OMG... Am I a Witch?!

Central Avenue Publishing Edition

Copyright © 2014 Talia Aikens-Nunez

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Central Avenue Publishing, an imprint of Central Avenue Marketing Ltd.

www.centralavenuepublishing.com

Published in Canada. Printed in the United States of America

First Central Avenue Publishing Edition published by arrangement with Pinwheel Books

OMG...AM I A WITCH?

ISBN 978-1-77168-025-7 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-77168-026-4 (ebk)

1. JUVENILE FICTION / Fantasy & Magic 2. JUVENILE FICTION / Girls & Women

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

Cover Design & Layout: Susan Gerber Editor: Marlo Garnsworthy

Illustrations: Alicja Ignaczak

To My Loving and Supportive Family

OMG... Am I a Witch?!

one

April tightly held the little, white, fluffy dog as she sat on her bed, her heart pounding so hard, she thought it would pop out of her chest.

“Arr
r
!” he yelped.

Oh gosh, I'm choking him.
She tried to trace the outline of the pink dots on her green blanket, but
her
hands wouldn't stop shaking.
Breathe. Just breathe. I can't believe I just did that. I can't believe . . . wait—I wonder, what else can I do? Who else can I turn into a dog?

Her enormous, ugly, fire engine red glasses slid down her face. The sweat that gathered at the tip of her nose dripped onto Austin's head.

“Sorry about that.” She wiped the sweat off his cotton ball-looking head, rubbing it farther into his fur. Holding him with one arm, she wiped her clammy hand on the blanket. She switched the dog to the other arm and wiped her other hand.

Breathe in through the nose, out through the mouth—ugh, that yoga class I took with Mom was stupid. She said there would be other girls there my age. Nope, just a bunch of old, deep-breathing moms.

Mrs. Appleton yelled upstairs, “April, is that you?”

Freak! Freak! Did Mom see me run in with Austin? She will kill me! She can't find out about Austin or, my, uh, powers. Wow! I have powers! Would she even be able to tell this is him?

She picked up the dog and took a good look at his face. She wrinkled her nose and shook her head.

“Nope, you look nothing like him. You're smaller than a football. And have more fur than anything else.”
I have to fix this ASAP.

“Grrr . . .” Austin growled.

“Austin, shhhh!” April pleaded, putting her finger over her tightly squeezed lips. “Please, please, please be quiet. I'm trying to figure out what to do. I'm still shocked no one saw you on the
bus.”
She grazed her hand over his head, which was so small it only partly covered her palm.

“Grrr . . .” Austin growled again.

“This is what I get for Googling ‘how to turn your brother into a dog.' It actually worked!” April threw her head back and looked at the ceiling. Her eyes filled with tears. “If I just had someone else to ride with on the bus this . . . this . . . this would never have happened.” She wished Grace had been there to ride home with. April continued to pet Austin. She knew he understood her.

The soft fur brushing against her hand soothed her. “If I knew that new girl, Eve, a little better I would have sat with her instead of—” She looked down at him. He narrowed his eyes at her. Her hand dropped to the comforter.

“Sorry, Austin,” she sighed. “We just have to sneak downstairs to the computer without Mom seeing us. And, I can Google ‘how to undo turning your pestering brother into a dog.
'
”

“Grrr . . .”

“Well, it is sort of
your
fault this happened.”

“Grrr . . .”

“Well, fine. Maybe no one really deserves to be, you know, turned into a dog, but . . . but, you are soooo mean and annoying.”

Austin grumbled. He turned his head away from her. She ignored him.

“OK. Well, how about I text Grace and ask her to do the search? She has a computer in her room.”

Click-clack. Click-clack.
The steps got closer. The sound grew louder.
Click-Clack. Click-CLACK
. Her heart raced as she heard each step.

“April, are you home?” her mother yelled up the stairs.

“Yes, Mom!” April yelled through the closed door.

“Is Austin home, too?”

April held her breath as if that would stop time. Her heart pounded so hard she felt it in her head.

“Uh . . . I think he . . . uh . . . had practice?”

Tell her more so that she doesn't try to find him. Think fast. Think fast.

“I don't know what he's doing.” She took a deep breath again. “But, uh, he said he would be home later. And, to tell you not to worry . . . or call . . . he'll be home.”

OMG! I have never ever lied to her! I am a horrible daughter.
But, her mother couldn't know about Austin. She would be so mad at April if she knew she had turned him into a dog.
WOW! Did I really just do that? Did I really just turn my brother into a dog
and
lie to my mother in the same hour?

Click-CLACK. Click-clack
. Her mom
returned to
the living room.

April let out a huge breath. “Geez, that was bad.”

Austin grunted as if he agreed.

“Thanks, Austin . . .” She straightened her back and squeezed her shoulder blades together, looking down at him under her glasses. “Even though you are a year older than me, I kind of like feeling . . . bigger and . . .” she cleared her throat, “witch-ie
r
!”

“Grrrr . . .”

“Well, too bad
I'm
the witch and you're the dog.”

Am I really a witch?

two

April had always been curious. Three years ago, when April was in the second grade, she had discovered she could search for answers to her questions online. She was excited by her new discovery of Google. But, that is how she had gotten herself into this mess.
What does all of this mean? What else can I do? What will happen if people, the wrong people, find out about my, uh, powers?

She put Austin between her elbow and body. With one hand, she unzipped her book bag and grabbed her phone. As fast as her fingers could move, she texted Grace:
OMG . . . I may be a witch?!

Within seconds, Grace texted back:
HA HA VERY FUNN
Y
 . . .

April texted:
I'm not kidding! Can U Google 4 me how 2 undo spell that turned ur brother into a dog?

Her phone quickly rang.

She answered it. “OMG Grace! I don't know what to do! We need to Google how to fix this!”

“Well . . . what happened?” Grace asked. “You turned Austin into a dog?
Really
? And, can you also morph into a werewolf? Then into a mouse?”

April felt her body tighten as her breath quickened.

“Arr
r
!” Austin yelped.

“Oh sorry, Austin. I—”

“OMG! Who was that? Was that who, or what, I think it is?”

“Yep,” April answered in a low voice. She cleared her throat. “Definitely a dog. I, um, squeezed him a little too hard.”

“You HAVE to get over here. STAT.” Grace watched too many doctor television shows. She liked using their lingo.

“You can't tell anyone!” said April. “I mean,
no one
else can know. Ok?”

Silence.

“Hello Grace? Are you there?”

“Uh huh, just busy pinching myself to make sure this isn't a dream.”

“Or nightmare. I can't believe I just turned my annoying brother into a dog. I mean he deserved it. Well, sorta. I feel even more horrible because I had to lie to my mom.”

“Breathe, April. I do have to say, you were quite clever to be able to sneak him off the bus and into your house with no one seeing you.”

April straightened her back and smirked. “I guess you're right. I am pretty clever.”

“April, just come over so we can try to figure this out. It will be easier for us to Google over here since I have a computer in my room. At your house, we would have to sneak downstairs and do it with a parent over our shoulders. Right?”

“Yeah. You're right. See you in a little while.”

“April, I can see your house from my window,” Grace laughed.

“You're right again. See you in a minute.” April exhaled hard and dropped the phone on her bed.

Holding Austin and his mouth shut with one arm, she walked to the door and opened it. He wiggled his body, pressing his paws into her side.

“Arrr . . .”

“Sorry, I didn't realize I squeezed that hard,” she whispered to him.

She gently placed each foot in front of the other. Her hand grasped the railing. She peered down the stairs. Like a penny to a magnet, she found her mother's voice.

All clear. Go for it. She's yapping on the phone again.

The words became louder.

April's heart started to beat faster. She quickly backed up, bumping Austin's tail on doorway to her room. “Grrr . . .”

“Sorry,” she whispered. “But be quiet, or I'll do it again—harder.”

Should she leave Austin here?
No. I need to find a way to get him out of the house with me.
She looked around her room and froze as she saw her book bag.
Perfect. I'll put him in that.

He wiggled. She held him tighter. Using one of his front paws, Austin tried to push April's hand off his mouth. With her free hand, she took her weekend homework, notebooks, and books out of the book bag. She stuffed Austin and her cell phone into it.

“You'd better be quiet—or else.”

Austin whimpered. He looked so cute and fluffy. She kissed his head. “I'm sorry, Austin.” Beads of sweat formed on her nose, causing her ugly red glasses to slide down. She pushed them back into place. “I would never do anything like this to anyone but, but—you pushed me!”

Austin moved his back legs, raising himself higher out of the book bag.

“You were picking on me, as
usual
. You just didn't expect me to fight back this time, did you?”

Scratch, scratch, scratch.

“Stop trying to get out the bag. We have to get to Grace's. Do you want to be a dog forever? If you don't stop, I'll use my witch powers and do something worse to you.”

His eyes grew larger. His movements stopped. He slowly sat down.

Maybe I really am a witch. I can get the Prankster of the Year to listen to me.

She zipped up the book bag, put it on, and ran down the stairs. She reached for the front doorknob. Frozen, with her hand on the knob, she looked into the kitchen.

“Mom, can I go to Grace's house?”

“Hold on one second . . .” April's mom said as she put the phone down and came toward her.

Oh no! Is she going to say no? Please don't open my book bag. Then I will have to explain. She will soooo kill me!