A Farewell to Charms Read Online Free PDF Page A

yeah. Truth. That would help. She’d totally believe that. I’m sure Façade would love that, too. I squeezed my eyes even tighter and asked myself, my magic, again. What do I do?
    Give her a hug.
    I kicked a nearby locker. Seriously, magic. A hug? A HUG? Unless you’re a cuddly woodland creature in a cheery musical cartoon, a hug doesn’t fix anything. Thanks for nothing.
    This double-life thing was really starting to suck.

K ylee ran away from me when I tried to talk to her during last period, and of course she didn’t answer any of my zillion calls or texts. So after school, I ordered her a fruit basket online. I couldn’t tell her my secrets, but at least I could give the girl some pears.
    The sooner I figured out what I wanted to do with Façade, the sooner I could master my magic, which hopefully wouldn’t feed me any more “hugging” garbage. So I made another phone call, one that I was almost dreading more than convincing Kylee that all was well.
    “Hi, Reed. How are you? It’s Desi Bascomb.”
    “Hi, Desi Bascomb, also known as the only Desi I know.”
    “Just wanted to make sure.”
    “And I know your voice. And I have caller ID—”
    I rolled my eyes. He could be so aggravating sometimes. “Are you criticizing my greeting now?”
    “Sorry. Hi.”
    I took a breath. “So I’m calling to talk about—”
    “Hey, why don’t you come over?”
    “Oh, um, that’s okay.” A boy’s house? No way would my parents let that happen. Not to mention, I mean, I can’t go to his house! Way too weird. “We can just talk now. You know, about—”
    “Elephants. I know. But it’s probably better in person .”
    And then I understood. Reed didn’t think it was safe for us to talk over the phone. In person we could mute ourselves. It was the first time I had the courage to call a boy, and we couldn’t talk because our magical employer might hear us.
    “Oh. Yeah. Elephants. I have a lot of questions about those.”
    “So why don’t you come with me to work?”
    “The roller-skating rink?” I asked. “Will they let me?”
    “Sure. I’m supposed to start getting stuff together for some big event next month. You can help me. It’s your civic duty.”
    Civic duty. Civic duties were parent approved. “Great, I’ll meet you at Crystal Palace, then.”
    “I’ll see you in fifteen minutes.”
    Fifteen minutes sounded reasonable enough, but nothing was reasonable when it came to my dad. He’d come home early to help with my little sister, Gracie, since my mom wasn’t feeling well. Again. Truthfully, I thought she was overworking herself with all her pageant consultations. Ever since Celeste had placed second runner-up, her schedule was packed and her energy level seemed way down. She probably needed to eat better—she skipped dinner a lot and ate ice cream instead. And as much as I loved my dad and as nice as it was to spend time with him, everything was a little more…labor intensive when he was around.
    It took half an hour to get over to the skating rink, because we had to wait until Gracie woke up from her nap. Then my dad had to pack a diaper bag, even though he wasn’t getting out of the car. Then he had to load a grumpy Gracie into her car seat. Then he drove four miles an hour on a thirty-five mph road.
    “Dad, have you ever heard the expression ‘put the pedal to the metal’?” I asked.
    “All the time. It’s what people do before they get into car accidents.”
    “Arghh.”
    “Look, we’re here. And, hey, I like the shirt.”
    I smiled down at the new print on my purple thermal— ON A ROLL with a little blue roller skate. I hoped Reed appreciated it too. I was kind of second-guessing making a shirt that was just for his entertainment.
    Dad cleared his throat. “Actually, Princess, I wanted to ask you something.”
    I unclicked my seat belt. “Yeah?”
    “Is everything all right?”
    Why was everyone always asking me that? “Sure.”
    “Good. It’s just that…Mom found a