Witch Ball - BK 3 (4 page)

Horrible dreams chased me into dark corners where
there was no escape. A horned devil with Evan's
face sprung out. I ran, slamming into walls, stumbling, falling, crying out for help. A light appeared,
so bright it hurt my eyes. A shadowy figure carrying
a fiery beacon glided forward. Was Josh coming to
rescue me? I raced toward it, then stopped when I saw the figure clearly-a headless skeleton! And the
fiery ball in his bony fingers was his own skull!

"Sabine ... Sabine ..."

"Go away!" I shouted, running but falling again,
then finding my back against a solid wall. The skeleton wore Kip's number 17 football jersey. The glowing skull was coming closer ... closer ...

"Sabine!"

Jolted awake, I sat up in bed. My heart was
pounding and my T-shirt stuck to my sweaty skin.
I blinked, trying to sort dreams from reality. I felt
exhausted and weak, as if I'd truly been running,
and I was a bit surprised to find my room bathed
in daylight. Was it morning already?

Someone banged at my door. "You okay,
Sabine?"

"Dominic?" I questioned in confusion. He
lived in a barn loft apartment and was usually busy
every morning with chores. I pulled my covers up
and shouted for him to come in.

He opened the door and strode in. "Why are
you still in bed?

"I was sleeping-until you arrived."

"Don't you know what time it is?"

I glanced over at my bedside clock. "Seven
forty-nine. My alarm isn't set to go off till eight."

He shook his head. "It's an hour off."

"No way." I lifted my arm and looked at my
silver moon watch. Then I shrieked, "Almost nine!
But I'm due to set up at the carnival at nine! I'm
late! My clock must be broken. But why didn't
Nona wake me up? She was going to drop me off
on her way to a client meeting."

"She's still in her room. I didn't want to disturb her-"

"But you didn't hesitate to disturb me?"

"That's different." The corners of his mouth
curved, and I tugged my covers up higher around
me. He was impossible, helpful one moment and
insulting the next.

The house seemed empty without the aroma
of Nona's morning tea brewing. She was usually
up before me every morning, doing a private ritual of herb tea and gratitude prayers. "I better
wake Nona," I said quickly.

Dominic stood there watching me, not making any move to leave.

"Go already," I snapped. "Feed the animals or
muck out the barn."

"Already did."

"I have to get dressed, and don't need an
audience."

"Too bad. Guess I'll just go."

"Please do."

As he turned, I realized he wasn't wearing his
work clothes, but looked especially hot in black
jeans, a blue shirt, and a leather jacket. Even his
usually unruly wavy sandy brown hair was tamed.
"Are you going out?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"To the carnival?" I guessed.

"Maybe later, after my class."

"What class?"

"Shouldn't you hurry and get ready?" Then he
turned and left.

It didn't take a vision to know he was avoiding
my question. But he didn't owe me an explanation,
and I was in a hurry anyway. Thanks to my malfunctioning clock, I'd lost a whole hour. Even
weirder-when I looked around the house, I discovered that all the clocks in the house were an
hour off. What was going on?

I found out soon enough. When I woke up
Nona and told her about the clocks, she admitted she'd done it. "It's for daylight-savings time," she
said.

"But that's not for another week!" I exclaimed.
"And the clocks fall back in October, not spring
forward."

Her calm expression changed to confusion, and
she buried her face in her hands. "What have I
done?"

"Don't worry about it. Anyone can make a
mistake."

"But it was more than a mistake."

"It's okay, Nona," I assured, hugging her.

"No, it's not and I'm so sorry. . ." Her words
trailed off, then she took a deep breath. "We better
get moving. Penny-Love will hit the roof if you're
late."

Somehow, I managed to get dressed, grab my
supplies, and make it to the community center in
record time.

As expected, Penny-Love was frantic when I
showed up. I apologized and said it was my fault
for sleeping in. Penny-Love knew Nona had health
problems, but not how serious they were. Keeping
this a secret would be harder as the illness worsened.

Penny-Love assigned me to run the Velcro Toss
booth, which meant wearing a bulky sack-like costume with large patches of Velcro sewn all over.
Customers would pay a dollar for three Velcro balls,
which they would throw at me-a human target.
Totally humiliating!

If running late wasn't bad enough, preparations kicked off with disaster. Jill couldn't find the
money box, Catelyn broke one of the fishing poles,
I forgot to bring the cheesy plastic crystal ball for
Manny, and Penny-Love's artistic boyfriend had
paints for his face-painting booth, but no brushes.

We were all frantically running around, snapping at each other and complaining that we'd never
be ready in time. But gradually all the crises were
solved. Jill found the money box, duct tape fixed
the broken pole, and Penny-Love made a quick trip
to my house for paintbrushes and the crystal ball.

While I was organizing a basket of sticky balls,
I heard my name and looked up to find a fuzzyhaired clown with a big red nose and banana-feet
flip-flopping toward me.

"Josh!" I smiled at my goofy boyfriend. I loved
this playful side of him.

"What kind of costume is that?" he asked,
pointing at me.

"An ugly, uncomfortable one." I plucked at
the scratchy fabric. "Want to trade?"

"Not a chance. But I have some news that will
cheer you up."

"What?"

"You have company." He gestured with his
white-gloved hand down the aisle, where a tall,
slim girl with masses of long, dark hair was hurrying toward me.

"Amy!" I squealed, jumping over the low
booth counter.

"I'll leave you girls alone," Josh said, flip-flopping away on clown feet.

I rushed forward and wrapped my arms around
my little sister. "What a great surprise! How did you
get here?"

"Mom brought me."

"She did?" I asked, hope rising as I glanced
around. "Where is she?"

"Gone. She's taking Ashley to Roseville to
visit an old college friend with music industry
connections."

"Oh ..." I tried to hide my disappointment.
Would it have killed Mom to come in to see me? I
knew she had issues with me being psychic, but
we'd gotten along better at my sisters' party. Still it wasn't like she was going to change her attitude toward me overnight.

"I told Mom I'd rather spend the day with
you," Amy went on, her blue eyes sparkling under
the high ceiling lights. "You mentioned the carnival in your last email and it sounded way more fun
than listening to Mom go on and on about Ashley's many talents." She emphasized Ashley's name
with a scowl.

"You and Ashley on the outs?" I asked.

Reaching into a basket on the counter, she
picked up a Velcro ball and tossed it in her hands.
"Do these balls stick to you?"

"Yes. But you didn't answer my question."

She tossed the ball lightly at my costume and
it stuck.

"I thought you and Ashley were best friends,"
I persisted.

"Can we please not talk about her?"

I plucked the ball from my costume and set it
back in the basket. Trouble in twin city? I wondered in surprise. Now that I thought back to the
birthday party, Amy had spent most of her time
tagging after me. Ashley, on the other hand, was
always surrounded by a flock of friends, and car tied herself with a sophistication that made her appear much older than ten. At least Amy, who only
wore makeup for recitals and modeling, looked
her age. But they were both growing up fast ...
maybe too fast.

I didn't press Amy any further, figuring she'd
confide in me when she was ready. Instead, I suggested she check out the other booths while I
worked. "Get something to eat or have your face
painted by Penny-Love's new guy, Jacques. She
swears he's the most talented artist in the universe."

"Can't I just stay with you?" she asked softly.

"Of course you can."

So I put Amy to work collecting money and
handing out Velcro balls. Right away we were
swamped with kids eager to attack a human target.
Fortunately the balls were light, so it only tickled
when someone scored a hit.

After about an hour of my getting smacked
with Velcro balls, Amy offered to take my place.
"You deserve a break," she said. "I'll dodge balls for
a while and you enjoy the carnival."

"You're the one who should see the booths," I
insisted. "I signed up for this, but you came here
for fun."

"This is fun." Her dark hair fell across her
face. "I like staying here."

I felt guilty for leaving, but I'd been curious
how the other booths were doing. So I helped her
slip into the ugly costume, then promised to hurry
back.

The first booth I went to sold candy and candles, and was run by Nona's friend Velvet, who
owned the yummy store Trick and Treats. Although
she didn't know the details of my grandmother's illness, she knew something was wrong and gave me a
special herbal tea for Nona. Before leaving I bought
a bag of chocolate caramels and a strawberry-scented
candle.

Then I wandered over to the face-painting
booth. Penny-Love's new boyfriend Jacques was
stocky with alert brown eyes and flame-red streaks
in his stubby black ponytail. I watched a moment,
studying him. He looked about eighteen, not too
macho, but mature in a quiet, intense way.

Next, I watched a skinny boy with bad acne,
but a great throwing arm, dunk Principal Cowboy
in a tub of water-twice! Then I wandered up and
down aisles until I came to Manny's booth. He'd
done a great job setting up, with a purple banner waving "Mystic Manny" and glittery decorations
of stars and moons.

"Ah, another victim ... I mean customer." He
whisked me behind a dark curtain and plopped me
in a chair. He wore gaudy fake jewels and a turban
while he sat at a dimly lit table. It was so dark under
his blanket-fashioned tent that I could hardly see
my own hands. "Are you ready to have your fortune
told?"

"Me? You have to be kidding."

"Even doctors must have checkups and teachers need to go to school. It's about time the psychic
gets a reading. And I am just the mystic to do it!"

"It's too dark in here," I complained, feeling
around for a chair and then sitting across from him.

"Mood lighting. Now sit quietly, my dear, while
I consult the crystal ball."

"Usually you just consult me." It had been
easy coming up with predictions for him. All I had
to do was concentrate on a name and I just knew
things. Like Lizette's boyfriend had gotten a speeding ticket, Manuel's male cat was actually female
and pregnant, and Mr. Blankenship needed to replace his car battery.

"Mystic Manny knows all," he declared.

"Your accent is pathetic. Is it supposed to be
German or Russian?"

He held up his palm. "Silence while I summon the spirits."

I shrugged, deciding this could be amusing.
Manny would probably say something self-serving
like I was destined to work extra hours on the
newspaper.

My eyes began to adjust to the dark as Manny
waved his hands over the crystal ball and he chanted
strange words. The ball flashed like a blazing moon,
and I smelled a strong scent of vanilla. A silver-gray
aura swirled, making me dizzy.

"You have angered a powerful force," Manny
spoke in a raspy voice. "I see much darkness ahead."

So get more candles, I was going to joke, only
my throat tightened and I couldn't speak.

"Dire events are churning in motion." He
stared deep into the ball, taking his mystic role too
far. He even looked like a different person; as if a
withered, pale mask floated over his face.

"Nothing earthbound or spirit guided will protect you from the dark journey ahead," he droned
ominously. "Destiny is unavoidable."

What destiny? I wanted to shout, but I couldn't
even open my mouth. A heavy pressure pushed me
down, trapping me spellbound in my chair. Stop it,
Manny! This is all wrong and scary. You're not acting
like yourself.

But his mouth twisted in an angry line and his
burning eyes bore into me. "Someone who loves you
will cause your death. In five days, you will die."

The reddish glow faded from the glass ball and the
heavy gray aura lifted.

"What happened?" Manny blinked as if waking from a long sleep. "Sabine, why are you looking at me like that?

I rocked in the chair, wrapping my arms around
myself. My head throbbed. I felt both chilled and
hot all over.

Manny stood up and drew back the curtain,
shining bright light into the tent. "Beany, are you
sick?"