CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
SIMON, I’M SCARED! This weird old lady’s staring at me. She must be one of them!
Lucy? Silently, I berated myself. These last few minutes I’d closed off communication with my sister and Lucinda.
She’s coming closer! Where are you?
Raymond was coming closer. Does she have white hair?
Yes. She looks like a witch!
She’s our great-aunt Lucinda. Go with her. Do as she says.
Are you sure?
Absolutely.
Too late, I remembered Lucinda’s intention of coming to the meeting. I was about to tell Lucy not to enter Town Hall when my uncle grabbed me roughly by the shoulder. Craig’s life force had made him fit and strong.
“Show time,” Raymond said, laughing as though he’d said something amusing. He shoved me toward the stairs.
“Go on up and no funny business.”
I had no choice but to obey. I climbed the stairs and pushed open the door that might have led to my freedom, then realized my escape plan would never have worked. My uncle’s two goons stood facing one another, their faces devoid of all expression. Raymond whispered to the leader and they went down to the basement.
I gasped at the horrific scene before me. The thirty or so townspeople who had come to the meeting lay sprawled on the ground or slumped in chairs. They appeared to be unconscious or dead. A long table set along a side wall held an array of refreshments—cakes, cookies, pastries, iced tea, iced coffee, and pitchers of soda and lemonade.
I glared at my uncle. “What did you do, poison them?”
“Certainly not.” Raymond laughed. “They’re merely sedated. Resting before they help make our transformation a reality.”
I recognized many of the people who had been caught in my uncle’s trap. I stepped over them to get to Andy and his dad. Where is Pol?
“Andy, wake up!” I shook his shoulder, but he didn’t as much as open an eye.
Raymond yanked me to my feet. “Don’t waste any more of my time. I promise you, your friend won’t suffer.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “You’d kill all these people for an experiment?”
He frowned. “The transformation will work, Gregory, as you’ll learn in a matter of minutes. Now be a good lad and sit quietly while I get everything ready for the big moment.”
He escorted me to the small room across the hall and tied me to a chair. He left the door open so he could keep an eye on me as he went about his gruesome business. The two goons came up the basement stairs carrying Craig’s body, which they’d covered with a blanket. Raymond gave them instructions and they left the building through a rear door. I wondered if they’d be coming back inside or standing guard outside.
Where was Lucinda? Surely she wouldn’t bring Lucy into this hell hole. Where was Chuck? Sergeant Baker? I hadn’t seen them or Pol among the unconscious bodies. She must have taken my advice and decided not to attend the meeting. But Andy and his father were going to die.
Simon, where are you? I have Lucy.
Lucinda! I all but shouted her name aloud. I’m still in Town Hall. Everyone here is unconscious. I think Raymond put something in the food to knock them out. He’s about to start the transformation.
Is he alone?
I think so. He killed Craig and took his life force, so he’s strong. And he has two men. They carried Craig’s body out back.
Yes, I see them. They’re loading it onto a pickup truck. Now listen to me, Simon, and do what I say if you want to get out of there alive.
But Lucy—
Don’t worry about Lucy. She’s a good girl and she’ll help.
No! Leave Lucy out of this!
Can you see what Raymond’s up to?
Kind of. He’s tied me to a chair, but I think I can work myself free.
Good! Your job is to tell me exactly what he’s doing. She gave a snort. I won’t be able to answer since I’ll be busy putting his gorillas out of commission.
You can do that? I asked, amazed.
I’m a Davenport, aren’t I? Quick, tell me what he’s doing.
Still tied to the chair, I edged to the doorway and peered across the hall into the meeting hall. He’s going from person to person with that plastic tube–like thing.
Get yourself loose and stop him! Break his concentration! Disrupt him any way you can. I’ll be with you as soon I’m done.
What about Lucy? I asked, but Lucinda didn’t answer.
I tugged at the cord that bound my hands, then decided I’d have better luck if I worked at loosening the knots with my fingers. The cord was thick and not that difficult to undo. Once my hands were free, I untied my feet and dashed across to the meeting hall to where Raymond was crouched on the floor beside Andy.
“No!” I shouted as my uncle placed the plastic cylinder in my friend’s mouth.
“Keep away, Gregory!” Raymond ordered, not pausing in his monstrous work.
I rushed at him and knocked the cylinder from his hand. Raymond cursed. He tried to hit me, but I’d already rolled out of reach and was shaking Mr. Coltrane’s shoulder.
“Get up, Mr. C.! You have to wake up!”
Mr. Coltrane stirred and turned on his side. I was starting to feel we had a chance to make things right. Maybe Lucinda and I could save everyone after all.
I slapped Andy’s cheeks. “Wake up, dude!” Andy was such a glutton he must have eaten like a pig and ingested a large dose of the sedative. He lay as still as a corpse. Frantic, I slapped him harder.
“Ouch!” I yelped. I stared up at Raymond, who had just walloped the side of my head. Catching me off guard, he twisted my arm behind my back. I was furious at myself for letting him get the drop on me.
“Save your heroics! They’re all goners.” Raymond shouted, his face contorted with rage. “Now keep out of my way. I must get them ready. The transformation depends on harvesting the life force of them all within thirty minutes.”
“There won’t be any transformation!” I said through the pain spreading to my shoulder.
“Don’t be stupid! I’ll be inhabiting your body and your mind in less than an hour!”
Never releasing his brutal grip, Raymond yanked me to my feet and pushed me forward. We had to step over unconscious bodies. “Back you go while I finish my work! This time I’ll tie those knots tighter.”
I had to stall for time. I pretended to trip and fell to my knees, which earned me another painful arm jerk. Don’t try to fight him. Be wily. Outwit him.
I forced myself to speak calmly. “You’re going to break my arm. I don’t think you want to do that.”
My uncle released his grip. “Of course I don’t.” With surprising gentleness, he turned me around so that we faced one another. The smile he gave me was warm. Loving. “Ah Gregory, if only you’d cooperate, this would be a wonderful bonding experience for us both.”
Not for me, it wouldn’t! As we walked across the hall, I marveled at my stupidity. For a kid who aced all his tests, I’d been awfully slow not to have picked up the obvious: Raymond was bonkers. A madman.
Crazy calls for acting crazy. “Uncle Raymond?” I said, making my voice waver.
“Hmm?” He sat me down in the chair and reached for the rope.
“Will it hurt?”
Raymond’s smile was gentle, but his eyes were burning coals. My stomach lurched. “I imagine you’ll feel something of a shock. Then nothing.”
“Will I still be conscious of things?”
I tried not to flinch when he patted my shoulder. “Perhaps. But don’t worry. I’ll take good care of you.”
I stiffened my arms to keep from pushing him away. “I won’t fight you any more. I’ll sit here quietly while you do what you have to.”
“Good, Gregory.” He dropped the rope, but this time he closed the door behind him.
I called to Lucinda, but she didn’t answer. Should I return to the hall and surprise Raymond? Bad idea. I couldn’t possibly wake up everyone by
myself. He’d only tie me up and I’d be a sitting guinea pig with no chance of escaping his transformation.
Lucinda! I tried again, louder this time.
Did it! she announced, clearly pleased with herself. Those two are down for the count, and I don’t see any more of them in the area. Are you all right?
For the moment. Raymond’s gone back to preparing those poor people for their part in the Great Transformation.
So he thinks. Lucy and I are coming in. You, me, and Lucy are going to create a force field around Raymond and sap him of his power.
A force field? My anxiety rose to a new level. I’ve never done anything like that before. And Lucy—
Your sister’s quite a girl, Lucinda said proudly. A real Davenport. She’s as strong as you are. If a nine-year-old can help save a bunch of strangers from death and her brother from a transformation, then you can do your part without squawking.
She’d managed to shut me up. All right. What do I do?
The way Lucinda explained it, it was like hooking up a three-way conference call. I was to concentrate on exerting my energy to form a force field with Lucy and Lucinda, which would deplete Raymond of his powers and newly acquired strength. Lucinda deflected every question I came up with, insisting I wasn’t to worry. She would direct the force field.
I felt like I was about to take a final exam weeks before the scheduled date. But Lucinda, what if he turns that force back on us?
It’s now or never, Simon. Keep in mind that we are three and he is one. Here we come!
I opened the door and crossed the hall. Raymond was moving feverishly from one prone body to another. I swallowed a lump of fear when I saw he’d inserted a plastic tube into each of their mouths. He’d placed an enormous mirror against the table holding the tainted food and drink. What role did a mirror play in his plan?
Raymond mumbled to himself as he worked. He didn’t appear to have heard me circle around to his right. But he looked up when Lucinda and Lucy walked through the front door.
“Damn you, Lucinda! I might have known you’d interfere with my project.” Raymond stepped toward Lucy, his arm outstretched. The smile plastered on his face was more gruesome than a fright mask. “But thanks for delivering Lucy. Your timing’s perfect.”
Lucinda’s eyes glittered as she glared at her nephew. “You won’t harm this child or anyone else!”
I ran at Raymond, knocking him down with a head butt. “Don’t you touch her, you monster!”
Raymond got to his feet and continued walking toward Lucy. I lowered my head to tackle him again, but Lucinda silently instructed me to stand where I was. You must remain calm for the force field to work. We begin now!
A surge of power nearly knocked me off my feet as Lucy and Lucinda’s energy joined mine.
Visualize a wall of fire surrounding Raymond, Lucinda instructed.
I did as instructed and gasped as a ring of red fire encircled my uncle.
We are three and he is one, we silently chanted. The fire turned blue, then to pure violet energy.
Raymond froze. He stared at Lucinda in shock.
She laughed. Your uncle didn’t know the extent of my power, she silently told Lucy and me. Get ready for when he retaliates.
I’m scared, Lucy mumbled. Her face crumpled, a sure sign she was about to cry.
We’ll beat him, Lucy, Lucinda said. But we must stay connected. Focus on the force field.
I bent over double when a powerful gale wind twisted like a tornado inside my head, set on breaking my connection with Lucy and Lucinda. I felt Lucy letting go.
“Lucy!” I cried.
She fell to the ground, hugging herself.
“Lucy, get up and join your brother and me,” Lucinda instructed. “Your uncle can’t harm us. We are three and he is one. Say it!”
Lucy sniffed.
“Say it!” Lucinda ordered. “We are three and he is one.”
“We are three and he is one!” We repeated it again and again. I watched Raymond lower his head and fold in on himself as if he were bowing to our combined force.
But he was only gathering strength. This time, his retaliation was powerful enough to break our connections with one another. We stumbled backward. A massive electrical shock knocked me to the ground. I felt ill when I caught a glimpse of what was running through Raymond’s mind: killing Lucinda, draining Lucy’s life force, and transforming himself into my body.
“He’s stronger than you thought,” I told Lucinda.
“He imbibed some of the life force of these people as he was preparing them for his transformation.”
“What should we do? He’s coming toward Lucy.”
“We do it again. This time imagine the wall of fire seven feet tall. Taller than Raymond. Ready, Lucy?”
Lucy shook her head. “I can’t.”
I concentrated on visualizing a wall of fire. It was high but didn’t blaze nearly as well as the one the three of us had created. We managed to subdue Raymond until he gathered up enough strength to fight back. We’d reached an impasse.
How much longer could we hold him? Lucinda was tiring. Despite her powers, she was an old woman, and she’d already subdued those two thugs outside.
Lucy was crying softly. “Come on, Luce,” I begged. “You have to help us.”
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. We need you. Your force will make the difference.”
Lucy shook her head.
I grew desperate. “Awful things will happen if you don’t help us now. We’ll never be together again.”
“Lucy, come to me, my little angel,” Raymond coaxed, crooking a finger to my sister.
“He’s a murderer, Lucy! He killed our parents!”
Lucy gave a start as if she were awakening from a dream. I stared in amazement at the current of air swirling around her. Oh no! Was this another of Raymond’s tricks?
I relaxed when I saw the huge grin on Lucinda’s face. “Good girl! I knew you had it in you.”
The whirlwind spun faster and faster. Lucy stretched out her arms. An awesome surge of energy coursed through us when we joined hands. I’d never imagined my little sister was this powerful.
“We are three and he is one!” we chanted as our force field, now a brilliant white, encircled Raymond. He turned one way, then another, but found no escape.
He opened his mouth and gasped for air. A strangled cry rose from his throat.
“The life force he’s taken in is backfiring. He’s choking,” Lucinda explained.
“Will he die?” I asked, though I already knew the answer.
The air became still. We stared at the body lying on the ground.
I ran to Lucy and held her in a fierce hug. “We did it, Gretel! We defeated the witch!”
“Only this witch was a man.”
Lucinda tapped me on the shoulder. “We have to wake everyone up. Make sure they’re all right.”
“Of course.” I paused, thinking I’d heard a siren. “Did someone call the police?”
Lucinda grinned. “I believe your friend Pol did. I told her to give us twenty minutes, then to call Sergeant Baker.”
EPILOGUE
THE FIRST SATURDAY in November Lucy, Aunt Mary, Lucinda, and I sat around Aunt Mary’s kitchen table—the only piece of furniture she’d brought from her old house—to discuss our first Thanksgiving in our new home.
“I don’t want to invite Aunt Grace,” I said. “She wasn’t very nice to me.”
Aunt Mary gave me one of her adoring but exasperated looks. “Try to be more forgiving. Grace acted out of concern for Lucy. She didn’t want your uncle to find out where they were living.”
“And when you disobeyed her and visited Lucy, her worst fears came true,” Aunt Lucinda chimed in.
“I don’t need the two of you ganging up on me,” I said.
“Aunt Grace was mostly nice,” Lucy said. “And I know she loves you, Simon.”
“She has some way of showing it,” I grumbled.
>
Aunt Mary held up her pen. “Shall we invite Grace or not?”
I shrugged. “Whatever. With three against one, what does it matter what I want?”
Lucinda winked. “Of course your wishes matter. You’re the only male in our family. But when it comes to a vote, adults have more clout.”
Is that what we are? A family? As though to answer my question, Lucy crept into Aunt Mary’s lap and shifted about until she was comfortable. Aunt Mary kissed the top of her head. Interesting how Lucy and Aunt Mary had taken to one another.
“Oh, all right,” I said. “She can come.”
“Grace is a yes,” Aunt Mary said, writing in her notepad.
“I thought we’d invite my former neighbor, Martha Barrister,” Lucinda said. “She took good care of me after Craig put me in the hospital.”
I cleared my throat. “Pol and Andy will be having dinner with their family, but I asked them to stop by for dessert.”
Lucy giggled. “We’d better buy three extra pies for Andy.”
“I’ll bake brownies,” Lucinda said. “Andy loves my brownies.”
“And your apple crumb cake, please, Aunt Lucinda,” Lucy said
I withdrew into myself and let their conversation drift over me like a breeze. I didn’t know why I’d made such a fuss about inviting Aunt Grace to Thanksgiving dinner. I really didn’t care if she came or not. Besides, she was probably in Europe.
I was glad Lucy and I had a home at last, with the two adults I loved the most in the world. But ever since things had settled down, I felt trapped most of the time. My aunts had come up with a bunch of rules and regulations I was supposed to follow. Which was a laugh after all I’d gone through.
I never knew when my mind would flash back to that horrific scene in Town Hall. Lucinda and I had been able to save everyone except an elderly man. For everyone’s sake, Raymond’s and Craig’s deaths were recorded as heart attacks, though the police knew my uncle had killed Craig and had drugged the refreshments. I only told Pol, Andy, and Chuck the entire story, though I imagined it would eventually get out to more people.
I didn’t care if it did or not. Raymond and Craig were dead and the two goons were in jail on kidnapping charges. Now if only I could relax and get on with my life.
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