Authors: Geof Johnson
“I would imagine, but I don’t think we should take her tonight. She seems pretty scared.”
“She’d be traumatized, Dad,” Fred said. “This is the only place she feels safe.”
Larry frowned. “But aren’t we breaking the law by not reporting her right away?”
“I’m sure we are,” Carl said, “but I’d rather wait until I can check out her story before we turn her over to Child Services. I’ll go down to the police station tomorrow and run a search on this Mr. Gundy fellow.”
“I think that’s a good idea,” Fred said. “Sammi is totally convinced that he’s going to come after her, and snatch her if she’s in another foster home.”
“Carl, he can’t be as bad as all that, can he?” Garrett said. “Seems like the state would never have let him be a foster parent.”
“Depends on how good a liar he is. But I’ll go find out what I can about him, though I doubt he has a criminal record. I don’t think he would’ve passed the background check if he did.”
“But what are we going to do with her tomorrow, if we don’t turn her over to the authorities?” Larry said. “All of us are going to be busy, with the kids’ graduation tomorrow night and everything.”
“I’ll look after her,” Evelyn said. “She probably needs some clothes. I’ll take her shopping and get her a few things.”
“Mom,” Rachel said, “you shouldn’t have to spend your money on her.”
“It’s fine.”
“But what about tomorrow night?” Larry said, “She can’t go to graduation with us. We don’t have enough tickets.”
“I’ll call Gina,” Evelyn said. “She might be willing to stay with Sammi. Fred could give her one of her magic pendants, and she’d be safe enough.”
Larry scowled. “You guys sound like you really believe this Mr. Gundy is going to swoop out of the shadows and grab that little girl, and molest her or something.”
“Sammi seems to think so,” Fred said.
Carl took a deep breath and nodded. “Let’s not make any decisions about her until I can find out more about her foster father.”
“What if he’s as bad as Sammi says he is?” Jamie asked.
“I don’t know.” Carl inhaled slowly and pushed the fingers of one hand through his short brown hair. “Then we’ve got a real problem.”
* * *
Duane Gundy watched as his wife set the phone down. “Well?” he asked.
She shook her head. “They still haven’t seen her.”
“I don’t believe ’em. Libby’s her best friend. I bet Sammi’s hiding over there. I’ll go over there and ask ’em in person. I can tell if they’re lyin’, if I can look ’em in the eye.”
“I don’t know, Duane. I don’t want to bother them again, and Mrs. Carter sounded like she was telling the truth. Maybe you should drive around again and look for Sammi. Maybe go check the diner. She’s bound to be hungry by now.”
Duane Gundy grabbed his car keys from the hook by the kitchen door and shoved his wallet in his back pocket. “I done checked everywhere I can think of. I’m goin’ to Libby’s house.”
Gundy spit on the ground before he banged on the Carter’s front door again, cursing to himself. A few seconds later, Mike Carter opened it, but didn’t turn on the outside light. He wore a white undershirt and faded black jeans, and he was barefoot. A barbed wire tattoo circled his right upper arm.
“Damn, Duane, what the hell do you want?”
“I want Sammi. I know she’s over here.”
“My wife done told you she ain’t here, and we ain’t seen her.”
Gundy tried to see past the lean, sinewy man into the house, but the partway open door offered only a limited view. “Well, she ain’t nowhere else. She’s gotta be here.”
“She ain’t. Now quit botherin’ us. We’re tryin’ to eat supper.”
He could’ve been lying, but Gundy couldn’t get a good look at his eyes in the darkness. “Let me come in and see for myself.”
“I said she ain’t here!” Mike glared at him.
Gundy crossed his arms and cocked his head to one side. “Well, I ain’t leavin’ ’till I see for myself.”
Mike leaned back inside the house and yelled over his shoulder, “Luke, run into my bedroom and fetch my gun.”
“Now, hold on.” Gundy stepped off the small wooden stoop and held out both hands defensively. “No need for that. I’m leavin’.” He walked to his car, and when he glanced back, he saw Mike still standing in his doorway. Gundy slid into the driver’s seat, started the engine, and drove off. He didn’t go far, just a short distance down the road, where he had a clear view of the Carter’s house. He pulled onto the shoulder, turned off the ignition, lit a cigarette, and waited.
* * *
Fred lay in her bed, staring up at the dark ceiling, thinking about Sammi.
Boy, what a night. Another big problem for us to deal with, and just when we thought we were home free
.
Jamie had a theory about it. He always seemed to have a theory about something. He thought that their power attracted problems, like a light attracts moths at night. The brighter the light, the more moths. And the stronger the magical power, the bigger the problems. She tuned him out when he began to expound on his hypothesis, but it did seem to make sense, now that she thought about it.
Though I don’t see how we could have a bigger problem than the demon.That was awful
. She sighed and rolled over onto her side.
That poor little girl. An orphan, just like Aiven. Is that a coincidence?Jamie thought it might not be. Such a similar situation, Sammi and Aiven, orphans with magical powers, showing up on our doorstep
.
Her musings were interrupted by a light tap on her door. A small, timid voice said, “Fred, can I come in?”
“Sure.”
Sammi stepped inside, gently closed the door, and hurried on tiptoes across the hardwood floor to Fred’s bed.
Fred drew back the covers and felt a sudden swell of affection for the vulnerable little girl as she climbed in, and Fred scooted over to make room for her. “I thought you would be asleep by now,” Fred said, and pulled the lightweight blanket over both of them.
“I’m too scared.” She pressed against Fred’s side, and Fred could feel her trembling.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of here. You’re safe.”
“You don’t know Mr. Gundy.”
“That’s true, but if he shows up, do you want Jamie to blast him, like this?” Fred poked her fingers into Sammi’s ribs, and the little girl giggled.
“Can Jamie make him go to that world where he put the two bad witches?”
“You know about that?”
“Unh hunh. I know lots of stuff.”
Fred shook her head in the dark. “You might want to keep some of that to yourself, at least for now. My dad seemed a little ticked off that you’ve been listening to us. It’s not polite to eavesdrop, you know.”
“I can’t help it most of the time. I hear stuff. I don’t try to, I just do.”
“There must be millions of people talking in shadows all the time. How do you filter it all out?”
“I usually only hear people talking about magic, or something that’s important to me.”
“But there are probably thousands of people talking about magic at any given time.”
“I used to hear so many people at once that I couldn’t pick anything out, but now I mostly hear certain things.”
“Maybe it changes as you get older.” Fred absent-mindedly rubbed her cheek with one hand while she thought of her next question. “Can you tune in to whoever you want?”
“Sometimes, kinda. Ever since I started hearing you and Jamie and everybody, I’ve been trying harder to focus on you. I’m getting better at it.”
Fred inhaled deeply through her nose and chewed on a fingernail. “I wonder why you heard us in the first place. Do you really think it’s because it was important to you?” She felt Sammi shrug, and Fred said, “Jamie is going to want to talk to you about your magic the first chance he gets, so be ready for that. And I probably should tell Momma Sue about you.”
“She’s the voodoo queen?”
“Yes, and she’s going to want to meet you, I’m sure. Mrs. Malley probably will, too. Shadow Witches are extremely rare, from what I’m told.”
“Momma Sue and Mrs. Malley are friends.”
“Do you know that from listening in on them?”
No, from you and Jamie talking about them. I can’t hear Momma Sue or Mrs. Malley ’cause of their magic.”
“I’m not surprised. Maybe I need to learn how they block you so I can keep you from listening in on me and stealing all my secrets.” She tickled Sammi again, and Sammi shrieked until Fred shushed her. “You’ll wake my parents, and my dad will be mad at you.”
Sammi was silent for a long moment before saying, “I don’t want your daddy to be mad at me. I want him to like me.”
“I think he will. He loves kids.”
“I know. So does your mommy.”
“Yes. Jamie’s and Rollie’s parents do, too.”
“Everybody here always sounds so happy when I listen to you, except when you fuss with your mommy.”
“Yeah, I do that a lot, lately.”
“You shouldn’t do that. Your mommy is a good person.”
“I know. I can’t help it. It’s the way I am.”
“You’re a firecracker.”
“That’s me. Fred the Firecracker.”
Sammi made a little happy grunting sound and rested her head on Fred’s shoulder. “Fred, I don’t want to go to another foster home. I want to stay here.”
“Why?”
“Because everybody is happy and everybody loves each other so much. Please, can I stay here?”
“It’s not up to me, Sammi.”
“But if it was you’d let me. I know, ’cause you’re a good person.”
“I’m glad you think so. Will you do me a favor and remind my mother of that sometime?”
* * *
Duane Gundy waited in his car, slumped low behind the steering wheel, watching the Carter’s house until the lights in the front room went off. Then he quietly stepped out and opened the trunk, rummaging around in the clutter until he found what he needed — the old stethoscope that he’d bought at a second-hand shop. He tucked it under his arm, put his hands in his pockets, and walked down the dark street, back to the home of Libby’s best friend.
The windows on the near side were lit — bedrooms, he figured — and he gingerly picked his way through the overgrown grass and junk in the yard to the first one. He put the stethoscope on and held the small, round metal chest piece to the window, careful not to make a sound against the glass.
If this is Libby’s room, she and Sammi will be talking
. He listened for a minute or more, but heard nothing. He moved stealthily to the second window, but froze when the next-door neighbor’s back porch light suddenly came on. He crouched, cursing silently to himself, until a door opened.
“Who’s there?” someone said.
Gundy took off sprinting for the street, heedless of the dark, but stumbled and groaned when he banged his shin against something hard — a discarded lawnmower or some other junk — and limped the rest of the way to his car. He jumped inside, fumbled the keys out of his pocket, started the motor and stomped the accelerator, peeling up twin rooster tails of gravel as he sped away.
Chapter 2
Evelyn walked inside the Callahan’s house the next morning and found Lisa kneeling in front of Sammi, getting her ready for her shopping trip with Evelyn.
“Where is everybody?” Evelyn said.
Lisa glanced at her and resumed tying Sammi’s sneaker. “Fred is teaching her dance class and Larry is running errands.” Lisa
tsked
and shook her head as she regarded Sammi’s clothes. “I hate to send you out in public like this, honey. Are these the only things you brought?”
“Yes ma’am. These are my best ones I have.” Sammi wore a faded yellow top with a small hole in one sleeve and red shorts with a frayed hem at the waist.
Lisa felt one of Sammi’s dingy pink shoes. “These are too tight for you, and they’re about worn out.” Lisa looked up at Evelyn. “If I give you some money, will you get her some new sneakers, too?”
“I’ll get them, and you can pay me back later,” Evelyn said, though she had no intention of letting Lisa pay her for anything. Evelyn fingered the sleeve of Sammi’s shirt. “Didn’t your foster parents buy you any clothes?”
“Only from the thrift store.”
“Are those the only shoes you have?”
“Yes ma’am. I can’t get new ones ’cause Mr. Gundy gets mad if Mrs. Gundy spends too much money. He said they have to make their car payments.”
“That’s shameful,” Evelyn said. “They shouldn’t have taken you as a foster child if they can’t afford you. Why did they do that, I wonder?”
“Mrs. Gundy wanted to. She can’t have babies of her own, so she talked Mr. Gundy into being a foster parent.”
“Did they tell you that, or did you listen to them with your power?”
“I didn’t have to use magic to hear them. They argued really loud all the time, and I could hear everything through the walls of my bedroom.”
“Hmm.” Lisa flipped a hand through Sammi’s ragged dark hair and frowned. “What happened here?”
“Oh, well, me and Libby — that’s my best friend — we were playing beauty parlor, and we were going to cut each other’s hair like this fashion magazine her mommy had, but her mommy caught us before we could finish.”
“It’s a good thing, or this could’ve been worse.” Lisa sighed and pushed a stray lock from Sammi’s forehead. “Oh well, nothing we can do about it.” Lisa stood and turned to Evelyn. “I should be back around lunchtime, if you want to bring her home then, I’ll feed her.”
“We might eat something while we’re out.”
“Evelyn, you’re going to spend all of your money on her!”
“No I won’t. We’ll stay within a retired old lady’s budget.”
“You’re not old, Mrs. Wallace,” Sammi said.
“How about me?” Lisa said.
“You’re not old either. You’re a spring chicken!” Sammi grinned.
Lisa laughed and stood up. “Nice try, honey.” She put one hand on Sammi’s shoulder and gave her a wistful smile. “I wish I were going with you. You’re going to have so much fun. I haven’t been shopping with Fred in ages. She wouldn’t be caught dead shopping with her mother.”
“I’ll go shopping with you,” Sammie said brightly. “You don’t even have to buy me anything.”
Lisa took a deep breath as she regarded the girl one more time. “Maybe I’ll take you up on your offer sometime.”
Evelyn paused before she started her car, and looked over at Sammi, sitting in the passenger seat. “Are you sure you’re old enough to sit in the front?”