“Do you think they are through already because they began much earlier?” I asked.
“Not likely,” replied Miss Switch. “You must know by now, Rupert, that midnight is when we conduct most of our business.”
“Then that must mean Saturna sent a pretty short message,” I suggested.
“That would by my guess,” said Miss Switch.
As soon as we had all climbed through the window of Room Twelve, the three of us made our way down the dark hall to the computer room, which was dark as well. It was a good thing Miss Switch had seen the light there earlier as she flew by, as now we could be fairly confident that Mr. Dorking and Miss Tuna had come and gone. Miss Switch lost no time in bringing up computowitch.com, and we’d been right. Saturna’s message was very short, and certainly right to the point.
“Could you know who
Be in the stew?
It’s very late,
We must not wait.
You must be near
My plans to hear. Be at my lair,
I’ll meet you there
At full of moon
The witch’s noon.”
“Sounds pretty clear to me,” I said. “Saturna’s getting suspicious.”
“And who can blame her?” said Miss Switch. “Two bewitchments flopping like that. Looks bad on her record, too. And the thing is, the bewitchments themselves weren’t bad, especially considering that handsome dimwit was part of the act. Saturna may be realizing that there could be some outside influences at work. I’m not surprised she’s becoming suspicious.”
“Wouldn’t you think she’d give up now?” I asked hopefully.
“Wishful thinking, Rupert,” Miss Switch replied. “But the really bad news is that we’re not going to be given any free hints from computowitch.com, at least not this time.”
“So what do we do, Miss Switch?” I asked.
“Not we, I, Rupert,” she said. “I’ll be making a little trip to Witch’s Mountain … to Saturna’s lair.”
“You … you mean you’re just going to drop in on them?” I stammered.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Rupert. She happens to have this interesting little opening in the roof of her cave. Skylight, she calls it. I’ll just park up there and listen in. Furthermore, I might have the golden opportunity to …” Miss Switch’s eyes narrowed.
“To what, Miss Switch?” I asked.
“Never mind, Rupert,” she replied. “It’s a long shot. I don’t care to talk about it.”
“Wouldn’t … wouldn’t you like company?” I asked. “I mean, you might need some help, Miss Switch. It’s not like I’ve never been there before. And I was pretty useful the last time, if you recall.”
“All right, Rupert,” she agreed at last. “You can ride along.”
“Thanks, Miss Switch,” I said. “When do we leave?”
“At full of moon, of course,” she replied. “Tomorrow night.”
“Is witch’s noon what I think it is, Miss Switch?” I asked.
“Naturally,” she replied, “midnight, what else?”
“Will you have to take along any … um … witch’s aids?” I asked.
“Oh, absolutely!” Miss Switch said. “Just in case.”
“You mean in case of the golden opportunity, Miss Switch?” I asked.
“Precisely!” she replied.
“There’s one more thing, Miss Switch,” I said. “You don’t suppose we could, well, pick Spook up and take her with us, do you? She’d go batty if she ever found out I’d been back to Witch’s Mountain without her.”
Miss Switch rubbed her chin again. “What do you think, cat?”
“I think definitely why not,” replied Bathsheba. “I really like good old Amelia.”
“All right, then, that’s settled,” said Miss Switch. “You know how to get to her house, I presume, Rupert?”
“Not by broomstick, Miss Switch,” I had to admit.
“You do know her address, don’t you?” inquired Miss Switch.
“Oh, sure!” I said.
“Then we’ll find it,” said Miss Switch.
“But shouldn’t we let Spook know we’re coming?” I asked. “We can’t just show up outside her window. I could send her an e-mail.”
“On what, Rupert?” inquired Miss Switch.
I hadn’t thought about that. My computer was still out of order, and using a school computer was not the cleverest idea.
“I’ll borrow my father’s! And I’ll be careful,” I said. “No key words to give Saturna any ideas … um … just in case.”
“All right, then. Do it!” she said. “But, Rupert, please remember to tell Amelia not to forget to bring her earmuffs!”
17
Together at Last!
The next day really dragged. Twice when Miss Blossom asked me a question, I didn’t even hear her. She reminded me, sweetly of course, that if I didn’t pay attention I’d be warming my desk in Room Twelve the rest of my life. There were times when I wished Miss Blossom would forget that she was a teacher, and keep her mind on being a witch.
I had sneaked down to my father’s home office in the basement when I got home the night before to e-mail Spook. As promised, I was very careful about what 1 wrote. I was also careful to delete the letter as soon as I’d sent it, so that my father wouldn’t find it.
From: [email protected]
Subject: Your availability for midnight phenomenon
Will you be at home and free tonight? If you are still awake at midnight, take a look out your window. A certain phenomenon will be occurring there that will interest you. I suggest you have your earmuffs handy. a reply is necessary soonest. But send it to the above e-mail address, not mine. My computer has crashed.
Broomstick
I sneaked back down to the basement before I left for school in the morning, and already had a reply.
From: [email protected]
Subject: Message Understood—earmuffs ready
Got your message. I’ll be at my window studying the phenomenon you wrote about. I’ll have handy the equipment you recommended. Sounds exciting. Can’t wait.
Spook
Now all I had to do was make it through the day. Of course, I had to have a talk with the pets about where I was going, and why. I pointed out to Fred that, hero
