Grim Hill: Carnival of Secrets

by Linda DeMeulemeester

  A little boy said, “And he was pulling around a wagon full of those dolls.” The kid pointed to the tent that was filled with those creepy poppets.

  “Dolls?” Clive snorted in disbelief. “Skeeter wouldn’t touch a girly doll.”

  “Maybe he was under a spell,” said the freckle faced girl. Then she and her little friends began skipping in a circle chanting another one of their creepy rhymes.

  “Skeeter didn’t listen

  Skeeter didn’t care,

  So he ended up trapped

  in the evil witch’s snare!

  She’ll put him in some pie dough

  And then our hearts will ache,

  For she’ll set the oven high

  And put him in to bake!”

  “Cut that out!” Clive’s dark complexion took on a greenish tinge. “Cat, seriously, what’s going on?”

  I nodded to Jasper, and he understood. We took out our feathers and passed them around. As our friends touched them, the white feathers flashed red as if lit by a fire from behind.

  “Sookie is my little sister,” I reminded them. And I told them what had happened to her when she’d opened the door to Fairy to rescue us from the woods. I recited the whole story of how after she crossed over into Fairy, Sookie had come back completely changed, and how strange things were now happening in town, including the horrific carnival, and that we couldn’t find Lea. Their faces grew alarmed as their memories returned.

  “S … Sookie’s an awful witch,” gasped Amarjeet.

  “I always wondered why you liked wearing those green stripes in your hair,” nodded Mia. “I forgot it was from a close encounter with fairies.”

  I nodded as the new information sunk in to the minds of the gang.

  Finally, Mitch spoke up. “Cat, why wouldn’t Skeeter be as terrified of a witch as everyone else? Why is he going to see Sookie?”

  CHAPTER 7 Magic and Mayhem

  My friends and I made our way back to the witch’s house, I mean, my sister’s place. As soon as we cut through the yard, people rubbed their arms or wrapped them around their chests because of the drop in temperature. The air swirled around the old house making tiny dust tornadoes in the dirt.

  “My gran would call this a witch wind.” Clive pulled his collar higher. There were a few low whistles of surprise as the gang checked out Sookie’s gruesome garden. Rather than think about what my sister might do about this unwelcome visit, I marched up the back steps. Jasper and Clive came with me.

  We peered in the open window, as Mitch, Mia and Amarjeet reluctantly made their way up the steps to join us. I had to hand it to them. The very shadows around here urged you to turn and run, yet nobody did.

  Through the window we could see the Monopoly game on the kitchen table. The play money and cards had been shuffled around. A tiny silver car was on Board Walk. The teeny bowler hat had moved four spaces from “GO.”

  I pointed to the game. “Skeeter’s here.”

  “Yeah, look at those two cups of hot chocolate,” said Amarjeet. “There must be at least seven marshmallows piled into each mug. Only a nine year old could consume that much sugar and survive,” she said half-jokingly, though her voice trembled.

  With a nervous laugh Mia added, “At least she’s not roasting children in the oven like the witch in the gingerbread house.”

  “Hey,” I said.

  Mia bowed her head. “Sorry, Cat. I just meant it could be worse.”

  This time instead of cringing on the porch, I pounded on Sookie’s back door.

  Amarjeet gasped, “Good one, Cat. Make the evil witch mad.”

  Well, Sookie couldn’t be angrier than I was.

  Sookie appeared from the shadows and crossed the kitchen floor. Her grey gown trailed behind her like dangling cobwebs. The door flew open and all of us gulped. Sookie let out a wicked cackle, brandished her broom, and leaned over us in a threatening way. It was so weird that she was adult sized yet still totally Sookie. Then in a menacing voice she said, “I warned you to stay away. Now you’ll pay.”

  “Cut it out Sookie,” I said this calmly, although I’ll admit my nerves were unraveling. I pushed ahead. “Where’s Skeeter? His gran and brother are worried.”

  Sookie backed up a step, and for a second she seemed to pull herself in. She didn’t seem so big anymore. I shouted, “Skeeter, the game is over! Come out.”

  There was a rustling in the hall and I could see a shadow of somebody against the wall. But that shadow seemed to hesitate and stayed lurking in the murky light of the hallway.

  “Skeeter, if you’re in there, get out now!” The way Clive said that would have made me jump. Reluctantly, Skeeter walked through the kitchen and joined us on the back porch.

  “Are you okay?” Clive asked his brother in alarm.

  “Sure, why wouldn’t I be?” Skeeter said in a smug tone. “I’ll come home after the game.”

  “Not likely,” said Clive. He grabbed Skeeter’s arm and began tugging him down the stairs.

  “Let your brother go. He’s staying with me.” Sookie said this softly, but the menace of her voice hung in the air. Even Clive did a double take, but only for a second.

  “No girl – not even a witch lady – is bossing me or my brother around.” Clive began dragging Skeeter down the last steps.

  Normally I bristled when Clive talked about girls not being the boss, but this time I thought it was for the best that his brother didn’t hang out with Sookie … At least, not with the new Sookie. A pang of hurt for Sookie dug into my heart.

  “I don’t want to go. I’m staying with my friend,” Skeeter complained.

  “No, you’re not,” argued Clive.

  Amarjeet let out a small yelp, and I looked over my shoulder. Sookie had raised her broom and waved her other hand. Were those sparks flying from her finger tips? Her annoying bird, the white raven, Maeb, screeched and flew from its perch in the kitchen and landed on Sookie’s shoulder. I had a sinking feeling that my sister was about to do something terrible.

  Then I blurted out, “You can’t sit here and play games, Sookie. Not when our friend Lea has gone missing.”

  Sookie lowered her broom. “Lea’s missing.” Sookie said this slowly as if she was answering a question and not asking it. Then Sookie did something peculiar. She waved her arm about and sniffed the air, wrinkling her nose as if she was trying to detect a scent. The wind whipped up even more. She looked toward Grim Hill and scrunched her eyes.

  “Something’s in the air,” she said. “Something wicked – something big.” Sookie used her broom like a divining rod and pointed it first in the direction of Grim Hill and then swung it towards the river. “A potent and perilous magic has passed by here.”

  Sookie looked directly at me. I shivered as her witch eyes burned through me. “Cat”, she said. “What’s going on?”

  “We need to find Lea,” I explained. “She is bringing the Grimoire to us. That’s what it will take to undo the wicked enchantment that’s destroying our town.” I managed to clamp my mouth shut before I said, and undo the magic that’s turned you into a terrible menace …

  Then Sookie bent her head. “Oh, no.” A large tear crept down her cheek. The evil witch was beginning to behave like a scared little girl. I shook my head in confusion.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “Magic leaves a trail,” Sookie said in a strangely hollow voice. “Lea has been thwarted, Cat. She must have been captured, or even hurt.”

  Sookie shook her head, and fear drew her mouth into a worried frown. “You don’t know what you’ve done. I didn’t think anybody could get hurt from me doing what I wanted – becoming a scary witch. But now Lea will be hurt and I feel horrible. We’ve got to save Lea, Cat!”

  “Then tell me,” I demanded, although I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what made a scary witch cry and be nervous.

  “Fairy’s wrath will be gruesome,” Sookie said in almost a whisper. “Those creatures will be so cruel to Lea. And now our situati
on is perilous.”

  I hoped this was Sookie being her usual drama queen self, but I didn’t feel that was so this time. Especially because she seemed more like a scared little girl now, and her little ally, Skeeter, seemed upset, too. He’d tucked himself under Clive’s arm and stayed unusually quiet and still. Their game lay on the table, forgotten.

  “Oh, Cat,” Sookie continued. “This is no time to anger the fairies. Not during Lamas. They will be even more bloodthirsty. They will want sacrifices. You must save Lea!” Sookie left us and went back into the house. “Wait a minute before you go,” she called back.

  We waited in silence. The air felt heavy and made it hard to concentrate. The pungent perfumes from Sookie’s strange flowers and plants were beginning to give me a headache.

  My sister returned holding a mirror – the mirror Lea had left behind when she’d returned to Fairy – the same mirror Sookie had used to open the door to Fairy. My stomach dive-bombed to my sneakers.

  “That mirror ruined my life,” I said miserably.

  “Did it, Cat?” Sookie said with curiosity. “I thought it saved your life.” She looked deeply into the mirror and then she glanced at me. Her eyes flashed for a second into her little girl’s blue saucer eyes, and for a moment I forgot that I was afraid of my terrifying sister. One minute Sookie seemed to be a deadly witch, and the next minute a lost little girl. It was almost as if the two personalities were wrestling for control inside of her.

  She held out the mirror for me to stare into. Just as steam on a mirror clears up after a shower and lets you see your reflection, the fogginess in the mirror gradually gave way. Inside the silver gilt frame, I could see a small room surrounded by heavy curtains … no, thick folds of purple material like the inside of a tent.

  “The carnival,” I said in surprise. Sookie tilted the mirror and like a video camera, it gave me a panoramic shot of the tent.

  “No,” I cried. My friends forgot their fear of Sookie and crowded around us. In the mirror we could see Lea bound with a silver chain. Her arms were tied behind her back, and she was anchored to a pole inside the tent. Her head was bowed, so that we couldn’t see her face under her curtain of crimson hair.

  “Look, Cat!” Jasper pointed to the bottom left corner of the mirror.

  Lea was sitting on top of a huge, fat book that had a worn leather cover.

  The Grimoire! The magic book was under the control of the fairies and they wouldn’t give that up without a deadly fight.

  CHAPTER 8 A Perilous Plan

  We stood on Sookie’s porch stunned by what we had seen. It was getting toward midafternoon and now I was faced with a difficult choice: enlist Sookie’s magic to save our friend Lea, or risk losing Lea to the terrible wrath of Fairy.

  Sookie’s black cat crept up beside me and stared, making me feel uncomfortable – almost as if it couldn’t wait to hear what I would say. I began sneezing. Sookie shooed the cat off the porch for my sake. If only I could get my sister to help us for all our sakes.

  “What should we do, Cat?” asked Amarjeet. I couldn’t decide. I lived every day with the terrible results of the last hard choice I’d made. Because of that decision our town was a mess, and my sister was a supernatural terror. And I felt like it was all my fault. I sighed. Once again, there was no other option but to use Sookie’s magic. Except I knew in my bones I was supposed to fight Sookie’s witchy ways – I was the fairy fighter and she was my sworn enemy.

  How was I supposed to do both?

  “Cat, in order for my magic to work, I’ll need you on board,” Sookie prodded as if she sensed how I was torn.

  “What do you want from me?” I asked looking deep into Sookie’s eyes. It was impossible to tell from those strange pupils if I could trust her, or even if the sister I loved was still behind them.

  “I need something else of Lea’s to conjure an enchantment.” Sookie crossed her arms and stared back in her own unsettling way.

  “I … could give you the book Lea gave me,” said Jasper. I knew my friend treasured that gift.

  “I need something that would help with a … disguise,” said Sookie shaking her head. “I’m going to cast a spell on one of the poppets Skeeter brought me. Then we can exchange the poppet for Lea.”

  “Right,” snorted Clive. “Like that will work. The fairies aren’t going to think some stupid doll is Lea.”

  “It’s not a doll,” Sookie snapped. “It’s a poppet – and a witch can use glamour to disguise a poppet.” Sookie looked cross – if that was even possible for an already terrifying witch.

  “Remember that time at Halloween when people wore masks to fool fairies?” Amarjeet stared into the distance, remembering. “That wasn’t a dream was it?”

  “I don’t think it was,” agreed Jasper.

  Amarjeet then said, “Or that time when the fairies fooled us by exchanging pieces of wood for people.”

  “Those were changelings,” I said with a shudder.

  “So this is going to be something like that? We’re making a mask to disguise a poppet and exchange it for Lea?” Mia reached out to pluck a petal from a daffodil striped like a candy cane.

  “I wouldn’t do that,” Sookie advised her. “That’s not a daffodil – that’s belladonna, and it’s quite deadly.”

  Mia pulled her fingers away. “This flower is kind of like a fairy: something treacherous in a beautiful disguise.”

  “Which is why I’m with Clive on this,” said Mitch. “If fairies are so dangerous, it seems kind of weak to use a disguised doll … um, poppet.”

  “That’s why Sookie’s plan will work,” I said slowly as I stood up. “Fairies don’t act like us; they don’t think like us. They have a whole different set of rules. They won’t be expecting us to use their rules to trick them at their own game.”

  “Righ … t …” Clive said this slowly and he began nodding. “Know your opponent and use their game plan against them. Like in soccer – it … might work.”

  “And by the time they discover they’ve been tricked, I’ll have the Grimoire.” Sookie let out a wicked laugh, making everyone cringe.

  I promised myself that no matter what, I wouldn’t let Sookie get her hands on the Book of All Magic. I’d make sure I got rid of it fast once we used it to break the spell in our town.

  Or you could use it to trick Sookie yourself, Cat, a voice whispered in my head. You still are the big sister after all …

  A secret plan of my own began forming in my mind. “I have the perfect thing for your poppet,” I announced suddenly. “I’ll be right back.” I hesitated. I was nervous leaving my friends alone with Sookie.

  “How long will it take to get everything ready?” I asked my sister.

  Sookie said, “I’ll need some time to prepare. And it’s better if we exchange the poppet at twilight.”

  “Why don’t we all meet back here after dinner,” I announced.

  Everyone began leaving – that is, except for Skeeter. He ducked from under Clive’s arm and climbed back up the stairs. Clive went after him, but Skeeter dodged his grasp.

  “You’re coming with me,” Clive ordered.

  “No, I’m going to stay and help Sookie.”

  “You’re not dressing up any stupid doll,” said Clive in disdain.

  “It’s not stupid, it’s magic.” Skeeter shot back.

  “There’s nothing dumb about any of this. It’s all perilous,” I said, giving Clive a pointed look.

  “Not more dangerous than me showing up home without my brother with the excuse that I left him at an evil witch’s house.” Realizing what he’d just said, Clive looked away from me and muttered, “Um, sorry Cat.” Witch or not, Sookie was still my sister.

  With a flash of irritation I shot back, “So you have no problem angering a powerful witch, but you’re afraid to go against your gran?”

  Clive rubbed his forehead. “You’ve got that right. She’s old school. Gran’s very stern and she has high expectations. Skeeter and I have to be truthful
, obedient, hardworking, and never talk back – the way children had to be in the olden days.”

  Mia gave Clive a pat on the arm, but he shook it off. I understood. Clive wasn’t the sort of person who looked for sympathy.

  “Skeeter, you’re not staying here and playing with an evi … ah, your friend. You know Gran will have both our heads.” Skeeter seemed to think about this. He finally nodded, and followed his brother off the porch.

  “Okay, um, let’s all meet back here outside Sookie’s gate before dusk,” said Mitch. Then he whispered, “So when we return to the witch’s house, we come in full force.”

  We all nodded and filed off the porch, heading home for supper. At least we had a plan now, I thought, as insane as it seemed to use witchery to fight fairies.

  ***

  When I reached home, I noticed our own curtains were drawn though the sun was still shining. It was as if even Mom wanted to shut out everything that was going on. The whole town was trying to close their eyes and bury their heads in the sand. If only I could do that too.

  I opened the front door and was greeted by the smell of roast chicken. I will admit that eased my mind a bit. Part of the reason for those sharp pains in my stomach was hunger. I hurried to set the table and only winced once thinking about how it used to be Sookie’s job.

  After dinner I helped Mom with the dishes.

  “Maybe with my job at the new school on the hill, I’ll be able to afford a dishwasher,” Mom said cheerily. Then she hesitated and the dish she was holding hovered above the soapy water.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Oh nothing,” Mom said brushing it off. “I …well – I just imagined myself sitting at a desk at the school on Grim Hill, and I was stamping huge piles of paper over and over again. It was as if I’d actually done that before.”

  Mom shrugged her shoulders. “Déjà vu, I guess.” But Mom had lost her smile as she plunged the dish into the water. She began scrubbing the plate hard enough to rub away the painted lilac flowers.