Out of Sight (13 page)

Y
OU MISSED A SPOT,” MALIK ANNOUNCED THE
following morning just as Sophie finished wiping the toast crumbs off the chopping board. She immediately dropped the dishcloth and spun around in surprise to see him floating near the kitchen ceiling. He was wearing a new-looking Hawaiian shirt and some purple trousers that would've looked awful on anyone else, but on him they just looked like...well...
Malik
.

“You're back,” she yelped in surprise before remembering that talking to Malik out loud in the middle of the house probably wasn't such a smart idea. Thankfully, since it was Saturday, her mom was sleeping in, and Meg was outside talking to Jessica Dalton over the back fence. But all the same, Sophie didn't want to risk their walking in. She nodded for him to follow her back upstairs. He paused long enough to grab the uneaten toast that Sophie had just made, then he obediently followed her, leaving a trail of crumbs. Once they were in the safety of her room, she shut the door and turned to him.

“Where have you been? And if you say you were gallivanting in Paris again, I will kill you.”

“Kill me? Hello, you're the one who keeps pointing out that I'm already dead.” Malik finished off the toast in one final bite and floated down to the ground. “And I'm sorry that I didn't come back last night. I just couldn't face seeing your mom with
that man
. Still, it's not like they can get married or anything, so I suppose I shouldn't take it so badly.”

“Especially since she didn't go on the date.” Sophie beamed, unable to stay mad at him when everything was going so well.

“Really?” Malik immediately brightened. “Let me guess? She found out about the nose picking?”

“Actually, she found out that she still loved my dad,” Sophie said, unable to stop smiling. “With a little help from me, of course. I did this amazing wish. It was a reverse-image wish so that when my mom first saw Mr. Rivers, her—”

“Whoa. Go back for a moment. Did you just say reverse-image wish?” Malik's face drained of color.

“That's right. It's this really great wish that—”

“Reveals a person's worst nightmare, blah, blah, blah,” Malik finished off. “Yeah, I know what it is, but please in the name of all things shiny, tell me that you didn't use one. I mean, what sort of scumbag person would even think of selling you that?”

“W-what do you mean?” Sophie looked at him in alarm.

“I mean that reverse-image wishes are highly unstable, and over the years they have been related to numerous disasters, which is why they are so seldom used anymore. Also, they should especially never be used by minors.”

“But Rufus never said anything about that,” Sophie said as her heart began to pound in her chest and she searched through her drawer to find the small bottle. “He said it was fine.”

“Rufus? You bought it from Rufus?” Malik instantly grabbed the bottle from her and studied the label before looking up at her in horror. “Sophie, after everything I've taught you, why would you buy something like this from him?”

“In my defense I didn't buy it. He gave it to me,” she said, rubbing her brow and trying not to freak out. “I think he wanted to impress me in case I really had managed to create Solomon's Elixir. He's got it in his head that I should let him distribute it for me.”

“Oh, this is not good.” Malik started to fly around the room, his normally smooth Zac-like brow etched with worry lines. “Not good at all. I mean, using one of Rufus's tonics is always a risk, but even more so when you're already using an invisibility patch, anything could've happened to you. What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking that I didn't want my mom to go on a date before my dad comes home,” Sophie reminded him before realizing that he was really bothered. “Besides, it worked
perfectly
. I turned invisible, put the tonic on him, and then listened to my mom call off the date. The moment she saw him she knew that she couldn't go through with it. It was amazing. And as for Rufus, I totally convinced him that I didn't know what he was talking about.”

“Well, I still don't like it.” Malik finally stopped floating around the room and crossed his arms. “I mean, this is Rufus we're talking about, and let's just say that when it comes to making tonics, he doesn't exactly have a stellar reputation. I remember this one batch of hair-growing liquid that he made for those djinns who were a bit concerned about their receding hairlines. Next thing you know, they all looked like yetis. The only reason he didn't lose his license over that little fiasco was because one of the old dragons on the Djinn Council actually had a thing for yetis and she thought it was cute.”

“And I think that you're a bit too jaded,” Sophie replied with a shrug as she held out her arms to demonstrate. “I mean, do I look hairy? His tonic worked perfectly, I promise.”

“Humph.” Malik made a muttering noise, which Sophie ignored as she stood up and grabbed her favorite purse.

“Anyway, I've got to go. I said I'd get to Kara's house early so we could have a last-minute jewelry consultation before we go to the movie.”

“And that's another thing,” said Malik, still in his petulant mood. “I don't think you should be gallivanting off to a movie when you're meant to be practicing your carpet flying. Not to mention the fact that I'm starving, and I need you to conjure me up some food since I'm guessing your mom's cooking hasn't improved since I've been away.”

“Sorry, but we'll have to practice this afternoon. Kara's been completely frantic about this movie all week. There's no way I can bail on her,” Sophie said, moving toward the door. “But I'll get you some food as long as you absolutely promise not to cause any trouble. Especially since my mom's probably still feeling a bit weird about the whole Mr. Rivers thing.”

“Me? Cause trouble?” Malik blinked, and Sophie rolled her eyes before she wished for two Big Macs and fries. A second later Malik launched himself at them like he hadn't eaten for a month—or even like he was an actual person who needed food instead of being a dead djinn.

“Just promise me,” Sophie said.

“I promise,” he assured her with a mouthful of fries. Then he looked at her with interest. “Don't you think you should make yourself un-invisible before you go to Kara's house? In my experience humans tend to get a bit freaked out when they open the door and no one's there. Of course, sometimes it's funny, but if Kara's still wound up about this movie business, then maybe it's best not to spook her?”

“What?” Sophie paused for a moment and stared at him. “Is this some kind of weird trick to make me stay in and practice?”

“Er, no. I mean, if I was going to do a trick on you, I can assure you it would be a
little
bit more sophisticated than the old ‘Wait, you're invisible' line.” He gave a disdainful snort as he stuffed some more fries into his mouth.

“Yes, but I'm
not
invisible,” Sophie retorted as she looked at her arm for proof.

“Have you looked in the mirror recently?” Malik demanded as he nodded toward the large wall mirror that was hanging next to her prized Neanderthal Joe poster. “Because I think you'll find that you are most definitely—”

“What?” Sophie stared in the mirror at her complete lack of reflection. She spun back around and looked at Malik in alarm. “How can I be invisible? I mean, I haven't so much as snapped my fingers all morning. In fact, the last time I was invisible was when I put the tonic on Mr. Rivers.”

“You mean that completely harmless tonic that Rufus-the-least-trustworthy-djinn in the
whole entire world
gave to you?” Malik asked. “At least tell me that you didn't touch any of it.”

“Of course not,” Sophie assured him. Then an unpleasant memory of when several drops landed on her hand snaked into her mind. “Okay, so I touched it a little bit. B-but it was hardly anything. You can't possibly be telling me that I've been invisible since last night and no one's noticed.”

“How should I know? Did you speak to your mom or sister last night? Or look in a mirror?”

“No to looking in a mirror, but yes to talking to my mom and Meg,” Sophie said, and rubbed her chin. “Well, I think I...
actually, maybe I didn't.
After the whole ‘dumping Mr. Rivers' thing, Mom just knocked on the door and said she wasn't going out but was going to have a hot bath and an early night. As for Meg, she didn't come near me,” Sophie said, and a small sliver of panic started to churn in the pit of her stomach.

She quickly snapped her fingers and muttered the word visible. Then she stared at herself in the mirror, but there was still no reflection. Sophie took a deep breath and tried to ignore the fact that her hands were shaking. The important thing was that she didn't panic. She needed to stay calm and think positive thoughts.

“So”—she turned to Malik—“we just need to talk to Rufus and get him to fix this, right?”

“Have we learned
nothing
from what has just happened?” Malik stared at her. “Trusting Rufus is a bad, bad idea. Asking Rufus to help you fix the problem that he caused in the first place is an even worse idea. In a nutshell, Rufus and tonics do not go together.
Ever.
I'm not saying that he did this on purpose, nor am I saying that he doesn't have the ability to make things even more disastrous.”

“Fine, so Rufus can't help us,” Sophie reluctantly agreed as she shot him a hopeful look. “But there must be something we can do. How long will this last?”

“Well...” He paused for a moment as if to consider the question fully before he finally looked up and shot her an apologetic look. “The worst-case scenario is probably a thousand years.”

“A thousand years?” Sophie yelped in disbelief as her idea of not panicking went flying out the window. She used her hands to fan her hot, invisible face before she turned back to Malik. “I can't be invisible for a thousand years. I can't be invisible for even a day. I'm eleven years old. My mom will kill me. Plus, as a positive thinker, I've got lots of life plans already prepared, and none of them include being invisible. This is crazy.”

“Hey, don't look at me. I'm not the one who used a dubious potion. Plus, I was only giving you the worst-case scenario. It's more likely that it will only last five or six hours.”

“W-hat?” Sophie felt her jaw drop as she stared at him in disbelief. “And you didn't think to mention this alternative first?”

“I just thought it would make you appreciate how serious it
could've
been,” Malik said, not looking remotely guilty. Though she couldn't help but notice that he put his arms protectively around his Big Macs. “And see, it worked. I bet you won't be taking any more strange tonics from Rufus again. So now that you're not going to see that movie, we should really get to work.”

“Kara,” Sophie yelped as she looked at her watch. “I'm late. I've got to go. I know it's not ideal that I'm invisible, but at least I can still talk to her and hold her hand. And actually, it might be better at the movies. Unless of course someone tries to sit in my seat. Hmmm, that could be a problem.”

“Yes, why do you think that I hover so often?” Malik asked. “Of course, your other problem is that Kara won't be able to hear you,” he added as an afterthought. “I might've forgotten to mention that.”