The woman smiled warmly. “You are who you have always been. Until now.”
She reached for the cardinal. The bird didn’t move when the woman gently grasped it. But as she brought it forward, the cardinal transformed. Rather than the beautiful red bird, the woman now held a gleaming silver dagger with an eight-inch blade.
I had to hold my breath to keep from gasping in surprise.
“Tomorrow is Samhain. On that highest of holy days, the powers we gave you will fully blossom and create the path that will lead us into our future. Now, give me your hand.”
The woman gestured for Ainsley to hold her hand out. The woman’s other hand clutched the dagger, as if ready to use it.
Things had suddenly gotten serious. This was no Disney story.
Ainsley took a nervous step backward.
“No…no…I don’t like this.”
Whatever spell had been holding Ainsley, it was losing its grip on her.
I couldn’t take it anymore.
“That’s enough!” I called out.
The woman’s expression quickly twisted from warm and welcoming into a grimace of anger.
And she was holding a dagger.
“Cretin!” she snarled viciously as she pointed the dagger at me. “You will not stand in our way again.”
Again? What was that supposed to mean?
“Let’s go,” I said to Ainsley, and grabbed her arm to pull her away.
The woman wasn’t going to let us leave that easily. The moment our backs were to her, a huge swarm of white ravens flew out from the bushes in front of us. There was a fluttering chaos of white feathers churning through the air, headed our way.
I instinctively let go of Ainsley and raised my arms to protect my face. We were seconds away from being swarmed by a flock of albino ravens under the control of this strange woman. I backed away quickly with my head down, waiting for the birds’ sharp beaks to start pecking at me. Their shrieking war cries pierced straight into my brain as I fell to my knees.
But nothing happened.
The shrieking and fluttering stopped.
I stole a cautious peek over my arms to see the impossible.
A dozen white ravens stood lined up on the ground. Their low, calm coos joined together and sounded like an idling engine. That was cool by me, as long as the engine didn’t get thrown into gear. The birds were all looking to my right, intently focused on something.
I glanced in that direction to see Ainsley with her hand held out to them in a Stop gesture.
She had prevented the attack.
“Get up, Marcus,” she said with surprising calm. “We’re leaving.”
I cautiously got to my feet, trying not to make any sudden moves that might flip the birds out and send them back into a pecking frenzy.
“Walk back the way we came,” Ainsley said. “Slowly.”
I skirted around the lineup of freakishly big birds.
Ainsley kept her hand out to hold them back as she rounded the flock from the other side.
The birds stayed focused on her, turning in unison to continue facing her.
The two of us met on the other side of the flock and backed away, toward the wall of bushes.
“Will they come after us?” I whispered to Ainsley.
“I have no idea,” she said.
As we were about to hit the bushes, the woman called out, “Now do you see?”
I stole a quick look back to the woman, expecting her to be all sorts of angry. But she stood with her arms folded, smiling proudly. On her shoulder was the cardinal.
“Do you need any more proof of your abilities, Ainsley?” she called.
“We’re leaving,” Ainsley announced defiantly.
“Go,” the woman said with a shrug. “On Samhain you will return.”
“Don’t bet on it!” I yelled.
The woman’s expression turned ugly again. “Do not interfere, cretin,” she snarled. “This time we will not show mercy.”
This time? What did she mean by that?
I turned and pushed the branches aside to form a path for us to get through.
“Are they coming?” I asked.
“We’ll know once we get to the other side,” Ainsley answered, breathless.
I fought through the dense tangle with Ainsley right behind me. When we broke out of the far side, we both looked to the sky, expecting to see the flock of vicious birds swooping up and out of the circle to dive-bomb us.
They didn’t.
“We’re out of here,” I said, and grabbed Ainsley’s hand.
We ran back to the school, first dodging through the stand of white birch trees, followed by a mad, twisting journey through the pine forest. We made it to the edge of the woods without any problems and jumped out onto the wide stretch of grass that marked the beginning of the school property, and civilization. We stood on the grass, both breathing hard from the desperate run. I had my hands on my hips, looking at the ground, wondering what to say.
“I don’t know,” Ainsley said.
“You don’t know what?”
“I don’t know who that was or what any of it meant.”
“Let’s walk,” I said.
We may have been out of the magical forest, but I didn’t feel comfortable being anywhere near it, so we headed for the school.
“Why did you follow that dog?” I asked. “It was like you were in some kind of trance.”
“I don’t know, Marcus,” she said with confusion. “I feel like I’ve just woken up from a bad dream.”
“She said you were changing. That your body was changing. Is it?”
“You mean besides suddenly being able to move things with my mind?” Ainsley asked.
“Yeah, I guess. And the bird thing. That was…odd.”
Ainsley laughed nervously. “Well, yes, if you must know. I’m thirteen. Things happen when girls hit thirteen.”
“Really? Like what?” I said dumbly.
She gave me a sour look. It took me a second to realize what she meant.
“Oh.”
“Yeah, ‘oh,’ ” she said. “I started getting my period a couple of weeks ago. I can’t believe I just shared that with a total stranger. And a boy.”
“Get over it,” I said dismissively. “So…she said those changes are letting their gifts flourish within you.”
“Whatever that means,” Ainsley said.
“Has weird stuff like this happened your whole life?” I asked.
“No! No way. None of this makes sense.”
“Do you know that lady?”
Ainsley thought hard and frowned. “I think. I don’t know. She looked familiar but…I’m so confused.”
“When did the accidents start happening? Was it, like, when you started getting your…you know?”
She thought a second, then suddenly got all agitated. “No!” she exclaimed. “What does one have to do with the other?”
“I don’t know. I’m just guessing here. I have no idea why you can do what you can do, or why that freak can move trees and get birds to attack and turn a cardinal into a dagger. But she sure knows a lot about you. And from what she said, something big’s gonna hit the fan tomorrow and you’re in the middle of it.”
“What is Samhain?” Ainsley asked.
“Halloween. All Hallows’ Eve. Big mystical night, according to people who believe in big mystical things. After what I just saw, I may be one of them.”
We got to the school, but instead of going inside, we rounded the building to the front turnout driveway, where parents pulled in to pick up and drop off their kids. School was still going on, so there weren’t any cars except for a black SUV that sat idling nearby.
“My mom,” Ainsley said. “I almost forgot. She came to pick me up.”
“You should tell her what’s going on,” I said.
Ainsley thought about that for a moment, then said, “No.”
“Why not?”
“For one thing, she won’t believe me.”
“I’m her perfect little overachiever. If I told her I had strange powers and was being asked to join some mystical cult, she’d lock me up.”
“Maybe that’s not such a bad idea. At least until after Halloween.”
“No, I have to find out what this is about. It’s actually kind of…exciting, don’t you think?”
“No, I don’t,” I said quickly. “This is serious stuff. Dangerous stuff. Whoever that lady and her friends are, I don’t see them being good guys.”
“Maybe not,” Ainsley said. “But I want to know what they want from me, and maybe learn a little bit more about myself along the way. Who knows? It might be a good thing.”
Her one-eighty change in attitude bothered me. She had gone from being confused and scared to actually thinking something positive might come from all this.
“It’s not going to be a good thing, Ainsley,” I said. “Trust me.”
Ainsley gave a cute little shrug and said, “I guess we’ll see!”
This was bad.
She started toward her mom’s car, then turned back to me.
“Thanks, Marcus. Looks like you may have come here at the exact right time.”
“Yeah, funny how that happened,” I said.
“See you tomorrow.”
Ainsley ran for the car. She seemed way too bright and happy considering what had just happened. She had started out freaked by the idea she might possess strange powers, and now seemed excited about what those powers might be.
It was a very dangerous road to travel.
She got in the car and threw me a quick wave as the SUV turned onto the street and powered away. I was left feeling helpless. I had learned who was responsible for the disruption at Coppell. It was Ainsley. This was her story. But that only raised more questions. Disturbing questions. Questions I had no answers for. I needed help. It was time to get back to Everett and the Library.
As I walked toward the building, the afternoon quiet was suddenly broken by the cawing sound of a flock of crows. My back stiffened. I looked to the sky in time to see a flock high in the sky, flying over the school. They were black birds, so I relaxed.
For about a second and a half. The flock made a quick turn and did a nosedive, headed my way.
“Oh, that’s not good,” I said to nobody, and took off running.
The birds had appeared black only because they were silhouetted against the bright October sky. They were actually white, and they were after me. With Ainsley gone, there wasn’t anybody to stop them. I sprinted for the school, grabbing at my neck for the Paradox key. I yanked the key over my head, and the cord caught on the hood of my sweatshirt.
“No!” I shouted with panic.
I pulled my hoodie off and fumbled for the key. A quick look skyward showed me that the birds were still plunging my way. I was seconds away from being attacked. I separated the key from the hoodie while still running.
The birds were so close I could hear the sharp flapping of their wings.
I held the key out as I ran for the first door I saw, willing the keyhole to appear.
It did. I jammed the key inside, twisted it, and pulled the door open on the Library.
But the key was still in the lock. I had to struggle to get it out. It was a critical three seconds, for it gave one of the demon birds time to attack. It landed on my head and grabbed a beakful of my hair. It felt like my scalp was on fire as the evil bird yanked away, ripping out a chunk of hair. I swept my arm up, knocking the monster off me. I quickly jumped through the door and kicked it closed as a dozen more birds hit it together, desperately thumping against it to get at me.
I stood with my back to the door, rubbing my burning scalp. The gut-clenching reality hit that this disruption was every bit as dangerous as our adventure with the Boggin had been. The only thing I knew for sure was that whatever was actually going on, it was going to come to a head the following night.
Samhain.
Halloween.
The countdown had begun and I didn’t have the first idea what to do about it.
* * *
THE WHITE RAVENS FLEW into the door, one after the other, slamming into the glass with sickening force in a desperate attempt to get through and attack Marcus. It was futile. Marcus was gone. He wasn’t even on the other side of the door. He had returned to the Library. After several violent seconds, the birds flew off as one, headed back over the trees and into the forest from which they had come.
* * *
“It’s Ainsley,” I announced to Everett, breathless, as I ran back to the circulation desk of the Library, rubbing my head where the white raven had yanked out a healthy chunk of hair.
Freaking nasty bird.
The spirit-librarian sat there, calmly reading the red book that had officially become Ainsley’s story. There were also several other books stacked in front of him. He’d been doing some research.
“So I see,” Everett said, without looking up from his reading. “How’s your head?”
“It hurts!” I exclaimed. “How do you think it is?”
One of the remarkable truths about the Library is that the spirit-authors who write the books keep all the stories up to date, instantly. I have no idea how that’s possible, but Everett keeps saying how time has no meaning in the Library, so time must have no meaning to the spirit-authors either. Everything that had happened to Ainsley and me in the forest only minutes before was already in the book.
“Her story isn’t a unique one,” Everett said as he pushed one of the stacks of books across the desk toward me. “I’ve found stories of other disruptions that took place in that exact same spot.”
“At that school?” I asked, surprised.
“Not the school, the town. It’s got quite a history dating back to the late 1600s. Apparently it was settled by a small band of people who left eastern Massachusetts to escape persecution.”
“What kind of persecution?”
“Ever hear of a town called Salem?”
I thought for a second and the lightbulb went on.
“You mean like where they had those witch trials?”
“One and the same,” Everett replied.
“But that was bogus, right? I mean, there weren’t any real witches. People were just superstitious. And idiots.”
“Aye. There weren’t any real witches in Salem because by the time the trials began, they’d all left…and settled in Coppell.”
My mind raced as more pieces of the puzzle began slipping together.
“The lady in the forest, she made the trees move and the birds attack. And she turned a red cardinal into a dagger. I thought she was going to slice Ainsley with it.”
“I guess that tells us what we’re dealing with, then, doesn’t it?”
“Witchcraft,” I said with finality. “That stuff is real?”
“Everything is real,” Everett said with a touch of impatience. “Surely you’ve figured that out by now.”
“But that was like hundreds of years ago! You’re saying that woman is a descendant of those witches?”
“Could be. Or maybe time has no meaning to witches either,” Everett said ominously.
“Wow” was my incredibly lame response. “What about Ainsley? If she’s a witch, she doesn’t know it.”
“But she does seem intrigued by the possibility,” Everett said, tapping the book. “That’s troubling. There’s a lot more going on with that girl than meets the eye.”
I scanned the books that lay open on the counter with growing dread. They held tales of witchcraft. Real witchcraft. No ruby slippers or flying monkeys here.
“There’s something else,” I said. “The witch-lady threatened me. She said this time they’d show no mercy and that I wasn’t going to stand in her way again. What was that supposed to mean? I’d never seen her before! Trust me, I’d remember.”
Everett’s expression turned dark, as if this news bothered him. He reached out and pull
ed back the stack of books.
“Go home,” he said. “Let me read up on the other disruptions. When you come back, I’ll have a better handle on what it might mean.”
“You expect me to just go home and go to school and be normal like none of this is happening?” I asked with frustration.
“Aye,” Everett replied. “Our work is important here, Marcus, but you can’t let the Library take over your life. That would just be another kind of disruption.”
I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to help Ainsley—that’s why I was there. The unfinished story was hers. But I had no clue about how to finish her story. For all I knew, there would be a flock of white ravens waiting to peck me in the head the second I went back to Coppell. I needed help. If Everett could find it in those books, I could wait.
“Want to hear something funny?” I said. “My parents think I’m not doing anything worthwhile with my spare time.”
“Can’t help you with that one,” Everett said. “But you’re a smart lad. You’ll figure something out.”
I headed for the door that would lead me back to real life.
“We’re going to crack this, Marcus,” Everett called to me. “This story will have an ending.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Let’s hope it’s a happy one.”
When I opened the door to my bedroom, Lu and Theo were right there, walking away as if we had all gone through at the exact same time. They both stopped and spun around when they heard me.
“Seriously?” Lu exclaimed. “I thought you weren’t coming?”
“I wasn’t. I mean, I didn’t. I went back to Coppell.”
“But…,” Theo said, pulling on his ear while his brain went into overdrive. “I guess it’s true: we always come back at the same moment that we left. Remarkable.”
“And a whole lot has happened since I saw you last.”
“This is so incredibly strange,” Lu said, dumbfounded.
“It’s going to get stranger,” I said as I passed them, headed for the door. “Let’s go to school. Our school.”
As we walked (or, in Lu’s case, rolled on skates) to good old Stony Brook Middle School—the school that wasn’t cursed by witches—I filled them in on what I had seen with Ainsley and about the Salem witch connection. They listened without asking questions, which was good, because I didn’t have any answers.
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