Under a Spell (14 page)

“Melissa, I'm serious. That ring's really important.” Sophie earnestly nodded her head, because Harvey had once told her that it was a classic body-language trick to get someone to agree with you. Or was that the Jedi mind trick? Anyway, all Sophie knew was that she would try anything that might help her right now.

“And my boyfriend isn't?”

So much for better nature. Sophie felt the blood start
to pound around her temples as she realized just how serious this situation was. If she didn't get her ring back, then she would be stuck taking orders from Melissa Tait forever. And it was bad enough talking to her for five minutes.

Sophie licked her lips. “Okay, so I'm willing to overlook the guitar pick and the watch, but I really need my ring back, and if you won't give it to me, I'll have to go see Miss Carson about it.”

“No, you won't.”

“Yes, I will,” Sophie insisted. “In fact, I'm going to go to her office right now and—”

“Excuse me, but you're not going anywhere,” Melissa corrected in much the same “alpha-queen-of-the-world” voice she used when she was talking to her Tait-bots. “And furthermore, you're not going to say one word about this to any teacher. Do you understand?”

Yeah, right,
Sophie started to say as she turned to head in the direction of Miss Carson's office, but instead of moving, her feet stayed exactly where they were. She tried again to lift her foot, this time in the direction of Principal Gerrard's office, but once again, she was stuck to the spot like a statue. She felt the sweat bead on her upper lip as an air of desperation started to surround her.

“O-okay.” She tried to hide her mounting panic as she realized that desperate times called for desperate measures. “So what if I tell you that the ring is a family heirloom, and if anyone outside the family wears it, that
person will be cursed? Forever. W-with pus and boils.”

“Lucky I keep a beautician on retainer then. Anyway, what's the point of worrying about that when Ben thinks that I'm a jinx?” Melissa demanded, her face puckering in annoyance. “I can't believe how selfish you are.”

Sophie took a deep breath and tried to stay calm. “Look, I'm sorry if you think I'm being selfish, but if you could just give me the ring back, then—”

“Ring, ring, ring.” Melissa rolled her eyes. “You know what? You're like a broken CD the way you go on. Why don't you start singing a new song, because this one is getting boring,” she said, before spinning around on her ridiculously high heels and marching away in the other direction.

“Yes, well, that's just—” Sophie started to say before she suddenly felt an overwhelming desire to…
sing a song?

Oh, no. She widened her eyes as she tried to resist, but the minute she did so, she got a stabbing sensation in her stomach that started to spread out around her body. Sophie doubled over in pain, while at the same time shoving her hand over her mouth to stop words from coming out. Okay, so she had no idea what was going on, but she was fairly sure that it wasn't good news. Especially since it made her earlier inability to walk now seem like child's play.

“It's a command, you idiot. The more you try to resist it, the more it's going to hurt,” a low voice said in her ear,
and she managed to glance up to see Malik hovering beside her, looking pale.

“That's not fair,” Kara protested.

“Hello.” Malik waved his arms and looked perplexed. “What do you think I've been trying to tell you all? Being bound by a sahir isn't like a visit to a bunny farm, where you just hand in your powers for a couple of days and go off and cuddle some little rabbits. You are completely under her control, and if she tells you to go and jump off a roof, then you will be asking which one,” Malik concluded as Kara and Harvey's faces simultaneously drained of color.

“So if Melissa says that Sophie has to sing, then she has to sing?” Harvey demanded, as he looked around at all the people who were milling around their lockers.

“Just do what she asked you to do, and then you will feel better,” Malik said, and Sophie let out a small groan before she finally opened her mouth and started to sing her favorite Neanderthal Joe song at the top of her very off-key voice.

This was obviously going to be tougher than Sophie thought.

A
RE YOU SURE MELISSA'S EVEN ALLOWED TO DO
that?” Harvey demanded as they quickly made their way to class. Sophie tried to avoid noticing the way kids were looking at her (while almost wishing that this really was a scene from
High School Musical
, just so her impromptu singing session wouldn't have been quite so out of place). “I mean, shouldn't there be some kind of sahir code of ethics or something?”

“Like I keep telling you, Sophie's bound to Melissa, which means she's completely under her control,” Malik reminded them. “In fact, the only good thing about this whole situation—”

“There's something good about this?” Sophie cut in, her voice a little squeaky. “Did you not just hear me sing? I was like one of those
American Idol
rejects you like to watch on YouTube. It was terrible.”

“Well, yes, it is true that you can't hold a tune,” Malik
agreed. “But what I meant was that at least Melissa doesn't realize the power she has over you, so she has no idea that you will literally do everything she tells you to do.”

“She might not realize that I'm a djinn, but I'm pretty sure that she knows I'm a freak,” Sophie muttered as they made their way to the back of their Spanish class and got out their books. “So what do I do now?”

“Obviously, you need to get the ring back from her before she makes you do anything else embarrassing,” Harvey said before he wrinkled his nose. “Are you sure you mentioned the pus and boils? Because that should've been a very powerful deterrent.”

“Turns out that Melissa laughs in the face of family curses.” Sophie sighed as she tried to shake off just how humiliating the whole singing thing had been.

“I think it's pretty obvious what you have to do,” Kara said. “I mean, she threw away your Eddie Henry guitar pick and is now refusing to give your ring back. You've got to go with Plan B and tell a teacher. And yes, I know that it's not cool to get your boyfriend's twin sister in trouble, but—”

“I can't.” Sophie shook her head. “I stupidly told her that's what I was going to do, and she commanded me not to say a word to any teachers about what had happened.”

“Are you sure she commanded you?” Malik puckered his brow, and Sophie nodded her head.

“I think so. I mean, there were no stabbing pains or
anything, but I couldn't move my feet. At all. It was like I had concrete sneakers on.”

“Yup,” Malik agreed. “That's a command all right. You know, for a novice who doesn't even realize she's a sahir, you've got to admit that Melissa's got a natural flair for it.”

They all turned and stared at him, but before Sophie could comment, Señor Rena walked into the room and told everyone to start work on their plurals. Sophie vaguely listened to what he was saying, but for the most part she was too busy trying to figure out a way to get her ring back. Especially since she could not afford another singing episode in the middle of the hallway. The only good news in the whole humiliating debacle was that Jonathan hadn't been around to witness it.

Then she sat up straight as she realized she had the perfect solution. Jonathan. Why hadn't she thought of him sooner? He had specifically invited her to watch him play today (hence why she was wearing her favorite jeans and a cute gray blouse). Not that her outfit really mattered; the point was that Jonathan could help her. Even though Malik had said yesterday that Melissa had to give the ring back of her own free will, the more Sophie thought about it, the more convinced she was that somehow Jonathan could persuade his sister to do the right thing.

Plus, Melissa had only commanded her not to speak to teachers about it. There had been no mention at all of Jonathan, which meant she was free to tell him everything
that his evil twin sister had been up to. Including the fact that she had thrown away Eddie Henry's guitar pick. She knew Jonathan would appreciate the offense in that.

Sophie was so lost in thought as she visualized Jonathan's horrified expression that she hardly noticed the bell had rung. It wasn't until Harvey nudged her that she finally got to her feet. A goofy expression lingered on her face as she filled her friends in on the new plan.

“Do you really think this will work?” Kara asked, while next to them Harvey and Malik were bickering over who should get the last M&M. “I mean, I know they're twins, but how can he make her do something she doesn't want to do? And how are you going to ask him without telling him the truth?”

“I don't know, but I'll have to figure it out, because there's no way I can let Melissa boss me around anymore,” Sophie said in a firm voice as they made their way to the gymnasium along with half the school. Her eyes scanned the area, finally locating Jonathan at the far end of the court.

As usual he looked all sorts of gorgeous, even despite the fact that Robert Robertson Middle School sport colors were cat-vomit yellow and old-person lilac. As soon as he saw her he gave her a wave, and Sophie felt the tension in her heart ease up as she returned his smile. After the match she would talk to Jonathan, and he would help her get the ring back. Perhaps he would even touch her hand again?

Then she realized that Malik was looking at her oddly, and she felt her face flush. Could djinn ghosts read minds? She certainly hoped not.

“Now I know why we never normally come to these things,” Harvey complained as he tried to squeeze past everyone to try to find seats. “Because this crowd is crazy.”

“And the other reason we don't come is because we don't like basketball,” Kara reminded him.

“How can you not like basketball?” Malik demanded as he floated along next to them. “I mean, it's so athletic, yet skillful. And of course, the dance routines are always catchy…. What? Why are you all looking at me like that?”

“No reason.” Harvey looked like he was manfully resisting the urge to laugh. “Though I think you might find that this game is slightly different.” Then he leaned forward and widened his eyes. “Hey, Soph, I think that Jonathan is waving for you to go down and see him on the court.”

“Really?” Sophie jumped to her feet and started to wish her hair would be less flat before suddenly remembering that she had no magic. Instead, she had to content herself with fluffing it manually before she hurried down to where Jonathan was standing. As she went, Malik gave her one final warning not to let Melissa command her to do any more singing. Well, that was a given.

“Hey.” Jonathan shot her an adorable grin. “I'm glad you came.”

“Of course I came,” Sophie said, before another player suddenly appeared and dragged Jonathan over to where the whole team was in a huddle in the middle of the court. Jonathan gave a rueful shrug. Sophie was just about to turn back to join her friends in the bleachers when Ben Griggs and his giant shoulders suddenly blocked her path.

Unlike Jonathan, he wasn't wearing his basketball gear, and now that she noticed it, he wasn't smiling either. “Campbell, you should never have given the guitar pick to Melissa. She's totally screwed up its mojo, and it doesn't work anymore. I mean, I failed my Spanish quiz, and now I can't play for the rest of the term unless I pass the make-up quiz tomorrow. Maybe that Neanderthal Joe dude gave you something else I could touch?”

“Look, Ben, this isn't a good time,” Sophie said. Not just because the game was about to start and she wanted to watch Jonathan play, but because if Melissa saw them talking, she would no doubt blow a fuse. Which was bad enough when she was just plain mean, but now that she actually had control over Sophie as well, it would be disastrous. However, before she could get rid of him she caught sight of Melissa bearing down on them. She was dressed in her cheerleading uniform, and even her pom-poms looked angry. Sophie gulped.

“Oh, what have we here? It's our very own Mariah Carey,” Melissa said, her syrupy voice at odds with the hard expression on her face. “So are you going to sing for us again? Or maybe you will dance this time? Because
I'm thinking it would be pretty funny if—”

“Actually,” Sophie quickly cut her off, remembering Malik's warning not to let Melissa give her any commands (especially any that involved a potentially embarrassing situation in front of the entire school). “I was just telling Ben how nice your hair looked today.”

“Really?” Melissa paused for a moment and shot Ben a hopeful smile. Unfortunately, he totally ignored her. Sophie was guessing that this wasn't a good sign.

“I've got to go,” Ben muttered. “Since someone screwed up Sophie's good-luck charm, now if I ever want to play basketball again, I'm going to need to find some moron to explain what my Spanish quiz is all about. I'll know who to blame if I fail it for a second time.”

“See.” Melissa waited until Ben had stalked off before concentrating her icy glaze back on Sophie again. “He totally thinks this is my fault. You've jinxed me.”

“I'm sorry, but you can't blame me for what a guitar pick does or doesn't do,” Sophie protested as she wiped her brow and tried to figure out how things had managed to get so complicated. “Now can we please just talk about my ring? I really need it back.”

“You know, the more I think about it, the more I'm starting to realize there must be something special about this ring,” Melissa suddenly said as she put her hand into her pocket and pulled out a familiar-looking apple-shaped rhinestone-encrusted ring. Sophie widened her eyes. Her
ring. Part of her longed simply to reach out and grab it, but then she remembered Malik's words about free will.
Whoever had invented that stupid rule obviously hadn't met Melissa Tait.