by Zach King
deck!”
Pandemonium broke out. Frantic students, freaked out
by the storm of cards, knocked into the dummy horses
and ducked behind bales of hay. Aaron was madly try-
ing to get it all on video, but even he had to jump back-
ward to avoid to getting seriously paper-cut by an ace of
spades. He slipped on a burst balloon, stumbled to keep
his balance—and fell over into the punch bowl.
Splash!
No, Zach thought. Not again!
Aaron was drenched in lemonade. History was basical-
ly repeating itself—but with a vengeance. Zach could al-
ready see where this was going, and it wasn’t good.
But first he had to get the runaway cards in line.
“Shuffle!” he shouted at them. “Reshuffle!”
That did the trick. The cards joined up like a flock
of geese high above Zach’s head before flopping to the
ground in front of him. Zach gathered them up and
jammed them back into his pocket.
He sighed in relief.
“Zach King!” Principal Riggs cried out in exaspera-
tion. “I should have known that—”
Zach had seen this episode before. He didn’t need to
catch the rerun.
“I know, I know,” he said glumly. “Your office, Mon-
day. Out the door now, effective immediately.”
“Er, that’s right.” Riggs was briefly thrown for a loop.
“You took the words right out my mouth.” He looked
over at Aaron, who was soaked with lemonade. “And as
for you, young man . . .”
“Don’t play innocent, thick as thieves, yada yada,”
Aaron said, skipping ahead. “We know the drill.”
As Zach marched out of the gym, he noticed that
things were starting to calm down now that the cards
were not zipping about everywhere. For a moment, he
dared to hope that maybe the whole dance would be
called off, which would at least save Rachel from the
social catastrophe awaiting her.
“Sorry if we ruined the dance,” Zach said as they
reached the exit doors.
“Don’t be absurd,” Riggs said. “I’m not going to let
your juvenile practical jokes spoil everyone’s good time.”
He nodded at the Barn Razors, who hesitantly started
playing again. “You see, the show must go on.”
Zach saw Hogan taking Rachel’s hand.
“That’s what I was afraid of,” he said.
He had failed again, even worse than before, which
meant only one thing.
He had to do it all again!
Chapter 12
The gym had an elevated running track overlooking
the main floor. It was off-limits during the dance, but
Zach had crept up there without too much difficulty.
He perched on the track, spying on the dance below.
Cardboard wings, borrowed from his cousin Steve, were
strapped to his arms. The wings were rectangular pieces
of plain brown cardboard that had once belonged to a
refrigerator box. Zach could already feel the magic puls-
ing. The wings were struggling to flap, lifting him up off
his toes, eager to take flight.
He was ready for liftoff.
Please let things work out this time, he thought.
Zach was nervous about attempting another do-over
after his last two epic fails, but what else could he do?
Even after the playing cards went berserk, Rachel still
ended up in the pool.
I have to get things right, Zach thought.
He peered down from the track, scoping out the scene.
Hogan and Rachel were already on the dance floor,
kicking up their heels to a lively country-western tune.
Zach’s latest plan was to swoop in right before the first
dance. This way he could make sure that Rachel didn’t
get anywhere near Tricia’s trap. If he pulled this off, it
would be even more spectacular than that drone idea
Hogan had stolen before.
If he could pull it off. . . .
Aaron was already waiting below to catch the whole
thing on video. Zach tensed up as he heard the bouncy
honky-tonk song winding up. By now, he knew the Barn
Razors’ playlist by heart. The dance was coming up next.
“Here goes nothing,” he murmured. “Up, up, and away.”
The worst part, Zach realized, was that this dance had
been more of a disaster than the last one!
His cousin’s wings were trashed, and he noticed the
duplicate watch was looking the worse for wear. He
didn’t have much time left to set things right.
I need to do a do-over, he realized. Now, more than ever.
Chapter 13
Zach and Aaron huddled behind the gym after Prin-
cipal Riggs had thrown them out of the dance. They
could hear the music and laughter start up again. But
Zach could also tell that the copy of his dad’s watch was
about to give up the ghost. Bits of corroded bronze were
flaking off it, then vanishing like sparks drifting away
from a campfire. It was on the verge of evaporating com-
pletely.
“No time to regroup,” he told Aaron, showing him the
timepiece. “We have to go back now, even farther than
before.”
“How far?” Aaron asked.
“A couple of days at least, to buy us enough time to
hatch a one-hundred-percent disaster-proof plan . . . if
the watch can hold it together just a little bit longer.”
“I’m not sure my stomach can handle it,” Aaron said,
burping. “I ate a lot of dip at the dance.” But Zach
wasn’t really worried about his friend’s indigestion. He
had to stop Hogan and Tricia the only way he knew
how. He spun the dial and stared in amazement as time
started scrolling backward again.
Cars reversed up to the school and kids dressed for
the dance jumped backward into their seats. Zach kept
spinning the dial, wanting to go back to Wednesday at
least, but then his copy of his dad’s watch dissolved into
nothingness before his eyes. For a moment, it seemed
like he could still feel it around his wrist, like a phantom
bracelet, but then even the sensation faded away. There
was nothing around his wrist but air.
Time stopped rewinding. To Zach’s dismay, the watch’s
last gasp had only managed to get them back to earlier
that same evening. They barely had any time at all to fix
things—and this was their last chance.
“That’s it,” he told Aaron. “No more watch. No more
do-overs. This time everything counts.”
“It’s on,” Aaron said. “It’s on like Donkey Kong!”
The boys found a back door that was cracked open
and snuck into the upper level. They peered down as
volunteers finished getting all the decorations and stuff
in place, converting the gym into a makeshift ranch.
The mechanical bull was set up, along with the hay-
stacks and mock horses. Helium balloons were filled
and released to float up to the ceiling. The Barn Razors
were warming up. Somebody filled the punch bowl with
lemonade.
“Any idea
what we’re going to do this time?” Aaron
asked. “’Cause, you know, our track record isn’t all that
great so far.”
“Those were just practice runs,” Zach decided. “This,
my friend . . . this is the real deal.”
He started to peek at his wristwatch to see exactly how
much time they had before the dance started, only to re-
member that the magic timepiece was history. Checking
out the gym’s clock instead, he gulped as he saw that the
dance was starting any minute now. Cars were already
pulling back into the parking lot, dropping off gangs of
kids. Zach had to think fast.
There was no time to work out some kind of mag-
ic-object exchange with his cousins. He was going to
have to make do with whatever he could get quickly.
He pulled out his phone and dialed the person he trust-
ed the most in the world.
“Hello? Sophie? You’re not going to like this, but I
need a huge favor! Yes, another one . . .”
Chapter 14
Time was running out . . . for the last time.
Zach fidgeted beside Aaron as the gym filled with kids
and the dance got underway. He waited anxiously for
Sophie to show up while things played out just as they
always had. Hogan showed off his rope tricks again. He
and Rachel hit the dance floor again. The Barn Razors
broke out a countrified version of the classic party song
“Shout.” The fateful dance was coming up again. . . .
“I’m really getting tired of hearing the same old songs
again and again,” Aaron said. “It’s as if the shuffle func-
tion on my phone is permanently broken.”
“Don’t worry,” Zach said. “After tonight, you’ll never
have to hear the Barn Razors again.” He peered through
the crowd, searching for his occasionally invisible lit-
tle sister, who really should have been here by now. Ev-
erything was depending on her being on time. “What’s
keeping Sophie?”
“Chill, dude,” Aaron said. “She’ll get here.”
“I hope so—otherwise all this was for nothing.”
Zach kept a close watch on Hogan and Rachel. She
was dancing like she didn’t have a care in the world.
Gosh, she was pretty! It killed Zach that she had no idea
what was in store for her only a few minutes from now.
“C’mon, Sophie,” Zach whispered, hoping that maybe
she had shown up invisibly for some reason. His hands
searched the empty air around him. “Paging Sophie?”
But nobody answered. The air was just air.
“If she doesn’t show up soon,” Zach said, “I’m going
to have to do something . . . magic or no magic. I can’t
let Hogan and Tricia prank Rachel like this.”
“What are you thinking?” Aaron asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe barge onto the dance floor and
call out Hogan. Granted, I don’t have any evidence. I’d
make a total fool of myself. But at least I’d stop them,
right?”
“Dude!” Aaron blurted. “That’s not going to go over
well with Principal Riggs . . . and if Rachel thinks that
you’re just trying to ruin her good time, which she will,
she’ll never speak to you again!”
“Yeah, but—”
“Dude, just hang tight,” Aaron said as the last number
started winding up. “Sophie will get here. I know she will.”
“I can’t wait any longer, dude. I have to do something.”
Heart pounding, Zach headed toward the dance floor,
determined to break up Hogan and Rachel’s dance one
way or another. Then a voice called out to him from be-
hind.
“Hey, bro!” Sophie said. “Forgetting something?”
Zach spun around to find his sister directly behind
him, holding out their mom’s magic ring.
“Don’t ask me what it took to get this,” she said. “You
owe me big-time . . . yet again.”
Without thinking, Zach gave Sophie a huge hug. His
heart leaped. He snatched the ring from her hand.
“Thanks, sis!”
His mom’s ring was possibly the most versatile mag-
ic object in the King family. Transmuting one object
to another could be used in a million different creative
ways. The only limit, as far as Zach knew, was its us-
er’s imagination. Zach wasn’t going to try anything
too complicated this time. His last-ditch plan was
to use his mother’s ring to turn all the water in the
pool into a trampoline so that Rachel would bounce
up safely after she fell. No one would have to know
that she couldn’t swim, her fearless image wouldn’t
take a hit, and, most important, Tricia wouldn’t get a
chance to play hero. He just needed to wait for Hogan
to set the trap, then rush over and work his magic at
the perfect right time. Easy-peasy, he thought, now that
I’ve got this ring.
Zach slipped the ring on his finger. He was expecting
a slight tingle. What he got was a sudden jolt of ener-
gy that shot up his arm and practically made his hair
stand on end. Zach felt like he was holding on to a live
electrical cable. It was hard to believe that his mom just
walked around wearing it like it was no big deal. She
made it look so easy.
“Wow,” he said, shaking off the shock. “I had no
idea. . . .”
“Oh, yeah, Mom’s the real deal,” Sophie said. “I hope
I don’t need to remind you of what happened last time.”
“I get it this time—really.” Zach cut her off before
she could really get rolling with her lecture. “But we’re
talking desperate times here.”
“Just be careful,” Sophie called after him as Zach
turned to make his way through the crowd over to Ra-
chel.
But Zach had underestimated how tricky it would be
to cross the packed dance floor. Dancing couples didn’t
notice him and didn’t give way, so Zach had to work his
way around the fringe of the dance floor as Hogan led
Rachel toward the center of the floor—and disaster.
“Oh, crud,” Zach said. “Hurry, hurry, hurry. . . .”
He was in such a rush that he wasn’t really looking
where he was going, and he accidentally walked smack
into one of the papier-mâché horses.
“Ouch!”
Dazed, he looked around for Rachel and Hogan, only
to realize that he had completely lost sight of them. For
all he knew, he was way on the wrong side of the dance
floor with half his class blocking his view. Frantic, he
scrambled up onto the dummy horse to see over the
crowd. He grabbed the reins to keep from sliding off it.
If only this was a real horse, he thought, I could ride
to the rescue. . . .
It was just a random thought, but the magic ring didn’t
know that. The ring activated in a big way, creating a
blinding flash that briefly lit up the entire gym, and the
horse beneath Zach suddenly came to life.
And so did all the other dummy horses in the gym.
As well as t
he mechanical bull.
“Wait!” Zach shouted at the ring. “I didn’t mean it!”
–
Just like in an old cartoon, one by one the horses ran
straight into the painted barn door—and vanished into
the scenery. Horace, displaying more energy and enthu-
siasm than Zach had ever thought the sleepy bulldog
was capable of, expertly herded the wild horses toward
the barn until all that was left was one lone straggler and
the horse Zach was sitting on. Energy coursed through
the magic ring on Zach’s finger, keeping the painted
door open just a little while longer.
How about that? Zach thought. I think I’m finally
getting the hang of this.
It was amazing what you could do as long as you kept
calm and didn’t lose control of the magic. And it defi-
nitely helped if you were trying to do the right thing.
Horace caught up with the last frantic pony, who was
galloping in circles around the badly scuffed dance floor.
An impressively deep bark sent the pony running into
the painting with the others.
“Nice work!” Zach praised the dog.
The only real horse left was the one beneath him. Zach
slid out of the saddle and onto the floor.
“Thanks for the ride, pal. I couldn’t have done it with-
out you.”
He swatted the panting horse on the rump and it gal-
loped into the painted barn as well. His work done,
Horace slumped down on the floor to take a well-de-
served nap. Within moments, he was asleep again and
snoring like crazy.
“So much for that stampede,” Zach said.
“Ahem.” Rachel called his attention to the bull, which
was still tied up on the floor. “You’re not quite done yet!”
“Right!” Zach said. “I almost forgot!”
He hurried over to her and the bull. The ring flashed
again—and a large mechanical bull was now now lying
on the floor.
“That’s better,” Rachel said. She started untying the
bull’s legs. “So, you want to explain to me what exactly
