“But what if someone does stop and ask me what I am doing?” she had demanded.
“Just tell them that you are one of the statue cleaners, and that I was out for cleaning for a few days. Trust me. No one will even notice you.”
As I was being wheeled, Prudence was trying to treat me just like I was made of stone, but she accidentally started to ask me how I was feeling.
It was a very weird sensation. Almost like no sensation at all. Like being numb.
Prudence had told me that this variation of the spell could never work on a human and only on a witch who was fully aware of the workings of a spell would be able to ‘tolerate’ it.
I remembered the stories I had read about people waking up in the middle of surgery, frozen in their bodies but still aware of exactly what was going on. That was the best way that I could describe what was happening with me as I was wheeled around the park. I should have noticed the bumps and stones in the road and the dust flying up into my face.
But there was little to no physical sensation at all.
“Are you sure you’re going to be all right here?” Prudence asked me as she stopped the trolley and lifted me off as though I might actually be able to answer. I couldn’t so much as blink or give a thumbs-up. In fact, if I had changed my mind, there would be absolutely nothing that could be done.
“We are working on the reversal spell,” Prudence said quietly before she left. “When we’ve figure it out, you will be the first one we unfreeze. So, use your time wisely. You don’t know how much of it you will have.”
I tried to nod, but there was no way to do it and no sensation in my body at all. She was frowning at me and staring straight into my eyes like she was looking and waiting for a response. But we both knew how this worked. She wasn’t going to get one.
She took one final look at me and hurried off. Just as I had suspected, no one had asked her why she was wheeling a statue around and no one even batted an eye at me as they walked past. I must have really looked like one of the fixtures in the park.
And with good reason. Before the freezing, I’d dressed in my work clothes—a bonnet over my hair so that the bright red wasn’t visible, corset and full skirt as well. Aside from the unnatural hair color, I could be mistaken as a beggar from 1878.
But my hearing and sight both seemed to be heightened. Maybe that was just a result of not having any other senses, but it kind of reminded me of my psychic powers that I had been suppressing. In this case, it was hearing voices and seeing actions. Because they thought I was made of stone, they didn’t censor themselves around me. One woman and her partner stopped right in front of me and commented about what a big nose I had.
Cool, thanks.
Oh no.
Marisa was coming and just instinctively, I tried to duck down so that I wouldn’t be seen, before I remembered that I couldn’t even so much as tilt my head down to avoid detection. Yes, I fit in, but there was a chance she would recognize me. And she already had it out for me. She had a sour look on her face as she stopped down the road.
Here we go, I thought, but she didn’t stop and instead just kept walking even though she had taken a glance in my direction.
Oh. I was a little offended, to be honest, that she hadn’t so much as blinked. I kept having this overwhelming urge to take a step forward. It wasn’t very instinctual to just stand there completely still. I kept wanting to escape, but I was completely suspended. I couldn’t even turn my head to look around, so I could only see who or what was coming in my direct line of vision.
Vicky.
Great. I was starting to regret the deal that I had made with Prudence. However, I didn’t want to put her in any jeopardy either. But if Vicky had known what was going on, it would have made my mission a lot easier.
She stopped and looked me up and down for a moment, puzzled, before shaking her head.
“Nah, no way.”
She walked away and for a moment, I was both relieved and offended that she hadn’t known it was me.
Then she doubled back. “RUBY?”
“What are you doing?” she asked me frantically, but I could give her no answer even when I tried to move my lips. She reached out and started shaking me as though that could make any difference. I couldn’t even ‘feel’ the shaking, though my eyes saw the rapid back and forth movement and I felt a little seasick. But it quickly subsided because I supposed there were no actual moving organs inside me to feel sick.
Vicky stopped shaking me and took a step back. “Who did this to you?” she asked in horror, and I realized that she thought that someone had done this to me as some kind of punishment or torture. She looked seriously scared.
It was easy to concentrate while I was frozen, so I used all of my energy to try and send her a psychic message. I was trying to deliver what I was thinking right to the center of her forehead. To let her know that this had been my decision. That it was part of my plan.
Vicky. This is the only way I could get back into the park!
She suddenly stopped moving and looked at me in surprise. Sort of like she was coming to a realization of some kind.
Had that actually worked? Had she heard me?
She peered at me curiously, and some of her fear seemed to fade. It was possible she hadn’t ‘heard’ me but had come to the conclusion on her own.
She seemed to be formulating a plan as she started pacing again. She stopped and grinned at me. Good, she must have realized that I was there of my own accord. Or she was at least wiling to entertain the possibility that I was.
“Okay, having you out here is no good,” she said. “We need to get you to where the action is!”
Oh gosh.
She flexed her muscles, took a deep breath, and lifted me up. I wanted to say, Vicky, this is the best place for me! But obviously I couldn’t. And I knew she was only trying to help both me and the case. She was right that I would be able to observe more from the main street, but I would also be in more danger there.
Unlike Prudence, Vicky didn’t have a trolley to wheel me on, so she had to drag me through the dusty road. She kept apologizing as though she was hurting me, but I couldn’t feel a thing as my feet were dragged over the rocks and stones. I did wonder if it was possible for any part of me to break or snap off, though. Surely not?
Campbell was standing out on the balcony of the saloon, peering at Vicky and tapping his watch. She must have been late for a performance or a rehearsal, I supposed. I couldn’t ask her anything, so I was reliant on what she was telling me, which wasn’t very much. All I knew was that I was on my own while she hurried off to the saloon.
“I just need to put you down here for a little while!” she whispered to me apologetically and then ran off, leaving me only a few feet away from the front of the candy store. Great. The last place in Old Swift Town I wanted to be.
Sarah pushed right past me, which I found a little rude, but I was getting used to it by that stage. She burst through the door, but then just for a moment, she looked back over her shoulder at me with her brow furrowed, before spinning on her heels and stomping into the shop.
But it was as though I had super hearing and even from twenty feet away from the counter, I could hear what she was saying to a customer. “Yeah, I know I should have gotten the role,” she said. “But apparently, this newcomer has more practice on the banjo than I did. So, I’m still stuck here.”
Oh my gosh. So, Sarah was a musician. And she’d wanted Vicky’s role in the band. Huh! No wonder she was always in such a bad mood at the candy shop.
“You could try getting rid of her?” the customer, a young woman around Sarah’s age, said sneakily.
Sarah shook her head. “I already tried to. I swapped her shoes to the wrong size. I untuned her banjo. Even gave her a little shove yesterday into the water, and yet she’s STILL working here.”
I knew it. Sarah was the one who had pushed Vicky in the creek.
I needed to hear more.
I heard a voice
scream out. “I’m back! Now, let’s get you out of here, missy. You can come to the saloon where I can keep an eye on you. That will be much better.”
Vicky had her arm around my waist as she hoisted me up.
What I really wanted was to scream, “No, don’t! Leave me here please!” But I couldn’t, so I found myself being dragged down the main street of Old Swift Town while my main suspect just stood there. I had no way of warning Vicky that she was in danger. And not because she was a witch, but because she was a musician who had ‘stolen’ another employee’s job.
Vicky plopped me down and dusted off her hands, looking pleased.
At the saloon, I was right in the center of the action, which was both a good and bad thing.
A woman and her friend stopped in front of me and both frowned as they looked me up and down.
“I don’t think this one is very good,” she said with a snotty look on her face. “Looks too modern.”
Hmmm. Well, I supposed that was accurate.
Her friend chimed in.
“I think she looks very tired and haggard, actually.”
Was this what I had to look forward to for the next few days? Or weeks? Or eternity? People commenting on my tired and haggard appearance? Maybe I should have chosen to be frozen in some more flattering clothing.
Vicky had come back out the front to have a chat. I didn’t think it was such a good idea. Firstly, she looked kind of crazy, talking to a statue. Secondly, she would draw attention to me, and I would be recognized.
A man trying to get up the steps wasn’t watching where he was going. He banged into me, then glared at me like it was my fault. “Stupid place to put a statue.” It was true. Vicky had left me in a kind of conspicuous position right in front of the stairs. He wasn’t the first person to run into me that morning.
“Maybe if I just move you to the left a little, then you won’t get in people’s way so much,” Vicky said, lifting me just a little.
Oh, shoot, Marvin. Terrible timing. “What are you doing with that statue?” Marvin asked.
Vicky dropped me to the ground.
“I, um. I just thought she would look good outside the saloon.”
Marvin was staring at her in disbelief. He crossed his arms. “And just who put you in charge of decisions like that, young lady? That is far outside the scope of your role as a band member.”
Oh great, we couldn’t both go getting fired.
“Hmm,” he said, shocking both of us, I think. “Okay fine, the statue does look pretty good there,” he said, “Lends something to the place.”
He walked away, and I felt like I was holding my breath even though that wasn’t possible.
“I’ll spin you around so that you can see what I’m doing inside. I’m sorry I can’t bring you in all the way,” Vicky whispered and hurried off to rehearse with the band before she got fired for real. Now that I knew Sarah had been sabotaging her the whole time, she really needed to focus and be her best at all times.
I thought the minutes would pass quickly while I was frozen, but it was kind of boring out front of the saloon and I wished I was back in my previous position outside the sweet shop.
Until I saw Sarah waltz into the saloon and head right toward Vicky’s mic. She pulled out a pair of scissors, made sure that no one was watching, and then cut the cord.
10
Vicky had said good-bye for the night and apologized, but no employees were allowed on the grounds once the gates were locked so she had to go home. It was fine. I wasn’t offended. I had never expected her to keep me company overnight.
But I had expected the nights to be the hardest part. I just hadn’t realized how grueling they were going to be. Minutes felt like hours, and an hour felt like eternity as the sun set.
It was a long, dark night. At least I had no sensation to be able to feel the cold as it dropped to 50 degrees, but I could see the mist in the air, and I could see every bat and bird in the sky overhead. And I could hear the flapping of their wings.
It was almost time for another full moon. That was when the strange things in Swift Valley got even stranger.
Indy still hadn’t returned, but I’d asked Prudence to check if the food was gone each day that I was away, just in case, and to come to the park and tell me if Indy was found.
I just wanted some other company. It wasn’t like I could sleep. My eyes were permanently fused open and there was no ‘off switch’ to my thoughts. The nearest statue was on the other side of the road, an elderly man wheeling a wheelbarrow. I supposed it wasn’t like we would communicate anyway, even if he had been right next to me. It just felt like we could. I still found it strange that it had seemed like I could communicate with Vicky.
I couldn’t turn my head at all, but because my hearing was so attuned, I could hear footsteps coming toward me from all the way down the end of the road.
If I wasn’t already frozen, I would have frozen right then. There should not have been footsteps that time of night.
It seemed like two sets, but it was a long wait until the people that the footsteps belonged to finally arrived in my direct line of vision so I could see who it was.
I was shocked.
Akiro.
What was he doing in the park after hours?
The second pair of footsteps belonged to Abby from the coffee cart. Her long, dark hair was out and wild as they strolled along and took in the sights at night. “Kind of reminds me of our LARP days,” she said with a laugh as she reached out and grabbed his hand. “When we used to sneak into places we weren’t supposed to be and pretend that we had gone back in time.” She drew him even closer to him with her other arm around his waist. It was a very intimate gesture.
Oh my gosh, so they WERE dating.
He nodded. “Yeah, I totally get what you mean. I love this place after hours when everyone has gone home. Feels like it’s ‘real’ here, without the tourists milling around.”
“Let’s look for gold,” Abby said.
She was giggling and squeezing his hand even tighter. I just hoped they would keep walking. Far, far away from me so that I couldn’t see or hear anything they were doing.
“You know I could get into big trouble for doing this,” she said. “Breaking in after hours. Stealing a key from Marvin.”
“I know,” he said with a grin back at her. “But you were always a bit of a risk-taker. You always got what you wanted.”
This was not a moment I should have been witnessing, for several reasons, but I couldn’t even shut my eyes!
“It’s just been really good for us to reconnect like this,” she said, gazing into his eyes.
He nodded. “It has been. It’s been really good. Unexpected. I haven’t heard too much from you these past few years.”
Abby nodded and tucked a strand of hair behind her ears. “Well, you know me, I liked to remain mysterious. I like to disappear sometimes.”
Akiro threw his head back a little. “I know. You still won’t even tell me where you grew up. Or let me see any photos of you as a kid.”
She stuck her tongue out at him in a playful manner.
Of course, I didn’t get my wish, and they didn’t keep walking. They had chosen the spot right in front of me to gaze into each other’s eyes.
“So, do you miss the LARPing days?” Akiro asked her.
“Oh, I totally miss it,” Abby said wistfully. “You know how much I love all that history stuff. I even liked wearing the corsets.” She sounded sad as she said it.
“We could always get the club going again,” Akiro said.
Abby stared up at him and narrowed her eyes a little. “You never liked the club,” she said knowingly. “You hated being part of a group.”
“Yeah, but I liked it because I got to hang out with you.”
“Oh well, all the politics and infighting tore it apart.” They walked a few steps but not far enough away. Though at that stage, I didn’t mind. I was intrigued by the conversation, even if it was a little pai
nful to see them together like that.
I had never known any of this stuff. It wasn’t like Akiro was the most forthcoming man in the world. He never told me anything personal. I had never known that he and Abby had been so close in the past, or that they had reconnected like this in the present. So, this wasn’t just about the coffee for him.
And maybe the fact that he was a season pass holder at the park had nothing to do with his fascination with outlaws. He was also interested in coming to see his new girlfriend.
I just wondered why he hadn’t been open with me.
Abby cleared her throat. “So, this conversation is a little awkward…” she said, turning her face up to him. She was smiling sweetly but also cringing a little, and she looked embarrassed. “But what are we, this time, exactly?”
Akiro took a sharp breath. Oh dear. I knew how much he would hate to be having a conversation like this—anything with feelings or emotions made him completely clam up.
“What do you want us to be?” he asked, deftly deferring the question and putting it back on her. I couldn’t help thinking how typical that was of him.
She stared at him. “I would like us to be exclusive from this point on.”
He nodded a little bit and considered it. “Well, that shouldn’t be too difficult…” He shrugged and looked up at the stars for a moment. “Or any different to what I am currently doing, actually.”
“So, you’re not seeing anyone else?” she asked him, a little uncertainly. She dropped his hands for a moment and stood back to properly size him up. “Because for a while I got the idea that there was someone else. At least on your mind.”
He hesitated for a moment and glanced around the park like he was looking for something. He turned his head toward the candy shop and his eyes lingered there for a moment. Was he thinking about me?
“No,” he said. “There is no one else in my life.”
I’d had enough. I didn’t want to be frozen any longer.
A Cold Spell Page 7
