Tricked

  The glass slipper heel!

  “A pirate never lets a scallywag down,” Ollie says, then thinks twice. “Well, he does, but I could never leave you guys. Life isn’t the same without you.” Blue descends so that we can jump off and stand with Ollie.

  “Cuff them!” I hear Pete cry. “Those three are being sentenced to Fairy Tale Reform School!”

  Sweeter words have never been said.

  “On a first offense?” Ollie asks. “Sweet. I’ve missed that place.”

  “And we’ve missed you.” I give him a hug.

  The Dwarf Police Squad races up the ramp as the three of us keeping hugging one another, then hold our hands out for cuffs. Pete looks confused.

  “Aye, this feels good,” Ollie says as Pete clamps the metal over his wrists. “We’re headed back to FTRS together!”

  CHAPTER 6

  Bad Apples

  When Pete and Olaf throw Jax, Ollie, and me through the doors of Fairy Tale Reform School, our friends are waiting. A cheer rises up in the foyer, and then Kayla and Maxine hug us, while Jocelyn leans against a table and peels a bright-red apple with a paring knife. Poetic.

  Pete pushes our friends away. “Miri!” he yells. “I’ve got three more for ya—repeat offenders.”

  Miri’s foyer mirror begins to glow red. “Oh, I already heard. Somehow their friends knew they were coming.” She clears her throat.

  Maxine points to her large head. “Ogre intuition. It’s very powerful.”

  Pete unlocks our handcuffs. “Yeah, well, tell Mr. Stiltskin not to let them out so easily this time.”

  “Oh, I don’t think you need to worry about seeing this group for a while,” Miri says ominously.

  “Good.” Pete narrows his beady eyes at me. “None of your parents are coming either. Second time in, they just get a scroll sent saying you’re here. Your repeat stay in this joint is not going to be as peachy as the first.”

  “I wouldn’t exactly call our first stay peachy,” I mumble.

  Ollie nods. “True! We were almost killed by a wicked fairy twice, and part of the school burned down.”

  Pete grins wickedly, revealing rotten teeth, then begins walking out. “This will be much worse. Enjoy your time with the trickster, thieves.” Olaf and Pete slam the large doors to Fairy Tale Reform School shut. I can still hear them both laughing.

  Miri sighs. “I’m not going to give you the big FTRS speech because you already know it, but make sure you go over your new school handbook.” Three scrolls appear in our hands. “All the rules have changed. The headmaster has very specific ideas, and if you don’t follow his orders, the punishments are much worse than detention with Madame Cleo. Am I clear?”

  Miri almost sounds frightened. I push any fearful thoughts out of my mind. “Yes. Now about dorming… I want to be with my sister Anna.”

  “She’s rooming with Gretel. You’re with Maxine,” Miri says flatly as Maxine cheers. “Jax and Ollie, you’re together.” The two high-five. “Stop sounding happy! This is a reform school.”

  “I’m not happy,” I complain. “No offense, Maxine, but I wanted to be with my sister.” I keep seeing Anna’s terrified face over and over again. I have to see if she’s okay.

  “Then you should have gotten thrown in the same night as her,” Miri snaps. “Now, if you’re all settled, I have four other children to process, and they’re getting ready to go in and meet with Mr. Stiltskin.”

  “Ooh! Are we meeting with him too?” Ollie asks excitedly, and we all look at him. “What? I want to meet anyone who is supposedly shorter than me.”

  “The headmaster will not be briefing you,” Miri sniffs. “He said he did not feel it was important to meet with children who weren’t smart enough to retain their original lessons at the school.”

  Ouch. Okay, so maybe we should have considered Stiltskin’s temper when we thought about doing this. How am I going to convince him to release Anna when I can’t get near him?

  “Run along now,” Miri tells us. “You should remember the way.”

  Her mirror goes dark, and I watch the foyer behind us seal up. A new hallway appears where a portrait of the royal court was moments before. The new hall is empty except for an elf cleaning crew that is sweeping up straw. Where did that come from?

  “It’s been a long night,” Jax says. “Why don’t we all get some sleep and talk about things tomorrow? I’m sure Anna is sleeping anyway.”

  “She’s Stiltskin’s favorite,” Maxine says brightly. “She’s already in his invite-only baking club.”

  Jocelyn snorts. “She fits right in with that group.” I look at her.

  “No offense, Anna’s just so different from you,” Kayla says awkwardly, and my friends look anywhere but at me. I have a feeling that is not a compliment. Kayla quickly leans in for a hug. “Anyway, I can’t believe you guys are here! I mean, I can because we gave you that shoe heel, but…” Jocelyn clears her throat. “I mean, see you in the morning!” She shakes her head at me as we all head to the dorms.

  “What’s your problem?” I snap.

  “You, Cobbler,” Jocelyn whispers heatedly. “I slipped you that heel so you could get far, far away from here and take your brainwashed sister with you! Not so you could wind up back here in this mess.”

  I’m not sure what to say. Then I hear meowing. A cat is coming down the hallway. The small black cat winds its way around Jocelyn’s legs. It blinks its eyes at us.

  “Cute kitty.” Ollie bends down to scratch it.

  “Don’t!” Jocelyn barks, pulling his hand away right as the cat coughs up a fireball. We all jump out of the way. “Great! It must be after nine. I have to get Miss Matched in her crate.” Jocelyn picks up the cat, then wraps her cloak around her and disappears in a cloud of smoke.

  “Uh-oh, I better get Peaches to bed too,” Maxine says worriedly, and her eye begins to spin at an alarming rate. “Come on, Gilly. We should get to our room. Fast. You’ll love Peaches!”

  “You won’t,” Kayla whispers. “Hide everything.”

  • • •

  Kayla was right. Peaches is no peach.

  “I’m sorry!” Maxine cries as I examine the large hole in the front of my brown dress the following morning. “She must have been hungry. I usually get her breakfast by now, but I didn’t want to leave her, um, alone with you.”

  “Quack!” Peaches screeches in agreement.

  The sound pierces my ears. She—or he—is the ugliest duck I have ever seen. Or maybe she’s a swan. Aren’t swans supposed to be ugly? Peaches is muddy brown with a green beak and a giant red growth hanging from her chin, with a large tuft of white hair on top of her small head. But her beady eyes make me the most uncomfortable. They’re the color of sand. I feel like she can see right through me.

  “Quack!” Peaches nips my finger.

  “Ouch!” I pull away. I take off my store apron and place it on the bed. “Why do you have him anyway?”

  “Her.” Maxine picks up the duck in her large hands and rubs its backside. “Peaches is supposed to be in a cage in our Magical Fairy Pet classroom at night, but I can’t bear to leave her. The other animals bully her.”

  I eye Peaches skeptically. “Are you sure it’s not the other way around?” Peaches hisses. “Wait. Does she understand me?”

  “I don’t know,” Maxine admits. “All I know is Peaches picked me. All the pets pick their owners and show them their magic when they feel comfortable in their surroundings.” Maxine frowns. “Peaches is the only pet that hasn’t done anything out of the ordinary yet. She just eats things she shouldn’t and then sometimes… Uh-oh.”

  Peaches makes a strange sound as her neck rocks back and forth. Maxine holds the duck at arm’s length as it throws up the remains of my Cobbler Shoes apron and the key to the store that was inside the front pocket. Maxine puts Peaches down, and she waddles awa
y happily.

  “I’ll clean up this mess,” Maxine says. She sprays Elf Refresh Spray on the throw-up, and it turns blue, then sparkles before disappearing with a zap. That stuff works wonders. I always wished we could afford it at home. Although I guess now we can.

  I hold up what’s left of my apron, then glance down at the extra-large nightgown Maxine lent me. “That’s great, but what am I going to wear? My parents haven’t sent my stuff yet.”

  Maxine brightens. “Not true! Your uniform already arrived. It’s hanging in the closet.”

  I make my way to the closet, avoiding the duck. Sure enough, the bright-blue jumper that I despised is in there. My striped tights and ugly black shoes are at the bottom of the closet as well. I’m not touching those. I’m keeping my brown lace-up boots that Father made me. I scoop the boots up and put them on the shelf above the clothes. I don’t want Peaches getting her beak on them.

  Maxine gives the floor one more wipe. “There! Now we can get breakfast.” Peaches quacks again. “For you too, Peaches.” Maxine’s one eye begins to roll wildly as she looks at me. “So do you think you could try living with Peaches? I’m afraid Headmast—Professor Flora—will kick her out of the program if she acts out again, and I don’t know where creatures who can’t be fairy pets are even sent. Peaches already has two strikes against her for biting other animals.”

  The duck looks at me as if to say, You heard the ogre. Keep your mouth shut.

  I’m not crossing Peaches. “She can stay.” Maxine grins. It’s the least I can do after turning my back on Maxine that time she wanted to be a… Wait a minute. I grab for a pink hanger in our closet and knock several down in the process.

  “Quack!” Peaches comes running at the shiny, annoyingly cheery band of pink satin.

  I hold the sashes out accusingly. “What are these doing here?”

  “Isn’t it great?” Maxine pulls one of the sashes from my hands. “We’re back in the Royal Ladies-in-Waiting! They’re getting a new school advisor.”

  A perfumed note is pinned to the sash.

  We missed you! See you at your first meeting. Tessa

  Crumb cake. They know I’m here. I thought I was free.

  Maxine twirls around in her sash. “Gosh, it feels good to be back!”

  A sister I’m not allowed to see, a headmaster with questionable intentions, and a duck that wants to kill me.

  Good doesn’t feel like the right way to put it.

  CHAPTER 7

  Change, Change, Change

  I’m starving, but Maxine won’t let us eat breakfast in the cafeteria. Apparently Professor Harlow demands we get all our food from her until she figures out what Stiltskin is putting in those muffins (and everything else the students eat).

  The Evil Queen may be able to cook up a poison potion, but she cannot make a decent pancake. I toss the rock-hard disc into a trash can as we walk to our first class, which is Magical Fairy Pets. Maxine is trying to explain all the class changes since I’ve been at FTRS. It’s hard to hear her when students are running down the halls and acting up. Where is Miri hiding?

  “Headmistress Flora has been running the class for a few weeks,” Maxine tells me, ignoring the chaos around us. “Stiltskin wanted to cut it, but Harlow convinced him to keep it. Something about every great former villain needing a creature sidekick—and Peaches picked me right away! She bit my thumb with her little beak and… Ouch!”

  A running troll hits Maxine in the shoulder and keeps going.

  “You could at least say sorry!” I shout.

  The troll turns around. I jump when I notice he only has one eye. He marches over and knocks all my books out of my hands.

  “You watch it,” he growls.

  I smile, fold my arms, and wait for this newcomer to FTRS to learn his lesson. Any second now Miri’s mirror will start to glow, and she’ll be barking at this kid about detention with Madame Cleo.

  Any second now…

  The troll catches me staring at the mirror and bursts out laughing.

  “You waiting for Miri?” he asks as kids continue to run by. “She won’t mess with me. I’m with him.” The troll flashes me a gold RS badge on his uniform lapel. Before I can ask what it’s for, he turns and knocks books out of the hands of two goblin girls walking by.

  “Why, that overgrown rock…” I mumble, watching him retreat. I notice a wad of something gold hanging out of his back pocket and squint to get a closer look. Is that yarn? And in his other back pocket is a small gold book with the initials RS on it. I head after him.

  “Don’t mess with him,” Maxine begs. I can still hear his loud laughter when he jumps into an open doorway. “Anyone that messes with Mr. Stiltskin’s bake crew is toast.”

  “For the love of Grimm, Maxine,” I hear Jocelyn say. She appears in a cloud of smoke along with Jax, Ollie, and Kayla. “You’re knocking Harlow’s toast again? My sister is keeping you fed. Who cares if her bread is a little crispy?”

  “It was more than crispy,” says Ollie, attempting to bite into a very burned bagel. He gives up and tosses it in the trash. “I think I’ll skip breakfast today.”

  Jocelyn rolls her eyes. “I should have let you eat a muffin and join his Stiltskin Squad.”

  “Stiltskin Squad?” Jax, Ollie, and I repeat.

  “Rumpelstiltskin’s favorites,” Maxine explains. “Like that guy who just knocked your books down. You can tell they’re in the club by the special RS badges they wear on their uniforms. Squad members get to be in Stiltskin’s baking club.”

  I snort. “Who would want to bake with him?”

  “Anyone with half a brain,” Jocelyn says. “Teacher’s—or should I say headmaster’s—pets who are in his baking club get later curfews and special privileges.”

  “The only way into his club is to fawn over him. Those who refuse to do that get punished for it.” Kayla hands me her mini magical scroll. It has the FTRS schedule for the day on it. The words on the scroll flash bright red. Jax and Ollie read over my shoulder.

  Kayla—Mr. Stiltskin feels it was inappropriate of you to skip his assembly, Why Rumpelstiltskin Is the Best Headmaster Ever! As punishment, all your extracurriculars have been canceled. Do not attempt to go to Wanding for Pleasure, Pegasus flying lessons, or the lecture you signed up for called Fairy Good: Learning What Magic We Can Steal from Our Flying Friends.—Miri

  “So basically you either eat a muffin and think he’s a rock star, or you’re banished to the dungeons?” Jax watches two pixies with RS badges spray-paint a mustache on a picture of former Headmistress Flora.

  Maxine nods. “Pretty much.”

  The wheels in my brain start turning. “One of us has to get in that group and spy on them. We can find out what devious thing he’s up to and get him kicked out—after he reverses the spell on Kayla’s family, reinstates Flora, and gets Anna pardoned of course. I bet it won’t take us more than a week or two tops.”

  Jocelyn creates tiny sparks with her fingers. “Save your breath, Cobbler. I’ve already tried. We all have. He wants no part of us—especially Kayla.”

  “I’ve tried to get in to talk to him about my family since the day he got here,” Kayla says, and I have a feeling she might cry. “You know when my scheduled meeting is? Seven months from now! Meanwhile, the RS crew is in his office all day long.”

  “Great. He’s onto us already,” Ollie whispers. A group of fairies fly by carrying a basket of Stiltskin’s chocolate-rhubarb muffins to class.

  “Let’s recruit someone else to spy on him for us,” I suggest. “Like Anna.”

  Jocelyn starts to laugh wickedly. “You fool. Don’t you see? Look around you. Kids like him. Anna likes him. They want to be on his good side so they can get perks. They’re not looking for a hero to save them.”

  “But…” I don’t understand. “Isn’t the point of coming to FTRS to become ref
ormed?”

  Jocelyn shrugs. “Kids don’t care about that. They’ll take any chance they get to be bad. It’s what they know. And if you take that from them, they’ll despise you for it.” A rotten apple comes whizzing past my head and hits Jocelyn in her shoulder.

  “What are you whispering about, witch?” Hansel shouts. He and Gretel are walking toward us. I spot their RS badges right away. “End it now, or I’ll have to report the lot of you.”

  “You’re in his little club too?” I start to laugh. “Pretty pathetic inner circle.”

  “I’ll say.” Jocelyn stands beside me.

  “Quiet, witch,” Gretel sneers.

  “Stop calling her a witch, witch,” I say. “What’s the matter? Crankier without any candy to steal?” Hansel makes a move toward me.

  “Back off, Hansel,” someone says.

  And that someone isn’t Gretel.

  The small girl pushes her way through Hansel and Gretel and stares at me.

  “Anna!” I rush over and squeeze her. She feels limp. “I wanted to come see you last night, but they wouldn’t let me. Are you okay?” I look her over. She’s wearing the same uniform as me, and her long, dark hair is pulled back with a black-and-white-striped ribbon. She smells like her Rapunzel shampoo, which means Mother must have sent our things.

  Anna looks upset. Does she blame me for getting her sent here?

  “Are you sleeping okay?” I ask. “Eating? Maybe if we ask him together, he’ll let you move into my room with Maxine. It’s big enough for the three of us.”

  “I’m already rooming with Gretel,” Anna says flatly. “What are you doing here anyway?”

  Hansel unwraps a piece of gum and gives it to Gretel. “Anna, we have to police the hallways. Come on.”

  “Just give me a second, okay?” Anna tells them. “I need to talk to my sister.”