“Okay, coming!”
Twila tucked her shirt into her pants and then stuffed the doll down the front of her shirt. She was excited to start healing again. Shari and the Silver Lady had taught her a lot. But she didn’t have any healing crystals. She only had her innate healing abilities to work with. Was she strong enough yet? Shari and the Silver Lady had said she needed more practice. But how could she practice if no one let her practice?
Twila stepped out onto the playroom’s balcony and watched for Katie to find the gate to the house next door. What’s taking her sooo long? But Twila understood. It was hard for Katie to think and walk at the same time. She hoped Katie didn’t have any gum. Grandpa Dean said the sick ones couldn’t walk and chew gum at the same time.
Trying to be patient, Twila watched from the balcony. Finally, Katie shuffled toward the gate. Twila waved until Katie looked up at her on the balcony. “Coming.”
Now for the emergency ladder. Grandpa Dean had put one in each of the upstairs rooms in case they were trapped upstairs like they had been at the lodge. That had been way scary even for a zombie-lover like her. It had been such a horrible day. Grandpa Dean hadn’t forgiven himself for leaving Mindy and baby Starla behind. Twila felt bad for them too, but she couldn’t tell if they were dead, undead, or what.
She had gone down the ladder yesterday when Grandpa Dean had insisted they do “evacuation drills” before he left. She double-checked the ladder’s frame like he had shown her; it connected firmly to the balcony’s railing. She took a deep breath of courage before lowering the rope ladder, praying Uncle Luther wasn’t heating water on the barbecue grill on the patio below.
Dangling from the flimsy ladder, Twila just knew Mommy would be flipping mad if she saw her at that very moment. Once her feet touched the smooth patio floor, Twila ran to the fence. A patio chair was already next to the fence and a table was on the other side of it. All she had to do was straddle the fence and then jump onto the table without ripping her clothes. She’d get into big-big trouble for that.
Once she made it to the other side, she hurried to the gate. She jumped up until she unhooked the gate’s latch. She opened the gate a teensy bit. “Meet me in the backyard.”
Not sure if Katie would be nice, Twila raced back to her side of the fence. She stood on the chair and peered over the fence and waited for her.
Katie finally made it to the table, snapping her teeth all the way. And she did not stop.
“Katie, I can’t practice my healing and play with you if you want to eat me.” A sudden thought told Twila this was a very bad idea. Don’t be such a scaredy-cat, she told herself.
Katie went into a whimpery growling fit. “I’m starving.” Sometimes Twila forgot the sickness made them crazy-hungry. All the time. Katie looked up at her with pain-killing eyes. “Why aren’t you afraid of me like everyone else?”
“ ’Cause I understand. But you have to stop snapping your teeth.” That did scare her. She couldn’t go back home with bite marks. She’d get in big trouble for that, too.
“I can’t!” Black anger sparks shot out from Katie’s root chakra.
“You have to try very, very hard.” Twila went on in her speaking voice. “Don’t you want to get well? I’m the only-est person in the whole wide world that can help you feel better. Then, we can play together all the time. You can even be my sister.”
“I already have a sister,” Katie blasted her inner hearing.
This was going way wrong. I can’t help if she doesn’t want me to. Katie only wanted to eat her. Why doesn’t she understand that she would feel better after the healing session?
Katie’s growls turned into sobs. “Can you help my daddy and mommy? Your friends trapped them. I told them not to go inside, but they didn’t want to listen to me. So, I hid in a bush. Then—then I watched. That was so mean. No wonder they hate your kind! Now I have to live with these people I don’t know. They don’t even care about me.”
“I’m so very sorry. I’ll think of a way to save your family if you promise to stop snapping your teeth. Please, Katie—let me help you feel better.”
Snap! Snap! “Stop saying my name wrong!” Snap! Snap! Snap! “It’s K-a-t-y with a Y.” Snap! “And I hope you know I made it all the way to seven years old—before all the clocks broke. Now we are stuck in these same clothes forever and ever.”
Ooh, she’s touchy about her name. Twila quickly changed her thoughts to K-a-t-y. “Sorry, Katy with a Y. My other friend spelled her name K-a-t-i-e.” The name had been written on the Laura Ingalls Wilder books Mommy had given her at the fun treehouse they used to live in.
Katy grunted, “Wrong!”
Oh, Katy. Compassion poured from Twila’s heart. Time to be brave. She sat on the edge of the fence, ready to jump down to Katy’s side. The next thing she knew, Katy jumped for her feet.
“Katy with a Y, stop it this instant!” Twila demanded, her voice too loud.
“I’m sorry. I can’t help it.”
“If you think about eating people-food and not people, you will start feeling better. That’s what I had to do after I had the evil sickness.” Twila didn’t remember much from the days when she’d had the flu. The Silver Lady had said it was better not to remember her old life since
