by Amanda Ashby
“Excellent,” he said as he got to his feet and let three empty packets of M&M’s drop to the bedroom floor. She was pretty sure that he hadn’t thrown that much candy at her. “That was very well done. So now I want you to take this textbook and start reciting the flying code while you continue to levitate.”
Sophie dropped back down to the bed and examined the large manual he was pointing to. The cover read Flying Code, and it looked like it weighed a hundred pounds. “You want me to learn this entire book while I’m floating up off the ground?” Sophie blinked. “That will take hours.”
“Exactly,” Malik agreed. “But you’re such a quick learner that I’m sure you will have it all done by the time I get back, and then we can think about letting you touch the carpet.”
“Really?” Sophie started to say before the rest of his words sunk in. “Hang on a minute, what do you mean ‘when I come back’? Where are you going to be?”
“I promised Philippe I would play a round of golf with him,” Malik said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Of course, his version of golf isn’t exactly—”
“What?” Sophie yelped as she dropped the heavy leather-bound manual, which she had just picked up. “No. You can’t just go off and play golf. You need to stay here and help me with my levitating. Malik, this is important. If I can’t fly the carpet in time, then I won’t be able to save my dad. You said yourself that Sheterum hardly ever leaves his mansion. This could be our only window of opportunity.”
“I couldn’t agree more, which is why you need to have complete silence so that you can concentrate. After all, you don’t want to land on all of the eggs.”
“What eggs?” Sophie said, while resisting the urge to throw something at her djinn guide. Instead, she had to content herself with gritting her teeth.
“Did I forget to mention the eggs?” Malik said as he floated over to his man bag and pulled out a carton of eggs, which he spread out across the bed below where Sophie had just been levitating.
“Yes, you forgot to mention the eggs,” Sophie growled.
“Well, that was a close call,” he said, smoothing down his shirt. “But thankfully, we caught it in time. You’re still looking annoyed. Would it help if I told you that I was also going to search for Manny?”
“You are?”
“No.” He gave an unrepentant smile. “But I’m happy to lie if that will make you feel better. So, here’s the new plan. You stay here and levitate without smashing the eggs and learn the flying code by heart. Meanwhile, I’ll go and play a nice, relaxing game of golf and put my yang back in line with my yin, and search for Manny. Then when I get back, we can start on the next stage. Yes?”
“No.” She gave a firm shake of her head, but before she could stop him Malik snapped his fingers and disappeared from sight, leaving only a bag of Cheetos, numerous M&M’s, and a dozen eggs behind. Sophie let out a groan and then reminded herself she was a positive person who would never want to harm her djinn guide. No matter how annoying he was. So instead she grabbed the heavy Flying Code and opened it to the first page. Then she visualized herself levitating and angled herself into position so that she was hovering a foot over the eggs on her bed. All she needed to do was think happy thoughts and remember that as long as she nailed her flying, in two weeks she would be seeing her dad again.
ON TUESDAY MORNING SOPHIE YAWNED AS SHE carefully put on her Eddie Henry guitar pick necklace and finished getting ready for school. She had spent most of the previous night levitating above her bed while softly reciting the Flying Code, which she had to say was full of the most stupid rules she had ever seen in her life.
After all, why would you have to give way to a djinn who was wearing a blue turban but not to a djinn who was wearing a red turban? It made no sense at all, and of course she couldn’t ask Malik because he hadn’t bothered to come back from his golfing trip. Not that she was worried about him, since once he had gone out for an ice cream and had come back three days later with a T-shirt that had been signed by the entire cast of Cats. From the West End in London. She just hoped that he wasn’t being quite as adventurous this time around because she was desperate to keep going with her flying-carpet training.
Plus, there was still the small issue of how they were going to break into Sheterum’s house. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more irresponsible she realized Malik was being by just disappearing. She was considering trying to summon him again when her mom called out to tell her that breakfast was ready.
Sophie flicked off the music she had been listening to and picked up the manual from where it was sitting on her bed. Then she tucked the art auction brochure inside the cover and took it over to her sock drawer, where the small vial of Solomon’s Elixir was carefully hidden. She took the vial out for a moment and studied the shimmering amber liquid inside. Considering it was the most-sought-after elixir in the djinn world, it had been surprisingly easy to make. There was no chanting, meditating, or even leaving something during a lunar eclipse. Just lots of pounding, pasting, and waiding (which, she had discovered on the Internet, was a bit like stirring). But according to Malik, the secret was in the measuring, and that’s what her father had obviously spent his life on perfecting.
It seemed impossible that something so insignificant looking would actually free her father. But then again, since Sophie had accidently managed to get herself bound to Melissa Tait, she understood all too well how strange the whole system was. Still, hers was not to question why, and so she hid everything away, glad that her mom wasn’t a serial snooper, before grabbing her backpack and hurrying downstairs to the kitchen.
Meg was already in there, sullenly staring at a plate of pancakes, which were burned to within an inch of their life. Even Mr. Jaws was looking at them dubiously, but the minute Sophie walked in he turned his attention to her as he began to hiss. She ignored him and sat down.
“So what’s the special occasion?” she asked; her mom tended to make breakfast only every now and then—and unfortunately, this appeared to be one of those “now” times. As she spoke she wished that her pancakes would taste better than they looked and did the same for Meg’s—there was no mention of not being able to use her powers to save them from food poisoning. A familiar tingle went through her, and she took a cautious bite. They now tasted like waffles.
“No special occasion.” Her mom gave a casual shrug. “It’s just since I delivered my latest pottery order yesterday, I thought I’d cook breakfast. I didn’t want you girls to think I’d been neglecting you.”
“I don’t mind being neglected,” Meg immediately retorted, still refusing to touch the blackened pancakes, despite the fact that Sophie was giving her an encouraging nod. “Especially when it means I can go and eat breakfast at Jessica’s house. And what’s wrong with your hair? It looks weird.”
“There’s nothing wrong with my hair.” Her mom automatically reached up and touched her shoulder-length blonde hair, which was once again neatly brushed and falling around her face in a shiny curtain. “I’m not in my studio today, so I thought I would make an effort.”
“Well, I think you look very nice,” Sophie said in a positive voice, since, when their dad had first left them, her mom had sometimes gone for weeks without even looking at a hairbrush. Maybe the fact that she was doing so now meant that, on some level, she knew that he would be home soon? The thought made Sophie smile, and she shoveled another piece of burned pancake into her mouth.
“I don’t like it,” Meg suddenly announced. “I think you look better when your hair’s all messy. And I don’t like these pancakes either.” Then without another word she pushed her plate away, flounced into the living room, and turned on the television. A second later the sound of a shark documentary blared out at them. Sophie looked at her mom in surprise.
“What’s wrong with her? Has she had another fight with Jessica?” Sophie asked. Her
sister regularly switched between loving and hating her best friend, Jessica Dalton, depending on what day of the week it was.
“I don’t think so.” Her mom shook her neatly brushed hair and started to gather up Meg’s untouched breakfast. “She’s been in a funny mood for the last few days. I was hoping she might’ve mentioned something to you?”
“No, sorry.” Sophie finished off her burned-pancakes-that-tasted-like-waffles and then felt a little guilty as she realized how distracted she had been with making Solomon’s Elixir and practicing her flying lessons, not to mention spending so much time with Jonathan. But before she could answer, Kara and Harvey poked their heads through the back door. Harvey took one look at the burned pancakes and widened his eyes in horror. Sophie giggled as she jumped to her feet and grabbed her backpack. “Anyway, I’d better go.”
“Okay, well, have a great day.” Her mom planted a kiss on her cheek before turning toward the living room, no doubt to start trying to convince Meg to get ready for school. The minute they were outside her two friends turned to her.
“So did you go flying? How was it?” Harvey demanded.
“Were you careful?” Kara asked in concern. “You didn’t let Malik talk you into doing anything stupid, did you? No loop-the-looping, I hope.”
“Definitely no loop-the-looping.” Sophie shook her head. “Can you believe that for once in his life, Malik was incredibly serious? He won’t even let me near the carpet until I’ve perfected my levitating and memorized the Flying Code. Though he did say that if he was satisfied that I knew everything, then he would let me have a go this afternoon, as long as he could get some kind of stabilizer for it, which I think is flying-carpet talk for training wheels.”
“Jeez, sounds like he’s turned into the DMV.” Harvey rolled his eyes in an unexpected fit of disgust. “Why can’t he just let you fly it already?”
“Harvey, you were the one who didn’t even want me to get a skateboard because you saw a movie about a ten-year-old girl who fell on her head,” Sophie reminded him as the bus pulled up in front of the school and they all got out.
“Yes, but that was a skateboard. They are highly dangerous. Whereas this is completely different.” Harvey gave a dismissive wave of his hands, and his normally concerned expression was replaced by one of eleven-year-old-boy excitement. “I mean, straight up, there’s nothing cooler than this.”
“Well, hopefully Malik will let me get on the carpet soon. I spent most of the night levitating, and when I woke up this morning, I discovered that my hairbrush was up by the ceiling. It was like I was on the space shuttle. I guess I must’ve made it levitate in my sleep.”
“That’s crazy,” Kara started to say, but before she could finish, her cell phone started to beep. She looked up and grinned. “It’s from Patrick.” However, her smile faded as she studied the screen.
“What is it?” Sophie asked in alarm. “Has something happened?”
“Yes. I mean, no. Well, I’m not sure.” Kara shook her head as if trying to collect her thoughts, and she gripped her cell phone tightly. “Patrick’s in the auditorium, and it looks like someone has vandalized Colin’s tail. Anyway, he said that it’s not bad but that he wanted me to know.”
“Kara, that’s awful.” Sophie’s voice shook with sympathy. While she didn’t exactly understand the whole papier-mâché process, she did know how important it was to her friend. “Can he be fixed?”
“Patrick thinks so,” Kara conceded as she hitched her bag farther over her shoulder. “Would you guys mind if I bailed? I want to have a look at him before homeroom.”
“Of course not.” Harvey quickly shook his head. “I’ll walk with you as far as the computer labs.”
“Thanks,” Kara said, a frown still plastered to her face. “Who would want to hurt a poor innocent flying monkey?”
“I’ve got no idea.” Sophie gave her friend a quick hug. “But hopefully we can find out soon. I’ll see you guys in homeroom.”
“Thanks.” Kara sniffed as she and Harvey hurried down the hallway as fast as their long legs would take them. Once her friends were gone, Sophie headed for her locker (which, in geographical terms, was in Siberia).
Out of habit, she glanced over to Jonathan’s locker, before remembering that he was going to be away all day at a basketball tournament. Stupid basketball. Still, even looking at the spot where he stood every day made her smile as she busied herself sorting out her books. But it wasn’t until she had shut her locker that she realized that something like snow was landing on her head.
She craned her neck toward the ceiling and let out a groan when she caught sight of Malik, sitting cross-legged on top of her locker and eating a croissant. She quickly brushed the crumbs out of her hair and tried to figure out why he was wearing a black beret and a blue-and-white-striped T-shirt and had a thin black mustache penciled in on his upper lip.
“Too much?” he immediately asked as he touched the mustache. Sophie ignored the question as she glared up at him.
“Seriously, where have you been?” she hissed in a low voice, since she had long discovered that talking to a ghost in public places tended to make her look like a crazy person, and right now crazy wasn’t a look she was going for.
“I’ve been playing golf,” he said, floating down to the floor. Then he wrinkled his nose. “I thought I told you that.”
“Yes, but you’ve been gone since yesterday afternoon. How long does a golf game take?” Sophie demanded and nodded her head in the direction of the janitor’s closet just beside her locker. It had kind of become their impromptu office—not only was it private, but they had never yet seen a janitor in it.
“Not very long,” he explained as he followed her in. “Only problem was that Philippe had a hankering to go to this course in Bordeaux. And trust me, he is one dead djinn who does not like taking no for an answer. Still, it wasn’t all bad. We did have some nice snails.”
Sophie blinked. “You went to France?”
“Well, yes, why else would I be wearing this ridiculous outfit?” Malik asked, looking confused. “You know, I don’t mean to criticize, but for a positive person, you’re sounding a bit stressed. So what’s the emergency?”
“Remember my dad? How we need to rescue him?” Sophie asked in a tight voice. “I was practicing my levitation all night and learning those stupid flying rules while you were playing golf.”
“Hey, playing golf is very therapeutic. You should try it sometime. And speaking of therapeutic, I don’t suppose you could rustle me up some Cheetos?”
For a moment Sophie was tempted to say no, but then she reminded herself that, despite all of his faults, there was no way she could’ve managed any of this on her own. Plus, Malik was under the mistaken impression that his pouting made her feel sorry for him. When actually all it did was remind her that everyone over the age of fifteen was insane.
She closed her eyes and wished for some Cheetos, and then, as a joke, instead of making them appear in Malik’s outstretched hand, she used her transcendental conjuring skills to make the bag levitate next to his head.
“Ha-ha, very funny,” he retorted as he tried to grab them three times before Sophie finally stopped.
“Just trying to show you how much work I did last night.” Sophie grinned before shooting him a hopeful look. “So I don’t suppose you got any news about where this mysterious Manny is when you were playing golf?”
“Sorry, not yet,” Malik said between mouthfuls of Cheetos. “But my buddy Eric did leave me a message on Twitter to say that he might’ve spotted him. Of course, Eric once thought he saw Godzilla before discovering it was actually just a mouse in some good lighting.”
“You fill me with confidence,” Sophie said as she hitched her backpack over her shoulder. “Anyway, I’d better go to my homeroom, but Malik, if you hear anything, please let me know immediately.�
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“Of course I will.” Malik looked offended, as if he had never forgotten to tell her something before. Sophie ignored him as she opened the door of the janitor’s closet. She was just about to step out when she saw Melissa Tait leaning against Sophie’s locker, stroking her perfect blonde hair in an ominous fashion. Great, that was all she needed.
SOPHIE STEPPED BACK INTO THE CLOSET AND LET out a long groan. Melissa Tait was waiting for her out in the hallway, which, in Sophie’s experience, was never a good thing. Especially considering that her little effort to help Melissa yesterday had apparently been a major fail. She turned to where Malik was busily upending the Cheetos bag to get the last of the cheesy goodness into his mouth.
“Okay,” she gulped. “We’ve got a problem. Melissa Tait is standing in front of my locker, and while the positive thinker in me would like to think it was just some weird coincidence, I’m pretty sure it’s not.”
“She is?” Malik asked with interest as he poked his head through the closed door, leaving only his body inside the closet. “Wow, you’re right. That is a problem,” he called out from the other side of the door in a disembodied voice. “She looks mad. Is this because of the whole ‘you made her boyfriend dump her’ thing?”
Sophie sighed and shook her head. “Actually, I think it’s more of the ‘I tried to help her with her history assignment by conjuring up some extra books for her in the library’ thing. I only did it to make her stop texting Jonathan so he could ask me to his parents’ anniversary party. Unfortunately, I don’t think the books were there, so now she’s annoyed with me.”
“Again?” Malik added as he pulled his head back into the closet and rolled his eyes. “You really do have a habit of annoying her.”
“I know. It’s uncanny, and since I’ve already tried the ‘let’s be friends’ approach, which didn’t work, I think I’m going to have to completely avoid her. Unfortunately, I have no idea how. I mean, from the looks of it, she’s going to stay at my locker until the bell rings. What am I going to do?”