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I settle Art down and head for the door, carrying him under one arm like a skateboard. He swings his fists around, looking for something to hit. He almost never hits or bites me, but I’m the only one who’s safe around him. He’s given Mom a black eye a few times, and bit one of Dad’s finger-nails off once. He’ll be a real terror when he’s a couple of years older.
We set off down the street. There’s nobody else around. A quiet spring day. Birds are twittering in the trees. A cow moos in the distance. I feel warm and happy. Looking forward to summer. Dad said we might go to the beach for a week or two. We haven’t been on a vacation since we left the city. I’m excited about it.
“You’ve never seen a beach, have you?” I say to Art. “It’s great. More sand than you could imagine. Salt water, not like the ponds here. Seaweed. We can swim and make sand-castles. Eat ice cream and cotton candy. You’ll love it. And if we can’t go, well, we’ll camp around here instead. Find a lake, maybe near a small town, with a movie theater and amusement arcades and —”
“Thief!” someone screeches.
We’ve just passed the witch’s house. I look back. The front door’s open. Mrs. Egin is standing on the doorstep. Her eyes are wild and she’s trembling. Her hair’s normally tied in a ponytail, but today it’s hanging loose, strands blowing across her face in the light breeze.
“Who’s the thief?” she mutters, staggering towards me.
“Mrs. Egin? Are you all right? Do you want me to get help?” I set Art down to my left and step in front of him, shielding him with my legs, in case she falls on top of him.
Mrs. Egin stops less than a foot away. She’s mumbling to herself, strange words, no language that I know. Her lips are bleeding — she’s bitten through them in several places. Her fingers are wriggling like ten angry snakes.
“Mrs. Egin?” I say softly, heart racing.
“Such a beautiful baby,” the witch says, eyes fixed on Art. He’s staring up at her silently. Mrs. Egin bends and reaches for Art, cooing, smiling crookedly.
“Leave him alone,” I gasp, shuffling Art back with my left foot, standing firmly in front of him now, blocking her way.
“Not yours!” she snarls, glaring at me. I’ve never seen an adult look at me that way, with total hate. It scares me. I feel like I have to pee. Clench my legs together so I don’t have an accident.
But, scared as I am, I don’t move. I stand my ground. I have to protect Art.
“Are you ill, Mrs. Egin?” I ask, my voice a lot calmer than I feel.
“Find him!” she shouts in reply. “Find the thief! Beautiful baby.” She smiles at Art again, then mumbles to herself, like a minute ago, but gesturing at Art this time, as though she’s casting a spell on him.
I look for help but we’re all alone. I can’t just stand here and let this go on. No telling what she’ll do next. So, without taking my eyes off her, I stoop, grab Art and awkwardly hold him up behind my back. Art squeals happily — he thinks I’m giving him a piggyback ride.
“We have to go now,” I say, edging away. Mrs. Egin’s still looking at the spot where Art was. I notice that lots of the patches of light around us are pulsing. They’re closer than they normally are, as if hedging us in. But I can’t worry about the lights. Not with Mrs. Egin acting like a real, mad witch.
“Soon!” Mrs. Egin barks, and her eyes snap upwards. “All will be happening soon. They thought I didn’t have it in me. Said I was weak. But they were wrong. I have the power. I can serve.” Her hands go still. Her eyes soften. “You will see me die,” she says quietly.
Tears of confusion and fear come to my eyes. “Mrs. Egin, I . . . I’ll get help . . . I’ll get someone who can —”
“Thief!” she yells, silencing me, wild and twisted again. Her hands come up and wave angrily at me. “Find the thief! Soon! You’ll see. The mad old witch going up in a puff of smoke. Boom, Kernel Fleck. Boom!”
She laughs hysterically. When you hear a witch laugh in a movie, it’s funny. But this isn’t. The laughter hurts my ears, makes them ring from deep inside. I half expect them to start bleeding.
“I have to go now,” I say quickly, turning away from her, sliding Art around so he’s in front of me, all the time protecting him from her.
“Kernel,” the witch says in a cold, commanding tone. Reluctantly I stop and look back. “You won’t tell anyone what you’ve seen today.” It’s not a question.
“Mrs. Egin . . . you need help . . . I think . . .”
She spits on the ground by her right foot. “You’re a fool. I’m not the one who needs help — you are. But never mind that. You won’t tell anyone. Because if you do, I’ll creep into your room late at night when you’re asleep and slit your throat from your left ear to your right.” She uses a trembling index finger to illustrate.
That’s too much. I lose control and, to my shame, feel the front of my pants go wet. Fortunately Mrs. Egin doesn’t see. She’s already turned away. Walks back to her house. Pauses at the front door. Looks up. There’s a six-sided patch of pink light pulsing rapidly just above her head. She reaches up and strokes it. The pulse rate slows, as if the light was afraid and she calmed it down.
“Thought you were the only one who could see them,” she says as I stare at her in shock. “But I can too. Now. For a while. Until they take me.”
Then she goes inside and shuts the door.
For a long moment I stand, fighting back tears, ears still ringing, wanting to run away and never return. But I can’t do that, and I can’t turn up at school with wet, stained pants. So I hurry home, clutching Art tight to my chest, steering as far wide of the witch’s house as I can.
MARBLES
