When Dad's Away
Summary: Young Justin and Alex are in big trouble when they accidentally turn Theresa invisible, especially when they can't reverse the spell, and Jerry is out of town.
A/N: Yup, another story about their childhood. Remember Theresa's line in the "Retest" episode? "Wait 'til they turn you invisible. None of your clothes fit right after that." He he.
Part I
2005
"When are you coming home, Daddy?" twelve-year-old Alex asked into the cordless phone. "I really miss you." After she'd used magic to speed-read through a book she needed to read for a book report, her mother had grounded her until she did the book report the mortal way. She wanted to a street fair with Harper the next day, so she'd been hoping her father, who usually took her side, would come home soon and talk her mother into letting her off the hook.
But that wasn't happening, apparently. "Not until Monday, honey," her dad answered. "This is a weekend-long No Wizard Left Behind conference. I'm sorry, I miss you too."
"Okay. But, um, I want to ask you something..." Alex trailed off as she looked around the entrances to the loft common area to make sure no one was listening. Her mother was still downstairs closing and cleaning up the sub shop.
Satisfied that she wouldn't be caught, Alex quickly asked, "Can I go to a street fair with Harper tomorrow? It's not far from Waverly Place."
"Did you finish your book report?" her father replied.
Alex hesitated. "Um, I read the book." And it was true. She did read the book once with the help of her speed-reading spell.
He clearly sensed her reluctance since he asked, "Alex, what did your mother say?"
"She said that Alex is grounded for the weekend. And now for the rest of the week, too."
Uh oh. That had been her mother's voice.
The phone still held up to her ear, Alex slowly turned around to find her mother standing in the front doorway, the other cordless phone in her hand. She must have needed to make a call and mistakenly beeped into Alex's conversation.
While Alex stood there trying to figure out what to do, Theresa brought her phone to her ear. "Jerry, I already told her she couldn't go to the street fair because she tried to use magic to do her report. She'll talk to you later." And she pressed the talk button on the phone to end the call.
A weak grin on her face, Alex hung up her phone too, then slowly backed up toward the stairs. Her mother was giving her a scary look, and Alex knew better than to stick around for the full reaction. "I know, I know, I'm in trouble. I'll just, uh, send myself to my room."
She then whirled around and made a mad dash for the stairs.
In the upstairs landing, Alex began heading toward her room, but found herself blocked. "What?" she wondered aloud in confusion. The hallway was empty, but she knew she bumped into something.
Suddenly the decorative table against the wall moved, and what was distinctly her brother's voice exclaimed, "Ouch!"
"Justin!" Alex whispered, so as not to alert her mother, who was still downstairs. "Justin, is that you? Did you use magic?" When there wasn't a response, Alex demanded, "Don't try to hide from me! I know that was you who said 'ouch'!"
There was a long sigh, then much to Alex's surprise, a waterfall of sparkles cascaded on to the floor, and Justin appeared. "Hi," he muttered. "I used the invisibility spell. I was going to get the comic book Mom took away when she caught me reading it while I was supposed to be studying."
"Hah! I caught you using magic!" Alex said with a triumphant pump of her fist. "I am so telling Mom to get back at you for blabbing about my speed-reading."
Justin ran to block her way to the stairs. "Wait, Alex, don't you want to know what the invisibility spell is? I can teach it to you if you don't tell Mom!"
That made Alex pause. She did really want to bust her brother for once. But...the idea of learning a new spell excited her. They had only been in training since Justin got his powers last year, so between that and not paying attention in class, she really didn't know many spells. She would never admit it, but she was jealous that Justin always knew so many more than her, either because he studied the spells in class or read the various spell books their dad kept in the lair.
"Alright, what is it?" Alex asked, her arms crossed.
"I found it in one of the spell books downstairs," Justin said, excited to share what he'd learned. "At first I thought it would be in the book about spells developed in the fifteenth century, because it was invented by the wizard..."
Alex held up her hands. "Justin, skip the nerdy stuff and just tell me the spell!"
Insulted, Justin retorted, "Fine, now you'll never know that it was accidentally discovered when-"
"Justin!"
"Okay!" He finally took out his wand and pointed it at the table he'd crashed into earlier. "It's this: 'Now no one else can see, if they're standing close to me.'" In response, magic flew from his wand, and the table appeared to be no longer there.
"Cool! But how do you get it not invisible again?" Alex asked.
Sheepish, Justin shrugged. "I, uh, don't know. Since the book wasn't historical, not instructional, it didn't go into detail about how to reverse the spell. I've been using the undo dust Dad told us about, see?" He pulled a small pouch from his bag, then opened it to show Alex the glitter inside. He then took a pinch and threw it at the table, and it turned visible. "Oh, that reminds me, I have to go into lair and get some more. This pouch I found in there doesn't hold much."
"Yeah..." Alex glanced down the stairs. Her mother must have gone to finish up in the shop, since the room was empty. "Hey, Mom went back to the shop, it's safe to get your comic book now."
"Oh really? Great!" Justin exclaimed as he ran to the stairs. He then realized she'd done him a favor and looked at her with surprise. "Uh, thanks Alex."
"No problem, bro," Alex replied. He continued downstairs, and she snatched up the undo dust pouch he'd left on the table. "No problem at all," she smugly whispered to herself.
The next afternoon, Alex tip-toed down the stairs, her wand in one hand and the pouch in the other. There looked to be just enough left for one more spell reversal, which was just enough. Of course she hadn't finished her book report over night, but it was Saturday, and she was going to that street fair.
Her only obstacle was her mother, who unfortunately was sitting in the living room with Max, helping him study for an English test he had on Monday.
Good luck, Mom. Surely her less-than-genius brother would keep her busy all day.
Even though her mother's back was turned, Alex wanted to make sure she wouldn't be seen sneaking out the front door. She pulled out her wand, then whispered, "Now no one else can see, if they're standing close to me."
As she was casting the spell, she noticed that the pouch was about to fall out of her jacket pocket. Distracted, her hand slipped, and the wand fired the spell behind her instead of directly at her. The pouch dropped to the floor while she stared at the spark of magic in horror.
It had rebounded off the kitchen cabinets...then hit her mother square in the back.
Uh oh.
Max's eyes widened in shock as his mother disappeared. "Whoa..." he gasped, then spotted Alex on the stairs. "Alex, what did you do?"
"What?" Theresa asked, confused as she hadn't realized her current state of invisibility. There was a rustling sound on the couch as she presumably turned around. "Oh, hi Alex. Finish that report yet?"
"Um, no, I was just going up to work on it...bye!" Alex exclaimed, then once again tore up the stairs. Maybe if her mother didn't notice for a while, she'd be able to come up with an excuse that didn't put her at fault for this.
However, she wasn't that lucky. Just as she'd reached the landing, she winced as she heard her mother's horrified shout.
"Alexandra Margarita Russo! Get down here right now!"
The exclamation carried up the stairs, so Justin emerged from his room and gave her a curious glance. "What'd you do?"
Nervous, Alex decided she'd rather have her brother come downstairs with her than face her mother's wrath alone. Even though invisible, her mother still had her voice to shout with. "Well, why don't you come down with me and see for yourself." Alex winced. "Pun not intended."
