Grim Hill: Carnival of Secrets

by Linda DeMeulemeester

  I gulped. I dug deep to find courage. But I couldn’t seem to make my feet move up the front path to the door.

  “Um, maybe we should sneak up the back steps,” suggested Jasper. “I mean, why just announce ourselves?”

  That worked for me. Cautiously, Jasper and I skirted around the side of the house past the tombstone dotted graveyard to the backyard. For a moment I couldn’t believe my eyes – although nothing should surprise me after living next to a fairy hill for almost a year. It had only been a few weeks since I’d visited here and discovered my sister had become a witch, yet I couldn’t believe how much the house had changed.

  Our steps faltered as we crept closer, surveying the riotous growth of wicked looking plants that had overtaken the place. Wormlike Spanish moss spilled in heaps from cracked pottery urns. I blinked, but it wasn’t my imagination – the moss squirmed like a nest of wriggly worms. Purple leafed Wolf’s Bane cascaded from baskets like pretty bouquets – but I knew those innocent looking flowers were deadly poisonous. Hanging planters loomed overhead, overflowing with gruesome Bat Head Lillies and Jellyfish flowers that dangled tentacles over my scalp. I gave them wide clearance but could still feel an unsettling tickle as I ducked and they brushed my hair. My heart ached as I thought, Oh Sookie! You really are an evil witch.

  Jasper gently placed his hand on my shoulder. “We can do this, Cat. After all, Sookie used to have a crush on me and she looked up to you. Maybe those feelings are still somewhere inside her, and she’ll still listen to us.”

  How could I have thought that Jasper was partly in this because he liked Lea? It wouldn’t be the first time I’d doubted the motives of the loyal boy who was my friend. I took heart from Jasper’s faith and courage as we climbed onto the porch and then huddled under the window ledge. We tried to quiet our breathing and listen, but we didn’t hear anything.

  Cautiously, I stood up and poked my head through the open window. The dark kitchen was crowded with bundles of strange dried herbs that were already making my nose itch. There was that uncanny scent of old roses and strong spice … magic. Shelves were lined with jars filled with lumpy white things floating in filmy fluids colored mustard and crimson. Whatever that gunk was, I didn’t want to know.

  Mortars and pestles and clay pots cluttered the kitchen counter. A black cauldron simmered on the stove. Funny – instead of a nasty odor like sulfur or a toxic potion, the fumes spilling from the cauldron smelled chocolaty.

  “That’s odd,” said Jasper. “Take a look at the table.”

  I couldn’t imagine what Jasper would think was odd, as the whole kitchen was peculiar. Then I spotted what he was talking about. A Monopoly board sat on the kitchen table. It was neatly set out with money piled in orderly columns, the card decks placed in the middle, and two tokens – including Sookie’s favorite – the tiny bowler hat, placed on “GO”. The beloved game seemed totally out of place for a diabolical witch’s den.

  Next I noticed that a cupboard door was open. Oddly, it was stuffed with boxes and boxes of only one thing – Sookie’s favorite cereal: Frosty Oats. How curious.

  Jasper saw it too. “I guess she likes breakfast,” he muttered.

  Suddenly a wild voice screeched, “Strangers! Awk!”

  We ducked and grabbed each other as our hearts jumped. I looked up through the window and gave a sigh of relief. I pointed upward, showing Jasper that the voice was just Maeb, the white raven that was Sookie’s new pet. Crap, I’d totally missed that big tattletale bird sitting on its corner perch in the shadows. We stayed huddled under the window wondering if anyone would hear.

  “Go away, go away, go away” Maeb squawked.

  Then we heard another voice. “What is it, Maeb? Does someone dare darken my door?” I put a finger to my lips and Jasper and I scrunched down even lower, trying not to breathe.

  Suddenly the voice spoke again, sounding calm yet terrifying.

  “Hello, Cat. You and Jasper shouldn’t come here.”

  It was Sookie! She had managed to make those simple words sound so menacing that my courage crumbled.

  Since we were caught anyway, I stood up, dragging Jasper with me. A tall woman dressed in a gray, gossamer gown that looked like layers of spider web glided around the kitchen. Her long, blond hair was draped like a curtain across her shoulders, and a towering black witch’s hat flopped over her brow. Creepy, catlike eyes peeked from under the brim. Their color was the same as Sookie’s, but now the iris had only black slits and no white. Those eerie eyes bored into me.

  But I stood my ground. “Sookie, we need to talk. We have to stop what’s going on in town. They’re building the fairy school on the hill again. People are in danger.” I didn’t add “and it’s partly your fault.”

  I was surprised when Jasper spoke up too, “C’mon, Sookie, join up with us. Help us stop the fairies.” Then, pointing to the Monopoly board, he said, “And I’ll promise to play Monopoly for however long you want.”

  There was a time when Jasper meant everything to Sookie, and playing Monopoly was all she cared about. For a moment the pupils of Sookie’s witch eyes shrank back, reminding me of the normal little girl she used to be. But that moment didn’t last.

  Sookie’s eyes flashed back to their witchy look, “Sorry, Jasper but I’ve got other plans.”

  Okay, maybe it was dangerous, but I couldn’t help it. I stamped my foot and said, “Sookie, I told you we need your magic. I order you to help!”

  Sookie flashed those eerie eyes at me. “Sorry, Cat, but I’m a grownup now.” She smirked. “I get to boss you around. Now I command you to leave.” Then Sookie began humming a creepy tune and I started moving backwards. I ordered my feet to stand their ground, but I felt my own feet disobey me as they backed down the stairs. Jasper had a frightened look and was staring at his feet too.

  I grabbed the railing to stay on the porch, but my feet kept moving. Perhaps it was foolish but I shouted at Sookie, “I will never let you be in charge of me.”

  “Then I guess you have quite a conundrum,” Sookie shouted back. Some things were still the same about my sister. Sookie still loved her big words.

  Sookie started her humming again, but this time at a faster speed. I felt myself lurching away like an unwilling puppet on strings. Sookie giggled and for a second she sounded nine years old again, which infuriated me even more.

  “Cut this out,” I shouted in my bossiest big sister voice.

  For a couple of seconds, Sookie’s enchantment lost its hold on me and my feet fell back under my own will. I even managed to take a couple of steps forward. Then Sookie picked up the tune and I again lurched backward another few steps.

  “Do as I say,” ordered Sookie, “Before I quit playing and decide to get serious. As I recall, you aren’t fond of big fat toads. Imagine being turned into one …” Then Sookie quickly looked over her shoulder and back at me. I thought I heard giggling. Was someone else there? “Go,” she commanded.

  Sookie started singing again but this time it was a different melody and our feet didn’t move backwards. This time our legs wouldn’t move at all. My feet felt like they were stuck in deep mud, and Jasper looked as if he was trying to tug his feet off sticky fly paper.

  Then suddenly a black cat the size of a big raccoon leaped out of the window and onto the steps. The cat’s claws looked like they could do some serious damage.

  It curled its back up, and hissing, moved towards us baring ferocious fangs.

  CHAPTER 4 Fairy Time

  “Big Cat is scared of a little cat,” cackled Sookie.

  The huge cat was growling and swiping at us. Her claws were coming awfully close.

  “It’s no use,” said Jasper, “Give up, Cat.”

  With my heart so heavy it felt like it had slid down to my sneakers, I had to agree.

  “Fine,” I said to Sookie, “release us from your magic, we’ll go.” My voice broke.

  “Don’t be too mad, okay, Cat?” There it was again – one second Sookie sounded
like a horrible witch, the next moment she sounded more like my kid sister.

  Sookie’s spell song stopped and we stumbled backwards, then we turned and ran around the side of the house and back out into the street. We kept running until we were a good two blocks away.

  “I guess this was not such a good idea,” I confessed.

  “For sure, I think we’ll … have to find another way,” Jasper panted, “But for now it’s getting late. We’d better get home and meet up again tomorrow morning.”

  ***

  That night as I was getting ready for bed, I couldn’t stop thinking about Sookie. Seeing her in all her witchiness had made me realize even more that I had to find a way to rescue my sister. The fact that Sookie didn’t want help only made me more desperate to save her.

  I lay wide awake in bed as my mind began racing ahead. Sookie had spent time in Fairy and it had had a tragic effect on her, drawing my little sister deeper and deeper into dark magic. But I knew another person who had been held captive in Fairy and while she was a bit unusual, she never became an evil witch. I needed to talk to Lucinda. Then, with one specific goal set for the next day, I finally managed to fall asleep.

  I must have fallen into a deep sleep because the next thing I heard was Mom’s chiding voice calling from downstairs. “Cat, I can’t believe you’re still sleeping in. This is Saturday; the sun is shining and you can go out and play soccer.”

  I must have kicked off my quilt during the night because it was balled up on my bedroom floor again. Weird, I didn’t remember leaving my window open. I crossed the floor to close the window and shut out the eerie music of the carnival, but my eyes were drawn to a cloud glowing witch green and swirling near the top of Grim Hill. I knew this wasn’t just any storm cloud. Something was stirring up the magic on Grim Hill. A pang of fear stabbed me in the chest but I told myself out loud, “I guess those nasty creatures are working overtime rebuilding the stupid school. “I dressed and went downstairs. Minutes later Jasper was knocking on my door as I was trying once again to choke down a couple of spoonfuls of Sookie’s Frosty Oats. Grateful for my friend’s arrival, I pushed away the bowl of cereal. “Jasper and I are going out,” I told my mother. “I have to hurry because I slept so late.”

  “Cat, you can’t keep skipping breakfast,” Mom scolded. She handed me a banana from the fruit bowl. “Maybe I can mix this cereal into my baking,” she said as she stared at the brightly colored box.

  I slipped out the back door while Mom flipped through her recipe book.

  “It’s time to get a different kind of assistance,” I told Jasper. “And I think I know who might help.”

  I explained that we should meet up with Lucinda before we returned to Grim Hill to wait for Lea.

  “What if we miss Lea?” Jasper said with a worried frown.

  “Remember, it was well after lunch by the time she showed up yesterday,” I argued. “Besides, Lucinda is the only one who might give us some idea about what’s going on with Sookie.” Jasper smacked his forehead and said, “Of course. I should have thought of that.” If this were a happier time I would have gleefully pointed out that it wasn’t very often I was one step ahead of Jasper.

  The streets were unnaturally quiet except for the haunting trill of the carnival’s calliope. Jasper and I raced to the Greystone sisters’ house.

  As Jasper and I approached the Greystone house, I noticed that unlike everyone else in this town, the drapes in this front window were wide open. At least somebody refused to hide from the strange happenings. A rusty hinge squeaked as we passed through the gate. We climbed the front porch stairs, and I banged the lion-head doorknocker. The door flew open on the first tap.

  Alice Greystone was a proper older lady and always wore a silk tea dress. This one had beige flowers and lace ruffles. She greeted us with a warm smile. “Lucinda said you were coming.”

  Like I said, Lucinda had some of her own peculiar abilities. “Come in,” Alice ushered us to the backyard patio. “I made lemonade and egg salad sandwiches.”

  That sounded way better than a banana. Even mortal peril can’t stave off hunger when a person keeps missing breakfast. Lucinda sat out back in a wooden chair and even though it was a warm day, she’d bundled herself in a shawl. For a moment her frail outline shimmered as if she was only half in this world. I blinked my eyes – it must have been a trick of the sunlight.

  “Hello, Cat,” her voice rustled like dried papers in the wind. “What is your sister up to now?”

  Between huge bites of egg salad, Jasper and I filled in the Greystone sisters about our troubles with Sookie: how she refused to listen to us; that I couldn’t even ask her for help; that she didn’t care one whit about the fairy spell that menaced our town. I took a long gulp of tart lemonade and wiped my mouth with the embroidered napkin on the wicker table. “The thing is,” I finished, “Even though I know my sister is a grown up, fullfledged, evil witch and my sworn enemy, my heart plays tricks on me. What I see and what I feel don’t match up.”

  “Can you explain that?” Lucinda’s eyes hadn’t faded like the rest of her. They fastened onto me, glittering with sharp curiosity.

  This wasn’t going to be easy because I didn’t want to remind Lucinda about how she’d been captured by fairies when she was my age. Even though it had seemed like only a week to her before she’d escaped, she’d actually missed out on seventy years of human time and had aged in our world in a matter of minutes.

  To speak of this seemed cruel, but there was an urgency in her expression that pushed me on. “Just … I … remember how you told me once that when you escaped the fairy ring, you actually felt old on the inside. You … told me not to feel sorry for you for missing out on so many years.”

  Lucinda nodded encouragingly and said, “Yes, and I meant it. Go on.”

  “Well, that’s just it.” Talking about it helped me figure out what had been puzzling me. “I don’t have the sense that Sookie really is older. At times when I talk to her she feels to me like she always did – like a nine year old on a huge power trip.”

  “Except that power is real,” Jasper said shaking his head ruefully. “She certainly made us dance to her evil little tune, and I think she actually might have turned you into a toad if you’d pushed her. And that big cat! She seems to have control of some kind over it.”

  Lucinda and Alice exchanged a look. I always got the impression that they held entire conversations with a mere glance. Lucinda gave a slight shake of her head, and I wondered if they’d decided not to tell me something.

  “All hope isn’t lost even if Sookie has become a witch,” Alice said quietly.

  “You haven’t seen her.” My eyes began stinging, “She looks … I think she is … becoming … horrible.”

  “Don’t say that, Cat.” Alice frowned. “My sister and I have always kept a close eye on dear little Sookie.” Alice’s face crumpled. “Surely the fact she’d been trying to do something good by rescuing all of you in the forest would not make her evil.”

  I wondered if that was true. There was that saying: good intentions pave the road to he … – well, let’s just say I’d learned there was often something behind a lot of old sayings.

  “I was trying to do a good thing too,” I sighed, “And look how that turned out.”

  Alice shook her head vigorously. “The web of danger you children have been caught in, the choices you’ve made

  – it’s not Sookie’s fault and it’s not yours either, Cat. It’s not right what you’ve had to face.”

  Lucinda gently put her hand on Alice’s shoulder and said calmly, “Sometimes life doesn’t give you any good choices. These children have shown they are quite capable of handling themselves.” Then she grew thoughtful. “Seventy years had passed while I’d been held captive in Fairy for only a week,” she mused. “But fairy time is not reliable. It can spring forward like it did for me, but it can also snap backwards. Besides, I was not as young as Sookie when I’d been captured. Perhaps this makes
a difference.”

  Lucinda and Alice exchanged another one of those glances. Then Lucinda said, “From what you’re telling me about the way your sister behaves, fairy magic has made her appear as if she’s an adult on the outside, but on the inside she still seems nine years old.”

  “That’s the way she acts sometimes. Maybe if that’s true she’s not really evil. Do you think that could be?”

  “Evil? Not completely yet,” said Lucinda. “Dangerous – yes, I’m afraid so. Her last trip to Fairy gave her perilously potent magic. And a nine year old is too young to understand the consequences of such power.”

  I hung my head. “Evil or not, my sister is still a witch out of control. And magic is hurting our town.” I glanced at the hydrangea bush in their backyard, its branches bending under heavy purple blossoms. How my little sister loved coming here to help the Greystones with their gardening, but how gruesome her taste in flowers had grown these days.

  “The magic that’s ensorcelled our town might not be Sookie’s fault,” Alice said slowly, still protecting my sister. “I remember a carnival that once came to our town when I was about your age, Cat.” Alice glanced mournfully at Lucinda. “It was after you were gone, Cindy dear, after the fairies had taken you away and I had forgotten about you.”

  Lucinda patted her hand reassuringly.

  “There was something peculiar about that carnival …”

  “Like what?” My heart began drumming against my chest. I suddenly realized that this might be critical information I needed to unravel the mystery which had wound around our town as strong as spider silk, trapping us all like insects in a web.

  I leaned closer, urging Alice to tell me more …

  CHAPTER 5 Lamas Fair

  We sat in the Greystones’ garden under the golden light of late summer as Alice began to tell her tale. I shivered despite the warm sun.

  “Entering that strange carnival felt like entering another world when you walked through the gate. Also, the people seemed odd. They weren’t familiar town folk. I remember a magic wagon where puppets would dance and I swear they had no strings. It was almost as if they were little shrunken people – sometimes it seemed like their eyes would catch mine as if they were pleading with me to free them.” Alice took a delicate sip of lemonade and cleared her throat which had gone froggy. “Bad things happened too, like people disappearing. Then, once September arrived, the carnival left and never returned.”