“I liked the name,” Jacey replied. “And it’s so cool that it’s an observatory, too. Anyway, it gets hard at the big hotels where there are so many people. Mom thought it would be a good idea to try a place where I’d attract less attention.”
She smiled at Cassie, but then looked sad again as a boy and girl walked past. They were wearing “WE LOVE JACEY” T-shirts, and were too busy talking to notice that Jacey was standing right there!
“Jacey Day’s on soon,” the boy was saying. “We’d better hurry.”
Jacey looked at her watch. “Oh, no! We’re out of time. Everyone who came to see me perform is going to be so disappointed.”
“Why?” Cassie asked. “What happened?”
“My backup singers called earlier to say that they both had sore throats and weren’t sure if they could sing,” Jacey explained. “The man with the clipboard is the festival manager. He heard that they’re definitely too sick to come, and he hasn’t been able to find replacements.”
They’re sick, just like Kate, Cassie thought.
“I’m so upset,” Jacey continued. “All summer I’ve been looking forward to Songs on the Sand. This is such a beautiful place, and it almost seems like ‘Magic Moments’ was made for Astral-on-Sea.”
“Isn’t there anything we can do?” asked Cassie. “Maybe Alex and I can help.”
“I don’t think so, but thanks.” Jacey gave a deep sigh. “You’ve heard the song. I sing the melody, but it won’t work without the backup singers.”
Cassie thought back to being in the observatory, singing and dancing with Twinkle. She knew that Jacey was right.
“My fans will be so disappointed if I don’t sing my hit song,” said Jacey, frowning. “I really wish I could perform ‘Magic Moments’ here.”
Cassie and Alex glanced at each other. Jacey had made a wish — to sing “Magic Moments” at the Songs on the Sand festival! Cassie couldn’t believe it. So Jacey Day really did need her help! But how could she make her wish come true?
Cassie looked at her charm bracelet glittering in the sunlight. Her new butterfly charm spun slowly in the breeze. She had to figure out what the charm could do.
“I have an idea,” Cassie said. “We could stage auditions! There are plenty of people here, so there’s bound to be someone who can sing ‘Magic Moments’ with you.”
Jacey glanced at her watch. “Backup singers would need all the time in the world to learn the harmonies, and I’m supposed to go onstage in a few minutes. I might have to cancel.”
Cassie gasped. Wait! What had Jacey just said? All the time in the world . . .
She could guess now what Stella Starkeeper’s clue had meant — and she knew the magical power of her new charm!
Gazing at the tiny butterfly, Cassie concentrated hard. The charm sparkled brightly, and the tiny wings flapped — one-two, one-two, just like the ticking hands of a clock.
All around her people stopped, standing as still as statues. A seagull froze mid-flight. In the ice-cream line, a boy who was making funny faces was now stuck with his tongue out! Comet stood on his hind legs with his front paws in the air, tail frozen mid-wag. Cassie realized that it was like pressing the pause button on her DVD player. Nothing moved. Everything was still and silent.
Amazing, thought Cassie. Now I really can make Jacey’s wish come true. I have all the time in the world!
Jacey and Alex were also frozen in front of Cassie. Jacey’s forehead was puckered with worry, and Alex had his mouth open, as if he was about to speak.
Oh, no, Cassie thought. How do I unfreeze Alex and no one else?
She had an idea, so she put her hand on his arm. “I’m going to need your help, Alex,” she said. “I wish you would wake up!”
Immediately, Alex came to life.
“Whoa!” he cried, staring around at the still, silent crowd of people. “What happened?”
“It’s my butterfly charm,” said Cassie. “It gives me the power to freeze time.”
Alex shook his head in disbelief. “But that’s not scientifically possible.”
“It’s not science,” Cassie reminded him. “It’s magic.”
She leaned down and touched Comet on the top of his furry head. “I wish you would wake up too, Comet.”
The little puppy immediately wagged his tail. “Ruff!” he barked in surprise.
“Come on, follow me!” Cassie said to Alex. “I have an idea.”
They left Jacey standing frozen to the spot and ran toward the fairground stalls. “We need some costumes,” said Cassie.
“Costumes?” echoed Alex. “What for?”
“You’ll see,” answered Cassie, plonking a big straw hat with the Songs on the Sand logo on his head. As they reached the stalls, she put one on, too, then added a pair of sparkly sunglasses and looked in the stall’s mirror.
Alex straightened the hat and tried on a pair of sunglasses with bright blue lenses. “What do you think?”
“Perfect!” said Cassie.
Pulling out her purse, she left some money at the stand. Then she ran up a flight of wooden steps that led to the area behind the stage. There, they found big spotlights, speakers, and frozen festival organizers.
Cassie stashed the hats and sunglasses behind a woman wearing headphones, then ran back to where Jacey was still standing, frozen.
“Okay,” Cassie said, turning to Alex. “We have a lot of practicing to do if we’re going to be Jacey’s backup singers.”
“We’re going to sing? In front of all these people?” Alex gulped.
“Yes,” Cassie said with a big grin. She looked around at the huge audience that had gathered to see the performance. “We’re going to make Jacey’s wish come true!”
Alex was quiet for a moment. Then he said, “But, Cassie, I don’t even know the words to ‘Magic Moments.’ Besides, I like singing to myself in the bathtub, but I get scared in front of lots of people. I’ll sound awful!”
Cassie’s face fell. Maybe her plan wasn’t going to work after all. She looked at Alex, nervously hopping from foot to foot, then at the frozen tears on Jacey’s face.
“But we have to do it,” she declared. “Don’t worry, Alex. I’ll teach you the words to ‘Magic Moments.’ Then we’ll work on the rest. Please,” she added. “I can’t make Jacey’s wish come true without you!”
“Then I’ll give it a try,” Alex said. “You’re my friend, and I want to help.”
Cassie grinned at Alex and started to sing:
“Kids are building castles high
With cotton candy and ice-cream smiles. . . .”
Alex listened. Then he tried to sing the words back to her:
“Kids are building candy high
With something, something and dreamy smiles. . . .”
He kept getting the lines wrong!
“Oh, no,” Cassie said. “I don’t think I’m teaching you very well.”
She sat in one of the nearby chairs, next to a lady whose ice-cream drips were hovering in midair.
Alex slumped into the chair on her other side. “I’m sorry, Cassie. I can write out a complicated math problem off the top of my head, but I can’t seem to remember the words to a song.”
“That’s it!” Cassie said, her eyes lighting up. “If I write down the words to the song, you’ll remember them better. Do you have your notebook and pen with you?”
Alex pulled them out of his pocket and handed them over.
Cassie wrote down the words, and she and Alex practiced them over and over again.
“That’s much better,” Cassie said once Alex had sung the words correctly all the way through. “Now we need to practice the harmonies together. But if I’m singing, too, I won’t be able to tell if it sounds right.”
Just then, Comet sat in
front of them. He placed his chin on Alex’s knee and his paw on Cassie’s hand.
Alex grinned. “Let’s ask Comet to help.”
“Comet?” Cassie giggled, remembering Twinkle’s singing earlier in the day. “But he’s a puppy. He can’t sing!”
They both looked at Comet. Ears raised, he wagged his tail, making his whole body wiggle. Cassie could tell that he thought something interesting was going on.
“That’s true,” Alex said. “He can’t sing. But dogs do have special hearing — it’s supersensitive. They can move their ears in different directions to pick up more sounds than we can.”
“So Comet can tell us whether he thinks we sound good or not,” said Cassie excitedly. “Great idea, Alex!”
Cassie thought hard about her crescent moon charm, which gave her the power to talk to animals. Sparkles swirled from her charm bracelet and danced around Comet’s head.
“Comet, we need your help,” said Cassie.
“Hooray!” Comet yipped. “What do you want me to do?”
“We need you to listen to us sing ‘Magic Moments.’ Can you tell us how we sound together, and if we’re singing in tune?” Cassie asked.
“No problem!” Comet replied. He rushed around the chairs, then leaped onto one of them and sat with his ears straight up. “I’m ready,” he said.
Cassie laughed. “Thanks, Comet.”
She turned to Alex. “Let’s try singing it together — on the stage, this time.”
They climbed up onto the stage. Cassie weaved through the people setting up the music equipment, who were all frozen in place. Carefully, she took a microphone out of its stand. Alex borrowed his microphone from a woman whose tinted glasses were almost falling off the end of her nose.
On the count of three, Cassie started to sing. “Magic, magic moments . . .”
“Good, Cassie,” Comet barked from the front row. “But I can hardly hear Alex. He’s mumbling.”
“Alex, Comet says you need to sing louder,” Cassie told him. “You’ve got to sing loudly enough for the people in the back row to hear you.”
Alex looked down at his feet. “But it’s scary singing to all these people,” he said quietly.
Cassie thought for a minute. “You said you like singing to yourself in the bathtub, right?”
Alex nodded.
“Well, pretend you’re singing to yourself, but in a great big bathtub,” said Cassie. “The biggest tub in the world!”
Alex laughed. They started the song again, and this time, Cassie could hear Alex’s singing get louder and louder as he became more confident. Soon he was belting out his lines, matching Cassie’s soaring voice.
“Magic, magic moments,
These are magic moments. . . .”
“I never knew I could sing like that,” Alex said with a big grin when they finished. “It’s fun!”
“Well, I think you’re really good,” said Cassie. “Let’s see what Comet thinks.”
“Hooray!” barked the little puppy. “You both sounded fantastic!”
Cassie smiled. They were almost ready to start time again.
“Now we’ll just add the dance steps,” she told Alex.
“I’m really not very good at dancing,” Alex said, gulping again. “But I guess I’ll try. After all, until today I didn’t think I was very good at singing, either.”
Cassie grinned at Alex. He was trying so hard to be a good friend and to help make Jacey’s wish come true!
Cassie danced around the band members, waving at the frozen drummer, who looked as if he were smiling at them. Alex followed, copying Cassie’s routine. Then she noticed him adding his own moves.
“What do you think of this, Cassie?” he said. “I’m calling it the sound wave.” He did a rippling arm movement. “And this move is like a clock ticking.” He hopped from foot to foot, rhythmically.
“I love it!” said Cassie, copying him.
They practiced the whole routine from the beginning again, adding in Alex’s new moves. The frozen people in the audience looked like they were cheering them on. Cassie felt her heart flutter when she imagined all those people actually listening to them.
“. . . Magic moments in our lives!”
They sang the final line of the song for the last time and took a bow. Cassie waved to the frozen Jacey. It was time to make her wish come true!
“Bravo!” Comet barked. “Now, how about a treat?”
Alex found a dog biscuit in his pocket and gave it to Comet as a thank-you for his help.
“All this practice is hard work. It’s a good thing we had all the time in the world,” said Cassie, jingling her bracelet. “But do you think we’re ready to start time again, Alex?”
Alex nodded. “Ready.”
Cassie looked at her butterfly charm and thought very hard. It sparkled, and the tiny pink wings fluttered again.
Immediately, everyone burst into life. Noise and movement erupted all around them. A group of older boys and girls danced next to their friend, who was playing a guitar. People pointed out the bands listed in the festival program and talked about who they wanted to see. The woman’s ice-cream cone dripped onto the sand. Jacey wiped the tears from her eyes. Nothing had changed.
Except for one thing, Cassie thought.
“I hope Jacey thinks we’re good enough,” she whispered to Alex.
“Of course she will,” Alex replied.
Cassie nodded. “Jacey,” she said. “I think Alex and I can help you. We could be your backup singers for ‘Magic Moments.’ Come on, we’ll show you.”
When Cassie and Alex finished their demonstration for Jacey backstage, she clapped her hands and cheered.
“That was amazing! Cassie, your harmonies sound wonderful. And your dance moves are so great, Alex,” Jacey said, excited. “Now what should we do about costumes?”
Cassie exchanged a secret grin with Alex. “We’ll surprise you!” she said.
“You already have surprised me,” Jacey said, giving them both a big hug. “Thank you so much. You’ve come to the rescue — and just in time!”
The festival manager walked toward Jacey, pointing at his watch. “Sorry, Miss Day, but you’re out of time. Should I tell them that your performance is canceled?”
“No! No need to cancel,” Jacey said, a big smile lighting up her face. “We have a brand-new act. It might not be what the fans are expecting, but I know they’re going to love it!”
Cassie felt a shiver of happiness. Not only was she going to make Jacey’s wish come true — she was going to sing and dance with her, too! She couldn’t wait to tell Kate and all her other friends. Some of them would even be in the crowd watching! This is going to be my very own magic moment! she thought.
Backstage, Cassie and Alex put on the costumes that Cassie had hidden. The festival organizers bustled around them, putting the spotlights in position and testing the speaker system.
Jacey was standing near the stage entrance next to a man wearing a headset. She waved to Cassie and Alex.
When everything was ready, the man turned to Jacey. “Three, two, one — go!” he said.
Jacey strode onto the stage and the audience broke into wild cheers. Cassie and Alex watched from the wings, standing on tiptoes so they could see what was happening. Jacey held up her hands, and everyone quieted down.
“Thank you, Astral-on-Sea,” Jacey said into the microphone, smiling. “I’m so happy to be opening the Songs on the Sand music festival!”
Another roar from the crowd filled the air.
“I’d like to sing you a very special song. It makes me think about the wonderful time I’m having here,” said Jacey. “It’s called ‘Magic Moments.’ ”
The audience cheered, then went quiet again as Jacey continued.
/> “As you know, I need my backup singers to sing the special harmony on this song, but they couldn’t make it here today.”
There was a disappointed sigh from the audience.
“However . . .” Jacey went on. She held out a hand as Cassie and Alex walked onto the stage, wearing their straw hats and big sunglasses. Jacey grinned at them.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” she whispered. Then she turned to the crowd. “Please welcome Cassie and Alex, my new backup singers. They’re the Jacey Day Stars!”
The crowd cheered again, and Cassie and Alex smiled at each other. Cassie spotted her mom and dad near the front of the crowd. Their mouths were hanging wide open in astonishment at seeing her on the stage with Jacey! Alex’s parents were next to them, looking surprised and clapping excitedly. Cassie waved and blew them all a kiss.
Before she knew it, the band began to play and Jacey started to sing.
“There’s a friend I’d love to meet. . . .”
Cassie looked at Alex and gave him a nod. Then they both joined in, singing and dancing with Jacey and the band.
“Spinning world beneath his feet. . . .”
Their voices sounded great! The song seemed to fly by, and suddenly the last words hung in the air.
“. . . Magic moments in our lives!”
On the final note, an explosion of shooting stars, in violet, gold, orange, and scarlet, poured over the stage like a twinkling snowstorm. The crowd went wild.
“Where did that come from?” Jacey gasped.
Cassie smiled. She knew. Stella Starkeeper.
Jacey bowed, then beckoned to Cassie and Alex. Holding hands, they all bowed together. As they straightened up again, the festival manager walked onstage and gave them each a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Cassie was so happy she thought she would burst.
Wish Upon a Song Page 2
