Makenna was beyond mad. She was furious! After picking up her backpack in homeroom and saying goodbye to Mrs. Hector, she dragged Tracey, Gina, and Raeven to the school's dumpsters and threw them in.
She was primarily mad at Tracey and shouted, "I've had enough of you, Tracey!" Makenna slapped him across the face.
Tracey reached for it.
Makenna faced him and kept yelling. "You totally embarrassed me! You totally embarrassed this school! You totally ruined my relationship with Peter Nelson!"
"I was just trying to help," Tracey calmly told her.
Gina cowered on his shoulder, Raeven against his leg.
"Help me?" Makenna barked. "I don't need your help, Ninja Boy! Thanks to you and your barbaric, unacceptable actions, you cost me a pep rally and boyfriend! Peter Nelson was about to kiss me, and then you ruined everything! And you..." She next glared at Raeven. "You call yourself a bat looking for a friend? Well, let me tell you something, Raeven." Makenna raised her voice. "You will never have a friend! None of you will! All three of you are a disgrace to the human world! And you, Tracey..." Makenna focused back on Tracey. "How dare you come back and try to kill me with one of your retarded ninja stars so that you can help me! How dare you focus on me all the time, and you call yourself Merlin's apprentice? You need to focus on recuperating from your broken wings! I had this under control, and then you three flushed me down the toilet! I doubt Peter Nelson will take me to the dance now!"
"Which is not all bad," Tracey calmly spoke. "You don't understand, Makenna. You know nothing about love. Peter Nelson is planning on murdering you tonight at the dance."
"Murder?" Makenna shouted. "How dare you trash-talk Peter Nelson in front of me, Ninja Boy! Peter would never murder me! Tell me, what evidence do you have of that stupid idea? What evidence?"
Glaring, Tracey stood, closed his eyes, and turned his head to the left. He didn't answer.
However, Makenna forced him to. "Answer me!"
"I would," Tracey said, "but..." He focused on Makenna.
"You don't trust me!" she concluded. "Is that it, you lunatic?"
Tracey found his inner peace. He again closed his eyes and turned his head. Finally, he opened them and said, "That's right, Makenna. I don't trust you."
Makenna growled.
"All I'm doing is assisting you," continued Tracey. "Fairies know, Makenna, when their friend is in danger. Their fairy instincts tell them so. Mine told me of Peter's plot. I honestly can't believe you still trust him after all he's done. This tells me that this boy totally immobilizes you. You're not focusing on his personality and actions but on his looks. There is much more to love than looks, Makenna. Believe me."
"All right, that's it!" Makenna shouted. She gave Tracey the evil death glare. "You asked for it, Ninja Boy!" She backed away from Tracey and cupped her hands. A ball of rainbow light appeared in them.
Makenna yelled, "Paintus Completeness!" and the spell spat out of her hands. It wasn't supposed to spit, though; it was supposed to be a beam of light heading toward the target.
The spell spat with so much force that Makenna was knocked to the ground.
Tracey, too, was knocked down when the spell hit him.
Makenna soon sat, and she gasped when she saw him. She brought her hand to her lips.
Tracey was covered, from head to toe, in messy, rainbow-colored paint.
With his eyes closed, he stood and rubbed his head. Then, dropping his hand from his head, he peered down at his rainbow-colored hands and examined them. He gasped—"I'm rainbow!"—and lost his calmness. "How dare you!"
Makenna, who didn't like it when he became mad, held her hand out. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to attack you like that! I'm just super frustrated!"
Tracey didn't have time for her whining. Makenna had crossed the line.
He cupped his hands, and a ball of green and purple light appeared in them, similar to what had gotten Peter before. "Paintus Completeness!" Tracey shouted. He shot the spell toward Makenna.
The spell crashed into her, and she was again knocked to the ground. Even though Tracey's spell hadn't malfunctioned, he was still a stronger fairy than Makenna, so his spells were more potent than hers.
Raeven nudged Gina and whispered, "I don't like this," in English.
"Nor do I," said Gina through telepathy. "Why don't we take a coffee break, Raeven, and we'll let the two fairies fight this off to the bitter end, okay?"
"Sounds good," Raeven voiced. He opened his wings and chuckled. "Teenagers. Why are they so sensitive? Be quiet, Gina." He and Gina flapped their wings together, and they quickly got out of the fairy fighting zone. They soared to the top of Makenna's school building and landed on it, studying the fairies.
Makenna soon stood and examined herself. She was covered in green and purple paint. How dare Tracey ruin her beautiful attire!
Makenna again cupped her hands, and a ball of blue and pink light appeared. "Paintus Completeness!"
Like before, the spell spat out of her hands and hit Tracey. He was now covered in blue and pink paint.
Furious, he lifted his foot and stomped the ground. A large vine grew under his foot and hurried toward Makenna. When it reached her, the vine shot out of the concrete and grabbed her ankle, lifting her into the sky.
Makenna now hung upside-down.
Glaring at Tracey, she yelled, "Ivy Rope!" and closed her eyes, blowing on her hands. Sparkles escaped them and turned into ivies. They hurried toward Merlin's apprentice. When they reached him, they repeatedly smacked him in the face, and he was forced to close his eyes against them.
"Whirlpool of Vines!" Tracey clenched his fists and turned into a whirlpool.
Makenna gasped when she saw that.
The whirlpool Tracey was in lifted off the ground and flew toward her. However, it went right by Makenna and instead hit the concrete behind her.
Right when it did, the whirlpool metamorphosed into more vines, and they wrapped around Makenna. She dropped gently to the ground.
Tracey emerged from where the whirlpool used to be and held his clenched fists out to her.
Where Raeven and Gina were, Gina glanced at Raeven and asked, "Do you think we should break them up?"
"Are you kidding?" Raeven questioned. Tears appeared in his eyes, and he seemed to grin. "This is the best thing I've seen in my entire life! Get the popcorn, Gina! Yeah, Tracey, show her what you're made of! No, wait, Makenna, you will win! Strike him with all your Metamorphic Fairy power! That's it! Get his legs! Ooh, try again!"
Gina rolled her eyes and asked, "How long can they keep this up?" to herself.
Makenna and Tracey fought for forty-five minutes. They fought so long that even Mrs. Delling, who eventually waited for Makenna, climbed out of her car and headed into the school's front office to ask where her daughter was.
Spell-brawling for forty-five minutes, though, eventually exhausted Makenna and Tracey.
They faced one another, still covered in paint from the previous Paintus Completeness attacks, and sweated. Twigs and leaves were stuck in Makenna's hair, and Tracey's hair was soaked because Makenna had hit him with a water spell.
Gina and Raeven still watched from the top of the school building, and Gina said, "Unbelievable. Those two fairies have been fighting for forty-five minutes! We really should break them up now, Raeven."
"How about let's not?" asked the bat.
"What are you talking about? They're gonna kill each other if they don't stop! Keep in mind that Tracey's wings are broken! He shouldn't be fighting like this, anyway!"
"Just watch," Raeven spoke. "Let's not flutter down yet, Gina. This is what you call a love-hate relationship. Wait for it."
Down below, Makenna asked Tracey, "Are you finished, Ninja Boy?"
"Ha!" he weakly answered, flipping hair out of his face. "I'm just getting started! I could keep this up forever! I'll show you the true power of Merlin's apprentice!" Tracey drew another one of his ninja stars and bent his knees.
Makenna spat and reached into her backpack, pulling out her binder.
The two fairies inhaled and exhaled, inhaled and exhaled, inhaled and exhaled.
Finally, they announced, "Here I go!" and held their weapons over their heads. They sprinted toward one another, although Tracey stumbled. The entire time they ran, they yelled.
However, Tracey's eyes drooped, and he stopped yelling, lowering his shuriken.
Makenna's own eyes drooped, and she, too, stopped yelling.
Before long, Makenna and Tracey fell onto the ground on their fronts, and their heads nearly touched.
From where she was perched, Gina gasped and called, "Tracey!" She quickly flapped her wings and soared down to her friend.
Raeven followed and went toward Makenna.
The avian creatures stopped and hovered over each of their friends' heads, asking, "Are you okay?"
Makenna and Tracey groaned, but then, out of nowhere, Makenna laughed, as did Tracey! He and Makenna turned onto their backs and peered up at the gorgeous, blue sky.
"Boy, Tracey!" laughed Makenna. "You're one heck of a firecracker! You obviously have been taught very well!"
"You're not so bad yourself," he complimented back. "You actually had me on my toes for a minute there. Well done, Makenna! Well done! We'll settle this another day." He and Makenna laughed some more.
Raeven soon glanced at Gina and asked, "What did I tell you, Gina? It's a love-hate relationship."
Mrs. Delling soon appeared from around the dumpsters, and her eyes widened when she saw Makenna and Tracey. She was even more surprised that Tracey was back and said, "Tracey!"
Makenna and Tracey opened their eyes and glanced at her.
"Hey, Mom!" spoke Makenna. She waved at her mother and pointed her thumb at Tracey. "He's back! Tracey's back!"
Tracey nodded and closed his eyes again. He rested his hands on his tummy and asked Makenna, "Why don't we go home, Makenna, and prepare for the dance?"
Makenna gasped. "Does this mean you'll come, too, Trace?"
"Sure. Why not?" Tracey answered. "I want to ensure you're not invited to five different parties by five princes on the same night. Besides, you can't possibly have five different dresses, right?" He and Makenna laughed again.
After a bit, Michelle smiled, too, and nodded at Gina and Raeven.
Raeven saluted her and said, "Teenagers. We'll never understand them."
Michelle examined Makenna and Tracey's messy styles and inquired, "What on earth happened to you two?"
"Funny story, Mom," Makenna answered, and she and Tracey sat. "Tracey and I had a confrontation, but we've made up for it. Right, Tracey?" She nudged Tracey, and he nodded.
"Of course, Makenna. Don't worry, I'll get our previous forms back." He brought his fist to his lips and cleared his throat. He and Makenna sat back-to-back.
After a bit, Tracey waved his hands and announced, "Left in the care! Lost in the stone! Now no longer bold! Return our skin to its previous form!" A blast of light exploded from his hands, and he and Makenna glowed up. When the magic left, they were no longer covered in paint and decorated with twigs, water, etc. They had returned to their previous forms.
Makenna examined herself, then hugged Tracey. "Thank goodness you're all right, Tracey! Your magic level is back at base level, just like Selene and Merlin predicted!"
Gina nudged her and told her in her head, "Yeah, it's a relief, Makenna, but keep in mind that he also now has broken wings. We've got to let him rest this afternoon before the dance."
"I understand," Makenna said back, releasing Tracey. "All right, Tracey, let's take you back to my house."
"Uh," Mrs. Delling suddenly said. She seemed hesitant to take Tracey back in after she told Makenna she would never see him again.
Makenna focused on her and added, "That's as if it's all right with Mom. Please, Mom? He's broken his wings and needs to rest."
Mrs. Delling thought for a moment. Finally, she sighed and answered, "Sure, Makenna, sure. We'll take him home."
Makenna grinned. "Thank you, Mom."
Raeven flew into her arms, Gina into Tracey's.
The fairies hugged their avian friends.
Makenna finally admitted, "I'm so glad I, too, now have an avian friend. Thank you, Raeven."
"No problem," Raeven telepathically quipped. "Does this mean you'll give me a full platter of fruit when we get home?"
"Of course," Makenna answered back.
Raeven silently cheered.
Mrs. Delling couldn't help but beam. Maybe things would be okay after all.