UnTwisted

by Elise Allen

  “It’s beautiful,” Sara said.

  “It is. It’s exactly the way Zinka planned it,” Flissa said. Then she quickly added, “Sorry,” because the best way for them not to argue about Zinka was to try not to talk about her.

  Sara squeezed her hand. “It’s okay; she’s your friend. And if this is what she planned, she did an incredible job.”

  Flissa smiled gratefully, then she and Sara raised their hands in the air and each sent a single wisp of their magical signature into the sky so their friends could find them. Krystal, Skeed, Loriah, and Loriah’s date, Marianna, were the first to make it through the crowd. Krystal wore a flared skirt with a close-cropped spangled doublet and Skeed a bright purple doublet and kilt; while Loriah wore her usual leggings, boots, and comfortable shirt, though she’d added a brooch to the top for dramatic effect, and to match Marianna, who wore a sparkly silver dress. They hugged all around, then Krystal grabbed Sara’s arm and shouted over the music.

  “I have to take you to Jentrie!” she said. “She has to see the final effect of our work!”

  Krystal pulled Sara through the crowd. It seemed like not just all of Maldevon Academy but all of Kaloon was there, and even though she looked over her shoulder to tell Galric where she was going, the crowd closed around him almost immediately.

  “Jentrie!” Krystal called when they got to her. Jentrie was wearing an amethyst-colored gown with remarkable spinning properties; Sara saw them firsthand when Jentrie spun to face her.

  “Your Highness, you are a vision!” Jentrie snapped to get the attention of her friends, all of whom also wore gem-colored gowns. “Tell me—she’s a vision, right?”

  All Jentrie’s friends agreed that Sara was indeed a vision.

  “Let’s check out the buffet table,” Sara said. “I’m starving.”

  Sara, Krystal, and Jentrie all maneuvered their way to the buffet table and filled their plates with little K-shaped puff pastries filled with all kinds of savories, then took bites of one another’s choices. Sara had just taken a big chomp of a pheasant-puff when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She spun to see who it was.

  “Galric!” she said through a mouthful of pheasant. Then she held up a finger—one second—chewed and swallowed, then tried again. “Galric! I thought I’d lost you.”

  “You did. But I found you again.” He adjusted his jacket and shifted nervously from side to side. “So, um…I was wondering…do you think you’d maybe…want to dance?”

  Sara smiled. “I’d love it. Wait—I don’t have pheasant in my teeth, do I?”

  She grinned big and Galric laughed. “No. You’re perfect.”

  Even in the colored twinkle lights, Sara could see him blush.

  “I mean, your teeth are…” He realized there was no good way out of it, so he just gave up and laughed again. “Let’s dance.”

  He held out his elbow, and Sara rested her hand on it. Everything in her seemed to frizzle as he led her through the sea of gowns and suits and twinkle lights to the dance floor. She felt her heart skip as he settled his hands on her hips, and she reached up to put her hands on his shoulders. They swayed to the music and smiled, looking into each other’s eyes.

  Sara was very aware of his hands on her hips. In a good way. It was weird. She’d hugged him a million times before, and now they weren’t even hugging, they were arm’s length apart, but it felt…jittery. She liked it.

  “I don’t think I said it yet, but you look really pretty,” he said.

  “You too,” Sara said. “I mean, not pretty, but, you know…you look great.”

  “Thanks.”

  They swayed some more, and Sara felt him bend his arms in a bit, moving a little closer. She wondered if he could hear her heart speed up.

  “I was really scared when you were sick,” he said.

  “You were?”

  “Really scared,” he said. “I wouldn’t be okay if anything hap—”

  Sara heard a crash so loud she screamed. She turned to see the entire buffet table collapse in a sea of blue sparks.

  Blue sparks.

  Sara clung to Galric and her eyes searched for Flissa, but everything happened too quickly. Another flurry of blue sparks danced over the papier-mâché replica of Maldevon Academy, and it split open to reveal a pile of shiny polished stones, in every color of the rainbow.

  Before anyone could even react, a blur of orange tore across the floor and pounced onto the pile of blinzer stones, which let out a loud hum.

  Now that she’d stopped moving, the blur of orange was just an adorable cat…with bright yellow eyes that Sara would remember anywhere.

  The cat opened her mouth to speak, and blue lightning crackled above her as her voice reverberated over the fields.

  “Allow me to introduce myself,” she said. “I’m Raya. But you can call me…your destruction.”

  Flissa was too far from the buffet table to see the crash. She heard it, then she saw the blue bolts of lightning in the sky and heard Raya’s booming voice.

  “No,” she said. She pushed through the crowd, Loriah right behind her, until she could see the cat sitting on the ripped-open husk of the papier-mâché replica of the school, the stones bursting out of it like lava.

  The pieces fell together in a rush. The replica had been Zinka’s idea. She must have hidden the stones inside it when she was working on the ball. This was part of Raya’s plan all along…but how? How did she break out of the Shadows’ magic-absorbing cell?

  “Raya,” Loriah growled, her voice full of venom. Flissa saw her friend’s fists balling at her sides.

  “Don’t!” Flissa snapped. “She’s on a pile of blinzer stones! With that kind of power—”

  Loriah didn’t listen. She screamed and shoved her way across the dance floor. She leaped for Raya, but the cat just laughed and pointed a paw. Blue lightning crackled around Loriah as she soared backward through the air and landed like a rag doll in a clump of bushes.

  “Get the cat!” someone cried.

  “Get the stones!” someone else wailed.

  And as the entire crowd surged forward, the sky came alive with endless bolts of blue lightning.

  Flissa felt her body grow rigid. She couldn’t turn her head. Voices screamed in terror all around her, and Flissa knew the same thing was happening to everyone.

  Raya had taken over their bodies. All of their bodies. No one could move.

  “Silence!” the cat roared as more lightning cracked in the sky. Her yellow eyes flashed, and she looked to her right. Flissa couldn’t turn, but she darted her eyes in that direction. Amala was there, but even she stood perfectly still, only her long white hair and dress shifting in the breeze.

  “As I’m sure you’ve realized, Shadow,” Raya’s voice boomed. “I’m standing on a pile of blinzer stones, dug up from all over Kaloon by my unwitting friend. Thank you, by the way. I appreciate your kindness in locking her away before she dared try to betray me.”

  Unwitting friend, Flissa thought. So she’d been right. Zinka was innocent. Raya was using and threatening her. Flissa burned with rage, but Raya’s grip on her was too strong. She couldn’t do anything with it.

  Flissa darted her eyes around to find her family. Sara and Galric were on the dance floor, while her parents, Katya, and Rouen were farther back on the field. Flissa could see the four of them exchanging glances, wordlessly making a plan of attack.

  Suddenly she wondered—were Katya and Rouen actually frozen? Was Amala? Or was their magic somehow strong enough to fight against Raya’s, even when it was enhanced by the blinzer stones?

  “I have twelve blinzer stones, to be exact,” Raya continued to Amala, “each one magnifying my powers beyond measure. So I win.”

  “Win what?” Amala said. Flissa had no idea how she managed it, but her voice sounded as calm as if she and Raya were sitting back and sharing lemonades.

  “Well, what I’d really like is my home the way it was, before you gutted the place. Certainly I’d like my body back,
” Raya said, “but since none of that’s really possible even with twelve blinzer stones…I’ll settle for chaos and destruction.”

  Blue lightning flashed over Flissa’s father. Moving like a marionette, the king staggered quickly to Amala. Screaming in agony and fighting his every movement, he wrapped his hands around her neck and squeezed.

  “I’m so sorry…” he croaked. “I’m trying to stop it…”

  More lightning flashed. It was everywhere. One by one in quick succession Flissa saw everyone at the ball—Mages, Genpos, Magical Animals, parents, teachers—jerk to puppeteered life and attack one another, punching, kicking, and gouging.

  Flissa couldn’t believe it. “She wants us all to kill each other.”

  Even as the words left her mouth, her body jerked toward the dance floor. Her stomach dropped as she saw exactly where Raya was leading her.

  She was heading right for Sara, but her sister was already in trouble. Dallie had her in a headlock, and Sara was gasping for air.

  “Dallie, stop!” Flissa screamed, but Dallie’s body wasn’t her own. Behind Dallie and Sara, Flissa saw Galric punch Skeed in the stomach. “Sorry!” he wailed. Then he smashed an uppercut to Skeed’s chin and cried, “I’m so sorry!”

  When Flissa reached Dallie, her hands reached out all on their own and peeled her away from Sara, then she kneed Dallie in the stomach.

  “I am so sorry, Dallie!” she said, but she didn’t see what happened next with Dallie because she spun like a top to see Sara doubled over and wheezing for breath. Then Raya’s magic yanked Sara back upright. She saw Flissa and for a heartbreaking moment she looked thrilled.

  Then Flissa drew her fist to strike.

  “I’m so sorry, Sara. I’m so, so, sorry.”

  Sara stood stiff as a board, an open target.

  “No!” Sara said. “We can fight it. We fought her before, we can do it again!”

  Tears sprang into Flissa’s eyes. “She didn’t have twelve blinzer stones then.”

  Her fist tightened and cocked farther back.

  Suddenly Sara smiled. Or at least she tried to smile. Her mouth turned up as far as the spell would let her, so it was more of a wide grimace. “Okay,” she said. “Do it. But when you do, think about fighting her.”

  Sara looked at her meaningfully, and in a flash Flissa understood. She didn’t know if it would work, but maybe it could. With her arm cocked back and ready to strike, Flissa focused all her strength on beating Raya and fighting against her magic. She closed her eyes—it would kill her if she watched herself hit Sara. Then, leaning into it with all her might, she punched.

  Flissa heard the horrible thwack of flesh on flesh and cried out. She opened her eyes…and saw Sara had caught Flissa’s fist in her own open palm. At the spot their hands connected, Flissa felt the heat of their combined power. They hadn’t done magic together since that first day of Magic Lab, but Flissa knew the feeling. It warmed her and fed her and electrified her skin. Flissa saw the pink sheen of their combined magic spread over Sara’s body until it radiated a rose-colored aura.

  “You’re glowing!” Sara said. “And we can move!”

  It was true. Flissa felt the stiffness of Raya’s control drain from her body. Despite the blinzer stones’ power, they could still fight back. But they were only two people in a sea of others. They needed to do more.

  “We have to get her off the stones,” Flissa said. “But we need more power.”

  Flissa looked around. Skeed and Galric were the closest people to them; Galric was sprawled on the dance floor and Skeed had a foot in the air, about to stomp on Galric’s back.

  “Grab Skeed!” Flissa shouted. “Hurry!”

  Sara screamed Skeed’s name and grabbed his hand, and Flissa instantly felt the hum as his energy joined theirs, and their pink glow tinged purple. He shook his head like he was shaking off a daze, then turned to Flissa and Sara in stunned awe. “Thank you!”

  “We need more if we want to stop her!” Flissa yelled to him. “Take Galric’s hand!”

  “But he’s a Genpo,” Skeed said. “He can’t help.”

  “He can!” Flissa said. She had no idea how she knew this, she just felt it and knew she was right. “We need him. We need everyone!”

  Skeed took Galric’s hand and sure enough, Flissa felt a surge of power. She quickly grabbed Dallie with her free hand, instantly adding her energy to the mix. “More!” Flissa shouted. “Grab more people and animals!”

  “Join the chain!” Sara screamed. “Don’t let Raya win! If we all work together, we can fight back! Join the chain!”

  It became a chant. “Join-the-chain! Join-the-chain!” Flissa held tightly to Sara and Dallie and watched as more and more latched on. Hooves clung to wings clung to hands clung to paws. People who never would have chosen to be in the same room latched on to one another, added their energy to the chain, and took control of their bodies. Flissa saw Rouen holding Rosalie’s wing; Jentrie holding hands with Beverly-Ann; Dame Yentley holding tightly to a pony’s forelock. Everyone grabbed on, and the glow around them morphed and changed with each additional burst of power until Flissa couldn’t even tell what color it was; they were all just wrapped in a constantly morphing cloud of energy.

  Then Krystal, at the far end of the chain, reached out and grabbed Amala’s hand. Flissa’s ears filled with a vibrating thrum. Wind buffeted her backward as the overwhelming scent of oranges filled her nose. The glowing bubble encasing them all grew brighter and brighter until finally Flissa had to close her eyes against it and…

  She felt something explode in front of her and she fell back to the ground.

  Her hand slipped from Dallie’s, but she held firmly on to Sara’s as if her life depended on it.

  Then everything faded away.

  * * *

  When Flissa opened her eyes again, the broken papier-mâché replica of Maldevon Academy was there, but Raya was gone. Then she saw the cat in Amala’s arms…inside a clear sphere. Amala held the sphere over her head. Though Raya ran around and hurled her body against the sides of the sphere, it didn’t give way. “Raya won’t be hurting anyone anymore,” Amala said.

  Some people cheered. Most, like Flissa herself, were in too much of a daze.

  Flissa saw Rouen and Katya picking up the blinzer stones and putting them in a thick drawstring pouch. “What are you going to do with them?” Flissa asked.

  “Keep ’em with the other two,” Katya said, “hidden under lock and key until we can find the best way to destroy them.”

  Flissa nodded. She was glad the stones would be Rouen and Katya’s responsibility. Even if they couldn’t destroy the stones, they’d make sure they never fell into the wrong hands.

  “We did it, Flissa,” Sara said.

  Flissa hadn’t even realized she wasn’t holding Sara’s hand anymore. Her twin had fallen a few feet away, but the two got to their feet and hugged each other.

  “Hey!”

  It was Galric. He’d been close to them in the chain, but the blast that had knocked them all off their feet was so powerful, he now had to dodge around several other people to get to them.

  “Hey,” he said again once he was close. “I thought I lost you.”

  “You did,” Sara said with a grin. “You found us again.”

  They shared a look that meant something Flissa didn’t understand, but before she could say anything, their parents called out for them, and Flissa and Sara ran to throw themselves into their arms.

  “I’m so proud of you,” their mother said.

  “As always,” their father added with a smile.

  “I’m proud of you too,” Amala said, stepping up to join them. “You served your kingdom well.”

  Flissa and Sara beamed.

  “I hate to ask for anything more from you,” Amala continued, “but, Flissa, I’ll shortly be making a trip to fetch an innocent friend of ours from her detention center. Would you like to come?”

  She raised an eyebrow, and Flissa knew she me
ant Zinka. “Yes!” she said, then she asked her parents. “I mean, can I, please?”

  “Of course,” her mother said, and her father nodded. She turned to her sister.

  “Sara?”

  Whatever Raya had been threatening her with, Zinka was still the one who cursed Sara. Flissa didn’t want her sister to think she was betraying her by remaining Zinka’s friend. She searched Sara’s eyes for how she really felt, but she looked like she meant it when she said, “It’s fine. Just…if she asks, tell her I’m okay.”

  “I will,” Flissa said. “And I know she’ll ask.”

  Amala gave a satisfied nod, then she turned back to the crowd. The smell of oranges wafted through the air as she amplified her voice. “To the community of Maldevon Academy—this ball may not have gone as we expected, but I can think of no better testament to Kaloonification than what happened here today. We are one Kaloon, and together we are strong.”

  This time everyone cheered.

  “MAL-DE-VON! MAL-DE-VON!”

  Sara stood in the stands with Galric, Krystal, and Skeed screaming at the top of their lungs as Flissa, Zinka, and Loriah stormed down the hoodle field in the last seconds of the game, leaping and tumbling as they feinted away from their opponents and passed the hoop to one another. It was the third game of the season, and if they landed this hoop they’d be undefeated.

  It was a month after the Kaloonification Ball, and things had settled back to normal. No one had suffered any lasting damages from Raya’s attacks, and those with minor injuries had long since healed. Classes were back in session, and while it wasn’t as if everyone had already forgotten about it, there were bigger things going on—like the hoodle team’s winning streak.