I have to hand it to Fred. He didn’t flutter a feather, but sat on my shoulder watching this all happen.
“I goofed, Fred,” I said.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “It didn’t crash before. It won’t crash now.”
“I know,” I said. “I’m not too worried. But it’s just sort of stupid, that’s all.”
Well, of course we were wrong. I guess my computer had finally had it with all this quivering and heaving in and out. It just upped and crashed right before my eyes. Gone. Finished. So no computowitch.com that night. Nothing to turn in to Miss Blossom with homework the next morning. I’d just have to wait for a report from her. I don’t have to tell you, I was pretty disgusted with myself.
Miss Blossom found out at once, of course, that there was nothing attached to my homework. She didn’t find out why, though, until the lunch break. She had asked if someone would kindly stay behind a few minutes when the lunch bell rang to help her with something, and my hand shot up so fast I almost dislocated my shoulder. At least I saved anybody else from having to volunteer. But it was then, after I’d told her that my computer had crashed, that I found out Miss Blossom hadn’t reached computowitch.com, either.
“But I did learn something very interesting instead, Rupert,” she said. “Hold on to your hat. This is going to knock your socks off!”
I didn’t bother to let Miss Blossom know she had mixed things up a little there, as I was learning more and more about keeping my mouth shut when there’s nothing to be gained by opening it. But what Miss Blossom had to say really did knock my socks off.
“The door to the computer room was shut when I came back at midnight,” she began. “But there was a pale light coming from under it. I suspected it must be Grodork making his report to Saturna. Needless to say, I did not risk opening the door to peek in. Bathsheba and I simply hid behind the doorway of the room across the hall. We waited and we waited. I began thinking someone might have gone off and left a light on in there. Then I heard voices, those of a man and a woman. There was no mistaking Grodork’s, but I couldn’t guess the other. And then I heard Grodork addressing the owner of the voice by name, Neptuna!”
“Neptuna?” I said. “Who the heck is Neptuna?”
“Well you may ask, Rupert,” replied Miss Blossom. “I confess it gave me pause for a moment. But I believe she is no other than Mr. Dorking’s shadow … Miss Tuna!”
“Do you mean we have another witch here at Pepperdine?” I croaked.
“It does look that way,” said Miss Blossom.
“How … how come you didn’t recognize her before?” I asked.
“Because I’ve never seen her before,” Miss Blossom said.
“Not even a photograph?” I asked.
“Rupert,” said Miss Blossom, “you may have seen a painting of someone’s idea of a witch, or you may have seen a drawing of same. You may have even seen pictures of people dressed as witches. But have you ever seen a photograph of a real witch?”
I had to shake my head. “No.”
“And you never will,” said Miss Blossom. “We don’t register on film. Like it or not, that’s the way it is.”
“Did you actually see her?” I asked. “Are you sure about this?”
“I didn’t actually see her, not coming out of the computer room, at any rate,” replied Miss Blossom. “But it stands to reason and makes this whole thing fall into place. You see I’d heard through the grapevine that Saturna had taken on an assistant who doesn’t look like much, but whose brain is as big as Saturna’s brother’s is small. There’s been a problem with Neptuna, however. She is apparently so ga-ga over Grodork that she’s been stupid about that man from the moment she laid eyes on him.
“Saturna has had nothing to worry about, however, because Neptuna could have been a piece of straw from some old broomstick for all the attention Grodork paid her. So Saturna must have come up with the perfect revenge on me at last—send the two of them to Pepperdine. Neptuna as the brains … Grodork as the handsome cover. So it’s Neptuna we’ve been dealing with, which explains how that so-called poetry of Saturna’s has been deciphered. But this is bad news.”
“Come to think of it, Miss Blossom, it was Miss Tuna who served us our punch tonight!” I blurted.
“Exactly!” said Miss Blossom.
“But she can’t be all that smart if the best she could come up with was that twisted tongue spell,” I said.
“Hmmmph!” sniffed Miss Blossom. “I have a feeling that was Grodork’s idea, and she went along with it because around him her brain turns to mush. Anyway, I couldn’t wait long enough last night to find out what Saturna had to say. I’m sure she was planning an earful for the two of them, which is why it took so long. I waited until daybreak, and then decided to depend on hearing from you in the morning.”
“Boy, I’m really sorry I let you down, Miss Blossom,” I said.
“Nothing to do with you,” she said. “It’s just that blasted computowitch nonsense. But no matter. We’ll simply meet here tonight and see what Saturna has to say for herself.”
“W-W-We?” I stammered. I have to be honest. I didn’t relish those late-night trips on my own to Pepperdine.
“Of course, we,” Miss Blossom said briskly. “I need your support and expertise, Rupert. I’ll be picking you up about a quarter till midnight.”
“P-P-Picking me up? In what, Miss Blossom?” I guess I was still pretty groggy
