by Nancy Krulik
“I want to play!” Lucas called. He ran past the princess and out onto the road. “Toss it to me.”
As Princess Pulverizer threw the doll to Lucas, one of the witches tried to grab it. But Lucas was quick. He jumped in front of her and caught it.
“This is fun!” he said with a laugh. “Keep-away is one of my favorite games.” He tossed the doll back to Dribble.
But the witches weren’t playing a game. They were taking this quite seriously.
One witch waved her hand, and the doll began to fly through the air toward her.
Dribble reached up and intercepted it.
“Over here, Dribble!” Princess Pulverizer said.
Dribble tossed the doll in the princess’s direction.
The second witch was quick. She waved her hand in the air, trying to command the doll to come her way.
But Princess Pulverizer was even quicker. She leaped up on her good ankle and blocked the doll’s path, catching it in her arms. Then she tossed it toward Lucas.
As the doll soared through the air, both witches began waving their arms wildly. The doll moved left. Then right. Then left. Then right. Then . . .
Dribble jumped up and grabbed the doll. He ran toward Princess Pulverizer and handed it off to her.
“What an awesome play!” Lucas cheered.
Princess Pulverizer took off as fast as her injured ankle would carry her. Despite the pain, she smiled as she ran. The princess knew that by working together, she and her friends would surely get Elle to that reflecting pool. It was all about teamwork. Something Elle and Anna had never mastered.
“Over here, Princess Pulverizer!” Lucas shouted as he moved to the water’s edge.
Princess Pulverizer threw the doll at Lucas.
One witch used her magic to draw the flying doll toward her.
The other witch used her magic to direct the flying doll toward her.
Lucas jumped between them. “I got it!” he shouted, reaching his hands high. “I got . . .”
The doll hit the tips of Lucas’s fingers, knocking it out of the paths of the two witches. It flew a little farther through the air and then . . .
SPLASH! It plopped down in the reflecting pool.
“I don’t got it,” Lucas said with a frown.
“My doll!” one of the witches shouted out in dismay.
“She’s gone!” the other witch sobbed as she ran over to the reflecting pool. Without thinking, she looked down into the water.
A moment later, her fingers curled like a tiger’s claws.
Her feet hardened like lead.
And her skin turned gray as slate.
“You! You horrible Princess Pulverizer! What have you done to me?”
Those were the last words anyone ever heard from Elle, the evil witch of Starats. For a moment later, even her tongue had turned to stone.
Chapter 11
“No skin. No bone. Evil Elle has turned to stone!”
Word spread quickly that someone had finally forced Elle to look at her true self in the reflecting pool. The people of Starats had come running to see the proof. And now they were cheering in the streets.
The crowd was overjoyed to see the life-size Elle statue near the pool of water. At least until they realized the statue was solid stone and not going anywhere.
“I don’t want to have to pass by a statue of Elle every time I come to the reflecting pool,” said the boy who had been bitten by the cookie.
“Me either,” the strawberry farmer agreed. “I say knock it down.”
“Knock it down!” Millie cheered.
“Knock it down!” Lily echoed.
But Anna shook her head. “No, my friends. We can’t just knock this down.”
“Why not?” the bagpipe player asked her.
“Elle was my sister,” Anna said. “I feel bad that she never learned how good it feels to be kind. But I don’t want to forget that she ever existed. I have an idea.”
Anna waved her hands in the air. A moment later, a second stone statue appeared beside the one of Elle. It showed Princess Pulverizer standing bravely beside Dribble and Lucas.
“Hey! That’s us!” Princess Pulverizer exclaimed.
“We look pretty good,” Dribble said.
“We sure do,” Lucas agreed proudly.
“These statues will stand side by side to remind the people of Starats that good will always triumph over evil,” Anna explained.
“Hip hip hooray!” the crowd shouted. “Three cheers for our three heroes!”
“We wish to give you a token of our gratitude,” Anna told Princess Pulverizer and her friends.
“How about this sock?” Lily suggested, pulling a wet sock from her bucket.
“It has only one hole,” Millie added. “And it doesn’t smell too bad.”
Anna laughed. “Actually, I was thinking of this hand mirror,” she said, handing Princess Pulverizer a gold-and-silver mirror. “Its magic is powerful. You can see the future reflected in the glass.”
“Thank you. That will come in very handy,” Princess Pulverizer said.
“If we see a monster in the mirror, we will know to get away quickly,” Lucas suggested.
“Or know that we should stay and fight it,” Princess Pulverizer countered.
“Take heed,” Anna warned. “The future you see in the mirror may not turn out exactly the way you think it will.”
“Right now, the reflection in the mirror is of our backs as we walk down the road,” Princess Pulverizer pointed out. “Well, I’m walking. You two seem to be dancing,” she told Dribble and Lucas.
“I guess that means we are leaving Starats in the near future,” Dribble said.
“I guess so,” Anna replied with a smile. “Thank you again.”
* * *
“This silly song has no beginning.
It goes on without an end.
You sing it high. You sing it low.
Then start it once again.
This silly song has no beginning.
It goes on without an end—”
“Is that a real song?” Princess Pulverizer interrupted Dribble as he sang.
The three friends were traveling in search of a new adventure. Dribble and Lucas were dancing while the princess walked—just as the mirror had predicted.
“Well, it’s a song,” Dribble answered. “And I’m really singing it.”
“I like it,” Lucas said. He began to sing.
Well, there’s no rule that says a Quest of Kindness can’t be fun, Princess Pulverizer thought. And if she couldn’t beat ’em, she might as well join ’em. She opened her mouth and began to sing.
Dribble and Lucas stared at Princess Pulverizer with surprise. Not that she blamed them. The princess herself was pretty surprised to be singing. No magic mirror could ever have predicted that!
Still, many strange things had happened on the Quest of Kindness. And with three more good deeds to go, stranger things were sure to come.
Author & Illustrator
Nancy Krulik is the author of more than two hundred books for children and young adults, including three New York Times Best Sellers. She is the creator of several successful book series for children, including Katie Kazoo, Switcheroo; How I Survived Middle School; George Brown, Class Clown; and Magic Bone. Visit Nancy at realnancykrulik.com.
Justin Rodrigues is a character designer and visual development artist based in Los Angeles, California. He has worked for acclaimed studios including DreamWorks Animation, Disney Television Animation, Marvel, Fisher-Price, and many more.
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