by Amanda Ashby
“Oh,” Sophie said in surprise. “Well, that’s good. I mean, it’s all about having a positive attitude.”
“Actually, it’s all about figuring out who my friends really are, because as far as I’m concerned, this was your fault.”
“What?” Sophie blinked. “Look, I really do feel bad about that, but you’ve got to know that I’d never do anything bad to you on purpose. Oh my gosh, Malik did tell you I was invisible, right? And that besides not being able to see me, no one could hear me, either?” Sophie suddenly asked, knowing that when it came to details, Malik wasn’t always the most reliable.
“Yes, I know all about that. But can’t you see? You only got turned invisible because you didn’t want your mom to go on a date with Mr. Rivers, so you used your magic. You even used your magic to help Melissa Tait and her picture frames. But what about me? I needed you to be there with me. I didn’t even want your magic; I just needed you to remind me that no one should ever hear the story of how I forgot to wear panties in the first grade. But you weren’t, Sophie. You weren’t there when I needed you.”
Sophie widened her eyes in confusion. She had expected her friend to be mad, but she hadn’t expected this. “Kara, I’m—”
“No. Sorry isn’t going to cut it this time.” Kara gave a firm shake of her long dark hair as she thrust the sketch into Sophie’s hand and then stood up and marched to the door. “I’m going downstairs, and when I come back up, I want you to be gone.”
“But—” Sophie tried to add, but it was too late. Kara was gone. Sophie stared at the sketch, her stomach churning with distress. She was no expert, but she was fairly sure it wasn’t a good sign that Kara had drawn a detail-perfect portrait of Sophie, and then had ruthlessly scribbled it back out with long dark gashes that must’ve caused the lead in her pencil to break. And underneath was written the word: Selfish.
Sophie felt ill as she made her way back to the carpet and crossed her legs so that she could leave. The moment she reappeared in her bedroom Malik and Harvey practically pounced on her.
“So?” Harvey demanded. “What happened? Is it all okay now?”
“No.” Sophie stretched her legs out and studied her sneakers. “It went badly. And by badly I mean badly.”
“So she’s still annoyed about the whole Fanta/popcorn thing?” Malik winced. “I was worried about that. Especially since the soda fell in what most bros would consider a very undesirable place for soda to fall.”
Sophie groaned. “What am I going to do? I tried apologizing, but she totally won’t listen. It’s like she thinks that I wanted this to happen. Why would I want my best friend to humiliate herself in front of her crush? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Welcome to my world,” Malik said as he chewed on a stray Cheeto that he plucked up from the desk. “None of what you and your friends do makes sense to me.”
“Yes, well, if you really want to see something that doesn’t make sense, then check this out,” Sophie said as she waved the sketch in Malik’s direction. “I mean, look. She scribbled out my face and called me selfish. Why would she do that?”
“Well,” Malik said as he wrinkled his nose. “Though, if I’m being completely honest, you are a little bit selfish sometimes.”
“Exactly,” Sophie started to agree before realizing what he’d just said. “Excuse me, but what? How am I selfish? Why would you say that? I’m always conjuring you up food. And for Harvey and Kara as well.”
“All the time,” Harvey agreed, but Malik, who was now floating above her, folded his arms.
“I know you are. But here’s the thing. Right now you’ve had so many big, important, crazy changes in your world that you probably haven’t really noticed what’s been going on in everyone else’s world.”
“I-I haven’t?” Sophie stammered as her throat tightened up. “Like what?”
“Okay, but first, please don’t get mad at this because I’m on your side, remember? And I’m not just saying that because I want you to give me a positive evaluation for the Djinn Council—though if you feel I was worthy of full marks, then please don’t let me stop you. Anyway, I digress, my point is that lately you keep talking about how awesome and amazing it’s going to be when your father gets home. Like all the great things we’re going to do.”
“What’s wrong with that?” Sophie asked as she tried to ignore the way her lower lip was beginning to quiver. “I was just being positive. It really helps to visualize.”
“I know, and it’s wonderful, but the thing is you’re forgetting that I won’t be here. Your father is one of the greatest djinns who ever existed—apart, of course, from the small whoopsy of getting himself bound—you won’t need me as a djinn guide anymore.”
“Malik...I don’t know what to say.” Sophie stared at him as she realized he was right. She hadn’t remotely thought any of this through. “I just assumed you would still be here. I—”
“Look, it’s okay. I know it was an accident, but I’m just using this as an example. For you it was important to stop your mom from going on her date with that man. But for Kara—”
“It was important that her best friend was at the movies with her to stop her from pouring Fanta all over her crush’s crotch,” Sophie finished off as she reached out and studied the scribbled-out sketch. Then she felt a wave of nausea rush over her. What had she done?
IT WASN’T MEANT TO BE LIKE THIS. SOPHIE WAS supposed to be happy that in under an hour she and Malik would be flying to rescue her dad. After all, this is what she had wanted for four years. But any excitement she felt was tempered by the fact that despite a week of apologizing, Kara still wasn’t speaking to her. In fact, not speaking didn’t really do the situation justice. Kara also wasn’t looking at her, breathing near her, or even acknowledging Sophie’s existence.
It probably didn’t help that someone at the drama club had posted a YouTube clip of Kara’s embarrassing moment, and while it wasn’t exactly getting a million hits, it was certainly popular with all the students at Robert Robertson Middle School.
Sophie glanced over to the ornamental boulder where Harvey and Kara were both standing, deep in discussion. Part of Sophie longed to click her fingers and say the word invisible so that she could find out how it was going. The only thing stopping her was that she knew that if she was caught, then Kara would be madder than ever. So instead, she was forced to wait to see if Harvey had any success. As she watched them, she pulled out the list of things she had tried to do to convince Kara of how sorry she was.
It included talking to Patrick to remind him how lovely Kara was and how she had embarrassed herself in front of her entire Spanish class just to draw the attention away from her friend. Not to mention all the e-mails, instant messages, and phone calls. But none of it had worked.
Sophie took a deep breath to stop the tears from falling and was just deciding if she should forget about it and call her mom to pick her up when she caught sight of Jonathan and Melissa walking toward her. Despite the gloom of the last five days, Sophie felt herself returning his infectious smile as Jonathan made his way over.
“Hey.” His grin faded as he caught sight of Kara and Harvey over by the boulder, and he furrowed his brow. “Why aren’t you waiting over there with your friends?”
“Keep up, brother dear,” Melissa said, looking as perfectly groomed as ever in a pink polo and some impossibly trendy earrings. “Sophie’s friend Kara was giving her the look of death yesterday. It was vicious. I like that in a person.”
Jonathan shot Sophie an apologetic grimace. “And once again, please ignore my sister. My parents assure me that we’re related, but I’m still looking for evidence.”
“Try the mirror,” Melissa retorted, then gave an unrepentant shrug and turned to Sophie. “Besides, it’s not like it’s going to last. I’ve got no idea what the deal is, but I bet that your friend Kara folds in a da
y.”
Somehow Sophie doubted it. “I hope so. Anyway, how are the party plans for Sunday coming along?”
“Superbly,” Melissa answered before Jonathan could even open his mouth. He rolled his eyes.
“My parents hired a very expensive planner to do it, but Melissa has kind of hijacked the whole thing in her quiet and unassuming way.”
“Yes, well, if it was left to those idiots, we would have a string quartet and bits of bread with asparagus on them. Sushi, people. Why haven’t you heard of sushi? Oh, and that reminds me, I need to make a new list. Sophie, do you have a pen I could borrow?”
“Sure.” Sophie bit back a smile as she realized that Melissa’s abrasive personality was actually quite funny. She opened her backpack and was looking for her pencil case when Melissa suddenly leaned over and plucked out a piece of paper that was near the top.
She winced as she realized it was the sketch Kara had done. The one where she had scribbled out Sophie’s face. Sophie had planned to throw it away, since she was sure that nothing positive could come from it, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to do it. Especially since, as the week had progressed, Sophie had realized that Kara had been right. Sophie was a bad friend, and the picture was a way of reminding her just how bad she had been.
“Oh, this is interesting,” Melissa said without a flicker of sarcasm as she studied it intently. “There’s some nice energy and flow going on in this. Did you draw it?”
“I can barely do stick figures.” Sophie shook her head, her throat once again tightening up at the venom in her friend’s sketch. “It was Kara. And that’s why I know that she isn’t going to get over this fight anytime soon.”
“Man, that’s brutal.” Jonathan shuddered as he gave Sophie an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel worse, but she must be really mad at you.”
“I know.” Sophie sighed. Part of her longed to tell Jonathan what had really happened, but then that would involve mentioning wishes going wrong, being a djinn, and the fact that she was a bad friend.
“Seriously, you two are a great match because you’re both equally dumb.” Melissa looked up from the picture and shot them both a disgusted look.
“Huh?” Sophie blinked while Jonathan narrowed his eyes and did some kind of unspoken twin thing to Melissa. Whatever it was that he did seemed to do the job, and Melissa let out a pained sigh.
“Okay, so what I meant to say was that if your friend did this drawing, it’s not because she hates you and wants to scribble you out, it’s because she’s mad at herself. She’s trying to scribble out her own work. So whatever her problem is, all you need to do is fix it, and you’ll be all warm and fuzzy once again.”
“What? How do you know all this?” Sophie asked in surprise.
“Because my mom owns an art gallery. Because how can I run a fashion and lifestyle empire when I’m older if I don’t have a basic understanding of art. And finally, because I’m a lot smarter than most people give me credit for. Now, as much as I’d love to stand around talking to you both about how clueless you are when it comes to art, I need to make sure that the caterer has enough glasses.”
“Sorry, she’s a bit stressed about Sunday,” Jonathan apologized before looking at his watch and giving her a rueful grin. “Anyway, I’d better go and help her, but I’ll try to IM you tomorrow, and I’ll see you at the party. And try not to get too freaked out about Kara. Melissa’s scary smart when she puts her mind to it, and our parents have been dragging us to galleries for years. Personally, it all looks like squiggle to me, but she seems to get it, and so if she says it means something, then there’s a good chance she’s right.”
“Thanks, I really hope so,” Sophie said just as she realized Harvey was slowly jogging toward her. She gave Jonathan a final smile and took a deep breath as Harvey reached her.
“So what did she say?” Sophie nervously clutched at the sketch in her hands, while trying not to glance over to the boulder, where Kara was still standing.
“I’m sorry, Sophie.” Harvey sighed and studied the ground.
“But she must have said something,” Sophie insisted, her voice going squeaky with panic. He glumly shook his head so much that his long bangs went flying back and forth like windshield wipers.
“She made me promise not to tell you.”
“What? But that’s not fair. How am I supposed to fix this when she won’t let me talk to her, and now she won’t let me even talk to you?”
“She’s not stopping us from talking; she doesn’t want us to talk about her,” Harvey clarified. “I tried to tell her that open conversation was a lot healthier, but—”
“Look, I know that this isn’t your fault, but can you at least tell her how sorry I am? And maybe ask if there is anything I can do to make it up to her. I mean, nothing I’ve tried has worked. What should I do?”
“I’m sorry, Soph.” Harvey dropped his head again, and his long bangs now covered his eyes. “I wish I knew. She’s really mad. The thing is that I can’t stay in the middle any longer. You guys are my best friends, and I’m already stuck in the middle of my folks and their endless arguing. I can’t have it with you guys, too.”
Sophie’s chest immediately tightened, and she had to clamp on her lip to stop from crying. “Harvey. I’m so sorry. I don’t want you to get stressed.”
“Too late. Do you think it’s possible to die of heartburn at the age of eleven?”
“I think the cafeteria meat loaf will kill you before the heartburn does,” Sophie reassured him in a light voice that was the total opposite of how she was feeling.
“So what do we do now? Kara wants me to get a lift home with her, but that will mean you’re on the bus on your own. Plus”—he broke off for a moment and let out a long breath—“well, I wanted to help you get ready for D-day.”
Sophie wanted him to as well. It was bad enough that Kara wasn’t going to be with her, but now Harvey? She could feel the tears creep up into her eyes, but she forced them back as she glanced over to where Kara was still standing. She didn’t look happy or smug. She just looked sad. Sophie took a deep breath and shook her head.
“You should totally go with K. I’ve already been a horrible friend to her. I don’t want to make it any worse by taking you away. Plus, Malik should be at home waiting for me, and my mom is taking Meg to some shark lecture at the museum, so she won’t even know that I’m gone.”
Harvey still looked torn, and despite not being a body-language expert like he was, Sophie could see that he was upset. “Okay, but Sophie, please be careful. This is serious stuff, so don’t do anything stupid. Promise me.”
“I promise,” she said in a small voice. “Besides, Malik turned into some kind of alter-ego drill sergeant, so we’ve gone over everything loads of times.” It was ironic actually; because Kara wasn’t talking to her and Harvey was spending only half as much time with her, Sophie had been doing a lot of practice. She no longer panicked when she saw an oncoming floor polisher, and they’d been over the security details of Sheterum’s mansion so many times that she almost felt like she’d already been there.
“Okay, well, make sure you call me the minute you get home.”
“I will,” she promised just as the bus pulled up. Then she watched as Harvey jogged back to where Kara was standing, and they both turned and started walking over to the second parking lot, where they were meeting Kara’s mom. It looked like Melissa Tait was wrong after all. Kara was never going to talk to her again. And the worst thing was that Sophie couldn’t even blame her. She had been selfish, and now she was paying the price. It was just that she had no idea it would make her feel so bad.
BY FOUR O’CLOCK THEY WERE READY. SOPHIE shook with relief since she was fairly certain that her frayed nerves couldn’t handle any more waiting. Malik had made her go over every single detail a hundred more times, and,
whatever dumb fantasy she’d had that Kara and Harvey might turn up was gone. She was on her own. Well, she still had Malik, but soon he would be gone, too.
Sophie took a deep breath and began to unroll the carpet onto her bedroom floor. Once that was done she wrapped her fingers around the small vial of Solomon’s Elixir and said a silent prayer to the Universe, asking for it to be on her side.
“Hey?” Malik looked up from where he had been pouring over the floor plan one last time. “Are you worried about landing the carpet in the right spot? Maybe I shouldn’t have told you about the laser beams and how they pulverize your brain if they touch you. We’ve been practicing all week, and you’ve totally nailed those landings. I’m ninety-nine percent sure that we’re ready for this.”
“I’m okay,” Sophie quickly assured him as she slipped the elixir into her pocket and went over everything in her head one more time. According to what Manny had told Malik, the guards tended to do their paperwork twenty minutes before they finished their shift, which meant they didn’t monitor the security screens as carefully as they should. It was the only window of opportunity they would get.
However, that wasn’t the only obstacle. In the room was a series of laser beams laid out like a 3D grid that Sophie would have to land in. According to Malik, she could simply use her magic to wish them away, but in doing so she would trigger the alarm system, and they would then have only one minute before the guards arrived. Which meant that once Sophie did deactivate them, she would have to pour the elixir on the painting, release her dad, and get out of there in under a minute.
No pressure then.
At least, unlike her hopeless attempts at trying to convince Kara she was sorry, all the practices had gone really well. According to Malik, she was as ready as she was ever going to be.
“Okay, so it’s time. Let’s do this thing,” Malik announced as he smoothed down the bright blue harem pants he had chosen for the occasion; they were clashing violently with his Wildcats basketball shirt and made him look more like a Vanilla Ice wannabe than a two-thousand-year-old ghost. He had tried to convince Sophie that since this was her first big mission she should wear something similar, but she opted for her jeans and her favorite Neanderthal Joe T-shirt instead, as well as her Eddie Henry guitar pick.