Maddie Saves the Sphinx

Maddie twirled around in a circle and bowed. Her swimming suit was officially the cutest in all the land. All her stuffed animals said so. She grabbed her towel and skipped out of her room, ready for the pool party. William sat in the living room watching TV in his swimming suit when Maddie came downstairs.

“Hi! Don’t you just love my suit?” Maddie twirled.

William rolled his eyes and kept watching TV. “Mommy says we have to wait for her to
finish drying the towels.

Maddie dropped onto the couch next to William. “Why do we have to wait for them to dry if they’re just going to get wet again?”

“I don’t know.” William pushed the button on the remote to turn the volume up for his
cartoon. “Mommy made us some sandwiches. They’re in the kitchen. I already ate the rocket and the castle.”

“You ate the castle? That was supposed to be mine this time.” Maddie stomped into
the kitchen with a mad face and plopped down in her chair. When she saw the shapes on the plate, she smiled and clapped her hands. “A mermaid! No wonder William ate the castle.”

She gobbled up her sandwiches and put her plate in the sink. Maybe the towels were
dry now. Maddie skipped to the laundry room, but the towels were still going around and around in the dryer.

Swimming would have to wait.

Maddie went back to the living room where William watched TV and pulled out her toy
castle. It was time for her princess to get married to the handsome prince. Except it was too hard to play both the princess upstairs getting ready and the prince downstairs at the same time. Maybe she could use her wand and make them come alive. . . no. The last time she did that, the dolls ran away, and she never saw them again.

“William, can you play with me? Pleeeeeease?”

“I can’t. You need to leave.”

“What do you mean?” Maddie jumped up. “Is it time to swim now?”

William shook his head and pointed at the window. “Your friend is here.”

“Friend?” Maddie looked at the window and gasped when she saw the small leprechaun
staring in the window at her.

Eoin was here! Maddie tapped her chin. Should she go help Eoin, or should she go
swimming? Or maybe Eoin wanted to go swimming with her! That would be fun.
Maddie ran toward the door and threw it open.

“You’re here! Are you coming swimming us? Did you bring your suit? You can’t swim in
that. It’s too . . . what?” Maddie turned to look behind her to see what Eoin was glaring at. “Did you see a monkey?”

“No, not a monkey. But I do need you to stop talking about swimming for a moment. Egypt
is in trouble.”

Maddie frowned. “Who is Egypt?”

“Not who. It’s a country. They had a little sphinx get away and it’s scaring people.
We need to go help get him home.”

“What’s a sphinx?” Maddie tipped her head.

Eoin whistled for Muffins. “It’s a lion with a human head. You might want to change
first. Egypt is hot so you need to stay covered. Most people wear robes.”

“Oh! I have a cute robe to go with my cute suit!” Maddie ran back inside and up the
stairs to find her fluffy new robe. Then she went to the backyard to get her wand.

Eoin and Muffins appeared in the backyard. Eoin shook his head. “Not that kind of robe.
It’s too hot. Never mind. We’ll stop by and pick up clothes that are just right for the desert. Do you have your wand?”

Maddie waved it in the air, sending pink and purple sparks into the air. “Right here!”

“Perfect. Although, you should probably put out the purple and pink fire you started.”
Eoin looked past Maddie.

She whirled around to find her playhouse with lots of flames. It didn’t burn anything, but the sparkles shooting out would probably make the neighbors call Mommy about something weird happening, and Maddie didn’t need that. Again.

Maddie wiggled her wand at the fire and imagined water spraying out. Water poured onto the house, but the flames kept getting bigger. “Uh, Eoin? I think I need help with this one.”

Eoin snapped his fingers and the flames stopped. “There you go. Ready?”

“Yep! Let’s go! I need to get back in time to swim with William!” Maddie climbed up on Muffins, and Eoin snapped his fingers. The world disappeared around them