Under a Spell (16 page)

“I'm afraid that is a confidential djinn secret, which I couldn't possibly tell you.” Malik shrugged as he started to cram the cheesy snacks into his mouth. “So what do you think? Is it or is it not a stroke of genius?”

“I don't know.” Sophie felt the sweat start to bead on her upper lip. It wasn't that she didn't trust Malik, it was just—
okay, it was
totally
that she didn't trust him.
However, she quickly realized that she was running out of options. “So do you even speak Spanish?”

“Un poco,”
Malik said.

“Fine.” Sophie let out a sigh and hoped that whatever he said actually meant, “Yup, I'm totally fluent.” “Try to help him pass his quiz. Please, Malik, I really need this to work.”

“I'll do my best,” he assured her, his face looking oddly serious. Sophie crossed her fingers. What she wouldn't give for her Neanderthal Joe guitar pick right now—she had the feeling she was going to need all the luck she could get.

Sophie fiddled with her pen as she looked up at the clock on the wall. Harvey had once tried to explain to her and Kara that, according to Einstein, time was relative, and it went as quickly or as slowly as you wanted it to go. But if that was the case, then could someone please explain why the bell still hadn't rung, when Sophie could swear that she'd been sitting in Mrs. Dobson's English class for at least three hundred years. There was nothing relative about it. It was just torture, pure and simple.

Next to her Kara was looking equally fidgety as she drew a series of small circles that twirled and intertwined with one another, while on the other side of her Harvey was listing his top ten favorite horror movies and trying not to grind his teeth.
And still the bell didn't ring.

Sophie took a deep breath and started to tap her pen against her cheek as she once again wondered how Malik was getting on. Even the idea of sending him out to
help Ben made Sophie nervous, since Malik seemed to find trouble like a moth found a flame. Unfortunately, she didn't have a lot of other options left.

Then there was the whole Jonathan thing, which had not gotten any better during the rest of the day. She longed to talk to him, but thanks to Melissa's command, she couldn't get near him without shutting her eyes and covering them with her hand. Kara and Harvey had seen him at lunchtime and explained that she was suffering from some weird eye allergy, but Sophie could tell by their unsmiling faces that they'd made the situation only worse.

Finally, the bell rang, and school was over for the day. Sophie immediately clapped her hands to summon Malik, before once again remembering that, until she got her ring back, her magic wouldn't work unless Melissa told her to do something.

She jumped to her feet and quickly thrust her books into her backpack before hurrying out into the crowded hallway. Kara and Harvey weren't far behind her. They all urgently craned their necks until Harvey finally pointed over to where Malik was hovering next to an unsuspecting Louise Gibson, who was about to take a bite of a Snickers bar.

They raced over, and Sophie managed to get her body in between Malik's outstretched hand and Louise's candy bar. The seventh grader shot Sophie a “you are such a
freak” look before walking off, but Sophie hardly noticed. She eagerly turned to Malik, who was pouting about not getting the Snickers.

“So? How did it go? Did he pass? Can I get my ring back yet?”

“Sorry, I'm afraid it didn't go well.” Malik shook his head. “In fact, it would be fair to say that Ben Griggs is the most spectacularly stupid mortal I have ever come across. I mean, I wrote the answers down for him, and what did he do? He crossed them out and wrote new ones in.”

“Yes, but are you sure he failed? I mean, remember that what you think are the right answers might not necessarily be the ‘real' right answers,” Sophie reminded him, as visions of Moroccan almonds flittered into her mind.

“I think we can all agree that the translation for ‘Where is the bus stop?' isn't ‘Dude, showy me da bus place,'” Malik said in a dry voice. “Unless, of course, you're Ben.”

“Oh.” Sophie winced. “So he definitely failed?”

“In a stunning fashion,” Malik reluctantly informed her. “I'm sorry. I really did try.”

“I know, and I appreciate it. Besides, maybe Melissa doesn't know yet, and she will just change her mind about giving me back my ring?” Sophie asked in a hopeful voice, but next to her Kara shook her long dark hair.

“Judging by the look on her face, I'm going to guess that she knows.”

“And doesn't look happy about it,” Harvey added with a shudder as Melissa marched toward them, leaving a trail of fury behind her. Yup, she'd definitely heard.

“Melissa, hey. I was just coming to find you.”

“Really? Are you sure you're not just trying to figure out another way to ruin my life?” the other girl retorted in a frosty voice. “Because I've just seen Ben, and now it's official. He dumped me. That's right, I've been dumped. And tomorrow there's a big squad practice at school, and the basketball team is going to be there as well. Do you have any idea how humiliating that's going to be? I mean, Ben will be there, and everyone will know. Oh, and did I mention that it's all your fault?”

Sophie wondered whether she should've just gone with the petrified lucky date after all. She shot Melissa a pleading look. “Okay, I know this sounds crazy, but if you would just give me my ring back, then I absolutely, totally promise that I will be able to fix this. In fact, I'll be able to get Ben as many lucky charms as he wants, and I'll make sure he knows that all his good luck has come from you.”

“Um, no.” Melissa shook her shiny blonde hair and narrowed her eyes until they were just two thin slits. “I think you've done quite enough damage for one day. Now get out of my way, loser.”

“What? No—” Sophie started to protest, since she couldn't afford to take no for an answer. Unfortunately, her feet seemed to have other ideas, and the second Melissa told her to get out of the way, Sophie found herself
turning and heading in the other direction, where her friends were waiting for her.

None of them bothered to say a word as they numbly trudged to the bus. Even the other kids around them didn't seem to speak. It was like they all knew that Sophie was going through some kind of personal apocalypse. She could vaguely see her friends exchanging concerned looks, but it wasn't until the bus came to a halt and they all clambered off that Kara finally spoke.

“Would you like us to come in with you? We could do some research on the Internet. You've still got until tomorrow at ten and—”

“There's no point.” Sophie gave a resigned shake of her head as Melissa's stubborn eyes seemed to dance in front of her face as a constant reminder that Sophie had screwed up.

“Sophie, I'm really sorry.” Malik's normally unperturbed face was set into frown mode.

“Seriously, I'm fine—well, I'm not fine, but it's not the end of the world. I-I guess I'll just have to find another way to find out what happened to my dad,” Sophie said in an overly bright voice, which was at odds with how frozen she really felt. Whoever said that misery loved company was lying. Misery was just as happy to sit in a room on its own so that it could brood and sulk and listen to Neanderthal Joe songs over and over again on shuffle. “Do you guys mind?”

“Of course not.” Harvey nodded.

“But make sure you call or IM us if you need anything,” Kara added before the two of them headed to their own houses. Once they had left, Malik looked at her in concern.

“Are you really just going home? I mean, I don't always get this positive-thinking stuff of yours, but I thought you would be trying to figure this out until the end.”

“Maybe I've realized that a perky affirmation isn't going to fix this,” Sophie said in a flat voice as she shrugged. “Anyway, you don't need to stay. Why don't you go and hang out with Eric or something?”

For a moment Malik looked like he was going to say something, but then he merely shrugged his shoulders and disappeared from sight. Once he was gone, Sophie pushed the door open. There was no one around, so she slipped quietly up to her room.

As soon as she shut the door, she put her iPod on and started to listen to the playlist Jonathan had made for her. As she listened, she looked around her room. Everything about it looked so familiar, from the yellow-and-white walls, which were covered in Neanderthal Joe posters, to her computer table, which was filled with Malik's
High School Musical
memorabilia.

Except it wasn't the same anymore. Nothing was. She gritted her teeth and tried not to think of how badly she had screwed up. If she hadn't gotten herself bound, then she would be getting ready to see the Djinn Council tomorrow. She would be dazzling them with her powers,
and then she would find out about her dad. Sophie felt a lump form in her throat as she sat down on the edge of her bed and tried not to think of what she was about to lose. But it was impossible. Her best shot at seeing her dad again was ruined, and there wasn't a thing she could do about it.

It's just it was all so unfair.
Not just about her dad and her magic, but about Jonathan, too. Thanks to Melissa and her stupid commands, everything was ruined. The moment she and Jonathan had shared when Eddie Henry gave her the guitar pick. The playlists he kept making for her. Everything. All ruined.

She had failed.

S
OPHIE WOKE UP ON SATURDAY MORNING TO A
loud pounding noise. She clutched at her pillow and was just about to throw it at Malik and tell him to leave her alone when she heard her sister's voice at the door. She sat up with a start and did a quick check of her room to make sure there was nothing strange or djinnish lying around before she reluctantly called out for her to come in.

“Mom said that you need to come downstairs. It's time to throw out all of Dad's things.” Meg folded her arms and looked sulky. Sophie let out a groan as she remembered yet another thing that she had failed to fix. And judging by her sister's face, Meg knew it as well.

“I'm so sorry,” Sophie said as she scrambled out of bed and tried to squeeze her sister's hand, but Meg swiped it away and still looked upset. Not that Sophie could really blame her. In fact, Sophie had spent the whole night thinking about the mosh pit that her life had become. No wonder she felt so tired.

“No, you're not. You're just a big liar. You said you would fix it. I
wish
that you would fix it,” Meg said in a fierce voice.

“I wish I could as well,” Sophie said truthfully. She really, really wished it. Unfortunately, now her wishes didn't do any good. She could hear her mom making her way up the stairs, and so she reluctantly grabbed the first T-shirt and jeans she could see and got dressed. “Unfortunately, there's no magical solution to this, Meggy.”

“I wouldn't say that.” Her mom appeared in the doorway. However, instead of being dressed for a day of moving boxes, she was wearing a cute red dress with some black leggings under it. She had even brushed her hair. Sophie and Meg both stared at her. However, as usual, Meg was quicker to recover.

“What's going on?” she demanded, her shrewd eyes still studying their mom's neat appearance.

“I've just gotten off the phone with Max Rivers, and it looks like there's been a change of plan,” their mom said with a grin as she walked over to Meg and gave her a big hug. “Not only has he given me a very large pottery order, but he doesn't think it's a good idea to work out of the basement because there's no natural light. Which is why he's offered me the use of the small workshop at the back of his antique store. Just until I can get the studio fixed, of course.”

Sophie studied her mom's face just to check that she
was really hearing right. “So if you don't need to use the basement, does that mean—”

“That we don't need to sort out any more of the things down there. Including your father's boxes,” their mom said with a smile.

“Really?” Sophie's voice was just above a whisper, since in a week of disaster, this small victory felt staggeringly good. It took all of her concentration not to cry out in relief.

“Really,” her mom agreed. “Though I can't promise that we will keep them forever, but I can promise that we won't do anything with them until we're
all
ready.”

“Thank you,” Sophie said.

“Don't thank me. It was Max's kind offer that made it possible. I'm actually going to look at the workshop now, if you'd like to come with me.”

“No, thanks.” Meg immediately shook her blonde curls. “Because that sounds really boring. Besides, if we're not moving boxes, I can go over to Jessica's house. Her mom's going to make a chocolate shark cake today.”

“Fine. Just mind your manners, and don't try to make Jessica play shark the entire time,” their mom lectured.

“But she
likes
it,” Meg assured her before racing out of the room and thundering down the stairs and out the back door.

“Well, that was easy. So what about you? Would you like to come with me?” her mom asked as she went over
to the window to watch Meg scramble over the back fence and into the Daltons' yard.

“Actually, I'm not sure.” Sophie's mood immediately plummeted as she remembered that today was when she was meant to be going to see the Djinn Council. Except, thanks to her losing her magic, she couldn't go. However, the idea of going to see her mom's ex-boss Mr. Rivers didn't exactly fill her with excitement. She'd have just as much fun sitting in her room sulking.

Her mom frowned as she cleared some clean laundry off Sophie's computer chair and sat down. “Is everything okay? You don't seem quite yourself this morning, and you were quiet last night at dinner, too. And while I understand how upset you were about throwing away your father's old things, I thought you would be a lot happier now.”