Good Wish Gone Bad Read online

  DON’T MISS THE OTHER STAR DARLINGS BOOKS

  Wisher’s Guide to Starland

  Sage and the Journey to Wishworld

  Libby and the Class Election

  Leona’s Unlucky Mission

  Vega and the Fashion Disaster

  Scarlet Discovers True Strength

  Cassie Comes Through

  Piper’s Perfect Dream

  Astra’s Mixed-Up Mission

  Tessa’s Lost and Found

  Adora Finds a Friend

  Clover’s Parent Fix

  Gemma and the Ultimate Standoff

  Wish-a-Day Diary

  COMING SOON

  When We Shine

  Copyright © 2016 Disney Enterprises, Inc.

  Cover design © 2016 Disney Enterprises, Inc.

  All rights reserved. Published by Disney Press, an imprint of Disney Book Group. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

  For information, address Disney Press, 1101 Flower Street, Glendale, California 91201.

  ISBN 978-1-4847-7764-0

  For more Disney Press fun, visit www.disneybooks.com

  Contents

  Title Page

  Don’t Miss the Other Star Darlings Books

  Copyright

  Have You Ever Wondered What Happens When You Make a Wish?

  Present-Day Starland

  Part One: A Friend’s Betrayal

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  Present-Day Starland

  Part Two: Stella’s Rising Star

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  19

  Present-Day Starland

  Part Three: Rancora’s Revenge

  20

  21

  22

  23

  24

  Present-Day Starland

  Have you ever wondered what happens when you make a wish?

  When you blow out your birthday candles, or toss a coin into a fountain, or pull a wishbone apart, your wish goes out into the universe. But what you probably don’t know is that your wish turns into a glowing Wish Orb, invisible to the human eye. This orb travels from Earth on a one-way trip to the brightest star in the sky—Starland.

  Starland is inhabited by Starlings, who look a lot like you, except they have a sparkly glow to their skin and hair, and they come in all colors of the rainbow—pink, lavender, you name it! Oh, and one more thing: they have magical powers. Starlings use their magical powers to make good wishes come true, because when good wishes are granted, the result is positive energy—and Starlings need this energy to keep their world running.

  There are different types of wishes:

  GOOD WISHES: Positive wishes that come from the heart.

  Examples: I wish to get an A in math; I wish I could get along with my sister; I wish to be a fashion designer.

  Good Wish Orbs are kept in Wish-Houses. Once the time is right for them to be granted, they begin to sparkle. When that happens the orb is presented to the appropriate Starling, who will travel to find the Wisher and help make it come true.

  BAD WISHES: Negative wishes meant for selfish, mean-spirited things.

  Examples: I wish my friend would fail; I wish I could control people; I wish my enemy would get hurt.

  Bad Wish Orbs are transferred to the Negative Energy Facility. They are very dangerous, filled with negative energy, and must not be granted.

  IMPOSSIBLE WISHES: These simply can’t be granted by Starlings.

  Examples: I wish for world peace; I wish all diseases would disappear; I wish my pet hadn’t died.

  These extra-bright orbs are contained in a special area of the Wish-House, with the hope that one day they might be turned into good wishes that Starlings can help grant.

  INSPIRATIONAL WISHES: Wishes for things that haven’t been achieved before.

  Examples: I wish to be the first female president; I wish to invent a new vaccine; I wish to be the fastest runner in history.

  Massive amounts of positive energy are released when these wishes are granted, but even better, they inspire countless other people to wish for things they thought weren’t possible. These wishes show us we shouldn’t let ourselves be limited by society’s expectations!

  Starling Academy was positively glowing. The buildings, the fountains, the trees, and even the moving sidewalks—the Cosmic Transporter—looked more dazzling than they had in recent memory. Off in the distance, the Crystal Mountains also appeared to stand a bit taller, prouder, and brighter as the reflection of their multicolored peaks bounced off the shimmering azure surface of Luminous Lake below. All signs of the negative wish energy that had been plaguing everything from the fruit orchards to the Starling Academy students themselves had faded away, almost as if the whole crisis had been nothing more than a bad dream—and it was entirely thanks to the Star Darlings!

  “Have you ever seen the campus look more beautiful?” marveled Sage. Her long lavender braids were also shinier than they had been in quite some time, and they bounced behind her as she and the other Star Darlings hurried past classmates who were heading to the Celestial Café for dinner.

  Instead of going to their own evening meal, however, the girls were on their way to Lady Stella’s office. The headmistress had summoned them on their Star-Zaps, instructing them to join her right away for an important meeting. In spite of the urgent tone of the holo-text, Sage felt certain that Lady Stella simply wanted to congratulate the Star Darlings again on the successful completion of their top secret Wish Missions. Together, they had collected enough positive wish energy to help ensure that everything on Starland would be powered for countless staryears to come.

  “I’ve never seen the world look more beautiful,” said Sage’s roommate, Cassie, her eyes widening with delight behind her star-shaped glasses as the girls continued along the Cosmic Transporter.

  “It is super celestial—but how long do you think this meeting is going to last?” Tessa wondered. “I’m hungry!” Just like her gourmet chef mother, the emerald-haired third-year student was almost always thinking about food.

  “Do you think she’s got more Wish Missions for us?” asked Libby. It had been a long while since she’d gone on her journey down to Wishworld, and as exciting as it was to know that all twelve Star Darlings had completed their missions, she couldn’t wait to go on another one.

  “I doubt she’ll send us down again so soon,” said Scarlet, in her usual surly way, shoving her hands into the front pocket of her sparkling red hoodie and rolling her eyes as the girls made their way into Halo Hall.

  A few moments later, they arrived at the door to Lady Stella’s office, which was cracked open in anticipation of their visit.

  “Girls!” The elegant headmistress stood up from her desk, breathing a sigh of relief as she smoothed down the fabric of her sparkly silver gown. “I thought you’d never get here. Come, let’s go down to the Wish Cavern at once.”

  “I knew it!” Libby tossed her long bubblegum-pink hair proudly and shot a triumphant smile in Scarlet’s direction as Lady Stella opened the hidden door in her office wall. Why else would they be going to the Wish Cavern unless she had more missions for them?

  The girls followed their headmistress down the secret staircase to the dark caves beneath the school, shivering as they made their way through the chilly air
, past the dripping rock formations and toward the door to their own secret Wish-House. It was a special room that had been built exclusively for the Star Darlings and their uniquely powerful Wish Missions.

  But unlike the times they’d been in the Wish-House before, this time, at the foot of a large golden waterfall in the gleaming light-soaked room, a round table had been set up with all sorts of treats—including an enormous zoomberry cake and fancy crystal glasses full of sparkling puckerup juice at each place setting. Above the table, a giant holo-banner floated in midair, emblazoned with large, glittery gold letters that spelled out the words CONGRATULATIONS, STAR DARLINGS!

  “Well, girls, this is quite a momentous day indeed,” Lady Stella began as they all settled into their chairs, which immediately adjusted to their respective heights and weights for optimum comfort. The headmistress raised her tall, delicate glass. “I cannot begin to tell you how pleased I am with what you’ve each accomplished. Thanks to your hard work and diligence in completing your Wish Missions, there is now more positive wish energy on Starland than ever before!”

  The girls all exchanged excited glances, beaming with pride as they, too, raised their glasses and each took a sip. “Star salutations, Lady Stella!” they replied in almost perfect unison.

  “And to you,” Lady Stella said softly as she cut into the cake, serving each girl a generous slice and encouraging them to eat—which they were more than happy to do. After all, it was highly unusual for young Starlings to be permitted to have dessert before dinner!

  As the girls happily chatted, reminiscing about some of the best parts of their missions, Lady Stella glanced around the table at each one of them with a faraway look in her eyes.

  “Why aren’t you eating?” Tessa asked the headmistress between bites.

  Lady Stella pressed her bright red lips together before attempting a smile. But it was no use. She couldn’t pretend with them. “Star Darlings…” she said, inhaling deeply and closing her eyes for a moment. “We do have much to celebrate—but I suppose I should also tell you that even greater challenges may lie ahead for us all.”

  The celebratory mood in the air suddenly became thick with nervous energy. What was the headmistress referring to, exactly?

  “As you know, everyone at Starling Academy was completely deceived by Lady Cordial, who was our director of admissions. She was someone I trusted and valued as one of my closest confidantes.” Lady Stella sighed and shook her head as she stared down at the table. “I genuinely believed that she was our friend—but in fact, she was not Lady Cordial at all. She was Rancora in disguise.”

  As soon as Lady Stella mentioned that dreaded name, the golden light in the Wish Cavern flickered and dimmed ever so slightly, and the Star Darlings all felt an icy chill run down their spines. They frowned and nodded solemnly. Although they had managed to avoid discussing Lady Cordial for the past week, they of course knew that at some point her name—and the far more terrifying name of Rancora—would come up again. They had simply hoped it wouldn’t be quite so soon.

  “But she’s gone now,” Gemma pointed out, her wavy orange ponytail glimmering.

  “Well, yes, she has left Starling Academy—that’s true,” Lady Stella acknowledged. “However, we don’t know where she’s gone or what she might be planning to do next. So although I’m hopeful that she’ll keep her distance and stay far, far away from the school grounds, I believe that she may be planning something bigger—something that will place Starland in even greater danger.”

  “Wh-what could be more dangerous than the negative energy she was releasing?” asked Cassie, who began trembling so much that she had to set down her fork.

  “Yeah—and how much more can she really do?” Vega wondered. “You said that there’s more positive wish energy on Starland than ever before—plus, we already defeated her when we united our twelve Power Crystals. Won’t that be enough to stop Rancora again, even if she tries to do something else?”

  “That is my hope—but I’m still trying to find the missing page that I believe Rancora, or rather Lady Cordial, stole from the oracle,” Lady Stella replied, referring to the ancient text that foretold of the twelve girls and the role they would play in saving Starland. “While I spend the next few days continuing my search, I suggest that you all put this out of your minds and get some rest. You’ve been through so much and will need your energy—not only for your studies, but in the event that I require your assistance again. Of course, that will depend on what I’m able to find out.”

  While the girls quietly pondered everything Lady Stella had said, she tried to encourage them to continue their celebration, offering them more cake and juice. But Tessa was the only one who still had any sort of an appetite left.

  “I’m sorry, girls,” Lady Stella said with a frown. “I hadn’t intended to bring this up with you today—but it’s important for you to be aware of the potential challenges that may lie ahead. Try not to worry too much. I will come up with a solution.”

  “We know you will,” said Libby, her bright pink eyes gleaming with positive energy. “And we can help as soon as you need us!”

  “Yes!” agreed Clover, lightly tapping the rim of her purple fedora. “We’ll do whatever it takes. Right, Star Darlings?”

  “Right!” the girls all cheered.

  But as they got up from their comfy chairs and shuffled out of the Wish-House, the mood was anything but cheery.

  The next morning, every last one of the Star Darlings woke up early. In fact, most of them had hardly slept at all. Vega had been especially restless, plagued by nightmares about Rancora, with her piercing purple eyes and ashen skin and hair, the blazing pink collar of her long, tattered gray gown rising behind her head like the fiery flames of doom. Sitting up in bed, Vega leaned back against her headboard and began to record holo-notes on her Star-Zap about everything she had observed about Lady Cordial. She still couldn’t believe that the frumpy-dumpy director of admissions had been the evil Rancora in disguise all that time!

  “You couldn’t sleep, either?” Piper asked in a soft ethereal voice from her side of the room as she pushed off her cozy aqua comforter and pulled her long seafoam-green hair up into a high ponytail.

  “No.” Vega rubbed her blue eyes and shook her head. Her chin-length cobalt bob looked perfect as ever, in spite of the fact that she was still in bed. “I can’t stop thinking about Lady Cordial—or, you know, Rancora. I should have realized that she might still be plotting something terrible.”

  “I know.” Piper slid on her fluffy slippers, closed her eyes, and took several deep, cleansing breaths. “I’ve been having visions ever since Lady Stella mentioned her name yesterday.”

  Vega wrinkled her nose. Sometimes Piper’s visions could be kind of out there—but other times they had proven to be right on target. “What kind of visions?”

  “Well…” Piper took a few more deep breaths. “It’s kind of scary.”

  “Tell me!” Vega demanded.

  “All right. I saw Rancora in a big dark cloud—but she kept changing into Lady Cordial and then back into herself again,” Piper recounted. “Every time she changed into Rancora, she tried to pull us into the cloud, too, and she kept saying she wanted us to join forces with her.”

  “Us—who is us?” Vega’s eyes darkened with worry.

  “All twelve of us—the Star Darlings,” Piper said.

  “Oh, my stars!” Vega jumped out of bed and began pacing around the room. “What if you’re right? What if she tries to turn us into her negative energy minions? Her toxic trainees! We need to figure out exactly what Rancora is planning and find a way to stop her—like, now.”

  Piper widened her eyes, mystified by Vega’s words. “But Lady Stella said she was going to search for the missing page from the oracle and then figure out what needs to be done. She told us we needed to wait to hear from her. She said we needed to rest up so we could get our energy back.”

  “I know,” Vega said tersely. “But I don’t want to si
t around waiting—or resting—when we could be helping. We don’t want to be caught off guard, right? The more prepared we are, the better!”

  Piper shrugged and sat back in bed while Vega raced around her side of the room, grabbing her toothlight and rushing out to take a sparkle shower. Within minutes, she was back and getting dressed in a shiny blue blazer over a matching tunic, paired with sparkly tights and ankle boots.

  “What are you going to do?” Piper asked.

  “We need to go to the Illumination Library!” Vega informed her.

  “The library? Why?” Piper looked blankly at her roommate.

  “So we can try to figure out exactly where Rancora came from,” Vega explained. “There’s got to be a holo-book there that will point us in the right direction! Hurry up and get ready. I’ll holo-text everyone to meet us there!”

  “Okay,” Piper agreed reluctantly.

  A few of the Star Darlings were already out in front of the Illumination Library when Vega and Piper showed up, some looking more awake than others.

  “What’s this all about?” asked Adora, who was flawlessly styled, as usual, in shimmering indigo leggings with knee-high boots and a chic fitted dress, her pale blue hair piled high in a fashionably messy updo.

  “Yeah, what’s happening?” echoed Adora’s roommate, Tessa, stifling a yawn as she popped the last bite of a glorange spice muffin into her mouth.

  “I’ll tell you when the others get here,” Vega replied, tapping her foot as she stared impatiently across the Star Quad. Finally, she could see the rest of the girls moving toward the library on the Cosmic Transporter.

  “What’s up?” Libby asked when she arrived. “We got here as fast as we could!”

  “Piper and I were up all night, thinking about the whole Lady Cordial—Rancora—situation,” Vega explained as the others all gathered round. “Piper had a vision that Lady Cordial kept turning into Rancora and was trying to pull us into some sort of dark cloud, insisting she wanted us to join forces with her or something.”

  “Seriously?” Scarlet crossed her arms in frustration. “You called us all the way here to tell us that?”