Witch Ball - BK 3 (5 page)

Five days, five days ... the words echoed in my
head.

"Say something already. What just happened?"

"Don't you remember?" I whispered hoarsely.
"Those things you said ..."

"I haven't said anything yet." He furrowed his
brow. "You only just got here and I was getting
ready to read your fortune."

"But you already did."

"No, I didn't. I was going to, but then I ...
well what the hell? That's weird, I usually have a
great memory. I don't understand."

"Neither do I." The makeshift fortune-telling
tent looked ordinary-until my gaze fell on the
table and I gasped. "That crystal ball! Where did
you get it?"

"Penny-Love brought it from your house. She
said it was sitting on your dresser right where you
told her. I was expecting something plastic and
cheap, yet this is-"

"The wrong ball!" I finished.

"How could that happen?"

I shook my head, wondering the same thing. I'd
duct-taped the witch ball inside a sturdy box and
hidden it deep inside my closet. Glass balls can't
open doors. So how had it gotten from a duct-taped
box in my closet to the carnival? I'd have to talk with
Penny-Love, but right now there was a more serious
issue.

"You can not use this," I snatched the ball from
Manny, then found a paper bag and dumped it
inside.

"Why not?"

"Because it might be . . . " I lowered my voice
so no one could overhear. "Haunted."

"Seriously?" His black eyes widened. "Like
with a ghost?"

I nodded, although nothing made sense. If there
was a ghost or spirit nearby, why didn't I sense it? It
was as if my channel to the other side was blocked. "I
have to get this ball out of here before it does anything worse."

"Worse than what?" Manny asked.

In five days, you will die. Of course that prediction was ridiculous. I refused to let it scare me. I
was young, healthy, and in no imminent danger. If
there was a ghost hanging around, it didn't have the power to do any physical harm. And the witch
ball couldn't hurt me either-it was only a chunk
of glass.

"I'm taking this back home," I said firmly.

Manny frowned. "Then what will I use as a
fortune-telling prop?"

"Pretend to read palms or ask Velvet for some
tarot cards. She sells more than candy at her booth,
although she might not advertise it. Now I have to
go_

"Not until you tell me why you're so scared."
Manny grabbed my arm.

"I'm not scared."

"I don't buy it. Is it that prediction I gave you?
What did I say?"

"It's not important."

"Tell me, Sabine."

I didn't want to, but he had a right to know.
After I told him, he looked as stunned as if I'd just
punched him in the gut. "That's sick. I couldn't
possible have said those things."

"You did, but it wasn't really you."

"So who was it? My evil clone?"

"Everything will be okay when the ball is gone."

"Is that supposed to reassure me?" He sank
down in a chair and rubbed his hand over his forehead. "As a psychic, I totally suck. Sorry for the rotten prediction."

"It wasn't a real prediction," I assured. "Forget
about it."

"That's the problem-I already have. I can't
remember the others either."

"Others? What do you mean?" I dug my fingernails into the paper bag. "You gave other predictions?"

"Yeah. Although my brain is all foggy like waking up from a dream."

"How many predictions?"

He started to answer, then shook his head in
bewilderment. "I-I'm not sure, but before you came
there were at least two ... maybe three."

My heart raced. "Who did you give them to?"

"I don't know." He paused, then gave a grim
shake of his head. "I have no idea at all."

Amy must have thought I was crazy when I asked
her to cover my booth while I left the carnival. I
promised to hurry back, then rushed off before she
could ask any questions. She was too busy dodging
Velcro balls to argue.

I held tightly to the paper bag, afraid the witch
ball might escape again. Not that I wanted to keep
it! I wish I'd never brought it back from Pine Peaks in the first place. It had been in my distant-cousin
Eleanor's attic for decades, and that's where it should
have stayed. I could call her and beg her to take it
back, but would that stop it from returning?

Nothing made any sense, and I couldn't get
that horrible prediction out of my head. I'd told
Manny not to worry, that I had no plans to die
anytime soon. But I felt a sick sense of unease, and
I really wanted to believe my own words. I mean,
the idea that someone I loved would kill me was
absurd.

Yet I couldn't just ignore it either. It was obvious that a dark entity was spreading evil. I knew
confused ghosts could haunt places and buildings,
but I never expected to find one connected to an
inanimate object. Had it targeted me specifically
or was it randomly malicious? At least two other
people had received predictions. Had they been
told they would die, too?

I longed to ask Opal for advice, only she still
wasn't answering. She'd cut off contact with me before, but I didn't think she'd done it on purpose
this time. It was as if a wall blocked me from the
other side. I had to get rid of the witch ball.

Ducking out a side door, I headed for the parking lot. That's when I realized I had a big problem. No car-not even a bike. Nona wouldn't return to
pick me up for hours.

I was reaching for my cell phone to call her
when the sound of a noisy truck engine made me
look up. Dominic! His beat-up truck was hard to
miss as it pulled into the parking lot. He could be
sarcastic and annoying, but he was one of the few
people who would understand this situation.

A strong smell of diesel hung in the chilled air
as he shut off his engine and stepped out of his
truck.

"Am I glad to see you," I told him.

"You are? That's a first," he said with a wry
smile. Pocketing his keys, he gestured toward the
bag in my arms. "What's in there?"

"Trouble." I lifted the bag.

"A gift for me?" he asked lightly. Then his smile
died when he peeked in the bag. "Why are you carrying this around? You were supposed to put it
away.

"I did. But it didn't stay."

"What do you mean?"

"Penny-Love mistook it for the crystal ball I
bought for Manny's fortune-telling booth and gave
it to Manny. Then things got really weird ..." I
paused, not wanting to talk about the prediction Manny gave me, as if that would make it would
real. "Anyway, I was going to take the ball home,
only I don't have a ride."

"You do now," he said.

"Thanks. That's half of my problem solved.
Now if I could just figure out what to do with this
ball."

"I'll take it."

"And do what?" I asked uneasily.

His hands tightened to fists. "Smash it."

A tremor shuddered through me. Was destroying the ball the right thing to do? I wasn't sure, and
felt an odd reluctance to give him the ball. I opened
the bag, gazing down at dazzling rainbows spun in
glass. It would be a crime to destroy such a beautiful
antique. I held the bag closer, enjoying a pleasant
warmth. I had a mental image of the ball hanging
high in a window, shining sunlight into colorful
prisms.

When I glanced up, Dominic was watching me
with a concern. My emotions lurched. I remembered the kiss we shared-the thrill of his touch, the
sweet taste of his lips, and how safe I'd felt in his
strong arms. It never should have happened, yet
we'd been caught up in powerful feelings that hadn't been our own. Still it felt so real ... and the memory lingered. I found myself leaning closer to Dominic, lifting my arms and reaching for-

"No!" I jumped back, hot all over.

"No what?" His brows arched with questions.

"No, we shouldn't do anything dumb ..." I
knew I was blushing. "With the ball, I mean."

"So what do you want to do," he hesitated,
"with the ball?"

"We need to understand it better."

"If that's what you want."

"I-I don't know what I want." That was the
problem, I thought. Everything felt so confusing.
And instead of getting rid of the ball, I was hugging the bag like it was a prized treasure. I shoved
it at Dominic. "Here. You'd better take it."

"Are you sure?"

No! I thought while I answered, "Yes."

"I know just where to put it for now." Dominic
locked it inside a metal container in the back of his
truck.

"Is that safe?" I asked, my arms feeling strangely
empty.

"Trust me, it's secure." He pointed up at the
sky where a large red-brown bird circled, then at Dominic's whistle, the bird fluttered down to perch
on the hood of the truck. He stroked the bird's silky
feathers, then ordered, "Dagger. Guard."

I knew Dominic had an uncanny way with
wild creatures, still it was freaky to watch him having a conversation with a bird.

"All done," he said. "Let's go."

Then he took my hand and led me back to the
carnival.

I was not in a carnival mood. I mean, I'd just been
told I had less than a week to live-not that I believed that weird prediction-but it was hard to
act like everything was fine. Why didn't I let Dominic smash the ball? Was I crazy or something? It
was just a chunk of glass. Smashing it seemed the
logical thing to do. I still wasn't sure why I stopped
Dominic.

To my surprise, Amy and Dominic hit it off,
discovering a shared passion for reading. They were
discussing J.R.R. Tolkien as they headed for booths.
I slipped back into the itchy, ugly costume. At least
dodging Velcro balls kept me too busy to dwell on
problems. Well, almost too busy. Between hits I worried about Josh, Nona, and the witch ball.

About an hour later, Amy returned to my
booth, wearing a balloon hat twisted into the shape
of a dog and lugging a large stuffed unicorn in her
arms. "Dominic won this for me," she exclaimed.
"Isn't it awesome?"

"It's great. So where's Dominic?" I asked.

"Oh he left. Some work he had to do." She
giggled. "He takes himself so seriously, but he's really nice."

"You think?" I kept my expression blank, but
wondered if his "work" had something to do with
the class he'd mentioned taking.

"Oh, yeah. But I like Josh, too," she amended
quickly. "He made this hat for me, and asked me
to give you a message."

"What?"

"He was leaving early to help a friend study.
But he said he'd call you later."

My stomach knotted. "Was the friend named
Evan?"

"Yeah, that sounds right. Someone you know?"

"Unfortunately," I said with a grimace. Then
to change the subject because my little sister was
the Energizer Bunny of curiosity, I turned and
pointed to a little girl in ponytails. "Here's another
customer."

While I hurried back to the target zone, I
thought about josh. I'd torn up the envelope with
the awful clipping and tossed it in the garbage, but
that wouldn't stop Evan from telling josh about
my past.

A Velcro ball zoomed toward me, but I dodged
to the right.

Evan only dated that girl from my old school
to dig up dirt on me-and he'd succeeded. Now
he had proof that I was a freak and a liar.

Another ball soared for my head, but I ducked
and it missed me.

How could I stop Evan from telling Josh? At my
last school, my best friend Brianne turned against
me when she found out and even signed a petition
to have me expelled. Josh didn't believe in psychics,
but he did believe in total honesty. If he found out
about my past, he'd hate me for lying.

I forgot to dodge and a ball struck me right in
the chest.

When the carnival ended, Amy and I stayed to
help clean up by sweeping and packing up boxes.
The Booster Club had made over a thousand dollars, which was cause for celebration and everyone
was going out for ice cream. But I just wanted to
go home.