Page 49 of The Witching Hours

“I have a piano lesson.” He grunted and looked away, taking that as a rejection of his offer, but it wasn’t that at all. “The band boosters are having a spaghetti thing tonight. I could tell my parents I’m going. If, um, you’re planning to be there?”

He nodded slowly. “Yes. I can do that.” The bell rang, which meant I was late to my next class. “Just a minute.” He grabbed the pad of hall passes and scribbled a note. “Who’s your next period teacher?”

“Mizz Henderson.”

He handed me the little rectangular paper. “Give her this.”

“Thank you.”

I left class walking on clouds of elation. Mr. Caras saw one of the queen’s guards. Not only did he not flee. He’d asked to have a chat about it. There was value in that for me even if nothing came of it.

I wasn’t in the band, but I went to band booster events because I had friends who were. When I arrived, Mr. Caras was sitting at one end of the room in front of an empty paper plate with telltale smears of marinara sauce. I was hungry and decided to scarf down some pasta before disturbing him.

I ate with friends. If you’ve been to a booster event, you know what I mean when I say the food was unremarkable, but filling. I deposited my trash in the big cans set up for that purpose and went to find my lit teacher.

He was no longer where I’d seen him, but not hard to find.

“Catherine,” he said. “There’s a little room over here where the teachers eat lunch. If no one’s there, we can use it to talk.”

“Okay.”

Luckily no one was there. A long vinyl-top table sat in the center of the room, but there was a small lounge area at the far end with two big chairs and a loveseat. Mr. Caras took one of the chairs. I sat on the loveseat.

He got right to it. “You said you were eight when you first saw one of these figures. Was there something in particular that preceded these sightings?”

I nodded vigorously then told the entire story from missing the leap to my bed to arriving back in my bedroom soaking wet.

“My dear,” he said. “It’s astonishing that you are as well-adjusted as you are. Not everyone could handle this so well.”

I lowered my eyes. “Thank you.”

“Do you want to get rid of them?”

My eyes jerked up to meet his. Those are words I never expected to hear. And what a question!Of course, I wanted to get rid of them.

“You know a way?”

“I might.”

I shook my head in confusion. “Has, um, this happened to you?”

“Indirectly. It happened to someone I was close to.”

“And you found a way to…”

“Banish them? Yes. If you study literature, you come across surprising information because people write about all kinds of things.”

That sounded plausible. “So, you have actual experience with this?”

“Not with these particular entities, but something similar.”

“I’d be thankful if you can help,” I said knowing that my eyes probably betrayed the impulse to cry that I was fighting. “How is it…?”

“It’s been my experience that it’s best not to take such things head on if you can get others to fight your battles for you.”

“I don’t, um, understand.”

“The only thing in that world that’s more powerful than the suit of hearts is the suit of spades. Spades represent nobility and warriors. Both of those things trump hearts in a struggle.”