Shadow Witch (40 page)

He knocked the trim back into place with the bottom of his fist, took one more look around to make sure that he wasn’t observed, and stepped inside to the kitchen. It was small, with cabinets that needed painting and cheap linoleum flooring, but it was clean. He searched it thoroughly before making his way through the house to the second bedroom on his left — Libby’s, he was sure, judging from the pink bedspread and stuffed animals.

If there’s any clue to where Sammi is, it’s gonna be in here
. He scanned the room quickly, then set his toolbox aside and began rummaging through the dresser drawers. Finding nothing, he searched the nightstand, then the closet, but he still came up empty. On a hunch, he dropped to his knees and peered under the bed. There, half-buried beneath a dirty T-shirt, was an envelope covered with clear tape.

He pulled it out, sat on the edge of the bed and examined it. It was torn open and empty, addressed to Libby in awkward block letters, as if written by a child. His breath quickened when he saw the little hearts carefully drawn in each corner.
That’s what Sammi used to do. Sammi must’ve sent this
. The return address was partially ripped and a piece was missing, but he could still make out part of it: —wood Dr., Hendersonville NC.

“Hendersonville!” He thrust one hand in the air triumphantly. “So that’s where you went, Sammi.” He examined it again and nodded while he considered what the missing part of the address might’ve said.
Could be Applewood or Oakwood, or lots of things. I’ll have to get a map of Hendersonville and see
.

But I know where she is now. I can find her. Might take a few days, but I’ll get her eventually
.

He stood and stared at the floor while he considered his next course of action.
Gonna need more money, though. For gas and food and...damn, I’ll need to get a hotel room, probably. I’m gonna have to sell something else, and sell it fast. Something big
.

* * *

Jamie returned to the school in Rivershire late Friday afternoon and found that everyone had left except for Rachel, Evelyn, and Sammi. “Sorry it took me so long to get here,” he said. “I couldn’t leave work.” Then he noticed the large package that Rachel had. “What’s that?”

“It’s Miss Duffy’s art!” Sammi said. “Lots and lots of it, and it’s all beautiful.”

“She left her portfolio with us for the weekend,” Rachel said, “so that I can show it to Lisa and Adele.”

“Can I see it?” Jamie said.

“We want to go home first. We need to talk about something.”

Jamie could tell from the look in her eyes that it wasn’t for Sammi’s ears, so he made a doorway back into the Callahan’s living room. Sammi immediately ran upstairs to see Lisa and Larry, and Rachel set the portfolio on the gold couch.

“So,” Jamie said, “how did it go today with our new teachers?”

Rachel took a slow breath and glanced at Evelyn before answering. “Awkward. Miss Duffy still doesn’t want to have anything to do with Mr. Winston.”

“How does he deal with it?”

“It doesn’t seem to bother him as much as it bothers me and Mom.”

“But Miss Duffy’s doing a good job with the kids,” Evelyn added. “They both are. It’s just that she doesn’t like to be in the same room with Mr. Winston, for some reason. She does ask an awful lot of questions when he’s not around, though. Usually about the school. I think she’s worried about her job security.”

“I can understand that.” Then he gestured at the portfolio. “Is the artwork really that good?”

“Oh, yes,” Rachel said, and Evelyn agreed. “There’s a lot of it, and it’s all wonderful. There are a couple of paintings I’d like to get for our house, and I’m sure Lisa and Adele will want something.”

“I wouldn’t mind having one or two of those myself,” Evelyn said.

“Can we afford that?” Jamie said. “That’s a lot of art, if we’re still getting stuff for the stone house, too. What’s she going to charge us?”

“I think her expectations are really low,” Rachel said. “We budgeted five hundred dollars for decorating the stone house, so why don’t we give her all of that and see how many pieces she’ll let us have?”

“Or something that might be better,” Evelyn said, “is to offer part of her payment in art supplies. She’s mentioned to me a couple of times that it’s difficult for her to get paint and stuff in Rivershire, and she’s running low on some things.”

“I think there’s an art supply store in Hendersonville,” Jamie said. “If not, there’s bound to be one in Asheville.”

“We should go someplace where nobody would recognize us,” Rachel said, “since she’ll have to go with us.”

Jamie nodded and rubbed his chin. “Good idea. Talk to her about it and see if that’s okay.”

“There’s another thing we need to talk about.” Rachel lowered her voice to a near-whisper and said, “Sammi is still really upset about what happened to Mrs. Gundy. She wants to know when you and Carl are going to go see about her.”

“Has Sammi heard anything from them with her magic?”

“No, and that’s bothering her a lot.”

“Well, we can’t go tomorrow because I have to work in the morning, and dad and I have to install the septic tank at the Rivershire Inn in the afternoon. It’ll have to wait until after church on Sunday.”

* * *

Late Saturday afternoon, Sammi was bored. She was sitting by herself on the couch in the Callahan’s living room, flicking through channels on the television. Her colored markers and several sheets of paper, already drawn on, littered the cushion beside her. Fred was still at work and Mr. and Mrs. Callahan were in the front yard, weeding the flowerbed or something, Sammi didn’t know for sure. She wasn’t allowed to go out with them because the neighbors might see her, and she was supposed to keep a low profile. That’s what Mr. Sikes kept telling her.

It means I’m hiding
. Sammi slid lower on the couch and scowled at the television. On the cartoon show, Spongebob and Patrick were doing something silly. It looked stupid.
Everything is stupid
. She looked up when she heard the front door open, and Mrs. Callahan came in, her white T-shirt damp with sweat and a few stray hairs that had escaped her clip were sticking to her neck. “Whew! She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. “It’s hot today.” She sat on the edge of the couch and glanced at the television. “Whatcha’ watchin’?”

“Nothin’,” Sammi mumbled. “There’s nothin’ on.”

“Want me to borrow another DVD from the Wilkins? They might have something you haven’t seen yet.”

Sammi shrugged her answer.

Mrs. Callahan regarded her with her mouth twisted up sideways and her eyes thoughtful. “You look bored.”

Sammi crossed her arms and pushed out her lower lip. “There’s nothin’ to do.”

“Why don’t you draw a pretty picture for Mrs. Sikes or Mrs. Wilkins?”

Sammi slunk even lower on the couch, so that she was nearly horizontal, and her lip protruded farther. “Tired of drawin’.” Mrs. Callahan seemed to be considering another suggestion, but Sammi didn’t wait to hear it. “There’s nobody to play with. And...and even if there was, I couldn’t play outside with them, ’cause somebody might see me.”

“You could go swing on Jamie’s playset.”

“Not by myself, and there’s nobody home at their house to watch me. You said so.”

“I did, didn’t I?” Mrs. Callahan rubbed her cheek with one finger and stared thoughtfully at Sammi for a moment. “It’s just going to be you and me tonight, since Fred is going to be with Jamie and Larry wants to watch the baseball game. So...how about if I take a quick shower and run get us some fried chicken from Ingles? Then we can go to the theater and watch the new Disney movie, just the two of us.”

Sammi sat up and said, “But what if somebody sees me? I’m supposed to keep a low profile.”

Lisa shrugged. “That movie’s been out for two weeks already, and most people have probably seen it. Plus, a lot of folks are on vacation now, so there won’t be anybody at the theater.”

Sammi suddenly felt her spirits lift. “A movie? Just you and me?”

Lisa patted Sammi on the knee. “Just you and me, kid.”

* * *

Fred had just changed into a lightweight nightgown when Nova tiptoed into the bedroom.

“Was Sammi asleep?” Fred said quietly.

“Yeah.” Nova eased the door closed behind her. “I was hoping she’d still be awake.”

“It’s way past her bedtime, and she’s worn out. She went to the movies with my mom.”

“Wasn’t that kinda risky? I thought she was supposed to be staying out of sight.

“They ran into someone my mom knows, but she said she covered up for Sammi okay.”

Nova kicked off her sandals and sat on the air mattress, which was on the floor between Fred’s bed and the closet. She patted it a couple of times and nodded. “This should be comfortable enough.”

Fred yawned and said. “How did it go at Rollie’s house tonight?”

“Good. Mr. Wilkins cooked some steaks on the grill, and I helped Mrs. Wilkins with the salad and we chatted for a while. I like her. She’s cool.”

“She and my mom have been friends for a long, long time,” Fred said with a nod. “Then what did you do?”

“Well, we ate, and after dinner we went out on the patio and Mr. Wilkins lit the tiki torches. They must’ve kept the mosquitos away, because I didn’t get a single bite.”

“It was magic. I put a ward around their patio for them. I did it for my house and Jamie’s deck, too. Momma Sue taught me how to make it, and it’s pretty easy. It keeps all the bugs out, but it doesn’t bother the birds.”

“I gotta learn that spell. Are we going to Momma Sue’s tomorrow?”

“Jamie can’t make a doorway ’cause he’s going with his dad and John Paul to check on Mrs. Gundy.”

Nova grunted and frowned. “I hope that lady’s all right. Her husband sounds like a real S.O.B.”

“He is, and Sammi’s upset because she likes Mrs. Gundy.”

Nova stretched out on top of her sheets and put her hands behind her head.
“You know, it’s interesting if you think about it. If Mr. Gundy wasn’t such a mean-ass jerk, Sammi wouldn’t be here.”

“Neither would you.”

Nova’s brow wrinkled and she stared at Fred for a moment, then she said, “Oh, I get it. Because Sammi wouldn’t have told you about me and Jamie wouldn’t have made a doorway to Hampstead and all that.”

“Those little connections are the kinds of things that Jamie and Melanie like to theorize about all the time. It gets their geeky brains goin’.” Fred fluffed both of the pillows on her bed against the headboard and leaned back on them. “So what else did you do at Rollie’s house?”

“Well, after we hung out on the patio for a while, Rollie’s parents went inside and watched TV while Rollie and I hung out some more.” She nodded, hands still behind her head, staring at the ceiling. “Later, they showed me a video of one of Rollie’s last basketball games, when he was using his magic and didn’t know it.” She gave a low whistle. “Boy, that was amazing! He was so fast, like
lightning
. He just blew past the other players like they were statues.”

“You should’ve been there in the gym to see it in person. It was really exciting.”

“I bet,” Nova said. “He could’ve gotten a scholarship easily, playing like that. Too bad he quit.”

“Well, he had to. It wasn’t fair, using his power to take advantage of the other players.”

“They had an advantage, too. They were tall. His power seems to even things out, to me.”

“No it doesn’t. His magic makes him supernaturally good, and that’s not right, and he knew it. That’s why he quit.”

“Dang, you people have this thing about magic and morals, don’t you?”

“We’re not the only ones. Momma Sue and Mrs. Malley do, too.”

“Still.” Nova sucked in a slow breath and rolled her head back and forth on her pillow. “You guys could probably rule the world if you wanted to, with all the power you have together.”

“Rule the world? Why would we want to do
that?
Sounds like a huge hassle.”

“Um...well, now that I think about it, I suppose it would be. I guess staying under the radar has its advantages.”

“If you want any semblance of a normal life, yeah.”

“Normal...I wouldn’t know what that is. But it seems like your folks have adjusted to the situation, huh? Rollie’s parents are okay with it. I like them.” She nodded slowly. “Rollie’s cool, too. I, um, know this sounds nosy, but...how come he doesn’t have a girlfriend? He’s kinda cute.”

“He did, for a long time. Her name was Tanisha, but when Rollie’s dad kicked him out of the house back in April, she wasn’t very supportive, and I think that made Rollie mad.” Fred shrugged. “She’s kinda shallow, I hate to say. She was a cheerleader with Melanie and she’s kinda preppy and stuff.”

“Not me.” Nova flicked one of her dreadlocks with a fingernail. “I’m anti-preppy.”

Fred laughed and said, “Yes, you are, and proud of it.”

Nova grinned at her but didn’t answer. Fred said, “Plus, any girl Rollie dates is going to have to be cool about our magic and everything, and Tanisha probably wouldn’t be.”

Nova stared at the ceiling again and worked her mouth slowly from side to side. Then she said, “Rollie sure is talented. You all are. He showed me another video of one of your shows, and then he got out his dummy, Rufus.” Nova chuckled. “He did a little bit of ventriloquism for me, and I laughed so hard my stomach hurt.” She turned to face Fred. “I wish I had talent like you guys.”

“You can write. I couldn’t write a poem to save my life.” Fred rolled onto her side and supported herself on her elbow. “You were supposed to show us some of your stuff. When are you going to do that?”

Nova waved a dismissive hand. “I’m gonna throw all that old crap out. It’s too depressing. I’ve been writing some new stuff lately that I like a lot better. I’ll let you see it when I finish something I’m proud of.”

“If you don’t do it soon, I’ll try to find some of your old stuff online.”

Nova didn’t answer. Her gaze was fixed on the ceiling again, her face drawn up in a half-smile for a long moment. Finally she said, “You know, you guys are so lucky. I don’t think you even know how lucky you are. You got to grow up together, best friends and everything, right next door, practically. And you knew about the magic and stuff, and helped each other out.” She nodded slowly. “I hardly had
any
really close friends, not like Jamie and Rollie.”