“Yeah, I guess I wanted to step out of your shadow,” Jamal said. “When you’re around, it’s like nobody can see me. There isn’t room for me to get noticed, even when I’m actually good at something, like science or writing stories. Or even basketball when you’re not defending me.”
“But Mrs. Perkins loves you,” Malik croaked. “You get As in her class.”
“Oh, yeah? Then why doesn’t she ever call on me?” Jamal said, upset. “Even when I usually know the answer and raise my hand? She always calls on you first.”
“She calls on you sometimes,” Malik replied.
“Like when?” Jamal demanded. “You see? I may as well be invisible.”
The tension between them sizzled in the air like electricity. They had never argued like this before, and they both knew it.
“Okay, maybe you have a point,” Malik rasped finally. “She does usually call on me first. But who cares about boring science stuff, anyway?”
Jamal thumped his chest. “Me…I care! I love science. It’s my favorite subject. And what about basketball? I always get picked last, while you get picked first every time.”
“Fine, but that doesn’t mean you had to do this to me,” Malik said, sounding hurt and angry. His shadow form twisted on the ground. “Spit it out already. What happened?”
Jamal started pacing again. His feet trampled the manicured grass. “Listen, all I wanted was to feel what it was like to get noticed for once. But I didn’t mean for him to turn you into an actual shadow. He tricked me. This isn’t what I meant to happen.”
“Who are you talking about?” Malik said.
His shadow form lightened and vanished for a second as a cloud passed over the sun. “Malik, come back!” Jamal said, afraid that his brother had vanished for good.
But as soon as the sun returned, Malik reappeared as well. His voice was also restored as soon as he rematerialized, like the volume being turned up on a speaker.
“Who are you talking about?” Malik demanded. “Who did this to me?”
Jamal swallowed hard. “Dr. Facilier…he’s the shadow man.”
“Wait, you made a deal with the shadow man?” Malik said in a horrified voice. “What were you thinking? You can’t mess with that kind of dark magic. You know that!”
“You have to understand—he tricked me,” Jamal said. “This wasn’t our deal.”
“But you can’t trust the shadow man! Nana warned us about him,” Malik rasped angrily. “No wonder this happened. How could you be so stupid? I can’t believe my own brother did this to me.”
Malik’s words stabbed him like a knife to the heart.
“I’m…I’m so sorry,” Jamal stammered. “I never should’ve talked to him. I didn’t mean for this to happen. I think Grandma tried to warn me, too, but I didn’t understand her message.”
“‘Beware of the shadows,’” Malik said, recalling the words from the note their mom’s mother had left behind with the necklace. The anger faded slightly from his voice and was replaced by curiosity. “You think Grandma was warning you about Dr. Facilier?”
Jamal nodded. “Yeah, I think so, only I didn’t understand.” He pulled out the skull necklace to show it to Malik. “This necklace she gave me glows whenever he’s around and protects me from his shadows. It’s the reason Dr. Facilier came after me in the first place. He wants this necklace—and he seems willing to do anything to get it.”
“But why does the shadow man want it so badly?” Malik rasped, cocking his head toward the skull necklace. “What’s so important about it?”
“Right, that’s the problem. I don’t know,” Jamal said. “Clearly it has some kind of power over him. Maybe he wants to get his hands on it so he can destroy it? I’ll bet this was his plan all along, since I wouldn’t give it to him. I’m so stupid. I knew I couldn’t trust him.”
“So he turned me into a shadow to trick you?” Malik responded.
“Yeah, he told me that I would get to step out of your shadow if I ga
ve him something valuable,” Jamal said, remembering their deal. “So I snuck under your bed while you were asleep, and stole your trumpet and gave it to him. The one Grandma left to you—”
Malik cut him off, sounding furious. “Wait, not only did you make a deal with the shadow man, but you stole my trumpet to do it? Little J, how could you?” His shadow form twisted.
Jamal swallowed hard. “I knew it was wrong, but you have to understand…all I wanted was to know what it would be like to walk in your shoes for one day. But he didn’t tell me that he’d turn you into an actual shadow. I never would’ve made the deal if I’d known the truth.”
“Dark magic always backfires,” Malik said, shaking his shadow head. His voice still wavered with fury. “This is, like, basic stuff.”