ten

Austin’s glassy eyes looked so sad. April sighed as Austin hung his head. She collapsed to her knees to get closer to him.

“It didn’t work.” She picked Austin up and held him with both hands. “I’m sorry, Austin,” she whispered in his ear. She kissed his head, and the lump in her throat grew bigger and bigger.

Swallowing hard, she dropped onto the bed, tears falling from her eyes.

Her glasses were dripping, and her tears wet Austin’s head. She put him on the bed. He lay down with a sigh, turned his head away, and covered his face with his paws. She dried her glasses with her shirt.

What have I done? I’m such a super horrible sister. How come it didn’t work? Why can I make some things happen but not this one little—well not so little—thing happen? What if I never get him back?

Grace’s eyes darted from the open closet door to the window to the bedroom door. She was feverishly tapping a pen on her desk. She always had that focused look when she was thinking hard about something.

“Oops. I forgot to close that closet door,” April said, putting her glasses back on.

BAM! The closet door slammed shut. April held her breath. She and Grace looked at each other. Neither of them blinked.

“What! What just happened?” Grace whispered.

“OMG . . . oh my . . . that keeps happening.” April looked down at the ground. Geez, I thought me turning on the fan by just thinking about it the other day was just a fluke.

“What do you mean ‘that’?” Grace asked, using her fingers as quotation marks.

“I keep thinking about something small . . . like . . . like turning on the fan or closing the door. Then, poof! The door closed on its own. You saw it . . .”

Grace took a deep breath. “April, I have an idea. But you have to trust me.”

April stared at Grace. “Ok.”

“You know the new girl in school, Eve?” Grace asked.

“Yeah. Eve LaRue, right? She rides our bus. Eve was a few rows away from Austin and me this afternoon.”

“She may be able to help us.”

“How?” April raised one eyebrow.

“Well, she told me something,” Grace whispered. “Remember, that day last week when you were sick? I ate lunch with Eve. I asked her where she was from. She said Nor Leans, Louisiana. She said her dad got a new job, so that’s why they moved up here.”

“I wish you would have introduced us before,” said April. “Then, I would have sat with her on the bus. And, NONE of this would have happened. Austin wouldn’t have been making fun of my glasses, I wouldn’t be thinking about maybe being a witch, and I wouldn’t be freaking out about my mom and dad finding me with Austin—who’s a DOG!”

“Chillax, April. Try to—”

“Sorry. I am trying to chill out and relax.” April threw her head back and let out a loud sigh.

“So . . .” Grace continued, “when I got home, I was bored. I searched online about Nor Leans, Louisiana. I found out that a lot of French people live there. And it has a weird spelling N-E-W O-R-L-E-A-N-S.”

April smiled. “Thanks for the social studies report.”

“AND,” Grace continued, “a lot of witches live there.”

April rolled her eyes and jumped off the bed. “Boy, you can tell long stories,” she mumbled under her breath. She started playing with the nose of one of the teddy bears sitting on top of Grace’s bookshelf. He was brown. His fur was mostly soft with a few spots. He looked as if she had fallen asleep on him a few times with her mouth open.

“So, the next day at gym,” Grace continued, “I asked Eve about New Orleans and I told her about what I found online. Then, Eve whispered in my ear that her grandma was a witch doctor.”

“Really!” April looked at Grace, wide-eyed in amazement.

Grace nodded. “Yep.”

“OK?” April stopped walking around her room and shrugged. “So, how does that help us now? What should I do?”