"Omigosh!" cried Prunella. "Alvin Matheson? My great-great-great-whatever grandmother Charity married that...that witch-killer?"

Dolly quickly directed her eyes to the top of the pedigree chart, where Prunella was looking. She was stunned to see the name Alvin Matheson in Winslow's genealogy. She remembered the reverend quite well...he had only murdered almost all of the women in her family...

It all made sense...

Unnoticed by Alan and Prunella, Dolly turned and marched toward the secret library entrance, her face filled with grim indignation.

Mr. Winslow had just ended a call to one of his associates, and was dialing another number on his cell phone, when the furious-looking Dolly walked up to the table where they had worked together the previous day...and grabbed the Cleansing Stone.

Winslow dropped the phone in shock. The witch girl was pointing the magical green stone at him, and the outrage in her visage suggested she was about to use it.

"Stop!" exclaimed Winslow, now terrified. "Put it down! It hasn't been tested!"

"I know what you're up to now," snarled Dolly as Alan and Prunella approached her from the side. "You're trying to finish what your ancestors started. You took from me by stealth and guile what the women of my family sacrificed their lives to protect. You want to eliminate all evil from the world. So did the Reverend Alvin Matheson. He was one of your people, wasn't he? He wanted the Wicasta to help him create a stone like the one I'm holding in my hand, and when they refused, he butchered them!"

Winslow stepped back slowly, gaping and wordless.

"Tell me the truth," Dolly demanded, waving the Cleansing Stone threateningly. "Tell me, or I'll use the stone to force it out of you!" Alan and Prunella looked at each other, unsure of what action to take.

"Put down the stone," Winslow pleaded, "and I'll tell you everything."

Dolly didn't budge, but only clenched her teeth more tightly. The green stone in her hand blocked Winslow's chest from her view.

The rabbit man tried to calm himself, then began to speak. "Yes, Reverend Alvin Matheson was an alchemist, like myself. Many of us had other careers that served as cover for our true calling. Yes, he wanted the Wicasta of old to aid him in the creation of a Cleansing Stone. And yes, when they resisted, he had them executed...including your mother, Dolly. I'm terribly sorry."

Dolly's anger gradually turned into sorrow, and tears formed in her eyes.

"There's no excuse for what my ancestor did," Winslow continued. "When he had executed every woman in your family except for Charity, he thought of a plan that would serve his purposes as well as prevent the gift of the Wicasta from being lost to the world. He offered to not press witchcraft charges against Charity if she agreed to be his wife. He figured that the gift would be passed to his daughters, and he would be able to influence them to do his bidding. But Charity gave birth to four sons, and then she died."

By this time Dolly was sobbing, and tears were streaming down her cheeks, but she still aimed the stone rigidly at Winslow.

"I'm nothing like him," he said calmly. "I would never kill."

"I don't believe you!" shrieked Dolly.

The stone in her hand began to pulsate and glow...

"No!" Prunella lunged at Dolly's outstretched arm, knocking the Cleansing Stone aside just as glowing tendrils snaked out of it and wrapped around Winslow's body.

"Get away from me!" Dolly growled, and the two girls were shortly locked in a struggle over the stone. As Dolly turned around to shelter the object from Prunella with her own body, Alan stepped in and attempted to break up the conflict.

"Stop it, you two!" he barked, and the girls moved away from each other, looking embarrassed. Nearby, Winslow gazed down at his hands and torso, relieved to find that he was still in one piece. Alan walked over to him and asked, "Are you all right?"

"I feel a little strange," said Winslow. "She got some of my evil, but not all of it. I guess you'll see a kinder, gentler Angus Winslow from now on."

Then Alan and Winslow approached Dolly, who glowered at them but kept the stone hidden in her armpit. "Dolly, give Mr. Winslow the stone," Alan ordered.

"Please, Dolly," Winslow urged, holding out his hand.

Prunella drew closer to her. "It belongs to Mr. Winslow," she pleaded. "Please give it back to him."

Dolly gave everyone present a final glower before she slowly, reluctantly placed the Cleansing Stone in Winslow's palm. The man closed his fingers around it, then went over to a wall safe and began to twist the dial. Within moments, he had locked the stone securely inside.

The young witch appeared she might cry again, so Alan tried to comfort her with an arm around her shoulder--but Dolly lurched away, growling, "Don't touch me!"

It wasn't the Dolly he knew. She seemed more like a wild animal...

----

Maria and Nadine Harris elected to remain in Salem with Winslow for a few days, so Mrs. Prufrock, Dolly, Prunella, and Alan drove back to Elwood City without them. Throughout the six-hour journey Dolly sat sulking in the back seat, rarely speaking to anyone except when she needed a rest area break.

Once Mrs. Prufrock had left Alan and Dolly at the Powers home, she and Prunella returned to their own house. Rubella, who was practicing her golf swing in the living room, greeted them. "Mr. Winslow called," she told Prunella. "He says it's urgent."

Hurrying to the phone, Prunella dialed Winslow's cell phone number. Within seconds she heard his voice. "Hello?"

"Hi, it's Prunella."

"Thank goodness," said the harried-sounding Winslow. "We have a serious problem on our hands. The Cleansing Stone has disappeared!"

TBC