Emmy was on a grand stage. Lights followed her as she jumped and twirled in the air. The tiny black stones on her costume twinkled in the stage lights. She was Odile. She stretched out her arms, waiting for Prince Siegfried to sweep her off her feet. Emmy leaped, and a dark shadow caught her mid-flight. She spun around and around. The stage vanished and was replaced by bare trees, their limbs reaching down for her like claws. The shadow set Emmy down and she froze. She was surrounded by women in black robes.
They bowed to her and knelt on the forest floor. Eerie white fog drifted lazily around them. Emmy looked up to see an enormous full moon the color of silver. The light from it fell on Emmy like a spotlight. She felt naked and exposed. All eyes were on her. A sudden drum beat signaled her to begin her dance. As if entranced by the music, Emmy moved to the rhythm.
“Dance the dance,” the chorus of women chanted, again and again. Emmy moved to the drumbeat. She had memorized each movement. She knew she had to get every last step correct. She lifted her leg in the passé position, then targeted one of the women as her marker. She began her pirouette. She spun faster and faster, always turning her head to keep herself spotted on the woman. It was Madam LeBeau. She wore the expression of a proud mother. Emmy felt elated. She continued to spin and spin.
“Dance the dance. Dance the dance.” The chanting grew louder and louder.
Emmy’s heart was pounding. She needed to stop but she couldn’t. Her legs continued to spin her round and round. She lost focus on Madam LeBeau and began to feel dizzy. The women were circling around her, over and over. Emmy fell. Her body pushed through the ground and she was suddenly surrounded by fire.
Emmy screamed. She was locked in a prison of fire.
“Help! Help!”
Shadows began to take shape beyond the fiery bars of the prison. Her parents, then Ethan. They wore black suits and hollow expressions.
“You witch!” Mom spat.
Ethan shook his head. “Some sister.”
“NO!” Emmy buried her face in her black costume.
“Baby, baby, you’re okay,” the voice of Mama J said. Emmy felt her body rocking back and forth. “Come out of it, child. Come out of your nightmare.”
Emmy opened her eyes and saw Ethan standing over her. He looked like he’d seen a ghost. His face was pale and worried. Emmy turned and saw Mama J stroking her hair. “You take your time.”
“What happened?” Emmy felt like her throat was full of sand. “I need some water.”
“Jaxson, go get Emmy some water, please. Come on, baby, let’s get you to your bed.”
“Emmy, are you okay?” Ethan asked, helping her up.
“I think I just passed out. Maybe I didn’t spot when I spun.”
“When was the last time you ate anything?” Mama J asked. She placed a pillow behind Emmy’s head, then sat down next to her on the bed. Emmy tried to think back. She had skipped breakfast and didn’t remember eating lunch; she had spent most of the time talking with Miss LeBeau.
“I think last night at dinner.”
“Oh, well, that explains it. Honey, you’re going to kill yourself.” Mama J handed her the glass of water Jax had brought. Emmy sipped it and felt some of the scratchiness wash away. “I made meatballs, but I think I’ll warm you up some soup. I don’t want you putting anything heavy in your stomach. Emmy, baby, you need to eat. With all this dancing around, you could really hurt yourself.”
“Sorry,” Emmy said.
“Don’t be apologizing to me, sugar. Take a look in the mirror and say sorry to her.” Mama J stood up and took the now empty glass. “I’ll get you some more and start on your soup. You boys come and eat while it’s still warm.”
Jax and Mama J left, but Ethan lingered by the door. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Emmy felt stupid. She did know better. Miss LeBeau had told her that it was important to eat to keep up energy. She now recalled spinning without spotting. That must have been what triggered her passing out. “I’m fine.”
“You just looked—I don’t know—scared.”
“I think I was having a bad dream. I don’t remember what it was about. I just remember falling.”
“I have dreams like that all the time. Once I fell and woke up on the floor.” Ethan gave a false laugh. Emmy smiled.
“Are you ready for tomorrow?” she asked.
Ethan gave a shrug. “Are you still in?”
“Of course I’m still in,” Emmy said, sitting up. “I said I was, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, but then you spent all your time dancing.” Ethan paused and ran his fingers through his hair. It made him look like Dad. “I don’t know. Don’t get mad, but it seems like you’ve been kind of out of it lately.”
Emmy wasn’t mad. She did feel out of it. For some reason she couldn’t get dancing out of her head. She really did want to help Ethan stop the lunch ladies, but she also wanted Miss LeBeau to be proud of her. Proud of her the way her parents would never be.
Ethan picked up her book from the floor and handed it to her. “I can go if you want.”
She took the book, feeling the tingling warmth in her arms but she pushed it aside. Ethan was what was important right now, not dancing. She tossed the book on her bed and turned her attention back to her brother. “I’m in all the way. I promise.”
Ethan smiled. “We have a plan, but we need your help. We need to somehow come up with a prank to get the witches all together. We also need to somehow get them to fall or kneel down. It would be easier to grab their wands.”
Emmy thought for a second then smiled. “It’s not really a prank, but I think I have an idea. How do you feel about flooding the gym?”
Ethan told Jax about Emmy’s idea while Mama J was on the phone with Papa Washington. He liked the idea. Ethan took a bite of his meatball, then swallowed. “Leave it to Emmy to come up with a prank around dancing.”
“It’s better than anything I came up wiff,” Jax said, cramming a whole biscuit in his mouth.
“Jaxson Monroe Washington,” Mama J scolded, sitting down at the table. “Did I raise you to eat like an animal?”
“Noff . . .”
Ethan suppressed a laugh and ended up snorting milk down his nose.
“Wild dogs eat more civilized than you two.” Mama J sighed and took a delicate mouthful of mashed potatoes. She swallowed then patted her lips with her napkin. “Jax, that was your daddy on the phone.”
“I know. You called him sugar-dumpling.” Jax giggled. Ethan laughed too, this time avoiding trying to drink his milk.
“Well, it looks like he’ll be coming home tomorrow.”
“Did he find out anything about my parents?” Ethan asked.
Mama J shook her head. “Sorry, sugar, he didn’t.”
“I say we go down to Transylvania County and look ourselves,” Ethan said. “Lacy told us the town they were in. We need to look for clues and stuff.”
“We have to be careful if hunters are disappearing. We can’t just walk into town and start asking a bunch of questions. People will get suspicious.”
“You don’t seem to mind that witches are hanging out at our school.”
“That’s not true, Ethan.” Mama J gave him a warning glance. “I am very concerned with the witches there.”
“Really?” Ethan asked. “They’re putting potion into the food, and they’ve put a spell on Robbie, but you still make us go.”
“Who’s Robbie?”
“Robbie Maser,” Jax said. “He’s a bully at school. They have him washing dishes.”
“Were his eyes a funny color?” Mama J asked. Ethan and Jax nodded. “Then they used a control spell on him. That poor boy. When did you notice him acting differently?”
“We heard them curse him on Monday,” Jax answered.
“And he is still washing dishes?” Mama J looked worried.
“What’s wrong?” Ethan asked.
“Most spells cast by witches are short term. They fade away after a while. If Robbie has been cursed for almost a week, the effects might be permanent if we don’t remove him from the witches’ influence—or break them.”
“You mean, if we don’t get Robbie out of the school, he might stay a robot forever?” Ethan asked. Mama J nodded. “Well, that’s not so bad.”
“Ethan Orion,” Mama J scolded.
“I was just joking. Although school without a bully would be nice for a change.”
“I’ll try to take care of Robbie tomorrow at the party. If I go in there before, the witches might get suspicious. I’ll try to call Jefferson back tonight and see if he can come back sooner.”
“Do you know if the witches do anything special on Halloween night?” Jax asked. Mama J took a bite of her meatball and nodded. Ethan sat forward.
“Halloween night is supposed to be the night when witches are at their most powerful—it’s kind of like their New Year’s Eve party. They stay up all night, dancing around and riding on brooms.”
“Riding on brooms?” Ethan laughed.
“Yes, they do ride on brooms—but only on special nights like Halloween. It’s called Samhain, or All Hallow’s Eve. It goes back to the Druid’s calendar where time started on November first.”
Jax swallowed another whole biscuit and cleared his throat. “I remember reading about all that. But aren’t you worried the witches might try to do something to all the kids at the party tomorrow? They are catering it.”
“Witches don’t normally mess around with mortals on Halloween,” Mama J said. “It’s not like spooky stories and such. Remember, to them it’s a holiday—a celebration. They are more concerned with having a good time than hurting anyone.”
“You make it sound like some witches have good qualities,” Ethan said.
Mama J’s eyebrows lifted. “I believe that most witches are misunderstood. Remember, I used to keep them prisoner. Some weren’t so different than you or me. Like each of us, they have the ability to choose for themselves whether they are good or bad.”
“The W.H.O. handbook says there’s no such thing as a good witch.”
Mama J gave Ethan a smile. “That’s a little black and white, isn’t it? Do you really believe a person is either good or bad? I think most people fall somewhere in the middle. We should always strive to be good, but it doesn’t always make us one hundred percent one way or the other. I believe witches also dwell somewhere in the gray.”
“So you should probably come prepared to the Halloween party. Just in case.” Ethan hoped Mama J wasn’t getting suspicious about their plans for breaking the witches, but he did need her prepared. Papa Washington had mentioned a whip or something that wardens used to secure their prisoners.
Mama J sipped from her glass of milk, then patted the corners of her lips once more with her napkin. “Don’t you boys worry. Nothing will happen tomorrow, but if it does, I’ll be prepared. No doubt Papa Washington will be there too. You will have nothing to worry about.”
Somehow, Ethan just couldn’t bring himself to believe her. A thousand things could go wrong. Emmy’s plan for getting the witches where they wanted them seemed like it would work, but they needed a backup plan as well. Ethan looked up at the grandfather clock that sat in the corner of the dining room. They had just a few hours until Halloween—a few more hours until Ethan became a fully-fledged witch hunter.