A Tangle of Spells by Michelle Harrison

Author:Michelle Harrison
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-07-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Hubble, Bubble, Trouble

BETTY SQUEEZED CHARLIE’S HAND, nodding in the direction of the hallway.

Front door, she mouthed. Go!

Charlie shook her head, tears running down her face. A whimper escaped her lips, which Betty hoped was disguised by the screaming of the kettle. She could tell Charlie, with her fear of nettles, was too afraid and in pain to take another step.

Miss Webb remained frozen in the doorway, her eyes flashing around the kitchen, seeing nothing but the kettle. She looked both alarmed and suspicious. Locking the door behind her, she pocketed the key and stepped into the kitchen. Betty felt a lump of dread hardening in her throat. Now the front door was their only option.

Miss Webb dumped the clothes in her arms on the table before taking the kettle off the stove and resting it on a chopping board. The kettle quieted instantly, but continued to let out angry little puffs of steam as if in warning to the intruders.

Betty just had time to take one silent, painful step out of the way as Miss Webb grabbed a broom by the door and rushed into the hallway. The sound of her footsteps pounded the floor as she first entered the dining room, then took her search upstairs. A peculiar sound drifted down through the ceiling. A swish-swish-swish and muttered words. Betty stiffened. Was this another spell?

“Charlie, listen to me,” Betty whispered frantically. How could she ever have thought she would get away with spying on a witch, and with her little sister in tow? “You have to go out the front door and run all the way home. Every footstep is going to hurt as long as we’re in this house, but you have to be brave and not make a sound, understand?”

Charlie looked up at her, her large green eyes watery and red-rimmed. “B-but where will you be?” she asked, her voice trembling.

“I’m going to stay here,” said Betty, gritting her teeth at another sting. “I need to keep looking. Just for a few minutes.”

“But, Betty, what if she catches you?”

“She won’t. I’ll be careful,” said Betty. “For the cottage to have these enchantments on it, she must be hiding something. And I might not get another chance to find out what.”

Betty gave her sister a quick hug. “Now go. Wait for me in our garden.”

Charlie gulped, gritted her teeth, and took a tentative step toward the hall.

“Oh, Betty, I can’t! It hurts!”

“You have to!”

With a last teary glance at her sister, Charlie set off again, sniffling as doors from above slammed. At least the kettle had shut up now, Betty thought grimly, but no sooner had it entered her head than another voice cut through the silence.

“Intruder! Intruder in the hall! Get her out, get her out!” it trilled in a wickedly triumphant voice. Betty stared down the hall, consumed by panic as footsteps sounded on the upstairs landing. This was all going so wrong! Charlie was halfway across the hall, her hand reaching for the door and her shoulders shaking with silent sobs.

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