“It’s certainly windy tonight,” Mom commented. Except I knew that sound wasn’t the wind, and that thought curdled my blood. Sookie gave me a start when I turned to go upstairs. She stood at the top of the stairs in her Valentine’s nightie.
“Cindy phoned,” she said, which is how Sookie sometimes referred to Lucinda because that’s what Lucinda had called herself when they first met. Sookie excitedly dragged me to her hamster nest of a room, away from Mom.
Sookie whispered in a conspiratorial voice, “Cindy warned me about the banshee,” as her eyes glowed with excitement. She never seemed to see past the adventure and understand the danger.
Buddy spun happily in his hamster wheel, oblivious to any peril. I figured you’ve sunk pretty low when a hamster’s life looked better than your own.
“Cindy says that salt water is bad for banshees.” Then Sookie began ticking her fingers off. “Silver is bad for banshees too. Rowan shoots are harmful to banshees. And some herbs … rue and … there was something else …” Sookie scratched her head and looked upset she couldn’t remember, but only for a second.
“I told Cindy I was very good with herbs. She seemed interested in that,” Sookie said proudly. My sister loved being involved in grown-up stuff, as well as magical stuff.
It was my turn to rub my head as it began to ache with worry.
“I know about a secret herb,” Sookie said slyly. “I watched when Bea wasn’t looking, and she slipped the plant into her secret garden that day we all helped her.”
“Oh yeah? What herb is that?” I asked, doubtful it would be any use to us.
“Wolfsbane. It’s also called Cupid’s Car. That’s funny, isn’t it? Because it’s Valentine’s.”
Hilarious, I thought. Soul-sucking banshees were a riot.
“I don’t have wolfsbane in my garden,” Sookie said with a frown. “But Bea does. I wondered why she was keeping it secret, so during reading time at school I asked the librarian to help me find out loads about it.” Sookie beamed proudly. “I’ve been doing a lot of my own computer research, just like you do, Cat. I know a lot more about plants now.”
“Bea wouldn’t grow something that was harmful to her,” I pointed out. “Unless … it was an important ingredient for something else,” I said.
“Like a potion for making you look younger.” Sookie smiled a secret smile.
I paid closer attention and started feeling sick. “Tell me what you know.”
“At first I thought Aunt – I mean, Bea – kept the flower hidden because it’s extremely poisonous, even if it touches skin. But now I’m thinking she keeps it because if she breathes the scent of the flowers under the moonlight, it can change her appearance.
“Huh?”
“Wolfsbane is a magical herb. When its tiny blue flowers bloom at night, the scent can make someone appear differently, even change into something else,” Sookie explained patiently.
I remembered how I’d never seen Bea except after dark. Also, the ghastly image I’d seen at Lea’s house had been in the window above the secret garden – as if she’d needed to breathe in the scent because the spell was fading.
“So those flowers could help someone ancient and evil look young and beautiful?” I gasped. The wolfsbane helped the banshee trick us about her appearance
Sookie, always one step ahead said, “Diabolical, huh Cat? But I know that if you pick wolfsbane while it blooms in the moonlight, the scent of the roots can harm a banshee. Or a werewolf or witch for that matter.”
Okay, now Sookie was just getting silly – witches and werewolves only existed in books and movies. Seriously, we had enough trouble around here with evil fairies.
Except I now knew I had to sneak into the last place I ever wanted to go – Bea’s garden – to cut some wolfsbane. I tried calling Jasper, but no one answered.
He wasn’t online either. I tried contacting him a few more times.
I didn’t want to go into that garden alone – if I could only reach Jasper.
I waited until Sookie fell asleep before I sneaked out of the house. Otherwise, she’d follow me and I couldn’t do what I had to and watch her at the same time. It was getting really late when I threw small rocks at Jasper’s window, but he didn’t wake up. I knew this time if Mom caught me outside there would be no mercy. But I didn’t have a choice.
I tried swallowing, but my throat felt dry as sandpaper. Tomorrow the dark moon would rise, so the waning moon was only a sliver of bone in a sky black as molasses. I told myself to stay calm, but as I slipped inside Bea’s garden, I realized how unnatural it seemed. Thick brown vines twisted in the pot and reached their thorny fingers toward me when I came near, as if they were living creatures from a nightmare. I would have been badly scratched if I hadn’t been wearing Sookie’s gardening gloves for protection against the poisonous wolfsbane. She’d said even touching it would burn my skin.
Tree branches tapped a spooky death march on top of the garden shed while the wind shrieked through the branches and cut through my jacket in icy stabs. Winding Lea’s scarf tighter around my neck, I crept to the tall hedge that surrounded Bea’s secret garden and circled trying to find a way in. Finally I found a small space at the bottom of the hedge where there was a gap in the fence and I could slip my head through. Where my head went, maybe the rest of me would fit.
I had to find a way to stop the banshee. Clive’s life might depend on it. Shoving into the leaves and branches, my head popped through below the gate, and my heart caught in my throat. Inside Bea’s secret garden were strange and mystical flowers that glowed in sickly phosphorescence under the night sky. Some plants looked like giant toadstools and I thought of Ms. Dreeble’s lectures on the animal kingdom and decided these were parasitic – they’d cause terrible harm to other plants. Some flowers seemed like little green Frankensteins, with creepy plant arms reaching straight up in the dark.
I wanted to crawl right back out, but instead I forced myself to scan the garden until I spotted the tiny blue flowers of the wolfsbane. Their overpowering perfume made me dizzy. I tried shoving myself further between the hedge and the gate, but I got stuck half way.
The door of Lea’s house banged open, and I could hear the thump of footsteps on the porch. I stopped squirming and froze.
“What’s out there?” commanded a chilling voice. “There better not be a cat in my garden!”
Sickened, my stomach twisted, and I was about to sink in fear when a voice whispered inside me. “She means a feline, not you.” Then I forced myself to exhale carefully and turn and push until I burst through the hedge and under the gate, where I was swallowed up inside the belly of the secret garden. My lungs ached and I realized I hadn’t even been breathing.
I gasped into my fist and lay still under the moonlight, but my heart pounded so loudly I was sure she could hear it.
“Here kitty,” came the menacing voice. “Come try this special catnip I made for you.” The voice came closer. I shuffled around and peeked through the hole in the hedge. Lea’s aunt was dressed in a grey nightgown, and her long hair swept over her head as if she’d put her hand on a friction ball.
Her eyes glowed red!
I had to get away because I suddenly knew even if I wasn’t the kitty she was looking for, it would still be the end of me. I didn’t want curiosity to kill this Cat. Frantically, I searched the hedge for any opening, and then I found a darker space between the thorns and a gap between the fence posts. The only problem was that space led right into the graveyard.
The gate to the garden clicked as Bea fiddled with the lock. Running, I grabbed a handful of wolfsbane with my gloved hand and tugged until it came out by the roots. A latch lifted. I kept running. As the gate creaked open, I dived toward the space in the hedge and crawled out headfirst into the graveyard, the dirt sticking to my chin and filling up my nose. My scarf caught on a branch.
I squirmed, but I was trapped.
The hedge shuddered and leaves twitched as Bea kept searching for the
cat. Surely she’d find me. A branch cracked just by my ear, and then I suddenly knew why I was so afraid of graveyards.
A small white hand reached from behind a gravestone and began tugging around my neck. I swallowed a scream, realizing a ghost had really come to take me away. Then my scarf became untangled, and I scrambled out from the hedge.
A blond head bobbed behind the gravestone, and I whispered in a wavering voice, “Sookie?”
“Quick,” whispered Sookie as she stepped around the gravestone. “Hand me the wolfsbane.” With Mom’s garden shears, she snipped a piece of root and began to mash it with her mortar and pestle. A sickly sweet smell arose that almost made me choke.
“What is that stench?” shrieked Lea’s aunt. “You horrible cat, I’ll get you!” Even though I knew she was speaking about the furry kind of cat, I shivered as if she meant me. Then as Bea became seized by a fit of sneezing, Sookie feverishly mashed away at the root until we could hear Bea leave the garden and slam the back door.
“Let’s get out of here,” my voice shook.
“Good thing cats have nine lives,” said Sookie, shaking her head.
I sure hoped so.
CHAPTER 21 - The Heart’s Deadly Beat
GROGGY AND HEADACHY, I sat at my desk in school the next morning as a slow tension built like a boiling witch’s cauldron that threatened to spill over. It wasn’t just me. During classes we snapped at each other as the girls led the boys around like puppies on a leash, and I couldn’t focus my mind on anything except the dance and trying to stop the banshee.
Even though my friends didn’t know about the banshee, at lunchtime worry creased their faces and haunted their eyes. Mia’s eyelids drooped in exhaustion. “Why did I ever think having the boy of my dreams completely devoted to me would be fun?” She handed Mitch a sandwich and told him to bite and chew.
“This was so wrong,” Amarjeet’s voice clouded with regret, “to control someone like this.” She steered Rabinder away from the stairs before he tumbled down. “Are you sure we should bring these guys to the dance, Cat? Shouldn’t we get them to a doctor?”
“I’m sure. The charm can be dissolved under a dark moon.” At least that’s what Lea had told me. Lea hadn’t shown up at school. I hoped she was okay. I couldn’t forget the fear in her eyes that night in Sookie’s room.
“Make sure the guys are there,” I repeated. I wanted to keep all the guys together inside the gym in case the banshee went out hunting on Valentine’s night. There were too many coincidences between Lucinda’s dance and ours, and we’d be safer in numbers.”
Then I searched for Jasper in the library. “I’ve got all the ingredients for stopping the banshee,” I updated him. “Where were you last night anyway?”
Jasper closed the book he’d been reading, looked up, and said, “I wonder what will happen to Lea after we stop her aunt?”
“She’ll be safe,” I said. “That’s the main thing.”
Jasper and I agreed to meet early at the dance just in case there was any sign of trouble.
*
After dinner that night, I stood in front of my bedroom mirror. Mom had pinned my hair in an up-do. I stared at my new dress. It was everything I hoped it would be. The hot pink color made my dark hair shine and it toned down the green. The spaghetti straps and tulip skirt made me look older and more sophisticated. Lea’s scarf draped around my shoulders and hung down the back, and I couldn’t help think this was the coolest outfit I’d ever seen.
But none of it mattered anymore. And it was stupid to even wear a dress to the dance – I was setting out to stop a banshee – but Mom could never know this. The way magic worked around here, she’d never believe it or understand it. So I had to play along that this dance was going to be fun.
“You look beautiful,” Mom said as she came into my room and hugged me. “You worked hard for this dress. Oh Cat, I’m sorry you can’t have a lot of wonderful things to wear like your new friend.”
“I don’t mind, Mom, really.” And I totally meant it – there was nothing like constant danger to make you realize how nice clothes were low on life’s priority list. Mom didn’t even mention the outfit she’d been making for me.
“Wow,” Sookie said as she waltzed in looking at my dress. “When can I be big enough to wear that dress?”
“Not for a long time, missy,” said Mom, and she hugged Sookie too. “Stop trying to grow up so fast.”
Mom didn’t know the half of it.
I was grateful Sookie would be safe at home while Jasper and I tried to stop the banshee. I put on my coat and grabbed my heavy backpack.
Saying goodbye to my family, I swallowed my heart and left for the dance. The sky darkened as Jasper and I walked to the high school.
“The moon should rise soon,” I said hopefully. “And all this will be over. We just have to be there for Clive.” I stopped and reached in my backpack pulling out a plastic baggie. “I’ve got rowan shoots and wolfsbane.”
Jasper nodded. He seemed to be in another world. This was strange as he usually was full of advice. When we approached the school and he still hadn’t said anything, I asked, “Is something wrong?”
“I can’t help but worry about Lea,” Jasper said as he clutched the poetry book she’d given him. “What kind of life has she had living with an evil aunt?”
When my dad left and we had to move, I’d thought there couldn’t be anything worse. But Lea had it really bad, and I didn’t know what would happen to her after we used the herbs to stop her aunt.
“I guess we just have to be there for her,” I offered as we entered the school and headed for the gym.
Jasper nodded.
Darkmont’s drab grey gym had been transformed into an enchanting palace. Old-fashioned Valentine foil hearts covered the walls and crepe streamers twisted into lace chandeliers. The Japanese lanterns glowed and swung in streams of pink and red light. As I stared up at the decorations all lit up, I couldn’t shrug off the eerie sensation I’d walked into another time. After I took off my coat and smoothed out the wrinkles in my dress, a surprised voice called from the stage.
“Wow, Cat. You look a lot nicer than you usually do.” The mixed compliment – of course – came from Clive, who had already set up for the band. You have to save him even if he is a jerk, I reminded myself.
Skeeter waited at the front of the stage with his drum and drumstick. I’d never seen him be so still. Briefly, I wondered why Sookie hadn’t complained about how he got to be here and she didn’t. As I looked around, kids began streaming into the gym. All the girls in the soccer team couldn’t wait to get rid of their zombie dance partners.
Mr. Morrows and Ms. Dreeble arrived together as the dance chaperones. “You may want to unbutton your jacket, Deb,” advised Mr. Morrows.
I don’t know why, but it surprised me that Ms. Dreeble had a first name. Her fingers clumsily reached for the buttons and when she finally managed to take her coat off, I noticed a pajama sleeve fall down below her dress cuff. Her slip hung just below her dress and beneath that was a rolled-up pajama leg. My mouth fell open as I stared.
“I think … Ms. Dreeble is feeling rather unwell,” Mr. Morrows explained. Stupid zombie ingredients, I thought for about the hundredth time. Ms. Dreeble was the smartest person I’d ever met, and now she dressed herself as if she was a three-year-old.
Clive strummed his guitar and the two other guitarists matched his notes. The music began. Everyone began to shuffle around on the dance floor in the most pathetic dance I’d ever seen. Disgust flashed across Clive’s face, and I heard him mutter again how this was a waste of his talent.
Then Skeeter began to play his drum. Bong, bong, baruuum – each bang seemed to echo my own heart’s beat and fill me with rhythm as if I was hollow and had never understood music before. As Skeeter set the pace, the dancers began swaying and then fell into step under the glowing lights of the lanterns. And then they danced faster. And faster!
The boys and Ms. Dreeble snappe
d out of their zombie shuffle and began spinning their dance partners across the gleaming wood floor. My own arms longed to grab a partner, and my legs twitched to dance to the beat. Every single kid at the dance was being pulled onto the floor by a boy wearing the love charm. Soon everyone was spinning and jumping as the dancing built to a frenzied pace. Zach danced between five girls and threw Amanda in the air as he quickly turned to spin the next partner.
Then he’d turn back and catch Amanda before she landed
– most of the time. Ms. Dreeble caught Mr. Morrows in a firm embrace and dipped him low to the floor as they began a tango.
Boom – boom, Skeeter banged his drum and the other band members kept the rhythm with their guitars. Clive’s mouth opened in surprise, but he kept strumming madly. It seemed he couldn’t resist if he wanted. Mitch and Rabinder tried to pull me onto the floor, but I dodged them and ran onto the stage and hid behind the curtain.
An alarm bell began clanging in my brain. I’d seen fairy dancing once before – and just like now, it wasn’t pretty.
The gym door suddenly burst open to the outside, and people from the town filed inside as their legs dragged in a slide-step formation. Mr. Keating had Esmeralda firmly in tow as he launched the two of them onto the dance floor. Mia’s mom dragged in Mia’s father as they began tangoing like Mr. Morrows and Ms. Dreeble. Was that our vice-principal, Ms. Severn? She was dancing on the floor, spinning a surprised man into an amazing pirouette. Soon the gym was packed with people and the smell of Sookie’s love charms of licorice, lavender, and dead stuff from the graveyard dirt. The smell became cloying and made my own head spin.
Wear the scarf, Cat, promise me, Lea had said. I tied the pink scarf over my mouth and nose and could immediately breathe easier. My head cleared just in time for a horrible thought. I watched the people on the dance floor dance with more speed and strength than the human heart could bear. Lea had said the charms would wear off when the dark moon rose.
Would anyone last that long though?
Sweat poured from Ms. Dreeble and Mr. Morrows as they rocked in a deadly rhythm. Already kids were collapsing, only to jump back up, their faces white with exhaustion as they kicked higher and danced faster than any human could. Skeeter’s face turned scarlet from his effort of pounding the drum. I looked around Skeeter’s neck and he also wore a charm. Trust him to buy one from Sookie so he wouldn’t be left out.
Grim Hill: The Forgotten Secret (Grim Hill Series) Page 12