Violet hardly ever got in a bad mood. She didn't see the point. Being in a bad mood just keeps you from feeling happy. And that's silly.

But one thing always got Violet in a bad mood.

Her cousin Leon.

"What a waste of time," Leon was saying. They were in their backyard. "We spent the whole morning looking for pixies. And what did we find? Nothing."

"It wasn't a waste of time," Violet said.

Leon kicked the grass. "I could have been watching cartoons," he said.

"Who's stopping you?" Violet asked. "It was your idea to come with us. Not mine."

"I thought looking for pixies would be exciting," Leon said. "But it's not. It's boring. I bet there aren't anymore. Sprite's the only one."

Sprite flew in front of Leon's face. Sprite was a tiny fairy with pale green skin. His wings looked like they were made of rainbows.

"You know we didn't make it up," said Sprite. "I told you. Fourteen fairies escaped from my world. The fairy queen sent me here to catch them. Violet and I caught the first one. And you helped catch the second one."

Violet frowned. Catching fairies with Sprite had been so much fun. Then a gremlin named Jolt had trapped Leon in a video game. Violet and Sprite had saved Leon. But now Leon knew all about their secret.

"Of course you know it's true," Violet said. "Sprite is real, isn't he? And you saw us trick Jolt. And Sprite and I saw other fairies, too. Like Hinky Pink. And Spoiler."

"I know," Leon said. "But why haven't we seen any more fairies? It's been a whole week."

Sprite's wings fluttered. They always did when he was nervous.

"I don't know," Sprite said. "It's a bit strange."

Violet held out her finger. Sprite flew over and rested on it.

"Let's eat lunch," Violet told Leon. "Sprite and I will look some more in the afternoon. If you want to stay home, stay home. It doesn't matter to us."

"Whatever," Leon grumbled.

"Violet! Leon! Get in here right now!"

Violet knew that voice. It was her aunt Anne, Leon's mom.

"We'd better go," Violet said. "She sounds mad."

Violet gently put Sprite in her sweater pocket.

"Watch the wings!" Sprite said.

Violet and Leon walked into the tall yellow house that they shared. Leon and Aunt Anne lived on the first floor. Violet lived on the second floor with her mom and dad.

Aunt Anne and Violet's mom stood in the hallway. Aunt Anne had a big frown on her face. Violet's mom looked worried.

"What have you to been up to?" Aunt Anne asked.

Violet went pale. Did Aunt Anne know about the fairies?

Aunt Anne opened the bathroom door. "Look at the mess you've made," she said.

Puddles of water covered the floor.

"You left the faucet running again," Aunt Anne said. "Leon, how many times have I told you not to do that?"

"But, Mom, I didn't!" Leon said.

"Violet, it's the same upstairs," said her mom. "Were you two playing some kind of game?" She was looking at Violet's belt. Small tools hung from the belt loops. A magnifying glass. A small flashlight. Sunglasses.

Violet thought fast. Her mom had spotted her fairy-catching tools. She like to bring them along when they looked for pixies, but they had nothing to do with the leaky faucets.

"No, Mom," Violet said. "Honest. Maybe the faucets are broken or something."

"Maybe," her mom said. "They won't turn all the way off now, but they were fine this morning."

Aunt Anne looked at their faced closely. "I want you two to clean up the mess here and upstairs," she said. "After lunch, we'll all go into town. We'll get some tools so we can fix the faucets."

"But, Mom!" Leon said. "Why should we have to clean it when we didn't even —"

"Enough, Leon," Aunt Anne said sternly. "Now get to work."

Aunt Anne and Ms. Briggs went upstairs. Violet got a mop and pail from the hall closet.

Violet started sloshing the mop on the bathroom floor.

Sprite flew out of her pocket and sat on the edge of the sink. Leon sat down on the bathtub.

Violet's bad mood was worse than ever.

"Now we won't get to look for fairies again until tomorrow," Violet complained.

Suddenly, Sprite flew up and pointed to the sink.