It slammed the old witch in the head, almost knocking her off her feet!
She howled and smashed the chair to bits with her hammer.
Instantly the pieces came together and in seconds the chair rebuilt itself.
The witch-thing hissed with fury and began slugging the walls with her hammer, screaming, “Give me the jewel, you nasty little boy! It’s mine, give it to me!”
Splinters flew, and larger pieces, too. The witch-thing was so busy raging, it was like she’d forgotten all about us.
It was someone else she was screaming at. Bobby?
“What jewel?” Katie whispered hoarsely. “What’s she talking about?”
“I don’t know,” I said, flinching as spit flew from the creature’s ugly mouth. “But you better duck!”
Our voices had reminded the witch-thing of our presence.
Teeth bared in a snarl, she threw the hammer.
Katie tried to twist out of the way but the torn old dress hampered her movements.
The heavy weapon caught her square on the shoulder.
Katie cried out and clutched her arm.
Sally began to cry.
“It’s okay, Sally,” said Katie between clenched teeth. “I’m all right.”
But she wasn’t. I could see how her injured arm dangled uselessly. Just like mine had that time I’d broken it riding my bike down Dead Man’s Hill.
It was all up to me now.
I had to get both Katie and Sally past the witch-thing and out of here. Somehow.
The hammer had fallen to the floor between me and the creature.
Seeing my one chance, I lunged for it.
So did the witch-thing. She shrieked, spewing foam at the corners of her mouth, and snatched at the handle.
But at the last instant, the hammer whirled around and lashed at her head.
The witch ducked out of the way and screamed. “You can’t stop me! I’ll get you, you brat! I’ll get you good, you’ll see.”
The hammer dropped heavily to the floor and she quickly seized it, cackling in triumph.
The witch-thing had her eyes fixed on my little sister. A lump of a tongue came out and licked her scabby lips as she grinned at Sally.
It was the most evil smile I’d ever seen. It made the hairs prickle on the back of my neck.
“Come here, little girl,” she crooned, raising the hammer over her head once more. Sally whimpered.
Katie pointed behind the witch. “Look!” she cried.
The witch-thing cackled as if she’d heard that trick before.
But behind her a window had formed out of blank wall.
We watched in amazement as a lovely yellow moon appeared in the new window.
Then, in a violent explosion, the window blew in!
A powerful tunnel of wind grabbed the black-draped witch and flung her against the wall.
It pinned her there, spitting and sputtering, unable to move.
“Hurry,” I shouted, knowing the window might disappear any second. “We’ve got to get out on the roof!”
I pushed Katie and Sally in front of me toward the smashed-in window.
And braced myself for the wind that would suck us back into the nightmare.
37
But this time the wind didn’t try to stop us. The broken window frame slid open as we approached.
I crawled through it to the roof and pulled Sally out after me.
Katie tried to follow, but she snagged her dress.
“Pull hard!” I shouted to Sally.
She helped and we both yanked on Katie’s shoulders, trying to pull her out to the roof. But it was no use—Katie was stuck in the window.
“Let me go!” she shouted. “Save yourselves!”
It was the bravest thing I’d ever heard, but we couldn’t run away, not when Katie was in danger.
Behind her I heard the witch-thing screaming again.
Then Katie shrieked. “She’s got my feet!”
The witch was pulling her from the other side.
I started to lose my grip and Katie inched back through the window. “Run!” she cried. “Get away!”
“Give me your hand!” I shouted.
I grabbed her good hand and held on with all my might. It was like the witch-thing wanted to rip her in two!
I set my feet against the outside of the window and held on. Slowly Katie came back through the window. She groaned in pain when her broken arm bumped against the roof.
Behind her the witch-thing was spitting and snarling.
Suddenly the witch screamed and let go. Poor Katie came shooting through the broken window and smacked her head against the roof.
She was out cold.
“I’ll get you!” screamed the witch.
She was coming at us, charging for the window.
“Bobby!” Sally shouted. “Help us please!”
The witch was reaching for us when suddenly the window disappeared.
“Nooooo,” came a horrible wail from inside. “I want them. They’re mine! Mine!”
Sally and I huddled on the roof with Katie’s limp body held up between us.
Inside, the witch-thing was back to smashing the walls.
“Bobby won’t let her get us,” said Sally. “Bobby doesn’t like baby-sitters, but he’s sorry about what happened to Katie.”
Right, I thought. Katie had tried really hard to save Bobby.
And look where it got her.
38
Somehow I had to get us down from here. We were on a gently sloping section of the roof.
Cautiously I crept down to the edge to try and see where we were. Bobby had a way of getting the house turned around when he made rooms appear.
We were over the cherry tree.
My heart gave the smallest leap of hope.
The tree was too far away to reach and even if I could reach it from here the branches were too thin to support me.
But if I could shinny partway down the drainpipe, there was a large branch I might be able to grab hold of.
I went back and told Sally what I was going to do. Katie was still unconscious.
“I’ll holler to you when I reach the bottom,” I told her. “Then I’m going to go in the house and get to the phone. Katie needs an ambulance.”
Sally’s eyes were big and frightened. “I’m scared,” she said.
“I know, but you have to be brave a little longer,” I told her.
There were some vines growing up the drainpipe, so the first part was easy. I just hooked my feet around the vines, clutched the top with both hands, and let
