I’ll tell you this one thing: It’s hard to see things at night. But even if it’s bright daylight . . .
Gruffy knelt on the grass. Theron and I leapt onto his back and he launched into the air.
Nobody ever looks up.