by Ahmet Zappa
And if Piper concentrated on this mission…really concentrated…if she kept thinking positive thoughts and stayed alert…the stars were the limit.
Lady Stella pressed a secret button in her desk drawer. A hidden door slid open to reveal the passage to the Star Darlings’ own Wish-Cavern.
Piper took a deep breath and pushed back her chair. Sage pulled Libby to her feet. “It’s time to get serious,” she said with a giggle. Gemma moved slowly, too. And when her sister told her to “hop to it,” Gemma jumped on one foot all the way to the door.
Piper barely noticed. She paused to breathe deeply. Then she followed everyone down the winding stairs to the underground cavern.
Piper loved going around and around, down and down along the stairway, catching sight of bitbat creatures hanging by their feet. Maybe one day she’d try that pose for meditation. Being upside down would bring a new angle, a different way of looking at the world.
But those thoughts were fleeting, too. Piper’s focus narrowed to one vision: riding a shooting star to Wishworld.
In the Star Darlings’ Wish-Cavern, a deeply magical place underground, the glass ceiling looked out on the dazzling night sky. Piper could make out the planet Trilight, its three circling moons casting yellow, blue, and red light.
Everyone was silent as they gathered around the grassy platform. Each time, the ceremony happened a little differently. How will it be for me? Piper wondered.
Trilight’s moons beamed three different-colored rays directly into the cavern. They joined together just above the platform to create one startlingly white light. The platform opened silently and a Wish Orb floated into the spotlight.
To Piper, it seemed the orb glowed brighter than any she’d seen before. It reflected all the colors of the rainbow as it spun around the Star Darlings, swooping in front of each one. Piper closed her eyes, its image burned in her mind. She knew when her eyes opened, the orb would be directly in front of her, waiting.
And it was.
“The Wish Orb has chosen,” Lady Stella announced. “Congratulations, Piper.”
Piper slept a deep dreamless sleep that night. She woke up late, feeling refreshed. She had special permission to skip classes. So she took her time choosing Wishling clothes from her Wishworld Outfit Selector. Then she went for a long, leisurely hover-canoe ride around the Serenity Islands. While she leaned back in her seat and let the boat drift, her Star-Zap buzzed. A picture flashed on-screen: her mother. She always knew when something big was happening in Piper’s life.
Piper wished she could confide in her mother, tell her everything about the Star Darlings and their missions. For now, though, she had to keep it all inside.
“Hello, Mom,” Piper said as a hologram of her mother appeared. She wore loose, flowing clothes and sat with her legs crossed on a colorful starmat.
“Hello, Pippy,” her mom replied. “I had a starmazing dream about you last night….” Her mother spoke about travel and journeys, and Piper nodded at every sentence. By the time she finished the holo-call, lights were flashing in Halo Hall, indicating regular classes were over. Star Darlings class wasn’t being held. Instead, everyone was meeting on the Wishworld Surveillance Deck—the takeoff spot for Wishworld—to wish her well.
“Hi, Piper,” Astra said in a low voice as she and Piper arrived at the Flash Vertical Mover at the same time. “It’s a big—”
“Starday for me, isn’t it? Yes!” Piper nodded quickly as more Star Darlings joined them.
Lady Stella, along with Lady Cordial, was already waiting on the deck. She beckoned Piper closer. “The Star Wranglers are still monitoring the skies,” she explained. She smiled warmly at Piper. “You’ll be on the first star they—”
“Catch,” finished Piper.
Lady Stella gave her a funny look. “Is everything okay, Piper? It seems—”
“I’ve been interrupting a lot lately.” Piper nodded. “Everything’s fine,” said Piper. She smiled at the headmistress. “Any last-minute advice?”
Piper managed to hold her tongue while Lady Stella ticked off some items: “Keep checking energy levels on your Wish Pendant. While you should be aware of time passing, don’t rush through wish identification. Use your emotions. And be careful not to lose anything.”
With that, Lady Cordial passed Piper her special backpack and dangling keychain. “Y-y-y-y-yes,” she added. “Keep these items close by at all t-t-t-times.”
That reminded Piper: she wanted to place some special things of her own in the backpack: two sleep masks and her serenity stone. Who knew what would happen to them when her outfit changed in space?
She reached into one dress pocket and removed the sleep masks. But the other pocket was empty. She’d forgotten the stone. In her mind, she could see it, still resting on a pillow in her room. Starf!
By then a wrangler had caught a star and was holding it steady, waiting. Vega hurried over to take both of Piper’s hands and say, “You’ll be good, you’ll be great. You’ll tell me about it later; can’t wait.”
Clover hugged her tightly, then hugged Lady Cordial, standing next to her. “Well,” said Lady Cordial, backing away slightly, “that was s-s-s-sweet.”
Everyone else said good-bye quickly, and before Piper knew it, she was rushing through space, starlight flashing, colors flying.
The ride was not smooth. In fact, it was much rougher than Piper had expected. She tried not to worry. But it was frightening to think she was out there in the universe, traveling alone.
“Stop that, Piper!” she told herself. “No negative emotions.” Of course, there was always her Mirror Mantra. Even without a mirror, it could provide reassurance. But Piper needed a different phrase, one rooted in the here and now.
Even bumpy journeys could end with smooth landings, she knew. “Bumpy journey, smooth landing. Bumpy journey, smooth landing,” she repeated to herself again and again until she believed it.
Piper kept saying the phrase even as she accessed her Wishworld Outfit Selector. But soon she had to stop to recite, “Star light, star bright, the first star I see tonight: I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight,” to transform her skin and hair to Wishworld plain.
Then, just as her Star-Zap flashed PREPARE FOR LANDING, she saw Wishworld hurtling closer. She closed her eyes tight. “Bumpy journey, smooth landing.”
And her feet touched the ground with barely a bounce.
Piper opened her eyes. She was facing a brown wall made, it seemed, out of logs. She turned to her right. There was another wall of logs. She turned to her left and saw another wall and still another. Clearly, she was in some sort of room—an empty room, with no ceiling. Clouds and sky were visible overhead. Piper’s heart thudded at the strangeness of it all. Then she heard voices.
“Okay, we’re just about set to put the roof on.”
“This is going to be one amazing playhouse.”
Then there was a much younger voice: “Did you see that bright light, Mommy?”
Suddenly, Piper heard vrooom sounds and chains clanking. A pointy roof came down atop the walls, leaving the room in darkness.
Piper’s heart beat even faster. Without her serenity stone, Piper rubbed her Wish Pendant bracelets, hoping the smooth jewels would help keep her calm.
With nowhere else to look, Piper gazed at the walls. Then, amazingly, she was gazing through the walls! She could see outside! She had sunray vision! That must be her special talent, the ability to see through walls, logs, and who knew what else! She’d discovered it so quickly, without even trying. Surely that was a sign of good things to come.
Piper saw a group of Wishlings, young and old, smiling delightedly outside the walls.
“This is just what this playground needs!” said one female Wishling, holding the hand of a toddler. “Won’t this be fun, Sophie?”
A playhouse for little Wishlings! Nothing to be scared of at all. But still, Piper needed to get out. She folded up her star and placed it in the backpack’s front
pocket just as the door opened and light streamed into the room.
A man stood across from Piper, staring at her in surprise.
“Why, there’s a girl in here!” he exclaimed.
“Hello!” Piper said pleasantly. “I was actually just leaving.” Before anyone could say anything else, she slipped outside, past the Wishlings’ astonished faces, and briskly walked away.
The play space was big and busy, and Piper soon blended in. She paused at the edge to get her bearings.
On a long ramp-like structure, a small Wishling whooshed down. “Not headfirst!” shrieked a female Wishling—the mom, Piper guessed. Meanwhile, a girl rode past on a very small two-wheeled vehicle, pushing on pedals that moved in circles. “Chloe!” the dad called out. “Where is your helmet?”
Wishlings are very focused on small Wishlings’ heads, Piper noted.
She retreated behind a tree and felt her spirits soar. What a great place to land! She’d learned about those areas. What had those Wishlings called it? A playground? She could have sworn Professor Illumia Wickes had called them play-arounds during one of her Star Darlings guest lectures. But really, what difference did it make? She was there, with lots of adorable Wishlings who came up to her waist. They were all too young to be her Wisher, though. Just to make sure, she glanced at her Wish Pendant. The bracelets were still dark. But maybe there’d be older Wishlings nearby, and she wouldn’t have far to go.
Piper checked her Star-Zap for directions. It showed the exact route, and it seemed to lead quite far away. Piper sighed. She enjoyed exercise as much as the next Starling—as long as it involved stretching—but right then her Wishling sandal straps were digging into her feet. Made from Wishling material, the sandals didn’t mold to her feet like comfy Starling ones. Her long, swirly skirt was nice, though. And her cropped T-shirt, a vibrant emerald color with a rainbow by her heart, was cute and perfect.
The sun was perfect, too, shining brightly with just the right degree of warmth. And Piper felt a tingle all around her, an air of expectancy.
She heard one Wishling mom say to a dad, “I’m so happy spring is finally here!”
The male nodded. “We’ll be spending a lot more time here now that the weather is nice.” He glanced at the Wishling equivalent of a Star-Zap. A cell phone, Piper thought. “Oops. Almost three o’clock. Time for pickup.”
Piper watched as the play-around emptied out.
It was the end of the school year, Piper realized, putting together the adults’ comments and her tingly feeling. That mix of sadness and excitement, with one staryear ending and a long, lazy vacation ahead. The feeling was the same no matter where someone lived.
Piper moved on, following the coordinates of her Star-Zap. She edged toward the far corner of the play-around, where she saw a gate. She pushed against it. Nothing happened. The gate was locked in some way, and she couldn’t find a scanner, of course.
“Excuse me,” said a little girl who couldn’t have been more than three Wishworld years old. She lifted a hook-like handle and the gate swung open easily.
“Well!” said Piper. “Star sal—I mean, thank you!” She hoped she wouldn’t get locked in somewhere else. There might not be a little Wishling around to help.
Piper continued down a treelined street with small cozy-looking houses. Each one had a wide porch that wrapped around to the back. In front of one, Piper stooped to pick up something from the sidewalk. It was shaped like a tube, about the length of her arm, and wrapped in a clear sleeve. She could read words through the wrapper, although it clearly wasn’t a book: Greenfield Crier. Greenfield was most likely the town’s name, Piper thought. And it was fitting. The town had wide yards and grassy plots along the walkways. But what did Crier mean?
Piper pinched the tube to see if it would actually cry. It stayed silent. Then she noticed a man walking up to another house and picking up a tube.
“Late delivery today,” he said to Piper, taking off the wrapper and unfurling the tube into flat paper. “I missed it before I left for work. Still, it’s nice to look over the newspaper in the afternoon, too!”
A newspaper! She’d learned about that in her Wishers 101 class last year and Professor Elara Ursa had gotten it exactly right. It was exciting to actually hold a newspaper in her very own hands. The professor had said that more and more news was being delivered electronically—like it was on Starland—but many Wishlings still had papers delivered to their homes.
“Are you visiting the Trunks?” the man asked, interrupting her thoughts.
“Trunks?” she repeated. Was he asking if she was visiting trees? “Yes, the Trunks,” he repeated, pointing to the house behind her.
“Ah!” Piper said, remembering that Wishlings might be referred to by their last names. The house, and the newspaper, must belong to a family called the Trunks.
“No. I’m just picking up the newspaper for them. There!” She placed it carefully on the front steps and kept walking.
Soon small stores replaced the small homes. Piper walked past a brick building with signs that read GREENFIELD STATION, TICKETS, and TRAIN PLATFORM, THIS WAY. Beside the platform, Piper saw what looked like a ladder running on the ground, with yet another sign: BE CAREFUL ON TRACKS.
Two identical little buildings with windows all in a row and wheels at the bottom were parked on the side. Greenfield Local was painted on one, Greenfield Express on the other. Can these houses actually move? Piper wondered. It seemed doubtful.
Piper kept walking, and the sidewalk grew more crowded. Some Wishlings hurried into and out of stores, carrying sacks. Others walked more slowly while chatting with friends. She passed the Coffee Corner. Peeking inside, she saw everyone drinking out of mugs and cups. Coffee, she remembered reading in a holo-textbook, was a staple of the adult Wishling diet. But she had never realized it was a drink!
Then she stopped in front of a place called the Big Dipper. Her heart skipped at the words. Home, she thought. The older Starlings’ dorm. It gave her a pang just thinking of Starling Academy while she was here, in a place where she couldn’t even leave a children’s play-around without help. But what was this place? A line snaked out the door, so it must be popular. People were leaving, gripping cone-shaped holders with scoops of brightly colored food inside.
“Yummy ice cream!” said a Wishling boy walking outside with his mom. Ice cream! She’d heard about the frosty dessert, too. Maybe it was called the Big Dipper after an ice cream scooper, not the constellation.
Next Piper passed the Greenfield Library and a flower shop. Finally, the Star-Zap led Piper to a place called Big Rosie’s Diner. It was marked with a glowing star on her Star-Zap screen. She was there. The spot where she would meet her Wisher.
The diner looked a little like one of those vehicles she’d walked by earlier. Only, this one appeared to be stuck in the ground. Pretty flower boxes hung just below its windows. The diner was sweet-looking and inviting, with bells above the door. They jingled when customers came in or went out.
A diner, mused Piper. That sounds like dinner. It must be some sort of restaurant. Casually, she strolled closer. A few Wishlings stepped outside. One held the door open, assuming Piper wanted to go inside. She decided she might as well. Her Wisher might already be there.
Nodding her thanks, Piper walked in and smiled. Yes, it was a restaurant! Tables with red-checked tablecloths stood in the center, while booths with red cushions lined the walls. There was a long counter directly in front of her, with lots of activity behind it. Wishling workers—not Bot-Bots!—bustled here and there, busily doing things Piper could only guess at. One sprayed some kind of liquid into glasses from a long hose. Another yelled into a window in the wall, where Wishlings appeared to be cooking in a separate room. “Two number fours, one with everything, one with everything hold the mustard,” a cook cried, plopping plates on the window’s shelf.
Odd, thought Piper. None of her friends had mentioned that Wishlings used numbers, not names, for food.
The
n she noticed a separate counter—more of a desk, really—with a woman seated behind some kind of metal machine.
The woman had short curly hair and a nice smile. She reached for a long flat book and stood up. Obviously, she was going to the library down the street.
Instead of leaving, though, the woman carried the book over to Piper and asked, “Seat at the counter?”
“Yes,” Piper agreed. “There are seats at the counter.” To demonstrate, she moved closer to a stool and tried to pick it up. It didn’t budge. But it did spin around.
“Oh!” said Piper. She couldn’t resist sitting on it, pushing off from the counter as it twirled squeakily. “Starmendous!” she said. It reminded her of the starry-go-round rides back home. Of course, those rides flew through the air, too.
The woman held up the book. “Would you like to look at—”
“Your book?” Piper said.
“A menu,” the woman answered. She handed it to Piper, who saw it was a list of food choices. “Or are you waiting for—”
“A bus?” finished Piper.
“No,” said the woman, looking puzzled. “Friends.”
Piper gulped. Her first decision. “Oh, I am waiting,” she tried to explain, “but not for friends. Not really. But maybe I will find a friend here. Why else am I here, unless it’s to make some sort of connection with a…” Her voice trailed off.
She was babbling, she knew, and while the woman waited patiently for Piper to stop talking, she was also giving her a slightly funny look.
“I’ll just go outside,” Piper finished. Her Wish Pendant was dark, so there really was no reason to stay inside, anyway.
“You do that, honey. There’s a nice comfy bench right under the oak tree.”