Super Freak (17 page)

I suppose that’s what black magic looked like. I still didn’t feel a thing. Even so, I scooted away from the tree and the tendrils of fog wrapping around the trunk and twining around the branches.

The birch began to shake violently. Mr. Grouseman made a strange, dog-like whining noise in his throat. Mr. Sanderston curled one hand around his bicep, holding him in place. Leaves swirled in the air around us like giant snowflakes, and the size of the massive tree diminished. The fog grew thick and dense, and Widdershins chanted something under her breath.

There was a weird, soundless boom that made all of us wince, and I clapped my hands over my ears. After a last flurry of foliage, the purple cloud cleared, and standing in the moonlight was a slender woman dressed in an old-fashioned, ivory gown. Her hair still had a few sticks and leaves poking out, but I couldn’t fault her. She
had
been a tree for more than a century.

Mr. Grouseman moaned low in his throat and ran to her. She didn’t seem to know how to move, but he made up for it. It was like one of those cheesy romantic moments in the movies. If there was moisture in my eye, it was from the night air, and not the looks on their faces.

Elspeth’s mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. Mr. Grouseman wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

Detective Crowne took a couple of steps forward, leaving Ms. Widdershins slumped between the two MIST women. “Elspeth Bennings?”

Like there was any real doubt who she was. It was kind of freaky how much she and I looked alike. The branches in her hair grew a few inches, trembling. Her lips moved, but no sound came out again. A frustrated grunt leaked between her lips instead.

I couldn’t imagine how hard it would be to feel human again after so long being a tree. Dad stepped forward, grabbing Crowne’s arm. “Just give her a few minutes. She’s been dormant for a long time.”

Crowne blinked. “I don’t understand. I thought they said she was aware.”

Mom smiled. “There’s a big difference between being aware and being human, Detective. She hasn’t had a mouth for a very long time. It will take a bit to remember things. I’m sure William will make sure she gets inside with the rest of us.”

Elspeth managed a jerky nod, her lips curling into a smile. Mr. Grouseman hadn’t even blinked once she turned. I wasn’t even sure he realized we were still there until he nodded. “I’ll bring her in. We’ll be a few minutes, that’s all.”

Detective Crowne nodded once. “We’ll wait until you get inside then.”

Viola and her partner yanked Ms. Widdershins to her feet and prodded her into the house. Mom and Dad walked on either side of me. Mom’s hair was still half willow, and even Dad had a tiny twig and leaf poking out from his hair over one ear.

To be honest, I was kind of okay with them staying close.

Kevin and Leo walked in with their mother, and while their dad gave them both a hard look, he seemed relieved to see them safe. When we got inside, we gathered in the living room. Detective Crowne brought a kitchen chair in and put it in the corner. Ms. Widdershins sat down, defeat in every line of her body. She didn’t look at anyone in the room, keeping her gaze on the floor. Viola pulled a piece of chalk from her pocket and drew a circle on the floor, creating some sort of containment circle around her. Mom sighed when she saw the chalk, but didn’t say anything.

Edmund sat in a second chair on the other side of the room, but unlike Widdershins, he looked confused and sad. Mr. Sanderston kept an eye on him until Viola drew a second circle.

“You don’t need that,” he said softly. “I’m not going to run away. I know what I did, and I deserve whatever punishment you give me.”

Diana took a seat next to me on the couch, and her dad’s face was deathly calm. “You might want to rethink that. The confinement circle keeps people out as well as in.”

Edmund blanched.

Diana sat next to me, quiet. She kept glancing at Edmund, but the longer we sat there, the more relaxed she got.

“You okay?” I whispered.

She nodded. “I wasn’t sure at first. It was scary seeing him after everything. But it’s getting better.”

I squeezed her hand. Now we had to wait and see whether Elspeth could remember how to be human again. Sometimes dormant dryads never really came back.

I glanced up at Mom and Dad, who stood beside the couch. They both looked out the window at the pair standing on the lawn and back at each other. Worry creased Mom’s brow, and Dad wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

I thought about Mr. Grouseman’s face when he looked at Elspeth, and I hoped she could remember.

Kevin and Leo sat on the floor in front of us after checking with their parents. Leo looked back at Diana. “You okay?”

She nodded.

All around us, conversations were reduced to whispers. The unfinished business and waiting made the atmosphere thick with tension and worry. Kevin nodded toward the window, keeping his voice low. “What do you think, Caroline?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know what to think. I’ve only ever seen a dryad go dormant once, and it was a weird friend of Mom’s. But she chose to. Elspeth was enchanted with black magic. I would imagine that might make it easier because she’d want to be human, right?”

Diana’s voice was almost too soft to hear. “There’s a lot that’s changed. Her brother and someone she thought would become like a sister did horrible things. Who wants to come back to that?”

She had a point. Elspeth had a lot to deal with, even if she figured out some of it while being stuck in a trunk.

“Does it look like they’re making progress out there?” Detective Crowne started toward a window, but Dad shook his head. “Leave them be, Crowne. They’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”

“It can’t be so hard to remember who you are.”

Mom picked a willow leaf off the back of the couch. “Do you have much experience as a dryad, Detective? Last I heard, you were a leprechaun, and your lot doesn’t have much use for trees unless living in one.”

I blinked up at my mom, who never said a cross word to anyone.

Detective Crowne’s face turned three shades of red. Dad saved both of them from a scene. “This isn’t the time or place, either of you. They’ll come in when they can.”

Crowne opened his mouth, but Dad shook his head. “It’s hard to know, Crowne. She could take a few minutes and be fine, or it could take months.”

“But she will get past this?”

Dad glanced down at Mom. “I’m hopeful. But there is always the possibility that she won’t be able to handle the transition after all this time.”

Edmund’s sob broke through their conversation. Widdershins lifted her head, staring at him. “Stop your blubbering. She’ll be fine. Your family seems to live to torment me.”

Edmund scrubbed at his face, glaring at her. He stood, walking around the limits of his tiny circle. “Elspeth is strong. She’s managed this long. She’ll come back.”

An hour later, Mom straightened from her soft conversation with dad. Diana, Kevin and I stopped playing the card game we finally resorted to as a distraction. I could just see Mr. Grouseman and Elspeth through the window. Their steps were jerky and disjointed, but they moved toward the house.

“Detective, it seems you won’t have to wait as long as you thought,” Dad said.

The tension that ebbed during the wait swelled back, mixed with anticipation. It hung in the air around us. What would she remember? Could she say? Was she even capable of speech yet?

Detective Crowne tugged at his shirt and cuffs, flipped his notebook to a new page, and checked his pen to make sure it worked. Widdershins barely moved from her corner. Her face was etched in a deep frown, but her eyes stayed on Edmund. He sat, rumpled and sad, on his chair again, elbows resting on his knees and his hands clasped in front of him. He looked up and startled everyone.

“I’d like a moment to say something before my sister comes in and you all think I’m putting on an act for her.”

All attention turned from the scene outside to the one within. Edmund stood, turning so that he looked at Diana and her dad. She didn’t look away, but her hands curled into fists around her hand of cards. I patted her knee.

“I want to apologize to you, Diana. And your father. What I did was unforgivable, but I truly meant you no harm. I meant to scare everyone, and I was desperate.”

“You certainly sounded like you would do harm when you threatened to get rid of her.” Mr. Elliot’s voice was like a whip.

Edmund flinched. “I know. But I wouldn’t have. It matters little now, but I wanted you to know. I am sorry.”

Mr. Elliot shook his head. “An apology doesn’t make up for what you did.”

Edmund just nodded and fell silent.

The outside door opened and attentions fell away from Edmund to rest on the wide doorway where Mr. Grouseman stood, one arm wrapped around Elspeth’s waist. It felt like we all sucked every ounce of air from the room, waiting to see what would happen.

She looked down, one foot, still half root, slid forward on the wooden boards. Her brow furrowed in concentration as she shifted her weight and moved the other foot into place. Mr. Grouseman murmured something that sounded encouraging as she made her way to a wing-backed chair that Mrs. Sanderston motioned to.

Elspeth made it the last few steps and then collapsed into the chair, keeping one hand tangled in Mr. Grouseman’s. Then she looked at me and smiled.

“Thank you, Caroline. I’ve been waiting a long time for someone to figure things out.” The words were halting and very soft, but they were clear.

I grinned. “Glad I could help. But I couldn’t have done it without Diana, Leo, and Kevin. Even Mr. Grouseman helped point me in the right direction.”

Dad shifted beside me and Mr. Grouseman colored.

Elspeth looked us all over, “Thank you, all.”

Her eyes moved to Ms. Widdershins, and anger mixed with sadness. “Cynthia, you never had anything to fear from me. You and I had our differences, but I think we both paid for that.”

Ms. Widdershins just snorted, refusing to even look up.

“I had some thoughts over the years about what … ” She paused, licking her lips and taking a breath. The texture of bark moved over her skin, then receded, leaving more flesh than before. “What I wanted to do to you. I was angry for a very long time. But I’m going to leave your punishment to the authorities. They seem to have come far over the years. I’ve had a lot of time to notice.”

Edmund watched his sister with tears streaming down his face. When she turned her attention to him, he shuddered. “I’m sorry, Elspeth, William. I believed what she told me, and I did everything I could to keep you two apart. But I had good intentions.”

Mr. Grouseman looked him over and snorted. “The road to hell is paved with those, Edmund.”

Elspeth’s gaze carried disappointment so intense that I felt tears rise to my eyes. “I really believed you when you said you’d gotten past the class barriers between William and me. All along you lied to me. Still so stuck on being important you forgot to be kind. We will speak again, but I need time to think, Edmund.”

He nodded, wiping tears away.

Mr. Grouseman patted Elspeth’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Edmund. You know your sister. She’ll forgive you. And telling her you don’t mind our marrying now will work in your favor.”

Edmund’s face shone. “You are perfect for each other. Even in my snobbery I knew that. I wish you all the best, and I apologize for my part in keeping you separated.”

Elspeth looked pleased, but she didn’t say anything.

“What are you planning to do with me?” Ms. Widdershins demanded.

Leo’s parents moved like twin shadows to stand behind her. His father reached down, wrapping one large hand around her bicep. “I think we can find a good place for you.”

I shivered at the menace in those words.

Ms. Widdershins’ eyes were huge, and she struggled. Power billowed around her, and Mr. Sanderston pulled his hand outside the circle with a curse. His flesh was angry and red, but it healed in a few seconds.

“No! You can’t do anything to me–I am a founding member of this town. I have power here!”

Mrs. Sanderston’s smooth voice rolled around the group. It was like listening to liquid peace. “Come now, Cynthia, you don’t believe us capable of the kind of cruelty you have performed, do you?”

Even I could feel the magic in her voice. Ms. Widdershins quieted, nodding and smiling up at the woman. It made my stomach turn. She looked like a spaniel ready to do anything to please. I was pretty sure if Mrs. Sanderston told her to bark like a dog and fetch, she’d have done it.

Kevin appeared next to me and leaned over, close to my ear. “Now you know how my mother keeps me and Leo in line.”

A smile cracked my lips. I turned to him and he winked. If he kept this up, he might actually turn out to be a decent human, well, undead being.

The evening after that became quite boring. At several points, I dozed off. Detective Crowne couldn’t decide who to interview first, and Mr. Grouseman growled at anyone who got too close to Elspeth. When she got up to go to the bathroom, he would have followed her in. She had to stop him at the door and swear not to take more than ten minutes. I felt kind of bad for her. I mean, the woman hadn’t been to the bathroom in almost two hundred years. Twenty minutes was more than fair.

Diana went and sat with her dad, who kept one arm around her the entire time, except when he approached me. His thin arms wrapped around me and squeezed until I thought I would pop. Then he released me and stared into my eyes.

I almost gasped. His eyes didn’t match the mousy, beanpole newspaper reporter image. They were bright, golden, and intense. I finally saw where Diana got her strength of will.

“I owe you and your parents a great deal, my dear.” He glanced up at Mom and Dad, but his gaze returned to my face. “If you ever need anything, all you have to do is ask. I am beyond grateful you were there to find Diana.”

Not knowing what to say, I just nodded. He shook my parents’ hands while Diana smothered me in another hug. When she let go, her eyes were bright. “Next time, Caroline,
you
get to play the damsel in distress, ‘kay?”