Shadow Witch (2 page)

Jamie paused with a brownie near his mouth. “I guess. I like having a new car, but I liked the Buick, too. My Chevy gets better gas mileage, though.”

Fred put her hand on Jamie’s shoulder like she was going to add something, but turned and wrinkled her brow. “Did someone just knock?”

“I didn’t hear anything,” Melanie said.

Fred went to answer the door, and Rachel said, “Who could that be? Everybody’s already here, I think.”

“Mom?” Jamie said. “Are we going to have enough food?”

“Didn’t you see all those hamburgers and hotdogs I bought?

“We can always go get pizza later if we’re still hungry,” Bryce said.

“Still hungry?” Lisa narrowed one eye. “After all that?” Then she looked toward the front door and her mouth fell open. “What the...?”

Rachel and the others turned to see Fred, standing with a frightened-looking young girl, who wore a backpack on her shoulders and was holding Fred’s hand.

“Mom?” Fred said. “We need to talk.”

“Who is that?” Lisa said, staring at the little dark-haired newcomer.

“Her name is Sammi, which I think is short for Samantha.” Fred gave her mother a sharp look. “We need to talk...in private.”

“Okay...uh, let’s go to your room.”

“Mrs. Sikes, too. Sammi wants you to come. She said she knows you, somehow.” Fred looked down at Sammi, who still held Fred’s hand. “Anybody else?” Sammi shook her head and turned her small face to the floor.

Adele eyed the strange new girl for a moment, then took a long breath. “I’ll, uh, make sure Larry gets the burgers on the grill.” She stooped with her hands on her knees and spoke gently to Sammi, “Are you hungry?” Sammi nodded and Adele said, “Would you like a hamburger or a hot dog?”

“A hot dog, please,” she said, staring at her feet.

“Okay. Go on and I’ll let you know when it’s ready. Shouldn’t be long.”

Fred led Sammi up the stairs, and Rachel and Lisa followed. Lisa looked at Rachel and widened her eyes as if to say
what is going on
? Rachel shrugged and mouthed
I don’t know
.

They went into Fred’s room and Rachel closed the door behind them. Fred cleared a space on her canopy bed by pushing some of her stuffed animals aside, and she and Sammi sat on the edge, while Rachel and Lisa stood. Sammi still gripped Fred’s hand, and Fred patted the little girl’s arm and said, “It’s okay. You don’t have to squeeze so hard. I’m not going anywhere.”

Sammi drew a deep breath while she looked into Fred’s eyes. “Okay,” she said in a small voice, but she didn’t let go.

Lisa crossed her arms loosely over her chest and said, “All right, what’s this all about?”

“Well,” Fred said, “this is Sammi Price. She’s from Bicksby, which is somewhere on the other side of the state, I gather.” She glanced at Sammi and Sammi nodded. “She’s an orphan, and she’s run away from her foster home.”

“What?” Lisa said.

“And I’m pretty sure she’s a witch.”

“A
what?
” Lisa squeaked.

“A witch, if what she says is true. And I can feel some power in her, holding her hand.”

“Oh my God.” Lisa’s mouth fell open again and she blinked hard. “A runaway...and a witch?” She swayed for a moment and Rachel grabbed Lisa’s elbow to support her. After a moment, Lisa shook free and sat on the bed on the other side of Sammi, and the little girl took Lisa’s hand, too, though Lisa didn’t seem to notice.

It was the first chance Rachel had to get a good look at Sammi. She was small and pale-skinned. Her straight black hair fell past her shoulders, though one side was ragged and uneven. Her simple face was heart-shaped, cute, Rachel thought, with a little turned up nose. But her eyes! Rachel was struck by how large and dark they were, so dark that her pupils were nearly invisible.

Lisa took a slow breath and collected herself, then turned to Sammi. “Let’s take this one issue at a time. Why did you run away?”

Sammi turned her gaze to the floor again. “Because Mr. Gundy is a bad man.”

“That’s your foster father? Did he hurt you?” Sammi nodded and Lisa frowned. “What did he do? Did he hit you?”

“He beat me,” she said quietly.

“With his hand, or a belt?”

“Both. He came into my room at night, too.”

Lisa’s eyes grew angry, and she turned to Rachel and frowned.

The door opened and Adele stuck her head into the room. “How’s it going in here?”

“Can you get Carl for us? And my mom, too,” Rachel said. She turned to Sammi. “I’m sorry, but I think they need to know.”

Adele returned a couple of minutes later with Carl and Evelyn, and Lisa told them what she knew so far. Carl moved the chair from Fred’s desk closer to Sammi and sat down. “Sammi, you said Mr. Gundy hurt you, but didn’t your foster mother know?”

“I told her once, but she didn’t believe me. She always believes what Mr. Gundy says. He whipped me later, and said he’d really hurt me if I ever told anybody again.”

Carl grunted and narrowed his eyes. “How often did he come into your room?”

“Every night. He did it when Mrs. Gundy took her shower, but they were short, so he couldn’t stay long. He told me he was going to stay all night tonight, because Mrs. Gundy was going on a trip to visit her sister.”

“That’s so awful!” Rachel said. Lisa, her eyes wide and her face white, just stared at Sammi. Adele looked shocked, too.

Oh my God!
Rachel felt a sickening feeling in her stomach.
He’s a pedophile. Sounds like she ran away just in time
.

“How could he be a foster parent?” Carl said. “Wouldn’t Social Services know?”

Sammi shook her head. “I couldn’t tell them ’cause Mr. Gundy would beat me.”

“Couldn’t you get into another foster home?”

She shook her head again and spoke so quietly that Rachel could barely hear her answer. “Nobody else wants me. They think I’m crazy ’cause I hear voices.”

“Oh.” Carl sucked in his breath and glanced up at Rachel. “How did you get here?”

“The bus,” Sammi said. “I walked from the bus station.”

“That’s almost five miles.”

“It took all day ’cause I had to hide a lot. I tried to look inconspic...inconspicu....”

“Inconspicuous. Because you’re scared?”

“I don’t want Mr. Gundy to find me.”

“I don’t think he’ll find you this far from Bicksby. That’s pretty far away, I think.”

“He used to be a bounty hunter.” Her face became agitated. “He’s good at finding people, and he’ll hurt me real bad if he does, I know!”

“It’s okay.” Lisa patted Sammi’s arm with her free hand. “But I want to know why you came here, of all places.”

Sammi glanced at Rachel and then looked directly at Lisa. “Because you called me. You said, ‘Come here, little dark-haired girl. We’re calling you.’ That’s what you said.” She nodded emphatically.

“What?”

“Don’t you remember? Back in February? You and Mrs. Sikes were sitting in the gazebo and you were talking about adopting a little girl, and you said she should be about seven years old, and I’m almost seven, and she needed to have dark hair and dark eyes and have some magic in her.” She nodded again. “And that’s me. You called me and I came.”

Lisa gaped at Sammi for a moment and turned to Rachel, who realized her mouth was open, too. Rachel said, “We did say that, Lisa. I remember. Sammi, how did you know that?”

“I heard you.”

“How?”

“It’s part of her power,” Fred said. “She’s a Shadow Witch, I believe. They’re really rare, according to Momma Sue. Sammi can hear people talking if they are in a shadow.”

“Anybody?” Adele said. “Anywhere?”

“Only if they’re saying something that matters to me, I think,” Sammi said. “And only if they’re in a good, strong shadow. You were talking about me in the gazebo, and that’s how I heard, ’cause it probably makes a good shadow.”

“That’s true,” Rachel said. “It was a bright sunny day, as I recall.”

Lisa’ eyebrows drew down. “How did you know we were talking about you, though? I thought we were just kinda joking around. We didn’t really mean it.” Lisa stopped when she saw the hurt look on Sammi’s face. “Oh, Sammi, I mean...it could have been you...I...we...Mrs. Sikes and I....”

“We’re going to help you,” Rachel said. “That’s what she means. We don’t know exactly how just yet, but don’t you worry, okay?”

Sammi nodded again, and she seemed relieved. Lisa looked at Rachel and locked eyes with her, a silent plea for more help, but Rachel didn’t know what else to say at the moment.

There was an awkward moment of silence before Adele said, “The hot dogs are probably ready, Sammi. Are you still hungry?”

“Yes ma’am,” Sammie said.

“Have you had anything to eat today?” Evelyn asked.

Sammi shook her head. “I used all my money on the bus ticket.”

“Oh gosh, you must be starving. Let’s go get you some food, then we can talk later.”

Jamie was eating at the big table with his friends when he heard the footsteps on the stairs. All heads turned and watched as Fred came into the room with the little girl in tow, followed by the adults.

“This should be interesting,” Rollie said quietly.

Adele and Evelyn led Sammi into the kitchen to get some food, and Lisa and Rachel quickly filled Jamie and the others in on the situation.

“Oh, wow,” Bryce said. “Another crisis, huh?”

“Seems like we attract those,” Rollie said.

“We need to be really nice to Sammi,” Fred said. “She’s scared out of her mind right now.”

“I would be, too,” Melanie said.

Adele brought Sammi from the kitchen to the table, holding a Sprite and the little girl’s paper plate for her. On it was a hot dog and some potato chips.

“Move over, Rollie,” Fred said, “so she can be next to me.” Rollie changed seats, and Fred helped Sammi get situated before sitting beside her. “You guys try not to bombard her with questions.”

Everyone watched Sammi take a wolfish bite from her hot dog, staring at the little girl as if she were an exotic animal at the zoo. Fred glared back at them. “Do you mind?”

“Sorry,” Melanie said and stood up. “Fred, you want me to fix you some food?”

“Would you? A hamburger, please.”

Melanie went to the kitchen and Larry and Garrett came in from the patio. They stood with the mothers around the table and watched while the little stranger finished her meal.

Melanie returned with Fred’s food, and Jamie felt like he’d waited long enough. “So, Sammi, you’re an orphan, huh? We have a little experience with orphans.”

Sammi swallowed a gulp of Sprite and set her can down. “I know. Aiven’s an orphan, too.”

“Did Fred tell you that, or did you learn that with your power?”

“I heard you talking on Eddan’s world.”

“Cool,” Jamie said. “Way cool. Do you know who we are?”

“Unh hunh.” She pointed her finger at each of them as she identified them. “You’re Jamie, Rollie, Bryce, and Melanie.”

“Do know the grownups names?”

She nodded, and Evelyn said, “But how? You’ve never seen us before, have you?”

“I recognize your voices.”

“So you really are a witch,” Garrett said.

“But I’m a good one!” She looked directly at Garrett. “Honest, Mr. Wilkins. I’m not friends with the Devil or anything.”

Garrett coughed, and Larry patted him on the back and said, “Wow, she really does know us, doesn’t she?”

“Unh hunh,” Sammie said again. “You like to tell jokes, Mr. Callahan, and only Mrs. Callahan laughs at them, pretty much, ’cause she laughs a lot.”

Everybody chuckled except Larry. “Well, I think my jokes are funny.” He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at Sammi. “So, what else does our little eavesdropper know about us? Go on. Tell us.”

The frightened look returned to Sammi’s eyes. “No, Mr. Callahan. I didn’t mean it that way...I meant....”

Fred patted Sammi’s arm. “Relax, Sammi. He’s sensitive about the fact that he’s a dork.”

That didn’t seem to make Sammi feel better. She looked back at Larry, and her eyes began to fill with tears and her lip quivered.

“Now look what you did,” Lisa said to Larry. “You scared her again.”

“I didn’t mean to,” Larry said defensively. “I’m sorry Sammi.” He turned to Garrett and shrugged. “How was I to know she’s so sensitive?”

Lisa walked around the table, knelt beside Sammi, and put her hand on Sammi’s shoulder. “It’s okay, honey. He didn’t mean anything by that. Would you like some brownies?”

She nodded again and wiped her eyes with her hand while Rollie passed the Tupperware box to her.

Jamie leaned his elbows on the table and folded his hands together. “Sammi, do you have a place to stay?”

She shook her head, glanced at Lisa, and dropped her gaze back to her lap. “Can I stay here?”

“Of course you can,” Lisa said.

“Don’t I get a say in this?” Larry said, but Lisa quickly grabbed him by the arm and whispered fiercely in his ear. Then he cleared his throat and glanced at Sammi. “I guess I don’t. Uh...we’ll have to clean off the junk from the spare bed, though.”

Lisa turned her attention back to Sammi. “Do you have any clothes?”

“I brought some shorts and a shirt, and some clean underwear.”

“That’s all? No nightgown or pajamas?” Sammi shook her head again and Lisa said, “Fred can loan you a T-shirt to sleep in. Maybe we can scrounge up some more things for you somehow.” Lisa rubbed her forehead with one hand. “But gosh, I don’t think we have any. I’m pretty sure I gave all of Fred’s old clothes to charity.”

“Let’s cross that bridge when we get to it,” Evelyn said. “Right now, let’s finish eating.”

Later, after Bryce and Melanie left, Fred took Sammi upstairs and got her in the bathtub. When Fred returned to the living room, she found the others talking about the little runaway.

“What took you so long, Fred?” Lisa asked.

“We talked for a while. She seems like a sharp kid, and she’s
really
happy to be here, no thanks to you, Dad.”

“Sorry, but I still think we’d better take her someplace official, or we could get in big trouble,” Larry said, sitting on a wooden chair near the couch. “There’s bound to be a county services home for runaways or something.” He looked at Carl. “Isn’t there?”