by Lori Woods
We gather up as many of the golden flowers as we can, and then hop on Broom Hilda. The next day, I’m going to be sure to show the headmaster what we’ve found.
CHAPTER 9
“M alcolm!” I exclaim as Alfie sits at the table looking at Malcolm, who is sitting under the table with his head sticking through it. “You should have seen the headmaster’s face when I gave him a single Golden Edelweiss. He turned as pale as one of those ghouls in Bellow Moor. I actually thought he was going to faint.”
“And then I showed him my axe and told him how I fought off the stone giants long enough for Suzy and Snowball to get on Broom Hilda. I hope he tells Jill how brave I am.” Alfie says.
“Liar, liar, pants on fire!” Snowball says as she pauses licking her favorite paw to glance up at Alfie.
“Yeah, and what did you do?”
“I was very brave. I let them pet me.”
“You both were very brave. Weren’t they, Malcolm?”
“What is brave is staying in the kitchen while you heat up the cauldron. You and the witch’s pot don’t seem to mix very well,” Malcolm says. “Are you sure you’re even a witch?”
“Oh, should I try the spell your wife asked me to cast over you so you are mute? Would that prove I’m a witch, Malcolm?” I ask, slightly irritated.
“She’s not my wife. You might be a witch, but your memory is rather short,” he replies.
“What are you brewing in the cauldron?” Alfie asks, glancing over at the fireplace where my black cauldron is hanging on a hook over a blazing wood fire.
“I’m trying to create my own spell. I’m just adding ingredients as they pop into my head,” I say. I suddenly notice the shocked look on Alfie and Malcolm’s face. “Well, it does sound like an unusual way to brew a spell,” I add.
Snowball stops licking her paw and walks toward the door.
“And where are you going?” I ask.
“Under the bed, of course. I’ve seen black smoke and a big bird pop out of your cauldron. I’ll sit this one out!”
“Ah, I think I’ll go to the pie shop,” Alfie says. “We’re almost out of duck berry pies.” He pushes away from the table.
I glance at Malcolm.
“Oh, I’m staying to watch the fun. I think you’ll make a great ghost, Suzy!”
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry but somehow, I end up laughing.
“Atta girl. Meet the end with a smile!”
Now I am laughing so hard I’m crying.
Malcolm reaches out to pat me on the back and his hand passes completely through me. I’m suddenly down on the floor laughing.
“Boo!” Malcolm shouts in his best scary voice.
Which of course just makes me laugh more.
“Okay, I’m out of here!” Malcolm says, seemingly angry that I am laughing at his ‘Boo’!”
Now alone, I reach for the edelweiss and toss one of the whole plants into the boiling cauldron. When white smoke bellows from the black pot, I’m ready to take flight if anything threatening emerges. However, when the cauldron settles down to a rolling boil again, I relax.
As I sit at the table, waiting for the edelweiss to cook a little, my thoughts turn to Bellow Moor. Why would anyone go there? It’s far too dangerous a place to venture without a driving reason. The ghoul that attacked me in the library must have come from the moor. Why would they seek me out in Hemlock? Was it just a fluke? Did a ghoul kill Polly? If so, why? And why did the headmaster want the golden Edelweiss?
Since I don’t have the answers to my questions, I decide to test the concoction brewing in the cauldron. How do I test it?
“Drink a cup of it, silly,” I tell myself. I glance at the sink. All my teacups are dirty. Gee, I need a cleaning spell like Granny Maycomber put on her cottage, I think as I rinse one of the cups out and bring it over. I look at the amber-colored liquid. Do I really want to do this? I mentally go over the list of ingredients I put in the cauldron. Although some might not taste good, none would do me harm. With that thought in mind, I dip a cup of the boiling liquid out of the pot and walk back to the table.
I sit, looking at the amber liquid as I try to summon the courage to drink it. Finally, I lift the cup and sniff. Smells like vanilla! That encourages me to take a sip. Not bad! I take a big swallow and then glance down at my hands. They haven’t turned green or suddenly developed warts, so I feel safe to drink the rest of the cup.
After I finish, I sit at the table waiting for something to happen. Nothing! You mean we went to Thunder Mountain and faced the stone giants for the edelweiss, and it turns out to be a dud? Then why is it so special?
Hearing Alfie entering the kitchen, I turn to see him carrying a large duck berry pie in his hand.
“Suzy! Are you home?” he calls out.
What kind of joke is the little guy trying to play on me? He can see that I’m sitting at the table.
“Suzy! I got a big fresh-baked duck berry pie! Snowball! I also got unicorn milk,” he adds as he places the duck berry pie on the table. He gets a saucer and puts it on the floor and pours some unicorn milk into it.
“Did you say unicorn milk?” Snowball asks, walking into the kitchen.
Both are ignoring me. I am amused by their little game and decide to let it play a while longer as Alfie puts a plate on the table and cuts himself a big slice of duck berry pie. I am enjoying their little game until I get a whiff of the fresh-baked pie.
Okay, enough is enough.
“Alfie, how about a slice for me?” I say in a loud voice that they can’t ignore.
“Aiiiieeee!” Alfie screams and pushes away from the table so hard, his chair falls backward.
I see Snowball sprinting for the bedroom. “She’s a ghost. Suzy is a ghost!”
“I am no such thing!” I yell. “Stop with your silly game. I want some duck berry pie.”
“Malcolm! Malcolm! Come quick! Suzy is a ghost!” Alfie shouts as he scrambles to his feet and backs toward the kitchen door.
Poof! Malcolm appears out of the far wall of the kitchen. “What’s all the fuss about?”
“It’s Suzy! She’s a ghost!” Alfie says.
“I don’t see anything! If she were a ghost, I would see her. What kind of game are the two of you trying to play on an old man?”
“Malcolm! I’m right here at the table,” I say.
Malcolm screams.
Poof! He’s gone.
“You guys can stop playing your silly game. I’m sitting here at the table. Alfie, if you aren’t going to eat your duck berry pie I will,” I say as I reach over and pull the plate over to my side of the table and fill Alfie’s fork with some pie.
“You are invisible! Suzy, you are invisible!” Alfie shouts. “Did you conjure up a new spell?” he asks in awe.
“No, I just drank a cup of the brew from the cauldron.”
I glance down at my hand!
I scream! All I see is a fork full of duck berry pie suspended in midair!
They aren’t playing a game. I’m invisible!
I rush to the bathroom, stepping over Snowball, on the way. I glance in the bathroom mirror and scream again!
I have no reflection!
“She’s invisible! Suzy is invisible!” Alfie calls out from the bathroom door.
“The edelweiss. It made me invisible!” I shout. “Wow, I’m invisible!”
“You are not a ghost?” Snowball asks, peeking into the bathroom.
“No, I’m not a ghost. I’m still here in the flesh, but you can’t see me.”
“Spooky!”
“Did someone call me?” Malcolm asks, sticking his head through the bathroom wall.
“I didn’t hear anyone say senile. Did you, Snowball?” Alfie asks.
“BOO!” Malcolm says as he rushes toward Alfie. Malcolm passes through Alfie, who screams and runs out of the bathroom.
“Spooky, not senile!” Malcolm shouts after Alfie.
“Malcolm!” I say sternly. “Go and apologize to Alfie.”<
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“I wonder how long my invisibility will last,” I say out loud. “Maybe I should go to school while I’m like this and snoop around.”
“Malcolm, look after Alfie and Snowball. I’ll be out a while,” I call over my shoulder as I head for the front door. As I walk down the stairs, I quickly learn a lesson. It’s not all fun being invisible. Mrs. Simpson is heading to her second-floor apartment, so I keep to the right and walk as quietly as I can, but she veers to my side of the stairs at the last possible moment. We collide.
“What!” she shouts as she bumps into me. “Malcolm, if you are playing some kind of trick on me, I swear I’ll call Ghost Busters and have the house fumigated!”
I have to put my hand over my mouth to stop laughing as I hurry down the stairs. Once outside, I bend double, laughing until a witch and warlock pass me and start glancing around in confusion.
After the encounter with Mrs. Simpson, I am more careful when I see someone walking toward me. And I find just how difficult it is being invisible when I enter the Academy just as classes are changing.
I am bumped right and left by witches and warlocks as they rush through the halls to their next class. And even though I am jostled from several directions, the students don’t seem to notice. I am so stressed trying to avoid collisions that I take refuge in a broom closet to wait out the thundering herd.
Gee, I figured being invisible was going to be fun! I think as I wait for the hall to empty.
“Why did he kill that silly girl?” a male voice says.
I freeze as I hear the voice from the hallway.
“She knew the truth about him,” a female voice answers.
“No, she didn’t. He just panicked! Now that white witch is nosing around and getting closer and closer to the truth,” a male voice replies.
Oh no, I’m going to sneeze! I think as my nose begins to itch.
“He’ll stop her!” the female voice says with confidence.
“So far, all his efforts have failed,” the male voice says sneeringly
“But he is very resourceful! Never underestimate him. And she hardly knows any spells,” the female voice adds.
“Acheeeew!” The sneeze sounds like a small explosion in the tight confines of the broom closet.
I hear footsteps hurrying away. I try to open the door, but it’s stuck. “Rats!” I say. Suddenly the door gives. It opens and I fall into the hall.
“What!” exclaims someone walking past.
I look up and have to roll out of the way to keep Matt from stepping on me.
“I thought that ghost has to stay in the basement!” he says under his breath as he hurries away.
Was he the male voice? I think. I can’t tell as the voices were too muffled to identify. I glance up and down the hall, but he’s the only person I see. At the last moment, I decide to follow Matt. I quickly realize he’s going to Ima Brewer’s class.
Tomorrow I start classes again, I think, as I walk to Ima’s classroom. Matt makes it easy for me by leaving the door open.
“You’re late, Matt!” Ima says.
“Sorry, Ms. Brewer. I was talking and didn’t realize the time.”
“That’s a poor excuse. Take your seat,” Ima says gruffly.
Bad hair day for her too, I think as I follow Matt to his seat and stand beside him.
“Matt, I know your secret!” the girl next to him says. I’ve seen her, but can’t put a name to her face.
“You don’t know anything, Jessie,” Matt says sarcastically.
“I know that Polly wrote your essay on the history of brewed spells. If I tell Ima, you’ll be expelled.”
The way Matt’s face suddenly turns pale, I realize what Jessie says is true.
“Did Polly threaten to tell on you? Is that why you strangled her in the basement?”
“You are so silly. She was my friend. I wouldn’t have hurt her,” Matt says lamely.
Jessie shakes her head. “You’re lying. I saw you going into the janitor’s storage room the day she was killed.”
“I didn’t do it. She was my friend. She was going to give me some information that I could use to keep from getting expelled because of failing my magic wand class.”
I am so intent on listening to Matt and Jesse’s conversation that I don’t see Ima barreling down the aisle toward the two students. Ima bumps into me, sending me falling forward. I reach out to catch myself and instead topple over an empty chair.
“Who’s there? What spell is this! Who dares to use a cloaking spell in my class?” Ima yells angrily.
I am on my feet and hurrying toward the door as she searches the room for me.
Suddenly, she’s chanting a spell. “Light and dark be the same but I will see you all the same.”
I reach the door and step out into the hall.
“Show the one forever that hides their name!”
I feel a change sweep over me. I glance down and can see myself. Instead of hurrying down the hall, I step back into the classroom.
“Sorry I’m late, Ms. Brewer.”
“Did you see someone leaving the room?” she demands.
“No, but something bumped into me. That was really strange because I didn’t see anything,” I say in the most sincere voice I can call forth in my moment of apprehension.
“Take your seat. I thought I had seen the last of you,” she says.
“Yeah, sorry, I’m like a bad penny. I keep showing up,” I mumble under my breath as I head for my usual seat. Hmm, being invisible was fun while it lasted. I instinctively know that because of Ima’s revealing spell, drinking the edelweiss brew will not turn me invisible again.
CHAPTER 10
Snowball and I wait for Alfie to get out of school for lunch. At last, he appears at the door at the top of the steps, and looks upset.
“What is it, Alfie?” I ask as he comes down the steps.
He shakes his head.
“Obviously, something happened,” I say.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” He reaches the bottom of the stairs and comes over to us.
“Come on, Alfie. Maybe I can help.”
“Nobody can help.”
“Tell you what. Let me get Snowball a saucer of unicorn milk at the duck berry shop and then the two of us can go to the park where no one will bother us, and we can talk without being overheard.”
Alfie’s shoulders sag and his head is bent. “If you want to.”
“Snowball,” I say as we reach the duck berry shop. “Do you mind staying behind and drinking your unicorn milk while Alfie and I go to the park?”
“Lover’s quarrel! Glad there’s no Tom cats in my life,” Snowball says as I place the saucer of unicorn milk beside one of the tables.
“Alfie, hop on Broom Hilda,” I say. “Snowball, we’ll be back in a jiffy,” I call out as my broomstick become airborne.
Several dwarfs in front of the school stop to wave at Alfie when Broom Hilda flies in front of the Academy as we zip toward the park.
“Seems you are popular at school,” I shout back to Alfie.
“Just not with the right one,” he answers.
I guide Broom Hilda to a rough-hewn table with benches on either side.
“Here’s a good place to sit and talk,” I tell Alfie as we climb off Broom Hilda.
“Now, what is it, Alfie?” I ask. “Did something happen at school?”
“It’s Jill.”
“What about her?”
“I thought we had something going. I mean, sure, it was only one date. But she seemed to enjoy herself.” He blushes. “Even gave me a kiss at the door when I took her home.”
“So what’s wrong?”
“She refuses to go out with me again.”
“Why, for heaven’s sake?”
“It’s really ironic.” He pauses.
“What is?” I ask.
“She says I’m too old for her.”
“Oh, Alfie.”
Suddenly, I look up from Alfie to see five of t
he faceless beings headed directly toward the table. Pale, faceless, creepy creatures. Thoughts are racing through my mind! What on earth is going on? Is the killing of Polly tied into the attacks of the faceless creatures? Are they really ghouls? I don’t know what a ghoul looks like! What I do know is that these are the same creatures that attacked Red Sumac in Bellow Moor, and the same type of being that attacked me in the tower at the library. Where does Matt fit into all this?
Alfie squeals and breaks into my flash of thoughts.
“Broom Hilda, attack,” I call out as the creature are upon us. She goes immediately into action, whacking one in the chest and sending it flying. In the meantime, I see Alfie kick out at another.
I quickly conjure up a spell and attack them with fireballs.
As a fireball speeds toward one of them, he leaps out of the way, but not before his stubby hair catches fire. He yelps in pain, races to a little pond in the park and dunks his head. Then he turns his featureless face toward me and charges. I send fireball after fireball at him. He freezes when he sees all my balls of flame, then he turns and speeds away in the opposite direction.
Then I’m too busy to pay attention to anyone else. One of the creatures is coming straight for me. He lurches forward and grabs for me. I sidestep him and he goes flying past. Immediately, I kick him from behind, and he falls hard to the ground. Next, I conjure a wall of fire in front of me.
Seeing my wall of flames, the creatures are fleeing and I’m left alone. But I don’t see Alfie anywhere. I look around frantically and then spy him lying on the ground, looking half-dazed, his eyes wide and unfocused.
“It’s okay, Suzy. I’m all right. I just slipped and fell when I kicked at one of the creatures. Too bad I didn’t have my axe. I’d have chopped him in half.”
“But you are all right?”
“I’m fine.”
I bend over and help him up.
“I have something I have to do,” he tells me. “An errand. I’ll be right back and meet you at the pie shop.”
I’m surprised. Who can even be thinking about errands after such an attack? “If you think it’s important,” I reluctantly tell him.
“It’s important,” he answers. “Then we can have a nice fresh duck berry pie at the shop.”