7 EASY-PEASY

EASY-PEASY Now they were ready to begin. Ivy went to the bedroom section of her room and pulled a cardboard box out from under her bed. Then she looked at Bean. "This part is really secret," she said. "I promise I won't tell anyone," said Bean. Ivy opened the box and took out a square thing wrapped in pink silky cloth. It was her spell book. Bean thought that a spell book would be mysterious looking, with a magic sign on the cover or something. But this spell book was plain black. It was old, though. Ivy said it was almost a hundred years old. The pages were yellowish. "Where'd you get it?" Bean whispered. "My aunt gave it to me," Ivy said.

"Is she one?" asked Bean. "She says she isn't," said Ivy. "But I'm not so sure." Ivy flipped through the book for the dancing spell. She read it to herself, and then she whispered it, but so low that Bean couldn't hear. Bean didn't mind. Everyone knew that witches' spells were private. After a few minutes, Ivy said, "Got it. It's a pretty easy spell. The only thing we need is worms." Luckily, there were lots of worms in

Bean's backyard. Tons. But now they were going to have to sneak into Bean's yard and dig them up. Without Nancy seeing. But also luckily, Bean knew how to get into her yard by going through the other backyards on Pancake Court. There was one really gross dog-poopy yard and there was Mrs. Trantz, who didn't like kids in her garden, and there was a lot of climbing. But aside from that, Bean said, it was easypeasy. Ivy put the big black book in her backpack. Bean tucked the wand into her back pocket. It was still a little drippy, but there was nothing Bean could do about that. Carefully, they tiptoed down the stairs. Ivy's mother was still working in her office, and they slipped past her door like quiet ants. Soon they were moving quickly toward the back fence.

Ivy, Bean saw, did not really know how to climb a fence. She just jumped at it, hoping that she would get to the top. Bean showed her how to find the little holes and bumps that make a ladder. When they got to the top, Bean whispered, "This is Ruby and Trevor's house. They have a good sandbox."

The good news was that there was a gate on the other side of Ruby and Trevor's yard. The bad news was that it led to the really gross dog-poopy yard. Bean and Ivy walked on tiptoes, but still Ivy stepped in some. Fester, the dog whose poop it was, came out to sniff them. He was a nice dog, and he seemed sorry that his yard was so disgusting. The next fence was low and easy, except that the wand fell out of Bean's pocket, and she had to go back and get it. Then came

Jake the Teenager's house. There was loud music with lots of bad words in it coming from the garage. There was no way Jake the Teenager was ever going to hear them walking through his backyard. Mrs. Trantz was next. Getting into her yard was no problem. Ivy and Bean climbed over the stone wall and dropped down onto her lawn. Everything in Mrs. Trantz's yard was perfectly neat. Her tulips were lined up in rows. Her apple tree was tied so that its branches grew flat. Her birdbath had no birds in it. "If Mrs. Trantz sees us, she's going to be really mad," said Bean. Bean knew this