“Because it feels different in the pit of my stomach.”
Katie floated down next to me. She placed her hands over mine. I could feel the cold from her hands on them. “That doesn’t mean it’s not right. We’re going to save the world, okay? That’s worth just about any price.”
I heard Mom’s car alarm beep, and that meant she was home. I listened for her to come into the house and up the stairs. Before she turned into her room, she looked into mine. When she saw I was awake, she gingerly stepped inside.
“I half-expected for you to sneak away in the night.”
If I trusted her, I would have told the truth. “You don’t think very highly of me.”
She sat down on the edge of my bed. “Well, you’re not giving me much of a reason to trust you these days.”
I sat up to meet her eyes. “I thought you would have my back, no matter what.”
“Just because I’m doing something you don’t agree with doesn’t mean I don’t have your back.”
I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees. “Doctor Rachel said something just like that to me. But I don’t think you know what it means.”
Katie vanished through the door. She could see it was a private moment, and I appreciated her letting me have space to talk to my mother alone.
“Of course I do, chica.”
“Then why is it a one-way street? How come when I do something you don’t like, it automatically means I’m doing something wrong? What if what I’m doing means I have your back, too?”
Mom put her hand on my shoulder. “When you’re an adult, you’re going to have to make a lot of choices. Some of them will be good. Some will be bad. You just hope you make the right ones more than not. I know you’re mad at me, hija, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love you.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
She kissed my forehead. “I know, mi amor. Now, get ready for school.”
I had no interest in going to school, but I didn’t have a car and the school buses went all over town. After school I could take one right to the Witch’s Brew to meet up with Frank after school. I had to give him the troll mucus and tell him about the enchantment.
I wrapped the troll mucus in a second and third Ziploc bag and took it on the bus. I’d had a lot on my plate over the last few days, but nothing was more stressful than when you have a disgusting bag of mucus in your bag ready to blow.
It was weird, because once I had hated Samantha for taking Katie’s seat, but now, watching it empty, I missed her there. She was a good friend, and I had to get her back. I needed to save the world first, though. That was the first priority.
“Hello,” I heard from the front of the class. I looked up to see Samantha standing rigidly at the front of the class. “Pardon my absence. I have been away for a few days.”
The teacher smiled at her and Samantha walked to her seat. I had never been so relieved in my life.
“Samantha!” I hissed. “When did you get released?”
“Silly,” Samantha said, sitting down. “I was simply away for a few days. My mother cleared it all up with the police. Now, I am here, and everything is okay again.”
“Are you all right?” Katie asked, cocking her head to one side. “You seem different, and not good different.”
Samantha turned her head toward Katie. “I am perfectly fine. Do I not seem perfectly fine?”
“Whatever,” I said. “We have so much to tell you.”
“I’m sorry, fellow student, but I do not know what you’re talking about.”
Katie and I exchanged a look and I said, “Yup, she’s definitely not okay.”
Chapter 37
I tried to catch up with Samantha after class, but she blew out of the room so fast I couldn’t keep up with her. I finally managed to track her down at lunch, where she sat in the furthest corner of the cafeteria, staring off into space.
“What’s up with you?” Katie said as she floated toward her. Samantha didn’t answer.
“Hello?” I said, sitting down across from her. “Didn’t you hear her?”
“Hear who?” Samantha asked. “The first thing I’ve heard since I sat down is you, besides the mumbling of the people in the cafeteria. They really have the loveliest conversations.”
“Now I know something is wrong with you,” Katie said. “You haven’t thought anything was lovely since I’ve met you.”
Samantha didn’t respond to Katie at all. She just stared out at the cafeteria with a blank look in her eyes.
“She can’t hear you,” I thought to Katie. “Something is wrong.”
“Duuuuh,” Katie shot back, rolling her eyes.
“Samantha,” I asked. “Do you remember us being friends?”
“I wouldn’t say we’re friends, but I do find you tolerable.”
“At least that half sounded like you. We’re going to the Witch’s Brew after school today. Do you want to come with us?”
“Sounds like a silly place.” She paused. “Sure.”
“Great. We’ll meet at your car after school.”
Samantha shook her head. “My mother didn’t think it was safe for me to drive myself, so I took the bus to school.”
“Awesome,” I said. “Meet me by the pole outside the front door after school and we’ll go together, okay?”
She nodded her head in agreement and then looked off into space. Katie signaled me to follow her, and she led me into my sanctuary in the second-floor bathroom.
“Are you sure it’s safe for her to come with us?” Katie asked. “Who knows what Hilda did to her.”
“Exactly,” I said. “It’s exactly because we have no idea what she did to her that we need to bring her. If anybody would know what to do with her, it’s Frank.”
Katie shook her head. “This is a bad idea.”
“Everything we do is a bad idea. What’s one more bad idea stacked on top of the
