Summer Of Fear by Lois Duncan

Author:Lois Duncan [Duncan, Lois]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Children/Young Adult Trade
Published: 2012-02-29T22:16:46+00:00

Eleven

There was no way that night that I could have slept in the room with Julia. I took my pillow and crept downstairs to the den where I spent the rest of the night lying rigid and sleepless on the sofa.

It was close to dawn when I dozed off at last, and what seemed moments later I opened my eyes to find my father standing over me.

"I was leaving for work," he said, "and glanced in as I passed the door. Did you sleep here all night?"

"Most of it," I said groggily.

"Did you and Julia have an argument about something when she came in last night?"

"Yes."

"Will you tell me what it was about?"

"I'd rather not do that yet," I said. "It would just make you angry. You wouldn't believe me now. I want to talk with somebody else first."

"Daughter—" He made a little helpless gesture with his hands. "I can't figure you out. The way you acted last night with your mother and me—and then to fight with Julia—and to come down here to sleep when you have a perfectly good bed upstairs—it isn't normal behavior. Why can't you tell me about your argument? You've always felt you could discuss things with me before."

"All right," I said with a sigh. "I'll tell you. I accused Julia of being a practicing witch."

"If you're making a joke," Dad said, "it's a tasteless one. If you're telling the truth you deserve to be punished. Did you really say something so spiteful to your cousin?"

"See?" I said miserably. "You forced me to tell you. I knew it would make you mad."

"Then you did say it?"

"Yes!" I hoisted myself to a sitting position on the sofa. "I said it because it's true. She is a witch. She all but admitted it to me straight out. She can cast spells. She killed Trickle with one, and that's how she won Mike."

"That is enough, Rachel. I won't listen to one more word." Dad's voice was like ice. "Mother and I have tried to be patient, but you have pushed us past our limit. You and Julia may have such different natures that you don't get along well. I could understand that and even sympathize with it. But for you to go to these lengths to manufacture absurd accusations which you yourself admit are unbelievable is too much. Besides that, it's just plain dumb."

"You're the one who's dumb!" I cried, pushed past endurance. "You and Mother both refuse to see what's right in front of your faces! This morning I'm going to talk with Professor Jarvis. He knows about these things and will be able to explain them to you."

"You're not going anywhere except to your room," Dad told me. "You can spend your morning there thinking things over. If by noon you are not ready to apologize to Julia for your rudeness you can move out of the room entirely. I'm not going to have that poor girl subjected to any more scenes like the one you must have thrown last night.

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