Charmed
By Jen Calonita
4/5
()
About this ebook
The second installment in the beloved Fairy Tale Reform School series where the teachers are (former) villains
Sometimes it's good to be bad...
It takes a (mostly) reformed thief to catch a spy. Which is why Gilly Cobbler, Enchantasia's most notorious pickpocket, volunteers to stay locked up at Fairy Tale Reform School…indefinitely. Gilly and her friends may have defeated the Evil Queen and become reluctant heroes, but the battle for Enchantasia has just begun.
Alva, aka The Wicked One who cursed Sleeping Beauty, has declared war on the Princesses, and she wants the students of Fairy Tale Reform School to join her. As her criminal classmates give in to temptation, Gilly goes undercover as a Royal Lady in Waiting (don't laugh) to unmask a spy…before the mole can hand Alva the keys to the kingdom.
Her parents think Gilly the Hero is completely reformed, but sometimes you have to get your hands dirty. Sometimes it's good to be bad…
This series is perfect for read-alongs between parents and kids and engaging reluctant readers.
Praise for Fairy Tale Reform School: Flunked
"Fairy Tale Reform School has a clever concept and a fresh and funny take on the enchanted world. (I always wanted to know what happened to Cinderella's stepmother too!)"—Julia DeVillers, author of the Liberty Porter, First Daughter series and co-author of the Trading Faces series
"Spell-binding and wickedly clever."—Leslie Margolis, author of the Annabelle Unleashed novels and the Maggie Brooklyn mysteries
Jen Calonita
Jen Calonita has interviewed everyone from Reese Witherspoon to Justin Timberlake, but the only person she’s ever wanted to trade places with is Disney’s Cinderella. She’s the award-winning author of the Royal Academy Rebels and Fairy Tale Reform School series. Jen lives in Merrick, New York with her husband, two sons, and their two Chihuahuas, Captain Jack Sparrow and Ben Kenobi. Visit jencalonitaonline.com for more.
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Reviews for Charmed
39 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the second story in the Fairy Tale Reform School series, we are back in Enchantasia, the land of all the fairytale characters. Even though Gilly and her friends saved the day in Flunked, they are still students at FTRS. The students are pretty much the same, but with Harlowe (The Evil Queen) in the dungeon, Blackbeard the Pirate has been added to the staff. Unfortuntely, Harlowe escapes with the help of Alva, the wicked fairy and they begin recruiting to take over Enchantasia.
Gilly's character becomes involved with the "Royal Ladies in Waiting" club at the request of Princess Rose. She quickly becomes entranced by Rose, the girls in the group and the hero worship and decides that she will find out on her own, her the mole is at FTRS. All her friends, are upset with her as well as her family. She quickly learns, however, that she can not go it alone if she expects to battle the evil villains in Enchantasia. But who should she trust? Who is the mole? Gilly continues to show her strength and guts, but does have some moments of doubt and issues of self-confidence. With the help and encouragement of her friends, once again, she is able to save the day. This story was a bit more predictable than the first one, but it was still entertaining and interesting. I liked that this book showcased teamwork, co-operation, friendship and humility. Once again this is a great middle grades series showing strong female characters. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Another wonderful entry in the Fairy Tale Reform School series! Look, it's no secret that I have a soft spot for these kinds of stories. I'm a Middle Grade reader, trapped in an adult's body. I love magic, mischief, and stories about great friendships. It's no wonder, then, that I also love Jen Calonita's writing. I enjoyed the first book, Flunked, immensely. So I couldn't wait to get my hands on Charmed and see what Gilly was up to now.
The first thing I noticed about this sequel was that Gilly has grown up. Oh, sure, she's still a rascal. She and her friends get up to all sorts of silliness. At the heart of it though, Gilly knows what true evil looks like now. She understands that people can get hurt, and that the choices we make affect others. I loved how Calonita didn't just let Gilly sit at this new point in her life though. Instead, she grows even more throughout the course of this book. Middle Grade readers need good role models and, as feisty as Gilly is, she definitely fits that bill.
Plus, there were so many more fairy tale references to fall in love with! I can't deny that I'm a sucker for a fairy tale pun. Those abound here, and if I'm finding myself giggling I have no doubt that young readers will too. I also appreciated the addition of new, and interesting characters. Most notably, Blackbeard makes his debut here. The idea that a new reader might want to discover the history of that dreaded pirate? Well, it makes me all giddy. He also adds a nice lightness to everything, what with his pirate manners and all. Pirates aren't exactly known for their manners.
I'm being completely honest when I say that I hope there's more of these stories to come. The ending had me a bit teary eyed, and truly hoping that this isn't the last I'll see of Gilly and her friends. If you have a young reader at home, especially one who enjoys a good fairy tale, this is a series you should get them started on. Jen Calonita's writing is wonderful. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Charmed is the second book in the Fairy Tale Reform School series and is a wonderful middle grade read. It is a follow up to Flucked, where Gilly gets thrown into reform school for stealing and ends up becoming a hero. In this book, we again follow Gilly and her friends as they try to defend their school from Alva - the wicked one that cursed Sleeping Beauty and in doing so learn more about reforming themselves and the power of teamwork and trust.What I really love about this book and the one before it, is the clever way Calonita takes fairy tales and has mashed them all together for this story. The characters and world building are wonderfully done and the book is funny and really keeps a read on their toes. I hope this middle grade series has more books, the are very enjoyable reads and I think younger readers will enjoy them and even parents will too.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lots of fractured fairytale fun! Gilly has to learn that she can't do things alone and not to judge a book by its cover.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It is very good. I loved it and all of Jen's books.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This is the 2nd book in the Fairy Tale Reform School series. Gilly is back and she is helping Jax try to find out who the mole is that is feeding information to Alva aka The Wicked One. Alva is the one that cursed Sleeping Beauty. Alva has declared war against all the princesses and is trying to recruit the reform school students as well as other beings. Gilly goes undercover as a lady in waiting to see if the mole is one of the ladies. Gilly goes through some things to overcome. She learns about true friendship. I like this book. Gilly is starting to show growth in this book. The ending was a nice little twist. I saw it coming, but it was nicely pulled off.
Book preview
Charmed - Jen Calonita
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Also by Jen Calonita
Flunked
Copyright © 2016 by Jen Calonita
Cover and internal design ©2016 by Sourcebooks, Inc.
Cover image by Mike Heath/Shannon Associates
Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks, Inc.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
Published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc.
P.O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567-4410
(630) 961-3900
Fax: (630) 961-2168
www.sourcebooks.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is on file with the publisher.
Source of Production: Worzalla, Stevens Point, Wisconsin, USA
Date of Production: January 2016
Run Number: 5005562
Contents
Front Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Who’s Who in Enchantasia
Acknowledgments
A Sneak Peek at Tricked
About the Author
Back Cover
For Elpida Argenziano, the strongest, bravest princess I know.
Sometimes it’s good to be bad.
Official Decree of the Enchantasia Dwarf Police Squad*
WANTED
Alva the Wicked Fairy
Reward for the capture of Alva, better known as Sleeping Beauty’s dreamcaster
Alva was last seen fleeing Fairy Tale Reform School. The fairy’s dark magic makes her dangerous in any form. (She can transform herself into a fire-breathing dragon and an old hag.) Alva is rumored to be recruiting an army to help her take over the kingdom of Enchantasia. You can make sure this does not happen! If you hear of her whereabouts, alert the Dwarf Police Squad immediately.
REWARD: 10,000 gold pieces
*This message approved by the Royal Court
Happily Ever After Scrolls
Brought to you by FairyWeb—magically appearing on scrolls throughout Enchantasia for the past ten years!
Where Is the Thorn in Sleeping Beauty’s Side Hiding?
by Coco Collette
It’s hard to believe that it’s been two months since Princess Rose, our favorite sleeping beauty, found out that her evil fairy, Alva, is not only alive but has been plotting to take over Enchantasia. Alva reappeared at the fifth anniversary ball for Fairy Tale Reform School, the school for wicked or criminally mischievous fairy-tale students. While Alva was unsuccessful in her takeover (whew!), she was able to turn Professor Harlow villainous once more. (Guess we can start calling her the Evil Queen again.) Harlow was taken into custody and is being held in the dungeons at FTRS, but Alva escaped.
I thought I had seen the last of that fairy, and now she’s back to torture not only me, but also my beloved kingdom,
says Princess Rose. I won’t stop ’til Alva is brought to justice and my citizens are safe once more. We’re lucky Gillian Cobbler was there to help save us.
Gillian, an FTRS student and the daughter of village shoemaker Hal Cobbler, rescued a ballroom full of students, royals, and citizens from Alva. Praise for Gillian has come from villagers and princesses alike. Neil at Combing the Sea says Team Gilly shirts are flying off his shelves. A comb plucked from my shop got Gilly thrown into FTRS in the first place,
says Neil proudly.
The royals were so pleased that they gave Gilly’s father his job back making glass slippers for the royal families. Ever since, orders have flooded into Hal’s shop from as far away as Parrington and Captiva. I just ordered a pair of Hal’s brand-new glass-slipper high tops,
says Rapunzel, who plans on wearing them in an ad for her new hair-care products. They’re comfortable yet stylish. What more could a princess ask for?
How about safety? Sources say Princess Rose has been unsettled by Alva’s reemergence and feels the royal court has not been doing enough to find the evil fairy. The sleepy princess is said to have fled the castle in a huff and is spending time at FTRS as a mentor to the famed Royal Ladies-in-Waiting Club.
Keeping checking your Happily Ever After Scrolls for more coverage on Alva!
CHAPTER 1
Charm School
Miri’s voice crackles through the magic mirrors in Fairy Tale Reform School. Let the first annual Wand What You Want hour begin!
Wands begin popping up in kids’ hands as we walk through the halls, and we all cheer. Pop! My wand arrives in my hand—long, dark gray, and nicked like it’s seen a few battles. Hmm…what to try first… I’m just about to test the wand out when I feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Instinct tells me to dive out of the way. When I look up, I see a classmate spelling the troll next to her. The girl turns into an ice sculpture. Geez, that was close. I better stay alert.
Pop! Pop! Pop! Kids begin casting all around me. The crowded hallway is suddenly full of talking woodland creatures, toads, fireworks, and a pretty impressive cloud raining licorice. Kids are cheering and fighting, and the sound of all those wands working is enough to give me a headache. I hurry away from the spell zapping, looking for somewhere to practice alone.
Slurp!
The chaotic hallway disappears behind me, and a new empty hall arrives in its place. I happen to know this hall leads to the school courtyard so I hurry down it and head outside. Ahhh…this is more like it. The warm sun is shining bright high above the castle walls, making me wistful for adventure. I can never sit still for long.
Pardon the interruption! We hope you are enjoying your wand experience, but remember, all wands disappear at the hour mark so choose your magic wisely,
Miri says. I’m relieved to find no mirror in the courtyard, which means she can’t see what I’m up to. That magic mirror is forever tattling on students for bad behavior. As a reminder, flying is not advised.
Not advised, but she didn’t say it was against the rules,
I say to myself. I flick the wand over my stuffy, uncomfortable pale-blue uniform and turn it into a comfy peasant shirt and pants. I swap out my ugly school shoes for my beloved lace-up boots. Now that I’m comfortable, I get to the task at hand. I’m sure an actual spell would work better, but since I don’t know one, I just imagine myself flying and—bam! I’m slowly floating up, up, up in the air. Score!
A Pegasus flies by me pulling a coach with four students in it.
"Hi, Gilly!" they shout and wave.
When you save your school from a wicked fairy, people tend to remember your name. Even if you don’t remember theirs.
Hi!
I say, lying back like I’m floating on a cloud. Wow, this is relaxing. I stretch my arms wide and—oops!
My wand falls from my grasp. Uh-oh. I begin to plummet, spinning faster and faster with no sign of stopping. Before I can even think of a way to break my fall, whoosh! I feel my body hit a blanket and bounce up, then land again on a magic carpet.
Ten minutes into Wand What You Want, and you’re already having a near-death experience?
my friend Jax asks. His curly blond hair looks white in the bright sunlight. He casually waves his own wand in my direction with a glint in his violet eyes. You’re getting sloppy.
I’m not getting sloppy!
I’m seriously offended by that statement. How’d you even know where to find me?
I thought to myself, ‘What would Gilly do with wand access for an hour?’ and I knew right away you’d try to sneak home for a bit,
Jax says. Let’s give it a go, shall we?
My usual partner in crime steers our magic carpet over the castle walls and across the vast school grounds. Below I can see students fanned out on castle rooftops, in the garden mazes, and near the lake, all casting away with various results. Jax flies the carpet faster, the wind whipping our hair and making it hard to see. I push the hair away from my eyes and strain to see home.
There beyond the silver turrets of Royal Manor, where the princesses who rule our kingdom live, is my small village of Enchantasia. Somewhere down there, my family is working, playing, and hopefully missing me as much as I miss them. The carpet is nearing the Hollow Woods—which separates us and the village—and I lean forward. It’s going to happen. We’re going to leave school and see them! Closer we fly to the treetops…closer to the forest filled with ogres…closer to leaving school grounds when—CRACKLE!
Our magic carpet is suddenly stunned by an invisible wall that keeps us from escaping the school grounds. A magical scroll drops from the sky into our laps. Leaving school grounds is forbidden!
it says in sparkling script that glows red like a warning. Please return to the castle at once!
It’s signed Headmistress Flora.
Smooth, Flora,
Jax says. Putting a barricade in the sky during wand training was clever.
Leaving was a long shot, but maybe I could wave my wand and at least see what my family is up to,
I say and gasp. My wand! I need to go get it.
Lose something, Gilly?
Our friend Maxine pilots a small flying swan boat I recognize from the Mother Goose carnival that was at school this past weekend. How does Maxine have one of those boats? Hmm… Bigger question: What’s she doing in midair? Ogres don’t usually like to be off the ground.
Maxine’s right eye spins in its socket as she makes her way toward us with a crooked smile. Her thick neck is covered in layers of necklaces and the jewels she used to like to steal. (That’s how she got thrown in FTRS. My offense was pickpocketing and shoplifting.) Maxine tosses the wand toward me but it’s snatched away.
Come and get it!
Jax’s roommate, Ollie, shouts. He’s flying on the back of a black baby dragon, which does not seem smart. Ollie dives back toward the courtyard and Jax, Maxine, and I follow, landing seconds later in the courtyard I left only minutes before. I jump off the carpet and grab my wand from Ollie before his baby dragon can eat it. But I don’t need to worry because—poof!—the dragon disappears.
A baby dragon on school grounds?
My roommate, Kayla, waves her wand in the air dangerously, and I worry about what she could zap next. Her wings pop out of her back and she flutters to Ollie’s side. As a fairy, Kayla can shrink to the size of a teacup, but at the moment, she towers over Ollie, white-blond hair whipping in the wind. That thing could burn down the whole school.
We’ve already had that almost happen,
Jax jokes. Let’s not do it again.
Fine,
Ollie says dejectedly. I really wanted a pet.
His eyes light up. Snack break!
He waves his wand at the ground and conjures up an apple pie as big as the magic carpet I was just on. Poof! He also creates a supersize ice cream sundae and a plate of cookies as big as Maxine. He waves the wand again and a picnic basket, blanket, and plates appear on the grass beside it. Let’s eat!
We could use some ambiance,
says Kayla who quickly transforms a dead rosebush into a beautiful plant with eye-popping roses in shades of fuchsia, electric blue, and lime green. Kayla flutters over to the blanket to help Ollie dish out dessert. He’s using his wand as a cake knife and slicing pieces as big as my arm.
Don’t forget the music,
says Maxine. She waves her wand in the air, and a flock of birds appears on a tree above us. They begin to chirp and hum in harmony. "Yes! It worked!" Maxine trudges over to the blanket happily, her ogre feet leaving deep footprints in the grass.
Flora must have lost her mind to let a bunch of reform-school kids use wands for an hour,
Jax says, flashing me a smile so blinding that I wish I had shades.
Poof! I use my wand to conjure up a pair. Sweet! I wish we could use wands every day instead of just in How a Wand Works 101. Madame Camille, our uptight fairy teacher, never lets us sign them out for homework, and every time someone screws up by zapping off their pinkie or growing their nose to three times its size, she says, This is why Enchantasia doesn’t allow wands ’til you’re twenty-one!
If I’d had a wand when I lived in the village, I wouldn’t have had to steal food to help feed my brothers and sisters in our overcrowded boot. I could have just conjured up the finest treats Gnome-olia Bakery had to offer with a flick of my wrist. Then I wouldn’t have been sentenced to Fairy Tale Reform School. From the outside, this place looks like your average school. But inside we have hallways that move every time you use them, a talking magic mirror who tattles on you if you step out of line, a class taught by a mer-teacher inside a giant fish tank, and professors who all are former villains. How do you like them poison apples?
FTRS is nothing like that snooze-fest shoemaker trade school I used to attend and will have to go back to when I prove I have transformed my villainous ways into upstanding ones. Some days—when villains aren’t trying to kill me—I’m bummed about being sprung from this joint. Especially when I think about leaving this crew.
Look, I get Flora disappearing to help Professor Wolfington suppress his wolf side again, but where has she been since he came back?
Jax continues. We never see her around school, and now she’s letting us take wands out for a spin? Something’s up.
I’m with Jax,
Maxine says, apple oozing down her chin as she chews. "My mini magical scroll has been showing me weird messages like ‘She’ll reappear when you’re all distracted’ instead of articles from Happily Ever After Scrolls."
Ollie gives me a look. Maxine swears her mini magical scroll is sending her messages, but mini magical scrolls only report the daily Enchantasia news. She seems to think her scroll is magical. Okay, more magical.
Yesterday it said, ‘Prepare. She is coming soon.’
Maxine cuts another slice of pie for herself that is as big as her head. Who is coming? Flora? I quickly hid my scroll since I was supposed to be doing homework.
I think Flora is just trying to give us some freedom,
I say. If they don’t give us freedom every now and then, how are they going to see whether we’re reforming?
Yeah, Maxine. Can’t you just be happy we have an afternoon off from Villain to Hero: How to Make the Switch?
Kayla asks.
Maxine frowns. I actually kind of miss Dragon Slaying 101, but sometimes learning about a dragon’s weak spots is enough to make me want to breathe fire.
I sit up. "That