Wonder Wand Way (Witch of Mintwood Book 10) Page 4

  Chapter Six

  We split up into pairs. Liam came with me and we started looking around the amphitheater more carefully.

  “There’s a lot of junk in this place. Years upon years of junk. For all we know, someone is hiding in the midst of it,” Liam grumbled. “And if they are, we’ll never find them. Then one day we’ll turn our backs, and when we least expect it they’ll jump out and attack!”

  “There must be generations of old stuff,” I muttered.

  Charlie and Greer had taken the other side of the big space, but there was so much stuff stacked around the rows of seats that I couldn’t even see them. Periodically I heard Greer’s voice telling Charlie to relax. Why she still bothered with such a lost cause I had no idea.

  “It doesn’t surprise me that there’s so much in here,” said Liam. “I heard they started using this place for storage. They kept thinking they’d do something with it, but they never did.” He kept his voice low, his eyes darting around as if he really did expect someone to jump out at us.

  “I know Mintwood used to have massive yard sales in the summer,” I said. “I think they thought they’d eventually get all the stuff out of here and put it in the yard sales, but that never happened. I think that’s why Mrs. Cook has involved us. She realizes that she needs to task someone else with doing all the work to actually get the place cleared out. It’s just so much stuff!”

  A movement of shadow caught the corner of my eye and my head whipped around.

  I saw nothing. Just a shifting of the lights. Surely.

  “I’m ready to roll up my sleeves,” said Liam. “There have to be some hidden treasures in here, if only we can find them! Can you imagine furniture from the 1920s? It’s to die for.” He placed his hand on his chest and swooned.

  We continued to prowl around the edges of the theater through the darkness and shadow, and after a long silence Liam frowned and said, “I remember there being some drama or a standoff about something. Maybe even several dramas over the years. But I can’t put my finger on what they were. My mom would remember. I’ll see if she can meet you tomorrow and tell you all about it. I’m sure she’d love to. Especially if I promise to bring her some treasures.” At the thought of his mother’s pleasure, he smiled.

  I told him that would be great.

  For the next hour or so I picked stuff up and put it down, trying to wrap my mind around just how we were going to clean this place out. It was going to be an almost unmanageable task.

  That realization made me extra glad that Liam was interested in helping out, because we were going to need all the help we could get. I started to think how nice it would be to bring Jasper up here and show him everything, then I forced myself to stop.

  He wouldn’t be coming up here with me; he didn’t want to see me. I had to stop letting myself imagine otherwise.

  My movements slowed and I stopped taking in what I was looking at. My mind was somewhere else. With someone else.

  As the reality of the task we had taken on set in, I started thinking about all the rest of the stuff I had to deal with.

  Ellie the dark witch, my sworn enemy, wasn’t likely to disappear any time soon. Her dark ghost sidekick Wendell had attacked my friends just this past weekend. The dark witch’s ego was growing, and it was only going to swell even further with a confrontation. Despite the new picket fence, I knew a showdown with Ellie was going to come one of these days.

  I was so lost in thought that at first I didn’t hear Liam when he exclaimed and held up a vintage dress.

  “This!” he said in delight.

  The dress had been lying on top of a set of old chairs, a flaming orange number with white and red beads. It was beautiful, and it definitely had not been made in the last twenty years. Under one of the seats was a pair of shoes that matched perfectly, twinkling black with sequins.

  “You know who would look amazing in this dress?” Liam asked.

  I shook my head.

  “Greer. She would be to die for in flaming orange. Her dark hair would go perfectly,” he said.

  “Someone might die if they tried to make her wear it,” I said, thinking of her favorite eighteen white T-shirts.

  “Did someone say my name?” Greer asked. She and Charlie had made their way to the stage up the middle aisle where Liam and I were standing. We had barely made it halfway down the aisle ourselves, because we had just kept stopping to look at everything. This project was going to make even longer if we couldn’t stay on task.

  “I think you’d look amazing in this dress,” said Liam, grinning at Greer.

  Greer made a face. “It’s a little flashy for my taste. Can you imagine me trying to work at the bar in that?”

  Liam’s face instantly darkened. “You better not. It’s way too beautiful to take to that bar of yours. It’s vintage, you know.”

  Greer rolled her eyes. “That means it’s old and musty.”

  “Sometimes I wonder why I bother with people like you,” said Liam.

  “I’m sure you can find somebody else who will love that dress far more than I ever could,” Greer said.

  “I’m sure,” he sniffed.

  “Even though Greer isn’t interested, if you see any dresses you think I might like, please let me know,” said Charlie.

  “Will do,” said Liam as he reverently laid the dress back down. We heard the beads cascading against each other as he set it over the chair. It was the only noise in the old building, and it echoed into the high ceiling.

  “Did you two find anything interesting?” I asked.

  Charlie and Greer shook their heads. “I mean, it’s all interesting,” said Greer. “There’s an old set of shot glasses back there. Also some whiskey glasses. I think they’re true crystal. That means they’re worth a lot of money as a set.”

  “The place really is an antique collector’s dream,” said Charlie.

  “I think Mrs. Cook is right. We have to split the stuff into categories, the things we’re keeping and the things to be trashed. In order to do that, we need more space,” I said.

  “Should we start taking stuff downstairs?” Liam asked.

  I nodded. “Let’s start with the stage first and work our way back. At least the aisles are kind of clear.”

  Although there was stuff packed along them, the aisles themselves were wide enough that there was still a good path for us to walk down. If we worked our way back, we’d be doing the longest traveling back and forth first, moving closer to the door as the stage was cleared.

  “To the stage we go,” said Liam, lifting his hand over his head and waving it. Without waiting for the rest of us, he made his way forward, still in a state of high excitement even after a couple of hours of digging in the dust.

  Of all of the places in the amphitheater, the stage was the most packed with boxes and clothes, with furniture stacked at random amongst the piles. When I really took in what was there, I started to question my decision to start with the stage; we were going to need help moving most of the furniture. Maybe Greer could get her brothers to come and do the heavy lifting. She had twin brothers, so they might be able to help.

  “I think we need your brothers,” Charlie said to Greer.

  I grinned at her. “Great minds think alike,” I said.

  “We need all the guys we can get. I’ll let Deacon know too,” said Greer, shaking her head as she gazed at a heavy dresser.

  I knew without even trying that we’d never be able to lift the thing. Maybe if we took the drawers out and all four of us worked together we’d be able to shift it a bit, but even then I wasn’t sure we could do it safely. Not to mention that the stage was raised, so we’d need either a ramp or a way to ease it down the steps.

  Leaving the heavy stuff for later, we started choosing items we could pick up easily. There was a stack of boxes of clothing, all neatly packed, and we each took one of those and removed it from the amphitheater. Liam suggested finding a room where he could sort through the clothing, as the first line o
f defense in deciding what to keep and what to get rid of. After he’d taken everything he wanted for himself, the rest of it could be donated or sold. And of course he’d know better than the rest of us what articles of clothing were actually worth money and which ones were just pretty or old and not worth saving.

  We had been at the actual work for an hour or so when I suddenly realized how late it was. It hadn’t been early when we’d headed downtown in the first place, and now we’d spent a good long time surveying our assignment and getting started on it.

  I set down the box I had started sorting through and said, “It’s getting late.”

  “Yeah, let’s call it a night. We can come back tomorrow,” said Charlie.

  “I have to work for most of the day, but I’ll be free all evening,” said Greer.

  “I’ll see when my mom is available to give you the history of this place,” said Liam.

  That all sounded good to me. We some finishing touches on our progress, trying to leave one little corner of the place as organized as we could. Then we headed for the door, each carrying a modest-sized box of stuff we intended to take away and examine at our leisure.

  The building moved with the wind, but in the course of the evening we had gotten accustomed to the sounds it made. We hadn’t gone more than a few steps toward the exit when we heard a very strange sound, almost like a crying. Just as we all stopped dead, some of the lights flickered off and then on again. Then we heard a clicking noise.

  Wide-eyed, Charlie said, “What is that?”

  “It sounds like an old film reel starting,” whispered Liam. He was pale at the best of times, but now he looked downright ghostly himself.

  The doors of the amphitheater stood open.

  Through them was a dim glow from the lights we’d left on downstairs. Otherwise there was darkness.]

  I had the strangest impression that the doors could spring closed again at any moment. The hair on my arms rose and prickled. We’d be plunged into complete blackness if the doors closed and the few lights that were still on went out.

  I fought the urge to run.

  “Let’s get out of here. Don’t run. Just move,” I ordered.

  We made our way toward the door, definitely walking faster than was strictly necessary. I was starting to think it had been a mistake to bring boxes with us; if we were attacked, it would take us precious seconds to free our arms to defend ourselves.

  When we weren’t ten feet from the doors, a gust of wind blowing in from somewhere slammed them shut. The next instant the remaining lights went out.

  Chapter Seven

  Without having to discuss it, we all came to a halt again. I could feel my heart hammering in my chest, and Liam’s breath was so loud it rasped. The clicking continued at a steady pace. Plunged into a great abyss of darkness and surrounded by molding drapes and dusty desks, we didn’t know what to do.

  It served us right. This place was clearly haunted.

  “Everyone, slowly set your boxes down. Then move forward. Use the seats and the other stuff on either side of us as a guide. Make toward the doors. Greer, this would be an excellent time to break out the flashlights again,” I whispered.

  Click click click.

  “I thought you’d never ask,” said Greer. I heard more than saw everyone set their boxes down, followed by an even louder clicking, which it took me a moment to realize was . . . Greer’s flashlight.

  She swung the beam around the theater. “I don’t see anything. I don’t even see a projector that’s on,” said Liam in despair.

  “I don’t either,” I said. I followed the trail of Greer’s light, but that didn’t help; everything looked exactly the same as it had before.

  Except that our only escape route was closed.

  Now that I thought about it, I knew there had to be a second exit; there were laws about that. But I had no idea where it was. If there had ever been red illuminated exit signs, they were long gone.

  “Let’s get out of here,” said Charlie.

  She didn’t have to say it twice. We hurried for the door, hoping it wasn’t locked, especially since with Liam there I’d have trouble using my magic to get us free. He didn’t know my secret, and tonight wasn’t the time to reveal it.

  “Here goes nothing,” I muttered as I put my hand on the door handle. I could still hear the sound of wind on the other side, but where it was coming from I had no idea. There had to be a door or window open to the outside somewhere in the building for the air to be moving the way it was. We had apparently been so absorbed in our work that we hadn’t noticed an actual indoor breeze blowing up.

  To my disbelief and relief, the door swung open. The only trouble was that the wind was now strong enough to force it closed again. I gritted my teeth, lowered my shoulder, and tried as hard as I could to shove it back open and keep it that way.

  “I’ll help,” said Liam.

  Greer continued to hold the light as the other three of us pushed at the door. When we got a past a forty-five degree angle the wind took it and the ancient wood slammed back into the wall with a great bang.

  All of us froze. Goosebumps flashed up and down my arms.

  The clicking sound continued.

  Talk about having a mind of its own, this building was Exhibit A.

  “This place is totally haunted,” said Liam again. All the lights we had turned on were now off. With the wind blowing and Greer’s light as our only guide, we headed for the stairway.

  As we reached the top of the steps, a creaking sound was added to the chorus. There very well might be ghosts here, but when I glanced left and right I couldn’t see a thing in the darkness.

  Then, when I caught a view of the first floor, I gasped.

  At least we’d found the source of the clicking.

  There were several pictures playing on the walls of the lobby. None of the movies were familiar to me, but they covered every side of the large room.

  All four of us stopped, stunned. A whole set of movie projectors, the old-fashioned kind with reels of film, had appeared around the ticket counter and were playing the movies, waveringly, as if they were all blowing in the originless wind..

  “Let’s get out of here,” Greer whispered.

  “Wow,” was all Charlie managed.

  Liam’s statement of shock got lost in a loud gust of air.

  As we made our way down the stairs we were forced to split up into pairs again, one on each side. The wind was blowing so hard that we had to cling to the railing in order to keep moving. Scraps of old paper and other odds and ends blew into our faces as we went.

  I was dead sure that all this ruckus was the work of a very angry ghost hiding somewhere in the vicinity. Liam might not be wrong. I just hoped the ghost wasn’t violent as well as vexatious.

  As I trained my eyes on the exit, I fervently wished Paws had come with us. Then again, even if he had, he probably wouldn’t have wanted to help us. He would just want to go hang out with his ghost crush Honolulu instead, but I would have to ruin his dreams. He was clearly needed here.

  When we gained the first floor, we all started to run.

  “This way,” I called out as I made for the exit. My friends followed, Greer bringing up the rear and helping us as much as she could with the flashlight’s beam.

  As we piled through the door I glanced back only once. The pictures on the walls all happened to be laughing at the same time.

  I felt no relief.

  We tumbled out into the quiet of Main Street.

  Rosy lights shone in many of the storefronts. Some of the apartments on the second floor of various store buildings had lights on as well.

  All was calm: the exact opposite of the haunted cinema we had left behind.

  Breathing hard, Liam braced his hands on his knees.

  “Wow,” Charlie said again. Even the reporter was lost for words.

  “What happened in there?” Greer’s eyes were locked on my face. I shrugged and looked grimly back at her.

>   I had no idea.

  As Liam continued to stare at the ground, Charlie mouthed to me, “Dark ghosts?”

  I shook my head. That wasn’t the work of dark ghosts. Maybe bitter ghosts, but that wasn’t an official title, just a personality type.

  Liam looked up. “Not only are there gorgeous dresses, we nearly lost our lives. Who really thinks small towns are boring?”

  We all shook our heads.

  Liam kept staring in the direction of the cinema, his hands planted on his hips. “Was that real?”

  “Probably just a trick of the light,” said Charlie hastily.

  Liam looked at her in disbelief.

  “We aren’t going to figure it out tonight. Let’s get home,” I said.

  Liam didn’t budge. “That right there . . . takes the magic of movies to a whole new level.”

  My friends and I exchanged looks. We all wanted Liam to drop it, and I was afraid he wasn’t going to.

  After a minute, though, something in my suggestion that we weren’t going to figure it out tonight got through to him. “I guess I should be getting home. Whatever that was!” he said at last, turning away reluctantly.

  I sighed with relief, while Charlie gave me an irritated look. I knew she was thinking that someday Liam might encounter a strange event and be just a little more curious.

  We didn’t linger on the Main Street. Liam wanted to get home and fill his mother in on what was going on. I was all for it; it was more important than ever that we speak with her as soon as possible. He promised he’d tell her we wanted to meet with her, and went on his way.

  We three roommates were in just as much of a hurry to get home. I needed to talk to the farmhouse ghosts about what might be going on at the cinema, and if they couldn’t help me I’d have to see if Evenlyn’s spell books could offer any insight.

  “That really is why you’re here, isn’t it? To free upset ghosts?” asked Charlie as we got in the car and headed home.

  I drove very slowly, my nerves still a mess.

  “An uneasy, unsettled ghost probably needs to be freed. We know just the witch to do it. From a distance,” said Greer.