Kat flipped frantically through her spellbook. "There has to be something," she said over and over again. "There has to be something."
"Kat, I'm scared," Dan said.
"You're not the only one," Kat replied. "I'm absolutely terrified. I don't want to be your mother, and I don't want anyone thinking I put out, especially not for my brother."
"We didn't have sex," Dan protested.
"But when I turn up pregnant and you turn up missing, everyone will think you ran away because you knocked me up. You know how rumors get started. So be quiet while I find the right spell." Kat suddenly realized that, while she flipped through the spellbook with one hand, she'd started rubbing her belly again with the other. Remembering what Dan had told her, she sat on her other hand.
"Here we are," Kat said, feeling triumphant. "This one's called 'Reversal,' and it promises to undo any spell that the spellcaster got wrong." She scooped up her wand and, skimming over the spell, pointed the wand at her womb. "Stellen Sie mich frei ein!" she called out.
Nothing happened.
"Kat? I don't feel any different."
"I know," Kat said. I must have done something wrong. Again she pointed the spell at herself and said the magic words. Again nothing happened.
"I don't understand," Kat said.
"Don't play around," Dan pleaded. "I want my body and my life back."
"And I want you out of my body," Kat said. "Just give me a minute."
Kat pointed her wand at her bedside lamp and tried a spell she used earlier in the day with complete success. But this time she couldn't turn her lamp into a drinking glass. She also couldn't turn her quilt into a golden gown or her chair into a throne, both of which she'd accomplished easily a few hours ago. She got a sinking feeling in her stomach.
"I think," she said, "that I have no more powers. We're stuck this way."
"What do we do?" Dan demanded, sounding panicked.
"I don't know. Why don't you come up with a suggestion instead of whining?"