The class erupted into giggles, and Elodie did something I'd never seen her do: she turned bright red and actually sputtered in her attempt to come up with a serious put-down.
Ms. East chose that moment to shout, "Miss Mercer! Miss Parris!
Back to work!"
Smiling, I turned back to my dress. But the feeling of triumph was immediately deflated by the bright blue disaster in front of me.
"Does your magic feel off or anything?" Jenna asked softly.
"No, it feels the same as always. Water rushing up from my feet and all that."
"What?" Anna sneered, propping a hand on her hip. " How does your magic feel?"
"Uh . . . like something coming up from underneath me," I said, rushing to get the words out.
"That's not what magic feels like," Anna said.
I glanced around and saw that there were a few other witches staring at me in confusion.
"Magic comes from above," Anna continued. "It feels like something falling over you, like . . ."
"Snow," Elodie finished.
My face was hot when I turned back to my dummy. "I guess mine is just different, then."
I heard some whispers, but I ignored them.
"You'll get it," Jenna said, shooting Anna a dirty look.
"Oh, I know I'm gonna get better," I told her, running a hand over the tulle bustle in the back of the dress. (A bustle? Screw you, magical powers.)
"This is the dress I'm making for you."
"Oh, really?" she asked, her smile widening.
"Yeah, we'll probably have to hem it, though. Don't want it dragging on the floor."
She playfully smacked my arm with the back of her hand, and before I knew it, we were laughing.
I spent the rest of the class attempting to make the ugliest dresses possible, which was only funny to me and Jenna. I lost count of how many times Ms. East threatened to throw us out of class, and Elodie rolled her eyes so much that Jenna finally asked if she was having a seizure. This made us laugh so hard that Ms. East finally did kick us out, and gave us both a seven-
page essay to write on the history of clothing spells.
I didn't care. To have Jenna laughing again, I would have written a hundred pages.
"I don't know what changed," I told Alice later that night as we moved through the forest, picking mint for some spell that could slow time. "One minute she was the same sulky Jenna she's been for the past month, the next we were friends again."
Alice didn't say anything, so I said, "Isn't that great?"
"I suppose."
"You suppose?" I said, mocking her accent.
She straightened and glared at me. "It's just that I don't approve of your having a vampire for a bosom companion. It's beneath you."
I laughed. "Oh my God, beneath me? Come on."
Alice sighed as she shoved another bunch of leaves into the small leather sack she'd conjured. "Your friends are your concern, Sophia. I'll try to respect that. Now tell me about this party you have coming up."
I bent down to pick another bunch of mint. "It's a ball, actually. For
Halloween. It should be awesome. Especially since I can't manage to make a dress that doesn't completely suck. Oh, and--bonus--I get to suffer through watching a girl I despise be totally beautiful and seduce a guy I like. Should be good times."
"Elodie?"
I nodded.
Alice scowled. "I don't care for that girl. She's been quite hateful toward you. Undoubtedly because your powers are so superior to her own.
There are few things more abhorrent to me than a weak witch."
"Wow, tell me what you really think."
Alice blinked at me. "I just did."
"Forget it. It's just so unfair that she's such a heinous person, but her dress spell has turned out so beautifully. She's going to look amazing."
And have sex with Archer, I added silently.
I'd forgotten Alice could read my mind. "Oh. Is Archer that boy you fancy?"
There was no use in denying that I "fancied" him. I nodded.
"Humph," Alice replied. "Why not just use a love charm on him?
They're frightfully simple."
I shoved some more mint into my bag. "Because I . . . Look, this sounds stupid, but I really like him, and I don't want him to like me back if it's just, like, some spell."
I thought Alice might argue with me, but she just shrugged and said, "Attraction has its own magic, I suppose."
"Yeah, well, there's probably no chance of him ever being attracted to me. I thought maybe at the ball . . . but I can't even make a decent dress."
I turned to Alice. "Why is it that when I'm out here with you, I can do completely kick-ass spells, but when I'm in the school, everything I do blows up in my face?"
"Confidence?" she suggested. "You feel unsure of yourself in that school, and it's reflected in your magic."
"Maybe."
We continued picking plants for a while until Alice said, "You say this girl's dress is beautiful?"
I sighed. "It's perfect."
Alice smiled, and in the light from the orb, I could swear her teeth actually gleamed.
"Would you like to change that?"
Classes were canceled the day of the ball, and since it was another one of those beautiful, clear October days, nearly everybody spent it outside.
Everybody but me. Well, me and Jenna. Even with her bloodstone, she wasn't the biggest fan of the outdoors. She was curled up in her usual spot, on her bed, covered with her throw, and a manga in her hand.
I sat on my bed staring at my stupid dress dummy, which was still wearing the pillowcase. I'd spent most of the morning trying to turn it into something at least halfway presentable, and had had absolutely no luck. I couldn't figure it out; I knew I wasn't the world's best witch, but a transformation spell just should not have been this hard. True, I'd never attempted anything as elaborate before, but I should have at least been able to make a little black dress. But even that had turned out shapeless, with a crooked hem to boot.
I sighed, and Jenna exclaimed, "Damn, Sophie, I'm supposed to be the moper. What is your problem?"
"This freaking dress." I pointed at the offending object. "Nothing I do works."
Jenna shrugged. "So don't go."
I glared at her. Jenna wasn't going to the ball, so she didn't understand why I so badly wanted to go. I didn't really understand why I wanted to go either, although it probably had a lot to do with Archer in a tux.
I didn't want to tell Jenna that, though. "It's not the ball; it's the principle of the thing. I should be able to do this spell. It's just not that hard."
"Maybe somebody cursed your dummy," she joked, turning back to her manga.
My hand sneaked into my pocket and closed around the small object that seemed to be burning a hole there.
When Alice suggested doing a spell on Elodie's dress, I had initially said no way. "I could get kicked out for doing magic on another student," I'd told her.
"But it wouldn't be you," Alice argued. "It would be me. You would just be the carrier, as it were."
That had made sense, and I have to admit I'd felt a little giddy when
Alice had reached into her pocket and pulled out a tiny bone, probably from a bird. Alice having bones in her pocket probably should've freaked me out, but by that point I was used to Alice's weirdness. Like the necklace that first night, the bone glowed softly in her hands. She'd smiled as she gave it to me.
"Just slip this into the hem of her dress."
"Do I need to say any special words or anything?"
"No. The bone will know what to do."
I remembered those words now as I fingered the small, smooth bone.
I'd had it for a week, and I still hadn't used it. Alice had promised that the bone would only turn Elodie's dress some horrible color when Elodie put it on, and that didn't sound too bad. Still, I was worried. Every spell I'd ever tried to do on another person had gone badly, and even though I didn't like