“I’d make him be a nice fox,” Bramble tells her.
“You’re crazy,” I say to Briar. “Dawn told me it was a cat.”
“I know the difference,” Briar says.
“I saw it, too,” says Grove. “It was definitely a fox.”
“So very strange,” Grandma says with a finger pressed to her lips.
“Clay and Dawn are W-E-I-R-D,” I say.
Grandma shrugs. “Aren’t all erdlers strange, though?” I think about defending some of the erdlers I know, but then Fawna points to the letter. “What else does it say?”
I continue reading. “‘Uncle Logan is worried because before Iris left, she divined something wrong with your cousin Hyacinth.’” I look up at Grandma. “The one who left?” I ask.
Grandma nods. “Read on.”
“‘I don’t remember ever meeting Hyacinth and I can’t find her name in the log. Did she marry out?’” I look up again to catch my mom and Grandma exchanging worried glances.
“She’s a youngest-youngest,” Fawna says quietly, then she and my mother glance at Briar.
“Hyacinth is a pretty name,” Poppy tells Persimmon.
“Why do they write names on a log?” Bramble asks.
“It’s a book,” Mom says. “Not a tree.”
Briar shakes her head. “I can’t keep all these aunts and cousins and grandmothers straight.” She turns to me. “Is that all the letter says? Is there anything from my mom?”
I skim the rest. “Just a bit more about Willow’s wedding plans.”
Fawna smiles at Mom. “Ah, young love,” she says with a sigh, and this irritates me. After the way she glared at Timber, I know she would never say that about me if he and I were dating. I keep skimming the letter for news about Briar’s family. “She says your mother misses you, but nothing else too exciting except she can’t wait to see us in a few weeks.’”
Bramble jumps up. “A few weeks! Really? Is that all until we go back?”
“The solstice is soon,” Mom says.
Briar kicks up her legs. “It’s going to be so fun!”
As I hand the letter back to Mom, the phone rings. Briar hops out of the window seat. “I’ll get it!” she yells, running out of the room, probably thinking it’s Kenji.
My dad scoops up my younger sibs and says, “Time for you little cubs to hibernate for the night.” Poppy, Bramble, and Persimmon willingly go with my dad, talking the entire time about what they’ll do back in Alverland.
I hang back with Mom, Fawna, and Grove.
Mom goes to Fawna in the rocker. She lays a hand on Grandma’s back. “Shall I gather the things for conjuring?”
“What for?” I ask.
“Iris,” Mom says. “We must try to help find her.”
Grandma looks out the window and sighs. “Later,” she says.
“Can I help?” I ask.
Grandma shakes her head. “No, my dear. This isn’t something for you to worry yourself over quite yet.”
“But you said yourself that I’m ready for my apprenticeship,” I tell Grandma.
“So I did,” Grandma says. “But it’s too early now. We’ll wait until after the children are asleep and the moon is up.”
All the dancing must have exhausted me because I fall asleep on the couch watching some Christmas special about a kid named Charlie Brown and his spindly little Christmas tree. When I wake up a few hours later, the house is dark and someone has put a blanket over me. I hop off the couch and hurry toward the garden, hoping Mom and Grandma haven’t started the conjuring without me, but the garden is empty. I look out the back door and see a pile of ash on the table where my mother and grandmother must have worked their magic. I’m miffed that they didn’t wake me.
I creep up the stairs, trying to avoid the squeaky steps so I don’t wake anybody up. I hope Briar’s still awake so I can tell her how annoyed I am with Grandma and Mom, not to mention how irritated I am that Timber never called me tonight. But I shouldn’t be surprised about that. Why would he call me? He was with Bella. I moan out loud. Just when I thought things might be heading in the right direction with Timber, Bella comes back to ruin my life. Of course, all Briar will want to talk about is how much Kenji loves her, which, if you ask me, is plain weird.
When I get to our room, I go to Briar’s bed and whisper her name. “Bri, you up?” I reach down to touch her shoulder, but all I find are pillows. I search around her bed, feeling for an arm or a leg, but everything is soft and mushy. I flip on the lights and find her bed empty. I didn’t see her downstairs. And the bathroom door is open, so she’s not in there. This is really weird but not totally unexplainable. If she’s any where, she’s with Kenji. I get the phone and dial him, even though it’s close to midnight.
He picks up immediately. “Hey, Zeph.”
“Is Briar with you?”
“Yep.” He giggles like a girl. “She’s right here beside me.” I hear a smoochy sound and want to puke.
“Where are you guys?” I whisper. “It’s midnight. She’s supposed to be at home.”
“Don’t worry,” Kenji says. “We can see your house from here.”
“Give me the phone,” I hear Briar say. Then her voice is strong and clear through the line. “Go back to bed, but don’t lock the door.”
“Tell me where you are.”
She sighs. “Look out the front window.” Then she hangs up.
I run to the front of the house and pull back the living room curtains. Sure enough, across the street on a park bench, I see Kenji and Briar kissing under the glow of a streetlight. Idiots.
I pull on my coat and boots and march out the front door, then run across the street. “What are you doing?” I ask the tangled mass of KenjiBri. “You’re not supposed to be out here.”
Briar looks up, her face warm and flushed. “Says who?”
“You have a curfew!”
“Don’t be such a baby,” Briar tells me as she winds her fingers in Kenji’s red-tipped hair. “I can see our house from here. It’s fine.”
“What about you?” I ask Kenji. “Don’t you have a curfew?”
Kenji hasn’t stopped staring at Briar since I walked up. “I don’t care,” he says dreamily.
“This is ridiculous.” I stamp my foot in the crusty snow. “You have to come in the house.”
“You go back in the house,” Briar tells me.
“You’re going to ruin it for both of us,” I plead. “You’ll get caught and Mom and Dad will make some stupid rule that will apply to me, too. And then we’ll never be allowed to go out again.”
“I won’t get caught if you keep your mouth shut and go back inside,” Briar says.
I toss my hands up and groan. “You’re impossible!”
“Shhhh!” Briar hisses. “That’s how we’ll get caught, because you’re such a baby.”
“I’m not a baby,” I say. “You’re an idiot.”
Briar levels her gaze at me. “Just because you’re jealous—”
“I’m not jealous!”
“You should be. If Timber felt about you the way Kenji feels about me ...”
“Enough,” I say, my heart stinging. “You’re on your own. If you get in trouble, don’t ask for my help because you won’t get it.” I turn to cross the street but have to wait for a car to pass by.
“I’m not the one who needs your help,” Briar says. “You’re the one who needs my help.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask, looking over my shoulder.
“You wouldn’t have even gotten a part in the musical if it wasn’t for my help,” Briar says.
“What did you do?” I walk slowly toward her again.
She glances at Kenji then blows on his face and says, “Freeze!” to paralyze him. He’s stuck, lips pursed, straining toward her.
I gasp and whip around, making sure that there’s no one out here who could see what she’s done. “You can’t do that!” I whisper harshly.
“You asked the question,�
� she says disentangling herself from Kenji’s frozen embrace. She stands and walks toward me, leaving statue boy on the bench alone.
I put my hands on my hips. Briar might know more spells than I do, but my magic is quick and I’m strong. If she tries to pull anything on me, I’ll be ready.
“Wasn’t it funny how calm you felt when you got up onstage at the audition?” she asks me. “You were so nervous and then ...” She blows me a kiss and wiggles her fingers. “Poof! You weren’t anymore.”
“You promised not to use magic on the audition,” I tell her.
She shakes her head. “No, you told me not to cast any spells on Bella. I didn’t.” She points at me and I lift my hand, ready to counter. “I put a spell on you.” She lowers her hand and grins.
“What was it?”
“I gave you the breeze,” she says. “And you rode it. You were great,” she tells me. “You really can sing, but you get too nervous. You would have made an ass out of yourself if you had gone out there like a scared little mouse.”
“That’s not what I wanted,” I tell her, and fight back the gathering tears of frustration.
“Maybe, maybe not. But in the end, you got what you really wanted. A part in the musical so you could keep an eye on Bella.” She rolls her eyes and glances over her shoulder at Kenji, who hasn’t budged from his frozen half kiss. “Fat lot of good it’s doing you tonight, though? Did he ever call?”
“What’d you do to him?” I ask, pointing at Kenji.
“Duh, I froze him. You saw me.”
“No, I mean how’d you make him fall in love with you?”
Briar knits her eyebrows together. “That’s not a spell, Zeph. I know you thought he always had a crush on you, but he really feels this way about me.”
I shake my head. “I don’t think so. You did something. Erdlers don’t switch on and off like that. No one does.”
Briar’s face clouds over. “It’s not a spell,” she insists. “He really loves me.” She struts back to the bench and rearranges herself between his rigid arms then turns her head so his lips are touching hers. “Unfreeze,” she says and kisses him.
chapter 11
HERE’S HOW MY life has been going for the past week.
Sunday: sucked because I had to watch Kenji slobber all over Briar all day and Timber never called.
Monday through Wednesday: super sucked because other than sitting with Timber at lunch, I barely saw him since he’s been spending all his free time after school with Bella and Mr. Padgett in private rehearsals while I’m stuck with Ms. Ramachadran and the supporting cast, learning the songs and dance numbers for the first act of Idle America.
Which brings me to today, Thursday, after school when Mercedes stands in front of me, feet planted and hand raised like she’s going to slap me upside the head. “If you step on my foot one more time, mija,” she says, shaking her fist at me.
“Sorry, sorry,” I tell her. “I can’t get that move right. Is it the left foot first?” Chelsea, Nora, and Ms. Ram look at me like I’m hopeless. On the other end of the stage, Kwan, Ben, Levi, and Omar rehearse the same dance number with Mr. Padgett’s assistant teacher, Malca, while Ari, Gunther, Angelica, and the rest of the band work on songs with Mr. Saxon in the pit.
“I feel like you’re not totally concentrating, Zephyr,” Ms. Ram says as she twists her black hair into a bun, securing it with an elastic taken from her wrist.
“Something on your mind?” Chelsea asks, one eyebrow arching up, which is just plain mean because of course there’s something on my mind.
All I can think about is what Bella and Timber are doing upstairs in their “private” rehearsal. I bet Bella has Padgie hog-tied in a closet while she seduces Timber in thigh-high combat boots. But of course, if I get myself kicked out of the musical, then I’ll never know what they’re doing. “Let’s do it one more time,” I say. “I’ll definitely get it right.”
We back up to our marks. “Cue music,” Ms. Ram says. We wait. Nothing happens. “Music,” she says. Still nothing. She throws up her hands in exasperation. “Oh for God’s sake. Who’s running the sound board around here?”
I know the answer to this one: Kenji and Briar. Which explains why nothing happened, because they’re probably lip-locked in the sound booth at the back of the auditorium.
“Music!” Ms. Ram yells.
“Oops, sorry,” comes Kenji’s voice over the PA system, then we hear giggles from Briar, and instead of music they keep talking. “You have the cutest laugh,” says Kenji. “Laugh again.” Giggle giggle. “I love that laugh. Wuv that waff. Wuv wuv wuv that waff.”
Everyone groans. Mercedes pretends to shoot herself in the head. “KENJI!” Ms. Ram shouts toward the back of the auditorium. “Cut the crap and cue the music before we all toss our lunch.”
Kenji and Briar howl with laughter over the PA, then the music starts and, of course, I come in late. But at least this time I don’t stomp on Mercedes’s foot, or run into Chelsea, or bump Nora, or in any other way spazz out on the dance moves.
“Okay, finally,” Ms. Ram says when we all hit the ending pose. “And just in time, too, because it’s time for us to put the whole thing together.”
A ripple of excitement goes through the pit of my stomach. “You mean, everyone? The whole cast together?” I ask.
“With Mr. P. watching,” Ms. Ram shakes her hair loose from the elastic. “So don’t make me look bad,” she says, pointing at me. As if on cue, the back doors of the auditorium open and in walks Bella, followed by Timber, followed by Mr. Padgett.
“All right, people,” Mr. Padgett says from the first row in the auditorium as Bella and Timber climb the steps to the stage. I peek out from behind the other supporting cast members and wave to Timber. He gives me a quick wink and I think I’ll burst like a huge, happy firework. “Everyone get settled,” Padgie says, “because I have a special announcement.” This only makes us all fidget and talk more until he shouts, “Silence!” through a bullhorn, as if he’s directing a huge movie set rather than ten kids ten feet away from him. When everyone is quiet, he puts the bullhorn down and says, “We have been graciously invited to give a very special performance next Friday.”
Of course this sends more murmurs through the cast as we all wonder what it is.
“Shhh!” Padgie hisses through his horn. He stares at us until everyone is stone still. “As you know, the Rockefeller Christmas tree was lit this week.” A collective gasp goes through the cast, except for me. As usual, I’m clueless. Mr. Padgett nods and smiles. “Yep, you guessed it. We’ve been asked to come and do a few numbers from Idle America on the stage by the tree.”
Everyone around me whoops, hollers, and slaps five.
“I can’t believe this!” Mercedes says. “Rock Center!”
“Quiet!” Padgie yells through the bullhorn. “That means we’ve got to polish the first three group numbers straight through, starting right now. If you mess up, find your place and keep going. Better yet, don’t mess up! Anybody who can’t hack it won’t be performing with us next Friday. I mean it!” I could swear he’s looking straight at me. “Now, find your marks.”
I hurry to the back of the stage where Chelsea, Nora, Mercy, and I form the left side of a V with Levi, Ben, Omar, and Kwan making the other side. I’m at the very back since I’m the tallest, which makes Levi my partner. Mercy’s at the front, since she’s the shortest, which means she’s paired up with Ben. It also means she’s right behind Bella and Timber, who form the tip of the V, closest to the audience.
“Cue music,” Mr. Padgett yells through the bullhorn, and this time, instead of lovey-dovey giggles, the intro music actually comes through the speakers. I lift my arms in a high V over my head and get ready to step forward with my left foot at the top of the second measure of music, but then I see Bella reach out and grab Timber’s hand. Not only do I miss the beat, but I stumble over my own feet while trying to see over Chelsea’s stupid long arms in front of me. Everyone steps left on t
he downbeat and I fall on my butt.
“Cut! Cut! Cut!” Mr. Padgett yells. “For God’s sake, the first step? Who’s back there?” He shades his eyes and everyone onstage turns around to stare as I scramble back to my feet.
“Sorry!” I squeak. “My shoe was untied.” I quickly drop down and pretend to retie my already knotted laces. Mr. Padgett sighs through the bullhorn so that his disappointment resonates over the stage and lands on me like a heavy cloak. “I’m ready now,” I call out, but really I wish I had clunked my head on the floor and knocked myself out when I fell down. This would be so much better if I were in a coma.
“Take your marks, people,” Mr. Padgett yells again.
Chelsea looks over her shoulder at me. “Try double knots,” she says sarcastically.
“Very funny,” I say, and this time I don’t flinch when Bella takes Timber’s hand.
We start the number over again and I’m doing fine. Despite the fact that I think Padgie is a putz, I have to admit that I like doing this song. It’s when we all introduce ourselves as the contestants in the reality show. My character is Sadie, a sweet farm girl from Indiana who made it on the show singing country songs. Every time it’s my turn to sing, I have to step up, put my thumbs in my belt loops and sing, “I’m a little bit country!” Then Levi slides up beside me and sings, “And I’m a little bit rock and roll!” which, for some reason, is supposed to be funny.
Mercedes is Charlie, a spunky girl from a rough neighborhood in Los Angeles. Ben is a guy named Johnny from the ’burbs, and he has to choose between music and pitching for his high-school baseball team in a championship game. Nora plays a nerdy violin prodigy who finally lets her hair down. Omar is the guy version of that, only he’s really good at math. Kwan and Timber are supposed to have some big rivalry, and Kwan plays dirty, hiring a thug to whack Timber in the kneecap, only it backfires and Kwan gets kicked off the show. (That’s also supposed to be funny because some ice skater from a long time ago named Tonya Harding tried to whack another skater. But again, lost on me. This time it was okay because Mercedes admitted she had no idea what Padgie was talking about with that one either. He told us not to worry about it, that our parents would think it’s funny, only obviously he doesn’t know my parents!) Chelsea is called Lacy, the rich girl whose daddy buys her voice lessons and pays the judges to let her in. She’s supposed to be the favorite to win, except, and here’s the big surprise (not) Bella plays the sweet underdog named Maggie who wins everything—including the heart of Timber’s character (gag me very much).
Selfish Elf Wish Page 11