“Is she … is Ileana our sister?” Alex asked.
Lulled by the balmy breath stroking their cheeks, they closed their eyes and, what seemed only a moment later, whirled to the sound of laughter and a mocking voice saying, “Your sister? You wish!”
Sweeping ice-draped branches out of her way, Ileana crunched toward them through the snow. Her velvet blue cape billowed behind her, its hood framing her petulant face. Draped about her neck was an odd scarf, a choker of bright, ginger-orange fur.
“Leila!” Cam shouted, turning back toward the swirling fog. “She’s here. Ileana is here.”
“She’s gone,” Alex said, releasing her sister’s hand. The churning mist, from which the figure of the fierce old woman had appeared, had given way to steam rising from the flowing water and green moss along the bank.
“Where is your friend?” Ileana asked as her fur scarf unwound and began to meow.
“It’s Boris!” Cam recognized Ileana’s pet, the marmalade cat who scared Fredo silly.
“Who were you talking to?” Ileana looked around. “Who drove you here?”
Alex tried to stop staring at Ileana’s gray eyes, mirror images of Cam’s and her own, identical to Leila’s. “No one drove us here,” she blurted, distracted. “We were talking to our —”
“And hers,” Cam reminded her sister.
“What do you mean, no one drove you here?” Ileana’s glorious gray eyes glinted impatiently at the girls. “You couldn’t have gotten here on your own. And I distinctly heard you yammering to someone other than your saucy selves.”
“Ileana, we saw something, someone. A tall, tough old lady —” Alex tried again.
Ileana waved her arm and snapped her fingers. “Enough!” she announced. “I get it now!” The cat purred loudly, nuzzling her white neck. Ileana stroked the creature mindlessly. “You misused the book I lent you! You performed an unauthorized spell, didn’t you? And where, I’d like to know, did you find mugwort in this forsaken meat-freezer of a town?”
“Um, we didn’t know we weren’t allowed to use the spells,” Cam confessed. “And we used marjoram.”
“Marjoram! Clever T*Witches. And just how did you know that marjoram was a travel herb?”
They looked at each other, surprised.
“In ancient times,” Ileana impatiently informed them, “it was thought to be the herb that helped the dead travel to other worlds.”
Our grandmother, Alex mused, and heard her sister thinking the same thing. That’s how Leila found us!
Do you know what this means? Alex asked, trembling with excitement.
That we can learn more about our family! Cam responded, awestruck.
“Never mind. Never mind!” Too out of sorts to crash their thoughts, Ileana began to pace angrily. “Not only did you perform an unauthorized spell, but you’ve summoned me here wantonly —”
“You don’t understand. Ileana, the most astounding thing just happened,” Cam began.
Alex held up her palm. “Yo, chill, first things first,” she urged, then turned to their irate guardian. “I just thought you’d want to know that an old pal of yours is going to join us tonight —”
“Fredo,” Cam jumped right in. “He’s meeting us at Big Sky.”
“Fredo?” Ileana said.
Ileana’s brain calculated so swiftly that Alex had trouble following it. All she could make out was a hodgepodge of thoughts and questions about herself and Cam, and their father, and Fredo and Thantos, and even their lost mother, Miranda —
Glancing at Cam for help, Alex saw that her sister was “otherwise engaged,” all up in her head, zoning on the same cast of characters Ileana was thinking about — with Leila thrown into the mix. Before she could snap Cam out of it, Alex’s attention was caught again by Ileana and the words Mexico and Brice, followed by a deep, sad sigh.
“What do you mean Fredo’s going to join you?” Ileana snapped out of her reverie. “Where is the foul idiot?”
“He’s supposed to meet us at Big Sky,” Cam told her again, reentering Earth’s orbit as if she’d never been gone. “You know, that funky theme park where Alex and I met.”
Okay, if everyone was back on the planet, she’d put in her two cents, Alex decided. “He should be there any minute,” she said. “And we’ve got to be there, too, or something very bad is going to happen —”
“And not just to Evan,” Cam explained, “but to an entire school full of unsuspecting kids.”
“You’re certain that Fredo’s going to be there?” Ileana asked, as if she hoped they were lying. Alex nodded, and the troubled witch sighed again. “Oh, all right. Come over here.” She opened her cape, revealing its blindingly gold lining. “Tuck in,” she ordered. “One of you on each side of me, gently holding my waist. Excuse me!” she yelped, when Alex took hold of her too hurriedly. “Gently!! As in softly, lightly. Not grab-ly. As in grip, snatch, mutilate! Subtle difference, I know, since they both begin with g —”
“Ileana, we’re going to be late,” Cam broke in. “Please …”
“Close your eyes and think of mugwort… leafy, silver, fragrant. Then give me your energy. Let go of it all, your will, your wants, your needs. Let go of them and hang on to me. Gently!”
As if he knew what to expect, Boris scrambled desperately into a pocket of his mistress’s cloak. Alex could hear his little heart racing as he mewed pitifully; Cam felt him shivering, even as Ileana’s warm cape closed around them, blocking out moonlight and snow.
Again they experienced the terrifying tornadolike roar. It was muffled this time by the thick cocoon of the velvet cloak. A second later or an hour — it was impossible to tell — the howling wind let up. The sudden silence made their ears pop.
They let go of Ileana — and landed, with a bone-wrenching thump, on the ice-coated, split-rail fence used to herd visitors toward the run-down Ferris wheel.
“Hello. Did I say, ‘Unfasten your seat belts, you may move around the cabin now’?” Ileana asked, laughing wickedly.
Boris leaped from her pocket. With a tiny plunk, he disappeared into a snowbank. “Foolish feline,” their guardian scolded, shaking her head at the cat-shaped hole in the snow. “Of course, he may be on the trail of your moronic uncle,” she mused, kneeling to examine Boris’s burrow.
He may be your moronic uncle, too, Alex wanted to say — or your father! Instead, she and Cam climbed down from the fence, rubbing their bruised backsides.
And then an awesome thought occurred to Alex: This is how Karsh must have carried me to Marble Bay! She’d always been mystified by how she’d gotten from her Montana trailer to Cam’s Massachusetts doorstep in what had seemed like the blink of an eye.
Now, not only did she know that, but she and Cam had just learned how to transport themselves! Again the possibilities thrilled her.
Hello! Business to take care of! Her sister called her back from her musings. The park looked exactly as Cam had dreamed it. Dark, ominous shapes loomed. Overhead, clouds flew past the full moon, leaving fast, shifting shadows below. The twins squinted into the darkness, hoping to find Evan.
Alex picked up murmured conversation. Cam saw a thin light.
“I’ve made my decision,” Ileana announced, distracting them. “Boris and I will look for Fredo … for a bit. If we don’t find him, I’m off to my next appointment. Fair enough?”
“He’ll be here. We weren’t lying,” Cam whispered indignantly.
“Did I accuse you?” Ileana was equally indignant. “I was called here to help you. I did. You want me to return the stinky cheese man to Coventry. I will. But I’ve got things to do, people to see —”
“Oh, right, like Brice Stanley?” Alex ragged. She immediately regretted it. Ileana furiously stared at her, and Alex was overcome with fear and nausea. Bolts of electricity careened through her body like a lead bead in a pinball machine. And, all at once, she knew that she was being transformed … into a woodland creature … something small and desperate that scrabbled throu
gh the darkness to snatch its food from under rocks.
No! she heard herself beg from a distance. And then she was well again. Breathing hard, but unharmed, unchanged.
Ileana wore a smile of dangerous satisfaction. “Adios, amigas,” she sang out. With a flutter of her fingertips and a wink to Alex, she left them to follow the tunneled trail Boris was making as he moved beneath the snow.
A moment later, their devious guardian had disappeared. Their attack uncle was nowhere in sight. They were alone. Camryn and Alex stared out at the swift-moving darkness.
The faint light Cam had seen moments ago was coming from a small cabin in the shadow of the Ole Wagon Wheel. It was some sort of old storage shed with two small windows. Inside, lit by the glow of oil lamps, Riggs and Derek were ransacking the place. Cam recognized them by their height and head gear — Riggs, a stumpy shadow in a black bandanna; Derek, a Stetson-crowned string bean.
The voices Alex had picked up came from outside the cabin. Blowing on his hands, shifting from foot to foot in the snow, Evan was only a few feet from the log cabin’s door, talking with Kyle Applebee.
“Yo, man, don’t even go there,” Alex heard the older boy say, his forefinger thumping Evan’s shoulder for emphasis. “No way are you wimping out on us now —”
“Dude, I never said I was with you on this one,” Evan argued. “I said I wouldn’t rat you out. And I didn’t. But get real, Kyle. You’re not actually going to do this, are you? Set fire to the school —”
“No, man.” Kyle’s brother stepped out of the cabin. “You got it all wrong.” Riggs, short, squat, and hard as a fireplug, told Evan, “He’s not going to do that. You are.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
THE AVALANCHE
“You’re crazy,” Evan protested.
“No, he’s telling the truth.” Kyle laughed. “You’re crazy — same as your mama. Don’t forget, dude, she’s the one who’s gonna pay if you bail on us now —”
“But he won’t.” Riggs clapped Evan’s back. “Right, bro?”
“Don’t you get it?” Evan was trying to get through to them. “You can’t do it. Someone could get hurt, really hurt. Dude, I’ve got friends there and you guys do, too. There are lots of kids who look up to you —”
“Well, they better stay in the bleachers and out of the building.” The ponytailed Kyle grinned. “Anyway, bro, we’re not up to that part yet. First thing we gotta do is get you tattooed. That’s why we’re here.”
“Yeah, that, and just one other little thing.” Riggs rubbed his hands together. He was wearing his weight-lifting gloves, and the tips of his fingers were bright red with cold.
“Later,” Kyle snapped at his brother. “We’re not talking about that now. You ready in there?”
“We got a problem,” Riggs admitted sheepishly. “No electricity. So Derek’s gonna do it jailhouse style. He’ll draw the snake with his fishing knife — it’s not too rusty. Then we’ll rub ink into the cut. Won’t be as pretty as ours, but it’ll work.”
Evan looked around anxiously, as if trying to see out into the darkness.
“He’s looking for us,” Cam whispered. “I wonder where Luce is. Evan must have come alone. Alex, we have to do something.”
“Like what?” Alex rasped back, the smell of pine needles suddenly sharp in her nose. In an instant, she tracked the scent to a tall fir tree overhanging the cabin. Its broad branches glistened with packed snow.
How choice would it be if a sudden wind ruffled the heavy pine needles, loosening the snow and sharp icicles, sending them crashing down onto Kyle’s grungy ponytail, down the back of his scrawny neck, walloping his rigid shoulders …
“Bull’s-eye!” Cam whispered admiringly. “You got him!”
The avalanche Alex wished for had toppled Kyle Applebee. “Help me up!” he commanded, writhing on the ground, reaching out to his brother. But a late-falling chunk of ice broke Riggs’s grip and sent him tumbling on top of Kyle.
For a moment, in disbelief, Evan watched the boys squirming and sliding in the snow. Then his good nature took over and, with Derek, who’d run outside, knife in hand, he tried to haul the brothers to their feet.
“What happened?” Derek wanted to know.
“Shut that door!” Kyle hollered viciously.
Derek ran back and pulled the metal door shut.
“Show him?” Cam said.
“I’m tired.” Alex grinned. “You take the encore.”
Cam did. Her gaze fueled by anger, she heated the heavy snow on the storage cabin’s slanted roof, sending it sliding. A river of slush roared down on Derek’s beloved ten-gallon hat, crushing his favorite feather and weighing down the hat’s brim till it framed the startled boy’s face like a pioneer woman’s sunbonnet.
“My knife,” Derek wailed, dropping to his knees in the snow. “It fell out of my hand. It’s my old man’s. He doesn’t even know I took it.”
“You and that dumb knife. Forget it,” Kyle sneered. With Evan’s help, he and Riggs were on their feet again.
“You don’t understand. My old man’ll kill me,” Derek wailed, plunging his fingers under the snow, still searching for the knife.
Did you see where it went? Alex silently asked Cam.
Of course, her supersighted twin responded. He’s inches from the blade. Whoops! He found it.
Derek let out a hair-raising shriek. “I’m cut. I’m bleeding!”
“Get over yourself, DJ,” Kyle said contemptuously. “We got more important things to do tonight than listen to you bellyache over a scratch.”
“Yeah, the best is yet to come,” Riggs snickered. “Come on, Kyle. Can’t we do it now?”
“I’m … ready,” Evan said, talking about the tattoo.
“Hear that?” Riggs told his brother. “He’s ready.”
“There’s not gonna be any tattoo,” Kyle told Evan. “Riggs and DJ were messing with you —”
“Yeah, like you really earned your rattlesnake. Not!” Derek sneered, wiping the blood off his cut hand with snow.
“I don’t get it,” Evan said. “Then what are we doing here?”
Derek and Riggs looked at each other, trying not to crack up. Then they turned to Kyle. “Yo, Ev. Let me ask you again,” the older boy said. “You in with us or you out?”
“Dude, I can’t do it — ”
“Sure. Sure, kung fu. I understand.” Kyle took Evan’s arm. “Come on, got something I want to show you.”
“Oh, wow. Oh, man.” Riggs was ecstatic. “DJ, wait out here,” he ordered, following Evan and his brother back to the cabin.
“Where’s the red container?” Cam whispered. “And the woman? Everything’s pretty much the way I pictured it, except for that — oh, and also that there are three guys with Evan instead of two.”
“Never mind all that — where’s Fredo?” Alex sniffed the blustery air. It was cold, biting, scented with pine needles and wet wood. “Great. What if Uncle Carbuncle doesn’t show?” she said too loudly.
Derek looked up, nervously studying the shadows. “Who’s out there?” he called softly, tentatively.
An ill-timed gust of wind shifted their cloud cover.
“Busted,” Alex said, stepping from behind a tree out into the bright moonlight.
Derek’s eyes widened in fear and wonder. “Alex Fielding? What are you doing here?”
Cam followed Alex into the light. “We could ask you the same question.”
“Hey,” Derek said, bewildered, “what’s going on here? Who else is back there?” He looked past Cam as if expecting a parade of clones to march from the shadows. When it didn’t, he grumbled, “My dad does security here. Me and my crew are taking his shift for tonight. Now get out.”
“Don’t you wish this place was open?” Alex asked, eyeing the dark disk of Ferris wheel against the cloud-dappled sky. “So you could go on a ride?”
“Ha-ha, so funny I forgot to laugh,” Derek said. “I told you to beat it. Now, scat!” he ordered.
&nbs
p; “A ride on the Ole Wagon Wheel. Excellent idea,” Cam chimed in enthusiastically. Think we can do it?
Full moon. Necklace power. Got Ileana’s crystal in my pocket. Right here with … Alex pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. “Uh-oh,” she groaned.
“Uh-oh, what?” Cam wanted to know.
Nothing —
Cam snatched the paper from her sister’s hand. It’s the note you were going to leave for Mrs. Bass!
— much, Alex concluded weakly.
So if we don’t succeed, tonight we’ll have to let the cops know what’s going to go down. And Evan will be right in the middle of it.
Hello. We are going to succeed! Pausing to consider their situation, Alex added, We have to.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
LOSING DEREK
“I told you to get lost,” Derek said. “Want me to spell it out for you?”
“If I remember right,” Alex said, “that would be harder for you to do than for us to make you fly.”
She clenched the crystal and felt bits of marjoram clinging to it. “Think of mugwort —” she called softly to Derek, who gaped at her, dumbfounded.
Rubbing the hammered-gold sun medallion their father had made for her, Cam said, “It’s this really nice plant — think silver-gray, leafy …”
Stare at him, Alex urged, while I come up with an incantation. Cool, she said, a moment later. How’s this: “Spirits of fairness, justice, and right. Save Crow Creek High from its terrible plight —”
“You enchant, girl!” Cam cheered, her intense eyes pinning Derek.
“Help us …” Alex floundered. “Er, help —”
“Help us to do what you would want done,” Cam quickly ad-libbed, “with the magic of moonlight and the power of sun.”
Derek was staring at them. His mouth was slack and his eyes scrunched, as if he were trying to understand a tricky homework assignment. Then, suddenly, his body arched backward, arms raised, legs stretching up from his ratty snakeskin boots.
“Eyes on the prize,” Alex said, calculating the distance from Derek to the Ole Wagon Wheel, which loomed behind the storage shed. “That one,” she decided, focusing on one of the run-down ride’s highest and most rickety carts.
T*Witches: Dead Wrong Page 9
