by Amanda Ashby
“They’re not,” Sophie replied firmly before shooting Rufus a questioning glance. “Which means that this sounds perfect. I just don’t understand why Malik didn’t tell me about it? According to him, I don’t have enough power for any of the really good wishes.”
“Well, grudgingly, I must admit that Malik’s right. As a noob, you’re simply not powerful enough to handle a spell like this. However,” Rufus quickly added, obviously noticing the confused expression that was morphing across Sophie’s face, “he was obviously forgetting all about my brand-new Rufus’s Reverse-Image Tonic. Now, I don’t like to boast, but it truly is amazing, and all you need to do is sprinkle a few drops on your mom’s date and then wish for her worst nightmare to be revealed. The date will instantly turn into whatever kind of slobby, blue-hockey-shirt-wearing, leaves-the-toilet-seat-up guy she wants to avoid. And as a generous gesture to demonstrate my goodwill, I would be more than happy to give you a bottle at absolutely no charge. Not even postage. Or handling. In fact, let me get you a bottle right now.”
Before Sophie could even open her mouth there was a rustle of feathers, and the now familiar-looking pink pigeon appeared in the room. Mr. Jaws immediately disappeared out the door, but the bird hardly noticed as it deposited a lavish silver gift bag into Rufus’s hand and then vanished again in a flurry of feathers.
“So you’re really certain that all I need to do is sprinkle it onto Mr. Rivers, and it’ll work?” Sophie asked to make sure, since if there was one thing that Malik had taught her, it was that you could never be too careful about trusting other djinns.
“That’s correct.” Rufus nodded his head as he handed over the gift bag. “And once again, please let me remind you that there is absolutely no charge for this item. Not even for the stylish gift wrapping.”
But Sophie hardly heard him as she pulled away layers of silver wrapping and took out a slim bottle. Then she grinned as she let out a little prayer of gratitude. She just knew the Universe would find a way to make it work.
OKAY, SO ON THE WHOLE I THINK I LIKED YOUR other plan better,” Harvey announced five minutes later from the other end of the phone. Sophie had tried to call Kara, but there was no answer, so she’d rung Harvey to let him know what had happened.
“What are you talking about? I didn’t have another plan,” Sophie reminded him.
“Exactly.” Sophie could almost see Harvey nodding his head in agreement from the other end of the line. “And I definitely thought that was better. I mean, are you seriously telling me that you’re going to wait until Mr. Rivers comes to pick up your mom and then turn invisible so you can sprinkle him with some special tonic to make your mom see her worst nightmare?”
“I know. It’s inspired, right?” Sophie grinned.
“Only if you’re a crazy person. What if he turns into a giant slug monster or something?” Harvey countered. “And what does Malik say about this?”
“I’ve got no idea. I haven’t seen Malik since this morning. And for the record, there are no such things as giant slug monsters,” Sophie reminded him as she tucked the handset under one ear so she could tie her favorite sneakers. “And on the plus side, if Malik isn’t here, then he won’t be able to complain when I give you a ride on the carpet when you get back from your weekend away with your mom,” she added in a cajoling voice.
“Yes, but...what?” Harvey suddenly sounded torn between his normal worrywart persona and his desire to get on the carpet. “You’ll give me a ride? Really?”
“Absolutely. I’m going to be practicing all weekend, so by the time you’re back, I’m sure that I’ll be ready to go out on my own.” Sophie grinned a victory smile as she wriggled her toes and stood up.
“That does sound pretty awesome,” Harvey admitted, just as there was a loud crashing noise on the other end of the line.
“What was that?” Sophie asked, jumping in surprise.
“Oh, my mom’s ticked off that my dad didn’t wash my gym clothes, and now she has to do it; she’s taking out her anger on the trash can,” Harvey said with a long sigh. “Anyway, I guess I’d better go. She wants to drive by my dad’s apartment and tell him that he owes her five bucks for some laundry detergent before we head out to Camp Just-Kill-Me-Now.”
“Harvey, that stinks. Are you okay?”
“You mean apart from the heartburn it’s giving me? Yeah, I’m okay,” he said, just as there was another crashing noise in the background. “That’s my cue to go, but I’ll see you on Sunday when I get back from what is going to be the lousiest weekend ever. And tell Kara not to freak out tomorrow. You know I’m the worrier of the group, and I say she’ll be fine.”
“I’ll tell her,” Sophie promised as she finished the call. Now all she had to do was sneak outside and wait until Mr. Rivers arrived so she could sprinkle the stuff on him and make the wish. Then, when she knew it had worked, she could sneak back upstairs to her room like nothing had happened—you know, just like a regular Friday night at home.
She was just congratulating herself on such an amazing plan when her mom poked her head through the door. She was wearing the red dress she had bought at the mall the other day as well as lipstick, mascara, and the faintest hint of perfume. She also looked exactly how she used to look before their dad had left them. Sophie’s throat tightened.
“Okay, so Meg’s watching a shark DVD in her room and Mrs. Corbett’s downstairs,” her mom said as she nervously smoothed down the soft fabric of her dress.
“Great.” Sophie rolled her eyes as her mom walked farther into the room and glanced around, as if somehow knowing that there was an invisible flying carpet rolled up under the bed.
“Honey, I know this whole date thing is hard for you, but I’m hoping it will get easier in time.”
Doubtful, Sophie wanted to say, but to her surprise before she could, she felt hot tears prick in the corner of her eyes. She hastily rubbed them away and commanded herself to stop being so stupid. The date wasn’t going to happen anyway, and soon her dad would be home and everything would be back to the way it was supposed to be. Crying was just dumb. However she wasn’t quick enough and her mom’s mouth slipped into a disappointed frown.
“Sophie, if you’re doing this to get me to change my mind—”
“I’m not.” Sophie quickly turned away, pleased that she had a backup plan because if crying had been her plan, she would’ve been in big trouble. Then she realized that she needed to sneak outside before Mr. Rivers actually arrived so that her mom could see the truth immediately. She randomly picked up her Spanish books. “Anyway, if that’s everything, I’d better get back to my homework.”
“Okay, then. I’ll go back downstairs and wait for Max.” Her mom looked slightly surprised, but instead of saying anything else she gave Sophie a final smile and disappeared back out of the room. Sophie waited until she was gone before she grabbed the bottle of tonic from behind the computer monitor, where she had hidden it, and slipped it into the back pocket of her jeans. Then she turned herself invisible.
She made her way to the mirror to check that it had worked. No reflection stared back at her, and once again she marveled at just how cool being a djinn could be. She wondered if this was how Malik felt when he came and went as he wanted. It was certainly a liberating feeling, and once she had freed her dad, she would definitely have to start having some more fun with it.
But right now she had a job to do, and so she silently made her way down the stairs. Her mom was sitting upright on one of the hard dining room chairs, tapping her foot and glancing at her watch.
Even though her mom couldn’t see her, she could still hear her, and Sophie was just trying to figure out how to get past the squeaky floorboard when Mr. Jaws decided to see just how far up the curtain he could jump. Sophie made a mental note to treat him with an extra bowl of Pretty Kitty snacks to thank him for the distraction. Her mom immediately went
and detached him from the dark velvet drapes, giving Sophie the perfect chance to slip out the back door. From outside she could hear the faint echoes of Meg’s shark DVD, but she ignored it as she stealthily made her way around to the side of the house to wait for Mr. Rivers to arrive.
The cool fall air nipped at her skin, and her teeth were starting to chatter as she stomped her feet to keep out the chill. Apart from all the other reasons why this date was a bad idea, it seemed like Mr. Rivers was late, too.
Finally, a sleek red Alfa Romeo pulled up. Sophie scrambled to her feet as she watched Mr. Rivers get out of the car. She opened the bottle that Rufus had given her and carefully took out the eyedropper, and she watched her mother’s date pause a moment on the top step to rearrange his tweed jacket and smell his breath by blowing into his hand. Ewh. The sooner this fiasco was over with, the better. Sophie made her way over to him, careful not to make a noise.
Rufus had said that four to five drops would be enough, and she was just squirting the last one onto him when he suddenly stepped forward and rang the doorbell. The surprise caused Sophie to jump, and the eyedropper almost went flying from her hand, but she quickly steadied herself and shook off the couple of drops that had accidently squirted onto her own finger. Then she put one final drop onto the back of his ugly tweed jacket before closing her eyes and making the wish.
I wish my mom would see the truth about Mr. Rivers.
An intense shudder rippled through her like an earthquake, and Sophie knew without a doubt that the wish had worked. She could feel it still buzzing and tingling through her veins like soda, and—
The rest of her thoughts were cut off as her mom answered the door. Sophie immediately caught her breath and leaned forward so that she wouldn’t miss anything.
“Max, you’re—” her mom started to say before a look of confusion spread out across her face and she rubbed her eyes as if trying to clear her vision.
“Louise?” Mr. Rivers asked in an uncertain voice. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I...actually, no, I don’t think I am okay,” her mom stammered in a shaky voice before she nodded for him to come inside the house. Sophie took the opportunity to slip in as well, because if her teeth chattered any louder, she was pretty sure her cover would be blown.
“Can I get you something? Some water? An aspirin?” Mr. Rivers asked, his confusion giving way to concern. But Sophie’s mom just shook her head and sat down in the closest chair while Mr. Jaws, who had been sleeping by the stairs, suddenly leaped up and padded over.
“No, it’s nothing like that,” her mom said as the cat jumped into her lap. She absently started to pat his fur as she took a deep breath. “This is going to sound terrible, but I’ve suddenly realized that I can’t go out with you tonight.”
Wow! Sophie widened her eyes in excitement. Of course she’d had complete confidence that the wish would work, but she hadn’t expected it to work quite so quickly. She edged closer to her mom to see what she had seen when she looked at Mr. Rivers’s face. But to Sophie he looked just the same as he always did. Salt-and-pepper hair. Blue eyes. A slightly crooked nose. But whatever her mom had seen had obviously done the trick. Ten bucks said it was some nose picking.
“It’s the tweed jacket, isn’t it?” Mr. Rivers let out a long groan as he obviously tried to figure it out, too. “I knew it was too old-fashioned, but—”
“No.” Her mom managed a watery smile. “No, the jacket is fine. I actually like the tweed. The thing is you’ve been such a good friend to me, and I thought...well, I hoped that maybe in time I could—”
“Make yourself like me?” Mr. Rivers finished off with a rueful smile. “I had kind of hoped that, too.”
“Except when I opened up the door and saw you standing there, it just made me realize that the only man I ever want to see on the doorstep is my husband,” her mom said, sniffing and shaking her head. “It’s so stupid. I mean, it’s been four years. You would think I’d be over it by now. Max, I’m so sorry.”
Mr. Rivers immediately shook his head. “Louise, you don’t need to be sorry. The heart wants what the heart wants. And if your heart just wants to be friends with me, well, that’s okay.”
“Good friends,” her mom said, and shot him a wobbly smile. “And thank you for being so understanding. W-would you like to stay for some coffee? I just need to cancel the sitter.”
“A good friend might stay, but a better friend can see that you probably need to be on your own,” he said with a patient smile. He turned and headed for the front door. “If you ever change your mind, then—”
“I know. And thank you.” Her mom nodded as she followed him to the front door and walked him down the path. But Sophie didn’t bother to go with them. All she knew was that it had worked. It had really worked.
YOU 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.”