7 Rusella

7 Rusella The fairy tapped her foot on the floor. "Why did you make me come all the way over here?" she asked. "I've got work to do." Violet found her voice. "Who are you?" she asked. The fairy rolled her eyes. "You don't even know? My name is Rusella," she said. "And now I've got to get back to work. I'm busy—"

"Rusella!" Sprite cried. "I know about you. You're a message gremlin." "That's right," Rusella said. "What's a message gremlin?" Leon asked. Sprite darted around the room, excited. "Message gremlins like to mix up messages people send to one another," he explained. "Like when you think you're supposed to meet your friend in the park, but your friend is waiting for you at her house."

Violet turned to Rusella. "You've been causing all the trouble around here! You changed the date on our invitations from Brittany!" Rusella giggled. "And at the last second I changed them back. No evidence!" "Hey!" Leon yelled. "Did you mess with the cafeteria worker's message? Is that why we ended up with applesauce stew?" Rusella smiled. "That was a good one, wasn't it? But you haven't seen anything yet." "What are you up to, Rusella?" Sprite asked.

Rusella got a dreamy look in her eyes. "There are so many messages I can mess up in this town. Text messages. Email messages. Letters that come in the mail. Homework assignments. Everyone will fight and yell at one another. It's going to be great!" Rusella looked into Violet's eyes. "And after I'm through with this town, I'm going to mess up the whole human world!" "Sprite, quick!" Violet yelled. "Look in The Book of Tricks! We have to trick her!"

Rusella frowned. "Trick me? Sorry. That's not going to happen." The gremlin took some pixie dust out of her pocket. She sprinkled it on her head. Then poof! She vanished. "No!" Violet cried. Sprite read The Book of Tricks. "It's okay, Violet," he said. "We wouldn't have been able to trick her anyway. See—here." He read the rhyme aloud.

Rusella's mixed-up messages Are annoying for sure. A bowl of alphabet soup Is the only real cure! "How are we supposed to get her to eat alphabet soup?" Violet asked. Leon rubbed his stomach. "Mmm, soup. I'm hungry! I couldn't eat any of that gross lunch." "Lunch!" Sprite cried. "Yes, that's it!" He flipped through the pages of The Book of Tricks. Finally, he smiled.