Violet Briggs sighed. She and her cousin Leon were walking to school. She had told the story to Leon over and over. He just didn't get it.

Violet's friend, Sprite, a tiny fairy, flew in front of Leon's face. "Finn is a fairy wizard," Sprite explained. "He is one of the fourteen troublemaking pixies who escaped from my world. He led the escape."

"I get that part," Leon said, wrinkling his freckled nose. "But why is he after us?"

"Because he found out that Sprite has come here to send the pixies back to their world," Violet answered.

Sprite nodded. "Finn's angry. We already tricked three pixies and sent them back to the Otherworld. He will try to stop us so we don't trick any more. Finn wants the pixies to stay here and cause more trouble."

Sometimes Violet couldn't believe they had already tricked three pixies. First Pix. Then Jolt. Then Aquamarina.

"Right," Violet said. "Finn liked it when Pix made people play instead of work. And Jolt made video games get messed up. And Aquamarina made faucets leak and turned people into fish. He didn't like it when we stopped them."

"Maybe we should just tell that wizard that we'll stop tricking pixies," Leon said. "Then he'll leave us alone."

"You know we can't do that," Violet told Leon. "There are eleven more pixies to trick. Like Hinky Pinky, the one who changes the weather. We've got to trick him and all the others."

"Besides," Sprite added. "I can't go back home to the Otherworld until my job is done. I could never face the fairy queen. She's counting on me."

Violet smiled at Sprite. She knew he would never give up.

Violet reached out and let Sprite sit on her finger. "You'd better get back in my backpack," she said. "We're almost at school."

Violet looked up ahead. A crowd of children waited behind the crossing guard, Mrs. Stacy. She held them all back.

"Wait here," Mrs. Stacy said nervously. "Crossing the street is very dangerous. Cars racing. Trucks zooming. Watch out! Watch out!"

But there wasn't a single car or truck in sight.

"That's strange," Violet said.

Sprite peeked out of Violet's backpack.

"What's strange?" he asked. "Did you see something? Like Finn?"

"No, it's not that," Violet said. Don't worry about Finn. I'm sure he won't do anything while we're in school. There are too many people around."

Violet understood why Sprite was worried. Finn was a powerful wizard. But Violet wasn't concerned about Finn right now. She was in a good mood today. Her mom had bought her a brand-new shirt to wear. Violet liked it because it had a pretty purple flower.

"It's the same color as your eyes," her mom had said.

Violet looked down at her shirt.