Flipping the sWitch

Chapter 9

Jessie had Andi right where she wanted her. At her disposal, with nowhere to go except to cater to every one of her whims. And it felt good to be treated more like an equal for once, instead of everyone's kid sister.

She may not have been able to use her magic but Jessie was the one with the power now. And she was going to use it however she wanted to.

"I'll take your silence as a yes," Jessie said, knocking Andi out of her stunned stupor.

Andi nodded her head. "Fine. You win," she said reluctantly.

Jessie knew why Andi was agreeing. After all, she would have done the same thing to ensure that she'd still be going to WITS Academy in the fall. The Magic Realm's training school was the premiere place to be when it came to a witch honing her powers. Or in Andi's case, a Guardian learning how to...guard.

"Yay!" Jessie said, jumping off the bed and clapping her hands. Then, seeing the frown that was still on Andi's face, she walked over and linked their arms. "Cheer up, Gloomy Gus. This is going to be super fun!"

"For who?" Andi asked, sarcastically.

"Well, mostly for me," Jessie said, thoughtfully. "But it can be fun for you, too, if you let it. You just have to stop being such a stick-in-the-mud and let loose for once. Do you even know how to have fun?"

"Of course I know how to have fun," Andi muttered, pulling her arm away from Jessie's defiantly.

"Oh yeah?" Jessie said. "What's your idea of a good time, then?"

Andi walked around her room, picking up random things and studying them as she thought. "I don't know...playing video games? Fixing stuff with my tools," a blissful expression washed over Andi's face as she thought about all her favorite things.

"That's what you think is fun?" Jessie said, obviously not approving. "You are a weird girl, Andi Cruz."

"Takes one to know one!" Andi said without thinking. And then realized what she'd just said. Before she could come up with a better retort, her phone let out the theme song to her favorite scary movie. "Oh, and I also like watching scary movies," she said, sticking out her tongue and then answering her cell.

"Hey, Em," Andi said, her eyes still trained on Jessie.

"Is that Emma?" Jessie asked, excitedly. "Put it on speaker phone!"

Andi shook her head and tried to ignore her.

Then, Jessie held out her own phone, cuing up the video of Andi's house changing colors. Andi gave a sigh and pressed the speaker button. Suddenly, Emma's voice was blasting through the room.

"—when I got to The Seven, Maddie was there doing yoga to calm herself down, because—get this—she's freaking out over having lost her powers! Now, I didn't tell her that you were the one they were transferred into, because, well, you know how Maddie can get when she's feeling magically-challenged."

Andi let out a knowing laugh. "It's like watching a caged lion at the zoo," she said. "All it takes is one person getting too close and—chomp, chomp, rawr—kitty feast."

"Exactly," Emma responded. There was silence on her end for a few seconds and Jessie could tell that the girl wanted to say something else but didn't know how to. Finally, she spit it out. "Andi...Maddie's not the only thing we have to worry about."

"Ugh!" Andi said and looked over at Jessie. "You're telling me."

"I'm pretty sure it's...a Fool Moon," Emma said dejectedly.