Wizardmatch

by Lauren Magaziner

  She grabbed her cousins and invisibled, and Michael went invisible, too. They ran together toward the castle entrance—that beautiful wooden door! Almost there. Once they made it inside, they could hide and think of a plan. They just needed some time.

  Sweat beaded down Lennie’s face. We’re going to make it! she thought, squinting at the entrance through her pudding-clouded glasses.

  A cloud of smoke poofed in the doorway, and Lennie stopped, so surprised that she went visible again.

  As the smoke cleared, she saw a long tattered coat, a wizard staff, and familiar gleaming eyes: Uncle Humphrey.

  “You can hide . . . but you can’t run,” he said with a wicked smile.

  Lennie could feel Julien and Anya stiffen on either side of her. “But how?! You were behind us!”

  “Please, Lennie,” Uncle Humphrey scoffed. “You didn’t think this would be an actual chase, did you? What part of unlimited magic powers don’t you understand? I can raise ghouls from the dead! I can create tornadoes of pudding! And I can teleport! I am,” he said, grinning widely, “invincible.”

  All That, and a Bag of Chips

  This was bad, bad, bad. No, worse than bad. Impossibly insanely worst-thing-in-the-world awful. Uncle Humphrey was just too powerful. There was no way to stop him.

  “Leave us alone!” Lennie shouted.

  “You can try to resist,” Uncle Humphrey said, waving his staff, “but I’ll chip away at you!” A blast of purple bubbles zapped Anya in the chest, and a poof of smoke surrounded her. When the smog cleared, Anya was gone. And where she had been standing was a bag of sour cream and onion potato chips.

  “NO!” Lennie screamed.

  “Anya?!” Michael whispered.

  Uncle Humphrey raised his staff again.

  But suddenly, he began to scratch his butt. Then he mooed like a cow. Then he crossed his eyes and jumped on one foot.

  “GO!” Julien said, handing Victoria off to Lennie. “My powers won’t last much longer!”

  “What about you?”

  “I’ll find you later!” Julien said. “I have to stay in range for my powers to work! You get a head start—”

  “But why?” Lennie said. “You hate me!”

  “You’re family,” Julien said. “Family always comes first. Now go!”

  Lennie held Victoria close to her chest and invisibled. Michael invisibled, too. They slipped under Uncle Humphrey’s arms, opened the door, and stepped into the castle . . . just as Uncle Humphrey started to fight Julien’s power.

  “LOOK OUT!” Julien cried.

  A wayward spell was headed toward them. No time to run or hide or duck—

  BOING!

  The spell hit Victoria square in the chest . . . then ricocheted off her and hit one of the banister posts, which splintered into pieces. Lennie shut the door quickly before any more spells could sneak in.

  Then she held up her cousin. Was she hurt? Victoria baby-babbled happily. Lennie and Michael looked at each other—and then at Victoria. It was the same thing that had happened in the Garden of Goulash.

  “It’s Victoria!” Lennie gasped. “She has force-field powers!”

  But there was no time for awe. Lennie whistled twice for skateboards, and she and Michael hopped on.

  “Where are we going?” Michael asked. “How can we stop him? What are this guy’s weaknesses?”

  “He has no weaknesses,” Lennie said as they zoomed along the ramp. She held on to Victoria extra tightly. “Didn’t you hear him? He’s invincible, with and without the staff!”

  “No one’s invincible,” he replied.

  Below, there was the unmistakable sound of the front door opening. “Lennieeeeee! Ready or not, here I come!” Uncle Humphrey called out, and shivers went up Lennie’s spine.

  “Pull over!” she hissed.

  Lennie yanked her brother into the closest corridor. They found themselves in the library, where the books were so eager to be read that they pelted library guests with their requested genre. At least there are hundreds of shelves to hide behind, she thought as she and Michael ran through rows and rows of books. She clutched Victoria and didn’t stop until they were all tucked away in the corner, far behind a bookshelf.

  “Are we safe here?” Michael asked.

  “I don’t know. I hope so.”

  There was a tired pause. Lennie’s heart beat too fast and her limbs were shaking too much to even process what had happened—to the family, to her cousins, probably to Mom.

  “Michael, I don’t think we have a lot of time left,” Lennie said, grabbing his hand. “And I just want to say . . . you were right all along. I was jealous.”

  “You were?” Michael whispered, his brown eyes growing wide. “Because that’s how I feel about you all the time!”

  “What? You do?”

  “Well, not all the time,” Michael said. “It’s pretty awesome being me.”

  She rolled her eyes. “You are gloating again! You keep throwing Wizardmatch in my face—”

  “I’m sorry. I just wanted you to be proud of me.” He looked down at his shoes.

  Michael . . . apologizing? Shock radiated through Lennie. Shock and guilt and love. She squeezed his hand. “I am so sorry, too . . . for everything. And I am proud of you,” Lennie whispered fiercely. “I know it wasn’t your fault I wasn’t picked.”

  Michael grinned. “You were jelly like the Jelly Floor!”

  Lennie smiled weakly. “Jelly like the—”

  She perked up.

  Jelly like the Jelly Floor.

  “The Jelly Floor!” Her heart skipped a beat. “Michael, follow me. I have an idea!”

  With Victoria in her arms and Michael on her tail, Lennie tiptoed out of the library and invisibled, keeping their eyes peeled for any sign of Humphrey. They sneaked around the ramp, making their way down.

  The Jelly Floor was the one place Uncle Humphrey didn’t know about, because he’d left the castle before it was created. And it was so sticky that even Poppop, with his Prime Wizard magic, couldn’t get rid of it.

  Which meant that Humphrey wouldn’t be able to, either.

  They reached the twenty-second floor, just as their magic drained.

  “We’ll take a moment to recharge,” Lennie whispered, shifting Victoria onto her other hip. The baby was heavier than she looked.

  The jelly glistened a deep reddish-purple, and Lennie and Michael stood dangerously close.

  She sucked in a deep breath. For once, her powers weren’t going to help her. She needed to be seen.

  “I have to call him,” she said. “He’ll teleport to us, if he knows where we are.”

  “Are you insane?” Michael whispered. “You can’t!”

  “This is the only thing that will trap him! You go invisible. While I distract him, you push him in, and I grab his staff. Maybe a non–Prime Wizard with the staff can compete with a Prime Wizard without the staff.”

  “I can’t do this.”

  “Yes, you can.”

  “But—”

  “Michael, it has to be you,” she said firmly. “He wants to catch me right now. I have to show myself. I believe in you.”

  Lennie put Victoria on the ground. She needed both hands if she was going to try to take the staff.

  “Ready?” she said. And before her brother could respond, Lennie yelled, “I AM ON THE TWENTY-SECOND FLOOR!” Her voice echoing around the Pomporromp Castle. “I AM READY TO SURRENDER! I AM SCARED!” She nodded to Michael, and he disappeared.

  POP!

  Uncle Humphrey appeared. He stood between her and the jelly, looking all around at the purple jam, at her, and right through invisible Michael. “Where’s your brother?” he asked suspiciously.

  Lennie invisibled and lunged forward.

  Uncle Humphrey looked ready for her—but sec
onds before she reached him, he swayed, as if some other invisible person had tackled him around the middle.

  Go, Michael! Lennie thought, and she reached forward to wrench the staff away from him.

  But Uncle Humphrey sent them both soaring across the room without even a blink.

  Michael crashed against the floor, becoming visible, but his left foot got stuck in the jelly. He pulled and pulled, but he couldn’t move.

  “MICHAEL!” she cried.

  “LENNIE!” he called back, his panicked eyes on Uncle Humphrey.

  Uncle Humphrey came trudging toward her. Every step of his boots rattled Lennie to her very core.

  “This was your big plan?” he laughed. “Your brother was going to push me, while you tried to steal the staff . . . and then what?”

  He hovered over her like a hungry vulture, leering.

  “LENNIE!” Michael shouted.

  Humphrey waved the staff.

  “Aaaaaggg gaggggg!”

  The noise came from behind her—the baby! She was strong enough to protect them both!

  Lennie grabbed Victoria, held her out in front of her, just as the light burst out of the rubber ducky’s mouth—

  BOING!

  The spell ricocheted off of Victoria and bounced right back into Humphrey—and he flew backward and landed in the jelly with a splat!

  Uncle Humphrey lay in the middle of the hall, purple jelly quickly engulfing his arms and legs. “WHAT IS THIS STUFF?” Humphrey de Cobblespork bellowed, every vein in his neck bulging. The more he thrashed, the more the jelly stuck to him, congealed to his clothes—until at last, he could barely move. His fingers twitched as he desperately clawed for the staff, trying to wrench free of the jelly.

  But not even magic could get him out of this jam.

  The Decision

  While Uncle Humphrey continued to howl, Lennie hugged Victoria.

  “You did it!” she said to the baby, kissing her round, soft cheek. “You defeated Uncle Humphrey!”

  Victoria tugged on her hair in response.

  “Ow!” she yelped, disentangling herself from Victoria’s tiny fingers. Then she rushed over to Michael. “Are you okay? Can you take your shoe off?”

  Michael carefully untied his shoe and wiggled his foot out. His sock was covered in jelly, and he peeled that off, too. “It was almost between my toes . . . toe jam!”

  “GET ME OUT OF HERE!” Uncle Humphrey snarled.

  Lennie looked around. Uncle Humphrey was glued so firmly to the ground that his arms and legs and torso were completely purple. Only his face was jelly-free, and he screamed and raged and cursed and spit.

  Lennie ignored him. Instead, she went for the staff, which was lying on the floor. The rubber ducky was dangerously close to the edge of the jelly.

  She bent down to pick up the staff—the wood was smooth and surprisingly warm in her hands.

  “You have to use it to fix everyone,” said Michael.

  “Me?”

  He nodded.

  Lennie nervously cleaned her glasses, which still had flecks of dried pudding on them. In their imminent doom, she had been too preoccupied with defeating Uncle Humphrey to wonder what she was going to do about the cousins. The staff felt like an anvil in her hands—the weight of it! The pressure!

  As they made their way outside, they found two bags of potato chips on the ground, right outside the door to the castle: sour cream and onion and bacon cheddar.

  She paused. Uncle Humphrey had told her that as long as she was physically holding the staff, she’d be able to do more than just go invisible—that it would help stir up some of the dormant power inside her.

  “Please work,” she said out loud. Then she closed her eyes and waved Poppop Pomporromp’s magic staff over the bags of chips.

  Nothing happened.

  “It’s not working!”

  Michael gripped her by the shoulders. “That’s not the Lennie Mercado I know!” he said loudly. “The Lennie I know never says die! The Lennie I know believes in her magic! Now, WAVE THAT STAFF!”

  She took a deep breath. I can do this, she repeated to herself, a chant, a whisper.

  Warmth bloomed inside her stomach, like she’d just drank hot chocolate. This was what her mom had meant when she said the power was inside her all along—the staff helped amplify it.

  The rubber ducky on the top erupted green slime out of its mouth, which got all over the potato chip bags that were her cousins. The potato chips remained still. Lennie looked at the staff. Did she do something wrong? But then, at last, the bags began expanding, growing arms and legs—until POOF!

  Anya and Julien were restored!

  “Thank you, thank you!” Anya said. Then she sniffed around. “Why do I smell like onions?”

  Michael helped Anya to her feet, while Lennie bent over Julien.

  “You did it!” Julien said as she grabbed his hand and yanked him to his feet. “Of course, no one would need saving if it weren’t for you, bummer!”

  Lennie punched his arm.

  “Lennie! Michael!” Bo called from the grass, waddling over to them.

  “Where’s the pudding?” Michael asked, looking around.

  Bo patted his stomach. “In here. And out there!” He pointed up at the sky to a flock of geese.

  “What about Perrie?” Lennie asked.

  “She’s fine! She went to help Ethan.” Bo pointed across the estate. The ghouls were nowhere to be found, but Perrie and Ethan were lying in the goulash. Perrie was shaking Ethan’s shoulder, and Ethan was emitting a low moan.

  “What happened?” Lennie asked as she rushed over.

  “Ethan got ghouled!” Perrie said. “He’s been out for ten minutes, but he’s finally waking up.”

  His eyelids fluttered, and he stared up at the sky, “This is so much worse than . . . everything. I’m never going to complain about anything ever again!”

  “Glad you’re okay. I know what that feels like,” Julien shuddered, hoisting Ethan to his feet.

  “Let’s go save our family!” Lennie said, rushing toward the borderlands. She gripped Poppop’s staff with white knuckles, trying not to think about the worst-case scenario. What if she couldn’t revive them? What if they were hurt?

  And if she did revive them, how could she ever explain away what she’d done?

  When they arrived, the scene was more ghastly than she had imagined. Everyone was completely frozen in the dark moat water, like figurines in a snow globe.

  Maybe they wouldn’t forgive her. But she was responsible for this mess, so she had to be the one to clean it up. Lennie took a deep breath and waved the staff, and the familiar sensation of warmth bloomed in her navel. Bubbles rolled out of the rubber ducky’s mouth, and the water melted.

  It seemed like the family took one collective gasp before each one started panicking.

  “HELP!” Poppop croaked. “HEEEEEELLLLLPPP!”

  “I’m all wet!” Fluffles sobbed.

  “What happened?” her mom cried.

  “We got him!” Michael said. “In the jelly!”

  “Lennie and Michael did it,” Perrie added.

  “It was actually Victoria,” Michael said, holding the baby up in the air.

  “It was a team effort,” Lennie said. “All of us.” She slung her arm over Michael’s neck. She truly couldn’t have done it without everyone. Not just Victoria and Michael, but Julien, Anya, Ethan, Bo, Perrie, and Ellington, whose butt-length hair was sopping wet.

  While Michael returned Victoria to Aunt Macy, and as all her cousins went to exchange hugs with their own families, Lennie found her mom.

  “I’m sorry,” Lennie blurted. She buried her face into her mom’s shirt. “I’m so, so sorry.”

  “I’m sorry, too,” her mother said, tears welling in her eyes as she stroked Lennie’s
hair. “I was so concerned with what your poppop thought and what he wanted . . . And when he said all those hurtful things, when you overheard . . . I didn’t know what to do. I still don’t know what to do.”

  “You can listen to me,” Lennie said. “And next time, you can stand up for me.”

  Her mom tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “From now on, and always,” she said softly. “I hope you know that I believe in your magic.”

  When Uncle Humphrey had told her that, it made her feel special. But now? The words felt hollow.

  It seemed, after all that, she still was angry about Wizardmatch. And worst of all: she still empathized with Uncle Humphrey more than anyone else. Which was the most disturbing thought she could think—and that included the one time she had a nightmare about a cockroach sandwich.

  “You’re with him! SEIZE HER!” Poppop bellowed. He pointed at Lennie and flapped his arms wildly. “Where is my brother?! LET ME AT HIM!”

  “I’m not on his side, I swear!”

  “WHY SHOULD I TRUST YOU?”

  “I promise I had no idea,” Lennie said. “If you’ll just let me explain—”

  “HALT!” Poppop said, his beard twitching as he looked around at his family, spread out across the clearing. He clapped his hands twice. “GATHER AROUND! IT’S STORY TIME!”

  “Oh, er . . . okay. When I first met Uncle Humphrey—”

  “NO!” Poppop whined. “Every good story starts with once upon a time!”

  That’s what Uncle Humphrey said, too! He and Poppop were more alike than either one probably realized.

  “Once upon a time,” she said, indulging her grandfather, “I met my great-uncle Humphrey for the first time.” She described his house in the borderlands, and their conversations, and her training, and his plans to split the powers evenly.

  “Is he cuckoo bananas?” Poppop interrupted. “He knows there’s no sharing the power! If you divide the magic up, it disappears completely. We’d all lose our powers. But continue, Lennie.”

  And she did, telling everyone about how Humphrey betrayed her, and how she—and everyone else—managed to defeat him.