“Little ol’ me?!” Fluffles said. “I am so honored! Mortimer does care!”
Humphrey frowned. “Hmmm . . . that may present a problem. Anything else?”
“Uh . . . they are putting a full blind on the contestants.”
“A full mute,” Fluffles and Humphrey both said at the same time.
“That! What is that?”
“My brother will use his magic to prevent the contestants from being able to see, hear, touch, smell, or interact in any way with anyone else. It’s so everyone can follow close by and watch without helping the competitors cheat.”
“And Poppop’s going to follow Julien.”
“LENNIE, HISSSSSSSSSS!!!!” Fluffles said.
“Which one was Julien? Was he the goth kid with the wild hair? Or the one with all the birds?”
“I know which one Julien is. I can lead you to him!” Lennie blurted.
Humphrey eyed her warily.
“I know what you’re going to say, but please let me team up with you again! I want to end Wizardmatch more than anything in the world. I just want Poppop to listen—I want to be heard!” she insisted.
“That’s what you said last time.”
“I’m sorry about last time,” Lennie said. “I really, really am! But I’m here now. If you don’t trust me, then . . . then I could just steal Poppop’s staff on my own and then bring it to you. That way you don’t even have to worry about me letting go of your hand.”
Humphrey rubbed his stubbly, spikey chin. “That’s a thought.”
“It is?” Lennie said.
“Your best skill is sneaking. My best skill is camouflaging myself with the elements.”
“Don’t do it, Lennie!” Fluffles pleaded. “As a Pomporromp descendant, it is your duty to help protect Mortimer de Pomporromp’s secrets!”
“Shush, you,” Uncle Humphrey said, feeding the cat a potato chip.
“Why should I care about protecting Poppop’s secrets, Fluffles?” Lennie said fiercely. “Poppop’s never cared about me.” She turned to Uncle Humphrey. “You’re the only one who’s cared enough to believe in me.”
He patted her on the head. “There, there, you sappy sap. Let’s get ready.”
* * *
She waited for Wizardmatch to commence at the edge of the borderlands. She considered hiding inside the borderlands until the time was right to execute Uncle Humphrey’s plan . . . but she knew that if she didn’t show up to the test again, everyone would notice right away. She was on a short leash.
She walked along the edge of the Garden of Goulash. Running her hand over the warm gravestones, she thought through their plan. And thought again. And thought a third time.
Poppop would never let his guard down for long. Lennie probably only had seconds to work with, when his hands were off the staff, but she was used to doing effective magic in mere seconds. She’d been practicing all year for this.
I have to be brave. I have to be sneaky. And most of all, I have to be quick.
Poppop announced the new event venue just ten minutes before the third test was about to start. And as her extended family started arriving, little by little, they were all grumbling about the last-minute change of plans. With no stadium to sit in, they all huddled awkwardly together, waiting for further instructions from Poppop. Most of them—maybe all of them—had no idea the test was going to take place inside the borderlands.
Michael was one of the last people to arrive. She didn’t look at her brother because she couldn’t look at him. Maybe they’d never speak again, like Poppop and Great-Uncle Humphrey.
She took a deep breath. I have to stop thinking about Michael. As Uncle Humphrey reminded her over and over again, Michael was just a distraction. And she couldn’t afford to be distracted again. Michael was on his own today.
“Lennie,” her mom scolded. “I told you to stay put this morning—and you skated off! You disappeared!”
“In case you forgot, I have that power,” Lennie grumbled.
“I haven’t forgotten,” her mom said. “That’s why I’ll be keeping a very close watch on you this time around.”
Shoot, Lennie thought. That wouldn’t do. I have to get her off my back.
“I-I’ve been doing a lot of thinking this morning,” Lennie lied, “and I wanted to say I’m sorry.” The words tasted bad in her mouth. She was sure she puckered her face as she spoke, but her mom didn’t seem to notice.
Her mom’s jaw fell open. “You are?”
She choked out another lie. “I feel bad for everything. I forgive you.” That was the biggest lie of all. Her mom didn’t even say she was sorry! She did not forgive her mom and saying I forgive you out loud made her stomach churn.
Her mom kissed the top of her head. “Oh, Len, I’m so glad we’re all coming together to root for your brother.”
At that moment, a bugle sounded and Poppop sauntered over, in shiny robes of turquoise.
“HEAR YE HEAR YE,” he said, wrapping his beard around his neck like a scarf, “and welcome to the final challenge. Julien, Michael, Victoria: You three are the only remaining contestants in Wizardmatch. For your ultimate test, we are going across the border of my property. Your job . . . is to find Sir Fluffington the Fourth!”
“You want the contestants to find your lost cat?” Uncle Philip #2 said.
“You don’t understand!” Poppop said petulantly. “Sir Fluffington the Fourth is my best friend, and he is GONE! I’ve looked everywhere—he has to be in the borderlands! He could be in danger! There are hundreds of booby traps in this forest . . . deadly booby traps. Not only will the Wizardmatch contestants have to defy these obstacles, they’ll have to use their unique skills to track down my dear beloved Fluffles. FLUFFLESSSSSSS!” Poppop cried, dabbing at his eyes with his beard. “Whoever—whomever?—wins this challenge might very well find themselves the next Prime Wizard of the Pomporromp estate, and will forever have my gratitude.”
Julien looked determined. Michael looked excited. Victoria looked like she spit up all over herself. All the other cousins glared at them with envy. Lennie looked deep into the borderlands, and though she couldn’t see anything, she knew that Uncle Humphrey had his eye on her. She wouldn’t let him down this time!
“Mortimer is about to put a full mute on each of the contestants,” Estella explained. “You will be able to see and hear them, but they will not be able to see, hear, or touch any of you. So, you can follow whichever contestant you want, but you won’t be able to interact with them.”
“Once I complete the spell, you three are free to go into the borderlands and hunt for Sir Fluffington the Fourth,” Poppop said. “Ready? BEGIN!” He waved his staff, which emitted black fog. Michael’s, Julien’s, and Victoria’s eyes began to glaze over, and then it was as if they were staring directly through Lennie and the rest of the family. “And the test is afoot!” Poppop shouted as Michael and Julien trudged into the borderlands. Victoria crawled. Poppop hurried after Julien, using his staff as a walking stick.
Lennie eyed the staff hungrily, but her mom pulled on her arm and dragged her in the opposite direction: after her brother.
She needed to stay close to Poppop—and to his staff. If only her mom wasn’t babysitting her! If only she didn’t get caught during the last test!
“Isn’t this nice?” her mom said, squeezing her hand so tight that Lennie thought it might fall off.
“Great,” she said, and it was a real effort not to roll her eyes.
I’ll just have to escape her grip, Lennie thought as they followed Michael into the thicket. The thick, heavy air was familiar to her, and the cracked earth groaned beneath her feet as she walked on.
She was helpless as Julien was getting farther and farther away, headed in the direction of the trap-bridge, and soon she could barely see the enormous group that went with Poppop to watch Julien’s assured
victory.
Michael invisibled and crept around. Lennie knew to watch the ground for his footsteps; with every step, the dust swirled a bit around his invisible shoe.
Suddenly Michael visibled again, his head smacking the ground. In a blink, he was completely upside-down, held by the ankles with a rope and bobbing in midair in front of a tree.
“MICHAEL!” her mom cried.
“Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” Michael said, bouncing up and down.
“Michael! Don’t just stay there! Keep moving—”
As her mom ran forward, she dropped Lennie’s hand.
Lennie stood for a moment, her chest tight. Michael was in trouble. She couldn’t just leave him.
But she couldn’t abandon Uncle Humphrey and the Plan. And who knew if she’d have another opportunity to escape, once her mom grabbed her hand again?
She hesitated, running her hands through her hair. But then—with a resolved breath—she turned and invisibly sprinted away. Toward Julien. Toward Poppop.
Mom is there for Michael, she assured herself as she skirted around Victoria, who was crawling through a patch of neon-glowing lollipops with a sign that read EAT ME, YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO. Someone has to be there for me. And that someone is MYSELF.
The woods were dense, and it was dark, even though it was the middle of the day. The thick borderland trees were like a tightly woven basket above her head, and there wasn’t a single place where the sun bled in. The inky moat stretched out before her, and the air was muggy, and every few steps, there seemed to be another trap beckoning her into its clutches.
But she’d tread this path so many times on her way to see Uncle Humphrey that she knew exactly which dirt patches to avoid, which roots to jump over, and which tree boughs would fall on her head if she walked under them.
When she finally reached the oily moat, she heard Poppop squealing with delight—and the sounds of a crowd up ahead. Julien was tiptoeing around a small patch of tangled yo-yos, and everyone was following with whispers and cheers.
Lennie went visible and stopped running. She needed to save all of her magical energy—and nonmagical energy—for the moment she really needed it. Everyone was so absorbed in watching Julien that they didn’t even notice her approach, anyway.
Poppop was in the front of the crowd. She had to get close to him. But if Poppop realized what she was doing . . . that would be it for her. She had one chance. One shot. One singular opportunity that she could not mess up.
She wiped her sweaty palms on her shorts. If she failed, this might be the last day she ever spent at the Pomporromp Castle. And if she succeeded? She smiled thinking about Uncle Humphrey’s idea—to share all the powers evenly, among the whole family. Finally, they could all stop fighting. Everything could be fair and equal.
But it all came down to Lennie and her invisibility.
Julien reached the trap-bridge that Lennie herself had fallen for, but Julien ignored it. Instead, he crossed the moat by swinging across on a vine. Poppop swung his staff around to create a safe path for the audience to follow.
They were very close to Uncle Humphrey’s secret cave . . . too close. Uncle Humphrey had assured her that Fluffles was well hidden and well protected—but what if he was wrong? She became more and more anxious with every step closer to Humphrey’s hiding spot.
She had to get the staff—and fast.
SNAP!
Julien had just stepped on something. He froze, looking left, right, forward, and backward, for whatever horrifying trap was about to come his way. At last, he breathed a sigh of relief—
PLUNK!
A bug’s nest landed on Julien’s head.
Out came hundreds of centipedes and millipedes—no, wait centicentipedes and millimillipedes. Lennie stared, horrified. They were brightly colored and enormous—each one the length of a ruler—with sharp pincers and thousands of legs. More legs than she’d ever seen on one bug. More legs than she even thought possible. They crawled all over Julien, swarming him, covering every inch of him—until she couldn’t see anything but legs.
“HELP!” Julien cried. “MMMMM!”
“DAD!” Uncle Philip #3 shouted. “DO SOMETHING!”
“Nothing I can do!” Poppop said. “This is Wizardmatch!”
The centicentipedes and millimillipedes crawled all across Julien’s face, the back of his neck, on his arms and legs. He was totally motionless—as solid as if Anya herself had frozen him.
Poppop was watching, mouth agape, and Lennie edged closer to her grandfather. This was just the distraction she needed. His staff was right there. The rubber ducky on the front was grinning at her. Taunting her with its shiny orange mouth.
Lennie maneuvered through her cousins, aunts, and uncles. She was close enough to touch Poppop.
“Oh boy! This is exciting!” Poppop said, exuberant. “Estella, I am glad I changed this third test after all!”
Now was her chance!
She invisibled and reached forward.
Her fingers curled around the staff, and she wrenched it—only Poppop’s grip on the staff was tight.
“WHAT WAS THAT?!” Poppop exclaimed.
What could she do? If she visibled, he’d see her and know what she was trying to do. But she couldn’t keep up her power for much longer!
Sweat beaded on her forehead.
“HEY! LOOK OVER THERE!” Anya cried.
“IT’S FLUFFLES!” Ethan shouted.
“Found him!” Julien mumbled, blowing a bug away from his mouth.
“MORTIMER!!!!!!!!!!!!” Fluffles called from a distance. Lennie’s heart dropped as she visibled again. How did he escape? The cat was out of the box, and he was about to let the cat out of the bag. Fluffles knew too much about their plan—he would ruin everything!
“SIR FLUFFINGTON THE FOURTH!!!!!!” Poppop cried, turning around. “OH HAPPY DAY, MY BEST FRIEND—”
“—MORTIMER—”
“—HAS RETURNED HOME TO ME AT LONG LA—”
“There’s a wicked plot!” Fluffles howled.
“WHAT PLOT, FLUFFLES?”
Without a breath, Lennie invisibled and crouched beside Poppop.
Now!
She grabbed Poppop’s staff, and it—like her—became invisible.
“WHAT IS GOING ON?” Poppop said. “WHERE’S MY STAFF?”
“I don’t see anything, Mortimer!” Estella said, panicked.
Poppop’s grip on the staff loosened. Just a little bit. Just enough.
Lennie yanked it and ran, dodging her family members and hopping over anything that looked suspicious on the ground. She darted through trees, toward Uncle Humphrey’s secret cave, skirting around Fluffles as they crossed paths.
“IT’S LENNIE!” Fluffles shrieked from behind her. “MORTIMER, IT’S LENNIE!”
Her heart thrummed, and her pulse pounded in her ears.
“LENNIE?” Poppop cried.
“SHE’S BEEN WORKING WITH A STRANGE MAN. THEY CATNAPPED ME! THEY FED ME BOLOGNA! THEY ONLY PET ME FIVE TIMES A DAY! IT WAS TORTURE!”
“FIND HER!” Poppop bellowed. “SEIZE HER!”
Lennie nearly dropped the staff. Pomporromps were spreading out behind her, fast on her trail. And her skin began to prickle with the first signs of magic fatigue.
Not now! Please, please, please.
She flickered, slightly, before pushing herself to invisible more—she was sweating. Soaked. “Humphrey! Help!”
“HERE I AM!” Out of the hollow of a tree, Humphrey de Cobblespork emerged. He was far—all the way across the three clearings, a tiny figure under distant trees. Her heart beat fast. She couldn’t reach him in time, but could the staff?
Lennie leaned forward and threw it like a javelin. The moment the staff left her hands, it went visible, soaring through the air. And just when she thought it was about to fall fift
y feet too short, a strong gust of wind picked it up and kept it going until it flew right into Uncle Humphrey’s arms.
Lennie couldn’t hold out any longer. Exhausted, she went visible, and was quickly frozen into place by Anya.
“YOU!” Poppop Pomporromp cried, but he wasn’t talking to Lennie. He was glaring at Humphrey de Cobblespork, his long-lost brother. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?”
Uncle Humphrey smiled. “Let’s gather the whole happy family together, shall we?” He flicked the staff, and suddenly, Michael, Victoria, Julien, and everyone else came flying across the borderlands—like they were being dragged by an invisible hook. They all collided together in a thump in front of the oily moat.
Michael and Julien were especially confused, looking around wildly. Victoria was drooling. Lennie realized they still had the full mute on them, and couldn’t see anyone else there. Uncle Humphrey waved the staff again, and Michael jumped.
“Oh! Is it over? Is there a winner?” Michael asked.
“Did I win? I found the cat!” Julien exclaimed.
“Actually, I found Fluffles, AND I froze Lennie, so I win!” Anya said.
“Let’s get our facts straight,” Uncle Humphrey said. “None of you found the cat. I released the cat on purpose. He played his part perfectly.”
“Who is this guy?” Aunt Tracy demanded, clutching Ellington and Raina protectively.
“THAT’S MY BROTHER!” Poppop Pomporromp hollered. “DON’T TRUST HIM! HE’S A FIEND! A MENACE!”
“Takes one to know one!” Uncle Humphrey shouted.
The magic restraining Lennie wore off, and she could move again. “This,” she said, turning to face her entire extended family, “is Great-Uncle Humphrey. And we’re here to end Wizardmatch . . . forever!” Lennie announced grandly.
“GASP!” the family gasped.
“It’s an unfair contest,” Lennie continued. “We want the family to share the Prime Wizard power, so we can stop all this fighting.”
Lennie beamed—this was the moment she’d been dreaming of. She flashed a thumbs-up at Great-Uncle Humphrey, who nodded back in encouragement.
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