Just like Jonah and I had a good reason for stealing the goose from the giants.
Right and wrong. Wrong and right. Which is which? I think about Frankie and Robin and their fight. I guess people can be wrong and right at the same time.
“Thank you so much, Jack,” I say. “That’s really amazing of you.”
He smiles at me, then turns to Jonah. “Want to know something, Jonah?” Jack asks.
Jonah nods. “Yes, I do want to know something.”
“Remember when you thought you messed things up for me by telling me about the magic beans in the first place?” Jack asks.
Jonah nods.
“You didn’t,” Jack says. “I messed things up for myself by getting greedy and selfish. The gold coins were never mine to start with. So don’t feel bad about how things turned out in the end, okay?”
Jonah smiles. “That does make me feel a little better.” He turns to me. “But not much. Now Jack and his mom are poor again. And it’s my fault. We came into his story. If we hadn’t, I wouldn’t have messed anything up. And Jack would still have his money. Maybe we should stop going into fairy tales.”
I gasp. Stop going into stories?
He can’t be serious. Can he?
I stare at my brother. He looks VERY serious.
Not go through the mirror anymore? Not meet fairy tale characters?
Not mess up their stories …
I bite my lower lip. Maybe Jonah is right.
But I love going into stories.
And now I have a new dilemma, don’t I?
“But, Jonah,” I say, “if we hadn’t come into the story, Magnus wouldn’t be alive. We saved him.”
Jonah eyes light up. “Oh. Right.”
“That’s a big deal,” Jack says. “You saved someone’s life.”
“I guess we did,” Jonah says.
“Not bad, little soccer star,” Jack says.
“I’m not a soccer star,” Jonah says with a sigh. “You are.”
“You will be. You just need to keep practicing.”
Jonah smiles again. “Thanks, Jack.”
Devin puts down Prince, then kneels beside him and pets him. “You can go to your rightful family now, Prince. I sure had fun taking care of you the past couple of days.”
Ruff! Prince barks. He gives Devin’s cheek a lick, then runs over to me and Jonah.
“Yay!” we both say at the same time, dropping down to smother Prince in hugs and kisses.
“I’ll get you the gold,” Ada says to Devin.
Devin shakes his head. “I changed my mind. I’m so impressed with your sacrifice, Jack. You can keep the gold coins. All of them. I wish you could have met my son. You would have been a good influence on him.”
“Awesome!” Jonah exclaims, pumping his fist in the air.
Yes! Jack and his mom get the gold, Jonah and I get Prince, the giant gets to live, and everyone wins. Well, except Devin.
“Devin,” Ada says, walking up to him. “I want to thank you. That was very generous of you.”
Devin blushes. “You’re welcome, Ada.”
“Perhaps once we’re settled in our new home,” Ada says, “you can come over for dinner and pie.”
“I’d like that,” Devin says, tipping his hat. “I’d like that very much.”
Ada smiles.
Jack smiles.
Jonah smiles.
I smile.
I have a feeling that Devin may join Ada and Jack for dinner very soon. Devin is missing a son. And Jack is missing a dad. And you never know when love will strike, right?
“Well, Jonah,” I say, “we really do have to go now.”
Jonah nods, then turns to Devin. “Mr. Trader?” he asks.
Devin smiles at him. “Yes, Jonah?”
“I bet you could find a stray dog to adopt,” Jonah says. “I saw two cute dogs with no collars roaming around the market looking for crumbs the other day.”
Devin nods. “I think I’ll do just that. In fact, I think I’ll adopt both of them. Great idea, Jonah.”
“I just love dogs,” Ada says with a big smile.
“Now that everything is okay again,” Jonah says to me, “I wish I could stay longer and play one more soccer game with Jack.”
I glance at my watch, which I’m really happy I didn’t have to trade. It’s six fifty-five in the morning at home. Oh, no! My parents’ alarm has already gone off. We have to be home any minute and we still don’t know where the portal is!
“Sorry, Jonah,” I say. “But we’re out of time. And we need to find the portal.”
“I bet it’s in the beanstalk,” Jonah says.
“But we cut down the beanstalk,” I remind him.
“There’s still a stump,” Jonah says. He hurries over to where the bottom is. “Look! It’s purple!”
I run over. He’s right. It is purple. Which means it could be the portal! Or a rotting vegetable. But, hopefully, a portal. We don’t have a lot of time to find it.
I knock on it three times. It starts to swirl.
“It’s the portal!” I cry. “We have to go!”
Jonah high-fives Jack.
“Good luck!” Jack says to him, and Jonah gives him another hug.
“Bye, Jack,” I say.
“Bye, Abby,” Jack says.
Then to my surprise he leans forward and gives me a kiss on the cheek.
Ahhh!
My face burns. Did I really have a crush on Jack?
Maybe I did. Maybe I do?
“I hope I see you both again someday,” Jack says.
“Me too,” I say, still blushing.
Jonah and I wave good-bye to Ada and Devin, who wave back.
Jonah scoops up Prince in his arms. And we jump through the swirling purple portal.
We land back in the basement of our house in Smithville.
“I’m so happy to have Prince back,” I say, giving our wonderful dog a few scratches behind his ears. He loves those. I rub his head, too. “I missed him!”
“Me too,” Jonah says. “Nothing felt right without him. He really is part of the family.”
Exactly. “I know what you mean.”
“I’m so glad everything worked out,” Jonah says. “But that was a close one.”
I smile. “Sure was.”
“I do think I want to keep going into stories after all,” Jonah says. “Do you?”
I nod. “Definitely.” I look at the mirror. “Maryrose?” I call.
I try knocking to see if the fairy who lives in our mirror will answer. Sometimes she does. Sometimes she doesn’t.
The mirror ripples. Yay! We see the outline of Maryrose’s face in the mirror and her long hair.
“Hi!” I say. “We just came from Jack and the Beanstalk.” But of course she already knows that since she’s the one who sent us there.
“Hi, Abby and Jonah,” she says. “You did a great job.”
“I almost decided never to go into stories again,” Jonah says. “But then I changed my mind.”
Maryrose smiles. “Well, I hope you’ll keep it up. You’re almost ready for the big one. But making tough decisions isn’t easy, is it?”
No, it’s not. I think of Frankie and Robin.
I’m about to ask Maryrose another question — what does she mean by the “big one”? — but her face fades until the ripples are gone.
“Come on,” I tell Jonah. “We only have a couple minutes to get back to our rooms.”
We start up the basement steps with Prince on our heels, and Jonah says quietly, “Abby?”
“Yeah?”
“Jack and the Beanstalk is still my favorite story.”
“Good,” I say. “I’m glad.”
“And when Nana used to read it to us,” he says, “I used to wish Jack was my big brother. So it was really awesome to meet him.”
“I know,” I say. I know, I know, I know. The big brother he never had.
“I mean, Jack was great,” Jonah says. “But I also saw
that he wasn’t perfect. He did trick us about Nelly the goose. I guess no one is perfect.”
“That’s true,” I say.
“But,” Jonah goes on with a sheepish smile, “I don’t think I need a big brother. I would never trade you, Abby. I’m glad you’re my big sister.”
Aww. Me too. My eyes get all teary. Is someone chopping onions in here?
I squeeze him into a hug. Maybe I had to get a little jealous to see how much I like having Jonah for a little brother.
When we reach the top of the stairs, instead of going up to his bedroom, Jonah heads for the living room.
“I’m gonna go practice my side kicks in the yard,” Jonah says. “I’m getting really good now! And like Jack said, it’s all about practicing.”
I love his new confidence. And my parents will definitely be surprised to see him practicing soccer before school. They’ll be glad to see Jonah is feeling better and working hard.
“Have fun!” I say with a yawn. Jonah heads off. I hear the sliding glass door to the backyard open and shut and then a foot kicking a ball.
I head upstairs with Prince. In my room, I go over to my jewelry box on my dresser and pick it up. My nana gave the box to me. It’s decorated with all the fairy tale characters. But whenever Jonah and I return from a story, the characters change to match how we changed their story.
Before, Jack was standing next to a giant beanstalk with a goose in his arms. Now? He’s wearing a suit and standing next to his mom and Devin! And his mom is wearing a wedding dress and Devin is in a tux! And two little puppies are curled at their feet.
Aw! Everything turned out all right.
“Abby!” my dad calls, knocking on my bedroom door. “Time to get up! You’ll never believe it. Your brother is practicing soccer outside already!”
“I believe it,” I say to myself with a smile before climbing back into bed to pretend I just woke up.
* * *
“Hi, Abby,” Frankie says when I arrive at school that morning. She’s waiting for me in front of my locker.
I open my locker and put my jacket inside, then close it.
“Hi,” I say.
“So what do you think I should do?” she asks. “Should I tell Daria I can’t go to her party tomorrow because I already have plans?”
Right. The movie night dilemma.
I remember what my mom said. “What do you think you should do?” I ask Frankie.
She tilts her head. “Well, I do already have plans. With you and Robin. But they’re the SAME plans every week. And this is a birthday party. It’s a once-a-year thing.”
“You have to do what feels right to you,” I say.
I really think that’s the best answer. What feels right to ME might not feel right to Frankie or Robin. And that’s okay.
“But Robin’s upset,” Frankie reminds me. “So I should go to movie night, right?”
I can’t answer that for her. That has to be up to Frankie, not me.
“Well, tell me this, then,” Frankie says. “Why aren’t YOU upset about the idea of me not going to movie night?”
I think about what happened in Tradetown. “I was upset at the beginning. At least a little. I get why you want to go the party. But I also get why Robin is upset. Plans are plans. But sometimes, plans change.”
Just like sometimes stories change. And it can save lives when they do!
“I see both sides,” I explain. “You’re both right.”
Frankie nods. “Okay. I know what to do.”
“Really?” I ask. “What?”
Robin heads toward us. Her strawberry-blond hair is in a low ponytail. “Frankie, I think I was being a bit harsh,” she says. “You should go to Daria’s party.”
Frankie laughs. “But I already decided to hang out with you guys. Your feelings are more important to me than a party. You’re my best friends.”
Aww.
Robin grins. “I really appreciate that. And I feel the same way. That’s why you should go to the party. But I was thinking — why don’t we have our movie night tonight? That way we can ALL be there. As long as it works for both of you. I talked to my parents and they said tonight works, too.”
“Oh!” I say. “I can do tonight!”
“Me too,” Frankie says with a big grin.
“Hurrah!” they both cheer.
“Fantastic!” Penny exclaims, pushing her way between us. “If movie night is tonight, then I can come!”
“Oh,” I say. “Yay?”
She flips her hair off her shoulder. “It’s perfect. It can be at my house.”
“I still get to choose the movie,” Robin says quickly.
“If you insist,” Penny says. “But I have some suggestions. And I’m picking the snacks.”
Sigh. “Sounds fine to me,” I say. And it kinda does. Penny has a good couch for curling up on.
“You know,” Penny says, “it would make sense to move movie night to Friday night permanently, don’t you think? It’ll be Penny, Robin, Abby, and Frankie movie night.” She grins. “We’ll call it PRAFM!”
Oh, beans.
Giant-sized thank-yous to:
Everyone at Scholastic: Aimee Friedman, Rachel Feld, Taylan Salvati, Olivia Valcarce, Mindy Stockfield, Charisse Meloto, Lauren Donovan, Tracy van Straaten, Robin Hoffman, Melissa Schirmer, Elizabeth Parisi, Abby McAden, David Levithan, Lizette Serrano, Emily Heddleson, Sue Flynn, and everyone in the School Channels and in Sales.
My amazing agents, Laura Dail, Samantha Fabien, Austin Denesuk, and Matthew Snyder, and queen of publicity, Deb Shapiro.
Lauren Walters, Alyssa Stonoha, and Katie Rose Summerfield, who do all the stuff.
Thank you to all my friends, family, writing buddies, and first readers: Targia Alphonse, Tara Altebrando, Bonnie Altro, Elissa Ambrose, Robert Ambrose, Jennifer Barnes, the Bilermans, Jess Braun, Jeremy Cammy, the Dalven-Swidlers, Julia DeVillers, Elizabeth Eulberg, the Finkelstein-Mitchells, Stuart Gibbs, Alan Gratz, the Greens, Adele Griffin, Anne Heltzel, Farrin Jacobs, Emily Jenkins, Lauren Kisilevsky, Maggie Marr, the Mittlemans, Aviva Mlynowski, Larry Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, Melissa Senate, Courtney Sheinmel, Jennifer E. Smith, Christina Soontornvat, the Swidlers, Robin Wasserman, Louisa Weiss, Rachel and Terry Winter, the Wolfes, Maryrose Wood, and Sara Zarr.
Extra love to Chloe, Anabelle, and Todd.
And to my Whatever After readers: Thank you for reading my books!
Sarah Mlynowski is the New York Times bestselling author of the Whatever After series, the Magic in Manhattan series, Gimme a Call, and a bunch of other books for teens and tweens, including the Upside-Down Magic series, which she cowrites with Lauren Myracle and Emily Jenkins. Originally from Montreal, Sarah now lives in the kingdom of Manhattan with her very own prince charming and their fairy tale–loving daughters. Visit Sarah online at sarahm.com and find her on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter at @sarahmlynowski.
#1: Fairest of All
#2: If the Shoe Fits
#3: Sink or Swim
#4: Dream On
#5: Bad Hair Day
#6: Cold as Ice
#7: Beauty Queen
#8: Once Upon a Frog
#9: Genie in a Bottle
#10: Sugar and Spice
#11: Two Peas in a Pod
#12: Seeing Red
#13: Spill the Beans
Special Edition #1:
Abby in Wonderland
Copyright © 2019 by Sarah Mlynowski
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The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or d
ead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
First edition, May 2019
Author photo by Heather Waraksa
Cover design by Elizabeth B. Parisi
Cover illustration by Helen Huang, © 2019 Scholastic Inc.
e-ISBN 978-1-338-16298-1
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Spill the Beans Page 9
