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

kerfuffle, she passed out and didn’t so much as twitch the rest of the night. While the girls screamed and panicked, she snored. While Marnie, Twila and I convinced the girls they were imagining things, Aunt Tillie remained comfortably burrowed beneath her blanket.
    I wanted to strangle her.
    “Where are the eggs?” Aunt Tillie asked, popping up by my elbow. “I’m starving.”
    “Why? You weren’t the one working up an appetite last night.”
    “What are you talking about?” said Aunt Tillie, pasting her best “I’m your aunt and you have to love me” smile on her face. “Did you not sleep well?”
    I narrowed my eyes. “You know very well that we were up half the night because the girls thought every noise in the woods meant a china doll was coming to scratch their eyes out.”
    “That was a great story to tell, by the way,” Marnie said, flicking Aunt Tillie’s ear as she moved past her with a pan of hash browns. “You’re officially banned from telling ghost stories.”
    “Hey, they wanted it,” Aunt Tillie said. “I gave them what they wanted. The truth is, I’m really a giver. That’s my problem. I only want to give people what they desire. That’s my whole goal in life.”
    “Yeah, that’s your problem,” I said dryly. “What are the girls doing now?”
    “They’re all sitting at the tables trying to wake up,” Aunt Tillie said. “Lila and Rosemary are whispering about something, and I have a feeling it’s nothing good.”
    “Lila is going to be worse now,” I said. “I just know it.”
    “The only way she could be worse is if she sprouted fangs and wings and embraced her true nature as a creature of the night,” Aunt Tillie said.
    “Just … give it a rest,” I said, pinching the bridge of my nose. “If we’re lucky, a full day of kayaking is going to exhaust these girls and make them want to go to bed early.”
    “Oh, you’re cute,” Aunt Tillie said. “You think just because that’s what you want it’s automatically going to happen. Trust me. They’re going to get their second wind after breakfast.”
    I had a sneaking suspicion she was right. “Don’t push any buttons today,” I warned. “I can only take so much. I’m a woman on the edge.”
    “You always did need a full eight hours of sleep,” Aunt Tillie said. “You’re crabby if you don’t get it.”
    “Since you did get your full nine hours of sleep, I don’t think you have much room to talk.”
    “Whatever. How long until breakfast?”
    “About five minutes,” I replied.
    “And we’re going kayaking after that?”
    I arched an eyebrow. Aunt Tillie generally hated the water. She was like the witch in the Wizard of Oz . She melted in anything stronger than the shower. “You’re going kayaking?”
    “I happen to love kayaking.”
    That was news to me. Still … . “Good,” I said. “That will allow us to break the girls into smaller groups. I’ll take Bay, Thistle and Clove with mine.”
    “You only want to keep an eye on Bay,” Aunt Tillie said.
    “You’re right.” I wasn’t going to deny it.
    “Fine,” Aunt Tillie said. “I’ll take Lila and Rosemary in my group.”
    I considered arguing, but allowing Aunt Tillie free rein over Lila seemed a good way to utilize my best weapon against my biggest problem. “Have fun.”
     
    “I’M stuck in the trees,” Thistle sputtered, ducking her head lower as the overhanging branch clawed at her face. “I’m going to cut all of my hair off, I swear. It’s too long and it just gets in the way.”
    “Then you’ll look just like your mother,” I said.
    Thistle scowled. “That’s the meanest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
    “You’ll live,” I said. “Use your paddle to push away from the tree. I don’t understand how you keep running into the trees. Why can’t you stay farther out from the shore?”
    “It’s not like I’m aiming for the trees,” Thistle said. “They just keep … sucking me in. I think they’re