10 CAN I COME, TOO

Chapter ten, Can I come to? "I think we should ask different magical creatures what they do for hiccups. Wishy is magical, so it makes sense to try things that work for other magical creatures. Don't you think?" I asked Pip, but he didn't respond. "Pip? PIP!" "Oh, sorry," Pip said, finally looking up. "It's just really fun to make this lung blow up." He pulled down on the bottom diaphragm balloon one last time, and then sighed and handed back the lung model. "But yes, I think that is a great plan." "Excellent! You wait here, and I'll go tell Wishy. It's probably best if she stays here so we

don't have any more wacky changes to the forest creatures." I grabbed the lung model, but Pip looked up at me with big eyes. "OK, fine. You can play with the lung model while I go talk to her," I said. Pip hopped up and down and reached his arms out for it. I checked in on the monster siblings, who preferred to stay snuggled up in their corner of the barn. Then I came out around the barn and heard Wishy crying. "Are you doing OK?" I asked gently. Wishy took a big sniff. "I'm just—hic—so lonely—hic. I came—hic—to the forest—hic—to make—hic—some new—hic—friends, but—hic —I have—hic—just made—hic—a mess—hic— of everything." "It was an accident, though. And don't worry —we're going to fix it!" I told her my plan to ask around in the forest. She wiped her eyes and smiled. "Can I—hic —come, too—hic—? I mean—hic—if we—hic— can find—hic—some way—hic—for me to—hic —not accidentally—hic—cause problems?" I thought for a minute. It would be safer to leave her here…

Wishy looked at my face and started crying again. "Please don't—hic—leave me—hic—here. I—hic—am so—hic—lonely!" I rolled my shoulders. There must be some way to make this work. "OK, let's see. You're not causing Pip or Tiny to change right now, which is good. But you were causing them to change earlier in the forest and when Pip was standing at the barn door. So something we were doing then made the magic work, and something we're doing now has stopped it. Were you looking at Pip and Tiny earlier when they changed?"

Wishy thought for a minute. "I—hic—think so—hic—" "OK, I have an idea. Wait here!" I dashed into the barn and found a small piece of cloth. I held it up to my eye. "This will make a perfect blindfold!" I walked over to Pip. "I'm so sorry to have to ask, but Wishy wants to come with us, and I need to figure out why her magic isn't changing you—right now, anyway. I think if she looks at a magical creature while she hiccups, that's when the accidental magic happens." I showed Pip the little blindfold cloth. "Meep!" he said. He stepped to the side and pointed at a newly laid chicken egg. "I'll help you test her magic. Even if the blindfold doesn't work, I might stop laying chicken eggs." "OK, you wait at the back barn door. I'll go put the blindfold on Wishy, open the door, and you can come out. If nothing about you changes, we'll know the blindfold stops her magic."

I went around the side of the barn to Wishy and explained the plan. Once she was blindfolded, I opened the barn door and Pip stepped out and stood next to her, just as she hiccupped. "Oh dear," Pip said. I looked down at my frog friend, who was no longer laying chicken eggs… but who now had feet as long as his arms. He looked like he was wearing giant swimming flippers! "Ack!" I scooped him up, plopped him into

the barn, and shut the door. "Did I—hic—do it—hic—again?" Wishy began to wail. "Well, yes… but it wasn't your fault!" I patted Wishy. "OK, so the unwanted changes must not be caused by you looking at them. What else could it be?" I tapped my head. Oh! I needed my trusty Thinking Goggles! "One sec!" I told Wishy as I ran off to grab them. Once I got my goggles, I made sure they were nice and snug on top of my head and thought over everything I knew about when Wishy's magic did or didn't change my friends. "OK, Thinking Goggles…" I muttered.