But her family had a different reaction: confused, bewildered, uneasy.
“Share the powers?” her mother said. “Len, what are you talking about?”
Poppop Pomporromp looked murderous as he glowered at his brother. “YOU KNOW WE CAN’T SHARE THE—guh!”
Uncle Humphrey swung the staff, and a ball of glowing light burst forth from Poppop Pomporromp’s chest. Everyone watched, jaws open, as it hovered in the air before zooming over to Uncle Humphrey. Her great-uncle caught the ball of light hungrily. The moment it touched his skin, his body twitched, his face contorted, and his skin glowed white. Then—when the light subdued—Humphrey sighed. “Ahhhhhhh,” he said with a smile, stretching out his hands. “Yessssssssss.”
Poppop’s knees buckled beneath him, and he sagged to the ground like a wilted rose. All of Lennie’s aunts and uncles cried out and rushed to Poppop’s aid as he lay still on the ground.
Is he okay? Lennie thought, taking a worried step closer.
But then Poppop’s body shuddered, and he coughed wildly. “Estella! F-fetch me a barf bag!” he croaked as he crawled across the ground.
Great-Uncle Humphrey grinned as he swung the staff around casually. There were some sharp breaths from her family. They all stood protectively in front of Poppop, shielding him from view.
Lennie excitedly examined her hands. Did Uncle Humphrey share the magic yet? She didn’t feel any different—was she supposed to? Taking a step forward, she stared at her great-uncle. “Did we complete our mission? Do we all have Poppop’s powers now?”
Uncle Humphrey caressed the staff for a moment before looking firmly at Lennie. “I completed my mission,” he said. “I took all of Mortimer de Pomporromp’s powers. I am the new Prime Wizard.”
The New Prime Wizard
Lennie’s heart dropped into her stomach. Frightened whispers erupted from behind her, but she couldn’t focus on her family right now. She blinked at her great-uncle; the lines in his face looked harsher.
“What do you mean—you’re the next Prime Wizard? I thought you didn’t believe in a Prime Wizard! You said you wanted our family to share the powers!”
“Please,” Uncle Humphrey snorted. “You really thought I would share these powers? The powers that should have been mine from my own Wizardmatch?!”
Lennie’s head was spinning. “But you said . . . you told me . . .”
“I told you what you wanted to hear. You, my dear, were easy to manipulate.”
Manipulate? Her fingers curled into fists. “You used me?”
“Don’t sound so scandalized,” Great-Uncle Humphrey said. “We used each other. I helped train you to be more powerful—what you wanted. And you helped me get the staff—what I wanted.”
“But—why?”
Humphrey de Cobblespork stretched his neck to the left, then to the right. “My powers,” he said, breathing in deep, “are more FORMIDABLE than ever. My sixty years of hard work have made me strong. But with the magical energy that comes from being Prime Wizard, I can do magic I only dreamed of.” Humphrey waved the staff and invisibled his arm. He extended his neck and wiggled it like a snake. He made his eyes pop out of his head and then back in again.
Poppop moaned, and Estella helped him to his feet as his knees threatened to buckle beneath him. The rest of her family huddled together, trembling.
This is all my fault, Lennie thought, and her cheeks grew hot. She’d fallen right into Humphrey de Cobblespork’s trap. She believed everything he said—ate it up with a spoon—and never even considered that he might be tricking her. Stupid! I’m so stupid!
“Y-YOU FIEND! YOU USURPER! YOU TOTALITARIAN DESPOT!” Poppop bellowed. “I’LL SHOW YOU!” He shot a fireball at Humphrey, but it fizzled into steam halfway there. Poppop tried again, but the flame pooped out a second time. Then he squatted and scrunched his face up real hard. “FIRE!” he shouted, but this time only a puff of smoke erupted from his fingers.
“BAHAHAHAHAHA!” Uncle Humphrey laughed, clutching his stomach. “You are not the Prime Wizard anymore. The powers are inside of me now, you miserable lump of rotting oatmeal—”
“You listen here! I won that competition fair and square!” Poppop spat.
“YOU DIDN’T, YOU DIDN’T! YOU KNOW YOU DIDN’T!” Humphrey said, stamping his feet. “YOU WERE ALWAYS GRANDPAPPY’S FAVORITE! IT WAS UNFAIR!”
Poppop stamped his feet right back. “I CAN’T HELP IT IF I’M ADORED BY ALL I ENCOUNTER, LOVED BY EVERYONE, REVERED BY AN ENTIRE—mmmmmf!” Poppop’s mouth closed like a bear trap. He tried to pry his lips open with his hands, but they were sealed shut.
“Much better,” Uncle Humphrey snarled. “As I was saying—since I am Prime Wizard, the powers and estate are mine.” He gestured across the forest, toward the border of the Pomporromp property in the distance. “Unfortunately, I don’t want my brother’s offspring in my new castle. I dislike guests who are constantly plotting to overthrow me. But I do like potato chips.” Uncle Humphrey smiled wickedly. “How would you like to be a potato chip?”
“Y-you’re going to turn us all into potato chips?” Perrie squeaked.
Lennie’s stomach was icy.
A hand grabbed hers—and when she looked beside her, Michael was squeezing it. He was standing with her, defiant and determined, just as she was. She hadn’t even realized he’d been by her side. Then, moments later, Ellington put a hand on her shoulder, and Lennie thought of the advice her cousin had tried giving her.
“Please!” Lennie cried out desperately. “You have to let all this roll off your back—or it will eat you up inside. You have to forgive Poppop.”
Humphrey’s downturned mouth grew even frownier, and his eyebrows moved down over his eyes. “Lennie . . . if you’re not with me on this, then I’ll be forced to see you as an enemy.”
“LENNIE! HIDE!” cried Estella.
“Thanks for the help. Couldn’t have done it without you,” Uncle Humphrey said, raising his staff. “Now, good-bye.”
And he shot a beam of purple light right at her.
Invincible
Uncle Humphrey’s spell landed right in the moat.
Did he miss? was Lennie’s first thought. But then, as the dark water rose like a tidal wave, Lennie realized that he meant to hit the water. He was going to take all of them out at the same time!
The water rose higher and higher, so tall that it seemed to brush the tops of the trees. Her invisibility was useless—her brain was frozen.
WHOOSH!
The moat came racing toward the family.
But then, something jerked around her navel, and she started flying up, hovering in the air, along with her brother and a handful of cousins.
“GO!!!!!!” Ellington shouted as she floated them toward the border of the Pomporromp estate. And in a breath, the wave crashed over the family, and the water froze around them—keeping them perfectly in place.
Lennie cried out—but it was too late. They were frozen: her mom, Poppop, Estella, Fluffles, Ellington, half her cousins, and all her aunts and uncles. She couldn’t believe it—Ellington sacrificed herself, just to buy her cousins a little extra time.
We have to move!
“Come on!” Lennie shouted to the group. She knew Michael was with her, but didn’t even have time to see who else was, or whether her mom was okay. Her brain skirted in panic as she ran away from Uncle Humphrey, who laughed maniacally behind them.
They burst through the border of the Pomporromp property. Now Lennie could see that—in addition to Michael—Anya, Bo, Perrie, Ethan, and Julien, holding baby Victoria, were all with her.
“Ellington is so, so brave!” Perrie said.
“And so, so frozen!” Ethan added.
“We have to get to the castle!” Anya grunted, stumbling forward.
All the breathless running triggered a memory in Lennie. “Everyone! Grab
on to me,” she said sharply, and she transferred her invisibility to her cousins as they darted across the grass.
“So what do we do, Lennie?” Julien panted as they ran.
“How should I know?!” Lennie cried.
“You have to know! You’re the only one who knows him!”
“You’re our best chance of stopping him!” Anya said.
Lennie combed her brain for an idea, but she couldn’t think of anything. “I have no clue!”
“You can do this, Lennie!” Michael said.
“You’re very smart, even if you don’t know calculus!” Perrie added.
Far in the distance, the castle stood, tall and crooked. But first, they had to get through the Garden of Goulash, which was fast approaching.
“SURRENDER!” Uncle Humphrey bellowed from behind them as he strode across the borderlands into Pomporromp property. “This is your last chance!”
“Keep going!” Lennie whispered as they dashed across the goulash. Feeling her cousins’ hands all over her shoulders, side, legs, and back, Lennie hustled and hurried and . . .
SLIP! She slid in the sauce and went gliding across the field away from her cousins. In an instant, they all were visible.
“Aha! There you are, you little brats!” Uncle Humphrey said. “You’ve made a grave mistake.”
He wiggled the staff, and wisps of black smoke shot toward the graveyard.
All at once, the ghouls began to wake.
“S-s-s-s-s-souls!” they chattered.
“B-b-b-b-b-bodies!” they moaned.
They smacked their ghostly lips together as they descended in a row in front of them. Their silvery bodies wobbled, and their mouths were dribbling with spit. Lennie could see through their bodies to the castle, but now it seemed even farther away than ever.
With Humphrey behind them and the ghouls before them, Lennie didn’t know which option was worse.
“We beat these ghouls before,” Ethan said, twirling his hair menacingly in his hands.
“But what about Humphrey?” Perrie asked.
The ghouls swooped down.
They snapped into action: Ethan shaped his hair into an enormous baseball bat, and Bo began to shovel down fistfuls of goulash, coughing up birds faster than Lennie had ever seen. Perrie flung goulash with her super long arms, and Michael went invisible, distracting and confusing the ghouls around them. And though Lennie knew Julien would never admit it, he looked at the ghouls with an expression of pure terror, his eyes bulging, his mouth in a perfect O shape.
“LENNIE!” Uncle Humphrey bellowed from the edge of the Garden of Goulash.
She whipped around.
Uncle Humphrey raised the staff, and Lennie braced herself—but just before he gave his wrist a final flick, he froze into place.
“Anya’s doing it! She’s holding him!” Julien said in awe.
“Agggaggggaggg,” Victoria babbled, spitting up on Julien.
Anya’s face was screwed up in concentration. “Not for long!” she said, through gritted teeth. “He’s really strong, and my power is draining!”
“Let me take over!” Julien said, and the moment Anya’s power ran out, Uncle Humphrey began smacking himself in the face with the staff.
“Keep doing that!” Lennie exclaimed. An idea was forming. The answer was right in front of her eyes—the staff! “Anya, Julien, keep switching back and forth—if you can keep him stuck in a loop, maybe I can get close.”
“Why would you want to get close to him?” Julien said.
“We have to separate Uncle Humphrey from the staff! Cut him off from Poppop’s powers!”
And before her cousins could respond, Lennie darted forward.
As she hurried toward her great-uncle, she was practically skating in the slippery goulash.
Uncle Humphrey stood on the edge of the goulash—now completely frozen. Lennie invisibled as she approached. He stood very still—but then Humphrey actually dropped the staff.
“THAT’S ME!” Julien crowed, delighted. “I’M DOING THAT!”
For the first time in her life, Lennie wanted to hug him.
But she had to end this. She dashed forward. The staff was so close! Almost there, she thought desperately, arm outstretched—
WHOOSH!
She flew backward with so much force that she slid fifty feet across the goulash garden. Meat sauce was everywhere. She scrambled to her feet, frantic. Her cousins rushed to her side.
How did he do that? She’d separated him from the staff!
“I DON’T NEED THE STAFF TO DO MAGIC!” Humphrey shouted, levitating it off the ground and snatching it with his hand. “It makes me stronger, but the magic is inside me now!” Then he waved the staff, and a ray of glowing red light beamed their way, straight out of the rubber ducky’s mouth.
It was quick. Lennie huddled together with her cousins, closed her eyes, and—
BOING!
The red light bounced off of them and hit the goulash, which exploded from the ground like a saucy fountain.
Uncle Humphrey looked confusedly at his staff and tried again.
BOING!
The red light bounced off of them and flew into the air, disintegrating one of the ghouls.
“NICE SHOT!” Michael called.
What’s happening? Why can’t Uncle Humphrey hit us?
It was almost like they had a protective shield around them. Something in the goulash, maybe? Or had Uncle Humphrey’s spell backfired?
BOING! BOING! BOING!
Uncle Humphrey fired spell after spell as he stormed toward them, looking angrier by the second.
“QUICKLY!” Lennie shouted, and she grabbed her cousins. She turned them all invisible again, and together they pushed through the goulash, arm in arm.
“S-s-s-s-s-souls!” four ghouls shivered, swooping down and blocking their path.
“What now?!” Perrie shrieked.
“They’re surrounding us!” Anya said. “Nobody touch them!”
Ethan stepped forward, letting go of the group and becoming visible. “Go to the castle without me. I’ll keep them from following you. Remember me if I get ghouled!” he cried. Then he morphed his hair into the shape of a giant butterfly net and charged at the spirits.
Lennie hesitated—could she really leave Ethan behind?—until Uncle Humphrey shot a spell that landed at her invisible feet. “GO, GO, GO!” Lennie cried, grabbing her other cousins and dragging them toward the castle.
Lennie and her cousins stumbled onto the grass. As they ran, they could hear the sounds of Ethan battling the ghouls: snarls, grunts, shouts, and shrieks.
Just get to the castle, she repeated with each step. Just get inside!
They hurried and scurried and scuttled and scampered. Someone stepped on Lennie’s ankle, and she tripped a bit—but her cousins kept her from falling.
At last, every detail of the patchwork castle, every carving of the wooden door, was finally in view.
GURGLE GURGLE BLOOP!
The pudding swelled out of the pool and quickly encircled them, spinning like a tornado. It was taller than all of them combined, blocking their view of the castle—and even of the sun. Dark, thick, and impossibly high. It smelled so sickly sweet that Lennie nearly choked.
The pudding swirled faster and faster and faster, constricting tighter and tighter around them until they were so squished together they could barely breathe.
Lennie shuffled closer to her brother and cousins—all of them were on top of one another. Someone was stepping on her toes, and she could feel someone else’s breath on her neck. There was nowhere left to shuffle—nowhere to go. If the eye of the cyclone got any smaller, they’d be drowning in pudding.
“SOMEONE DO SOMETHING!” Michael cried.
“There’s no going around it,” Bo said.
“Or over it!” Anya added.
“Under?” Lennie asked.
“Through!” Perrie said triumphantly. “I can push you all through to the other side. My arms are long enough and strong enough to handle it!” Perrie put her hands on Julien’s hips as he clutched Victoria. “Hold your breath!” she warned him, then she extended her arms and pushed Julien and Victoria right through the pudding to the other side.
Then went Anya, then Michael, then Bo. At last, it was just Lennie and Perrie left, the cyclone so tight around them that pudding splattered on her glasses.
“How will you get out?” Lennie asked.
“I’ll push you through first,” Perrie said. “Then I’ll extend my arms through, and you guys can pull me out.”
Perrie put her hands on Lennie and pushed. The pudding was thick around her, and her glasses were being smashed into her nose, and she couldn’t see or breathe, and it felt like forever in the dark—
Until, at last, she burst through to the other side. She coughed for air, her lungs on fire.
“Grab—Perrie’s hand!” Lennie panted.
But when Perrie shot her hands through, she got swept up in the tornado. Her body whipped around and around and around. Her arms wiggled, and her legs flailed, but she was stuck inside the vortex of pudding.
“She’s going to drown!” Lennie shouted.
“We’re a team,” Anya said. “We can’t leave her!”
“But our powers are useless against a pudding tornado!” Julien said.
“NOT MINE!” Bo said, unhinging his jaw. “I can rescue her, and the proof is in the pudding!” He reached into the pudding with feverish speed, taking scoopfuls of pudding in his hands, eating faster than humanly possible.
Suddenly, a streak of blue light came flying their way. It flew right into the tornado of pudding and exploded—bits of chocolate drizzling all over them. And then: the telltale cackle of Uncle Humphrey.
“LENNIE! WE HAVE TO GO!” Michael cried.
“It’s okay—I can do this!” Bo said, then he choked up a puffin.
Lennie tore her eyes away from the pudding. I have to trust Bo, she thought. Just like Bo was trusting her to stop Uncle Humphrey.
Wizardmatch Page 20