Unicorn Princesses 7

by Emily Bliss

  “I thought they looked awfully familiar,” Firefly said. Then her face fell. “But now the books are ruined too. Oh, what will we do?”

  Suddenly Cressida had an idea. “I think I have a plan!” she said, jumping with excitement. “I’m not sure if it will work, but we won’t know unless we try.”

  Firefly’s face brightened. “Do you have magic powers you haven’t told me about?” she asked with a playful smile.

  “Possibly,” Cressida said, winking at Firefly. “The first thing we need to do is go back to the Cave of Creativity.”

  “Let’s go!” Firefly said, and the two dashed out of the library, down the corridor, and back into the cave with all the stalactites and stalagmites.

  As soon as Cressida and Firefly stepped into the Cave of Creativity, Stella called out, “Welcome back!”

  “Do you need another book?” asked Stuart.

  “It just so happens that I do,” Cressida said.

  “We’re ready when you are,” Stella said. “Just shut your eyes and imagine the cover.”

  Cressida closed her eyes and imagined a book cover with a picture of a human girl casting a spell as she held a magic wand. The cave began to hum. Cressida opened her eyes and watched as the stalactites and stalagmites flickered and flashed and the fireflies left their torches to swarm in circles around the cave. The humming crescendoed. And then it faded as the stalactites and stalagmites stopped flashing and flickering and the fireflies returned to their torches. The tiny door on the other side of the cave opened, and out slid the bookworms, carrying a large, bright red book.

  When they were right in front of Cressida’s sneakers, the bookworms said, “Presenting Spells for Human Girls and Boys.” They winked at Cressida as she kneeled and picked up the book.

  “Thank you so very much,” Cressida said, again feeling the warmth of the book’s cover against her hands.

  “Our pleasure,” said the bookworms. And then they slid back across the cave and through their tiny door.

  Cressida’s heart quickened as she opened the book to the table of contents. There were spells to make fairy wings, flying broomsticks, and rocket-powered shoes. There were spells to turn dirt into chocolate, rocks into ice cream, and flowers into lollipops. Halfway down the list, Cressida found the title of exactly the spell she was looking for: “Returning Characters to Books, page 54.” She jumped with excitement as she turned to page 54. Then she held the book so both she and Firefly could read the instructions:

  Returning Characters to Books

  ITEMS NEEDED:

  1. Magic wand

  2. Magic backpack

  3. Citrine stones

  4. Hair of worm

  5. Hair of unicorn

  6. Hair of girl

  METHOD:

  Combine items 3 through 6, above, in the bottom of the magic backpack (item 2) and zip it up. Wave your magic wand (item 1) over the backpack as you chant, “Hairily Glairily Glittery Glooks! Send these characters back to their books!” Then, sprinkle the magic dust you create over the characters.

  “Hmm,” Cressida said. “I don’t have a magic wand. Do you?”

  “No,” Firefly said, frowning.

  “Did I hear you say you need a magic wand?” Stella asked. Cressida looked up to see the stalactite smiling hopefully. “I’d be wand-shaped if you pulled me off this cave ceiling! And I would say I’m magic, too, given that I’m a talking stalactite that helps to magically create books.”

  “Would it hurt you if I pulled you off?” Cressida asked. She wasn’t sure if a magic stalactite could be substituted for a magic wand, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt to try.

  “Not at all!” Stella said. “I’ve always wanted to try out freedom, at least for a little while. Just wrap your hands right below my mouth and pull.”

  Cressida walked over to Stella and put her hands on the bottom of the long, thin stalactite. She pulled gently, and to her amazement, Stella easily came off the ceiling.

  “Whoa!” Stella said, as Cressida carried her over to Firefly. “This is wild! ‘Stella the Wand’ doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as ‘Stella the Stalactite,’ but it sure is fun to try this out.”

  “Thanks so much for helping us out,” Cressida said. She looked down at the open spell book. “Now we have a wand. And we have my magic backpack. It looks like next we need some citrines.”

  “I’ve still got some more of the ones I used to make all the signs in the library,” Firefly said. “I’ll be right back.”

  After Firefly bolted out the door, Cressida turned to Stella. “Do you think the worms might be willing to give us a strand or two of their wonderful curly hair?” she asked.

  “I bet they would,” Stella said. She called out, “Belinda? Any chance you could come help us out?”

  The little door opened, and a bookworm slid out and said, “You called?”

  “Is there any chance we could have a few strands of your hair?” Stella asked.

  “Sure,” Belinda said. “But someone else will have to pull it out.” She smiled and winked. “I don’t have any arms or hands, in case you didn’t notice.”

  “I can do it very gently,” Cressida said. She laid Stella down on the cave floor and kneeled in front of the bookworm. Then, as carefully as she could, she plucked one long, curly strand of hair from the worm’s head.

  “That didn’t hurt a bit!” Belinda said. “Why don’t you take another one, just in case you need two.”

  “Thank you,” Cressida said, and she pulled out one more strand of hair.

  “You’re most welcome,” Belinda said. “Not to be rude, but is that all you need? I’m happy to help in any way I can, but I was right in the middle of the best book I’ve ever read. I can’t wait to get back to it.”

  Cressida laughed. “All done! Thank you so much for your help.”

  Cressida took off her backpack, unzipped it, and pulled out her book. Then she dropped the two strands of Belinda’s hair into the bottom of the pack just as Firefly returned holding a small orange velvet bag in her mouth. Cressida took the bag, and Firefly said, “Here are the citrine gemstones!” Cressida dumped the small orange jewel pieces into the backpack.

  Then she quickly plucked two strands of her own dark hair and dropped them on top of the citrines and Belinda’s hair.

  Firefly looked into the backpack and then at the open spell book. She glanced nervously at Cressida. “Now all you need is my hair,” she said, frowning. “Will it hurt when you pull it out?”

  “I know what we could try that won’t hurt at all,” Cressida said. “Why don’t you shake your head, and we can see if any of the hair in your mane falls out on its own.”

  Firefly’s face brightened. “Great idea!” she said. She shook her head, and, sure enough, four silky orange hairs floated downward.

  Cressida scooped them up and dropped them into the backpack. She zipped it up and picked up Stella. “Are you ready to be a magic wand?” she asked.

  “Ready as I’ll ever be,” Stella laughed.

  Cressida held Stella above the backpack, and, reading from the open spell book, she chanted, “Hairily Glairily Glittery Glooks! Send these Characters Back to their Books!”

  A swirl of glowing light raced in circles around the backpack. Then there was a loud “Poof!” Cressida and Firefly looked at each other with wide eyes. Cressida unzipped the backpack to find it filled with glittery yellow dust.

  “Wow!” Firefly said. “I can’t believe that worked!”

  “Me neither,” Cressida said. Then she looked at Stella. “Are you ready to be a stalactite again?”

  “Yes,” Stella said. “It was fun being a magic wand. But I’m ready to hang from the ceiling again.”

  Cressida carefully pushed Stella up against the cave ceiling, and the stalactite magically reattached. “It’s good to be home,” Stella said, winking at Cressida and Firefly. “Good luck with your magic dust.”

  “Thank you,” Cressida said.

  “I can
’t wait to try this out,” Firefly said. “Let’s go!”

  Cressida put on the backpack, which now felt as though it were filled with sand, and picked up both of her new books. Then she and Firefly ran as fast as they could out of the Cave of Creativity, down the corridor, and back into the library.

  When they stepped back into  Glow Library, Cressida and  Firefly paused for a few seconds to watch the tiny magical creatures as they played on the mountains of books. Then Cressida set her two books down on the floor and slid off her backpack. “Are you ready to send these creatures back into the books?” Cressida asked.

  “Yes,” Firefly said. “But I have to admit they’re awfully fun to watch.”

  “I agree,” Cressida said. She unzipped the backpack and grabbed a handful of glittery yellow magic dust. It felt, she thought, like the flour she used when she helped her father bake cookies and bread. Cressida sprinkled the dust on some rainbow cats, gnomes, and unicorns who were playing hopscotch, hide-and-seek, and tag right by her feet. Light swirled around the creatures. A book that lay on the floor glowed for a few seconds. Suddenly, the creatures vanished. Cressida picked up the book that had glowed and flipped it open. Sure enough, instead of blank rectangles, the book now had illustrations. She paused at a page with a picture of a unicorn playing hopscotch. For one moment, the unicorn turned to Cressida and whispered, “Thank you! I’m so glad to be back home.” The unicorn winked, turned toward her friend, and froze mid-jump.

  “It worked!” Cressida said, jumping up and down.

  “Amazing!” Firefly said.

  Cressida walked through the room, sprinkling the magic dust on the miniature creatures. Again and again, a gold light swirled around the creatures, the books where they belonged glowed for several seconds, and then the creatures vanished.

  When all the miniature creatures were finally back in their books, Firefly sighed in relief. “Thank you, Cressida,” she said. “That was such a creative way to solve that problem.” Firefly looked at all the messy heaps of books. “But I don’t think there’s any way we can organize and shelve all these books before the grand opening. We’ll still have to cancel the party.” She blinked back more tears.

  “I think I know how we can put the books back on the shelves quickly,” Cressida said. “But we’ll need help from Moon and Breeze.”

  Just then, Cressida heard the clatter of hooves coming down the corridor. She turned to see Moon and Breeze standing at the entrance to the library.

  “Oh dear,” Moon said, looking at the mess of books. “What happened?”

  “You should have seen it before,” Firefly said, and she told Moon and Breeze the story of how they’d found the library overrun with miniature magical creatures, and then how she and Cressida had magically transported the characters back to their books.

  “That’s amazing!” Moon said.

  “But what about the grand opening party?” Breeze asked. “How will you organize and shelve all the books in time?”

  “I have a plan,” Cressida said, and she turned to Moon and Breeze. “But we’ll need magical help from both of you.”

  “Of course!” Moon said.

  Breeze frowned. She looked at Firefly. “I know you worked incredibly hard to create this library, and I’ll definitely help you put all the books back. But I’m still not so sure about coming to the party. I’m really dreading it. I just don’t like reading as much as the rest of you,” she said. She glared at Firefly as though she were waiting for her sister to argue with her.

  Firefly opened her mouth to say something. But then, she stopped. She glanced at Cressida. Cressida nodded encouragingly. Firefly turned back to Breeze and said, “I can completely understand that.”

  Breeze blinked in surprise. “You can?” she asked.

  “Absolutely,” Firefly said. “Everyone likes different things. I don’t like flying kites and hiking as much as you do. And you don’t like reading as much as I do. The Rainbow Realm would be an awfully boring place if we unicorn princesses were all exactly the same.”

  “That’s definitely true,” Breeze said.

  Firefly stared down at her hooves for a few seconds. Then she looked back at Breeze. “I’m really sorry I’ve kept trying to convince you to like reading as much as I do. I shouldn’t have done that. I think I just love reading so much that it’s hard for me to understand that not everyone else feels the same way.”

  Breeze nodded. And then she smiled. “I forgive you,” she said. “It’s not that I hate reading or the library. It’s just that there are other things I usually like to do more.”

  “That makes perfect sense,” Firefly said. “I’ll stop trying to change your mind.”

  Breeze smiled. “Well, in that case,” she said, “not only am I happy to help in any way I can to clean up this mess, but I’d also be glad to come to the grand opening party, even if there’s not enough time to put up decorations first. A reading party isn’t my favorite thing in the world, but I can do it for an afternoon. And,” she said, looking up at the signs above the sections, “maybe I’ll even find a book I like in the Great Outdoors section.”

  “I made that section just for you,” Firefly said. “But,” she continued, winking at Breeze, “it’s perfectly fine if you don’t like the books in it quite as much as I do.” Then Firefly leaned over to Cressida and whispered in her ear, “You were right. Breeze stopped hating reading when I stopped trying to make her like it.”

  Cressida smiled and nodded. Then she looked at Moon, Breeze, and Firefly and said, “Are you ready to put all these books back?”

  “Yes!” the three unicorns said all at once.

  “Great!” Cressida said. “Moon, can you make the library pitch black?”

  “Sure thing!” Moon said. Her opal shimmered and glittered. Sparkling light poured from her horn. And then the cave went pitch black.

  Cressida felt a little nervous in the dark, and she reached out and put a hand on Firefly’s neck. “Firefly,” Cressida said, “can you make all the Fun and Games books glow in the dark?”

  “Absolutely,” Firefly said. Glittery orange light shot from Firefly’s horn, and then Cressida saw glowing books all around the room.

  “Breeze,” Cressida said, “can you make a magic gust of wind that will pick up all the glowing books and put them on the Fun and Games shelf?”

  “Yes,” Breeze said. In the dim light created by the glowing books, Cressida could see Breeze’s aquamarine shimmer. Glittery blue light shot from her horn, and a comet-shaped gust of wind darted around the library. Soon all the glowing books lifted into the air, paraded in a circle overhead, and then slid, one by one, onto the set of shelves under the Fun and Games sign.

  “It worked!” Cressida said. “Firefly, can you make the Art and Artists books glow next?”

  “Absolutely!” Firefly said. Glittery orange light poured from Firefly’s horn. The books already on the shelves stopped glowing. For a moment, the library was pitch black. And then more of the books in heaps on the floor glowed.

  “Now it’s my turn again,” Breeze said. Glittery blue light shot from her horn. Another gust of wind danced around the room, lifted the glowing books from the floor, and put them on the shelves under the Art and Artists sign.

  Cressida, Firefly, and Breeze worked together to put the rest of the books back where they belonged, section by section. When they were finished, Firefly said, “Moon, I think you can make it light in here again.”

  “Great!” Moon said. Sparkling light poured from her horn. The firefly torches, chandeliers, and reading lamps illuminated, so pale orange light filled the library. For several seconds, Cressida, Firefly, Moon, and Breeze stood quietly and admired the library. Cressida thought it looked like the best library she could imagine: it had even more books than her school’s library, and certainly more than twelve were about unicorns.

  Firefly looked at Cressida. “Thank you so very much for all your help. You saved the day once again.”

  “You’re
welcome,” Cressida said. “Glow Library is the best library I’ve ever seen.”

  Just then, Cressida heard the clatter of hooves on the corridor leading to the library. She turned around as Sunbeam, Flash, Bloom, and Prism trotted through the door.

  “Wow!” Sunbeam said. “I’ve never seen so many books in one place!”

  “Those armchairs look even more comfortable than the ones in the front hall of Spiral Palace,” Flash said.

  “Those are the best firefly chandeliers I’ve ever seen,” Prism said, admiring the ceiling.

  “Welcome to Glow Library!” Firefly said.

  Just then, more creatures from the Rainbow Realm began to file into the Glow Library and browse the books. A cluster of painted fairies that Cressida recognized from her adventures with Prism stood by the Art and Artists section and looked at books together. Ernest pulled out several books from the Magic section, sat down on the floor, and began to read them—just the way Cressida had in her school library earlier that day. Three phoenixes looked at books in the Adventure section. And six gnomes Cressida recognized from the Enchanted Garden huddled together in the Gardening and Plants section.

  For several seconds, Cressida and the unicorn princesses watched all the magical creatures browse the books. Then Firefly said, “Well, let’s start reading!”

  “I can’t wait!” Bloom said. She hurried over to the Gardening and Plants section, chose a book, found an armchair, and plopped down.

  Prism trotted over to the Art and Artists section. “I could spend weeks in here reading!” she exclaimed. “Well, I could as long as I could take breaks to paint. And,” she added, smiling, “maybe to eat occasionally.” She sat down in an armchair with a thick purple book.

  “I never imagined there could be this many books about sports,” Flash said, surveying the books in the Sports section. “Maybe I’ll learn how to ice skate!” She pulled out a tall thin book, found the armchair closest to her, and began to read.