Suddenly, she saw Marcus give Caspar something covered in bubble wrap and Caspar slip some cash into Marcus’s hand. Then Caspar hurried down the hallway as Marcus went over to his locker, shoving the money into his bag.
What on earth?
“I’ll see you guys later,” she told her friends.
When Marcus saw her approaching, his face brightened. “Hey, Lena! I had a great idea!”
“What’s going on?”
She expected him to explain what the exchange with Caspar had been about, but instead he said, “You know how I told you my sister has a crush on Peter Chung? Well, I decided I’m going to fix her up with someone else so she’ll get over him. And what better place to do that than at her track meet tonight? Do you want to come with me?”
“Wait,” she said, momentarily forgetting about Caspar. “What if you only make her miserable like I did with my dad and Marguerite? Or what if your powers backfire?” She glanced at Brent Adamson leaning against his locker, the guy she’d foolishly tried to zap with a love boost. The spell had only made him violently ill at the sight of her. Even now, weeks later, he still got a little pale whenever he looked in her direction.
“I was thinking of fixing her up the old-fashioned way. No zap required.” Marcus held up the dating book his grandpa had given him, protected by a quilted cover that Lena had made. “So do you want to come?”
“Sorry, I can’t. We’re actually rehearsing my scene today.” Lena waited for Marcus to say something about Caspar, but he didn’t. Was he purposely keeping it a secret?
“What?” he asked, self-consciously smoothing down his shaggy hair. She was glad to see it was back to normal. Marcus didn’t look right all slicked back and buttoned up. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Oh, I…remembered that I found out the Blue Hills Theater is doing A Midsummer Night’s Dream the day after Christmas. That’s the place where my mom took me to see it a few years ago, and it made me want to be an actress. Maybe we could go together this time?” Lena was still curious about what Marcus was hiding, but she couldn’t help getting excited as she told him about the performance. She’d actually squealed when she’d heard about it, accidentally waking Professor from a nap in the process.
She hoped Marcus would be excited too, but instead he said, “Oh…I don’t know.”
Lena swallowed her disappointment. “It’s okay if you don’t want to go. I know theater isn’t your thing.”
“If you like it, then of course it’s my thing,” he said, his amber eyes twinkling at her. “I might be doing stuff with my family that day, but maybe I can get out of it. I’ll let you know, okay?”
Lena nodded, feeling a little better. Then Marcus started telling her how much he was enjoying the quilting book she’d lent him, and Lena’s mood lightened. She couldn’t believe he’d spend his free time reading about a hobby he wasn’t even interested in. She couldn’t imagine anyone else doing that for her, not even her best friends.
Whatever secret Marcus was keeping from her suddenly didn’t seem so important. If he wasn’t telling her about it, there had to be a good reason.
Chapter 8
Marcus plopped down on the bleachers, scanning the indoor track for his sister. After a second, he spotted her doing some extreme leg stretches near the shot put area. He was shocked to see that she was talking and smiling with another girl on the team. Marcus wasn’t used to his sister acting like an actual human.
Across the gym, Peter Chung and his new girlfriend were sitting so close together on the bleachers, they might as well have been welded together. The auras around them bled into each other, forming one blinding ball of light.
Marcus grinned. If he could get his sister’s aura to be half that bright with whatever guy he found for her, he’d be happy. According to his matchmaking manual, a couple didn’t always need to be zapped to fall in love. Sometimes, if two people spent enough time together, a love spark could ignite on its own. He only hoped he could convince his sister to give someone other than Peter a chance.
He sized up the guys on the track team, hoping one of them might be a good candidate. He had no idea what his sister looked for in a guy, but he figured anyone with a grayish aura like hers was a good place to start. He spotted one guy on the far end of the gym whose aura was pretty drab. He was short, probably about half of Ann-Marie’s height. Maybe she’d be willing to overlook that? Then Marcus saw the guy picking his nose, right there in public, and he knew his sister would never go for it.
With a sigh, Marcus kept scanning until he spotted a guy sitting on his own in the corner. He was a loner like Ann-Marie. That was a good sign. The guy was pretending to tie and retie his shoe, but it was clear he was only trying to look busy so it wouldn’t be obvious that he didn’t have anyone to talk to. Marcus knew that move well. He’d done it plenty of times himself. When he squinted, he could see a hint of a gray aura around the guy’s head. Good!
Marcus took out the dating book Grandpa had given him and started to flip through, trying to remember if there was any advice on handling shy people. There was no way his sister would make the first move, so he’d have to convince the guy to do it.
As he flipped to the “approaching the girl” section, a piece of paper fluttered out of the back of the book. He scooped it up, and his heart stopped as he recognized the handwriting on the piece of notepaper. It was Grandpa Joe’s.
Marcus swallowed painfully. It had been almost two months since Marcus had had to guide his grandfather’s soul to the After. He kept telling himself that missing Grandpa would get easier, but so far, his chest still ached whenever he thought about him. Even though Marcus knew that wherever he was now, Grandpa was okay, he still missed him constantly.
He took a deep breath and read the note.
For my favorite grandson, so that you can “get the girl” the same way I got mine.
Love always,
Grandpa Joe.
Marcus stared at the words for a long time. Grandpa must have tucked the note into the back cover of the book when he’d given it to him, but somehow Marcus hadn’t noticed it until now. How he wished he could talk to his grandfather and tell him that he had gotten the girl.
Slowly, Marcus slipped the note back into the book and snapped it shut. Maybe death wasn’t as scary as he’d always thought—his time using Lena’s powers had shown him that—but knowing that didn’t make missing someone any easier. It didn’t make Grandpa being gone seem any fairer.
He was about to get to his feet and flee when he heard a commotion from the track. A relay race was in progress, but the runners were stopping in confusion. In the middle of the track, two people were waltzing to music that only they seemed able to hear.
Wait. It was Peter and Claire!
They were completely oblivious, gazing into each other’s eyes, as kids tried to pass batons around them. Meanwhile, people in the stands were shouting for them to get off the track.
Marcus jumped to his feet and ran down to the couple as they were dragged to the sidelines by a couple of angry coaches.
“Hey, I know you!” Peter called, pointing at Marcus. “You’re Ann-Marie’s little brother.”
“Aw, he’s adorable,” Claire said. Then she turned to Peter. “But not as adorable as you, Sweetie Pie.”
“You’re the adorable one, Muffin Face!” Peter cooed back.
“No, you are, Chocolate Breath!” She grabbed his hand. “I feel like dancing some more! Come on!”
Marcus watched in fascinated horror as they tangoed out of the gym, the sparks around them flashing like strobe lights. What was going on? He’d seen plenty of couples in love, but this wasn’t right. This was creepy!
When Marcus turned around, he found Ann-Marie staring after the couple with a heartbroken expression on her face. He had never seen her aura so bleak before. How could Marcus ever succeed in fixing
her up with someone else when it was obvious that she was still pining after Peter?
“Hey, Ann-Marie,” he said. “Are you okay?”
“What did I say about you talking to people in my grade?” she demanded. “Why do you have to be such a freak?” Her voice broke, like she might start crying at any second. Then she turned with a squeak of her sneakers and marched toward the locker room.
Marcus hurried out of the gym and dialed Eddie’s number. But when he explained what had happened, his boss didn’t seem all that worried.
“Sometimes love jolts are particularly strong,” he said. “This could be normal love behavior.”
“I’m telling you, they were waltzing in the middle of the track during a race!” Marcus cried. “Kids were hurdling around them. That is not normal love stuff.”
Eddie sighed, and there was a beep in the background like he was turning off his video game system. “Okay, I’ll come test out your powers tonight. Chances are it’s nothing to worry about.”
But after Marcus hung up, he wasn’t reassured. Whenever Eddie told him not to worry, it usually meant that things were about to get a whole lot worse.
Chapter 9
Lena was on her way to play rehearsal when Eddie called with a new assignment. She tried to tell him that she couldn’t be late, but Eddie only said, “You’ll be done before you know it” and hung up the phone.
Lena was relieved when she realized the address was only a block away from school. Eddie was right. She should have plenty of time. Still, she’d been hoping to get to rehearsal early to talk to Mr. Jackson, maybe ask him to remind people to finally learn their lines.
As she walked into town, her thoughts went back to her amazing date with Marcus the other night. The allergic reaction and the slimy food had been small hiccups, but after dinner, she and Marcus had wandered around town holding hands and looking at all the Christmas decorations twinkling in people’s yards. She’d floated home in a haze of happiness. She’d even dug up the “Things to Accomplish before I Turn Fourteen” list she’d made a while back and checked off “Perfect Date.” Lena couldn’t believe how much she’d already done on the list (First Kiss, First Boyfriend) and the school year wasn’t even half over!
When she got to the address on her phone, Lena peered up at the deserted-looking building with “Watts Up Joke Shop” written in faded letters above the door. Was this really the place?
Lena glanced around at the empty street and then headed inside. The joke shop was covered in dust. She felt like she was breathing in mouthfuls of it, and there was a dry, stale smell in the air, as if the windows hadn’t been opened in years.
After a couple minutes of wandering past shelves of whoopee cushions, snakes in a can, and tons of other cheesy joke gifts that she could imagine Marcus loving, Lena still hadn’t found Mr. Franklin Watts, age seventy-four. Finally, she poked her head into the storeroom in the back and spotted him sleeping in a rickety chair by a wall of cardboard boxes. He was snoring so loudly, it was making the chair vibrate.
Good. Another sleeper. That would make things easier.
Her phone started beeping incessantly, telling her it was time. But when Lena called up her energy, nothing happened. She stared at her fingers and willed her energy to spark! Flare! Wake up!
Finally, her fingers started to glow—and then the purple light went out like a candle flame. What on earth?
Her phone beeped and beeped. She tried to get the energy back into her hand again, but it was no use. Her power had disappeared.
She watched, wide-eyed, as Mr. Watts took his last breath and then, with a shuddering sigh, went still in his chair. The last of his snores echoed off the walls and fell silent.
Lena shook her hands and tried again. And again. “Come on!” she whispered. But no matter how hard she concentrated, there wasn’t even a hint of a glow in her fingers.
When she squinted, she could see Mr. Watts’s wisp of a soul detaching from his body. Without her zap, there would be nothing to send the soul into the After.
Lena stared as the light fluttered out of the old man’s chest and into the air, drifting around like it was riding a gentle breeze. She tried to grab it, but her fingers went right through. All she could feel was the slightest hint of warmth. Then the soul drifted behind her and was gone.
She ran to the back door and threw it open, scanning the alley. Nothing. Panting, she sprinted back through the store and stumbled out onto the sidewalk. There was no sign of the ball of light.
Panic was pounding through her. She grabbed her phone and started to dial Eddie’s number. But then she heard the faint sound of laughter echoing behind her.
Lena whirled to find the ball of light hanging in front of her face. She tried to grab it, but it backed away before she could make contact. She tried again, but again it evaded her. Almost like it was toying with her.
Then she heard another burst of laughter. It was definitely coming from the light. The soul was messing with her!
“Mr. Watts,” she said, trying to calm herself down. Freaking out was not going to get the job done. “I know you must be scared about moving on, but I promise it’ll be worth it. Come toward my hand, okay?”
For a second, it seemed like her words had worked. As she made her fingers flare again—this time, the glow was dull but steady—the ball of light drifted toward her. But when she went to grab it with her glowing hand, it zipped in between her ankles and dashed away.
“Mr. Watts! Wait!” she cried, chasing him out onto the street. Once again, she heard a faint laugh. It sounded like it was coming from the mailbox. She threw open the mail slot, and the ball of light shot at her like a swarm of bees. She gasped and stumbled backward, landing on the ground with a thump.
As she scrambled to her feet, her backside throbbing, the laugh came again, this time from above her head. Then she heard a faint voice say “Catch me if you can” before the light sped away down the street and disappeared behind a row of trash cans.
Lena stood paralyzed for a second, trying to decide what to do. Should she call Eddie for help? But this was her assignment, her mistake, and it was up to her to make it right. So she turned toward the spot where the soul had disappeared, and she ran.
Chapter 10
Marcus rechecked the time on the oversized clock above Lena’s mantel. It had been over four hours since his and Lena’s powers had gone insane, and every minute that ticked by made him even more anxious.
“Eddie should be here by now,” he said. Couldn’t their boss at least be punctual when it was a real emergency?
“I can’t believe I missed play rehearsal to chase a soul around!” Lena said, pacing in front of the living room window. “It was right there, and I let it go. If I could just—”
“Hey,” Marcus gently cut in. “I know you want to keep looking for that soul on your own, but if something is wrong, then Eddie needs to know about it.” Peter and Claire going gaga over each other might have been worrying, but Lena’s powers fading out altogether was downright scary. What if that kind of thing started happening to Marcus’s powers too?
Finally, the doorbell rang, and Eddie waltzed in carrying a scooter and a backpack. Marcus was momentarily disappointed at how ordinary the scooter was—so different from Eddie’s usual tech toys—until he realized that the scooter was part of the backpack.
“Hey, kids,” Eddie said, sliding the metal handle down until it disappeared into the fabric of the bag. “Wow, Marcus. That’s quite the cologne you’ve got there! Trying to impress your special lady, huh?”
Marcus blushed even though Lena was still pacing around the room and didn’t seem to hear. He’d been dousing himself with his dad’s cologne ever since Lena had commented on it. It made his eyes feel like they were burning, but if Lena liked it, it was worth it.
“So what seems to be the problem?” Eddie asked.
“We th
ink there might be something weird going on with our powers again,” Lena said.
“I already told you about my match going overboard, and Lena’s powers completely stopped working today,” Marcus added.
Eddie turned toward Lena, absently wheeling his backpack back and forth by his feet. “Your assignment at the joke shop?”
“The soul got away. I tried to get it back when my powers started working again, but…” She shook her head.
“And did you notice anything odd before today?” Eddie asked.
Lena made a little sound in her throat. “I did have a hard time calling up my energy when I was with Natalie the other day,” she said slowly. “I thought it was nerves, but maybe it was more than that.”
“This isn’t tied to our power swap, is it?” Marcus asked. “Because that happened weeks ago. Why would things suddenly get screwed up now?”
The two of them turned to watch Eddie scratching his short beard and muttering under his breath, like he was trying to work out a math equation. Finally, he said, “I want to try a test.”
He had them stand side by side, and then he ordered Lena to hold out her hand and asked Marcus to call up his energy.
Marcus concentrated on his fingers, and almost instantly, they started glowing their usual red. “Looks fine to me,” he said.
But then Eddie reached out and gave Lena’s palm a quick pinch. “Ow!” she said.
The instant she cried out, Marcus’s energy dimmed before going back to normal. “Whoa, what was that?”
Eddie didn’t answer. Instead, he told Marcus to extinguish his energy and hold out his hand. Then he asked Lena to call up her energy.
“Why, so you can stomp on my foot?” Lena asked.
“Just go with it,” Marcus told her. “I think Eddie’s on to something.”
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