The following day, at 6:20 a.m., Makenna woke and spent time in her room, trying to figure out what to do with her wings at school. It was Mathlete vs. Athlete Day, not Human vs. Fairy.
While Makenna sat on her bed, she thought about the Sunset Delay spell. She could probably use it but didn't know the words. Despite that, Makenna knew what she wanted to wear to school. She wanted to be a mathlete, even though she stunk at Math. If only she could succeed in hiding her wings.
Makenna studied the Spirit Week schedule and discovered that there would be a Spirit Week activity in the auditorium after lunch that day. However, the schedule didn't say what the activity was.
Once Makenna finished studying the schedule, she slipped her notebook into her backpack and scurried to her dressers. She dug out the outfit she wanted to wear.
Makenna tucked her costume into her backpack and opened her bedroom door. Her fairy instincts kicked in when she stepped into the hallway. She felt Tracey's aura. It was not weak but intense. Makenna gasped. Was Tracey better? She flapped her wings and leaped onto the railing of her staircase. Makenna acted out her surfing pose and slid down it.
She jumped and landed on the wooden floor when she reached the bottom. "Hello?" Makenna called. "Dad?" She searched the area.
"We're in here, Makenna!" Andy called back from the dining room. "We're in the dining room! Your mother is in the kitchen."
"Mom?" Makenna asked. She turned and peered out from behind a wall into the kitchen.
There was Michelle. She stood at the stove and seemed a little upset. Why, though?
"Hey, Mom," said Makenna. She stepped into the kitchen and approached her mother. "What's wrong?"
Mrs. Delling threw down her spatula and pointed into the dining room. "That boy just ate all the scrambled eggs!"
"Who?" Makenna asked. Her jaw dropped when, over the air conditioner from the dining room, she heard Tracey.
"I was hungry! And those eggs looked delicious!"
Makenna whirled around, and her eyes widened.
There he was! Tracey stood from the dining room table, the back of his left hand on his hip. His wings stood straight up behind him and shimmered.
At the sight of her friend, Makenna yelled, "Tracey!"
Tracey suddenly appeared before her.
Mr. Delling lifted his hands in the dining room, and his eyes sparkled. "Wow."
Tracey nodded at Makenna. "Hey, Makenna. Good morning."
"Tracey!" Makenna again yelled. She threw herself into Tracey's arms. "You're better!"
At the sight of Makenna and Tracey hugging, Mrs. Delling's face turned red. She pushed them apart and said, "All right, that's enough. Makenna, you should be ashamed of him." She pointed at Tracey. "He ate all the scrambled eggs!"
"I do apologize," Tracey calmly spoke, "but they were so tempting. I've never had scrambled eggs before, so when I tried them, I just had to have another bite. Here, I'll help you make some more."
He reached for the saucer on the stove, but Mrs. Delling yelled, "No!" and slapped his hand away. "You will not, Tracey! Not after what happened last night! Here. Why don't you..." She left Tracey and sauntered to the kitchen's countertop. Resting on its face was a box of colored pencils and an animal adult coloring book. Mrs. Delling picked it up and flipped to a picture of a horse standing in a meadow. Approaching Tracey again, she offered him the coloring book and pencils and finished her sentence."... color the pretty horse?"
Tracey gasped, and his eyes sparkled. "Awesome!" He accepted Mrs. Delling's coloring book and colored pencils. Tracey hurried into the dining room and sat at the table, beginning to color.
Mrs. Delling shook her head, but Makenna chuckled. However, she lost her smile when she felt her mother's hand on her shoulder. "Makenna, can you do me a favor?" Mrs. Delling asked. She led Makenna into the furthest corner of the kitchen.
"What do you mean?" Makenna said.
"Can you," Mrs. Delling inquired, putting her hands together, "take Tracey to school with you today?"
"What?" Makenna said. "Take Tracey to school? Why?"
"Because," explained Michelle, "I have a lot of work I need to do around the house, and I don't want Tracey and his clumsiness to get in the way."
Makenna cleared her throat. "Um, Mom, have you seen that boy? He's a fairy! He has wings on his back!"
"I understand," Michelle whispered, "but there has to be some way he can hide his wings."
"What about me?" asked Makenna. "I have wings, too, you know."
Michelle slightly glared. "Well," she growled, "find a way to hide them! You are not going to skip school all because of stupid fairy wings! You need to get those grades up!"
"Oh, Mom," Makenna said. "We're in way over our heads here. What should I tell the teachers if I take Tracey to school?"
"Just tell them he's a transfer student," spoke her mother, "but I want him out of my hay!"
"But, Mom!" protested Makenna. "He's older than me! I'm a freshman! He'd be either a junior or senior, depending on his birthday! How am I supposed to find a solution to that there?"
"Just think of something!" snapped Michelle. "But I don't want to see him again until later! After last night, those wings would definitely give me a headache!"
"Oh, Mom," Makenna repeated.
Suddenly, Tracey appeared from out of nowhere. He approached Mrs. Delling and Makenna, and they glanced at him. Tracey held the coloring book in his hand. Stopping before Makenna and her mother, he held up to them a finished coloring of the horse. It was colored lavender.
What? Was he already done?
"Look!" Tracey cutely spoke, holding the picture closer to Makenna and Mrs. Delling's faces. "I colored my horse lavender!"
Makenna and Mrs. Delling stared at him.
Makenna nodded. "I'll take Tracey to school with me."
"Thank you," whispered Mrs. Delling.
"Come on, Tracey," Makenna said. "Let's go." She gestured him over.
Tracey dropped the coloring book. "Where're we going?"
Makenna stopped at the kitchen countertop and reached for a green book bag sitting in a chair. Giving Tracey a funny look, she answered, "School," and picked up the book bag. "You're seventeen. You go to school." Makenna tossed Tracey the book bag, and he caught it.
"School," he uttered bewilderedly. "Of course. Do we learn supernatural abilities there?"
"No," Makenna replied. She next tossed him a notebook and a box of pencils. "We learn science, mathematics, history, and English. Question, Tracey, when do you turn eighteen?"
"In November," he answered. "November 24."
"November?" asked Makenna. She nodded. "All right then, then you'd be a junior. Perfect."
"Perfect?" Tracey questioned. "What do you mean 'perfect', Makenna?"
Caleb and Mr. Delling soon entered the kitchen and listened to the conversation.
"They have quite an interesting relationship," Mr. Delling whispered to Caleb, patting Tony, who sat beside him.
"All right," Makenna suddenly said. She clapped her hands to get Tracey's attention. "Next step on the agenda." She peered at her wings. "Trying to figure out what to do with our wings."
A question mark appeared above Tracey's head. "What do you mean, Makenna? Are we not allowed to have our wings in school?"
"No," Makenna replied. "We're not going to fairy school, Tracey; we're going to regular school."
Tracey gasped. "Oh, right! Compared to humans, young fairies have a very different school life."
"Yeah, we do," Makenna said. She sighed. "Although, it's times like these I wish I went to fairy school instead of regular school."
"I've never been to a human school before," Tracey told her. "This ought to be quite the adventure. I know what I'm going to do about my wings. What about you, Makenna?"
"I'm still working on it," Makenna mumbled. She brought her hand to her chin and rubbed it.
"Working on it?" asked Mrs. Delling, scoffing. "Is it not Fairy vs. Human Day at your school, Makenna?"
"No, Mom," said Makenna. "It's Mathlete vs. Athlete Day." She glanced at Caleb. "Caleb, can you help me with something?"
"With what?" inquired Caleb, crossing his arms. "What do you need help with now, sis?"
"I have a slight problem." Makenna glanced at her wings. "What am I supposed to do with these wings? I can't go to school dressed like this!"
"Try the Sunset Delay spell," he answered. "It worked last time."
"Yeah," said Makenna, "but I don't know the words to it."
"That's sad, Makenna," Caleb admitted. "You need some serious fairy tutoring. I'm getting tired of helping you all the time. Here, I'll tell you the words to the spell, but you'll be the one to cast it."
"What?" Makenna asked, stepping back. "But what if I mess up?"
"You won't. You'll be fine. Here." Caleb approached Makenna and whispered the words of the Sunset Delay spell into her ear.
Makenna listened carefully.
After whispering the words to the spell, Caleb backed up. "Can you do that?"
Makenna sighed. "I'll try, Caleb. I'll try. All right." She glanced at Tracey. "Are we ready to transform, Tracey?"
"Almost," answered Tracey. "Let me say goodbye to my wings first, Makenna."
"Right," Makenna spoke. "You love your wings, Tracey."
Tracey reached up and patted each of his wings. "It'll be okay. You'll be fine. This is going to be a big adventure for all of us. Okay, Makenna." He let his wings go. "I'm ready."
"Oh, I can't watch this," groaned Michelle. She reached for her head and left the two fairies, turning her back to them. She hid behind her hand, not daring to watch, but intrigued Mr. Delling and Caleb did.
Makenna and Tracey nodded at one another. They then lifted off the ground and hurried to each other. Once they hovered side by side, they announced, "Makenna and Tracey!" and lifted their hands over their heads. "Time to transform!"
Tracey was the first to transform, well, hide his wings. He closed his eyes, and his entire body glowed green like before. Bending his knees, he lifted his right hand and threw his magical, purple and green throwing stars into the sky. They circled the Tracey's wings. Smiling, he acted out a few dance moves.
The bottom of his tunic-like shirt shot up again, and Tracey announced, "Tracey! Pupil of Merlin the Great!" His stars fell on top of his wings, and they went poof, right into midair. The bottom of Tracey's shirt fell back down. Landing on the kitchen floor, he clenched his fists and glanced at Makenna.
She took a deep breath and cleared her throat. Then, closing her eyes, she waved her hands and yelled the words to the Sunset Delay spell. "Hidden in the shadow! Across the vast meadow! Blending in the ghetto! Hiding the wings shadow!" A weak blast of blue light escaped her hands, and Makenna glowed, too. The outfit she wanted to wear to school that day floated out of her backpack and flung itself on top of her.
There was another blast of light. It was so bright that Mr. Delling, Caleb, and Tracey looked away. When the glow faded, they looked back, and all three people gasped.
Makenna had done it! She hovered in the air, her necklace glowing, and her wings were gone. She now wore her mathlete costume. It consisted of a light blue shirt tucked into khaki shorts held by a brown belt and silver buckle, red suspender straps, white shoes, earrings with addition and subtraction signs, and fake glasses over her eyes. Makenna's hair was held up in two high pigtails.
Makenna was soon taken to the ground, and her feet touched it. Her necklace stopped glowing, and Makenna examined herself. She broke into a grin. "I did it!" she yelled, jumping up and down. "It did it! I performed the Sunset Delay spell!"
"Congratulations, Makenna!" announced Tracey, Mr. Delling, and Caleb simultaneously. They clapped.
"Is it over?" Mrs. Delling asked from where she stood. She took her hand away from her eyes and turned back around. Her eyes widened at the sight of her daughter, now wingless.
"I did it," Makenna repeated, rubbing her new attire up and down. "It even changed my clothes for me."
"The Sunset Delay spell does that," explained Tracey, crossing his arms as he approached Makenna. "It senses what outfit you want to wear and will change you into that outfit. You did well, Makenna."
"Wow," Makenna squealed. She pulled her book bag over her shoulder and picked up the coloring book Tracey had colored in. It fell when he hid his wings.
"All right!" Tracey suddenly called out. "Now it's time for the fun step!" He clenched his fist. "School!" He jumped up and down himself.
Everybody watched him.
Tracey soon stopped jumping, and his golden-brown eyes landed on the coloring book Makenna held. "My horsey!" he yelled, reaching for it. "Makenna, give me my lavender horsey! I named him Fred!"
"Okay, Tracey," said Makenna. "Here." She handed Tracey the coloring book, and he thanked her.
Makenna, Mrs. Delling, Mr. Delling, and Caleb watched as he slipped the coloring book into his book bag and put the strap over his head.
Caleb tapped Makenna's shoulder.
Feeling him, Makenna turned and glanced at him.
Caleb whispered into her ear, "Good luck, Makenna."
Makenna clenched her teeth.
After Tracey ensured everything was A-Okay with his book bag, he faced Mr. Delling, who asked, "Caleb, Makenna, and Tracey, are we ready?"
Makenna nodded. "I believe we are, Daddy. Now, Tracey..." She grabbed Tracey's arm and pulled him close. "Try to blend in, okay? Try to act like a normal person. Not a fairy."
Tracey nervously chuckled. "Define 'normal person,' Makenn."
Caleb slapped his hand to his face. He felt this day at school would be quite interesting for Makenna and Tracey.