Nory stole a glance at Father, who was checking his phone. He wore an expression she’d never seen on him before: shame.
“I think I am home,” she said. She watched their faces to see if they understood. “But I miss you, too. Maybe you can come stay with us for a weekend sometime.”
“That would be fun,” Hawthorn said.
“Would we eat Fruity Doodles for breakfast?” Dalia asked.
“You can eat them straight out of the box,” said Nory.
She said good-bye and went to find Aunt Margo and Figs.
Her aunt squealed when she saw her. “Nory! That was incredible. That was beyond incredible. You are amazing. Such style!”
“Flamingo, huh, kid?” Figs said, patting her shoulder. “I could never get my birds to go right. Never. Always had trouble with the beak, even in my high-school Bird Intensive. Well done.”
“Thanks,” she said.
“I think we should go for a celebratory ice cream,” Aunt Margo said. “Do you want to ask your friends to join us?”
“Yes,” Nory said. “I’d love that.”
So Nory, Figs, and Margo went to the sweet shop with Elliott’s family, Bax and his dad, Marigold and her grandparents, Pepper and her enormous family, and even Coach (who didn’t eat ice cream but drank a peppermint tea). They filled up the whole shop, and got double scoops of ice cream, and everyone was loud and happy. Elliott refroze the ice creams when they started to melt.
Mrs. Winterbottom, Pepper’s first pest-removal customer, had two sons and one daughter. The sons were Flyers and had grown up and moved away to become lawyers. The daughter, on the other hand, was a Flicker. She’d pursued a different path. An unusual path. One might even say a wonky path. It was a path many people worried was a waste of time.
It wasn’t.
In fact, Pepper thought, Arabelle Pumpkin Winterbottom sounded even more amazing in person than on recordings. Her voice was like the ringing of the strongest triangle. As the lead singer of Everyday Cake, she had bright blue hair and charisma that won over everyone in the packed stadium.
Especially the kids in the special VIP section.
They all had seats, but most of them were standing up. Elliott played the air guitar. Sebastian wore both his head cone and his blindfold. He stood quietly, waving an imaginary baton as he listened without looking. Andres wore a backpack full of bricks, and beat rhythms on his seat with his hands. Willa and Marigold danced with Zinnia and Pepper. Not interpretive dance, just regular dance. Bax did a knee-bending, jiggling thing that he said was definitely not dancing.
Nory sang her head off. No one could hear her over the music, and it felt good to sing without people judging.
Mrs. Winterbottom had seen Upside-Down Magic in the Show Off. She was thrilled that they’d performed an Everyday Cake song. The very next day, she had given Pepper ten VIP passes. One for each UDM kid, one for Mr. Phan, and one for Zinnia.
The first notes of “Crazy-Daisy Shame” started to play. Everybody screamed in excitement.
Nory, Pepper, and their friends all began to sing the first verse, at top volume, along with the band:
If you’ve given me up,
I’ll be okay without you!
I am one of a kind
And I’ve got my crew.
It’s true, I’m one of a kind
And I’ve got my crew.
Nory had heard these words hundreds of times before.
But now?
She truly knew what they meant.
Nory, Andres, and friends return for another upside-down adventure in:
UPSIDE DOWN MAGIC #4: DRAGON OVERNIGHT
SARAH MLYNOWSKI is the author of many books for tweens, teens, and adults, including the New York Times bestselling Whatever After series, the Magic in Manhattan series, and Gimme a Call. She would like to be a Flicker so she could make the mess in her room invisible. Visit her online at www.sarahm.com.
LAUREN MYRACLE is the New York Times bestselling author of many books for young readers, including The Winnie Years series, the Flower Power series, the Life of Ty series, and the Wishing Day series, which starts with the book Wishing Day. She would like to be a Fuzzy so she could talk to unicorns and feed them berries. You can find Lauren online at www.laurenmyracle.com.
EMILY JENKINS is the author of many chapter books, including the Toys trilogy (which begins with Toys Go Out) and the Invisible Inkling series. Her picture books include Toys Meet Snow, Princessland, and A Greyhound, a Groundhog. She would like to be a Flare and work as a pastry chef. Visit Emily at www.emilyjenkins.com.
Also by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle & Emily Jenkins:
#1 Upside-Down Magic
#2 Sticks & Stones
Copyright © 2017 by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
ISBN 978-0-545-80053-2
First edition, January 2017
Cover art by Jennifer Taylor, © 2016 by Scholastic Inc.
Cover design by Elizabeth B. Parisi & Mary Claire Cruz
e-ISBN 978-0-545-80055-6
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