wicked witches 06.9 - you only witch once Read Online Free PDF Page A

emphatically shaking my head. “If she tells you a ghost story you’ll be up all night thinking you see zombies in every shadow.”
    “Oh, whatever,” Lila scoffed. “She’s an old lady. How scary can her stories be?”
    Aunt Tillie arched an eyebrow. I could tell she wasn’t particularly happy about entertaining forty teenagers, but her hatred of Lila made the thought of scaring her a definite perk.
    “I’ll tell a story,” Aunt Tillie said.
    I pressed my eyes shut briefly. This wouldn’t end well. Still, Lila Stevens needed to be taken down a peg or two … or ten. “Try to keep it clean,” I said.
    “Meaning?”
    “No weird stories about demons impregnating virgins and the fetuses eating their way out of the mothers from the inside,” I said.
    “I told that story once,” Aunt Tillie said. “I wanted the girls to know what would happen if they didn’t share their Halloween candy with me.”
    “Yes, well … pick something clean.”
    “And scary,” Thistle said, casting a dark look in Lila’s direction.
    “I think I know just the story,” Aunt Tillie said, leaning forward in her chair. “Who here has ever had a china doll?”
    Oh, no. I knew this story. This definitely wasn’t going to end well.
     
    “WELL, Terry left with the boys and all the girls are in their cabins,” Marnie said, pulling the curtain back in our small cabin and surveying the quiet outdoors.
    “I saw the boys leave in their canoes,” Twila said, giggling. “They kept looking over their shoulders in case a china doll was waiting to scratch their eyes out.”
    “Making the doll look like Lila was a nice touch,” Marnie said. “If the boys weren’t suspicious of her before, they definitely are now.”
    “A lot of the girls are afraid of her, too,” Twila said. “She’s not the queen bee right now. That’s probably going to ruin her week.”
    “Good,” Marnie said.
    “It’s probably going to make her lash out,” I said. “That makes her more dangerous.”
    “But she’ll have fewer allies,” Marnie said.
    “Will she? Or will she make sure Bay becomes the bad guy in all of this?”
    “Oh, Winnie, you have to stop doing this,” Marnie said. “Bay is fourteen years old. She’s almost grown. She’s not some shrinking violet. When push comes to shove, Bay is going to shove back.”
    I wanted to believe that. “What if Lila shoves her so hard she tumbles over a cliff first?”
    “Then she’ll have to learn how to fly,” Marnie said.
    “You have to stop freaking out about Bay,” Twila said. “You’re clamped on to her so tightly the girl is going to struggle to breathe at a certain point.”
    “And when that happens, Bay is going to have no choice but to run away from Hemlock Cove,” Marnie said. “The thing is, she won’t only be running from the likes of Lila Stevens and her ilk, she’ll be running from you, too.
    “She might not realize it right away, and she might not ever understand it, but she’ll need room to breathe if you want her to flourish,” Marnie continued. “Give her room to breathe.”
    “I’m not trying to smother her,” I said, frustrated. “I’m trying to … protect her.”
    “You’re trying to give her a soft pillow to land on every time she falls,” Marnie countered. “That’s not how life works. Give her some space.”
    “Fine,” I said, not wanting to admit Marnie may have a point. “I’ll promise to … leave her alone over the next few days.”
    “Good.”
    “As long as Lila Stevens doesn’t go too far,” I added.
    “If Lila goes too far, I don’t think you have to worry about Bay having problems as much as you’re going to have to worry about Lila going missing without a trace,” Marnie said.
    “Meaning?”
    “Aunt Tillie has her eye on Lila,” Twila said. “She’s waiting for her to screw up.”
    “And when she does, Aunt Tillie will make Lila’s life a lot worse than Lila can ever make Bay’s,” Marnie said. “Don’t you remember