“Somehow we’ve become the adults,” King said, studying his work. “That hole isn’t large enough. I’ll get another rock.”
“Why don’t we try the door?” Rory suggested, pointing to the side of the building and a door they had often used to visit the privies that used to stand behind the school.
“I’ll feel like an idiot if the door is open,” King said.
The three marched to the door and Rory tried it. “Locked,” he said. “Watch out.”
Henry held up a hand. “Rory, are you—Oh, apparently you are.”
Rory turned sideways, aimed a shoulder at the door, and rushed forward. The door burst inward, as did the pain in his shoulder.
“That looked painful,” King said, shoving the door free of its hinges. Rory rotated his shoulder and winced, then followed King and Henry inside.
The school smelled the same, a mixture of lye and wood polish and something else—burned onions? Despair? Mold? Most of the dining hall furniture had been removed, but there was the odd broken chair in a corner and an overturned bench draped with cobwebs. At one time the room housed two long trestle tables that seated about twenty boys each.
Rory walked to the rear of the room. “We sat here, yes?”
“The end of the first table,” King agreed. “That looks correct.” He joined Rory.
Henry walked over, standing across from them. “What now? Shouldn’t thunder rumble and lightning flash? We’ve returned to the start. This is where King first proposed the idea.”
“I?” King put his hands on his hips. “It was Rory’s idea.”
“Ha. I’m the only one who believed in witches. It wasn’t my idea.”
“Well, it wasn’t mine,” Henry said.
“It started with a dare,” Rory said. “We were all idiots and couldn’t refuse a dare.”
King and Henry nodded, seeming to remember now. The three men looked about the room.
“Nothing is happening,” Henry muttered. “Should we say something? Maybe we should read the counter-spell.” He pulled it from his coat pocket.
Rory shrugged and leaned close to see the paper, though he had it memorized.
“Procure petal of flower, dash of dust of the fae,” they said in unison.
“I feel like an idiot,” King said between gritted teeth.
“Stubble it,” Henry ordered him. “Next line.”
“Combine now in this goblet, please if you may.” He raised a hand, as though holding a goblet, and nodded at the others to do so as well. Rory sighed and followed suit, but King just glowered at Henry. “Hear me now, great goddess of good and light.” Henry lowered his hands and gave King a long look. “We must really mean this part. Say it loud.”
“Hear me now, great goddess of good and light,” the men repeated.
“Louder!”
“Hear me now, great goddess of good and light!”
A crash echoed through the room, and Rory jumped. Henry whirled, and King said, “What’s wrong?”
For a moment, Rory thought the witch or her sister had appeared, but it was only Joshua Baker, Violet’s brother.
The lad who was supposed to be watching Frances.
“She’s gone!” Joshua said.
Rory couldn’t say how, but he knew the lad meant Frances. He sprinted across the room and grasped him by the shoulders. “What happened?”
