The Lost Witch (13 page)

"What sort of stuff?"

"I don't know."

"Tell me again, exactly how is it you managed to escape from the boiling mist, after you
were already surrounded? You kinda left that part out."

"Oh, well..." Carole picked up a rag and began washing. "It was dumb luck, really. I
managed to run down the hill before it got too hot."

"The mist just let you get away?"

"Well no. It tried to stop me but the edges weren't as thick, so I could still push
through."

"You just ran away from it?"

"Pretty much."

"Everything else gets boiled alive, but you're able to trot off."

"I told you it was dumb luck."

Zack looked as if he was about to challenge Carole further, but instead said, "Could you
at least teach us to understand pig talk?"

"I don't know how I do that either, Zack, but guess I could try, so long as Runt's
willing."

"What do you say, Runt?"

"Rit."

"Was that a yes?"

"It was," Carole confirmed.

"Then it's a deal, right Lil?"

"I suppose it's not like we're never coming back." Lilly looked around the tiny cabin. "I
guess if we locked the place up. All right count me in."

"Yes!" Zack pumped his arm triumphantly.

Runt, ignoring Carole's frosty stare, trotted over to a corner and curled up.

"That's not a bad idea," Lilly said. "We should all get some sleep if we plan on leaving
first thing in the morning. But first..." She pulled out a needle and thread. "Let me take care of
that rip in your skirt, Carole."

The day was ideal. The weather held warm and bright, and the four made good time
despite losing sight of the path and having to backtrack every so often. At one point the Boar's
Head Trail wound behind a small waterfall, which proved too much of a temptation for Runt and
Zack.

Once behind the curtain of water, they began nudging and butting each other until they
lost their balance and tumbled into the cascade. Carole and Lilly rushed to the other side and
found them splashing happily along in the current.

"What are you doing? This isn't a picnic." Carole leveled a finger at Runt. "And after the
dogs and the well, you should know better."

Later, while Zack ducked behind some bushes to wring out his clothes, Lilly said, "I'm
sorry about my brother, Carole. He gets a little carried away sometimes."

"So I've noticed."

"It's just that... Grandpa pretty much raised us on his own. We didn't have a whole lot,
which never bothered us, but..."

"Not a lot of time for fun and games."

"It wasn't that bad, least not until we had to switch schools. You know how some kids
can be."

"Don't I."

"Zack was always coming home with a black eye or a fat lip or something. Grandpa
would be furious, even though the other kids usually looked worse."

"Kids?"

"Oh, they never took him on one-at-a-time, especially not after Grandpa taught Zack to
box. Even so, it seemed Grandpa was always at the school because of one thing or another. Not
that it did much good, and Zack certainly didn't help matters any. Finally Grandpa had had
enough. He pulled us out altogether and began to teach us himself."

"At home?"

"Yup."

"Was it better than school?"

Lilly chuckled. "Grandpa's idea of teaching, was to drop something on the table and say,
'Figure out what it is and tell me what it's good for.'"

"And did you?"

"Usually. We used the town library a lot and sometimes he'd throw in a hint or two, but
we learned most stuff ourselves."

"Funny, I never thought of that."

"What?"

"Schooling at home."

"Well, Grandpa was also getting weaker and the schoolhouse really was too far away. It
just made more sense. Then he died last winter," Lilly said. "He seemed so peaceful at the time;
said he was really looking forward to the rest. It was almost hard to be sad, but our troubles with
the law began soon after, so we never had time to think about it much. Mostly we were just
trying not to get caught.

"And then you and Runt turned up and now here we are, actually following the pig path
with a pig and a multitasker."

"I won't do that again," Zack said as he walked up. His shoes were squelching with each
step. "Lucky you don't wear clothes, pig."

Runt rolled his eyes.

By late afternoon they were footsore, hungry, and ready to call it a day. Zack ranged
ahead to find a suitable campsite, but jogged back only minutes later with unexpected news.
"You won't believe this. Someone's ditched a raft in the middle of a crick over there, and it's
loaded with stuff. Bags of gear. This is our lucky day!"

Shortly, the four were lying behind a clump of weeds, studying the pup tent that had
been pitched on the raft.

"Abandoned huh?" Lilly whispered.

"It was," Zack whispered back, "ten minutes ago."

"We'd best go around," Carole said.

They'd begun to inch away when the tent door flapped open and a boy with a freckly
face under a mop of red hair, popped out.

"Hey, he's just a kid," Zack said. "It's no big deal."

"Unless he's got friends in there," Lilly countered.

"Do you see the size of him? No one else could fit in that little tent."

"You don't really know that."

"Oh come on, there's still the three of us. Four if you count Runt. Besides the guys got a
ton of stuff. He must be loaded. Maybe he'd be willing to trade for some of it."

"As if we've got anything worth trading," Lilly said.

"It is only a one man tent," Carole said, "and if he's from around here, he might know
something. I'll check it out, be back in a sec." She got to her feet and walked into the open.

"Huh!" The stocky redhead jumped up. "Where'd you come from?"

"That way," Carole pointed at the twins, who were running up. "What are you
doing?"

"What's it look like!?"

"Like you're stuck in the mud." Zack snickered.

"So I took the wrong fork in the stream and bottomed out. Could've happened to
anybody. I'll make my way back to the main branch tomorrow."

Zack stuck his arm into the water. It didn't reach half to his elbow. "I'd say you're stuck
here till next spring, unless you plan on dragging your raft all the way back."

"Who asked you?" The boy balled his hands into fists.

Zack looked him over, and snorted.

"Oh, what's the use." He plopped down on a duffel bag. "You're probably right. I should
have left weeks ago when the water was still running high."

"Why didn't you?" Zack said.

"Didn't get home in time to finish my raft."

"Why not?"

"I was still at the academy."

"Boarding school? You could've waited until next year."

"Didn't want to."

"Where you headed?"

"That's enough Zack. He's got problems enough without having you rub his face in it."
Lilly said.

"I'm just asking a couple questions."

Lilly turned to the boy. "Don't mind my brother. He considers himself a expert on
everything, especially things he knows nothing about."

"Those two are Zack and Lilly Deville," Carole said, trying to regain control of the
conversation. "And my name's Carole Sylphwood."

"Reeet!" Runt spoke up from beside Carole.

"Oh sorry. And this is Runt." Carole said.

"A pet pig, too? I'm Martin, Martin Banks."

"You live nearby?"

"Upstream quite a ways."

"Oh," she said, disappointed.

"Why don't we invite Martin to have dinner with us?" Lilly suggested.

"Hey, it's not like we even know the guy, or have food to spare," Zack said.

Martin reached into the bag next to the one he was sitting on and pulled out a handful of
packages. He tossed one to Carole. "You can use some of these, if you want. Like he said, I'm
not going anywhere fast. Most of this stuff will probably just go to waste."

In a flash Zack had kicked off his shoes, rolled up his pants, and was wading over to the
raft. He clambered aboard and began rummaging through Martin's supplies.

"Hey!" Martin tried to pull him away from a bag.

"You should see all this stuff!" Zack continued to root. "He's even got a little kerosene
cook stove. What are these, nesting pots?"

"Get your nose out of my gear!"

"All right, all right. Keep your shirt on." Zack came up with a package. "What are these,
dried beans? Gross."

"They're not so bad once you get used to them. But I've got other stuff too, soups or rice
if you'd prefer. Umm... If you want, you can even camp here for the night. It's not such a bad
spot. Plenty of water."

"Sounds good to me," Zack said.

"What do you think, Carole?" Lilly said.

Carole frowned. "Seems the three of you have already decided."

After dinner they were relaxing by the stream when Lilly suddenly blurted out, "Carole,
if he's okay with it, why not ask Martin to come along with us?"

Carole stared at Lilly in alarm, but before she could answer the world bucked violently
and she slipped into the ground as if it was quicksand. "Runt!" she managed to scream before the
icy darkness closed over her head.

"Reet!" Runt raced to where Carole had been sitting and began pawing frantically at the
ground.

"Holy crap! That's not funny, Sylphwood." Martin sprang to his feet and spun a quick
circle. "Where you hiding?"

"Reeeet, reeet, reet!" Runt looked pleadingly towards Zack.

"I don't talk pig!" Zack said, as he scrambled over and poked at the ground. "Where did
she go?"

Runt hopped up and down on the spot. "Reeet!" he stared into Zack's face.

"I know, I know. We're all freaked out."

Runt snorted in disgust and looked at Lilly. "Rit rit!" He jumped again.

"That means something," Lilly said. "Your jumping means something, doesn't it
Runt."

Runt nodded.

"Listen you guys," Martin said, as he planted his hands on his hips, "if this is some sort
of twisted joke I'm not buying, so you might as well come clean."

"Are you trying to tell us something about Carole?" Lilly said to Runt.

"Reet!" he nodded and hopped again.

"She...jumped?"

"Reet, reet reet." Runt stood on his hind feet and did a clumsy pirouette.

"Okay, so she jumped," Zack said. "Where? I can't see her."

"Into another dimension!" Lilly exclaimed. "I get it now. Carole just made a
dimensional leap, didn't she Runt."

"Ret," Runt said sadly.

"Zack!" Martin hollered.

"What?"

"I'm talking to you."

"We're kinda busy in case you hadn't noticed, Martin."

"What the heck's going on?"

"You explain it to him, Lil. Come on Runt. Let's try and sniff her out. Maybe we can
find this other dimension. Maybe it's floating nearby."

The cold pressed against Carole's face. She squeezed her lips tight. She had to keep the
dirt out; had to conserve air. But she was buried under ground! She struggled not to scream.
Clamped her hands over her mouth.

She'd just moved her hands! When she waved an arm about, it moved freely but with
some resistance. Almost as if she was in... Water! She opened an eye and saw only blackness,
but it was water.

How far under was she? Where was the surface? Was there even a surface? She groped
frantically until her hand struck something cold and slimy.

She recoiled in fear. But there was no time to be scared. She poked and then grasped the
slippery thing.

It didn't chomp on her arm. She pulled. It felt like a rope.

Her lungs were burning. She tugged. Nothing. She yanked. The line gave a little.

She was out of time. She followed the line, terrified to let go, terrified she was
swimming deeper. At last she broke through the surface and greedily sucked in lungfuls of
air.

What is this place?
For all she knew, deadly predators were closing in; snakes,
alligators or worse. She glanced overhead and saw tiny twinkling lights. Stars!

Something brushed past her shoulder. "Aie!"

She shoved at the thing, but her fists bounced off a spongy object that hardly moved.
She kicked, and it still didn't move. When she probed it, she felt a smooth leathery surface.
Whatever it was, it seemed to be floating. Carole pulled herself out of the water, onto it.

As she settled, two small moons snuck out from behind clouds. Now that she could see
her surroundings, Carole found herself sitting atop a lily pad the size of a small raft. All around
her were leaves. There were hundreds of them. Perhaps thousands. "Ah." She smiled, suddenly
understanding about the underwater rope.

Carole became aware of a sweet fragrance, permeating the air.
The lilies?
She
reached for a nearby flower poking up through the water and sniffed. It did have a pleasant
aroma, but nothing near as strong as that other smell. She absently licked off a drop of water
hanging from her nose. It was sugary. She tasted another drop. The water
was
sweet!
She leaned over the edge of the plant and palmed lake water into her mouth.
Nectar!

"Twin moons, giant lily pads and a sweet-water lake," she mused. Looking around, she
spied a glistening shoreline less than a hundred feet away. "Yes!" She slipped back into the water
and stroked for shore.

With all the lily pads in the way, she ended up crawling more than swimming, but
eventually she reached a sandy beach. Looking at the sand, she wondered. She touched a finger
to the ground and licked it. "Blech!" Carole spat the grit out of her mouth. It was regular beach
sand.

Beyond a narrow strip of bordering grass stood a towering deciduous forest. With
memories of the Ghostly Spirit Realm still fresh in her mind, she decided to keep clear of the
woods. In fact, she wondered if it'd be smarter to wait out the night on one of the lilies instead of
on the beach.

As she was trying to make up her mind, a gigantic moon rose above the horizon. It
reflected more than enough light to give her a complete view of her surroundings; a view which
left her breathless. Amber water lilies and their enormous pearly leaves stretched over the lake
for as far as she could see. What open water there was between the plants sparkled like many
colored jewels.