The Witches of Whidbey Island by Eldritch Black

Author:Eldritch Black [Black, Eldritch]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Eldritch Black

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Thankfully, dinner was fine, even though Jamie and Marshall had begun speaking in a strange, nonsense language they’d invented. This amused Mom and Dad, but I didn’t crack a smile. It was just more of the same stupidity. On the plus side, they were busy preparing for a game tournament, so there wasn’t time for them to harass me.

I wished everyone a goodnight, stumbled up the stairs like I was exhausted, and got ready to meet the others. After that is was simply a matter of waiting for the perfect time to sneak back downstairs, but it wasn’t hard. Jamie shouted as he showed off his gaming moves to Marshall, Mom and Dad, and I slipped through the kitchen using my best ninja techniques and crept out through the back door.

Once I was outside, I ran for the shadows beneath the trees and messaged Emily. Within ten minutes, I saw their flashlights wobbling as they raced down the dirt road toward me. I flagged them down, showed them where to stash their bikes and led them into the woods.

“Can this get any creepier?” Jacob asked as he glanced at the sky. The moon was almost full, and it cast a wash of spooky silver light over the scratchy branches. “And what’s with all the mist?”

“Witch’s breath,” Zach said solemnly.

“Is that a real thing?” I asked.

“It’s a Zachary thing.” Emily rolled her eyes.

We passed by Mr. Flittermouse’s driveway and strode into the trees on the other side. The brush and brambles grew heavier the closer we got to Mrs. Chimes’s house, as if they were filled with their own wild, cursed energy.

“Wait!” Emily said.

We stopped.

Muffled voices came from ahead, and a peal of shrill, piercing laughter.

I crept toward the sound and, as I glanced around a tree trunk, I saw Mrs. Chimes’s house lit up like a Christmas tree. The night before, it had been gloomy but now it was ablaze.

“It sounds like she’s having a party,” Jacob whispered.

“Great,” I said.

“It might help us,” Emily replied. “It means they’ll be distracted. We can use that to our advantage!”

We snuck through the trees and stopped by the edge of the lawn.

Mrs. Chimes’s long driveway was jammed with parked cars. It was like a Society of the Owl and Wolf meeting, only for the bad side. Most of the vehicles looked expensive, and their hoods gleamed darkly below the moonlit sky.

Music spilled out from inside the house. It was The Teddy Bears Picnic, and it sounded like it was being played on the kind of ancient record player my grandmother owned.

A dozen or more women stood out in the yard, their black clothes highlighted by the orange light of an enormous bonfire. They sang an odd, slow song and swayed together before toasting each other with tall glasses.

I couldn’t see Mrs. Chimes, not at first, but then I clocked her standing with three other women. They were aiming what looked like twigs at a mossy log topped with old tin cans.

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