Emmy pulled the lid off the box and her jaw dropped. Odile’s costume was even more beautiful than she’d imagined. Silky black feathers adorned the neckline, along with twinkling black stones. The fabric smelled like Miss LeBeau’s perfume—a mixture of flowers and vanilla. Emmy pulled it close to her and breathed in the aroma. The soft satin fabric brushed against her cheeks.
“What do you think?” Miss LeBeau asked. Emmy didn’t know how to explain. This was the best gift anyone had ever given her. Emmy pressed the costume to her, imagining how it would look on her.
“It’s perfect!”
“I thought you would like it.” Miss LeBeau pulled a small pink bag out of her desk. “I took the liberty of getting you some black slippers to match. I know you only have pink ones.”
Emmy squealed in delight as Miss LeBeau lifted the black ballet slippers from the bag. Emmy held them against the dress and they were a perfect match. They even had small stones along the edge of the shoe. “I can’t wait to try these on!”
“You will have to show some constraint, chérie. We can’t have you wearing a tutu for the rest of class. Let’s put the costume away and you can tell me how your routine is coming along.”
Emmy reluctantly placed Odile’s costume back into the box and the shoes back into the bag. Miss LeBeau sat them behind her desk and smiled up at Emmy. She couldn’t wait for school to be over so she could finally wear her costume.
“Have you been practicing hard?” Miss LeBeau asked, taking a sip from her water bottle.
Emmy nodded. “I think I have it all down. I noticed that I was supposed to have a baton or something at the end. I’ve been using a ruler.”
“That will do for now. What you will need is a hairstick. Like this.” Miss LeBeau pulled a nine inch rod of decorated wood from her hair. It was pointed at one end and on the other end a green jewel glimmered, held in place by ornate gold filigree.
“It’s beautiful!”
“Hairsticks are much like hair pins. They go back to ancient times. I will bring you one to wear in your hair tomorrow.”
“Really?” Emmy was beaming. “You are so nice to me all the time. First the lessons, then the costume, now a beautiful hairstick. What can I do to repay you?”
“There is one thing,” Miss LeBeau said, replacing the hairstick in her chestnut hair. “Might I bring a few friends to watch you dance tomorrow night? I promise they are very kind and would love to see a talent such as yours.”
Emmy cringed a little. She had never performed a dance number in front of a live audience. Sure, she’d dreamed about it for years, but this would be her first performance. Her loyalty to Miss LeBeau outweighed her self-consciousness. After all, Miss LeBeau had given her so much. What was a little recital? “Of course.”
“Oh, I was hoping you’d say yes. My friends will be so delighted. I’ll come find you close to nine o’clock. That should give you plenty of time to enjoy the party and play games with your friends.”
Miss LeBeau gave Emmy a hug and the bell rang, announcing the end of recess. Emmy practically floated back to her desk, she was so excited about tomorrow night. She couldn’t wait to try on her new costume and show it to Hannah and the others. This is going to be the best Halloween ever!
“This is going to be the worst Halloween ever,” Jax grumbled. “I mean, think about it. We won’t be able to get candy or anything.”
“Treats? We’re about to break our very first witches, and you’re upset because you won’t get any treats?” Sometimes Ethan thought Jax’s brain was located in his stomach. This was a terrific opportunity for them. Who cares if we missed out on candy? They were going to be heroes by the end of the party. “We can always go trick or treating after we break the witches.”
“Ah hum . . . we still have a few minutes left of class.”
Ethan looked up into the scolding eyes of Mrs. Burton. Several of the kids at the front of the class turned to Ethan and Jax. He could practically feel his face turning red.
“Thank you, Mr. Orion and Mr. Washington,” Mrs. Burton continued. “As I was saying, tomorrow night is the school’s annual Halloween party. We will have a few more parents supervising the event because of the ruckus some of the students caused last year. I hope that none of my class will be caught acting out. If you are planning on wearing a costume to school tomorrow, please make sure you are comfortable enough to learn in it.”
“Aren’t we going to do anything fun?” asked the girl who sat in front of Ethan. Several students mumbled agreements.
Mrs. Burton gave a curt smile and crossed her arms. “Isn’t learning fun enough?”
The class sighed in response. The bell rang and Mrs. Burton shook her head. “I guess we’ll see what tomorrow brings. Have a good day. Please work on your spelling list tonight for your homework. We will have a review in the morning.”
Ethan and Jax hopped up from their desks, grabbed their stuff, and ran out the door. Ethan looked around for Emmy but didn’t see her. He half wondered if she was planning on staying after school again, or if she’d finally devoted herself to their mission. They headed out the front doors and made for the pick-up area. Emmy was waiting for them, a large silver box in her arms and a pink bag atop it.
“What’s that?” Ethan asked.
Emmy beamed. “It’s my Halloween costume. I can’t wait to get home and try it on.”
“I take it you’re not staying for dance rehearsal?”
“Nope, Miss LeBeau cancelled it for today. She wants me to practice my routine in my costume. I have a performance tomorrow after the Halloween Party.”
“Did you forget what we’re doing tomorrow?” Ethan asked, looking at his sister like she’d been replaced by a robot. “You can’t do a performance. You have to help us with the witches.”
“Witches?” asked Hannah.
Ethan cringed and turned around. Emmy’s friends were eyeing the box in her hands.
“We saw Miss LeBeau give you the box,” Madison said.
“Are you going to show us?” Abigail asked, a hint of pleading in her voice.
“I want to keep you in suspense,” Emmy said with a giggle. Ethan rolled his eyes. His sister was so wishy-washy it was driving him bananas. Sometimes I just don’t get girls.
“What are you two going as?” Hannah asked. Ethan knew she was asking both him and Jax but she only looked at him. He gave what was probably a stupid grin. Hannah had that effect on him sometimes.
“Oh, they’re going as ninjas,” Emmy answered for them. “You three still going as Cleopatra?”
“We found matching costumes at the mall,” Madison said, all giddy.
“I’m going to wear my hair a little differently though,” Abigail added, “since I don’t have to wear a wig. My mom found an Egyptian hairstick. I can’t wait for you all to see it.”
“Miss LeBeau is letting me borrow one of her hairsticks, too!” Emmy cooed.
Ethan stepped away from the group of girls as they started yacking about all the different ways they could wear their hair. “Can you say boring?”
“You’re not kidding. Girls are so weird,” Jax whispered.
Mama J pulled up in her minivan and Emmy gave a dramatic goodbye to each of her friends. Ethan thought it was a little over done. It wasn’t as if they weren’t going to see each other tomorrow. He rolled his eyes at Emmy, but she didn’t notice. She was too fixated on her silver box.
“Whatcha got there?” Mama J asked as they buckled up.
“It’s my Halloween costume. My teacher let me borrow it. It’s from when she starred as Odette in Swan Lake.”
“You’re going as a ballerina?” Ethan blurted.
Emmy glared. “I’m actually going as Odile—the black swan.”
“Oh, excuse me, Odile,” Ethan grumbled. “That should be nice and comfortable. Easy to move around in and such.”
“You’re just jealous,” Emmy snapped.
“Yeah,” Ethan snorted. “I’m jealous that you get to dress as a ballerina and I don’t.”
Ethan and Jax laughed. Emmy ignored them for the rest of the ride home and then headed straight for her room. Ethan could scream. They had to freaking plan out how they were going to take down the lunch ladies. Not prance around like sugar plum fairies.
“Is Emmy in or out?” Jax asked after they got to his bedroom.
“Heck if I know.” Ethan resisted the urge to go pound on her door. They needed to talk. He plopped down on a bean bag in the corner and reached for one of the books they’d snuck out of the lair the night before.
“I already looked through that one,” Jax said, motioning to the book. “It just covers the events of the Salem Witch Trials. Interesting, but not really helpful.”
“Maybe we should give up on this whole thing?” Ethan said, but he didn’t really mean it. He wanted more than anything to prove he was worth something.
“I think we got this.” Jax gave a half smile. He turned to the stack of books and picked one up. “If all else fails, we at least try to take down one. One less witch is better nothing.”
Jax was right. If they could at least break one of the witches, they would do their job. Ethan went over all the lunch ladies in his head, trying to see which one would be easiest to take down. They all seemed so bubbly, it was hard to imagine them being bad.
“What are you thinking about?” Jax asked.
“I’m trying to figure out which one of the witches might be the best to take down first—you know, the easiest.”
“Definitely not Griselda or Belladonna, I don’t want to be turned into a dishwasher.”
“I thought of that too. I think it’s down to Blondie or Red.”
“I think Luna would be the best choice,” Jax said. He set his book down and picked another one from the pile. “I noticed she takes a lot of orders from the others. She’s probably the lowest in rank. And Hazel did have a record.”
“That’s true, although I never checked to see what for.”
Jax glanced up. “She impersonated a substitute teacher at a private school in New Jersey. It said she escaped capture.”
“So she might be tricky, too.” Ethan thought about how they were going to distract the witches long enough for them to grab their wands. All four of the witches were tall and wore high heels. They’d have to practically jump to grab the wands. Maybe if they could get them to bend over or fall down? It would make things easier. “We need a prank.”
“A prank?”
“Yeah, something to get the witches together and maybe on the floor. I don’t know, trip them or something. It has to be really fast with a lot of people involved to give us just enough time to get their wands without them noticing.”
“Sorry, dude, but Robbie Maser is a dishwasher.”
“I know. He’d be perfect for a prank. What about Tyler or Nick? Do you think we could talk them into something?”
“I might be able to swing something.” Jax looked toward the door. “We really need Emmy to help us. She would be better at coming up with a prank.”
Ethan didn’t want to think about Emmy. She was so self-involved. She kept promising she would snap out of it, but every time she talked to Miss LeBeau it was like she didn’t care about anything but dancing. The reality was that they needed her. “I’ll be back. I’m going to try to talk to her.”
Ethan got up and went to Emmy’s room. He could hear her music playing in the hallway and knew she was probably dancing. He knocked at the door and waited for her to answer. Nothing. The music played on and Emmy said nothing. He tried the handle, it was locked. “Fine, be that way.”
Ethan stomped back to Jax’s room and pored over the books. He forced himself to try to remember every detail he read as he searched for more information about how the witches used their powers. When Mama J called them all down for dinner, the same music was playing from Emmy’s room and she didn’t come out. Ethan knocked again at the door.
“Emmy, it’s time for dinner, come on.” She didn’t reply. He jiggled the handle. Still locked. Ethan pounded harder. “Emmy, come on. You can practice later.”
Jax paused before going down the stairs. He looked at Ethan and suddenly a sense of worry came over him. Ethan pounded again on the door. “Emmy? Emmy?”
“What’s going on up there?” Mama J called up the stairs.
“Em, are you okay? Emmy?” Ethan continued to jiggle the handle.
“Mom, something’s wrong!”
Mama J charged up the stairs to Emmy’s door. She tried the handle, then reached above the doorframe. She pulled down a little silver key. A split second later, Emmy’s door was pushed open. Music filled the hallway. Ethan ran inside. Emmy was lying on the floor dressed in an elaborate black costume. She wasn’t moving.