by Geof Johnson
“Oh boy.” Fred sighed and rolled onto her back. “Well, try to relax and get some sleep. I’m right here and Jamie’s downstairs, so you’re safe.”
Sammi nodded, but Fred wasn’t sure if Sammi was convinced.
Chapter 28
Duane Gundy returned to Pinewood Drive early the next morning with everything he needed for a sustained vigil: two ham sandwiches, a gallon jug of water, and a pot from the kitchenette from his hotel room. On the way there he’d stopped at a road construction site and stolen a couple of orange plastic cones.
He was using a different disguise. The van now sported the Acme Services signs on each side, and he wore his gray coveralls and yellow hard hat. With his aviator sunglasses on, he was certain that no one in the neighborhood would recognize him from the day before. Especially that busybody old lady, Mrs. Wysoki. Bet she’s lookin’ out her front window right now. He made it a point to park where she couldn’t see him, but he had a clear view of the house where he suspected Sammi was hiding. He placed an orange cone at each end of the van and settled in to watch.
The sun was just clearing the horizon, and as the neighbors drove by on their way to work, he kept his head down and pretended to be studying something on his clipboard, but behind his dark glasses he was carefully eying each car to see if Sammi was in it.
The blue Chevy was already gone from the driveway of the cop’s house by the time Gundy arrived. Around seven thirty, a red pickup truck backed out of the garage and drove away, but Sammi wasn’t in it, just a grown man with short brown hair. Must be the cop. Looks like one.
An hour later, a woman hopped down the front steps and walked to the house catty-corned across the street, alone, and went inside when someone opened the door for her. So where the hell’s Sammi? Did they leave her by herself? That would be too easy.
Then a late-model Buick, driven by an older woman, pulled into the driveway of the same house the other woman had just entered. The driver tooted the horn and waited, and a minute later, two people came down the steps and walked to the car. One was the first woman he’d seen, and the other was a young girl with short dark hair.
Gundy jerked forward in his seat and looked closer. It’s Sammi. He was sure of it.Finally!
Sammi and the woman got into the Buick and it backed out onto the street and began driving away in the opposite direction. Gundy quickly started the van and followed them, careful to keep a good distance between himself and the other car — close enough to see it but not close enough to be suspicious.
It wasn’t difficult to keep up with them. The driver of the Buick kept exactly to the speed limit, and he followed them for over ten minutes until they turned into a subdivision on the north side of town. He waited a moment before pulling in, and then crept down the street until he spotted them just ahead, parking in a driveway of a small, older wooden home.
He stopped on the side of the road and watched from a distance as they got out of the car, unlocked the front door of the house, and went inside. Maybe this is where Sammi stays during the day when those other folks are at work. He shut off the ignition, sat back in the van seat and rubbed his chin. Guess I’ll just sit here and wait for a while. Maybe Sammi will come out and I can get her.
“So this is your school?” Momma Sue said, standing with Rachel and Mrs. Malley in the main room while the kids sat wide-eyed in their seats, staring at the two old witches. “Very impressive, Rachel. I can see what the big fuss is all about.”
“It is much bigger and nicer than the old one,” Mrs. Malley said. “This is a wonderful thing that you are doing for this town.” Rachel smiled and thanked her.
“Speaking of towns,” Momma Sue said. “Time to start our tour, Bella. I want to do some shoppin’.” She laughed and winked at Rachel.
“How did you get here?” Rachel asked.
“I borrowed my grandson’s horse and wagon,” Mrs. Malley said. “It’s too far for a hundred-year-old lady to walk.”
“Well, have fun.” Rachel waved as the two witches walked toward the door. Then she turned back to the children, who were starting to chat and cut up. Rachel clapped her hands and raised her voice. “Kids, please settle down and open your writing workbooks to page twenty-one.”
“I don’t have a pencil,” Milly said from her desk seat.
“Miss Duffy?” Rachel turned to the young teacher, who stood nearby. “Can you get one for her? I think there are some in the drawer by the sink.”
“We don’t have any more. We ran out yesterday.”
“How can that be? I just opened a new box two days ago.”
“Because some of the kids have become infatuated with the new electric sharpener,” Evelyn said and gave Blane a level look.
Blane shrugged broadly. “I can’t help it. The point breaks on my pencil all the time. And I’m not the only one. Aiven does it, too!”
Evelyn frowned. “How are we going to practice writing without pencils?”
“We can get more,” Aiven said. “There are some in Brinna’s shop. John Paul got them for her, a whole box of them, he did.”
“Darn,” Rachel said. “Wish I had known. We were just there, when we came through the portal in her basement. We probably walked right by them.”
“I can go get them,” Aiven said.
“While you’re at it,” Evelyn said, “why don’t you take Brinna that big box of bar soap that’s on the floor in the office? I ordered that for her two weeks ago, and I’m tired of tripping over it.”
“It’s too heavy for him to carry that far,” Rachel said. “He’ll have to take the carriage.”
“Can I go with him?” Sammi said.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Please, Mrs. Sikes? I’ve been cooped up for days because of Mr. Gundy, and I want to get out. This is the only place I can do it.”
“Well....” Rachel took a long breath and considered it, then nodded. “I suppose you’ll be okay. Just make sure you have your Stupefyin’ pendant.”
A couple of the other kids began to grumble complaints, and Rachel said, “Just Sammi and Aiven this time. Somebody else can go next time.”
“Yay! Come on, Aiven.” Sammi jumped from her seat and raced Aiven to the door.
After about an hour, there was no visible activity at the home where Sammi and the two women had gone. Gundy grew impatient and decided to take a direct approach. He took his switchblade knife from the glove box and put it in his pocket, then got his toolbox from the back of the van and walked casually down the road to the house, his hardhat pulled on tightly and his chin held low.
He walked up the front steps and paused on the stoop, considering his options. Hell, it’s probably just those two women with Sammi. I can handle them. He opened the toolbox and pulled out his hammer, and gripped it firmly in one hand. But if there’s a grown man in there, I’ll hit him with this.
Then he knocked on the door and waited. No one answered. After a couple of minutes, he knocked again, but still got no response. Maybe they went out back. He walked around the house, but found no one in the small yard behind it. Where are they?
He knocked on the back door, but no one answered that one, either. Hell, I’ll just break in, see what’s going on. He opened his toolbox again and pulled out his lock picking set and went to work on the deadbolt, and soon had it open.
He went inside to find himself in the kitchen, which was deserted. He stood perfectly still for a minute and listened carefully, but heard nothing, no voices, no television. If Sammi was here, she’d be watchin’ cartoons. He tiptoed into the living room, but found only empty, silent furniture. Both of the bedrooms were unoccupied, too.
Gundy stood in the hallway and scratched his head. Where the hell is everybody? I know I saw ’em come in here, and nobody’s left since I beenwatchin’. Maybe they’re in the basement.
He went downstairs to a dimly lit unfinished room with a few cardboard boxes on the floor. But no Sammi. Damn! What is goin’ on?
Then he noticed the glow from under a closed door against one wall. Maybe they went in there for some reason. He tried the knob, but it was locked, so he pulled out his picks again and worked on the deadbolt until he heard it click. Bingo!
He left his toolbox and hard hat on the floor and snatched the door open.
He was facing another room, larger than the one behind him, it’s only illumination coming from two narrow windows. How can this dinky house have such a big basement? He carefully worked his way through the stacked boxes that crowded the floor. On the far side was a stairway, and as he neared it, he heard voices from above.
He crept up the steps to the top, where there was a door, partly open, and from the other side, came a little girl’s voice. It’s Sammi. Good.
Then he heard a boy talking, who was answered by a woman. He paused at the door and waited. But where is this place? This house ain’t that big, is it? He held his breath and listened carefully, and when he heard Sammi tell the woman goodbye, he panicked. Sammi’s leavin’.
He pushed the door the rest of the way open and found himself in some kind of shop, with merchandise filling shelf after shelf. His eyes widened as he looked around at the stacks of clothes and hardware, bolts of cloth, cooking utensils, and all kinds of other things. This looks like a general store. He turned and stared at the door behind him and wrinkled his brow. What the hell? I thought this house was in a subdivision.
He shook his head as he recovered his wits, and hurried through the shop. A young woman behind a long counter put her hand to her face and said, “Oh! You startled me. I didn’t see you come in. May I help you?”
“No,” Gundy said as he walked quickly toward the front. “Just lookin’. Gotta go.” He yanked the door open and stepped outside to see Sammi riding away in a horse-drawn carriage, sitting beside a boy who looked to be about ten years old.
He took a quick look around to find himself in a town, with shops lining both sides of the streets and pedestrians bustling past in both directions. Where am I? He didn’t have long to consider it, though, because Sammi and the boy were disappearing through the crowd in their carriage. He broke into a jog and began to follow them.
Sammi and Aiven rode through the south gates of town, and the school came into sight on their left. “We got some nice pencils from Brinna, didn’t we?” Aiven said. “They’re really colorful and everybody’s gonna—” His words were cut short by a grunt and he slumped forward in his seat.
“What?” was all Sammi managed to say before a strong hand covered her mouth.
“Got you now, Sweetness,” a man said close to her ear. “Thought you could get away, didn’t you?”
No! Her heart sank to her toes. It’s Mr. Gundy.He found me.
Gundy shoved Aiven out of the carriage and climbed over the seat from the back without releasing Sammi. He grabbed the reins with his free hand and snapped them hard against Sugar’s back. “Hyah! Giddy up.”
Sugar stopped in her tracks and turned her head to look at him. He slapped the reins harder and shouted, “Giddy up, ya’ damn horse!” But Sugar wouldn’t move. She neighed at him and shook her head. “How do make this nag go?” He tried one more time, but Sugar did not obey him.
“Dammit! Dammit to hell.”
He squeezed Sammi harder and her panic rose, her insides filling with startled birds, all their wings flapping at once. Then she remembered her Stupefyin’ pendant. She reached for it with one hand but found it wasn’t around her neck. She saw it on the floorboard of the carriage, by her feet. Mr. Gundy must’ve broken it loose when he grabbed me. She stretched one hand toward it, but couldn’t reach it. Mr. Gundy’s grip was too strong.
“Never mind, then,” he said and pulled her from the carriage. Once they were on the ground, she felt something sharp dig into her side and he said, “This is a knife. If you call out to anybody, I’ll kill you.” Then her head jerked back and a sharp pain burned in her scalp as he grabbed her by the hair.
He let go of her mouth and rushed her across the road toward some trees. She couldn’t turn her head to see if Aiven was okay because of his tight grip, she could only look straight ahead, her eyes wide with terror. “Where are you taking me?” she said as she stumbled ahead into the pines and oaks and thick bushes.
“To that shop with the weird door in the basement, then we’re gettin’ in my car and going to California or somewhere.” He pushed her deeper into the cover of the brush, but the town wall was still visible on their right. “But where the hell is this place? I mean, one minute I’m in a house in the suburbs, and then I go through this door and bam! I’m in a different place...like it’s a whole ’nother town.”
“It is,” Sammi said, then gasped as he yanked harder on her hair.
“Don’t give me that crap. I ain’t stupid. Where are we?”
The back of her scalp hurt so badly that she cried, and her vision blurred momentarily. “It’s...it’s a different town....” She gasped again. “It’s Rivershire. You can ask anybody.”
“I ain’t talkin’ to nobody. But damn! Sure is strange. I feel like Alice in freakin’ Wonderland, done fallen through the rabbit hole.” He laughed and shoved her forward. “But right now, I gotta get you back to that store, so’s we can go through that doorway in the basement. I know where that goes, at least.”
“Somebody will see us, and...and they’ll stop you!”
“Ain’t nobody gonna see us. We’re gonna stick to this cover and follow that wall over there all the way around. I bet it’ll take us near that store.”
“Brinna won’t let you take me through. She’ll stop you. Or somebody will.”
“Not if they don’t see us. We’ll find someplace to lay low ’til dark, then after she closes up, I’ll break in and we’ll be on our way.”
Rachel looked at her watch and frowned. “What’s taking Aiven and Sammi so long?”
“How long have they been gone?” Evelyn asked.
“Almost an hour. Can somebody step out front and see if they’re out there?”
“I’ll go.” Leora jumped up from her desk seat and ran to the door.
Rachel looked at Evelyn. “I’m starting to worry about them, Mom.”
Rachel turned when she heard Leora run back inside, shouting, “Aiven’s hurt! And Sammi’s gone!”
Rachel sucked in her breath sharply. “Show me, Leora.” Rachel rushed to the door and her mother followed. She heard the sound of chair legs scraping against the floor as the kids came in their wake. Rachel ran outside with Leora and the small girl pointed to the road near the town gates, where Sugar stood with the carriage and Aiven lay on the ground.
“Aiven!” Rachel dashed across the school yard to his side, Evelyn right behind her. Rachel knelt and checked his pulse at his neck. She breathed a sigh of relief when she felt the throb of his heartbeat. “He’s alive!” Evelyn knelt with Rachel and put her hand behind Aiven’s head, and her expression turned grave. “He’s got a nasty bump back here.” Then she glanced around. “But where is Sammi?” She cupped a hand to her mouth and called for her.
“She’s gone, Mrs. Wallace,” Leora said. “She’s not anywhere around here.”
“Are you sure? Did you look?” She turned to the kids behind her and gestured broadly with one arm. “Everybody, spread out and search the school grounds...the barn, everything. Quickly!”
The kids ran off and Evelyn said to Rachel. “This is bad.”
“Do you think Mr. Gundy got her?”
She shook her head and bit her lower lip. “I don’t see how.”
“He could’ve followed us through the portal at John Paul’s house.”
“I didn’t see any silver Camrys. All I saw was a white van, and it looked like a work truck. It was way behind us.”
“Oh, Mom.” Rachel felt the blood drain from her face. “What if it’s him?”
“Let’s not jump to conclusions. Let’s see if the kids find Sammi around here before we start to panic.”
The kids soon returned,
but no one had seen Sammi.
“We have to assume the worst, then,” Rachel said. “Mom, can you run to the office and call Carl and Jamie? We need them right away. I’ll stay here with Aiven.” Rachel put her hand on Aiven’s head and exhaled heavily. “While you’re at it, ask Miss Duffy and Mr. Winston to come help us. We need to carry Aiven over to the clinic now.”
Ten minutes later, Carl and Jamie stood with Rachel and the others by the carriage. Carl had his gun holstered on his waist and his expression was hard. Mr. Winston and Miss Duffy had joined them, and Aiven was already in the care of Doctor Burke in the clinic.
“This is all my fault,” Jamie said. “I never should’ve made a permanent doorway at John Paul’s house until Fred could put a hex on it.”
“No, it’s my fault,” Rachel said. “I shouldn’t have let Sammi go off with Aiven.”
“It’s nobody’s fault.” Carl put his hands on his hips. “Now we need to organize into search parties and hunt for her, and quickly.” He looked at the children and held up two fingers. “You guys don’t go alone.Go in pairs, and spread out. You can search in town, since you’re familiar with it. Don’t try to do anything rash if you find them, just come get one of us adults. I’ll go guard Brinna’s shop. Gundy can’t get back to Earth without going through it. Hopefully he hasn’t made it there, yet. He’ll have to find a sneaky way to get to it, and that should slow him down.”
“I shall search in town, also,” Mr. Winston said. “In the carriage.”
Miss Duffy nodded. “I shall come with you.”
“Somebody needs to stay here in case Sammi gets away and comes back,” Rachel said.
“I’ll stay,” Evelyn said, “but I don’t have my Stupefyin’ charm.”
“Then take mine.” Rachel pulled her necklace over her head, took off her countercharm bracelet and handed them to her.
“I don’t think I —”
“Mom, don’t argue, just take them! I’ll be with the others, so I’ll be safe.”
“Jamie,” Carl said, “you can search from the sky. Might want to go to Brinna’s shop first and warn her. You can get there quicker than we can. Somebody else should search the woods.”
