by Lin, Harper
“I think you might be right,” Bea said.
“What was Luann asking you about?” I said, trying to look as if I was having a decent time. I tugged at the hem of my T-shirt, looked at the card table in the corner of the yard that was covered with snacks, and saw my plate right in the middle of everything. I tugged Bea in that direction so we could walk and talk without being too obvious about wanting to leave.
“She was just asking about the baby,” Bea replied, but within seconds of saying those words, she frowned. “In fact, she wanted to know a good bit about the baby. And our history of delivering children. And when Jake’s birthday was and if we needed a midwife, because Ethel is a midwife.”
“Ew. They offered midwife services when you just met.” I shivered. “I’ve known you my whole life, Bea. I love you like a sister. But there would be no way I’d want to see south of the border, especially with a baby coming, if I could help it. I think I’m going to pass out from the thought of it.” I swallowed hard.
“Pull yourself together.” Bea squeezed my hand. “So, what do we do?”
“Let’s just act natural for now. We need to get your mom to leave with us. I don’t think it would be wise to leave her alone with these ladies.” I smiled as I looked around the yard.
There were strange sculptures and lawn ornaments scattered around. The sun was starting to set, and before I knew it, there was a nice fire burning in the pit in the center of the yard. Had these women not been so weird, this would have been a nice place to hang out. They even had a “she-shed” that I watched my aunt go into with Cedar.
“Bea, why don’t you sit down and finish your fruit? I’m going to go and get your mom. She hasn’t spoken with us all night.”
Bea did as she was told, and I walked across the yard in the direction of the shed.
“Hi, Cath!” Suddenly my route was cut off by Ethel. I’d never heard her speak before. Her high, feminine voice didn’t fit her slouchy form.
“Hi. Ethel, right?”
“Yes. Are you enjoying the barbeque?” she asked.
She was rather plain in comparison to Cedar, whose clear eyes alone were enough to leave a mark in a person’s memory. Ethel had dull brown eyes and mousy hair that hung down to her shoulders. There was nothing about her features that stood out in particular except that she had very long natural nails. They were the prettiest and most feminine thing about her other than her voice.
“Yeah. But I don’t think I’ve actually tasted any barbeque,” I said, looking around.
“It hasn’t been brought out yet. The coals aren’t hot enough.” She nearly cracked her face as she grinned awkwardly.
“Oh well, no worries. I’m just going to see my aunt. I haven’t said hello to her yet, since you and Cedar picked her up. Normally she travels with family.” I took a step and was again cut off by Ethel, who managed to stay in my way.
“Yes, well, I think she’s talking with Cedar,” Ethel replied.
“I know she is. They went into your she-shed” I pointed. “So, it was nice chatting with you. I’m sure we’ll talk again.”
“Tell me, Cath, how long have you and Detective Samberg known each other?” Ethel asked innocently enough.
“Who told you I was seeing Detective Samberg?” I asked.
“Your aunt had mentioned it,” Ethel replied, her dull eyes suddenly alive with a spark of anger behind them.
“That’s personal. I don’t care to talk about my relationship.” I tried to take another step, but Ethel was not to be deterred.
“That’s a dangerous job. I bet you worry a lot.” She swallowed hard and leaned in toward me. “I’ve heard the suicide rate is high among those in law enforcement.”
My blood ran cold. Who talked like this? Was this woman trying to tell me something, or was she just a thousand times more socially awkward than I was? I had gone off at a funeral once about the Texas Body Ranch where, in the name of science, they study the decomposition of dead humans in a gigantic field. The daughter of the deceased had not been impressed. And to add insult to injury, if I remember right, I told her that her lovely, deceased mother was probably too old to be studied for very long. Nice, I know. Awkward: that was me.
“I don’t think the suicide rate of our police force is a proper topic of conversation here,” I snapped. “If you’ll excuse me.”
I literally had to push past Ethel, using my arms and elbows to get her out of my way. As soon as I did, I saw my aunt appear in the doorway of the she-shed. She was smiling and laughing and barely noticed me.
“Aunt Astrid?” I called.
“Oh hi, Cath.” She smiled. Behind her, I saw Cedar, who glared at Ethel and then me.
“What were you looking at in there?” I asked.
“Hi, Cath. I was just showing your Aunt Astrid some of the trinkets I’ve collected over the years. So, tell me, how is Blake Samberg doing?” Cedar asked smoothly. “Your aunt was just telling me about you two.”
I looked at my aunt, unable to stop my eyebrows from pinching in the middle. Of all the people on the planet, she knew how private I was. To have my business being shared with people who were nothing but strangers to me was not just embarrassing but aggravating.
“I hope you don’t mind, honey. I was just bragging on you and told them about you and Blake finally finding one another,” Aunt Astrid said as if she’d told them nothing more than that I had brown hair and worked at the café.
I was about to grab my aunt by her arm and drag her out of the house when I heard my name being called.
“I’m in the bushes to your right!” Treacle called. “Don’t eat the barbeque!”
11
Bad Meat
“I think the barbeque is almost ready!” Luann shouted from across the yard, where she was standing by a black barrel smoker. The other guests clapped and shouted. The smell seemed heavenly at first, but I detected a sickly odor underneath it.
“Don’t eat it! Don’t eat anything they cooked!” Treacle shouted.
“Why not?”
“They’ve done something to it. It isn’t good meat,” he replied.
I carefully looked around and spotted his green eyes peering at me from beneath a thick bush. Treacle was nothing more than a shadow to anyone else who might be looking around. His black coat was perfect camouflage, and I was glad he was staying out of sight. Especially after having seen the cat skeleton.
“Stay where you are,” I ordered.
“Trust me. I’m not going anywhere. These women are not like us. Not at all,” Treacle said.
When I looked back at Aunt Astrid, she was not paying any attention to me but rather was chatting with Cedar, who was watching my reaction.
“Aunt Astrid, did you say hi to Bea?” I asked.
“Oh, I will. Just give me a minute,” my aunt said as she slowly started to walk away with Cedar.
Ethel bumped me as if to urge me in the opposite direction of the she-shed. I obliged and hurried over to my cousin, who looked at me with wide, worried eyes.
“What happened? The look on your face was like nothing I’d ever seen before. Did my mom do something?” she asked, her left hand resting on her belly. I gave her a quick replay and watched as her eyes widened with surprise.
“That’s not like Mom at all,” she said before sniffing the air. “That barbeque smells good. I’m starving.”
“No. Don’t eat it,” I warned.
“Look, if nothing else, I’m getting a free meal out of these witches,” Bea argued.
“I mean it. Treacle saw something and said don’t eat anything they cooked. You haven’t, right? You just had some fruit. Hopefully there wasn’t anything on that,” I mumbled.
“Cath, I hear what you’re saying, but there is something about that smell. I can’t not eat it. I want to. I have to,” Bea said.
“Look, Jake will be happy to get you barbeque again. Heck, I’ll drive to Ronny’s on 5th Street and pick you up a bucket of ribs and some chicken too. Just promise
me you won’t eat anything here. Please?” I looked toward the bushes, where Treacle was waiting for me.
“What’s wrong with the meat? What did you see?” I asked, shouting in my head.
“I don’t think it’s an animal like a cow or a pig. Not from what I saw. And these women did a ritual over the spices. Just don’t eat it,” Treacle begged.
“I can’t help myself, Cath. I’m starving and—”
“Treacle says he doesn’t think they cooked beef or pork,” I hissed, holding on to Bea’s hand. “Bea, can’t you sense my nerves? Can’t you sense how worried I am?”
She looked at me and then at my hand touching hers. Her eyes widened, and just then, we both felt the baby kick.
“I don’t feel anything,” she mumbled. “Cath, what’s wrong with me?”
“It’s not you, Bea. It’s this place. Let’s get you out of here,” I said, quickly getting to my feet and putting out both hands to help my cousin up. It took two tries.
“Should we say good-bye?” she asked.
“No. You need to think about the baby, not your manners,” I said as I quickly walked her toward the sliding glass door. But just as we were about to slip inside the house, Ethel and Hannah casually blocked our route.
“Cath?”
“Come on. Hold my hand and pretend you are studying the architecture and the lawn ornaments,” I said as I led her around the perimeter of the house. The backyard was enclosed by a privacy fence, but there was a gate at the side of the house. I’d seen it on several of my visits to admire the house from afar. We pretended to chat casually, but Bea choked on more than one occasion as she pointed out the weird lawn décor that she said she’d seen in some of her mom’s books.
“Good,” I said. “Get in your car and go straight to your mother’s house. See if you can find those in any of her books. Maybe we can figure out what it is we are really dealing with.”
“Can I stop at Ronny’s on the way first?” She blinked at me.
“I think so. As long as you promise to go right home after that. You both do have to eat.” I squeezed her hand as I looked around the yard. There wasn’t anyone paying any attention to us. Quickly, I opened the gate, and Bea wobbled as fast as she could to the car. I stood and watched until she was safely behind the wheel and pulling out onto the street. In typical Bea fashion, she slowly drove away.
I let out a sigh of relief until I turned around to find Hannah glaring at me, her eye bugging even more.
“My cousin wasn’t feeling good, so I told her to go home. With the baby and all, I didn’t want her to take any—”
Without any warning, she took hold of the gate and pulled it shut, leaving me alone in the front yard.
Treacle was still in there, but I knew he could escape over the top if he had to. Aunt Astrid would have a much harder time. I had to get back in there before she ate anything.
I dashed to the front of the house and walked right in the front door. Still, no one was in the garish front room. Without waiting, I hurried through the house, fighting off the nausea that seized me again. When I reached the sliding glass door, I tugged it open just in time to see my aunt take a bite of something from the barbeque pit. My heart sank to my feet.
Everyone seemed to be watching her eat. No one noticed me and instead kept smiling and talking and enjoying passing out the strange food they were determined to make everyone eat.
Aunt Astrid was talking about how good everything tasted, how pleasant the place was, and how disappointed she was in Bea and me for leaving the party.
“They might be a little jealous, Astrid,” Cedar said. “We understand you a lot better than they do. We see that often in families of witches, where some members become downright nasty if another member really starts to excel and understand their powers.”
Just as Ethel was scanning the yard, I slipped behind a thick bush that stretched across the length of the fence. Treacle quickly came trotting up to me.
“This isn’t good.” Treacle looked intently at me.
“Tell me about it. We’re stuck behind a shrub watching Aunt Astrid eat some kind of bad food and forget all about us,” I replied. “Did you hear that Cedar person? Who does she think she is getting in between family? Someone ought to punch her in the face.”
“Easy now,” Treacle soothed.
“This isn’t right. This isn’t just a coven of witches. This is a cult. They’ve got some kind of agenda, and somehow Aunt Astrid has become the object of their desire,” I thought. “I gotta just go get her and drag her out of here.”
“No. Don’t. There isn’t anything saying they’ll let you go. You are outnumbered. By a lot. Just wait. This shindig can’t go on forever.”
Treacle was right. So we hunkered down for the long haul and watched as Aunt Astrid talked and laughed and hugged and held hands with half the guests in attendance. But it wasn’t long before she was yawning and claiming to be tired.
“This was a wonderful party,” Aunt Astrid said.
“Well, you are welcome any time. We have lots of fun and would love for you to join us,” Cedar said. “In fact, we want to officially invite you and Bea to join our family.”
“What? What about me?” I thought, looking at Treacle.
“That’s so kind of you,” Aunt Astrid said. “We witches do need to stick together.”
“I’m a witch. How come she isn’t asking about me?” I clenched my teeth.
“Because that isn’t your aunt. They’ve done something to her,” Treacle said.
“You can say that again,” I replied.
More comments passed among the mutual adoration league before my aunt made it to the front door to leave. The entire coven escorted her out, and once again, Cedar was my aunt’s chaperone, making sure she got home without dealing with Bea or me in the process.
Before Treacle and I were able to slip from our hiding place, Hannah appeared again and began to scarf down some of the barbeque that was still on the grill. I didn’t know if there were any bones in what she was devouring, but the way she stretched her mouth open to eat, it wouldn’t have made a difference. She tore into the meat with no concern for bones at all.
“Ready?” I looked at Treacle.
“If you are,” he replied.
“Just follow me.”
I squared my shoulders, stood straight, and, as if there was nothing more natural than coming out from behind a row of bushes, emerged from my hiding place. I looked directly at Hannah, who looked directly at me. She didn’t move. I nodded, turned, grabbed hold of the latch of the gate, and fumbled with it as my hands shook. I was sure I heard heavy footsteps quickly coming up behind me. If I turned to look, there would be Hannah, her eyes almost out of their sockets as she glared at me, her hands stretched out to take hold of me and dig through my shirt to pierce my skin.
So I didn’t look behind me. Instead, I focused on the latch. Treacle scaled one side of the fence, and I heard his paws softly pad their way down the other side. I swallowed hard, focused, and finally got the latch open. I dashed out and pulled the gate closed behind me. Within seconds of Treacle and I getting out and dashing across the dark lawn of the neighbor’s house, the gate flew open, and I was sure it had gotten ripped from its hinges.
“That was a close one,” I said breathlessly as Treacle and I began to make our way to Aunt Astrid’s house. It would take us about half an hour on foot. That was okay. I didn’t mind the cool night air, which was fresher out on the street than it had been in Cedar and Ethel’s crazy gingerbread fun house.
12
Rats in the Alleys
Had I known Treacle was going to lead me through back alleys, patches of forest, and two subdivisions to get home, I would have stayed at the Gingerbread House and eaten the barbeque. There were rats in the alleys, I walked through three spiderwebs in the forest, and… well, nothing happened in the subdivisions except that I saw a bunch of fancy houses. But we did get to our street in twenty minutes instead of thirty. My house l
ooked normal. Bea’s was unusually dark, and my Aunt Astrid’s was not only well lit, but Cedar was still chatting her up at the front door.
“Stay out of sight,” I instructed Treacle. He left my side to slink closer to the house on his own, completely undetected.
I, on the other hand, had to be a bit more careful. I carefully ducked from shadow to shadow as I inched closer to my aunt’s front porch. Thankfully, it was elevated above the rest of the yard. But I still had to cross the neighbor’s yard. I dropped to my hands and knees and crawled across the grass along the bushes that lined the front of their house. The grass was cold and wet, and I was sure that I touched a worm and maybe an anthill. The crickets were chirping, and a few bright stars were twinkling in the beautiful dark-blue sky. The moon was just a sliver, glowing brightly and adding another beautiful shape to the night sky. It was hard to look up at the peaceful sight and then realize I had to get to my own aunt’s house by sneaking along the ground.
“It will be the greatest move you’ve made,” I heard Cedar say in a low voice.
If they convinced my aunt to sell her house, I was going to scream.
“I don’t know what my girls will think,” Aunt Astrid replied.
“You have to explain things to them like children,” Cedar said. “They’ll probably protest at first until they see what you’ve gained.”
I crawled through the cool, wet grass in the dark another ten feet until I reached the porch and pressed my back against the siding. Cedar’s voice was low but firm, as if she was giving my aunt orders. No one gave Aunt Astrid orders. Who did this woman think she was?
“I agree. But what if they don’t want to join me?” Aunt Astrid’s voice sounded tired.
“You just need to bring Bea along. Cath isn’t your child. You are only related to her through your deceased sister.”
