How I Found the Perfect Dress by Maryrose Wood

it.”
    â€œWhat’s a ‘little robot bugger’?” Tammy asked.
    Colin twisted around to face us. “There’s something ye need to remember about me, Tammy,” he said, red cheeked. “If I say an unusual word and ye don’t know what it means, chances are it’s not fit for ye to repeat. Especially at school. D’ye understand?”
    â€œDid I say a bad word?” Tammy asked, delighted. “I thought robots were toys!”
    â€œWell, yes, they can be, of course,” Colin fudged. My dad kept driving and said nothing, which was not necessarily a good sign.
    â€œâ€˜Robot’ isn’t a bad word,” I explained. “It means machines that move around and do things.”
    â€œOh,” said Tammy. “Like the cows and chickens at Lucky Lou’s.”
    â€œNo, no, lass, now I’ve got ye all bollixed up—I mean, confused.” Colin looked at me in desperation. “Cows and chickens are animals. They’re not robots.”
    â€œThey are at Lucky Lou’s,” I corrected.
    â€œBut I thought it was a grocery? The one with all the magnificent veggies?”
    â€œIt is,” I said, “but it has these animatronic farm creatures too. You kinda have to see it to believe it.”
    Colin opened his mouth to ask something else, but Tammy interrupted.
    â€œSo which word was the bad word?”
    â€œBugger!” my dad roared. That shut us up for the rest of the trip.
    Â 
    Â 
    Â 
    the UConn dorm Was standard-issue state school architecture—a big, institutional-looking box, built in the days when land was cheap and cinder block was plentiful. A far cry from the ivy-covered, Magic Kingdom castles of Yale, but it was good ol’ UConn that brought Colin back to me, and I swore then and there to get myself a school hoodie at the campus store out of sheer gratitude.
    Dad couldn’t find a place to park and Tammy needed to use the bathroom, so she came inside with us while Dad circled. Colin stood on one line to find out where he was supposed to pick up his room key, and I stood on another line for the ladies’ room with Tammy.
    Watching Tammy do her twirling pee-pee dance dressed in the latest taffeta-and-tiara ensemble made my brain start churning all over again. One flowy princess dress, fit for a half-goddess. That dress was meant for me obviously. The receipt was still in my pocket, but what was I supposed to do with it?
    And why were the Faery Folk picking on Colin? His exhaustion, his strange dreams, these inexplicable slips of paper—all that needed to stop, pronto. If my pals in the faery realm were trying to get my attention, they’d succeeded. Now I just had to figure out what they wanted.
    â€œMorrrrrrrgan,” Tammy sang out, not unhappily. “I can’t wait anymore! I need to peeeeeeeee!”
    That got us to the front of the line finally.
    Â 
    Â 
    after i brought tammЧ back outside to Wait With Dad, I offered to help Colin carry his stuff upstairs, though he hardly needed my help. The dorm room was as spare and tiny as a cell. I looked around the four bare walls and wished I could cast some enchantment of my own: sprinkle some magic faery dust that would keep him safe from harm, or at least make sure he got a decent night’s sleep.
    But my half-goddess talents didn’t seem to extend to making magic on purpose. In Ireland I’d only been called on to undo the pesky enchantments of others, and that had mostly involved paying attention and the occasional display of spunk. Could the Faery Folk could even show up in Connecticut? Land of the mall, the McMansion, and the junior prom? It didn’t seem possible.
    Then again, my standards for what was possible or not possible had gotten a serious ass kicking in Ireland, so maybe I was due for a few more surprises.
    Colin dropped his backpack on the narrow bed. It wasn’t much more than a cot, really. “Before ye