The Conjuring Glass (6 page)

Penny nodded, then hurried to the back room, questions about her father forgotten for the time. She found Zoe standing over the same bin as before eyeing the polished stones like the contents of a treasure chest.

“Ah ha!” She pulled a cluster of fat purple crystals from the bin and held them up for Penny to admire, then rushed past her to pay for them.

Oh well
, Penny thought, giving her shoulders a shrug.
So what if she’s a bit weird
.

Everyone was weird in some way. At least Zoe was weird in a fun way.

Rooster, his brother, and the rest of the boys were back at the park for their daily ball game, so Penny and Zoe decided to walk over to the school and have a look around. As they passed the game in progress, Zoe stopped and said, “Look at that!”

Penny turned and saw the fox again, sitting in the outfield, watching the game.

“You … you can see it too?”

Zoe gave her an incredulous sideways glance and said, “Of course I can.”

However, when the fox rose on all four legs and trotted into the infield, Zoe’s mouth dropped open. The fox passed between second base and shortstop, stopping behind the pitcher’s mound and Rooster.

She turned back to Penny and said, “Can’t they see it?”

Penny shrugged, continuing to watch the spectacle.

Rooster’s arms pinwheeled in a comically exaggerated pitch, but before he could release the ball the fox stepped up behind him and grabbed the hem of his shorts with its teeth. It yanked them down to his ankles, exposing Rooster’s saggy, stained underwear.

The other boys in the field, including Rooster’s older brother, exploded in laughter as Rooster’s pitch flew wild and he scrambled to get his shorts back up.

Penny was too shocked to laugh, but Zoe laughed hard enough for both of them.

“Do you think we can get it to follow me home? Maybe I could train it to tie his shoelaces together.”

Rooster turned and shook a fist at them, as if they’d somehow caused his shorts to fall down.

The fox was gone.

The Fox and the Box

Penny and Zoe rounded off their day with an exploration of the school grounds, lunch at the little restaurant next to Sullivan’s, and a walk along the Chehalis River. Zoe kept stopping to pluck interesting rocks at the water’s edge.

Later, they walked to Zoe’s house, where her grandmother had fallen asleep on the couch watching her favorite afternoon soap operas. They tiptoed through the small house to Zoe’s room, where she showed off her rock collection and a full shelf of books, all of which she had read at least once.

“We used to move a lot,” she said. “I never got a chance to make many friends, so I read.”

Her reading tastes ranged from Nancy Drew, to Harry Potter, to
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
. Most were fantasy, everything from
Lord of the Rings
to
Discworld
. There was even a selection of old geology textbooks, and a few dedicated to nothing but gems and crystals. Some of these had library stickers from towns where Zoe had lived at one time or another.

Penny finally thought to check the clock on Zoe’s nightstand, and panicked. It was five till five.

“Don’t worry, I’ll give you a ride back,” Zoe said, guiding her out through the back door, into the overgrown backyard—where Penny saw a bicycle so old and ugly, she would have almost rather been late than accept a ride on it. It was bulky, with faded yellow paint, rust spots dusting the frame like freckles, a worn banana seat, and long, curving handlebars that would have looked at home on a motorbike.

Zoe seemed to have read Penny’s mind.

“I’ll stay off Main Street,” she said with an apologetic look.

Zoe pumped the bike’s peddles with reckless abandon, shooting blindly across intersections, hopping over curbs;  Penny sat behind her, holding on for dear life.

They skidded to a stop in the gravel parking lot behind the bookstore just as Susan stepped from the back door and locked it behind her.

“There you are,” she said upon spotting them. “I thought maybe you forgot about me.”

“I didn’t forget,” Penny lied, climbing down from Zoe’s bike. She felt depressed as she stepped toward the old Falcon. The best day she’d had in weeks was at an end now, and the thought of spending the rest of the evening alone in her room, or watching TV in the living room, was unbearable.

“Susan, can Zoe stay over tonight?”

Penny was sure Susan would say no, and equally sure that Zoe would be tired of her company by then.

Susan gave them a quick look, seemed to be making up her mind, and said, “Sure, why not. Do you think your grandmother will let you, Zoe?”

“Maybe,” Zoe said, but she sounded unsure. “Can I call and let you know?”

“That’s fine. Will you need a ride?”

“No,” Zoe said quickly. “I know where you live. The big house on Clover Hill. I can ride my bike.”

Penny gave Zoe her phone number, which Zoe wrote down on the back of her hand. Then Zoe was off, spraying a rooster tail of dust and gravel as she peddled toward her house.

Susan watched her until she disappeared around a corner a block away, then turned back to Penny. “Isn’t that a long way to ride?”

Penny thought so too, but said, “She does ride pretty fast.”

They stopped at the little video store at the end of town and rented a movie in anticipation of Penny’s first sleepover, then drove home with the windows open in the waning heat, a comfortable wind blowing through the car.

“Well, what do you think kiddo? Gonna survive out here in the sticks?”

Staring out the window at the blurred countryside, Penny thought she saw something pace them, then disappear into the brush
—
something furry and red, about the size of a dog.

She smiled.

“It’s weird, but I think I’ll get used to it.”

They were home nearly an hour before Zoe called back.

“I’m coming over, but I have to wait for a little bit.” She sounded anxious.

“We can pick you up if you want.”

“
No
,” she said at once. “I can ride. Really, I like riding.”

“Okay, sure,” Penny said, a little confused by Zoe’s insistence.

“Um, it’ll be a bit, but please don’t call. Grandma’s going to bed.” After offering a hurried “Good bye,” Zoe hung up.

Is she embarrassed about Susan meeting her grandma
?

Is she afraid her grandma won’t like me
?

They ignored their grumbling stomachs, deciding to save dinner and the movie for when Zoe arrived. They watched television, and the clock hanging over the hallway entrance.

An hour passed, and still Zoe did not show up.

“I’m going to start dinner now,” Susan said. “If she isn’t here in a half hour, I’m calling.”

As much as Penny wanted to respect Zoe’s wishes and not disturb her grandmother, she was starting to worry.

“She said it’d be a while,” Penny said, but shut up at the look Susan shot her.

A half hour later their dinner of hamburgers and fries was finished, Zoe’s resting on a covered hot plate, as Penny had persuaded Susan to wait until they had eaten.

Fifteen minutes later, Susan searched their phone’s caller ID and redialed Zoe’s number, then frowned and hung up.

“It’s busy,” she said, “or off the hook.”

Penny’s nerves could take no more, and when Susan suggested they go for a drive to look for Zoe, she didn’t argue. However, they hadn’t made it off the front porch, before they saw her in the distance, pedaling up their long driveway.

Penny sighed, and relaxed a little.

“Hi,” Zoe said, and frowned when she saw the keys hanging from Susan’s hands. “Where are you going?”

“To look for you,” Penny said. “We were getting worried.”

“I told you I’d be a while,” Zoe said, rolling her eyes. She looked touched just the same.

“We called first,” Susan said, and Zoe shot Penny an irritated look that made her blush a little. “The line was busy.”

“Yeah, sometimes Grandma leaves it off the hook when she goes to sleep.”

Zoe forgot her annoyance when they mentioned her waiting dinner, and once seated she wolfed down her burger and fries. When she’d finished, she put a hand over her mouth and belched, then relaxed back in her seat. “That was excellent, Ms. Taylor. I’m stuffed.”

“Hope you have room for popcorn,” Penny said, tossing a bag into the microwave.

“Always room for popcorn,” Zoe replied, and smiled more widely than Penny had seen her smile all day, as they walked to the living room to start the movie.

“Cool room!”

Penny felt as though she were glowing with pride. “It’s okay.”

Zoe stashed her clothes in the unused dresser while Penny plopped down on her bed. She was so tired she could barely keep her eyes open, but felt too excited to sleep.

Zoe stood at the little window overlooking the vast property in front of their home. “It’s like being in a castle,” she said.

A strange yip broke the silence of the night, making Zoe flinch. She strained to see something in the distance outside, then gasped.

“What?” Penny said, rising and crowding in beside her to see outside.

“I don’t believe it,” Zoe said, and pointed in the direction of the tall wild grass bordering the driveway.

Penny saw it standing down there, a dark four-legged shape in the pale moonlight, its narrow face pointed in their direction.

“Let’s go,” Zoe said. “I want a closer look.”

“Are you crazy?” Penny asked.

“Oh, come on. It can’t be too dangerous,” Zoe said. “It could have bitten Rooster’s butt off if it wanted too. It only pulled down his tighty-whities.”

“I don’t know,” Penny said. “There’s something really weird about it. How come only we can see it?”

Zoe shrugged and stepped away from the window, grabbing Penny’s arm and dragging her toward the attic door. “I don’t know.”

Penny tugged her arm loose and frowned as Zoe turned back to her impatiently. “Come on.”

Penny decided it was time to tell her, and simply hope that Zoe didn’t decide she was nuts—hope she didn’t decide not to be her friend anymore.

“I saw it the other day, out on the hill over there. It talked to me.”

Zoe’s annoyed expression faded, then turned into gape-mouthed disbelief. For several long moments she just looked at Penny, unblinking. Then, finally, she said, “No it didn’t. You’re pulling my leg.”

Penny sighed, and didn’t resist as Zoe renewed her grip on her arm.

“Fine, be quiet though.” Penny was reasonably certain Susan wouldn’t kick her out if she got in trouble. However, she didn’t want to test her patience so soon.

They lowered the sliding stairs to the hallway below, Penny cringing at the squeal it made. She’d have to grease it if she was going to make a habit of sneaking out. They moved quietly through the house and out onto the porch, closing the door behind them as softly as they could.

The fox stood in the same spot, watching them.

“Come on, let’s get closer,” Zoe said, urging Penny forward.

“What if it comes for us?” Penny asked, her apprehension growing with their proximity to the strange animal.

“Well,” Zoe said. “You’re so short, it’ll catch you easily. By the time it’s finished with you, I’ll be back inside.”

“You think of everything,” Penny said.

The fox chuckled at them, and Penny thought she saw it wink in the moonlight.

Then it was gone.

Before she knew it, they were giving chase, Zoe still clinging to her arm.

It was amazing they made it so far without tripping over the many large rocks, bushes, and stunted trees along the path to the hill. The pace was easy for Zoe, who was much faster than Penny. But even she was panting when they finally came to a stop at the bottom of the gentle incline and turned their eyes upward. The silhouette of a dog-like snout with long, pointed ears hung over the edge of the slope, then disappeared into the grass.

“Hurry,” Zoe said, and Penny groaned as she struggled up the trail behind her.

This time she made it to the top.