Isadora Moon, that’s me! And this is Pink Rabbit. He comes everywhere with me. Even on field trips! I have only ever been on one field trip before—we went to the ballet—so I was very excited when our teacher, Miss Cherry, said that we would be going on another one!
“Oh, lovely,” said Mom when I brought the permission slip home. “A historic castle museum! That will be interesting. Would you like Dad and me to volunteer again?”
“Um . . . ,” I began. Mom and Dad had volunteered on my last field trip and it had been fine (mostly), but I am always a little unsure about them offering to help out. The thing is that my mom is a fairy and my dad is a vampire (which makes me a vampire-fairy, by the way). They are not like other parents, and sometimes it can be embarrassing.
“You can,” I said. “If you really want to. Except Miss Cherry said they only need one volunteer this time. So only one of you can come.”
“Oh,” said Mom, looking slightly disappointed. “That’s a shame. Your dad should go, then. You know how much he loves old castles!”
“I do!” agreed Dad, who was bouncing my baby sister, Honeyblossom, up and down. “I would love to go!” He whipped a pen out from underneath his cloak and briskly signed the letter.
“I hope I will get to wear one of those fashionable safety vests again,” he said. “It was a very striking look.”
“Yes,” agreed Mom. “You did look handsome in it. They were nice and bright, weren’t they? I think the word for that is ‘fluorescent.’”
“Fluorescent!” said Dad. “I love that word!” He handed the letter back to me. “I can’t wait for the trip!” he exclaimed. “Old castles are the best. Do you think it will be haunted? I hope so!”
“I don’t know,” I replied. “I’ll have to ask Miss Cherry.”
 
“Haunted?!” said Miss Cherry in surprise when I asked her the question the next day at school. “Of course the castle won’t be haunted! You shouldn’t be worried about that!”
 “I’m not worried,” I said. “I just—”
“Haunted?” asked my friend Zoe. “Did you say the castle was haunted, Isadora?”
“No, I was just—”
“It’s haunted!” cried Zoe loudly, putting her hand over her mouth in shock. “Oh my goodness!”
“Eek!” cried Samantha, wide-eyed. “I’m scared of ghosts!”
“Everyone’s scared of ghosts!” said Bruno.
“The castle is haunted!” shouted Jasper.
Soon the whole class was in an uproar. Samantha’s face had gone very white.
“Now, calm down, everyone,” said Miss Cherry loudly. “The castle is NOT haunted.”
“But what if it is?” squeaked Samantha.
“It’s NOT,” sighed Miss Cherry, rolling her eyes.
But no one in the class was listening. The idea that the castle was haunted had firmly planted itself into everyone’s head.
“I bet the ghost wanders around the castle, wailing and moaning,” said Zoe.
Sashi shivered. “I bet it has red, glowing eyes and very sharp teeth.”
“I bet it eats children for breakfast,” said Bruno.
“Oh, help!” gulped Samantha, trembling.
 
“Now, Dad,” I said the night before the school trip. “I know you’re a vampire, but you have to make sure you don’t oversleep tomorrow. We need to be at school at nine o’clock to catch the bus.”
“A bus!” said Dad. “How exciting! I have never been on one of those before.”
He patted my arm. “And don’t worry, Isadora, I will make sure I am ready. I am planning to set five extremely loud alarms. The first one will go off at five o’clock. That will give me about two and a half hours to do my hair. It’s not much, I know, but it will have to do.”
“Great!” I said happily. “Thanks, Dad.”
“Oh my,” said Mom. “Five alarms! I will have to magic up some special earplugs for myself tonight!”
“Don’t worry, Mom,” I said. “You can sleep in my room tonight. We can set up the camp bed! Maybe we can even roast marshmallows, like we did when we went camping!”
Mom laughed. “That’s very sweet of you, Isadora,” she said. “But I don’t mind really. It’s nice to be awake at the crack of dawn sometimes. Nature is very beautiful in the early morning.”
“Oh, okay,” I said, feeling a little bit disappointed. “Could we still have some marshmallows, though? We could have them for dessert tonight!”
“Great idea!” said Mom, glancing out the window at the wet weather. “I do love being out in the fresh, sparkling rain!”
“Um . . . ,” began Dad.
“I’ll use magic to make us a shelter,” said Mom. “That way the campfire won’t go out.”
Dad looked worried. He hates the rain because it messes up his perfectly groomed vampire hair.
“Do you think we could cook the marshmallows indoors?” he suggested. “Over the stove?”
“Oh, no!” said Mom, horrified. “We don’t want to miss this glorious weather!”
Dad and I stared out the window at the darkening gray sky as Mom got things ready for the campfire. Rain was now pouring down in sheets.
“I hope it will clear up for the trip tomorrow,” said Dad. “Otherwise we’re going to get very wet.”
“I’m sure it will,” said Mom confidently. “It’s probably just a little shower.”
But we roasted our marshmallows under the magical shelter, and by the time we all went to bed, the rain was still hammering down on the roof of our house.