Shadow Witch (8 page)

Mrs. Malley shook one finger gently at Sammi. “You ran away just in time it seems, before he could take your virtue. You did the right thing, running to Fred’s house.”

“Sammi told me that’s not the main reason she came to my house,” Fred said.

“Oh? Well, what
is
the main reason, Sammi?”

All eyes turned to Sammi and she felt her chin drop. She couldn’t help it. Their eyes were so heavy she couldn’t bear their collective weight. Her mouth suddenly turned dry again and she struggled to talk. “Because...because they love each other so much,” she finally managed to mumble. “And Jamie’s family, and Rollie’s.” She swallowed hard and her chin fell all the way to her chest. “They all do.”

Sammi looked up to see Momma Sue and Mrs. Malley gazing at her, their faces soft and warm as sunshine. Sammi said, “That’s why I came.”

“Well,” Momma Sue, “that’s the best reason of all.”

“Love has a very powerful magic of its own,” Mrs. Malley said.

Momma Sue nodded and grinned. “Just ask Fred about that! Her and that blond-haired boyfriend a’ hers.”

Sammi glanced at Fred and was surprised to see Fred blushing almost as red as her hair. Fred cleared her throat and said, “Sammie thinks that our families may be some kind of triad.”

Momma Sue twisted one side of her mouth up and drew her eyebrows together. “Why...that may well be. That would explain a lot. You all have overcome three big crises in less than a year.” She counted on her fingers. “Jamie had to kill that evil, powerful sorcerer, Renn. You had to trick those two bad witches and escape from ’em. Strong and experienced witches, no less. And Rollie had to outrun a demon and get it to go through a magic doorway to another world. Nobody’s ever done that and lived to tell about, no sir.” She sat back in her chair and nodded firmly. “Ain’t nothin’ trivial about any of those accomplishments. You got lotsa powerful, powerful magic flowin’ around you three. Your families could be part of it. I never heard a’ that before, but that could be true.” She turned to Mrs. Malley. “What do you think?”

Mrs. Malley shrugged and raised her eyebrows. “This is all new to me, but it is interesting.” She nodded gently. “But I must say my life has gotten
very
interesting since you and your friends stopped by my house and fixed my eyes, Fred.”

Fred took a deep breath and the normal color returned to her face. “Jamie thinks our combined magic is attracting these big problems, like gravity. Magical gravity.”

Sammi’s face fell.
Am I a problem?Is that what they think I am?
She looked up at Fred, who seemed to read her mind. Fred put her hand on Sammi’s shoulder and smiled softly at her. “I don’t mean that you’re a problem. We’re glad you came to us. We just have to figure out how to take care of you. That’s all.”

Sammi felt better. Momma Sue stood and straightened her skirt. “Well, that’s enough chattin’ for now. We need to get to learnin’ spells. In light of Sammi’s situation, I think we should work on some stronger wards and hexes for you Fred, so you can keep that girl safe. Have you made her a protective pendant yet?”

“No ma’am. I don’t have any spare necklaces right now. I used them all up making pendants for our moms and Mrs. Wallace and everybody.”

“Don’t matter. We can use one of mine. I think I have a few spares lyin’ around.” She looked at Sammi. “That can be a little gift from me to you. An initiation present for joinin’ the Witches’ Guild.”

Fred wrinkled her brow. “Is there such a thing?”

“No, but we could start one. We got four witches in my livin’ room right now. We get any more, I’m gonna need a bigger house.”

She and Mrs. Malley laughed heartily, and Momma Sue gestured for them to follow her into her kitchen.

* * *

Duane Gundy stumbled over a tree root in his dirt driveway and cursed loudly as he walked from his car to his front stoop. He had not slept in over thirty-six hours, and the stimulating effect of the black pills had worn off. Now everything hurt.

His head felt like an anaconda was squeezing his skull. The late-afternoon summer sun hurt his eyes, forcing him to squint. His jaw ached from grinding his teeth, and his stomach was in a pharmaceutically induced knot. His hand shook as he tried to fit the key in the deadbolt lock, and he finally gave up and pounded on the door with the flat of his hand.

“Open up, Brenda.”

“Is that you, Duane?” came a voice from inside.

“No, it’s Santa Claus. Open the damn door.”

She let him in, and he staggered to the sofa and collapsed on it with a groan. His wife looked at him with one hand pressed to her chest and her face lined with concern. “Any luck?” she asked.

“Does it look like I had any luck?”

“You were gone so long.”

“I went to the bus station in Haynesville to find out if anybody saw Sammi buy a ticket, but they told me I had to ask whoever worked the night shift. So I went back around midnight, and they had some dumb goober working the counter, but he didn’t remember who he sold
what
to. He couldn’t remember his name if it wasn’t printed on his badge.” Gundy kicked his boots off and put his feet up on the coffee table.

“I tried to get him to look up his record of ticket sales for Thursday night, but he said he couldn’t give me those without a court order. So I reached across the counter and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, but he screamed like a little girl and the security cop threw me out.”

“Oh, Duane, I wish you wouldn’t do things like that.” She bit her lip and lowered her brow. “But...but somebody’s bound to have seen her, shouldn’t they?”

“I don’t think she went there.” He rolled his head around and felt the bones in his neck pop. “Sammi’s too chicken to go to a place like that. It’s got creepy winos and druggies hanging around outside. She’d be scared.” He stretched his legs, grimacing at the soreness in his calves. “I’d know for sure, though, if I could get a look at their surveillance footage.”

“Do you think they’d let you?”

“Maybe.”
But not as Duane Gundy
. He thought of his trunk full of disguises and the glimmering of a plan began to form in his mind. “If she left town, she got a ride, more than likely.”

“You don’t think she hitchhiked, do you?”

“Nah. She don’t have the guts. I think she’s still in town somewhere, hidin’ out. If she ain’t at Libby’s house, she’s somewhere else.”

“But where? We’ve asked everybody that Sammi knows.”

“Somebody’s probably got her and they’re lyin’ about it. But I’ll find her, sooner or later.”

“Duane? What if somebody abducted her? I couldn’t bear it.”

“I’d have to kill ’em.” He narrowed his eyes. “But she took her backpack and some of her stuff. The little ingrate ran away, I know it.”

She wrung her hands for a moment and sighed. Then she picked up a suitcase that was sitting next to the wall and started carrying it toward the back of the house.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to unpack. I was going to visit my sister this weekend, remember?”

She looked at him like she was expecting some sympathy, but he wasn’t in the mood to give her any. He lay down on the sofa and closed his eyes. “You can visit her some other time.”

“Duane, what are we going to tell people when they ask where Sammi is? I mean, if we don’t find her soon?”

“Um...tell ’em she went to stay with your sister in Spartanburg.”

She seemed to think about that and said, “What if we don’t get her back?”

“We’ll get her back. I’ll find her, if it’s the last thing I do.”

* * *

Jamie made a doorway for Fred and Sammi to return from Momma Sue’s house, and he spent the rest of the time until dinner trying to learn more about Sammi’s magic. She was not very helpful, though. She seemed more interested in her new necklace.

“Look what Momma Sue gave me!” she said again, displaying it proudly. “It’s a half moon, and it’s silver.
Real
silver.”

She started to twirl it and Jamie quickly held out both hands. “Stop! I’m not wearing my counter charm. I don’t want to get hexed.”

“I have one.” She gestured at a bracelet on her wrist, made out of woven fabric. She shook it and smiled as it danced around her arm.

Jamie scratched his head and sighed. “We’re not getting anywhere right now.” He turned to Fred, sitting beside him on her gold sofa. “Is it almost time to eat?” He had dropped several hints about staying for dinner, but Fred had ignored them so far.

“Yes.” She stood and offered her hand to him. “And you need to go.”

“But I haven’t learned that much about Sammi’s magic yet.”

“Some other time.” She pulled him up from his seat and led him to the foyer, stopping at the front door and putting her arms around his waist.

“But I —”

“Shh!” She gave him a quick kiss and lowered her voice. “Don’t pout. I’ll visit you tonight in a dream.”

“You’d better. I’ve hardly seen you at all this weekend.”

“We have extenuating circumstances.”

“True. But tomorrow I need to talk more with Sammi. I’ll try to get off work early so I can try a few things with her, while the sun is still high enough to give us some good shadows. I really want to see how her power works.”

“Fine, but don’t push her too hard. She’s just a little kid, you know.” She opened the front door, kissed him again, and gave him a gentle push toward the steps. “Now scoot.”

Jamie jammed his hands in his pockets and sulked across the street to his house, where he found his father in the family room, reading the paper in the recliner, and his mother making dinner.

Rachel leaned her head out of the kitchen door. “Jamie, are Fred and Sammi home yet?”

“They’ve been home. I wanted to talk more with Sammi, but Fred kicked me out.”

Rachel pulled off her apron and dropped it on a nearby chair. “I’m going to run over there for a minute. I’ll be right back.”

“What about dinner?”

“It’s almost done. I set the timer on the stove. When it dings, turn the oven off.”

“They’re getting ready to eat, mom.”

“Lisa won’t mind if I just pop in. I want to see Sammi for a minute.”

“You just saw her this morning,” Carl said without looking up from his newspaper.

“Not for very long.” She hurried down the hall to the front door.

When Jamie heard it slam, he said, “Dad, why is she doing that?”

Carl rubbed the side of his face for a moment before turning to Jamie. “She likes Sammi, and I think she feels partly responsible for Sammi being here.”

“But....” Jamie looked down the hall where his mother had just gone. “Don’t you think she’s going a little bit overboard with this? And Fred’s mom too? They’re acting so...I don’t know...weird.”

“Jamie,” Carl said with a sigh. “I think...I think they’re both suffering from empty nest syndrome. Do you know what that is?”

“Yeah, but I haven’t left home yet. School doesn’t start until August.”

“But you’re gone a lot now. We don’t see you as much as we used to.”

“But I have things to do.”

“Like hang out with your friends?”

“Everybody does that. It’s what you do when you’re my age.”

“I know. I did it, too. But your mom is having a hard time dealing with it. You’re her only child.”

“You don’t seem too bothered by it.”

Carl inhaled deeply through his nose and stared at the wall before he answered. “I’m not feeling it as badly as your mother, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think about it. I’m going to miss you when you’re gone.” He turned to Jamie with a sad smile on his face.

“But I can come home from college anytime I want, just by making a doorway.”

“But will you?”

“Yeah, sure.” He nodded. “I will.”

“You say that now, but wait ’till you’re on campus, doing the college thing. You won’t hardly think about us then.”

“That’s not true. I will.”

Carl looked at Jamie silently for a long time. Finally, he gave his head a tight shake and said, “I’m going to remind you of this conversation when it’s October and we haven’t seen you for weeks. And please have some sympathy for your mother right now, and Fred’s mother, too. If they want to dote on this little runaway girl, humor them. Sammi may be just what they need to fill the void when you and Fred leave for school.”

“You make it sound like the Callahans are going to keep Sammi.”

“If they don’t, we might. Your mother and I talked about it, and we’re going to look into what it takes to become a foster parent.”

“But...you’d keep her here?”

“Where else, Jamie?”

“I dunno.” He tried to imagine another child living in their house, taking his place. “I kinda thought one of us would keep her for a few days until we’re sure her foster father isn’t coming after her, and I could figure out if she’s here for some larger reason, a cosmic one, as Bryce calls it.” Jamie scratched his jaw and stared thoughtfully at his father. “I hadn’t thought about where she’d go or what she’d do after that.”

Carl gestured at the newspaper in his lap. “There’s an article in here, another foster care horror story, part of a weekly series. This little boy was taken out of his foster home because somebody found him naked and handcuffed to the front porch, shivering like he’d been there all night. Your mother read this a little while ago, and now she’s even more worried about Sammi. She and Lisa both are.”

“What about Rollie’s mom?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s over at the Callahan’s house right now.”

* * *

Sammi insisted on setting the table for dinner after Rachel and Adele left. Fred leaned against the wall with her arms crossed and watched as the small girl carefully arranged each plate and the silverware. “You’re being a little kiss-up,” Fred told her. Sammi’s eyebrows drew down and Fred laughed.

“You’re going to make me look bad,” Fred said. “Did you set the table at the Gundy’s house?”

“We mostly ate in front of the TV,” she answered, too focused on her task to look at Fred. She eyed the place settings and pointed at each one. “Your mommy and your daddy will sit on the ends, and you’ll sit on that side, and I’ll sit here.” She touched the spot closest to her, turned to Fred and grinned, dimples showing in each cheek.