Page 22 of Mistaken Magic

"Theinternet,"Iadmitted. "Samewith tigers, butI'mnot about to feed one ofthose."Ialmost left it there, butIcouldn't help myself. "Mr.Sparks?Liamsaid something about a problem boy that stayed here.Didhe feed the birds or something?"

Theman's jaw clenched. "No.Hedid a lot of other things, but the birds weren't one.Thatboy caused enough damage, we're still paying off the loans to fix it."

"IpromiseI'lltry not to cause problems all weekend,"Isaid softly. "Ijust really want to go to this school."

"Sure, butIneed you to do something for me," he countered. "I'mgoing to close this door, andIneed you to open it from the inside soIcan see if the lock's working."

"Ok."Iclimbed off the bed, struggling not to smile at the foolishness of his cover story.

Mr.Sparksstepped back and closed the door, then said through the wood, "Ok, can you open it?"

Iturned the knob and pulled it wide. "Yeah.Ithink your latch might be broken?Itdoesn't even click."

"Isee.Well, then there's no sense in changing it back until you're gone.Liamis out getting you a few books to entertain you for the next day or so.Heshould be back shortly."

ThenMr.Sparkssimply turned and hurried toward the stairs.Helooked like he was retreating, and doing everything in his power not to run to his wife and tell her the iron knob was pointless.Theman was clearly insane.Whatdid he think, thatIwas some kind of monster or something?Thefunniest part was how he assumedIwas the crazy one.

Thistime, whenIwent back to my things, it was to pack up the new stuffI'dbrought home.Myuniforms went on the bottom.Thebox with my new shoes went in the nylon bag.SinceMr.Sparkshad cleaned me out, there was plenty of room for all of it.Istill wanted to wring the man's neck for that.Oneweek, andI'dprobably just lost half of my belongings.

Noneof this was fair.Nota single bit made sense.

I'djust turned to the closet to check for anything elseImight've missed when a soft rap sounded at my door.Ileaned back to seeLiamstanding there, holding a set of three books.Fromthe pictures on the covers,Iknew he'd gotten me exactly whatI'dasked for.Thiswas the original trilogy, whichIloved more than anything else.Itshould keep me from going insane beforeIleft here.

"Thankyou,UncleLiam,"Isaid.

Hejerked his chin at my room. "CanIcome in?"

Iscoffed. "You'rethe first person to actually ask sinceIcame here.Sure."

Liamstepped in and pushed the door closed behind him. "Threebooks."Hecame around the corner, then paused. "Whatare you doing in the closet?"

"Uh, making sureIdidn't miss anythingIneed to pack.Imean, ifIdo it now, then, you know, if something opens up sooner..."

"Inthe closet?" he asked again.

"Whatthe hell,Liam?It'sa closet!"Iwaved at the still open door. "Iwas kinda hoping your brother had stuffed the bag of my 'inappropriate' clothes in here instead of throwing them out.Hedidn't, but that was my thought."

"Whatinappropriate clothes?"Liamasked.

"Ablack long-sleeve,"Isaid, ticking it off on my fingers. "Therewas also a pink tank that said 'PrettyGirl' on it.Um,Iknow there were a couple pairs of jeans with holes.Youknow, the distressed kind."

Liamreached up to scrub his face. "Yeah.Inother words, nothing inappropriate.Fairenough."Thenhe set the books on the table beside my bed, pausing again. "Isthis yours?"

Itwas the little metal dog. "Nope.Thefirst nightIwas here,Mr.Sparkscame in whileIwas supposed to be sleeping and left that.Hechecked the picture frame over there and something else too."

SoLiamwent to look.Themoment he touched the frame, he let out a heavy sigh. "Somesuperstitions say iron wards off evil spirits," he explained. "Messeswith the magnetic attraction of them or something.Iguess he thought he was giving you good luck charms."

"Right."BecauseIgot the impressionLiamdidn't believe that any more thanIdid.

Theweak laugh he offered provedIwas right. "Rain,Iknow all of this seems crazy.Ipromise it will make sense, butIwant you to do something for me."

"Ok..."Thatsounded ominous.

"Takethe weekend and think about this.Askyourself if you truly want to go to this school.Ifyou're ready to have everything you know turned upside down - and your education will likely be twice as hard."

"Idon't care how hard it is,"Iinsisted. "Liam,Ijust want out of here.Maybemost kids want to be lazy, butI'vealways known that the only person who can give me a future is myself.College?Really?You'reoffering me the one thingI'vealways wanted."

"Rain, this is going to be more difficult than you think."

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