There were grunts of pain and rustling noises everywhere.
“Jason! Stop!” shouted Lucy. “Stay still.”
I felt the soft, moldy stuff sliding across my face and then Lucy pulled it free. I gulped in air.
“It’s throwing things at us,” cried Lucy, holding up the dusty black scarf she’d pulled off my face.
“She hit me with a shoe,” shouted Steve. He was swinging away with his bat but not hitting anything. “The heel got me right in the eye!”
“Wait, Steve,” I said, grabbing his arm.
His chest heaved.
Anger raged in me like a fire. “Save your strength,” I said through clenched teeth. “We’re going to get her.”
I hefted the fire extinguisher. “You two sweep the walls. And when you catch her in the light, keep her there!”
Lucy and Steve nodded grimly.
We advanced along the walls and shone our lights into every corner.
“Come and get us, witch!” taunted Steve.
“We know you killed poor little Bobby!” Lucy added.
“We’re not afraid of you!” I joined in.
But the witch-thing stayed out of sight.
“Maybe if we go back to work,” I whispered. “Like we’re not afraid of anything.”
“Yeah,” said Steve, heaving a deep shaky breath. “That’ll bring her out.”
We opened some more boxes. Lucy kept biting her lip and looking over her shoulder.
I knew exactly how she felt. I was strung so tight I felt like another loud noise would snap me in two.
Something squealed in pain. “EEEeee—”
The cry was cut off suddenly. We heard the sound of small bones crunching. Then low laughter came out of the dark.
“That was a rat,” spoke the witch in a voice that echoed off the ceiling and floor. “Next time it will be you.”
Steve swung his light up while Lucy and I stood frozen in shock.
We knew the creature wasn’t kidding. It wanted to squash us like rats.
“There,” yelled Steve. “There she is!”
31
“Over there!” cried Steve. “She disappeared behind those boxes!”
Steve lunged after the witch, dragging Lucy and me with him. He started prodding boxes with his bat, a frown of furious concentration on his face.
I kept my flashlight aimed over his shoulder, searching the darkness.
“Maybe this isn’t such a good idea,” said Lucy, hanging back.
“I know she’s there,” said Steve. “Unless she got on her broomstick and flew away, she’s back there somewhere.”
“Yes, but—” began Lucy.
She didn’t get a chance to finish because a large box came shooting off the top of a tall stack, aimed right for Steve’s head.
I gave him a shove but not quick enough. The box hit him and Steve went down with a painful OOOMF!
The witch cackled with triumph.
Something about that laughter made my blood boil. I saw her black form melt into the shadows and suddenly I couldn’t stand to let her get away.
I fumbled at the knotted rope around my waist. I had to get free so I could go after her.
“Jason, don’t!” cried Lucy, helping Steve up. “She’ll get you. We have to stay together!”
I didn’t answer. The knot slipped free and the rope dropped to the floor. I aimed my flashlight into the shadows and moved slowly toward the spot where I had last seen her.
There! A black form detached from the wall and darted sideways.
“No, you don’t!” I shouted, and brought up the nozzle of the fire extinguisher. I pressed the trigger and foam jetted out.
Yes! Right on target!
“AAAAAEEEEEEEEEEE!”
The witch writhed and howled and seemed to shrivel under the black cape.
I dropped the fire extinguisher and, without thinking, I leaped right on her.
I expected her bones to dissolve under my fingers, the ghost to slip away and leave me holding air. But my hands gripped bony shoulders. Real shoulders. Solid bones.
I was so surprised I almost jerked away. But I held on tight.
Slowly her head turned toward me. She hissed through her broken teeth like a snake. “SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.”
Her awful smell filled my nostrils.
“Unhand me, brat, or I’ll turn your innards to soup and eat them myself,” she rasped from inside the black cape, sending stink waves over me with every word.
She writhed and squirmed. I clenched my teeth and held on.
Black spots began to appear before my eyes. The putrid fumes of her breath were getting to me. I was growing weaker.
I tried to call out to Steve and Lucy but the words gurgled in my throat.
The witch chuckled softly in my ear. “Now I’ve got you, boy,” she hissed.
I felt one of her sharp claws pierce my side.
32
Upstairs, the basement door opened.
“What’s going on down there?” a voice demanded.
It was my dad.
The witch snarled. The pain in my side was so sharp one of my hands let loose.
“Jason’s captured the witch, Mr. Winter!” Steve cried excitedly.
The witch jerked away but I held on. She was dragging me slowly into the shadows.
We heard my dad coming cautiously down the dark stairway. I wanted to scream at him to hurry, but the words stuck in my throat. I felt my heels dragging along the dirt floor as she struggled to escape.
Dad hesitated, squinting when Steve’s flashlight beam caught him in the face.
“I can’t see,” he protested.
As Steve lowered the beam, the witch blasted me with her breath and slipped out of my grasp.
“Stop her!” Lucy shouted.
I grabbed the witch’s cape but the oily material slipped through my hands.
I couldn’t let her get away now! I couldn’t! Where was Dad?
I launched myself into the air. My arms closed around the foul thing in an awful bear hug as we crashed to the floor.
The witch screamed with fury but this time I held on.
Suddenly a bright light fell over us. My dad had screwed in a new bulb, flooding the cellar with light.
Dad gasped. “Who is this?” he asked in a horrified voice.
“It’s the ghost of the nanny,” Lucy explained. “She’s an evil witch.”
Dad grasped her arm and helped the old witch gently to her feet. Carefully he lifted the hood of the cape. Light spilled onto the witch’s ancient, wrinkled face. Her beady eyes blazed with spite and evil. She flinched away from the brightness, spitting
