Chapter 1 Princess Magnolia and Frimplepants set out when the sun was still low and shy. It wasn’t far to Princess Snapdragon’s castle. But they did not want to be late for the Flower Festival. It was the biggest event of the season!
During the day, there was a fair. And in the evening, a ball. Princess Snapdragon had asked Princess Magnolia to be in charge of the ball. It was a big responsibility.
When she arrived, the Flower Festival Fair was already in full swing. And full of people! Clearly nobody had wanted to be late.
Princess Orchid waved to her from the Rosemary-Go-Round. Princesses Apple Blossom and Honeysuckle were helping kids in the Bumper Bees. Princesses Hyacinth and Bluebell drove the Solar Coaster. And Princess Posy worked at the Lily Pond.
“Hello, Princess Magnolia!” said Princess Snapdragon. She eyed the overflowing cart Frimplepants was pulling. “Do you need help unloading?”
“Yes, thank you,” said Princess Magnolia. “I brought so many things for the ball.”
“Oh, how I hope it is a success!” said Princess Snapdragon. “I think the ball is the most important part of the Flower Festival. The ball and the fennel cakes.”
Princess Sneezewort was neck-deep in fennel cakes. She waved.
Princess Magnolia yearned to make the ball a success. So she came prepared. Very prepared.
Princess Snapdragon lifted a box out of the cart. “Wow, what is in all of these?”
“Decorations!” said Princess Magnolia. “This one is food decorations. This one is door decorations.
This one is wall decorations. And this one . . . is a special, secret decoration.”
“A special, secret decoration?” Princess Snapdragon leaned closer. “You can tell me.”
And Princess Magnolia was about to tell. But just then, somebody screamed.
Chapter 2 A scream? Was someone in trouble?
“Oh no,” said Princess Snapdragon.
“Maybe a monster is attacking the Flower Festival!”
That would not be good. Princess Magnolia was prepared to decorate the ball. She was not prepared to fight a monster. For that, she’d need to change into the Princess in Black. But she was worried. If she went to change, she’d have to leave her decorations.
And then she saw the cause of the trouble. It was not a monster. It was a bird. A big, flightless bird.
“EMU!” shrieked a tiny girl.
The emu stomped straight through the crowd. Kids had to scramble out of the way. A garbage can blocked its path. Did the emu go around the garbage can? No, it did not. It kicked the can. Hard.
The crowd gasped. This wasn’t just a big bird. This was a grumpy bird. The grumpiest bird anyone had ever seen.
The emu looked from side to side, as if daring anyone to stop it.
“Stop it!” said Princess Magnolia. She didn’t know what else to do. If it were a monster, she would wage battle. But what should she do with an emu?
The emu walked up to her. Its legs were like two tree trunks. It stared straight at her with menacing eyes. And then, it kicked one of her boxes.
The crowd gasped again.
“That’s not nice,” said Princess Magnolia. “You can’t just kick people’s things.”
The emu looked from side to side in an alarming way. Then it lifted its heavy foot and stomped. Right on the special, secret box. The box crumpled with a sound of breaking glass.
Princess Magnolia stared at the broken pieces of her special, secret decoration. How could the ball be a success now?
Copyright © 2023 by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale; Illustrated by LeUyen Pham. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
