Out of Sight by Amanda Ashby Page B

this practice session down to the basement. I bet you wouldn’t be smiling then. Plus, it would let us get away from your sister’s cat. I tell you, that stupid thing is really starting to get on my nerves. Before you got home from school, I was up in your room innocently checking my Facebook account when it
launched
itself at me like I was some kind of heinous criminal.”
    Sophie groaned. Despite her best efforts to bribe him with Pretty Kitty snacks, Mr. Jaws had taken to hissing and growling every time she or Malik was in the room. But still, she would rather face Mr. Jaws than all the spiders in the basement, so she decided that she had better not annoy Malik anymore.
    â€œI promise, no more smiling while I’m on the carpet. I will be the model of concentration. Okay?”
    â€œHumph,” Malik grunted as he launched into a big lecture on jumping through time and space. Most of it was filled with words that she didn’t understand. When he was finished, Sophie almost thought he was going to make her jump into the basement like the other day, but instead he announced that she could try going to the school. “And,” he suddenly added, “I think this time you can fly solo. You’ve still got the stabilizers on, but you won’t have me with you. Do you feel ready?”
    Yes. No. Maybe. But instead Sophie nodded her head; until she mastered her flying, she couldn’t see her dad.
    â€œI’m ready,” she said in a firm voice. She closed her eyes and blocked everything out until the only thing she was conscious of was the hallway at school where her locker was. Thankfully, considering that was the place where Jonathan had first talked to her, it was something she had visualized on a regular basis. Then she pictured a plastic bubble all around her and the carpet before finally blinking her eyes three times.
    She felt a familiar tug in her stomach, and when she opened her eyes, she was really in the hallway of the school. She was just about to congratulate herself when she suddenly heard a loud noise and looked up to see the janitor pushing some kind of huge floor polishing machine toward her.
    For a moment Sophie just stared at it, assuming he would stop for her, before remembering that the janitor couldn’t see her. Panic raced through her—she had a funny feeling that if he ran over her, she would feel it. But she felt frozen, unable to think or move, and suddenly, she understood just why Malik had been so pedantic in his teachings. Her heart pounded, but just as the polisher reached the tip of her carpet, she snapped out of it and quickly pictured her backyard. A second later relief flooded through her as she was once again in her garden, her carpet hovering three feet off the ground.
    Sophie let out a grateful sigh, and for a moment she lay back on the carpet to try to regain her composure. That was far too close. But before her heart rate had a chance to return to normal she heard a yowling noise and sat up just in time to see Mr. Jaws launch himself at the corner of the carpet. The impact caused the whole thing to start wobbling, and it took all of Sophie’s skills to bring it down to the ground without falling off.
    Then she looked over to see Mr. Jaws hunched on all fours, his eyes narrow and his tail fluffy, like he was going to pounce all over again.
    â€œSeriously. What’s his problem? It’s almost like he’s never seen an invisible person fly on an invisible carpet before.” Malik floated over and glared at the cat, but the sound of his voice seemed only to aggravate Mr. Jaws even more. “Still, at least it’s stopped you smiling so much.”
    â€œHow can he even tell that I’m here?” Sophie demanded as Malik’s words reminded her that she was still invisible. “Do you think it’s a djinn thing?”
    â€œMore like a stupid dumb animal thing,” Malik retorted. “Anyway, if you can’t