Her words didn’t make sense. “Where was it?” She tugged at the lace on her sleeve until it covered the red mark.
“The tooth was supposed to come out of that kid three days ago, but he refused to pull it. He was just being stubborn.” Chrissy brushed some glitter off her skirt and it drifted to the floor in a minty wave. “I got tired of showing up night after night to see if he’d gotten around to losing it yet. I mean, I have a busy route. He was wasting my time.” I tilted my head. “You didn’t pull it out of his mouth, did you?” She blinked at me innocently. “It was just dangling there.”
“Wow,” I said. “Somewhere out there is a little boy who will never sleep soundly again.”
She fluttered her hand dismissively. “He had fun being a squid. I could tell by the way he was waving his tentacles around.” She opened her purse, rummaged through something—I wondered if it was the night’s haul of teeth—then pulled out her wand. Her gaze traveled around my room. “I see my assistant decided not to come. Honestly, the things the UMA puts me through.” Still looking around, Chrissy huffed in exasperation. “Belladonna Spritzpetal can claim it’s my grades that are keeping me out of Fairy Godmother University, but it’s not. It’s because I dumped Master Sagewick Goldengill’s son. Why else would the UMA give me the same worthless leprechaun for three assignments in a row?” She tapped her wand angrily against her knee, as though if she flicked it enough times, Clover would appear.
“How come you and Clover don’t get along?” I asked.
She hesitated, and I thought she wouldn’t tell me, but then she said, “During our first assignment, our teenage charge was being threatened by some neighborhood gangsters. I rounded up the lot of them and told Clover to turn them in to the police.” She pursed her lips as if even the memory aggravated her.
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“He didn’t do it?” I guessed.
“Apparently I should have said I wanted them turned over to the police instead of into the police. He claimed he didn’t understand what I meant.” She let out a grunt. “That bit of magic messed up Chicago for years.”
“He turned the gangsters into police officers?”
“In my defense, who would have ever thought that using correct grammar would actually come in handy in real life? I mean, nobody pays attention to it during English classes.” My gaze shot to my window. I wasn’t sure what I expected to see outside, but I looked anyway. “And you put Clover in charge of sending the Merry Men back in time?”
“Oh, I doubt he messed that up. Even Clover has to get something right every once in a while.” She lifted her wand. “So you’re ready to make your final wish?”
I nodded, nervous. My carefully planned words jumbled together in my mouth, and I spoke slowly in order to straighten them out. “I want something like the Midas touch, but more controllable. I wish I could create gold, but only when I want to.” Chrissy raised an eyebrow in surprise. “You decided you could buy friends after all?”
“I decided that if I didn’t have any, well, at least I can be lonely in a new Porsche.”
Chrissy laughed, then stretched her shoulders. “Mortals are so de-lightfully predictable. It’s a wonder they make any of us go to godmother school in the first place. They could just issue us magical ATMs and be done with it. You wouldn’t believe the hours of new-invention homework they gave us. Totally worthless. No one ever asks for a better mousetrap.” She waved her wand in my direction, and tiny falling stars dropped from the ceiling and surrounded me like 111/356
wandering butterflies. “Get some sleep,” she told me. “You have a big day tomorrow.”
Then she and the lights both vanished.
I sat quietly on my bed for a few moments, trying to decide if I felt any different. My fingers felt exactly the same. Ditto for the rest of me.
I wished Chrissy had told me how to use my new power before she poofed away. I slipped off the bed, went to my dresser, and picked up a picture of Kendall and me as little girls. Concentrating, I tried to turn the frame to gold.
Nothing happened.
I tried a pencil, a paper clip, and a pair of socks. Still nothing. But then, Chrissy had said I would have a big day tomorrow, so maybe the gift didn’t kick in until then. It was aggravating beyond belief to have to turn off the light and go to bed.
• • •
I slept in. That’s the sort of thing that happens when you keep waking up in the middle of the night wondering when tomorrow starts. I knew it didn’t start at 12:01 because I got up and tried to change a Snickers bar into gold. It defied all my attempts, so I ate it. Nick banged on my door in the morning to wake me up. When I didn’t answer, he opened the door. He was already dressed. “Your alarm didn’t go off because the electricity is out, but you need to hurry, or you’ll be late to school.” He glanced at his watch. “It’s almost seven thirty.”