Chapter 4. Invasion

The next day I felt much better. I had breakfast and went to meet the others in the Pen office. Sunny, Liz and Elmo were there when I arrived.

'Did Marina visit anyone last night?' I smiled at them.

'No,' grinned Elmo. 'Amulet is in my desk. Everything's all right. She'll never find it there.'

We sat in the back room, drinking hot chocolate, nibbling cookies and chattering. About half an hour later we heard voices from the front room. At first I thought that Richelle and Tom finally turned up, but then the door swung open and Zim and Marina Tamon came in. I looked at the others. They were staring at them, surprised. Of course, they'd never seen Zim with a woman before. I can imagine what they'll feel when they learn that this woman is no other than Marina Tamon. Miss Tamon smiled at me. I felt this inexplicable fear raising inside me again.

'Hello, Nick!' she cooed. 'How are you feeling?'

'I'm fine, thanks, Miss Tamon,' I babbled.

I glanced at Elmo. His jaw dropped, his eyes were darting from me to Miss Tamon. Liz and Sunny also were staring at Marina.

'Elmo, let me introduce Marina Tamon to you,' Zim said. 'She's going to write articles about ancient art for the Pen.

'Oh…how do you do, Miss Tamon?' gulped Elmo.

'And by the way, you'll have to have dinner alone today,' Zim went on, smiling shyly. 'I'm going to the restaurant with Marina tonight.

'What?' Elmo's mouth fell open again.

'Elmo, dear, come on,' Marina took Zim's arm, smiling slightly. She turned to me. 'I heard about your food poisoning, Nick. Be careful. You know what becomes of curious minds, don't you?'

With a sly wink she turned to the door and they left the room, hand in hand.

###

For a while we sat in silence, staring at each other.

'I told you,' I said finally. 'Now she's here and as far as I can see, she's got your father twisted round her little finger, Elmo.'

He gloomily glanced at me.

'Nick's right, Elmo,' Sunny said calmly. 'Zim looks at her like a cat looks at a plate of sour cream. He'll do anything for her.'

Tom and Richelle finally arrived. We told them about Zim and Marina. Richelle clapped her hand to her mouth. 'I'm scared,' she whispered. 'Listen, let's just give her back this damn amulet and forget about it.'

I vigorously nodded. She was right.

'No!' exclaimed Elmo. 'It's personal now. I can't let her deceive my father.'

'I agree with Elmo,' Liz said firmly. 'She can be a member of a sect. What if she's going to do something terrible? To kill someone, for example? We've got to do something. We can't just leave it!'

'We should go to the police,' suggested Richelle.

'And what will you tell them?' I sneered. 'That a witch appeared in Raven Hill? That she sets a weird fire near the old lake in the bush; breaks into houses to rummage in the rubbish; comes at night in dreams and dates Elmo's father? Cops will laugh like mad when they hear it!'

'I think we should work it out on our own,' Elmo said. 'I don't believe that she's a witch. But all the same, I don't want my father to have any relationship with her.

I grimly glanced at him. All what I personally wanted was just to forget about it. I absolutely didn't want to tangle with this woman. The others didn't understand. They didn't know a thing I went through last night.

'I think she'll try to get into Elmo's house soon,' Richelle pointed out. 'Probably she knows that the amulet is there, that's why she made friends with Zim. She wants this thing back. She'd kill for her hoof.'

'In the literal sense of the word,' I mumbled.

'Richelle's right,' Elmo nodded vigorously. 'But I can't understand how she managed to find out that the amulet is in my place. No one except for Tom, Liz, Sunny, Richelle and me could know about it. Did you tell anyone?' he looked at the others.

They shook their heads.

'Someone might have overheard us. That black cat might be around. We don't know that,' Richelle pointed out.

"Anyway, she acts quickly," Elmo went on. 'I brought this thing home only yesterday in the evening. But she's already managed to make friends with my father and even persuaded him to go out with her.'

'If we're right and she really knows that the amulet is in Elmo's place, she'll try to steal it," Tom said gravely.

'But what if we'll give her a chance to steal it?' Elmo exclaimed.

"What?" we stared at him.

'We'll give her the opportunity to get into my house and see if she uses this chance,' Elmo explained. Listen, dad is going to interview an old lady in Craigend,' he began planning. 'Marina probably will go home. So, as soon as dad leaves for Craigend, we'll go to Marina's place, give her the keys from my house and say that she can wait for dad there. Then we'll hide in the yard and will be watching. Due to this experiment we'll at least understand if it's her amulet or not and what she can do to get it back.'

I looked at Richelle and she rolled her eyes in reply. 'It's childish,' I snorted. But the others took no notice for once. They were going to play spies.

###

At 3 o'clock Zim left the Pen office.

'Let's go,' said Elmo.

By this time I had already called mum and asked Miss Tamon's address. We left the Pen office and headed for her place. The house where she lived was small and pretty shabby.

'What a depressing place!' Liz pointed out, looking at the overgrown garden. 'It's a very appropriate house for a witch.'

'Shh,' Elmo jerked his head at the opened windows.

'Hey, look over there,' Tom whispered, pointing at the tall tree. We looked up. The same black cat was sitting on a branch and glaring at us. For a minute we just stood there, staring at it.

'Okay, I'm going,' Elmo said at last.

'I'm with you,' I followed him. I don't know why, but I didn't want to leave him alone with Marina.

'We'll give her the keys and say that we're going to the city,' Elmo instructed me on the way. 'Our task is to convince her that we'll be far away from here.'

He pressed the doorbell. Miss Tamon opened the door very quickly, as though she'd been waiting for us behind the door.

'Hello, Miss Tamon! Dad asked me to give you the keys from our house. The problem is that he went to another suburb and left his keys at home. We're going to the movies in the city now. That's why he asked me to give you my keys,' Elmo uttered the learnt by rote phrase and stretched out his hand with the keys. "He'll take them from you when he returns to Raven Hill."

'Um… Okay,' the woman said in surprise.

'Elmo, we'd better go. We don't want to miss the film, do we?' I tugged at his hand. "Goodbye, Miss Tamon."

Marina nodded and took a step back into the house, but Elmo called her again. 'Your cat is very beautiful!'

'My cat?' Marina looked back in surprise.

'Yeah,' Elmo nodded. 'The black, graceful cat. Isn't it yours?'

'Oh, yeah.' she smiled. 'This cat came a month ago and obviously decided to live here. But I really don't mind. I named her Blackie.'

'Can we see her again?' I asked quickly. Marina looked at me suspiciously. 'I mean… this cat seems to be pedigreed. Her previous owner might be looking for her. We can put an ad in the Pen.'

'An ad?' repeated Miss Tamon.

'Yeah,' Elmo nodded. 'The ad about the missing cat. We even can take a photo of her.'

'No,' the woman said firmly. 'I like this cat and want her to stay with me.'

'Oh, I see,' I immediately changed my tactics. 'Can we just see her again, please? She's so beautiful.'

'I'll try to find her,' she went into the house and disappeared from our sight.

'I bet she won't bring the cat,' Elmo whispered in my ear.

I nodded. We heard Marina calling Blackie somewhere in the backyard. After a few minutes she appeared in the doorway again. Without the cat, of course.

'I'm sorry,' she smiled at us guiltily. 'Blackie doesn't want to come.'

'Okay,' Elmo sighed. 'It doesn't matter. We'll see her next time. Goodbye.'

'Goodbye,' said Marina and shut the door in front of our noses.

We ran towards the road where the others were waiting and headed for Elmo's place.

###

'What a stupid idea to sit in the bushes and watch her,' Richelle grumbled as we paced back and forth in Elmo's yard, looking for a good place to hide.

'Richelle, no one makes you do it,' snapped Liz. 'You can go home if you want.'

Richelle pouted and turned away from her, but kept staying where she was. She couldn't bear to be left behind.

'Elmo, where is the amulet?' asked Sunny. 'We'd better take it away from the house in case she comes.'

Elmo nodded and disappeared in the house, without saying a word. A minute later he returned with the hoof.

'Nick you'd better take it…' he began.

'No,' I interrupted firmly.

'But Nick,' Liz carefully patted my arm. 'Marina already looked for it in your place. She's unlikely to come again.'

'No,' I repeated. 'No way.'

'Well, I don't take it either,' Richelle said grimly.

'Okay,' Sunny sighed. 'I'll take it.'

She shoved the amulet into her pocket. After that we continued searching for a place where we could hide. Fortunately, there were a few quite thick bushes in Elmo's yard. We decided to split into two groups and watch the front and the back doors simultaneously.

Richelle, Tom and I were to watch the front door. We hid ourselves in a clump of lilac bushes, which was very convenient, because we could see the door and nobody could see us from the road. Liz, Elmo and Sunny went off to the back yard.

Then we started to wait.

###

We waited on and on. Half an hour later I felt a surge of annoyance rising in my chest. I can never bear to wait. Besides, to my right Richelle started complaining that she was bored. And to my left Tom began to fidget and itch. He mumbled that twigs were pricking him. Finally I realised that I couldn't stand it anymore.

'Stop it, you both,' I hissed. 'If Marina comes here she'll notice us straightaway.'

Tom froze for a couple of minutes, but soon began stirring again.

'Where is she?' he muttered. 'I hate sitting around here. It's just a waste of time. The life is too short to spend it like that…'

'Oh, sure,' I whispered through gritted teeth. 'That's why you live a so passionate and full life, and never waste your time. Shut up now.'

'Drop dead, Kontellis!' Tom hissed angrily.

'Stop arguing, you two!' Richelle whispered. 'Do you want Marina to notice us?'

Tom gave me a withering look and turned away from me.

We went on waiting. Another half an hour went by. Finally Richelle touched my hand. I looked at her. She was pointing at the street. Miss Tamon was coming towards Elmo's house, looking around all the time. She moved without any sound, as if she was flying above the ground. I looked at Tom and put my finger to my lips. The three of us held our breath and didn't move.

Marina turned from the street into the driveway, which led to the Zimmers' house. Walking past the bushes, where we were hiding, she abruptly stopped. She looked around and sniffed. My heart was beating like a drum. Marina stood still for a moment, then took one more step towards us and stopped again. I started to think up plausible reasons why we were hiding there in case she found us. But my brains didn't work properly. I couldn't invent a good excuse, except that we were playing hide-and-seek. Although, I realised that it was a very stupid excuse, after all we weren't ten-year-old kids. Meanwhile, Miss Tamon came closer to our bush and began to look around again with a faint smile on her face. We didn't dare even breathe. She was so close that she could touch Tom's head if she stretched out her arm.

Come on! Off you go! I started to send her mental orders. You'd better go. If you find us here, we'll have to tell Elmo's father about it. You don't want that, do you?

Marina gave a sort of snort and walked off towards the porch. I wiped sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand. The woman hesitated at the door and then pressed the doorbell. In a minute she rang again. Only after that she pulled out the keys from her pocket, unlocked the door and slipped inside. Everything was done almost soundless.

'Perfectly!' Tom admired.

'Yeah, Zim found a good girlfriend,' I shook my head. 'Okay, Tom, you go to the others. Tell them to come here.'

Tom nodded and slipped out of the bush. A minute later he returned with the others.

'Is she still inside?' Elmo pointed at the door.

'Yes,' I nodded.

'Did she use the keys?' asked Liz.

'No,' I drawled. 'She went through the wall.'

'Nick, it's a serious matter,' Liz glared at me.

'Listen, what if she's just a plain thief?' Sunny scowled. 'We gave her the keys from Elmo's house and she decided to take this chance to steal something valuable.'

'I doubt it,' Elmo objected. 'She must realise that she'll be the main suspect.'

'I hope she won't be angry with us,' Richelle widened her big blue eyes. 'Imagine what she can do if she's a real witch.'

We sat in silence for a while. Nobody felt like speaking. Then Tom glanced at his watch.

'She doesn't hurry,' he muttered.

'The hoof is pretty small,' practical Sunny pointed out. 'It's quite difficult to find such a small thing in the whole house.'

Silence again. I glanced at my watch. Another hour went by. Marina was still in the house.

'How long do we have to sit here?' Tom grumbled.

'Shh,' hissed Elmo.

We heard sounds of footsteps and saw Zim coming along the path towards the house.

'Dad came back earlier,' Elmo gasped. 'Seems Marina's going to be caught red-handed.'

'Probably she'll try to escape through the back door,' Sunny whispered. 'Liz, Elmo, come on!'

The three of them quietly ran towards the backyard.

'Guys, look over there,' Richelle pointed at the house. I glanced to where she was pointing and saw Marina's black cat. Blackie was slowly wandering along the house wall. She leaped on a branch of the gum tree and stared at Zim, who was looking for the keys in his bag. Hardly had Zim stepped into the house when Blackie jumped onto the road and disappeared in the bushes.

###

We stared at each other.

'Do you think it's a coincidence that the cat was here?' Tom sounded quite startled.

'Of course it's not,' Richelle whispered. "I'm telling you, she's a werebeast."

The others joined us.

'Did she walk past you?' asked Sunny.

'No, she didn't,' Tom shook his head. 'Did she walk past you?'

'No, she didn't,' Liz widened her eyes.

'Perhaps she managed to leave the house through the back door while we'd been here,' Sunny shrugged.

'Sunny Chan! You're hopeless!' Liz yelled. 'Why can't you just believe that Marina has a supernatural power? Don't you think it's very weird that Blackie appeared here when Zim unexpectedly came home? You have to admit it, Sunny!'

'Guys, I think…' Tom shivered as if he was cold. 'Listen, let's give her back this hoof. We don't need it, do we? Probably this amulet is important for her…'

'What a brave guy you are, Tom!' I sneered.

'If I'm not mistaken, you're afraid even to keep this hoof in your house,' he snapped back.

'Let's go out of here,' Sunny said calmly. "I don't want to sit in this bush all day long. I've got other things to do."

We went onto the street, said goodbye and split up. While I was trudging home I had a funny feeling that someone was watching me. I kept looking back over my shoulder as I walked, but didn't notice anyone. While opening the door of my house, I abruptly turned back again. This time I saw two orange cat's eyes. The next moment the black cat disappeared behind the trees.

I quickly came inside and properly locked the door.