Once Upon a Toad by Heather Vogel Frederick

guess we can be grateful your college education is now paid for,” he told Olivia.
    She gave me a smug look, as if maybe she’d planned the whole thing. My stepsister’s predicament didn’t seem to be disturbing her all that much, and I fought the urge to blurt out a toad and scare the socks off her. Miss Prissy Pants hated anything to do with the outdoors, especially insects and creepy-crawlies. When we were little she used to cry just at the sight of an earthworm on the sidewalk after a rainstorm, and I could only imagine what she’d do if I unleashed an amphibian or two.
    My father and Iz called a family meeting after dinner.
    â€œWe’ve been talking, Olivia, and we don’t think we should let you go back to school tomorrow,” my stepmother began.
    â€œMo-om!” she protested amid a gust of poppies. “Why not? It’s not like I’m sick or something. It’s boring being stuck in my room with nobody for company.”
    â€œYou’ve got Cat,” her mother corrected her.
    â€œShe doesn’t count.”
    â€œOlivia!”
    â€œWell, she doesn’t,” Olivia retorted, spitting out a smallshard of ice. Or what looked like ice. It was another diamond, of course.
    My stepmother took it from her and tucked it into the black velvet drawstring bag she’d been using to hold the other gems. She sighed. “The thing is, this—whatever it is of yours—is bound to attract a lot of attention, and that’s not necessarily a good thing.”
    Olivia lifted a shoulder. “What if I promise not to talk? I can pretend to have laryngitis too, just like Cat.”
    â€œCat is not pretending!” said Iz, coming stoutly to my defense. I dropped my gaze, feeling guilty. I don’t like to deceive anyone, especially not my stepmother. But what other choice did I have?
    All of a sudden a stricken look crossed Olivia’s face. “What about the talent show?” she cried. “You’ve got to at least let me go back to school for the talent show tomorrow night!”
    â€œWe’ll have to wait and see what the doctor says,” her mother told her. “We’ve managed to track down someone who may be able to help you.”
    Good luck with that, I thought grimly.
    â€œAnd this week is Field Trip Friday, too!” my stepsister wailed, gushing out an enormous hydrangea blossom. “We’re supposed to go to the zoo!”
    Geoffrey did his little happy-feet dance. The zoo is my little brother’s favorite place, and Iz had promised to bring him along when she chaperoned.
    â€œLike I said, we’ll have to wait and see,” Iz repeated.
    My father turned to me. “How about you, Cat? You seem to be feeling better.”
    I nodded, then wrote: Yeah, but I still can’t talk.
    â€œHmm,” said my dad. “I’m going to see if Dr. Douglass can fit you in after we finish with Olivia tomorrow. But I don’t see any reason you can’t go back to school meanwhile. As long as you promise you won’t breathe a word of what’s happened here today, okay?”
    I held up three fingers of my right hand in the Scout’s honor salute. Telling anyone anything about what had happened was the furthest thing from my mind. My lips were sealed. Possibly permanently, at this rate.
    He smiled. “Good. I’ll write a note explaining your situation, then.”
    â€œLucky,” murmured Olivia, shooting me a spiteful glance. She coughed, then spit a bright green coneflower into her hand. I knew it was a coneflower because I’d helped Iz plant some in the garden last summer. We’d bought them at the nursery together. I remembered that they had a funny name. But what was it?
    Echinacea purpurea. Green Envy, that’s what.
    I stared at the flower in my stepsister’s hand. Was it just a coincidence, or was Olivia’s floral output linked to her mood? And speaking of coincidences, how