by Dani Corlee
No need to say Michelle didn't like them at all. Kim wondered if Michelle's behavior to her was due to the fact she was friends with people like Lucille and Isidora, or if she just considered her, and maybe any new person in her neighborhood, an enemy.
CHAPTER 9
Isidora walked downstairs slowly, fearing a fall on the staircase, which at her age wouldn't bring anything good to her life.
When they arrived in the basement, Kim showed them the wall.
“It's here,” she said, and knocked the wall in search of the hidden door.
“Hey, seat's taken!” Lucille exclaimed in a concealed voice, pretending it was coming from the inside and after a while laughed and chewed loudly until she noted Isidora's disapproving gaze.
Kim turned her face away, trying to hide the wide grin she couldn't help.
She then pushed the wall, knocked again, closely inspected it, but couldn't see the door.
“How did you open it before?” Lucille asked.
“Mm... I just wished I could open it without any help. That's all,” Kim answered, scratching her head.
The three witches looked at each other, then they all looked intensely at the door, but nothing happened.
“Wait,” Isidora said, gesturing to the others. “Step aside.”
She took off her coat, brought up her sweater's sleeves and started whispering something. Lucille moved back and hurried near her. Kim couldn't say what Isidora was going to do. Maybe blow her wall up? She didn't dare to ask.
Isidora made big gestures in the air, toward the wall, repeating an unintelligible singsong. After a little while, the wall started to change color and turned luminous. Then, where the door had been, a line of vivid light appeared like coming out from a door jamb, sparkling heavily until the light was so intense, Kim had to close her eyes. She opened them again only after a loud burst.
The light had disappeared, and some smoke was dancing in the room between Isidora and the wall, which was still intact. Isidora was pale and looked tired. “Nothing to do,” she whispered. “There's a door, there, and it's clearly visible. But the spell to protect the room is very strong. Extremely strong for me too,” she added.
“Let's go in the living room and rest for a while,” Kim suggested.
“Yes, I'd better sit and have some tea,” Isidora replied and her words faded away when Lucille made a gesture to teleport the old witch upstairs.
“She never uses her magic for little things, and right now she must be too weak for teleporting,” she explained, while they heard Isidora loudly grumbling that Lucille should have informed her that she was going to teleport her.
Kim headed upstairs, followed by Lucille. Suddenly she slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand. “What a fool! With all these things going, I forgot to call Aurora and tell her Mrs. Daisy is here!”
“Oh, poor little dear,” Isidora said, resting on the couch with a teacup on her hand.
“Yes. I cannot understand why the doll was in the hidden room,” Kim added carelessly.
“In the hidden room?” Isidora asked in a high-pitched voice. “You didn't tell us.”
“Oh, I must have forgotten. Funny, a doll inside Dolly's room.”
Isidora widened her eyes and asked. “May I see the doll, please?”
“Sure. Where did I put her? Oh...” She looked at Isidora. “Er... you might be sitting over it, I think. I left there, on the couch.”
“Am I?” Isidora looked worried. She stood up as quick as her age allowed her, but there was no sign of the doll.
“Oh, never mind. Probably Aurora realized she had forgotten it here and teleported it to her. I hope she was clever enough to hide the matter from her father...”
Isidora's eyes narrowed but she didn't reply.
They kept on talking about the inside of the room until the afternoon approached its end.
“Will you have dinner with me?” Kim asked, but the two witches decided to go home.
“I have a date!” Lucille chuckled and winked to Kim. “But first, let's decorate your house!”
“The house?”
“Your neighbor worked hard to decorate her house, as have nearly all the others in your street. Do you want to ruin the overall effect? No, you don't,” Lucille replied on her behalf. “So you must have a nice Halloween house.”
“Right,” Kim nodded in agreement.
The three witches headed outside.
“I'll make the illusion spell, so that nobody will notice anything now, but next morning your decorations will be visible to everybody. Let's pretend you worked hard at nighttime! Let me think.” Lucille scratched her hair, and for a while Kim feared she was going to ruin her high and fluffy bun.
“Mm... Any style you would like me to follow?”
“Well, not witches, please,” Kim replied.
“OK, no witches. Zombies, maybe?”
“Oh no!” Kim replied with a disgusted grimace.
Lucille closed her eyes. “I know how I can decorate it. Wait!” She stretched her arms toward the house, smoke and sparkles coming from her index finger any time she moved it as a magic wand.
In few minutes the house was ready and Kim couldn't help exclaiming, “Aurora would have loved it!”
A few giant spiders were placed on the roof and on the front of the house. Other, smaller, spiders were hanging from the gutters at different heights, from the windows and also from the front door, and huge webs covered the house and the front garden.
On the beginning of the path, a tall skeleton seemed to greet the pedestrians with a wide, empty smile, and a big spider was on the near letterbox.
The overall decoration was simple, but the effect was spooky and classy enough for Kim's taste.
Lucille looked at her masterpiece, chewing aloud. “Michelle won't be able to complain you didn't join the spirit of the celebration! And don't forget to get a costume for the party!”
“I'm not sure I'm going to join the party,” Kim timidly answered.
“What? No way. The whole town will attend. You must come too.” Lucille's tone would not accept objections.
Kim looked at Isidora in search of help, but Isidora nodded to show her agreement with Lucille.
“OK, OK. I will think about a proper costume.” She smiled and waved her friends goodbye while they teleported to their houses.
CHAPTER 10
Kim? Lucille mentally called.
Mm..., yes? Partly distracted, Kim had barely heard her friend.
Are you OK?
Er, yes. Sorry. I had a bad night.
Had you?
Well, I dare anyone to feel safe knowing there's a stranger using your basement!
You know we did our best to block your house access from the basement. Anybody who uses it or had used it cannot come upstairs.
Bah, I don't feel any better, though. The spell that hides the room is very strong and Isidora couldn't break it. I suppose the stranger who made it must be extremely powerful.
Whoever did it, didn't want to harm you, did he? Otherwise he could have blocked you inside or even not let you enter. We all think he must be somebody who isn't against you.
Mm... maybe.
Have you decided what to wear at the party?
I'll go and look for a dress after work. I'll call you if I see something I like.
Great. See ya!
Bye!
Lucille!
Yes, ma’am!
I bought it!
From your satisfied tone it must be a great costume!
I think so. It's a vampire costume.
A vampire? Lucille laughed. May I come and see it? I can be there in few minutes.
Sure. I've just worn it and I think it fits perfectly.
Jeepers! With your nice figure, everything fits perfectly on you!
Oh no, I think I should lose few pounds...
Hell, naw! Where do you want to lose them? You are slim, be careful that you don’t lose those pounds in your brain!
; Kim didn't answer but kept on looking herself at the mirror. A little makeup to make her paler and darken the skin under her eyes was the missing touch to make the mask perfect. The dress was long and black. A little too tight for her taste, but she couldn't deny it perfectly followed her curves. The high neckline was embellished by a necklace with a big spider-shaped pendant that had a giant ruby as the stone. The cloak was long and wide, with the typical stand-up collar, like any iconic vampire would have. The overall effect was nice. Kim couldn't remember when she’d last been to a Halloween party and had started to enjoy the anticipation.
Knock knock!
What?
You were scared the other time I arrived out of thin air. I don't want you to have a heart attack!
Kim giggled. Come in! I'm in the walk-in closet. I wonder how other witches do it. Don't you get scared of unannounced visits?
“We sense them. You'll learn to sense them as well.” Lucille had arrived in front of Kim and gave her a long look, from the top of her hair to the tip of her toes.
“Meh,” she muttered.
Kim's smile died. “Don't you like it?” she said in a sorry tone.
“No... it's... nice?” Lucille put her hand at her chin. Then she gestured toward Kim “It's just that... it's...”
“What?” Kim's tone was impatient.
Lucille replied with a deep breath. “It's boring! Let me see what I can do.” Lucille brought her sleeves up and started moving her hands.”
“No, what do you want to do? I like it the way it is!” Kim protested.
“Trust me.”
Kim knew she couldn't stop Lucille and mumbled with resignation.
“First the dress.” Lucille moved her hands quickly in the air and Kim felt strange on her legs. She looked down and the dress now was red, covered with a black lace that resembled a web, but most of all was short, much shorter than any other dress she had ever worn.
“Lucille, stop it...”
Then she looked at her breast, and now the dress had a generous neckline showing her cleavage.
Suddenly she felt higher and she was standing on two black over-the-knee high-heeled boots. The cloak was still long but not so wide as before and couldn't hide her body anymore.
She rolled her eyes and turned to the mirror.
Her eyes widened. She had to admit she was really gorgeous, and the effect was much more striking than before. Lucille was still moving her hands and whispering strange words. Suddenly she had delicate but really striking makeup and her hair combed in a loose bun high in her head, fixed by a hairpin similar to the necklace pendant.
Lucille let her arms fall along her body and smiled. “What do you think?”
“Oh, well, its terrific... But honestly, I cannot go out with such a short dress, with ... my breast half exposed.”
“Why not?” Lucille stepped backwards and looked at her work again.
“Because... because I never do!”
“So, it's time to start!” Lucille lowered her shoulders. “Really Kim, it's Halloween! You cannot go to a party dressed as if you are going to work. Trust me! You are beautiful and young! You are not only a mother, Kim. Let others see how sexy you can be!” Her tone was quite exasperated.
Kim sighed and nodded. Maybe Lucille was right. The dress was too much for her, but for too long she had forgotten she was a woman too, not only a mother. “OK, it's a party. But don't think you can change my all other dresses too!”
“Mm... Now that I come to think of it, I could make a few changes to all your wardrobe!”
“Don't dare, or I might turn you into a toad!” Kim laughed.
“No, please,” Lucille teased her friend. “Knowing your abilities, you might end turning me into an elephant or a dinosaur instead!”
“Am I so bad?” Kim asked with a grimace.
“Well, your teacher says she’s had better students... Must go now. I'll re-create the makeup for you before the party.” Suddenly Kim's hair was loose again, framing her face nicely, which was as clean as before.
“Bye!” she said and kept on looking at her reflection in the mirror with a satisfied smile.
CHAPTER 11
Next morning Kim left her house and found a perplexed Michelle, who was staring at her house open mouthed.
“Hi,” Kim waved to her.
“Hi. Nice decorations,” the other woman replied gesturing toward her house. “When did you manage to create such a complex decoration?”
“The decoration at my house?” Kim replied with a forced smile. “I did it in the evening.”
“Did you? Yesterday night there was nothing.”
“I'm sure you didn't...” Kim cleared her throat, “look closely at my house. Probably you just didn't notice the decorations in the dark. That's all,” and without waiting for a reply she entered her car, snorting, then headed to the hospital for her daily job.
It was late in the afternoon when she arrived at the Magic Club. She had a meeting with the healers to study the next move. She really hoped they arrived at some conclusions about the antenna. The real one had been found and replaced for a long time, but they were still studying its effects and how to have newborns feel safe near them.
The Club had been decorated for the upcoming festivity like most of the houses and building of the town. The car park and the front door were full of carved pumpkins. Kim was glad there were no fake witches or scary zombies around.
She greeted the receptionists and hurried to Isidora's room to greet her.
“Any progress in understanding something about the ball?” she asked, peeping her head inside Isidora's office.
“I'm afraid not, my dear,” the old witch replied. “All the texts we have been able to consult, report the same: that was the crystal ball of the master of the group who was banned.”
“And... what about my house?”
“We are trying to solve the mystery. I'm in contact with some of the most powerful masters. We created a circle just for this matter. Don't worry about your safety. We are taking care of it.” Isidora gave an encouraging smile.
Kim smiled back but she was anything but reassured.
Heading to her conference room she met Samia and Francesco, whispering and smiling at each other.
How sweet, she thought. She felt her heart squeezing, missing some romance in her life.
The two turned, hearing someone arriving.
“Kim!” Samia rushed to her and embraced her in a firm, warm hug. In the meantime the other members arrived too and after the greetings they entered Kim's meeting room.
While closing the door Kim's smile died. She noted out of the corner of her eye Catarina spying on them and then rushing away. Once more she felt Catarina was strange, even dangerous.
She turned to the group. “So, how are things?”
“We have the results of all the surveys we took.” Francesco started, his dark eyes darting with excitement. “It was a huge job, luckily Ravyn helped us. She created a program to put together, analyze, and cross all the data we gathered for the last 25 years.”
Kim listened without interrupting.
“Some of the results were quite obvious, some others quite unexpected. For the vast majority, the non-witches’ problems are due to the shields. But we went deeper into the matter, considering witches too. We took into account the level of their powers, and it wasn't an easy job. Some might be good at something only because they like it and would be very good at it even with no powers at all.” Francesco turned to Olga who intervened.
“We had to standardize the information we got, and that was my job. I created a list of common abilities. Then I assigned to these abilities five different levels. After that I had to list the level of each ability for every witch born during the time we considered. I also assigned the level for uncommon abilities in case the person considered had one or more. The result was unexpected.”
“Was it?” Kim's eyebrows lifted.
“Yes,” William replied. “We think we found
a pattern which we haven't thought about. We are still studying the results, but our feeling is that there's something else involved.”
