Free Rebecca's Rashness by Lauren Baratz-Logsted Page A

from Rebecca's fingers was so powerful that it not only set aflame the previously cold charcoal briquettes but also shot flames toward the sky, like fireworks. When the great fire settled down a bit, we could see that the fish dogs that had been waiting to be cooked had sizzled right down to mere cinders.
    Frank Freud, still wearing the wall-walkers, froze against the wall of our house. The Wicket froze with a piece of fruitcake halfway to her mouth. The Mr. McG squeezed the McG's hand tighter. Mandy Stenko stopped bouncing. Will went on being just-in-general wonderful.
    "Oh my," Mrs. Pete said.
    "Now that's a power," Will said in hushed respect.
    "Isn't anyone going to get the fire extinguisher?" Petal said.
    Pete put his fingers to his lips and let out a loud whistle, and then he clapped his hands together smartly. We suspected he was trying to get our attention.
    "Nothing to see here," he said with forced calm. "Party's over, folks."
    "You don't have to tell me twice," Frank Freud said, hurrying down the wall in the wall-walkers.
    "Can I borrow your phone to call a cab?" the Wicket asked.
    Rebecca turned to the Wicket, outraged. "But you can't call a cab. My party's just getting started!"
    Seeing the angry look on Rebecca's face and the way Rebecca was raising her finger to point, the Wicket dropped her fruitcake and began running. "Never mind the cab," the Wicket shouted over her shoulder. "I think I can make it home on my own."
    "You'll stay, won't you?" Rebecca said, turning to the McG and the Mr. McG.
    "We'd like to," the McG said, and we thought she almost sounded sincere.
    "But we just remembered another engagement," the Mr. McG said.
    "Plus," the McG added with a glance toward Pete, with whom she'd become somewhat friendly since the time Pete helped us evict Crazy Serena from our lives after Crazy Serena had teachernapped the McG and Eightnapped us, "it looks like you have some family matters to attend to. In private."
    And then they were gone too.
    "Why did you put an end to my party?" Rebecca said, rounding on Pete in anger, all ten fingers raised.
    Pete held a steadying hand out toward her.
    "Easy, pet," he said. "I only did it for your own good. There are some things that the fewer outsiders who see it, the better."
    "Besides," Durinda said, "the fish dogs have been reduced to cinders, so it's not like we had a main course to serve anyone anyway."
    "All we have left are these stupid salads," Georgia said.
    "Can we stay?" Will said. "Mandy and me?"
    "Is that okay, Mr. Pete?" Jackie asked. "Will and Mandy are mostly insiders, not outsiders."
    "Are you sure that's what you want?" Pete asked Will.
    "Of course," Will said. "I'd love to see what happens next."
    "And how about you, lamb?" Pete asked, turning to Mandy.
    Mandy gulped, and we were sure that she was going to ask to call her mother. But then she surprised us.
    "I suppose I would like to stay too," she said. "This is kind of fascinating in an I've-never-seen-anything-quite-like-this-before sort of way."
    "Is it better than going to Antarctica?" Annie wanted to know.
    "Yes," Mandy said, "a bit. So, what happens next?"
    "I know this part!" Will said excitedly. "Next we go to the drawing room to read the note about Rebecca getting her power!"
    "Well, what are we waiting for?" Mandy said.
    Wow, we thought. A minute ago Mandy seemed hesitant to stay, and now she was hurrying us to get on with things.
    "That is," Marcia said, for once sounding dark, "if there even is a note this time. The note leaver's been wonky lately."
    We ignored her and raced to the drawing room. Even Petal raced. She may have been more petrified of Rebecca than ever, but the notes were always a high point for us.
    "Will there be a note or won't there? Will there be a note or won't there?" Marcia kept muttering when we were all standing in front of the loose stone in the drawing room.
    "Cut it out," Georgia said. "You sound like you're playing he-loves-me-he-loves-me-not with a daisy. The