Shadow Witch (45 page)

She forgot about me
.

She started biting her nails again, but when she tasted blood on one finger, she sat on her hands so she wouldn’t do any more damage.
Hurry. Please, please hurry!

Just when she thought she couldn’t stand it any longer, the door opened again and a large man came in with Miss Francesco. He had thinning black hair and wore a yellow short-sleeved shirt with a blue bow tie. He stood in front of Sammi with his hands on his hips and looked down at her and smiled faintly.

“You must be Sammi Price. I’m Mr. Norris.” He regarded Sammi for a moment with one eye narrowed. “So, you’ve run away from your foster home, huh? Pretty young for that, aren’t you? Usually it’s the teenagers who do that.”

Sammi couldn’t answer. Her tongue felt thick and dry, like she’d just eaten a handful of sawdust.

“Miss Francesco wants me to authorize a request to transfer custody of you from Bartram County to us. We don’t normally do that, but Miss Francesco insisted that I talk to you before I say no.”

Sammi managed to swallow as she looked up at the big, official-looking man, but her throat was still too dry to talk.

“Miss Francesco says that you claim your foster father abused you. Is that true?” Sammi nodded and he said, “Well...that’s still not enough of a reason to transfer custody. Bartram County can find another home for you after we send you back.”

Sammi suddenly found her voice. “No! Mr. Gundy will get me! I can’t go back. I won’t! I’ll run away again.”

“He’s your foster father?”

“Yes, and he’s mean and bad as the Devil.”

“Mr. Norris,” Miss Francesco said, “Mr. Gundy is now wanted for the murder of his wife. The policeman that brought Sammi in thinks that Mr. Gundy may be looking for Sammi, that he’s obsessed with her.”

“Huh.” Mr. Norris wrinkled his brow and exhaled slowly. “Boy...that’s awful. We don’t want anything bad happening to you, Sammi.” He pinched his mouth up and looked thoughtfully at her. “Maybe we should go ahead and request custody. It’s not
that
big of a deal. I just have to fax the paperwork to Bartram County and they’ll probably go along with it. Shouldn’t take more than an hour. After that, I’ll get Miss Francesco to find a temporary home for you until we can place you with a good foster family.”

“I wanna stay with the Callahans,” Sammi said quickly.

“Who?”

“Larry and Lisa Callahan,” Miss Francesco said smoothly. “They just finished the foster parenting course last night.”

Mr. Norris frowned. “How do you know about them, Sammi?”

“Uh...Miss Francesco told me about them...a little while ago.”

Miss Francesco nodded. “They’re a real nice couple, and they’re hoping to foster a little girl if they can.”

“And they have a daughter named Fred,” Sammi said. “I wanna live with them.”

“Fred?” Mr. Norris pursed his lips. “That name sounds familiar. Is that Fred Callahan, the girl who got kidnapped back in December?”

“Yes,” Miss Francesco said. “But she’s back home and she’s fine.”

“I remember that family.” A lopsided smile spread across his face. “I saw them on the news. That’s great that Fred got back safe and sound.” His big head bobbed slowly for a moment as he looked at Sammi, and Sammi could almost see the gears turning in his brain.
Please say yes
. Sammi willed it as hard as she could, her eyes locked with his.
Say yes. Say yes
.

Then he shrugged. “What the heck. If Miss Francesco says they’re a good family, who am I to argue?” He chuckled and patted the dark-haired social worker on the shoulder. “I’ll go send the paperwork to Bartram right now, then we’ll see about getting you placed with the Callahans, Sammi. How’s that sound?”

It sounded wonderful. She had never heard anything that sounded better.

Two hours later, Sammi was in the car, on her way home with Mrs. Callahan. “We did it!” Mrs. Callahan grinned joyfully. “Can you believe it, Sammi? I get to be your foster mom. I’m so happy I could just pop.” She glanced across the car at Sammi. “Aren’t you?”

“Yes ma’am. Very happy.”

Happy and relieved. Sammi wasn’t going back to Bicksby and she wasn’t going to live with a family of strangers. She was going to live with the Callahans, what she’d wanted for a long time.

Mrs. Callahan stopped at a red light and rummaged through her purse until she pulled out her cell phone and handed it to Sammi. “We need to call everybody and tell them the good news. Call Larry first. He’s in my phone book. He’ll be ecstatic. Call Fred, too. She’s at work.” She tapped the steering wheel and nodded. “Call Adele and leave a voice mail, ’cause she can’t take personal calls. Then call Carl and Jamie.”

“And Mrs. Sikes and Mrs. Wallace and Mrs. Moore,” Sammi said. “They’re at the school.”

“You know that number by heart? Yeah, call them.” Lisa laughed heartily, a rich, warm sound that Sammi loved so much. “You’re gonna call another planet and it’s not even long distance! Do we have a good cell phone plan or what?”

Sammi laughed too. “Can I call Melanie and Bryce and Nova?”

“Sure.” Lisa waved one hand loosely. “Call everybody.” She grinned again. “I feel like celebrating. We should go out to eat tonight.”

“Mr. Gundy might see me.”

“Oh, right. Well...we can celebrate at home. Tell everybody to come over after work and I’ll get takeout from the barbecue place or something. We’re going to have a little party! The Welcome Sammi to the Family party.”

Sammi liked the way that sounded, too.
Family
. She rolled that word around in her mind, savoring it like a special piece of candy, all the way home.

Rachel was the last person to leave the Callahan’s house after the party that night. She paused at the front door with Lisa and looked at Sammi, asleep on the couch, curled up against Larry’s side. Larry was asleep, too, his chin propped on his fist, his elbow leaning on the arm rest.

Rachel smiled at them and said, “They look so tired.”

“I don’t think either of them slept very much last night,” Lisa said. “I know I didn’t. I heard Larry tossin’ and turnin’ ’til almost dawn.” Lisa shook her head gently as she looked at the dozing pair. “Sammi sure seemed happy tonight, didn’t she?”

“We’re
all
happy,” Rachel said. “You should’ve been at the school today, right after Sammi called with the good news. I announced it to the other kids and they all cheered. Leora was so happy that she cried.”

“It feels really good, you know? I always wondered why people would want to be foster parents, because it seemed weird, letting a strange kid stay in your home, but now I know why they do it. Doing something this special for a child, especially somebody like Sammi, it’s just...amazing.”

“She’s such a good kid.”

“I learned a lot while taking the foster parent course. Not all kids in the foster system are as wonderful as Sammi. Many of them have cognitive and physical disabilities, sometimes because their birth mothers drank alcohol or abused drugs while they were pregnant. Those kids have it rough, and they can be a challenge to deal with. Some foster parents are willing to take in kids like that, but I don’t think I’m a strong enough person.”

“Yes you are, Lisa. Remember when Fred was kidnapped?” You managed to get through that okay.”

“Are you kidding? I was a complete mess. I don’t think I could’ve made it if it weren’t for you and Adele.”

“Yes you would’ve.”

“Well, thanks for saying that.” She gave a quick smile. “You know what’s funny? Some of the families in Bartram County who fostered Sammi sent her back to child services because they thought she had a disability, because she hears voices.”

“Because she’s a witch.”

“Right. But around this house, it helps her to fit in better.”

“I doubt that all foster kids are as happy as she is. But not many foster kids get to pick their own foster family.”

Lisa’s eyes began to glisten. “She did pick us, didn’t she? From hundreds of miles away. Of all the countless families out there, she picked mine. And yours, too, really.”

“She picked all of us. She knew what we’re like long before she met us, and she decided that this was the place she needed to be.”

Chapter 24

Duane Gundy considered moving his automobile again after he’d gotten more suspicious stares from the neighbors. He was on Birchwood Drive, searching for Sammi, after spending the earlier part of the day back on Applewood. People had stared at him there, too, as he tried to slouch inconspicuously behind the steering wheel, parked on the side of the road, watching the cars come and go.

Another walker glared at him as they passed Gundy on the sidewalk and his paranoia got the best of him.
I’d better get out of here before somebody calls the cops on me
.

He started the engine and drove away, and as soon he turned onto the main road, he found himself stuck behind a slow-moving RV on the two-lane highway.

Damn tourists
. He pulled up to their back bumper and honked his horn. The car behind Gundy was tailgating him, too, and others were beginning to stack up in their wake, a parade of disgruntled motorists.

He laid on the horn again and rolled down his window, ready to flag a middle finger at the giant aluminum tortoise, when a police car zoomed past, lights flashing, but with their siren off, heading in the opposite direction. He watched it in the rearview mirror until it turned into the subdivision he’d just left, and he exhaled heavily.

Damn, that was close. They’re probably lookin’ for me. If I hadn’t been pushed up so close to this RV, they’d a’ seen me. Hell, they might already have
.

He pounded his fist on the steering wheel for a few seconds, then gunned the engine and pulled around the slow-moving monstrosity in front of him, forcing the oncoming car in the other lane to jam on their brakes.

As he sped away he thought,
Time to get another vehicle. I’ll get one tonight
.

* * *

Carl waited in the Callahan’s living room with Lisa and Larry for Jamie to bring everyone home from the Rivershire School.

Jamie stepped through the doorway and seemed to immediately notice the serious look on his father’s face. “What happened?” Jamie said.

“Sammi,” Lisa said, “why don’t you go say hello to Fred? She’s upstairs in her room.”

“But I wanna hear what happened.”

“Fred really wants to see you right now.”

“But I —”

“
Now
, Sammi.”

Sammi frowned and trudged upstairs. Carl watched her go, and when she was out of earshot he said, “I just got word from the police station. Somebody called to complain about a suspicious-looking man in a silver Camry on Birchwood Drive.

“What was he doing?” Evelyn asked.

“Sitting on the side of the road. Apparently he parked on one end of the street for a while and then moved to the other, and the neighbors thought he might be casing their houses. They had a couple of burglaries there a few months ago, and they’re pretty uptight about strangers watching them from parked cars.”

“Was it Gundy?” Jamie asked.

“We don’t know. Nobody thought to get the license plate number, but my gut feeling is that it was. Unfortunately, we don’t have the manpower to stake out every street in Hendersonville with a name that ends in
wood
.”

“What are we going to do about it?” Rachel asked. “Should we take Sammi somewhere and hide her?”

“Personally, I think she’s safe right here,” Carl said, “but Lisa wants her to stay in the stone house.”

“Just for tonight,” Lisa said. “I’d feel better if she did.”

Larry shook his head. “I’m trying to talk her out of it. I think Sammi’s safe enough here where we can keep an eye on her, and it’ll be really hard for us to get to work on time if we go to that house. Jamie would have to get up at 5:45 to make a doorway for us, and I don’t want to ask him to do that.”

“I’ll do it if I have to.”

“I know you will, but I’d rather not ask you to.”

“Fred has already offered to stay with her tonight at the stone house,” Lisa said, “but I’d feel better if she had an adult with her.”

“I’ll stay with them,” Evelyn said. “I need to talk to Mrs. Tully in the morning anyway. But I’ll need to go to my condo to get a few things first, like some clothes and something for breakfast.”

“I’ll make lunches for you in the morning,” Rachel said. “I can bring them when Jamie makes a doorway for me. It was hot in Rivershiretoday, so it’ll probably be warm tonight in that house. You’ll have to sleep with the windows open.”

Carl shook his head once. “This sure is complicated.”

“But I think we’ll all sleep better tonight.”

“Scoot over, Sammi!” Fred said, “It’s too hot to snuggle.”

“But I’m scared.”

“No you’re not. You just want to snuggle.” They were lying together on the bed in one of the rooms at the stone house, and even though the ceiling fan was turning at full speed, Fred felt sticky and hot. “I’m not used to sleeping without air conditioning in the summer.”

“Mr. Gundy made us sleep without it. He said he didn’t want to run up his electric bill.”

“But I bet it wasn’t this hot. It’s almost July. Hottest time of the year, in Hendersonville and in Rivershire, too, I bet.” Fred threw the sheets off of her body and panted for a few seconds. “Do you feel safer here?”

“I guess. But I wanna stay with your mommy and daddy. They didn’t read to me tonight, and I won’t get to see them in the morning.”

“We’ll probably stay here just this one time so my mom can calm down.”

“I hate Mr. Gundy. I wish he’d go away forever.”

“He will, once Mr. Sikes catches him. Mr. Gundy will probably spend the rest of his life in prison.” Fred fanned herself with one hand and panted again. “You know, this would be kinda fun if it wasn’t so blazing hot.”

“Mrs. Wallace seemed happy to be here tonight. Why is she sleeping on the day bed instead of the other bedroom?”

“That’s where she slept when we stayed here during spring break. She likes it for some reason. She’s probably happy ’cause she’s looking forward to seeing Mrs. Tully in the morning, so they can chat. I think she wants to talk to Mrs. Tully about the upcoming court date for Aiven’s adoption challenge.”