Free Out of Sight by Amanda Ashby Page B

Harvey yelped in unison, their faces matching masks of horror. Kara added, “Why didn’t you tell us about this first?”
    â€œBecause I knew that you would both freak out and start making faces. See.” Sophie pointed to them both as proof.
    â€œYes, well, we’re making faces because it is a very bad idea,” Kara retorted. “A very, very bad idea. After all, if Mr. Rivers can keep a djinn in his basement, then there’s no saying what else could be in there.”
    â€œPlus, don’t forget that he has very strange body language,” Harvey added. “I still haven’t figured out if he’s a serial killer or has an eating disorder, but there’s definitely something weird about him.”
    â€œLook, you guys, I don’t want to do it, either. Especially since I’m supposed to be going shopping with Kara at the mall.”
    â€œSo don’t do it,” Kara immediately replied. “Just tell your mom that you can’t cancel because it’s a fashion emergency. I mean, I could totally buy the wrong outfit if you’re not there.”
    â€œOf course you won’t,” Sophie assured her, since her friend, who was tall and willowy, tended to look amazing in pretty much anything she put on. Paint-splattered clothes included.
    â€œYes, but that doesn’t change the fact that Mr. Rivers is evil,” Harvey pointed out. “So if you just mention it to your mom, I’m sure she’ll change her mind. I mean, she’s hardly going to make you babysit for someone evil.”
    â€œI know it’s not ideal, but Mr. Rivers has been helping her out loads lately with her pottery business. Plus, he had no idea that Malik was trapped in a vase in his basement,” Sophie protested as the bus pulled into Robert Robertson Middle School and they all scrambled out. “Besides, it actually helps me with the tricky problem of how to explain to my mom that I could afford my new outfit for the anniversary party when she knows that I only have three bucks in my bank account. The important thing to remember is that Malik said that flying was going really well and that I should be ready in time.”
    Thankfully, that seemed to keep her friends happy, and Sophie spent the rest of the day dreaming of what it would be like to see her dad again. When he left she had been only seven. Back then she couldn’t even pronounce her
th
sounds properly, but now, not only was she four years older, but she was also a djinn.
The only djinn to have created Solomon’s Elixir.
    By the time the final bell rang, Sophie was buzzing with excitement. Not least since at lunch Kara had received a text message from Malik to say that he finally had a lead on Manny and he would BITSYFC, which they had finally decided must mean
be in touch soon you funky chickens.
    Soon. It would all be okay soon.
    Then she caught sight of her mom’s old Toyota pulling into the parking lot and she ran over.
    â€œYou look happy,” her mom said as she headed toward Mr. Rivers’s house. “And while I’d like to believe it’s because you’re looking forward to babysitting Ryan today, I have the feeling it’s something else.”
    â€œOf course I’m looking forward to babysitting Ryan,” Sophie assured her mom quite truthfully; now that she could turn herself invisible, Ryan would be getting a nasty shock if he tried to bite her and she just disappeared. After all, if it worked at school, then it was sure to work on a six-year-old kid.
    â€œWell, I’m pleased that at least one of my daughters is happy,” her mom continued as she pulled out into the traffic and started to drive down King Avenue.
    â€œAre you sure there’s something wrong with Meg? I mean, the girl loves sharks—maybe it’s just part of her weirdly gruesome nature?”
    â€œI don’t think so,” her mom said as she turned left onto Meadow Lane and