“Are you two excited about the field trip?” I ask, moving the subject off myself. “What are you looking forward to most?”

  Annabelle slides her hand into her backpack, which is hanging from her chair. She pulls out a museum brochure and opens it, pointing to a kaleidoscope of butterflies. “Personally, I can’t wait to see the butterfly vivarium!”

  Annabelle hands me the brochure.

  I heard there were butterflies at the museum, but I don’t know much else about them.

  “What exactly is a butterfly vivarium?” I ask.

  Annabelle’s face lights up.

  “A vivarium is where they house the butterfly exhibit,” she explains. “It’s a warm, tropical enclosure, with trees, plants, water features, and tons of butterflies. You can walk around inside and look at all kinds of beautiful butterflies up close, and if you’re lucky, sometimes the butterflies will even land on you!”

  Hunter, who has tuned in to our conversation from across the table, starts cupping and flapping his arms like a butterfly, but truth be told, he looks more like a chicken.

  What a goofball.

  “Butterflies sound okay,” Hunter says halfheartedly. “But the dinosaurs are the best exhibit.”

  Isabelle sidles up next to Hunter on her way back from the tray drop. She must’ve heard us talking about the field trip.

  “Everyone loves dinosaurs, Hunter!” she agrees enthusiastically. “You don’t have to convince us!” Izzy is right. We all agree that dinosaurs are pretty cool.

  “There’s also a blue whale exhibit and a planetarium,” Isabelle adds. “But Mrs. Kettledrum says we may not have time for everything.”

  “Dinosaurs and butterflies and blue whales, oh my!” I exclaim.

  My friends laugh. It’ll be great for us to get away from Broomsfield on a field trip together.

  Unfortunately, these happy thoughts last all of about a minute—that’s because out of nowhere, somebody barges into my thoughts without even knocking.

  Don’t worry. It’s going to be fun, Heidi Heckelbeck! the intruder says.

  At first I think the voice must be coming from Sunny, or at least I hope it is. I’ve always been able to hear Sunny’s thoughts easily because we’re such close friends.

  But this voice sounds nothing like hers. Sunny would never refer to me by my first and last name.

  Then a scary feeling washes over me.

  Was it Jodi?

  My eyes shift toward Jodi’s table.

  Yup! It’s her, all right!

  Jodi is staring directly at me, and not only that, she’s also got a huge smile on her face.

  My worst fears have just been confirmed.

  Not only can Jodi READ my thoughts but she can SEND thoughts to me too!

  What am I going to do NOW?

  One word: rattled.

  As we all get up to leave the cafeteria, I hear Jodi calling me.

  “Hey, Heidi, wait up!” she says. I tell Sunny and Annabelle I’ll catch up with them later, and I wait for Jodi.

  “What’s up, Jodi?” I ask.

  “Heidi, what are you so worried about?” Jodi says. “Tomorrow is going to be super-fun. I can’t wait to hang out with all your friends.”

  “Why?” I say. “Why all my friends? Why have you glommed on to me, Jodi?”

  “Because you’re the smartest, most popular girl in our grade, of course.” Jodi pauses, and then she smiles. “That is, you were before I arrived. We’ll see who’s the favorite after tomorrow.

  “See you later, Heidi.”

  And with a toss of her perfect, shiny brown hair, Jodi turns and walks away from me. I stare after her, slightly in shock.

  If Jodi has a noodle type, it is most definitely merg-o-lini.

  BRRROOOM! BRRROOOM!

  I have to write a letter to Lucy.

  I need to vent to my best friend.

  And even though I can’t tell her the witchy side of what’s going on, at least I can spill my feelings. Maybe this will make me feel better.

  Melanie is at her guitar lesson, so our room is quiet. I pull out a piece of lilac-bordered stationery and a lavender pen to match.

  Now to spill my heart out.

  Hey, Lulu!

  It’s me, Heidi, your best-ever friend!

  Hope things are well with you in good ol’ Brewster. Can’t wait to hear what’s up.

  You wanna know what’s up with me? Hope so because all I can say is my entire life has been turned upside down in the space of one day.

  Today we got a new girl in our class, named Jodi. She just moved here from Canada.

  This probably doesn’t sound like a big deal, but let me tell you, IT IS!

  My entire class treats her like she’s a celebrity. It’s kind of annoying if you ask me.

  Here’s the real problem. She just makes me really uncomfortable. I can’t put my finger on it. All my friends think she’s really nice, but that’s not the vibe I get at all.

  Tonight at dinner, she was sitting with Melanie and Nick.

  What if Nick ends up liking her better than me? What if everyone likes her more than me?

  Please write back as soon as possible, my wise and faithful friend. You always know the right things to say. Do you think things will get better? Am I overreacting? Sorry to sound so pathetic!

  Thanks for listening.

  Love you tons!

  Your totally freaked-out BFF,

  Heidi Kins

  I stuff Lucy’s letter into a paisley-lined envelope. I address it and stamp it. I only use a stamp so it won’t raise any eyebrows, if you know what I mean. Then I send the letter magically on its way to Lucy’s mailbox. Phew, it felt good to vent.

  * * *

  My regular classes are fine on Thursday—that’s because Jodi is only in one of them, my social studies class.

  But she is in my broomstick riding class with Mr. Craftwood.

  The class starts out fine, even though it’s hard to ignore Jodi. She’s gotten into my head, even when she’s not actually talking inside my head.

  So far she’s keeping to herself. I’m glad because we’re doing something really special in class today. Mr. Craftwood is teaching us how to make our very own magical broomsticks!

  We spent our last class walking around in the woods, collecting branches for our broom handles, as well as sticks and grasses for the end of the brooms.

  Now we actually get to make our broomsticks. I focus intently on my teacher.

  “Most of you know me as a wizard and a teacher,” Mr. Craftwood begins. “But I’m also what’s known as a ‘broomsquire.’ A broomsquire is someone who has been trained in the ancient art of making besoms. Does anyone know what the term ‘besom’ means?”

  Jodi and I both raise our hands. But of course Mr. Craftwood calls on Jodi because she’s popular even with the teachers.

  Blah.

  Jodi goes out of her way to wrinkle her nose at me before she answers.

  “ ‘Besom’ is an old English word for broom, and witches and wizards decided to use it as a term for a magical broomstick,” she says in a fake, overly sweet tone of voice, which is a total act, in my opinion.

  Mr. Craftwood nods approvingly. “Very good, Jodi.”

  Jodi looks my way and sends me a thought.

  Ha! Beat you to it, Heidi. Gotta be quick when I’m around!

  I glare back at Jodi because I want to show her I’m tough stuff. I don’t feel like tough stuff at all. I feel totally uneasy, but I try not to act like it.

  Oh, be quiet, Jodi! I just want to pay attention—okay?!

  Then I brace myself for another snappy response.

  But Jodi stays quiet. Maybe she decided to be quiet and listen for a change. I tune back into Mr. Craftwood.

  “Today you’re going to craft your besoms, and then we’ll enchant them together,” our teacher goes on.

  “You’ll assemble your broomsticks with the branches, twigs, and brush you collected during our last class. Jodi, in your case, earlier today. The instructions are provided in the handouts I gave everyone at the start of class. If you have any questions, I’ll be here to answer them. Please begin.”

  I set my instructions in front of me and lay my broom handle on top of my desk. I chose a stick with just enough knots and crooks to give it some character. The handle curls at the top, which gives it even more style. Now to assemble the bristles and attach them to my broomstick.

  I grab a handful of birchwood twigs and dried grasses from my bag. They will form my broom.

  The next step says to glue and tie the bristles onto the broomstick. Not to brag, but most kids still have to use glue guns to attach their bristles, but Mrs. K taught me some glue magic.

  Gluing with magic is way easier than a glue gun, and less messy too. I tailor my glue spell to suit my broomstick project.

  A STICKY MIX OF WORDS DOTH BREW.

  A PERFECT BLEND OF MAGIC GLUE.

  GLUE THESE BRISTLES TO MAKE A BROOM.

  FASHION THEM INTO A WITCH’S PLUME!

  The sticks and dried-grass stalks dance magically as they attach themselves to my broom handle. As I watch the bristles move into place, I hear you know who calling me—inside my head.

  Heidieee! Heidieee!

  Paging Heidi Heckelbeck!

  I’m still not used to someone randomly invading my thoughts. I also blissfully forgot Jodi while I was making my broomstick.

  All I can say is, this girl needs to give it a rest.

  But I can’t exactly ignore her, so I reluctantly turn and look her way. She still has that annoyingly smug look on her face.

  Heidi, why do you seem so surprised whenever I visit your thoughts? Did it ever occur to you that other witches can read minds besides YOU? It’s not like you’re the only one with this gift.

  “Merg!” I say out loud, which causes some of my classmates to look up from their work.

  They probably think I’m frustrated with my broom. That’s not it, of course.

  I’m a whirl of emotions.

  Part of me is mad because Jodi is right about one thing. I didn’t know other witches my age had the same gift as me.

  I never thought about it before. I never would’ve believed another witch would use their gift of mind reading against me.

  This is all-new territory.

  And I don’t like it one bit.

  I also wonder how Jodi gets into my thoughts whenever she feels like it. The only other witch I’ve ever had mental conversation with is Mrs. Kettledrum. Jodi somehow knew right away that she could have mental conversations with me.

  How come I can only do this with Jodi out of all the rest of the students at Broomsfield Academy? Why her?

  I don’t like Jodi hijacking my thoughts.

  I’m going to tell her that right now. Knowing her, she’s probably been listening in on my thoughts the whole time.

  Grrrr.

  Of course it shocks me when you burst into my head unannounced, Jodi! I tell her. Why can’t you talk to me like a NORMAL person instead of randomly popping into my head, like it’s some public space? Would you please just STOP?!

  Jodi smiles devilishly. She watches me like I’m some form of entertainment. Luckily, she has to look away because Mr. Craftwood just stopped by her desk.

  I go back to creating my broomstick, but I’m so upset, I can barely concentrate.

  Focus, Heidi! I tell myself as I continue assembling my broomstick.

  Okay, I need to secure the bristles to the broomstick by tying twine around them. I cut a long piece of twine and loop it around my broomstick, near the top of the bristles. I tug on the twine until it’s tight around them. Then I wrap the twine around and around and tie it off in a knot.

  The next step says to pound three nails through the twine and the sticks to make the broom secure. I grab my hammer and three short stubby nails.

  Whack! Whack! Whack!

  My besom is all assembled.

  I hold it up to admire it. I glance at Jodi to see what her broomstick looks like.

  I know I shouldn’t compare, but I can’t help it.

  Jodi is holding her broom and admiring it too. Hers has a more dramatic curlicue at the top than mine.

  Such a show-off!

  Jodi sees me looking and immediately picks up the conversation where we left off.

  The reason I can read your mind so easily, Heidi, is because that’s one of the perks of two witches who have the same gift of mind reading. Kind of gives new meaning to the phrase “Great minds think alike!”

  Jodi giggles out loud. How am I supposed to take this? It’s sort of a backhanded compliment.

  How dare she say we think alike? Our thoughts are nothing alike!

  I wish Jodi had an off button so I could stop her from blabbing on in my head.

  One word: maddening.

  Jodi doesn’t stop. She blabs on.

  Heidi… you surprise me in two ways. (1) You didn’t know witches with the same gift of mind reading have the power to read each other’s thoughts, and (2) you didn’t even know other witches could have the same gift as you! Jodi shakes her head in disbelief.

  All the blood in my body rushes into my face.

  I am officially FURIOUS.

  First of all, she’s wrong. I have had thought conversations with Mrs. Kettledrum, but I didn’t expect this from another magical student.

  Then I realize I’d better be careful what I think because Jodi’s probably reading every single one of my thoughts.

  Ugh, I need to stop this!

  I remind myself to ask Mrs. Kettledrum how to stop Jodi from entering my thoughts, but for now I know I have to handle this on my own.

  That’s ENOUGH, Jodi Thompson, I think angrily. I’m DONE with this conversation.

  Please see yourself OUT of my head. NOW.

  Jodi’s not even looking at me anymore. She’s not listening, either. That’s because Mr. Craftwood has begun to explain how to enchant our broomsticks.

  Double ugh! I can’t believe I let Jodi distract me from learning magic. My favorite thing!

  I try to shake off all this merg-i-ness so I can hear what my teacher is saying.

  “Has everyone completed a broomstick?” Mr. Craftwood asks. We all nod and look around to make sure everyone’s done.

  “Good!” our teacher goes on. “They’re all so creative. Well done! Before we bring your broomsticks to life, I want you to give yours a name! Be sure to give it a name that reflects who you are because your broom is a reflection of you.”

  Everybody starts talking about names, but I already know what I’m going to name my broomstick.

  High Jinks.

  “High jinks” means “playful, fun, and mischievous,” and that’s what a magic broom should be. It also describes me pretty well.

  Of course Jodi is listening in on my thoughts, and she’s the first to know the name of my broom. I ball up my fists when I hear her voice in my head again.

  “High Jinks” is a cute name, Heidi. You want to know what I named MY broomstick?

  I look at this annoying new girl fiercely.

  NO! I tell her firmly, but Jodi doesn’t listen.

  She acts like I didn’t say anything at all!

  I named my broomstick Nika. It means “victory” in Greek. Which means that together Nika and I will always win!

  Why can’t I get into Jodi’s mind unannounced? This is another question for Mrs. Kettledrum.

  Thankfully, Mr. Craftwood starts talking before I can respond to Jodi, which is probably a good thing. It’s safer to listen to the teacher than to think about Jodi.

  “Is everyone ready to enchant their broom?”

  “YES!” the class cries, except me. I’m too mad to be gleeful, but don’t get me wrong. I can’t wait to enchant my broomstick.

  Mr. Craftwood asks Jodi to pass out the broom enchantment spell, of course.

  While Jodi hands out the spell, Mr. Craftwood pulls something out of an old leather satchel. It looks like a miniature flute. He holds it up for everyone to see.

  “This is my magical fife. It’s made of rosewood,” he tells us. “A fife is a high-pitched woodwind instrument. I’ll play the fife while you all chant the broom spell together. Please read the spell quietly to yourself before we begin.”

  The room falls silent—even Jodi is quiet—as we read the spell to ourselves. Mr. Craftwood waits for everyone to look up.

  “Ready?” he asks.

  “YES!” we say eagerly.

  Mr. Craftwood rolls up his sleeves.

  “Okay, everyone, please hold your broomsticks in one hand and hold your spell in the other. Heidi, will you please lead the class in casting the spell?”

  I nod, secretly glad that I got a more important job than Jodi.

  “Good,” Mr. Craftwood affirms. “Heidi, please come to the front of the room with your broomstick and spell.”

  I get up and walk to the front of the room. Luckily, Jodi doesn’t say a peep as I make my way to Mr. Craftwood’s side. My teacher smiles at me.

  “I want everyone to follow Heidi’s lead. I’ll begin to play a magical tune, and when I nod my head, that will be Heidi’s cue, and yours, to begin chanting the spell. When the spell is complete, you may feel your broom shudder in your hand. This is no cause for alarm. It means your broom has come to life! And this is exactly what we want.

  “Are you ready, Heidi?”

  “Yes,” I say, feeling very important.

  “Class, are you ready?” Mr. Craftwood asks. My classmates nod in response.

  Mr. Craftwood raises the fife to his lips and begins to play a magical tune. The sound is beautiful and bewitching. My teacher nods, and I begin to lead the class in chanting the spell.

  STICKS AND TWIGS ALL WRAPPED IN TWINE,

  MAKE THIS MAGIC BESOM MINE.

  ENCHANT THESE BROOMS BY ROSEWOOD FIFE,

  AND GIVE THESE STICKS THE GIFT OF LIFE!

  Zing!

  The magic takes hold instantly.

  I can feel my broom vibrate in my hand. It’s no longer just a branch, some twigs, and some twine.

  It’s alive!

  “Welcome to the world, High Jinks!” I whisper to my broom.

  Mr. Craftwood pats me on the back.

 

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