The Runaway Spell Read Free Page A

the brain.
    “Observe,” Mr. Bishop said, removing his Stetson hat and holding it up so the class could see the inside. B knew another one of Mr. Bishop’s “magic” tricks was on the way — except she knew what kind of magic Mr. Bishop really could do.
    “See anything inside this hat?” They all shook their heads. “Miss Springbranch, will you make sure? Check the lining, please.”
    Jenny Springbranch examined the hat and handed it back, shaking her head. “Nothing.”
    “You’re quite sure?”
    Jenny nodded.
    Mr. Bishop frowned at the inside of the hat, shook it upside down, then scowled inside it once more. Muttering to himself, he reached inside and pulled out a soccer ball.
    “No way,” George whispered.
    “How d’you
do
that?”
    “It’s impossible!”
    Mr. Bishop tossed the ball to George, who caught it. He spun it around to show everyone the GO,TIGERS inscribed on one panel in permanent marker.
    “Thanks, Mr. Bishop!” George said. “Wow!”
    The class applauded, and Mr. Bishop took a bow. Then he said, “Now that we’ve gotten soccer out of our heads, for the moment, I want you to follow me to the computer lab. We’ll practice conducting research online. Next month’s project is to write a research paper. You’ll need to pick a subject to write about, research it, and write a three-page paper.”
    There were groans and protests as their class shuffled down the hall toward the computer lab, but B didn’t mind the assignment. She knew exactly what she’d be researching.
    Zebras.
    There was a new bounce in B’s step. Of course! She needed more facts about zebras. That was probably why she couldn’t undo the curse yet — she was dealing with subjects she didn’t fully understand.
    Well, it might help anyway.
    She and George found computers right next to each other and logged in. While Mr. Bishop was lecturing the class on how to choose trustworthysources for facts online, she quickly went to her favorite online encyclopedia and softly typed “zebra” in the search field.
    Oh, rats.
    There were lots of kinds of zebras.
    Well, let’s see. She looked more closely. There were three species of zebra, and several subspecies. The different types had English names and Latin names. She scrolled up and down, scanning the pictures to see if any of the different types had ears just like George’s.
    That was the problem — they all did. B stuck her hand underneath her sombrero and scratched her head.
    George peered over at her screen. “Find anything useful?”
    B dreaded facing George. He still had on those silly earmuffs. She kept her eyes glued to the screen. “This is sad!” she whispered. “One subspecies of zebra, the quagga, has already gone extinct! And the Grevy’s zebra is endangered.”
    George adjusted his glasses, which kept sliding down his nose. “They all look the same to me.”
    “Yeah, but they’re different,” B explained. “There are three main species of zebra: Plains, Mountain, and Grevy’s. Subspecies, too … the, um, Dauw, Burchell’s zebra, Chapman’s zebra, Wahlberg’s zebra, Selous’s zebra, Grant’s zebra …”
    “Shhh,” George hissed.
    B looked up to see Mr. Bishop peering down at her from under his Stetson. “Oops,” she said, feeling her cheeks grow hot.
    Mr. Bishop grinned. “You’re doing great research, B,” he said, “but keep it down, okay? Especially when I’m still lecturing. Zebras, is it?”
    B nodded.
Please, oh, please, let me figure out how to get rid of those ears before Mr. Bishop finds out what I’ve done ….
    For the rest of the class, B read everything she could find about zebras, copying the list of zebra names on a sheet of paper, in English and Latin. When the bell rang, everyone filed out of the computer room, but B tugged George’s sleeve.
    “Let me try this,” she said. And, tacking a “U-N” before each name, she rattled through the list, thinking about George’s ears.
Equus quagga,
Grevy’szebra,