Spells & Sleeping Bags #3 (29 page)
Read Spells & Sleeping Bags #3 Online
Authors: Sarah Mlynowski
“Wendaline the Witch doesn't rhyme. It has alliteration.”
“It still sounds made up.”
“I'll make sure to tell her that.”
Anyway, I'm meeting Wendaline tonight, at her Full Moon dinner. I still have no idea what Full Moon signifies. I am hoping it does not involve any kind of nudity. Mom seemed to think it was kind of like the Jewish Shabbat, or Friday-night dinner, but for witches. And monthly instead of weekly.
'Cause a full moon happens once a month. I think.
“What's her last name?” Mom asked.
“Peaner.”
“Hmm,” said Mom, deep in thought. “Okay. You can go if you want to. It might be healthy for you to meet some nice”—read: non-body-snatching—“witches.”
Yeah, I can't believe she's letting us go either. I mean, Internet witches? How much sketchier can you get?
“Are you ready?” Miri asks me impatiently, my purse still hovering above her head. “I don't want to be late. And your bag is getting heavy. Why do you have to carry so much stuff around with you?”
“I just do,” I say, opening my closet. “I'll be two secs, I need to change.”
“Why can't you just wear what you have on?”
“It's my back-to-school top! It needs to be fresh.”
“Just zap it fresh tomorrow.”
“Just hold your horses.” I slip it over my head, hang it up, and put on a purple V-neck shirt. Then I change out of my jeans and into black pants. More appropriate for a family dinner, no? I check myself out in the mirror. Not bad. Good enough to meet she-whose-name-sounds-like-a-TV-character and her family.
Imagine if
I
were a TV character! My life is pretty fascinating. It would make a killer TV show. A comedy about two sister-witches in New York City? Who wouldn't watch? That's good television.
The premise could also work well as a reality show.
Omigod! I'd be famous! I'd get to go on all the talk shows! People would stop me in the street and ask to take my picture and I would smile modestly and murmur, “Anything for my fans.”
Except then everyone would know I was a witch. Awkward.
Maybe I can still do it. In disguise. I'll wear a blond wig. Although then I'll be covering up my awesome new layers that make me look like I have real cheekbones. Not that I don't have cheekbones. Obviously I do. But I never noticed them before Este the hairstylist got her expert hands on me. Alison recommended Este after I showed up at her apartment with a bald spot. I had attempted to zap my own hair. Apparently I am no stylist.
I'm trying to convince Miri to pay Este a visit. She could use some cheekbones.
What was I thinking about? Right. Wigs. I'd have to wear one if I was on a reality show. Although technically, viewers would probably be able to figure out my identity from my Greenwich apartment, my high school, and my friends.
My friends would wonder why I was always being trailed by TV cameras. I'd have to tell them the truth. About the show . . . about my double life.
Imagine. If everyone knew.
In a way it would be a relief. I wouldn't have to keep my big secret squished down inside me like dirty clothes in the laundry hamper.
In the mirror, I watch as my still-airborne purse quivers and then lands with a thud on Miri's face. “Ouch,” she whines.
Or maybe they'd think I was a freak. Or worry I'd cast love spells on them that accidentally bewitch their older brothers.
No, my secret must stay squashed. I shiver and sling my purse over my shoulder. “Let's get this show on the road.”
Excerpt copyright © 2008 by Sarah Mlynowski.
Published by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House
Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc.
Published by Delacorte Press
an imprint of Random House Children's Books
a division of Random House, Inc.
New York
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2007 by Sarah Mlynowski
All rights reserved.
Delacorte Press and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
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The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition of this work as follows:
Mlynowski, Sarah.
Spells & sleeping bags / Sarah Mlynowski. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: Rachel and her younger sister, both witches, spend the summer at Camp Wood Lake, where Rachel tries to have a normal camp experience while surreptitiously honing her newly discovered talents.
[1. Witches—Fiction. 2. Camps—Fiction. 3. Sisters—Fiction. 4. Adirondack Mountains (N.Y.)—Fiction. 5. Humorous stories.]
I. Title. II. Title: Spells and sleeping bags.
PZ7.M7135Sp 2007
[Fic]—dc22
2006017018
eISBN: 978-0-375-84902-2
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