The Big Shrink Read online

Elliott, Sebastian, and Pepper raised their hands, too. As did Rainey, Clyde, and Zinnia.

  Marigold melted in relief. After everything, her friends still believed in her. “Nory, why don’t I try you first? Just in case.”

  “Oh, gee, thanks,” Nory said. Then she grinned. “Okay, fine!” Her aunt nodded and carried her into the doctor’s office.

  In the examining room, Marigold closed her eyes. She took a mental snapshot of Nory, enlarged it, and let the energy go through her forehead.

  Zwoop! Nory popped back to her regular size!

  “You did it!” Nory cried, giving Marigold a high five. “It didn’t hurt or anything!”

  “Well done, Marigold,” said Dr. Garibaldi. She looked Nory over, checking her pulse and temperature. “Very impressive. Nory, you don’t need the shots, but I would still like you to drink the eighteen cups of coconut water in the recovery room. It’s not just to help with re-growing. People can get very dehydrated with abrupt size changes.”

  “I’d rather not, please,” Nory said. “I feel fine!”

  “Nory,” said Nory’s aunt. “You have to do what the doctor says.”

  Nory rolled her eyes, but headed for the recovery room. “If you insist. Sheesh!” She stopped and looked over her shoulder. “Great job, Marigold.”

  The next day, everybody was back to their regular shapes and sizes. Even Bax.

  First the doctors had used Bax’s usual medicine to flux him from a grain of sand into a boy about an eighth of an inch high: Super-Tiny-Bax.

  Then Marigold had bigged him back up, just like she had done with everyone else.

  She was so relieved. In the end, after they saw how good Nory felt, every single student had given her a chance to big them up. Even the ones with cranky parents.

  Except for Lacey Clench, that is. Her father had refused to let Marigold near his daughter.

  Poor Lacey had to get the shots. All ten of them. Again.

  The next morning at school felt strangely normal. Carrot was sitting on the teacher’s desk, eating an apple Willa had brought her. Nory was clowning around with Elliott. Ms. Starr was getting organized to take roll and do morning announcements.

  Marigold still felt awful about all the problems she’d caused. For a little while, and for the first time ever, she’d felt so powerful. And she had wanted to bring people together and help the kids have their voices heard. Only, she hadn’t stopped to wonder whether she was putting people in danger, and she hadn’t known how best to use her power. As a result, she had misused it.

  On top of that, the students hadn’t even won their Dregg privileges back. In fact, the only good thing that had come out of all of the mess was Marigold’s private conversation with Dr. Garibaldi. She’d learned about how her magic could have uses in medicine, and then about the hospital’s junior candy stripers program, the Peppermint Puffs.

  Candy stripers were high schoolers who volunteered in the hospital to learn about medical careers. Peppermint Puffs were middle schoolers. Marigold’s grandparents let Marigold sign up for Peppermint Puffs then and there.

  She was, therefore, already officially a Peppermint Puff, and her first shift was next week after school. She’d don the red-and-white-striped apron that all the Peppermint Puffs wore and she’d spend the afternoon volunteering: delivering flowers, running nonmedical errands for doctors, reading stories to sick kids, and having conversations with patients who were lonely.

  Marigold wouldn’t get to shrink stuff as a Peppermint Puff. Not yet. But maybe she could use her shrinking magic to entertain the kids. Maybe.

  From deep inside her reverie, Marigold heard someone saying her name.

  “Yes?” Marigold replied.

  Ms. Starr gestured to the front of the classroom, where Layla stood with her spine resting against the door frame. “Your tutor is here,” Ms. Starr said.

  Layla waved.

  Marigold hopped up and joined her, taking her hand and dragging her into the hall. “Where were you?” she demanded. “Ms. Starr and I left an emergency message.”

  “Oh?” Layla said. She scratched her nose. “Now that you mention it, I guess I did see Eloise’s name on my voice mail. But I didn’t have time to listen to it. Was it really an emergency?”

  “Yes. We had a big problem,” said Marigold. “I needed you to re-grow us. My bigging-up magic wouldn’t work and there were all these kids who were stuck being tiny.”

  “Sorry,” said Layla. “I would have helped if I’d known, but I ignore my phone a lot. I have a ton of research and writing to do.”

  Marigold exhaled a big rush of air. What was there to say? She had to face it: Layla would never be the tutor of her dreams.

  In fact, Layla was pretty self-involved.

  To be fair, Layla did know how to big things up, and she had taught Marigold how to do it. But strangely enough, the biggest thing Layla taught Marigold was that magic was about more than technique. Magic had to be used responsibly, and Layla … well, Layla was kind of irresponsible.

  “I tried to un-shrink people but I made them smaller instead,” she told Layla at last. “They wouldn’t big up. It was because I was tiny. I had to go to the hospital to get big and then I was able to re-grow them.”

  “So you figured it out on your own. Good job.” Layla patted Marigold on the back. “I’d like to know why people’s magic got small when their bodies were small, though. That’s an interesting development. Still, we can’t really talk now. I’m actually only here to say that I can’t meet today. The boyfriend and I are going on a road trip to the Shakespeare festival in Owl City.”

  “Oh,” Marigold said. “All right, then.”

  “But I’ll give it some thought and get back to you. Okay, M-Boogie?”

  “Okay.”

  “Ciao-ciao!” Layla called as she loped down the hall and disappeared from sight.

  Marigold watched her go. That Layla.

  After lunch, Principal Gonzalez rapped on the door of the Upside-Down Magic classroom. He was fully visible. Everyone perked up.

  “I’d like to speak to Marigold and Nory, please.”

  Marigold and Nory shot out of their chairs and followed him down the hall.

  “How are you both feeling today?” he asked.

  “Fine,” Nory said. “No lasting damage.”

  He laughed. Marigold felt her cheeks heat up. She knew she had to be in trouble. Kids had gone to the hospital because of her. Even if everyone was okay now.

  Principal Gonzalez waved hello to his assistant and motioned for the two girls to sit down. “As I’m sure you’re aware, yesterday’s protest caused a lot of issues,” he said. “People were scared their kids would be stuck tiny. Parents were upset. My administration was upset. I was upset. The coconut water was yucky. And it did not help the reputation of upside-down magic in our school community.”

  Marigold hung her head. “I’m sorry.”

  “I know. But it was much too early to try a new skill out on human subjects. Much, much too early.” He leaned forward. “You’re still learning, Marigold. You’re both still learning. I understand how a mistake like this could happen, but it cannot happen again.”

  He cleared his throat. “You already know that students are not allowed to make other students invisible or levitate. That is a school rule. But as of today, I will be adopting a new policy to include shrinking. It will be called the No Alterations Policy. There will be no alterations of fellow students or teachers, including turning people invisible, levitating them, or shrinking them. All other magical alterations count as well. So if you find yourself able to grow wings on people, or turn their arms to stone, or anything like that, it is forbidden here at Dunwiddle, for the safety of all students and teachers. Do you understand? Hmm?”

  Marigold and Nory nodded.

  “Good,” he said. “And although I do not want to punish students for a peaceful protest, I do think there should be consequences for having used your magic on humans in a way that sent them to the hospi
tal. Do you agree?”

  “Yes,” squeaked Marigold.

  “So I would like you to do some community service in the library,” said the principal. “Mr. Wang has had some flaring issues in there recently, and he needs help with cleanup and with the general running of the library, sorting books and shelving and so forth. Marigold, you will go there during recess Monday through Thursday for the next three weeks, as a way of taking seriously the problems that your careless use of magic caused for this school.”

  “Okay,” said Marigold. She was actually relieved to have something to do.

  “Do I have to do anything?” asked Nory.

  The principal nodded. “I signed you up for four days of helping Coach clean out the gym storage. Lots of old smelly uniforms and dirty balls of yarn in there. They could use organizing.”

  Nory sighed. “All right. Sounds fair.”

  Marigold hesitated. “And what about the Dreggs?” she asked. “Is there any way you would consider letting us bring them to school? I understand that they are disruptive, I really do, but they have also been really great for helping UDM kids feel included with the other kids.”

  She saw Nory’s eyes widen.

  Principal Gonzalez looked back and forth between them. “The Dreggs are extremely disruptive. But I do see your point. And I am willing to stand by the offer I made to you yesterday. Students can bring Dreggs to school every Friday, to be taken out only during recess. Never in the classroom, never in the cafeteria—only in the yard on Fridays.”

  “Really?” Nory squealed.

  Marigold couldn’t believe it.

  “Yes. In fact, that’s why I gave you Fridays off from your community-service recess jobs. However, all Dreggs should be kept in students’ lockers and only hatched outside. Any Dreggs hatched inside a hallway or a classroom will be confiscated immediately and until the end of the year. Understood?”

  They both nodded.

  “Good. I’ll make an announcement later today, and will send home an email. Now back to class, kids.”

  They hurried out of his office. Nory squeezed Marigold’s hand. “Good job. I never would have asked him to stop the Dreggs ban after everything that happened. That was awesome.”

  Marigold smiled. She’d have Friday recesses with Sparkle-Puff and Tootsie! And the principal had met her one-fortieth of the way there. Now, that seemed pretty awesome.

  On the first Friday of December, the weather was gloriously sunny and cold. Nory had a pocket full of Dreggs and a happy, fizzy energy inside her.

  At recess, she climbed on top of the picnic table at the far end of the yard and held both hands up for attention. The kids gathered around her grew quiet. Those who were still mad about the whole shrinking fiasco—and there were plenty of them—narrowed their eyes and made growly faces from farther off. Oh, well. Too bad for them!

  “Does everyone have their Dreggs out?” Nory asked.

  “Not yet,” said Bax. But he pulled one from his pocket.

  “Yes,” cried Elliott, Willa, Pepper, and Marigold. Marigold thrust hers into the sky.

  “Welcome to Dregg Dash Fridays!” cried Nory. “Let the Dregg Dash begin!”

  All the kids squeezed their Dreggs to launch the hatching process.

  Nory hopped down among them as they set their Dreggs on the picnic table, and laughed at the surge of farting sounds. Now this is the life, she thought, admiring the newest Dregg in her collection, just as it cracked open. It was small and magenta—and it hatched into the cutest Blurper Dragon ever! Nory named it Roarie, after the real live Blurper she’d met at the dragon rescue center.

  Clyde ran over with Rainey. “Guys!” he called. “Hey, guys! Guess what!”

  “Clyde! Rainey!” Nory cried. “Where are your Dreggs?”

  “We’ve got them, don’t worry,” Clyde said.

  “But wait till you see what Clyde has,” Rainey said. “It’s even better than Dreggs.”

  “Better than Dreggs? Never,” Nory scoffed, though she was curious. “What is it?”

  Clyde beamed. “Watch!” He bent over at the waist and tugged first at his right shoelaces and then at his left. He stood up, looking pleased.

  “Um, those are shoelaces,” said Nory. “Not that fun, actually.”

  “Wait for it, wait for it,” Clyde said. Then whoosh! Up he shot, pinwheeling his arms to maintain his balance and laughing hysterically. At first Nory thought he’d grown a foot taller, but on closer inspection, she saw that only his shoes had grown. They’d puffed up to ten times their size, and Clyde perched on top of them.

  “Show them the rest! Go on,” encouraged Rainey. “Ready, set … go!”

  Clyde lifted one puffy shoe and took a step. Then another and another. He picked up speed, and boing! Boing! Boing!

  He galumphed around the playground in huge bouncy bounds, soaring high into the air with each step before barreling back down. “They’re called Moon Boppers,” he yelled as he ran. “Because it’s like walking on the moon. Running on the moon!”

  Elliott chased after him. “I want to try,” he said. “Can I try?”

  “Only after I try,” said Rainey, running to keep up with Elliott. “I get first dibs, don’t I, Clyde?”

  Everyone followed. They stuffed their Dreggs into their pockets and forgot all about them. Willa even left hers behind. Nory squatted and scooped it up, stroking its bitsy head. “Well, that stinks,” Nory said.

  “Clyde’s Moon Boppers?” Marigold said. She had stayed behind. “I don’t know. I think they’re cool.”

  “Super cool,” said Nory. “But still. People shouldn’t forget about Dreggs just because something new comes along. We just got permission to bring them on Fridays!”

  “Hmm,” said Marigold. Her eyes followed Clyde as he bopped around the playground. “They do look fun,” she said. “And … there’s no rule against them, right? I mean, we could still have Dregg Dash Fridays. But we could also have Moon Bopper Mondays.”

  “Yes,” Nory exclaimed. “Marigold, you’re a genius!”

  “I am, aren’t I?” said Marigold.

  “Come on,” Nory said, grabbing her hand and pulling her across the playground toward Clyde. “We have got to put this plan into action!”

  Massive, bigged-up thanks to the team at Scholastic, including but not limited to: David Levithan, Rachel Feld, Maya Marlette, Charisse Meloto, Taylan Salvati, Lisa Bourne, Sue Flynn, Melissa Schirmer, Emily Heddleson, Robin Hoffman, Lizette Serrano, Abby Denning, and Aimee Friedman. Colossal appreciation for Laura Dail, Tamar Rydzinski, Barry Goldblatt, Tricia Ready, Elizabeth Kaplan, Lauren Kisilevsky, Eddie Gamarra, Lauren Walters, Katie-Rose Summerfield, Alyssa Stonoha, and Deb Shapiro. Immense gratitude for Bob, for all the support. We are, as always, humongously grateful to Randy, Daniel, and Todd, and our tinies, Al, Jamie, Maya, Mirabelle, Alisha, Ivy, Hazel, Chloe, and Anabelle. And finally, we thank all of our readers! We love each and every one of you, big or small.

  SARAH MLYNOWSKI is the author of many books for tweens, teens, and adults, including the New York Times bestselling Whatever After series, the Magic in Manhattan series, and Gimme a Call. She is also the co-creator of the traveling middle-grade book festival OMG BookFest. She would like to be a Flicker so she could make the mess in her room invisible. Visit her online at sarahm.com.

  LAUREN MYRACLE is the New York Times bestselling author of many books for young readers, including the Winnie Years series, the Flower Power series, and the Life of Ty series. The Backward Season is the most recent book in her Wishing Day trilogy. She would like to be a Fuzzy so she could talk to unicorns and feed them berries. You can find Lauren online at laurenmyracle.com.

  EMILY JENKINS is the author of many chapter books, including Brave Red, Smart Frog ; the Toys Trilogy (which begins with Toys Go Out); and the Invisible Inkling series. Her picture books include All-of-a-Kind Family Hanukkah; A Greyhound, A Groundhog; Princessland; Lemonade in Winter; and Toys Meet Snow. She would like to be a Flare and work as a pastry
chef. Visit Emily at emilyjenkins.com.

  Also by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle,

  & Emily Jenkins:

  #1 Upside-Down Magic

  #2 Sticks & Stones

  #3 Showing Off

  #4 Dragon Overnight

  #5 Weather or Not

  #6 The Big Shrink

  Copyright © 2019 by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, SCHOLASTIC PRESS, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available

  First edition, September 2019

  Cover art by Juliana Kolesova, © 2018 by Scholastic Inc.

  Cover design by Elizabeth B. Parisi & Mary Claire Cruz

  e-ISBN 978-1-338-22154-1

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