The Magic Mistake

by Barbara Brauner

Mom, Dad, and Madison sit in the folding chairs I’ve magicked up near the fountain. Sunny and her mother sit right behind them.

  Paige is the one who turned Gina’s wedding dress into a cocktail dress. First, she trimmed two feet from the hem and pinned it up. Then she borrowed Mr. Griffith’s purple scarf to make a belt—and Gina went from bride to guest in under three minutes.

  Paige and Dr. Harrington are sitting with Sunny and her mom. In fact, Dr. Harrington and Gina are sitting next to each other. I thought they hated each other? Hmm…Maybe, after all these years, she’s forgiven him for the prom.

  I look around at the park. I know I’m bragging, but it’s absolutely beautiful. Just like on the practice day, there are flowers and trees and lawn and water burbling in the fountain. I’ve also added hanging lanterns and—my favorite part—dozens of magical pink fireflies darting high overhead.

  Coach Overdale waits next to the minister, his eyes gleaming in the lantern light. The limo pulls up to the edge of the park, and I run over to open the door. Katarina, who rode with the bride, darts out first and flies up toward the fireflies to blend in like she’s one of them.

  When Principal Nazarino gets out, I see that Fifi has redone her hair. To my relief, there’s not a single poodle pouf in sight, just ringlets and tiny red rosebuds to match the dress. There are ooohs from the crowd when they see how beautiful she looks.

  Principal Nazarino sees the park for the first time, and she ooohs, too. “It’s perfect, Lacey! It’s better than I ever dreamed.”

  Martin Shembly starts playing the “Wedding March” on his violin (he’s a handy kid to have around!), and Principal Nazarino extends her hand to me. “Lacey, will you walk me down the aisle? This wouldn’t be happening if it weren’t for you.”

  “I’m still in my basketball uniform!”

  “Which is perfect, since I’m marrying the coach.”

  Every eye is on Principal Nazarino as I escort her down the aisle. Madison whispers, loud enough for everyone to hear, “That lady picked my dress!”

  When we reach him, the coach takes his bride’s hand like he never wants to let go. I can tell that his love is not something that’s going to wear off at midnight.

  At 9:22, the minister says, “I now pronounce you husband and wife.”

  And everyone applauds as Principal Nazarino and Coach Overdale kiss. In the back, where nobody can see me, I wave my wand and make sweet-smelling rose petals fall from the sky over the bride, the groom, and all of us.

  Oh, wow! I’ve done it! I’ve made Gina Nazarino’s dream come true! I make a silent wish that she lives happily ever after.

  That they both do.

  It’s just after midnight when Dad drives Mom, Madison, and me home. I was getting cold out in the park, so Dad gave me his jacket, and Katarina is back in a pocket one more time. Maybe for the last time.

  I wonder if the fairies will take me away to the Godmother Academy tonight.

  Everyone’s chattering about the wedding party, which ended after a lot of laughing and dancing and eating magical cake. (I’m sure it disappeared from everyone’s stomachs right at the stroke of midnight. It’s the Lacey Unger-Ware diet plan.)

  Mom and Dad know I helped with the ceremony, but they don’t have a clue that I planned the whole thing. How could they? Even when Madison keeps saying she picked out the dress, our parents just think she’s being her too-imaginative self.

  “I was so surprised when you walked Principal Nazarino up the aisle,” Mom says. “I didn’t think you knew her that well.”

  “We got friendly after I won the zoo internship,” I say, feeling bad that one of the last things I say to Mom before I get sent away to the Academy is a total fib. I wish I could tell her and Dad the truth, but then I realize that I can tell them the part of the truth that matters the most. I swallow down a lump in my throat and say, “I love you guys.”

  If I say another word I’ll cry.

  Dad says, “I love you, Lacey.”

  Mom says, “I love you, Lacey.”

  And Madison says, “I love you, too!” and leans over and kisses me on the cheek.

  There’s the sound of a loud sob in the car. But it’s not from me; it’s from Katarina.

  I go into my room and close the door. “Greetings and salutations, Lacey Unger-Ware!” a squeaky but surprisingly loud little voice says, and I jump about a foot.

  A fairy flits up to me and smiles sweetly. She looks younger than Katarina, and her hair is an electric shade of blue that matches her electric-blue eyes exactly. Even the polish on her little fingernails is blue.

  Katarina pokes her head out of my pocket and frowns. “Augustina Oberon! I heard you got demoted to dryer fairy.”

  Augustina’s sweet smile vanishes. “And I heard you died. Not true, I see. What a pity.” My whole life is about to change, and they’re busy insulting each other!

  Augustina plasters her sweet smile back on and tells me, “You have passed your test triumphantly! Well done, my dear! Well done! Everyone at the Academy is so looking forward to meeting you! Are you ready to begin your education?”

  “No! Please! I don’t want to go!”

  “Oh, piffle. You’ll love it there! Besides, you don’t have a choice.” Augustina hovers near me and raises her wand. “The first day of a hundred years—”

  “WAIT!” Katarina shouts.

  Augustina pauses. “What is it?”

  “Lacey never said good-bye to Julius.”

  Augustina purses her lips, but Katarina insists. “Let the poor girl say good-bye to dear little Julius. You’ve got to.”

  What’s Katarina talking about? She doesn’t even like Julius!

  But Augustina lowers her wand. “Fine. Just make it speedy—we don’t have all night.”

  Katarina flutters up to the ceiling and says, “Call him, Lacey.”

  Weird. Still, it would be nice to say good-bye. I go to the door and call, “Julius! Here, Julius!” And a moment or two later, Julius glides in, purring. Then he sees Augustina and—

  CHOMP!

  He leaps into the air and swallows her up in one quick gulp. Aak!

  A muffled little voice comes from the direction of his stomach: “Get me out of here!”

  I lean down by Julius and tell Augustina, “Don’t worry. I know the Heimlich maneuver for cats. I’ll get you right out.”

  Katarina zips back down and perches on my shoulder. “Don’t you dare.”

  I look at her, confused.

  Katarina cups her hands around her mouth and calls out, “Augustina! Do you hear me?”

  “Yes, I hear you! Eww! There’s cat food in here! It’s disgusting! And there are hair balls! EWW! Get me out! GET ME OUT!”

  “Of course we will. As soon as you agree.” Katarina gives me a wink.

  “Agree to what?” Augustina calls back.

  Katarina paces on my shoulder like a lawyer making a big courtroom speech. “Lacey needs a hundred years of training, I admit. Possibly even two hundred. But it doesn’t have to be at the Academy. I’m applying for permission to homeschool her right here.”

  Katarina could do that? That would be GREAT!

  Augustina says, “Permission denied! Get me out of here.”

  My shoulders slump. It did sound too good to be true. I feel like crying.

  But Katarina’s not finished. “Augustina, do you hear that disgusting gurgling sound near your feet? That’s Julius’s small intestine. And it would like nothing better than to digest one blithering blue fairy.”

  There’s a long, long pause. Julius plops down on the floor and starts to lick himself.

  Augustina yells, “EW! More hair balls!” And there’s a loud sneeze from inside Julius’s stomach. “All right! All right! Permission granted! You can homeschool her. Just get me out!”

  I’m so happy I could burst. “Thank you, Katarina! Thank you so much!”

  Katarina flies up to my face and wags her finger at me. “It’s not going to be easy, missy. With me here as
your teacher, you’re really going to have to work!”

  “I will! I will!” I wish I could hug her, but I blow her a kiss instead.

  Katarina catches the kiss. She looks embarrassed, but she doesn’t open her hand to let the kiss back out.

  Suddenly there’s another loud gurgle from Julius’s stomach and another scream from Augustina.

  I ask Katarina, “Should I get her out?”

  “What’s your hurry?” Katarina looks fondly at Julius and says, “I love that cat!”

  It’s six weeks later, and the gym is packed for the city championship. In the final seconds of the game, Dylan Hernandez passes me the ball.

  Me, Lacey Unger-Ware.

  And he passes me the ball because I’m good. Not magic good, but good good. With Scott’s coaching and Dad’s help, I really belong here.

  I shoot—and the ball circles the rim.

  OMG! It’s not going in! I just lost the game!

  And then, plunk! The ball goes through the net.

  The buzzer sounds, and we win!

  Paige and the cheerleaders set off their confetti cannon, and the room is filled with swirling paper.

  Scott, who’s been filling in while the coach is away on his honeymoon, picks me up and spins me around. “Lacey, you did great!”

  “You’re a great coach!”

  Scott blushes and bats his beautiful eyelashes at me. Then, OOOFFF! He tumbles to the gym floor, taking me with him. His terrible trio of little brothers have tackled him and made his knees buckle.

  Scott looks over to make sure I’m okay—I am—and then says, “Excuse me a minute.” He chases after the little boys, who run off giggling.

  I get up, almost blinded by the falling confetti. I bump into Sunny, who’s dressed in a Bridemonster mascot costume. After her mother beat up the Grizzly, the Lincoln Bridemonsters won in a landslide, so tonight, Sunny wears a thrift-store wedding dress, a veil, plastic fangs, and monster claws. “You look awesome!” I say. “New fangs?”

  “Martin got them for me.”

  And then I see Martin Shembly standing next to her. He nods and says, “I got them online.”

  OMG. Martin’s buying Sunny presents? Sure, it’s just plastic fangs, but it’s still really thoughtful. I can’t wait to talk to Sunny about this later.

  I walk away through the confetti storm…

  …and run into Mom, Dad, and Madison. We have a family hug.

  “Tell everyone there’s a big victory party at the Hungry Moose tonight,” Mom says. “Cake, ice cream, and purple and gold sprinkles!”

  “Great shot at the end, honey!” Dad says to me.

  Madison looks through the falling confetti toward the basketball net. “Well, the fairy helped, too, when she pushed it in.”

  Dad tousles Madison’s hair. “You’re so cute!”

  “Daddy! Don’t mess up my hair!”

  Madison’s got to be making that up, right? Just to be sure, I walk over to the basket and peer up at it. And there’s Katarina sitting on the rim of the basket, swinging her legs like she’s on a bench at the park.

  “Katarina!” I hiss. “You get down here this instant!”

  She flies down behind the bleachers, and I follow her.

  “You’re not supposed to help me win the game,” I tell her.

  “It was taking forever. And you’ve got homework.”

  “It’s Friday night!”

  “Fairy-godmother homework.”

  Geez. It’s going to be such a pain having Katarina around as my full-time tutor—especially on Friday nights. I need to do something.

  “Katarina, come with me to the party at the Hungry Moose. We’re celebrating!”

  “No parties!”

  “There’s going to be cake.”

  “No! Tonight we’re studying techniques for identifying your client. You really stink at that.”

  “And ice cream.”

  “No!”

  “And gallons and gallons and gallons of strawberry soda.”

  Katarina frowns at me. I think she’s going to say “no” again, but instead she asks, “What time does this party start?”

  Maybe having Katarina around won’t be as bad as I thought.

  I’m sure going to find out.

  This book’s many godparents include Emily Bergman, John Biondo, Teresa Blasberg, Helen Brauner, Tom Brauner, Becky Bristow, Josh Capps, Jennifer Cheng, Jennifer Collopy, Breezie Daniel, Dirk Dickens, Michelle Hardy, Lisa Holmes, Lauren Mattson, Maelena Mattson, Matt Mattson, Tom Mattson, Jen Mulder, Melonia Musser-Brauner, Dashiell Musser-Brauner, Jean Noble, Gerardo Paron, Daryl Patton, Michael Schenkman, Cheryl Tan, Linda Wachter, Daniel Wake, Alexis Wallrich, Justeen Ward, and Marty Ward. The support of the amazing Lucky 13s writing group has also been invaluable.

  Thanks to Laura Hopper, Joseph Veltre, and Bayard Maybank, who have believed in this series, and in us, from the very beginning.

  We especially want to thank our editor, Catherine Onder, who is truly a joy to work with. And thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone at Disney-Hyperion whose talent and hard work have gone into The Magic Mistake.

  BARBARA BRAUNER grew up in a house that had so many books her father had to brace the floors. After she moved to Los Angeles to work in the movie business, she met James, who’s been her writing partner ever since. Barbara lives with her crazy attack-cat, Jeeves.

  Before he started writing with Barbara, JAMES IVER MATTSON worked in motion picture special effects, which, just like the Oh My Godmother series, often involved a lot of sparkles. James’s cat, Fred, is Jeeves’s sweeter-natured brother. You can visit Barbara and James online at www.braunermattson.com.

  ABIGAIL HALPIN lives, draws, and dreams in Northern New England. When not drawing, she can frequently be found armed with a pair of knitting needles or a stack of books, or making a racket on the piano. Visit her at www.theodesign.com.