“Hang on!” called the man from below. “It’s stuck!” We saw him pushing some buttons, and then suddenly the car whooshed over the top of the track and swooped downward. It looped the loop and then came to another standstill in the middle of the track.
“Well, this is no good!” said Dad.
“It’s not great,” agreed Mirabelle.
“It’s perfectly fast enough for me!” said Mom, who had her eyes tightly shut.
“Hmm,” said Mirabelle. “I think this ride could use just a little help.” Before I was able to stop her, she whipped out a small potion bottle and sploshed the contents onto the roller-coaster track. Immediately, the peeling paint began to repair itself. The run-down roller coaster became new and shiny once again. The clanking and clunking stopped, and suddenly we were gliding smoothly along the track at super-high speed. My hair blew out behind me and my tummy felt like it was turning upside down.
“Woo-hoo!” shrieked Mirabelle. “This is much more fun!”
After it had been around the track twice, the roller coaster came to a stop, and we all tumbled out on wobbly legs.
“I don’t know what happened!” the ticket booth operator was saying to another carnival worker. “The ride just suddenly transformed! Look at it. Good as new!”
I frowned at Mirabelle and reminded her that this was a human carnival.
“We really shouldn’t be using any magic,” I said.
“I know, I know!” said Mirabelle. “But a little bit won’t matter.”
“Yes,” agreed Mom. “A tiny bit won’t make much of a difference. I mean, honestly, that roller coaster was a health-and-safety hazard!”
“It was a bit,” agreed Dad. “And look how pleased the ticket man is!”
I saw the man beaming. He looked like he might burst with happiness.
“Maybe we should do a little fixing here and there,” whispered Mom. “You know, just to help the carnival.”
“I think so,” said Dad.
“Me too!” said Mirabelle excitedly.
“And me!” said Wilbur.
“Umm…,” I began. I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea. Humans are not used to magic. I thought it might scare the customers away rather than bring them in.
“I vote for the teacups next,” said Mom. “It’s such a sophisticated ride.”
“Boring, more like,” whispered Wilbur as we made our way over to them.
Dad bought our tickets, and we split ourselves among four of the teacups. The fifth one was broken, with a huge crack in one side of it. The ride started and we began to spin around slowly. The ride made a horrible creaking sound.
“Relaxing,” said Mom.
“Booooring!” yawned Wilbur. I saw him wave his hands in a wizardy sort of way. Little sparks erupted from his fingers.
“What are you doing?” I whispered.
“Just helping it along a bit,” said Wilbur. Suddenly, we began to spin so fast that everything became a blur. I started to feel sick.
“Wilbur!” shouted Dad. “Undo that spell this instant!!”
“This isn’t what we meant by fixing the rides!” said Mom as her flower crown blew off her head.
Through the blur, I saw Wilbur’s hands working to try to undo the spell he had cast. Eventually, the teacups slowed down. The creaking sound came back. When I didn’t feel so dizzy anymore, I could see the ride operator standing there with his mouth open. He was blinking his eyes and shaking his head in confusion.
“Let me do it,” said Mom. She took out her wand and gave it a little wave so that glitter fell all around us. At once, the creaking sound stopped and we began to spin around as though everything was perfectly oiled. The crack in the broken teacup mended itself instantly.
“That’s better,” she said. “I might just add one more little improvement.”
“No!” I cried. “We’ve done enough!”
But Mom had already waved her wand, and suddenly, instead of teacups, we were sitting in giant, living, perfumed flowers that spun around gently and played beautiful music.
“Much more nature friendly.” Mom smiled happily.
The new “teacups” were pretty, and the ride operator looked delighted. Still, I was nervous about using magic at a human carnival.
“Stop worrying, Isadora!” said Wilbur. “Just relax!”
But I noticed that his nose had turned very red.
“Achoo!” he sneezed. “ACHOO!”
“Oh, help!” Dad shrieked, suddenly leaping out of his flower. “Bees are coming!” He covered himself in his cape and crouched down on the ground.
“Bees won’t harm you!” sang Mom as she watched more and more of them buzz toward the flowers. “They’re a very important part of nature!”
But Mirabelle, Wilbur, and I jumped out of our flower cups too. We stood on the grass, away from the big flowers and the bees.
“Achoo,” sneezed Wilbur again. “I think that ride has set off my hay fever.”
“Mom!” I called. “You need to undo your spell!”
“But why?” said Mom. “The flowers are so beautiful! Look at them!”
“The bees,” whimpered Dad from under his cape. “The bees…”
Mom rolled her eyes and waved her wand. The flower cups turned back into ordinary teacups, but now they looked fresh and brand-new. I breathed a sigh of relief, and Dad cautiously looked out from under his cape.
“Can we stop doing magic now?” I asked as we all walked away from the ride.
“Yes, of course,” said Dad. “Ooh, look, the bumper cars!”
“My favorite!” said Wilbur.
“Mine too!” said Mirabelle, grabbing a rusty car and hopping into it. She began to race around, shrieking with laughter every time she managed to bash into Wilbur.
“Hey, Mirabelle!” shouted Wilbur. “Calm down!”
“Yes, be careful!” said Dad. He was slowly driving around the floor, making sure to avoid bumping into anything.
“This is fun!” said Mirabelle as she zoomed her car toward Wilbur and bumped into him. His wizard’s hat fell over his eyes.
“So fun!” said Wilbur, doing a U-turn and bumping right back into her. “Got you, Mirabelle!”
“Got you both!” laughed Mom, who was sitting next to me and holding the wheel. She whizzed past them, crashing into both of their cars. Then she made a beeline for Dad, who was gliding about elegantly, avoiding everyone so that no one bashed into him and messed up his hair. She gave a little bump to the back of his car.
“What fun!” she whooped.
“You know what would make it more fun?” said Dad as he smoothed his hair back down. “These bumper cars would be much better if they had bat wings and could fly.”
“Oh, no!” I said. “You said no more magic. Let’s leave them as they are!”
“But bat wings would be amazing!” said Dad. “Vampire-bat cars! Oh, come on, just one more little spell!”
“Let’s do it!” shouted Mirabelle as she screeched past us. I saw her let go of the wheel and get out her potion kit once again. She mixed something up at lightning speed and threw it into the air. The bumper cars transformed into sleek, black, bat-winged cars and began to rise upward.
“Wheeee!” shouted Mirabelle as she sailed around after Wilbur. “I’m coming to get you!”
“Not if I get you first!” shouted Wilbur.
By the time we had finished our ride on the bumper cars, a little crowd had gathered by the edge. Not just carnival workers but passersby too. They were all staring at the bumper cars in amazement. I spotted some of my friends from school in the crowd and waved.
“I want to go on these!” I overheard Bruno say.
“See,” said Mom, patting my arm as we walked by. “A little bit of magic is not a bad thing. Look how many customers are starting to come!”
“I guess,” I said, a little less worried. “Can we get some cotton candy now?”
We made our way to the food stall, which smelled like hot dogs and burnt sugar. Mom got each of us our own cotton candy. It tasted like clouds!
“Yum,” I said, biting into the fluff. It immediately melted on my tongue.
“You know what would make this cotton candy really exciting?” said Mom, waving her wand before anyone could say anything. “If it changed flavor with every bite!”
Sparkles rained down on us, and the next time I bit into my cotton candy, I tasted cherry pie.
“Ooh, butterscotch!” said Mirabelle.
“Chocolate cake!” said Wilbur.
“Frog legs,” said Dad, wrinkling his nose.
“Oh,” said Mom, “hang on.” She waved her wand again.
“Red juice!” said Dad. “My favorite!”
I stared up at the sky, which was beginning to darken, and at the twinkle lights that were fizzing and spluttering all over the fairground. Some of the bulbs were broken. After all the magic we had already done, fixing the twinkle lights wouldn’t make much of a difference. Why shouldn’t I help out a little bit too?
“Can I try to fix the lights?” I asked.
“Good idea,” said Dad.
I closed my eyes tight and waved my wand above me, shooting a shower of sparks into the air. The broken lights began to twinkle and glow, and the fizzing and spluttering stopped.
“Beautiful, Isadora,” said Mom.
Then I had another irresistible idea. I waved my wand again, and this time the lights changed shape. Now they were all shaped like stars and moons and bats.
“Ooh, pretty!” said Mirabelle.
I felt my face glow pink with pride.
“I think we should go on that spinny thing next,” said Wilbur, pointing toward a fast-looking ride that resembled a spider. There was a car at the end of each arm and the ride whizzed around and around.
“Umm…Pink Rabbit doesn’t want to try that ride, so I’m going to stay here with him,” I said.
“Me too,” said Mom.
We walked over to the ride and looked on as Mirabelle, Wilbur, and Dad got into the little cars. The ride started, and we watched them rise up into the air and start to spin. Around and around they went, with their hair flying behind them. Suddenly, we saw a puff of magic powder explode out of Mirabelle’s car, and all at once the ride transformed itself. My family were now sitting astride broomsticks instead of cars, and spinning higher and higher in the air. They weren’t even attached to anything. I heard Mirabelle screech with delight, and the music from the ride started to blare across the fairground.
“Oh,” said Mom. “I should have guessed she would do something!”
By the time the ride stopped, an even bigger crowd of people had gathered around.
“Wow!” they were saying. “We want a turn!”
The ticket seller was looking surprised but very pleased as he started to sell tickets to the next group of customers. Suddenly, I didn’t mind about the magic at all anymore, even though it meant that the carnival was not really a typical human one. It made me feel so happy that we had been able to help. My whole body tingled with excitement and pride. I wanted to do more! I pointed my wand at the roller coaster and shot a stream of sparks toward it. Fireworks began to shoot out of the back of the car as it sped along. Rainbow glitter and sparkles fizzed through the air.
“That’s a nice touch, Isadora,” said Mom. “I think we’re really making a difference!”
“We are!” I said, feeling pleased.
“Where next?” asked Wilbur.
“The carousel!” I yelled.
“Good idea,” said Dad. “We had better get there before the line gets too long!”
“I don’t think there’s much chance of there being a line,” said Mom as we made our way over to the carousel, which sat in the middle of the fairground.
Sad and worn-looking horses bobbed up and down on poles as the carousel went slowly around and around, playing a tune that kept getting stuck, so the same notes repeated again and again.
“Oh dear,” said Dad. “This ride could use some help.”
“I’ll do it! I’ll fix the carousel,” I said, jumping up and down excitedly. “Let me try!”
I closed my eyes and waved my wand. When I opened them, the carousel horses had transformed into big, sparkling unicorns and glittering dragons with scaly wings. The music became jaunty and cheerful.
“Oh wow!” said my mom. “Well done, Isadora!”
“Beautiful!” said Dad.
We all raced toward the carousel. I chose a pink unicorn with a flowing mane and tail and hopped on. Pink Rabbit sat proudly in front of me.
We started to go around and around. But something magical was happening. The animals were starting to move. My unicorn began to stamp its feet, and suddenly, with the pole still attached, it leapt right off the carousel and began to bob around the fairground.
Mom, Dad, Mirabelle, and Wilbur followed right behind me on their animals. We soared in and out of all the attractions. We went leaping through the air, with tiny glowing stars streaming out behind us. People stared as we flew by. They reached for their phones, took photos, and called their friends.
“Come to the carnival!” they shouted. “You won’t believe your eyes!”
Eventually, the animals went back toward the carousel and hopped on, waiting for the next group of people.
“That was amazing,” said Mirabelle.
“It was my favorite!” I said.
There was a huge line waiting to get on the carousel now, and the fairground was absolutely packed with people. I could see my friend Zoe climbing onto the pink unicorn. I waved to her, and she waved back.
“I think we’ve done enough,” said Mom. “We should probably stop doing magic now.”
“Yes,” agreed Dad. “We don’t want to overdo it. Let’s just enjoy ourselves. How about the haunted house?”
“I love haunted houses,” said Mirabelle.
We lined up for the ride and waited for our turn. I noticed a glint in Mirabelle’s eye. Once we were on the ride, she started to look in her pocket for something.
“What are you doing?” I asked. The train lurched to life and started to run along the track, passing pretend monsters that popped out of the shadows.
“Just one more thing,” said Mirabelle. “The last time, I promise.”
I saw her mix something up, and she threw it onto the monsters as we passed.
“It will just make the ride a little more interesting,” she explained.
But “interesting” was not the word I would have used. When the train came out of the ride at the end, I could see people screaming and running away. They looked terrified. Then I saw what Mirabelle had done. The monsters, which had been pretend before, had come to life! They were leaping out of the haunted-house ride and spilling out into the fairground, chasing after the crowds!
“Run!” screamed the people. “Monsters!”
“Oh, Mirabelle!” wailed Dad, putting his head in his hands. “What have you done?”
“Only the same as Isadora did to the carousel,” said Mirabelle defensively, but I noticed that she didn’t seem quite so sure of herself now.
“Well, you’ve gone too far!” said Dad. “Look at the people running away. All the good work we have done is ruined!”
We watched as the monsters caused trouble around the carnival. They didn’t seem dangerous to me, just excitable and curious. They had lost interest in the people and had spotted the bright lights of the food stall. They began to hungrily gobble down hot dogs, popcorn, doughnuts, and rainbow cotton candy.
“Stop!” the owner of the food stall shouted. “Help!” He looked dismayed.
“We have to stop them,” s
aid Wilbur. “We need to think of something!”
“I have an idea,” said Mom. She waved her wand, and a leafy vine streamed out of it. She tied it into a lasso. Then she made four more.
“Take these,” she said, thrusting one out to each of us. “Let’s try to round up the monsters!”
We each grabbed a lasso and ran through the carnival. It was chaos. People were running all over the place and screaming. Popcorn and hot dogs were flying through the air. I ran to the food stall and threw my lasso, but the monsters saw me coming. They laughed, thinking it was a great game, and started to run away, scattering across the fairground and starting to climb up the rides.
“Oh no!” cried Mom. “I think we need a better plan.”
I flapped my little bat wings and rose into the air. I tried to lasso a monster that was crawling up the side of the roller coaster, but it was too strong for me. Instead, I was whooshed through the air as the monster took hold of my vine and started pulling me toward it. I needed something to fly on, something strong.
“The carousel!” I shouted, tugging the lasso away from the monster and flying over to my favorite ride. I landed on the back of a Pegasus and tugged gently on the reins. The magical creature leapt off the carousel and started to rise into the air, flapping its big, beautiful wings. Its body felt strong and solid beneath me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Wilbur jumping onto a dragon’s back.
Isadora Moon Saves the Carnival Page 2
