Free The Magic Touch by Jody Lynn Nye Page A

hand, and swept him straight through the door.
    “Whhoooaaa-eeeee!” the boy howled, first in surprise, then delight as the solid wood swallowed him up. Ray followed, more slowly, but smiling. When he emerged on the stoop, Peter was beaming.
    “That was great!” he cried, reaching back to touch the door panel. It was solid. “Wow! Can we do that again?”
    “Not until we bring you home,” Rose said. “Come on. I want a double-dip cone.”
    Peter jogged alongside Ray and Rose on the way up the street, babbling and laughing. Ray thought Rose was right. The boy just needed somebody to talk to, not a big magical wonder. Once he’d been able to share his woes with somebody, the ice was broken, and he was a normal, happy little boy once more. Peter ate a gigantic sundae at the ice-cream stand, and raced Ray back to the house, almost winning until Ray opened up his long stride and outpaced him in the last few yards. When they reached the house the lights were on inside on the upper floor.
    “My folks are home from the movies,” Peter said, looking up at the windows.
    “Are you gonna get in trouble?” Ray asked.
    Peter looked up at Ray sidelong, with a wicked glint in his eyes. “Naw. I’m allowed to go out by myself. I can tell ’em that I went out with my fairy godparents.”
    “If you like, you can tell them all about it,” Rose said briskly, taking all the joy out of revealing forbidden information. Peter looked crestfallen. Rose bent down to look him straight in the eye. “Peter, are you feeling better now?”
    The boy thought seriously for a moment. “Yeah, I guess so,” he said.
    “Good,” Rose said. “You may need your miracle later on. I could see just by looking at you that this was not it.” Handing her wand to Ray, she opened her purse and dug through the contents until she found a square of white pasteboard. “Here. This is my card. Keep it. One day you’ll call me.”
    “Okay,” Peter said dubiously, taking the small white square. “Uh, thanks. I had a good time with you guys.” Rose beamed and patted the boy’s cheek.
    “Well, what’s a fairy godmother for?”
    The boy started to go up the stairs, then turned, his eyes appealing and puppylike.
    “Hey, can we go through the door one more time?” Rose shrugged, but not at all reluctantly.
    “Why not?” She and Ray each took one of Peter’s hands. Together, they whisked him up in the air and carried him through the solid panel. Peter’s round eyes were almost popping out of his head when they got into the hallway. He let out the big breath he’d been holding, and whispered, “Thanks!”
    “Don’t mention it,” Rose said, with a swift glance up the inner staircase to see if anyone was coming down. She nodded to Ray, and led him into the front room. Once there, she stepped out through the window.
    Uncertainly, Ray took his own wand out of his pocket and followed her. The first step was the hardest. Wall-walking he’d done, but window-walking felt different. The intersection of the glass with his body had a sharper feel than wood, and the panes sang as his body passed through. Rose waited for him, standing on the air six feet above the ground. Ray hoped the little training wand had the necessary pfft to keep him from plummeting six feet into the grassy square full of broken glass and cigarette butts. He stepped out after her, bracing himself. The air, though spongy, held his weight, and the magic slowly lowered them to the pavement. Ray let his shoulders sag with relief. He looked up toward the window when Rose did to wave good-bye. Peter was glued to the glass, his mouth gaping open.
    “Was an exit like that necessary?” Raymond asked, turning on Rose as they walked away toward the main street. “You scared me half to death!”
    “It’s so he’ll call me,” Rose said confidently. “If I didn’t do something like that, what do you think will happen tomorrow morning when he thinks about what happened? He’ll think he