A Fairy's Guide to Disaster Read Online Free

out when his arm touched the bureau.
    “Don’t get up yet.” I rubbed my knees. “I have to think.”
    The woodworking book flew past my head and landed at my feet. I looked up to see Iris waving in the doorway to get my attention. “Matilda, I hear something.”
    “What? Is it Mom and Dad?” I asked.
    “No. It’s crying,” said Iris.
    Crying? Who would be crying? Everyone else had gone to the berry harvest.
    “Matilda, pull me up,” said Gerald.
    “Wait,” I said. “Can you hear it?”
    Gerald’s face screwed back into its usual expression of resentful self-righteousness. “You’re supposed to be helping me,” he said.
    “Gerald, do you hear it or not?” I stomped my foot, crushing a bit of glass into a powder.
    “It’s that baby,” he said. “Now help me up.”
    I took his left arm, the uninjured one, and hauled him to his feet. He winced at the pain in his right shoulder. “I think it might be disconnected,” he said.
    “I’ll have to pop it back in,” I said. How to fix a dislocated arm was on the list. I’d read the instructions a dozen times, but the thought of wrenching Gerald’s arm back into its socket made me nauseous.
    Gerald raised his eyebrows. “Has your magic come in yet?”
    “No, it hasn’t. But the instructions were on the list. It is good for something.”
    “No way. You won’t be able to stop the swelling. My dad will do it.”
    “Suit yourself, but it could be hours before your dad comes back. Listen again. Are you sure it’s a baby?”
    “Yes,” Gerald said in a long, bored tone.
    I strained my ears, but I still couldn’t hear a thing. “Iris, do you think it’s the baby, Ezekiel?”
    Iris’s face appeared over the edge of the door frame above us. “I think so. Why’s he crying like that? Where’s his mama?”
    I shrugged. I thought our neighbors in the other leg of the mantel had gone to the berry harvest like everyone else. The Zamoras were new neighbors and I didn’t know them well. They’d moved into the mantel after my grandmother died and I didn’t visit because I didn’t want to see Grandma Vi’s home changed. Plus, they had the new baby, Ezekiel, and didn’t get out much.
    “He’s still crying,” said Iris.
    “Mrs. Zamora will take care of him,” I said.
    “If she’s there,” said Gerald, sitting down on the floor and rubbing his arm. “Maybe she flew off and left him when all this happened.”
    “Shut up, Gerald. She’d never do that,” I said.
    “Then why’s he still crying?”
    “I don’t know. Will you let me think?”
    “Sure. It’ll be fun to watch you try,” said Gerald with a smirk.
    “He’s still crying,” called down Iris. “And he’s getting louder.”
    I threaded my way through the mess to my parents’ windows and peeked out. All I could see was cream-colored metal.
    Gerald came up beside me. “Where are we?”
    “I don’t know, but we have to get out of here now.”
    “No kidding. Your parents’ furniture just about killed me.”
    I pushed at the window, but it wouldn’t open any farther. I might be able to fit through, but Iris never would.
    “Iris, see if you can open the front door,” I said.
    I waited as Iris scurried off and returned. Her round face peered over the edge of the door. “It won’t open. It’s too heavy. I’ll try the other door.” She left and returned a few seconds later. “It’s worse than the front.”
    “We’ll have to wait until the mantel’s upright again to get out,” I said.
    “What about the baby?” asked Iris.
    “What about my arm?” asked Gerald.
    I looked around my parents’ room as if I might find some answers in the mess. My hand went automatically to my jumper pocket, but the list was gone. My first thought was to wait for some adult to come along and fix it. But even if someone did come, how would they get in? I felt Iris and Gerald watching me, waiting for me to decide what to do. And even though I couldn’t hear him, I knew Ezekiel was out there