Everything seemed to pass in a blur. Emmy was under the basketball hoop one minute, in the arms of her brother the next. Soon she saw Papa Washington and four other men in suits race onto the blacktop. Two of the men had golden whips that they used to strike out at the frozen witches. As if by magic, golden cages encircled the lunch ladies and they vanished with a little pop.
A shaky Mama J leaned on her husband as they both embraced Jax in a family hug. It seemed to take ages before anyone noticed her and Ethan were even there. Together they sat silently looking up in the sky, the belt of Orion twinkling brightly against the black night.
“Are you two all right?” Mama J asked.
Emmy gave a slight nod. She wasn’t sure they were all right or not. Ethan was hurt. His hands and knees looked like he’d ran a belt sander over them. Despite his obvious discomfort, he was smiling.
“Where did the witches go?” Ethan asked.
“They went to the witch prison in New Jersey,” one of the men answered. “They’ll await trial there.”
“Trial?” Emmy asked.
“Every witch is given a trial. Once we can get some hunters here to investigate what they were up to.”
Emmy could tell the W.H.O. what they’d been up to but it would land her in a lot of trouble. Part of her wondered if they had some sort of witch detector. If they found out what she’d become would they send her to the prison in New Jersey? She hadn’t done anything wrong so how could a trial do her any good?
Something made her look back toward the woods. When she saw a shadowy figure step behind a tree she knew instantly it was Miss LeBeau. Would she go into hiding now that Emmy had ruined her plans? The other witches didn’t seem very happy about what she’d done. Part of Emmy felt guilty about betraying her, but mostly the guilt was for betraying her own family. Without so much as a wave of her hand, Miss LeBeau disappeared back into the line of trees and Emmy wondered if she’d ever see her ballet mistress ever again.
“Can we go home?” Emmy asked.
Mama J smiled. “Of course we can, sugar. Jefferson, are you coming?”
“Let me help these agents clean up. We want to perform a thorough check on the kitchen to make sure there’s no remaining potion hiding. Then we’ve got to figure out what happened to the original lunch ladies. It’s a good thing it’s a weekend.”
“Remember you’re retired,” she said, hands on hips. “Get them started then get yourself home.”
Papa Washington agreed and kissed her, which normally would have made Emmy feel sick, but she let them do it without her usual sarcastic interruption.
“Can you believe we broke the witches?” Ethan whispered as they headed back to the minivan. “I heard those W.H.O. agents say they couldn’t believe kids did what we just did.”
Emmy squeezed his hand. “You were very brave.”
“I wish Mom and Dad could have seen it.”
“Me too.”
The drive back to the Washington’s seemed to take forever. There were still kids meandering about with trick-or-treat bags filled to the top with candy. She even caught sight of Robbie Maser running down the street, dressed in his normal school clothes. Mama J said that with the vanquishing of the Halifax sisters, their spell over the bully was gone. Emmy hoped he learned his lesson. If not she’d remind him by showing him a dirty dish.
They turned down their street, and Emmy saw another group of kids trick or treating. She felt her heart give a tug when she saw a girl dressed as a witch. Her thoughts went to Miss LeBeau. Was her teacher serious about wanting to help Emmy’s parents? Had Emmy just wrecked everyone’s plan to stop this supposed Olc coven from bringing down the W.H.O.? Then again, the W.H.O. hunted and imprisoned witches, why would they want to stop the Olc coven from doing that? There were so many questions and not enough answers. Questions she should have asked before she’d gone so willingly into the woods.
“We’ll get home and look you both over,” Mama J said, looking in her rearview mirror. “Best we clean up those cuts on your hands, Ethan. You sure you don’t want me to take you to an instant care clinic?”
“Are you kidding? These are my first battle wounds from witches,” he said with a laugh. He and Jax high fived, and Emmy couldn’t help but smile. As usual he was being a boy—a stupid boy. But what did it matter? He was safe.
“Be glad that’s all that happened to you,” Mama J said. “After this is all over, we need to discuss the seriousness of what you kids have been up to. I don’t know much about Hazel or Luna, but the Halifax sisters and Matilda LeBeau are witches I would never face without years of training. You kids are lucky.”
Silence descended on them and once again Emmy felt sick at the guilt plaguing her stomach. Ethan kept looking at her but she avoided looking back. She knew that if she did she’d either cry or he’d figure out she was hiding something.
“I found out some stuff about Mom and Dad,” she said, trying to veer Ethan’s focus away from her.
“What?” Ethan and Jax asked in unison. Emmy could feel Mama J’s eyes bearing down on them as she pulled into the driveway.
“Miss LeBeau knew all about them. She said they were captured by the Olc coven.”
Mama J pulled to an abrupt stop. Emmy felt herself fly forward. She’d forgotten to buckle her seat belt.
“I’m sorry,” Mama J said. “Now what exactly did she say?”
“Who are the Olc coven?” Ethan asked.
“Miss LeBeau seemed to be a little afraid of them. She said that they were as bad as witches come.”
“Matilda is right about that,” Mama J said. She turned off the engine and opened her door. The way Mama J said Miss LeBeau’s first name made Emmy think she didn’t like her teacher at all. “It’s better we go inside to talk, especially on a night like this.”
They got out of the minivan, remembering to grab their bags of candy. Ethan took Emmy’s hand again and they walked to the house. Emmy thought she caught Ethan looking at the wand in her hair but tried to ignore it. She didn’t need to get all paranoid. She leaned into him and smiled as they headed inside.
Ethan was ready to head out to North Carolina the second he heard about the Olc coven kidnapping his parents. If answers to where to find them were in Transylvania County, then they needed to get there before the trail went cold. The Washingtons said they shouldn’t be rash. They needed to think things through first. Sometimes, adults overthink too much. The evening grew late and Mama J told everyone to go to sleep.
Ethan headed reluctantly up to his room, replaced his shredded ninja costume with pajamas, and got into bed. The night felt so anticlimactic after defeating the witches. He thought there should be more to it. Is this how it will feel after every witch I vanquish? Thrill replaced by boredom?
Ethan resolved before he closed his eyes that he would go to North Carolina whether the Washingtons agreed to go or not. They had stopped the witches of Roosevelt Elementary. It was time to rescue his parents and the other witch hunters from the Olc coven. He didn’t know much about the band of witches, but he knew he’d learned enough from the books he and Jax had read. Witches longed for power and it seemed the Olc coven were the most powerful. If a witch called them bad, they had to be the worst.
Ethan rolled over and looked at the clock. It was past midnight. Jax was snoring and Ethan could hear the jackhammer of Papa Washington’s snore from down the hall. He got quietly up from bed and headed over to Emmy’s room. He gave a slight knock, but all was silent. He opened her door and saw her sitting up in bed. She gave him a weak smile.
“Can’t sleep either?” she asked.
“Nope. Once Jax and Papa Washington get going I have a hard time.”
“I know what you’re saying. My room is next to both of theirs.”
Ethan laughed quietly and sat down on Emmy’s bed. “I’ve decided I’m going to find Mom and Dad no matter what Mama J or Papa Washington say. We need to find our parents.”
“I know,” Emmy whispered.
Ethan looked at his sister, trying to put all the puzzle pieces together. He felt like there was something missing—something that happened with Miss LeBeau that she hadn’t told him. “Em, you wouldn’t keep secrets from me, right?”
The question seemed to catch her off guard. Her eyes closed and he waited for her response. “I’m tired of our family and all their secrets.”
“That doesn’t answer the question,” Ethan said. He put a hand on her leg. She looked up and their eyes connected. “Twinroos?”
Suddenly, Emmy’s eyes filled with tears. He swallowed. Her heart pounded so loud he could hear it thumping. Whatever she was hiding, it was something big.
“Ethan,” Emmy whispered. “I’m a witch.”