Spells & Sleeping Bags #3 (25 page)

“Where are we going?” I ask my mom. She's zapping our clothes into two big Louis Vuitton trunks.

“I'm meeting some friends down in Rio. You're going to Switzerland.”

“Why?”

“You're going to Miss Rally's Hall for Girls. It's one of the top boarding schools in the world.”

“I don't want to go to boarding school!”

“It's not up to you,” my mom says.

“But I want to stay with you.”

“Liana, it's for the best. You need to be in school, and I have some traveling I need to do on my own.”

“But you can't just desert me!”

“I'm not deserting you. I'm sending you away to school. Other girls would give their eyeteeth to be in your situation. You'll love it at Miss Rally's. There are even some other witches there, so you'll finally be able to make some real friends.”

“Girls don't like me,” I say.

“Because you're always putting spells on them. Give it a chance. For me?”

I agree. I want to make her happy.

There's a snake in my bed. Again. I want to take it and wrap it around the throat of my new archenemy, Olivia.

Although this isn't a school for witches per se, Miss Rally herself is a witch. And that's why mothers who can't be bothered with their witch daughters like to send us here. There are at least six or seven of us here at one time, and Miss Rally keeps an extra-special eye on us.

The other girls have no clue.

Bunch of idiots. Don't they wonder why we always get the nicest rooms? The best food? The easiest chores?

Not that it makes living here desirable. Not for me, anyway.

I hate Miss Rally. I also hate the other witches, especially Olivia, who sleeps in the room next to mine and whose personal project is to make my life a living hell.

At Thanksgiving break, I beg my mom not to send me back. “Please,” I say. “I hate it there.” I would run away, but my mother has shackled me with a location anklet that won't let me leave without her permission. It's like a magnet I just can't shake. I'm going to be stuck there for the next four years.

“Liana, you just have to get used to it. You'll be fine. You can't stay with me. I'm way too busy.”

“With what?”

“I met a wonderful man named Micha.” She goes on and on about the wonderful Micha until I want to jump off a bridge.

I already knew about Macho Micha. I found a spell to create a virtual crystal ball, and although it can't predict the future, it can show me what other people are doing.

“Will I get to meet him at Christmas?” I can't wait for Christmas break. A whole month off from the school from hell!

“Oh, about Christmas . . .” She pauses. “Micha and I are going to spend a week in Tahiti. I spoke to Miss Rally and she said that your staying there is no problem.”

I want out. I search through my spell book for a way to break my invisible anklet, but there isn't one. Instead, I discover a five-broomer spell that allows two people to switch places.

If I switch places with someone, she'll live in Miserable Hell (my pet name for Miss Rally's Hall), and I'll be free.

All I have to do is find someone to switch with. My choices are limited, since she has to be related by blood. So I start by consulting my crystal ball.

And that's when I discover Rachel, the daughter of my mother‘s sister, Carol. I knew there was a huge fight years ago, but I didn't know I had a cousin! A cousin my age. A cousin who has everything I ever wanted. According to what I see in the crystal ball, she has the perfect life, but she doesn't appreciate it. Why is she always whining? She makes me so angry that I can't look at her without my arms shaking and my teeth chattering.

First of all, she doesn't have to move all the time. She gets to stay in one place, and I'm not talking about boarding school. She has a normal life. A wonderful life. Friends. A mother who loves her. A father who adores her. But what makes me the most envious is that she has a sister. Two, actually. Two sisters who adore her. Who worship her. But the one she lives with is the one I'm interested in. Rachel is so obsessed with being popular and stupid fashion shows and stupid boys that she ignores her. As far as I'm concerned, Miri is ripe for the taking. For making her
my
sister.

Rachel is the perfect candidate for me to switch with.

I want Rachel's life. I want to be Rachel.

But how? I watch her talking about camp in the crystal ball, and a plan unfolds in my head. If I go to camp too, I can make the switch. Convincing my mom to let me go will be a snap. She doesn't want me hanging around with her and Macho Micha all summer.

The snag is that I have to get Rachel to agree to the switch. She's not all that happy with her life, but is that enough to make her want to do it? The annoying thing is that I can't put an obedience spell on her. She has to agree to it out of pure and free will.

Of course, there's no rule that says I can't make her miserable. Make her detest her life even more. Provide her with the straw that breaks the camel's back.

Make her beg me to do the switch.

I remember turning on the lights in the CL.

I remember launching a soccer ball at Rachel's head.

I remember giving all of bunk fifteen, Deb, Morgan, and Carly my enchanted water.

I remember attacking Raf and Rachel on the lookout with a flock of bees.

I remember bewitching Alison into smoking in the bathroom.

I remember bewitching Raf into kissing me. And then wiping his memory away.

I remember making Miri's mail disappear.

I remember turning Jennifer's care packages of lip glosses and bubble gum into the most embarrassing gifts possible.

I remember giving Miri an amplifying charm disguised as a lanyard bracelet. The seeds of Miri's anger were already there. All I had to do was help bring them out.

I remember convincing Miri that I could take off her location anklet. As if! If I knew how to do that, I wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. But I needed her to believe that I was going to take her with me. I needed her and Rachel to buy my bluff, to buy into my plan.

I open my eyes. I—the fake version of me—am still sitting in front of me, watching me. “Having fun?” Liana asks nonchalantly.

“I'd feel bad for you if you weren't so awful.”
I'm
feeling awful—because I should have known that Miri wouldn't just desert her family without some magical assistance. But . . . her unhappiness didn't come from nowhere, I think guiltily. She really did feel unloved and unwanted at home.

“Whatever. Have fun in hell. Hope you're not afraid of snakes.”

“So this is it? I'm stuck like this?” The sickening truth hits me. She's never going to switch back. I can't believe I fell for her entire plan.

She shrugs. “I'll see how I like being you. Maybe I'll switch back when you graduate.”

I can't believe this is happening. I can't believe I let Liana get away with this. I want my life back! I want to be me again!

But even if I could switch back, how could I risk hurting my sister?

“Of course,” Liana says, “there's no way I'm going to change back until Miri is completely mine—without the aid of amplification. You're a fool, Rachel. Look what you gave up. And I'm not just talking about sisterly love. I'm talking about power. Sisterly power. The combined power of blood-related witches. There'll be no stopping us now. No stopping me, that is, because I'll control every move Miri makes.”

Instead of feeling even sicker, I'm elated. Liana has just given me the solution. Part of it, anyway. Together, Miri and I can overtake her. Together, we can stop her from hurting either of us or anyone else we care about.

The question is, how do I switch back?

Miri and I can figure it out together. If not, she'll just have to get used to my new appearance. (I kind of like my new chest, anyway.) At least we'll be together.

I just have to get to her before Liana does. I slowly stand up, not wanting Liana to guess what my plan is.

“I don't think so,” she says, cackling, and then, with a snap of her fingers, a broom appears in her hand and she takes off.

Where did she go? How did she/I do that? I stop for a second and think. If I have access to all Liana's memories, do I also have access to all her advanced witchcraft skills? I snap my fingers and wish for a flying broom.

Nada. Guess not. That is so unfair! I get her crappy life and memories but none of her expertise. Where's the fun in that?

I arrive at Miri's bunk about ten minutes later, huffing and puffing. Miri and the fake me are waiting for me on the porch. “Miri,” I say, “I have to tell you what happened.”

“I don't want to talk to you,” she says, waving her lanyard bracelet in the air. “I can't believe you would do that to me, Liana. You must think I'm the biggest idiot.”

I shake my head. “You have to listen to me.”

“No, I don't. You make me sick. How did you think you could get away with putting an amplifying spell on me?”

“What? I didn't! She did!” I point at my conniving cousin.

“Rachel told me all about it. You tried to get me to dump my whole family! And I almost let you! At first I didn't even believe my sister, but she told me to take off the bracelet—and
poof,
no more amplification.”