9 THE SPELL

THE SPELL Nancy stopped dragging Bean across the porch and looked at Ivy. "Who are you?" she asked. Ivy smiled and slitted her eyes. With her white face and red blood drops, she looked very witchy. "It matters not. Free my friend" she hissed., Wow, thought Bean. She's really going for it. Nancy dropped Bean's arm and lifted one eyebrow, which was something she had just learned how to do and did all the time. "What's that supposed to be?" she asked in a snippy, grown-up way, looking at Ivy's wand. Ivy shook the wand in Nancy's face. "This is your doom," she said in a deep voice.

"It's a wand," said Bean, looking back and forth between Ivy and Nancy. She was beginning to worry. Maybe Ivy was going for it too much. With older sisters, you had to be able to say that you never meant what you said, that you were kidding the whole time. Ivy didn't seem to know that. Nancy snorted. "It's a stick," she said. She looked at Ivy's robe and giggled. "Nice bathrobe, too. You guys are complete and total dweebs." Uh-oh. Bean looked at Ivy. Her cheeks

were red under the white paint, and her eyes glittered. She looked like she might cry. Suddenly, Bean was furious. Before, she had been really mad. But now Nancy was making fun of Ivy, and that made Bean furious. Without even stopping to think about it, Bean reached down into the bucket she was still carrying. She got a big handful of pink worms. For a second, they squiggled in her hand. And then she threw them at Nancy's

face. Some of them fell onto Nancy's shirt. Some of them got stuck in her hair. But one landed on her eyebrow and wiggled there, trying to find some dirt. Nancy was so surprised she froze. She just stood with her mouth hanging open, staring at Bean. Calmly, Bean reached into the bucket again and got another handful of worms. She aimed better this time. She got one in Nancy's mouth.

"Phoo!" The pink worm went flying as Nancy spit it out. There was a tiny moment of quiet, and then she opened her mouth wide and let out a giant scream. Bean and Ivy looked at each other and smiled. "Whatever happens next," their eyes said, "that was worth it." And then they began to run. Nancy tore after them, still screaming. Bean zigzagged across the lawn because she knew it was harder to catch someone who was zigzagging. Ivy zigzagged, too, right behind Bean. "Worms! Worms!" Nancy was screaming. She had lost her mind. "Ahhhhhh!" Bean could hear her mother calling, "What on earth?! Girls! Girls!" Bean and Ivy ran around the trampoline, with Nancy close behind. They jumped over the hula hoops and the stilt and headed for the

trees. Nancy followed, still screaming. She was right behind them. She was so close she could almost grab the soft folds of Ivy's robe—she was just about to get it. "Help!" squealed Ivy. Bean gave a yank and pulled the robe away in the nick of time. Ivy and Bean swerved for the playhouse. Maybe they could get inside it before Nancy tackled them. "Come on!" Bean yelled. Together they jumped over the worm pit, squeezed into