just can’t--”
“I said forget it!” Alexa pulled at Rachael’s arm. “Get in the car. Nobody’s listening.”
“All right, all right. Don’t touch me.”
Officer Mulligan had a few words with Mrs. Casaday next, and then pulled away from the so-called crime scene.
Mrs. Casaday drove the girls home. She was silent, which the girls took to mean they were in trouble. At least their dog Peanut was glad to see them when they stepped back inside. It seemed like no matter how long they were away, Peanut always treated the family as if they had been gone a month.
“Mom?” Alexa said.
“Girls, I don’t want to discuss this any more tonight, because I might say something I’ll regret later. I do know one thing. It’s good your father wasn’t home. You’d be in even bigger trouble.”
“You don’t understand. We did find--”
“Please, just go get your showers. We’ll have a snack, the warm-ups from our pot roast dinner. It’s no doubt dried up by now, so it will probably taste terrible. After that you’d better get to bed. I think we’ve had enough excitement for one evening.”
“What will you tell Dad?” Rachael asked.
“I don’t know, Rachael. He will NOT be pleased by all this.”
“Please don’t tell him. Let me explain to--”
“Not another word, missy. That goes for you too, Alexa. Just get moving. I’ve got some thinking to do.”
After dinner, the girls met in Rachael’s room to brood as they sat on her bed. Both wore pajamas, conceding to their mother’s wishes to be ready for sleeping..
“You try to do the right thing and help somebody out and it just gets you in trouble. How can we fix this?” Alexa asked.
“Simple. We have to figure out what happened at the lake tonight. We both know that there was an injured man lying there, and then he disappeared. Where did he go? How did he slip away?”
“We have to go back and solve it for ourselves.”
“Oh no, we’re not. You won’t catch me at the lake in the dark again. Even though nothing scares me--”
“Not at night. We’ll go back there tomorrow during the day,” Alexa said as her eyes wandered about the room.
“Yeah, in daylight we can look for clues, and make it a real investigation.” Then Rachael noticed various small objects stirring and spinning. “Will you stop playing around with my stuff? I see my things moving. What is it with you?”
“Just nervous, I guess. It helps me relax.” Alexa returned to the problem at hand. “Rachael, that still doesn’t explain where the injured man went, and how he got there.”
“Who cares? What I want to know is how we are going to get out of trouble. Dad will be furious when he finds out what happened. We’ll be grounded forever. Maybe even a month.” Rachael looked out her window toward the lake. “You know what makes it even worse? The man said we were the ones in danger. What’s that all about?”
“Yeah, and what did he mean about some magic portal, and a key?”
“That part sounds exciting. Mysterious.” Rachael smiled. “You know I love adventures, and anything that involves supernatural events, and secret kingdoms. Perhaps if we could throw in a few wizards and fearsome creatures to make it even more exciting--”
Alexa ignored her sister’s comments. “I guess this portal is some kind of passageway to this man, like a path to life itself. Yeah, and maybe he can’t get through it without a key. You know what that means?”
Together the girls said, “Death.”
“For the man, anyway,” said Alexa.
Peanut started barking. She stood at the door, doing her constant beagle yelp, as if she heard, or sensed, something outside. At first their mother called to Peanut, but their “guard dog” paid no attention. She simply would not stop.
“You think we should let her out?” Rachael asked Alexa.
“No, after everything that went on tonight, maybe there really is someone out there, looking for us.”
“Then what should we do, so she stops barking?”
“I can fix that.” Alexa crawled off the bed and tiptoed down the steps. Rachael watched from the top of the stairway.
“Peanut, puppy. What’s wrong?” Alexa asked, gazing into Peanut’s big beagle eyes as she stroked her back.
Their dog stopped barking and met Alexa’s gaze. “Outside. I want to go outside, Alexa,” she answered in an interior voice only she and Alexa understood.
“Why, Peanut?”
“There’s someone in the neighborhood. They want to harm you and Rachael. I want to chase them.”
“Come on, Peanut. Maybe it’s just another dog or a cat trying to annoy you.”
“You’re in danger. Wicked people are out there waiting for you. I can make them stay away from the house.”
Alexa reached out and caressed Peanut’s soft furry cheek. “Thank you, but it’s okay. We’re safe inside tonight.”
She stretched out on the throw rug by the door, and Alexa rubbed her belly. “No more barking, puppy.”
Peanut settled down, but still guarded the front door from her spot on the rug. Alexa returned to the second floor and the girls went back to Rachael’s room.
“Works every time.”
Rachael shook her head. “I swear, what you do inside that poor dog’s head is scary. She’ll never be quite right.”
“You know I wouldn’t do a thing that would hurt Peanut. Sometimes we need to be thinking on the same wave length. Girl to girl, you know,” she said.
“Show me how you do that someday.”
“Yeah, and then you’ll want me to show you how I move objects around, too. I don’t think so, Rachael. Get your own powers if you want new ones.”
“Meanie!” Rachael said. “By the way, how are we getting to the lake tomorrow?”
“We’ll tell everybody we’re doing our daily run after school. Then we’ll go past the lake, sneak into the trees and see what we can find. If we go plenty early, it will still be daylight,” Alexa said.
“It’s Friday. I don’t have Girl Scouts tomorrow, so it’ll be a good day for it. We’ll be prepared this time, in case someone wants to interfere, right?”
“Wait a minute. Interfere?
