Fraction stood right next to the girls, wearing the necklace Lark had made for her out of little beads shaped like pumpkins. Every so often she’d pat Lark’s shoe or tug Penny Rose’s shoelaces.
“I can’t believe how well Fraction is moving around now,” Penny Rose said.
“I know!” Lark said. She handed Fraction a dime, which she promptly balanced on her head.
Lark’s expression changed. She frowned as she cut a toilet-paper tube in half. Penny Rose knew exactly what she was thinking about.
“Have you decided yet?” Penny Rose asked.
Lark shrugged. “No, not really.”
“I understand,” Penny Rose said. “I’m not sure what I would say, either. But I’m definitely not going to be a member without you, and that’s that.”
The day before, Lark had found an invitation tucked into her locker. It was from the newly formed Secret Sisters Science Society, and it was asking her if she’d like to join.
“It could be fun,” Penny Rose said. “Merry and Lily are nice.”
“They didn’t want me before,” Lark said. She looked down at the floor. Fraction immediately rolled over her shoe and gave her a friendly beep-beep. Lark smiled at her.
“How does she know when we’re upset?” Lark asked, picking Fraction up and looking right into her face. “It’s . . .”
“Magic,” Penny Rose said.
Lark grinned. “Most definitely.”
“You know, you didn’t like me before you met me,” Penny Rose said. “You thought I might be a doofus, a dweeb, or a dork.”
“I know,” Lark said.
“Anyway, you don’t have to decide today,” Penny Rose said. “It can wait.”
The sun came out from behind a cloud and filled the shed with its late afternoon glow. It was warm for November. Penny Rose could hear a gentle wind in the trees. She opened a window to let it all in.
“Oh, I almost forgot!” Penny Rose said. She dug into her bag and took out a sign that she had made the night before. “I thought the old sign needed to be changed. There was one word that was way off.”
She held up the new sign.
“Perfect,” Lark said.
Penny Rose smiled. “Most definitely.”
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.
Text copyright © 2019 by Carolyn Crimi
Illustrations copyright © 2019 by Corinna Luyken
Hand-lettering on page 234 by Quinn Pappidas
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.
First electronic edition 2019
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2019939115
The illustrations were done in ink, pencil, and gouache.
Candlewick Press
99 Dover Street
Somerville, Massachusetts 02144
visit us at www.candlewick.com
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