The Hex Breaker's Eyes (11 page)

“Are you Ok in
here?” she asks.

“The lights
blew out,” Dina says. The nurse flips the light switch and sees
that the bulbs have blown.

“And there’s
broken glass,” I say, “on the floor.”

“Who are you?”
the nurse asks. “Shouldn’t you be in school?”

“I’m just
leaving,” I say.

“Don’t,” says
Dina.

“Don’t worry,”
I say. “You’re going to be fine now.”

I leave before
the nurse can ask me any more questions.

Outside, I call
Tam again.

“What
happened?” I ask.

“I started an
argument,” she says, he voice is loud, angry. “And then it kind of
escalated.”

“Did you tell
her I can see the hex?” Even as I asked the question, I was
starting to jog.

“No, I just
told her that I knew about the hex and that she wouldn’t get away
with it. Then I said some personal things and she freaked out.
Screamed at me, threw some things. Teachers had to separate us.
That’s when you called.”

“Where are you
guys?” I ask.

“I’m in the
office waiting for my turn to talk to Mrs. Grey, which will
definitely be a suspension.”

“Where’s Ryan?”
I ask. “Is he with you?”

“He’s out in
the hall waiting for me. He’s late for class by now.” Tam seems
pretty resigned to having a suspension to explain to her
parents.

“And where’s
Sydney?”

“In with Mrs.
Grey now. I already heard the secretary call her parents.”

“Send Ryan to
come get me,” I say. “I mean right now.”

“Why? What’s
up?” there’s concern in her voice.

“Whatever you
did sent the hex over the top. It’s really trying to attack her
now. If we don’t get that talisman today, I think Dina’s in real
trouble.”

“Why do you
need Ry?”

“I’m gonna
break into Sydney’s house before she gets home. I’m gonna find the
damn thing and destroy it.” I’m full-out running down Main Street,
the most physical exercise I’ve had since I stopped taking gym
class this year.

“Where are
you?” Tam asks.

“I’m running
down Main. I know where Sydney lives, but it’s a long walk. Send
Ryan with the car.”

“OK.”

Tamara hangs
up. I make it a good half a kilometer before Ryan pulls up in his
BMW. I climb in and tell him which street we’re going to. I catch
my breath while we drive. On Sydney’s street, I tell him to park so
we can check out the area.

Before we can
even get out of the car, there’s movement at Sydney’s. A woman in
her forties with a distinctive strong chin, definitely Sydney’s
mom, walks out of the house and climbs into an SUV. She pulls out
and we let her disappear around the corner before we get out of the
car.

We walk past
the house a few times, and see no sign of anybody inside.

“I’m going
around back. You go ring the doorbell and see if anyone’s home. I’m
going to sneak inside,” I say. “Call me if someone’s coming.”

I run along the
fence that separates Sydney’s house from the neighbour’s. There’s a
big wooden gate beside the house, and I have to stop and figure out
how to open it. There’s a side window looking out at the gate, and
I’m terrified that someone will see me standing there. Through the
window, I hear the sound the doorbell. Crap, if anyone comes to
answer the door right now, they’ll see me.

I jump to grab
the top of the gate and pull myself half-way over it. Once I can
see over the gate it’s easy to reach for the latch and pull it
open. The gate swings a little underneath me, so I drop back to my
feet and push the gate open. Once inside the yard, I close the gate
behind me and sneak to a back window. It looks into the kitchen,
above the sink. There’s no sign of movement. Nobody is answering
the door, and there don’t seem to be any dogs.

I try to open
the window, but it’s locked. I head over to a sliding patio door
farther down the wall, but it’s locked too. On the other side of
the door there is another window, looking into a dining room. I try
this one and it opens about two inches, but then a wooden stick in
the windowsill stops it from opening any farther. Dammit, I need to
get in. I don’t want to have to break a window. The noise would
draw attention and it would be evidence that someone broke in.

There’s an oak
tree in the yard, mostly bare of leaves this late in autumn. I run
over to the tree and jump to grab a branch, pulling it down as I
land. I twist the branch, hoping to break it off, but it doesn’t
want to break so easily. I really have to fight it, twisting, and
pulling with both hands before the branch breaks, leaving me about
twenty inches of narrow stick.

I head back to
the window and squeeze my fingers through the opening. Once I have
my hand inside I pass the branch through with the other hand. Now I
have to manipulate the stick in my hand to knock the piece of wood
from the window down to the floor. It takes a while, but I
eventually get my stick to pry the other up and knock it away. The
window slides open and I toss the piece of oak to the grass. I
climb inside Sydney’s house. It’s nice. Very old-fashioned, with
wallpaper and lots of dark wood furniture. I find the stairs and
head up, figuring that the talisman Sydney made to hex Dina must be
in her bedroom.

There are only
two bedrooms up here, the master and Sydney’s. Another would-be
bedroom is set up as some kind of office. I guess Sydney’s an only
child. Once I’m inside the bedroom, I start to search. I open all
the drawers in her desk and find nothing. Then I try the dresser,
and again there’s nothing. I can’t even find a black candle or
feather.

My phone rings.
I flip it open and answer right away. “What?” I say.

“Syd’s mom just
picked her up,” Tam says. “They’re on their way.”

“Can you stall
them?” I ask.

Somewhere on
Tam’s end, I hear a female teacher tell her to put the phone
away.

“I’m in her
bedroom. They’re going to catch me breaking and entering and I
still can’t find the damn thing,” I say.

“I’m so getting
expelled,” Tam says. “I’ll stop them before they get in the
car.”

I hear Mrs.
Grey yell “Where are you going?” and then Tam’s phone cuts out.

I open Sydney’s
closet and start digging. I spend several minutes going through
boxes, shelves, even looking inside her shoes. There’s no magic
talisman here. I’m sweating from the pressure, and from the fact
that if I get caught I’m committing a crime. I hear a car door. My
phone rings, and it’s Ryan this time.

“The SUV just
came around the corner. They’re going to be here in a minute.”

I hang up and
look around. There’s a jewellery box. I open it and find exactly
what you’d expect—jewellery. I hear another car door. And then a
second. Two people getting out of a car in the driveway. They’re
home. The front door opens. I’m screwed. There’s no time left to
search, I have to hide.

I slip out of
Sydney’s room and into the next door down the hall, which is a sort
of home office. One entire wall is books, and another wall consumed
by a long desk and computer workstation. There’s also a wardrobe at
the end of the room. Maybe I can hide in, or behind, that
wardrobe.

I hear steps on
the stairs. I open the wardrobe door and find that it has shelves
inside, and many of the shelves are holding files and papers. But
the bottom area has nothing. I cram myself under the bottom shelf,
and pull the wardrobe shut just as the footsteps pass the office.
The footsteps go straight to Sydney’s room and I hear the door
slam. I listen closely and hear Sydney rummaging in her room. I
pray she doesn’t notice that I’ve already disturbed her things.

“Sydney!” her
mother shouts from downstairs. “Get down here!”

I listen to
Sydney leaving her room and heading down the stairs. This might be
my last chance to get out unnoticed. I make it to the hallway and
turn toward the stairs, then stop. Tam told Sydney she knew about
the hex. That probably has Sydney spooked. I turn back, heading to
Sydney’s room. I’m trapping myself farther from the exit, but I
have to know.

As I open the
door, I see it immediately. There’s a small wooden box on the bed,
with the lid open. Inside there’s a small black feather. I get
closer and see that the feather is tied to several other objects.
There’s a lock of brown hair, a brightly coloured bracelet, and an
ornate metallic brooch. All of these are tied together with plain
brown string, and have been doused in black wax, which seals it all
together.

I grab the
talisman, and jam it into my pocket. Now I have to move. I make it
to the top of the stairs. I only have to dash down, out the front
door, and sprint to Ryan’s car. I can be out of here in five
seconds.

But there’s a
voice in the hallway below. They would see me if I left now. Even
worse, they’re coming to the bottom of the stairs. I backtrack,
getting to the hallway again. I don’t think I can hide in the
office, the person on the stairs will see me pass. I duck into the
nearest room, the master bedroom, and hide behind the door.

I cross my
fingers and pray that the person coming is Sydney, because if it’s
her mom she’ll be coming into this room and then I’ll be
caught.

But if it’s
Sydney, she’ll immediately see that the talisman has been taken and
she’ll know someone is in the house. Either way, I’m about ten
seconds from getting caught. I watch through the crack of the door
as the figure reaches the top of the stairs, and instead of coming
straight into the master, the figure turns and takes the hall. It’s
Sydney. In five seconds, the only real-life witch I’ve ever met
will know that I’m inside her house.

One last
chance. I run to the window and slide it open. I force the screen
to slide too, and climb through, so that’s sitting on the sill with
my legs dangling over the open air. I didn’t realize second-floor
windows were this high. I spin around so I’m facing back into the
house.

“Where is it?”
screams Sydney from down the hall. I drop out of the window,
holding onto the edge with only my fingertips keeping me from
falling into the back yard. I hear thumping, running footsteps. My
face presses against ice-cold brick and I know she’ll notice the
cold air coming in the open window.

My feet are
probably four metres from the yard below. I let go.

I hit the
ground hard, knees buckling, and end up flat on my back, facing up
at the window. That hurt, but I don’t think I damaged anything. I
pull myself up just in time to hear a voice above me shout,
“Stop.”

I make it to
the side gate and pull it open. I sprint to the road and Ryan sees
the look of panic on my face and leans over to open the passenger
door. I dive in, ducking my face out of sight because I don’t want
Sydney to know who took her precious talisman. I don’t need her
hexing me. Ryan pulls away and drives past the house just as Sydney
runs out the front door, screaming profanities.

We meet at
Tam’s house, because she’s grounded and can’t meet the rest of us
anywhere else. She sneaks us in the back door and into the
basement, so her parents won’t know she has guests.

Tam is
suspended from school for a week. Two days for the screaming match
with Sydney and three for running away from a vice principle just
to restart the argument outside. When she was outside stalling for
time, she got right in Sydney’s mother’s face, and that made Sydney
slap Tam so hard it left a bruise beside her eye. Tam’s parents
grounded her until next year. Literally until January.

Ryan’s parents
are taking the car away for the rest of the term since he skipped
his last two classes today. I haven’t been home yet, although I did
call and tell my brother that I’m OK.

I look at Tam’s
black eye when we meet at the door, but she doesn’t say anything
until we’re safely tucked away in the basement. “You should see the
other guy,” she jokes as I can’t help but stare at the shiner she
got doing me a favour. “Seriously, how fair is it that you got
magic powers and I got punched in the head?” I shrug and pull the
talisman out of my pocket and hold it out in the palm of my
hand.

Marlene wasn’t
really involved in the plan, so she’s not in trouble with anyone,
and she seems more concerned about the talisman than the story of
how we got it.

“I wonder which
object is Dina’s and which is Sydney’s?” she says. “And why are
there three things? The book only said you need one thing from
yourself and one from your victim.”

“Who cares,” I
say. “We’re gonna smash it anyway.”

“Why haven’t
you?” Tam asks. “Why not smash it as soon as you saw it?”

I get up and
take the talisman over to Tam’s dad woodworking bench. I set the
talisman down and choose a heavy hammer from the neatly organized
wall of tools. I walk back to Tam and hold out the hammer, handle
first.

“After you
faced the witch head-on, I thought you’d like the honours.”

Tam takes the
hammer and grins. “It’s a true friend who saves something for you
to smash.”

She stalks over
to the talisman, raises the hammer above her head, and brings it
down hard. Pieces of the brooch and bracelet fly away from the
workbench. The hair, string, and wax are smooshed into a broken
mess. The feather is bent and twisted. She hits it again, and
again. Tam takes ten good swings at that thing before passing the
hammer to Ryan.

We each take a
turn, and in the end there’s nothing left. The feather is in
several pieces, the delicate brooch is shattered, the metal
remnants bent and torn. The bracelet is just a scattering of links.
Tam scoops up the string and hair, which still have a bit of black
wax on them, and hands them to Marlene.

“Burn it?” she
asks.

“Burn it,”
Marlene replies with a mischievous smile.