It was a perfectly ordinary morning in Luminvale—if you counted "perfectly ordinary" as "Milo accidentally brewing chaos into the very fabric of reality."
After the human lantern incident, Milo had sworn—sworn!—that he would stick to simple, non-chaotic projects for at least a week. His new goal? Create a calming herbal tea blend. No potions. No magic. No glowing.
Just tea. Plain, boring, safe tea.
Unfortunately, safe things tended to become Milo-ified the moment they entered his workshop.
---
"Alright," Milo muttered to himself, setting out a neat little line of herbs: calming sage, soothing mint, lavender sprigs, whisperleaf... He had even tied a little apron around his waist, determined to be professional.
Luca wandered in, juggling three apples and a suspiciously squishy pastry. "Morning, Tea Lord," he said, bowing dramatically. "You finally gave up on potions of doom?"
Milo ignored him and carefully poured hot water over his mixture. "This time," he said, with pride, "I'm making something simple. A calming tea. I want to prove I can do one thing without setting something—or someone—on fire."
Luca snickered. "I'll believe it when I don't see it explode."
The herbs steeped, releasing a sweet, gentle fragrance into the shop. Milo beamed. Success!
Without hesitation, he took a big sip.
The flavor was... odd. There was a surprising amount of zing. Like, energetic zing.
And then—Milo's foot started tapping.
Not just tapping. Moonwalking.
"Uh-oh," Milo whispered, right before his legs betrayed him entirely and sent him sliding backward across the floor, his body moving with impossible, funky fluidity.
"Milo...?" Luca asked, squinting.
Milo tried to answer, but his arms started flailing, perfectly matching the beat of some imaginary disco music. His hips shimmied. His shoulders popped. His entire body committed to a full-blown boogie dance.
"I think—!" Milo shouted between involuntary spins, "—I made a DANCE POTION instead!"
Luca howled with laughter, dropping his apples. "This is it. This is your legacy. Future generations will sing songs about the Great Tea Boogie of Luminvale."
"Help me!" Milo cried, breakdancing against his will. "I can't stop!"
Naturally, Luca did the only thing a best friend would do:
He grabbed the leftover tea and took a huge gulp.
---
"YEAH!" Luca hollered, suddenly busting into a wild series of breakdance moves. "THIS IS AMAZING!"
Within moments, the apothecary turned into a full-on dance-off arena. Milo was doing the robot. Luca was spinning like a top.
The potion was too good.
Way, way too good.
And that's when things truly spiraled out of control—because Luca, still vibrating with energy, ran outside, holding the tea aloft like some ancient artifact.
"FREE DANCE TEA! GET YOUR MOVES ON!" he shouted across the village square.
Milo, still boogying helplessly after him, could only shriek, "LUCA, NOOOO!"
But it was too late.
---
The villagers of Luminvale, bless their trusting hearts, didn't even hesitate.
Farmer Tobin took a sip—and immediately busted out a funky chicken dance that startled his cows.
Blacksmith Rona tried a cup—and started riverdancing while hammering a horseshoe.
Even Mayor Flanagan got in on it, twirling his epic mustache like it was a baton while doing the worm down Main Street.
"IT'S A DANCE-A-PALOOZA!" he declared, voice booming across the town square.
In less than an hour, the entire village transformed into a bouncing, moonwalking, boogie-ing mess. Bunting was thrown up. Someone rolled out an old phonograph blasting funky tunes. Children chased after each other doing the hustle. A group of elderly ladies were breakdancing near the fountain, to the horror and admiration of passersby.
A banner appeared—nobody knew where it came from—with the words:
THE FIRST ANNUAL LUMINVALE BOOGIE FESTIVAL!
Milo, still twitching and robot-walking uncontrollably, stumbled over to Luca, who was leading a coordinated conga line of thirty people.
"This," Milo gasped between dance moves, "was supposed to be calming tea."
Luca grinned, panting happily. "And look at everyone! They're happy! They're dancing! It's better than calming! It's community spirit!"
Somewhere in the distance, a goat performed an enthusiastic spin move.
Milo groaned, trying to stop his body from salsa-ing on its own. "They're going to hate me when the potion wears off and the leg cramps kick in!"
---
As sunset bathed the village in golden light, the boogie festival reached its peak.
There was a Dance-Off Tournament held in the center square.
Mayor Flanagan challenged the baker to a moonwalk duel.
The mayor's mustache twirled faster than humanly possible.
Children waved glowsticks made out of enchanted dandelions.
Even Grandma Crimbles appeared, doing an alarming amount of air splits for a woman who probably knew the discovery date of gravity.
Alma appeared at Milo's side, breathless from dancing but smiling brightly. "You accidentally made the best thing ever!"
Milo flopped onto a bench, twitching and exhausted but laughing anyway. "I... I can't believe it."
"We should definitely bottle it," Luca suggested, sliding into the seat next to him with a stylish spin. "Sell it. 'Guaranteed to start the party, or your money back.'"
Milo gave a weak thumbs-up. "Only if we also offer free leg massages afterward."
Luca raised his pastry triumphantly. "Deal."
---
As the night wore on and the effects of the potion slowly, mercifully faded, the village glowed with satisfaction (and mild soreness).
Milo sat watching the stars come out, feeling... oddly happy. Maybe not everything had to be perfectly calm or neat or controlled. Maybe a little chaos, a little unexpected boogie, was exactly what everyone needed sometimes.
Especially him.
As Luca sprawled next to him, humming a ridiculous made-up dance song, and Alma scribbled new ideas for "future tea festivals," Milo thought:
Maybe...
Maybe this was the best disaster yet.