Read Online Under a Spell by Amanda Ashby - Free Book Online Page A

over again?”
    â€œYes, but that was before I started learning how to do all this new fancy stuff. I have much better powers of concentration now. Besides, it isn’t going to be anything too big. Just a few twirls and high kicks,” Sophie assured him before she turned to Malik. “So, is that something I can manage?”
    â€œI guess so.” Malik reluctantly nodded. “But remember that concentration is everything. If you lose focus and your wish goes awry, then you could find yourself in the middle of a crowded bazaar wearing only a piece of fabric that you had to steal from a blind beggar while all of your
supposed
friends laugh at a certain part of your anatomy in a very unkind way.”
    For a moment all three of them just stared at him before Sophie coughed. “Er, Malik, have you ever heard of the phrase ‘too much information’?”
    â€œOh, right. Was that inappropriate?” he said, and Sophie nodded her head.
    â€œA little bit,” Kara told him in a kindhearted voice before turning back to Sophie, concern still covering her face. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”
    â€œOf course I am.” Sophie grinned. “And it just goes to prove how amazing the Universe is. I mean, I had a problem, and after doing some positive thinking, the mostperfect solution suddenly landed in my lap. It would be wrong if I didn’t follow it through.” Then, without another word, she jogged over to the sign-up sheets and scribbled her name down. Had she mentioned that this was the best idea ever?

7
    L ATER THAT AFTERNOON SOPHIE REALIZED THAT there was one small kink in her perfect plan. Her bedroom. Not that there was anything wrong with her bedroom, apart from the fact that it wasn’t designed to practice cheerleading routines in. Actually, it was a wonder she had never noticed before just how small it was. There was no way she could even attempt to do a high kick, let alone a magically induced backflip.
    Of course, if Malik had been there, she could have asked him if there was a way around the problem, but he had stepped outside an hour ago to take a cell-phone call and she hadn’t seen him since. No points for guessing that he and Eric the Giant were currently watching a production of
The Wizard of Oz
somewhere. Which meant she was going to have to figure this one out on her own.
    She chewed her lip and was just trying to decide what to do when there was a knock on her door. A moment later her mom appeared.
    â€œI just wanted to see how the history assignment’s going,”her mom said. As usual she was wearing one of Sophie’s dad’s old shirts, her straight blonde hair was tied up in a messy knot, and there was a smudge of clay on her nose.
    â€œAll done.” Sophie held up the assignment that she’d zapped up earlier. Three weeks ago her mom would’ve just believed her, but thanks to a few ups and downs after her djinn magic had first come through, these days her mom wanted cold, hard evidence. If only her space problem was so easily solved. Then she realized her mom was still looking at her, and Sophie felt a stab of panic. “I-is everything okay?”
    â€œYes, everything’s fine. Well, apart from the leak in my studio. I discovered it this morning and have spent most of the day moving my stock down into the basement in case it rains. Unfortunately, the basement’s now full, so I was hoping you could move some of the old boxes of junk up to the garage for the thrift store to collect. I’m already so far behind on this order, and I really need to get it glazed this afternoon.”
    Sophie was about to make some excuse, since moving boxes from the basement was her least favorite job ever (not because she was trying to be unhelpful, but because for some reason known only to bug experts, there were about a zillion spiders in her basement, and not one of them was nice and friendly like Charlotte). However, she