Free So You Want to Be a Wizard, New Millennium Edition by Diane Duane Page B

made her think that maybe saying what was on her mind hadn’t been so stupid after all. Joanne’s shock at what must have looked like Nita’s cockiness didn’t last. A second later she was smiling again. “The first eye getting better too fast, Callahan?” she said slowly. “Prefer to always have a matching pair? That can be arranged.”
    Nita swallowed. “No, just the pen, thanks.”
    “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Joanne said, and then grinned. “Guess all the blunt objects you keep running your face into have started messing up the inside of your skull. Not that it wasn’t already pretty messed up to begin with, geek girl.” Behind her, her crew snickered.
    “I had a space pen on me the other day when you jumped me, and it was gone afterward. One of you took it, and I want it back.” Nita was shaking worse than ever, but she was also surprised that the fist hadn’t hit yet. They’re having too much fun. Don’t escalate this too fast, keep it going… And there over Joanne’s shoulder was a flicker, a pinpoint of light, hardly to be seen, looking at her.
    Don’t react. Make me a picture of the thing now.
    “What makes you think I’d want anything of yours? ” Joanne was saying, still with that smile. “Your family’s way too downmarket to ever afford to get you anything cool. We did you a favor, busting that lame MP3 player you were running around with—”
    Nita looked straight at her and thought about the pen. Silver barrel, grooved all around the lower half to keep the user’s fingers from slipping. Her initials engraved on it. Hers , her pen.
    Enough. Now then—
    “But you know, now that I think of it, I do remember finding a pen on the ground somewhere last week. Did I even keep it, or did I just throw it out like the piece of junk it was?” Joanne was enjoying this so much that she actually flipped open the top of her backpack and began rummaging around. “Let’s see. …Oh, look here!”
    She came up with something. Silver barrel, grooved—and Nita went hot again, not with embarrassment this time. “Give it to me!”
    “Come get it,” Joanne said, dropping her backpack, keeping her smile, holding the pen back a little, cocking the other fist. “And I’ll fix your eye makeup at the same time — ”
    Which was when a spark of white light seemed to light on the end of the pen as Joanne held it up. Then both were gone with a pop and a breath of air.
    Joanne spun, thinking one of her gang had plucked it out of her fingers. “Where’d it go?”
    Her crew stared at her, dumbfounded.
    Joanne whirled on Nita. Nita smiled and just shrugged with her hands held out, empty.
    Joanne stepped in close. “What’d you just pull, you little creeper? Where is it?”
    Nita took a few hurried steps back, unable to stop grinning even though she knew she was going to get hit. Heads were turning all around the schoolyard at the prospect of a fight. “That’s it,” Joanne hissed, while behind her one or two of her toadies were pulling out their phones, “somebody better call nine one one because you’re gonna need the paramedics in a minute — ”
    The eight-thirty bell went off so suddenly they both jumped. Joanne stared at Nita for a long long moment, then turned and went to pick up her backpack. “Then again, why rush?” she said, straightening. “Hope you like sleeping here, Callahan. Because when you try to leave…”
    She walked off toward the doors with her gang trailing behind her. Nita stood where she was, still shaking, but with amazement and triumph as much as with fear. Kit came up beside her when Joanne was gone, and Fred appeared, a bright point between them.
    “You were great!” Kit said.
    “I’m gonna get killed tonight,” Nita said, but she couldn’t be terrified about it just yet. “Fred, you got it?”
    The point of light was flickering, and there was something about the way it did so that made Nita wonder if something was wrong. Yes, Fred said, the