Toadal Disaster

Nothing, not even a slumber party with her two best friends, was going to keep Seven Salazar from studying for her final exam. She pointed her hands at a pen and practiced the magical spell for the 100th time as she sat at the kitchen counter. 

“Sapo!”

The pen turned into a toad, which croaked happily a few times. Then Seven transformed it back into a pen with a flick of her wrist.

Seven breathed a sigh of relief.

Her mom, Fox, cleared her throat, and Seven looked up. She was giving her that look, the one that meant a lecture was coming. Uh-oh.

“Seven, I hope you’ll take a rest and enjoy your slumber party tonight! You’ve studied so much already,” Fox said. 

It was true that Seven had spent the past month obsessing about the transformación exam. Professor Dewdrop had told them they would be changing a simple pen into an animal. Animals were Seven’s specialty! She was one of the very few witches in the magical town of Ravenskill who could talk to animals. What would people say if she didn’t ace the test on this simple animal spell? 

It’d be completely embarrassing. Or so Seven felt.

Fox put one hand on Seven’s shoulder. “Maybe just for tonight, have a little fun with Valley and Thorn. They’re taking the test too, after all,” she said. 

Seven sighed. Valley and Thorn couldn’t talk to animals. They didn’t understand the pressure she felt. 

“I’ll . . . try,” Seven said. 

Fox gave her a smile. “Your dad and I will bring back dinner in a little bit!” she said as she walked out of the kitchen.

But Seven’s mind stayed on the test, wondering if she’d done enough
to pass.

Soon after, Valley and Thorn arrived. 

“Who’s ready for Witch School Musical?” Valley shouted, bursting through the front door. The plan was to watch their favorite movie on the telecast before Seven’s parents returned with dinner.

“I brought candy and popcorn,” Thorn said.

The three friends went up to Seven’s room and laid out their sleeping bags on the floor. Seven placed the pen in front of her. “I’ll just practice while we watch,” she said.

She intoned the spell for temporary toadification, “Sapo!” The pen-toad croaked twice before she turned it back into the pen. 

Edgar Allan Toad, her actual pet toad, grumbled, “I don’t want a roommate, by the way.” Only Seven could hear him of course. 

“Not now, Edgar,” Seven said, her forehead covered in sweat. 

“Are you going to be doing that all night?” Thorn asked.

“I need to get the highest score on the final,” Seven replied. 

Valley scoffed. “Just press play, Thorn. She’s hopeless.” 

Thorn sighed as she started Witch School Musical. While her friends watched the movie, Seven turned her pen into a toad and back again. And again. And again.

“What was the point of this sleepover?” Valley asked. “It’s like you’re not even here.”

“What do you mean? We’re having a great time!” Seven said, still casting spells.

“SAPO!”

“Croak,” pen-toad said. 

Suddenly, Valley stood up, her hands balled into fists. 

“Seven Salazar! If you don’t leave that pen alone . . .” she yelled. 

“What if you just took a break?” Thorn tried gently. 

“Ha, yeah, funny joke,” Seven said, her eyes still glued to the pen-toad. She couldn’t stop. Her reputation with the whole town was on the line. Why couldn’t Valley and Thorn understand that?

“Sapo!” Seven said again. 

At the very same time, Valley shouted “SEVEN!” so loudly that Seven actually jumped in her seat. Seven’s hands shot up in the air, and she sent her magic in the wrong direction.

It went straight for Valley. 

“Oh my!” Thorn cried as the transformation magic took hold of Valley . . . and did something not great. 

Very not great.

Valley had been toadified.

“I knew you were going to do something like this,” toad-Valley said. She was a cute toad, with a stripe of pink hair and a scowl on her face. 

“No big deal, I’ll just turn you back,” Seven said. 

Seven flicked her wrist at Valley, covering her in a veil of magic to untoadify her.

But it did not work this time. 

She tried again. Nothing happened. Valley was still a toad. 

Oh no. 

“Seven!” toad-Valley cried.

“Why isn’t it working?” Thorn asked, worry creeping into her voice. Seven was on her feet now, pacing the room. Her parents would be home any minute. They’d be expecting Seven, Thorn, and Valley to join them for dinner. Except Valley was a literal toad! 

Forget not passing her final. If Seven couldn’t transform Valley back, Seven would be grounded for life! 

“OK, OK, let me think,” Seven said, inspecting Valley closely. 

“I refuse to share my flies with you,” Edgar croaked at toad-Valley, causing her to jump.

“Whoa, I can understand him! Is this how it feels to hear animals, Seven?” toad-Valley said. Then she stuck out her long, slimy toad
tongue. “Gross! Fix me, Seven!” 

“Ughhh!” Seven groaned just as her portaphone pinged with a message from . . . her mom. 

“Be home in 10 minutes!” Fox had written. “Make sure you three are ready for dinner.” 

“Thorn, I’m toast,” Seven said. “My family will be here in 10 minutes!” 

“You’re toast?! What about Valley?” Thorn replied.

“That’s right!” toad-Valley told Seven, narrowing her yellow toad eyes. 

“This is a disaster!” Seven wailed.

“Seven, calm down,” Thorn said, grabbing their transformación textbook from Seven’s nightstand. “What if—” 

“I’m a total failure!” 

“Seven, what if we—” Thorn tried again, holding the book up to an open page. 

“I can’t make mistakes like this!”

“Everyone makes mistakes,” Thorn said, her face red with frustration. “Especially when they don’t listen to their friends.”

Seven looked at her, then at toad-Valley, and her face went hot. She had been a total butt-toad. 

She took a deep breath. 

“Thorn, Valley, I’m so sorry,” Seven said. “I was just thinking about myself. Can you forgive me?” 

Thorn smiled.  

“I’ll forgive you when you untoadify me!” toad-Valley said.

“All right, all right,” Seven said quickly. “Any ideas, Thorn?” 

“Well,” Thorn picked up the transformación textbook. “It says here that spells meant for objects take less magic to undo. Maybe since you used it on a witch, you need something stronger to reverse the spell. Not just flick-of-your-wrist magic.” 

Seven clapped once. “Of course! Remember what Professor Dewdrop said? Strong spells can sometimes be undone by using the spell Inversa! If we add that to the Sapo spell, and do it together to make the spell stronger, it might work!” 

Just then, they heard the front door open. “Seven, can you come downstairs?” her dad yelled. 

“Oh no, they’re here!” Seven cried. 

“Quick, let’s try the spell before they see Valley!” 

“Ready? Together on three,” Seven said. 

Footsteps were coming up the stairs. 

“Seven, is everything OK in there?” her mom called.

“One, two, three . . .” Seven held Thorn’s hand as Thorn put one finger on toad-Valley’s head and together they said, “Sapo Inversa!”

A mist of green light filled the room. Then the door creaked open. 

“What’s going on in here?” Fox asked. 

“Oh . . . nothing,” Thorn said just as the smoke cleared to reveal Valley on the bed. 

Human Valley, with arms and legs and a regular-sized tongue. 

“Just practicing for our transformación final!” Valley said, hopping off the bed with a little too much bounce. Toad aftereffects. 

“Well, it’s time for dinner,” Fox said as she eyed Seven, one eyebrow raised. Her mother could always tell when they had been up to no good. 

“Sure thing, Ma,” Seven said awkwardly. 

As soon as her mom closed the door, Seven crumpled onto the bed, relief coursing through her. 

“That was so close,” she said. 

“Yeah, thanks to Thorn, your mom didn’t turn you into a toad,” Valley said. 

“There is absolutely not enough room for three toads in here,” Edgar croaked grumpily

The next morning, Seven stopped her friends before they walked downstairs for breakfast. 

“I’m so sorry again about last night,” she said. “I ruined our sleepover.”

“Oh, it’s OK,” Valley told her. “It was a sleepover I’ll never forget!”

“And I’m sorry we didn’t truly understand how worried you were about the final,” Thorn answered.

“You don’t need to be perfect, Seven,” Valley told her. 

Seven smiled. “No, I don’t . . . not when I have friends I can count on to help me out when I make mistakes.” 

She spread her arms wide. “Hug?” 

The three witches hugged, laughing at their near disaster. 

“Now let’s get some food,” Seven said, rubbing her hands together. 

“I’m so hungry!” Thorn said. 

“Me too,” Valley said. “I could really go for some flies.”