by Mikey Brooks
“You took the book to school?” Emmy asked.
“Why? If no one else can read it, that shouldn’t be wrong.”
“It’s not a good idea to be carting the handbook around,” Papa Washington said. “Anyone could get their hands on it. If a witch found it, I am sure she’d be able to break the enchantment eventually.”
“I think Ethan is okay for now,” Mama J said, patting Papa Washington’s arm. “No harm done, right? Besides, we don’t have to worry about witches at their school. The W.H.O. keeps a close eye on the family members’ education.”
“Not good enough,” Emmy snorted.
The Washingtons looked up. Both Emmy and Jax turned to Ethan. The Washington’s eyes connected with his. “What aren’t you telling us?” Mama J asked.
“Well,” Ethan began. “We wanted to try to get the witches ourselves.”
“Whoa!” Emmy said, sitting up. “Don’t get me involved in you trying to be a hero. I said to leave everything alone, but you kept nosing in further and further.”
“You didn’t even believe me when I told you about them!”
“Of course I didn’t believe you. Who’d believe a kid saying the lunch ladies are really witches?”
Papa Washington got to his feet. “Witches have infiltrated your school?”
Mama J glanced up at her husband. “How would they get past the barrier wall?”
“The what?” Ethan asked. “There’s a magic wall around our school?”
Mama J nodded. “It’s there to protect W.H.O. members.”
“I find it very odd that it’s okay for the W.H.O. to use magic, but the witches can’t.” Everyone turned to Emmy. “What? It’s not right. It’s like Mom and Dad telling us we can’t swear, but then they go and drop the—”
DING DONG.
Ethan looked from Emmy to the front door. He stood up and felt his stomach tighten. Mama J gave Papa Washington a nod of her head, and he went for the door.
Chapter Seventeen: The Cat’s out of the Bag—Literally
Emmy decided she didn’t like Agent Rachel Orion within the first ten seconds of meeting her. She had her brown hair slicked back into a tight bun, and she wore horn-rimmed glasses. It was like she was trying to look fifty when in reality she was maybe fifteen. She dressed like a senior citizen too. She wore a dark burgundy suit with a pencil skirt. The shoes she wore looked like they’d been stolen from some granny on the bus.
“You’re much younger than we’d expected,” Papa Washington said.
Rachel rolled her shoulders back and straightened her spine. “I’m older than I look.”
“Are you trying to look like a grandma, or do you always dress this way?” Emmy couldn’t help it. The question just rolled out.
Rachel gave her a scathing glare and strutted into the living room. She sat her large flower-print handbag next to her granny shoes and the head of a Siamese cat popped out. “This is Mr. Abercrombie,” Rachel said, gesturing to the blue-eyed feline.
“Mr. Who?” Emmy asked.
Rachel cocked her head to one side and glared at her. “You must be the famous Emmaline Orion.” Rachel sighed like she’d expected more. Emmy felt her spine straighten.
“Famous?” Ethan asked. “How is Emmy famous?”
“Not in the celebrity way, unless you include the tabloids. We at the W.H.O. know that if there is a problem with David and Mary’s family, Emmy is the culprit.”
“I’m the what?” Emmy scowled at this no good, stuck up girl from—wherever.
“Culprit. Instigator. It means you cause problems.”
“I know what the word means!” Emmy hissed. “And I don’t cause problems. Is it my fault you can’t keep track of your agents? I’m not the one letting witches into schools and then losing track of people’s parents.”
“I never said you were the reason for all this hullabaloo.”
“Hullaba-wha? Who speaks that way?”
“Okay, Emmy, that’s enough,” Mama J said, taking a seat. “We don’t want to get off on the wrong foot. How about some cookies?”
“No, thanks.” Rachel shook her head. “I can’t stay long. My bus returns in a couple hours. We need to get down to business. How did you break into the W.H.O. mainframe?”
“Break into what?” Ethan asked. “You mean logging onto the computer? We found the secret lair and—”
“Secret lair?” Rachel asked, her eyebrows lifting.
Emmy huffed. “Secret Lair. Hideaway. It means the place our parents hid from us.”
Rachel gave a long lasting glare at Emmy. Emmy stared right back. This teenager wasn’t going to come in and strut her stuff around like she was the queen of England.
Mr. Abercrombie leaped onto Emmy’s lap and her concentration broke. Emmy hated cats. She pushed the thing off her, then tried to brush away the discarded fur.
“We just want to know what’s going on,” Ethan said. “Our parents haven’t called or anything. They should be home by now.”
“We’d like to know what’s going on,” Papa Washington said.
Rachel hesitated a moment, clasping her shaking hands together. “I understand your concern, but as I said before, that information is classified.”
“Why did you come all the way here then?” Emmy asked, her voice rising. “It seems like a total waste of time to say nothing. Where are our parents? What is going on with the other hunters? Why were you all panicky last night?”
Rachel didn’t say anything but Emmy could see her bottom lip trembling. She tried straightening again but Emmy could tell the wall Rachel had so carefully built was crumbling. This was no mature girl who wasn’t going to share information. Rachel was a scared little girl trying to hide the fact she had lost control.
“You’re scared out of your mind, aren’t you?” Emmy said confidently.
“Emmy,” Mama J scolded.
“No, no, I got this.” Emmy smiled. “Rachel, do you even work at the W.H.O. headquarters?” Emmy saw Rachel flinch. “You don’t, do you? How do you know so much, then?”
Everyone waited for Rachel to respond. Emmy’s brain was whirling with assumptions. Maybe this girl wasn’t even a witch hunter. Maybe she was a witch or something. Maybe she had found a login like they had and pretended to be—Emmy had it! “Your mom is Rachel, isn’t she?”
The girl across from Emmy started to cry. Suddenly, Emmy felt horrible. She had jumped to conclusions about this girl before she had really gotten to know her. It was another horrible reminder that Emmy needed to learn to control her temper.
Emmy reached out a hand. “Look, I’m sorry. We can help, but first we need to know what’s going on.”
“My name is Lacy,” the girl said, wiping her cheek with the back of her hand. “You’re right. My mom is Rachel Orion. She’s an office agent at the W.H.O. I’ve been studying to go into the training program for when I get older. Mom got me clearance to go in sometimes. Mostly I just sit and talk to Techie. He’s the guy over the computers and stuff. When all the agents stopped reporting to the branch, Mom went to investigate. I haven’t heard from her in almost a week.”
“Oh, Sugar,” Mama J said, sitting next to Lacy and giving her a hug. “Why didn’t you just say so? Why the act?”
“I don’t want to get my mom in trouble. I had to sneak out here. If Techie knew I hacked into Mom’s account, they might not let me come back. Techie looks worried, but he says stuff like this happens all the time.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Papa Washington stood up and started pacing behind the couch.
Emmy wondered what he was thinking. If stuff like this didn’t happen all the time, then what is going on?
“We know where Mom and Dad went,” Ethan said.
Everyone turned to look at him.
“How could you possibly know that?” Papa Washington asked. “Your parents are stricter than we are about mentioning the W.H.O.”
Emmy smiled. They might be stricter, bu
t Dad had a flaw. “They went to Transylvania.”
“What?” Mama J and Papa Washington asked.
“It’s true,” Lacy said. “I checked on all the locations of the hunters while Techie was in the bathroom. He had listings for everyone but my mom. She wasn’t given a specific assignment. She just went to find another hunter I guess.”
Papa Washington shook his head. “That doesn’t make sense. Why would David and Mary go to Romania? That’s out of our jurisdiction.”
“They didn’t go to Romania,” Lacy laughed. “They went to Transylvania County. It’s in North Carolina.”
“Where?” Ethan asked. “I’ve been researching Romania and they were in North Carolina?”
“Where the heck is Transylvania County?” Emmy asked. One place with that name was bad enough. Why would anyone want another? It was almost as bad as Nowhere, Colorado. Seriously, who makes up these names?
“They went to investigate a middle school in Brevard,” Lacy said.
“The names just keep getting better,” Emmy sighed. “Does it normally take two weeks to look at a school?”
“I don’t think so. But Mary and David were there to research the disappearance of two other sets of agents.”
“So four people have already gone missing, and they sent our parents there? Are they crazy?”
“Your parents are the best,” Papa Washington said. “David used to be my partner. He knows what he’s doing.”
“Obviously not.” Emmy shook her head. “He hasn’t reported or called home. If four other people have disappeared, I think something fishy is happening in Transylvania.”
“Brevard can’t be that far away,” Jax began. “Maybe if we drove we could be there by tomorrow?”
“We can’t just run off to North Carolina, Sugar,” Mama J said.
“Not with the witches at school,” Ethan added.
“You have witches at your school?” Lacy asked. Her face looked pale, and Emmy wondered if Lacy had ever been confronted by a witch. If Ethan was right and the lunch ladies at school were witches, she didn’t see the problem. They seemed harmless. They probably spent more time doing their nails and hair than casting spells.
“I don’t know why you guys are so scared of the lunch ladies,” Emmy said. “If they are witches they are helping the school with their lunch problems if nothing else.”
Lacy shook her head. “Witches don’t help anyone. They’re horrible!”
“Come on. There has to at least be something good about them. They’re getting kids to eat. I don’t know about you, but that’s a first at Roosevelt Elementary. Maybe the lunch ladies are good witches? Like Glinda—ever think about that?”
“Emmy, there is no such thing as a good witch,” Ethan said. “I read about it in the W.H.O. handbook.”
Emmy noticed that Papa Washington stopped his pacing to give Mama J a conspiratorial glance. They acted like they were hiding some private information. As if they somehow agreed with Emmy that not all witches are bad. Ethan had to be wrong. “Not everything you read in that handbook is legit. Remember, they use magic and then arrest witches for doing the same thing.”
“Are you on that again?” Ethan asked.
“Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire,” Lacy said.
“That’s crap!”
“Emmy!” Mama J gasped.
“Crap isn’t a bad word, Mama J.” Emmy rolled her eyes. “It’s stupid to say it’s against the law to hit people and then you go out and hit someone, but because you’re you, that makes it okay.”
“You don’t understand,” Lacy argued. “You’re not an agent. You haven’t studied like I have. Ethan is right. There is no such thing as a good witch. I’ve studied the history on it. The only witches that claim to be good are found in storybooks and those, Emmy, are pure fiction.”
“Whatever,” Emmy said. She still didn’t agree with the concept. “So what do we do about them?”
“We’ll do nothing right now,” Papa Washington said, his tone final. “Lacy, I am going to go back to headquarters with you. No reason to take the bus; I’ll drive. I need to figure out what’s happening. You kids will stay here. Don’t interact with the witches, and don’t eat their food.”
“We haven’t been. It’s potioned,” Jax said.
“Potioned?” Papa Washington asked.
“Ethan saw the lunch ladies put something in the food at school. When we brought some home, we extracted it from the cinnamon roll, but it became volatile.”
“That’s what happened!” Mama J said. “You two could have been hurt. You can’t extract magic in a normal container. I am very disappointed in the two of you.”
“Disappointed?” Emmy asked. “If it weren’t for them, you wouldn’t even know about the witches. How are they supposed to know about the rules of magic? You guys can’t be disappointed in someone who doesn’t know any better. Had you told us about the W.H.O. earlier, then maybe.”
Emmy could have sworn she saw Mama J roll her eyes. Mr. Abercrombie let out a meow and Papa Washington snapped back to attention. “Lacy, does your cat need to go out before we go?”
“Do you really think it’s okay to go with witches in town?” Mama J asked. Emmy thought she sounded worried.
Papa Washington shook his head. “It’s my duty to help the W.H.O.”
“Not anymore, Jefferson. Your first duty comes to your family.”
“I understand, honey. I’m sure you will keep the kids safe. Nothing will happen to them if you just keep them away from the lunchroom.”
“That doesn’t say much for all the kids eating the food,” Emmy said.
Papa Washington glared at her. Apparently, he didn’t enjoy her sarcasm. “Just don’t do anything until I figure out what is going on with all the hunters. You kids shouldn’t be involved in this in the first place. It’s not safe. Take care of them, Jackie.”
Mama J nodded.
Lacy stuffed Mr. Abercrombie in her handbag and stood up. “It was nice to meet you all. I’m sorry about being so . . . you know. I’m just really worried about my mom.”
Emmy gave a strained smile. She guessed Lacy wasn’t all that bad. A little on the stuck up side, but she was just like her—a kid worried about her parents. Emmy widened her smile and held out a hand. “I’ll keep in touch with you if you want.”
Lacy took her hand, a smile creased her face. “I’d like that. It gets pretty lonely sitting by myself. Well, Techie’s there, but he doesn’t talk much, unless it’s in binary code.”
“You keep these two friends of yours out of trouble,” Papa Washington said, ruffling Jax’s hair.
Jax gave a laugh that sounded like a bark. “Dad, you must be joking. Keeping these two out of anything is a full time job.”
Chapter Eighteen: The Three Amigos
Ethan turned another page of the W.H.O. handbook, his eyes fixed on the text. He was sure he’d find something more about witches and Halloween. He kept thinking that he should have brought up to Papa Washington that the witches were planning something. The other part of him, the part that wanted to prove to his parents he was hunter material, had kept his mouth shut. He noticed Jax hadn’t said anything, either. The kid either forgot, or like him wanted a chance to take down the lunch ladies on his own.
“Find out anything about Halloween yet?”
Ethan hadn’t even heard Jax come in to the bedroom. He looked up from the book and saw the mischievous grin on his best friend’s face. He sat up. “So you’re still in with catching the witches?”
“Of course I am.”
“But your dad said—”
“My dad hasn’t said enough.” Jax dropped to his bed and the smile vanished. Ethan knew what he was feeling. His parents had kept a huge secret from him. Like Ethan, Jax probably wondered how many other things they had kept from him or lied about. “I’m in. But we only have two days. The Halloween party—”
“I know, it’s on Friday.” Et
han propped the handbook on his knees and flipped through a few more pages. “I have the feeling we aren’t going to find anything in this book. It’s all about regulations and rules and junk like that. We need something that’s going to tell us like, rituals or holidays the witches celebrate.”
“We can check the internet. It’s not true that witches don’t exist. There are a lot of people who practice witchcraft as a religion.”
Ethan thought about that. He remembered a while back there was a girl named Tabitha who moved at the end of third grade. She said her mom was Wiccan, or in other words, a witch. Were they the same thing as the witches at school, or something totally different?
“I think it’s better than looking in this. If we can’t find anything online, maybe we can look at some of the books in the lair? I don’t think your mom would have a problem with us looking now that she knows we know.”
“I’m not too sure on that. I think now that she does know, she’ll keep us far away from the lair.”
***
The internet search gave so many results that it was mind boggling to figure out which things were legit and which were just a bunch of hocus pocus. Halloween, it seemed, had been connected with witches forever. From the most popular costumes to decorations, witches were at the top of each list.
“What about this?” Jax asked, clicking a link that brought them to a website on Pagan and Wiccan holidays. “It says here that Samhain is a holiday kind of like a solstice. It’s considered to be the most magical night of the year.”
“It also says though that it’s a night for jack-o-lanterns, costumes, and telling scary stories. Isn’t that just Halloween?”
“Not if it’s part of a religious thing.” Jax pointed farther down the page. “It says here that it’s the night when the veil between the spirit world and the world of the living is at its thinnest, making it a night of power.”
“What are you guys doing?”
Jax quickly closed the window and the screen jumped to a picture of Jax’s family. They turned around to see Emmy standing in the doorway with her arms folded.