Has Anyone Seen Jessica Jenkins? Read Online Free

tapping her on the shoulder when she thought I was sitting in front of her.
    We had a bit of a close call at one point. Mom came up while I was invisible. “Come on, girls, it’s way past bedtime. Time to — ” She stopped. Looked around the room. “Where’s Jessica?” she asked.
    “Um. She’s . . . she’s, er, in the bathroom,” Izzy stammered.
    At which point, I sneaked silently past Mom — making sure not to brush against her. I was invisible, after all, not un
tou
chable. Then I ran along the landing and into the bathroom, carefully pulled the door closed, flushed the toilet, turned myself visible again, and ambled back toward my bedroom just as Mom was turning back onto the landing.
    “There you are,” she said.
    “Oh, hi, Mom,” I said casually.
    “I was just telling Isobel that I think it’s lights-out time. It’s nearly midnight!”
    “You’re right. We’ve been working pretty hard,” I said. “I’m tired.”
    Mom kissed my head as she passed me. “You’re such good girls,” she said.
    I bit my lip. I felt a little guilty, but mostly I felt excited. I couldn’t wait to start practicing my new superpower out in the real world.

    The next morning, I was awake early. I leaned over in bed to see Izzy in her sleeping bag on the blow-up mattress, reading a book.
    “You’re awake,” I said.
    “Couldn’t sleep.”
    “Me neither.”
    I jumped out of bed. “Come on, then,” I said. “Let’s get going.”
    An hour later, we were showered, dressed, breakfasted, and ready to catch the first bus into town.
    Mom came to the door with us. She was wearing exercise clothes. Mom works up at the rec center. She manages the reception desk and runs a few classes, too. Saturday is Dance for the Over-50s.
    “Have a lovely day,” she said. “Don’t be back late.”
    “We won’t,” I called as we skipped down the driveway.
    Half an hour later, we stepped off the bus and walked along the main street. Izzy stopped outside our town’s one and only department store.
    I stopped beside her. “Bertram’s? What are we doing here?”
    “It’s the busiest shop on a Saturday morning. Might be a good place to test your powers in public for the first time.”
    I looked in the window. It was full of mannequins dressed in all sorts of different outfits. I suddenly had an idea for how we could make it fun.
    We wandered around the store for a bit. Once I had located the best spots for our first public experiment, I grabbed a couple of sweaters off a rack. “I’ll go and try these on,” I said.
    Izzy nodded. “So you can make yourself invisible in the changing rooms.”
    “Exactly. Not advisable in the middle of a busy department store.”
    The woman at the desk handed me a tab without even looking at me. “Cubicle number eight,” she said in a bored voice.
    As soon as I was in the changing room, I hung the sweaters up, sectioned off a bit of my mind, made it go blank, and waited.
    A minute later, I was invisible! My stomach tingled with a whisper of anxiety as I slipped out of the changing rooms. What if I couldn’t keep it up with all these people around? What if I got so distracted I became visible again without realizing and someone saw it happen?
    I shook my head. No. I’d be fine. And, anyway, that’s what we were here for. If I was going to become so expert at using my power that I was going to do good with it one day, I’d have to start somewhere, and a department store on a Saturday morning was as good a place as any.
    Izzy was waiting just outside the changing rooms. I sidled up to her. “Hey, Izzy,” I whispered.
    Izzy jumped. “Jess, is that you?” she hissed.
    “Er, no, it’s the other person who has just turned invisible and also happens to know your name,” I said. “Of course it’s me! Come on, let’s go.”
    Beside the changing rooms, a pair of mannequins faced each other. A man and a woman. The man was dressed in a suit, the woman in a soft flowing dress. Before doing