Chapter 1 For once Maddie didn’t need her alarm clock to wake her up She rose with the sun perky and full of life and she got out of bed without a single groan of protest In a matter of minutes she had showered brushed her hair and put on her favorite dress the one with the blue floral pattern and the bright red sash She sat down at the kitchen table to find that her dad had already whipped her up a plate of strawberry waffles her favorite She wasn’t normally a morning person but this was a morning worth waking up for her birthday It had always been her favorite day of the year Haffy birfday to me sang a familiar voice coming from down the hall Haffy BIRFFFFFFFFDAY TOOOO MEEEEEEE Maddie groaned Today was also her rotten stepbrother Holden’s birthday He had annoyingly been born on the same day she had and now that their parents were married Maddie had to share her special day with her least favorite person on Earth Even as he brushed his teeth he couldn’t help singing a garbled off-key version of Happy Birthday in his own honor As she took her first bite of waffle Maddie seriously considered using her birthday wish to make tomorrow come ASAP She tried to remind herself that Holden would be gone for most of the day off zip lining at an adventure park with three of his goony friends So at least it would be a quiet birthday Then that night she was going to have the most awesome sleepover party ever and their parents had made Holden promise not to ruin it This was the upside of Maddie’s dad remarrying He never liked parties himself but his new wife Carol lived for them In the old days Maddie’s dad would blow up a few balloons and stick some candles in an ice cream cake from the grocery store Everything was done at the last minute But Carol had been planning for months She and Maddie decided on an Aladdin theme and Carol had gone all-out She helped Maddie make
gummy magic lamps sleeping bags that looked like flying carpets and veils that said Happy birthday Maddie which they would wear while belly dancing to some Middle Eastern music Originally Maddie had resisted choosing a fairy tale for her party’s theme Ever since her stepbrother came into her life her love of fairy tales had caused her a lot of aggravation It started when Holden pointed out the plot holes in Cinderella The next thing they knew the story had completely changed and the prince proposed to one of the wicked stepsisters Then Maddie and Holden got sucked into a tablet computer They found themselves in the world of the story Maddie as a stepsister and Holden as a palace guard The only way they could get back home was to give Cinderella back her happily ever after and it wasn’t easy You might think Holden would’ve learned his lesson after that but then he started picking apart Beauty and the Beast and the Beast got thrown in jail for kidnapping Holden and Maddie had to rescue him before he got his head chopped off It was while they were in that story that they learned they’d been cursed by a mixed-up fairy named Resplenda She wanted to teach Holden a lesson for being such a brat so as long as he kept snarking on fairy tales he and Maddie were going to keep getting sent in to fix them Maddie had to admit though there was something fun about getting to live in a fairy tale for a little while Taking a quick trip into Aladdin actually sounded kind of cool especially if she got to be the glamorous Princess Nazeerah She’d live in a towering palace overlooking the mystical deserts of Arabia and be wooed by the handsome young rebel Aladdin There would be magic and wonder and flying carpet rides by moonlight She could think of worse ways to spend her twelfth birthday There was another great thing about throwing an Aladdin party it drove Holden nuts He wanted nothing to do with the decorating the games the food Whenever Maddie and Carol would start talking about it he would run out of the room with his hands over his ears shouting Worst party idea ever Normally he was the one trying to get under Maddie’s skin so it was a nice change for her to be irritating him for once In fact she
decided to confront him directly about the story If he had any plot holes to point out she wanted him to do it before her friends arrived She caught him just as he was pulling on his jacket to leave for zip-lining Go ahead she said arms folded prepared for his trash talk What Oh sorry Am I supposed to wish you a happy birthday Not that Maddie whispered Aladdin I’m sure you’re dying to tell me what’s wrong with the story so why not do it now and get it over with Holden shook his head vigorously Oh no he said I’ve learned my lesson Every time I talk smack on a fairy tale I end up having to hang out with princesses and go to balls and junk like that Let me make one thing very clear He seemed to be speaking more to the sky now than to Maddie as if he were hoping to be heard by Resplenda the fairy who cursed them I have no complaints with Aladdin Maddie sighed in relief or was it disappointment If Holden wasn’t going to mock Aladdin that meant her decorations were as close as she’d come to being in the story It looked like this was just going to be an ordinary birthday after all Besides Holden added our parents hate it when we fight and I’m not doing anything to mess up my chances of getting a you-know-what She knew what Everyone knew what Holden wanted for his birthday Every five seconds for the last six months he’d reminded anyone who would listen that he absolutely had to have a hoverboard or he’d just die Specifically he wanted the iJet ZX-4500 Ultra Hoverjammer from Sizzletech Industries of Sandusky Ohio In black and hot pink With a skull on it He had said it so many times that Maddie had it memorized He felt like he had pretty much mastered his skateboard If there was anything holding him back from world domination it was gravity With a hoverboard he’d be unstoppable He could do infinite spins in the air pull off grabs twenty feet from the ground and perform grinds off helicopter blades and skyscraper antennae He was so stoked for the hoverboard he had convinced himself he was getting that he cleared off shelf space in his room He planned to keep it in the prime spot between the mountain of
unwashed gym socks and the fish tank he used to keep his frogs in until they died Hoverboards are so dangerous Maddie said People get sprains broken bones and permanent scars from them all over their body Sometimes the boards just all of a sudden burst into flames I know Holden exclaimed Doesn’t it sound awesome Just then Maddie’s dad came out of his bedroom and saw them talking in the hallway Uh-oh he said instinctively What are you two fighting about Not a thing Holden said putting his arm around Maddie Maddie gasped at the affection Holden had never willingly made physical contact with her before Just sharing a nice morning chat with my birthday buddy Holden flashed a charming smile then headed out to the car whistling Happy Birthday You two are getting along Maddie’s dad said in awe Is this a birthday present for me Oh I’m sure he’ll be back to his obnoxious old self in no time Maddie said Just take it easy on him her dad replied You know today is extra tough on him Why Because he has to share his birthday with me No her dad said I meant it’s his first without his dad Maddie had forgotten A few months ago Holden’s dad got a job in Germany and since then Holden had barely heard from him He was very busy working and given the time difference between New Jersey and Europe they were rarely able to chat Of course Holden didn’t ever share his feelings but Maddie’s dad had let her know that he’d been taking the separation very hard Look don’t mention anything to him Just try to get along with him for the rest of the day Maddie nodded Now she was hoping Holden actually would get his hoverboard Even a creep like him deserved to have a nice birthday Soon Holden and Greg were off to the adventure park and Maddie and Carol got to work turning their living room into the mystical kingdom of Arabia Carol had scoured
