The Magic Touch by Jody Lynn Nye Read Free Book Online Page A

Clarice. “ Voilà! ”she said. “Just what we need.”
    “Peeee-ew!” the girl protested, staring. “Need for what? Fumigation? That’s gonna stink up the whole apartment!”
    Rose rolled the second cabbage out and set both tattered green globes on top of the bag in the middle of the rug. She motioned to Ray and Clarice to stand back.
    “Don’t crowd,” Rose said. “We’ve got a lot of magicking up to do. This is the first step to making Clarice bloom. Ready?” The two youngsters nodded back, uneasily.
    With an eye, she measured Clarice’s foot, and guessed a size nine extra narrow. No wonder the brother had found it easy to steal her shoes. Never mind; Clarice’s foot suited her height, or at least the height the wand told Rose Clarice was going to be when she finished growing. If this pretty child found the confidence, she ought to go and be a fashion model.
    Rose tilted her head, estimating all the things she needed to do. She choked up a little on the long wand so she wouldn’t hit any of the furniture in this crowded little room. The wand tingled in her grasp, as if anticipating with pleasure the thought of making a child happy. Rose couldn’t have agreed more herself. The power welled into her from her toes and fingertips and the top of her head, built for a moment into a tornado of warm joy, and flowed out of the star.
    Clarice and Raymond both gasped as the soft pink veil of light spread out, then formed into a cone over the cabbages, concealing them, changing them. Strands of hot silver light arrowed in and out, in and out, while electric blue bursts popped off one after another in a line at the bottom of both blobs of pink, sparkling light.
    The spell was complete. Rose lowered her wand. At first the youngsters looked disappointed as the light faded, then Clarice let out a whoop. She fell to her knees beside what had been a pair of rotting cabbages, and were now the sleekest in-line skates in the world. On a white background, fuchsia and purple were inlaid in a tiger-stripe pattern that cupped the back of each boot. The laces were purple, and the wheels were purple, too, with a sparkling pink star at the hub of each. Rose patted the wand in thanks for a job truly well done.
    “These are fantastic!” Clarice said, her voice dropping to a reverent whisper. “Are they really for me?”
    “Absolutely,” Rose said. “And they won’t fit your stepbrother even if he tries to use a wedge to get his feet into them. They will fit you and only you.”
    Ray looked from the skates to Rose with awe. She winked at him, and he stiffened up at once. Poor Ray, trying so hard to keep that facade of toughness and control. Underneath it all was a good man. His insecurities made a hard barrier to cross. She guessed part of it was purely for survival purposes, but there were other things in life he needed to be open to. He’d learn. Only it took time.
    Clarice yanked open the bottom drawer of one of the dressers and felt around in it. She came up with a pair of thick socks. Yanking off her thin sneakers, she tugged on the socks, and buckled the skates on over them. Rose nodded. Skating certainly was this girl’s hobby. She knew better than to wear boots over bare skin. Clarice lurched to her feet, clutching an upper bed frame. Ray jumped forward to steady her. Clarice looked six inches taller, and not all of it could be attributed to the height of the wheels. Rose regarded her critically.
    “Clothes,” she said, forming an image in her mind’s eye. Cute little skating skirts were thirty years out of date. What this girl needed was something showy, but modest, to suit her personality. Yes, carry the color scheme throughout. The pink star rose in her hand almost of its own volition.
    Clarice watched, her mouth open, as the pink light appeared in a ring around her be-skated feet and swirled upward, over shin, knee, thigh, hip. The magical tornado surrounded her upper body, then sailed onward through the ceiling.