The 'rainbow ice cream' recipe in this chapter is completely made up and not based on any real recipe. All the how-tos I found online just said to take vanilla ice cream and add food coloring which is boring so I had to invent something more involved. I don't know how multi-fruit ice cream would even taste in real life!

10 158 Vera ~Dreamland~

I stand in a beam of moonlight that throws my shadow against the blackboard—and the shadow of the pastry I'm holding. Shimmergloom's shadow reaches for it, considers, then flashes back into darkness and is gone.

This was the last idea I had. I tried magic. I tried Shimmergloom's magic when she loaned me her silver bell. I tried dragging Shimmergloom herself out of her room to get her and her shadow in the same place. I tried calling Mom and asking for advice, but she didn't know anything that would help. And now bribery with sweets hasn't worked either.

When I get back to the room the lights are off but Shimmergloom is still lurking in the closet, like she's been doing all week. The school nurse couldn't find anything medically wrong with her and the teachers gave up on gettuing her to come to class. she's not being mean like Madame was when her shadow was stolen; Shimmergloom just sleeps a lot and complains that light hurts her eyes. She has been trying to help me get her shadow back but she's just not well enough to be much use.

"It didn't work." I say to the shape in the darkness. "Want a croissant?" I snitched several from the kitchen as bait. Shimmergloom usually goes for sweets but now she just stares at me. I can see her eyes reflect the little light in the room. That's new. When she still doesn't answer I ask, "Are you all right?"

"Vera? I… think.."

"Hmm?"

Another long pause. "I be really hungry."

"Want something else? I can sneak back to the kitchen." I've done so much sneaking around this week I could find my way around the school with my eyes closed.

Shimmergloom uncurls herself from the depths of the closet and stands up, wobbling a little. She comes out and I get a look at her in the glow from our nightlight. She looks really bad, her face is all sunken and pale.

"Ok I'm calling Mom again in the morning, you need to go to a doctor in the magic dimension."

"I be really hungry." She says again, looking at me steadily. Then, in a shaky voice, "And I think I be a vampire. Um." She smiles and she has fangs.

"Whoa!" I didn't believe that would really happen. And I have no clue what to do about it. "Shimmergloom-"

"I be really hungry. You smell good."

"Just because you're a vampire doesn't mean you should be creepy!" The words come out in a rush.

Shimmergloom wrenches her gaze off me and looks past me at the door to our room.

I step in front of it. "Whoa, hang on. You can't go bite our classmates, you'll get arrested!"

She looks back at me. Her eyes are flat yellow. I don't really believe this is real, maybe because it's two in the morning and I'm dazed with sleepiness. And this is Shimmergloom. I believe in her. But right now I don't quite believe she won't go out and try to vamp someone. She steps forward, slowly towards the door.

"Vera I don't think I can stop, I be so hungry!"

"Well..." People can give blood, I've seen it when the bloodmobile comes to the Frutti Music Bar. I don't have needles and tubes but I have very sharp fabric scissors and I could cut my hand or something not dangerous… "You really need to drink someone's blood? Ok, I'll think of a way to..."

Shimmergloom moves so fast I can't follow. She grabs my shoulders, banging me into the closed door, and bites me in the neck.

It hurts! It hurts so much my whole body locks up in outrage, all my muscles frozen. I make protesting sounds because my mouth won't work enough to yell actual words. I'm so startled and angry I haven't gotten around to being scared, but this hurts and I didn't think Shimmergloom would do this. She's my friend.

And then the pain in my neck, and everything else, is getting farther away and I remember people sometimes faint from giving blood. "Shim—stop, I don't feel so..."

The world goes gray from the top down.

I don't actually faint but I do topple forward and the next thing I know I'm on my bed and the lights are on and Shimmergloom is saying, "I be so sorry!"

I glare. I try to sit up and my head spins so I go back to lying-down glaring.

"You saved me! I couldn't stop! Vera I be so sorry! Are you all right?"

I don't actually feel awful, just wobbly and tired and not like I'm also turning into a vampire. I feel my neck and there's a sore spot but no actual wound. I'm really mad but I think I'll be all right. As long as everything Officer Evans said about wounds and infection doesn't apply with vampires. And— "If you're not a vampire you'll puke from the iron in my blood."

Shimmergloom stops apologizing and looks very perplexed. She has blood on her mouth but her eyes are warm amber again and he shadow has returned. Why would vamping me make it come back? I'm too tired to think about it.

When the Frutti Music Bar has a blood drive everyone who donates gets glasses of water and free potato chips as well as a free smoothie. I've helped waitress so I know the water and salt are supposed to help. I sit up and gulp from the water bottle I keep by my bed. Which is the only thing I'm going to do tonight because it's two thirty and I just want to sleep. I squirm into my pajamas and under the covers.

And sit bolt upright. "Did Signor Vincenzo just turn into a vampire too?"

"Not yet probably. He be an ordinary person not magical."

"Oh good." I flop back down. I was too tired to do anything anyway. "Twig sent me a recipe for something called rainbow ice cream that she thinks will get his shadow back on. We can try to make it tomorrow. I wonder why vamping me—which I'm going to be mad about tomorrow—why it fixed you."

Shimmergloom turns off the light and I hear her rustling around getting ready for bed. "Maybe my dream..."

But I'm asleep before I can hear what it might be.

I dream of a gray forest. The trees are leafless and stretch out sharp branches, but the forest isn't dread. If I listen for it I can hear the sap moving in the trees. Their shadows on the ground are violet and green, colors muted but rich.

I feel like I've dreamed of this place before. The silence is thick as a warm blanket, but I can hear the sea somewhere in the distance. I turn towards it. I've missed the ocean.

My feet don't touch the ground and I slip between the trees like a shadow. I'm not flying, it just doesn't seem necessary to actually walk unless I want to.

I reach the edge of the forest and look down a pebbled shore to the water. The ocean ripples dark silver under the gray sky. I put my feet down and the stones crunch musically as I walk down to the water. The little waves creep up and back slowly enough that I can see my reflection in them. I'm wearing my magic clothes, and the scarves flutter back in the breeze from the ocean.

This must be the World of Dreams so I'm not surprised when Shimmergloom appears beside me, slowly fading in as a ghost that solidifies into a real person. She looks surprised to see me.

"Vera!"

"You didn't magic me here?"

"No. Ye must have almost gotten Lost."

"Lost?" I repeat. In the book the lost boys were babies who fell out of their carriages but there's probably more to it in real life.

Shimmergloom looks very perplexed, like she's never tried to explain it before. "Sometimes, sometimes, when a child believes they have no true home they come here. Just for a while. As long as their parents keep searching for them they can go back. Otherwise they can stay here."

That's all right then. But… no true home? That is how I felt, just for a minute because Shimmergloom is my best friend and she hurt me, even if she didn't mean to and couldn't help it. But if being Lost means coming to this place that's so lovely and peaceful, maybe it isn't so bad. I look down at our feet on the bluegray pebbles. Something sparkles there, and I bend down to scoop up a handful. Between the smooth stones there's a hint of brilliant blue. I fish out a little sapphire, cut like it could be set into a ring.

Shimmergloom says, "It must be washed up from a pirate ship. Out there."

I look out across the water. Sea and sky join into a gray haze not too far out, but I see there's something out there. Hard to see, but it could be masks sticking out of the water. I imagine tattered sails billowing like ghosts. A light flickers.

"What's that?"

"What?"

I point, and Shimmergloom gets out her telescope and looks and says, "There be no reason for a light to be there. I should go see what it is. Do ye want to come too? After, we can visit my ancestors and Tiger Lily. She wants to meet you!"

I'm not sure I want to meet someone who thinks I'm part of a prophecy, but I do want to fly here in this world. I haven't flown anywhere in months, I haven't missed it but now I want to. "I think I forgot how to fly."

"Ye don't forget!" Shimmergloom laughs and grabs my hands, pulling me into the air. I don't really think I forgot; I wanted her to do this.

I protest, "It's easy for you, you have wings!" But I've got it now, resting my weight on the air, letting the wind push me back. It feels so good, it feels natural. Like I'm meant to fly. Shimmergloom lets go, seeing that I'm all right and I turn to face the sea. Into the wind, but it feels soft and isn't cold, because this is just a dream and I'm really in my bed at school. I let the dream wind carry me out over the water.

I quickly realize I can't go too low without getting splashed and I come up to fly next to Shimmergloom. The ocean here is shallow, I can see the bottom. Rocks and violet coral with reaching branches like trees on land. I see a flash of movement and Shimmergloom circles back to me.

"I saw…"

It's a mermaid. She swims out from behind a rock and looks up at me. Her tail is dusty rose in color and her eyes are wicked. She smiles at me with sharp teeth like a shark's and I jerk back, my magic carrying me straight up as if the mermaid will leap out of the water and grab me.

But Shimmergloom sinks lower and waves, "Lasky! This be Vera, my friend! Who be out on the wrecks? We saw a light."

The mermaid lifts her head out of the water. She's wearing about a hundred strings of pearls, she's beautiful until she speaks and shows her teeth. "I haven't been paying attention. I suppose there have been new smells in the water like someone was living there. I think it's a human."

"A Lost child? One of the tribe?"

The mermaid shrugs her pearl-decked shoulders. "A human?"

Shimmergloom sighs a little. "It be fine. Thanks, Lasky."

Lasky smiles, waves, and dives under to vanish again.

I say, "...is she your friend?"

"Mermaids be… um… different. If ye ever come here awake, be careful. They won't mean ye harm but they might forget ye need to breathe air."

I shiver, and fly a little higher. From here I can see there really are sunken ships, their masts sticking out of the water. I fly closer, it's a whole graveyard here, many ships from ancient to modern. They haven't decayed, except for the sails. The rest of the wrecks look perfectly preserved.

The light is coming from the window that's beached mostly out of the water half sunk in a sandbar. The front half is stuck down in sand and water but the stern is high and dry. I drop down and see the light is a lantern sitting inside a slightly open window. I push it open further. There's nobody inside.

"Shimmergloom?"

She holds out her bell. It remains silent. "There be no one. Just us and Lasky."

So we push the window farther open and climb in.

Someone's been doing magic here; there's a beat-up cauldron and some plants and crystals and paper with magical diagrams drawn on it. Someone's also been living here. The bed is a mess of blankets and there are clothes strewn around. I pick up a shirt and hold it out. "Boy clothes."

"It looks like a boy's room." Shimmergloom wrinkles her nose, though all I can smell is saltwater.

This shirt would fit me, so it isn't a big guy. "What kind of magic is he doing?"

Shimmergloom looks at the stuff on the table and makes a face. "It looks like he just got whatever magical components he could find. Can you tell anything?"

I close my eyes and reach within for my magic. It rises warm inside my skin and I focus on how much I want to know if anything bad is happening here. An instant chill suggests that yes, it's bad. My hands tug to one side and I open my eyes to find myself reaching for a chest tucked under a table. I haul it out, but there's a big padlock on it. "Can you magic it open?"

"Careful, stand back." Shimmergloom holds her silver bell over the chest and I hide behind her. The bell hums softly. "There be magic on it. Something nasty. Maybe I can break it." She rings her bell and glitter sifts down from it over the lock. "Hmm. Hit it with your sword."

I guess she'd know if it was going to explode. I think how I want my sword and it appears in my hand, the violet blade already glowing. I swing the blade down on the lock and feel resistance—am I hitting the spell? I change my angle a little and slice through it. The lock trembles and drops open. I take it off and lift the trunk's lid. And gasp at what I see inside.

It's a large chest but the space inside is filled by a round glass bottle. It's full of something awful, mud and blood and old leaves, swirls of poisonous colors. "Shimmergloom, what is this?"

She reaches slowly towards the bottle—and the thing inside turns and it has a face. We both cry out and jump back and when I recover from the fright I see Shimmergloom's gone very pale.

"That be—I think—we need help." She holds out her bell and rings it hard, this time producing a clear ringing sound that echoes.

"What'd you do?"

"Called me parents. Let's wait outside."

I'm not going to argue. We go out onto the deck of the ship, and stand under the gray sky and white wispy sails. It should be creepy, but the sounds of the sea and the breeze just feel peaceful. "What was that in the bottle? It was alive!"

Shimmergloom shakes her head and kind of her entire body too, to show how bad it is. "I think it be a Nemesis."

A Nemesis? The capital letter is clearly audible. I summon my phone into this dream so I can scroll through Twig's messages. According to the Shadow Magic book a Nemesis is like a person's perfect enemy, made by adding a piece of their shadow to a bunch of nasty ingredients. It can only be destroyed by the person whose shadow was used to make it. Twig did not mention them being grown in bottles.

If it was a Nemesis, whose Nemesis? I didn't feel anything from it other than creeped out. "Whose Nemesis do you think it is?"

"Hmm! This must be the same bilgerat who cut off my shadow, but it isn't my Nemesis. Shadow magic be rare, there can't be two."

"Then we can find out who it is! And get this 'bilgerat' to stop messing with people on Earth." and then I won't have to worry about magical things at all unless I want to.

Just as it occurs to me to wonder how long it'll take for an answer to Shimmergloom's call, she points up to the sky and I see two shapes against the gray sky, one dark and one bright. They look like birds at first but I realize they're people, flying down to meet us.

A man and a woman, who look hardly older than we are, certainly not old enough to be Shimmergloom's parents. They're dressed in fantasy clothes, leather pants and laceup tunics with beautiful tooling. The man is dressed in brown and green, and I can see his resemblance to his daughter. They have the same messy curls and the same smile. The woman is all in white edged with gold and wears a golden bell around her neck. Her long hair is pale butter-yellow and her wings are the palest shade of green. This is the real Tinkerbell? She doesn't look much like the one in the movie. She hugs Shimmergloom and turns to look at me. My thoughts must show in my expression because she says, "You can call me Belle."

"And I'm Matt. I'm not a famous literary figure. Not yet anyway!" Matt offers his hand to shake, a very Earth gesture. "Thank you for trying to find out what happened to my father. What did you two find here?"

Shimmergloom says, "Something bad. I think someone be trying to grow a Nemesis."

Tinkerbell gasps. Matt says, "Show us."

So we go inside and I open the chest again. Tinkerbell goes pale when she sees the thing inside but Matt leans forward and lifts the bottle out with both hands. The thing in the bottle squirms and we see a mushed face with bulgy black lips and beady eyes.. "Ok, this... is a little outside my experience. Can we just drop it overboard?"

I imagine the gooey thing swimming around. Bet the mermaid wouldn't like that.

Tinkerbell draws herself up. "Only the person it is made from can destroy a Nemesis, and I think this one is mine. I suppose I deserved to have one made for me one day."

Matt says, "Yes, it's your fate to face off with a tiny Nemesis since you don't deserve to meet one full grown." Matt puts the bottle down carefully, draws his sword, and offers it to his wife.

I back up all the way to the door, imagining the awful thing leaping at us. When Matt opens the bottle—and scoots back pretty fast himself—the thing sort of pours out, a gooey half-made creature the size of a cat. It moans and claws the air with half a dozen limbs before Tinkerbell pins it to the floor with the sword. She immediately jumps back, lets out a sharp breath and, when the thing stops moving, smiles proudly.

I step forward to take a closer look but the Nemesis is already melting into a puddle of oily goo. Shimmergloom looks at it and her shoulders finally relax. She was really scared, more than I was.

"Mama? Be you all right?"

"I'm fine darling. That was less than I deserved. But we must find out who created it."

So the four of us tear apart the cabin searching. We find what Shimmergloom calls "grub," hardtack and jerky and some actual rum, and clothes, and the magic gear. We do not find a book entitled 'My Evil Plan' or any notes that could hint at what the plan is.

It's Tinkerbell who uses that word. "Our enemy has found the spells of shadow magic that our ancestors hid. He is dangerous and in danger." Her hands are white where she clutches a spell diagram. Matt goes and puts his arm around her.

Shimmergloom says, "Don't be afraid Mama, we'll find him and stop him. Vera and I can do it."

I don't remember volunteering, but I can't say that right now. And these grownups just seem to be assuming we can do it. This dream is turning into a bit of a nightmare. I'd like to be back in the beautiful shadowy forest, but the dream keeps me here.

Matt's rubbing his chin, thinking aloud. "You said the talents on Earth were getting their shadows stolen, and now this attack on us... I'm having a thought and it's not a nice one."

"He fell into the World of Nightmares. He'll never be able to return."

And now I have a thought that isn't nice, "Um. My Mom was in the World of Nightmares for a little while, and she brought back a bunch of people with her. Maybe whoever it is got out with everyone else."

Matt and Tinkerbell look at me and I shrug. I don't really know what Mom did, she just lit up and everyone appeared.

Shimmergloom says, "It's Captain Hook. We be thinking Captain Hook be back."

I just met the real Tinkerbell but it's still hard to believe Captain Hook is a real person. My mind only sees the one from the cartoon. "What would he want with us?"

"Probably revenge for spoiling his nasty plan to become king of the World of Dreams."

"Revenge on the Winx too. We'll warn them." Matt adds.

"And Tiger Lily! Mama, Papa, let us go tell her. She wants to meet Vera anyway."

I remember that Shimmergloom only came to meet me because of Tiger Lily's prophecy—a fact I manage to forget most of the time. I'm not sure I want to meet her. I can't really believe I'm in a prophecy, even after all the magic I've seen. But Tinkerbell nods. "That's a good idea. Go on; I'll put everything back where it was and leave a warning spell so we'll know if anyone comes back here."

Matt asks about making a fake Nemesis but Shimmergloom is heading for the door and I have to follow her.

We fly to land, it takes only moments because this really is a dream. The beautiful gray forest shows more color from above, here and there I see mushrooms bright as drops of blood or flowers that glow electric blue. We follow a sluggish green river up towards a plateau that rises in the middle of the island. As we land I see there's a settlement there, tents made of painted leather and the most wonderful totem poles. I land beside one and just stare at it for a minute. I've only seen them in books, and in real life they're really impressive. This one is huge, it's as tall as three of me and carved from a whole tree trunk. The wood isn't painted, it's a silvery blue color and carved with stylized animals. A lizard flows into a bear that flows into a hawk with wings outstretched.

Shimmergloom walked right past me, she looks back patiently.

"It's beautiful." I say. Of course Shimmergloom has seen it lots of times.

There are people here. It's a Native American village, with people doing all sorts of chores, cooking over a fire, building another tent thing, whatever normal daily stuff they do.

Shimmergloom calls out, "Shaman!" And waves to a huge man in black leathers and fringe. He looks less like an actual Native American and more like a biker guy, but his smile is kind.

"Princess! How is Earth?"

"Earth's really fun! This be Vera!"

The big man looks at me. His face is painted in a stripe over his eyes, it makes him look scary.

"Where be your sister?"

"She's waiting for you at the river."

"Aye, of course she knew we were coming… thank ye, Shaman!"

I ask, "Your name is Shaman?"

"Mother thought her son would be the shaman and help lead the tribe and her daughter would be a delicate flower. She was a good mother but she was wrong about us."

"Shaman's me friend. He be the only one who calls me Princess. He's from Earth too!"

"A very long time ago."

I suddenly realize, "...how long?"

Shaman shrugs his shoulders. "I think several hundred of your years."

Neverland. Where people don't grow up. I stare. Then I'm struck by a memory from fourth grade, when we learned about the old west and Twig and Emma and I decided we could make up for everything our ancestors did by being extra nice to the only Native American girl in our class and that lasted two days before she was calling us weirdos and throwing erasers at us. With that memory in my head I can't think of anything to say in reply.

Luckily we've reached the riverbank and found Tiger Lily sitting on one of the big round boulders at the edge of the water, eyes closed, meditating.

Tiger Lily has blueblack hair with feathers in it and the same stripe of paint across her eyes. Shimmergloom does not wave or call out; she looks a little nervous. I'm guessing Tiger Lily wasn't a childhood friend.

Tiger Lily's eyes snap open and she looks down at us. I have a strange feeling that an old woman is watching me, though Tiger Lily looks no older than I am. She doesn't smile.

"Lady, this be Vera."

"The girl warrior. Welcome to Neverland."

"Um. Thank you." when she doesn't say anything more I say, "Did you really have a prophecy about me?"

Her gaze turns cold. I think I shouldn't have questioned.

"I see the future of this world, and you are part of it. You both are."

Shimmergloom looks happy about this. "Will we stop the shadow magician? Is it really Hook?"

Tiger Lily smiles a little, a very grandmotherly smile, at her enthusiasm. "I don't know. All I saw clearly has already happened."

I thought the prophecy was that I'd save the world, did I do that? I just… Shimmergloom looks confused too. Then her expression darkens. "Mama. Mama couldn't beat her Nemesis."

A slight nod, Tiger lily's feathers flutter. I don't know what happens if the Nemesis wins, but from Shimmergloom's expression it must be pretty bad. I'll ask her later.

Shimmergloom's moved on. "Have ye seen who it is? Is it Hook? How do we stop him?"

Calmly Tiger Lily says, "I don't know. I have seen no more."

Shimmergloom's practically vibrating with emotion. She sputters but I have to ask, "Does that mean my part in it is over?"

"If you want it to be."

I should've guessed she'd say something like that, but I flinch. I'm too nervous now to ask more, and Shimmergloom looks super upset and I'm not sure it's just because of the scary evil person going after her mother. I guess I have to say something. "It's ok Shimmergloom, I'll help you track this guy down, I'm sure we can do it." but I'm still thinking maybe if I'm off the hook for the prophecy maybe people around me will stop getting there shadows stolen and I can concentrate on my spring collection and my life.

It works; Shimmergloom smiles. "Aye."

"But maybe we should start tomorrow. I know we're actually asleep but I'm still getting tired. And we have to make rainbow ice cream in the morning."

"Aye… you can be meeting my ancestors if you come here again. Lady, ye be telling us if you see another vision, aye? If Mama's in danger..."

"I will do whatever I can to stop the person using this dark magic."

And we are dismissed. We scoot back nervously.

I look around. "Um, how do we get back?"

"Just close your eyes and think about being back in your bed."Shimmergloom closes her eyes and just fades away, becoming transparent until she's not there at all.

Ok.

I close my eyes and when I open them I see the darkness of our room. And I'm lying down, under a blanket, when I was just standing up. I free a hand and grab my clock. Two in the morning. Plenty of time left to sleep. I remember spending several hours in the World of Dreams, more time than has passed here. I have a lot of questions for Shimmergloom, but they can wait for morning.

I sleep late, and don't feel great when I do get up. Probably because I got my blood drained by a vampire last night! At least I'm showing no signs of becoming a vampire too. Shimmergloom tells Madame I'm unwell but not contagious and somehow gets permission for us to clean the kitchen classroom—or rather, Shimmergloom makes me a big breakfast with sausages and scrambled eggs and lots of orange juice, and then she cleans while I eat. Signor Vincenzo has been cooking up a storm, leaving the place a mess. I think he's sleeping it off now.

The recipe Twig sent me for "Famous Rainbow Ice Cream" is complicated and fiddly. We have to make sherbet and each layer is flavored with a different fruit. So I'm juicing and peeling the orange, lemon and lime we found in the fridge. I also have blueberries and raspberries I have to squish through a strainer. Shimmergloom's doing the cranking of the ice cream freezer since she's still got all her blood.

"I be wondering what this will taste like! I've never made ice cream. Papa did though, at the orphanage where he lived."

"Your mom and dad seem really cool."

"They are! They like sunshine and flowers too much though, you should see what Neverland looks like during the day!"

In my experience Shimmergloom likes sunshine and flowers plenty; she's such a halfhearted goth she sometimes forget to dress like one. I like that about her.

I hate to bring up the dark stuff but I suppose I have to know. "So, this Nemesis thing..?"

"It be the worst spell of the shadow magic. A Nemesis is the opposite of everything that be good in a person. If the Nemesis can defeat the one whose shadow it came from it will replace that person."

I forget what I'm doing and my grater of lemon peel sinks to the table. "You mean your mom would've disappeared?"

"Aye."

"Nobody's going to make those of us, are they?"

"I think not. It be a very hard spell with many nasty ingredients. There be no more parts to make them in all the World of Dreams now. Captain Hook be lost in the World of Nightmares but who else would hate my Mama that much?"

I don't know, there aren't any other villains in the story but the reality is different from Mr. Barrie's book. Then my mind catches something. "If the ingredients are rare, maybe they came from somewhere else and we could find out who bought them. In cop shows they can always track where the bad guy bought a gun."

"Huh." Shimmergloom stares for a second then remembers to keep turning the handle on the ice cream freezer. "That be a good idea! When my Mama was in her bad days she made six Nemesis, she used all the dreamdrake roots in Neverland. I know since Papa wanted to get more so they wouldn't be 'extinct.' Is that an Earth thing?"

"Mmhm—I'll tell you what it means later, it's a long story. Did your dad find any more magic roots?"

"Aye, Flora found them but they be poison and the Spirit said it was all right to not have any so Mama didn't bring any back to Neverland after all. Mama and Papa talked about it a lot."

I squash some blueberries into my strainer and check the level of juice in the measuring cup. "Maybe someone in Magix can find who's been buying this root. I'll ask Twig."

"A sister be useful to have! I only have grannies. Maybe you can meet them next time."

I check Twig's status. she's in class so I send her a message that we're looking for someone who has something called dreamdrake root, which must be a magic dimension version of mandrake, and that I'll tell her all about the World of Dreams next time she calls. I think I'll leave out the vampire blood drinking thing since that was weird and anyway I'm fine now.

"Sure. I want to meet them." I say while texting.

"Ye got all the colors!" Shimmergloom carols. I line up the glass measuring cups from all the teaching kitchens: raspberry, orange, lemon, lime, blueberry. The recipe is very exact; if you mess up the proportions one flavor will overwhelm the others. Once the ice cream is finished in the freezer we have to partially thaw it, separate it by weight and flavor each portion then layer them and freeze it again. I hope Signor doesn't turn into a vampire in the time it takes. We do all the measuring and mixing and get the final product into the freezer.

And now I have a strainer full of raspberry goo left over. I mix it with the blueberry goo and add a bunch of sugar. Yum. I dump it in the peel of a juiced orange. The addition of citrus doesn't help the flavor.

"Oranges be good for scurvy." Shimmergloom says as she watches me play with the leftovers.

"And Captain Hook?"

"He was a real pirate, back when there were lots of pirates then he came to Neverland and wanted to be in charge but nobody else wanted that so he did lots of bad things. When Mama was bad she used dark magic to turn Hook young again and they teamed up but he betrayed her and the Winx and even his own crew and then fell into the World of Nightmares."

"So if he comes out he'd be all green right?"

"Aye… most likely. If he truly survived being marooned in that place."

"Or maybe it'd just make him crazy." My birth parents were in the World of Nightmares for less time and they aren't all right anymore. They're getting better, Mom says, but they aren't all right.

I don't want to think about them now. So I ask something else that's been in the back of my mind since last night. "What's it like being a vampire? Did you have cool powers?"

"No!" Shimmergloom answers in a big laughing complaint as she sits down next to me and tosses a leftover lemon piece into the compost bucket. "Maybe it be different if ye get bit by a different kind of vampire but I just felt sick. The light hurt my head and all I could think about was how delicious everybody smelled. It be no fun at all!"

"I'm sorry I couldn't get your shadow back sooner."

"Ye tried and tried."

We both jump when a voice behind us says, "You are writing ze young adult novel?" It's Miss Nadine, wearing a blonde wig today, and a grouchy, squinty Signor Vincenzo.

"Ah, oui, everyone likes vampire stories." I stutter, and check the timer. The ice cream should be frozen enough. "Signor, Miss, would you like to try our recipe? It's rainbow ice cream."

Shimmergloom's already leaped into action and is pulling our ice cream from the freezer. I grab bowls and Shimmergloom serves a scoop for each of us. She does a really good job, getting all the colors into each scoop.

Signor grumbles and I'm afraid he'll refuse to try it. I hope he hasn't gone full vampire. Donating blood to a friend is one thing but no way am I giving any to a stranger. Luckily Miss Nadine gives him a guilt trip stare and he takes a bite.

And I'm perfectly placed to see his shadow snap onto his feet. His whole expression changes. "Oh. This is delicious. And familiar."

"My sister met Flora and got the recipe from her."

"That's it! My rainbow ice cream recipe! I invented it! I feel much better now, I can't think why I've been so upset these last few days. I need to get back to my restaurant! I have so many ideas for new dishes! But first I'll finish this. Thank you, girls."

Miss Nadine smiles fondly at him. "It has been a joy to have you. Maybe ze television show can come back next season?"

They talk about that for a little while, and Shimmergloom and I take ourselves out of the way and clean up the mess we've made in the kitchen classroom. When Signor leaves to figure out his plane ticket home Miss Nadine remains. She looks down into her empty dish thoughtfully then up at us.

I ask, "Miss, did you want to see us?"

"Mademoiselle Hume, Mademoiselle Barrie, can you help me? My friend Madeline, she is not well. You are les sorcieres! Maybe you can help her."

Shimmergloom answers, "Of course we will!"

"Merci, girls! Can you come with me to London? Madeline was arrested, but now she is at home and I think she needs friends. I have a ticket for tomorrow, I will buy for you also. Merci, merci, I am worried about my friend."

A worry grows in my belly. "Miss, please don't think we can just fix things with magic. We'll help if we can but… well, you know we're magical beings but we're not like the Winx. I've barely studied magic. I really am here because I want to learn fashion design like everyone else in class."

Miss Nadine blinks and seems to remember she's a grownup and one of the heads of our school. I suddenly realize this might be why Mom and Dad kept their magic secret from everyone. People would always be needing help and magic can't solve everything of course, or someone would already have brought world peace and stuff. I want to help Miss Nadine because she's a lovely person but I don't know if I even can.

"Of course. Merci for trying. I will talk to your teachers and get ready for our trip."

Shimmergloom's been quiet for a minute, eyes on her phone. She holds it out to me with an article about the WoW show. Madeline was one of the contestants, like Madame and Miss and Mr. Ishida.