“If there was a reason to panic, the alarms would have gone off.” I listen carefully.
KABOOM!
This time the sound is so loud that we grab each other to keep from falling.
WOO-OOH! WOO-OOH!
The school security system is going off. Seconds later, our wands disappear along with the picnic, Maxine’s swan boat, magic carpet, and my comfy clothes. My dreaded uniform is back, but that’s not my biggest concern. I know what we’re all thinking: the last time the alarm tripped was when we had a break-in from Alva.
“I’m going,” I say and head toward the courtyard door.
“So am I.” Jocelyn tries to beat me to the doorway. We each try to push the other out of the way.
I push her back. “You just want the distraction to help your sister escape the dungeons. I’m not going to let you help her!”
“Try to stop me!” Jocelyn pushes me so hard that I fall. I quickly jump up and follow her into the hallway. It’s chaos. Students are running in every direction, but I follow Jocelyn’s food-splattered dress. I can hear my friends calling me, but I don’t stop.
“Students, this is Headmistress Flora speaking.” I hear Cinderella’s formerly wicked stepmother’s voice ring out from the castle’s mirrors. “Please proceed to your dorm rooms. We have the situation under control. There is no cause for alarm.”
A hallway switches in front of me, but I dive through it and land right on top of Jocelyn. We’re somehow outside again—the new hallway leads us to the school lake.
KABOOM!
“Ouch!” Jocelyn yells as my friends fly out of yet another hallway, dropping onto the same grassy patch near the water.
“Holy shipwreck!” Ollie says, pointing to something in the distance on the water. I hear a commotion and shouting. “Duck!”
We drop to the ground just in time to see a cannonball whiz past our heads.
“Um, guys?” Kayla’s frown deepens. “What’s a pirate ship doing in the lake at Fairy Tale Reform School?”
CHAPTER 2
Ye Be a New Teacher in Town
Jocelyn and I stop fighting long enough to take in the giant pirate ship that has appeared in our school lake. The worn, wooden ship is so large it takes up almost the entire body of water. A tattered black-and-white flag bearing a skull and crossbones is flying high along another flag with a crest full of swords. Dozens of pirates race around the ship deck pulling ropes and they’re calling out orders that I can’t understand.
The mer-folk at school seem just as bewildered as we are because their heads start popping up around the lake to see what is going on. They point to the creepy serpent-headed gold figure carved into the prow of the ship, and then many disappear again below the dark waters.
“Land ho!” A pirate with a telescope yells from the ship’s crow’s nest. “We’ve arrived at Fairy Tale Reform School, captain!” A giant anchor is quickly tossed from the side of the ship and almost clocks a mer-boy in the head. Then I see a group of pirates lowering a gangplank.
“I can’t believe it.” Ollie is freaking out below me. (He’s kind of short, swarthy, and a tad stocky…much like the pirates coming off the ship.) “I really can’t believe it! Do you know whose ship that is?” he asks, starting to wind up like one of my little brother’s toys. “I’ve always wanted to see it. It’s legendary. Legendary. The pirate ship I was on is nowhere near as big as this one!”
Ollie’s in FTRS because he used magic tricks for monetary gain. (I have to say, his sleight-of-hand maneuvers are amazing.) He says he learned everything he knows from his time as a stowaway on a pirate ship, but a lot of classmates say his pirate claims are tall tales. He’s never been able to offer any actual proof that he was a short-term pirate.
“You see that large patched hole in the side of the ship?” Ollie asks. “They got hit racing away from the Royal Navy after pillaging the gold taxes the navy had collected from a port. The Brits never caught up with them, and legend has it the pirates used the gold to buy their own island.” Ollie sighs. “That pirate knows how to make things happen.”
“Who are you blabbering about?” Jocelyn snaps.
Ollie looks stunned. He points at the lake. “You mean you really don’t recognize the ship?”
The gangplank drops with a thud right in front of us. Pirates begin disembarking, swinging their swords menacingly in the air.
“Um, guys? Should we get out of here?” Maxine asks as I hear a slurp sound from behind us.