Red ribbons, p.7
Red Ribbons, page 7
"I'll know," Drake barely whispered.
"Fine. You can stay, but don't let me catch you on any of the furniture." Ms. Helen said with one brow raised.
Drake flew off the desk and out of the room.
"I just don't understand," Claribel finally said. "How can I trust any of you?"
"We're your family, dear."
Claribel sniffled.
"I'm sorry I didn't bring you a gift. I didn't know you were here until I saw you in the hall ready to defend the house last night." Edward smiled, pulled out the leather notebook, drew another star, and tucked it away.
"What's that? What do the stars mean?" she asked.
"Nothing," Ms. Helen interrupted Edward, who had almost spoken. "It's so beautiful outside. How about we spend the afternoon in the garden. Wouldn't that be nice?"
Claribel nodded but kept her eyes on the drawer with the notebook. If Edward didn’t bring her the doll, who did?
13
Garden Secrets
She stood alone in the foyer for a few minutes while Ms. Helen wrangled up the others. She felt relief knowing that it was Drake on the other side of the closet and not her foster parents. What she still didn't understand was why Drake hadn't wanted her to open the closet in her dream. He gave her the same warning. She wished Drake had stayed with her so she could’ve asked him, but he'd disappeared upstairs somewhere, and now there wasn't time.
"Enjoy the weather, children. Come back inside when the lights come on," Ms. Helen told them.
They all spilled out into the garden. The crisp fall weather felt nice. Mather was quickly gathering up a crew.
"We're going exploring. Wanna j-j-join?" Zeke asked her.
"Exploring for what?"
"Secrets." Abigail giggled.
"Gather round. It's bright and sunny, but don't let the nice weather fool you. Around and beneath this dirt lies a lot of secrets," Mather began. "Today, as explorers, we'll search the garden far and wide. Bring whatever you find to this bench."
"Yeah right," Zeke said just loud enough for Claribel could hear. "He'll take it for his own."
The kids then scattered east and west, south and north, until the entire garden had hungry eyes on it.
"Come," Claribel told Zeke and pulled him through the iron gate and into the bed of black-eyed Susans.
“W-w-what are these?" he asked, flicking a flower.
"Don't do that," she told him too late. The flower's black eye opened and stared at Zeke.
"Ahh!" he screamed.
"It's okay. They won't hurt you, I don't think. They just watch. But be gentle, will ya?"
As they walked along, they tried to keep their eyes on the ground, looking for anything interesting. The flowers watched them every step of the way.
After a few minutes, Zeke said, "This is weird. Can we go somewhere else?"
Claribel took his hand and pulled him deeper into the garden where she last saw her foster parents' closet doors. They weren't there now. Only a thick cement wall covered in running roses.
"Look." Claribel bent down and picked up the key with the emerald.
"I thought that disappeared," Zeke said.
"Me, too." She wiped the dirt from it and put it in her pocket. "Curiouser."
"Every time he comes, things get a little w-w-weird."
"What do you mean?" Claribel turned to Zeke.
"It's just... before he comes, the house grows sad, and when he gets here, Ms. Helen is all happy, but after he leaves, she slowly gets sad again."
"How often does he come?"
"He's only come f-f-four times since I've been here."
"How long have you been here?" Claribel asked.
He looked up as if trying to help his mind compute the time, then shrugged.
"What about the baby?"
"We hardly ever see the baby. It's strange. It never seems to grow older, but sometimes it looks younger," he whispered like this was some secret.
"Weird."
"Yeah. But on the bright side, he always brings us g-g-gifts." Zeke pulled out the brass binoculars from his pocket.
"Can I see?"
He handed them to Claribel, who put them to her eyes and turned around so that the lenses were facing the house. She scanned the first floor, then the second. She saw something move and went back to see what.
"What is th...at?" She squinted her eyes, pressed them harder into the binoculars, and strained to see. Two little girls looked back at her through one of the windows.
"You've got to see this." She handed them to Zeke and pointed.
"What?" he asked looking through them in the direction she was pointing. “Whoa. They're ch-ch-chillers."
"No way!" Claribel snatched them back.
"You can see the wall behind them."
He was right. She could see the paisley wallpaper behind the two identical girls.
"One. Two. Three. Four. Four windows from the stairs," Claribel said.
"You're not thinking about lo-lo-looking for them, are you?"
"Of course I am. I want to get to the bottom of what's going on in this house."
"You have to learn to live with unanswered questions, Claribel. For your own good." His voice was firm.
She handed him back the binoculars.
"What's th-th-that?" He pointed to the dirt a few feet away. He fell to his knees and began digging with his hands.
"A marble?" Claribel asked when he held it up, running his fingers over its smooth surface. The smile on his face would have made one think that he was holding a piece of gold. He buffed it on his vest and put it in his pocket.
"One of my foster parents used to tell me that I'd lost my marbles, so now when I see them, I'm inclined to pi-pi-pick them up. I've got a whole jar in my room."
"Gather in!" they heard Mather call.
All the kids, except Claribel and Zeke, dumped their findings on the bench. There wasn't much: a bottle, a piece of wire, a fork, and a shard of red glass.
"Is that it?" Mather asked, disappointed.
He snatched up the bottle and left the other stuff behind. Zeke stuffed everything else in his pockets when he thought no one was looking.
"Come on. We're going to play another game. Sit in a circle."
Everyone did what he said. Claribel sat between Zeke and Abigail.
"We're going to play spin the bottle," he continued.
Knowing exactly what this game entailed, Claribel was ready to bolt, until Zeke took her hand and pulled her back down.
"If the bottle lands on you, you must go in there."
Everyone gasped but Claribel, who was still trying to look where Mather was pointing. Way out behind the garden was what looked like an abandoned shed. Relief washed over her when she realized this wasn’t the game she thought it was.
"You can take one person with you, just in case something were to happen. No one should die alone." He laughed.
Everyone inhaled and held their breath as Mather twisted the bottle and spun it on the wet grass.
"Round and round and round it goes. Where it'll stop, nobody knows," Abigail taunted.
How could she be so at ease? It could easily land on her. Claribel wished she could snatch that silly crown right off her pretty little head.
As Claribel imagined tearing Abigail's crown into tiny little pieces and scattering them around the yard, the bottle landed.
On her.
She looked at the bottle, then to Mather, who was still laughing, and then to Abigail.
"Don't look at me," the girl told her, gripping her crown and looking away.
She would have picked Lilliana. Lilliana had a way of making Claribel feel comfortable—as comfortable as one could feel in this place. But she didn't see Lilliana. Did she ever come outside?
"I'll go wi-wi-with you." Zeke smiled at her. The two made their way to the shed, while the others whispered, snickered, and pointed. "Don't worry. I've been in there before. It's not that scary."
"It looks pretty creepy to me."
"How long do we have to stay in there?"
"I dunno."
"Do they play this game often?"
"Nope. Never."
"Then why would you have ever come in here?"
"I am working on a project, and I needed some supplies. I found a few things in here. Who knows? Ma-ma-maybe I'll find a few more today."
The rickety shack leaned over to one side. They both cocked their heads to the same side and stared.
"That's new," Zeke said pointing to the doorknob. A red ribbon was tied to it. "Oh well. We tried."
"Why would it be forbidden now and not before?" Claribel wondered aloud.
She tugged at the knob. Locked.
A light bulb went off in her mind. She pulled her jean pocket inside out until the emerald key fell into her palm. She put the key into the lock and twisted it.
"We really shouldn't be doing this. It's forbidden for a reason. It's not s-s-safe," Zeke reasoned.
Claribel didn't listen. She pushed open the door and dragged Zeke inside with her. They could still hear the others snickering outside even after the door was shut.
14
Somewhere Dark
The only light in the dark room shined through the rotting wood slats that made up the walls.
"It's cold in here." Claribel felt the chicken skin emerge. She tried to warm herself by rubbing her arms. "We might as well look for treasures while we're here," she said, shuffling around old crates.
"It's mostly a bunch of junk."
They rummaged through the crates without thought, tossing old clothing, toys, and furniture aside.
"Why would it be locked now and not before?" Claribel asked, talking to herself. This seemed to revive Zeke's initial fears.
"It doesn't make sense." He headed back to the door. "I think it's been long enough. I don't hear them giggling anymore.”
"Wait," Claribel said, something catching her eye in the back of the tiny shack. Burlap coffee bags were sewn together to make a sort of curtain. She thought she saw something moving behind it. Just for a second.
"That wasn't there last t-t-time."
Claribel slowly lifted the edge of the makeshift curtain. A brisk whiff of wind rushed the two children.
“Whoa." Zeke's eyes widened. A whirlpool of some sort of plasma-like material swirled before them.
Without thought, the infinitely curious Claribel stuck her arm inside, spinning the plasma with her fingers, as one would stir cream into coffee.
Impossible thing #11.
"Be ca-ca-careful!"
"It doesn't hurt." She took a step inside the whirlwind, her hair spinning wildly around her, coming unknotted. "Come on!"
The plasma tickled her as she wiggled her way through it. A whiff of peppermint and fresh laundry floated past her nose. It felt warm at first, like a summer breeze or as if she were being blow-dried, but then it was suddenly cold like stepping into a freezer. Just as she thought she would surely freeze to death, the gooey liquid blew her out in a snotty puddle. It wasn’t long before she realized that she was on the other side in another dark room.
"Th-th-that was interesting," Zeke said standing next to her now, having followed.
"Where are we? Is this a part of the house?" Claribel asked.
"I've never seen it, if so."
She fumbled around, looking for a light.
"Here," Zeke said, pulling down a curtain that was in a small window. Moonlight shined in, lighting the room with a gray-blue glow.
"How long were we in there? It's dark already?" Claribel asked. A growing anxiety gnawed at her stomach.
Zeke looked out the window. "We're not in Waywardly Hall."
Claribel pushed past him, hogging the view of the window. They looked to be a few stories in the air completely surrounded by green, slimy swamp, with the exception of a tiny walkway that led to the front of the house.
"Hmm," Zeke said, reaching down to pick something up.
"What is it?"
"It looks like s-s-spectacles." He held them up to a ray of moonlight shone in. He dusted them off on his vest and then stuffed them into his already-protruding pockets.
Claribel looked back where they came from. The vortex was gone. "Fussyfoot," she said under her breath.
"What are we going to do?" Zeke's voice was as clear as she'd ever heard it. Fear crept up his face, leaving him pale and sweaty.
"Just calm down. Surely the other kids will come looking for us when we don't come out."
Zeke nodded his head, trying to convince himself she was right. "Yeah."
"We might as well make ourselves comfortable. They'll come for us." She could hardly say the words. Even she didn’t believe them.
How would they come? The vortex was closed. And even if they did, how would they all get back?
Claribel stepped away from the window and bumped something. She heard a crack. A cloth covered up something large on the floor. Claribel pulled it away and saw the most remarkable thing—Waywardly Hall. Well, a miniature version of it almost completely intact. She’d accidentally broke off a piece of the trim on the upper left side of the house. She picked the piece up off the floor and put it in her pocket.
Standing there, she faced the outside of the house. Its strange doors looked familiar, and not just because they looked similar to the real house’s doors. She’d seen these exact ones before. Claribel walked around the miniature house to the other side. The back of the house was open, so that she could see the interior of the structure. She motioned for Zeke to come take a look.
"What is this?"
"It's a dollhouse," Claribel said, bending down and then up again, standing on her tiptoes to see the very top of the house.
"In-in-incredible." Zeke reached for one of the dolls. He pulled it close, inspecting its porcelain features and tugged at its little vest. "It's ma-ma-me."
Claribel searched the house. All the children were in their rooms. She picked up little Lilliana and held her multi-socked feet in her hands.
"Where are you?" Zeke asked, looking in what was the replica of her bedroom.
Claribel thought back to the strange gift left at her door that morning.
Before she could tell Zeke, they heard movement from the other side of the room.
"Hide," she whispered. She covered the house up the best she could and darted behind an old wardrobe. She peeked out just a little and caught Zeke's eyes across the room behind some boxes. She put her finger to her lips.
Light bounced off the walls as someone made their way up the stairs.
"How are my dollies today?" a woman's raspy voice asked.
Claribel tried to resist looking, but she didn't last for very long. She adjusted behind the wardrobe so that she could see the woman better. The pale glow of the lantern lit up the woman's contrasting features. Her skin looked like snow, with only bright red lips for color. Her black hair hung in long waves over one shoulder. She wore a dark gown that swept the dusty floor below.
“Witch,” Claribel grumbled under her breath.
The woman pulled out one of the dolls and held it up as if to get a better look.
"You've been awfully bad, my darling. Punishment is in order."
Claribel recognized the doll as the one she'd seen in her dreams—Ms. Helen.
"That precious new child of yours is getting to that age..." The woman reached in and grabbed the doll resembling the baby. "It's almost time for him to leave like the others. All good things must come to an end."
Claribel’s stomach twisted and knotted within her. How are they going to get out of this? Dust floated through the air and tickled her nose. Panicked, she cupped her hand over her nose and mouth, hoping by some miracle that she could stop the impending sneeze. Her body involuntarily took two deep breaths in preparation of the event that would surely get her caught by the witch.
Then she remembered a trick a foster parent taught her once to keep her from ever interrupting her television program again. She placed her index finger under her nose and breathed in, praying for a miracle. The tickle left her nose and retreated from whence it came. Her shoulders fell in relief.
Suddenly, movement and a creak caught Claribel's attention across the room. The woman walked over to investigate. Claribel couldn't see Zeke, but she knew which boxes he was hiding behind. She held her breath for him, hoping the woman wouldn't find him.
The woman held the doll in one hand and pushed the boxes away with the other.
Zeke! She wanted to scream but didn't.
But he wasn't there. Instead, the woman was staring into the vortex, which was now open. He must have gone back, Claribel thought.
Without thinking, Claribel ran for the plasma whirlwind.
"You!" The woman yelled and snatched at Claribel’s clothing. She took hold of Claribel's sneaker and dug her black fingernails into the sole of her shoe.
Claribel wiggled her foot as hard as she could, finally kicking the woman, sending her to the floor with the doll and her red converse.
The tickling sensation washed over her until the vortex spit her out like a tuna fish lunch.
"What was th-th-that?" Zeke asked, clutching his chest, trying to catch his breath.
"I think that was the witch."
"What witch?"
"The one from Ms. Dorothea's story."
"We're in t-t-trouble."
15
Nervous Chatter
The two children hobbled out of the shack and back to where the others were waiting for them. The sun was still out, much to their surprise. Time was different here than wherever they had been.
"Where's your shoe?" Mather asked, pointing to her bare foot.
"Never mind that," Claribel said, looking up at the house. It's ornate trimmings and rich shade of auburn loomed upward into the blue sky. Something was different, though. At the top left of the house, a piece of trim was missing. Claribel dug her hand in her pockets and rubbed the piece of the dollhouse that she’d accidentally broken.
She glanced again at the window where she saw the twin ghost girls. "I've got work to do."
Claribel rushed past the children and back into the house. Zeke followed.
"Fine. You can stay, but don't let me catch you on any of the furniture." Ms. Helen said with one brow raised.
Drake flew off the desk and out of the room.
"I just don't understand," Claribel finally said. "How can I trust any of you?"
"We're your family, dear."
Claribel sniffled.
"I'm sorry I didn't bring you a gift. I didn't know you were here until I saw you in the hall ready to defend the house last night." Edward smiled, pulled out the leather notebook, drew another star, and tucked it away.
"What's that? What do the stars mean?" she asked.
"Nothing," Ms. Helen interrupted Edward, who had almost spoken. "It's so beautiful outside. How about we spend the afternoon in the garden. Wouldn't that be nice?"
Claribel nodded but kept her eyes on the drawer with the notebook. If Edward didn’t bring her the doll, who did?
13
Garden Secrets
She stood alone in the foyer for a few minutes while Ms. Helen wrangled up the others. She felt relief knowing that it was Drake on the other side of the closet and not her foster parents. What she still didn't understand was why Drake hadn't wanted her to open the closet in her dream. He gave her the same warning. She wished Drake had stayed with her so she could’ve asked him, but he'd disappeared upstairs somewhere, and now there wasn't time.
"Enjoy the weather, children. Come back inside when the lights come on," Ms. Helen told them.
They all spilled out into the garden. The crisp fall weather felt nice. Mather was quickly gathering up a crew.
"We're going exploring. Wanna j-j-join?" Zeke asked her.
"Exploring for what?"
"Secrets." Abigail giggled.
"Gather round. It's bright and sunny, but don't let the nice weather fool you. Around and beneath this dirt lies a lot of secrets," Mather began. "Today, as explorers, we'll search the garden far and wide. Bring whatever you find to this bench."
"Yeah right," Zeke said just loud enough for Claribel could hear. "He'll take it for his own."
The kids then scattered east and west, south and north, until the entire garden had hungry eyes on it.
"Come," Claribel told Zeke and pulled him through the iron gate and into the bed of black-eyed Susans.
“W-w-what are these?" he asked, flicking a flower.
"Don't do that," she told him too late. The flower's black eye opened and stared at Zeke.
"Ahh!" he screamed.
"It's okay. They won't hurt you, I don't think. They just watch. But be gentle, will ya?"
As they walked along, they tried to keep their eyes on the ground, looking for anything interesting. The flowers watched them every step of the way.
After a few minutes, Zeke said, "This is weird. Can we go somewhere else?"
Claribel took his hand and pulled him deeper into the garden where she last saw her foster parents' closet doors. They weren't there now. Only a thick cement wall covered in running roses.
"Look." Claribel bent down and picked up the key with the emerald.
"I thought that disappeared," Zeke said.
"Me, too." She wiped the dirt from it and put it in her pocket. "Curiouser."
"Every time he comes, things get a little w-w-weird."
"What do you mean?" Claribel turned to Zeke.
"It's just... before he comes, the house grows sad, and when he gets here, Ms. Helen is all happy, but after he leaves, she slowly gets sad again."
"How often does he come?"
"He's only come f-f-four times since I've been here."
"How long have you been here?" Claribel asked.
He looked up as if trying to help his mind compute the time, then shrugged.
"What about the baby?"
"We hardly ever see the baby. It's strange. It never seems to grow older, but sometimes it looks younger," he whispered like this was some secret.
"Weird."
"Yeah. But on the bright side, he always brings us g-g-gifts." Zeke pulled out the brass binoculars from his pocket.
"Can I see?"
He handed them to Claribel, who put them to her eyes and turned around so that the lenses were facing the house. She scanned the first floor, then the second. She saw something move and went back to see what.
"What is th...at?" She squinted her eyes, pressed them harder into the binoculars, and strained to see. Two little girls looked back at her through one of the windows.
"You've got to see this." She handed them to Zeke and pointed.
"What?" he asked looking through them in the direction she was pointing. “Whoa. They're ch-ch-chillers."
"No way!" Claribel snatched them back.
"You can see the wall behind them."
He was right. She could see the paisley wallpaper behind the two identical girls.
"One. Two. Three. Four. Four windows from the stairs," Claribel said.
"You're not thinking about lo-lo-looking for them, are you?"
"Of course I am. I want to get to the bottom of what's going on in this house."
"You have to learn to live with unanswered questions, Claribel. For your own good." His voice was firm.
She handed him back the binoculars.
"What's th-th-that?" He pointed to the dirt a few feet away. He fell to his knees and began digging with his hands.
"A marble?" Claribel asked when he held it up, running his fingers over its smooth surface. The smile on his face would have made one think that he was holding a piece of gold. He buffed it on his vest and put it in his pocket.
"One of my foster parents used to tell me that I'd lost my marbles, so now when I see them, I'm inclined to pi-pi-pick them up. I've got a whole jar in my room."
"Gather in!" they heard Mather call.
All the kids, except Claribel and Zeke, dumped their findings on the bench. There wasn't much: a bottle, a piece of wire, a fork, and a shard of red glass.
"Is that it?" Mather asked, disappointed.
He snatched up the bottle and left the other stuff behind. Zeke stuffed everything else in his pockets when he thought no one was looking.
"Come on. We're going to play another game. Sit in a circle."
Everyone did what he said. Claribel sat between Zeke and Abigail.
"We're going to play spin the bottle," he continued.
Knowing exactly what this game entailed, Claribel was ready to bolt, until Zeke took her hand and pulled her back down.
"If the bottle lands on you, you must go in there."
Everyone gasped but Claribel, who was still trying to look where Mather was pointing. Way out behind the garden was what looked like an abandoned shed. Relief washed over her when she realized this wasn’t the game she thought it was.
"You can take one person with you, just in case something were to happen. No one should die alone." He laughed.
Everyone inhaled and held their breath as Mather twisted the bottle and spun it on the wet grass.
"Round and round and round it goes. Where it'll stop, nobody knows," Abigail taunted.
How could she be so at ease? It could easily land on her. Claribel wished she could snatch that silly crown right off her pretty little head.
As Claribel imagined tearing Abigail's crown into tiny little pieces and scattering them around the yard, the bottle landed.
On her.
She looked at the bottle, then to Mather, who was still laughing, and then to Abigail.
"Don't look at me," the girl told her, gripping her crown and looking away.
She would have picked Lilliana. Lilliana had a way of making Claribel feel comfortable—as comfortable as one could feel in this place. But she didn't see Lilliana. Did she ever come outside?
"I'll go wi-wi-with you." Zeke smiled at her. The two made their way to the shed, while the others whispered, snickered, and pointed. "Don't worry. I've been in there before. It's not that scary."
"It looks pretty creepy to me."
"How long do we have to stay in there?"
"I dunno."
"Do they play this game often?"
"Nope. Never."
"Then why would you have ever come in here?"
"I am working on a project, and I needed some supplies. I found a few things in here. Who knows? Ma-ma-maybe I'll find a few more today."
The rickety shack leaned over to one side. They both cocked their heads to the same side and stared.
"That's new," Zeke said pointing to the doorknob. A red ribbon was tied to it. "Oh well. We tried."
"Why would it be forbidden now and not before?" Claribel wondered aloud.
She tugged at the knob. Locked.
A light bulb went off in her mind. She pulled her jean pocket inside out until the emerald key fell into her palm. She put the key into the lock and twisted it.
"We really shouldn't be doing this. It's forbidden for a reason. It's not s-s-safe," Zeke reasoned.
Claribel didn't listen. She pushed open the door and dragged Zeke inside with her. They could still hear the others snickering outside even after the door was shut.
14
Somewhere Dark
The only light in the dark room shined through the rotting wood slats that made up the walls.
"It's cold in here." Claribel felt the chicken skin emerge. She tried to warm herself by rubbing her arms. "We might as well look for treasures while we're here," she said, shuffling around old crates.
"It's mostly a bunch of junk."
They rummaged through the crates without thought, tossing old clothing, toys, and furniture aside.
"Why would it be locked now and not before?" Claribel asked, talking to herself. This seemed to revive Zeke's initial fears.
"It doesn't make sense." He headed back to the door. "I think it's been long enough. I don't hear them giggling anymore.”
"Wait," Claribel said, something catching her eye in the back of the tiny shack. Burlap coffee bags were sewn together to make a sort of curtain. She thought she saw something moving behind it. Just for a second.
"That wasn't there last t-t-time."
Claribel slowly lifted the edge of the makeshift curtain. A brisk whiff of wind rushed the two children.
“Whoa." Zeke's eyes widened. A whirlpool of some sort of plasma-like material swirled before them.
Without thought, the infinitely curious Claribel stuck her arm inside, spinning the plasma with her fingers, as one would stir cream into coffee.
Impossible thing #11.
"Be ca-ca-careful!"
"It doesn't hurt." She took a step inside the whirlwind, her hair spinning wildly around her, coming unknotted. "Come on!"
The plasma tickled her as she wiggled her way through it. A whiff of peppermint and fresh laundry floated past her nose. It felt warm at first, like a summer breeze or as if she were being blow-dried, but then it was suddenly cold like stepping into a freezer. Just as she thought she would surely freeze to death, the gooey liquid blew her out in a snotty puddle. It wasn’t long before she realized that she was on the other side in another dark room.
"Th-th-that was interesting," Zeke said standing next to her now, having followed.
"Where are we? Is this a part of the house?" Claribel asked.
"I've never seen it, if so."
She fumbled around, looking for a light.
"Here," Zeke said, pulling down a curtain that was in a small window. Moonlight shined in, lighting the room with a gray-blue glow.
"How long were we in there? It's dark already?" Claribel asked. A growing anxiety gnawed at her stomach.
Zeke looked out the window. "We're not in Waywardly Hall."
Claribel pushed past him, hogging the view of the window. They looked to be a few stories in the air completely surrounded by green, slimy swamp, with the exception of a tiny walkway that led to the front of the house.
"Hmm," Zeke said, reaching down to pick something up.
"What is it?"
"It looks like s-s-spectacles." He held them up to a ray of moonlight shone in. He dusted them off on his vest and then stuffed them into his already-protruding pockets.
Claribel looked back where they came from. The vortex was gone. "Fussyfoot," she said under her breath.
"What are we going to do?" Zeke's voice was as clear as she'd ever heard it. Fear crept up his face, leaving him pale and sweaty.
"Just calm down. Surely the other kids will come looking for us when we don't come out."
Zeke nodded his head, trying to convince himself she was right. "Yeah."
"We might as well make ourselves comfortable. They'll come for us." She could hardly say the words. Even she didn’t believe them.
How would they come? The vortex was closed. And even if they did, how would they all get back?
Claribel stepped away from the window and bumped something. She heard a crack. A cloth covered up something large on the floor. Claribel pulled it away and saw the most remarkable thing—Waywardly Hall. Well, a miniature version of it almost completely intact. She’d accidentally broke off a piece of the trim on the upper left side of the house. She picked the piece up off the floor and put it in her pocket.
Standing there, she faced the outside of the house. Its strange doors looked familiar, and not just because they looked similar to the real house’s doors. She’d seen these exact ones before. Claribel walked around the miniature house to the other side. The back of the house was open, so that she could see the interior of the structure. She motioned for Zeke to come take a look.
"What is this?"
"It's a dollhouse," Claribel said, bending down and then up again, standing on her tiptoes to see the very top of the house.
"In-in-incredible." Zeke reached for one of the dolls. He pulled it close, inspecting its porcelain features and tugged at its little vest. "It's ma-ma-me."
Claribel searched the house. All the children were in their rooms. She picked up little Lilliana and held her multi-socked feet in her hands.
"Where are you?" Zeke asked, looking in what was the replica of her bedroom.
Claribel thought back to the strange gift left at her door that morning.
Before she could tell Zeke, they heard movement from the other side of the room.
"Hide," she whispered. She covered the house up the best she could and darted behind an old wardrobe. She peeked out just a little and caught Zeke's eyes across the room behind some boxes. She put her finger to her lips.
Light bounced off the walls as someone made their way up the stairs.
"How are my dollies today?" a woman's raspy voice asked.
Claribel tried to resist looking, but she didn't last for very long. She adjusted behind the wardrobe so that she could see the woman better. The pale glow of the lantern lit up the woman's contrasting features. Her skin looked like snow, with only bright red lips for color. Her black hair hung in long waves over one shoulder. She wore a dark gown that swept the dusty floor below.
“Witch,” Claribel grumbled under her breath.
The woman pulled out one of the dolls and held it up as if to get a better look.
"You've been awfully bad, my darling. Punishment is in order."
Claribel recognized the doll as the one she'd seen in her dreams—Ms. Helen.
"That precious new child of yours is getting to that age..." The woman reached in and grabbed the doll resembling the baby. "It's almost time for him to leave like the others. All good things must come to an end."
Claribel’s stomach twisted and knotted within her. How are they going to get out of this? Dust floated through the air and tickled her nose. Panicked, she cupped her hand over her nose and mouth, hoping by some miracle that she could stop the impending sneeze. Her body involuntarily took two deep breaths in preparation of the event that would surely get her caught by the witch.
Then she remembered a trick a foster parent taught her once to keep her from ever interrupting her television program again. She placed her index finger under her nose and breathed in, praying for a miracle. The tickle left her nose and retreated from whence it came. Her shoulders fell in relief.
Suddenly, movement and a creak caught Claribel's attention across the room. The woman walked over to investigate. Claribel couldn't see Zeke, but she knew which boxes he was hiding behind. She held her breath for him, hoping the woman wouldn't find him.
The woman held the doll in one hand and pushed the boxes away with the other.
Zeke! She wanted to scream but didn't.
But he wasn't there. Instead, the woman was staring into the vortex, which was now open. He must have gone back, Claribel thought.
Without thinking, Claribel ran for the plasma whirlwind.
"You!" The woman yelled and snatched at Claribel’s clothing. She took hold of Claribel's sneaker and dug her black fingernails into the sole of her shoe.
Claribel wiggled her foot as hard as she could, finally kicking the woman, sending her to the floor with the doll and her red converse.
The tickling sensation washed over her until the vortex spit her out like a tuna fish lunch.
"What was th-th-that?" Zeke asked, clutching his chest, trying to catch his breath.
"I think that was the witch."
"What witch?"
"The one from Ms. Dorothea's story."
"We're in t-t-trouble."
15
Nervous Chatter
The two children hobbled out of the shack and back to where the others were waiting for them. The sun was still out, much to their surprise. Time was different here than wherever they had been.
"Where's your shoe?" Mather asked, pointing to her bare foot.
"Never mind that," Claribel said, looking up at the house. It's ornate trimmings and rich shade of auburn loomed upward into the blue sky. Something was different, though. At the top left of the house, a piece of trim was missing. Claribel dug her hand in her pockets and rubbed the piece of the dollhouse that she’d accidentally broken.
She glanced again at the window where she saw the twin ghost girls. "I've got work to do."
Claribel rushed past the children and back into the house. Zeke followed.
