“I’m trying to figure out what’s wrong with my fish. He keeps spitting water at me.”
“That’s rude.” Duchess folded her arms and frowned. “He’s probably trying to get your attention. When Pirouette wants to get my attention, she starts honking. It usually means she’s hungry.”
“Hungry?” Ginger adjusted her pink glasses. Could a candy fish be hungry? Funny, Ginger was all about food, but it had never occurred to her that a piece of candy would need to eat.
“I usually give Pirouette a bowl of green granola. She also loves lake grass and bread crumbs.” She tossed a handful of crumbs at her swan. Pirouette stretched her long white neck and plucked them from the pond’s surface.
Ginger thanked Duchess for the advice. She hurried to the Beast Training and Care classroom and found a packet of fish food on the shelf, next to a bag of unicorn treats. She carefully unscrewed the lid, then sprinkled a few flakes into the jar. The gummy fish swam to the surface and sniffed the flakes but didn’t eat them. Then, before Ginger could react, he sprayed her right in the center of her forehead. Water ran down her nose and soaked her shirt. “Oh, you bad fish!”
She’d spent so many years wishing for a pet, only to realize that keeping one was a royal pain! But she couldn’t get rid of the little creature. If she put him in one of the ponds, he would be eaten by a swan or a bird of prey.
She stomped out of the classroom and bumped right into Raven. “What’s the matter?” Raven asked. “You seem out of sorts.”
“Sorry,” Ginger said. “I just don’t know what to do with this fish. I’ve never had a pet before, and he keeps spraying water at me. I took him for a walk. And I tried feeding him. But he’s still not happy.”
Raven’s dark eyes flashed, as if she understood. “I had a similar situation with my dragon when she first came to live with us at our castle. Only she wasn’t spraying water—she was setting things on fire.”
“That’s terrible.”
“One day she ignited all my thronework, and another time she incinerated my entire wardrobe!” Raven chuckled. “I tried giving her a time-out, but that didn’t work. She set the time-out corner on fire.”
“So you’re saying that I just have to deal with this?” Would Ginger have to wear a snorkeling mask every time she sat next to her fish?
Raven took the jar from Ginger’s hand and peered through the glass. The yellow fish stopped swimming and glared at Raven. “I tried and tried to tame Nevermore, but when she burned a huge hole through my bedroom wall, I thought I might have to return her to the wild. But then I talked to Ooglot, our family ogre. He told me that Nevermore was acting out because she was lonely.”
“Lonely?”
“Yeah. She simply needed to spend time with other dragons. So I set up some playdates.” She handed the jar back to Ginger.
Was it possible? Not only did the gummy fish think he was alive, but he also wanted to be with other fish? “I guess it would be lonely living by yourself in a jelly jar.”
The next weekend, Ginger took a carriage ride to Farmer MacDonald’s Menagerie. She showed her fish to the shopkeeper. “Sorry, but I don’t have any fish like that one,” he said with surprise. “I’d be happy to buy him from you. A fish like that could fetch a good price at market.”
Ginger was tempted. The gummy was still glaring at her. She was getting pretty sick of his attitude. But she felt responsible. After all, she’d brought him to life. “I’d like to buy a couple of fish to keep him company.”
“Well, big fish eat little fish, so you can’t get a big fish. But these over here should do.” He led her to the tank where some neon-colored fish swam. They were the exact same size as the gummy. “They won’t grow much bigger, and they don’t need much room.”
She held the jelly jar close to the aquarium. The gummy fish pressed his nose against the glass, watching the other fish. He appeared interested, but Ginger couldn’t tell if he was happy. Since taking the fish for a walk hadn’t worked, and since trying to feed him hadn’t worked, she didn’t know what else to do. This was worth a try. “I’ll take a blue one and a red one,” she said.
“You’ll need a bigger bowl.” The shopkeeper took a round fishbowl off the shelf, then covered the bottom with brightly colored pebbles. He added two plants, a sparkly castle, and water. Then, using a little net, he caught the two fish and transferred them to the bowl. Ginger unscrewed the lid to the jelly jar and gently tipped her fish into the bowl.
She didn’t know what to expect. Would he be upset? The gummy immediately swam alongside the red fish, then changed direction and swam alongside the blue fish. Then he darted to the surface and poked his yellow head out of the water. Ginger cringed, expecting a spout to hit her in the eye. But the gummy fish didn’t spray her. And he didn’t glare at her.
He smiled.
“Did your fish just smile?” the shopkeeper asked, scratching his bald head.
“Yep,” Ginger said with a shrug. “I know. He’s a really weird fish.”
The three fish formed a line and swam through the castle’s window and around the plants. “Looks like they’re going to get along just fine,” the man said. He handed Ginger a bag of fish food and rang up her purchase at the register.
Outside the shop, Ginger sat on a bench to wait for the carriage that would take her back to Ever After High. She set the bowl on her lap, watching as her pets enjoyed their new home. “Hey, you forgot this,” the shopkeeper called. He stood in his doorway, waving the jelly jar.
“Thanks, but I don’t need it,” Ginger called back. Then she had an idea. She bent over the bowl and whispered, “I know what to call you. I’m going to call you Jelly. Is that okay with you?”
The gummy didn’t spray her or frown at her. He paddled his little fins super fast, then rose to the surface and did a backflip. The other fish clapped their fins.
After all those years of wishing for a pet, it looked as if Ginger finally had one. Well, three, to be exact. And so what if they weren’t cuddly like a snow fox or cute like a hedgehog? They belonged to her, and as long as she kept them at Ever After High, the new fish would be safe from her mom’s pantry. And the candy fish would no longer be lonely.
“Jelly it is,” she said. “Now, what should I name the other two?”
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About the Author
Suzanne Selfors feels like a Royal on some days and a Rebel on others. She’s written many books for kids, including the Smells Like Dog series and the Imaginary Veterinary series.
She has two charming children and lives in a magical island kingdom, where she hopes it is her destiny to write stories forever after.
Look for other digital original stories from Ever After High!
Don’t miss all the Ever After High novels!
Books by Suzanne Selfors:
Next Top Villain
Kiss and Spell (coming soon!)
A Semi-Charming Kind of Life (coming soon!)
Books by Shannon Hale:
The Storybook of Legends
The Unfairest of Them All
A Wonderlandiful World
Once Upon a Time: A Story Collection
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Welcome
Chapter 1
About the Author
Look for other digital original stories from Ever After High!
Copyright
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 Mattel, Inc.
Cover © 2015 Mattel, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of
the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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First ebook edition: March 2015
ISBN 978-0-316-40483-9
E3
Ginger Breadhouse and the Candy Fish Wish Page 2