Scarlet Discovers True Strength

by Ahmet Zappa

  Scarlet was so excited she couldn’t eat breakfast. And no way could she go to class. How could she sit through another lecture on energy manipulation when her whole life was about to change? About to get back on track, at last!

  She had to find some way to pass the time, though, while she waited for Lady Cordial to set everything straight. She flipped open her Star-Zap, tapped Vega’s icon, and dictated a holo-text.

  MYSTERY SOLVED! MEET ME IN THE ORCHARD.

  Within a starmin another message came through: NO WAY! ★ MENDOUS NEWS!

  When Vega arrived, she was not alone to Scarlet’s surprise. Cassie, with her pinkish white pigtail buns and her star-shaped glasses, was arm in arm with her.

  Scarlet knew Cassie, of course, from the Star Darlings class but not very well beyond that. The first-year Starling had become particularly close to Scarlet’s old roommate, Leona—something Scarlet could never understand, since Leona was, without a doubt, the most self-centered, self-absorbed Starling Scarlet had ever met.

  Still, besides that, Scarlet had to admit that what she did know of Cassie, she admired. Cassie was never too loud or bubbly or bossy, and it was clear that behind her glasses, a very intelligent mind was hard at work.

  “You don’t mind that I brought Cassie, do you?” said Vega. Something about Scarlet’s expression must have prompted her to ask. “I promised her I’d tell her the next time we met. I told her about your…theories, and of course—”

  “I think you’re right!” Cassie cut in. She leaned forward and pushed up her glasses. Her normally soft pink glow flashed bright, almost blindingly white. “I don’t care what Leona says. There is no way in the galaxy that Ophelia could grant a wish. Tell us everything!” she said. “What have you found out?”

  So Scarlet told them everything….

  “Moon and stars!” Cassie gasped at the end. “So when will you hear back from Lady Cordial?”

  “Soon,” Scarlet said. “I’m sure.”

  “Oh, I hope it’s all a mistake, the way you say!”

  “Does that mean you’ll come back to the band?” Vega asked. “You know, there was just an announcement this morning—did you hear?—that this year for Starshine Day there’s going to be a battle of the bands. We could win with you playing, Scarlet. I really think we could. In fact…maybe you should come back, no matter what, even if it turns out no mistake was made.”

  “First of all”—Scarlet’s eyes narrowed—“there was a mistake. A starmendous one. That’s just a fact. Second, as I’ve said a hydrong times now, the band is about the last thing on my mind.”

  Vega and Cassie lowered their eyes and traded glances.

  “Star apologies,” said Vega. “Of course. We can talk about the band later. One thing at a time. So…if there was a mistake…how in the stars did it happen? How did your and Ophelia’s scores get switched?”

  Scarlet shook her head. “That’s what I don’t know.” Her eyes flashed and flickered between Vega and Cassie. “You’re the puzzle solvers. Any thoughts?”

  “These things happen, I suppose,” said Vega.

  Cassie frowned. “Not here. Not at Starling Academy. All these ‘mistakes,’ ‘coincidences,’ ‘mysteries’—they don’t just happen here.”

  Vega nodded reluctantly. “Agreed.”

  “So do you think somebody switched our records?” said Scarlet. “On purpose? But those things don’t happen here, either…do they?”

  The three Starlings traded worried looks. They were all thinking the same thing, but no one was quite ready to put such a dark thought into words. Then, suddenly, Cassie’s lacy silver sweater pocket beeped. She pulled out her Star-Zap and read the holo-text. Behind her glasses her eyes grew big and round.

  “It’s the botany lab!” she exclaimed. “They’ve finished testing the flowers and have the results!”

  “Well? What did they find?” asked Vega.

  “They don’t say. They just say to come.”

  “That’s one connection I still don’t see,” Vega told her. “And it’s not just because I want to win our bet. I was hoping Piper and I would get along better when the flowers were out of our room….”

  “And did you?”

  “No. Nothing changed. In fact, you should have heard how she went on about my letting you take them to the lab to be studied. You would have thought I’d stolen her bed.”

  “Really…” Cassie’s nearly translucent eyebrows slid together as she frowned.

  “But then suddenly yesterday,” Vega went on, “she gave me this sweet holo-poem she’d written…and this morning we meditated together.” She smiled at Cassie’s and Scarlet’s dumbfounded expressions. “Cross my stars! I know!”

  “There might still be a connection…” said Cassie.

  Vega shrugged. “There’s only one way to find out.” She slipped one arm through Cassie’s, then the other through Scarlet’s.

  “You want me to come, too?” Scarlet eyed Vega’s elbow and gingerly unhooked her arm.

  “Of course,” said Vega. “Right, Cassie?” She tried not to look too hurt by Scarlet’s initial response.

  “Moon and stars, yes,” said Cassie, smiling warmly. “We’re in this together now.”

  The botany lab was in Halo Hall in the science stellation, where the Starlings’ Wishology and Astrophysics classes—among dozens of others—were held. Those labs, though, were on the lower floors. The botany lab took up most of the top floor and had a ceiling made of glass so the hydrongs of plants and flowers growing there had all the sunlight or starlight or moonlight they could want.

  Naturally, there were specimens from all over Starland: featherjabbers, mellomallows, even nomadic druderwomps—shrublike knots of glittery branches that were constantly uprooting themselves and lazily rolling around the lab until they got bored and decided to stop and spread their roots, inevitably tripping someone up. The lab was best known, though, for its extensive collection of flora samples from Wishworld. It was the largest collection on Starland, in fact. Generations of Wish-Granters had brought back everything from Spanish moss to buttercups to fragrant evergreen trees. Scientists were still working to get those to bloom ornaments the way they did on Wishworld…but so far, they’d had no luck. Scarlet’s personal favorites were the dandelions, which were like two flowers in one, the second better than the first: a starburst of yellow petals followed by tickly cloud-white fluff. And best of all Wishers used them to make wishes! Plus they didn’t overwhelm you with that cloying flower smell, which was always such overkill, Scarlet thought.

  The three Starlings—Scarlet, Vega, and Cassie—entered and were met by a pair of turquoise-haired technicians in sturdy star-covered overalls under long shimmery white lab coats.

  “Ah! Star greetings, Cassie,” said one, a short woman with a blue holo–name tag reading GLADIOLUS ROSE. “Oh, my stars, you got here quickly! You must have ridden a laser beam!”

  She clasped her hands and bowed, as was Starland custom. Her partner did the same. He was taller by a moonstone and wore a hard-to-miss star-shaped bandage on his nose.

  Cassie bowed in return, as did Vega and Scarlet.

  “We couldn’t wait to hear the results of your tests!” Cassie told the lab technicians. She nodded to the man. “What happened to you, by the way?”

  “What? Oh, this?” The man patted his bandaged nose, then turned to his flickering silver-tinged partner, who guiltily sucked in her cheeks. “Flying flowerpot…Funny story…” He sighed. “Or at least it will be, I hope, one starday.”

  “Why don’t we show them those flowers?” said his partner.

  He nodded. “Good idea.”

  “After you. Please.” She waved him past.

  “Star salutations, but please, no, after you.”

  They went on like that, back and forth, until Scarlet couldn’t take one more exchange.

  “Why don’t you show us together?”

  “Great idea!” they said in unison. “To the back of the lab. This way.” />
  The Starlings followed them down a winding aisle between empty workstations.

  “Where is everyone?” Vega asked.

  Gladiolus Rose picked up an uprooted kaleidoscope tree sapling and set it on a counter between a broken beaker and an upside-down microscope. “Most of the botanists decided to go home early yesterday. We stayed to finish this job. The energy in the air was rather…tense, you might say. Lots of name-calling, flowerpot flinging, energy sapping, I’m afraid.”

  “Not much work getting done,” said her partner. “Not safely, anyway.”

  Scarlet gazed around at the mess and couldn’t help cracking a smile. She could only imagine the scene that must have made it.

  “That sounds like Piper and me,” said Vega. “Until yesterday afternoon.” Suddenly, her expression began to change. “When exactly did your fighting stop?”

  “Almost as soon as we put them behind glass,” Gladiolus Rose answered. “When was that?” She turned to her partner. “In the afternoon?”

  “Indeed, it was.”

  Cassie’s eyes grew round, and so did Vega’s. Scarlet’s jaw dropped slightly, too.

  “Are you saying you think the flowers made you bicker and fight?” asked Vega.

  “I’m afraid so,” the techs said together. “Star apologies!” They bowed and laughed.

  “As you can see,” said Gladiolus Rose, “arguing is not in our nature. So as soon as it started, we knew that something was starmendously wrong.”

  “The moment we put them behind glass, however,” the man said, “the fiery tempers cooled.”

  He pointed to a glass case at the end of the lab. Inside, the Starlings could see Vega and Piper’s lavish coral-colored bouquet.

  Scarlet instantly remembered the flowers, though she’d given them little thought when they showed up in her room. Not surprisingly, Leona had claimed them for her half of the room almost immediately, so Scarlet paid even less attention to them after that.

  “You were absolutely correct in suspecting those flowers of negative energy,” Gladiolus Rose told Cassie as they moved toward the case. “The things are full of it, in fact. The measurements we recorded were frankly floozels off the charts. It’s as if each and every flower was grown in negative-energy-infused soil.”

  Scarlet scowled and spoke up. “But isn’t that impossible? Every Bad Wish Orb is destroyed immediately. That’s one of the first things we learn when we get to this school.”

  “Moon and stars! We didn’t think negative energy even existed on Starland,” said Cassie with a gulp.

  Scarlet hadn’t thought Cassie could look any paler—and yet, somehow, she did.

  Gladiolus Rose shook her head. “It doesn’t. Technically,” she said.

  “What do you mean?” Vega asked.

  The two lab technicians exchanged grim glances.

  The tall one cleared his throat. “There have been leaks in the past…from the Bad Wish Containment Center.”

  “But that was hydrongs of staryears ago,” his partner assured the Starlings. “There have been mix-ups, too…bad wishes mistaken for good ones at first….But such a thing is exceedingly rare, and by the time the mistake is corrected, almost all the potential negative energy has yet to be released.”

  “‘Almost’?” Vega said.

  “Almost.” The woman nodded. “So, yes, it’s not beyond the spectrum of possibility for there to be a microjoule in the air. But nowhere near enough to account for the concentrations we’re seeing here. It’s unprecedented, frankly.” She turned to peer into the case. “Never before, at least in this lab, have we seen negative plant life half as powerful—or negative—as this.”

  “So…what you’re saying, then,” said Scarlet, “is that this mystery still isn’t solved. You don’t know where the flowers came from.”

  “Not yet. No. But our tests aren’t finished. There are a few more we can do. Hopefully, we can identify the exact source of the negative energy and even pinpoint where the flowers were grown.”

  “How long will it take, do you think?” asked Vega.

  “I’d say a starday…maybe two…three at most.” Gladiolus Rose shrugged. “It’s difficult to say until the rest of the staff returns to work.”

  Her partner gazed around the overturned lab. “We were also hoping to straighten things up a little first. That’s one thing about this Wishworld dirt…it doesn’t seem to clean itself up. It just sits there when it’s spilled.”

  “Well, we can help you with that,” said Vega matter-of-factly. She looked down at the loose Wishworld dirt scattered across the floor. Her eyes narrowed as she focused her energy on gathering the dirt into a pile. As soon as she collected it all, Vega flicked her wrist and lifted it in a steady stream, using her finger to steer it into the nearest flowerpot.

  Scarlet looked over to see Cassie starting to use her energy, as well. One by one, on the counter in front of Cassie, overturned plants were popping upright.

  “Star salutations!” said the lab technicians.

  Vega beamed. “It’s the least we can do! Scarlet…? What are you waiting for over there? The faster we clean up this lab, the faster they can run more tests.”

  “Why don’t we just zap up some Bot-Bot maids?” said Scarlet, looking bleakly around the room. She would rather have linked arms with Leona than do that job, even with the help of her energy manipulation.

  “And where would be the fun in that?” asked Vega brightly, adjusting a trayful of laser-bean seedlings just so.

  Suddenly, she jumped, and so did Cassie. Both Starlings pulled out their Star-Zaps.

  “Moon and stars!” gasped Cassie. She looked at Vega, who was just closing her device and slipping it back into her fitted coat.

  “What is it?” asked Scarlet.

  Cassie hurried over to Scarlet and whispered so the lab technicians wouldn’t hear: “Another Wish Orb’s been identified.” Only a few faculty besides Lady Stella and Lady Cordial knew of the existence of the Star Darlings, and it was imperative it stay that way. “We have to go to Lady Stella’s office. Immediately. To find out whose wish this will be.”

  “I’m coming, too!” Scarlet moved toward the lab door.

  “Did your Star-Zap go off?” Cassie asked.

  Scarlet stopped and put her hand on the pocket of her hooded vest. She hadn’t felt any vibration. She looked, but she knew the answer was no before she saw the screen. “I’m going anyway.”

  “I don’t know….” Cassie shook her head. “Lady Stella knows best, and if she didn’t summon you, I don’t think that you can go.”

  “But I’m a Star Darling!”

  “Shhh!” Cassie quickly glanced over her shoulder. Luckily, the lab technicians were in the far corner, straightening some crooked holo-screens.

  “But I am a Star Darling!” Scarlet hissed. “If there’s a wish assignment, I should be there!”

  Vega had come over, too. Both she and Cassie took Scarlet’s hands. “Patience, Scarlet. If you truly are a Star Darling—and I certainly don’t doubt it—then the stars will realign for you, all in due time,” Vega said.

  Scarlet yanked her hands away and squeezed her lips together tightly. She was close to saying something she just might regret.

  “We’ll let you know what happens,” Cassie assured her.

  “Whatever.” Scarlet raised her chin and looked away. She would have liked to see how much patience Vega or Cassie or any other Star Darling would have were she to trade places with one of them.

  High above, over the ceiling skylight, a pink cloud the shape of a galliope’s head slowly drifted past. She closed her eyes and thought of Wishworld, somewhere beyond it, orbiting through space full of wishes.

  “Keep your stars up,” said Vega. She reached out and gave Scarlet’s arm a squeeze. “If we see Lady Cordial, we’ll ask her about your reports….I’m sure we’ll have some good news for you by the time you’re done helping here!”

  “Well?”

  “Starf!”

&nbs
p; “Scarlet! Moon and stars!”

  “You scared the light out of us!” Vega gasped.

  “Star apologies.” Scarlet stepped all the way around the column she’d been standing behind and pulled her hood back from her face. They were in the hall outside Lady Stella’s office, where Scarlet had been lurking for a starhour, or quite possibly longer. She could have waited for Vega and Cassie to holo-call or text her, but waiting had never been Scarlet’s style.

  “Why were you hiding?” asked Cassie.

  “I wasn’t hiding. I was just trying to stay out of sight…” Scarlet explained.

  Cassie and Vega wrinkled their glittery foreheads.

  “Anyway,” Scarlet went on. “What happened? Who got the mission? And what did Lady Stella have to say about me? I didn’t see Ophelia come out. Have they already told her about the mistake?”

  Vega’s cheeks flashed ever so faintly. Cassie’s lip slid beneath her teeth. Scarlet couldn’t tell if they looked more like they’d eaten too much zoomberry cake or like someone had stolen cake from them.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Vega’s and Cassie’s eyes met and something passed between them. Scarlet felt her glow dim as it did.

  “Tell me.”

  Vega took a deep breath. “The Wish Orb was Ophelia’s.”

  “The Wish Orb…the Wish Orb was what?”

  “The Wish Orb was Ophelia’s,” Vega said again, letting her breath out as she did.

  “Wait…so what are you saying?”

  “The Wish Orb was Ophelia’s,” Cassie patiently repeated.

  Scarlet’s glow returned in a flash, this time hot pink. “I get that,” she muttered. “But are you saying…Are you saying a Star Darling Wish Orb chose Ophelia? Are you saying the next Star Darling mission is hers? Are you saying…” Scarlet closed her eyes and opened them slowly. “Are you saying Ophelia is going to go to Wishworld to grant a wish instead of me?”

  Vega nodded.

  “Or at least almost there,” Cassie said.

  “Star apologies, Scarlet. For what it’s worth, we believed you…but you were wrong, I guess.” Vega reached out to touch Scarlet’s shoulder, but Scarlet stepped away.