"WOWP: Mopping Up Stevie's Mess"

After drawing a moustache on the fainted Warren, Max took off to explore the rest of the Wizard World City Hall. Justin then flashed his wand and magically removed the moustache from Warren's face because he didn't want Warren to think that he was the culprit.

"What happened?" asked Warren after he awoke. "Where did Stevie go?"

"Well, she kind of 'went to pieces' after losing her powers," replied Justin, pointing to the gray shattered chunks all around.

Warren picked up one of the gray chunks which quickly began melting into a glob of goo. The other shattered pieces on the floor were melting away too.

"Well, I'm not surprised," said Warren. "She always did leave messes for me to clean up. Ironically, that always helped make me a better wizard which why I think I wound up winning the competition."

"We have a lot in common," said Justin.

"First thing's first," continued Warren. "Time to clean this floor."

Warren pulled out his wand and pointed it at a mop and bucket that were in the corner:

"Mop and Bucket, do your thing
and make this whole floor sparkle-ing!"

Instantly, the mop and bucket sprang to life as if an invisible person was using them. Within moments, the melted gray pieces had been mopped up and drained into the bucket. Warren then picked it up and gazed at all that remained of his evil sister.

"I'll take this home and give her a proper burial," he said. "Somehow I feel I owe her that much at least."

Warren then looked up at where Justin's surge-protector had been before Stevie obliterated it.

"Your idea to set up a surge-protector was a good one," he said to Justin. "But as we both already realised, we can never forget about other people with wands."

Warren then flashed his wand again:

"Surge-protector, return from destruction
and continue to perform your primary function!"

In a split-second, the surge-protector was right back where it was before, perfectly intact and operational.

"Now to make sure it can never be removed or destroyed again," Warren continued:

"Place an invisible force field around our device
to ensure that no one can ever mess with it twice!"

Immediately after reciting this spell, Warren uttered a phrase that would have sounded nonsensical to a mortal or a less-educated wizard. But Justin instantly recognized it as a powerful spell-lock – the kind only a full-wizard can cast.

"Finished," said Warren. "Now if anyone else ever tries to overload and meltdown this place again, it ain't gonna happen."

"Wow, Warren," said Justin. "I'm impressed. Now I think we should go report this whole episode to the Wizard Council. We'll be hailed as heroes throughout the Wizard World."

"True," said Warren. "But if the whole Wizard World knows that you and Alex played a role in all this, then all of Stevie's followers who are still out there will target you for revenge."

"Yes, of course you're right," admitted Justin. "Alex and I should stay anonymous for now. But as I recall, of all Stevie's followers are those had practically no chance of winning their family's competition. So in a few years, they'll all be mortals and will be powerless to take revenge, right? So maybe then I can tell everyone that the surge-protector was my idea."

"If you want too, I guess," said Warren. "Meantime, why don't you help me celebrate my becoming a full-wizard, eh?"

"Sure thing," replied Justin. "Let's go get Max."

Later that afternoon, Justin, Max, and Warren met up with Alex and Harper at the Wizard County Fair. When Justin first saw the girls, he suddenly felt a guilty about believing that Alex had gone evil. He was about apologize to her, but before he could, she took him aside and surprisingly apologized to him first.

"Look, I'm sorry for the way I snapped at you earlier," she began. "Harper told me about what you saw in the fortune cookie and I think I can understand how that misled you."

"Well yes, there was the fortune cookie," agreed Justin, "and your act was actually very convincing. But still I should have had more faith in you, so I'm sorry too."

"Darn right you should have," said Alex in a half-serious/half-teasing tone. "But I'll forgive you... someday... maybe."

Alex then smiled and Justin knew that she was just joking was those last couple words. They both had completely put the past behind them and all was forgiven – as usual.

As they went to rejoin the others, Justin asked Alex if Harper had opened those other fortune cookies she had taken.

"There were others?" Alex asked. "That's strange, she didn't mention that part."

The issue over the other cookies was then quickly forgotten for the rest of the day when Max suddenly grabbed his two older siblings and dragged them off to see the bearded ladies.

The next morning, Justin came downstairs and saw Harper sitting on the living room sofa with a smile on her face and a starry gaze in her eyes. From the girl's body language, Justin could tell she was thinking about a boy – and it wasn't him.

Not wanting to disturb her obvious good mood, Justin went into lair to use another means of unravelling this new mystery. Picking up his magic jack-in-the-box which he had since repaired after Alex ripped the head off, Justin asked:

"What's the deal with Harper this morning? Does it have anything to do with those fortune cookies she took?"

"Yes it does," came the reply. "When she opened them, she originally hoped to see images of you and her kissing. But instead, she saw images of herself dating and then kissing your friend Zeke."

"Zeke?" thought Justin. "Really?"

Justin recalled how Harper had previously taken Zeke to the prom (or the "anti-prom" as it was for them). When they didn't have a second date after that, Justin had suspected that Harper was just using Zeke to make him jealous so as to woe him away from Juliet. But now Justin recalled how Zeke was usually very shy around girls, and he realised that this was probably the real reason the relationship with Harper didn't go anywhere.

Then Justin had a brilliant idea. If he could persuade Harper to join the Alien Language League, she and Zeke would be forced to talk because talking was all the League members ever did.

It didn't take much to convince Harper that this would be a good idea, and she agreed to sign up as soon as she got back from her upcoming visit with her parents. . . . And the rest, as they say, is history.

THE END