CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The following day at school was the usual same-old, same-old routine for Tammy, Tommy, and Penny. As for Tonya, she was antsy and waiting for the day to end so that she could get back hope and use the crystal ball for her plan against the godchildren of Wanda, Cosmo, Timantha, and Brendan.
When the day finally ended, Tonya wasted no time in telling Jeeves to drive home as quickly as possible. She wanted to get back in plenty of time to monitor her intended victims.
As for her 'intended victims', they had taken the school bus back to their respective homes. Tammy and Tommy though reminded Penny about the homework get-together at their house later on tonight. Penny nodded.
"Don't worry, I'll be there", she assured them.
When Tammy and Tommy got into the house, they saw their mother Trixie getting prettied up.
"What's happening, Mom?" Tammy asked.
"I'm going out to a business dinner, Tammy", Trixie replied, "so I'm sorry that I won't be with you this evening".
"What about Dad?" Tommy asked.
"He's working late at the studio, and probably won't be in until about eight PM", Trixie answered, "but there is dinner for you in the refrigerator. A Vicky-bot will be here to look after you both until one of us gets back".
"Uh, Mom", Tammy said, "we have a friend coming over to help work on a homework assignment".
"No worries", Trixie replied, "the Vicky-bot will be briefed on that when I make the call, so you'll be okay".
Tammy and Tommy rolled their eyes. There was no point in trying to convince Mom – or Dad – about the Vicky-bots.
Over at the Pennington house, Penny told her parents about the homework assignment with the Turner twins.
"Just so long as you're back by eight-thirty", Mrs. Pennington said, "it's all right with us".
"Thanks, Mom", Penny replied. She went back upstairs to her room. Relaxing some, she decided to nap for a bit, asking Brendan to wake her around five-thirty PM, when it was time for her to head on over to the Turner Residence.
Brendan and Timantha – in their 'doll's house' - relaxed as well, taking advantage of Penny's nap to stretch out themselves. Finally, Brendan looked at the clock and said, "It's about time to wake Penny. You'd better do your thing".
Nodding, Timantha activated the cloning device, creating her double. The clone waited for Timantha's instructions.
"Just act naturally, and leave the granting of any of Penny's wishes to Brendan. I know that this is rather sneaky, but I really want to be with Trixie at this dinner", she said.
"No problem, Timantha", her doppelganger said, "You have a good time and I'll play the doting fairy godparent. This wand is a fake, but if I look like I'm using it in tandem with Brendan's there will be no suspicions raised".
"You'll be okay, Brendan?" Timantha asked her husband.
"If there's any problem, I'll page you on your beeper", Brendan said.
Timantha nodded. Her pager was a small wrist-mounted device that looked like a bracelet. If any problem came up, then it would quietly vibrate.
"Well, I'd better get dressed", Timantha said, POOF-ing onto herself an evening dinner dress.
"Wow", the clone said, "I really look good".
With a "See you soon", Timantha POOF-ed out to the restaurant. It would be a half-hour wait, but since there were shops next to the restaurant, Timantha would be able to keep herself occupied.
Brendan turned to clone-Timantha and said, "Let's do it".
Both of them POOF-ed into Penny's room. Brendan floated down and shook Penny awake.
"It's time, Penny", Brendan said, pointing to the clock.
"Thanks, Brendan", Penny replied as she got up off her bed.
Putting on her clothes, Penny said, "why don't you POOF yourselves over there, and I'll see you there?"
"Good idea", Brendan replied. Raising his wand, Brendan POOF-ed himself, and clone-Timantha over to Tammy's and Tommy's bedroom. Cosmo and Wanda were there.
"Hi", Brendan said after they got their bearings, "Penny's on her way over now. Where are Tammy and Tommy?"
"Downstairs", Cosmo replied.
Just then, with another POOF, a very large butterfly net appeared over them. It caught all four of them. The net – and its occupants – fell to the floor. They were trapped.
"What the…?" Brendan exclaimed as he tumbled inside the net with clone-Timantha and her in-laws.
Just then, another POOF filled the room. Tonya Buxaplenty and Juandisimo Magnifico appeared.
"A little bit bulky for me to lift, Juandisimo", Tonya said, "If you'll do the honors?"
"Si", Juandisimo said with a smirk, waving his wand.
The net – and the occupants shrunk down in size so that it looked like a smaller-than-normal net holding four dolls. Tonya then picked up the net, being careful to make sure that the now-shrunken occupants could not escape.
"Here they come", Tonya said next, hearing the sound of approaching footsteps and the voices of Tammy and Tommy, "get ready".
As they entered the room, they scarcely had time to take in the sight of Juandisimo and Tonya when Tonya said, "I wish Tammy and Tommy were both babies!"
With another POOF from Juandisimo's wand, Tammy and Tommy were instantly changed into six-month old infants. Tonya held out her hand, into which Juandisimo POOF-ed two pacifiers. She then bent down and forced them into Tammy's and Tommy's mouths. The pacifiers had been spelled so that they could not be spat out or removed by the now-infant twins, who were looking horrified - and helplessly - at the scene.
Quickly closing the bedroom door, Tonya then turned to face Juandisimo.
"Their minds are still the same, but in that form, they cannot talk, and in any case the pacifiers will stop them from making any sound", Juandisimo said.
Nodding in satisfaction, Tonya activated the cloning device that she had in her hand. Immediately, doubles of ten-year olds Tammy and Tommy appeared, further shocking the baby-fied twins.
"These are my instructions", Tonya said to the clones, "you are to act normally, and not to let on to anyone what happened here. When Pennington arrives, act naturally, get her up here, and we'll do the rest".
"Yes, Miss Buxaplenty", the clone-twins replied.
"Now to make sure that our new babies here are well taken care of", Tonya said, "I wish that they were both in the nursery at Flappy Bob's Learn-a-Toruim!".
Juandisimo raised his wand once more and with a POOF, the infant Tammy and Tommy vanished.
"Who are you? Why are you doing this?" Wanda blurted out from the net.
Tonya looked at the trapped fairies, and then turned to Juandisimo.
"Put them on ice", she ordered.
With another POOF, the net vanished, to be replaced by a large block of ice. The shrunken fairies were encased in it, powerless to move.
"Oh, and you'd better get me their wands as well", Tonya said.
With yet another POOF, the four wands from the frozen fairies appeared in Tonya's hand.
"Good timing", Juandisimo noted as he looked out the bedroom window, "Miss Pennington is coming up the drive".
Turning to the clones of Tammy and Tommy, Tonya said, "you know what to do. Get her up here".
Nodding, the clones left the room and walked downstairs. A couple of minutes later, they re-entered, with Penny following. As clone-Tommy closed the door, Penny saw the block of ice with the fairies encased within. She started to speak, but Tonya beat her to the punch.
"I wish that she was a baby as well!" she said to Juandisimo.
With another POOF, Penny – like Tammy and Tommy – was instantly transformed into a six-month infant. Tonya quickly placed another spelled pacifier in Penny's mouth.
"Better let her join the others, Juandisimo", Tonya then said, "but before I do…"
She activated the cloning device once again, and this time a doppelganger of Penny Pennington appeared. As Juandisimo POOF-ed baby Penny to the Learn-a-Torium, Tonya gave the clone Penny her instructions.
"Act normally around everyone else, and still act as friends to the clones of the Turner twins. Say nothing about this little event".
"Yes, Miss Buxaplenty", the cloned Penny replied.
"The Vicky-bot is here, everyone!" Trixie called from downstairs, oblivious to what had been going on in the bedroom, "so I'm heading out".
"All right, do your thing, and Pennington-clone, remember to get back to the Pennington house not too late", Tonya said. The clone nodded.
Tonya nodded to Juandisimo, and he, Tonya, and the block of ice entrapping the now wand-less fairies vanished, leaving a scene that looked like Tammy, Tommy, and Penny doing homework…
Reappearing at the Learn-a-Torium nursery, Tonya looked around to ensure that they were not being watched by anyone – other than the infants – then walked over to a play-pen where three newcomers were trying to come to grips with what had happened. They had been - unsuccessfully - trying to pull each other's pacifiers out of their mouths, but their attempts abruptly ceased when they saw Tonya appear.
"So, our little baby trio is nice and comfy", Tony said as she leaned over the edge of the play-pen, looking down at the helpless trio. They looked up fearfully at the now-giant Tonya, and their ice-encased fairy godparents.
"Allow me to introduce myself", Tonya said, "I am Tonya Buxaplenty, and this is my fairy godparent Juandisimo Magnifico", she added, gesturing to Juandisimo floating beside her, looking down upon the trio with an unpleasent smile on his face.
The twins and Penny looked at each other before looking back up at Tonya. So there was another person in Dimmsdale with fairy godparents, and this person had found out about them first... and trapped them!
"In case you are wondering why you're here? Well, one thing I heard my parents say is that in order to keep what one has, to eliminate any possible competition as early as possible", Tonya said conversationally, "and when I found out about you three having fairy godparents, well… I just couldn't let that happen".
Tonya waited a few seconds to ensure that Tammy, Tommy and Penny understood, and then said, "You'll be staying like this for about two weeks. The exact time all depends on when your fairy godparents explode".
Tonya nodded to Juandisimo, who raised his wand. With a POOF, the block of ice vanished, and onto each of the three babies wrists appeared what looked at first glance to be elasticized ID bracelets. Tammy and Tommy wore one each while Penny wore one on each wrist. The bracelets - the trio suddenly realized - were their fairy godparents.
"As they no longer have their wands, they can't POOF back into their normal forms, and since they will also no longer be able to grant wishes without them, in about two weeks, the magical build-up will make them inflate, and then explode!" Tonya said as she held the four wands in her hand.
"You all look so cute and cuddly sitting in that playpen", Tonya concluded, "Enjoy your stay here. I'm sure that one of the Happy-Happy Betty and Happy-Happy-Gary clones will love doting over you. Goodbye!"
With that, Tonya and Juandisimo POOF-ed themselves away, leaving the three infant-ized children and their now-helpless fairy godparents. The fairy godparents could still talk, but that was it.
"Tammy", Wanda said from Tammy's wrist, "are you all right?"
Baby Tammy nodded, but pointed to her pacifier to show that she could not take it out.
"It wouldn't make any difference, Sweetie", Wanda said, "because as a baby, you can only make baby sounds and not talk. And without our wands, we're stuck as we are".
"There may be one hope though", Brendan said from Baby Penny's left wrist. Penny lifted her left wrist up closer to her face to listen.
"Timantha is not on your wrist, Penny", Brendan said, "It's a clone of her. She is out with Tammy and Tommy's mom".
Penny looked wide-eyed at Brendan, and then at the cloned-Timantha wrist bracelet on her other wrist.
"Timantha has known Trixie since childhood, Penny", Brendan explained, "and Trixie invited her out for a business dinner this evening. The clone filled in for her during her absense".
"Well, I hope that she can help us, and not be fooled by the clones of our godchildren", Cosmo said from Baby Tommy's wrist.
"In this form, I can't use my pager', Brendan said, "So we have to think of something to warn her. She's our only hope".