Chapter 2
"She seriously cast a spell to make it look like she was a teenager and zapped a fake name into the school records just to protect you from a bully?" Brenda asked.
"Yeah, I believe that was the order of things," said Sarah. She sighed. "Anyway…"
Four years ago…
"Aunt Danni," Kelly said, "what're you doing here?"
"Quiet, I'm trying to blend in!" Daniella snapped, pointing out her outfit. She had on a mini skirt with pink tights, a lavender tank top, sneakers, and a rose cardigan. Her hair was pulled back in pigtails held up by light pink velvet ribbons.
"OK, you can't—" Kelly realized that there were too many people there. "Oh, follow me." She started to walk away, but Nadine and Sarah didn't follow fast enough and were tugged again. "OK, just back up." They complied, Lucy following.
Daniella looked at the crowd. "Run along. Go about your business. Nothing to see here that you can't see at the circus." She followed them into the deserted hall.
"Alright." Kelly said when they'd settled. "Aunt Danni, you can't stay here."
"Look, you can't use your powers, you don't have any magic yet, you said you weren't going to the principal, and you're not wearing your running shoes. So I am going to do something about this whether you like it or not."
"Could you at least disguise your voice and make this guise a little more convincing?" Lucy suggested.
"Oh. Duh." Daniella zapped herself. "How's this?" Her voice has gone down by about 10 years.
"Perfect," said Sarah, "Now, a little help here?"
Daniella sighed and zapped them. All three girls now had their ears back and they were also wearing new clothes:
Nadine had on a hot pink dress top and lavender leggings and flip-flops.
Kelly had on her standard flowing-sleeve burgundy top and cowgirl boots, but she also had a pleated, ribbon-belted mini skirt.
Sarah had on a blouse with a beaded lace bodice, a ¾-sleeve icy-blue sweater, a knee-length short skirt, and snow white flip-flops with snowflake print on the arches.
Kelly gasped. "This is amazing! But wait, this stuff wasn't in our closets."
"Now don't tell me you haven't heard of the fashionista spell? Zaps up clothes based on your personal style preferences. Uh, you're welcome."
Nadine giggled. "Wow. Why haven't you ever done something like this before?"
"There are some spells only the greatest Witches can do. 'Nuff said. Now let's get going. This 'puma' is hungry for some Cracker!" She walked off into the cafeteria and the girls followed. Daniella walked into the cafeteria and tapped the Cracker on the back, making her turn to face her. "You're in my seat."
The Cracker looked her up and down and scoffed. Honestly, in the mini skirt, cardigan, and pigtails, not to mention the major youth factor, Daniella did not look very threatening. The Cracker picked up her nuts, stood up, and showed her the nut trick. "I don't think so!"
Daniella scoffed. "Cute." She picked up a nearby jock's baseball and discreetly zapped it. "But can you do this?" She squeezed it and it practically disintegrated under her grip.
The Cracker regained her composure. "I'm not scared of you."
Both girls put their hands on their hips. They stared each other down for a couple seconds before Daniella crossed her arms. Finally, the Cracker whimpered and ran away.
Kelly went over to the door and called after her: "That's right! You better run! Because she's the big cheese now! And the cheese always covers the cracker!" She snapped her fingers and walked away.
Lucy looked at Daniella. "What'd you do? You didn't use magic, did you?"
"Of course not! I used ESP: Extra-Sensory Puma!"
In the forest…
Jack and Duck were both pacing.
"We're never gonna make it out!" Jack whined.
"We're gonna die in here!" Duck whined.
"Don't be so overly-dramatic!" Tech said, "The snow plow's gonna be here soon!"
Gunner, sitting on a chair and holding Frankie, hung up the phone. "Bad news, fellas. Plow won't be here till morning."
Tech looked at the ceiling. "Oh, come on!"
"I wanna live," Jack said, "I wanna live! I WANT TO LIVE!" He ran for the door and opened it, but yiped again at the sight of the snow wall. "We gotta at least try to dig through again!"
"With what?" Gunner asked, "You broke all our best plastic spoons!"
He started operating Frankie (his lips were clearly moving): "Oh, please. He stole all that stuff from Madame Lou's."
"Madame who's?"
"Madame Lou's."
"Madame who's?"
"Madame Lou's."
"Madame who—"
"Forget it!" Jack yelled, "Who needs spoons? I'm gonna ram it!" He came back to the bed and looked at the guys. "I'll see you on the other side, men." He gave a "mighty Tarzan" yell and ran for the wall, running into it…and getting stuck in it. "I can't feel my beak!" he called from inside the snow.
At the school…
The Cracker walked into the hall and saw the girls at their lockers. She walked over to them.
Daniella came out of the girls' bathroom. "Don't even think about it." The girls whirled around to see her and the Cracker. "In fact, don't even think about thinking about it."
Drake came up. "Yeah, you heard her. Back off!" He poked the Cracker in the shoulder and walked away. The Cracker stomped her foot and walked away in the opposite direction.
"Oh, yeah," said Kelly, "Life at school just got a whole lot better."
"Tell me about it," said Sarah. She then noticed something. "Hey! Look, Travis King is coming this way! He is so cute!"
A handsome male hare came up to them. "Hey, Kelly, Nadine, Lucy, Sarah."
"Hi, Travis," all four swooned.
"WHOA, whoa, hold it, hold it."
Now…
Austin stopped them. "Now you've lost me."
"Hang on, it gets better," said Daniella.
Four years ago…
"So," Travis said, "I'm throwing a party at the beach on Saturday and was wondering if you girls wanted to—"
"No, we can't," Daniella intercepted.
"Actually, I was talking to—"
"I said 'no,' now move, move! MOVE!"
Travis ran away.
"He seemed like a sweet boy. Those are the ones you gotta watch."
Now…
"OK, I'm back," said Austin, "Continue."
Daniella sighed. "As I was saying…"
Four years ago…
Lucy looked at Daniella. "Aunt Danni! What're you doing?! I had my eyes on him!"
"I never realized what dangers lurked in these halls!" Daniella said, "Bullies, boys—and that chicken pot pie they served today? Nasty! From now on, we are brown-bagging it!"
"Whoa, you're not saying you're gonna stay, are you?" asked Sarah.
"I have to," said Daniella, "If I leave, the Cracker's gonna go back to cracking." She pulled out her bag and reached in. "Now take off your shoes…" She pulled some shoes from her bag. "…and put these on."
Kelly took the shoes and looked at her youth-disguised aunt. "Aunt Danni, these look like nurse's shoes."
"Safest shoes ever made…in any dimension, probably. These waxy floors are a broken hip waiting to happen." Daniella put up her bag and walked away.
Kelly looked at Sarah. "Nurse's shoes."
"Well, look at the bright side," Sarah said. She then thought that over. "I'm sorry, there is no bright side to this."
In the forest…
Gunner was asleep in the chair, Frankie still in his arms.
The guys were watching Spanish soap operas on the TV.
"Poor Pablo," Jack said, crying, "She's breaking his heart!"
Robert put his arm around his cousin. "Why do they always go for the bad hombres?"
Duck turned off the TV. "Well, look at us. We're bonding!"
"You're right, Duck," said Benny, "Now that we've done it, let's get out of here." He started to leave, but Ace stopped him.
"I want to as much you do, Benny-Boy," Ace said, "but where's the snow plow?"
"There is no snow plow," said Frankie. They all looked at him.
"Gunner?" asked Tech.
"No, it's Frankie! Gunner's asleep!"
Michael leaned against Tech. "Dad…what's happening?"
Tech sighed. "Relax, Michael. I'm sure he's just talking in his sleep!"
"Oh, good work, Einstein," Frankie said, "Now shut your snout and listen! He never did call for a snow plow, but there's a heater register behind the nightstand. You can open it and get to your shuttle."
Jack ran over there, got on his knees, and shook Frankie's hand. "Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you! What am I doing?" He went back to the group as Slam moved the nightstand.
"He was right!" Ryan said, "Let's get out of here!"
"Take me with you!" Frankie called.
Jack looked at them. "Look, I know it sounds crazy, but, in a strange way, he did save our lives."
"Listen to yourself, Jack!" Robert yelled, "He's a doll!"
"You ain't so bad yourself, birdie-boy," said Frankie.
"I guess that in some part of his brain, Gunner wants us to do this," said Benny.
"But it's stealing…I think," Tech said.
"Just leave ten bucks on the table," said Frankie, "He got me at a garage sale for five."
Ace got out the money. "Works for me." Jack snatched the money, put it by the phone on the table, took Frankie, and ran out.
As soon as they were all gone, Gunner opened his eyes and took the money. "Works every time."
At the school…
After lunch…
Kelly walked up to Sarah and Nadine and Lucy, now wearing pink and purple floral dress top with a red, white, and blue fringe (for those of you who don't know, that's a skirt-pants combo) and some leather cowgirl boots.
"Like the outfit," commented Sarah.
"Yeah," Kelly said, "So did I until I came back here."
"What happened?" asked Nadine.
Daniella walked up in the exact same outfit. "Hey, girlfriend!" Sarah, Nadine, and Lucy all stared at her in shock. "Better get ready for class." She walked off.
"Wow," said Lucy.
"I know," said Kelly, "She's making us wear the same thing so that, if I get lost, she can say 'I'm looking for someone dressed exactly like me.'" She groaned. "Why didn't I just tell the principal in the first place? Sure, I'd be a snitch, but at least I'd be a snitch without a computer tracking device."
"Say what?" Sarah asked.
"It's in my choker," Kelly said, pointing at the flower choker she was wearing. She sighed and then thought of something. "Wait a minute…what if Aunt Danni wasn't here anymore?"
"The Cracker would you bust you open like a piñata," suggested Nadine, "and she'd probably use Dummy Drake as the stick?"
"Perfect."
"Am I missing something?"
"Just go get the principal after last period and meet me back here."
"Wait," said Lucy, "what about Aunt Danni?"
Kelly stopped a girl. "Hey, June! This choker would look great with that outfit." She took off her necklace and put it around June's neck.
"Uh, thanks, Kelly." June walked off.
With that, the bell rang and all four girls headed for class.
Daniella came back into the hall with a GPS. "Where's that girl going? We don't have gym this period!" She ran off.
After class…
Kelly walked into the hall with a walkie-talkie.
"OK," Sarah's voice came from the other end of the line, "We've got the principal and we're coming down the hall now."
"Perfect," said Kelly, "The fox is on the move."
"Wow, someone thinks a lot of themselves."
"It means I'm going in!" Kelly shut off the walkie-talkie and went into the cafeteria, where everyone was gathering their things. She looked for the kid nearest to the Cracker and decided on Drake. "Drake! I have some bad news. Daniella was arm-wrestling with the principal and accidentally snapped his wrist like a twig. He had to kick her out of school."
"Daniella got expelled?!" Drake cried, "I'm doomed!" He ran away.
The Cracker cornered Kelly. "Sorry to hear about your friend."
"Yeah," said Kelly, "I'm helpless now."
The Cracker cracked her neck again, advancing on her.
Kelly whimpered. "Sarah? Nadine?! Lucy! Mrs. Racer?"
The practically-blind teacher was cleaning her glasses on the other side of the room.
The Cracker cracked her nose again.
Kelly whimpered.
Five minutes later…
Kelly was lying on the salad bar, covered in salad dressing.
"Looks pretty good," said the Cracker, "but it still needs something. Oh, yeah. Nuts!" She did the nut thing one last time.
Sarah ran in with Nadine and noticed the situation. "We're a little late, aren't we?"
"Just a smidge!" Kelly snapped.
The principal walked in, followed by Lucy and cleared his throat to acknowledge his presence. The Cracker hurriedly put down the nuts, but she'd just been caught red-handed.
ANOTHER five minutes later…
The principal pulled the Cracker over to Kelly, whose fur Sarah was still rinsing out. "You did the right thing coming to me, girls. She's not gonna bother anyone in this school again." He looked at the Cracker. "You got something you wanna say, young lady?"
"Sorry, Coyote," said the Cracker.
"It's OK," said Kelly as Sarah finished fixing her.
"Alright, Henrietta Laverne," said the principal, dragging off the Cracker, "Let's go."
As soon as they were gone, all four girls burst out into giggles.
"Henrietta Laverne?" Lucy giggled.
"At least now we know why she's so mean," Kelly said.
Daniella came in and sighed, zapping herself back to normal. "Good thing that's over. I was running out of fake dangers to protect you from."
"Say what?" Kelly asked, running over there.
"I only used all this to get you to do the right thing and go to the principal, like you should've done in the first place!"
"So you did all this to teach me a lesson?"
"Exactly! You've heard of reverse psychology. Welcome to reverse Witch-ology."
"Well, you better run, 'cause this coyote's like a puma! Hiya!"
Daniella shrieked and ran off. "Principal! Principal! Help me, help me!"
Now…
"Wow," said Brenda.
"I know," said Kelly.
"Wait, what happened to Frankie?" asked Brenda.
Suddenly, the puppet appeared by the couch. "Ta-da!" Brenda almost screamed when she jumped back at that. Archer, the family dog, appeared behind it. "Ha! I love that!" Brenda kicked him. "Ow! Watch the tail!"
Brenda sighed. "You scared me! Any sane—or insane, rather—person would've thought that puppet was possessed!"
"Oh, like Kelly a few months back?" Ryan pointed out.
"I remember that!" said Sarah, "To think it all started because we wanted a vacation. We should not have gone to Peru."
About three months ago…
The group poured out of the hotel in Acme Peru (except for Slam, who had stayed behind to watch the kids, and Brenda, who had stayed behind to watch the town).
"I sure hope we're doing something fun on this vacation," said Duck.
"Oh, trust me, we are," said Ryan.
A tour guide came up. "Welcome to Acme Peru. I am Louis. Are you ready for today's archaeological dig?"
Duck glared at the coyote father and son, knowing they must be behind this. "Seriously?"
"At least you came prepared for the beach," said Sarah, pulling a pail and shovel out of his pack.
"What do you use for a microscope?" Tech asked, "Something so old it was designed by Anthony van Leeuwenhoek?" He laughed. No one else quite got it, though.
"Tech, honey," Sophie said, "I love you when I say this: I've heard better trash talk from mimes."