Grim Hill: The Forgotten Secret (Grim Hill Series)

by Linda DeMeulemeester

  A mysterious look shadowed Sookie’s face, and she said, as if she was in a terrible hurry, “Mom’s not ready and I have important errands.”

  What important errands could a nine-year-old have? But I just nodded. When I grabbed our backpacks off the hooks by the kitchen door, I noticed Sookie’s backpack had an odd bulge, and for a moment, the shape reminded me of the creepy purple turban she used to wear. I’d thought for sure she’d left that at the Greystones’. “Hey, what’s in here?”

  Sookie reached into her bag and pulled out a blue wool hat that matched her coat. She had to have a hat for almost every occasion. At least this hat wasn’t magical.

  “There’s nothing else inside but schoolwork,” Sookie said as she cast a sly smile. “Your backpack doesn’t bulge at all – shouldn’t it be full of homework?”

  Why did that set off a quiet alarm bell in my brain?

  Mom came downstairs in a rush, tucking a white blouse into her plain wool skirt. Mom never wore cool bohemian clothes or fancy dresses like Lea’s aunt. Then a guilty thought pinched me. She didn’t have my option of getting a part-time job for a fancy outfit. All her money went to bills.

  “Ooh, I’m running behind. Have either of you seen my maroon blouse? I couldn’t find it anywhere this morning.”

  I shook my head. “Sorry …”

  “Hurry, Cat,” Sookie said as she flew out the door.

  After dropping Sookie off, I had to rush through work so I could still arrive early for school. I stood beside the drab grey lockers waiting for the other kids to shuffle in. Mr. Morrows and Ms. Dreeble had organized an early dance lesson because they had a staff meeting after school. This suited the girls as we’d planned to slip the boys the love charms while we danced.

  If only I had a love charm to slip around Zach’s neck.

  This Valentine’s dance wasn’t turning out at all as I’d planned. I suddenly wondered how Lucinda’s dance turned out all those years ago – if she managed to go to the dance with the popular boy, Roger. Still, I almost had my dress and now I hung out with lots of kids. I figured all I had to do was dodge Clive – who maybe was asking me out – and I’d probably end up having a good time at the dance with or without Zach. That is, as long as I sat out the ballroom dancing.

  I’d put a lot of work into keeping everyone happy for the dance – so much so that …

  Yikes – my science report. I hadn’t even started it! I ran down the hall, then up the stairs. Maybe I could beg Ms. Dreeble for a little more time on my report. But when I reached the science room I hesitated by the open door. Sharp voices rose behind it.

  “You said you’d meet me for dinner last night,” I heard Mr. Morrows say. “You didn’t answer your phone all day.”

  “I have a paper that’s going to be published in Scientific World,” said Ms. Dreeble. “I’m really sorry – I got so caught up in research and the deadline that I kept my phone off the hook and – ”

  “Forgot about me.”

  I stared at the yellowing linoleum as Mr. Morrows stormed out of the classroom past me.

  Weird – I never exactly pictured my teachers having a life outside school. And I didn’t know that Ms. Dreeble conducted real scientific research – that was cool. I tiptoed past the open door, but I couldn’t resist peeking inside. Ms. Dreeble had put her head down on the desk.

  “But I can’t neglect my work …” she said miserably.

  I went by the office and said hi to Mom. She sat at her desk and I heard her muttering, “I checked my closet, every single drawer, and the laundry. How can a blouse just disappear?” When she finally noticed me, she waved in a distracted way.

  By the time I got back down to the gym, the first thing that hit me was an overpowering smell of lavender and that darker odor. If there was a perfume called creepiness, it would smell like that. Right – all the girls would have their love charms ready to slip over the boys’ heads. Yuck. The concoctions all smelled potent. Actually, they stank.

  Mr. Morrows stood alone at the front of the gym looking like he’d much rather be coaching soccer as he began the music. It was weird thinking about him and Ms. Dreeble arguing.

  “You never seem to focus on what you’re doing,” said Clive as he grabbed my hand. “Your head’s always somewhere else.”

  I was about to come up with a smart reply such as, “Only when I’m stuck with you,” but the smell in the gym got so pungent I began gagging.

  “What’s that stink,” Clive complained.

  However, most of the people in our class didn’t seem to notice. Instead, they were dancing away as if nothing was peculiar. Well, not too peculiar. By the end of the dance the boys seemed to be just shuffling around. And when the bell finally rang, the boys only stopped dancing when the girls did. Then as the girls left the gym for their classes, the boys followed behind them almost like their shadows. I went up to science class.

  “Cat,” Ms. Dreeble said. “How is your report going? Don’t forget it is due Monday, or you lose the bonus marks and I’ll deduct work-habit marks,” she said wearily. “You have a talent in science, Cat, and I expect you to do better.”

  That wasn’t so bad …

  “I’m thinking that report should include a bibliography,” said Ms. Dreeble. “That shouldn’t be too tough with all your extra time, should it?”

  I nodded my head as my heart sank. Just what I needed, more work. I spent the lunch hour alone hauling out the rest of the Valentine’s decorations and carrying them to the gym. All my friends, including Mia and Amarjeet, had forgotten about me as they hung around all the other girls at their lockers, giggling and talking. Oh, and they were surrounded by the boys!

  “The love charms are awesome,” whispered Amarjeet as Rabinder lingered by her with a lovesick smile.

  “This was the best idea ever,” Mia nodded in delight as Mitch grabbed her books to carry them home.

  But the love charms shouldn’t be working like this at all.

  What was going on?

  CHAPTER 15 - A Grim Parade

  AT LEAST LEA agreed to stay with me after school to hang all the Japanese lanterns and paper streamers for the dance. All the other girls had gone off with the boys and had deserted us. Lea didn’t mention the night before, so when the moment seemed right, I asked, “What did you mean the other night? You seemed sort of … upset,” I finished awkwardly

  But Lea only mumbled, “Well, I was worried about you getting in trouble.” Which I had managed to do – well, almost. Then I grew quiet as I kept wondering how those silly love charms I’d made ended up having such a potent effect.

  I reached into one of the boxes and pulled out that newspaper article again with the puzzling headline. “Boy found … still missing …” How can someone be lost and found at the same time? That’s what I’d wanted to remember when Lucinda was telling us about her dance. If I’d described the photograph to her, maybe she’d have figured out what the headline was about. It had to be a well-known incident if it was on the front page of a newspaper. Or did it? I’d read papers before from back then, and it could have been that the kid lost his dog or something. Still, I was a bit curious. Folding the paper, I stuffed it in my jacket pocket.

  It was getting late when I headed home, and I still had to stop to collect the last of my pay from Mr. Keating. By the time I stood in front of Esmeralda’s shop window and stared again at my dream dress, some of my excitement had evaporated. Friday’s dance was supposed to be an awesome event with me wearing the coolest dress.

  I was beginning to realize it wasn’t going to play out that way – mostly due to the fact that my friends all went home with the boys of their dreams trailing after them. It wasn’t bugging me that I’d be the only girl without a partner. As much as I wanted to believe everything was normal in this town, boys didn’t really fall under a love charm of crushed lavender and catnip, even if girls wished for that to happen under a storm moon.

  Are there ever any happy endings?

  Just then
, Esmeralda spotted me and came outside as the bell above her door clanged. “So are you here to pick up the dress?”

  “I guess.”

  “I expect more enthusiasm than that,” said Esmeralda as she stared at my navy velour tracksuit that sort of rode up my waist. She had my dress neatly packed between tissue paper and had enclosed it in a cardboard box. “This dress will be the most exquisite one at the Valentine’s dance. I love Valentine’s day, it’s so romantic.”

  “Um, yeah.” I noticed the way Esmeralda kept looking out the window. She was staring at Mr. Keating again, who stood in front of his apple barrel holding a Valentine card. He was gazing off into nowhere with an eerie, vacant stare. I noticed a flash of red under his apron, and a balloon of worry began inflating in my stomach.

  I thanked Esmeralda and slipped my boxed dress under my arm. I bumped into a few grown-ups as they shuffled down the street – usually I was the one caught up in daydreams and distractions. They had the same weird stare as Mr. Keating. What was up with everyone? I headed home thinking whatever weirdness was going on, it had better not wreck the dance. When I turned down the last street, I spotted Lea hanging over her fence talking to Jasper. She waved for me to come over and join them; she’d been so quiet when we were decorating the gym, and she wasn’t exactly smiling now.

  “You must really like the scarf I gave you because that’s, like, the third time I’ve seen you wear it,” Lea said as she managed a half-smile.

  That was a bit embarrassing, but it was true. I loved my – um, her – pink scarf. I’d wear it every day if I could, but I was trying to keep it nice for the dance.

  “Hey, I’m coming over to your place later,” she brightened. “Your mom and my aunt are having coffee. Uh, maybe you shouldn’t wear the scarf then. It’s just that … my aunt might not approve of me lending it to you.”

  “Don’t worry.” I understood because Mom never liked me borrowing anything, as it just wouldn’t do to accidentally lose it or damage it. “But I’m wearing it to the dance on Friday if it’s okay.”

  “Totally,” Lea said.

  “The dance,” Jasper said in a disgusted way. “What a stupid idea the whole thing is.”

  Wow, it wasn’t like my friend to be so negative. And yet, I was starting to feel … “What’s wrong?” I asked him softly.

  Lea piped up, “Jasper had worked on some amazing poems for a valentine to a girl, and she didn’t even open it. She just went on and on about going to the dance with some other boy.”

  That would be Mia, I thought.

  Lea looked sympathetically at Jasper. “I’d have gone with you in a second,” she said.

  Jasper looked happier. Too bad Lea wasn’t allowed to go. I shrugged and said, “Yeah, the whole dance thing is getting …” my voice trailed off. I spotted a peculiar sight that made me do a triple-take.

  Most of our soccer team was walking down my street – first the girls and then the boys, who were trailing behind them. And they were heading to my house!

  “I should check out what’s going on,” I said as I broke out in a run, pointing to the straggling parade of kids.

  Jasper hesitated. “Are you coming?” he asked Lea.

  “Can’t,” she said. “I’m waiting for my aunt.” She checked nervously over her shoulder at her house that sat in the yard like a lurking beast. I pulled Lea’s scarf tighter around me and started running again. Jasper and I raced back to my place.

  When we approached my house, a bunch of kids were standing on our sidewalk, and some of them had lined up on the steps. Our front door was open and Sookie stood on the porch. Jasper and I pushed our way through the crowd until we joined Sookie. Buddy was perched on her shoulder, twitching his little nose as he checked out the crowd.

  “Will you get Rabinder to go home?” Amarjeet said in an exasperated voice. “He won’t talk and he won’t listen. All he does is follow me everywhere, and my mom is getting angry.”

  Rabinder stood beside Amarjeet wearing a vacant grin on his face. Every time Amarjeet climbed a step toward us, he climbed one. If she stepped back, he stepped back. “It has to be the love charm,” she said shaking her head.

  “Maybe there can be too much of a good thing,” Mia said giving Mitch a gentle shove and turning him to face in the opposite direction. He’d been leaning over her from behind, and a thin line of drool had dripped from his mouth and onto her shoulder. He wore the same vacant stare.

  “This is definitely not cool,” complained Emily. She turned in disgust to watch Zach flit from Amanda to Ashley to Jennifer like a confused moth banging up against a light bulb.

  As I lay my dress box down on the porch, Sookie’s eyes grew wider and wider. “Cat,” she said. “I think we have a problem.”

  Every single boy who wore a love charm was following a girl around in big shuffling steps and acting as is if there wasn’t a single thought in his head other than to be her shadow. Horrified, I stared at the guys’ identical stupid grins, as the only thing their eyes tracked was the girl right in front of them. Except for Zach who wore five love charms. As a result, he kept shuffling aimlessly from girl to girl.

  “What have you done?” cried Jasper.

  “Nothing,” I squeaked. “I created love charms, but only with lavender and catnip and ordinary herbs. It was all supposed to be fun.”

  “But Cat,” Sookie began.

  “Take them off,” I said quickly. “Take off their love charms.”

  “Won’t they get … mad at us,” Mia said as she frowned.

  “You should have thought about that earlier,” Jasper said in a harsh tone.

  “I already tried that,” complained Amarjeet. “The charm won’t come off.”

  Emily went over and tugged at the red sachet that hung around Zach’s neck. “Nope,” she said. “It won’t budge.” Then she yanked even harder until poor Zach was making a sort of choking sound.

  “Easy,” cried Amanda as she pulled Emily back.

  “This can’t be happening.” I was totally confused.

  “Cat,” Sookie began again.

  “What?” I snapped impatiently. My kid sister dragged me into our hallway and whispered, “When you weren’t looking I sort of added extra ingredients to your love charms.”

  “What kind of ingredients?” The worry balloon kept inflating, making my stomach even tighter.

  “The mullein stuff and Spanish moss, and um, licorice root,” Sookie said as she grew paler and paler. “I didn’t think it would make the charms this strong.”

  “Why?” I gasped. “Sookie, why would you use magic when I specifically told you not to?”

  Sookie started snuffling. “’Cause your stuff wouldn’t work. I tried to tell you that.”

  “But I didn’t want it to work – not magically,” I whispered frantically.

  “A little help here,” Amarjeet called through the door.

  Sookie hung her head. “Cat, your friends would have been mad. You wanted them to like you. I was just trying to help. And Aunt Bea told me those ingredients would make the charms more potent.”

  I glared at her as my skin crawled with goose bumps. Did Bea have something to do with this catastrophe? I should have believed my first instincts when she and Sookie had gone off to admire her stupid plants. But there was no time to think about that at the moment.

  “First, she’s not your aunt. Second, in case you haven’t noticed, my friends are pretty mad.”

  “Well, this is a real predicament,” was all Sookie said as she went into the living room and tucked Buddy inside his hamster ball.

  Yeah, no kidding. I went back onto the porch wondering what to do next. For a few moments the only sound was the spinning of Buddy’s ball as it clattered across the floor.

  “If we can’t take the charms off,” I said suddenly, “we could cut the conjure bags and let the herbs fall out.” I ran into the kitchen to grab scissors. When I got back onto the porch, the girls had lined the boys up in a row waiting for me. Taking Rabinde
r’s red silk conjure bag into my hand, I carefully began to slice it open. But the bag quickly slid from my fingers and I almost cut myself.

  I dropped the scissors.

  It was as if whatever was inside those crimson bags was alive.

  CHAPTER 16 - A Terrible Twist

  “AMARJEET,” I GULPED nervously. “Hold the bag for me.” Amarjeet grimaced, but she reached for the bag and grasped it. “Don’t stab my fingers.”

  Again, even more carefully this time, I opened the scissors to begin snipping. The bag squirmed; Amarjeet shrieked and drew back her hand.

  “What’s going on down there,” Mom called from her bedroom. “I’m trying to take a nap before dinner.”

  Please don’t come down, please don’t come down, I pleaded in my mind. “Nothing,” I called back. Then as calmly as I could, I suggested, “Mom, why don’t you rest a few more minutes, and I’ll turn on the oven to get things started.” Taking my cue, Sookie took off to do just that.

  She came back in a snap and shouted, “Done,” before she caught her breath.

  “Thanks,” Mom said. “I’ll be down in about fifteen minutes.”

  I leaned closer to Rabinder. “Can you hear me at all?”

  “Ugh,” he replied.

  “Zach,” I said. He stopped and hovered for a second when I called his name. “Do you know where you are?”

  “Ugh.”

  “So they seem to be following basic questions,” I said hopefully.

  “Will you boys go home … please,” Amarjeet said in desperation.

  “Ugh,” Rabinder grunted, and he started to leave, but he hesitated, looking confused about which direction to go.

  Oh crap. Now what?

  “Take them home,” said Jasper to the girls. “Set them up in front of a computer game or the television. That shouldn’t be too challenging for them. And as long as they do as they’re told, maybe their parents won’t notice anything until Cat can figure out how to get rid of the charm.”

  Unless they’re asked to do something complicated like setting the table, I thought. It wasn’t a great plan, but at least it was a plan.