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“Oh, wow!” she cried. “This is way cool!”
“How does it feel?” April called from behind us, her eyes glancing from the mirror to her watch.
“I don’t feel any different at all,” Erin said. “What a great way to lose weight!”
“Fifteen seconds,” April announced.
Lefty’s hair suddenly stood straight up in the air. “Cut it out, Erin!” he shouted, twisting away
from her invisible hands.
We heard Erin laugh from somewhere near Lefty.
Then we heard her footsteps as she walked out of the room and into the attic. We saw an old coat
rise up into the air and dance around. After it dropped back into its carton, we saw an old magazine
fly up and its pages appear to flip rapidly.
“This is so much fun!” Erin called to us. The magazine dropped back onto the stack. “I can’t wait
to go outside like this and really scare people!”
“One minute,” April called. She hadn’t moved from her sitting position against the wall.
Erin moved around the attic for a while, making things fly and float. Then she returned to the
little room to admire herself in the mirror.
“I’m really invisible!” we heard her exclaim excitedly. “Just like in a movie or something!”
“Yeah. Great special effects!” I said.
“Three minutes,” April announced.
Erin continued to enjoy herself until about four minutes had passed. Then her voice suddenly
changed. She started to sound doubtful, frightened.
“I—I don’t like this,” she said. “I feel kind of strange.”
April jumped to her feet and ran up to me. “Bring her back!” she demanded. “Hurry!”
I hesitated.
“Yes. Bring me back,” Erin said weakly.
“But you haven’t beaten my record!” Zack declared. “Are you sure—?”
“Yes. Please. I don’t feel right.” Erin suddenly sounded far away.
I stepped up to the mirror and pulled the chain. The light clicked off.
We waited for Erin to return.
“How do you feel?” I asked.
“Just… weird,” she replied. She was standing right next to me, but I still couldn’t see her.
It took nearly three minutes for Erin to reappear. Three very tense minutes.
When she shimmered back into view, she shook herself like a dog shaking water off after a bath.
Then she grinned at us reassuringly. “I’m okay. It was really terrific. Except for the last few seconds.”
“You didn’t beat my record,” Zack reported happily. “You came so close. But you folded. Just
like a girl.”
“Hey—” Erin gave Zack a hard shove. “Stop being such a jerk.”
“But you only had fifteen seconds to go, and you wimped out!” Zack told her.
“I don’t care,” Erin insisted, frowning angrily at him. “It was really neat. I’ll beat your record
next time, Zack.”
“I’m going to be the winner,” Lefty announced. “I’m going to stay invisible for a whole day.
Maybe two!”