Ethan turned another page of the W.H.O. handbook, his eyes fixed on the text. He was sure he’d find something more about witches and Halloween. He kept thinking that he should have brought up to Papa Washington that the witches were planning something. The other part of him, the part that wanted to prove to his parents he was hunter material, had kept his mouth shut. He noticed Jax hadn’t said anything, either. The kid either forgot, or like him wanted a chance to take down the lunch ladies on his own.
“Find out anything about Halloween yet?”
Ethan hadn’t even heard Jax come in to the bedroom. He looked up from the book and saw the mischievous grin on his best friend’s face. He sat up. “So you’re still in with catching the witches?”
“Of course I am.”
“But your dad said—”
“My dad hasn’t said enough.” Jax dropped to his bed and the smile vanished. Ethan knew what he was feeling. His parents had kept a huge secret from him. Like Ethan, Jax probably wondered how many other things they had kept from him or lied about. “I’m in. But we only have two days. The Halloween party—”
“I know, it’s on Friday.” Ethan propped the handbook on his knees and flipped through a few more pages. “I have the feeling we aren’t going to find anything in this book. It’s all about regulations and rules and junk like that. We need something that’s going to tell us like, rituals or holidays the witches celebrate.”
“We can check the internet. It’s not true that witches don’t exist. There are a lot of people who practice witchcraft as a religion.”
Ethan thought about that. He remembered a while back there was a girl named Tabitha who moved at the end of third grade. She said her mom was Wiccan, or in other words, a witch. Were they the same thing as the witches at school, or something totally different?
“I think it’s better than looking in this. If we can’t find anything online, maybe we can look at some of the books in the lair? I don’t think your mom would have a problem with us looking now that she knows we know.”
“I’m not too sure on that. I think now that she does know, she’ll keep us far away from the lair.”
The internet search gave so many results that it was mind boggling to figure out which things were legit and which were just a bunch of hocus pocus. Halloween, it seemed, had been connected with witches forever. From the most popular costumes to decorations, witches were at the top of each list.
“What about this?” Jax asked, clicking a link that brought them to a website on Pagan and Wiccan holidays. “It says here that Samhain is a holiday kind of like a solstice. It’s considered to be the most magical night of the year.”
“It also says though that it’s a night for jack-o-lanterns, costumes, and telling scary stories. Isn’t that just Halloween?”
“Not if it’s part of a religious thing.” Jax pointed farther down the page. “It says here that it’s the night when the veil between the spirit world and the world of the living is at its thinnest, making it a night of power.”
“What are you guys doing?”
Jax quickly closed the window and the screen jumped to a picture of Jax’s family. They turned around to see Emmy standing in the doorway with her arms folded.
“Uh—nothing,” Ethan stammered.
“Just trying to find a Halloween costume,” Jax added.
Emmy giggled. “Really? You’re acting a little suspicious for just looking at Halloween costumes.”
Ethan rolled his eyes at his sister.
Emmy shook her head and sat down in the recliner next to the window. She leaned back and propped her legs up. “So, did you find out anything else? You know, about the witches?”
How long has she been standing in the doorway? Ethan knew that neither he nor Jax had told her about what happened with Robbie Maser in the hallway. She couldn’t know that the witches were planning something at the Halloween party. “What do you know?”
Emmy sighed. “I know enough to know you two are up to something. You’re still going to go after the witches, aren’t you?”
“We never said we were going after the witches,” Ethan argued.
“You didn’t have to. I figured it out for myself. Why else would you be reading that handbook all the time? You’re trying to figure out how to get rid of them.”
“The proper term is break,” Jax corrected. “Hunters find and break witches.”
“You guys, you’re not real witch hunters. If all this mumbo jumbo is real, then you should be careful. Remember that there are a lot of people missing all of a sudden, and those people are supposed to be the experts.”
“That could all just be a misunderstanding,” Ethan said. He didn’t believe it himself, but it could be a possibility. “Maybe Mom and Dad just lost their cell phones—or they don’t have good service? Maybe they can’t find a place with Wi-Fi?”
Emmy shook her head. “Ethan, I know you want to believe that everything is going to be okay—”
“What? You don’t think it’s going to be okay? Emmy, how can you think that?”
“That’s not what I meant. You didn’t let me finish. I know we are going to find Mom and Dad. I feel that. If something really bad—”
“Like they’re dead?”
“Don’t you think we’d know?” Emmy sat forward, her feet dropping to the floor. “Look, Ethan, last night when you two were in danger, I knew something was happening. I think that’s why I woke up. I had a feeling.”
“We really weren’t in danger,” Jax said.
Emmy shot him a glare. “That’s not it. I just think if something bad had happened to Mom and Dad, we’d feel it. We’d know.”
Ethan nodded. He felt the same way. There had been times in the past when he’d known something was wrong. Like the time in first grade when Emmy broke her arm on the playground at school. He’d just known something had happened to her. Why would it be any different with Mom and Dad?
“So if Mom and Dad are okay, you think we shouldn’t worry and focus on what’s going on here, right?”
“If the lunch ladies really are witches, then I think we should prove to Mom and Dad and Jax’s parents that we are capable of keeping this whole family secret a secret. We need to take these witches down.”
Ethan was beaming. “So, you’re in?”
“Of course I’m in. You’re not the only one who wants to prove something.”
Ethan laughed. This was great. The worst thing in the world was keeping secrets from Emmy. Having her involved made everything seem a little better. They were back to being the three amigos.
“We’re going to have to tell my mom eventually,” Jax said.
Ethan scowled. “Are you kidding? She won’t let us break the witches.”
“Don’t you remember? My mom is a warden. We have to have a warden.”
“We’ll tell her when we need her, but not before,” Emmy said. “That way she can’t say no.”
“Good idea,” Ethan agreed. Jax gave a shrug and a slight nod of his head.
Emmy leaned forward again and Ethan could see the excitement building in her eyes. “So, tell me why you were researching stuff about Halloween and witches.”
“So you think they turned Robbie into something?” Emmy had always hated Robbie Maser. He was nothing but a bully and an irritating one at that, but he was also a kid. She couldn’t imagine anyone, even Robbie, having to live out their life as a reptile of some kind. If Robbie Maser has been turned into a frog, there is no way I’m kissing him to bring him back.
“We’re not sure,” Ethan said. “We checked and there was no sign of him except a shoelace.”
“It could have been anyone’s shoelace though,” Jax offered. “For all we know, they brought Robbie into the kitchen with them. Either that or—”
Emmy put up a hand. “Let’s not worry about Robbie right now. You said you heard them planning something for the Halloween party?”
“Yeah, but we don’t know exactly what.” Ethan nodded toward the computer. “We did find something on Samhain, a witch holiday that also falls on Halloween. It says it’s a night of power, and that magic is at its strongest then.”
“So we need to make sure we’re at the party,” Emmy said. “We’ll need to keep a close eye on the witches until then.”
“Dad said to stay away from the cafeteria,” Jax said.
Emmy shook her head. “He’s more concerned with us eating their food. If he’s still allowing us to go to school, the witches can’t offer that big of a threat. You said all we have to do is get the witches’ wands and break them in half?”
Ethan and Jax nodded. Emmy leaned back in her chair and tried to think about how to get close enough to the witches to steal their wands. If her teacher was still the Barf Bag, she might have been able to trick him into making her wash lunch trays as a punishment. Miss LeBeau would never fall for something like that, though. Miss LeBeau might not—but Mrs. Burton might.
“Can you two find a way to get in trouble tomorrow? At school, I mean.”
“Get in trouble?” Jax gasped.
“What are you thinking, Em?” Ethan said.
“If you can get Mrs. Burton to somehow make you help out in the kitchen, maybe during first recess, you can get close to the witches. I don’t think Miss LeBeau would go for something like that.”
“Why not?” Ethan asked. “She sent Robbie to the lunch ladies for punishment.”
“Yeah, but that was Robbie. Believe me, guys, Miss LeBeau is super-cool and I don’t see her punishing anyone in our class. She loves us. Mrs. Burton, on the other hand—well, she has more of a temper. But you’ll have to make her think she is sending you there and not think that you volunteered.”
“Why don’t we just volunteer?” Jax asked.
Emmy shook her head. “Because the lunch ladies wouldn’t believe it. What kid would purposely go ask to help scrub lunch trays?”
“She has a point,” Ethan said. “But I’m not very good at manipulating people. You’re better at that, Em.”
“You’re going to have to start trying. I won’t be able to do it for you. You’ll think of something. Okay, so we have a plan. You two will get into the kitchen because you’re in trouble. I’ll sneak in during recess. If I get caught, I’ll just say I was coming to check on my brother.”
Ethan nodded. “What do we do if we get close enough to them? Break their wands then?”
“I think you should try to find out where they keep them first. I’m sure they just don’t carry them around all the time. Plus you can see what they’re planning for the party.”
“How do we find that out?” Jax asked.
Emmy rolled her eyes. Seriously, sometimes boys are so dumb. “You talk to them.”
“Talk to the witches?” Jax looked petrified.
“They aren’t going to bite you.”
Jax huffed. “How do you know? For all you know, we’ll go in there to wash lunch trays and come out transformed into bullfrogs.”
“They are not going to turn you into bullfrogs.” Emmy’s voice came out sounding a little insecure but she hoped the boys didn’t catch on. For all she knew, she was sending them into a death trap. But then again, she had to remember that these women were nothing like the hags she’d seen in movies and read about in books. Pretty ladies who spend more time in front of the mirror might like the attention of two young boys. “You two just have to make it seem like you’re interested in them.”
“We are interested in them,” Jax said. “But we can’t just start talking about the potion and their wands.”
“No, you need to make it seem like you are interested in them. You know—how pretty they are.”
Ethan’s eyebrows went up. “Emmy, we’re eleven years old. We’re not even supposed to be interested in girls right now.”
“It’s never too early to start. Besides, I’ve caught you sneaking glances at Hannah. Tell me that’s not being interested in girls.”
“Whatever.” Ethan’s face turned red and Emmy gave a little smile.
“Speaking of Hannah, I’ve got to call her.”
“Emmy,” Ethan said. “You can’t tell your friends what we’re up to. They’ll blow our cover.”
“I’m not going to tell them anything about the witches. But I am going to talk about the Halloween party. My girls and I need to find costumes ASAP.”