Free wicked witches 06.9 - you only witch once by Amanda M. Lee

off, Lila,” I said. “We have to take this one step at a time.”
     
    “DO they all have poison oak?” I kept my voice low as I grouped with Marnie and Twila near the picnic tables.
    “Everyone in the first cabin has some form of it,” Marnie said. “Conveniently, the girls who have had the least amount of contact with our girls have the smallest amount.”
    “And Lila has it the worst,” I finished.
    “Rosemary has it pretty bad, too,” Twila said. “She hasn’t said a lot, though. Lila’s keeps getting worse every time she opens her mouth. Rosemary has been quiet.”
    “Maybe she’s thinking evil thoughts,” Marnie suggested. “That sounds like something Aunt Tillie would do.”
    “Where is Aunt Tillie?” I asked.
    Marnie pointed. I glanced in the direction she indicated, shaking my head when I saw my elderly aunt standing under a tree with Bay, Clove and Thistle grouped around her. They were watching the show, and they seemed to be enjoying themselves.
    “What do you think?” Twila asked. “Did they do it?”
    “I’m narrowing down my field of suspects to the four over there who had access to the eggs,” I said. “They needed the eggs to make that paste. I’ve never seen anything like that, by the way. Do you remember reading about that paste in any of our magic books?”
    “I think that was something Aunt Tillie created all on her own,” Marnie said. “You should know that the smell is hanging around even though they washed all the paste off and changed their clothes.”
    “What about the cabin?”
    “It’s still a mess.”
    I rubbed the heel of my hand against my forehead. “Well, I’m not cleaning that up … and we know Aunt Tillie isn’t going to clean it up.”
    “I suggest we make them clean it up,” Marnie said.
    “That’s not going to go over well.”
    “I don’t care,” Marnie said. “It has to be done, and none of us are doing it. I’ll tell them what’s going on once you’re out of here.”
    “Out of here? Where am I going?”
    “You’re taking Bay, Clove and Thistle for a hike,” Marnie said. “Until this … calms down … Lila is going to be a wreck. I think our girls should be away from the camp for a few hours.”
    “What if it’s still a mess tonight?”
    “Then we’ll deal with it then,” Marnie said. “You take our girls – and Aunt Tillie, if you can convince her to go, although I don’t think that’s likely – and spend a few hours looking for Bay’s ghost. It will give you something to do.”
    “What are you going to do?”
    “I’m going to order the girls to clean up the cabin and then send the other girls out on the lake with Twila,” Marnie said. “I have a feeling this spell is only going to get worse before it gets better … especially for some people.”
    Her gaze was fixed on Rosemary and Lila, who had their heads bent together as they energetically scratched their arms, necks and faces. They were obviously plotting, and that was only making their affliction worse. They didn’t realize the cause and effect.
    “Okay,” I said. “I won’t go too far. But be careful. Lila is going to be out for blood.”
    “I can handle Lila,” Marnie said. “It’s Rosemary who really has me worried.”
    Me too. The odd child was getting odder by the minute – and that was a frightening thought.
     
    “WHAT are we looking for?” Clove asked, taking the lead as our small expedition moved through the thick trees surrounding the lake. “Are you going to tie us to trees and leave us out here?”
    “Why would I do that?”
    Clove is the most nervous of the three girls. When they’ve done something wrong, she’s always the one who breaks first. Thistle holds on out of spite, and Bay refuses to squeal out of loyalty. She doesn’t care about getting punished herself, but she’s not fond of getting her cousins into trouble.
    “Because of what we did last night,” Clove said.
    Thistle reached over and pinched her. “Shut your