by Amanda Ashby
“No, everything’s most definitely not okay,” Melissa snapped. “I’m having a total crisis. I just heard back from the picture-framing guy, and he’s told me that he can’t get the beautiful Baroque Bronze beveled frame that I selected because there’s a transport strike and it’s stuck in a warehouse in New York. And get a load of this, the best he can do for me is Rustic Barnwood. I mean, do I look like a girl who would ever choose Rustic Barnwood?”
“Er, no,” Sophie offered up, not really sure what Rustic Barnwood or Baroque Bronze beveled frames were. However, this seemed to please Melissa.
“Exactly. It’s just so unbelievable. That’s why I need to see Jonathan to decide what we should do, but of course he’s not here, which is just so typical of him. And you know what? Even if he was here, he would probably just wriggle out and say that it doesn’t matter if we use any old frame.”
“Oh, I see.” Sophie nodded, still not really sure what was going on.
“But of course it does matter,” Melissa continued as she shook her blonde hair, causing it to shimmer like a waterfall. “I mean, not only is it their bronze wedding anniversary—not their rustic barnwood wedding anniversary—but our mom runs an art gallery, so she’s a frame expert and if we get her an ugly one, it’s like we’re saying that we don’t care. The frame is a symbol of how important this party is, but for some reason no one else seems to understand that.” As she spoke she glared over to where the Tait-bots were all collectively waiting for her.
“Actually,” Sophie found herself saying, as she thought of her own parents and how she would do literally anything to get them back together, “I know what you mean.”
For a moment Melissa stopped her lip chewing. “You do?”
Sophie tightened her grip on her djinn before she nodded. “You want them to know how much you love your family and how important they are to you.”
“Exactly,” Melissa said, her voice laced with surprise. “And thanks. I was starting to think I was going a bit crazy. Plus, you know what’s really annoying? I spent hours and hours choosing that frame. It’s the frame, and unless there’s some miracle, then I won’t be able to get it.”
For a moment Sophie was silent. She might not understand the big deal about getting the perfect frame, but she did understand the big deal about being with your family. Plus, if it would make Melissa happy, it would make Jonathan happy.
“Do you have a picture of this fancy-pants frame of yours?” she finally asked.
“Sure.” Melissa looked surprised before she opened her purse and pulled out an expensive-looking brochure and pointed to a lavish-looking bronze frame, which had ornate moldings all the way around it. Then she pointed to a very plain unpainted wooden frame and pulled a face, leaving Sophie with no doubt that it was the alternative. Sophie quickly caught the name of the framer that was printed at the bottom of the brochure before Melissa thrust it back into her purse. “Sorry, but I can’t look at it too long or it will just upset me again.”
“But since the party isn’t until a week from Sunday, there might still be time for the frames to come,” Sophie said in a positive voice before she closed her eyes and wished for the frames to arrive.
“Well, the framer said that unless they come in today, he wouldn’t have enough time to—” The rest of her words were cut off by the sound of a cell phone. Melissa immediately pulled her phone out and studied the screen, then looked at Sophie in astonishment. “You’re never going to believe it, but—”
“The frames arrived?” Sophie asked, trying to fight back a smile.
“Yeah. Jonathan said that you were into all of that positive-thinking business. Maybe there’s something to it after all,” Melissa said. “Anyway, I’d better go and call this framer and make sure that he doesn’t get any funny ideas with the color of the backing plates. But hey, thanks for listening.”
“Sure,” Sophie said, and then waved good-bye, still trying to get used to the new and infinitely less scary Melissa. She hurried toward the cafeteria just in time to see the red-faced lunch ladies pulling out the empty silver trays. She had no idea that she’d been talking to Melissa for so long. She glanced around the half-empty room until she caught sight of Kara and Harvey at one of the back tables.
“I’m so sorry I’m late.” She dropped into the closest seat and pulled out the squished PB&J sandwich that her mom had made for her. “First I saw Jonathan, and then I bumped into Melissa, who was having a major picture-frame crisis and was pretty upset.”
“So you were with Melissa Tait all this time?” Kara asked, her face tightening.
“Look, I know you don’t like her. Especially after she took my djinn ring and bound me, but actually, she’s not so bad. I promise.”
“If you say so, then I believe you,” Kara said as she used her finger to trace a pattern on the table. “It’s just I thought...well, it doesn’t matter. So have you figured out a way to stop your mom going on a date yet?”
“No, but it’s okay because Harvey reminded me that I just need to stay positive,” Sophie said as she tried to figure out why Kara was acting so weirdly. Perhaps it was because she was nervous about going to the movies tomorrow with Patrick. Patrick! Sophie let out a long groan. “Oh, no. I was supposed to be trailing Patrick today to get an idea of what things you could talk to him about? I can’t believe I forgot. Kara, I’m so sorry.”
“Sophie, it’s fine,” Kara quickly assured her in her kindhearted way. I know you’ve had a lot on your plate. Especially with your mom and Mr. Rivers. Besides, I’m just being silly. I’m sure that I’ll be able to talk to Patrick tomorrow. Plus, Harvey’s been giving me some body-language tips, so even if I feel like throwing up, I can still make it look like I’m relaxed and having fun.”
“Not to mention how to smile and nod her head if she gets tongue-tied,” Harvey added. “It’s a kind of ‘fake it till you make it’ approach.”
“And don’t forget that I’ll be by your side the entire time at the movies,” Sophie said, her cheeks still feeling flushed with guilt. Still, the important thing was that Kara seemed happy, which meant all Sophie needed to do was come up with a solution to stop her mom from dating Mr. Rivers, and everything would once again be perfect.
SOPHIE PUSHED ASIDE THE FLOOR PLANS THAT SHE was supposed to be studying and looked at the Kandinsky postcard again. It was a weird combination of bright colors and geometric shapes. Kara had tried to explain the theory behind it, but to Sophie it wasn’t even artwork, it was a prison that was holding her dad captive.
It was so unfair. If only she could get him today. Like in twenty minutes. But even a positive thinker like her knew it was impossible. In fact, Sophie wasn’t even sure she believed in positive thinking anymore; if it really worked, why was her mom still in her bedroom down the hall getting ready for her date?
Her date who was due to be here in twenty minutes.
Even for the Universe, this was cutting things pretty close.
Farther down the hallway, Sophie could hear Meg stomping around and fake coughing, no doubt to try to stop their mom from going. If Sophie thought that it had any chance of working, she would be fake coughing as well.
She put the postcard down and looked at her carpet, which was rolled up in the corner of the room. She had told Malik that she would practice doing some more parking maneuvers on it, but right now her heart didn’t feel up to it. And had she mentioned just how unfair this all—
But the rest of her thoughts were lost as she caught sight of a puff of smoke, and a moment later, a fat orange djinn with a sea of necks and a large nose suddenly appeared in her room.
“Rufus, what are you doing here?” she yelped, her hand instinctively covering the Kandinsky postcard as Malik’s words of caution rang out in her mind. Sophie bought a lot of things from Rufus’s online djinn supply store, though his service didn’t normally extend to maki
ng house calls. “A-are you looking for Malik?”
“I had hoped to find him,” Rufus agreed in an unconvincing voice, which did nothing to ease Sophie’s concern. He glanced around the bedroom with interest, and, as he paused to study her rolled-up carpet, Sophie took the opportunity to slip the Kandinsky photograph deep into the pocket of her jeans. If he knew she was looking for her father, he might start to wonder why she was looking for him.
“Sorry, he’s not here.” Sophie dredged up as much casual ease into her voice as she could muster.
“Oh.” Rufus shrugged, looking far from disappointed as he pulled out a small gold and silver bag and handed it to her. “Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter. It’s just that he recently ordered some stabilizers for a flying carpet, which I assume were for you. Anyway, I figured that since they were for such a good customer, you might like this.”
“W-what is it?” Sophie reluctantly took her hand out of her pocket to peer inside the bag.
“It’s carpet wax. You rub it on, and it makes flying a lot smoother. Definitely handy if you get motion sickness. Oh, and don’t worry. No charge for that.”
“Thank you. That’s very kind of you.”
“It is, isn’t it? But then again, I’m a djinn of exceptional generosity,” Rufus agreed in a serene voice as he started to prowl the room, his numerous chins wobbling from the activity. Sophie wasn’t a body-language expert like Harvey, but it was pretty obvious that Rufus didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave.
“S-so was there anything else?”
“Well...now that you mention it, there was one other small matter.” He finally came to a halt and narrowed his eyes. “You see, I was at the camel races yesterday, and I bumped into an old acquaintance of mine. Karl is his name. Anyway, we got talking, as two old friends often do, and he told me the most extraordinary story. About how Malik cornered him and asked him numerous questions about Sheterum’s mansion and where he could get the floor plans for it. Almost like he wanted to break in there, but of course, what djinn in his right mind would break into a sahir’s mansion? After all, it’s not like you could release anyone who was bound to Sheterum, and really, stealing from a sahir is never a good idea. So I guess I just wanted to check that Malik—whom I love like the juvenile delinquent brother I thankfully never had—wasn’t in over his head.”
“Oh.” Sophie crossed her fingers and hoped that Rufus hadn’t noticed the way her lips were uncontrollably twitching. “I’m really not sure w-why Malik was asking Karl those things. Perhaps you can discuss it with him when he comes back.”
“I guess that’s that then.” The other djinn gave a casual shrug as he inspected his fingernails, which were incredibly well buffed. He finally looked up at her again. “Of course, then I remembered the rumors about how your dear father—and one of my very favorite customers—Tariq the Awesome was working on Sol...well, I won’t bore you with the details...but I just wanted to say that if those rumors of what Tariq had been working on happened to be true, then you could have a very-sought-after commodity on your hands.”
This time Sophie had to clamp down on her tongue to stop herself from yelping out in panic as Malik’s words came back to haunt her about what would happen if anyone discovered that she had successfully made Solomon’s Elixir. What would they do? Would they try and steal it from her? Or tell the Djinn Council? Just the thought of it made her shudder. She was so close to finding her dad—there was no way she was going to mess it up now. Instead, she forced herself to give a casual shrug.
“I’m not really sure what you’re talking about.”
“Well, no matter then.” Rufus finally stopped inspecting his nails and looked up, treating her to an engaging smile that did nothing to calm her nerves. “But for argument’s sake, say that if you were successful in finishing off the work that your father had allegedly started, then it stands to reason that you would be looking for an A-plus distributor. Someone who would not only ensure that this unique product was marketed in the most beneficial way, but also offer you very reasonable returns.”
Some of Sophie’s panic left her as she rubbed her ears to check she had heard correctly. “R-right, so are you telling me that you’re here to offer your services to me?”
“Why, of course, dear child. And while I know Malik dabbles with other retailers, let me assure you that in the djinn world, my reputation and my establishment are second to none. Well, apart from Seris and his knockoff emporium, but I’ve got it on very good authority that the Djinn Council will be taking his license away from him due to the small matter of unpaid back taxes. So if you were to need a business partner for any venture that you might or might not be pursuing, then I’m definitely a djinn you can rely on.”
“I see,” Sophie said as a sweet rush of relief went racing around her body. “Well, thank you for the offer. I’m just sorry that you came all this way for nothing.”
“Meh. It’s nice to get out of the office from time to time.” Rufus didn’t seem unduly dismayed. “But if your situation were to change, remember that I—the djinn who gave you carpet wax for absolutely no charge—would love to be of assistance to you.”
“Okay.” Sophie obediently nodded and let out a sigh of relief as Rufus held his fingers high above his head. However, before he could disappear, the door was thrust open, and Meg came charging into her bedroom, her blonde ringlets flying in all directions and a look of annoyance plastered onto her small face.
Sophie immediately jumped to her feet in alarm, uncertain whether to be more concerned about the fact that an overweight orange djinn was in the room, or that there was a magical flying carpet rolled up in the corner. Thankfully, Meg didn’t seem to notice either, and Sophie shot Rufus a grateful smile as she realized he must’ve made himself invisible to humans. Definitely one less thing to worry about, but Sophie didn’t like taking chances. She hurried over to Meg.
“Hello, privacy. How many times do I have to tell you not to come barging into my bedroom like that?” she demanded as she put her hands on her sister’s shoulders and steered her back toward the door. The moment she did, Sophie immediately wished for the large carpet to once again be underneath her bed, while wincing at the impact the wish had on her. That was way too close. Not to mention the fact that Rufus was still in the room, a curious expression plastered all over his round face. Sophie gulped as Meg continued to hover just outside the doorway. “Anyway, what do you want?”
“The sitter’s here, and Mom said that Mr. Rivers was coming in ten minutes,” Meg said in a dark voice as she simultaneously folded her arms and stomped her feet, while showing no intention of leaving. “You promised.”
“Look, this might sound crazy, but I just know that Mom won’t go on the date tonight. You’ve just got to trust me, okay?”
Meg paused for a moment to consider it before finally nodding her head. “Fine, but if you muck it up, then I swear that I’ll put beetles in your bed for a week.” Without another word, her sister stalked back to her bedroom, and Sophie shut the door and rubbed her brow.
“Date? Ouch. That sucks, so I guess she’s moved on from Tariq the Awesome? I wonder if it’s because he’s bound to Sheterum? I mean, some women just don’t find that an attractive quality in a partner. It’s like they lose their alpha appeal or something,” Rufus mused, causing Sophie to stiffen in annoyance. The moment she did so, the door pushed open, and Mr. Jaws poked his head through.
“She hasn’t moved on,” Sophie retorted as Mr. Jaws wove his way over to where Rufus was standing. “It’s just that she doesn’t know about my dad and what’s happened to him, and it’s not like I can exactly tell her the truth.”
“Good point. I forgot how funny some mortals are about djinns,” Rufus agreed as Mr. Jaws now started to rub his body against Rufus’s leg. Then the next thing Sophie knew, the cat had rolled onto his back so that his belly was exposed. And was he purring?
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Sophie paused for a minute and widened her eyes, but Rufus merely grinned as he laboriously knelt down to pat Mr. Jaws. “Don’t look so surprised—cats love me. And actually, that’s another factor to remember if you were ever to need my services. Rufus: loved by cats everywhere. Catchy, no?”
“Er, if you say so. Anyway, if you don’t mind, I’ve got a lot of stuff to do.”
“So I gather.” Rufus awkwardly stood back up, his numerous chins wobbling from the effort. “And just out of curiosity, what kind of wish are you going to use on your mom to stop the date tonight?”
“What do you mean?” Sophie, who was in the process of trying to shoo Mr. Jaws out of her room, forgot all about the cat and turned to Rufus with interest. “I can only conjure up inanimate objects. I can’t do any behavior modifications—which is pretty annoying since, if I could, the first one I’d use it on is Mr. Jaws. Anyway, I was just going to do some more affirmations and trust the Universe to come up with something.”
Rufus made a choking noise. “The Universe? Well, no offense, but I would rather put my faith in a reverse-image wish than in a random and immeasurable source that may or may not exist. But hey, that’s just me.”
“What’s a reverse-image wish?” Sophie was immediately intrigued.
“A reverse-image wish is when a person looks into someone else’s eyes and sees her worst nightmare come true. Of course, it can’t be anything that isn’t in the person’s true nature to begin with. For example, say if someone loves stinky blue cheese and your mom hates it, she will immediately see that he or she is a stinky blue cheese eater. So basically, if there’s anything your mom hates that this date dude does, she’ll see it. There’s a slight hitch in that if your mom and this guy are meant to be together, then all she’ll see is happiness.”