by Willow Mason
“I’m seeing things?” the woman asked, then nodded. “I’m seeing things.”
Glynda released her hold, the woman dropping to her knees to scrape her belongings back into the broken bag. I helped, chasing down a lipstick before it rolled into the gutter, and collecting a small handful of coins.
“Thank you,” the woman said, grunting as she got to her feet. She put a hand up to her forehead, then pressed her wrist against it, testing her temperature. “Please accept my apologies, young lady. I’m sorry I hit you.”
“She’ll be fine,” I said hurriedly before a glowering Harriet could think up a retort. “You should head on home, now. Lock the doors and stay inside until you feel better. Tell all your friends to do the same.”
“Yes, I’ll do that.” The woman headed off in the direction she’d come from, weaving slightly as she walked.
“Good thinking,” Glynda said with a nod to me, then to Harriet, “Are you okay?”
“I’m covered in bruises,” the librarian said, taking my offered hand to help her stand up. “And my heart’s racing from fright. How could she see me?”
“The network’s down,” I said, this time not meeting any resistance from Glynda. “But that’s not the worst of our problems. It seems half the witch schoolchildren in Riverhead are practising voodoo. There’ve been weird things happening all day.”
“We need to call a coven meeting,” Glynda said, her brow darkening as she saw the smashed collection of cars near the station. “Everyone to attend. Harriet, could you set that up?”
“Oh.” The librarian’s hand went to her mouth. “The voodoo book! That’s what I was coming to tell you about. It’s been stolen from the library.”
Glynda’s eyes widened. “By whom?”
“I-I’m not sure,” Harriet admitted, hanging her head. “Miss Armitage from the school came to read through the volume last night, to check on what the children had been learning. She left before ten o’clock when I locked up.”
“And did she take it?”
Harriet pushed a hand through her hair. “I didn’t look. This afternoon, I was bored and decided to have a read, just to amuse myself, you know. It was gone.”
My mouth fell open as I remembered the stunning young woman the policeman had driven me past on the way to the station. She’d appeared familiar, but I hadn’t been able to place her face.
Now I knew.
“I saw Miss Armitage,” I whispered, feeling stunned. “But she was in her early twenties.”
“Rubbish,” Glynda said with a snort. “That kind of age reversal would take more magic than any witch in Riverhead possesses.”
“Yes,” I said, taking hold of the other witches’ hands. “It would take the power of the neural network to perform a magic trick like that.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Between us, we decided that Glynda would head to the local radio station to get them to broadcast the fibs about hallucinogens in the water I’d just invented. With her natural bearing and authority, she’d be likely to have it recorded and playing within the hour.
Not the best scenario, to have the town of Riverhead believing it was tripping off LSD in the water, but better than having them discover witches were real.
That left me and Harriet to hunt down Miss Armitage and demand an explanation for what was happening. The sooner we sorted out whatever mess she was creating, the sooner we could get the network restored.
With any luck, this entire string of events would be a small blip on the Riverhead map.
“Let’s grab Beezley and start at the school,” I said as Glynda departed. “It’s unlikely she’s there but one of the kids might know where she is.”
When we passed by the street corner where I’d seen Miss Armitage standing earlier in the day, I scrutinised it. Considering many hours had passed since then, it was no surprise she was long gone.
Beezley was pacing the lounge anxiously when I arrived home. With him on my lap in the back seat, it didn’t take long to get him up to speed.
“Marcus,” I called out as we arrived at the school. The PE teacher was stretching the long muscles of his thighs right near the gate. “Have you seen Miss Armitage?”
He hurried over to join us, giving me a quick shoulder hug. “I’m so glad to see you. Half the school have disappeared, including the old teacher.”
“Who’s here from her class?” I asked, already moving towards the building. “We’re hoping someone might know where to find her.”
Marcus’s face scrunched up in thought. “I don’t remember seeing her today at all.” He ran a hand through his hair, frowning. “But then I’ve been in the office fielding phone calls for most of today.”
“What about substitute teachers?”
When he didn’t respond immediately, I snapped my fingers under his nose. “Please try to think! It could be important.”
“Some blonde came in to teach the class,” Marcus said slowly. “A real looker. She must be a replacement teacher or something.”
I had my suspicions it was definitely ‘or something’ but still needed to check. “Does the school have a list of support teachers for when you call in sick?”
“No.” Marcus shook his head, then shrugged. “Or not that we access. We have to call a special number and the woman there sorts it all out.”
While Harriet and Beezley continued to ask Marcus questions about the children who had turned up to class that day, I pulled my phone out to try the number.
“Prue, speaking,” the caller answered, and I fought the desire to roll my eyes.
“Did Miss Armitage call in sick this morning?”
“No.” Prue’s voice became suspicious. “Why? What’s going on? Somebody called me earlier and said black magic was running amok in the town today. Is that because of you?”
“It’s because of a spell book full of voodoo. Would anyone else be patched into this number who might’ve taken the call?”
“Nope, it’s just me. Is a teacher out sick?”
“Marcus says a young blonde woman was taking Miss Armitage’s class today. Do you have anyone on the replacement list who fits the bill?”
Prue snorted. “Not likely. Our list is either retired teachers ready to help out for a day or two, or busybody mothers who enjoy the chance to spy on their kids.”
When we entered Miss Armitage’s class, the room was in a state of chaos. Chairs and desks had been shoved into a corner to create a clearing while posters were ripped down from the walls. Only three of the twelve children who should have been in the school were in the room, but their frantic energy made it seem like ten times more.
“Calm down, everyone,” Harriet yelled out, tugging at her hair. She appeared to be on the verge of tears.
While Beezley hid behind me, I clapped my hands and stepped forward, the movement stopping one girl in her tracks. “What’s your name?”
“Lindy,” she said, coyly hiding her hands behind her back. “Are you here to tell us it’s time to go home?”
I checked my watch, blinking in surprise as I saw it was near three o’clock. “You can go home if you can answer my questions,” I said with a big smile, grabbing the shirt collar of a young boy as he skipped past me.
The third child, a studious-looking dark-haired girl with large glasses came to a halt all by herself. She stared at me—her eyes huge through the distorting lenses.
“Can anybody tell me where Miss Armitage is?”
“She’s gone home,” the first girl said, stamping her foot and pouting. “Everybody was allowed to go home but us.”
Harriet bent down to the child’s level. “Why were they allowed to go when you had to stay in class?”
The girl’s head bent forward, and she stared forlornly at the floor. “I was naughty and didn’t memorise the spells.”
“What spells are those?” Beezley asked. “Are you allowed to tell us?”
“The ones from the big book.” The girl shrugged, raising her chin in defiance.
Now the girl with the glasses stepped forward. “They’re stupid,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “And they’re not on the c-c-curriculum.”
I glanced at her studious little face, surprised. “Couldn’t you memorise them, either?”
“Sure, I c-c-can memorise them. I just c-c-can’t say them. Not g-g-good enough f-f-for her!”
“Do you have a copy of these spells?” I asked. It was hard to imagine the entire class crowding around one book, no matter how large. To my delight, she ran back to her desk and pulled out an exercise book, opening it to a dog-ear marked page.
“T-t-this was my one,” she explained. “I was m-m-meant to go to the park and talk to the animals.” A tear trickled down her cheek. “It s-s-sounded like fun.”
I checked the incantation but didn’t recognise any of the phrasings. “What does the spell make them do?”
When the girl got caught in a stutter she couldn’t resolve, the boy spoke up. “It was meant to make them fly. I have one to turn wood into trees.” He kicked at the side of a desk, his lower lip pooching out. “It was stupid.”
Harriet caught my eye, her face registering a myriad of emotions, none of them happy. I imagined what the owners of a timber house would think if every board suddenly turned into a green, living tree.
“Well, thank goodness you’re here to save the day,” I said, clapping my hands together again. “You’re all very good children for helping us out, so of course you can go home. Will your parents be there?”
They nodded, beaming smiles at each other before running out the door.
“We should check the other desks,” Marcus said with a worried frown. “And see what spells are written in the other children’s books.” He tapped the page still open on the book I was holding. “See how it’s got a drawing of an elephant next to it? I wonder if they all had reminders.”
I located the desk James Sloan had been seated at when we’d visited the school. Sure enough, his exercise book had a gravestone next to a very long spell.
“How long has she been planning this?” I whispered, not addressing the question to anybody. “And what’s it all for?”
“We’re not going to find out by hanging around here.” Marcus piled the exercise books onto one desk and flipped through the pages quickly. “Cars crashing, tons of kittens, a gigantic love heart.”
I nodded, recognising each of the symbols from the day’s uncomfortable events. Harriet snatched one of the books out of his hands. “Lollies and driving dogs.” She flapped the notes at me. “You know, these sorts of things would be fine one by one, but I’m not surprised the neural network’s gone down under the strain. Many of these are so in-your-face it’s hard to whip it out of a person’s mind.”
“Wait.” Marcus held his palms up. “The network’s down?”
“Yeah,” Harriet said. “And the town’s turned into a madhouse. Look at these marks!” She held out her arms where the woman’s purse had done the most damage. “A stranger attacked me in the street just for riding a broom.”
“And you let me send those kids home in that atmosphere?”
I exchange a guilty glance with Harriet. “I did check their parents would be waiting.”
“If it was a normal day. Jeez. I’ve got a duty to those kids.”
“The ones who just left are the least of our problem.” I pointed to the window. “It’s the ones who are scattered about town doing their mad teacher’s bidding who’re concerning.”
Marcus went to the window, seeing we were already too late to call the three children back. There was nothing faster than a child running away from school. “Okay. What do you want me to do?”
And that was the hundred-dollar question.
I stared at Harriet and Beezley, hoping for a bolt of inspiration, then heard a creak overhead. Tilting my ear towards the ceiling, I waited, listening for a further sound.
There it was! Another creak.
“Someone’s up in the attic,” I said, turning to Beezley. “Let’s go check it out.”
The rope had been replaced with a sturdy chain, and I pulled it down, hoping I wasn’t about to cause all our deaths. The others stepped back, graciously allowing me to stick my neck on the line first.
I mounted the ladder and crawled onto the floor of the attic, trying to stare in all directions at once. “Is someone there?”
No one answered but as I waited for my heartbeat to settle, the muffled sound of breathing reached me. Then a tiny whimper.
Understanding whoever waited in the dark might be more scared of me than I was of them, I shuffled forward slowly, hands up to protect my face. Something hit them and I gave a yelp before realising it was the chain for the light.
Although I gave it a hearty tug, the bulb only flicked on for a few seconds before popping. Darkness again.
“Hey, Beezley. You want to come up here and give me a hand?”
Marcus held him up and I lay on my stomach to grasp hold, setting the dog on the floor.
“Can you smell anyone else up here?”
“I can smell a million things,” he grumbled. “Guess the school cleaner doesn’t bother to come up here.”
He put his nose close to the wooden tiles, careful not to touch the dusty surface. With his loud snuffling, it was easy to follow along behind him, though I soon lost sight of him to the dark.
Beezley paused for a long time at one spot, then trotted eagerly into a corner, so fast I fell behind. “Found him!”
A boy screamed. “Please don’t bite me, mister. I’m sorry. Please don’t tell my mum and dad.”
“James?” I recognised his voice from the earlier home visit. “Thank goodness you had the good sense to hide up here. Can you please tell us what’s going on?"
Chapter Twenty-Two
We screeched to a halt outside the supermarket on Main Street, Beezley muttering about having to be left behind. Marcus jumped out of the driver’s seat and held out his hand for James to grab. The poor boy was still trembling, though with each secret confessed his face had grown more relaxed.
“Go around the back,” Marcus told me as though we hadn’t already agreed on the plan. I nodded and squeezed Harriet’s hand quickly as we fled down the narrow alleyway beside the store.
“I hope every child we’re targeting comes along as easily as James,” she whispered, her voice strained. “If one of them puts up a fight…”
She trailed off, but I knew exactly what she meant. It was one thing to overpower a fully-grown adult in defence of the community. Quite another to force a small child into submission.
“If we’ve judged this wrong, the entire coven is going to hate us.”
“Speak for yourself, sister. They already hate me.”
The small joke made her giggle, but it soon subsided as we opened the exit door at the back. From the notes James had shown us in the exercise books, a girl named Mandy Willison should be hiding somewhere near the meat aisle, preparing to make a lot of chicken carcasses dance.
“If vegans ever got hold of this spell, they’d be ecstatic,” Harriet said as we walked through the empty bakery section at the back of the store—the ovens having been turned off after the midday baking went on display. “Can you imagine people trying to select a nice steak and having it moo back at them?”
“Hey, I like steak. Let it loose on the seafood instead. There ain’t no way I’m picking up something with a hard shell and far too many legs.” I slowed down as we drew nearer the right section. “I don’t suppose you have a spying spell in your repertoire, do you?”
“As a matter of fact…” Harriet chanted a quick incantation under her breath and held her hand up to the nearest shelf. In the space above, I could now see straight through to the next aisle.
A young girl stood there, eyes flicking from side to side as she pretended to study a row of brightly coloured cereal boxes.
I pointed Harriet towards one end, signalling I’d take the other. We crept around the edges and once I could see
my friend’s face at the other end, I slipped into the row.
“Hey, can you help me?” I called out to Mandy. “My daughter told me to get a certain type of breakfast cereal, but I’ve forgotten the name. Is there one with fruity flavours?”
Mandy shook her head and backed away, straight into Harriet’s open arms. “Can you come with me, Miss?” she asked in a smarmy voice. “You shouldn’t be in here without your mummy.”
Although the girl appeared frightened, she followed along behind Harriet, a dutiful child. I caught up to the pair and saw Marcus and James waiting casually beside the entrance.
“I can’t leave,” Mandy said, abruptly changing direction. “There’s something I need to do.”
“It’s alright, Mandy. I told them everything,” James called out. Despite the reassuring tone, the girl began to tremble.
“What’s there to tell?” She hugged herself. “I’ve done nothing wrong.”
“And we’d like it to stay that way.” I stepped forward and held out my hand. “Come along with us and we’ll get you home. Whatever Miss Armitage told you to do, she shouldn’t have.”
“Am I in trouble?” Mandy’s lower lip wobbled.
“If you come with us now, you won’t be.”
With another concerned glance at James, Mandy gripped hold of my hand, squeezing it until the bones ground against each other. I walked out of the supermarket as fast as I could, eager to get her in the car.
“One down,” Marcus said as we dropped Mandy home to a concerned mother. “Where next, James?”
We rescued Nathan before he could cast a spell on the carousel in town, sending mechanical horses riding through the streets. We put a stop to Isobel’s attempt to turn the court building into a dollhouse, splitting it clean through the middle so everyone could stare at the scenes playing out inside.
“These spells require so much power,” Harriet whispered to me in the back seat.
“No wonder the network went down,” I agreed. “With these children drawing so much power from it. Even if the witches in town don’t continue to feed it their magic, there must be a mighty reservoir to call on.” It gave me shivers to think about. “Let’s keep focused on stopping these kids. We can sort out the rest later.”