Revenge of the Invisible Boy Read online

  Eduardo stared at the empty bottle in my hand and didn’t say anything.

  I heard Ari’s footsteps upstairs. He called out something to his mother.

  I jumped up and darted across the room. I jammed the plastic bottle into my coat pocket.

  I started to toss the jacket back onto the couch. But my magic wand fell out of the other pocket. It hit the floor and rolled across the linoleum.

  I was picking it up when Ari came back down the stairs, followed by Buster. “What are you doing with the wand?” Ari demanded. “Are you sure you’re ready for a pointy stick? You might poke your eye out.” He laughed at his own bad joke.

  “Not funny,” I said. “You’re the one who isn’t ready. We’re getting you a training wand!”

  Melody and Eduardo laughed. Ari just scowled.

  I sat down and placed the wand beside my cupcake plate. Buster licked my hand some more. I didn’t try to push him away. I was too busy concentrating on Ari’s lemonade glass.

  Go ahead. Drink it. Drink it …

  Ari reached for his glass.

  I sucked in a deep breath and held it.

  Before Ari could drink, Buster jumped up. The big dog snapped his teeth open and grabbed my magic wand off the table.

  “Hey—stop!” I cried. I swiped at it. Missed.

  Buster took off, running across the rec room. I hurtled after him. “Stop him. He’ll chew it to bits.”

  Melody and Eduardo came darting after me. I dove at him. Tried to wrap my arms around his neck. But he dodged to the side, and I stumbled into the couch.

  The dog stared at me, the wand locked tightly between his teeth. I knew he was playing with me. But I was in no mood to play. Besides, the wand had cost thirty-five dollars!

  Buster scampered along the far wall. Melody and Eduardo had him cornered. Eduardo grabbed the end of the wand.

  “Careful!” I cried. “Don’t pull it too hard. It’ll break.”

  Buster gave up the game. He opened his jaws and let the wand slide out. Eduardo pulled it carefully away from him and handed it to me.

  “Yuck!” I cried. “It’s covered in dog slobber.”

  Ari laughed. He hadn’t moved from the table. “Buster wants to be a magician, too. He could probably teach you some tricks, Frankie.”

  Grumbling to myself, I wiped the wand off on the leg of my jeans. The three of us took our places at the table.

  “This is an awesome meeting,” Ari said. “We should name Buster president of the club!” He laughed.

  I gazed at Ari’s lemonade glass. It was time to get this going. The dog was trying to ruin my big plan.

  I raised my glass high. “Cheers, everyone!” I said.

  The others raised their glasses. “Cheers!”

  We all drank. The lemonade was cold and sweet.

  Ari drank his glass all the way down without taking a breath.

  No one spoke. I clasped my hands tightly together in my lap. Melody, Eduardo, and I didn’t move. We watched Ari. And waited … waited for the formula to do its thing.

  I realized I was holding my breath. I let it out slowly, keeping my eyes on Ari.

  He smiled at me and twirled his empty lemonade glass between his hands.

  Ari—disappear! I thought. Why aren’t you disappearing?

  Mystical Marvin vanished in a flash.

  Ari’s smile stayed frozen on his face. He tapped his glass on the tabletop. His eyes were locked on mine.

  “I overheard your plan,” he said finally.

  I squinted at him. “Excuse me?”

  “I didn’t take Buster outside. I waited upstairs and listened to you. I heard you were going to put something in my lemonade. Something to make me disappear.”

  My breath caught in my throat. “But—”

  “So, guess what, Frankie?” Ari said. “When you chased after Buster and your magic wand, I switched glasses with you.”

  “No!” I cried. “No way!”

  Melody and Eduardo turned to me. Their eyes grew wide.

  “Frankie? Where are you?” Melody cried.

  Eduardo pointed at me with a trembling finger. “You—you—” he sputtered.

  “Huh?” I glanced down. Where are my hands?

  Where are my legs? Where is my BODY?

  I knew what had happened, but I didn’t want to believe it.

  I jumped to my feet, knocking the chair over. It clattered noisily to the floor, but my heart was clattering even louder!

  “I-I’m invisible!” I cried.

  Melody and Eduardo stared openmouthed. They were too shocked and horrified to say anything.

  “Can you hear me?” I demanded in a trembling voice. “I know you can’t see me. But can you hear me?”

  Melody and Eduardo nodded. “We can hear you,” Melody said in a whisper. “But … you’re invisible, Frankie. You’re completely invisible.”

  Ari was still smiling. “Whoa, Frankie! I guess you were right,” he said. “I guess Mystical Marvin’s magic is real after all!” He laughed. “You win!”

  My brain was spinning. I crept up behind Ari and mussed up his hair with both hands.

  “Watch it!” he cried out, and tried to swat me away. But he didn’t even come close.

  “Wow!” I cried. The truth was finally dawning on me. “I really am invisible. This is totally awesome! I can do anything I want!”

  I grabbed Ari’s chair. I tilted it all the way back and sent it crashing to the floor. He screamed and hit the floor hard. “Stop it, you idiot!” he shouted.

  “Come and get me!” I said.

  How awesome is this?

  I sneaked up behind Eduardo and tickled him till he begged me to stop. I hoisted Buster off the floor and dropped him in Melody’s lap.

  The dog whimpered and gazed all around. Even he realized something was seriously weird.

  Ari pulled himself off the floor and stood his chair back on its legs. I darted to the table, raised the glass pitcher high, and poured the lemonade onto Ari’s head.

  The lemonade oozed over his hair, down his forehead, and onto his shirt. Spluttering, he spun around, swinging his fists. But he couldn’t see me. He didn’t come close.

  I tossed back my invisible head and laughed. “Anything! I can do anything! This is so awesome!”

  I picked Ari’s backpack up from beside the couch. I opened it and dumped everything out on the floor.

  Ari screamed angrily and began calling me every name he could think of. I took his baseball cap and jammed it down over his sticky wet head.

  “Aren’t you sorry you traded glasses with me?” I cried.

  Melody jumped to her feet and came walking toward me. “Whoa. Hold on a minute, Frankie,” she said. She was looking the wrong way. I’d already moved to the stairs.

  “What could be more fun than being invisible?” I said. “I’m so glad it wasn’t wasted on Ari.”

  “But just stop for a second,” Melody said. “How long have you been invisible? At least ten minutes, right?”

  “I … guess,” I replied.

  “Well, shouldn’t you be coming back now?” Melody said. “Do you feel yourself coming back to normal?”

  I thought about it. “No. Not really,” I answered finally.

  “So aren’t you just a tiny bit worried?” Melody said. “I mean … what if you never come back?”

  I slumped into one of the big green armchairs across from the couch. “You sure know how to ruin a party,” I said.

  Melody sighed. “Just saying.”

  “The formula will wear off in a few more minutes,” I said. “Remember? Mystical Marvin returned to normal pretty soon after we went backstage.”

  Ari wiped his sticky, wet hair with a cloth napkin from the table. “You never looked better, Frankie. Really.”

  He started to say more, but we heard footsteps on the basement stairs. Ari’s mother poked her head into the rec room. “I came down for the lemonade pitcher and—”

  She stopped. Her mouth drop
ped open. She stared at Ari’s sticky, wet hair. “What happened to you? You spilled the lemonade?”

  “Not exactly,” Ari muttered.

  “We … uh … tried a new magic trick,” Melody said.

  “Yeah. And it didn’t work,” Eduardo chimed in.

  Mrs. Goodwyn rubbed her forehead. “That must have been quite a trick. Where’s Frankie? Did he leave?”

  “Yeah. He disappeared,” Ari said. He glanced at Eduardo and Melody, signaling for them not to say anything.

  “I didn’t see him leave,” Mrs. Goodwyn said.

  “Yeah. He just vanished,” Ari told her. “I think he remembered something he had to do.”

  She placed a hand on Ari’s shoulder, then instantly jerked it away. “Yuck. Your T-shirt is soaked.”

  “It was part of the magic trick,” Ari said. “It was supposed to stay dry. But like I said, the trick was a flop.”

  Mrs. Goodwyn collected the lemonade pitcher and started back up the stairs. “Maybe you guys should stick to card tricks,” she said.

  “That’s what I said!” Melody exclaimed.

  We didn’t talk until we heard her footsteps above us in the kitchen. “Now what?” Melody said. “Frankie, where are you?”

  “I’m sitting right next to you,” I said. I squeezed her wrist. “Can you feel that?”

  She nodded. “Yes. But you’re still invisible.”

  I sighed. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

  “The formula is probably going to wear off any second,” Eduardo said. I told you. He is always the optimist, the cheerful one.

  “Probably,” I said. I jumped to my feet. “Come on. Let’s not sit around and be tense. Let’s have some fun while I’m still invisible.”

  “Fun?” Eduardo said. “What do you mean?”

  They couldn’t see my grin. “Let’s go scare some people!” I said.

  Our bikes lay on their sides, scattered across Ari’s front yard. We jumped on them and took off down the street, heading toward school.

  We whooped and hollered and made sure people saw us coming. And of course, we got an awesome reaction when people saw my bike—appearing to drive itself!

  Horns honked. A blue SUV squealed to a stop and nearly hit a mailbox. People shouted out their car windows.

  “How do you do that?”

  “Hey—that bike is moving on its own! Somebody stop it!”

  “Is that a joke?”

  “Is that a motorbike?”

  “How do you get that bike to go uphill?”

  The four of us laughed and kept rolling.

  Some guys from the high school were crossing the street at the playground. They were tossing a soccer ball back and forth. But they stopped when they saw us.

  They stepped in front of us, forcing us to stop. “That bike doesn’t have a rider,” one of them said. He cradled the soccer ball under his arm and squinted at my bike.

  “Yes it does,” Melody said. “An invisible boy is riding it.”

  The boys laughed. “You’re funny,” a tall dude with short, spiked blond hair said sarcastically. Then he added: “Funny-looking.” I knew him. His name was Richie. He always acted like a total jerk.

  I tugged the soccer ball from his hands. I raised it to the top of his head and made it spin.

  “Hey—!” He grabbed for the ball. But he wasn’t fast enough. I swung the ball away from him. Then I made it spin on top of his friend’s head.

  He grabbed for the ball. But I grabbed it first and tossed it toward the basket.

  They all stared at it in confusion.

  I jumped on my bike and started to pedal. I glanced back and saw their startled looks as my bike appeared to ride off by itself.

  I heard Richie’s words as I rolled away. “Tell the invisible boy if he comes back, I’ll give him an invisible nosebleed.”

  Tough dude.

  Six or seven middle grade kids were playing basketball on the court near the teachers’ parking lot. I pedaled up beside the court and rested my bike against the chain-link fence.

  My three friends caught up with me. They jumped off their bikes and set them down in the grass.

  “That was a riot!” Eduardo exclaimed. “That dude Richie didn’t know what hit him!”

  For some reason, that made all four of us laugh. Some of the basketball players looked up at the sound of our laughter.

  I recognized two of the players—Billy Shenkman and DeShawn Jackson. “Let’s mess these guys up,” I said.

  I trotted onto the court. DeShawn was putting on a dribbling show, running circles around the other players. Of course, he didn’t see me.

  I grabbed the ball easily from his hands. Then I began dribbling toward the basket.

  I moved slowly and bounced the ball high so everyone could see clearly that the ball was dribbling on its own. I glanced around. The players had all stopped moving. Their eyes were following the ball, and wide with disbelief.

  I took a jump shot from the foul line. The ball clanged against the side of the hoop but didn’t go in.

  DeShawn and Billy were shaking their heads. They charged over to grab the rebound. But I took the ball and dribbled away.

  “Am I dreaming this?” DeShawn cried.

  My three friends watched from the other side of the fence. They were laughing and slapping high fives. The basketball players just stood with their mouths open, shaking their heads and muttering.

  I took another shot. Missed again.

  I never was any good at basketball.

  I grabbed the rebound and stood dribbling in place.

  “I have to go home,” Billy told his friends. “This is seriously freaking me out!”

  “I keep thinking maybe it’s just the wind,” another guy said.

  “It’s not the wind,” DeShawn told him. “Definitely not the wind.”

  I raised the ball and tossed it to DeShawn.

  “Who threw that?” DeShawn demanded, raising his eyes to the other players.

  “No one!” one of them exclaimed. “No one threw it, DeShawn!”

  DeShawn saw my three friends watching from the other side. “Hey—!” he called to them. “Did you see what just happened here?”

  “See what?” Ari shouted back.

  “I didn’t see anything,” Melody said. “Why’d you stop your game?”

  DeShawn didn’t reply.

  Shaking his head, Billy turned and started to stride quickly off the court. “Catch you guys later,” he called back to his friends. “I’m out of here.”

  “Do you believe in ghosts?” one of the players said.

  “I don’t know what I believe in,” his friend answered. Then they scattered and hurried away from the playground.

  “That was awesome!” Eduardo said. “I think you totally messed with their minds, Frankie!”

  We enjoyed a good laugh.

  I saw Lucy and Deirdre, two girls from our class, across the playground grass. They were tossing a Frisbee back and forth.

  “Catch this,” I told my friends. “This will be classic.”

  I ran between them. I waited for Lucy to toss the Frisbee. Then I dove in front of Deirdre and grabbed the Frisbee in midair.

  She gasped in surprise as I took off running. I ran past her and then just kept running, holding the Frisbee over my head.

  I knew it looked to them as if the Frisbee were sailing for miles.

  Both girls shouted in amazement. I kept running full speed until I was off the playground. I crossed the street and kept going. I knew they’d be talking about the day the Frisbee took off forever.

  But I wasn’t finished. I stopped for a few seconds to catch my breath. Then, holding the Frisbee high, I crossed the street and came charging back at them.

  They cried out in amazement as they watched the Frisbee sail toward them. I shoved it into Deirdre’s hands and kept running. I glanced back to see them both staring at each other. Deirdre held the Frisbee carefully, as if it were alive! They didn’t know what to
say.

  I joined my friends at the sidewalk. Everyone agreed I had pulled off a great stunt. “I’m having an awesome time!” I exclaimed. “Have I ever had so much fun? I don’t think so.”

  Melody’s expression turned serious. “Let’s just take a break here, Frankie,” she said.

  “Why? What’s the problem?”

  “The problem is, you’re still invisible,” she said. “Sit down, okay? Just take a breath.”

  I sat down on the grass. “Okay. You can’t see me, but I’m sitting. Now what?”

  Eduardo pulled out his phone. “It’s been nearly an hour,” he told Melody.

  “Yeah. It’s almost dinnertime,” Ari said. “I’ve got to get home.”

  Melody ignored him. “Frankie, where are you? I’m not exactly sure where you are.”

  “I’m right in front of you,” I said.

  “Well, maybe you have to concentrate,” she said. “Sit still and concentrate. Concentrate on coming back.”

  I let out a long breath. “Okay. I’m concentrating.”

  The four of us were silent for a long moment.

  “Concentrating,” I murmured. I had my eyes shut tight. I really was focused hard on coming back. “Concentrate.”

  Eduardo bent down until his face was right over mine. “Do you feel any different, Frankie? Do you feel like you’re starting to change?”

  I didn’t answer right away. I was concentrating on my body, my skin. I gazed down at where my arms should be. Maybe if I stared hard enough, they would come back into view.

  “No,” I said finally. “No. I don’t feel any different.”

  Eduardo frowned. I could see the worry in his eyes. “Frankie,” he said, “the formula. Do you think maybe you drank too much of it?”

  “Maybe the formula shouldn’t be mixed with lemonade,” I muttered.

  “Well, don’t blame me!” Ari exclaimed. “It wasn’t my idea. You put that stuff in the lemonade, Frankie. It isn’t my fault.”

  “I know it isn’t your fault,” I replied. “I was just saying …”

  “It’s getting late,” Melody said. “My parents will start to wonder where I am.”

  Parents?

  I hadn’t even thought about my parents.

  “I … can’t let my parents see me like this,” I said.