Chapter 13
"Shhh!" Beth whispered again.
"Sorry," murmured Alice, working at the tape that secured Beth's hands. The leather pouch around her neck kept getting in the way. Alice swatted it to the side while she worked.
Beth coughed. "Oh, not again," she rasped. She slumped back against Alice, breathing shallowly. Beth gently rolled her to her side on the floor so that she could still work at the tape.
"Beth?" whispered Jake.
"Come on, I've almost got it," Alice assured her, batting at the pouch again. Finally she tucked it between Beth's back and her bound hands.
Beth coughed again and moaned. "What is that?" she mumbled, "It hurts."
"What?" Alice frowned, taking her hands away. She wondered if she'd pulled too hard and ripped the tape across Beth's wrist. Then she noticed Beth twisting her hands and trying to pull them away from her back. Quickly, Alice pulled out the talisman and tossed it aside. Beth sighed contentedly, but did not sit up. "Beth, come on!" Alice ripped off the last piece of tape. She helped her cousin sit up and set her working on the tape around her ankles. Beth was still wheezing, but she shook herself and started picking at the tape. Alice crawled around her and tried to help Jake.
"No!" shrieked Lyness. Her mother was smiling as she wrenched the dagger from Lyness's hand.
"Three within the flames," hissed Mrs. Rice.
"The five points," Lyness whispered, trancelike.
Startled, Alice looked up from behind Jake. Lyness had fallen to the floor and her mother was advancing on the ring of candles. Surrounded by tiny glowing flames, Alice had a better view of their configuration. They were connected by trails of powder, only slightly disturbed where she'd crawled into the ring. No, not a ring. A pentagram. Five points. "Oh."
"What?" whispered Beth. She ripped her feet free and started working on Jake's.
"Er.. We're in trouble."
"No kidding," said Jake, squirming.
"My Lord, I summon Thee," croaked Mrs. Rice, "I bring Thy offerings. The Three." She held her arms high in the air, lifted her head and closed her eyes.
"Beth, can you move?" Alice whispered.
"I think so. My head feels better… Jake?"
Jake flung away the last piece of tape from his ankles, "Yeah. Can we run now?"
Alice nodded and helped Beth up. They charged the back door, ignoring Mrs. Rice's screams behind them. Sliding across the linoleum, they slammed into the door and fought each other for the handle. Beth caught it first. "It's locked!"
"Well, unlock it!" hissed Jake.
"I'm trying," Beth answered, through gritted teeth.
"Hurry, she's coming!" Jake cried.
Alice turned to face Mrs. Rice, she wanted to see her coming. Lyness's mother, who had always seemed too young to have a thirteen year old child, seemed to have aged several decades. Her face was contorted with an expression of purer hatred than Alice had ever imagined.
"Leave us alone!" Alice screamed. Mrs. Rice's face was becoming more and more distorted. "Just leave us alone!" She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, only then realizing that she was crying. In the back of her mind she heard Lyness's voice, chanting another spell, "Oh goddess of the dark and light, protect us on this fearsome night. And if the danger gets too near, Goddess, make it disappear". The words sang and she heard herself repeating them, their strength growing as her voice rose. Mrs. Rice began to fade out of focus again. Alice rubbed her eyes violently, but it didn't help. "Disappear!" she cried, blinking furiously. When she opened her eyes she saw Lyness sitting cross-legged in the center of the ring of candles. The pentagram and Mrs. Rice were both gone. Lyness looked up and smiled.
"Come on!" yelled Beth, dragging her out through the back door. The fire had reached the first floor and was spreading through the living room.
"Wait-"
"No, we have to go now!" Beth pulled her outside and away from the house. A moment later part of the ceiling gave way, obscuring the kitchen in a cloud of smoke, dust and flames. Jake was hanging on the tire swing staring at the house with his eyes and mouth wide open. Beth sat down in the grass and hugged her knees.
Standing beside her, Alice fought back tears with an angry hand. "We have to do something…"
Beth nodded.
"We can't leave her in there!" Alice said.
Beth nodded.
"We should-should call the police," said Jake quietly.
Beth shook her head, "They're already coming." Sirens rang from a long distance. "One of the neighbors…"
"They'll be too late," worried Alice.
"Too late for what?"
Alice spun around. This new apparition was far stranger than anything she'd seen that evening. Lyness, unharmed with the exception of a gash on her arm and smoke stains from her curls to her sandals, stood before a giant. An enormous man in a great coat and full beard, wearing huge black boots and carrying an umbrella - a pink umbrella - cleared his throat.
"Er… Hullo then. Reckon yer the one responsible fur this mess, eh? Kids, yeh don' think afore yeh act. Gets yeh inter heaps of trouble."
"Ex-excuse me?" squeaked Alice.
"Doin' magic in front er Muggles. And not even started at Hogwarts yet. Yeh oughter know better," the man reprimanded her.
"What are you talking about? I can't do magic!"
"Well, yeh made her disappear, din' yeh? That's some magic there. I jes hope she reappears sum'er there aren' too many Muggles about."
"I-what? No, I'm… I'm a squib. I couldn't do something like that!" Alice argued.
The man looked confused. "Who told yeh that? Yer nothing' o' the sort. Lookit what yeh did here."
"Lyness-"
"Got a differ't note for her. Yer Alice Grey, right?"
Alice nodded.
The giant seemed satisfied. "Then yer the one 'at done it. Says right 'ere," he said, taking out a slip of parchment and showing it to her. Her name was printed on it in large green letters.
"But I-"
"None 'o that! Now yeh listen ter me. I bin sent to bring yeh back, an' I'm not wastin' any more time."
"Who *are* you?" asked Jake.
The giant straightened his coat and looked at the boy anxiously. "I'm… er… I'm a constaple. That's right. An' yer all in a right bit o' trouble."
"A what?" asked Beth.
"I think you mean 'constable,'" Alice helped.
"What?" asked Jake.
"I think he means a police officer," murmured Lyness. "You're in America you know," she told the giant.
While the kids tried to work out who this giant was, and where he'd come from, an older woman came through the backyard fence. "Children, come away from the house," she called. She had a strong British accent. She shepherded them through the gate and across the street. In the neighbor's front yard she introduced herself, "I'm Mrs. Figg, children. I'm a friend of your mother's. She asked me to check up on you."
"She did?" asked Beth, skeptically.
"Yes, dear," she said, looking deeply into Beth's eyes. "The police will be here soon. You should come with me so that you're not in the way. You too," she said to Jake. "Let's get you home."
"What about us?" asked Alice.
Mrs. Figg raised her head to acknowledge the giant, who had followed the kids across the street. "You should go with Hagrid. He'll take good care of you."
Though Alice had no reason to trust this woman, whom she had only just met, she somehow felt safe under her care. The giant, though intimidating at first, seemed equally benign.
"Right then, come on you two," said the giant.
"Where are we going?" Alice asked, watching Mrs. Figg leave with her cousins.
"Ter Hogwarts, o' course," he said. When he continued he addressed Lyness, "But we got ter make a stop off first."
"Where?" Alice asked.
"The Salem Witches' Institute. Got ter see Lyness safely off."
"I'm going to a witches' institute?" asked Lyness, alternating quickly between expressions of surprise, awe and fear.
"But I thought you said I was the one-" Alice began.
"And yeh are. Don' know why she's got to go there, jes doin' what the headmaster asked." He looked around, "Well, now I'm here, I'm not meant ter use magic, but I reckon the Witch Bus'll get us there a might quicker than the Muggle one." He gave Alice a hopeful grin.
"Which bus?" ask Lyness. Alice tried hard to work out whether her friend wore a new expression of confusion, or just her usual faraway look.
"Yup. Bit like the Knight Bus back home."
"Oh," said Alice. Her mother had used the Knight Bus to bring her home from camp one night when she was six. She'd gotten homesick on the first night after having trouble with some of the magical games. Now, as she and Lyness followed Hagrid around the block she tried to explain how it worked. She wondered if calling the Witch Bus worked differently than calling the Knight Bus. Her mother had simply raised her wand to summon it. Hagrid didn't seem to have a one with him, just that big umbrella.
"Right then, I reckon this spot'll do," he said finally. He stepped to the curb and raise the umbrella. "Our secret, right?" Alice nodded. "Lumos!" he said. The tip of the umbrella lit up and Alice realized that it concealed his wand. Almost immediately a large blue bus appeared in front of them and slid to a smooth stop at the curb. The doors opened and an elderly witch in long robes beckoned them into it. She put an arm around each of the girls and led them into a softly lit chamber lined with couches, big fluffy armchairs and recliners. "Yeh go ahead an' get some seats," called Hagrid, "I've got to give 'er some directions." He waved them on and went to the speak with the driver, another old witch in long soft robes.
"Come along now, girls," clucked the witch. "Would you like a couch? A chair? We've some nice rockers upstairs."
"Upstairs?" whispered Lyness.
"Yes dear," smiled the old witch.
Hagrid rejoined them as they were getting comfortable on a large red couch with soft purple pillows. "Won't be but a few minutes," he told them. "Salem's not far." As if to prove his point the bus stopped again.
"Salem, Massachusetts. Salem Witches' Institute," announced the driver.
"Here's your stop girls," the old witch clarified. "Have a good stay. I hope you enjoyed your trip."
"Er, thanks," Alice responded as the witch led them back to the front of the bus.
"Good-bye," murmured Lyness. The bus made a small popping sound and disappeared.
"Right then," Hagrid began. He pulled out a large piece of parchment and studied it. "Map says… s'over… there," he announced. He pointed to a quaint village set a little way off the road.
"The Village?" asked Lyness. "It isn't open in the wintertime."
"It looks open now," said Alice. The village, made up of several small houses, looked as though it had been built four hundred years ago, but was still teeming with life. Women in long robes and dark dresses wandered in and out of the buildings and up and down the cobblestone street.
"What do you mean?" asked Lyness, "The gate's locked, and the sign-"
"What sign?"