Abby Carnelia's One and Only Magical Power Read Free

realized how silly that sounded. “I mean, I don’t really know
how
I’m doing it.
It
does it.”
    â€œCan you move stuff around? Maybe you have that ESP thing where you can move stuff around with mind control!”
    Abby shook her head. “I spent all weekend trying. This is it. This is all I can do. My one and only magical power.”
    Morgan sipped her diet soda thoughtfully. “Well, if that’s really a magical power, it’s a pretty lame one,” she said finally. “Wouldn’t it be better if you could fly? Or turn invisible? Or, like, make Mrs. Thatch forget the names of the state capitals?”
    Abby threw her head back in exasperation. “Yes, I
know.
Don’t you think I’d rather have powers like that? But this is it. It is what it is.”
    â€œWell, if you’re telling me the truth,” Morgan said finally, “then I think you should find out more about this. Get some books from the library. Google it.”
    Abby nodded; that was good advice. Surely there was somebody, somewhere, at some time in history, who had made an egg spin and written about it.
    â€œOkay, gimme the egg,” she told Morgan.
    â€œHow come?” Morgan asked, handing it over.
    â€œBecause it’s not just a trick,” Abby began. “It’s—”
    â€œI know, I know, it’s a power,” Morgan interrupted, grinning.
    â€œNo,” said Abby. “It’s my lunch.”

CHAPTER
3
Library
    O NE OF THE PERKS OF LIVING in a leafy suburb like Eastport is that you can pretty much ride your bike anywhere. Most of the streets even have sidewalks, so your parents don’t flip out when you say you’re going to ride your bike to the library.
    That’s exactly what Abby planned to do after school. Her dad offered to drive her, but Morgan was going to meet her at the library, and Abby didn’t want a hovering adult hanging over them.
    â€œNo, thanks,” she told him on her way out. “It’s such a beautiful day, I think I’ll ride my bike. You know, get some fresh air and exercise.”
    Ryan had just burst into the kitchen. He stared at her asthough she’d grown antlers. “
You
want to get fresh air and exercise?”
    â€œLeave me alone, Ryan. I’m going to the library with Morgan. Bye, Dad!” She pushed open the door to the garage.
    But Ryan scampered right along after her.
    â€œWait, wait! Before you go—do this one!”
    He waved a piece of scrap paper under her nose.
    â€œRyan,
please.
I gotta go, okay? Let’s do your code later.”
    Ryan had become obsessed with codes lately. He’d filled a hundred pieces of scrap paper with nonsensical-looking writing that, once you solved it, always turned out to be some eight-year-old’s idea of a joke, like “Q: What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire? A: FROSTBITE.”
    â€œOh,
come
on, Ab!
Pleeeeeease?
Please please please please please? Just real quick!”
    Abby sighed loudly to make her point. Then she turned and grabbed the piece of paper from Ryan’s hand. She read what was written there in his cramped little pencil writing:
Your time has come to leave. Fly away! Is evil going to prevail? Open the door and flee!
    Abby had twenty minutes to get to the library and meet Morgan. “It’s a masterpiece, Ryan. Too hard for me. I give up.” She tried to hand the paper back to him.
    â€œNo, no!” said Ryan, “Find the hidden message! Okay, I’ll give you a hint. It’s a first-word code. Just read the first words of the sentences.”
    Abby looked at it again, reading the first words out loud. “Your . . . fly . . . is . . . open.”
    Ryan clapped his hands and cackled hysterically.
    â€œCute. Real cute,” she told him. “Hey, when we both grow up and become spies, you’ll be the first person I’ll communicate with. And that’s