Hanazuki: An Egg to Crack Read online

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Names: Davidowitz, Stacy, author. | Ying, Victoria, illustrator.

  Title: An egg to crack / Stacy Davidowitz; illustrations by Victoria Ying.

  Description: New York, NY: Amulet Books, 2018. | Series: Hanazuki; book 2 Identifiers: LCCN 2018001114 | ISBN 9781419729515 (hardback) | eISBN 9781683352457

  Subjects: | BISAC: JUVENILE FICTION / Readers / Chapter Books. | JUVENILE FICTION / Social Issues / Emotions & Feelings. | JUVENILE FICTION / Fantasy & Magic. Classification: LCC PZ7.1.D3365 An 2018 | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  HASBRO and its logo HANAZUKI and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro and used with permission. © 2018 Hasbro. All rights reserved.

  Book design by Becky James

  Published in 2018 by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

  Amulet Books are available at special discounts when purchased in quantity for premiums and promotions as well as fundraising or educational use. Special editions can also be created to specification. For details, contact [email protected] or the address below.

  Amulet Books® is a registered trademark of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

  ABRAMS The Art of Books

  195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007

  abramsbooks.com

  CHAPTER ONE

  AN EGG OVER EASY

  “Oh, hey there!” Hanazuki called, racing across a moon rock road to Kiazuki’s side. It had been a minute since they’d hung out. Actually, three days’ worth of minutes. Which was pretty unbelievable, considering Kiazuki was crashing with her on her moon. It was about time they spent some quality time together! Small chat first, goop pedicures second. “How are you liking your stay, my Moonflower sister?”

  “Not your sister,” Kiazuki said.

  “Technically we don’t know that.”

  “Technically we do. We were born from different moon spores.”

  “OK! Well, anything you need—a spare toothbrush, an extra pillow, a goop pedicure date with your non-Moonflower sister—just give me a holler!” Hanazuki took a big breath of fresh moon air and plopped down beside her squishy friends, the Hemka. Red Hemka and Yellow Hemka were wrestling. Orange Hemka was refereeing, gesturing madly with his ears. The rest were cheering them on. Well, except for Green Hemka. He was napping.

  “You’re not going to do anything?” Kiazuki asked, standing over her.

  Hanazuki peered cautiously at the sky, afraid Kiazuki was referring to the Big Bad, a dark force that sapped moons of their color and beauty and made them go KABLOOWEE, but the sky was prettily dotted with stars and marshmallow clouds. Like it had been for weeks. Months, even. “Do something about what?” she replied.

  “About THAT.” Kiazuki pointed at the Hemka. Red was on Purple’s shoulders and Yellow was on Lavender’s shoulders, and they were chicken-fighting.

  “Riiight,” Hanazuki said, her head spinning for clarity. Did Kiazuki want her to show spectator spirit? Hoping that was it, she put two fingers in her mouth and whistled. “Go Red! Go Yellow! Sports, yeah!” Then she grinned and patted the space beside her, inviting Kiazuki to sit down. “You were right—now I feel like I’m doing my part! Come be a cheerleader with me!”

  Kiazuki did not sit or cheer. She groaned. “That’s obviously not what I meant.”

  “Cool, cool. So, what did you—?”

  “Get control of your Hemka, Hanazuki! They’re fighting. It’s chaos. Isn’t your job to, like, protect your moon?”

  “Yeah, but . . .” She studied the Hemka. Red and Yellow were slapping each other silly. Red trash-talked Yellow: “CHOO CHEE POP POP GUH ZIG ZOG A ZOW!” Possible translation: “GET YOUR POPCORN READY, ’CAUSE I’M ABOUT TO PUT ON A SHOW!” The most dangerous thing it did was provoke Hanazuki’s craving for popcorn. “I think they’re just playing,” she said. “It’s all in good fun!”

  “Fine,” Kiazuki retorted. “If you won’t be the Moonflower your moon desperately needs, then I guess I’ll have to do it for you.” She stormed into the ring and plucked Red Hemka from Purple Hemka’s shoulders. He shouted, “NAH NO NAH YAAAAA!” as Kiazuki carried him off with her toward a red Treasure Tree grove. “All in good fun, my Moonflower!” she shot back over her shoulder.

  “So . . . are we still on for our goop pedicure?” Hanazuki called after her.

  “We were never on for anything.”

  “I’ll flash you my red toes later!”

  Pink Hemka hopped into Red’s place, and the wrestling match resumed. The other Hemka chanted, “GOO GAH HISS BOOOOYOO!” Pink Hemka just blew kisses at Hanazuki.

  Hanazuki tried to enjoy the show, but no matter how many of Pink Hemka’s air kisses she caught, she just wasn’t feeling it. Why did Kiazuki always have to take the fun out of things? She might have been on a new, openhearted path, but on days like this, it felt like she was taking three leaps backward.

  Hanazuki watched Pink Hemka defeat Yellow Hemka with a hug and felt an unexpected pang of guilt. No matter their differences, she couldn’t let Kiazuki journey on her openhearted path alone. They could and would get through this. Together. And then they’d hug it out.

  Hanazuki scrambled over to the red Treasure Tree grove and spotted Kiazuki and Red Hemka perched on a thick tree branch. “Hey, Kia—WHOA!” Hanazuki slipped in a goop puddle and landed flat on her back. “OOF!”

  “Did a tree just fall?” Kiazuki wondered aloud. Before Hanazuki could so much as shout, “It’s me—I’m a klutz—all’s good,” Kiazuki plowed on. “Whatever. What was I saying? Oh! So, the Big Bad disappears, and suddenly Hanazuki is all sunshine and rainbows?”

  Hanazuki pushed herself up to her elbows. She could see Kiazuki holding Red, steam whistling from his ears. “GAH GRU ZEE ZAH!” he shouted.

  “Exactly!” Kiazuki said. “It’s like, here I am, doing my best to help, because hello, THE DANGER IS REAL, and all Hanazuki wants to do is hang out. I’d love to hang out. That sounds nice, but honestly, who’s got time for that?”

  “REE YEE YOO ZOO!”

  “Hanazuki needs to know—a drama-free moon doesn’t stay drama-free for long. When the climate is chill, Moonflowers drop their guard, and when Moonflowers drop their guard, BAM—everything falls apart.”

  “TEE TOO NAH NAH!”

  Hanazuki felt her anger bubbling up. Here she was, letting Kiazuki crash on her moon in comfort for however long Kiazuki needed until she found a moon of her own to protect. Here she was, prepared to show Kiazuki unconditional support. Here she was, ready for a make-up hug. And this was how her Moonflower sister repaid her? By talking smack about her behind her back? To her own Alterling?

  Hanazuki listened to Kiazuki rant on and on. Red kept shouting back at her. Surely, Kiazuki didn’t think Red was actually siding with her, did she? She had to know that he was almost always in a state of annoyance, and she had to understand that his extra annoyed annoyance had been triggered when Kiazuki tore him away from his friends in the middle of a wrestling match . . . that he was winning! (Well, maybe winning. Yellow’s ear-slapping was on point.) “It’s OK to have fun once in a while!” Hanazuki blurted out. “Why can’t you let yourself and everyone else on this moon have fun?!”

  “Um.” Kiazuki jumped down from the Treasure Tree and stared at Hanazuki. “What are
you doing here? How long have you been spying on us?”

  “I wasn’t spying. Well, maybe I was. A little. Accidentally. ’Cause I fell.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  Hanazuki rose, wringing the goop from her skirt. “Look, it makes sense that you’re feeling overprotective. If my moon had gotten destroyed by the Big Bad, I’d be just as freaked out as you are now.”

  “Me? I’m fine.”

  “But it’s just as important to celebrate when things are good! Otherwise, what are we living for?” Hanazuki figured it was too early for a hug, so she took Kiazuki’s hands and tried to twirl her around instead. “Let yourself have some fun! Let yourself have some fun with me!”

  Kiazuki untangled herself from Hanazuki’s hold. “Sorry to burst your bubble, but I’m not living for the opportunity to dance around the moon with you like best friends forever. Even if times are as good as you think they are, your advice is a moonsack of bologna!”

  “What’s bologna?”

  Red Hemka started to shape-shift into a cold cut, but Kiazuki stopped him. She took a few seconds, then winced apologetically. “I’m being paranoid,” she said to Hanazuki. “I probably overreacted about the wrestling match. Maybe the calm before the storm is just calm before . . . more calm. Right?”

  Hanazuki smiled. “For sure.”

  Just then, the Treasure Trees ruffled with the vibration of Chicken Plant’s screams. “IT’S HAPPENING, MOON PEOPLE! IT’S HAPPENING! I’M ABOUT TO POP. AN. EGG! WEEEEEEEELP!”

  Hanazuki’s heart leaped out of her chest. Red began to spin in circles.

  “Uh, what are you both freaking out about?” Kiazuki asked. “Your moon is drama-free, chilltastic, good times, blah, blah, blah! And now, to boot, you’re getting an adorable baby chick to celebrate.”

  “Celebrate?” Hanazuki repeated. Her mind was flashing with horrific memories of Chicken Plant’s previous babies—demons out to destroy her moon. Should she run to Chicken Plant’s side? Destroy the baby before it hatched? Mother the baby? Cage the baby? She looked at Red Hemka for an answer, but his ears were limp and his body was shaking. Oh, what should she do?!?

  “Uh, moon to Hanazuki?” Kiazuki said, waving a hand in front of Hanazuki’s face.

  Hanazuki snapped back to reality and gripped Kiazuki’s shoulders. “No, Kiazuki. Chicken Plant’s babies are not worth celebrating. Like, at all. You’ve got to remember—we saw our first baby hatch together as we held him over the rim of an active volcano! We were about to toss him inside before he was born! That’s how rotten he was supposed to turn out!”

  Kiazuki rolled her eyes. “I remember everyone freaking out, but then the baby was born and he was suuuuper cute. Everyone had made this big to-do over nothing. Didn’t he grow up in a snap and float off into the galaxy?”

  “Yeah, he floated off. But before that, he was, well . . . less than an angel.”

  “How less?”

  “He destroyed almost all of our Treasure Trees. He hacked them down like a woodpecker hopped up on treasure fruit candy.”

  Kiazuki’s face scrunched in panic. “Have there been others?” she asked, grabbing Hanazuki’s elbow and steering them toward Chicken Plant.

  “There was Junior,” Hanazuki replied. “He was so feisty that he made a Mazzadril fifty times his size run off to hide!”

  “Wait, so do we know where the babies float off to?” Kiazuki asked. “Is there a destination, or are there a bunch of crazy chicken babies floating aimlessly in the galaxy?”

  “Huh. I have no idea.”

  “Whatever. It doesn’t matter where they go, as long as they go. All we need to worry about is the damage this baby will do while he’s on your moon, and we’ll want to get him to sprout that feather ASAP.”

  “Totally.” Suddenly, a warm and fuzzy feeling washed over Hanazuki. Before she knew it, she’d dropped her head onto Kiazuki’s shoulder and put her arms around her Moonflower sister.

  Kiazuki froze. “Um, what are you doing?”

  “I dunno. It’s just, now that we’re finally bonding—”

  “This isn’t bonding.”

  “—I feel better!”

  “What? No. Don’t feel better.” Kiazuki pushed Hanazuki away from her. “Literally everything you’re describing sounds like a nightmare.”

  “Exactly! And you know what’s great about nightmares? You wake up from them! Plus, a little trouble keeps things interesting. Thanks for the motivational chitchat.” Hanazuki flicked her wrist and snapped her fingers. “I’ve handled Chicken Plant’s babies twice now, and I can do it again!”

  “Sure you can.” Kiazuki stormed ahead toward Chicken Plant, the moon dust kicking up at her heels.

  Hanazuki felt her confidence crack. “Wait a sec,” she said, jogging to Kiazuki’s side. “You don’t think I can handle this situation?”

  Kiazuki stopped short. “The last two babies born on this moon were barely monsters. One hacked some trees—big deal. The other fought off a Mazzadril for you—basically saved your life. What are you going to do when an actual monster hatches?”

  “Mother him? That worked well last time.”

  “Oh yeah? How long did you ‘play mama’?”

  “Hours . . . minutes . . . maybe five minutes.”

  “So, was it your mothering that made the babies into mild monsters . . . or luck?”

  Hanazuki sucked in a deep breath. “OK, I see your point.”

  “Look, Sleepy Unicorn and Dazzlessence Jones and everyone else hyped up Chicken Plant’s babies to be abominations because, back in the day, they probably were. This moon is overdue for a problem. I think we’re about to see what a real terror Chicken Plant can egg up.”

  Hanazuki’s stomach churned. “I guess. I hadn’t thought it could get any worse.”

  “Things can always get worse,” Kiazuki said. “For example, what if this baby is the LITERAL WORST? What if he doesn’t sprout a feather and float off into the galaxy? What if he sticks around to destroy the whole moon? What if, at the end of the day, you end up moonless just like me?”

  “I—I—I don’t know.”

  “Exactly.”

  By the time they reached Chicken Plant, Hanazuki was a nervous wreck. So was Chicken Plant. Her feathers were sticking out in ten different directions. She was staring so hard at the egg quivering at the foot of her stalk that her eyes were beginning to cross. “Hold on to your Moodblossoms, buffoons,” she said. “It’s going to be a bumpy ride.”

  Just as Hanazuki’s worry over the egg began to swell, Little Dreamer floated down to her in a chicken onesie, his eyes closed and his smile content like always. “Well, that’s a little on the nose—er, beak,” she said.

  “Hee-haw shee-shuh.”

  “Cool, so, question,” she said to him. “Why would the mooniverse drop this disaster at my doorstep just when things are on the up? Just when I’ve gotten Kiazuki to relax? Why?!”

  Kiazuki cocked her chin.

  “No offense.” Hanazuki looked to Little Dreamer for an answer. But he dropped a treasure shaped like an egg, then zipped off—a chicken dot in the sky.

  Just then, the egg started to crack.

  Red Hemka growled at it. “GUH, GOO, GRRR.”

  Hanazuki felt her face get hot. She clenched and unclenched her fists. No funny business, little guy, or you’re gonna have me to deal with, and trust me, this mama won’t be happy.

  A tiny pink beak peeked out. Then a blue wing. Then another blue wing. And then the eggshell fell away. Smiling up at Hanazuki was the most adorable chicken baby. He rolled around in a circle. Either he was missing feet or they were tucked underneath him. All of a sudden, he sprouted a single yellow . . . leg? Nope. Feather? Nope. It was a stalk!

  Hanazuki gasped. Red Hemka’s ears fell to the ground. Kiazuki looked back and forth between Hanazuki, who was speechless, and Chicken Plant, who was cooing and chirping at the baby Chicken Plant. “Uh . . . what’s going on here?” Kiazuki finally asked.

  “I have no idea,�
�� Hanazuki said, slowly shaking her head. “There’s only one Chicken Plant. Except now there’s . . . two.”

  “Welcome to the moon, my first baby Chicken Plant,” Chicken Plant whispered, her eyes filled with hearts. “I think I’ll call you . . . Tenders.”

  Is this good? Hanazuki wondered. Is it worse than bad? Chicken Plant had always had chicks. That’s just how it was. But now she had a baby Chicken Plant. What in the moon did that mean?

  CHAPTER TWO

  TENDERS

  “Happy Day of Birth to you, Our Chicklet Plant so cute! Happy Day of Birth, Dear Tenders, Happy Day of Birth to you!” The whole moon crew—Hanazuki, Kiazuki, Red Hemka, Dazzlessence Jones, Sleepy Unicorn, Doughy Bunington, Maroshi, Wanderer, Kiyoshi, Zikoro, and the rest of the Hemka—broke into wild applause.

  “Regarding Tenders,” Dazzlessence Jones whispered to Hanazuki, “so far, so good.”

  Hanazuki gave Dazz a thumbs-up. Tenders was cute. Heart-meltingly cute. But would he stay cute? The singing, the attention, the enthusiasm—it was all part of their plan. If they nurtured the baby Chicken Plant, then maaaaybe he wouldn’t destroy her moon.

  “Who’s hungry?” Hanazuki asked, bringing out a cake in the shape of a chicken tender. A BABY CHICKEN PLANT SHOWER FOR TENDERS! 0 LB., 3 OZ. HAPPY, HEALTHY, NOT A MONSTER was written in white icing. A single candle flickered.

  Chicken Plant awkwardly patted her son’s back with her wing. “Make a wish, kid.”

  Tenders drew in a shallow breath. “I wish that—”

  “But don’t spill it,” she cut in. “Lock the wish in that pebble brain of yours, and then, well, if you’re lucky, it’ll come true.”

  “OK, Mama Chick P. I’m gonna make the bestest, most secretest wish in the world!”

  “Quickly. Then flap out the flame, ’cause it sure as feathers ain’t gonna flap itself out.”

  Tenders flapped his little wings, pushing air at the candle until it went dark.

  The whole group cheered. “YAAAAY!”

  Hanazuki collected cake crumbs and tossed them toward Tenders’s beak. He caught some with a “Yum!” Others smacked him in the face. “Hee hee hee!” he laughed adorably. “That’s silly! Auntie H, you’re silly.” Hanazuki’s heart grew a size.