Balmythra

Chapter Four

  One Big Headache

  Even as my logical brain denied the possibility, I saw the flowing robes and recognized the magician now struggling with Matt. I dashed toward the back yard, just rounding the corner of the house when someone grabbed me from behind and lifted me right off my feet.

  I screamed, a sound immediately smothered by a hand slapped over my mouth. Petrified and breathless, I struggled wildly for my freedom.

  "Stop, Alleana. Stop! It's me. Your brother, Rocc. We've finally found you."

  "No." I tried to loosen his grip by squirming. When that didn't work, I kicked at him to get away. "Let me go!"

  "Don't you remember me?"

  Somehow I got one arm loose and landed an upward punch on my attacker’s chin. He dropped to the ground like dead weight, almost taking me with him. Twisting free just in time, I stumbled forward. I heard scuffling sounds and saw two bodies struggling in the moonlight. I had to help Matt.

  As I ran toward them, I sorted out which shadow was Matt and instinctively aimed my fist at the other. The magician crumpled at my feet. I heard Matt's sharp intake of breath.

  "How’d...you...do...that?" He could barely speak.

  "I don't know." I began rubbing my right hand, which should've hurt, but only tingled. How odd, I thought, flexing my fingers experimentally. Hadn't I just punched out two grown men?

  A twig snapped somewhere behind us.

  I whirled around, fists ridiculously at the ready. "Kenny!"

  "Hey, guys." He joined us under the oak tree as if midnight trysts were routine occurrences. Matt and I exchanged guilty glances. "What are you two up to?" Kenny was clearly a little weirded out, probably because of the body sprawled at our feet.

  Or not, I realized, noting that body and the other one were nowhere to be seen. Tensing, I turned to Matt, who shrugged his bewilderment. I rounded on Kenny. "Exactly what did you just see?"

  "Well...." He tugged one of his dreadlocks and stared uncertainly at the pair of us. "You two were doing a Jackie Chan, like, ten feet apart."

  I swallowed hard and turned to Matt again, only to find him circling the tree a few feet away, his attention on the ground. "This isn’t making sense, Leah. Where’d they go?"

  "Where’d who go?" Frowning, Kenny now nervously twisted the hem of his Spiderman T-shirt.

  "Stop jerking us around," Matt said. "It’s bad enough you locked us out...."

  "Huh? I'd never. You know Matilda would take it out on all of us."

  Enough. "Cool it, you two. We—"

  "—need to go in?" Matt nodded. "Yeah, we do."

  As silently as possible, we slipped through the back door, pausing in the hallway before going up the staircase.

  "You never said what you were doing." Kenny's words were slightly louder than a whisper.

  "We'll talk tomorrow," Matt said. "Right now, we’d better get to bed."

  I nodded agreement, a move that made my head feel like it was going to explode. Only one thing would help. "You two go on. I need some caffeine."

  "Now?" Kenny's eyes widened in alarm. "You want to wake up the old bat?"

  "And what old bat would that be?" A too-familiar voice came from under the stairs. "Having a busy night, are we?" Matilda flipped on the hall light, capturing us in her drill-sergeant gaze. "Well, well, well...little Miss Innocent caught coming in at eleven with two boys. This will make a delicious report for Children’s Services. I always suspected that goody-two-shoes act of yours was pure crap." She got right in my face.

  I backed up, almost gagging in response to her beer breath, cheap perfume, and sweaty arm pits. "We didn't do anything."

  "Yeah right." Matilda's sneer encompassed the three of us. "You’re all a bunch of losers, you know that? No one wants you, so you end up here, not worth the money they send me each month." She clamped her fingers on my shoulder. "And you’re the worst of the lot, though he—" she scowled at Kenny "—runs a close second."

  Since I adored sweet-natured Kenny, righteous indignation took over. I shook her off and stepped closer, intending to tell the woman just what I thought of racist alcoholics who took advantage of helpless children.

  But Matt spoke before I could, wedging himself between us. "Miss Matilda, this is all my fault. If you’re going to punish anyone, then it’s got to be me."

  "Hmph! I know who's behind the mischief at Pringle's, and it isn't you."

  Matt didn't back down. "Please don't—"

  Mad Matilda's raised hand shut him up. She opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out. One double take later, I realized that she was stuck in place, just as I'd been back in Bingo Land. In disbelief, I shifted my attention to Kenny. Yep. Him, too. As for Matt... I couldn't bear to look.

  The room tilted. I grabbed for the stair banister, unsure if the world spun around me or I was doing the spinning.

  Be sure it's her.

  Oh no! The voices had found Pringle’s! I almost threw up in my mouth and felt that crazy sensation of falling into nothingness, even though I hadn't moved an inch.

  I'm sure. We should do it now, before there's more interference.

  We'd have her already if you hadn't lost stasis—

  I don't know what happened. Maybe Jor is to blame.

  He wouldn't dare.

  Silence! We'll determine Jor's loyalty later.

  Enough, already. Falling back on what had worked before, I imagined the voices as solid and pictured my pounding headache hammering them to nothing. My mind went quiet. I dug up the nerve to look at Matt and found him in the middle of a full-body shake much like a puppy after a bath.

  His gaze clashed with mine. "What just happened?"

  Before answering, I took stock of the situation. Kenny and Matilda were definitely stirring. I desperately wished they wouldn't…at least until Matt and I could talk. Then a closer look revealed my eyes had tricked me. They weren't moving after all, so I took full advantage of that.

  "Leah?"

  "Tell you in a minute. First, I need something for my headache." I pressed my fingertips to my throbbing temples.

  "Could you at least tell me what’s wrong with them?" He pointed to Matilda and Kenny.

  "Remember what happened to me in Bingo Land?"

  "Yeah."

  I shrugged.

  "But we're not there now."

  "Exactly." Slipping past him, I made my way to the kitchen. Matt peered back over his shoulder as he slowly followed. I filled the aluminum tea kettle with water and set it on the stove with the flames turned up high. After locating the gourmet coffee Matilda kept hidden in a cracker tin on the top shelf of the pantry, I measured brown granules into two mugs. "I heard the voices again."

  Matt leveled his gaze at me. "When?"

  "Just now."

  "Well that explains Kenny and Matilda, I guess. You hear voices; we get stuck."

  "That's not true. You weren't affected that way then or now."

  He gave me a thoughtful nod. "You're right."

  We both studied our frozen companions through the kitchen doorway. Why weren't we freaking? I honestly didn't know. Too much paranormal television, maybe? "What happened from your point of view?"

  "Well, Matilda surprised us and began her rant." He stared me dead in the eye. "You won't get anywhere by standing up to her, you know. In fact, things could get worse."

  "She makes me so mad!"

  "Me, too. But I know when to keep my mouth shut."

  "Someday I'm going to report her to Children's Services."

  "And when you do, we'll all be split up, assuming they even believe us."

  He had a point.

  Matt flicked another glance at our stony companions. "Back to what happened tonight, you turned a little green. Actually thought you were going to spew. Then time stood still." He scratched his head. "I don’t think I blacked out or anything; I just realized that Matilda had finally shut up." He grinned. "By the way, have you noticed how gross her teeth are? At least there's one good
thing you can say about the county. They make sure we get to the dentist."

  That was such a Matt thing to say that I actually laughed. I tried not to think of Kenny, as good as glued to the floor just beyond the wall. The tea kettle whistled.

  He seemed antsy as he watched me pour water over the coffee crystals. "Do you think they’re all right?"

  "All I can tell you is that I was when it happened to me." I poured water in Matt's mug, stirred it for a second, and then handed it over—black, just the way he liked it.

  "What if Matilda wakes up and finds us drinking her Folgers?"

  "I won’t let her." I grabbed a carton of milk from the fridge, added that to my own drink, and rummaged in the pantry for cocoa drink mix. It was only then that I heard what I'd just said. I spun to face Matt. I'd never seen that look on his face before.

  "What do you mean, you 'won’t let her'?"

  Having no explanation to give, I shook my head and focused on finding the chocolate. I spooned some into my coffee and added a dash of cinnamon before gratefully sipping my special brew. "I didn't start this, Matt. Those voices did. And then when I got back—"

  "Whoa, whoa, whoa. I thought we stayed here this time."

  I sighed. "When I hear the voices, it's like a part of me is somewhere else even though I can still see everything around me, the same as when I was in but not in the coffin."

  "Did you freeze Matilda and Kenny?"

  "Absolutely not."

  Matt just stared at me.

  I remembered wishing they'd stay stuck just a little longer. "Well, if I did, I didn't mean to. And as for me saying I wouldn't let her move, I don't know where that came from."

  "Just tell me this: are you going to start freezing us every time you get in a bind?"

  I heard real anger in his voice now and maybe fear. That infuriated me. "Look, Matt. Something weird is going on, yes, but I'm not the cause of it. Believe me, I’m just as confused and scared as you are."

  "I didn’t say I was scared." He sounded defensive.

  I could've kicked myself. "No...."

  "But you sensed it."

  "It would be a natural reaction." An odd quickening nudged my consciousness. I guessed what it meant. "Oh God. They’re about to wake up." Did that knowledge of their condition mean Matt was right? Had I frozen Kenny and Matilda?

  "What now?"

  My brain shifted into panic mode. I took both coffee cups, being careful to keep mine far from Matt's sensitive nose since he hated my concoction. After quickly washing them, I got rid of all the other evidence. I then motioned for Matt to come along and stepped into the hall, where Matilda and Kenny still stood. "Help me get her to her bedroom."

  His eyebrows shot up, but he didn't argue. Instead, he stepped behind Matilda and grasped her around the waist. I grabbed her ankles. Considering the woman's size, we maneuvered her stiff body towards the master bedroom fairly easily. I had a sick feeling that was my doing.

  "I can't believe she's so light," Matt whispered.

  I didn't dare answer. As we slipped through the door, I caught movement in the corner of my eye. Another shadow? Startled, I lost my grip on Matilda's ankles. Her feet bounced on the floor.

  Matt fell backward under her weight. "Flaming fizzlefarts!"

  "Sorry." I quickly grabbed her again. Miraculously relieved of most of her weight, Matt gave me a startled look that said he now had even more questions I couldn't answer.

  While I tucked Matilda in her bed, Matt explored the room. He paused at a small table just long enough to point out a Ouija board. As he headed for the door, I impulsively whispered into Matilda’s ear. "This has all been a bad dream."

  I lightly touched her head, an automatic action I didn't have the guts to analyze. Matt went first down the hallway where Kenny remained. After turning out the light, I tugged on his Spiderman shirt. "Come on, Kenny. We've got to get to bed before Mad Matilda misses us."

  "Huh?" Visibly dazed, Kenny peered all around. He frowned. "Have we been playing Bingo?"

  Matt and I exchanged a quick look before I answered. "At midnight on the stairs? I don't think so."

  "You better get some sleep, man." Matt patted Kenny's arm. "You look whipped."

  "Yeah...right." Slowly Kenny trudged up the steps. Matt and I followed him all the way to the door of the boys' dorm. Kenny went inside.

  Matt didn't go in at once. "Do you really think we’re going to get away with this?"

  "Beats me." I turned toward my own dorm.

  Matt grabbed my wrist. "Wait a sec."

  We heard the creak of Kenny's bed and waited for a couple of minutes after that. Then, with me in tow, Matt entered the dorm and crept past the bunks toward the window, which he now raised easily, silently.

  "Figures." He touched my arm. "Uh-oh."

  "What?" I pressed forward to peer through the smudged glass at the ground below. Rocc—that odd spelling just popped into my head— stood by the tree, staring up at us. "He said he was my brother."

  "That guy did?"

  "Yeah. Said his name was Rocc, and he called me Alleana." Just then M'jorca stepped from the shadows and joined my so-called brother. Both of them stared at us. I ducked back, my head swimming just a little. "9-1-1?"

  "Get real. What would we say to them?"

  Oddly dizzy, I risked another look just as both guys faded from sight. "None of this."

  "You got that right."