"What's going on, Nicola?"
"Is that the real Mrs. Mania?"
"Should the fake Mrs. Mania keep talking?"
"YOU HAVE BEEN DECEIVED BY SMOKE AND MIRRORS, YOU FOOLS! THERE IS NO WHIMSIAN ARMY! "
"Mrs. Mania is free!" said Princess Petronella.
She pointed over Nicola's shoulder.
Mrs. Mania was marching down the mountain path from the Lookout Tower in her stiletto heels, a huge megaphone in her hand. Nicola lifted her binoculars and adjusted them to focus on Mrs. Mania's face. She was smiling triumphantly. Her son, Marty Mania, walked alongside her, looking mortified.
A group of familiar-looking people stomped behind Mrs. Mania and her son. The guards from the prison camp! They must have overcome the prisoners. But how had they escaped from the food hall?
I shouldn't have left the food hall unguarded,thought Nicola. That was a mistake. A stupid mistake! I just didn't want to take Greta's advice.
Mrs. Mania lifted her megaphone again.
"PICK THOSE WEAPONS BACK UP! "
"As your figurehead," said Princess Petronella to Nicola, "I have to tell you that I don't approve of this at all."
"CHARGE!"
CHAPTER 37
Nicola turned away from Mrs. Mania and looked through the binoculars at the Volcomanian soldiers below. They were charging up the mountain like wounded bulls, weapons held high, their scaly-skinned faces red with rage and humiliation.
"Should we surrender?" Henry's trem
bling voice came over the radio. "I think we should surrender!"
We were so, so close! If it weren't for my stupid mistake--
Mistake.
Nicola's hand flew to her neck, where she kept her limited edition gold button. What did Sean say? To unbutton your mistake, just hold the button between your fingertips and say . . .
Nicola put the button between her fingertips and said out loud, "Let that moment retake, so I may unbutton my mistake."
The world went black.
The air rushed from her lungs. She was flying backward through something like a long railway tunnel. There was a thin shrieking sound in her ears and a strange smell like the burning of rubber in her nostrils.
Oh my goodness! Is this SAFE?
"Nicola?"
Nicola blinked. She was standing outside the food hall with the released prisoners, the Space Brigade, and Henry Sweet. Greta was looking at Nicola expectantly.
"I said,should we leave someone to guard the food hall?"
Nicola couldn't believe it. It was earlier that same day. She'd actually traveled backward in time! This was her chance to fix the mistake and make everything right!
She threw her arms around Greta.
"Yes! That's a fantastic idea!"