Kitewell Read online

  The girls shuddered.

  “So when noon came, the police, along with the townspeople, arrived with their weapons to arrest Malik.

  “Where is he? the sheriff asked.

  “He’s gone, Crandall replied. He ran away.

  “The sheriff knew he was lying, so he and his deputies stormed into Crandall’s house and searched every room, turning it inside out. When they didn’t find him, they scoured the forest nearby, not to mention Crescent Lake. The one place they didn’t search was the well, for it was too narrow for an adult to fit in. It was believed that the well was at least a hundred feet deep. Who would want to climb down it anyway?”

  “Did they find him?” Beanie said.

  “No. The authorities suspected that he was hiding somewhere in the house, so they started a fire, hoping to smoke him out. Malik never came out.

  “The townspeople were so angry that they also burned down Crandall’s railroad factory. They utterly ruined him financially, but no matter what they did, Crandall wasn’t going to turn his son over to the mob.

  “So after everyone left, Crandall hoisted his son out of the well. While hiding at the bottom of the well, Malik told his father that the ghost had visited him again, and it warned him of a great storm that would flood Kitewell. Crandall heeded his son’s advice this time and said that they would leave Kitewell once and for all. Crandall requested a carriage to pick them up that evening, since the townspeople had destroyed his Model T.”

  “What’s a Model T?” Ariel asked.

  Beanie said, “It was a type of car that was built in the ’20s.”

  “Very good,” Mrs. Kantor said.

  The cuckoo clock chimed. Both girls flinched.

  “Are you girls scared yet?”

  “I’m scared,” Ariel said.

  “Not me,” Beanie said. “So how does the story end?”

  Beanie sipped her hot chocolate and then grabbed another cookie.

  Mrs. Kantor smiled as she continued. “A full moon lit the night as they rode out of Kitewell. During their journey, deputies with torches stopped them on the road. They showed Crandall the warrant for Malik’s arrest and said that they needed to inspect the carriage.

  “Malik had hidden himself under a tarp, and when the officers came to pull it off, he jumped out of the carriage in a flash. Before they apprehended Malik, Crandall attacked, screaming for his son to run as far as he can. Malik disappeared into the forest, and as his father struggled with the deputies, one of them drew out a pistol … ”

  “Oh, no!” Ariel cried.

  “In the midst of the struggle, the deputy fired a shot at Crandall. Malik watched in horror as his father dropped to the ground, coughing in pain. The deputies argued with each other as to whom was to blame, but it was too late. Crandall Schmidt had died.”

  “That’s terrible,” Beanie said.

  “The deputies rode the carriage with Crandall’s body back to Kitewell. The very next morning, they buried him in the cemetery beside his wife, who had died a year earlier from pneumonia.”

  Ariel’s face was as white as the moon. Beanie was so enthralled that her half-eaten cookie fell from her hand without her noticing.

  Mrs. Kantor’s eye twinkled in the crackling light of the flames. She rocked in her chair steadily, her white hair glistening like silk. The girls watched her intently, entranced as if Mrs. Kantor had cast a spell on them.

  “It was very cloudy on the morning they buried Crandall, just like it is today. Malik snuck into the cemetery to pay his respects to his parents. He was an orphan now, and he had no place to go.”

  Mrs. Kantor stopped rocking in the chair, and then showed them the sapphire pendant that was around her neck.

  “Malik had a gemstone just like this. It was dark green, instead.”

  “An emerald?” Beanie said.

  “Yes.”

  “Where did he get it from?” Ariel asked.

  “There are two ways for sorcerers to learn magic,” Mrs. Kantor said. “They can learn by reading books, mixing potions, and practicing spells with their wand. Some go to school for this, as I once did, and others teach themselves from books.

  “But hundreds of years ago, there was a magical art in which sorcerers could imbue magical qualities into gemstones. But whereas a wand depends on the knowledge of the castor, the gemstone depends on the soul of the castor. For example, with the aid of my wand, I can say a few words and turn that bowl of cookies into a pot of flowers—as you saw yesterday. But with a spirit-gem, I can turn that bowl of cookies into an amazing forest, thriving with life!

  “The art of creating spirit-gems consisted of imbuing a gemstone with a sorcerer’s magical abilities. In other words, it absorbed all the magical powers of the sorcerer into the gem. It made the sorcerer’s knowledge obsolete, and they depended on the gem to cast magic.

  “Each spirit-gem was a boundless source of energy. Once its power was released, it could do amazing and wondrous things. For example, it could build cities, cure diseases, and bridge continents separated by ocean waters. But if it was in the wrong hands, it could destroy thousands or even millions of lives. The art was stopped once sorcerers began abusing the spirit-gems, using them to control humanity or to win wars for tyrants.”

  “How do you use a spirit-gem?” Ariel asked.

  “It’s not the same as casting a spell,” Mrs. Kantor said. “First, the spirit-gem must bond with a castor. It chooses you, not the other way around. There are only a select few that can use certain spirit-gems. Once it chooses someone, it syncs with their soul. The spirit-gem must feel like it can trust them, for it communicates with them.”

  “Can you use it?” Ariel asked, pointing at Mrs. Kantor’s sapphire.

  Mrs. Kantor shook her head solemnly. “I only have two spirit-gems, but I haven’t been able to use them. None of them have bonded with me, you see. I’ve been looking for people in Kitewell that could use them. Perhaps one of you might be the perfect candidate.”

  “Really?” Ariel said.

  Mrs. Kantor smiled and then took off the sapphire pendant. As soon as she handed it over to Ariel, it glowed blue in Ariel’s hand.

  “Wow!” Ariel beamed. “Does that mean it likes me?”

  Mrs. Kantor nodded. “Yes, it does. But to fully bond with a spirit-gem, I need to put you through a series of tests.”

  Ariel put the sapphire pendant on. “What kind of tests?” she said.

  “Tests that determine if you’re ready to use it.”

  “Where’s my spirit-gem?” Beanie interrupted.

  “Your spirit-gem?” Mrs. Kantor snickered. “I thought you wanted a wand if I couldn’t scare you.”

  “Forget the wand. I want a spirit-gem. Where’s mine?”

  “Please,” Mrs. Kantor said.

  “Oh. May I have a spirit-gem please?”

  Mrs. Kantor smiled broadly. She took out a ruby ring from her pocket.

  “Promise me that you will not give the spirit-gem to anyone, nor tell anyone that you got it from me.”

  “Why?” Beanie asked.

  “First, you must promise,” Mrs. Kantor said.

  “Okay, I promise.”

  “And you?” she said, eyeing Ariel.

  “I promise too.”

  “Good. Because if anyone finds out, they might take it from you, and you never know where Malik is lurking.”

  Slowly, Mrs. Kantor handed it to Beanie. It glowed bright red in Beanie’s palm. She wore it on and gaped in awe as it dazzled her eyes with its sparkly red luster.

  Chapter 5

  “For the past five months,” Mrs. Kantor began, “I’ve been searching for two people that can bond with the spirit-gems. They’re a rarity now, like an endangered species. Many spirit-gems have either been lost or destroyed over time. There might be a few hundred left in existen
ce. And out of the billions of people that live on Earth, it only chooses a handful of people it deems worthy to use it. You two are the ones, and I found you two in Kitewell out of all places!”

  Beanie looked up at her. “How come I can’t use it though? I feel its power, but I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

  “It’s not that simple,” Mrs. Kantor said. “It takes time for the spirit-gem to bond with you. It wants to see how you handle adversity before it bonds with you.”

  “Like the tests you were talking about?” Beanie said.

  “Yes. I can train you, but first, I want to finish the story. Do any of you remember what color spirit-gem Malik had?”

  “Oh, oh, I know!” Ariel said, raising her hand.

  Mrs. Kantor laughed. “We’re not in school. You can just say it out loud, dear.”

  “Green.”

  “That’s correct. He had a green spirit-gem. From what we know in his diary, his mother had given him this spirit-gem before she passed away. It did not bond with her, but it bonded with him. This particular spirit-gem allowed him to command the clouds, and thus, he could make it thunder or rain if he wanted to. In fact, he used the spirit-gem to stir up a storm.

  “Soon, the sky became dark and gray. Thick clouds blotted out the sunlight. Lightning flashed, and then the rain came as well as wind. The wind moved like a hurricane, sweeping across the town like a hideous gale—just as the ghost in the well had prophesized.”

  The light began to wane as the storm drew near. Clouds streamed past the sun and cast a shadow on the girls. By a strange twist of irony, a great thunder boomed outside the house. Rain pattered the windows and rooftop like hail.

  “The rain came down in buckets,” Mrs. Kantor said. “The water rose so fast that nobody was prepared for it. The townspeople packed up what they could and fled in their vehicles or carriages. Within an hour, the whole town was submerged underwater. Anyone that stayed surely drowned. And once the survivors made it to safe ground, they saw a tornado in the midst of the flood. It pulled everything inside of it like a vacuum, and witnesses said they even saw people disappearing into the sky.”

  “No way!” Beanie gasped.

  “Two days later, the survivors returned to Kitewell after the flood receded. Wood and debris scattered across the land like the town had been bombed. The strange thing about it was that none of the bodies were ever found.”

  “What happened to Malik?” Ariel asked.

  “Did he go missing too?” Beanie added.

  Mrs. Kantor patted her hand on her lap. “That’s very observant of you girls. I did leave out one important detail.”

  They waited in silence.

  “When you use the full power of the spirit-gem, it changes you, turns you into something you didn’t expect. On the one hand, you will be one with the spirit-gem. On the other hand, you are no longer the same person.

  “After Malik flooded Kitewell, the spirit-gem turned him into a creature. Why don’t you girls take a guess?”

  The girls looked at each other.

  “A tuna fish?” Ariel said.

  Mrs. Kantor laughed. “Not a tuna fish, dear.”

  “A shark?” Beanie said.

  “Not that either.”

  “What then?” Beanie said impatiently.

  “A snake. A giant snake.”

  “Whoa!” Ariel exclaimed.

  “So the spirit-gem transformed him into a snake?” Beanie said.

  “Yes,” Mrs. Kantor said. “Since he had used the full power of the spirit-gem, it transformed him into the sorcerer that imbued the gemstone.”

  “So a snake gave the spirit-gem its power?” Ariel asked.

  “Not a snake, but a sorcerer who had turned himself into a snake. His name was Cormack Gresham. Now Malik looks like him.”

  “Wait. Malik’s alive?” Beanie said.

  Mrs. Kantor nodded. “Very much alive. A spirit-gem gives you the power to live for hundreds of years.”

  “That’s incredible,” Ariel said, glancing at the sapphire pendant she wore. “Then, that means I’ll live a hundred years, right?”

  “No one can live that long,” Beanie said.

  “Not a human,” Mrs. Kantor said.

  “So what happened after the flood?” Beanie said.

  Mrs. Kantor leaned back in the rocking chair and clasped her hands together. “After the flood, the survivors rebuilt Kitewell. Over time, the town grew, stores opened, and people went on about their business. In fact, there has been a hundred years of peace in Kitewell. Do you girls know why?”

  The girls shook their heads.

  “When my grandfather got wind of the flood, he came to Kitewell to put an end to Malik.”

  “Was your grandfather a wizard?” Ariel asked.

  “Yes,” Mrs. Kantor said. “He taught me and my brother many spells. In fact, he was so powerful that he could use two spirit-gems at once—the ones you girls are wearing.”

  The girls observed their gemstones in awe.

  “He used the spirit-gems to defeat Malik, and afterward, he cast a spell that encased Malik in stone. The people of Kitewell buried his body in the cemetery, and it was left undisturbed for a century. The people swore never to tell anyone where his body was in case a wizard or witch came to reverse the spell. But then someone found out.”

  The girls gasped.

  “Who?” Beanie said.

  “A foolish young wizard who goes by the name of Marquee Lemay. He had found a secret map that led to the location of Malik’s body, as well as dozen other evil sorcerers. Once he unearthed Malik’s stone body, he cast a spell that released Malik from his stone imprisonment.

  “Malik was alive, but weak. And without his spirit-gem, he was even that much weaker. The wizard demanded that Malik teach him everything he knew, but Malik said he would teach him only if he found his spirit-gem.

  “So Marquee spent weeks trying to find it, and when he did, Malik turned on him. A battle ensued over the spirit-gem, and Malik used it to cause another flood.”

  Beanie and Ariel exchanged a shocking glance.

  “What flood?” Ariel said.

  “You girls don’t remember?”

  “Remember what?” Beanie said perplexedly.

  “Ah, Malik’s deception. He must’ve fooled everyone.”

  The girls had a puzzled look.

  “So in the midst of their battle,” Mrs. Kantor continued, “Malik lost the spirit-gem again, and Marquee escaped. My brother, Tim, is actually tracking Marquee as we speak, trying to stop him from freeing other evil wizards in an attempt to learn their magic.

  “Tim won’t come to Kitewell until he stops Marquee, and I hope it doesn’t take him long. So you see, girls, I came here to stop Malik. I need to finish my grandfather’s work.”

  “Will Malik flood Kitewell again?” Beanie asked.

  “Since I damaged his spirit-gem, he won’t be able to … at least for now. But if he can find another spirit-gem … ”

  “Where is Malik now?” Ariel asked.

  “He lives inside the lair of the well on Mr. Drake’s lot. Do you know where that is?”

  The girls shook their heads.

  “After Kitewell flooded, Crandall Schmidt’s house was knocked down. A windmill was built on the lot, as well as a two-story house. That’s where Mr. Drake lives. The well is still there too, although nobody has gone down it. Mr. Drake told me he stopped using the well once he hoisted up a bucket full of snakes.”

  “Ewww,” Ariel uttered.

  “He doesn’t believe Malik could be down there with how rotten and dirty it is. But I beg to differ. Besides, he’s not a believer.”

  “How do you know Malik is down there?” Beanie said. “You said he’s a giant snake.”

  “Malik can change size and appearance. He can change
himself into a big snake, a small snake, or even into a man.”

  “Have you seen him before?” Ariel asked.

  Mrs. Kantor nodded. “Once.”

  They leaned in toward her.

  “What does he look like?” Ariel asked.

  “He has green, scaly skin, like a snake, and his eyes are bright yellow. Don’t believe a word he says, however, because he’ll trick you. I made that mistake once. I won’t let it happen again.”

  The room seemed to get colder.

  “What did he do?” Beanie said.

  “He cast a hex on me, almost made me give the spirit-gem to him. He has the power to bond with any spirit-gem, strangely enough. I don’t know what spell he used to gain this power, but he’ll use any spirit-gem for evil. He’s been searching for more spirit-gems. I think Malik knows I have the two you’re wearing. He might even come after us.”

  Mrs. Kantor gazed out the window. Thunder boomed outside the house. The girls shuddered.

  “Are you two scared yet?” Mrs. Kantor asked.

  “Yes,” Ariel said, rattling.

  Beanie shook her head despite shaking. “I-I-I’m not scared.”

  The room felt much colder now. They hadn’t even noticed it while they listened to her, though they were shivering. They turned their eyes to the fireplace, and the flames had extinguished. Mrs. Kantor went to the fireplace and chucked a log in it. She whispered an incantation, and using her wand, kindled the fire with a bright burst. The room warmed up, but not enough to keep the girls from shivering.

  Outside, the rain came down hard. The gutters overflowed onto the flowerbeds. It sounded like a thousand fingers pattering the glass. The girls looked outside the window. They couldn’t shake off the feeling that Malik might be stalking them.

  “Are you girls feeling warmer?” Mrs. Kantor asked.

  “A little bit,” Ariel said, quivering.

  “I’ll grab some blankets. Wait here.”

  Mrs. Kantor left the room and went upstairs to the linen closet.

  “We won the bet, didn’t we?” Beanie said.

  “You did. I’m real scared though,” Ariel confessed.