She bided her time and waited for the perfect opportunity. It would be just a one-time warning, she decided. To show that two could play saboteur, ha ha! She practiced jabbing her finger right in Ella’s face and saying, “How’s that for a taste of your own medicine, cootie monster?”
The golden moment came during an afternoon pickup soccer match out in Cow Patty Pasture. Soccer was one of Claire’s favorite sports. It got a lot of her running energy out. She liked to play offense, but usually she had enough steam in her to play defense, too. Basically, she just followed the ball wherever it went.
Ella had extra running energy, too. She played by Claire’s same rules of following the ball all over the field, only more aggressively. Her usual trick was to swipe the ball to the extreme sideline, so that it was almost out of bounds. That’s when she would drive it all the way down the field, yelling, “I got it! I got it!” so loud that nobody else came near her.
Usually, Claire stayed out of Ella’s way, too. Safe from her bumps and shoves.
This time, she was ready. As soon as Ella got the ball, Claire streaked up alongside, tapped her knees, and softly chanted:
Knock these knees—
Fall to thine!
Immediately, Ella stumbled and fell flat as a skinny squished spider.
In the next instant, Claire had recovered the ball. She pointed her finger and began, “How’s that for a taste of your own—” but already Ella had bounced back up, so Claire had to pass the ball, quick. Which she did, to Zoë, who popped it to Janna, who smashed it past Penelope and into the goal.
Everyone cheered. Ella scowled.
Ella pointed at Claire indignantly. “She tripped me!” she yelled to Pam.
“How did I?” Claire bellowed back.
“You said bad words to me, Fleabite!” Ella shouted. “You used intimidation tactics!”
Pam narrowed her eyes, called a timeout, and trotted over from the sidelines. “Keep it down, girls; they can hear you in Kentucky. That doesn’t sound like you, Claire. Did you say anything intimidating?”
“Crumbs, of course not!” said Claire. She made herself look Pam in the eye. “I never cheat.”
Lying was weird. Kind of like telling a campfire ghost story, as if the zombie version of Claire were channeling bad words through her real self.
Pam looked from Ella to Claire and back again. She seemed to be trying to decide something. “No penalties,” she called finally, blowing her whistle.
As soon as Pam’s back was turned, Claire stuck out her tongue. Ella mouthed a curse word. Claire mouthed a worse curse word back. Ella yawned and tapped her hand over her mouth, then scooted off before Claire could do anything more.
Uneasily, Claire waited for Ella to cast her knock-these-knees spell, or worse, but nothing happened.
Ella’s team evened the score, ending the game in a tie. But a spell-cheat tie, Claire realized, did not feel the same as a real one.
After everyone shook hands down the line, Pam signaled for Claire and Ella both to come stand on either side of her. She flung an arm around each of their necks and drew them into a three-way huddle.
“Look here, sports fans. Healthy competition is part of Camp Bliss’s identity, but in the end, we’re all on the same team, Team Bliss,” she said. “So you girls better call a truce.”
Ella smiled. “I’m real sorry, Claire,” she said in a sticky voice. “Maybe I was hearing things. I’m sure you didn’t make me trip on purpose. Truce!”
Claire swallowed. How could Ella be so two-faced? Why couldn’t Pam see how fake Ella really was?
“Okay I’m sorry, too,” she said. “Truce.”
“Dandy.” Pam blew on her whistle. “Now let’s go eat. It’s corn dogs and three-bean salad tonight. Hup two.”
“Yee-haw!” Ella leaped and sprinted away to catch up with the rest of the team.
Truce for now, Claire thought sourly as she straggled alone up the field.
She had a feeling that, like most truces, it was waiting for the right time to be broken.
7
An Extra Kick
LUNA NOTICED THAT THE rebel witch was changing the food.
The tacos became crunchier. Fresh oregano flecked the spaghetti sauce. The stale lemon squares now tasted lemony and didn’t crumble to dust.
Soon, everyone else noticed. The counselors were mystified. They discussed it endlessly. “Maybe the chef from Camp Haligalouk has become friends with Chef Sue,” Tammy said. Camp Haligalouk was the boys’ camp. It was way over on the other side of Lake Periwinkle. Sometimes the girls would see one of the boys’ maroon-painted boats on the lake or smell the smoke from their grill, but for the most part, the camps did not bother with each other. Besides, Sue, the Camp Bliss chef, was rather short-tempered. It did not seem likely that she would make friends or trade her recipes.
Other girls guessed it was a ghost.
Luna did not have to guess. She knew. The improved lemon squares were a dead giveaway. They had a perfect, no-mistakes taste. A witch’s work, without a doubt.
“At least the rebel witch is not tripping Pam anymore,” Luna remarked after a delicious dinner of savory vegetarian chili.
“That’s because the rebel witch is Ella Edsel, and she’s got it out for me, not Pam,” said Claire. She burped and blew it in Ella’s direction.
Luna shook her head. She was sure the rebel witch was not Ella Edsel. For one thing, Ella did not care about food. Luna knew this, because once she saw Ella eat one of Gladriole’s fruit leathers out of the Pillowcase Fund. Nobody could stomach those fruit leathers. They tasted like honey-coated tires.
Before the mystery could be solved, the food returned to its same bad taste. Again, the spaghetti sauce was runny as tomato juice. Again, the tacos sogged. The lemon squares turned back to dust-crusted bricks.
“I guess Chef Sue lost interest,” said Tammy sadly.
“I guess rebel Ella is sick of cooking spells,” Claire confided to a doubtful Luna.
It wasn’t long, though, before the rebel witch struck again. This time, the spells were odd in a completely different way. For the next couple of days, Camp Bliss seemed extra blissful. The counselors started wearing wisteria and ivy flower wreaths. Nighttime story hour began to stretch late into the night. It seemed as if everyone had a poem or a song or a feeling to share.
“This is the greatest, most beautiful group of campers, ever!” Pam rasped one evening, her voice hoarse from so much singing. “There is such peace in the air! Come on, girls, let’s sing another round of ‘Hawaiian Rainbows’!”
“It’s like the rebel witch cast some sort of sappy-feelings spell,” said Claire. “Yuck.”
Privately, Luna was glad that the rebel witch had decided to use her powers on nice food and sappy feelings. It was better than tripping Pam or casting wild weather.
Soon the flowers and songs stopped, too. Everything went back to normal. Unfortunately, Luna sensed danger in the air. The danger of a thing about to happen, she thought.
All week during her office duty, she tried to phone Grandy. First to confess about the long-lost Marigold Zest, and then to ask what to do about the rebel witch and the danger in the air.
Nobody was home at Bramblewine. After leaving her fourth message on their answering machine, Luna figured that Grandy and Grampy must have gone on a vacation somewhere. Her grandparents had lots of zest for vacations, especially for places where they could play golf.
She hung up the phone and turned her attention to the “Luna’s News” Web update. Lots of parents had e-mailed Luna about how much they enjoyed “Luna’s News,” and some of them had asked her for personal updates about their daughters. Also, the campers themselves liked to be singled out for their special talents. Luna did the best she could, recording the scores of games and keeping track of when a girl had done something exceptional.
There’s never a dull moment here at Camp Bliss, she typed. Blue-and-Buff Day is tomorrow, so we are spending plenty of time outdo
ors preparing for this exciting sports event. Yesterday, Anne Chapman caught the most Frisbees in the practice tournament.
“Luna?”
She looked up. Lakshmi stood at the office door.
“Hi, Lakshmi. Are you feeling better?” Luna asked. Yesterday, Lakshmi had had a bad headache and had spent the day resting in the first-aid office.
“Oh, my head’s fine,” said Lakshmi. She flopped down in the chair opposite the desk. “I came here because I have something good and something bad to tell you.” She smiled. “The good thing is that I came in second place in this morning’s two-mile run! Please put that in your Web update.”
Luna made a note of it. “And the bad thing?”
Lakshmi frowned and lapsed into silence.
“It couldn’t be that bad,” said Luna in her calm doctor voice.
Lakshmi bit her bottom lip. Her cleft chin trembled slightly. “It’s just that you were so nice yesterday, giving me that cold compress for my headache. I have to confess and clear my conscience.” She took a deep breath. “I stole your nice yellow powder. And I’m very sorry.”
“Oh.” Luna blinked. “Why did you take it?”
“I guess because I was in a bad mood to be at camp, and it smelled so outdoorsy it cheered me up,” Lakshmi answered. “After I took it, I liked the powder so much I couldn’t give it back to you. Now it’s too late, because someone has stolen it from me.”
“The powder has been stolen—again?” asked Luna.
“Yep. Poof! It’s gone.” For a moment, Lakshmi looked irate. “I’m sorry, Luna. I want to give you replacement money for it. I also wondered where I could get some more. It smelled so nice, like flowers, like a field of—”
Luna held up her hand. “Wait a sec—how did you use the powder?”
“Why, I’d sprinkle it on after my shower, of course. It’s talcum powder, right?”
“And did anything mysterious happen when you used it?” Luna asked.
Lakshmi looked sheepish. “Well … it might sound silly, but whenever I used it, my day seemed extra-lucky. It made me feel … oh, I don’t know … it made me feel …”
Luna leaned forward. “Zesty?”
“Yes, that’s it. Zesty!” Lakshmi’s usually loud voice quieted. “Like, anytime I was mad at Pam—and I was pretty mad about the Pillowcase Fund—well, she would just trip and fall down. Just like that! I know she’s probably a klutz to begin with, but it seemed to happen on purpose when I wished it! Or once, when I was enjoying Claire’s good ghost story, I thought, oh, wouldn’t it be great if we had lightning and rain, to make the night extra scary? And remember? It really happened!”
“And then, when you wanted the food to get better …” Luna could not help grinning. Thank goodness, the “witch” had been found!
But Lakshmi shook her head. “No. Somebody took the powder from me before the food improved.” Her mouth gaped open. “It is magic, isn’t it? It’s wishing powder! That means I tripped Pam! I made the ghost story scarier! Please, Luna, you have to tell me where—”
“Oh, no, you’ve got the wrong idea.” Luna quickly dropped her smile. “I was just joking along with you. What you took was plain old ordinary cornmeal foot powder. You must have been imagining your luck. On the bright side, my grandmother would call that the power of positive thinking! But thanks for telling me. I’d been wondering where my foot powder went. My feet haven’t been the same.” She stood up from the desk. “Now I’ve got to find my sister.”
Leaving Lakshmi behind, Luna ran out of the office as fast as she could to the pasture, where Claire was practicing archery, a few last-minute bull’s-eyes before Blue-and-Buff Day. Claire dropped her bow when Luna gave her the news.
“Then who do you think stole the Zest from Lakshmi?” she asked.
“Someone who likes crunchy tacos and chewy lemon squares,” Luna answered.
“Well, we know who that is! Let’s go!”
Together, they ran across the field and up near the cabins to the hammock, Penelope’s favorite spot, where she was catching a catnap. She confessed immediately.
“Yes, I took the powder from Lakshmi’s shower kit. But I only had it for a couple of days,” Penelope said sheepishly. “It smelled so good, like my favorite spices. I couldn’t resist. Since Lakshmi hadn’t given to the Pillowcase Fund, I figured I’d borrow it and lend it to someone else. I used it as seasoning. It made my food so tasty that I sneaked into the kitchen and sprinkled it in the soup, on the tacos, the chili, even on some stale lemon squares. I couldn’t believe one little seasoning could do so much! What’s it made of?”
“It’s plain old cornmeal foot powder,” said Luna.
“Foot powder! Wow! You have to tell me where you got it,” said Penelope. “It sure had a lot of zest. I gave the bottle to Gladriole. Since she’s a vegetarian and all, I thought she might like an extra kick in her salads. If you want to talk to her, I think she’s in the pottery shed.”
“Crow’s feet and cobwebs!” Claire exclaimed as the twins ran to the pottery shed. “I had no idea that everyone at Camp Bliss was casting spells.”
“Not casting, exactly,” corrected Luna. “Just wishing.”
“That Marigold Zest is powerful stuff,” said Claire.
“Grandy warned me not to let the powder get into the wrong hands. She said Marigold Zest could work wonders on even a non-witch’s wishes. Now I think I know what she meant.” Luna blew out her cheeks. “Boy, did I ever mess this one up.”
“Come on, nothing terrible has happened, Loon. None of these wrong hands have been too wrong.’”
“Not yet, anyway,’” Luna answered. She shivered. The closer they came to finding the powder, the nearer she felt to a peculiar kind of danger.
Glad was sitting in the windowsill of the pottery barn. She was embroidering a gladiolus design onto a denim cloth wallet.
“Penelope’s power powder? Oh, sure! I had it for a couple of days. But I didn’t use it on my food! I sprinkled it on my hair before campfire nights, so everyone could share the scent. It gave off a supercool vibe in the air.”
“Do you think we could use some of it?” asked Luna.
“Sure! Yesterday, I put it in the Pillowcase Fund for everyone to share.”
“Thanks, Glad,” said Claire.
“By the way, Luna, I made the longest daisy chain in freestyle crafts time. You might want to put that in your ‘Luna’s News’ update,” said Glad.
“Will do,” Luna answered.
In no time, the girls had doubled back to Sleepy Hollow. They raced to the pillowcase.
The only thing to be found in the Pillowcase Fund was the copy of Eternally Eustacia that Luna had donated.
Claire stamped her foot. “So close, but no Zest! And Camp Bliss is too big to question everybody.”
“Hmm, but think, Clairsie. If the powder fulfills the wish of whoever has her hands on it,” said Luna thoughtfully, “all we have to do is wait for the next wish, and trace it to the logical wish-er. Right?”
“Right,” Claire said softly.
“Like, if everyone starts laughing really hard or wants to play softball all day, then it’s Min Suh who has the Zest. Right?”
“Right,” squeaked Claire, even more softly.
“Or if people start talking about Bermuda and French manicures too much, then it’s Haley who has the Zest. Right?”
“Right.” Now Claire’s voice sounded soft and squeaky as a mouse.
“Claire, this is no time for funny voices,” Luna said strictly. “I’m trying to do some detectiving. Speak up, and stand up straight.”
“I am speaking up and standing up!”
Luna looked at her sister from head to toe. “Clairsie,” she said, trying to keep her own voice relaxed. “Do you realise that you’re shrinking?”
“I am not!” said Claire, jutting her chin high. Yet there could be no doubt that she was standing a full head smaller than her sister. And she was losing height rapidly.
“Wh
at is happening to you?” Luna gasped. Now her sister was at her chest, and in the next ten seconds, her waist.
“Make it stop!” Claire commanded. Her voice was shrill as a doll’s teakettle.
“I don’t know how!” Luna cried. Now her twin was knee-high. “You’re knee-high!” she exclaimed, but no sooner were the words out than Claire had shrunk to Luna’s shin, then her ankle. “Claire, where are you going?”
“Hide me!” squealed Claire, climbing up onto Luna’s big toe. “Put me somewhere safe, before I disappear from sight!”
Quickly, Luna scooped up her clothespin-sized sister and dropped her gently into a paper cup that was resting on top of one of the bureaus. “We’ll go to the first-aid office,” she said. “Stay calm. Either you have come down with an incurable shrinking disease, or a rebel wisher has struck.”
She hurried out of the cabin and down the hill to the office, the safest place she could think of. She peeked in the cup. “Crumbs, Clairsie, you’re teeny! Who would be cruel enough to wish you down to the size of a matchstick?”
“I’m much bigger than a matchstick!” Claire peeped haughtily. “Hurry!”
“I’m running as fast as I can!” said Luna. “Let’s try to access the Book of Shadows from the Internet. Well have you back to normal in no time. Now keep quiet, because I see somebody walking up over the hill.”
The somebody was Ella Edsel.
“Is that Claire or Luna?” she asked, squinting and shading her eyes.
“Luna,” said Luna.
As she got closer, Ella smiled. “Just who I was looking for. By the way, I can tell you from your sister because you have way prettier eyes.”
Inside the cup, Claire squeaked with rage.
“Talita sent me to find you,” Ella continued. “Your grandmother is calling long distance. You need to get to the office, pronto!”
“Thanks,” said Luna. “She’s just the person I wanted to talk to.”
“By the way, have you seen Claire around?” Ella smirked. “We’ve got relay races in fifteen minutes. Last practice before Blue-and-Buff Day tomorrow.”
Witch Twins Series Page 13
