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Authors: Nancy Krulik

BOOK: Witch Switch
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“I'll say,” Emma W. agreed, hurrying over to Katie. “George and Kevin told me that the Witch of Elm Lane had captured you and eaten you for supper.”
Katie looked over at George. “Why did you tell her that?” she asked him.
“Well, when we didn't see you outside the witch's house, Kevin, Benjamin, and I just thought—” George began.
“Well, you thought wrong,” Katie told him. “I'm fine. And if you were so worried, why didn't you call me later?”
George looked down at the ground. “I don't know. We didn't think of it, I guess. We were just so freaked out. I mean, there was the witch, and that unlucky cat, and ...”
“Black cats don't bring bad luck,” Katie insisted. “And there is no Witch of Elm Lane.”
“Yes, there is,” George insisted. “I saw her. And so did Kevin and Benjamin. She came out onto her porch and yelled at us.”
By now, a whole crowd of kids had gathered around. It seemed to Katie that George and Kevin must have told everyone in the whole school about what had happened—or what they
thought
had happened—yesterday afternoon.
“Well, at least you and I can be partners in the Halloween parade again,” Suzanne told Katie.
Katie looked at her curiously. “You're not mad at me anymore?”
Suzanne shook her head. “Of course not. You've already had your bad luck. You got stuck in that haunted house with the witch!”
“I told you. She's not a—” Katie began.
But Benjamin interrupted her. “She was the scariest witch I've ever seen,” he boasted to the other kids.
Katie rolled her eyes. “How many witches have you seen, Benjamin?” she asked him.
“You know what I mean,” Benjamin told her. “When she came out onto her porch, she even had her broomstick with her.”
“How did you manage to escape from the witch's house, Katie?” Isobel asked her. “You must have been really scared in there.”
For a moment, Katie thought about bragging about making a great escape from the clutches of an evil witch. After all, the kids did think she was really brave and everything.
But she couldn't do that. It wouldn't be fair to Mrs. Hamilton. She was such a nice old lady. Katie didn't want the kids to be frightened of her anymore.
“There's nothing to be scared of,” Katie told Isobel. “There's no witch in that house.”
“Then who did George, Benjamin, and Kevin see?” Isobel asked her.
“That's Mrs. Hamilton. She lives there,” Katie told her.
“Nobody lives there ... except the witch,” Kevin insisted.
“Mrs. Hamilton just moved in. She's trying to clean the house up. That's why she was carrying a broom when you saw her,” Katie explained to Benjamin. “And she's not a witch. She's just a nice old lady.”
“It looked like a witch's broom,” Kevin insisted.
“Well, it's not,” Katie told him. “It's just a broom. And Mrs. Hamilton is really great. She collects clocks. Really cool ones. And you should see the jack-o'-lanterns she carves. They're amazing.”
“The witch
made
you tell us that just to trick us,” George insisted.
“Yeah,” Benjamin agreed. “You're bewitched, Katie.”
Katie shook her head. “No, I'm not. It's true. I saw the clocks and the pumpkins. And you can, too. Mrs. Hamilton wants us all to go to her house to trick-or-treat on Halloween.”
“Are you nuts?” Kevin exclaimed. “I'm never going back there.”
“Me either,” George agreed.
Katie looked over at Emma W. “How about you?” she asked her. “We could go together.”
Emma shook her head. “Sorry, Katie. I don't really like scary stuff like witches.”
Katie shook her head sadly. Mrs. Hamilton was going to be so disappointed if no one came to her house the next day. And she was such a nice lady. The kids would really like her if they got to know her. If only Katie could find a way for them to meet her.
Out of the corner of her eye, Katie caught a glimpse of Mr. Guthrie walking into the school building. He was carrying some more Halloween decorations to put up in class 4A, to get the room ready for tomorrow's Halloween celebration.
Just then, Katie got one of her great ideas. “Mr. Guthrie!” she shouted. “Wait up. I need to ask you something!”
Chapter 15
As Katie walked onto the playground the next morning, she could hear some of the kids talking about her. Well, not about her, actually. The person the kids were whispering about was Mrs. Hamilton. She'd met Katie on the playground. Now they were walking into the school building together.
“Isn't that the Witch of Elm Lane?” Katie heard Kevin whisper to George.
George nodded nervously as he stared at the tall woman in the long black coat. “She sure looks like her.”
“Why is the witch going into our school?” Becky wondered.
“And why is Katie with her?” Jeremy asked. “I hope she's okay.”
“I don't know. Katie looks kind of like a witch, too,” Mandy pointed out. “I mean, she's dressed all in black, she's carrying a broom, and she's wearing that creepy cape.”
“She's not supposed to wear that now! It's supposed to be for the parade!” Suzanne blurted out. She covered her mouth quickly. She'd just ruined her and Katie's Halloween surprise.
But the kids had bigger things to be concerned about than Suzanne's costume.
“Maybe the witch bit Katie on the neck and turned her into a witch, too,” Benjamin suggested.
“That's vampires ... again!” George reminded him. “Sheesh.”
“Wow, Katie is really brave,” Emma W. said. “She's the only person I know who would stand that close to a witch. I sure wouldn't. I'd be too scared.”
Kadeem pointed to the huge object hidden inside a brown shopping bag. Mrs. Hamilton was holding the bag in her arms. “I think the Witch of Elm Lane is carrying a cauldron,” he said.
“I wonder if she's going to boil up a witch's brew?” Isobel suggested.
“I'm
definitely
not eating anything they serve in the cafeteria today,” Rachel said. “Who knows what will be in it?”
Katie tried hard not to laugh as she walked past the fourth- and fifth-graders. They were all acting like such scaredy-cats.
Still, the kids weren't all wrong. Mrs. Hamilton was about to do something almost magical inside the school.
And only Katie knew just what that was.
“Welcome, goblins,” Mr. G. said as he greeted the kids in class 4A a few moments later. “Happy Halloween!”
Mr. G. was all dressed up for Halloween. That didn't surprise his class, though. They'd seen their teacher in costumes before. He'd once come to school dressed as Abraham Lincoln to teach the kids about American history. And while they were studying ancient Egypt, he'd come dressed as King Tut. But this was the most amazing costume they'd ever seen him in.
Mr. G. was dressed as Frankenstein. He was wearing big black boots and a dark suit with big shoulders. He had on a black wig, and he'd painted big ugly scars on his face. He'd even attached two big rubber bolts to his neck.
But it wasn't Mr. G.'s costume that frightened the kids the most. They were all much more scared of Katie and Mrs. Hamilton. The two of them were standing in the far corner of the room in front of a table. There were knives of all sizes on the table. Beside the knives was a big black pot.
“She's going to cook us!” George shouted. He ran for the door.
Mr. G. stopped him. “George! That's not any way to treat a guest. Now sit back down and apologize,” the teacher insisted.
George shook his head, hard. “I'm getting out of here,” he insisted. “Now!”
“What's the matter, George?” Katie asked mysteriously. “Don't you want to see what we have in store for you?”
George gulped. “I . . . I . . . don't think so.”
“Sure you do,” Katie told him. “We're going to do something absolutely be
witch
ing.”
“I want to get out of here,” George insisted, shivering.
“George, sit down, now,” Mr. G. told him strongly.
George bit his lower lip and did what he was told.
“Now, apologize to Katie and Mrs. Hamilton,” Mr. G. continued.
“Sorry,” George mumbled nervously under his breath.
Katie smiled strangely as she picked up a small screwdriver-shaped knife and handed it to Mrs. Hamilton. “We're ready to begin.”
Chatper 16
“Katie, will you please pull out the victim?” Mrs. Hamilton asked in a dark, mysterious, Halloween-like voice.
“Certainly,” Katie replied with a grin. She reached down under the table.
“No, Katie, don't hurt anyone!” Kadeem cried out.
“Not me!” George said, burrowing himself down deep into his beanbag chair. “I don't want to be a victim!”
“Me neither!” Kevin shouted with a shudder.
“What's the matter with you guys?” Katie asked them. She pulled a big orange pumpkin out of the shopping bag beneath the table.
“Tha . . . that's your victim?” George asked. “A pumpkin?”
“Of course,” Katie told him. “Mrs. Hamilton is going to show us how to carve fancy jack-o'-lanterns. What did you guys think we were doing?”
George blushed. “Nothing. I mean . . .”
“I told you Mrs. Hamilton carved amazing jack-o'-lanterns,” Katie explained. “My mom and I went over to her house and watched her carve one last night. It was really cool.”
Mr. G. smiled at his class. “Katie thought a pumpkin-carving demonstration would be a really special treat for Halloween. And speaking of treats ...” The teacher walked over to the big black pot on the table. “When we're finished, we're going to toast the pumpkin seeds. You won't believe how delicious they're going to taste!”

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