Good Wish Gone Bad

by Disney Book Group

  She then glanced quickly at Negatite Nail Care, which had some interesting suggestions for mixing negatite into nail polish to give its wearer a false sense of self-confidence.

  It all seemed a bit far-fetched, but something continued to pull at her, insisting the putrid projects held more promise than she realized. So she decided to give the key chains a try—which, unfortunately, required her to first rummage through a trunk at the foot of her creaky old bed. She scowled as she picked at its contents, which included an endless array of sparkly clothes, accessories, cosmetics, fuzzy toys, and other playthings from her youth. When she’d first left her family under the guise of getting help at a brighting facility, she didn’t think she’d need to pack up such relics to take with her—but when she was about to toss them away, they kept floating back into her trunk. Now, at last, she understood why.

  Once she’d selected the fluffiest, most sparkling materials from the lot, she sat down at her worktable and reviewed the instructions. Then, using her powers of negative energy manipulation, she began snipping and sewing together an offensively adorable star-shaped key chain.

  “How sweet,” she jeered at the thing as she finished assembling it.

  Then, ever so carefully, she took out one of her many test tubes full of negatite powder and poured a steady stream of it inside. Almost immediately, the glittery pink ornament began to tremble and twitch—and within seconds it was glowing twice as brightly as before. It was quite captivating indeed!

  So Rancora began work on another one. After she had completed all twelve, she stared down at them and clasped her hands together, eyes blazing with self-satisfied anticipation. Yes—she could see it more clearly now: the toxic trinkets would be the perfect little stowaways! She could practically picture the dastardly scene playing out in her head: The key chains would look unassuming when she, as Lady Cordial, gifted them to each girl under the guise of helping them blend in on Wishworld. Those naive little Starlings would have no clue that such tiny talismans could contain enough negative energy to completely ruin their Wish Missions.

  “Perfect!” Rancora crowed. “Marred charms for the star-charmed!”

  Although she had been working for several long hours and it was getting quite late, the success of her first craft project had given her far too much of a negative energy boost to sleep. So Rancora decided to take a quick peek at Negatite Nail Care, and mere moments later, she had gathered up a dozen old nail polish bottles from her trunk. She wasn’t sure that the crusty old lacquers would be of any use now—but as soon as she began pouring a bit of negatite into the first bottle, it started to bubble and glow. Almost instantly, the lavender varnish had become better-than-new nail polish. After she’d transformed all twelve bottles, Rancora laughed happily to herself. She was already imagining how she, as Lady Cordial, would organize a mani-pedi party for Lady Stella’s star-charmed students. Little would they know that their nails would make their personalities so strange that they would completely botch their Wish Missions!

  Now Rancora was feeling even more energized—and it had been quite some time since she’d visited her pets in the Negatite Garden. So off she went to get started on the bickering flowers. As she opened the glass door and made her way inside the hothouse, her beloved plants began to rustle and hiss, eager for her attention.

  “Yes, yes, yes,” she cooed as she strutted between the rows, giving each plant a pat as she headed for the spot where the ones with the biggest blossoms were housed. “I’ve missed you as well.”

  Although it would be many months before she would need to enlist the services of the bickering flowers, Rancora knew it would take almost that long to ensure that they were infused with a sufficient level of negatite—enough to create tension among Lady Stella’s star-doomed girls as they began forming friendships.

  “Ah, there you are,” she clucked when she surveyed the pots full of gray flowers.

  Referring to the Negatite Florist holo-book, Rancora scrolled to the page that was still glowing, and followed its instructions, carefully fertilizing the soil around the base of each stem. As she did so, she muttered for the first time the words she would need to repeat during each visit, ultimately resulting in the flowers’ toxic transformation: “Bicker, squabble in your rooms, as you look upon these blooms! Smell their fragrance, oh so sweet, till it’s time for your defeat!”

  As she repeated the spell and fertilized each pot with negatite, the parched petals initially curled and cried out in pain but then began to perk up with a bright and dazzling coral hue while emitting an intensely floral perfume. It was as if they had never been infected with negatite at all—and yet they were entirely steeped in the stuff! By the time she sent them to Starling Academy at the beginning of the next academic year, the blighted bouquets would be ready to wreak all sorts of havoc, like flowery little versions of Lady Cordial herself!

  Indeed, there was no way her plans to destroy Starland could possibly be diverted. Lady Stella and her pathetic prophecy were no match for the evil Rancora! She was far too powerful now.

  “Good luck with your Wish Missions, star-charmed girls,” Rancora cackled as she finished her work in the garden and made her way out of the hothouse. “You’re certainly going to need it!”

  Adora crossed her arms, hugging them against her trembling body as she sat on the tear-shaped bench in Rancora’s negative energy alcove with Sage and Scarlet.

  “Those flowers…” Adora stared wide-eyed at the lingering holo-image of Rancora walking out of the Negatite Garden and thought back to how bitterly she’d argued with Tessa—and how much all the other Star Darlings had argued with each other—until the bouquets had finally been removed. “We knew they were full of negative energy, but wow…”

  “Yeah, and those key chains—and the nail polish!” Sage shook her head, remembering how she had almost run out of time on her Wish Mission and how Tessa had to come down and help her. Cassie had had similar issues, and that was after the mani-pedi party that only the Star Darlings had attended. “So that’s how she made them!”

  Scarlet scowled, her mind still spinning over everything they had just discovered. “Rancora is seriously twisted—and seriously scary.”

  Sage closed down the holo-journal and leapt to her feet. “We need to get out of here,” she insisted. “We need to show this to Lady Stella—especially the part about where Rancora’s been storing all her negative energy and growing those plants.”

  “Hmmm, I don’t know,” Adora said, standing up and grabbing the holo-journal from Sage. “I think we’re going to have to go to the Isle of Misera.”

  Scarlet got up as well and nodded. “Yeah—we need to destroy that hothouse of horrors and her giant urn of negative energy!”

  “Not without Lady Stella, though,” Sage interjected, looking from Adora to Scarlet. “Right?”

  But Adora shook her head. “Wrong. We’ve come this far—and these jumpsuits will keep us safe!”

  Sage sucked in her breath. The Negative Energy Facility was already bad enough; there was no way she was going to set foot on the Isle of Misera, and she couldn’t possibly let Adora or Scarlet go, either. “What if Rancora’s still there?” she pointed out. “I mean, that must be where she’s hiding.”

  Adora nodded as she considered that possibility. “You may be right.”

  “These jumpsuits may be powerful, but I’m not sure that the three of us can take on Rancora—with or without them,” Sage added.

  “I have to agree,” Scarlet said, frowning apologetically at Adora. “We probably should go find Lady Stella and show her the evidence. Maybe she’ll have already figured out a plan—but she’s going to want to see this holo-journal before she does anything.”

  “Exactly!” Sage agreed.

  Adora finally relented. “Okay, I guess that’s true.” With the holo-journal tucked safely under her arm, she was about to lead the way toward the front of the Negative Energy Facility. But just then, a shadowy figure appeared before them, sending a
paralyzing chill down their spines.

  “Hello, Star Darlings.”

  It was Rancora! She was surrounded by a dark cloud of negative energy, and the tendrils at the bottom of her tattered gray gown slithered and swirled like serpents while the high purple collar rose behind her head in a fiery blaze. When she came into full view, the girls recoiled in horror.

  “I think it’s time that you join forces with me, don’t you…?” Rancora flashed a vicious smile as she yanked the black chain from around her neck and waved the crystal teardrop in the thick and treacherous air, ready to lift the stopper and infect them all.

  The girls gasped and huddled together, shrinking inside the jumpsuits Adora had made. There was no way the yellow garments could possibly shield them from the massive amounts of bad wish energy Rancora was about to unleash. Could they? She was blocking their way, keeping them trapped inside the small lair within the NEF that she had created and they had snuck into.

  “What should we do?” Sage whispered under her breath. Surely one of them could come up with something—but they’d have to think fast, and her question was met with nothing but Adora’s and Scarlet’s blank, terrified stares.

  “The rock!” Scarlet suddenly said under her breath, grabbing Adora’s arm when she remembered the negatite Adora had put in her pocket earlier.

  Adora reached into her pocket and was searching around on the ground for something to crush the rock with when Sage stopped her.

  “No!” Sage screamed, the danger and urgency of the situation making it impossible for her to keep her voice down. “Don’t mess with the negatite. It’s toxic!”

  “I meant she should throw the rock at her,” Scarlet hissed.

  Adora stood frozen as Rancora moved closer to her.

  “Yes, yes, Adora—crush up the negatite!” Rancora said, nodding, her purple eyes bulging with fevered determination as she continued to wave her pendant overhead. “It will go perfectly with the negative energy you’ve been absorbing!”

  “She’s lying,” Sage announced. Her mind-reading skills were always sharper in dangerous situations. “She’s just saying that to scare us.”

  “You should be scared of me!” Rancora shouted, and lifted her teardrop pendant.

  “All you have left in your pendant is barely enough negatite to turn yourself into a glimmermoth,” Sage said, trying to call Rancora’s bluff. But Rancora was in her element, surrounded by all the Bad Wish Orbs, and she used her finely tuned wish energy manipulation skills to fling Sage against the back wall of the NEF, where she landed with a loud oomph. It was clear that they were on Rancora’s turf, that she could harness the negativity in the air and use it to her advantage.

  “You have no idea what I have or what I’m capable of,” Rancora roared.

  Adora swallowed hard and wrapped her fingers around the rough surface of the rock, willing it to turn into a weapon. If she could turn cocomoon husks into soft stockings, surely she could turn a rock into something that could hurt Rancora, or at least distract her enough that they could run past her and out of the Negative Energy Facility. As Adora made a move, Rancora used her energy manipulation to fling Adora into the bookcase. Several holo-books fell out, nearly hitting Adora on the head.

  Rancora glided closer to them, lifting the top off her pendant. Adora scrambled to get up, still holding on to the holo-journal.

  “That’s quite enough, Cora!”

  There, standing behind Rancora like a Starling in shining armor, was Lady Stella, looking more magnificent than ever in her shimmering platinum gown. Then, one by one, all nine of the remaining Star Darlings stepped out from behind her like a dazzling rainbow after a storm.

  “Stella?” Rancora growled as she spun around, her amethyst eyes blazing furiously and her ashen face growing even paler. “What are you doing here?”

  Lady Stella sighed with a look of calm pity. “I didn’t exactly have a choice,” she replied, echoing the exact words she had said to her old friend outside the Negative Energy Facility long ago.

  “But you were always too terrified to come inside,” Rancora mocked. “Remember, you just hid outside, scared of these little old bad wishes.”

  “Not anymore,” Lady Stella replied, shaking her head as she extended her arms and opened her hands to reveal the twelve crystals—each one the powerful product of a successful Star Darling mission. As she did so, a giant ring of positive energy swept around the girls—lassoing Adora, Sage, and Scarlet to the rest of the group and finally, as they all joined hands, lifting the twelve of them off the ground, along with Lady Stella.

  But this time, when faced with the Star Darlings’ glowing Power Crystals, Rancora didn’t scream, nor did she disappear.

  “Well, your star-charmed girls may have succeeded on their Wish Missions, but it appears that your Power Crystals aren’t strong enough to hurt me—not inside the Negative Energy Facility!” she sneered at Lady Stella. “And mark my words: this is nothing compared to what I have in store for you next. You have no idea what you’re up against!”

  “I wouldn’t count on that,” Lady Stella replied with a wise, all-knowing smile.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Rancora demanded.

  The two women stared each other down with intensity. Years of sadness and guilt and anger and hopelessness stretched between them. But they both knew there was no going back to the way things had once been; now they were on opposite sides of the energy spectrum, fighting for control.

  “I said, what’s that supposed to mean!” Rancora roared, causing the orbs inside the NEF to tremble.

  But Lady Stella wasn’t afraid, and she wasn’t going to give Rancora the satisfaction of an explanation. Instead, she simply lifted her arms, and then, almost exactly like a journey to Wishworld on a shooting star, she and the Star Darlings flew out of the Negative Energy Facility. The last thing they saw as they made their exit was a slippery gray glimmermoth flying in the opposite direction.

  Moments later, the Star Darlings were safely back in the Wish-House, seated at the same round table where they had gathered to celebrate the previous day. Even the holo-banner with the glittery gold words CONGRATULATIONS, STAR DARLINGS! still hung in the air above the table.

  “How did you know to come rescue us?” Sage asked Lady Stella before anyone else had a chance to speak. She was relieved, of course, but also worried that the headmistress might punish her—along with Adora and Scarlet—for going to the Negative Energy Facility.

  “We told her,” Vega replied, proudly straightening the collar on her sparkly blue jacket.

  “We were really worried about you!” Cassie added, blinking nervously at Sage as she adjusted her star-shaped glasses.

  “And I just knew something terrible was going to happen,” Piper chimed in softly. “So Leona, Astra, and I went to find her, too—but the others were already there.”

  “Oh.” Sage nodded gratefully at each of the girls and then at the headmistress.

  Lady Stella smiled at Sage and then slowly scanned the faces of all the girls. “Don’t worry,” she said as she returned her focus to Sage for a moment. “Nobody here will be expelled.”

  “Thank goodness!” Sage replied with a sigh, and she sensed that everyone else was equally relieved.

  “Now,” Lady Stella continued, “I know that you’ve all made a lot of discoveries in the past few hours—but I have made a few as well.”

  “Did you discover the missing page from the oracle?” Vega asked.

  “Not yet,” Lady Stella replied, shaking her head. “But I did find something else—on the Isle of Misera.”

  “You know about that?” Adora blurted out.

  “She has an entire negatite garden!” Sage quickly chimed in as Adora held up Rancora’s holo-journal and sent it floating down the table to Lady Stella. “And a collection of negative energy!”

  “What?” Cassie gasped.

  The rest of the girls chattered nervously until Lady Stella cleared her throat and insisted that
they try to remain calm.

  “Yes,” the headmistress said, looking down at the holo-journal. “I realized that the negative energy threatening Starland had to have been stored either in the Negative Energy Facility or on the Isle of Misera—the place where Bad Wish Orbs used to be sent, before it became clear that they were far too toxic and required a more advanced and secure containment center. That’s when the Negative Energy Facility was built, but the Isle of Misera has remained a terrible and toxic place, to be avoided at all costs.”

  “So why would you go there?” Libby asked.

  “I knew it was the only other place where Rancora could safely store enough negative energy to cause the sort of crisis that’s been threatening Starland,” Lady Stella explained. “The good news is that we no longer have to worry about that.”

  “What do you mean?” Scarlet asked. “It looked pretty awful to me.”

  “Yes! Look in Rancora’s holo-journal!” Sage urged the headmistress. “You’ll see where she’s been keeping all that negative energy and even growing negatite for her evil spells!”

  “Oh, I saw it—and it has all been destroyed,” Lady Stella revealed.

  “It has?” Sage asked.

  “How?” Adora added.

  “I enlisted the help of some of the top members of Starland’s Counter-Negative Unit,” Lady Stella explained. “Rancora will be in for a rude awakening when she returns to the island and discovers she has no reserves left.”

  “Can’t we get the Bot-Bot guards to capture her?” Libby asked.

  “Unfortunately, we cannot,” said Lady Stella. “The fate of Starland rests in our hands alone.”

  A hush fell over the Wish Cavern as the girls looked around the table at each other, unable to read each other’s expressions. All the terrible things that had happened were getting mixed up with all the wonderful things, and it was difficult to decide exactly how to feel—happy, sad, worried, relieved. In fact, each of the Star Darlings was feeling a little bit of all of that at once.