The Ghost Witch (5 page)

The spider vanished.

“I did it!” Jenny exclaimed. Rufus leaped down from the top of the cupboard and climbed onto her shoulder, purring with pleasure. They both glared at the ghost witch, who looked very cross.

“I can see you're going to be a spoilsport like my granddaughter—your Miss Nagle,” the witch said disgustedly. “And just when everything was going so well!”

“What do you think?” Jenny asked eagerly. “Do you like my great idea now?”

The ghost witch paced up and down the hall. She balanced her wand in the middle of the floor and marched three times around it. She sang something to herself that sounded like “Yankee Doodle Dandy” backward.

“Where are all these people who want to be frightened?” she demanded finally. “It's certainly not much fun doing tricks for a naughty girl and a nasty cat who jump on some of my best work!”

CHAPTER TEN

This Is Where I Belong

Jenny told the ghost witch about Mr. Barkin's house. “It's a big old place sort of like this one,” she said. “On the other side of town. Mr. Barkin's mother and father lived there a long time ago, but now it's empty. It'll make a great haunted house.”

The ghost witch scratched her ear with the tip of her wand. “Maybe it will and maybe it won't,” she said sulkily. “You say people will pay money to be scared?”

“Oh, yes,” Jenny said. “And Mr. Barkin will give it all to the poor families in town to buy Christmas presents for their children. You'd be doing a good deed.”

“Don't care about that,” the ghost witch snapped. “I don't give two hoots and a whistle for good deeds.”

Jenny gulped and tried again. “If the haunted house is
very
scary, I'm sure Mr. Barkin will sell tickets again next year. And for every Halloween for years and years and years. You'll be famous!”

The witch's scowl slipped away. “You mean I'd be famous
again
,” she said smugly. “I told you before, a hundred years ago everyone in this town knew the witch of Willowby Lane.” The scowl came back. “And that's who I am,” she said firmly. “I'm the witch of Willowby Lane. This house is my home—always has been. This is where I belong. Why should I—”

She stopped and cocked her head. Then Jenny heard the sound, too—the soft
swish-swish
of footsteps moving through leaves on the walk at the side of the house.

“Wait!” Jenny begged. “Please don't go!” But it was no use. Still scowling, the ghost witch disappeared.

The porch door opened, and then the kitchen door. Jenny's mother came in, her cheeks pink with cold. Rufus leaped down from Jenny's shoulder and rubbed against Mrs. Warren's ankles.

“I was beginning to get worried,” she explained, giving Jenny a hug. “It doesn't take very long to feed Rufus. What in the world have you been doing?”

“Nothing.” Jenny was close to tears. Her mother couldn't have come at a worse time.
I almost did it
, she thought.
If I just could have talked to the witch for a few minutes more
…

But crying wouldn't help. All the way home Jenny went over what she had said to the ghost witch and what the witch had said to her.
She loves scaring people. And she wants to be famous again. Maybe she'll like my idea when she thinks about it
, she comforted herself. But then she remembered the ghost witch's final words:
That's who I am … the witch of Willowby Lane. This house is my home
.…
This is where I belong
.… She sounded as if she were going to stay right where she was forever.

“Now that you're getting used to the house, I think we should move very soon,” Jenny's mother said when they were eating dinner that night. “Oh, Jenny, it's going to be such fun! And just think how pleased Rufus will be to have us with him all the time.”

With spiders around every corner and an elephant in the living room
! Jenny thought miserably. But she knew it was no use arguing anymore. Not when she'd offered to go to the house all by herself that afternoon. Not when her mother was so happy about moving.

The week dragged by. Jenny and Chris had lunch together in the school cafeteria every day, but they didn't talk about Miss Nagle's house or about Mr. Barkin's Halloween surprise. Jenny had the feeling that if she even mentioned the ghost witch, Chris would run away from her and never come back.

“What are you going to wear to the Halloween party?” Chris asked Wednesday noon. “My mom's shortening her old prom dress for me.”

Jenny shrugged. “I don't know what I'll wear. I haven't thought about it.” She'd been too busy worrying about what the ghost witch would do.

“Well, you'd better decide pretty soon,” Chris warned. “The party is just three days away, you know.”

The next morning Jenny rode her bike to school. As soon as the last bell rang, she raced out of the building without waiting for Chris. With Halloween so close, she had to try to talk to the ghost witch once more. It would be her last chance.

“There goes Chicken Jenny!”

Jenny didn't turn her head to see who was shouting at her. She knew.
If being scared makes me a chicken, then I guess that's what I am
, she thought, pedaling faster.
But at least I'm trying
! Her heart pounded as she pictured what the ghost witch might do to frighten her this time.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Jenny Tries Again

The ghost witch did nothing at all.

Jenny let herself in and walked slowly through the house, with Rufus in her arms, switching on lights and peering into each room. She opened and closed closet doors, holding her breath. Every few steps, she whirled around, in case someone or something was creeping up behind her.

“Is anybody here?” Jenny hardly recognized her own quavery voice. “Have—have you decided what you're going to do?”

There was no answer. The house was silent, except for the soft
click-click
of the furnace turning on and off.

When they reached the foot of the stairs, Rufus yawned and jumped to the floor.
He's bored
! Jenny marveled. She wondered how it was possible to be bored, when there might be a monster around any corner. With dragging feet she climbed the stairs alone and tiptoed down the second-floor hall and back.

“I'd j-just like to know—” she began again, but the rest of the sentence trailed off into silence. The ghost witch wasn't going to answer. She didn't want to talk about Jenny's great idea.

Back in the kitchen, Jenny filled Rufus's bowls and stood watching the big cat eat. “It's not fair,” she muttered unhappily. “I bet the ghost witch is off planning horrible tricks to play when we move in here. And there's nothing I can do to stop her!”

Rufus meowed and kept on eating.

“I probably made her mad when I tried to get her to move,” Jenny said. “As far as she's concerned, this is
her
house, not ours.” She remembered the ghost's final words.…
The witch of Willowby Lane
…
that's who I am
.

When Jenny got home, a half hour later, her mother was waiting for her.

“Have you decided what you'll wear to the school Halloween party, Jenny?” she asked. “Time's passing.”

Jenny shook her head. “It doesn't matter,” she said unhappily. “Blue jeans and an old shirt will be okay.”

Her mother smiled and went into the bedroom. When she came back, she was carrying a large box.

“I found this in a trunk in Miss Nagle's basement,” she said. “I think it's just your size.” She opened the box and took out a long blue skirt and a jacket with puffed sleeves.

“Since we're going to live in a Victorian house, why not dress like a Victorian lady?” she said cheerfully. “This outfit must have belonged to Miss Nagle's grandmother.” She held the skirt to Jenny's waist. “It's perfect,” she said. “Miss Nagle's grandmother must have been quite little.”

She was
, Jenny thought. The ghost witch was Miss Nagle's grandmother.

“I don't think—” she began, but her mother wasn't listening. She had lifted a little blue bonnet from the box and now she set it on her own head. “The ribbons tie under the chin like this,” she said, looking at herself in the mirror. “You'll have the prettiest costume at the party, Jenny.”

Jenny slumped into her mother's rocking chair. She had worried all day about what the ghost witch would decide to do. She had ridden her bicycle across town to Miss Nagle's house and back. She had walked alone through the house, actually begging the ghost to come and talk to her. Now she was just too tired to argue about whether or not she would wear a witch's dress to the Halloween party.

“It's a nice costume, Mom,” she said, trying to sound pleased. “I guess I'm pretty lucky.”

“You certainly are!” her mother exclaimed. “Who knows what else we'll find in that wonderful old house when we move in!”

That's what I'm afraid of
, thought Jenny. But she was thinking of spiders, not dresses. Moving into Miss Nagle's house was sure to bring lots of surprises—all of them bad.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Halloween Night

“I wouldn't want to wear a witch's dress,” Chris said, when she and Jenny set out for the Halloween party Saturday evening. “But it's really pretty, Jenny,” she added honestly. “I guess it doesn't matter who wore it first. After the party we can go to my house and you can show it to my mom.”

Jenny pointed to a poster tacked to a tree. She read it out loud: “‘GOOSE BUMPS! SHAKES! SHIVERS! DON'T MISS THE HAUNTED HOUSE TONIGHT!' Mr. Barkin's going to be expecting us,” she said. “His signs are all over town.”

“I'm not going,” Chris said. She tripped on the hem of her prom dress and almost fell. “I told you.”

“He'll feel bad if we don't come.”

Chris pretended not to hear. “Look at the school,” she said, pointing down the block. There were lighted jack-o'-lanterns in every window on the first floor. “Come on, Jenny, we don't want to be late.”

When they stepped inside the front doors of the school and saw their teacher Miss Cleary at the top of the stairs, both girls laughed out loud. Tonight Miss Cleary was Raggedy Ann. Her bright red hair was braided into thin pigtails to make it look like yarn.

“Right this way, ladies.” Miss Cleary pointed down the hall to the auditorium. “My, don't you two look beautiful!”

The auditorium was crowded with boys and girls, parents and teachers. Most of them wore costumes. Game booths dotted the room, and up on the stage a magician was pulling scarves and a pumpkin out of his hat.

“Let's play ringtoss first,” Chris said. “I'm good at that sometimes.”

Don't think about the ghost witch
, Jenny told herself, as she followed Chris across the floor. They both won candy bars playing ringtoss and then moved on to a fishing game. After that they stopped at a booth where you threw balls at a row of black bats with yellow eyes.

“I'd rather duck for apples,” Jenny said quickly. She was remembering the huge bat that had swooped over her head in Miss Nagle's house. She hurried to a corner where several boys and girls were bending over big tubs full of water and bright red apples.

When the principal announced it was time for the grand costume parade, Jenny could hardly believe the party was almost over. All evening she'd been trying not to think about what would or would not happen later at Mr. Barkin's haunted house. Now she was going to find out. Suddenly her hands were clammy. As she and Chris stood in line and walked across the stage so everyone could admire their costumes, she hardly heard the people clapping.

“Let's go to my house,” Chris said, as soon as they'd left the auditorium. “My mom will take pictures of our costumes.”