CHAPTER 3

Brain Pain

When Ellie got home, her ears stopped buzzing and started chirping. A loud, birdlike song — to the tune of a hundred squawking parrots — struck as she floated into the kitchen.

CHIRRRP! CHIRRRP!

“Yeeowch!” Ellie cried. She pulled her cape over her head and took cover from the awful singing.

After a moment, she X-rayed the room, on the lookout for the evil villain named Birdbrain. Sometimes, Birdbrain flew through Winkopolis, pestering people with his pain-in-the-brain music. He also dropped poop bombs, which landed in the worst places possible.

Thankfully, Ellie’s X-ray scan turned up nothing more than toaster crumbs and a wrinkled blueberry.

If it isn’t a villain making that racket, it’s probably Mom and Dad, Ellie thought. Her parents were inventors for B.R.A.I.N., a villain-fighting superhero group. They were always busy building something. They were super-genius scientists, after all.

Ellie followed the noise to their laboratory downstairs. Gadgets sat along the wall. There was the Ultra Eraser, which could wipe away spilled grape juice. Next to that was the Ultra Weather Machine. It could make the weather snowy, rainy, cloudy, or sunny.

Ellie looked into the Ultra Real-Me Mirror, which showed who somebody really was. She frowned at her reflection. Just as she figured, she saw a superhero — not a spelling bee champ.

“Hi, Ellie!” Two super-genius scientists popped up in the mirror.

Ellie turned to face Mom and Dad. “I heard a noise. It wasn’t Birdbrain, was it?”

“Nope, he’s a jailbird,” Mom answered. “I think you heard this.” She grabbed a silver whistle off her desk. “It’s our latest invention for B.R.A.I.N. We’re calling it the Ultra Dog Trainer.”

Ellie plugged her ears as Mom blew into the mouthpiece. CHIRRRP! The noise was L-O-U-D. Loud.

“Why do you need to train a dog?” Ellie asked after the noise stopped. “We don’t have one, and Cyclops already knows how to do lots of stuff. See?”

She pointed to the Ultras’ giant, one-eyed iguana. He was currently sitting off on his rock, knitting.

“It’ll help stop a new evil villain, Dr. Drool,” Mom explained. She handed the gadget to Ellie so she could take a closer look. “That canine criminal needs to learn how to behave.”

Ellie studied the Ultra Dog Trainer. If it could train a villain like Dr. Drool, maybe it could teach Dex some manners. “Will it work on an eight-year-old evil mastermind?” she asked hopefully.

Mom smiled and shook her head. “Sorry. Property of B.R.A.I.N. — not for use at school.”

“Speaking of school,” Dad said, closing his clipboard, “how did the spelling bee tryouts go? Did you have to spell deoxyribonucleic acid? That’s spelled D-N-A, for short.”

Ellie crinkled her forehead. For somebody who knew everything about everything — even the formula for anti-gravity sneakers — her dad didn’t know much about third grade.

“I spelled friend,” she said, “but I got the word wrong. It was my hiccups’ fault.”

Ellie’s parents looked confused. “Hiccups?” Dad asked.

Ellie nodded. “But not just any hiccups — the horrible hic-hic-hiccups! They mucked up my mind. Bopped my brain. Squashed my skull. I couldn’t spell anything with them getting in the way!”

Mom put her arm around Ellie. “It’s okay to make a mistake, but I’m not sure you should blame your hiccups. Did you take time to study?”

“No,” Ellie said. “I’m a super speller. I didn’t think I needed to study.”

“What did you do?” Dad asked.

“Hmm . . . ,” Ellie said. She used her brainpower to think back on the weekend. “I saved a dog and rode a comet. And I went to the new park. The swings were awesome!”

Mom sighed. “If you’d studied, do you think it would’ve helped? Even against the horrible hiccups?”

Ellie had to admit that studying usually strengthened her spelling power. “I guess,” she replied. She kicked at an anti-gravity lunchbox floating by. Foiled times four! For a super good kid, she was having a super bad day.

“Well,” Dad said, “I have news that’ll help your mood. Comic Book Day is this Saturday at Winkopolis Books & Toys. Do you want to go?”

Like the Ultra Eraser on a grass stain, the news erased Ellie’s spelling funk. Comic Book Day spelled F-U-N! The local store went comic book crazy. There were superhero games and giveaways. Plus, kids came dressed as their favorite characters. It was Ellie’s cuckoo-for-comic-books dream.

“Yeah!” she shouted. “Can I get the new Princess Power: Protector of Sparkle Kingdom? It’s called The Staff and the Spell. The librarian at school said the Troll King puts Sparkle Kingdom under a nasty spell, all with a magic staff. He said it’s amazing. Please, please, please, please?”

Dad laughed. “Sure, why not.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!” Ellie exclaimed.

She flew up and twirled in midair. She had every Princess Power comic on the planet: Tea Party Trolls, Dress of Doom, and even The Crystal Crown. Each one gave her bad-guy-busting ideas.

“If you’d like, you can bring a friend,” Mom added. “How about Hannah? You two get along so nicely. Like peanut butter and radioactive jelly.”

Ellie nodded. Hannah wasn’t as cuckoo for comics as she was, but they’d still have lots of F-U-N.

Before heading upstairs, Ellie gave back the Ultra Dog Trainer. “Can you make the dog thingy not so super loud?” she asked her parents. “I have to do homework. The noise makes it hard to think. And talk. And breathe.”

Dad took a pair of headphones out of his pocket. He walked over and dropped them in Ellie’s hand. “Here, you can have these. They’re called Ultra Sound Stoppers. They can block out any noise — bells, sirens, buzzers, you name it. And, in case you only want to tune out a villain, turn this dial.” He pointed to a dial that said Villain Volume Control.

Villain Volume Control? Ellie thought. That gave her an idea. She could use the Ultra Sound Stoppers at school and tune out a certain evil mastermind. For good!

“Great!” she said. “Thanks, Dad!”

With that, Ellie flew upstairs, quick as a comet. In her room, she plugged her ears with the Ultra Sound Stoppers. An ambulance blared. An ice cream truck jingled. A marching band banged, tooted, and rat-a-tat-tatted.

Ellie heard nothing.

The silence was music to her super-sensitive ears. She finished her homework in peace. Then she stuffed everything into her backpack, including the Ultra Sound Stoppers.

More like Ultra Dex Stoppers, Ellie thought, zipping them in firmly.