The Ghost Witch
Authors: Betty Ren Wright
The Ghost Witch
Betty Ren Wright
Illustrations by Ellen Eagle
F
OR
Aunt Beth
B.R.W.
To
Zachary, Asher, and Gordon
E.E.
Contents
14 A Very Important Difference
CHAPTER ONE
The Witch's Cat
“It is too our house now,” Jenny Warren insisted. “Miss Nagle left it to us. She and my great-grandma were best friends. My mom helped her out with errands and stuff for years. I guess she wanted to give us a present.”
Jenny and her best friend Chris Ellis stared at the big house at the end of Willowby Lane. Dark windows stared back at them.
“That's some present!” Chris rolled her eyes. “You wouldn't really live here, would you?”
“Maybe yes, maybe no,” Jenny said. “We haven't decided yet.” She was beginning to be sorry she'd invited Chris to come with her.
“Well,
I
sure wouldn't want to,” Chris said. “This is the spookiest-looking house in town. And my cousin says Miss Nagle was a witch!” She looked over her shoulder when she said it.
“That's dumb,” Jenny said. “Miss Nagle wasn't a witch. I told you, she was my great-grandma's best friend. Come on,” she continued briskly, trying not to notice how dreary the house looked under the gray October sky, “we have to go in and feed Miss Nagle's cat.”
“Not me!” Chris squealed. “No way!” She clutched the gatepost as if she thought Jenny might try to drag her up the long walk to the house.
“But that's what we came for!” Jenny exclaimed. “My mom says I have to take a turn once in a while. You don't want the poor cat to go hungry, do you?”
“No, but I want somebody else to feed him,” Chris said. “Why don't you take him home with you?”
“Because we can't have a pet in our apartment,” Jenny told her. “Later on we might put an ad in the paper to find him a new home. Unless we move in here ourselves.⦔ She tried to sound as if that was what she hoped would happen.
After a moment Chris let go of the gatepost. “You're brave, Jenny,” she said. “I wish I was as brave as you.”
Jenny was pleased, even if she didn't feel very brave at the moment. “We just have to go into the kitchen,” she coaxed. She led the way up the walk and around the side of the house. Leaves crunched noisily under their feet.
Jenny wore the house keys around her wrist on a ring as big as a bracelet. She unlocked the glassed-in back porch with the key her mother had marked for her and scooped up the bag of cat food. Then she opened the kitchen door with a second key.
“Here, Rufus.” Her voice seemed to bounce off the walls of the chilly, old-fashioned kitchen.
“What's he look like?” Chris whispered.
Jenny shrugged. “I don't know. My mom's been feeding him till now.” She picked up one of the two bowls on the floor in front of the sink. “I'll get the water, and you fill the other bowl with cat food, okay?”
“It's too quiet in here,” Chris muttered. Then she screamed. Jenny dropped the water bowl into the sink with a clatter.
“
What's wrong
?”
“The cat!” Chris whimpered. “He's here, and he's wrapping himself around my legs. Look at him!”
Jenny stared. Miss Nagle's cat was the biggest she'd ever seen. His coat was red-orange, and his green eyes glowed in the dim light.
“The witch's cat!” Chris shivered. She peered into the hallway that led to the rest of the house. “Jenny, let's go,” she begged. “I feel as if something's staring at me!”
“That's crazy,” Jenny protested. She tried not to notice the prickles on the back of her neck. As she bent to pet the cat, a blast of cold air swept through the kitchen. The door to the hall slammed shut with a crash that made both girls jump.
“Help!” Chris shrieked. She dashed across the kitchen and out onto the porch. Jenny quickly put the water bowl on the floor and raced after her. Hand in hand, they flew down the steps and around the side of the house.
“I t-t-told you that house was haunted,” Chris gasped when they reached the gate. “I could tell.”
“It's
not
haunted.” Jenny tried to keep her voice steady. “The wind blew the door shut, that's all.”
“What wind?” Chris demanded. “You were scared, too, Jenny. You ran as fast as I did.”
Jenny knew it was true. “We have to go back and lock the doors,” she groaned. “Come on.”
Once again Chris grabbed the gatepost. “Not me,” she said, and it was clear that this time she wouldn't change her mind. “I'll wait here for you.”
With dragging steps, Jenny started back up the walk. She tried not to look at the dark windows or think of the empty rooms behind them. All she had to do was cross the back porch and lock the kitchen door. It was silly to be afraid.
She opened the door to the porch and went through it to the outside of the kitchen. Now just put the key in the lock. She tried to keep her eyes on the keyhole, but she couldn't help one quick peek through the glass pane in the upper half of the door.
The cat was on the counter with his paws tucked under him.
Poor Rufus
, Jenny thought.
I'm sorry we ran off and left you
. But then she realized the cat hadn't even noticed her. Instead, his green eyes were staring across the kitchen at the door to the hallway.
It was wide open.
CHAPTER TWO
The Dragon in the Mirror
“Of course it was a draft that moved the door,” Mrs. Warren said. “What else could it have been, Jenny?”
They had just finished supper and were standing at their living-room window watching old Mr. Barkin pick up soft-drink cans along the curb and drop them into a bag. Mr. Barkin lived in an apartment building a block away. All year long he collected cans to earn money for his Barkin Christmas Fund for Poor Children.
“Old houses are drafty,” Mrs. Warren went on. “If we live in Miss Nagle's house, we'll have to get used to that.”
“I don't want to live there,” Jenny said. “I like it here.”
“You
like
sleeping on the couch?” Her mother was amazed. “I thought you hated it. The first thing you said when I told you about Miss Nagle's wonderful gift was âNow I can have my own bedroom.'”
Jenny thought about the house and those dark, staring windows. She thought about the door that closed and opened by itself.
“I don't mind sleeping on the couch,” she said firmly.
“Well, we needn't make up our minds tonight,” Mrs. Warren said. “We'll just polish the place up a bit, and then we'll decide whether we want to live in it or sell it. I know Miss Nagle hoped we'd live there. She even left us some money to take care of the taxes every year.”
“Who's going to polish it up?” Jenny wanted to know.
“I am. You are. We areâtogether.”
Jenny sighed. Ever since her father died, she and her mother had done lots of things together. Most of the time it was fun, but this was different.
“I'd rather sell it right away,” she said.
Her mother just smiled. “No rush,” she said. “Maybe you'll change your mind.”
Two days later it was Jenny's turn to feed the cat again. “And while you're there, look for my sunglasses, please,” Mrs. Warren said. “I'm pretty sure I left them in the dining room yesterday.”
“Can't we both go?” Jenny asked. But as soon as the words were out, she was sorry. Mrs. Strauss, their neighbor in the apartment down the hall, had stopped in for coffee, and now she said the same thing she said almost every time she visited the Warrens.
“Too bad you don't have a big strong son to help you, Mrs. Warren. My Bobby is such a help to me.”
“Jenny's a good helper, too,” Mrs. Warren said. She waggled her fingers at Jenny. “Run along, dear. Don't be late for supper.”
Jenny gritted her teeth as she hurried to the back hall where she kept her bike. She knew what Mrs. Strauss would say next. “Jenny is such a skinny little thing. A breath of wind would blow her away. No wonder she has no backbone.”
It wasn't fair.
I've got backbone
, Jenny grumbled as she rode across town.
I'm as brave as Bobby Strauss any day
. But when she turned into Willowby Lane, she wasn't so sure. Miss Nagle's house looked drearier than ever.
Rufus meowed a noisy welcome when Jenny unlocked the kitchen door. She shot a quick look through the open door on the other side of the kitchen. Then she filled the food and water bowls, talking to the cat as she worked.
“Good kitty. I wonder if you're lonesome. I wonder ifâ”
She froze. Was that a noise from the front of the house? It had sounded like a hiss.
Rufus leaped up onto the counter and stared down the hall.
“What is it, kitty? Did you hear something, too?”
Jenny didn't know what to do. She wanted to runâbut what if she were running from nothing at all? Then Mrs. Strauss would be right, and Jenny's mother would have to agree with her.
You mean you didn't even pick up my sunglasses, Jenny? I'm surprised at you
.
Stiff-legged, Jenny tiptoed across the kitchen and down the hall. The dining room was on the left, the living room on the right. Both were crowded with heavy furniture. Jenny stepped into the dining room. She saw the sunglasses lying at the far end of the table. Beyond the table was a long, low cupboard with a mirror above it.
For a moment Jenny just stood there. Then she darted the length of the table and snatched up the glasses. As she did, the hissing began again, only this time it was right above her head. She whirled and stared up into the mirror.
A shaggy brown head as big as a laundry basket loomed over her. Cruel eyes glared down, and puffs of steam billowed through gaps in the pointed yellow teeth.
Jenny staggered back against the table, too frightened to cry out. For a moment the head hung above her. Then a great cloud of steam filled the mirror, and when it faded the dragon head was gone. Her own face stared back at her, and behind it the dining room was sunny and still.
