Spell Catcher Twelve (working title)

“What are you guys doing here?” Tamora asked as Sienna and Jenna followed me inside.

“Shhh…we came to see why you weren’t at school. Then we saw that Leeanna was here.” I said quietly, laying my backpack down on the floor. “What’s going on?”

“Elder Graves came before school and wouldn’t let me leave. She’s been like this all day. I…”

“Tamora what are you doing?’ Called Leeanna is shrill voice. “What was that noise?”

Tamora turned a frightened face towards me and I could see panic spreading in her eyes. I motioned for her to calm down then I scanned her room. A pile of books looked dangerously unstable. I walked over to them and motioned like they had fallen.

“T-the books b-by my window fell.” She stuttered.

Meanwhile I laid a couple of books on the floor the make it look like they had fallen.

“Get back in here now!” Shouted Leeanna wildly.

Jenna walked towards Tamora’s bathroom getter her attention.

Tamora nodded, “I just need to use the bathroom.”

“Why is Elder Graves acting so weird?” Asked Sienna quietly as we huddled together with the door closed.

“She’s excited, almost too excited. Frantic, feverish. She says it’s almost time for ‘him’ to come back.”

“Who’s he?’ I asked.

Tamora just hook her head. “No names, just ‘him’.”

“Ok so she’s excited because someone’s coming back, but why did she keep you from school? Didn’t she know people would ask questions?”

Tamora bit her lip then said with wide eyes, “I told her but she didn’t listen. She just paces and mutters ‘he’s coming’.”

“I don’t understand who ‘he’ is, but my mother needs to know. Anyways do you know where the bowl is?” I asked.

Sienna walked over and flushed the toilet while Tamora replied, “her house. But that’s all she said. I don’t know where in her house.”

“You’d better get back before she comes looking for you.”

We watched as Tamora pushed the door open before walking out. She looked back at us once more before walking recently across her bedroom.

When she was gone we crept to the doorway, straining to hear what was being said in the kitchen. Only garbled voice’s drifted our way.

So I motioned to Sienna and Jenna that I was moving up. On our earlier visit I noticed a closet next to the kitchen entry.

I moved as silently as I possibly could. Still a floorboard creaked and I paused. My heart was locked in my throat, pounding out of control. I was sure they heard me, but no one came looking around the corner.

I came, at last, to the closet. Right beside it sat an old grandfather clock. Its hands were close to ringing two o’clock, so I waited until it rang to slip inside the dark room.

The closet was full of coats and rain apparel, plus it smelled of mothballs. I wrinkled my nose against the smell. The air was w2arm and the coats pressed around me causing me to begin to sweat.

From the left I could hear muffled voices and I lean over to put my ear on the cold wall.

Sweat continued to drip down my temples so I wiped at it with the back of my hand. It was also running down my back soaking the waist of my jeans. I pressed my ear against the wall again and strained to hear what they were saying.
“When,” muffled word, “be?” I thought I heard Mrs. Day ask.

The response from Elder Graves, “The next full…” and it tapered off as she moved away.

This wasn’t working. I had to get out of this closet. I needed to hear what they were saying in the room beyond.

Again I heard the tell-tell click of the grandfather clock before it started to chime. Slowly I eased out from behind the closed door and hid beside the towering clock. It had been recently dusted and I could smell lemons.
“Why is the full moon so important?” I heard Tamora ask.

“What a stupid question, girl. Why do you think? What level are you?”

A mumbled response was all I could hear.

“You don’t belong as a Two Star Witch if you ask such an idiotic question. My power is strongest when the moon is full,” Graves sneered.

“Yes, Elder Graves.”

“High Elder Graves!” She barked at Tamora. “I told you to call me High Elder Graves!”

“Leeanna don’t talk to her like that.” Mrs. Day stepped in, her voice raised. “She’s only a child.”

“You spineless worm, how dare you speak to me like that? If it weren’t for me they would have thrown your out twelve years ago when they threw out my beloved Calvin and your husband.”

“I-I-I’m sorry Leeanna but I will not let you talk to her like that!”

“You will regret talking to me like this. When the time is right ‘he’ will be back to seek revenge on all who have crossed u.” Graves hissed.

All was quiet, and then I jumped as the backdoor slammed and there was a collective sigh from the kitchen.

“I stepped around the clock and into the brightly lit kitchen. “Baylee what are doing here?” Tamora’s mother asked, surprised. She was standing next to Tamora petting her long raven hair, while Tamora was sitting in a dinning chair biting her fingernail. She looked up as her mother spoke.

“Her, Sienna and Jenna were in my room when I went back there. Mom they’re trying to help.”

“Mrs. Day, “ I started.

Just then Sienna and Jenna walked into the room.

I tried again, “Mrs. Day, we need your help.” I sighed and came up in front of her. “Elder Graves in planning something wrong. And you have information my mother needs. Please,” I pleaded.

While I had been talking Mrs. Day had slowly started shaking her head. As I continued, it picked up speed.

“Please Mrs. Day.” I grabbed her hands in mine and gave them a squeeze. “What I over heard scares me. She sounds unreasonable.”

Still her head shook. Sienna and Jenna had come up beside us, a comforting support.

I tried another approach, “I heard what she said to Tamora, and I heard you stand up to her. What happens when she gets what she wants? What happens to all that stood up to her? Stood in her way?”

I paused here and watched her reaction. Fear was plainly written across her face. The soft hum of the refrigerator Thrummed in the background while a steady dip sounded from the sink. The faint smell of bacon lingered around us.

Mrs. Day lowered her eyes and studied the checkered floor. I waited. Patience was my mask, but inside I was nervous. And my nerves were strung tight with weariness.

Minutes passed and still we waited. Sienna and Jenna lugged up chairs around Tamora, pulling her aside. They quietly talked among themselves. Mrs. Day glanced at them from the corner of her eye. Weariness showed as the crowfeet at her eyes deepened.

Finally she looked up at me, “What do you need from me?”

Relief flooded my every nerve. “We need to see my mother. She should be home now. I need you to tell her everything you know.”

“Yes, whatever you think is right.”

In a daze she walked towards the backdoor. Tamora caught her arm and pulled her back towards the living room, “Mom, lets get your coat. It’s cold outside.”

“Yes dear.” She wandered to the closet. Tamora slipped a brown wool coat with a hood around her and turned her towards the door, as Tamora smiled weakly back at us.

I looked around, “where’s my bag?”

Shrugs came from both Jenna and Sienna.

“I must have left it in the Tamora’s room. You guys go ahead. I’ll catch up.”

“Sure,” they called as I quickly walked down the hall. Still the pictures stared blankly from their black and white frames.

There sitting on the bed was my bag. I didn’t remember setting it there. As I bent down to grab it I felt a prick in my neck. A small chuckle came from behind me, as my eyes blurred. I blinked and a shadowy form of Elder Leeanna Graves bent over me.

“Now I have you deary.”